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.

[HairOfTheDog]

Looking forward to it! And I need some more elf-bash material. :)

I imagine you are watching now as I write this! I hope you like it!

I don't think you are going to find a lot to elf-bash about, except perhaps Elronds expressions when he is watching the elves leaving. I have to admit he looks... pained. ;~D

Legolas was outstanding in this. I can't believe he actually said "You look terrible" to our hero. LOL!

[2Jedismom]

I actually got a kick out of Haldir...he looked so startled when Aragorn grabbed him! I liked him a lot better in this movie.

[HairOfTheDog]

I met 2jedismom (and her husband) in person. What a great and wonderful lady.

We are all looking forward to meeting everyone in person! - How fun that you got a mini-moot!

I agree on the CG Jame.... They were real. I was concerned about them from the trailers because the effects on Gollum and Treebeard seemed a bit blurred. They either were not finished images, or the effects lose a lot in transfer to Quicktime format. Either way, there was not a flaw in them... they were real, from their movement to their expressions, to their complete intergration into the real scene. Industrial Light and Magic are not the only players in the game any more! Way to go WETA.

[RMDupree]

Man oh man! I've been back from my 2nd viewing of TTT for a while now and just finally got a couple of minutes to sign on and post.

The screen capture pic we have of Gimli sitting on the Orc carcass is definitely not in the movie. It is either an outtake or from RoTK.

Also, I'd like to chime in that it is easy to be a little disappointed with it if you are looking for a "straight from the book" format. Otherwise, it is really wonderful and a lot of fun!

carton - I loved your review! Gollum is really incredible and heartbreaking to watch, isn't he? Did you notice that the exchange where he throws the fish down in front of Faramir and says "Don't want fish." was not there? That was one of the moments I missed the most, but there was so much missing, it seems almost childish to complain about that one scene.

I cannot wait for the Extended Version simply because I can only imagine what they had to take out in order to stay at around 3 hours.

I'll be back later. Are there any chats scheduled for tonight?

[ecurbh]

Whew, I'm back, and boy, I am an emotional wreck now. So much to touch on.

The first thing that struck me was the sheer human emotion that was expressed. From Theoden mourning at his son's grave, to husbands, fathers and sons saying goodbye to their families in the caves behind Helm's Deep.

Gollum is captured perfectly. At first I was looking at him and thinking about motion capture and CGI, but by the time he had the conversation between himselves, that was all forgotten. The character in the book was alive there on screen!

The movie Faramir will take a couple viewing to "get." I'm not sure that I understand his transformation yet. Not quite clear on what it was that made him finally decide to release them.

And Eowyn. She sure needs a hug. This is the character that I identify the most with in the trilogy. I hope we get more of her in the Extended Edition.

More later. Still absorbing it all. Very tempted to go back tonight.

And for the record, the moments that really choked me up:
Gandalf's fall (again)
Gandalf's return and rememberance of his former name
Theoden mourning at Theodred's grave
The Rohirrim leaving their families for battle
The charge of the White Rider (I wept here)

[Sam Cree]

Hi Hair,

Glad to see you have surfaced.

Do you think it is as good as FOTR? Carton seems to think so, am not sure if 2JM is coherent yet :-) Ruthy has also disappeared after viewing it.

So, I am guessing that viewing TTT is a "spot of time?" Going soon to see it, I hope.

The new Hole is very attractive.

[2Jedismom]

If there is a chat tonight, I'll log in late, around 9:30pm central.

[Sam Cree]

Hi, Ruthy.

I guess it was good since you've already been twice.

Am waiting for my wife to finish final exams, then hope we'll find time to go before we leave town in a couple days.

How did your husband like it?

[RMDupree]

OK, that's probably about the time I'll be able to get online again anyway.

[HairOfTheDog]

Note to Corin Jr.: We will not sit down front.

Yeah.... I really can't emphasize that enough. We were in about the 4th or 5th row. I will be sitting middle-to-rear this time. And I am one that tends to choose closer-rather than further back - usually! There are a lot of very close fight shots in this that are way too big to be seen if you are too close, and a lot of extreme-zoom on faces.

[RMDupree]

Oh, Glen loved it. He didn't even complain about seeing it twice. There is just soooo much to see that one viewing just won't do. :)

I hope you both find the time to se it before you go. It's definitely worth it.

Baby's fussy, gotta run! :P

[carton253]

No, it wasn't in the movie.

[2Jedismom]

Ok, I've got to get the boys fed and then I'm leaving as soon as Steve gets home. Will check in tonight.

[HairOfTheDog]

I don't think TTT will change your own feeling about Arwen. If you liked or didn't like her in FoTR, this will not change your mind. I need to see it again, but I think there was one scene too many dealing with Arwen and Daddy/Arwen and Aragorn. I am not sure which scene is the one that should have gone yet, because I really liked some of it. -But- it will NOT be the scene where she foresees Aragorn's death as an old man. That was wonderful.

[carton253]

When he had the fish in his mouth, I thought it would be done.

But I love what was done instead. Oh, it was heart breaking. His back to everyone because he was betrayed... and being comforted by Gollum, and slowly loosing all the ground that Smeagol had managed to gain.

And didn't you love it when he was dancing around after Smeagol had banished Gollum. Oh, he was so cute.

Still my favorite was his fretting over the cooking of the conies.

Smeagol was great!

[Sam Cree]

"No, it wasn't in the movie."

Maybe from the extended edition?

[HairOfTheDog]

Welcome to the Hobbit Hole Wneighbor!

[Sam Cree]

See you later!

[carton253]

That could very well be... That will be a DVD to own.

[LadyDoc]

you're right. The links got double posted. And they will change next week when they go from "recent programs" to the regular listing.

I'll post then again in two weeks, when they go onto their permenant links.