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Hi all!

Finally had a chance to see it yesterday. Gosh, I miss you guys...work has gotten progressively worse and I've been working like a dog, plus a vacation to Canada, plus trying to get my piano playing back up to speed and on and on and on....why did life have to get so darned busy?

I've been enjoying reading everyone's reaction to the new movie. I had to wait till I had seen it before I read anyone's reaction.

And now, I just want to mention that having seen it only one time, I was quite disappointed. However, let me make it clear, I think that probably I will absolutely adore it on a second viewing. Why is it that I always have to waste the first viewing just getting over all the changes from the book and from what I imagined?

I agree with all of you who were disappointed with Faramir. One of the big things I appreciated about Faramir was that he was almost a polar opposite of his brother, and that later on, in ROtK, we see that a big influence in that difference is the two brothers' differing relationships with Gandalf--Faramir was open to Gandalf's guidance and friendship over and against his own father whereas Boromir rejected Gandalf and of the two was the most (blindly) loyal to his father. I think I will probably always be a bit disappointed with the fact that we've kind of lost that important message, but I'm sure I will get over it and be able to separate the movie from the book. They really are two separate bodies of work, and when viewed that way, the book still has its message and the movie will have a similar, but slightly different, message. And that's okay...I think. ;)

I can't wait to see it again, though, and see if my response is 180 degrees from my initial response. I'm pretty sure that will be the case.

BTW, the audience was pretty good except for one scene. Did anyone else run into problems with the audience laughing during the Gollum/Smeagol struggle? I was really disappointed, because I knew that this was a huge, important, emotional struggle for Gollum, and I was unable to really respond/react/appreciate it because the stupid audience kept laughing. Did anyone else run into that?

Well hullo Penny!

I have to get the first shock view out of the way before I can enjoy it too.

Look at Faramir again... He was responding as a man of Gondor would... Deciding that the prisoners, and the ring, should be taken to his father. He did not take Frodo because of weakness, but duty. I did like the explaination by Phillipa, that it would seem illogical for Faramir to have no weakness at all, when everyone else clearly has to wrestle with their conscience.

The midnight audience laughed at Gollum's first big scene... and I had to admit it must seem funny.... but then half of them were drunk! - In a sense, I think PJ put him too close, and so exaggerated that I forgave them for laughing a bit. There was less laughing the second night... with the 8:00 crowd.

If you are like me, you will like it better the second time... It won't seem as choppy, and you will be able to notice the moments, the "spots in time", that made you love the first one.

I am not disappointed with it, so much as I just don't like this part of the story as much as the other two.... and I think the editing that cut back and forth a little bit too often, felt like sitting with someone else changing the channel on me right at the wrong time.

Hi Penny, I know that little touch of disappointment- over all a good film, but. . .there were several scenes that I just didn't think were an improvement over the books,

to answer your question; no one laughed at the Smeagol/Gollum scene, but there was scattered applause at the end.

I hope we can try that TTT chapter by chapter thing again, this time maybe we can even compare it to the film??? (when will a tape or DVD by out)?