Thought the second one was really boring, and the first one really is just a preamble...so I'll go for the third, despite the neverending endings.
― Dr. Johnson (askance johnson), Thursday, 23 July 2009 23:12 (fourteen years ago) link
o ya the endings. that was not for me.
― julien schNAGL (s1ocki), Thursday, 23 July 2009 23:14 (fourteen years ago) link
the only problem i have with the third are the 2 or 3 scenes where the narrative pauses to recap events via a one-sided dialogue scene or a monologue but i loved the rohan shit too, + miranda otto and brad dourif and bernard hill.
― "he said...all things passantino the night" (omar little), Thursday, 23 July 2009 23:15 (fourteen years ago) link
sorry with the second, rather
though maybe it's a problem in the third too, i forget now
The third one because it has bad ass Gandalf and the sweeping shots of the charging Rohan are awesome
― same dog, different leg action (Mr Raif), Thursday, 23 July 2009 23:16 (fourteen years ago) link
I like all the endings but I would.
From China Mieville's recent thoughts on Tolkien, a good argument I hadn't heard before on Jackson leaving out the Scouring of the Shire at the end:
The magic goes west, of course, but there's also the peculiar abjuring of narrative form, in the strange echo after the final battle, the Lord of the Rings's post-end end, the Harrowing of the Shire--so criminally neglected by Jackson. In an alternate reality, this piece of scripting would have earned talented young tattooed hipster video-game designer Johnno Tolkien a slapped wrist from his studio: since when do you put a lesser villain straight after the final Boss Battle? But that's the point. The episode concludes 'well', of course, so far as it goes, but in its very pettiness relative to what's just been, it is brilliantly unsatisfying, ushering in an era of degraded parodies of epics, where it's not just the elves that are going: you can't even get a proper Dark Lord any more.
― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 23 July 2009 23:17 (fourteen years ago) link
I think they strained to do that more in the second one because they were truncating a lot of events and jumping around constantly - they felt (perhaps wrongly) that they needed to constantly be reminding the audience of the sequence of events, what was happening concurrently, etc. Which seems really stupid - that's something you can just SHOW, no narration required.
x-posts
― girlish in the worst sense of that term (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 23 July 2009 23:17 (fourteen years ago) link
Fellowship. I like all the sneaking around.
― chap, Thursday, 23 July 2009 23:18 (fourteen years ago) link
I was totally pissed that they opted for all those tearful goodbye scenes rather than the Scouring of the Shire, which is a great counterpoint/coda to the central story
― girlish in the worst sense of that term (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 23 July 2009 23:19 (fourteen years ago) link
The first takes more than an hour to get started, and if you're not a part of the cult (as I am proudly not) it's a serious drag. Then the Black Riders appear, and my heart starts to beat. They're in these films far too infrequently.
I voted for The Return of the King because even a non-cultist like me felt his jaw tremble when the Ring finally melted and during 12 of the 16 resolutions. Also: the big battle in which Ornaldo Bloomps kills those elephant things real good damn is awesome.
― Heric E. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 23 July 2009 23:19 (fourteen years ago) link
i think the presentation of those scenes was okay and while i watch them i feel like it plays more along the lines of one of those "and this is how heavy the burden now is" moments, but their intent is still obvious.
― "he said...all things passantino the night" (omar little), Thursday, 23 July 2009 23:20 (fourteen years ago) link
the first one focused a lot more on establishing the atmosphere and showed them walking around the NZ countryside a lot. i find myself putting it on just for the ambiance.
― Highly trained BBQ chef (rockapads), Thursday, 23 July 2009 23:21 (fourteen years ago) link
i'm just gonna say this- fuck orlando bloomps surfing down an elephant. fuck him real hard.
― Bobkate Goldtwat (darraghmac), Thursday, 23 July 2009 23:22 (fourteen years ago) link
mmm yes
― Heric E. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 23 July 2009 23:23 (fourteen years ago) link
Second bcz Frodo was just a statue with giant eye pools in the third and it srsly stresses me out to see Samwise have to deal w/the whole situation.
