[Jabberwocky]

Guess who made her boyfriend the happiest person in the world last night. I stood in line to get him and his friends tickets yesterday, but with those I got my boyfriend and myself tickets to see it tomarrow morning at 12:01 a.m. So I'm not going to get any sleep tonight.

Anywho, is anyone else ready to see this? I'll let you all know what I thought about it (without telling the plot or any details to ruin the movie for those who haven't seen it.) But what if I fall asleep during the midnight run one I will see it at 4 p.m. Wednesday.

If you see it post if you liked it or if you should wait till it comes out on tape.

[christian cox]

Of course I'm ready to see the first LOTR movie! I've read the books a couple of times, I enjoyed them... the movie looks quite awesome. I haven't been this excited to see a movie in a long time... hopefully it lives up to what the critics are saying about it

[Svanur]

All I can say is....

THIS MOVIE ROCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Damn I need to see it again....

[Lunatique]

Goddammit! I can't see the damn movie! Arghhh!!! I don't even know it it'll make it to china, and if they'll edit the hell out of it. Grrrrr!!!!!

[RenaissanceGirl]

You LOTR fans should check this out:
http://tiles.ice.org/index_disorganized.php?quilt_id=27

At any rate, although I'm totally excited to see the film, I have a nagging feeling that they may have left out too many crucial parts of the book. I heard they didn't include Tom Bombadil in the final cut - which is perfectly understandable (they can't feasibly cram the whole thing into two hours). I just hope they didn't take out too much and replace it with flying Hobbits doing Hong Kong martial arts. In any case, the cast looks awesome and I'm always impressed by Elijah Wood so I think he'll make a great Frodo.

I'm also curious to see how well they handle all the singing and poetry - there's a lot of that in the books.

[Dr. Bang]

Luna, you can always download it off the net or buy teh bootleg version. I thought China is the source for these kind of thing.

[Jabberwocky]

Okay I heard something about the elven language or something... that they kept it or had to take it out or something... anyone know anything about that?

[christian cox]

Elvish is spoken, and we get to see sub-titles in english when the Elves do this. The Poems and Songs have been removed, as well as Tom Bombadil. But the movie contains the CORE essence of the story and characters (the major ones). I'm not worried about it, because I really don't mind elements removed - this is cinema, not literature. But I guess I'm not really a *die-hard* fan, perhaps those kind will be pissed

[Svanur]

The movie is 3 hours long and those of you who think that Peter Jackson is going to destroy your book, think again.

Peter Jackson used a lot of tricks to make each scene as close to the book without losing his own style. The more I think about it the more I am amazed that he was able to make such a movie without divine intervention.

[travis travis]

sounds like he's taken some of the sap out of the series and tried to keep with a realistic adventure outlook. an interesting choice

[Brain]

26th of December it gets released in Australia (or at least around here). ARGH!!!! I want it now!!! *runs around in circles chanting*

[horstenpeter]

Brain, trust me, you don't want it. I just returned from the premiere and was extremely dissapointed. It's just a mess of confused directing and editing, confusing music and generally a lot of screaming from ugly monsters, which takes up around 1 third of the screen time.
I don't think I'll go see the next two ones. Oh well, at least we got a good laugh out of this one.

[Lunatique]

Dr.(gang)Bang- Dude, the pirated shit here is so God-aweful in quality it's not even funny. They sell these VCD's that usually are the result of someone sneaking a video recorder into a theater, and you hear people talking, eating junk food, and the motherfucker even zooms in to crop out the letterbox aspect ratio!! You do get quality DVD bootlegs sometimes, but the gubament is cracking down on those, and many places are closing down.

Man, I miss the good ol' U.S. of A.

Here's a thought-- Do you think that Bryan Singer could've done LOTR? I think he could've.

[Affected]

I don't know, yesterday I and the gf just walked into a cinema here and bought two tickets for a showing today. Good seats, too.

[Isric]

I just saw it, and aside from leaving a few small parts out, IT LIVES UP TO EVERY EXPECTATION I HAD. It is the most amazing movie I ever sat through, and I can't stop smiling.
Really I can't, my muscles will forever be in a smile because of Lord of the Rings

[J Bradford]

brain: that sucks man, seeing as it was filmed in New Zealand you would think it would come out around that area, first!

horstenpeter: funny how when someone has doesn't like something they give no reason at all or an extremely vague one.

I have yet to see it, ah well. Soon.

[xXxPZxXx]

It definitely is breathtaking. I had a smirk on my face nearly the whole way through. Obviously the book is better but I would say that the movie portrays the emotion of what is going on better.

My only gripe is that yes they did get the "main points" of the story but it just kind of jumps to them. Like BAM, BAM , BAM. no real traveling or sense of time.

-PZ-

[Sukhoi]

First of all I must confess that I haven't read the books.
Having said that, I really, really like the film. F*ck Starwars and all!!! (I still like SW though ) It seems to me that there is no other way to do a movie of such a massive, well written book, than what Peter jackson and crew have managed.
Evil is excellently depicted, I thing. By far the best I've seen so far!

