Foolishly I forgot to note the title of this one. If anyone really wants to find it, it has songs called Birmingham, Let it Rain and Promises on. This is extremely good! I've never heard of her, but I borrowed this from a friend and was impressed. She reminds me a lot of Sheryl Crow in terms of her voice, and the acoustic feel to the album, but I actually think she's better. Having said that, I only have one Sheryl Crow album and it's not one of her best, I do like her stuff normally. I recommend this to anyone as good background music, a little angsty but not as much as Alanis Morissette, and she has a really great voice with gives a quality to songs which otherwise wouldn't be that special. The acoustic backing, gives it a country feel, another similarity with Crow, and I think she might be one to look out for, as there is potential here. I have no idea who she is or where she's from, but I suspect she's American. I give this a promising 7 out of 10.
Well you just knew this was coming didn't you? I did the books, so I just had to do the film as well! I saw this yesterday and absolutely loved it. It captures the feel of the books, and stays very true to Tolkien's vision in terms of the locations. Tolkien was kind enough to give ample description to just how he wanted things to look, and thankfully the creators have stayed true to it. To be honest, I don't think this should be given a PG rating because it is quite frightening at times! Most obviously, the 9 Riders are terrifying, but also the Balrog and the Uruk-Hai. Several things have been changed from the books to suit the film, but all are understandable alterations. Irrelevant characters and scenes are omitted, and new scenes are added to try and display pictorially what Tolkien was able to describe with language, such as Boromir's temptation. All of these changes fit seamlessly into the film, and are probably only noticeable to me because I only just finished the book. I thought that the casting choices were superb, with the actor (I forget his name) playing Gandalf being exactly as you imagine a wizard should be. My only complaint is the choice for Elrond. I have nothing against the actor who plays him, but the combination of having seen him as the baddie in The Matrix and the fact that he has a pointy, rodent-like face mean that I cannot help being suspicious of him. Elrond, of course, is one of the wisest members of Middle-Earth, on a level with Gandalf, but that didn't come across on screen. This trivial objection aside, this film is a must for absolutely everyone (except little kids). At 3 and a quarter hours it is rather long, but worth it. I'm going to get it on video as soon as possible to fully enjoy it and pay attention to all the little details. I can't wait for the next film, particularly to see more of Gollum! My curiosity was piqued by catching small glimpses of him, but we never saw him completely in the light. Roll on December! 10 out of 10
It is a while since I read this, about a year actually, but all I'm reading right now is rather boring stuff for my course. So, a trip down memory lane is in order. You might have seen the film for this, I have a vague memory of bits of it. I certainly knew some of the story before I read it. I think this ranks highly as one of King's best stories. I don't have a fully informed view as I've only read 3 and seen film versions of most, but of the 3 I read this was the best. Absolutely horrifying, I could not put this down. I have an active imagination, but even those who don't cannot fail to be sucked in by the descriptive style King uses. The slow transformation which takes place in Arnie is almost painful to read, most notably the moments near the end where his real self surfaces and cries desperately for help. I think the reader would be less sympathetic if this had all happened to Dennis, as he is a confident, popular guy with all the girls. It is made so much worse by Arnie being so unlucky and miserable to begin with, especially in the destruction of his relationship with Leigh (I think that was her name!). The real star of the story though is of course Christine. King conjures up an atmosphere of such complete and utter malice, the Devil himself, and places this immortal presence of evil in a car. This is a spark of genius, as I suddenly found myself getting anxious when red sports cars drove by while I was reading this! It is a common horror technique to empower a mundane, inanimate object with destructive tendencies, and it almost always works. I hope I get a chance to see the film, as I'd love to see how they translate the atmosphere onto the screen. A very scary 7 out of 10.
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