[HPFGU-Movie] Re: Oscars, HP Directors!

[Shannon]

At 10:34 PM 3/3/2002 EST, you wrote:
>In a message dated 3/3/2002 1:46:40 PM Eastern Standard Time, 
>shanerichmond at hotmail.com writes:
>
>
>> i have to agree with the weight of opinion that i've seen on the list 
>> so far:
>> 
>> harry potter: excellent books, ordinary movie
>> lotr: ordinary book, excellent movie
>> 
>
>Certainly, the members of the HP list are not so stupid as to say that LOTR 
>books are ordinary. Have you read them? If  not, please do not express an 
>opinion (no more than I can tolerate people who say that HP is devil 
>worshipping and has not read them).

Ok...I've read them.  Am I allowed to express an opinion?  I spent 20 years
trying to read them, because I knew, somewhere buried within all that
endless description, there was a story worth reading.  A good third of
consisted of variations on "The hobbits woke and had a nice breakfast,
walked all day, and stopped for lunch.  Then they got to their feet and
walked until night, when they had their dinner and fell asleep."  Tolkien
created a world that he obviously loved dearly, and made sure to show us
every pebble in it.  Now, to some people that is a wonderful thing. To
others, it becomes tedious and we wish he'd just get on with the story
already.  It wasn't until *after* seeing the movie, seeing the characters
suddenly become alive and interesting, that I was able to read the books.
The things about them that annoyed me still annoyed me. But I found that
once someone gave me a reason to care about the characters, I was able to
look past those things and find the story that I had known was there all
along. And it is a marvelous story (though really, almost *too* tragic for
me...took a while for me to come to terms with the end...and no one will
ever be able to convince me that Samwise isn't the hero of this tale!). I'd
have to call it a diamond in the rough.  

I had no such problems with the HP books.  They have been, without fail,
absolute page turners.  I wouldn't call the HP movie ordinary;  I think
perhaps it tried to cram a bit too much in, but I loved it all the same. 

The whole notion of comparing Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings, whether
in book or movie form, is simply an exercise in futility.  They are no more
comparable than, for example, Psycho and The Sixth Sense.  Two fine films
whose only point of overlap is their genre.


>I do not agree that this is the consensus of the list..because most people
on 
>the list have at least a room temperature iq.

Do you really find it necessary to insult those who don't agree with you?  

Shannon