We spent the necessary three hours in line last night to be able to see the very first show of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King at midnight. It’s playing at the only multiplex (four screens!) on the island. I keep meaning to determine the distance to the next nearest theater showing it. . .

Excellent movie. I’ll be very disappointed if Peter Jackson does not get Best Director from the Academy this year. The entire Lord of the Rings epic clocks in somewhere between 9 and 12 hours, and Jackson deserves recognition for the consistent look, feel, and quality of the entire trilogy.

One of my favorite moments: Eowyn, Princess of Rohan, finally fed up with the men around her telling her that her proper place is overseeing the women and children and not on the battlefield, disguises herself and rides to war with her king. When he is wounded, it is she who stands between him and the Nazgul lord who would finish him. After Eowyn decapitates the Witch King’s dragon and successfully deflects his sword, the Nazgul lord still mocks her, “Don’t you know who I am? No man can kill me.” In response, she sweeps her helm from her head, freeing her mane of blond hair, and retorts “I am no man” before she runs her sword through his face mask.