The LOVELY bones

What do we take from Harry Knowles use of the word "lovely" in his positive but not overly gaga, masturbatory, fanboy jacking off review of The Lovely Bones (11.01.10 - U.S, 29.01.10 - U.K.)? If like me, you believe that Knowles usually works on a scale two notches above the average, sane-minded movie fan and when it comes to the works of Peter Jackson, you can probably double that figure, then can we take his cautiously worded review of the filmas being good, very good but not the movie to end all movies?

The Lovely Bones, adapted from Alice Sebold's popular novel is a return to the grounded dramatics of Jackson's 90's work, but still promises lots of fantastical sequences. A polite "lovely" is what I usually say when I'm a guest at a friend or relatives for a meal. Whether I actually think the meal looks or tastes "lovely" is something else entirely but it always seems to be the required response.

This is an incredibly powerful film, masterfully told and captured as only cinema in the hands of a consummate storyteller can tell it. LOVELY BONES will be one of the films of the year.

"one of the films of the year"? What do you mean exactly... one of the best films of the year, one of the most powerful, one of the most important? And surely with Knowles... if he believed that Jackson had delivered another King Kong, another Return of the King... wouldn't he have said, THE film of the year, like he usually does?