Re: ROTK: my mini review (spoilers)

2003-12-24 Thread Bemmzim
In a message dated 12/24/2003 1:58:21 AM Eastern Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] 
writes:

> If they'd made it clear that he'd been subtly yet
> > dreadfully deceived by Sauron's manipulation of his
> > palantir-viewing, his madness might have been
> > understandable.  As it was, I thought him pathetic and
> > insane (not that I am fond of the character - but in
> > the book it is clear that he has some very good
> > qualities, sadly corrupted by his mistaken use of the
> > palantir).

I bet that will be in the extended version
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Re: ROTK: my mini review (spoilers)

2003-12-24 Thread Bemmzim
In a message dated 12/24/2003 1:58:21 AM Eastern Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] 
writes:

> If they'd made it clear that he'd been subtly yet
> > dreadfully deceived by Sauron's manipulation of his
> > palantir-viewing, his madness might have been
> > understandable.  As it was, I thought him pathetic and
> > insane (not that I am fond of the character - but in
> > the book it is clear that he has some very good
> > qualities, sadly corrupted by his mistaken use of the
> > palantir).

I bet that will be in the extended version
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Re: ROTK: my mini review (spoilers)

2003-12-24 Thread Deborah Harrell
> Doug Pensinger <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> > Debbi wrote:
 

> > Debbi
> > Alas, We Have No More To Look Forward To -
> >Although Hidalgo Ought To Be Good! Maru ;)
 
> There's the extended edition, anyway - over an hour
> longer by all reports.

Well, that's true - and a friend wondered if there was
room for a sequel with Sam having to write in the Red
Book -- but they'd have to flesh out skimpy appendix
material to do _that_.

Guess I'll just have to watch the three we have now
over again a time or 5... ;)

Debbi

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Re: ROTK: my mini review (spoilers)

2003-12-24 Thread Doug Pensinger
Debbie wrote:


If they'd made it clear that he'd been subtly yet
dreadfully deceived by Sauron's manipulation of his
palantir-viewing, his madness might have been
understandable.  As it was, I thought him pathetic and
insane (not that I am fond of the character - but in
the book it is clear that he has some very good
qualities, sadly corrupted by his mistaken use of the
palantir).
But I liked having Pippin light the first beacon fire
- that was neat!
Yes, that was pretty cool.  I also thought that Frodo telling Sam to bugg 
off on the stair worked fairly well.

One more nitpick - Arwen's sacrifice of her
immortality was trivialized by having her already
dying b/c of Sauron; IIRC she could have sailed West
anytime before marrying Aragorn.  But the scene where
she sees her future son was beautifully done.
I had the same thought exactly.

I particularly liked the cutting-back-and-forth from
massive battle scenes to Sam and Frodo's lonely
struggle across Mordor -- very effective.
Adored the music, and even the end-title drawings.

Well, after panning TTT, I think they did a good job on this one, though I 
was sitting too damned close to the screen - I may just have to see it 
again from at least far enough back so that I can see the whole oliphant 
at once. 8^)

Debbi
Alas, We Have No More To Look Forward To - Although
Hidalgo Ought To Be Good! Maru ;)
There's the extended edition, anyway - over an hour longer by all reports.

--
Doug
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RE: ROTK: my mini review (spoilers)

2003-12-23 Thread Deborah Harrell
--- Bryon Daly <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> >From: "Jim Sharkey" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>

> >A few additional thoughts:
> >Denethor was pitch perfect.
> 
> I thought he was portrayed a being *too* useless and
> psycho.  I read a funny 
> comment from someone saying that Denethor ought to
> get a lawyer because he'd been libeled.

If they'd made it clear that he'd been subtly yet
dreadfully deceived by Sauron's manipulation of his
palantir-viewing, his madness might have been
understandable.  As it was, I thought him pathetic and
insane (not that I am fond of the character - but in
the book it is clear that he has some very good
qualities, sadly corrupted by his mistaken use of the
palantir).

But I liked having Pippin light the first beacon fire
- that was neat!
 
> >Oliphants rule.
 
> Yep.  I thought they were great.

  Ooh, yeah!  (Did anyone else have a momentary
flash to the ATATs on Hoth?)
 
> >Andy Sirkis is *not* a handsome man.

But what a way to lead into the film - very well done,
I thought.

One more nitpick - Arwen's sacrifice of her
immortality was trivialized by having her already
dying b/c of Sauron; IIRC she could have sailed West
anytime before marrying Aragorn.  But the scene where
she sees her future son was beautifully done.

I particularly liked the cutting-back-and-forth from
massive battle scenes to Sam and Frodo's lonely
struggle across Mordor -- very effective.