― bad-boy cartographer (Abbott), Thursday, 23 July 2009 23:25 (fourteen years ago) link
i ageee with everyone that the scouring of the shire should've been included -- it ends the book's main narrative on such a powerful, creepy, bitter note.
the first one had a way bigger effect on me than any of the others because it totally brought back that heady feeling of reading the books as a pre-teen, when they seemed like the most awesome books ever -- and i still remember sitting in the theater when it suddenly hit me, 'wow, they're really gonna do this RIGHT.' but i'd have to watch these again before i could say which was really 'best.'
mark s (who doesn't seem to post here anymore, sadly) has a great theory about how gollum is the secret hero of the saga, since all the action necessarily revolves around him (hence making him the actual, ahem, "lord of the rings").
― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Thursday, 23 July 2009 23:28 (fourteen years ago) link
the battle in the second one is the most memorable part of any of the three, but yeah probably the first one has more charm.
the third is great too but jesus christ I can remember shifting in my seat through interminable "this feels like the end" scenes, about 20 in a row.
― I for one welcome this new Nazi ILX (Local Garda), Thursday, 23 July 2009 23:28 (fourteen years ago) link
i was always confused with sauron's relationship to the other rings shown in the first film's preamble, maybe a LOTR stan can shed some light?
― "he said...all things passantino the night" (omar little), Thursday, 23 July 2009 23:29 (fourteen years ago) link
one ring to rule them all dude. it was a trap.
― (*゚ー゚)θ L(。・_・) °~ヾ(・ε・ *) (Steve Shasta), Thursday, 23 July 2009 23:30 (fourteen years ago) link
is it that he made them and gave them to the "MEN" and then he was able to control them as a result with the one ring? that's how I remember it but could be wrong.
x-post yeah
― I for one welcome this new Nazi ILX (Local Garda), Thursday, 23 July 2009 23:30 (fourteen years ago) link
all of these films are incredible. i downloaded the first one on vcd (!) from some ftp site. it was 4 discs and i used to fall asleep with the first disk playing in the background pretty much every night during 2002. so that.
including the scouring of the shire would have been awful.
― caek, Thursday, 23 July 2009 23:31 (fourteen years ago) link
he created them to bind the leaders of men, dwarfs & elves to him using the secret and powerful 'one ring'? quick recollection.
― Bobkate Goldtwat (darraghmac), Thursday, 23 July 2009 23:31 (fourteen years ago) link
i still remember sitting in the theater when it suddenly hit me, 'wow, they're really gonna do this RIGHT.'
^^^this. it is very very rare for me to get that rush from any film adaptation.
― girlish in the worst sense of that term (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 23 July 2009 23:32 (fourteen years ago) link
(particularly one I had always fantasized about as a young'un)
― girlish in the worst sense of that term (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 23 July 2009 23:33 (fourteen years ago) link
i figured that was the case, just needed to confirm!
― "he said...all things passantino the night" (omar little), Thursday, 23 July 2009 23:33 (fourteen years ago) link
Ha yes -- when Sauron's helmet crashed to the ground in the first prologue was when I was fully sold. What a start.
― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 23 July 2009 23:34 (fourteen years ago) link
coming on the heels of the star wars prequel it looked even better. and then it kinda made the subsequent matrix flicks look even worse in comparison.
― "he said...all things passantino the night" (omar little), Thursday, 23 July 2009 23:35 (fourteen years ago) link
as far as fanboy fodder went
I hate to say it but this thread is missing a little bit of Morbz' haterade
― girlish in the worst sense of that term (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 23 July 2009 23:37 (fourteen years ago) link
i could make up a batch, tbh
― Bobkate Goldtwat (darraghmac), Thursday, 23 July 2009 23:37 (fourteen years ago) link
;_;
i was going to say "i don't think morbs has seen these films" but then i remembered it never stopped him before.
― "he said...all things passantino the night" (omar little), Thursday, 23 July 2009 23:37 (fourteen years ago) link
Ha yes -- when Sauron's helmet crashed to the ground in the first prologue was when I was fully sold
i mean, this feeling lasted all the way up until the council of elrond, fully halfway through the first of three movies! what an achievement!
