Lord of the Rings Version M.1 t-24hrs!

[BathrobeGoddess]

Is anyone else going to see the first show tommorrow? I am going at 10 am with a couple friends who took the day off from work.

[Erin Pavlina]

Absolutely I'm going to the first show here too! Nothing could keep me away. I've been a fan since 5th grade.

it's great being self employed. :)

[kama'aina mama]

Dh and I are losing our minds over this! All his mates from work are ditching out early to go. We want to but we aren't sure about bringing our toddler. If we don't manage it somehow this week we will be visiting my sisters in San Diego starting Saturday and they will fight over a chance to get spend some quality time with their niece, so it shouldn't be too long in any case. Been waiting for this movie for about twenty five years!

[BathrobeGoddess]

I thought it was very well done but way scary!!! How bout everyone else?

[Erin Pavlina]

I thought it was fantastic! Just like the book. Boy this took me way back.

I can't wait for the next ones.

I thought the movie had just the right pace. It had spurts of action followed by good dramatic scenes as well. Good style to it.

[Pallas]

I have NEVER said this before, being a big book-vs-movie snob, but I think that I'll actually enjoy my next reread MORE as a result of seeing this flick. It was wonderful. The cinemetography was amazing, the pace was fast but not rushed, New Zealand is BEAUTIFUL, and I want a hobbithole of my own to live in! Not only that, but it was really true to the book -- I went with a herd of Tolkien geeks, and even they couldn't find fault. (ok, a couple of teeny details that weren't crucial, and I'm sorry they left out the whole Meeting Tom & Willow story.)

I'm just ticked that I'll have to wait a year for the next one!

btw, am I the only one excited about a trailer I saw? Spidey's coming to the big screen!!! WOO!

Yeah, I got my nerd card, right here. That's right. :p

[Erin Pavlina]

Pallas, we didn't get the Spidey trailor though I am dying to see that too!!

We did get the Star Wars Clone Wars trailor and that was awesome. I love the clothes they put Natalie Portman in.

Regarding LOTR, I was so glad they stuck to the book. And like you said, fast paced but not rushed. It was awesome!

My friends are going to see it at the Mann Chinese Theatre on Friday. I couldn't decide if I wanted to go with them since it's going to be a two hour wait in line plus 3 hours in the movie too. But it would be awesome to see it on one of the best movie screens in the world. :)

[kama'aina mama]

Loved it! Can't wait to see it again, with my husband rather than at back to back showings, which was our solution to the lack of childcare. the beautiful parts were so beautiful, the terrible parts so horrible, the tone and feel was amazing.

The worst part for me was offscreen. Way too many young kids in the theater. NOT a kids movie at all! And to make it worse, we had a trailer for 'Queen of the Damned' a new vampire Lestat movie that was just horrific, and through the whole bloody, loud ugly thing I was just hyper-aware of the six year old girl behind me.

[BathrobeGoddess]

Yeah ther were a ton of kids at the showing I went to as well. So sad...Even a little girl, maybe 3 who was screaming at the really scarry parts. I am sure she hasn't slept well since that day.

I have been stoked about Spiderman for about a year now when I heard Toby McGuire was to play him! He rules on so many levels

[Erin Pavlina]

I am a huge Toby Maguire fan too, Bathrobe Goddess! He's awesome. A great actor.

I am having a hard time imagining him as Spidey, but I think he'll do it justice.

[daylily]

I just saw the movie last night. I loved it. I've read the books so many times. I was worried that the movie would take itself too seriously and leave out the humor of the books, but that didn't happen. Merry and Pippin provide great comic relief and the other characters have a sense of humor too. I think an R rating for violence may have been better. It's not gory horror movie violence, but it is really scary. Not for young children.

[bluemoon]

Loved it LOved it Loved it!! If i'm not mistaken the director peter jackson is the same guy who did Army of darkness..any horror movie fans out there? he must have loved doing this movie and doing it so well. and having a large budget too! He definately kept it dark and tolkien would be proud. I only know of one person who didn't like it. He said too much fighting, but you know what he never read any of the books! amazing.... can't wait a whole year....