Adored the music, and even the end-title drawings.

Debbi
Alas, We Have No More To Look Forward To - Although
Hidalgo Ought To Be Good! Maru ;)

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Re: ROTK: my mini review

2003-12-19 Thread Medievalbk
In a message dated 12/19/2003 9:30:57 PM US Mountain Standard Time, 
[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: (et al)

> >Me too!  ..although I had a moment of, "Hey.. how did those guys get up 
>  >there?" ;)
>  
>  Doh!  Now I'm going to wonder that too next time I see it.  Thanks a lot!  
>  :-)


One mountain top clearly shows a stair to thwe lower right of the pyre. Not 
all the way up to it though.

William Taylor
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RE: ROTK: my mini review

2003-12-19 Thread Bryon Daly
From: "Jim Sharkey" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
A few additional thoughts:
Denethor was pitch perfect.
I thought he was portrayed a being *too* useless and psycho.  I read a funny 
comment from someone saying that Denethor ought to get a lawyer because he'd 
been libeled.

Oliphants rule.
Yep.  I thought they were great.

Andy Sirkis is *not* a handsome man.
Well, they probably wouldn't pick Ben Affleck as someone to model Gollum's 
face after!

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RE: ROTK: my mini review

2003-12-19 Thread Bryon Daly
From: "Miller, Jeffrey" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>

Color me *very* disappointed in the Legolas effects.  My only two gripes 
about the quality of the CG work is the Legolas on the back of the Cave 
Troll and Legolas on the back of the Oliphant.  Dreadful.
Hmm.  I liked the Oliphant scene a lot; the CG ldidn't strike me as CG at 
all.>

...and why is Legolas presented as the Badder-ass of the Legolas-Gimli 
pair?
Yeah.  I wish Gimli had been shown to be more bad-ass as well.  I just read 
an interview with John Rhys-Davies, and he was asked about Gimli's lack of 
bad-ass-ness.  He basically replied that in 10+ hours of 
action/drama/adventure, some comic relief is needed, and Gimli seemed to be 
the natural choice to provide some of it.

> - I just got a chill recalling the beacon-lighting scene.  The
> cinematography is simply amazing.
Me too!  ..although I had a moment of, "Hey.. how did those guys get up 
there?" ;)
Doh!  Now I'm going to wonder that too next time I see it.  Thanks a lot!  
:-)

> - The Paths of the Dead are still in it, but changed a fair bit.  The
> changes are somewhat for the worse, but not in a way that
> significantly changes the eventual outcome.
Have you heard if they filmed the AotD capturing the ships?
No, haven't heard, but I'm guessing that since the arrival of the dead at 
the Pelennor
seemed angled to surprise the audience, I'm guessing they didn't film the 
capture of the
ships.

> - Gandalf's stand-off with the Witch-King at the gate of
> Minas Tirith is
> (inexplicably) cut out.  My friend says he actually saw the
> scene in one of
> the previews, so it was filmed and will most likely show up in the EE.
What about the shot in the previews of Merry pledging fealty to Theodin?  
Any word if that's lost?
Don't know.  I'm wondering that myself.  And I'm really hoping that since 
there isn't going to be a LOTR film next year to help promote, they won't 
make us wait 11 months to put out the extended ed.

> - We get to see the whole Smeagol/Deagol ring-finding scene,
> with Andy
> Serkis (who does Gollum's voice) playing the pre-gollum
> Smeagol.  Very cool.
Very, VERY cool :)  Maybe /now/ he'll qualify for the Oscar :D
I was thinking the same thing!

> - Possibly my biggest gripe is that in the Battle at the
> Black Gate, the
> forces Aragorn brings are rather skimpy, to say the least.
> In the book, it was a much larger, more credible, army.
*nod*  I think they shrunk the visual size of it to emphasize the 
hopelessness of their position, and how they were launching a hopeless 
attack only to buy time for a hopeless cause..
Yeah, that's what the guys I saw it with suggested as well; so instead of 
being outnumbered maybe 10-1 or 100-1 as in the books, the movie has it 
1000-1.  Fair enough, I guess, but I had kinda been expecting another major 
battle scene, so it was a bit of a letdown.  Especially with the Voice of 
Sauron scene cut as well.  (My movie-buff friend assured me later this was 
also filmed from what he's heard).

