3 Cheers for LOTR!!! Be careful...hints: TT included

Kim in Tulsa · Post by **Kim in Tulsa** » Tue Dec 17, 2002 9:17 am

On 2002-12-17 10:11, Jens_Hoppe wrote:
Impatient, are we Kim? Note that us Europeans will see the film hours ahead of you.

Send me a private message with a full report, so we won't spoil it for anyone. (I'm not above spoilers

)

I'm very excited!

K

Kim in Tulsa · Post by **Kim in Tulsa** » Tue Dec 17, 2002 2:03 pm

Kim in Tulsa · Post by **Kim in Tulsa** » Tue Dec 17, 2002 5:05 pm

I'm leaving for my line party in just a few minutes! My heart rhythm is regular and I'm feeling fine!

<center><img src="http://images.yorkphoto.com/33633983232 ... C263ot1lsi">

Chuck_Clark · Post by **Chuck_Clark** » Tue Dec 17, 2002 6:22 pm

Aragorn having a fling with Galadriel, Arwen's grandmother? Eeew, the very thought!

Oh, I don't know about that. In terms of an Elvish lifetime, Galadriel is probably not even as old as Aragorn.

You might even take it a bit farther and suggest that for a human Aragorn's age, Arwen represents a bit of cradle robbing.

Not that I wouldn't happily rob that cradle myself. Liv Tyler - yummmmm

quicksilver · Post by **quicksilver** » Tue Dec 17, 2002 6:25 pm

I hate to be the only pessimistic one here, but, unfortunately, I find some of the parts of the fellowship movie very annoying. Now don't take me for a brainless automaton, who has nothing better than to talk about things that transcend his limited ability to understand or comprehend the glory and magnitude of what is set before him. I have read the lotr and the silmarillion and some of the book of lost tales. Peter Jackson cut out some very interesting important parts, ie. the barrow downs, and added in some superfluous characters. Where something has been modified, or added in, you can obviously see the place where the amazing writing ends and the hollywood screen play writers begins. The whole fiasco about Arwen, seems quite fake, and inconsistant with the original. Also, I have heard tell, that the Two Towers is also going to have a heroine-like appearance of Arwen, who, at the battle of Helm's Deep, will ride in to save the day, instead of Gandalf, and then rescue Aragorn from the jaws of death. Now, I also must say, that Tolkien was not a brilliant writer, in my opinion. The LOTR was amazing, but everything else, was long, boring and dry. The other stories he wrote would have made fantastic books if only he could have actually managed to get away from the whole idea of writing a textbook, and write a novel.

Jens_Hoppe · Post by **Jens_Hoppe** » Wed Dec 18, 2002 3:58 am

Ahh, going to the LOTR premiere, then home for about 3½ hours of sleep (interrupted a couple of times by my crying daughter), then up and off to work. What a way to spend a night!

So, what did I think about it?

I found the movie really good.

SPOILERS AHEAD!!

 

In fact, I was positively surprised. The first half of the movie was very, very close to the book, although the second part had a couple of major rewrites of the plot.

Good stuff:

Gollum was absolutely marvellous! I know the character is computer-generated, but that animation absolutely deserves an Oscar for best supporting actor! Gollum gets a couple of schizophrenic monologues, alternating between evil Gollum and nice Smeagol, and it's utterly convincing.

The ents were great. Seeing them rip Isengard to pieces was powerful stuff.

The film opens with Gandalf's fight with the balrog. It has got to be one of the most intense action scenes I have ever seen on the screen.

In general, visuals and acting was first rate.

Not so good stuff:

Plot changes seemingly made for no good reason, eg. Elrond convincing Arwen to leave for the Havens (I suppose she'll be back in the third film though), Faramir dragging Frodo and Sam all the way to Osgiliath before suddenly letting them go, Frodo confronting the flying nazgûl at the end, elven archers arriving as reinforcements at Helm's Deep (luckily NOT led by Arwen, as some rumors had it).

Gimli is transformed into a comic sidekick (a bit is OK, but it's too much of a good thing), while Legolas is made into a kinda "male Charlie's angel", doing all kinds of unbelievable stunts.

All in all, a very powerful film! I was positively surprised.

Jens

[ This Message was edited by: Jens_Hoppe on 2002-12-18 04:58 ]

Kai · Post by **Kai** » Wed Dec 18, 2002 9:38 am

Just a question, but...

WHY do people think spoilers are a cool thing?

Cees · Post by **Cees** » Wed Dec 18, 2002 10:46 am

Thanks, Jens...I won't get to see it for a week, so I really do like reading about other people's reactions. It gives me something to go on until I get to see it!!

I'm glad you found it good. Since I usually agree with your posts, that means I should probably like it, too!

Kim in Tulsa: what did you think?
_________________
MCM Transatlantic Whistle Detective Agency - no case too small.
Branches in London and Salt Lake City

[ This Message was edited by: Cees on 2002-12-18 11:47 ]

Kim in Tulsa · Post by **Kim in Tulsa** » Wed Dec 18, 2002 11:16 am

On 2002-12-18 11:46, Cees wrote:

Kim in Tulsa: what did you think?

I loved it! I loved every bit of it, even the re-writes! I knew I would. Frodo absolutely stunned me. I sat on the edge of my seat with my hands clamped between my knees the entire movie. Had someone said "boo" they would have had to have peeled me off the ceiling, I'm sure.

I attended a line party sponsered by theonering.net at our cinema. We all met there at around 7pm and played games and had door prize drawings every half hour. I participated in a trivia contest and came in second place! I also got a chance to play the whistle...here I am playing with a friend of mine...

