The Lord Of The Rings...10 years on

Tituscrow · #1 01-13-2012, 02:35 PM

Just finished watching the entire trilogy (not in one sitting) with my 7 year old daughter....and wow, what a tremendous piece of cinema. I'd forgotten how good it was and had some great flashbacks to seeing it on the big screen first time around. So many great scenes, though my favourite is early on when you first get a glimpse of Aragorn as Strider, cloaked and smoking a pipe in the corner of the Prancing Pony. Iconic moment.

Not seen anything like it before or since.

I'm sure there will be a few haters out there, but so what. I think it is a brilliant film.

i_got_a_mohawk · #2 01-13-2012, 02:43 PM

Brilliant film, even better book!

I remember when the DVDs had not long come out, spent a day in bed with the then missus and watched the trilogy.

Quite looking forward to the Hobbit film that's coming out.

Darth Handsome · #3 01-13-2012, 02:43 PM

I remember being almost sick with anticipation of Gollum's first appearance....& the film delivered.

Bloodhammer · #4 01-13-2012, 02:50 PM

Peter Jackson can make cinema history by interpreting Tolkien's masterpiece on film, completely blowing away expectations while remaining mostly true to the book....

....But no one can or apparently ever will even try to do Lovecraft or Robert E. Howard any justice. The new Conan The Barbarian blooooowwwwwwsssss

Russell L · #5 01-13-2012, 02:54 PM

I love it, although some of the casting doesn't fit the image of some of the characters that is stuck in y mind from having read it first. But, that happens a lot when you read something first. I read it back in the mid-70s for the first time, and have read it once or twice again since. I started with the Hobbit, of course.

But have you ever read the Silmarillion? THAT is where it all really begins. And Tolkein speaks differently in it. It sound nearl King James, or at least sounds as lofty:

"There was Eru, the One, who in Arda is called Illuvatar."

It's the Creation according to Tolkein, basically. (Please, not to be considered against any religion, ok?). It's just a nice story. All the things of yore you hear about in the Hobbit and the Trilogy are the stories found in the Silmarillion. There's so much to it, they could never make a movie of all of it, but it would make a nice series of movies (hint, hint).

Anyway, I love Tolkein. His works are an inspiration. The only thing I would have changed would be to let the good guys have a little bad in them sometimes, and the evil guys have a good side some more. The way it is, good is pretty much pure good and evil is pretty much pure evil. Gollum almost bridges the gap, and gives the plot a special depth of drama, I think. But, nonetheless, I just love it all.

Now, I'm gonna wanna go home and watch it again. LOL, when I had surgery two years ago, I was taking hydrocodone (woohoo!), and stayed up and watched all three movies back to back for 12 hours and never blinked an eye! Heh, heh, that was fun!

Darth Handsome · #6 01-13-2012, 02:55 PM

I didn't even watch Conan because I saw the writing on the wall & chose to save myself a lot of unnecessary grief. I don't know how some films' scripts even get the green light, I really don't.

Russell L · #7 01-13-2012, 02:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bloodhammer

Peter Jackson can make cinema history by interpreting Tolkien's masterpiece on film, completely blowing away expectations while remaining mostly true to the book....

....But no one can or apparently ever will even try to do Lovecraft or Robert E. Howard any justice. The new Conan The Barbarian blooooowwwwwwsssss

Amen, no one can do Lovecraft. You gotta read that stuff. Stories like Dreams In the Witch House, The Lurking Fear, Entombed With the Phaorohs, etc. have stuck with me for decades--as well as characters described with metaphors like "the crawling chaos."

Yes, the new Conan is not good. But the new Clash of the Titans was pretty good, I thought.

The Lord of the Rings movies will go down in history just like The Wizard of Oz, generation after generation.

Tituscrow · #8 01-13-2012, 03:05 PM

I found The Silmarillion too hard going. And the only thing I thought the trilogy lacked was an appearance, or at least a reference to, Tom Bombadil. Could have done without the faux-cockney Orcs, but they are but minor quibbles.

But the whole story, the pacing, the feel, the cinematography, the characters...all stand up to anything today.

I vividly remember getting hyper excited as each Christmas premiere screening approached, and left each time utterly blown away by what I'd just seen.

