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• Dec 19, 2002 11:42:53 PM CST

  The Endless Stair OR... My Favorite Part Was At Helm's Deep, Whe

  by jollydwarf

  ...and exclaims "Look!" Seeing the Republic Gunships landing was a pleasant and startling surprise. Okay, before I get too carried away, did it bother anyone else that Gandalf's ASCENDING battle with the Balrog was not explained more thoroughly? I've read the entire trilogy exactly once (with some thumbing through here and there) and I have to imagine that him suddenly appearing on the top of a mountain would be confounding for the uninitiated. My friend who hasn't read the books was confused. Is the Endless Stair a sequence for the Extended Edition next November? Or how the eagle rescues the resurrected Gandalf? For all the deviations in the film, I thought that this omission was less forgivable. Remember, the uninitiated (and the one-time readers) don't catch all the inconsistencies, but can be baffled by lapses in storytelling.**** What I don't get is how 98 or 99% of the online and print critics loved this film, but the TRUE FANS are very polarized. IS THERE NOTHING GOOD ENOUGH TO PLEASE SOME OF YOU?? As old Splitfoot once told Ralph Macchio in "Crossroads", "AIN'T NOTHIN' EVER AS GOOD AS WE WANT IT." Would you rather have had the trilogy squeezed into TWO MOVIES? Or (gasp!) ONE?? In this day and age of micromanagement and clueless bean-counting fucks (there's my acknowledged cliche for the day), it's no small feat to get movies as faithful as these or even the "Potter" films. This movie was NOT PERFECT. But neither was "Raiders of the Lost Ark", and that will always be my favorite film...ever. I'd wager some of you have it "right up there". The imperfections are part of what you come to love. It's beauty marks, not full-fledged deformation or amputation we're talking about. But that's our culture, I guess. Just scrutinizing beyond the nth degree. Why? Because we've got way too much time on our hands. Because we've got the ability to examine life "frame-by-frame". And what's even funnier is that I think what really draws us into this trilogy is that it's an immersive realm of what humanity has gotten away from. Don't you feel trampled by schedules, corporate sponsorship, political correctness, and the fact that we're hopeless without electricity, cars, and telephones? Jesus, I'm sermonizing. But really, I don't care. I mean, on the other hand, "The Matrix" works because it uses the backdrop of computers and our reliance on them (and vice versa, I suppose)to remind us of what it means to be human and where we could be headed. They're both excellent bookends on our place in the new millenium, I think. Just realize that this is something that comes along once in a lifetime and that its mere existence and defiance of greed's deathgrip is reason enough to rejoice. I LOVED IT. And you can stand there on the hill with your bazooka. Go ahead. Destroy it. We are only passing through history. P.S. Back to the opening scene. Has anyone done the math? How far did they fall (time elapsed times terminal velocity?)? That scene really resonated with me, because of the sheer intensity and speed, and because it felt more metaphysical than just about anything else in the film. Can Lucas make Anakin's fall as poetic? I mean, for Gandalf, it's all about the ultimate sacrifice and Resurrection and Good triumphing ultimately, regardless of the hopelessness of the situation. With Anakin, it's a descent into Hell, really. In other words, can Episode III have one moment that matches this film? I AM NOT TRYING TO START A WAR. And go ahead and insert a "jollydwarf" joke as you see fit.

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  Content ...and exclaims "Look!" Seeing the Republic Gunships landing was a pleasant and startling surprise. Okay, before I get too carried away, did it bother anyone else that Gandalf's ASCENDING battle with the Balrog was not explained more thoroughly? I've read the entire trilogy exactly once (with some thumbing through here and there) and I have to imagine that him suddenly appearing on the top of a mountain would be confounding for the uninitiated. My friend who hasn't read the books was confused. Is the Endless Stair a sequence for the Extended Edition next November? Or how the eagle rescues the resurrected Gandalf? For all the deviations in the film, I thought that this omission was less forgivable. Remember, the uninitiated (and the one-time readers) don't catch all the inconsistencies, but can be baffled by lapses in storytelling.**** What I don't get is how 98 or 99% of the online and print critics loved this film, but the TRUE FANS are very polarized. IS THERE NOTHING GOOD ENOUGH TO PLEASE SOME OF YOU?? As old Splitfoot once told Ralph Macchio in "Crossroads", "AIN'T NOTHIN' EVER AS GOOD AS WE WANT IT." Would you rather have had the trilogy squeezed into TWO MOVIES? Or (gasp!) ONE?? In this day and age of micromanagement and clueless bean-counting fucks (there's my acknowledged cliche for the day), it's no small feat to get movies as faithful as these or even the "Potter" films. This movie was NOT PERFECT. But neither was "Raiders of the Lost Ark", and that will always be my favorite film...ever. I'd wager some of you have it "right up there". The imperfections are part of what you come to love. It's beauty marks, not full-fledged deformation or amputation we're talking about. But that's our culture, I guess. Just scrutinizing beyond the nth degree. Why? Because we've got way too much time on our hands. Because we've got the ability to examine life "frame-by-frame". And what's even funnier is that I think what really draws us into this trilogy is that it's an immersive realm of what humanity has gotten away from. Don't you feel trampled by schedules, corporate sponsorship, political correctness, and the fact that we're hopeless without electricity, cars, and telephones? Jesus, I'm sermonizing. But really, I don't care. I mean, on the other hand, "The Matrix" works because it uses the backdrop of computers and our reliance on them (and vice versa, I suppose)to remind us of what it means to be human and where we could be headed. They're both excellent bookends on our place in the new millenium, I think. Just realize that this is something that comes along once in a lifetime and that its mere existence and defiance of greed's deathgrip is reason enough to rejoice. I LOVED IT. And you can stand there on the hill with your bazooka. Go ahead. Destroy it. We are only passing through history. P.S. Back to the opening scene. Has anyone done the math? How far did they fall (time elapsed times terminal velocity?)? That scene really resonated with me, because of the sheer intensity and speed, and because it felt more metaphysical than just about anything else in the film. Can Lucas make Anakin's fall as poetic? I mean, for Gandalf, it's all about the ultimate sacrifice and Resurrection and Good triumphing ultimately, regardless of the hopelessness of the situation. With Anakin, it's a descent into Hell, really. In other words, can Episode III have one moment that matches this film? I AM NOT TRYING TO START A WAR. And go ahead and insert a "jollydwarf" joke as you see fit.

