LORD OF THE RINGS Trilogy Discussion Thread (1 Viewer)

[Chuck Mayer]

Tim, the box sets do not have a track listing for the DVD-Audio. I'll search about the interwebz.

 

[Craig S]

Don't the DVD-As in those box sets have the exact same tracks as the CDs, just all on one disc?

 

[Tim Glover]

Yeah they do....but it's spread over on 3-4 discs. Was just trying to get an actual DVD-A track list in sequence.

 

[Tim Glover]

Been iced in for a few days now & decided to watch one of my all time favorites. The Fellowship of the Ring-Extended Version is in my top 2-3 films of all time.

Just watching this again reaffirms my fondness for it. Truly this chapter is a masterpiece in story telling, direction, and epic scope. What a mammoth task to try and make this wonderful literary tale look so real. Amazing. Maybe like no other film, FOTR makes me truly believe this was indeed a part of our history. Tolkien was a Genius. I really have no words to describe what he did to create a whole new world. Characters, Maps, Events, and a story that has stood the test of time.

Peter Jackson hit a grand slam on his adaptation. Every time I watch The Fellowship I am mesmerized and become a part of Middle Earth. The Two Towers continues the greatness albeit to a lesser degree. Return of the King hasn’t aged well. Just too much-way too much of been there & done that. The Fellowship Of The Ring really has no flaws. Its magic on screen.

Rare to have such an epic adventure and such excellent acting too. All too often epic scale and effects take center stage and the writing and acting is so stupid and dumbed down that it takes one out of the experience. (Transformers….but many many others do this). However with The Fellowship of the Ring, Story takes #1 for me. You have to buy in. We do. Actors? Are they believable...do they make what you see on screen seem real and can feel their plight. I did and do.

With all the cutting edge work done by WETA, there still retains an “earthy” feel to the experience which just makes it more believable and personalized as well.

Everything just works here. Maybe the best overall musical score of all time as well. After 14 years I still LOVE listening to the soundtrack and especially the DVD-Audio versions in my SUV. My Acura MDX plays DVD-Audio

I could go on and on…

There is also a sad reality in that NOTHING out today compares to it. Sure there are a few good films but I wonder if this Modern Golden Age of films have passed us by. Thats for another thread

I love this movie and its one of my most treasured.

 

[Chuck Mayer]

Fellowship really is a treasure. Easily the best of the ME movies, in my opinion. Balances the spectacle with the heart perfectly, taking the best of PJ and suppressing the more bombastic tendencies where applicable.


Just a wonderful film, one of the benchmarks in epic/blockbuster filmmaking history.

 

[Chuck Mayer]

So I know you didn't think today would just pass without notice

Today marks the 15th anniversary of the release of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.

It was my first midnight movie, and I remember being absolutely enchanted by it. One of the things I most enjoyed about it was sharing that enthusiasm online with fellow film fans, and I probably spent hours and hours of my life discussing this particular film on this particular website. I had only HTF joined several months prior, so FOTR was the first BIG release I experienced as a regular poster (not counting Harry Potter, which skewed younger than nominal HTF demographics). Anyways, it remains one of the very best cinematic experiences I've ever had, and I appreciate the wonderful discussions we had over the subsequent years discussing it and the remaining films.

Happy anniversary to a bonafide classic.

 

[Lou Sytsma]

15 years ago! My, my. Hard to believe so many years have piled up. A true classic. Thanks for the reminder Chuck!

 

[Todd H]

Still love the original LOTR trilogy, especially the extended versions. Some of my favorite films of all time. Happy Anniversary LOTR: FOTR!

 

[skylark68]

My favorite of the three films. It's hard to believe it's been that long...

 

[Bob_S.]

The LOTR trilogy replaced Vertigo as my favorite movie of all time. FOTR got me back into reading Tolkien and enjoying it! I started collecting Weta LOTR statues/environments and United Cutlery swords (expensive hobby!). I watch the movies and docs and listen to the scores all the time. I am currently reading Tolkien's Unfinished Tales. I'm more of a Middle-earth junkie now than I was when the films first came out. This is the impact Jackson's movies have had on me. Thanks Chuck for the reminder. I would have missed it!

 

[Mikael Soderholm]

Wow, has it been 15 years already? We just finished watching the extended trilogy again, which we try to do at least yearly, and it is still as great as ever.
Truly magnificent movies, all three.

 

[Sam Favate]

Fifteen years ago tonight, I sat in the theater with a friend of mine who was also eagerly awaiting this movie. About three minutes in, during Cate Blanchett's voice-over and the images of the history of Middle Earth, he leaned over and said "It's already great."

 

[Radioman970]

I was blown away immediately. Couldn't believe what I was seeing. (probably already posted this)

 

[Simon Massey]

My favorite of the Middle earth films and my No 2 film of all time behind Empire. I remember watching the Moria sequence and feeling like someone has ripped my memory of reading the books as an 11 year old and put it on the screen. At the end of reading the books, I remember a tremendous feeling of disappointment that it was over and there was no more story - a similar feeling I had at the end of this movie thinking I had to wait a year for the next one.

But it was so worth it!

 

[Aaron Silverman]

I remember there were a bunch of people in the theater who weren't familiar with the books and had no idea it was the first part of a trilogy. They freaked out when the movie just ended in the middle of the story!

 

[Radioman970]

My dad went with us to see The Two Towers. And that was it.

Worse experience was seeing Fellowship for the second time, this time at my lame local theater and several people in the back thought it was a comedy. They laughed all through that painful, emotional scene with Boromir. One of many times I wish I'd asked for my money back and left.

 

[Sam Favate]

I have a question for this group. We've been through this with the Star Wars films, but I have to ask: If you're showing the Middle Earth movies to someone who has never seen them, do you start with the Hobbit or the Lord of the Rings?

We're going to show them to our kids soon, and we go back and forth as to where to start. Last night we showed them the previews for Fellowship and Unexpected Journey, and they were giddy with anticipation.

My inclination is to start with Fellowship, but that's primarily because that's how I saw them (and also because I would always start showing Star Wars with A New Hope.) I also read the Lord of the Rings books before reading the Hobbit, way back when.

Thoughts?

 

[benbess]

I have a question for this group. We've been through this with the Star Wars films, but I have to ask: If you're showing the Middle Earth movies to someone who has never seen them, do you start with the Hobbit or the Lord of the Rings?

We're going to show them to our kids soon, and we go back and forth as to where to start. Last night we showed them the previews for Fellowship and Unexpected Journey, and they were giddy with anticipation.

My inclination is to start with Fellowship, but that's primarily because that's how I saw them (and also because I would always start showing Star Wars with A New Hope.) I also read the Lord of the Rings books before reading the Hobbit, way back when.

Thoughts?

I've been re-watching the extended LOTR trilogy with my kids, now ages 16 and 21. We've been spacing it out over several weeks for various reasons, and we're now down to the 2nd part of Return of the King.

Anyway, I agree with you that it's probably best to start with Fellowship of the Ring. Hope you'll let us know how it goes.++

 

[TravisR]

I'd go with the LOTR movies first too. Just like Star Wars, they can be enjoyed in the order of the story but I think the callbacks to previous movies makes it better to watch them in order of release. For example, when you see Bilbo and Frodo's house in The Hobbit, it means more to a viewer when they know it from The Lord Of The Rings movies.

 

[Edwin-S]

The LoTR trilogy first. Jackson's Hobbit films are so bloated that, by the time your kids finished watching them, anything more about Middle Earth would be the last thing they'd want to see.