Intermission: 'Lord of the Rings' trilogy reaches foregone conclusion

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Jim Wunderle owns Wunderle Sound Services and is a Springfield free-lance writer and musician.|ret||ret||tab|

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It finally happened.|ret||ret||tab|

I did it. |ret||ret||tab|

I did it at the worst possible time of the year, too.|ret||ret||tab|

For those not familiar with a syndrome known as seasonal adjustment disorder, it's hard to describe the melancholy and lethargy that comes along every year for we who suffer from it.|ret||ret||tab|

So why I waited to inflict even more suffering upon myself until now is a mystery, but also my own fault.|ret||ret||tab|

Since its first episode, I have resisted seeing any part of the "Lord of the Rings" saga. There was no need for me to review it, as virtually every moviegoer on the planet was going to see it anyway and most loved it before even seeing one frame of film.|ret||ret||tab|

New Line Cinema is to be commended for taking what is surely the biggest risk in the history of film. Letting an unproven (at the box office, anyway) director like Peter Jackson undertake the making of a trilogy of very long fantasy books that had become ingrained in the minds of generations of people from baby boomers forward. Jackson also decided to film all three episodes (totaling more than nine hours) at the same time. It was too much to be believed. Many people thought these books could never be filmed in the first place and surely not simultaneously. |ret||ret||tab|

But New Line and Jackson forged ahead.|ret||ret||tab|

Since the latest, and last (oh, please be the last) episode, "The Return of the King," was soon to be released I decided to take the plunge and watch the first two installments on DVD to get up to speed.|ret||ret||tab|

It took two sittings to get through "The Fellowship of the Ring," three more nights for "The Two Towers," and the coup de Grace came last Saturday at the theater with "Return of the King." Watching at home gives one the luxury of stopping the film and picking up again later. Movie theaters rarely let patrons pause the film to take a break. Had it not been for the three 10-year-old kids sitting behind me kicking my seat (which usually annoys the heck out of me) and my wife punching me every 10 minutes, I could have gotten an afternoon of much-needed rest.|ret||ret||tab|

Let me say that this trilogy is a magnificent triumph, but as all reviews are by their very nature subjective, I have to interject my personal feelings here: I couldn't care less.|ret||ret||tab|

It's a $300 million soap opera with a foregone conclusion. |ret||ret||tab|

The people in the audience who were really involved in the saga were clapping, cheering, even crying. I was wishing I needed to get up and go to the restroom. |ret||ret||tab|

I realize I'm in a vast minority here and many oddsmakers are predicting "The Return of the King" will win best picture, if only to reward and acknowledge the entire trilogy. My personal pick is "Mystic River," with "Lost in Translation" a close second. |ret||ret||tab|

If you, too, found "The Lord of the Rings" brilliant but tedious, may I suggest seeking out the book "Bored of the Rings" by Doug Kenney, Henry Beard and the rest of "The Harvard Lampoon" staff of 1969. Check on-line at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or Borders. It's a riot. There are also several Web sites dedicated to the tome.|ret||ret||tab|

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Issue Two|ret||ret||tab|

One of the best pieces of cinema itself clocking in at six hours to be released in 2003 isn't even eligible for an Oscar nomination. No, it was a made-for-TV film, produced by HBO. |ret||ret||tab|

HBO, with the "The Sopranos," "Sex and the City," "Six Feet Under" and "Oz," has taken television to new heights and this newest production is another groundbreaking effort.|ret||ret||tab|

The film in question is "Angels in America," directed by veteran Mike Nichols ("The Graduate," "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?") and is a sweeping masterpiece. After the hubbub about the movie CBS nearly ran about Ronald Reagan, I'm surprised certain zealots didn't pick up on this film and try to censor it as well.|ret||ret||tab|

It's a hard work to describe because it broaches so many subjects. The politics of the Reagan years, the onset of AIDS, prescription drug addiction, homosexuality (and homophobia), visions of angels and many other subjects are all utilized to great effect. It's intense and, at times, completely unsettling.|ret||ret||tab|

Some of the characters are based on real people, most notably Roy Cohn, played by Al Pacino.|ret||ret||tab|

Cohn, who made a name for himself prosecuting Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, was a council in the Joseph McCarthy Communist witch hunts in the 1950s and stayed close to powerful politicians thereafter. He died of complications from HIV/AIDS, but never came to grip with his sexuality. One of Cohn's last crusades was lobbying against New York City's gay rights ordinance. Pacino does his best work in years in this role.|ret||ret||tab|

Also on hand (some in multiple, widely varied roles) are Emma Thompson, Meryl Streep, Mary-Louise Parker and an ensemble cast of virtual unknowns who all perform marvelously. "Angels in America" will be showing (in one-hour chapters) throughout January on HBO. Don't miss it. If the academy would broaden its rules, this film would be under consideration in every major Oscar category.|ret||ret||tab|

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