LOTR movie

[blpurdom]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at y..., "dai_evans" <dai_evans at y...> wrote:
> Oooof!
> 
> I saw this last night, and ooooof! It was wonderful. It was true 
> to the book, well acted, seamless special effects, well directed.
> 
> I've heard assorted complaints about this film, and I can agree 
> with none. I've read the LOTR trilogy several times, first when I 
> was about 8 or 9, and most recently this year. The books never 
> lost anything on repeated readings, and yet don't make me want to 
> spot details in the way HP always does.

My husband and I saw it yesterday, and it was indeed wonderful!  I 
not only DID notice the music, I thought it was perfect (and I saw 
in today's morning paper that the film is already nominated for 4 
Golden Globe awards, including one for the soundtrack and one for 
best film).  I especially like the more subtle musical moments, like 
the haunting boy soprano singing when we see Gandalf on top of that 
tower...I haven't read the books for about 15 years now, but this is 
making me feel like picking them up again (although I recently read 
the Hobbit to my daughter, and she liked it very much).

> For FOTR was a much much better film adaption of a book than 
> HPandPS.

I have to agree.  The only thing that didn't work very well were the 
shots with real little people standing in for the hobbits; 
especially in the scene where they're all sitting on those high-
backed chairs in a circle, discussing what to do, Frodo clearly did 
not look like Elijah Wood, even though the shot was from behind.  He 
seemed too small.  For the most part, what with having the hobbits 
peer over things that were clearing chin-height to them and whatnot, 
they managed the size thing well.  I think they could have just left 
Frodo out of some shots (like the meeting mentioned above) to avoid 
the size problem.

The film was also a bit more violent than I thought it would be, but 
not inappropriately so.  Orcs are vile creatures; even without the 
bloodshed, it should probably have had a PG-13 rating just for the 
existence of these things.  This makes me wonder whether by the time 
we get to the movie(s) for Goblet of Fire, the rating will have to 
be raised to PG-13.  Wormtail severing his own hand is not going to 
be pretty.  I wonder whether parents of younger children will still 
take them to the film.  (Of course, by that time, Harry's character 
is over 13, so perhaps it's appropriate.)

What I thought was interesting was that although I found many 
humorous things in the Hobbit, I didn't find LOTR (the books) to be 
particularly humorous.  Yet there were many funny bits in the film 
(esp. with Merry and Pippin and Gandalf banging around inside 
Bilbo's home) and my husband and I were both howling and slapping 
our knees at the "nobody tosses a dwarf" line.  An anachronism, but 
a funny one.  OTO, screenwriter Steve Kloves managed to leech most 
of the humor out of the Harry Potter film, even though it was based 
on a very funny book.  Go figure.

> I didn't cringe when particular lines were said due to bad acting; 
> because there was no bad acting.

Yes yes yes.  I wish I could say that about Columbus' directing, but-
-oh well.

It's definitely an epic and going high on my "best of" list.

--Barb