You’ve heard of comfort food. Do you think there’s such a thing as comfort movies? I do! Comfort movies are the ones you want to go back to when you feel restless-- because they relax you-- or when you just want something familiar that’s really nice to sit and get lost in. They’re the movies you seemingly can never grow bored of. The ones that “get you” every time. For me, there are a few movies like that, but for sure my #1 is Lord of the Rings.
It’s been a few months since I’ve seen any LOTR and I gotta tell ya--I’m havin’ hankerins!! This week I was too busy to do much of anything, and if I tried to watch a movie, I’m sure I would have fallen asleep just from sheer tiredness. But I kept thinking about Frodo and Aragorn and all of those guys from Middle Earth, and I realized I’m long overdue for a viewing! I also realized I’ve never really blogged about these stories I like so much. There’s MUCH I could say, but I’ll keep it brief tonight because I’m rather wiped. "Beginning to feel like butter spread over too much bread…"
For starters, Lord of the Rings is the only movie that has caused me to plan an evening party with friends. I'm not a "party person", but my Lord of the Rings party will forever be a fun memory to me--right down to the pomegranate punch and lembas bread wrapped in banana leaves. It was such a good time. And painting the mural with Renee---well, that’s another vivid memory that I’ll always cherish. The way she came in all smiles with her big bin of acrylics and brushes, rolled up her sleeves, turned on the Enigma music, and got BUSY making the most perfect Frodo face. Uh! I just LOVED everything about it. So much that I took some pictures of it and set it to music. (But managed to get zero pictures of the party. Yes, I’m a dork.) Click on the title of this entry to view the video of our mural.
As far as the movies themselves, I’m blown away by the artistry and the detail that went into them. That just goes without saying. I’ve watched all the Special Features on the DVDs, and I cannot get over what Peter Jackson and all of the crew and cast members did in making those movies. AMAZING.
But beyond the movies even, I love the themes in the stories. I love the Biblical parallels and the imagining that they stir in me. I love the fact that evil must be eradicated completely, and not just “evened out” with good as in some other stories. I love how good permanently overcomes evil in the end, but not without tremendous sacrifice, selflessness, and toil. The Ring's power is not something to be ignored or embraced, but rather REFUSED and recognized as the horrible thing it is, and destroyed. There’s no doubting its ugly deceitfulness when you see what it did to Smeagol and even what it starts doing to Frodo. I love all of the underlying themes of love and loyalty and friendship. It’s just so beautiful.
When I want to rest for a long while and be swept away by a film that has a little of everything I like, these movies never disappoint. They entertain and encourage me at the same time. They are exciting and thought-provoking and just so well-done.
That's it for tonight's movie review. Time to make some popcorn and find the remote! ;-) HA!
“The chief purpose of life, for any one of us, is to increase according to our capacity our knowledge of God by all the means we have, and to be moved by it to praise and thanks.”
~J.R.R. Tolkien
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