***** The Lord of the Rings: Official Thread *****

238,703 Views | 1956 Replies | Last: 9 days ago by Brian Earl Spilner
PatAg
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Brian Earl Spilner said:

Well his plan was to take Frodo and the ring to Gondor for most of TTT. Basically was going to do the same thing Boromir tried to do.

The only difference is Faramir was just doing it to please his father.
I just felt like he never tried to take the ring, and did actually set him free, no? I need to rewatch again, been at least 5 years.
Brian Earl Spilner
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He set him free right at the end, after seeing Sam's speech to Frodo.

He was holding him and Sam captive for most of the movie.
PatAg
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Brian Earl Spilner said:

He set him free right at the end, after seeing Sam's speech to Frodo.

He was holding him and Sam captive for most of the movie.
So I do remember right, noice.

Also, your point about Aragorn and the army of the dead points out the only thing in the movies I just really didn't like or agree with. Them just arriving to "save the day" and flood over the battlefield was a poor choice in my opinion.
Fat Bib Fortuna
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was out walking the dog and the bridge of kahzad-dun came up on my spotify. Another of my favorite 'little moments" from FOTR is when the Balrog is coming and Gandalf tells them to run for it. Aragorn hangs around like that doesn't mean him and Gandalf physically shoves him out of the way. Aragorn has a good WTF reation but Gandalf's face is all "You have no friggin idea what's coming now, kid".
Chase McGuire
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"This foe is beyond any of you..."
Brian Earl Spilner
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"Do as I say! Swords are no more use here."

This is pretty random, but I love that shot when the Fellowship is running towards the bridge, then the camera climbs ups and pans down in an overhead shot of them running across the bridge. And I love the music cue as they run across.

Timestamped:

wildcat08
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Hogties said:



I've done the Weta tour in Wellington. Very cool with some incredible examples of movie armor and models and artwork.

And I drove all over NZ stopping at every LOTR filming site I could. The NZ road map that I bought actually had filming sites as marked attractions on the road map so that was cool.


We did the Weta tour as well, and also visited Hobbiton. They were both great experiences. How long did it take you to do the driving tour, and how much time did you spend on the South Island? Also, did you base out of a particular town, or move around?
Solo Tetherball Champ
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Brian Earl Spilner said:

He set him free right at the end, after seeing Sam's speech to Frodo.

He was holding him and Sam captive for most of the movie.
Coincidentally, here is another narrative decision in the adaptation I detest:

Faramir watches Frodo try to give the ring to a freaking Nazgul and then decides that allowing Frodo to stroll into Mordor carrying that Ring is a good idea?

Idiotic resolution to a needless subplot. I understand that they had wrote themselves into a corner by making the Ring some all-powerful and active object that would make everyone around it crazy with its siren call of corruption, so Faramir couldn't act like his book version and say "nah dawg, rings of power aint me" but still.
Brian Earl Spilner
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This got me.

Hogties
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I have done a few consulting gigs out of Auckland and Wellington on the North Island and Dunedin on the South Island. It's a long flight so I usually took a week of vacation to just drive around the country. It is stunningly beautiful.

I've probably driven more of the country than most native NZ folks (at least all of them I have talked to about everywhere I've been). The islands are actually not all that big compared to a place like Texas so it's possible to cover most of each island in about a week per (and that includes stopping at lots of little turn outs to see points of interest). Many LOTR filming locations are not as remote as you would think. My second most favorite country to drive. The land of two lane roads and one lane bridges. I've also done some fantastic hiking there. It really is Middle Earth.
redline248
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Brian Earl Spilner said:

This got me.


Ok, I've read the Silmarillion, and that's funny.

For anyone who has never tried to read it...the first couple hundred pages, or more, are like reading the creation story in the Bible. Lots of names and words that no one can pronounce. Eventually the Silmarils (the shiny gems the elves made) are introduced and sh-t gets turned to 11. Some of the battles in that book are epic af.
Brian Earl Spilner
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It's been on my "to read list" for at least a decade, I just have never gotten around to it. I'll probably try to get through it before the new Amazon series.
AtlAg05
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That was pretty much how it went in the books I believe. The army of the dead saving the day.
Legal Custodian
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That's good to know. I remember buying the book when I was younger and read the first 50-100 pages or so and thought it super dry and just assumed the rest of the book was like that so I put it down. I've been meaning to pick it back up again.
DVC2010
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redline248 said:

Brian Earl Spilner said:

This got me.


Ok, I've read the Silmarillion, and that's funny.

For anyone who has never tried to read it...the first couple hundred pages, or more, are like reading the creation story in the Bible. Lots of names and words that no one can pronounce. Eventually the Silmarils (the shiny gems the elves made) are introduced and sh-t gets turned to 11. Some of the battles in that book are epic af.

A real nerd would have studied the pronunciation guide in the Lord of the Rings appendix (it's more comprehensive than the one in The Silmarillion; don't ask me how I know that) first.
redline248
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My nerdpocrisy only goes so far

heddleston
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Here's a LOTR coolstorybro. At lunch today I noticed a guy at the table next to me had a tattoo that looked like it was elvish script fully wrapping around and filling his left forearm. I asked him about it and he shared with me about how he had a son who was born without his left forearm and he had a real hard time coping with it early on.

He worried about how his kid would get on in the world, would he get the same opportunities, be able to play sports, work, etc. His son is 12 now and is doing great, and that in many ways his son's disability has been a blessing rather than a curse. He said by design the tattoo reflects that because to many it may look like barbed wire from afar but up close you see a thing of beauty.
Brian Earl Spilner
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bonfarr
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I tried to watch the first movie in the Hobbit trilogy but couldn't finish it just didn't do anything for me. I have only seen bits and pieces of the other two films in the series and only know a dragon seems to be involved.

