I decided to brave the holiday crowds and check out Lord of the Rings today. There is a lot of information, verbal and visual, blowing past you fairly quickly, but fortunately I had a teenager and his older sister sitting directly behind me, keeping a loud running commentary. In a scene where Sam comforts Frodo after a battle with the forces of darkness, the woman said, "Look at the little elf, huggin' his friend." After a furious limb-amputating fight between Aragorn and an Uruk-hai (half-man/half-Orc), the kid said "That shit was dope!" And at the end of the film, which leaves us with Sam and Frodo descending to the marshes on their fateful trip to Mordor, the woman announced to everyone within earshot. "This is so ghetto! I paid ten dollars to watch two hobbits walk down a hill!"

I enjoyed the movie, even though half of the dialogue sounds like it's coming from the gods of Asgard in Lee & Kirby's Mighty Thor comics. The monsters are great--real Ray Harryhausen stuff. The film actually does a better job of explaining the story's main hook: why Frodo must go to Mordor, and destroy the Ring, even with all these powerful men and supermen around. In the book, it seemed too obviously flattering to the adolescent reader to have the little guy be the center of the quest. In the movie, you're much more palpably aware of how corrupting the Ring is to men and even Wizards. Frodo's seeming genetic ability to resist makes the choice not just logical but inevitable.

Also, apropos of nothing, Orlando Bloom, who plays Legolas the Elf, could be the next Leonardo di Caprio, on the basis of matinee-idol looks alone. He was my personal favorite Quester (I know, I'm an arrested adolescent). In one scene he pulls several arrows in rapid succession from his quiver, firing them off so rapidly you can't figure out how he gets them in the bow. It isn't a special effects shot (could be a stunt double though); in any case, this human Gatling-gun routine has to be seen to be believed. (Maybe you already have seen it; I don't know if it's in the TV trailer or not).
- tom moody 12-27-2001 5:35 am


Yeah, just from the promos I'm a little dubious about the script. Tolkien would never use a phrase like "she-elf". But then, his languages are subject to misuse.
- alex 12-27-2001 10:17 pm [add a comment]


Where'd you go to school? Uruk-hai?
- jim 12-27-2001 10:25 pm [add a comment]


David McCusker had these not so encouraging - although not completely discouraging - words. I wish I had seen it on the first day before hearing others opinions. I guess that's my own fault.
- jim 12-27-2001 10:28 pm [add a comment]


  • McCusker is right about The Matrix's Hugo Weaving as Elrond. At one point he says ominously "You must take the Ring into Morr-dorr," and I wanted to yell out "Mr. Anderson," just to see if anyone got it.

    The main problem with the movie is too much condensation, and Peter Jackson's breakneck, swooping camera work. Tolkien's book is meant to be savored; this experience is raw kinetic spectacle. I did enjoy it, but I'm not sure I'm ready for an immediate return trip--I'm too exhausted!
    - tom moody 12-28-2001 4:27 am [add a comment]


    • I enjoyed the film. Given the current state of "high concept" movie making, condensation is unavoidable with a project as dense as a Tolkien novel. (I could have used an intermission. Fat chance!) An added bonus for me was the theatrical trailer for Spiderman which left me hopeful that they actually may pull it off.
      - steve 1-08-2002 12:11 am [add a comment]



how about the overly overt stoner pandering, from AOL Time Warner, no less...I was surprised, and a little disappointed...what's the fun of a drug reference if it isn't even vaguely hidden? ("this is the finest weed in the shire"..."look! mushrooms!")
- big jimmy 1-07-2002 8:56 pm [add a comment]


  • But weren't there complaints about LOTR encouraging children to smoke (tobacco)? Someone posted something about this but I can't find it.

    Steve, I agree about the Spider-Man trailer--it gave me hope. The digital puppet team has really been studying their Ditko moves.

    Toby McGuire seems right as "Petey"--he looks awfully young, but the strip started when he was still a high school student. I was excited to see that the Green Goblin (inventor of the aerial Segway!!!!) was the villain, but I'm not so sure about that hard-shelled face mask.

    At the Team Gallery party on New Year's Eve, a drunk guy in his early twenties was loudly asking everyone he met, "Who was Spider-Man's first girlfriend?" like it was the ultimate IQ test question. When I said "Betty Brant" his eyes bugged out. I felt so proud.

    Back to LOTR and Legolas, a friend of mine noticed that in the scene where the Fellowship is trudging through the deep snow, the Elf is skipping along on the surface. I completely missed it.
    - tom moody 1-08-2002 4:13 am [add a comment]


    • I missed that too, nice touch....
      - steve 1-08-2002 11:21 am [add a comment]



finally got around to seing Lord of the Rings, albeit on the small screen. have to agree with much of what was said. it had the inevitable condensed feel to it with the primary focus on the battle scenes. twas "cinematic" and the monsters were cool. managed to be epic without being overly sentimental or campy. i also was drawn to the elfan archer. i would always prefer that type of character to the slowfooted oafish axe-wielders in videogames. but then, im a sagitarrius, so how could i think otherwise.

i wonder, looking back at the thread, if Spiderman came anywhere near the aroused expectations. obviously the producers were pleased with its box office numbers but then so were the makers of scooby doo. each has a sequel in the works.

and when do we they start hyping The Hulk? interesting that they are banking on an essentially unknown actor to play the lead character.

heres more superhero moviemongering.
- dave 8-11-2002 3:23 am [add a comment]


click a number to rate each picture for its "Velma-ness"
- tom moody 8-12-2002 6:16 am [add a comment]





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