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Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 833
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 833 |
It's like I stepped on flypaper, I can't get rid of it! !!!!!!!!!!!! How I laughed at this one! Hey Whit, how about you and I get together and write a musical of The Two Towers? [wide-eyed innocent e] I want to cast Michael Jackson as Gollum, though. (like you, I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE THIS MOVIE!)
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,819
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,819 |
Well I find that 95% of all attempts to watch any video footage via Microsoft Windows and the internet is a failure for any of several reasons. I can't understand why they can't just create a damn program, use it, and leave it alone. All these ridiculous "upgrades" and what-not...ugh. Terrible. Macs rule.
Anyway, back to LOTR. I saw the previews the other night when I saw "Solaris." There was a brief glimpse of my favorite creatures, the Ents. Looks to be a good film.
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Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 1,526
veteran
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veteran
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 1,526 |
LOTR and The Silmarilion were the last books I read before I left home. I've been waiting 25 years to be able to enjoy these movies. I'm elated that both my kids enjoy them - particularly my youngest. She and I have watched the first movie about 5 times - this last time with the expanded and previously removed scenes. We're on eggshells waiting for the 18th. But we probably won't try to watch till a week or two after that. Wife is pissed that we don't just wait till it comes out on video - "think of the money you'd save!" She can't imagine anyone - let alone an adult - getting so worked up over a book, let alone a movie, let alone a movie based on a book of fantasy.
I hope this ushers in a new age of longer movies - we are willing to sit through 4 and 5 hours if you give us something worth watching. (I'd like to see a 4 or 5 hour movie of War and Peace, for example, with better selection from the book and a more realistic choice for Pierre than Henry Fonda.)
A big part of the reason we're into it is because the original story was so wonderful, so complete, so consistent (not perfect, but pretty good for such a grand story), so exciting, so intriguing. It's a great story. Also, Jackson made reasonable compromises with the original (so far), and made excellent casting decisions. The choice of Frodo was a bull's eye, imo, (both my daughters say he's the worst one, though). Saruman and Gandolf are also bull's eyes. Contrast this with HP where the actor doing the main character is a handsome boy, but he lacks any charisma, let alone any talent for acting. (Admittedly he's much better in the second than the first movie, but still he still needs work.) Another good thing is that computer animation is finally catching up with the artist's vision. Bad graphics really spoil the effect. He didn't just slap this thing together - he has some respect for the viewers, some empathy for those of us who have been waiting a lifetime to see vision on screen, and an obvious love for the stories himself. It ain't just about making money. This is one of the few movies I've seen on the big screen that I think was really worth the money I paid for it. I'd have paid a lot more, too, and still felt like I got a bargain.
k
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Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,692
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,692 |
I went to Harry Potter 2, which was great, much better than 1
I agree 2 was better than 1, without in any way decrying 1 which I thoroughly enjoyed. The comment from a critic over here left me ...well... He said the trouble with the film was that it stuck too closely to the book. Chris Columbus hadn't brought any fresh creativity to it!
Okay. I can see that for well established books, Shakespeare's plays, Pride and Prejudice and so on, there is scope after some years to explore the effects of varying the way you play the characters to give a different perspective on what is going on between those characters and that can be fascinating. But Harry Potter? Surely not..or not yet at least!
Really looking forward to The Two Towers, although without wishing to carp I do have a problem with the orcs. In the books they come over as having leathery hides and horny hands; in the films they seem like something out of Alien - sort of oily and dripping. For some reason that jars on me, as if the orcs are a modern anachronism.
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Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 1,526
veteran
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veteran
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 1,526 |
"He said the trouble with the film was that it stuck too closely to the book."
The guy had to be kidding. My daughters and I agree that a problem was the books didn't stick closely enough with the original. Oldest was very irritated with the first movie as it left so much stuff out. However, youngest and I both liked well enough, and we all three liked the second movie much better.
The story was a bit disconnected, though, and there were few of the actors I thought really did their parts well - Dumbledore, Snape (kids didn't like him, but I thought he was great), Hermione. We agree that actor playing HP was too deadpan. We disagree in that I didn't think the guy playing Hagrid was all that great, nor very many of the others. (Though I really liked all the Dursely characters.) I also loved that guy selling wands - he was cast really well, I thought.
Now that Sir Richard is gone, I hope Patrick Stewart reads for the part. (My kids want Ian McKellan to do it, but I think the Saruman guy would be much better.) Also, it would be really good if they could bring Derek Jacoby in on a good part. I love that guy.
k
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Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,189
Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,189 |
I want to cast Michael Jackson as Gollum, though.Dunno about that, mg...Gollum still has something of a nose left. And it would be really hard for me to do that to my all-time favorite monster!  I can just hear him screaming now: "Michael Jacksssssssssson!??? Asssssssss me!? Ssssssssssssshhhhhhhhhhhhheeeeeeeeeit!" 
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Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 1,526
veteran
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veteran
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 1,526 |
"I want to cast Michael Jackson as Gollum, though."
Not to mention that this might be overkill on the gorey department. As if the Uruk ai weren't gruesome enough.
k
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Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210 |
My daughters and I agree that a problem was the books didn't stick closely enough with the original.
huh?
formerly known as etaoin...
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
huh?
I couldn't a said it better myself.
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