[Dov]

Saw LOTR on Day 2... in our usual fashion—we go separately to the first morning matinee we can get to (not much cash for such ventures, limited to no access to sitters). I LOVED it! It's been 17 or 18 years since I'd read the trilogy and Simarrilion (sp?) and other Tolkien books. I hadn't remembered so much until I saw the film and I was scared, excited, frightened, enthralled, awestruck, moved, and inspired to find my copies and read them again.

I was scared.... frequently and I knew the general storyline from the books.... My wife was not scared at all (which surprised me; usually she's hiding behind me when we watch stuff at home late a night) and she has never read the books but thought the story was brilliant and can't wait to see the second film. Do we really have to wait another year? Ugh...

New Zealand was breathtaking... boi-oh-boi, do I want to dust off the climbing gear and go down there! Wooohooo!

No kids at the showing I went to. Mine will have to wait for DVD and a few more years under their belts... I'm going to try to see it again... The scale was breathtaking... oh... I just loved it.

Dov

[Pallas]

I owned it on vhs, and now on dvd, and can quote it ad nauseum. Come get some!

Namaste,

Pallas
who has now revealed herself as a bigger dweeb than you ever thought possible

[yogamama]

I saw it and I should not have gone. I have no stomach for violence and there were WAY too many kids in the theatre (LITTLE kids!!) and I was hyper sensitive to that and couldn't really enjoy the cool parts.

I felt like each scene was more anxiety filled than the next. I actually went home and looked up reviews to see if the violence was mentioned to the extent that I felt it. Almost no reviews said it was going to be that violent. I found one web-site that reviews movies on sexuality, violence and profanity and Lord of the Rings got a 7 out of 10 violence rating. Yep! Too violent for me! I could not belive that people kept their kids in the theatre!!!

The scenery was cool and it was well done, but...
enough said.

[Dov]

Has anyone heard how Peter Jackson got the nod from the estate/family to do the films? I heard a rumor once that Peter Tolan was supposed to write the screenplay but then was declined (or declined?).

Anyway, as a screen/multimedia writing student that sort of thing is interesting to me.

Dov

[Dov]

Originally posted by yogamama
I saw it and I should not have gone. I have no stomach for violence and there were WAY too many kids in the theatre (LITTLE kids!!) and I was hyper sensitive to that and couldn't really enjoy the cool parts.

Yogamama,

Come to think of it, I think the violence was what was scaring me so much when I saw it. Maybe it's just too much North American "guy" in me still... but as I watched it on the big screen, I could get into the fight scenes (of which there are a ton) because they weren't real people.... in contrast to how I felt watching Private Ryan, Enemy at the Gates, etc. I almost couldn't watch them because of the sheer inhumanity of war.

I've been thinking a lot about this kind of thing because of my own exploration of my nonviolence and pacifism and being a male.... having a son, etc. How much is normal primal-hunter-gatherer and how much is leftover, unnecessary, necessary, culturized, choice, etc. As a story writer I think about that all the time now (post 9/11); do I write a tale where the heroine/hero is able to resolve the conflict through active/dynamic nonviolence or do I opt for the normative battle/ordeal, etc.

Whew, got me thinking again... going to see it again on Sunday... I think I'm going to pay attention to that vibe in me and see where it leads... thanks for sharing your experience, really got me thinking.

Dov

[PM]

I saw it yesterday, and I can't believe I'm the only one who thought this was just another mainstream Hollywood violence/romance/sappy emotions film. Well, like my dh remarked, it IS just a movie for teenagers so I shouldn't have expected much. Dh, who is a cinema graduate - though not a movie snob at all, in the sense that he would never so "no" to a film just because of who directed it or who stars in it - said that besides the ending and the battle scenes, it was pretty good. He thought they could have used the good acting, professionalism of the filming, scenery, etc. to make a more intelligent film. At the end he remarked that the music was very much like in the Titanic - which he saw so he could see what all the hype was about - , you know, the sappy sort of Irish flute music there at the end.

