The best movie (fantasy or otherwise) I have seen in a long, long time...

Rating: 10/10 (20 December 2001)

I could start off by saying - just as others here have - that "Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" was all that I dreamed it could be, but I cannot. It was more like a nightmare; the most terrifying, claustrophobic, beautiful nightmare I have ever had. Genuinely frightening, wonderfully entertaining, this film is a treat for anyone willing to stop watching "Friends" or "Ally McBeal," get up off their ass, and get to a theater to see it.
What is there to say that already hasn't been said about "The Fellowship" that has not already been said? Peter Jackson, maker of such fine films as "Meet the Feebles" and "Bad Taste" (both of which I like by the way), has created what is the most awe-inspiring epic that I have seen on the big screen since another movie that had similar expectations way back in 1977. It seems destined that the original Star Wars trilogy (the good ones, not the current batch of digital-cartoon-Star Wars-wannabes started by the laughable "Phantom Menace") and the LOTR trilogy will be forever linked in the world of cinema, and rightfully so. Both feature unlikely heroes going off into the great big universe to destroy an overwhelming evil with nothing but the will to survive, and both also feature a setting that is entirely "other-worldly" (Star Wars is set in another galaxy; LOTR is set in another era). But enough with the comparisons; there is really nothing you can compare this movie to and give it justice.
Hands down the best fantasy film ever made (makes stuff like Legend and The Dark Crystal, my two other favorite fantasy flicks, look like ants in comparison this monster of a film), clearly the best film of this year, and also the best overall film I have seen in a good long while (better than Shrek, Gladiator, The Matrix, The Phantom "Cartoon," Titanic; the list goes on and on), and I hope that Peter Jackson, the cast and the crew of this masterpiece are not overlooked when it comes time for the Academy to hand out their awards. Bravo on making my nightmares come true.