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I •- Entertaintnent Page 6 September 30, 2003 The Two Towers Triumphs on Home Video and DVD DEMARAMED Staff Writer MATT PETROVICH Entertainment/P. 0. V. Editor With substantial plot to cover, the middle film of JRR Tolkein's Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Two Towers, is a solid movie that delivers on all.fronts. the main characters are given appropriate attention on- screen, the plot can become a bit confusing. . The hobbit, Frodo (Elijah Wood), and his companion Samwise (Sean Astin) continue their journey to Mordor, the only place to destroy the all-powerful evil ring in his possession. Along the way the two hobbits are aided by Gollum (Andy Serkis), a being twisted by the ring's addicting malevolent power. hobbits, Merry (Dominic Monaghan) and Pippin (Billy Boyd), captured by the evil Saruman (Christopher Lee). They don't find the hob bits, however, but do find themselves, as well as the resurrected Gandalf (Ian McKellen) embroiled in the dominant plot thread. Their mission is to try to raise an army to thwart Saruman's seemingly invincible army of evil Uruk-Hai Ores. Finally, the third plot thread focuses on Merry and Pippin, who get caught up with a group of tree-like creatures known as Ents, of the mystical Fangom Forest. twisting plot, the movie becomes that much better. The first thing to notice about The Two Towers is that the color in the film is much subdued. Colder, harsher with few vibrant colors at all, it nicely compliments the overall darker tone of the second film. Of course, the star of the movie is the much the hyped final battle at Helm's Deep and it's well worth it. Thousands battling on screen at once is enough to get your adrenalin going. more on action and plot than on the characters, who take a backseat, content to ride the rollercoaster of the movie. While not necessarily bad, because the characters were established in the first movie, it can still prove confusing for those who are viewing Tolkein' s world for the first time. The upside is The Two Towers becomes much more accessible to action movie fans, because the action quota is through the roof. The few touches of humor sprinkled throughout are well done and welcome, though a small reprieve from the rest of the dark atmosphere of the The extra features on the DVD are comprehensive, but still quite ordinary. There's your standard behind the scenes film documentary, featurettes about different places and people in the movie, trailers, a preview of the new Lord of the Rings game,etc. What's truly interesting is the first look at the final film, Return of the King, available as an extra. The Two Towers is very well done, and while very different from the lighter tone of the first movie, it easily holds its own and very nicely sets up for the final film in the trilogy. The plot follows nicely with the book, and even expands on parts the book only touched on. It starts out directly after the events of the first movie. The fellowship has been split, and the film follows the three separate plot lines nicely. Though all Meanwhile, Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen), Gimli (John Rhys-Davies) and Legolas (Orlando Bloom) are in pursuit of the other If you're able to follow the Unlike the Fellowship, The Two Towers focuses movie. T hunder Bay T heater Shoots Into a New Seas 'f{cu:se cf a il,cusand Ccrpses ***** Lat"~ fcu.nda~<>n CHRIS GILLMORE Staff Writer Thunder Bay Theater's first play of the season is starting out as remarkable success. a Annie Get Your Gun opened on the 18 th of September to a receptive audience. All in attendance were thoroughly entertained. It will be running till October 5th_ Annie Get Your Gun is a musical about a hillbilly named Annie Oakley, a young woman in the Old West, who is adept at shooting guns. She joins Buffalo Bill's Traveling Wild West Show as a female marksman who falls in love with her male counterpart Frank Butler. Her talents begin to outshine Frank's and she This show promises to be DE MARAMED realizes that she will have to great for a family outing. Sraff Writer makesometoughdecisions With beautiful songs to keep the man she loves. and wholesome family Thunder Bay Theater will entertainment. next present "Beauty and From October 30th to the Beast" on October 17th November 16th, Thunder 18th, 24th, and 25th. Bay Theater will perform Beauty and the Beast is Our Town and the fourth a romantic play about a production ofthefall season poor merchant that gets lost will be The Christmas and enters the castle of the Schooner on November Beast and decides to stay. 28 th through December He was too afraid to return 20th . House of a Thousand Corpses (HTC) has writer/ director Rob Zombie's fingerprints all over it. Equal parts shocking and disturbing, HJ'C is best compared to an extended White Zombie music video. The plot is very much standard teen horror flick. A group of teenagers driving cross-country stop at Captain home to his daughters as a Thunder Bay Theater is Spaulding 's Museum of failure. TheBeastpromises located at 400 N. 2nd MonstersandMadmen,and him riches ifhe sends his AvenueinAlpena,Mic ·gan. fromtheregoonasearchfor youngest daughter to the Ticket prices range f f/1 localmadmanDr. Satan.After Beast. The merchant $6.00 for student to $1 .00 pickingupahappyflirtatious agrees and sends his fornormaladmission. female hitchhiker named youngest daughter Beauty Play dates are on Thur ay Baby, their tire gets shot out. back to the Beast where through Sun ay. Luckily, Baby leads them to she sees through the * * * * * herhouse.Herburlybrother hideous visage of the Beast Rufus fixes the tire, while the and begins to fall in love teens meet Baby's deranged with him. family. The meeting becomes frightening, and after their tire is fixed they make a run for it. They don't make it far before they are captured and brutally a Don't orget ... FRIDAY is ACC Day! ff wear something ACC and get 25o/o OFF h clothing purchase (sale items excluded) at slain one by one. Eventually the survivors get their wish and meet the subterranean dweller Dr. Satan. While rather uninspired the basic plot is not the film's best part. The high point comes from the fact that it is so extremely bizarre that you' 11 feel compelled to watch it all the way through. The stuttering, grainy and unreal- colored cut scenes seem to only be there to give you a jolt, a burst of unease to add to the always-heightening tension. The characters themselves are memorable, especially Captain Spaulding, played by Sid Haig. His vulgar clown character steals each and every scene he's in. The family members are also quite interesting. There's Mother Firefly, the matriarch, who's best described as a washed up 1970s porn star who dosed too much acid. Otis, the young, brash and particularly sadistic loudmouth leader. There's also the massive and Sir, if you insist on wearing something that fits. deformed Tiny and the old and grumpy Grampa Hugo. Sparse but still interesting, the DVD extras contain your run-of-the-mill behind the scenes documentaries, trailers, and even rehearsals by the actors .. Unfortunately, the bizarre and twisted nature of HTC is the only real reason to watch it. It's so far out there that once you start watching, you become glued to the movie. Much like a car . accident, you can't look away. In the commentary, Rob Zombie reveals that HTC pays homage to classic horror flicks like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. In the end, it ends up as the average slasher-flick bloody and bad entertainment. *****