Just marvellous!

HorstenPeter: Can you be more specific? And have you read the books??

Sukhoi

[horstenpeter]

Bradford: Well I typed these few lines out right after returning from the premiere at 3:30 AM and that was all I could come up with before I got to sleep, only to get up 2 and a half hours later for work. I normally would elaborate more, and will, below. Last night I just wanted to be the first to post returning from a premiere . Please don't jump to conclusions too fast - I am normally not the kind of guy who can't state any reasons for his opinion, and I hate being taken for someone I am not, which has happened far too often in my life. That said, I also understand how this easily can happen on the internet.

Sukhoi: Yes I read the books, and the Lord of the Rings saga is one of my favorite books I ever read.
As for more specific comments on the film:
It is hard to pinpoint just what it was that got on my nerves.

I think one of the main points was the uneven pacing, there were scenes where you really noticed how they tried to cram that bit into the 3 hours as well, and in other scenes, they dragged them out far longer than necessary.

Also, the whole creature designs reminded me too much of cheap movies like The Mummy and it's sequel (most notably the troll that accompanies the orcs in the mines of Moria), and I really don't see why every time monsters are involved in a scene half of the time of that scene has to be occupied by showing close-ups of their faces screaming, barking or producing other evil noises. All the time, I just felt like the filmmakers were trying to scare me by relying on simple shock tactics. And that just doesn't scare me, it simply annoys me. I can be scared far easier by intelligent dialogue.

The world design is a definite plus for the movie, some of the locations were really original, most notably Elrond's house, and also the two big statues near the end (don't know the English name). Others however lacked something, for example in the pillar hall of the Moria mines I just thought all the time "That's some really basic 3D objects with a really basic texture slapped on".

The worst part, IMO, was the dialogue. I don't know about the original English version - I saw a dubbed one - but in the version I saw a lot of the dialogue had changed from the original book source, and to the worse. It simply lacked style, and nothing felt like a fantasy universe in the dialogue.

In the end, there were some bright moments in the film - for the first 3/4 hour I actually quite liked it - but the bad points far outweigh the good ones. I simply think a Lord of the Rings film should contain more than just a bunch of guys battling it out with a bunch of monsters.

[ December 19, 2001: Message edited by: horstenpeter ]

[Jabberwocky]

Saw it last night at 12:01 am and stayed awake through it..... I was awsome. I loved it and yes I haven't read all the books.

I'm going to see it again at 4 today with my b/f and his friends.

Those orcs are pretty sweet for you orc lovers!

[Sukhoi]

HorstenPeter:
Yeah, well the pacing.....I think you got a point there, but I also think pacing is one of the more difficult things to get right is such a massive undertaking. I can't help to think that your mood and expectations had an influence on your oppinion of the movie. Not to disrespect your oppinion, but I know this happens to me alot! I'm just kinda sad that you think the bad elements outweigh the good ones.... Because ofcourse there are things in the movie of lesser quality than one could expect but I can't help but admire the film as a whole.
Also the film is of much better taste that one could possibly hope for, I think.
I'm rambling.....

Horst: Can you give examples of movies you really like??! Good material for a movie discussion, hehe!!

Sukhoi

[horstenpeter]

Sukhoi, yes you have a point there as well. I noticed that as well, that if your expectations are too high then you might not like a movie. As it stands, I'm quite alone with my POV, almost all of the audience applauded after the film was over. However, my friends also didn't like the movie, so I guess I'm not the only one either.
I don't think however that this can be applied this time. I went into the theatre in a pretty neutral to happy mood, and I didn't know what to expect. I had heard that it was supposed to be very good. Still, (as always with larger productions) I was a little skeptical, but not too much. I hadn't seen more than a few frames from the film before yesterday. I didn't even see the trailer, even though it had been sitting around on my harddisk for months . So I don't think I had any expectations that could be failed easily, and, as I said, I liked it for the first 40 minutes or so. Actually quite a lot till then, some of the scenes involving Gandalf and Bilbo were really great. But sadly, after that 40 minute mark, things went downhill rapidly.

As for movies I like, pretty much anything that's not a major Hollywood production. My personal favorites are the Sergio Leone films, like "A Fistful of Dollars", "Once upon a time in the West", "Once upon a time in America", also films like "Pi" and "Cube". Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was also very good. Vietnam films like "Platoon" and "Apocalypse Now" are amongst my favorites. I'm also into animated movies, both western animation (The Iron Giant, Titan A.E.) and asian animation (Princess Mononoke, Akira, Jin Roh). Well the list goes on but I'll just cut off here.

So what about you ? Or should we start a new thread about this ?

[ December 19, 2001: Message edited by: horstenpeter ]

[Sukhoi]

Gandalf, was �ber-cool wasn't he??!!
"Thou shall not pass"!!! YEAH!

What do you guys think of the intruduction of the fellowship?? As having not read the book I felt a little lost when they were introduced. I also didn't care for them until much farther into the film...It all seemed a bit "in crouded" if you know what I mean. But ofcourse Jackson and crew had to do it this way, to a certain extend....

agh, I have to see it again as soon as possible, to get it all in....

