Good Movie Night

Friday night the College Union at Trinity rented a screen at a local movie theatre. They showed The Fellowship of the Ring. Dr. Fratt from the college gave a short introduction beforehand and there was a trivia contest wherein I won a Starbuck's gift card and bag of skittles bite size candies (Taste the rainbow) for knowing the name of Tom Bombadil's wife. I was astounded at how much the movie affected me. It has been 59 months since I last saw FotR in the theatre (special showing of FotR extended ed. up in Wisconsin on the way to which I got my first speeding ticket). I was blown away by what an amazing film it is. I've come to realize that I think it is my favorite of the LotR movies even though RotK got all the Oscars. There's just something about seeing Rivendell and Lothlorien (even the brief glimple you get in the theatrical ed.), the Argonath and hearing Saruman welcome Gandalf to Isengard, Boromir's death and Sam's devotion. I loved it. For the first time I noticed the village of Bree behind the Hobbits as they head into the wilderness between Bree and Weathertop. I also noticed the chimes as they approach Lothlorien. It's hard to believe that after seeing the movie as often as I have in the theatre and on DVD there were still things I'd never noticed but these were new to me. I also enjoyed some of the filming errors that were mostly edited out of the DVD's, like the Nazgul's horse materializing out of nothing behind the tree the Hobbits are hiding under and car that drives by while Frodo and Sam are in the cornfield. The icing on the cake was that it was the version of Fellowship from late in the theatrical run that included the extended trailer for The Two Towers. That was a real bonus but a little bittersweet. There are shots of scenes in that trailer that never made it into even the extended ed's of TTT and RotK. That trailer gives you a vision of movies to come that are greater still than what came. The LotR theatrical trilogy is greater than all other movies combined and cubed but the extended TTT trailer shows a glimpse of how great they could have been. Still I just sat there and listed to "May It Be" and "In Dreams" over the credits and nearly wept with joy at what I'd just seen. The plan is to do the same thing with TTT and RotK next semester. I can't wait. Until then I'll have to console myself with my friend Sarah's LotR marathon in two weeks after Turkey Bowl VIII.