Film Experience Blog

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

14 comments:

Javier Aldabalde said...: Good times!; 9:56 AM
Anonymous said...: If Aragorn and the ghosts had just hurried the hell up he could have prevented the death of about half Gondor's population.

I LOVE the film, though.; 10:06 AM
NATHANIEL R said...: javier -right? That moment always sends a chill down my spine. I heart Viggo.

mikadzuki -hee. yeah, their timing coulda been better albeit less dramatic.; 10:31 AM
Witchiepooh said...: Yay! You posted a photo of my other boyfriend.

I think I need to join some sort of post-Return of the King/Trilogy support group, cause I'm still not over it. Will I ever truly love again?; 11:35 AM
NATHANIEL R said...: you will. you will. give it time.

these things don't happen often. or else they wouldn't be that special, would they?; 11:41 AM
douglas said...: what if aragorn lead those ghouls to mt doom ehehhehehe it would make the movie about an hour and a half shorter eheheheh; 12:02 PM
OhMyTrill said...: not one of my favorite parts of a movie that I do happen to like a lot.; 12:31 PM
Jason Adams said...: Me too - huge LotR fan, but this part always pissed me off.

I mean, in the books, too, but somehow seeing it visualized onscreen even more so.

Talk about anti-climactic - ooh, a big poof of green mist gobbles up all the bad guys, we win, yay.

Yawn.; 12:43 PM
douglas said...: hahahaha if they knew that from fellowship then there would be no best picture, imagine if the last two installments would only be about rejoicing ahheheh that'd be boring...; 12:45 PM
Beau said...: Fellowship was the best of the three films. Epic in grandeur and scope and completely breathtaking. One of the best movie-going experiences of my ninteen-some-odd years alive.

The Two Towers is a beautiful, Kurosawaesque masterpiece, fleshing out one of the most interesting creatures of twentieth century literature and making him as iconic as Uma Thurman's "The Bride" or Johnny Depp's Jack Sparrow.

The Return of the King suffered from very choppy editing, and almost seemed a little too into the action scenes and forgot about the characters. The action scenes were spectacular, don't get me wrong, but there was not nearly enough of Aragorn in my opinion, and Legolas and Gimli were turned into comedic relief. Arwen is underused, Eowyn's big moment came off as being corny, and Denethor wasn't explained well enough. And I'm not even a huge fan of the books, but I dearly love the first two films. Not to say the third film is bad by any means, far from it... it's just my "Jedi", I suppose. Had SPECTACULAR moments, delivered a satisfying emotional conclusion, but there's just something about it that never elevated it past the previous two. To each his own.; 2:43 PM
NATHANIEL R said...: but people, fantasy stories always have these last minute deus ex machina to clean up cumbersome how-can-this-end-well plotting

but back to viggo for a second: how is it that a sweating man with stringy hair is sexy when it's viggo and gross in real life? it's magic!; 5:07 PM
Witchiepooh said...: LOL re: the sweaty hair, Nathaniel. Very true!

And thanks for your support. I agree that it is because the film (s) are so special (and to me on a personal level) that it will be a long time before I am so invested in a cinematic experience.

The LOTR films were truly like a relationship to me. I'm serious. Fellowship helped me get through the 9/11 aftermath, The Two Towers was around while I was going through a particularly difficult real life relationship, and then Return of the King... well it consumed me. I had this three-years plus investment. I really was depressed when there was no new film (or extended DVD) coming out.

I've had a number of filmic flings since, but still waiting for the next true film passion of my life.

And for those who don't get the magic, I know the films aren't perfect.

If you really want to point out the most glaring "why didn't they just..." in the trilogy it's the eagles. They show up as needed, but they couldn't be bothered to just carry Frodo to Mt. Doom??? Oddly enough, it's the sort of thing that makes me love the story more.; 6:28 PM
OhMyTrill said...: I agree with Beau...FOTR was the most tightly conceived of the three and functions as a "real" movie...The 2nd 2/3rds basically continue the story (and have their amazing moments) but just don't work as well.; 2:20 AM
Glenn Dunks said...: My favourite of the trilogy is actually Two Towers and then Fellowship (I'd give them A's) but Return of the King I give an A- I think. I think it was the end. Like, seriously Peter. Just end the bloody thing already - that's what your beloved extended editions are for (same goes for King Kong, but I gave that a C+ so I really didn't care in the end with that one).

OH! I've always found it strange how absolutely freakin' hot Viggo is all sweaty and hairy yet outside of LOTR I don't find him good looking at all.; 3:06 AM