Movie #72 -- The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

Title: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

Director: Peter Jackson

Release Year: 2003

Plot Summary: Frodo continues his perilous journey towards Mount Doom to destroy The One Ring.

Thoughts: Winner of 11 Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Director, and a bunch of others -- every single one of them deserved.

Peter Jackson took a masterpiece of a literary work and created a fully realized and believable world. Each character has a purpose, each is integral to the story, each one of them is important. Sure, the writers took a few liberties with the source material, but in no way does it distract from the film.

The acting is fantastic, but the best character (hands down) is Gollum -- he's a marvel of CGI and maybe the most human of anything that appears on screen. It's a true shame that Andy Serkis' performance was not allowed to be nominated for an Oscar (trust me, it's much better than the quite strong performance that Tim Robbins gave in 'Mystic River', but that's neither here nor there).

This movie really is as good as everyone says it is -- and one of very few that so widely appealed to critics and casual fans alike. And once it's over you feel sad that there is nothing left -- no more story of Frodo and Sam, nothing more on the life of Aragorn, no more adventures of Legolas and Gimli...

This is one of only three films to ever make me cry -- and I do so most every time I see it. In my humble opinion, the best film I have ever seen.

Rating (0-10): 10

Recomendations: Best movie ever. Need I say more? I'd recommend seeing 'Fellowship of the Ring' and 'The Two Towers' before seeing this.