I saw Rent on Thursday. The candle light song is when I started to get into it, also. I did end up loving it by the end. The cast was so pretty. Favorite songs were Tango:Maureen, Light my Candle, Seasons of Love, and Take me as I Am. Jo Ann was way too good for Maureen, though. When it was over I was just a little bit in love with Tracie Thoms and Jesse L. Martin.

I saw Walk the Line last night. I know nothing about Johnny Cash but I liked it okay. Joaquin and Reese did a great job with the singing.

I desperately want WTL and Rent soundtracks now.

Just got back from a showing of Narnia. It was.... Okay. It was well done, and matched the book well enough, although for no discernable reason, the head of the White Witch's secret police had his name changed from Fenris Ulf (one of the all time great character names) to the rather insipid and generic sounding Morgrim.

The main reason I label it as only okay is that the film mostly hammers home the fact the Lord of the Rings was by far the better story -- more nuanced and complex, presenting a world that felt more real, with more depth, breadth, and human frailty.

I plan to see Narnia sometime this week. I don't expect it to be LotR, but from the look of it, I don't expect it to be a total disappointment, either.

From the first glimpse of the first trailer, with the opposing armies rushing at each other across Pelennor the plain, my thought was "I know those mountains!" Now I'm wondering how many stunties and extras, former orcs and elves, are in those opposing armies in Narnia? A friend saw a behind the scenes-ish special on the making of Narnia, and dear Richard Taylor was there, being his up-WETA geeky self. Bless.

That's about the best way to put it, Bev -- Not LotR, but not a total disappointment, either.

Some station we were watching in the hotel room had a 45-minute "Making of" special on Narnia, and Robert banged on the bathroom door (I was showering) to tell me "Richard Taylor is on TV!!!"

CNN International did a very offensive piece about how Disney made Narnia to capitalize on the success of "Passion of the Christ." They made it sound like Disney picked the Narnia books because there are a lot of potential sequels, and then put the Christianity in themselves as a marketing ploy.

If anything, they took the most obvious bits of the allegory out. There was no mention of Aslan's father, the Emperor-Over-the-Sea, which I thought of as the most explicit indication that Aslan was Christ.

From the first glimpse of the first trailer, with the opposing armies rushing at each other across Pelennor the plain, my thought was "I know those mountains!"

At the Q&A I was at, the director said that one of his biggest problems in choosing locations was avoiding places used by LotR. (The plains they used for the battle were different plains than PJ used, but only just.)

Johansson joins The Prestige.

Sean, the Fenris Ulf/Maugrim change was bugging me too -- I even remembered, very clearly, Peter being knighted Fenris-bane, not Wolf-bane. And then on Saturday, after seeing the movie Friday, I picked up a (something like 1998-99 edition) copy of the book and read it and got even more confused, because he's called Maugrim throughout the book. Wikipedia, as usual, unravels the mystery.

And, yeah, I liked Fenris better.

IRelatedN, I'm working my way through the Chronicles again -- there are bits of Dawn Treader that make me bristly and gripesome, but oh my does Prince Caspian kick all kinds of ass. Such huge fun. I think I bored Hec to tears all weekend, chasing around after him reading the bits about the talkative squirrel and the weepy giant and Peter dictating his ridiculously florid medieval challenge to Miraz of single combat ending with Professor Cornelius muttering, "Narnia, comma, greetings."

Wikipedia, as usual, unravels the mystery.

Thank the Emperor Over the Sea for Wikipedia.

And, yeah, I liked Fenris better.

It's just such a cool name. It kinda bums me out that it was a creation of some US editor, and not Lewis himself.

They made it sound like Disney picked the Narnia books because there are a lot of potential sequels, and then put the Christianity in themselves as a marketing ploy.

Huh. That's a really stupid story. I mean, doesn't the last book in the series (I've only read the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe) basically recreate the Armageddon of Revelations in Narnia?