LOTR, Twin Towers

martino · Post by **martino** » Wed Dec 18, 2002 2:14 pm

when i was a kid i refused to concern myself with fantasy literature such as tolkien's "lord of the rings". i was interested in politics, drugs, alcohol, sex, and travel (not in that order), and the fantasy crowd was escapist, hippyish, badly-dressed and unwashed. tolkien fans, if they were guys, were charmlessly geeky whereas the girls had fat asses.

but just by coincidence, the other day i saw an hour of the LOTR 1 dvd at a friend's house and i was awed by the spectactular scenery, the great acting and the first-rate editing.

so last night i went to a double feature: lotr 1 and 2, in a cinema with a giant screen. i can tell you: this is great stuff. the story is ridiculous but everything else is just a fantastic cinematographic experience. never before has mass slaughter of people and semi-people been so beautiful. (actually i like the way polanski shows murder in his version of "macbeth" even better but he had to make do with a much smaller budget).

spending six fucking hours, up until three in the morning, watching thoe movies gave me a terrific back ache and i can report that the lotr fan community is as grungy and fat-assed as ever. but it was worth it, which is saying pretty much when you consider that i will probably never again watch that much movie in one sitting.

Post by **mccutcheon** » Wed Dec 18, 2002 9:27 pm

Amanda is crazy about the LOTR and she doesn't have a fat ass. Actually she never read the books (I just got her the hobbit). But both Maverick and Amanda love the films. I think the movies transcend from the hard core fans who play board games and dress in capes and swords (not on Halloween but just for the fun of it, you know, to a new medium when the movies capture an escapism in a movie house. They are filmed great and with high artistic quality. And I like how they did them all at once. It avoids the actors dying (harry potter) or getting fat (star trek- data is twenty pounds heavier and he is a machine. he must be an American. In the future even our androids will gain weight. Anyway great movies and anyone who disagrees is going to get a spell cast on them by McCutcheon the purple, with red flashes.

marky · Post by **marky** » Thu Dec 19, 2002 9:49 am

Well I'm intrigued to hear you guys like the movies. Perhaps if they come out on video I'll check them out, I don't normally go to theatres to see films.

Polanski is cool.

Post by **mccutcheon** » Thu Dec 19, 2002 4:13 pm

don't go to the theathres to see films? Are you watching them in the WC?

Maverick · Post by **Maverick** » Thu Dec 19, 2002 11:29 pm

I have not yet seen The Two Towers, but am indeed a fan of the first installment of the LOTR Trilogy. I have never been a hardcore fan, never dressed up as a wizard or anything (unless being paid to do so for an acting gig), but I see strong romance ing stories such ast these. The emotions are real and basic, even if the situations and creatures are fantastic and unbelievable. To me ther is nothing so romantic as the quest to save the world, even if it id depicted as a battle between ugly CGI characters.

Maverick · Post by **Maverick** » Thu Dec 19, 2002 11:30 pm

DAMN I made a lot of spelling errors in that last post. I guess that means I'm passionate about it...didn't even stop to proofread before I posted!

Post by **mccutcheon** » Thu Dec 19, 2002 11:31 pm

I know how that goes foxhole buddy.

h. · Post by h. » Fri Dec 20, 2002 1:11 am

I'm taking miss k to see the movie tonight. I'm actually looking forward to it, though the crowd is going to be a deterrent and I couldn't get tickets at the cinerama because the shows were all sold out.
Whatever. At least I don't have to drive my broken ass car- I can be lazy and hop a bus. I had to be sneaky too. She doesn't realize we're going yet...
I'll give my opinion on the flick once I've seen it. I loved the books though.

martino · Post by **martino** » Fri Dec 20, 2002 9:01 am

i am posting this a day too late, but what the hell:

LOTR is not good for young children. too much brutality. too much nightmare material.

LOTR 2 is not really comprehensible if you haven't seen LOTR 1 or read the books.

h. · Post by h. » Fri Dec 20, 2002 9:29 am

Pipe down, Mr. Martino. She's read the books already. And she was not disturbed in the least by what she saw. She was more pissed that it was done with (after 3 hours ) than anything. She wanted the whole shebang! Yikes.
I will have to say that we were both impressed with the # 2 portion of the movie but since we know what happens next...
Patience is a virtue so I'll go with that. Miss K is better at it...

Post by **mccutcheon** » Fri Dec 20, 2002 3:46 pm

I'd like to do what Martino did and see the first and second back to back. sore butt is worth it. I hope they show all three films in a row when I fly to the moon. oh yeah did you hear? I got invited along with that Justin guy.

martino · Post by **martino** » Fri Dec 20, 2002 7:02 pm

please elucidate miz aitch.

i was going to go with my miss L who just turned twelve and hasn't read the books, but has a lively imagination and is somewhat prone to nightmares having to do with the onset of adolescence. she occasionally dreams of turning into a werewolf and such. so movies like LOTR are no problem for miss K whatsoever? what about stuff like x-men, titanic, the matrix? all quite good but i thought a bit too heavy for the wee ones.

just as a side, my dad took me to all kinds of difficult stuff when i was tiny. i saw "a man for all seasons" at 8, "planet of the apes" at 10, "apocalypse now" at 11, etc etc. i guess it didn't harm me much but i remember being pretty terrified for moments, at the time.

marky · Post by **marky** » Sat Dec 21, 2002 4:06 am

That's right, McC. I watch films in the bathroom. I literally bring my VCR & Television into the bathroom and set it up near the sink every time.
How did you know? Ha ha ha

h. · Post by h. » Sat Dec 21, 2002 8:56 am

I think miss k has been exposed to too many real life horrors to worry about the ones on screen. She seems to have a frightening grasp on fantasy being fantasy. She's seen quite a few of the films you mentioned and didn't bat an eye. 'Planet of the Apes' cracked her up. I'm not sure if it was Charlton Heston's bad acting or the fact that people were wearing monkey suits. It appears that the only flicks that freak her out are ones with spiders figuring prominently, so I will have to watch out with the 3rd installment of LOTR. It didn't bother her for the 2nd harry potter though, so maybe she's over that phobia.
I will say that we would have had more of a problem if we'd watched 2 of them back to back. I don't think K has the attention span for that.

Post by **mccutcheon** » Sat Dec 21, 2002 4:19 pm

Just don't turn into Elvis.