Lord of the Rings,
RETURN OF THE KING

METAPHYSICAL OVERVIEW: 
Diverse people, working together to protect their homelands and cultures, is metaphorically defined in this trilogy. It is not lost on most viewers how this story mirrors the troubles of our species. Whether it offers any true solutions is a matter of personal beliefs. In Return of The King, the final film of the set, the story comes to an impressive and satisfying close. It stands on its own, as well as finalizes many sub-themes from the first and second LOTR’s. Middle Earth is seen in its entirety, the sweep and breadth of Tolkein’s world fully presented—the walking trees, the horrific demons of Sauron’s mighty forces, the magical Elvish community, ominous, huge underground caverns with breathtaking ‘views’ of the King’s City and surrounding lands. The Hobbit lands, the sea, volcanoes and bogs, pteradactyls and eagles, herds of beautiful horses…it is…Middle Earth in all its stunning glory, the way only the graphic artists of today can bring it. The sets and landscapes drive the allegories home with penache and force, allowing one to contemplate the glories of ethnic diversity, strength of will and evil overcome. A big-screen phenomenon.



Mona Lisa Smile

METAPHYSICAL OVERVIEW: 
This film is a period piece, examining the juxtaposition of post-WWII technological advances and the confused attempt to return to Victorian values and culture. 
Does the Twenty-first Century resemble the Twentieth Century in that women, smart women, often go to college under the guise of ambition for a career, when in actuality, their ambition is to find a husband and live happily ever after? Do today’s men still feel trapped by the ‘American Dream’ –once achieved? Do we still roll out ‘modern marvels’ to exemplify the good, not the bad, in technology? If this film doesn’t feel like a period piece to the viewer, beyond the costumes, sets and automobiles, it may simply be there seems little contrast between today’s culture and values—and fifty years ago—and would that assessment be wrong?



Big Fish

METAPHYSICAL OVERVIEW: 
Adventure, action and danger go hand in hand with any journey. Many a whopper is told of youthful gallivanting, the dim past brought to vivid life by a likeable and captivating storyteller—the best are tall tales that entertain, if not actually evolving to be the version everyone remembers as the ‘way it happened.’ 
Tim Burton presents the essence of myth, legend and fairy tales. The truly magical, imaginative storyteller works on the thread of the story—the original ‘truth’ if you will—and fleshes it out with drama, excitement and the odd embellishment. In Big Fish, the viewer will decide whether the truth is as important as the telling.

Calendar Girls

   

In America

METAPHYSICAL OVERVIEW: 
Wishing to belong in a new environment is familiar to all and in this Irish immigrant family the need is greater due to their recent loss of one of the children. Told without a lot of cliché or stereotyping, this film touches on the character’s ethnicity as well as that of their new neighbors and NYC as a whole.