The Two Towers: A FReeper Review

Self

[LenS]

The original Dwarven kingdom in Moria had been abandoned about a millenia before the FOTR arrived there when Dwarven miners had woken/freed the Balrog from the deeps of the Earth. From that point on, only Orcs dwelt there with the Balrog. About a decade or so before the FOTR, Gimli's cousin Balin and a small group of Dwarves from the Lonely Mountain had recolonized Moria. Contact was lost after a few years though. Gimli was unaware of Balin's destruction until the Fellowship found his tomb. He had been hopeful that the colony was still there, even after they found the bodies at the Westgate. The bodies at the gate were recent ones from Balin's ill-fated colony. But the overall ruins in Moria dated back centuries.

At the time of the trilogy, Dwarves lived mainly in Ered Luin, the Blue Mountains west of the Shire, the Lonely Mountain of Erebor (site of the pivotal events of The Hobbit), and the Iron Hills to the east of Erebor. Other Dwarven homes are not mentioned by Tolkien.

[demosthenes the elder]

well, that'd be entertaining - if expensive.
I was thinking more in terms of a more generalized application to behavior paradigms, adding these "fuzzy logic" decision making modifiers to the interacting (and sometimes conflicting) sets of "I like this" and "I don't like that" rules they have so far used to generate complex behavior in robots and virtual bots.

[discostu]

That'd be cool too. Wonder how hard it would be to teach them the art of the deal (one set of bots that like items A and B another that likes B and C so the could trade B back and forth). Like my initial idea was to experiment with just how much training and discipline it took for Patton to turn the 3rd Army 90 degrees during the Battle of the Bulge. You start tweaking around with stuff like that and eventually you've got "stored" every soldier in WWII (by working the emotional decision maps you eventually get WWII to "replay" perfectly), then you can really start analyzing what if scenarios like war historians really enjoy (like would Patton's southern push really have won the war in September if all the resources hadn't been given to Monty for Market Garden). To hop over to a different fantasy series, it would be like being Benedict from Amber; completely master warfare by subtley tweaking one variable and seeing what happens, only without the shadow walking.

For shear fun though nothing tops smashing things.

[montag813]

the army isn't made up of the same character copied and pasted 50,000 times, marching symmetrically like a chain of paper dolls.

As they were in the technically inferior "Attack of the Clones".

[nutmeg]

bookmark bump

[austinTparty]

Just saw it. Holy effing cow. WHAT a movie. I am still so overwhelmed that I cannot possibly render any justice to the film with a review at this point. Suffice it to say that the film did much to keep on par with the book. Film-making the way it CAN be. Wow.

[GretchenEE]

WELL DONE, and may I say, much better done than Ebert's "review."

[4Freedom]

Ok, where's a good place to stay in Wellington? ;^)

[shaggy eel]

,,, Museum Hotel on Cable Street or Duxton Hotel on Wakefield Street. Both are close to the theatre where this will be staged. The theatre name is The Embassy and it will undergo a $NZ3m upgrade before the event. I guess 2003 will be a busy year for Kiwis - we have the America's Cup challenge to defend as well.

[4Freedom]

What, no 'Prancing Pony'? ;^)

[Bogey78O]

Oddly enough whenever I think of shoddy CGI battle scenes I think of that.

[Bogey78O]

It would be so cool to have that sucker predict the next Iraq war.

[shaggy eel]

What, no 'Prancing Pony'? ;^)

,,, we ain't too smart but we have a whole lot of fun.

[DoctorMichael]

.........comment that Elijah Wood as Frodo bothered him because.........

........Frodo has a gorgeous face........

After having now viewed TTT twice (both Thursday and Friday nights) I'm wondering.....................

I wonder whether he {EW} was specifically cast in part due TO his eyes. They kind of reminded me of Gollum's.

THIS works on two levels: 1) Gollum's lineage is supposedly from Hobbits, so he should bear some resemblence to them; and 2) reemphasizes the commonality of the suffering of both Frodo and Gollum, as the two ring bearers and the fate that Frodo could suffer (becoming Gollum-like) if he succumbs to the temptation of The Ring.

Just my musings, folks.

[Pravious]

"I believe this film will also get the Oscar nominations en masse but probably still won't win Best Picture or Director against stiffer competition from Gangs of New York and such, but it will still get its share."

... and what is WITH Gangs of New York, anyway? Did Rupert Murdoch fund it or something? Fox News has been plugging GONY to such an absurd degree - we watched for a few hours yesterday, and I swear every half hour they felt the need to spotlight this stupid film in one way or another with more of it this morning (not a word about "Two Towers," by the way!).

[Citizen of the Savage Nation]

I don't know. It opened quite limply, and its ratings are nowhere near TTT, but the Academy just loves stuff like this. I'm a bit disappointed that TTT only got 2 Golden Globe nominations but that's the way it goes. OTOH, the Two Towers is an AOL production so keep that in mind.

I just saw the movie for a second time and my appreciation has gone up considerably...this is a great movie.