― Bobkate Goldtwat (darraghmac), Thursday, 23 July 2009 23:39 (fourteen years ago) link
Well, I don't give a shit about the mythology, but as far as these kinds of films go they're the best of their kind.
― Heric E. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 23 July 2009 23:39 (fourteen years ago) link
only cos willow doesn't have any sequels, tbh
― Bobkate Goldtwat (darraghmac), Thursday, 23 July 2009 23:40 (fourteen years ago) link
i keep thinking about the bullet dodged w/r/t the stuart townsend as aragorn casting.
― "he said...all things passantino the night" (omar little), Thursday, 23 July 2009 23:41 (fourteen years ago) link
well we still got agent johnson as elrond, to be fair.
― Bobkate Goldtwat (darraghmac), Thursday, 23 July 2009 23:42 (fourteen years ago) link
yeah Viggo's some perfect casting, they lucked out with him. Actually they lucked out with most of the casting really, I can't recall anyone who's certifiably bad. John Rhys Davies maybe.
― girlish in the worst sense of that term (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 23 July 2009 23:43 (fourteen years ago) link
blanchett!
― Bobkate Goldtwat (darraghmac), Thursday, 23 July 2009 23:45 (fourteen years ago) link
i don't think there's a single bad performance in the trilogy. gimli could have been played as more than what he mostly was (comic relief) but considering everything he was fine.
― "he said...all things passantino the night" (omar little), Thursday, 23 July 2009 23:45 (fourteen years ago) link
aragorn in the rankin/bass 'return of the king'
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a3/ROTKTVAragorn.jpg
― "he said...all things passantino the night" (omar little), Thursday, 23 July 2009 23:46 (fourteen years ago) link
Just imagine if John Rhys Meyers instead of John Rhys-Davies had played Gimli.
― Heric E. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 23 July 2009 23:47 (fourteen years ago) link
no way she's perfect - her freakout at the magic mirror scene is awesome
― girlish in the worst sense of that term (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 23 July 2009 23:47 (fourteen years ago) link
Denethor kind of sucked in the third movie, he should've been more like how he is in the book
― same dog, different leg action (Mr Raif), Thursday, 23 July 2009 23:49 (fourteen years ago) link
her freakout at the magic mirror scene is awesome
i defend to the death your right to say it, etc etc but this was cringeworthy overacting.
― Bobkate Goldtwat (darraghmac), Thursday, 23 July 2009 23:52 (fourteen years ago) link
i think the cringey shit was more special effects-based.
― "he said...all things passantino the night" (omar little), Friday, 24 July 2009 00:01 (fourteen years ago) link
(with that specific scene)
Showing him already collapsed rather than on the verge of it was a telescoping for sure. (There's the bit in the extra footage of Two Towers that's as close as we'll get to that.) But John Noble did pretty well with the part as written, and the whole dismissal of Faramir/obsessive eating/"Can you sing, master Hobbit?" part is on point, as was that last defiant sneer and flinging of the torch onto the pyre. All of which was sadly undermined by the 'I can flyyyyyyyyy!' bit, admittedly.
― Ned Raggett, Friday, 24 July 2009 00:04 (fourteen years ago) link
i liked sean bean basically reprising his role from ronin
― julien schNAGL (s1ocki), Friday, 24 July 2009 00:06 (fourteen years ago) link
i felt there was more of his trevlyan from goldeneye in it, tbh. but he was pretty good, surprisingly.
― Bobkate Goldtwat (darraghmac), Friday, 24 July 2009 00:07 (fourteen years ago) link
how about a republic or is that against the rules of high epic fantasy bullshit
― Left, Saturday, 30 December 2023 19:18 (four months ago) link
how's your mousse
― poppers fueled buttsex crescendo (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 30 December 2023 19:44 (four months ago) link
the stollen is a little stale but still good
― Left, Saturday, 30 December 2023 19:56 (four months ago) link
currently in a totally jacksoned confrontation with the army of the dead
its awful, easily the worst sequence in any of the movies and possibly in any movie
― close encounters of the third knid (darraghmac), Saturday, 30 December 2023 20:17 (four months ago) link
That line was broken!