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RE: ROTK: my mini review

2003-12-19 Thread Miller, Jeffrey


> -Original Message-
> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] 
> [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Bryon Daly
> Sent: Wednesday, December 17, 2003 04:39 PM
> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Subject: ROTK: my mini review
> 
> 
> 
> - I heard a rumor that the version of ROTK originally 
> submitted to the MPAA 
> was 4:40 long.  That suggests a *lot* of stuff was filmed, 
> but cut for time. 
>   Hopefully it will all show up in the extended edition.

*swoon*

> - If you enjoyed Legolas' acrobatics in the last two films, 
> he has a very 
> cool scene in this one, less silly than the 
> sliding-down-the-stairs-on-a-shield one at Helm's Deep.  
> Overall, though, 
> there seems to be less screen time for Legolas, and for Gimli as well.

Color me *very* disappointed in the Legolas effects.  My only two gripes about the 
quality of the CG work is the Legolas on the back of the Cave Troll and Legolas on the 
back of the Oliphant.  Dreadful.

...and why is Legolas presented as the Badder-ass of the Legolas-Gimli pair?

Only complaint :)

> - I just got a chill recalling the beacon-lighting scene.  The 
> cinematography is simply amazing.

Me too!  ..although I had a moment of, "Hey.. how did those guys get up there?" ;)

> ---
> 
> Possible spoliers below:
>  
> - The House of Healing scene(s) was cut, but was filmed and 
> PJ has stated it also would be on the EE.

Its been so long since I read RotK that I didn't even notice.

> - The Paths of the Dead are still in it, but changed a fair bit.  The 
> changes are somewhat for the worse, but not in a way that 
> significantly changes the eventual outcome.

Have you heard if they filmed the AotD capturing the ships?

> - Gandalf's stand-off with the Witch-King at the gate of 
> Minas Tirith is 
> (inexplicably) cut out.  My friend says he actually saw the 
> scene in one of 
> the previews, so it was filmed and will most likely show up in the EE.

What about the shot in the previews of Merry pledging fealty to Theodin?  Any word if 
that's lost?

> - We get to see the whole Smeagol/Deagol ring-finding scene, 
> with Andy 
> Serkis (who does Gollum's voice) playing the pre-gollum 
> Smeagol.  Very cool.

Very, VERY cool :)  Maybe /now/ he'll qualify for the Oscar :D
 
> - Possibly my biggest gripe is that in the Battle at the 
> Black Gate, the 
> forces Aragorn brings are rather skimpy, to say the least.  
> In the book, it was a much larger, more credible, army.

*nod*  I think they shrunk the visual size of it to emphasize the hopelessness of 
their position, and how they were launching a hopeless attack only to buy time for a 
hopeless cause..

-j-
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RE: ROTK: my mini review

2003-12-18 Thread Jim Sharkey

Bryon Daly wrote:
>Capsule summary: Awesome.  I'm still digesting it, but I'm thinking 
>this was the best of the three.

I agree that it was awesome, but I think FotR is my favorite of the three.  Perhaps 
after a second veiwing I'll change my mind.  

A few additional thoughts:
Denethor was pitch perfect.
Oliphants rule.
Andy Sirkis is *not* a handsome man.

Jim
It's my birthday, Deagol.  Give it to me Maru

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Re: ROTK: my mini review

2003-12-18 Thread Bryon Daly
From: Alberto Monteiro <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Bryon Daly wrote:
>
> - Another nagging gripe is that while characters discuss the growing
> darkness, it never really gets that dark, and the darkness (or lack
> thereof) doesn't really have much effect upon the orcs.
>
The purpose of the darkness was _preventing_ the orcs to fight
under the Sun, that would seriously handicap them.
Yes, I know.  I'm saying that it wasn't very dark most of the time (think 
"overcast day"), and at the point in the book where the winds change and 
it's supposed to get lighter out, it's hard to tell if it actually does so 
in the movie, but in any case, I didn't notice any reaction shown by the 
orcs to it.

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Re: ROTK: my mini review

2003-12-17 Thread Julia Thompson
Bryon Daly wrote:

> - Some of Sam's adventure rescuing Frodo is cut out.  From the way it is
> edited, I'm guessing a lot of it was filmed but cut for time.  Sam's role as
> Frodo's protector is highlighted, and very touching at times.  I was very
> gratified to see it wasn't minimized at all.

Very glad to hear that.  Thanks.  :)

Sam's mother
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Re: ROTK: my mini review

2003-12-17 Thread Alberto Monteiro
Bryon Daly wrote:
>
> - Another nagging gripe is that while characters discuss the growing
> darkness, it never really gets that dark, and the darkness (or lack
> thereof) doesn't really have much effect upon the orcs.
>
The purpose of the darkness was _preventing_ the orcs to fight
under the Sun, that would seriously handicap them.

Alberto Monteiro

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