Interesting trivia (to me, anyway). I went to school with Royd Baker, Tolkiens grand-nephew. Around the time of the films he changed his name to Royd Tolkein and rode the coattails of the hype to such an extent he got a 1 sec shot in Return Of The King, as a soldier handing out spears when the Orcs first invade Osgiliath.

Tituscrow · #9 01-13-2012, 03:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bloodhammer

Peter Jackson can make cinema history by interpreting Tolkien's masterpiece on film, completely blowing away expectations while remaining mostly true to the book....

....But no one can or apparently ever will even try to do Lovecraft or Robert E. Howard any justice. The new Conan The Barbarian blooooowwwwwwsssss

I'd read that At The Mountains Of Madness got canned? Yeah, Lovecraft tends to get butchered on screen.

Looking forward to seeing how Smaug comes across in the upcoming Hobbit film.

i_got_a_mohawk · #10 01-13-2012, 03:16 PM

I found The Silmarillion to be more of a 'historical' text, not so much a story.

Gotta agree with you, a tough going book.

billjr · #11 01-13-2012, 03:16 PM

The "Lord of the Rings" Trilogy was some awesome cinema. Those are the type of movies I pay to go see at the theater, and buy the blue-rays as soon as they come out. Cannot wait for the Hobbit to come out later this year.

I got hooked on watching "Game of Thrones" last year on HBO. I had never heard of it until then, and have now read all five books. Waiting on #6.

i_got_a_mohawk · #12 01-13-2012, 03:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by billjr

I got hooked on watching "Game of Thrones" last year on HBO.

Sean Bean 'stabbed' in the arm following a row over glamour model April Summers | Mail Online

Hell of a man!

DigMe · #13 01-13-2012, 03:41 PM

I think the exlusion of Tom Bombadil was the most glaring mistake in the series and I've always thought so. My first viewing of FotR was on a really bad bootleg dvd in China right after it came out. Even having just reread the books I couldn't tell what some things were it was so bad. I was thrilled when i took a vacay to Thailand in January and got to see it on the big screen in one of those plush Thai theaters.

bc

DigMe · #14 01-13-2012, 03:45 PM

Oh yeah, and if you havent watched the trailer that's out for The Hobbit then watch it now!

bc

bongomania · #15 01-13-2012, 03:59 PM

Frankly I thought the LOTR movies had enough wince-inducing cheesy and frankly bad parts that it brought the movies down from "great cinema" to "pretty good Hollywood summer blockbuster flicks", for me.

Relic · #16 01-13-2012, 04:05 PM

LOTR is by far my favorite piece of cinema ever. Definitely one of those films/series that sticks with you.

MatticusMania · #17 01-13-2012, 04:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bongomania

Frankly I thought the LOTR movies had enough wince-inducing cheesy and frankly bad parts that it brought the movies down from "great cinema" to "pretty good Hollywood summer blockbuster flicks", for me.

One would most likely consider it "great cinema" in comparison to Peter Jackson's earlier work.

Russell L · #18 01-13-2012, 04:11 PM

One mistake that bothers me is that they had Arwen rescue Frodo and take him to Rivendell, when it was really Glorfindel who did it. (The story of Glorfindel is found in the Silmarillion).

The Silmarillion explains a lot, like why the Elves are departing to the west, what Gandalf is, what light shines in the bottle given to Frodo, what the Balrog is, and something even more profound than the Rings---the Silmarils and the Light of the Two Trees. And much more. It's a book to read slowly and let each line sink in. Lovecraft is like that, to me.

MatticusMania · #19 01-13-2012, 04:14 PM

Should I be ashamed for having not watched any of the LOTR movies?
Its not that I dislike anything about the series, I just could not stand all the hype at the time of their release.
I do plan on sitting down one day with a lot of pot and watching the entire trilogoy.

Bloodhammer · #20 01-13-2012, 04:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MatticusMania

Should I be ashamed for having not watched any of the LOTR movies?
Its not that I dislike anything about the series, I just could not stand all the hype at the time of their release.
I do plan on sitting down one day with a lot of pot and watching the entire trilogoy.

Elijah Wood is annoying as hell, but many of the other actors' performances make up for him.