Posted on 12/17/2002 7:32:02 AM PST by HairOfTheDog
Come on! Come in! -if you would like to have some seedcakes and a pint and relax a while. (If it is a special occasion, we still have a few bottles of the old wineyards left!)
Our first thread ( New Zealander builds Hobbit hole ) reached 4,100 posts, and we thought that was big. Our second thread (The New Hobbit Hole ) held us for over 48,000 posts, and we loved it dearly. We talked about moving to a new thread for the last 38,000 posts, but we are really slow to muster! Finally, the time has come. Tomorrow (at 12:01 am, to be precise!) The Two Towers comes out, and we start a new chapter.
I seem to remember thinking he looked frightened. Which struck me, because I didn't think it was quite right for that scene... he should have been rejoicing that his King was recovered enough to go to battle. But then, I didn't like the scenes of the "Weeping Women of Rohan" either. They were a proud, warrior people; this wasn't the first battle they had to send their husbands and fathers off to. I felt the attitude should have been move Viking-like: grim acceptance, rather than weeping and wailing.
My daughter made me the best Christmas Card. On the front it had a Christmas tree, and the message that Santa had some good news and bad news for me this year:
The bad news: He's too busy to come by my house this year....Then when you open it, it says:
The good news is he's sending one of his elves, and there was a picture of Legolas standing there with his bow, looking elvishly handsome.
OK! Things I liked in The Two Towers:
1. Gollum - the CGI was excellent, and his "internal" arguments felt very true to the book;
2. The Battle of Helm's Deep - again, the CGI was excellent, and the ebb and flow of the battle, and the heroic sacrifices, were well done (minus the Weeping Women);
3. Character Development - it was nice to see how each character grew by the end of the film. Especially how each member of the Fellowship came to grasp how this fight was important to him; I'm thinking Pippin here. And how the friendship between Legolas, Gimli, and Aragorn had grown.
4. I liked the Galadriel commentary, and Sam's Speech at the end. To me, they felt like a necessary pause for the audience to gather their wits and realize what had happened, and what it meant for the future.
There was more, I'm sure, that I will remember better after a second viewing! And my criticisms don't mean I didn't enjoy the film... but my enjoyment of the film doesn't mean I can't see flaws in it, either. ;)
LOL! Very clever!
Legolas is my wife's favorite too... she doesn't usually go for blondes, but he's the only clean guy in the movie.
Well, that's what she said!
Several friends have commented on how well the picture looks, and the sound is incredible. Maybe there are different versions of the Playstation 2 units?
That would require extra shooting since the footage has all been shot already and Jackson has stated they dind't film any of the Scouring. I'm afraid the Galadriel mirror vision is the closest we will get to seeing the Scouring.
Maybe PJ didn't want to have comparisons with a certain "Religion of Peace?"
Hullo all! I am returned from viewing #2. The theater was packed again, but we got there early enough.
Here are my thoughts/observations.
1. Three rows from the back is WAY BETTER than three rows from the front.
2. No talky people. A couple of laughs that were too loud at the wrong times, but not too bad.
3. First time, I thought Eowyn was weak. I retract that. Liked her better this time.
4. I didn't have a problem with the weepy wimmin before the battle. Gave the uninitiated a sense of dread about what was really coming. Medieval wimmin weren't sendin' their boys off to fight against orcs riding warg-back.
5. Really enjoyed the music this time.
6. While he didn't shave, it appears Aragorn at least got a shower in Edoras. Hmmmm....he showers for Eowyn but not for Arwen? Hmmmm....;-)
7. I caught some subtle things I missed last time. When Galadriel is doing the narration, I saw the subtle shift in Elrond's expression (Metamucil kicking in?). Missed that before. And I saw Pippin calculating in his mind the reason to ask Treebeard to take them south. I think I just missed those before 'cause I was on sensory overload.
8. g'nad - you need to see it again and remember that it is an adaptation of the book. There are things about the story line that will bother us all the way through. But I think at some point we just have to let that go and enjoy.
9. This one is along the lines of the "car in the Shire" talk from last year - but not quite as much. When Arwen is crying, the closeup shows a tear first from the right eye, then the left. Then when she puts her head on Elrond, the right side of her face is dry...I guess that's a little too picky, huh? I mean, a missing tear drop isn't anything like a missing scar....No need to fetch the medicine, I'm not flapped. I just noticed it.
10. Does Saruman have a different staff in this one? I notice the change in color from white to gray (will it get even grayer?) This staff was black. Gandalf's new staff was definitely white. Hmmm....maybe I'll have to watch FOTR.
11. I thought it was really cool how Theoden's eyes cleared. It was like he had cataracts and they went away.
More than likely it's just our TV or the connection to the PS2.
I think it depends a lot of the particular Arab. My friends Arab stallion, Aki, has been my best equine buddy since the day we went out in a snowstorm to buy him as a weanling. He's absolutely bombproof because I think he thinks he's the Fonz, and it would be uncool to spook or be flighty. He also always has a good idea of what's going on around him, so he doesn't get surprised.
I remember at one dressage show, Marl had a ride on her old gelding, Aki's stable buddy, and then minutes later on Aki. We had to do a "flying change of tack", and I stood there with saddles over my arms, someone's halter over my shoulders, holding her old gelding with his reins in one hand, and Aki's reins, and Aki, in my teeth. He never batted an eyelash, and neither did I.
He's really the kind of horse than an elf would ride. He taught himself how to be ridden by watching Marl work other horses. He'll stand on his hill overlooking the riding ring, and watch lessons if they seem interesting. I joke that Marl should put a VCR in his stall and let him watch Grand Prix dressage, but I'm half-convinced it isn't a joke, and he'd actually watch the tapes.
Now his kid, half-Thoroughbred, isn't really flighty, but rather "high performance". He was born to do high-level dressage and eventing, and isn't suitable for general hacking. You twitch your nose, and that's a signal for a specific movement to a horse like Shekels. He depends on you to have a complete understanding of the situation, because he's listening for your cues, and tunes out the outside world. Like a high performance race car, he needs a high performance driver.
Aki, OTOH, is like the family pickup truck. He goes anywhere, does anything, and has a good time doing it. He's always tickled pink to be ridden or worked, and is always happy. Marl puts green riders on him because he's bombproof, and is still happy even when someone is sawing away at his mouth, and bouncing all over his back. I have no doubt that he'd love to learn the stunt that Brego did, and would probably knock someone to the ground just so he could show how it was done.
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