I'd rather see The Kingdom. But the game plan interests me also. I generally tend to like the rock. Except for be cool. Huge let down. Great cast. Crappy movie.  

The Kingdom... almost makes me want to 100% give up on movies in general. 

It looks terrible... Michael Mann's style barely works for [Peter Berg]. Come up with an original style of your own.  

Friday Night Lights was a beauitiful film, why would you completely change your style? 

Unfortunately, i'm pretty much alone in thinking this will be a terrible movie and it looks like it's going to not only kill at the box office but probably come awards season too, and that just makes me angry. I can deal with the fact that there are a bunch of movies coming out about Iraq, but the only one worth seeing is In The Valley of Elah. Rendition will suck.  

The Kingdom will suck. sorry.  

This season also has a lot of westerns coming out, at least they all look like amazing masterpieces of filmmaking.  

Seems they weren't too impressed by it although the message in it is quite powerful.  

"The Kingdom ends up being neither fish nor fowl. It’s not such a tense action thriller and even though it makes an attempt to illuminate the complex politics of the country it really shies away from anything truly challenging."  

"Look, the beginning and the ending are the best things in the film but what's in between is horrible."  

After all, we can't all be Fellini, Chaplin, Welles, Truffaut, DeMille, Hitchcock, Kurosawa, Kubrick, Coppola, Lucas, Syder, Malick, Altman, Sayles, Spielberg, or the Coen or Wachowski Bros. -- some of us have to settle for being Richard Attenborough, Robert Wise, Ron Howard, John McTiernan, Martin Scorcese, Alan J. Pakula, Tim Robbins, Cameron Crowe, Brian De Palma, Barry Levinson, Jonathan Demme, Robert Zemeckis, John Landis, Joe Dante, Renny Harlin, Frank Oz, Richard Donner, Tony Scott, Peter Jackson (man, am I gonna catch Hell for that) 

If that Lucas you refer to above is the Georgie Porgie Lucas that I think you're referring to... 

...then I wish you a very painful ball-busting torture. 

Lucas has a style?  

If it's a multitude of fantastical and oh-so-wonderful transitions that you're referring to as his great style then so be it. Other than that, I don't see Boy George having any style at all.  

As for his originality, alright, I'll settle for that.  

Maybe I'm being a little harsh on Georgie Worgie but I think my brain hurts when I see Lucas' name associated with the greats over a modern-day great like Heaven's architect Sir Peter Jackson.  

P.S. Since you're a huge LOTR fan Nico, and so am I. Was wondering which was your favourite of the three? Mine is clearly Fellowship as I think overall, it's clearly the best film of the lot in terms of emotionality (if that's a word), well really, it's just one single adventure, it's a real adventure film if you really get what I'm saying, for a lack of a better word. Return of the King had the bigger and better beasts, effects, and 'wow' moments, but the film has this quality to it that I can't quite find a word for, it's this quality that feels like the sum of it's parts doesn't quite gel together, or that it's not as great as the sum of it's parts. As for Two Towers, it's a bit too much action and not enough emotionality and character for me. Although Pippin, or was it Merry's speech in that, that was really great and the addition of Gollum and the Helm's Deep battle. And trees wreaking havoc, f**k yeah! But the film just isn't as great as Fellowship in my opinion. There really is something about Fellowship, it's so magical, it's the film that took me to Middle Earth. I mean Fellowship was inducted into the AFI Top 100 list at no. 50 for a reason, so I guess I'm not the only one who has this opinion. Ok, enough rambling, what what's your favourite Nico?  

I was actually a fan of Jar Jar Binks, you know -- I thought he was more convincing by far than any human actor in the entire prequel trilogy -- but I thought Watto was the most interesting personality of Lucas' new Saga... and Gollum just flat handed him his fat, winged ass. 

(And, sorry, but the Army of the Dead fighting at Minas Tirith looks flat-out cheesy; I mean, bad cheesy. They pop like popcorn all along the levels of the White City... it's snicker-worthy.) 