― poppers fueled buttsex crescendo (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 30 December 2023 20:27 (four months ago) link
an entire jackson sequence where frodo and gollum get into a fistfight
jfc
― close encounters of the third knid (darraghmac), Saturday, 30 December 2023 20:39 (four months ago) link
The army of the dead stuff should have been absolutely terrifying, like just a genuinely make them a horrific nightmare fuel force on the battlefield. making them the ghost equivalent of fast zombies was a mistake. Better if they were a slow lurching practical effects beast vs green CGI.
― omar little, Saturday, 30 December 2023 20:47 (four months ago) link
otm
― close encounters of the third knid (darraghmac), Saturday, 30 December 2023 20:48 (four months ago) link
Jackson did right by the Nazgul in the first film, not sure why he fucked this up.
― poppers fueled buttsex crescendo (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 30 December 2023 20:50 (four months ago) link
― close encounters of the third knid (darraghmac), Saturday, 30 December 2023 21:00 (four months ago) link
Bringing the invincible undead army all the way to Pelennor Fields somewhat devalues the battle, imo. If only they'd arrived a couple hours earlier.
They're a cheap device in the novel too but at least they have more limited utility.
― jmm, Saturday, 30 December 2023 21:00 (four months ago) link
In retrospect it was a warning sign w/r/t the hobbit films. I'm not saying practical effects would have saved those movies but damn those orcs looked absolutely awful.
― omar little, Saturday, 30 December 2023 21:02 (four months ago) link
and their smell! and their eating habits!
― poppers fueled buttsex crescendo (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 30 December 2023 21:03 (four months ago) link
Tolkien is notably short on description. I have no recollection of him ever describing the appearance of an orc.
― immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Saturday, 30 December 2023 21:07 (four months ago) link
Fell something-or-other
― 1980 Jackanory spinoff (Matt #2), Saturday, 30 December 2023 21:20 (four months ago) link
Seems kinda unfair to pick on Gollum for those qualities, the effects work was so astonishing at the time and he worked as a fully vested character thanks to Serkis. The tech was so cutting edge that he improves noticeably between films 2 and 3.Also he looks so much like a hated ex prime minister of Aus that I get a little joy from his otherwise tragic death.― assert (matttkkkk)
― assert (matttkkkk)
god damn i had to re-read this, i thought andy serkis tragically died
how about a republic or is that against the rules of high epic fantasy bullshit― Left
― Left
i mean personally i'd be in favor of an anarchosyndicalist collective but nobody who's ever seen "holy grail" is going to take _that_ seriously
― Kate (rushomancy), Saturday, 30 December 2023 21:24 (four months ago) link
The opening of The Two Towers is just... so incredibly good. Something perfect about the way the camera takes an extra second before deciding to follow Gandalf.
― jmm, Saturday, 30 December 2023 21:29 (four months ago) link
xp Even they had to take it in turns to act as a sort of executive officer for the week.
― immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Saturday, 30 December 2023 21:30 (four months ago) link
The Théoden-Éowyn relationship is the heart of the film for me
It's something we remarked upon in our ROTK rewatch. Arguably how it plays out over the two films it's featured in is the best outright addition, or at least elaboration on fairly bare bones, to the adaptation in general.
Nobody is ever gonna be given the money to make a tonally interesting Tolkien movie, if such a thing was possible
Mm, well, we'll have to see -- in a year's time this debuts (and it will be a theatrical effort):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lord_of_the_Rings:_The_War_of_the_Rohirrim
Without pretending to be expert in his work, what I've seen of Kenji Kamiyama's efforts in general has been pretty striking, and there's something much more immediately interesting visually about going this route than the attempt to clone Jackson's approach in large part in Rings of Power. Jason deMarco, who is one of the executive producers and is the key connection point between Warner's and Kamiyama and team, has been a casual online friend for many years and while he's of course not going into detail, he's mentioned that's been a heck of a lot of work on his part but that he's loved both the process and what's happened so far, and he's never struck me as the type of guy interested in hype for hype's sake. Even though it's going to be inline with the Jackson movies by default on various levels, there's room to try something more here.
