By Stephen Pytak 

     There are only really two reasons why I'm alive 
today.
     One is my wife. I don't know where I'd be without
her support.
     The other was my desire to complete the journey, the
one Frodo, Aragorn and Peter Jackson were on.
     I have kidney disease. It started getting worse and
in Spring 2003 I was faced with a decision. I could
either start dialysis or make plans for hospice care
and funeral arrangements.
     The experience made me really think about what
I like about living. What I enjoy most of all, honestly,
is sitting in a theater to watch a great movie, in 
particular horror movies.
     At the time, "The Lord of the Rings: The Two 
Towers" was still playing. I saw it five times in the
theater, twice on day one actually.
     It showed me all the things I wanted to see when
I bought a ticket to Sam Raimi's "Army of Darkness"
back in 1993. 
    There were strange beasts, a seemingly-unstoppable 
army and, holy Christ, the ghosts in the Dead Marshes 
looked like "The Evil Dead!" Wow!
     It's not every day you get to see something like this
at the box office, and I wanted to see more. This stuff
made me feel alive.
     I decided to do dialysis. I wasn't sure I'd make it to
December if I didn't.
     I'm not sorry I did, and one of the reasons why was
the experience of "The Return of the King."
     For three-hours and 21 minutes, I was treated to 
crazed orcs, battle trolls, oliphaunts crushing horses,
and Eowyn kicking ass and the very amusing fall of
Sauron. 
     There are thousands of incredible details that bring
these battles to horrific life. The special effects look so
real, and so flawless at times, I'm hoping patrons and
the Academy don't take them for granted.
     The orc battering ram shaped like a dragon, and
filled with a mouth full of fire, was intimidating. The
horse crushings during the battles were something I've
never seen before. Indeed, Sauron had a Hell of an
army.
     Frodo's stand at the mouth of the volcano was also
kind of interesting. I read the book about 10 years ago,
so I knew the score. And I also knew there were a few
ways Jackson could play his hand. He turned up a few
interesting cards.
     I like how both Frodo and Gollum fell off the cliff 
during their fight for the ring. I like how Frodo 
grabbed the ledge, as Gollum grabbed the precious.
And you notice how Frodo didn't get a good hold of
Sam's hand at first.
     That's because the ring still had a bit of a hold on 
him, until it dissolved in the lava.
     The ring was, after all, the main character in this
play. And Jackson didn't forget his ace.
     I still have a few reasons to live on, by the way. 
Seeing this film a few more times during its initial run
is of course one of them.
     Some films are worth more than the price of 
admission, especially when they give you hope, and
something more.