I remember being at a party when I was about 8 (not a crappy kids party, a good party), and everyone was sitting around watching this film and drinking and smoking. My dad said that the scenes with Frodo struggling with the descision to put the ring on are representative of his struggles with chastity, to a great amount of laughter. At the time I was mostly concentrating on what kinds of bugs were wriggling out between the roots (it was that scene in the wood with the Nazgûl on a horse, just after they've left Hobbiton) and on not breathing in too much smoke, but I remember feeling vaguely confused by the joke, and thinking it extremely grown up. Now it mostly just reassures me that, yes, I am actually funny sometimes. I'm not telling that story to make any kind of point, it's just what I think of while watching that scene.
Anyway, now that I've got the obligatory Todd VanDerWerff style talk-about-yourself paragraph out of the way (I do love Todd though, him and Zach have helped me through both 'The X Files' and 'The Twilight Zone' over on The AV Club ( and yeah, I realise that at the time of writing Todd no longer works for them, but at the time of your reading this Todd and Zach - and me - might all be dead, so fuck you)) we can get this review on the road (do you remember what I was talking about at the beggining of the paragraph? Don't feel bad, I had to back and check too).
So there's this wacky place called Middle Earth, and there's very clearly bad guys and very clearly good guys, and short dudes with beards, and giant eagles, and all kinds of crazy shit. But you don't even need to know that yet, because we're following a group of Halflings as they try to deliver a magic ring hundreds (or thousands or... I don't know how far) of miles to the cheery sounding Mount Doom, which is in Iceland.
Yup, it's going to be a real dirty ring-job.
There's very little I can say here that hasn't been said already. I do really like these movies, but I don't know every detail of them (I'd say I swing more towards sci-fi than fantasy), so I'm not sure how insightful I can be here, when it's a series that is so lauded by so many already.
First off: I enjoy the Shire. It's basically Cornwall (everyone is short and dumpy with big noses and curly hair, they smoke a lot and eat a lot, it's strangely disconnected from the outside world, everyone seems both super cheery and supitious of anyone who lives over the next hill, they all have bare feet etc) and I'm somewhat fond of Cornwall. The movie gets off to a slow start, but I enjoy watching the Hobbits go about doing Hobbit stuff, as not very much happens. Gandalf turns up, goes away, turns up, goes away, and we start our adventure... sort of. Lets just say that you can tell it's a big book.
The quest is epic and meandering, and there are few parts of it that I do not enjoy. Sure, some particular scenes can drag on a bit, but it's difficult to fault something that I've been watching over and over from a young age.
That's the problem with this series (and several other, most notably 'Star Wars', the movies of which probably get about 20 more points than I'd give them if I was completely fair). It's all so familiar, I even remember a particular shot of a particular goblin that I like in the mines (the one with the big eyes), and its familiarity makes it difficult to judge fairly.
Trying very hard though: I liked most of the acting. My favourite character in this series is Saruman, and a lot of that is because of his fantastic portrayal by Christopher Lee (who was actually meant to play Gandalf, but whatever, he was great in this part anyway). The cinematography is also consistently fantastic, with nicely realised settlements/castles/ruins that mix well into the natural beauty of the landscapes and help to bring this world to life.
The main complaint I have here is that the story feels broken up, and sort of has two endings. It starts oddly, with the pacing all over the place, then picks up and seems to come to a sad conclusion once they leave the mines and Gandalf apparently dies. But... then we're off again to fight Uruk-hai and are treated to Boromir dying (classic Dean Bean) and that kickass fight between Aragorn and Lurtz (you know that bit where Lurtz throws his knife at Aragorn? I heard that he was actually meant to throw wide, but in a take he acidentally threw it right at him, but he deflected it with his sword - and then it made it into the movie). The pacing or odd story composition never really bothered me when i was younger, and to be honest it doesn't bother me now, but I do that it's a flaw.
Oh yeah, and you know that bit at the end where Sam is chasing Frodo out into the river, even though he can't swim? Yeah, apparently Sean Astin cut his big hobbit foot really badly during filming that bit.
This isn't my favourite 'Lord of the Rings' movie, but it is my second favourite... third favourite. Second favourite. Also, it was a massive part of my childhood, and I'll love it forever.
There's very little I can say here that hasn't been said already. I do really like these movies, but I don't know every detail of them (I'd say I swing more towards sci-fi than fantasy), so I'm not sure how insightful I can be here, when it's a series that is so lauded by so many already.
First off: I enjoy the Shire. It's basically Cornwall (everyone is short and dumpy with big noses and curly hair, they smoke a lot and eat a lot, it's strangely disconnected from the outside world, everyone seems both super cheery and supitious of anyone who lives over the next hill, they all have bare feet etc) and I'm somewhat fond of Cornwall. The movie gets off to a slow start, but I enjoy watching the Hobbits go about doing Hobbit stuff, as not very much happens. Gandalf turns up, goes away, turns up, goes away, and we start our adventure... sort of. Lets just say that you can tell it's a big book.
The quest is epic and meandering, and there are few parts of it that I do not enjoy. Sure, some particular scenes can drag on a bit, but it's difficult to fault something that I've been watching over and over from a young age.
That's the problem with this series (and several other, most notably 'Star Wars', the movies of which probably get about 20 more points than I'd give them if I was completely fair). It's all so familiar, I even remember a particular shot of a particular goblin that I like in the mines (the one with the big eyes), and its familiarity makes it difficult to judge fairly.
Trying very hard though: I liked most of the acting. My favourite character in this series is Saruman, and a lot of that is because of his fantastic portrayal by Christopher Lee (who was actually meant to play Gandalf, but whatever, he was great in this part anyway). The cinematography is also consistently fantastic, with nicely realised settlements/castles/ruins that mix well into the natural beauty of the landscapes and help to bring this world to life.
The main complaint I have here is that the story feels broken up, and sort of has two endings. It starts oddly, with the pacing all over the place, then picks up and seems to come to a sad conclusion once they leave the mines and Gandalf apparently dies. But... then we're off again to fight Uruk-hai and are treated to Boromir dying (classic Dean Bean) and that kickass fight between Aragorn and Lurtz (you know that bit where Lurtz throws his knife at Aragorn? I heard that he was actually meant to throw wide, but in a take he acidentally threw it right at him, but he deflected it with his sword - and then it made it into the movie). The pacing or odd story composition never really bothered me when i was younger, and to be honest it doesn't bother me now, but I do that it's a flaw.
Oh yeah, and you know that bit at the end where Sam is chasing Frodo out into the river, even though he can't swim? Yeah, apparently Sean Astin cut his big hobbit foot really badly during filming that bit.
This isn't my favourite 'Lord of the Rings' movie, but it is my second favourite... third favourite. Second favourite. Also, it was a massive part of my childhood, and I'll love it forever.
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring: 89.2