Just when I thought there might have been hope for the second D&D movie...

[Desdichado]

Including Peter Jackson's LOTR? You'd dismisss them without any emotion behind it? You won't accuse Jackson for taking creative license in adapting Tolkien's books?

Uh, LotR was not on the list that I dismissed.

Although, after many repeated viewings, the flaws in the LotR movies are becoming more and more apparent to me, unfortunately.

 

[Jeremy Ackerman-Yost]

Uh, LotR was not on the list that I dismissed.

Although, after many repeated viewings, the flaws in the LotR movies are becoming more and more apparent to me, unfortunately.

Isn't that always how it works? I know very few movies that prove flawless on repeat viewings.

Besides, can said flaws be any worse than those of the book itself?

 

[Desdichado]

Isn't that always how it works? I know very few movies that prove flawless on repeat viewings.

Besides, can said flaws be any worse than those of the book itself?

Yes, they absolutely can. Despite probably almost two dozen reads of the books, I still find them to be masterpieces, and the "flaws" (which in most cases were deliberate bucking of the literary conventions of modern novel structure) don't slow me down at all.

Meanwhile, there are parts of the Lord of the Rings movies that make me cringe.

 

[nikolai]

Meanwhile, there are parts of the Lord of the Rings movies that make me cringe.

Would you mind elaborating on this? Here may not be the place to do it, and if you want to start a new threat, please do. But I'd be interested in hearing more of your thoughts on the LotR movies.

 

[Desdichado]

Would you mind elaborating on this? Here may not be the place to do it, and if you want to start a new threat, please do. But I'd be interested in hearing more of your thoughts on the LotR movies.

Just briefly, as it is OT for the thread -- at times the dialogue sounds incredibly hoaky to me. And it's invariably dialogue that was not lifted from Tolkien himself. His dialogue, although stilted and unnatural, does fit into the kind of mythic themes, even when occasionally taken out of context. However, Boyens and Walsh try too hard to replicate "Tolkienian" dialogue without apparently understanding how to do so. Also, I get really tired of the slow motion "emotional set pieces" which seem to be all over the place in all three movies.

Don't get me wrong; I still really enjoy the LotR movies, but I'm now painfully aware of the fact that they're not as incredible as I initially thought they were.

 

[Enchantress]

Not funny ...not funny...that is a nightmare, a horrid thought of an idea

I am ashamed.
*hangs head dejectedly*

 

[barsoomcore]

And it's invariably dialogue that was not lifted from Tolkien himself. His dialogue, although stilted and unnatural, does fit into the kind of mythic themes, even when occasionally taken out of context. However, Boyens and Walsh try too hard to replicate "Tolkienian" dialogue without apparently understanding how to do so.

Word. Amen to that.

Compare Theoden's last speech to the Riders, which is a bit of a mish-mash but all pretty much Tolkein's dialogue, to Aragorn's speech before the Black Gates. The former -- goosebump city. The latter -- ho-hum. What does Tolkien have for that moment? Gandalf shouting as panic grips everyone:

Stand, Men of the West! Stand and wait! This is the hour of doom!

Hey, goosebumps. If only THAT had been in the film.

And "dwimmerlaik". Tolkien goes to all the trouble to include a word like "dwimmerlaik" -- why wouldn't you jump on that opportunity with both feet? Eowyn stands facing the Witchking and says: "Begone, foul dwimmerlaik!"

Tell the whole audience isn't on its feet screaming at that moment. They bloody well SHOULD have been, and there's only PJ to blame for that dropped ball.

Okay, ranting all finished now. Sorry about that. Go back to bashing the D&D movie, folks. Never mind the cranky old guy in the corner...

 

[Ranger REG]

Actually, I thought you guys were referring to a flub where at one point, Pippin's hands were free from the rope just before the horse about to stomp on him, but later, according to Aragorn's "profiling" of the surrounding, Pippin's hands were suddenly rebound with the rope.

Yes, the more you watch it, the more you observed the other stuff that didn't catch your eyes during the first few viewings. Still, at least to me, doesn't make such film less appealing.

 

[barsoomcore]

Nah, flubs don't bug me if I don't see them first time around. Little continuity issues are no big deal. It's the outright failures of the films to generate the emotions they need to generate that hurt them.

The big failures of the films for me were:

Helm's Deep wasn't scary enough. The film failed to show me the cost that the defenders were paying.

Eowyn's stand against the Witchking. 'Nuff said.

The final stand of the West at the Black Gates. As described above.

 

[Desdichado]

Actually, I thought you guys were referring to a flub where at one point, Pippin's hands were free from the rope just before the horse about to stomp on him, but later, according to Aragorn's "profiling" of the surrounding, Pippin's hands were suddenly rebound with the rope.

Yes, the more you watch it, the more you observed the other stuff that didn't catch your eyes during the first few viewings. Still, at least to me, doesn't make such film less appealing.

I neither catch that kind of stuff (most of the time) nor am I really bothered by it. No, it's the actual instances of poor dialogue and poor directing that I don't like about the movie's these days.

Oh, and the hand-held battle cameras. I hate not being able to actually see what's going on.