Watching LOTR for the first time in four years

She didn't cut her hair off in the book, and I guess that made it easier for Eomer to find her among the slain. Also in the house of healing when she met Faramir and they were both on the ramparts looking out, the book describes their long hair mingling in the wind, gold and black.

{{ Yup but they did in the film, before changing their minds again. Its most notable in the scene on route to Minas Tirith where she talks with Merry, but the way its shot you could assume she just sort of tucked it into the armour (probably why that scene got kept in), but you can see at the front its being cut short. My guess is they had one of those often seen scenes where woman pretends to be man of in front of mirror chopping it off with a knife.}}

The ships in the movie are apparently manned by the spirits from below-decks, so I don't know that they really hit that one out of the park in terms of practical credulity.

{{ ah, so thats there excuse for how Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli managed to man and sail a fleet of ships on their own. Those films, but particulary Return of the King, only get worse the more you think about them. }}

Sort of coming out of nowhere but since Ian McKellan dominated the LotR films I thought it would fit here.  We never see a young Ian McKellan, and in this clip I'm struck by how much he looks like Leonard Nimoy.  It's also interesting to hear the fine details of the acting craft.

So I couldn't find the thread which I know exists where people have read the books or seen the movies for the first time.  So the first time in 4 years will have to do.

Here's a bubbly young lady who has has neither read or watched in Tolkien in her young life, and now is first reading The Hobbit and LotR for the first time, then watching the films (fortunately in order of production).  She covers the books in the first half hour (Hobbit is over by minute 7), so you can break things up.  For the Hobbit I enjoyed her comment "this group seems to get captured left and right".  I'll watch this in parts, enjoying her reactions. (Ack! She's listening to books on tape instead of reading! (but that was because she felt first half of Fellowship dragged, she really got into it after the Council of Elrond).)

"dragged" ?? that's the best bit of the book. I don't think kids have the patience necessary for slower paced stuff, they are expecting heads to be blown off every 5 seconds.

She later got into the writing style, and discovered that her problem was her pressure to make video clips of her experience.  Once she took a break from making videos she really began to appreciate his style.  In fact by the middle of the Two Towers she traded in her library book for one she bought (omnibus version).  The cute thing is that she had put colored bookmarks all through the library book to mark her favorite parts to talk about, and was really excited to go back and transfer them to her own book, revisiting those passages in the process.  All is forgiven, kiddo.

In fact she was so transformed that by the end she was rather put out that the reunion of the Fellowship after Frodo and Sam were brought out of Mt Doom was over all too quick. She wanted it to go on for pages. It's been fun watching her get slowly pulled out of the modern world and converted into a Tolkien fan.

She made an interesting point about Boromir: in the film it was made apparent that many of his jackass qualities came from the influence of the ring, which was only seen during the river trip in the book. An interesting observation.

{{ More like in the films its clumsily and heavy handed sign posting at every turn "Already the Fellowship is failing. One among you will betray you. You know of whom I speak!" from Galadriel, or when they are entering Moria and Gandalf makes a similar warning to Frodo just as Boormir walks by them and does all but waggle his eyebrows knowingly.

I much prefer the books subtly and the book plays more on the reasons why the Ring would find a suitable person to work on in Bormoir- his love for his people and city and his desire to preserve it, his own knowledge that his fathers rule and probably his mind is failing. His fear that Gondor itsel fis failing and will fall. That he would see the Ring as a fair means to defeat Sauron, use his own strengths againt Him for the good of all only works and makes sense if we know thats what motivates him. The film, particularly the theatrical version which lacks the conversation about the White Tower he has with Aragorn in Lothlorien is particuarly poor at conveying Boromirs motivations. }}

I didn't even see FotR in theatres. Watched it on VHS the first time when my niece brought it over for a sleep-over. Made it to the next two though.

Nieces are the best.

halfwise wrote:Nieces are the best.

 

Okay, some are. Maybe not when they are young and you have to babysit, but if you are not obliged to keep them entertained mine were prattling joy when young and funny as hell as teenagers.

A couple decades ago an Austin a concept was started called the Alamo Drafthouse: it's a movie theatre with cushy seats and small tables for each seat, plenty of room for waiters to wander down the rows between seats delivering a pretty tasty selection of food and drinks.   It migrated up to NYC about 5 years ago but I never really felt the need to make the trek (typically 45 minutes travel by subway to each of the locations, which isn't much of a deterrent to the NYC mindset - you go into a sort of suspended animation people watching mode - but it has to be worth it.)

