Lord of the Rings

So I've never seen a Lord of the Rings movie before. I don't know, I just never really had an interest in them. I've heard they were good movies, I just never really felt like sitting through 12 hours of movies that I didn't have much of an interest in. I was going to continue living like this, until one of my roommates forced to watch them, all of them, extended editions to boot. So I figured now's as good a time as any, so I decided to sit down with a few people to watch it for the first time.

For a movie that came out in 2001, I think the film held up really well. With a good cast, believable writing and solid special effect for the time, I was pretty impressed with the first movie, Fellowship of the Rings. At some points you could definitely tell from the special effects and cgi that this wasn't a movie released within the past 5 years, but with that being said, they still got the job done and didn't take me out of the experience, plus for the time they must have looked incredible.

In addition to that, at some points the cinematography was really well done. There were a lot of sweeping shots, over head shots, and scenes with a lot going on within them, and all of it was put together really well. There were even subtle touches like certain characters having a glow around them.

Going into this movie, I really didn't think I was going to enjoy it all that much. And to be honest, it isn't toping any best of lists for me. I know that last line is borderline blasphemous in the eyes of some, but with all that being said, it was still a real solid movie and I enjoyed my time watching it. I guess there was a reason that it was included on the American Film Institute's revised 100 Greatest Movies of All Time list as one of the few films from the 21st century.

Wilfred

This weeks post is going to be about the TV show "Wilfred starring Elijah Wood and Jason Gann. "Wilfred" follows the manic depressive Ryan Newman (Elijah Wood). In the midst of a suicide attempt, he's asked to watch over his neighbor Jenna's (Fiona Gubelman) dog Wilfred (Jason Gann). However, for some odd reason Ryan sees Wilfred as a human in a dog costume, whereas everyone else sees him as just a dog. Ryan begins to watch over Wilfred as Jenna lives her busy life, and they begin to form a friendship. Wilfred tries to help Ryan out of his depressive state, in his own twisted way (and with his own agenda).

I had first seen an ad for "Wilfred" when I was watching FX at some point over the summer, but never got a chance to watch it. I recently discovered that the first season was on Netflix, so I decided to give it a shot. Since then, I haven't been able to stop watching and have already completed the first season.

"Wilfred" is a show unlike any that I've seen on TV before. I wasn't sure exactly what it was about when I first saw the ad's for it, but I've got to say that I think the plot is ingenious and extremely creative. The character's personalities are defined so well, and the dynamic of Ryan's unsure nature and lack of confidence in himself, coupled with Wilfred's dog personality translated into a human life, is a great tag team for a TV show. It's an extremely original program. I would recommend it to anyone into the 'dark comedy' genre of programs.