Think I'll stick to my artsy fartsy films!

[PM]

My post sounds really snotty. Sorry. Just I was really disappointed in the film.

[Corriander]

Elijah Wood was on the late show the other night talking about LOTR and he said that he and the other actors in the film all got tattoos when filming was over. They all got the same thing, a two letter word meaning "nine" in elvish. (Nine members of the Fellowship, get it?) He almost showed it, but it was aparently too low on his abdomen for it to be shown on television - Damn it!!

[Bekka]

I loved it. Compared to movies I've seen, it's so true to the book. I was disappointed at LothLorien--I thought it would be more golden, and it was all blue. Also, there was a feeling of intensity in that sequence that you don't get from the book. It was very violent. And some of us are really into that "sappy Irish music"!

[rsps]

my MIL is watching the boys tonight, so we're finally going!

[Dov]

We're going to pick up that film ("My Neighbor Totoro")! Sounds very interesting. I'm very curious to see how Miyazaki structures the story.

Now of course, I'll have to see LOTR a third time because I missed the Ent! What scene was it?

Dov :cool:

[Dov]

Forgot to ask you, Yammer, how'd you find that film, "My Neighbor Totoro"?

Always interested in peoples' processes.

Dov

[Tigeresse]

My son and I absolutely loved LotR. I am rereading the trilogy right now after 20 years. Brings back memories of what a big part of my life it was in high school.

I was a little disappointed that some of the characters were not quite as well.... noble in the movie, more reluctant, self-centered, less confident.....but I think it was all pulled together quite well in the end. Loved the music too, even if it was a little "Titanic-ish" Talk about movies that followed the Titanic formula, has anyone seen Pearl Harbor? That followed the formula right down to the pop-single sung by very popular female vocalist lamenting lost love. Just that one was mostly under water and the other mostly in the sky.

[Mallory]

I liked the movie but also thought they added too much violence. The whole lake monster scene and the fistfight between gandalf and saruman.
And you always miss the relationships the most- Sama hero worship of frodo, merry and pippen being such good friends they haddiscovered the ring years ago just by watching and arent going to let him leave alone, how legolas and glimi are now the best of friends.
The only importatnt thing I thought they forgot is that saruman is now saruman the many colored, so gandalf can come back as the white.
So maybe i'm just too picky I would go see it again if I had the chance!

[elnachick]

Finally got to see it again this weekend! SO and I saw it the weekend it opened but were wrong on the show time and thus had to sit in the very front row. Now the theater has moved it into the "regular" theater as opposed to the digital surround sound one, which lessens the intensity of it a little, but still amazing, amazing!

We saw the Spidey trailer again, can't wait! Still haven't seen the Attack of the Clones (except on the website) or Queen of the Damned, but hope to - big Vampire Lestat and Star Wars geek:)

Dov, you'd asked about Peter Jackson, you might want to check out a web site that was created by fans. It might require a little digging about in there to find this, it was part of a very long review, but I read a short history about how Peter Jackson came into the picture the day the film opened in the U.S. The short version is that the owner of the rights had not been able to bring it to the screen, Peter and his partner had been trying to write a screenplay for a while and kept saying, it needs to be like LOTR, so they finally decided to see who owned the rights, they (PJ/partner and owner of rights) agreed to try to bring the idea to a studio, and the brilliant exec at New Line had the sense to say, if it's three books, why not three movies? Hurrah! Oh sorry, the website is www.theonering.net which will hopefully come up in this post as a link...

peace, jen

[abimommy]

uumm.... Peter Jackson DID read the books...he has read them many times....

Most of the people who didn't like the movie didn't read the books....after all Tolkein never intended the books to be "intellectual" or an allegory for anything he was just trying to write a good tale.