― Ned Raggett, Saturday, 30 December 2023 21:46 (four months ago) link
fair play, that sounds interesting at least
― emishi sun hack (Noodle Vague), Saturday, 30 December 2023 22:00 (four months ago) link
and an anime sensibility is something i overlooked tbh
― emishi sun hack (Noodle Vague), Saturday, 30 December 2023 22:01 (four months ago) link
the celebration after the crowning looks *awful*
― close encounters of the third knid (darraghmac), Saturday, 30 December 2023 22:38 (four months ago) link
The Lord of the Gripes
― immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Saturday, 30 December 2023 22:43 (four months ago) link
The army of the dead flowing over Minas Tirith looks way too much like a Listerine ad.
― jmm, Sunday, 31 December 2023 21:13 (four months ago) link
My comparison for years, as redone in the podcast, was Scrubbing Bubbles.
― Ned Raggett, Sunday, 31 December 2023 22:22 (four months ago) link
https://x.com/JessZafarris/status/1741700613413515476
― what you say is true but by no means (lukas), Monday, 1 January 2024 07:41 (four months ago) link
Wait lemme try that again
Denmark's Queen Margrethe II, who announced her abdication on TV just hours ago, is also known for having done these illustrations for Danish '70s editions of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. pic.twitter.com/1F2vcwQuB1— Jess Zafarris 📚 (@JessZafarris) January 1, 2024
― what you say is true but by no means (lukas), Monday, 1 January 2024 07:42 (four months ago) link
OMG those are sick as hell
― feed me with your chips (zchyrs), Monday, 1 January 2024 17:29 (four months ago) link
They're fantastic, thanks for sharing. If you Google you can find some other ones
― groovypanda, Monday, 1 January 2024 17:55 (four months ago) link
thought of a new line for the two towers posters
a little from gollum a, a little from gollum b
― close encounters of the third knid (darraghmac), Friday, 5 January 2024 18:16 (three months ago) link
That's pretty awesome - also imagine if you're another fan indulging in the Tolkien fantasy of being Aragorn, except you're actually royalty.
― birdistheword, Friday, 5 January 2024 18:23 (three months ago) link
We loves it
― he’s an adventurer (derogatory) (flamboyant goon tie included), Friday, 5 January 2024 18:43 (three months ago) link
Seriously good one
― jmm, Friday, 5 January 2024 19:37 (three months ago) link
Lol yes I lolled
― emishi sun hack (Noodle Vague), Friday, 5 January 2024 19:38 (three months ago) link
Top tier, can we move this thread to 77 so it doesn't get plagiarised and reposted to reddit for 9.7 billion upvotes by some hack lurker
― hiroyoshi tins in (Sgt. Biscuits), Friday, 5 January 2024 20:07 (three months ago) link
That puts it out of reach for some of us.
― immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Friday, 5 January 2024 20:25 (three months ago) link
If you Google you can find some other ones
I have the full Folio Tolkien set and yep, her illustrations are pretty great.
― Ned Raggett, Friday, 5 January 2024 21:53 (three months ago) link
I think its interesting that Tolkien was this language fanatic yet somehow out of that came this rich treasury of advanture tales. Make me wonder what CHomsky has in him waiting to become high fantasy -
― | (Latham Green), Thursday, 11 January 2024 13:31 (three months ago) link
Manufacturing Ents
― craning to be leather (Noodle Vague), Thursday, 11 January 2024 14:52 (three months ago) link
Lectures on Government and Binding, co- author Sauron
― close encounters of the third knid (darraghmac), Thursday, 11 January 2024 15:04 (three months ago) link
Rings as a System of Power
― | (Latham Green), Thursday, 25 January 2024 13:39 (three months ago) link