Oscars and Lord of the Rings

Mrs Figg in your comparison you made the following comment;

'The first 3 Potters were simply true to the magic, and Yates films stripped away the magic as surely as an acid bath. he tried to make them seem darker and more urban, he ignored the heart of Potter and sterilized him.'

I made the comment about PJ because (apart from the urban bit and the dark bit) I felt this is exactly what PJ does to LotR's. So it seemed odd to me that you would accuse one director of this whilst praising another for doing. That was all.

Its not odd to me cos I dont think PJ destroyed the magic.

There is definitively magic in PJ's LOTR. I just wish we got to see more of Tolkien's magic.

I have to admit that I haven't seen the movies in years, each time some channel advertise that they are sending them on TV there is always some annoying clip of Frodo's face and I cringe and refuse to see. I do remember loving the scene when we see the beacons light up from mountain top to mountain top.

yes I agree, on the big screen the lighting of the Beacons is magnificent

I remember laughing out loud at the beacons scene when I saw it in the theatres with a friend during the re-release last summer. I felt really bad about the noise but the idea of people living on the mountaintops (as well as Legolas vs. the Oliphaunt later on) really got to us. For what it's worth, neither of us had seen the movies during the original release but we were both familiar with them from watching the trilogy on DVD. We're both LOTR fans, but I guess we're also sticklers for plausibility.

Gorgeous music, though! And I can definitely understand why people love that scene so I'm not trying to take anything away from it for others. But it was strange for me because I'd been lectured by someone on TORn about how I just couldn't appreciate the scene while watching it on a normal TV, and then in the theatre it just seemed even more bizarre all blown up on the big screen. That was a big part of the reason why I was so amused by it

I guess I am an old fashioned romantic, my logical head said those mountains are too high, but my fluffy side went, sigh! thats so beautiful. You are naughty boys snickering though.

I was properly ashamed afterwards, but in the moment we were just a pair of teenage boys.

To be honest, I prefer the mountain scenery at the beginning of The Two Towers (especially that sunrise in the very first shot! ) but I can't deny that the scenery in the beacons scene was breathtaking as well.

There is a beacon made from stone near where I was brought up in England, I think it was left over from the 18th century, me and my friends would go there in the summer as it was high up in the hills, so the Beacon scene was very emotional for me, seeing as I have left my home for ever.

I can certainly understand that. There are a number of scenes in The Fellowship of the Ring (especially the Shire) which hold emotional resonance for me because they remind me of places I've been or things I did as a child. It makes sense that the beacon scene holds similar meaning for you and I would never want to diminish that for anyone.

Oh I know you wouldnt Eldo, thanks. Its funny how LOTR affects me really, there are a lot of scenes that have pulled strings I never knew existed. HP does it too, I kind of identify with the lonely kid stuff.

I find its always so easy to lose yourself at the pictures when watching with friends!! I remember exploding into hysterical giggles during the Harry Dumbledore scene in Dh2, after my friend spilt coke down her top! I'd already seen the film a load anyway, so maybe that's why!
Dead embarrassing though.
Beacon scene was great, also...

yeah I have done that too, I remember seeing Basic Instinct with a load of mates and we giggled so much during the leg crossing scene I thought I would actually die laughing, I kind of hyperventilated, I think Lager and Lime had a lot to do with it though, beer always makes me laugh for some reason. and it gives me goggles.

When I saw HP-DH2 on opening night at midnight the theatre was very loud, but one of the best parts of the whole movie was that right after Voldemort died someone yelled "NOOOOOO! I SHALL AVENGE YOU, MY LORD!" The entire theatre burst into laughter, which sort of ruined the dramatic impact of the scene, but was definitely worth it. I wanted to find the person who had said that and congratulate them, but I have no idea who it was.

I wish Yates had been there, it would have been sweet to see his face.

Eldorion wrote:When I saw HP-DH2 on opening night at midnight the theatre was very loud, but one of the best parts of the whole movie was that right after Voldemort died someone yelled "NOOOOOO! I SHALL AVENGE YOU, MY LORD!" The entire theatre burst into laughter, which sort of ruined the dramatic impact of the scene, but was definitely worth it. I wanted to find the person who had said that and congratulate them, but I have no idea who it was.

haha! I wish people would do more like that xD well... perhaps not the first time I'de seen the movies, espesially if I liked it, but really.. I must admit, I comment all the time while watching LOTR and I believe when one has seen the movie A LOT then it is okay to have sudden, nerdy, outburst x)

I love the beacon.. bacon? scene too, Mrs Figg, but yeah... The thought of people living on the peaks (which is not so nice weathered all the time) looking over at another peak for I don't know... a hundred years.. is ridiculous. But it is an anciant system, I think one can find trases of it here, in the mountains, though on reasonable places x) how did they get up there with wood and bricks and all?

One day I was grocery shopping I heard someone whistle a bit of the imperial march, then I am sure they realized what they were doing and stopped. But it really made my day.

I am not sure what is giggleworthy about the beacons though, except that PJ is a bit over dramatic with the visuals. That's basicly how it was done and it was moving to see and be reminded of it. The beacons were very important in older days, and they were used to around 1814. People were instructed by law to to build, maintain and guard them. There were small buildings built nearby to house the guard, and a system of smaller beacons brought the message through valleys, lower regions and such up to the taller and bigger beacons, which could carry the warning across fjords, water and mountains, by smoke during the day and fire at night. It is rather impressive actually.

Don't get me wrong, I love that scene, get's me everytime! and impressive and I like how it sort of is a bit true and overdramatic

probably me who sang that march, Amarië, I sing or hum silly nerdy tunes all the time xD

My issue with the beacons was how completely inaccessible they were. PJ deliberately chose the most dramatic looking mountains he could fine, with full knowledge that it was implausible (to his mind, anyway) to have people living permanently above the snow and tree lines. If you look closely, you'll notice that all of them except the very first and last are also above the cloud line completely (another thing he was proud of). Jackson joked in the commentary about how there were individual families at each beacon who lived there forever "passing down the matches" from one generation to the next, since he was aware of the silliness and was making light of it. So it's not that I have a problem with beacons in general, or even with having them on mountains, but I don't like how PJ stretched it into implausibility. But I can understand why that might not be important to others.

We've still got beacons here (never trust the English) there is one on Castle Hill in town which links up with the one across the water in Greenock- neither is high up as if you put them high (apart from the wood problem) when there is low cloud (often) noone can see them.

This is the location of the beacon on the Dunoon side of the water- as you can see its on a low hill with a clear line of sight to the next beacon (ie no other hills or mountains in the way) and its not very high up either.



This is a close up of the corresponding beacon across the water- note how small it is too- the beacons in PJ's would have eaten wood like a monster and been impossible to keep going for any length of time at such a consumption rate, expecially if you had to get all the wood all the way up there.

At least we now know where the little match girl came from. It is the grain of truth in what he showed us that spoke to me.

A worthy Oscar winner.