Also Horstenpeter, I guess you would enjoy a second screening at home, preferably. I know when I sit in the movies and people applaude the ending and the punchlines of crappy movies, I get especially pissed, hehe. And a second viewing seldomly fails to convey a better movie experience.

Sukhoi

[christian cox]

I saw the 12:30 PM EST showing today. I really loved it, I thought it was a great epic film. I'm not going to compare it and the book... because they are two different things. I love them both, perhaps the book more... but I love this as a *film*. Perhaps you will love it, or maybe just like it... or maybe you'll hate it. However, this person adored it

[Speve-o-matic]

Suprisingly, LOTR was released in South Africa today as well. I was happy about that.

My advice is, read the book before you see the movie. The movie essentially illustrates some scenes in the book quite nicely. Kind of like a companion guide to LOTR.

As a stand-alone movie, I'll never know (Read-the-book-bias) . . . perhaps to some (especially those that havent read the books)it may seem pretty weak, cluttered, disjointed . . .

Characters that I enjoyed very much (apart from the obvious) . . . the Balrog. Man did that thing rock. I knew it had wings.

Gollum - Looking good, looking good . . . only the second movie will tell for sure.

Yeah. I'm pretty happy.

- Steve

www.icon.co.za/~shmuely

[mumpizz]

Just saw it! it rocks!
I liked the chorals when the black riders appeared in bree

[Blade]

This is my star wars if you get my jist.
The movie did rock and I am not afraid to admit that I was very geeked about it, everyone in the world could think i was a nerd because I liked it so much and I wouldnt even care.
The movie was done very very well, you cant expect the movie to be as good as the book because there is no way that the producers see it the exact same way you did when you read the book because to each his own. That is why I feel if you go in expecting it to be perfect by what you envisioned in your head and your so perfectionistic about what you read then dont see it because unless you make it yourself its not gonna live upto your expectations...ah what the hell GO SEE IT ANYWAY THEY DESERVE THE MONEY FOR The fantastic job they did.
I enjoyed the book more because its much more personal but the movie was the best fantasy style movie I have ever seen.
Please I ask you not to go into the theatre being as skeptical as possible, just take it in as it comes and GOOD GOD THANK YOU for such a movie, dammit 2 more years before I can see the other two *sigh*, ya know first day it comes out and i just saw it, now whens the DVD gonna come out so I can go buy it and watch it over and over and over and over and over and over and over again.
I think I shall want to go live in New Zealand now!!!!!! =D

[the_monkey]

it was a good film, the best thing we could ask for i suppose. i really think the world they created for the film was too dark, especially lothlorien. in the books the trees are described as (almost) living creatures, and the ground is covered with bright gold leaves. I also think that they used the blue tint too much, making broad daylight look like 4 in the morning. But what really pissed me off was the ending. siiiiiigh. i dont want to wreck it for the others who havent seen it...

on the other hand, i felt they did a great job with hobbiton, and mordor. and did anyone notice how fast arwens horse went? booyah.

all in all, the lord of the rings isnt a bad movie, its just not the world i imagined in my head.

ps, what was with bilbos face? that was gay.

[ December 19, 2001: Message edited by: the_monkey ]

[xXxPZxXx]

ok how about specific characters? Those who read the book, what did you think of them? Here are a few of my interpretations:


Sam Gamgee: Perfect character, really felt like he had a good heart and soul. my favorite thing he did was when he stopped in the shire. "if I walk one more step..." poor guy =/

Pippin and Merry: I thought I would hate them in the beginning but again I think they were depicted nearly perfectly.

Aragorn: being my favorite character in the books I had high expectations. Definitely some cool fight scenes but I feel they left out some of the mystery while they first met which ended up ruining his "cool factor"

Legolas: holy crap was Legalos sweet. Just what I always pictured an elf like. Very calm, with a perfect looking actor. Everytime he whipped out his bow I just wanted to cream my pants. Coolest character by far. IMHO

eh too many more that I don't really feel like saying much about.

-PZ-

[Returner]

I saw the movie today and it wasn�t what I had been expecting, although it was a decent movie with really good acting, designs, monsters, music�.it lacked something�..it was brilliantly done, but the pace was very strange somehow�..like as if they were to faithful to the books and therefore lost the quality it could have had as a movie.
I somehow see this more as a �LOTR documentary� then a movie, a summary of the book rather than a movie and I think that is how you have to see it�.Peter Jackson would definitely have lost some essential things(facts) that are in the books if his main goal would been to make the ultimate movie(by taking bits from the book that would have been suitable for a movie and leaving out others and adding funny dialogs etc). But it was an OK film, and much better than Harry Potter (thank god for that)
The first quarter was excellent though�.up to the part when they meet the swordsman/king (forgot his name sorry) the scenes with Bilbo was just great, so where the ones with Sam���if I go any further�

[ December 21, 2001: Message edited by: Returner ]

[ December 21, 2001: Message edited by: Returner ]