Is it worth a second attempt? Obviously it isn't nearly as compelling as the LOTR but does it get good at all?
Disclaimer: Views expressed in this post reflect the opinions of Texags user bonfarr and are not to be accepted as facts or to be accepted at face value.
jkag89
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No, they are a bloated mess.
Brian Earl Spilner
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The first is the least bad.
Fat Bib Fortuna
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The hobbit series is to lotr what justice league I'd to the avengers
Brian Earl Spilner
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Dare I say, the prequels to the OT... (For most people anyway.)
Brian Earl Spilner
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The fact that they could fit a 1,000 page book into three movies, and they made the same amount of movies for a 300 page book, says it all really.

For me, the decision to split the second movie into two parts is when it all went to hell.

There is absolutely no climax in the second movie. They finally get to the Lonely Mountain, they meet Smaug, and suddenly.... a weird/random chase scene ensues that serves seemingly no purpose, and when Smaug finally flies out to attack Laketown (what I REALLY wanted to see), the movie ends? WTF?

It's one thing to end on a cliffhanger, but this literally ended in the "middle" of a scene; it was absolutely dumb. Not to mention the preceding action setpiece was so weird and dumb and completely unnecessary. (And fun fact, completely made up and completed like two weeks before wrapping production on the movie, when they realized they were making a third movie.)

And where does that leave us? With another 3 hour movie with basically no story left to tell except a battle scene. And the Laketown attack comes and goes in about 10 minutes' time and is completely forgotten by the time the battle starts. It was absolutely MORONIC to move that scene to the third movie. The equivalent would be to have The Two Towers end the moment they blew up the Deeping Wall at Helm's Deep.

Anyway, that's my two cents. Rant over.
Brian Earl Spilner
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I actually think if they simply removed the weird chase scene in Desolation of Smaug and ended the movie with the death of Smaug (the natural end point of that movie), you might be left with a somewhat decent movie.

For the third one, if you trim the fat on that movie (of which there is a lot) and just cut it to a lean 2 hours, that might actually even be good.

Alas.
Chase McGuire
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The Hobbit movies are bad, but there are still some moments that I am happy made it to the screen. I will watch them as a guilty pleasure, but they don't hold a candle to LotR. If I wasn't a fan of the book, I'd probably think they were complete trash.
bonfarr
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After seeing the responses I read some articles on the movies and apparently Peter Jackson was caught by surprise when Guillermo Del Toro quit after two years of preproduction just a few months before filming was set to begin. Jackson ended up having to direct and he had no plan like he had for LOTR. By the third movie Jackson admitted at filming they really didn't have a completed script and for the big battle scene he just had the cast and hundreds of extras running around in costumes fighting each other with no idea how the battle was supposed to unfold.
Disclaimer: Views expressed in this post reflect the opinions of Texags user bonfarr and are not to be accepted as facts or to be accepted at face value.
Brian Earl Spilner
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I agree, that's what sucks about it. There are some really great moments in the trilogy overall.

The riddles in the dark scene was pitch perfect. Seeing Rivendell again was great.

The White Council encountering Sauron for the first time was pretty amazing; got chills when he first appears and we hear that familiar Mordor theme.
Fat Bib Fortuna
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bonfarr
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Peter Jackson fans will get a kick.out of his first film, Bad Taste, which is available for free on Prime. He wrote, directed, and acted two roles in the movie as well as created all of the props and special effects. He had a bunch of his friends act in the film on off weekends over four years and it is amazing what he was able to do with no budget or experience. The movie is a schlock horror comedy so isnt a masterpiece or anything but it is crazy what he was able to do on his own and the movie was able to open doors for Jackson that ultimately led to his other great films.
Disclaimer: Views expressed in this post reflect the opinions of Texags user bonfarr and are not to be accepted as facts or to be accepted at face value.
cr0wbar
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the year is 2060. BES is closing in on 70. Still making Lord of the Rings threads on texags
-It's a Jungle out there kiddies, have a very fruitful day-

Chase McGuire
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Always thought the first movie started really well with the dwarves showing up and causing havoc then singing "Misty Mountains" too.
Cinco Ranch Aggie
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The Hobbit movies were okay. There are some really good moments - the riddle game between Bilbo and Smeagol, Bilbo meeting Smaug, jumping from burning trees onto the backs of eagles - but there is also a whole lot of material that was not in the 300-page book. This did not need to be a trilogy, at most 2 movies would have sufficed.

This trilogy does feature another really good musical score, however.
Fat Bib Fortuna
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Brian Earl Spilner said:

I agree, that's what sucks about it. There are some really great moments in the trilogy overall.

The riddles in the dark scene was pitch perfect. Seeing Rivendell again was great.

The White Council encountering Sauron for the first time was pretty amazing; got chills when he first appears and we hear that familiar Mordor theme.
When Sauron first appears they should have had Saruman say "Hello, what have we here" in Lando's voice.
Fat Bib Fortuna
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Brian, and other big movie fans, I will now have your best 5 tracks from the entire LOTR trilogy. I know it's not enough, I know Brian's going to give me at least 8, maybe even 12, but I challenge you to pick the best 5. Just Howard Shore's stuff, not anything with sung words by Enya or the like.


I will start - not any particular order

Concerning Hobbits
Minas Tirith
The King of the Golden Hall
Forth Eorlingas
The Ride of the Rohirrim
 
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