[Bastich]

*Puts on flak jacket*

It amazes me that people are so enthralled by these movies. To be fair, I have only seen the extended DVD cut of FotR and I saw RotK in the theater, so I can't judge the entire series, but the two I have seen aren't anywhere near what I would consider great movies. FotR was excessively long and mostly boring. RotK was about 10 times better but succeeded mostly at spectacle. It was dramatically rather dead and way over the top when it tried to be. The musical composer was especially WAY over the top on the dramatic music at points where it was totally unnecessary also, which further added to the ridiculousness of some of the scenes.

This is my imitiation of RotK:

Action. Action. Action. And then a hobbit cries...

Action. Action. Action. And then a woman cries...

Repeat. And then tack on the longest ending ever made.

I enjoyed the film, but it was same kind of empty fulfillment you get from any other special effects laden film. Take out all the action and there is little left to even call a film and it would flow horribly and be terribly cliche. Of course, I don't think the majority of the Star Wars films are very good either, so I am probably just a heretic. Don't mind me.

[Starflux]

Hmm, Obviously I don't agree with you, Bastich. I certaiinly find it a weird thing to say about any movie: take out this and that integral part of the movie, and what do you have left? The action is part of the movie... you seem to think that all action is bad, useless and serves only as thematically poor entertaiment.
Well, I'm sure others will be able to defend the story better than I can.

But will no one comment on what I had to say about the third movie? ^_^;; Are do we all agree on my view

[bigjko]

I had a big smile on my face when

Spoiler:

they all bowed before the Hobbits in the end, and was almost letting out small tears of joy for them.

Also when

Spoiler:

Pippin starts singing is just a wonderful and beautiful scene.

[Starflux]

That scene was actually very reminiscent of the filmschool called 'Russian Montage' that originated in (surprise) Russia before the second world war.

Spoiler:

One of its practices was to put completely opposing pieces of film together to create a heavy contrast between the two fragments and thus creating a much larger impact. This is true also in the scene where Pippin sings, as you hear his tragic song, see Faramir and the other Gondorian knights slaughtered, and Lord Denethor pigging out on his meal. It makes me wonder if Peter Jackson had seen Russian Montage-movies like "Strike", where they put together the images of a striking crowd being subdued by armed government forces and fragments of a living cow being brutally slain with butcher's knives. It's really the same principle.

[bigjko]

I never knew the name of it, but was always aware of how dramatic and effective it can make a scene to put complete contrasts, similar to

Spoiler:

Pippin's song and the slaughtering of the Gondor warriors.

Looking forward to seeing the Mouth of Sauron, Wormtongue throwing out the Palentir, Eowyn and Faramir love story, House of Healing and Merry swearing allegiance to Theoden in the Extended Edition. Hopefully.

[Starflux]

I really love the school I'm on now, because I learn so much about movies and their intricacies. I love it to analyse those little scenes about their origins en inspirations ^__^

Anyway, I can't wait for the Extended Edition either, if only to see

Spoiler:

how exactly Saruman will come to his end. It is rumored that Peter Jackson filmed dozens of different endings, and no one knows exactly which one it'll be! But don't tell me how it was done in the book again, because I want it to remain a complete surprise until I see the extended edition!

[Bastich]

If you read my post again, you will see that I did say that I liked the film. In fact, compared to the highly campy, HK film rip-off, plotless, frenetically edited, MTV generation crap that Hollywood et alii, have pumped out the last 5 years or so, it IS an absolute masterpiece, although not immune to the sickness in parts. My response was in relation to comments referring to the movies being some of the best EVER made. That just makes me wonder how few films people have seen who make such comments. It is evident just by the discussion content in this thread that it isn't one of the best at all. One of the "best" films of all time would engender far more meaningful discourse than this movie has.

[Starflux]

I would like to point you to the strenuous discussions that arose about the content of Matrix Revolutions, where every tidbit was meticulously examined and thoroughly analysed. Now you're not saying that was a better movie than this one
I get your point, but in terms of major feature films, the LotR-trilogy is comparable in quality to the original Starwars trilogy: it's great not because it's such a fantastic movie narrative-wise or whatever-wise, but because it tickles just the right things in most peoples hearts, has exactly the right kind of richness and escapism-enducing atmosphere to make it an unbelievable experience. Mind you, the bést movies movie-wise are not always the ones you will want to see ten times over again. For instance, I acknowledge that George Orwell's Citizen Kane is a superb movie movie-wise, but one that I don't necessarily have/want to see ever again. But for both the Starwars and LotR-trilogies applies: I can't get enough of them, and they never get boring.
In that sense, LotR is very, very high quality.

[Bastich]

Originally Posted by Flux

I would like to point you to the strenuous discussions that arose about the content of Matrix Revolutions, where every tidbit was meticulously examined and thoroughly analysed. Now you're not saying that was a better movie than this one

I haven't seen it, so I can't compare. It must have had a more meaningful theme if it sparked such conversations, but it could have fallen on its face in other respects though. Hopefully I will find out eventually...

I get your point, but in terms of major feature films, the LotR-trilogy is comparable in quality to the original Starwars trilogy: it's great not because it's such a fantastic movie narrative-wise or whatever-wise, but because it tickles just the right things in most peoples hearts, has exactly the right kind of richness and escapism-enducing atmosphere to make it an unbelievable experience. Mind you, the bést movies movie-wise are not always the ones you will want to see ten times over again. For instance, I acknowledge that George Orwell's Citizen Kane is a superb movie movie-wise, but one that I don't necessarily have/want to see ever again. But for both the Starwars and LotR-trilogies applies: I can't get enough of them, and they never get boring.
In that sense, LotR is very, very high quality.

It is Orson Welles, not George Orwell.

[Starflux]

LOL XD I always mix those two up. There were times I said 1984 was written by Orson Welles XD
But I'll leave it in my post. Tis befitting to live in the shadow of your own mistakes