Master Helps's Us, Master Never Betrays Us...

I sit here in awe of the cinematic event I took part in last night. Oh my gosh.

Unless you are a carnivorous super-conservative crazy, you must go go go see LOTR: The Two Towers. Never before have I witnessed such an awe-inspiring, mesmerizing, and utterly moving film. This is the reason movies are made. This single film justifies the existence of Hollywood and absolves all of that wanton wretch's past sins...except Judge Dredd.

If I had to choose between LOTR and the Star Wars melodrama, I would renounce George Lucas' sagging mound of marketing fodder, and vow never to see "Episode III."

Peter Jackson has revolutionized the way epic stories are told on film. He creates characters that resonate to the core of human experience. These are the heroes we loved in our youths, the heroes that are absent from the stories told to the current generation of angry, sullen children. These characters ennoble us, make us bolder. They inspire us to fight the evil of the world, and overcome it.

J.R.R. Tolkien wrote this powerful series as part-fantasy, part-historical study on man's constant pursuit of power, and the evils he will commit in order to obtain it. While the horrors of Hitler's Nazi regime and the second World War were in Tolkien's immediate memory, we can relate today to the shock and terror of facing manifestations of pure evil. We know the fear and concern of hearing of a warlord building weapons to destroy the world. We hear voices saying, it's not our war.

So many moments of this movie resonate deeply. Gollum's constant battle with himself, the tearing of good and evil within his soul. Merry and Pippin's desperate attempts to enlist the forest spirits to the cause.

I'm still in awe of this film. Wowsa.

"If we don't do something, the fires of Isengard will burn all that's green and good in the world. There won't be a shire."