Moviegoing In Chicago

We’ve been to see Girl With A Pearl Earring and LOTR: Return of the King. I greatly enjoyed GWAPE, as I knew I would. The most remarkable things about it (except for the scene with Vermeer standing in a doorway looking exceedingly yummy in a blue velvet waistcoat) were the pacing and the luminosity of the visuals. It looked exactly like a movie based on a book based on a Vermeer painting should look — subtle color variations, intense shades, minute details of mundane, pedestrian activities. It was beautiful. I think that seeing it without having read the book would diminish some of its power, although both of us were disappointed that a couple of scenes from the book were cut from the movie. But all in all, a wonderful movie.

As was, of course, Return of the King. I love big epics, and when accompanied by great direction, great acting, and very cool CGI rendering, well … I barely noticed the passing of three hours.