There's a lot that didn't make the final cut, and still hasn't: Éomer reacting to Théoden's (and, he initially thinks, Éowyn's) death; Merry comforting Pippin in the stables of Edoras; the Scourge. I mean, Tom Bombadil, sure, but how can you leave out the Scourge of the Shire, especially after you alluded to it in Fellowship? Meanwhile, the Shelob bit feels awkward and doesn't really flow with the rest of the story (maybe because it properly belonged in The Two Towers). Yeah, I'm a purist. 

And the criticism I always hear from friends regarding LOTR's 'laziness' in terms of it's plot is always directed at the Army of the Dead and their invincibility. Maybe you could help me out here Nico and shed some light here as I think I fell asleep whilst reading ROTK because I can't seem to recall anything about them in terms of their 'invincibility'. I always hear from people "They f#@*ing CHEATED!!!!! You can't just pull them out!"  

I'm sure you've seen the Extended Editions Nico. I haven't watched the extended versions for quite a while but I'm sure I remember seeing the aforementioned Eomer and Theoden's death and Pippin scenes. Maybe I'm a little confused then.  

...Two Towers... was a very dark film. That's what I forgot to mention that maybe turned me slightly off about TTT. There was simply too much death.  

Reading your thoughts on TTT, you've really convinced me to watch it again and reconsider my thoughts on it. I was actually quite surprised by how highly you regarded TTT. Yeah, I probably did take Gollum for granted, because I thought about it for a minute and realized "wow, Gollum really is an amazing character'.  

Thanks for the response Nico.  

P.S. Is it just me? But did anyone else burst out with tears rolling down their face when Aragorn says the line: "You bow to no one" to the Hobbits in ROTK. I've never had instant crying like that.  

...[C]an we lobby Hollywood to get Chris Cooper in every film ever made from here on out? 

Ashraf Barhom just made himself a fan. A truly outstanding job.  

The pyrotechnics, vehicle chases and shootouts were great, but I never got the sense that they were there specifically to draw people to theaters. 

I hate to say it, but since I knew about the existence of this "ending" ahead of time, I kind of had it figured out after the opening scene. (That is to say, I knew who would be involved, but not the specific content or context.) And it played out pretty much as I figured.  

I give major props to Peter Berg and Michael Mann for putting it together.  

though it's odd that Steve (Mason) is the only FM columnist who's rarely on the boards, any reason why? 

Whatever it all means, or fails to mean, Alvin & the Chipmunks will still suck really, really hard. 

at very least we have an unusual load of films coming up that incorporate war.  

With all this noise, many, if not most, are bound to be drowned out... The first to suffer from War Film Fatigue, I believe, will be In the Valley of Elah, which is a damned shame because it contains the very best performance of Tommy Lee Jones's career. Oscar, however, may and should take notice, even if few others will... I remain, as always... Nico. (The FantaM Menace.) 

...[T]his film has recived more different, contradictory, and opposing reviews than I've ever seen.  

Here;s what I liked- the crime aspect, the detecting aspect, the initial scenes where the FBI are restricted from doing anything. And of course, the big shoot-out, which is as good as anything Bourne has done.  

...[W]hat I disliked- the politics. The Saudis are treated as either idiots or terrorists. I mean surely the Saudi police has SOME sense of forensics, but this film depicts them as morons.  

And that scene where the team are chasing after their captured friend, and they drive in to a dangerous area... and suddenly it feels as if everyone has an ak47 in their living room- it just felt a little silly.  

[T]he film tries to be realistic with its opening mini-history of US-Saudi relations, and that talked-about final moment, which makes a very, very dangerous link between the FBI and terrorists- it's either a moronic broad statement that makes no sense, or an end-note to show the spiral of violence will always continue.  

If the latter, that point should have been developed more throughout the movie.  

Now if only The Game Plan did the same.  

LOVED Hugo Weaving as Cybertron, though personally I had hoped the filmmakers would cast Vin Diesel. The interactions between Cybertron and Starscream hinted at a backstory I'd love to see more of.