Lord of the Rings (2 towers)

[[Censored]]

Don't want to spoil it for anyone... but I'd be curious about people's views on the battles...

Even though it's a war movie, I would have liked to see a few more fights edited like "Return of the Dragon", and a few less edited like "Romeo Must Die".

[Machimurasan]

Originally posted by SevenStar
Do any of you guys read piers anthony?

Yo bruh it's OP. Yeah, I especially liked his "Incarnations of Power" series from the 80s. "Bearing an Hourglass" was real hype!

What has he written lately that you can recommend? Merry Christmas, Happy Kwanza, etc.....

[SanSoo Student]

I dont understand how they got horses from inside the castle...

[SevenStar]

Yeah, that was a good one. 'On a Pale Horse' was tight too. I know he's written a few new Xanth novels recently, 'Up in a Heaval' I think is the most recent - I haven't ready that one yet though. If you haven't seen 'Killobyte', check it out

[ZIM]

Didn't piers anthony write "the changeling?" That was pretty cool, as I remember it. I wasn't much impressed with anything else he's writen.

My fave is Gene Wolf. His Book of the New Sun would be a really cool movie!

[Chang Style Novice]

That's true, Zim, but it'd pretty much have to be as long as LotR to do it justice.

Gene Wolfe rocks like your grampappy's chair.

[quiet man]

Originally posted by HuangKaiVun
I liked Galadriel in the movie. She totally fit the book character, especially in context of the extended series. The gifts were a bit different than in the book, but I think it worked better.

You may be talking about the DVD version, which I haven't seen. I'm talking about the cinema version. And that version was no good. In the book, Galadriel is by far the best female character, and in the movie she's some kind of weirdo, especially when Frodo offers her the Ring (I mean, that booming voice and all... puh-leeeease!?). Read her "Song of Eldamar" to see what I mean when I say "the best female character"... You don't see ANYTHING like that in the movie.

It could have been so much better...
Maybe I'm just too demanding?

[KC Elbows]

Me and the family went and saw TTT on Christmas(I love seeing movies on holidays). Loved it. I can see what people are talking about with Farimir, but then again, he wasn't in a huge amount of the film, so characterization might be further developed later. However, he never tried to actually take the ring by force per se, at least off of Frodo's person.

BTW, I want a Smeagal. I could just watch him for hours. Best acting in the movie. Absolutely amazing. The next movie should be mind boggling.

Ents. Love 'em. While watching the movie, especially this part(because of the tree thing), got thinking about how this particular movie, in my opinion, captured sense of wonder in as grand a scale as Wizard of Oz. I don't make that comparison lightly, as I worship that movie.

Legolas and Gimli- Did a good job of capturing their friendship, though I agree with whoever posted that Gimli could have been made less clumsy, though at least they didn't keep doing it ad infinitum.

Aragorn- Good job, once again.

The Elves leaving- I would imagine it was really tough finding a way to quickly explain the elves leaving for Valinor. I think that the whole flashback of Aragorn's was a good way. That wasn't in the book, was it? Meaning, the relationship flashback. I'm about to reread it(I'm rereading after watching the movies).

Gandalf vs. The Balrog- Thank you Peter Jackson. Some might disagree, but to make a movie of these books and neglect one of the most visually exciting parts would be obtuse. It is retold in the book because we will imagine it, but for a movie, it should be shown.

Gandalf the White- Very bright. Loved the scene where he put Grima Wormtongue in his place.

Sam- I like the actor they got to play Sam. It's also nice to see an epic where the heros are not male models, and actually appear rather round.

Frodo-Jackson made me think poor Frodo, which is exactly what I should be thinking.

Elves in HelmsDeep- Not really necessary, but such a minor complaint. The only real problem I have with it is that events like Helmsdeep are supposed to be the human's making their stand, and showing their place in a Middle Earth where only the remnants of the magical past still linger, but again, it is a minor complaint, since the humans will see more.

Elf Chick with delicious overbite- Yum.

Nazgul on fell beasts- Very nice.

Mordor- Very nice.

Smeagal- Where can I get one?

[SevenStar]

The Ent battle was great, wasn't it? Did you catch how the one that was on fire jumped into the floodwater to put the fire out?

Gimli was pretty clumsy, but he made it work for him - he took out more than Legolas, right? Counting how many they took out was really cool to me, for some reason - in the face of destruction, they are still making light of things and fighting hard. That's also one of the characteristics I always liked about spiderman

yeah, I'm glad they put in the gandalf vs balrog scene too.

Sam was played by sean astin - he's been thin in everything I've ever seen him in. I wonder how much weight he had to put on to play sam?

[HuangKaiVun]

Galadriel is SUPPOSED to be a weirdo.

She bears one of the 3 Elven rings, is the grandmother of Arwen Undomiel, has special powers even for an Elf, and is the big boss of Caras Galadhon (sorry Celeborn). All that in a male-dominated Middle Earth.

The schtick with Galadriel is that she's supposed to be a powerful female character who would readily use the Ring to inflict violence and revenge if she had the chance. That was what she proclaimed in the book when one of the hobbits suggested that she'd be a great owner of The Ring.

A powerful dark booming voice is the correct color for a lady whose tendency for power domination and power are barely held in check by the power of the Elves.

[neptunesfall]

man. i saw the TTT last nite and it was awesome.
in response to some of the posts here...
foromir wasn't as much an ******* as everyone thought. i believe he was portrayed that way to show how easily the men were influenced by the ring and to reinforce how the hobbits weren't.
and gollum is one of the most tragic characters i've seen in film in i don't know how long. he tried so hard to be good for frodo, fighting with the urges of the ring, until he was mistreated by foromir in the search for the ring.
as a side note - i saw an interview with the actor who played gollum and he talked about how his approach to gollum's personality and battling his urges and his inner struggle was loosely based on heroin addicts.
his lying, theiving, murdering for the ring, the corruption of his self, the division within himself, his struggle for redemption...prominent characteristics in addiction.
the warg vs. rohan riders fight was great.
the battle of helms deep is a battle scene; the humor from gimli was a bit out of place to me though. but then again, when you're sure that there's nothing left but to die on your feet...
the battle of the ent was awesome. and yes, i saw the burning ent dunk himself to put the flames out.
and the nazgul fliers were really cool.

don't follow the lights...

ps - is it just me or were scenes from the trailers not in the movie?

[neptunesfall]

oh yeah...

i've read piers anthony since i was about 12, starting with the xanth series. xanth and the incarnations series were my favorite from him.
my fantasy diet consists mostly of robert jordan these days. the wheel of time series is fantastic.

[SevenStar]

That info about the guy who did gollum was interesting. He did a great job.


What's the Wheel of Time series about?

[neptunesfall]

oh jeez...i don't even know how to explain the wheel of time series...
a lot of it is based on celtic mythology and eastern philosphies.

http://www.tor.com/sites/wheel_of_time/

will have the best explainations of it

[David Jamieson]

I would suggest to any of you who haven't read the books to pick them up as a hobby for a little while.

The "between the lines message" is along the lines of the fusion of paganism and chritian standards before the Middle ages. A lot of Norse sagas interlaced in tolkiens works with the C.S Lewis influence ready to go at the mention of an Ent

really good read.

I just saw the two towers and felt that it could have been a little more than it was. There could have been more time in character development instead of sweeping vistas and rotating cranes. I would have liked to have seen more about the relationships between the kings of the various realms and more Gandalf!

anyway, blah blah blah, I hope the return of the king is as good as these first two have been.

cheers