But with the loss of Tom Bombadil They had to take out the barrow wights well the barrow wights area is where the hobbits (except frodo) get their swords and it is the enchantment on Merry's sword that breaks the spell holding the Witch Kings form together so Eowyn can deal the killing blow....

which fulfilles Glorfindels prophecy that the witch king will perish at the hands of no man.

who is Glorfindel???? Oh yeah HE IS THE GUY THEY CUT OUT TO MAKE STUPID LIV TYLERS PART BIGGER!!!!! AAAHHH!!!!

The part with Liv Tyler is my main problem...they made it pretty cheesy...bleh....

sorry for my rant....Tolkein is the only thing I actually know a lot about....LOL

Lothlorien is only Golden certain times of year....the Fellowship enters Lothlorian during the winter when a lot of the leaves have fallen...

as far as the Tolkein family goes....Christopher Tolkein (his son) is pretty annoyed about the movies and isn't speaking to his own son who had supported the films...nor is he speaking to his grandson who is 11 years old.

and the Totoro movie is pretty cute...my friend has in in Japanese but I don't speak Japanese so I followed as well as I could...:)

[Tigeresse]

LOL, abimommy. That whole Arwen thing bothers me too...at least the cartoon version had Legolas on the horse that carries Frodo across the river, and he crossed it ALONE as he does in the book (that's right isn't it?). I forgot about Glorfindels prophecy, thanks for reminding me, as I just read the part about the destruction of the King of the Nazgul.

We're going to see the movie again this weekend......I'll look for those ents.

[abimommy]

you are right ...he *DOES* cross it alone....I was so overwhelmed by them having Arwen syaing "If you want him....COME AND CLAIM HIM" that I had forgotten....that part by the way really made me laugh...in the books Arwen is just kind of there....

[darlindeliasmom]

Yammer/Dov: A friend bought us Totoro for our little girl, knowing how we eschewed Disney as her worldview. It is wonderful, as is Kiki's Delivery Service, and for all the reasons Eberyt cites. it just feels like my childhood more than the conflict-laden crap that kids are fed today.
Yogamama and others: I was scared of the violence, but way more scared when they were trying to escape from the Balrog and had to climb up high and lonely swaying bridges in Moria. Being really familiar with the story, I knew when the icky parts were coming, and I'm not sure I want to see more of the Uruk-Hai.
But like all "true" stories, violence leads to real pain and loss. That's why watching war movies is so painful. I've never made it through Schindler's List, for example...
Definitely not for kids tho'. The wringwraiths are the stuff of nightmare.

[abimommy]

Yammer you are of course correct...it *IS* a very nice translation...I guess it is that Arwen is never represented as a fighter type even in the appendixes...

anyone who saw the cartoon could hardly complain about Peter Jackson's version....

The ringwraiths *WERE* really scary I was pretty worried about the hobbits making it a few times and I am a pretty big Tolkein fan....*L

[daylily]

I agree that the scenes involving Arwen were kind of cheesy. I'm very curious to see how the second movie deals with Eowyn. In the books, she's a much more interesting character than Arwen. And she's supposed to fall in love with Aragorn. (Who wouldn't? Viggo Mortensen is a hottie!)

[elnachick]

daylilly, that is funny! I actually saw a tv ad for a television screening of A Perfect Murder, a movie a few years old, that Viggo is in, playing a broody hunky kind of not so well crafted character, and that commercial made me realize that I don't really want to see him in anything until the next movie is released! I haven't ever been all that amazed by his work until LOTR, he is just perfect in that role, now I just want to only see him as noble Aragorn until all three movies are out:)

A random but nifty note, where I lived in VT, there is a funky little bookstore called Rivendell (in Montpelier)...

I mentioned in an earlier post much excitement about seeing the trailer for Queen of the Damned. I saw it Saturday. Being a serious fan of the original Vampire books by Anne Rice, I was quite horrified with the trailer and won't see the movie. Ugh.

But I do plan to see LOTR at least once more before it leaves the theater!