The Hobbit Hole III - Journey to the Cross-roads!

[HairOfTheDog]

Welcome to The Hobbit Hole!

Journey to the Cross-roads
The Two Towers Edition

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.

[Bear_in_RoseBear]

Maybe I need to go and buy a Lotto ticket....

[HairOfTheDog]

And WHY did you have to disappoint him?

[HairOfTheDog]

Leaving around nine to hang out at a pub next door to the theater, followed by line! I can't decide to eat, sit here, feed horses, curl my hair or what. I must be excited! 6 hours 23 min!

I put on mascara and lips! - [gasp!] this is a special occasion!

[ican'tbelieveit]

I am too old to handle a midnight showing... I get up at 5 am every morning... and I am about ready to head off to bed. It would be a waste to sleep thru my first viewing.

[Scott from the Left Coast]

I put on mascara and lips!

Remember that Woody Allen movie where the movie characters came off the screen into real life? I'm thinking you're thinking that maybe Legolas will jump off the screen, eh?

[Argh]

I certainly hope you intend to avoid your famous inebriated excesses of last year...

:^)

Have a great time!!

[Bear_in_RoseBear]

I can't decide to eat, sit here, feed horses, curl my hair or what.

Well, 4 hours 20 minutes ought to be enough time to get a few of those things down, oughtn't it?

LOL... I'm going to have to leave the HH in a few hours, until tomorrow evening... don't want to see any posts about the movie until after I've seen it!

[HairOfTheDog]

I get up at 5 in the morning too, and I am too old for a midnight showing too. But if I get hit by a truck tomorrow, I would be really ticked off if I hadn't seen the movie yet.

[ItsOurTimeNow]

Did any of you see CNN's review of the Two Towers? Yeesh!Can they do ANYTHING right? (my comments in parenthesis)

Read on:

(CNN) -- The epic legend of "The Lord of the Rings" continues -- and the second installment, "The Two Towers," is an utter triumph.

As most people know, all three of J.R.R. Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" books were adapted to film at the same time, so this cinematic transition to episode two appears seamless.

Taking up where "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" left off, "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" reunites us with hobbits Frodo (Elijah Wood) and Sam (Sean Astin), who have been separated from The Fellowship and are lost in the hills of Emyn Muil. They are still mourning the loss of kindly wizard Gandalf (Ian McKellen), who was killed at the end of Part One. But fear not: Gandalf may be down, but he's not out.

The hobbits are followed by the mysterious Gollum, an amazing creature which is totally computer generated and voiced by Andy Serkis. Gollum used to be the keeper of the ring until Frodo's uncle, Bilbo Baggins (Ian Holm), stole it from him and brought it back to the Shire in the first film. (Whaaat?!)

The overprotective Sam harbors an immediate dislike towards Gollum, but the ever-trusting Frodo, perhaps feeling a kinship for someone who has also had to bear the pressures and consequences of holding the ring, takes pity on the strange, hairless little being. Gollum joins Sam and Frodo, leading them to the fortress of the evil wizard Saruman, played by Christopher Lee, whose hairdo looks a lot like Cher's in her latest music video. (Again, Whaaaaat?!) But I digress. Saruman intends to regain the ring, which will give him the power to throw Middle Earth into everlasting darkness and despair.

In two other parallel journeys, hobbits Merry (Dominic Monagahan), and Pippin (Billy Boyd) are being held captive by the Uruk-hai, and human warrior Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen), elf archer Legolas (Orlando Bloom), and Gimli the dwarf (John Rhys-Davies) are besieged by evil forces in the Rohan kingdom, whose King Theoden (Bernard Hill) has fallen under Saruman's deadly spell.

Once again filmed against the magnificent scenery of New Zealand (with a little tweaking from the folks in the special effects department), the story flashes back and forth between the three adventures, as members of The Fellowship face unimaginable obstacles and dangers, including a lethal army of 10,000 soldiers under the leadership of Saruman.

(break)

The weakest of the three stories is the one involving Merry and Pippin. After they escape from the Uruk-hai during a ferocious battle, they are taken in by Treebeard, a living, walking tree-shepherd who is the oldest living being in Middle Earth. Until the very end of the film, Merry and Pippin just ride around in Treebeard's branches while lamenting the tree's lack of interest in helping The Fellowship fight against Saruman. (Yeah, I guess the whole Sacking of Isengard is pretty weak, huh?)

Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli face much more action, intrigue and deception in the Kingdom of Rohan, while Sam and Frodo -- who have penetrated the fortress at Barad-dur deep within the dark forests of Mordor -- barely survive numerous attempts to kill them and steal the ring.

It's not the valiant members of The Fellowship, however, but the woefully pathetic Gollum who steals the show. His constant inner battles to either help or kill the hobbits -- and thereby regain the coveted ring -- are beautifully portrayed through the exquisitely crafted special effects. (break) "The Two Towers" does not disappoint. This film is a fitting companion to the astounding "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring." It just keeps getting better and better. If part three, the conclusion to this grand adventure, maintains the same caliber -- and there seems no reason to think it won't -- this trilogy will go down in cinematic history as a true masterpiece.

[Ladysmith]

Oh my gosh, a new Hobbit Hole! And already hundreds to posts. Now to stay caught up with y'all! A friend of my sister's got our tickets recently, nine of them! We have our Fellowship! 24 hours and 15 minutes to go!

Enjoy, Hair!! This past year went by waaaayyyy tooooo slllloooowwww!!!! (And next year will be worse!!!)

[HairOfTheDog]

I will Argh! No inebriated excesses. Just coffee so I can stay awake this late!

[ican'tbelieveit]

HAHA, don't step out in front of any trucks, LOL.... I will catch it this weekend. Hoping the weather is nice. It was pretty enough this weekend for us to walk to the theater.

[ican'tbelieveit]

Besides... I can read everyones postings about how wonderful it is and build up even more anticipation.

[HairOfTheDog]

I shall make sure I have a breath mint handy!

[ItsOurTimeNow]

Also, if you're in the mood to barf, you can read salon.com
s slanted, uber-liberal review!:

http://www.salon.com/ent/feature/2002/12/17/tolkien_brin/index.html

[HairOfTheDog]

I read most of it. I can't tell you what it said!

It said stuff like this.

"Still, the entire notion of progress remained nebulous and ill-formed. Society's essential pyramidal shape remained intact till a full suite of elements and tools were finally in place for a true revolution -- one so fundamental, coming with such heady, empowering suddenness, that participants gave it a name filled with hubristic portent: Enlightenment."

Word Salad!

[Bear_in_RoseBear]

It said stuff like this.

uhhhh... did it really say stuff like that? And if it did, then I ask the rhetorical question, why would a review of TTT say stuff like that?

[HairOfTheDog]

I don't know! That was just the first page. There were 4 more pages of that!

[Overtaxed]

Good Evening! I'm watching The Movie and thinking about making some hot chocolate. Going in to work early tomorrow so I can make the 4:30 show of The New Movie tomorrow.

[Bear_in_RoseBear]

As an analysis of the growth of society from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance, it makes sense. As a review of Two Towers, it's word salad.