posted
I've been looking forward to reading what OSC has to say about this movie...and I haven't seen it anywhere. Did I miss it? Is it forthcoming?
I'm a big fan of the movie reviews, even when I disagree with him, just because he so patiently puts forth his reasoning and makes good sense. I may disagree sometimes, but on other occasions his reviews have brought really good movies to my attention. He also manages to bring to light some things about movies that I've seen that I never would have thought of.
I've already seen RotK and have my own views...and I'm curious to see what he thought of it. *waits impatiently*
Posts: 6415 | Registered: Jul 2000
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posted
I haven't seen it either. He has not, as far as I can tell, mentioned it at all since it came out. It seems really weird, I was expecting at least a little note saying he liked it or he hated it.
Maybe he's waiting for his "Best Movies of 2003" list.
Posts: 285 | Registered: Jun 1999
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posted
He did mention it...he said in another review something like "I can't give my opinion about what the best movie of 2003 is because I haven't seen Return of the King yet." I'm sure it was much more intelligent and eloquent than that, but that's basically what he said.
posted
Well, nothing about RotK specifically, but he *has* mad a comment about the whole trilogy. Talking about the latest Peter Pan movie, he says:
quote: There are no attempts to pander to the modern audience, as in Spielberg's embarrassing Hook; there is no point where the story is altered in order to fit some foolish little film-school dictum, as occasionally marred even the wonderful Lord of the Rings.
posted
Wouldn't it be great if someone "in the know" would give us an authoritative answer to this question?
Posts: 285 | Registered: Jun 1999
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It's shorter than some of his other reviews, but still interesting. I disagree about Frodo, I think Elijah Wood did a good job, and I think that the battle for Minas Tirith were pretty much equally good in the book and the movie, they just focus on different things due to the different media. But I heartily agree about Arwen- The worst parts about the movies are too much Arwen and too many cliffs.
posted
I agree and disagree about Elijah Wood. I think, for just a little bit, we did see a happy go lucky hobbit. They should have let that stretch out a little longer. But I did get tired of seeing Frodo constantly on the edge of exhaustion to a point that it became hard to believe that he could actually go on. I think it comes to the same problem. They moved his character too fast to the edge.
And I disagree with Card about the Scouring of the Shire. I may have to reread (it has been three years since I read it last) it, but I distinctly remember my first impressions of that part of the book. There was a considerable bump I had to go through just to get into the scouring, and though I was delighted to see a couple of things transpire, I found that entire ending a cover up for what I think is a fault of the hobbits: their selfish isolationism.
When men go out to war, and they come back, there is no Scouring of the Shire. They don't prove themselves to us by being war heroes at home. We will never understand that part of their life, though we may appreciate it. (But many don't appreciate it. Those men in my father's generation who went out to war recieved no heroes welcome. Instead, many of them were reviled. Definately a stain on our history.) We'll never really know what they went through, how strong they had to be, and what they did for us. We can only be grateful.
Of course, I live in America. Tolkien lived in a place where they were being bombed by the Germans.
But still, another theme the Scouring touched on was the industrialization of the countryside. We've improved work conditions, and we've reduced pollution (though not in Tolkien's time) but we've had no true Scouring of the Shire. If anything, there is more industrialization than in Tolkien's time.
Perhaps the Scouring of the Shire is less about how humans react to such things, and more about what we wish would happen. It works, that way. But to me, it doesn't work as a story that moved me in such a way as to better my life. And the rest of the Lord of the Rings (both the book and the movie) did move me in just that way.
The Scouring of the Shire is, in a lot of ways, a good story. But perhaps it would have been better as a stand alone story. Or better if the heroes were just ordinary hobbits, and not ones that were already heroes and for whom this quest was relatively benign.
Posts: 3495 | Registered: Feb 2000
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I actually found myself much more interested in his other comments about the Oscars and Golden Globes. I agree with him a LOT...but it's safe to say that I also disagree with him a lot. I guess it means that I'm a normal person and not just a freaky fan.
(I thought Elijah Wood's performance in RotK was astounding and beautiful. But I do agree with him. His portrayal in the initial parts of Fellowship wasn't enough of a contrast when placed against the pained hobbit finishing off Bilbo's book in the final set of scenes. But I loved him to pieces anyway.)
Posts: 6415 | Registered: Jul 2000
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posted
Hey, now... I agree with him a lot and disagree with him a lot, and I am a freaky fan. Your deduction is not sound.
Posts: 6213 | Registered: May 2001
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Notice that I said 'not just a freaky fan. There are many other levels to my personality and fandom. This is what I find relieving. Posts: 6415 | Registered: Jul 2000
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posted
I agreed with everything except the comment about Helen Hunt. And I haven't seen In America yet. Frodo did seem drawn and exhausted almost the entire trilogy. I lost count of how many times he fell over. I love OSC's reviews.
League of Extraordinary Gentleman was the most boring movie I have seen in ages. It was a criminal waste of good potential. I wanted to cry.
I try to keep the crazy-fangirl inside under some sort of control. *shh! quiet in there*
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