DVD Review HTF REVIEW: "Lord Of The Rings Extended Edition" (with screenshots) (1 Viewer)

[George Cifrancis]

Ronald Epstein said...
"You guys must not have been looking carefully
enough cause there are a few minor mistakes in the
review that I have corrected this morning. Steve
Simon got an email to me this morning and pointed
out a few errors -- all having to do with location
names (Mordor should have been Mines of Mordor)."
Actually Ron you still have 2 errors in the review. There are 2 places that say "mines of Mordor". That should actually read "mines of Moria".
Here are the 2 sections that need corrected...
"- Inside the mines of Mordor , against a steep
cliff, Gandalf points his way down the chasms as
he shows his companions the true wealth of Moria."
and
"- A newly found passage into the great hall of
the mines of Mordor."
Just change Mordor to Moria and your good to go.

 

[Dome Vongvises]

Does anybody know if the gift set is in limited quantities? Nobody answered my previous question. :frowning:
Oh well, great review Ron. I'm glad I held off on a previous purchase.

 

[Stephen_L]

Ron, though I'm relatively new to this site, I've come to appreciate and count on your reviews. This one was comprehensive and exceptional. I'll be countin' the days till I can have this baby in my hot little hands!

 

[Tim Glover]

Hey Brian,
I believe Ron's use of "too hot" probably implies it was mastered to the dvd too loud. I've heard this term used for speakers who tend to be more forward sounding as well. Certainly the 2 disc version was waaaaaay too loud. Not much in the way of a balanced mix so it sounds like the extended version has a more natural...while still shaking the couch...mix!

 

[Chris_Theuns]

I think I'll stick to my 2 disc theatrical version. I don't have the time nor the patience to sit through all that.

In my honest opinion, this is overkill.

 

[Brenton]

Like Ron, I skipped out on the two-disc theatrical version, and only rented it. As it is one of my very favorite movies, I am anxiously awaiting this Extended Edition and plan to buy it on release day with Attack of the Clones.

 

[Brian W.]

So, Ron or Bill Hunt, what is the actual running time of the movie without credits? I'm trying to figure out if that 208 minutes includes the credits (since the credits are extended by the fan club list).

In other words, at what time code does "Directed by Peter Jackson" fade in?

 

[Vickie_M]

In my honest opinion, this is overkill.

Yes, so you say, but it wasn't made for you, so it doesn't matter. They made it for me. Especially for me. Personally. Honest! And I'm looking forward to it. Thank you New Line.

The only problem I'm having with the 4-disc set is that it's way too short. Seriously, there are hours more things I would have liked to see. Ah well, I'm a greedy wench, but I can't have it all.

(I'm keeping my 2-disc too, there are too many good things on it to chuck it away like an old rag. I'm surprised at some of you people!)


Great review Ron (though I skipped over some of it to avoid being spoiled), thanks!

 

[Michael Dueppen]

Awesome review, Ron.
This is the best review of the set on the net at the moment. I absolutely positively cannot wait anymore. I will pop in the two disc set right now and watch it again to tide me over. God, I love this movie and I'm prepared to love it even more once I have the extendet cut.

 

[Lou Sytsma]

In my honest opinion, this is overkill.

By reading this thread Chris it should be obvious to you that many of us disagree with you.

A lot of us want this and would gladly take more.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

I want to thank Simon Young for all
his help. I have slightly modified the review
to remove descriptions of material already in
the original cut, as well as changing a locale
name.
I very much appreciate the fact you guys didn't
jump on me for the errors. There are so many
fictional names and locations in this film that
it became impossible to remember them all. In
fact, I did a bit of research on many of the names
and locations I did manage to correctly include.
Reviewing a fantasy film like is definately hard
when you have so many die-hard fans watching for
every little mistake you make.
You were all exceptionally kind in response.
In fact, it seems this review has caught the
attention of many major media sources over the
past day. One website drew so much traffic here
today that we had to shut the forum down. I am
amazed by the amount of email I have received in
response to this review, and fortunately, people
were most positive.
Of course, the one thing many people were quick
to point out is that this is the Extended
Version -- not a Director cut. I have updated
this review to represent such.
Thanks again. I am already working on a very
detailed review of SPIDER-MAN to be posted next
week.

 

[Chris Farmer]

Congrats Ron, you've been slashdotted

 

[Sean Bryan]

One website drew so much traffic here today that we had to shut the forum down

Damn TORN! I saw the link to your review there earlier and thought "Oh, no. The forum is gonna be slow today." Then I found that the forum was completely down. I had the perfect day of slacking off at work and reading HTF spoiled because of them!

 

[Peter Kim]

I rarely connect to the main HTF page which lists all of the different forums, along with the traffic stats. So, when I checked yesterday, I was astonished to see traffic at around 1000 visitors. Wow, what a staggering increase - normally in the past, I'd see anywhere from ~150 - ~600 visitors. I've never seen the visitor count as high as it has been for the last couple of days.

Since I'm starving for all things LOTR:EE, I've scoured as many sites as possible for LOTR:EE reviews. I don't have to say (evident by the spike in traffic) that this review is garnering a hell of a lot of attention.

Bittersweet...Ron, along with HTF, is getting a xenon spotlight, which is well deserved, but the number of times I've sadly and blankly stared at a 'forum unavailable' sign sinks me into withdrawal.

I cannot quite remember, but I recall seeing HTF's name on a dvd release (Moulin Rouge?). NL should stick HTF (with very light and easy to remove adhesive) on the box set for all of the attention that his review has generated.

 

[Dome Vongvises]

I finally put in my purchase. This will be awesome.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

My reviews have garnered far more attention
than I would have thought.

Disney is featuring my quotes in upcoming
advertising for Beauty & The Beast.

I don't understand it -- but as long as you guys
enjoy reading them, I'll continue to write 'em.

Just don't take them for anything more than
they are worth.

 

[Nick Sievers]

Just don't take them for anything more than
they are worth.

There is that modesty again

 

[Simon Young]

Hey Ron, don't worry about it. With all the work you put into your reviews, it seemed like the least I could do to simply copy bits and comments briefly on them!

Maybe you could answer some questions about the Extended Version for me:

1) What's the new music like? Have any new themes been introduced, or is the new stuff simply an extension of music that existed in the Theatrical Version? What music plays over the fan-club credit 'scroll'? Is it all new, as previously advertised?

2) Are the new effects up to scratch? Do they look even better than the effects in the Theatrical Version?

3) Is Bill the pony featured more, or named at all?

4) Are there any Dolby Digital or DTS trailers before the movie? Are audio tracks switchable 'on the fly'?

Cheers!

 

[Brian W.]

And also, Ron (I think this got missed before), at what timecode does "directed by Peter Jackson" pop up? There's been some dispute about exactly how many minutes of extra footage we're getting.

 

[Steve Schaffer]

It's taken 2 full days just to get this review to load on my webtv--and it was worth every frustrating failed attempt!!!

The quality of this review, both from the standpoint of detail and information as well as screenshots and Ron's clear and concise writing style, is wonderful.

I was on the fence about this before, but now it's a must-have.