• Dec 20, 2002 2:14:39 AM CST

  Flash!: The sun rises in the EAST!

  by doggydaddi

  Did anyone actually have the slightest shred of doubt this movie would be fantastic?

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  Content Did anyone actually have the slightest shred of doubt this movie would be fantastic?

• Dec 20, 2002 3:38:46 AM CST

  Stink on Film

  by skyman375

  The Two Towers was three hours of the most dull, unimaginative crap I've forked over good money to see. The pacing was terrible, the score added nothing, the acting terrible, and if I heare one more dwarf joke...
  
  Seriously, this movie was a tremendous let down. The CGI characters weren't close to believeable, and still better than Faramir, Theodred and most of the other Rohirrim. I loved the first movie, and this was just a poor, poor effort.

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  Content The Two Towers was three hours of the most dull, unimaginative crap I've forked over good money to see. The pacing was terrible, the score added nothing, the acting terrible, and if I heare one more dwarf joke... Seriously, this movie was a tremendous let down. The CGI characters weren't close to believeable, and still better than Faramir, Theodred and most of the other Rohirrim. I loved the first movie, and this was just a poor, poor effort.

• Dec 20, 2002 9:33:03 AM CST

  Well Said

  by stwobie

  After walking out of TTT I must admit I was a bit dazed. Not confused, rather, more of a heavy unearthly like state. I realized this is exactly the way I felt after reading the second book of the trilogy years and years ago. I felt the books drew you in so much that you didn't dare stop reading, yet at one point, unable to continue knowing the burdens which lay beyond the next chapter. Say what you will about your personal feelings, you can't help but see that the director did do justice to one of the greatest tales ever put onto the pages. The heaviness which overtook me passed as I went through each and every scene trying to figure out what had triggered such emotion. My only realization in the end was that the wait for the next film was my demon. Imagine picking up the books and reading them one by one, yet a year apart. That is the feeling. Peter Jackson and his entire crew allowed me once again to be drawn deeply into the spell of belief, only to dash me upon the shoals of anticipation. I fear floundering there will be the greatest test in this epic. Yet, every movie should do the same. You drink from it's springs, and then thirst deeply afterwards. You see the tragedy unfold, yet cannot avert your eyes. Thanks to all those involved for not only the passion put into the task, but the passion which ebbed forth from the screen to our hearts.

  Reply to Talkback

  Subject

  Content After walking out of TTT I must admit I was a bit dazed. Not confused, rather, more of a heavy unearthly like state. I realized this is exactly the way I felt after reading the second book of the trilogy years and years ago. I felt the books drew you in so much that you didn't dare stop reading, yet at one point, unable to continue knowing the burdens which lay beyond the next chapter. Say what you will about your personal feelings, you can't help but see that the director did do justice to one of the greatest tales ever put onto the pages. The heaviness which overtook me passed as I went through each and every scene trying to figure out what had triggered such emotion. My only realization in the end was that the wait for the next film was my demon. Imagine picking up the books and reading them one by one, yet a year apart. That is the feeling. Peter Jackson and his entire crew allowed me once again to be drawn deeply into the spell of belief, only to dash me upon the shoals of anticipation. I fear floundering there will be the greatest test in this epic. Yet, every movie should do the same. You drink from it's springs, and then thirst deeply afterwards. You see the tragedy unfold, yet cannot avert your eyes. Thanks to all those involved for not only the passion put into the task, but the passion which ebbed forth from the screen to our hearts.

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