<img src="http://images.yorkphoto.com/3363462%3B2 ... 4%3Bot1lsi">

And here's a picture of my husband (in the white shirt) playing chess...

<img src="http://images.yorkphoto.com/3363462%3B2 ... %3C4ot1lsi">

Martin Milner · Post by **Martin Milner** » Wed Dec 18, 2002 11:22 am

Great Kim! Now we can also play "spot the whistle". Is that a Feadog Mk II?

Glad the film is cool, 27 hours till I get to see it too!

Kim in Tulsa · Post by **Kim in Tulsa** » Wed Dec 18, 2002 11:26 am

On 2002-12-18 12:22, Martin Milner wrote:
Is that a Feadog Mk II?

Good eyes! Yes, it's my very first whistle, that I abandoned almost immediately for a Mach III. The M3 mouthpiece split last week and I stuck this one in the car in it's place.

I'm running on adrenaline. Got in last night at 3:30am (that's late for an old person!) and got up at 8:30am.

I absolutely had the best time.

Kim

Redwolf · Post by **Redwolf** » Wed Dec 18, 2002 12:37 pm

On 2002-12-14 12:22, Chuck_Clark wrote:
On 2002-12-13 19:26, gemm84 wrote:
I think Martin was talking about Eowyn, not Galandriel. But anyway, I'm still looking forward to the movie too, yahoo.

Call it an ongoing senior moment, but I can't even recall what Eowyn (in the movie) looked like. All of the posters I've seen, however, showed Aragorn with Arwen and Galadriel.

Speaking of Galadriel, one touch I really did like that was in the extended edition but I don't think in the release movie was when Frodo spotted one of the Three on Galadriel's hand. Minor touch but a good one.

The posters hereabouts show Aragorn, Arwen and Eowyn (the latter looks a tad bit like a rather buxom Galadriel, perhaps, but it's definitely not Cate Blanchett).

I really thought that the Lothlorien scenes in the extended version improved the movie remarkably. This was the only part of the original-release version of FOTR that I found seriously disappointing...mainly because they cut so many of the lines spoken by Celeborn and Galadriel. I found this very dissatisfying...she came off as some kind of untouchable goddess figure and he came off as her slightly dim-witted (or perhaps stoned) consort. In the extended version, where they both had considerably more lines, they seemed much more "true" to the characters in the book.

I may be alone in this (judging from what other fans of the books have said), but I didn't miss Bombadil in the movie, and rather expected that the Old Forest and Barrow Downs segments would be left out of the movie version. I've always considered Bombadil to have been an interesting but odd addition to the cast of characters, as he appears nowhere else that I've been able to find in the mythology of Middle Earth...I've often wondered if Tolkien put him in there as a sort of "Deus Ex Machina" because he'd gotten the hobbits into a fix in the Old Forest and needed to find a way to get them out!

I like the way the film creators have developed the rather subtle story of Aragorn and Arwen. I've often wished that Tolkien had done more with the interesting and poignant tale of Elrond and his children...there's a whole novel or two right there! Perhaps he would have, if he had lived long enough...I like to think so. I wonder how many people who see the movie without having read the books (and particularly without having read the appendices and The Silmarillion) realize that Elrond and Arwen are not fully Elven, and that Arwen's choice (as well as the choice of Elrond's sons, which never enters heavily into the books at all) has been a Sword of Damocles hanging over them for centuries?

I do think the first film is one of the best adaptations of a book to the cinema that I've ever seen...I loved it (have watched the extended version now several times), and can't wait to see TTT (maybe this weekend???). I don't mind "spoilers" either...it's not like we don't already know the basic story, and it's fun to get little glimpses of what may be in store for us in the next film.

Redwolf

Edited to close a paren...my besetting sin! (I open them, but forget to close them)

[ This Message was edited by: Redwolf on 2002-12-18 13:40 ]

TonyHiggins · Post by **TonyHiggins** » Wed Dec 18, 2002 1:15 pm

I'm fine with spoilers. This one was politely put below eye level and I knew it was coming.
I agree with the posts about Lothlorien. It was the one place in the first movie I was disappointed with. I saw it as a sunny summery place (didn't Tolkien describe it that way?) so I was surprised by its darkness.

I was appalled when I heard Tom Bombadil would be left out of the LOTR. When I thought about it, I figured it basically made sense. He didn't really move the plot forward. (I was curious about Goldberry, I'll have to admit.) The Barrow Downs should have stayed in somehow. Very spooky.

Regarding the physical placement of Middle Earth. We have one of those colorful relief maps of the world near our computer. Hard to locate individual countries on it, but you can see the layout of mountains and plateaus clearly. My eye was drawn, one day, to the Caucausis Mountains (I'm at work and Caucausis doesn't look right no matter how I spell it) and Tibetan Plateau. It looked distinctly like the Misty Mountains and Mordor. Way too similar for coincidence to my eye. Check it out.

As far as getting to the theater for TTT...Patience, Preciousssss.....I"ll go after the crowds die down.
Tony

Chuck_Clark · Post by **Chuck_Clark** » Wed Dec 18, 2002 2:18 pm

My wife is taken with the idea of going on New Year's Day. I'm not, for two reasons. Minor reason: That's college bowl game day. What's next? a family reunion on Super Bowl Sunday? Major reason: I am SO not willing to wait that long.

Best solution so far: I guess I'll just have to see it twice.

TonyHiggins · Post by **TonyHiggins** » Wed Dec 18, 2002 2:25 pm

So was there obvious whistle playing in the movie or not???
Tony