Now I discovered that for each of 3 weekends they are showing each instalment of the extended edition of LotR, with new cast interviews by Stephen Colbert.  It's that last bit that sealed the deal.  I missed the Fellowship of the Ring, but made the trek to see The Two Towers today.

The installation I went to was just a block off Wall street, and 4 stories below ground!  If it wasn't so brightly lit it would feel like going down to Moria, but they've taken over that whole underground block with 18 theatres, each with only about 30 seats because of the extra space needed for service.  I suppose 4 floors below ground the rent is pretty cheap, despite being in the Financial District.

I enjoyed seeing it on the big screen again, and there's a lot to say for the quality which you forget when watching it on video for the umpteenth time.   Really superb work despite any story flaws.

But I was really there for the cast interviews, and they had Cate Blanchet, Viggo, Liv Tyler and Orlando.  Surprisingly there was a lot that hasn't come out before.

One big discussion was elf ears.  Since there were many face closeups and the ears are right next to the face, it took a lot of time to blend them into perfection, maybe an hour in the chair each day.  Orlando talked about his makeup artist on a regular basis getting partway through an application, curse about messing up, then tear off the ear and throw it against the wall, where it would stick.  Cate was fascinated by the ears, and often dug through piles of discarded ears to pull out some to take home.  The crew was aware of her fixation, so as a parting gift they bought a box of chocolates, ate the chocolates and replaced them with ears, then sealed the wrapping back up like new (as they were well equipped to do) and gave the box to her.

Everybody likes the scene where Arwen is at the Ford of Bruinen, chanting the incantation to make the rivers rise.  What makes the scene is her intense concentration, and of course we attribute that to her acting.  But she claims there was something else behind it.  The closeups from the scene were not actually filmed with her on a horse standing in the river.  Instead she was on a barrel holding a sword against a green screen, with an animatronic doll in her lap and a few stones scattered on the ground.  It took immense concentration to keep from breaking out into hysterical laughter.

PJ is famous for going barefoot, but it turns out it wasn't just him; going barefoot is a thing in New Zealand - and Viggo totally got into it, going barefoot everywhere.  Orlando talked about being in a dive bare with a sticky floor and broken glass, and there was Viggo dancing barefoot.

So it was good,  Not sure I'll go back next week for return of the king, though the cast interviews involving Ian McKellen, Sean Bean etc is somewhat tempting.  Between travel time, interview and movie it's about 7 hours of my life each time, so I dunno.

Everybody likes the scene where Arwen is at the Ford of Bruinen- Halfy

{Everybody? Sounds like a good event though, if you can keep the crabbit in for the duration of the actual film! }}

I liked it.

{{ Its just PJ standing on a very high chair taking a piss all over Frodo again Swapping out Glorfindel for Arwen makes sense within the confines of an adaptation, as it did when Bakshi did the same only using Legolas. I dont object to that as part of adaptation. But Bakshi didnt use it to take away from Frodo as PJ did, and PJ constantly reduces Frodo to a less than useless wimp throughout and I really dislike it, and this is another scene where that happens.}}

All true, but she still looks really hot doing it.

It's kinda weirdly done, with how she looks up surprised at the flood coming down-stream. Surely she should be expecting it, either because she knows of her father's enchantments on the river, or if she is "chanting incantations" like a D&D wizard or whatever the fuck.

It's almost like Frodo should be alone in that scene for it to work properly. If Arwen knew about the flood then she would simply be taunting the riders across with surety of victory. The way PJ and Co. introduce drama into the scene is to have Arwen responsible for the river-flood, and the act of commanding it takes a great deal of effort. There is still chance of failure, then.

But if Frodo were alone, the flood would surprise both him and the viewer.

It is a strange touch that it is Gandalf who adds in the white-riders into the spray. Where is he in all this that he has time to concoct such a fabrication? Watching from the shore?

Good point about Gandalf! But Elrond was also nowhere near, so I have to assume they were both together in a room when the magic elf alarm goes off and then they jump up and start waving their hands and muttering together. Then sit back down and resume tea.

ok we didn't get Glorfindel, we got Haldir instead, and I really like Haldir.

{{Gandalf is a bit of a show off, he does it all the time. Its not that he adds the white horses or the huge boulders that makes me laugh, its that he makes a point of pointing out the fact he did it to Frodo and says "If I may so, I added a few touches of my own: you may not have noticed..." }}

Haldir's a Lothlorien elf. So when he shows up at Helm's Deep, why did he bring greetings from Elrond?

{{Elves turning up at all is a travesty and undermines the peril completely, and the point that its not like the Last Alliance with everyone joining up. A terrible, terrible decision. }}