another yearly tradition

[orangerful]

So, I'm doing my annual marathon watching of the Lord of the Rings movies. Actually a good quarter of the way thru of Return of the King right now. I did my Beatles puzzle while I "watched" Two Towers.

You know what scene gets me choked up every time? When they gather up all the "men" to go defend Helm's Deep. The taps on the shoulders as the men stop embracing their wives, the looks of confusion on the boys faces as they are led away - perhaps they always dreamed of being a warrior and not a farm boy, but suddenly it's all too real. Ugh, I had to just sit for a moment as those scenes went by. Two Towers is probably my favorite of the 3, if only for the battle at Helm's Deep. Lots of good badass moments for Aragorn too. (Dear Viggo Mortensen, can you please do some movies in 2008 where you don't play a creepy freak? kthxbye)

If they really truly do make The Hobbit, I hope that it is at least half as good as these movies. I've watched the old cartoon Hobbit before, I remember enjoying it well enough. I've attempted to read the book but Tolkien and I don't mix.

Comments

[impalalove]

I've read The Hobbit... before LOTR, which I still haven't read; but Hobbit is a pretty good book. I don't think it would be easy for adults, but for children, it's easy to imagine and see yourself there.. granted, I was like eleven, twelve--- five years ago-- when I read the novel. ♥!

I can't read Tolkien's LOTR books. They're ... difficult to read for me, too. I'd go the movie route, too. ;)

[bittertwee.livejournal.com]

The battle of Helm's Deep is definitely my favorite part of the 3 films.

But this comment is really just an excuse to post this link:
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200712/religious-movies
to an article in the Atlantic Monthly about the Pullman movie which, among a number of interesting tidbits, explains what happened to the Stoppard script *sob*, what happened to earlier Weitz scripts *small sob*, how Pullman feels about the films, and how the cast was handed a sheet of talking points by New Line instructing them to play dumb if asked about religion(!).

However, as proof that there may be a god, I did get a nasty papercut from the magazine while putting it in my backpack.

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

I love how they switch out "religious" and "spiritual" as if it means the same thing! That drives me CRAZY!

I want to see the Stoppard script ("too intellectual"? Sorry our audience is too dumb and we know it). Someone needs to leak that. Like, now. Come on Tom, you know you want to!

Eva Green sounded pissed haha. Clearly she was sick of the stupid questions. I get the feeling that the British don't have the same religious baggage that we do. They've moved beyond it. Guess that is what happens when you're country has been around for so long.

What a nightmare. And what is this "British" version of the books?!? I want THOSE! Screw these "American" versions. Stupid censorship!

Mom said Jim liked the movie!

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm really not good at reading true fantasy novels, where everything has been created by the author. I need some part that is grounded in "my world". Like Harry Potter and such.

[bittertwee.livejournal.com]

Yes- I was shocked to hear the American versions had been changed! I'm wondering which version I have though, since I could swear I remember the line that was cut.

And yes, someone, somewhere, has the Stoppard script, and it needs to be leaked! And when it is, someone should make a low budget film with it, with a guy in a bear suit and the daemons all played by sock puppets, and see how it compares.

The thing is, considering that it's this year's fantasy Christmas film, it's kind of tanked at the box office. I bet you anything it would have done better if they had left the "intellectual" stuff in. Maybe not a blockbuster, but the way things have turned out, I don't think it would have hurt.

I'm curious as to why it's so important to Pullman that the other 2 films get made? I'm assuming he's not hard up for cash..?

And yeah, Jim and other people I trust liked the film, and still other people I trust didn't like it. The reviews were all over the place. I finally decided not to see it because I usually don't like movies if I've read the book first, and I'm not a fan of CGI-heavy, story-lite films. So I figured chances were good I wouldn't like this one. I am a little curious though. Speaking of movies, I'm seeing Sweeney Todd tomorrow and Walk Hard on Monday.

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

oh, what? You have not seen it! You need to see it so you can complain with the rest of us! ;)

I think Pullman is so passionate about getting the other 2 made because this film felt so incomplete. It's not like the first 'Star Wars' or 'Pirates' where you could just watch the film and feel like you got the full experience, Compass ends like the LotR movies, you know there is more and it is unfair to leave the audience with a cliff hanger like that.

Plus, I think Pullman wants to watch the hollywood squirm over trying to make the other two books, infinitely more negative towards the church, "viewer friendly". I agree with what Pullman said, if they had just MADE the movies and not tap danced around all the issues surrounding the books, they could have created some damn fine films. Ah well.

I expect full reviews of 'Todd' and "walk hard'. Both, I've heard, are a lot of fun.