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About meThe Comfy Return of the King
Saw the movie on Saturday evening. The theater was sweet. We spent 6,000 yen for two tickets (pricy!) but we did so over the web, which was comforting. No need to go hours early and stand in line, hoping to be close enough to the front to avoid the rush for remaining seats located next to each other. We got seats E8 and E9; a look at the chart on the theater website showed a little blob of some kind separating them, but this turned out to be the table (lit softly from within so you can see your drinks and snacks in the dark).
The seats were basically La-Z-Boys. Big armchairs, soft and inviting, with headrests that fit my frame. Recliners! This was very welcome. There’s a little footrest just behind the seats in front of you so you can really kick back, sipping your beer and munching your popcorn and watching three-plus hours of Middle Earth action.
Yeah, beer. The Roppongi Hills Virgin Cinema snack bar has some cool sets–a hot dog and a beer, beer and a popcorn, big popcorn and two beers. I looked for the beer, beer, popcorn, beer, and beer set, but I guess they still have some combinations to work out. We got some Sapporo and some snacks and, armed with our tray, headed back to the premier theater lounge . . . where we learned that these tickets came complete with a free drink each. Two more beers (dark draft of some kind, and to quote Pulp Fiction, “I’m talking a glass of beer”) to go on the tray. The tray on the table, the shoes off, the seats reclined. We were ready for the flick.
The movie itself was fantastic, of course. I went home after my Friday class and we watched as much of Fellowship as we could get through before crashing, and Saturday was dedicated to eating brunch and zipping through the Two Towers DVDs to refresh our memory with key scenes. It might have been nice to watch the full versions of everything, but probably avoiding overload was best. Anyway, I won’t review it here. If you’ve seen it you’ll know why it was worth watching, and if you haven’t you won’t want to dodge spoilers in this entry. Suffice to say it was a strong finish to a strong series. George Lucas and the Wachowski brothers need to sit down and have the lesson of this trilogy pounded into their brains before they go on to begin any other fantastic epics that spiral into mediocrity.
I can’t wait for the extended DVDs to come out. The Japanese editions hit the stores in December, if all goes according to the pace set so far. I don’t spend much time surfing LOTR rumor sites, so I have no idea what chopped scenes will make their way back in . . . Faramir and Eowyn hooking up? More Gollum? More Paths of the Dead? More battle and wrath? (There seemed to be plenty of that in the theatrical release.) I can’t wait. I can’t wait. I might have to drop another 6,000 yen so we can see it again in an almost perfect theater.
Why almost perfect? Well, that’s an awful lot of beer to throw at a guy when he has to sit still for three and a half hours, even if the seat is a comfy one . . .
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2 Responses to “The Comfy Return of the King”
Posted by: Paul Flint - 04/12/2004
Funny stuff. I agree on all points on the movies. I didn’t know about the premier theater at the Virgin-plex. I’ll have to check that out. And the beer.
Posted by: Durf - 04/26/2004
It’s a great theater. We went to see the flick again in Shinagawa after that, but the
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