Posted on 12/24/2001 9:31:44 AM PST by HairOfTheDog
BWAHH! Are you always this fun? Or are you just having a grumpy day? Do you have anything on-topic to say? Call me shallow, but I fail to see your point in both your original post and this one. I am here because I like to participate in thought-provoking discussions with interesting people. Why are you here?
I don’t know if you often speak of yourself as “us”, but I am not seeking the respect of grouches that stroke their ego by slamming the newcomers. Discouraging new blood would clearly be the behavior of a dying forum. Luckily, so far I have run into only a few of you. What do you get out of it?
I LIKED:
Saruman (Christopher Lee): Give him the Academy Award right now! Lee was BRILLIANT, a perfect Saruman, although I agree with others who complained that Peter Jackson depicted him as too much Sauron's slave and not enough of an independent operator. The transformation of Isengard into an Orc breeding center was very well done.
Gandalf (Ian McKellen): Another winner. McKellen gets Gandalf just right.
Legolas (Orlando Bloom): What perfect casting! Bloom's Legolas is sort of a Ninja Wood-Elf.
Frodo (Elijah Wood): I really liked Wood's performance - a little different from Tolkien's Frodo, but Wood gives the character a lot of emotional depth.
Boromir (Sean Bean): Bean is excellent, and his Boromir seems just right, if a little less muscular than the book portrays him.
Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen): Mortensen does about as well with Aragorn as any modern actor could. I found him believable.
The Weathertop scene: Creepy and fairly true to the book.
Orc breeding at Isengard: A Jackson addition that works really well.
Gandalf vs. the Balrog: I loved this - my favorite scene in the movie.
The orcs of Moria: A nice bit of animation, especially the ones climbing down walls.
I DIDN'T LIKE:
Arwen Evenstar (Liv Tyler): Bad casting. I can't look at Liv Tyler's face without seeing her father singing "Dude Looks Like A Lady". And what's with having her sneak up on Aragorn and put a sword to his throat? This is Aragorn, for heaven's sake! Ranger extraordinaire! No one sneaks up on him, not even Xenarwen. Jackson should have cast an unknown British actress with a more ethereal beauty - Liv Tyler is merely pretty and doesn't look Elvish enough.
Merry, Pippen and Sam: Merry and Pippen are too buffoonish. The actor playing Sam is fine, but he too often addresses Frodo as "Frodo", instead of "Mr. Frodo".
Cutting the Lorien scenes too short: Too many important things were left out, particularly the interplay between Galadriel and Gimli.
Stealing lines from one character in one part of the book and putting them in another character's mouth in a different part of the film: Just an irritant to me.
The length: Much as I like the film, three hours with no intermission is too long. Jackson should have made six two-hour movies, mirroring the six books that Tolkien divided LoTR.
OVERALL IMPRESSION:
Highly, highly recommended. The film isn't perfect - it couldn't be - but it is well worth seeing more than once.
After a several-year hiatus, I have been re-reading the books with a fury since seeing the film... I am already into the Two Towers. I noticed many of the "transported" lines as I read through. My memory of the story details was foggy prior to the film so I had not been able to pick some of them out before, like the great scene with Gandolf and Frodo in Moria. Right discussion, wrong place.
I agree Saruman was good, I took him for granted, there were so many other great roles to comment on. I was quite taken by Legolas, Frodo and Aragorn. We are absolutely in agreement on everything until this line:
Orc breeding at Isengard: A Jackson addition that works really well.
I resented that part, because I had never known or cared where orcs "came from", and there were so many parts that had to be skipped or abbreviated to make room for it. And I commented glowingly already on Arwen... But I don't connect her with the baggage of her father.
Now after reading it again, I would quarrel even more (if Jackson asked me, which he didn't) at the ugly transformation of Galadriel. She did not so much as lose her composure in the book.
But on this we agree!!
Highly, highly recommended. The film isn't perfect - it couldn't be - but it is well worth seeing more than once.
I am still waiting for my second view. Maybe I will be able to go this weekend. I am really curious to see how much I missed the first time around!
You're right of course. I'm still bitter from waiting in line for Empire Strikes Back and hearing someone leaving the theater saying, "I don't believe that Vader is really Luke's dad"...
That was Homer Simpson!
Coming out of the movie...
Homer: Wow, what an ending! Who would have thought Darth Vader was Luke Skywalker's father!
Crowd: [waiting in line to see the movie] Oh, thank you, Mister Blow-the-picture-for-me.
http://www.snpp.com/episodes/8F10.html
Ugh. No I did not know about the gay bar... thanks alot. I did know about a brewery and a band.
"Hair of the Dog that bit you" is a figure of speech that goes back to an old wives tale that said that somehow if you were bit by a dog, the cure would be to have some hair from the same dog... don't quite know what for.
The common use of the phrase is that a beer is the best cure for a hangover. That if you have drunk too much the night before, a little "hair of the dog" will fix your head and tummy woes. A practice that is sometimes hard to consider. It never sounds good in the morning.
I was given the nickname in college and have used it for various logins at other places... it just kinda stuck :~D
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