LotR - Dazzling but droll

[John Q. Mayhem]

Tolkien is only long-winded and boring if you have a short attention span. My favorite stories are old myths, and my favorite of all is the Silmarillion, mostly BECAUSE of the archaic, long-winded language. If you try to picture someone actually SAYING some of it, you're liable to fall down laughing, but it makes good books for those who can appreciate it.

 

[buzzard]

Tolkien is only long-winded and boring if you have a short attention span. My favorite stories are old myths, and my favorite of all is the Silmarillion, mostly BECAUSE of the archaic, long-winded language. If you try to picture someone actually SAYING some of it, you're liable to fall down laughing, but it makes good books for those who can appreciate it.

Hmmm, I have four degrees, wrote a 280 page thesis, and by your definition "have a short attention span". I recommend you be more careful in the brushes you apply to the populace.

I won't go out and say Tolkein is a bad author. I'll say he's an author I don't enjoy. Casting aspersions on those who don't like him doesn't do your case any good.

Though since there was an original cite which we were dicussing, I think the author of the article is a pompous buffoon. He's got an agenda and works hard to squeeze anything, no matter how outsized, into his array of examples. I didn't even bother finishing the article. Opinions like that simply aren't worth the time of reading. Why bother getting aggravated? It would probably just give him satisfaction. Ignoring him is the best response. [of course, by virtue of writing this I am not ignoring it, thereby I hoist my own petard]

buzzard

 

[David Howery]

Well, the critic is in a pretty small crowd of critics who didn't like the movie. Heck, it won best picture at the Oscars.... while you can debate whether it deserved it or not, the fact that it was nominated certainly puts it in the catagory of 'good movie'. I've read plenty of other reviews that praised at least some of the acting in the trilogy (the guy who played Sam seems to be a favorite). The guy is also totally wrong on the CGI.... it's about as clean and believable as possible (I certainly didn't pick out any completely phony scenes.. anyone else?)....

 

[John Q. Mayhem]

Sorry buzzard, I spoke in haste.

 

[barsoomcore]

Critical opinions shouldn't be valued as to how well they conform with other critical opinions but rather as to how well supported they are by the source material.

Plenty of Oscar-winning pictures do not qualify as "good movies" in my opinion. RotK does, but that's not the point. The fact that this guy holds a different opinion from that of most reviewers is no reason to discount his opinion.

The fact that he's demonstrably wrong about key facts in the movie (like the presence of a spider anywhere near the ending) is.

 

[Faraer]

It's the same 'special effects ruined cinema' drivel that's been said since Star Wars in 1977 by people who think movies should be filmed stage plays, that meaning is conveyed by dialogue, and who don't understand symbol. Though it's obviously true that technology can be abused, and that there's a trend to gigantism -- I saw the Troy trailer and thought those might be too many ships.

There are serious criticisms to be made of Tolkien and of Jackson, but those simple-minded jibes aren't close.

The language of The Silmarillion is anything but long-winded. It's much denser than habitual prose or speech.

 

[LightPhoenix]

It's the same 'special effects ruined cinema' drivel that's been said since Star Wars in 1977 by people who think movies should be filmed stage plays, that meaning is conveyed by dialogue, and who don't understand symbol.

In other words, the "movie vs. film" debate. Or, cinema majors who want to think they're smarter than everyone else.

Thank you ergeheilalt for posting the article. Signing up with some website to read an article of dubious value is not my cup of tea.

That said, I too didn't get very far in the "article" before I stopped reading. It's just another anti-CGI rant with RotK thrown in to create dissention and thus attention.

 

[WayneLigon]

I saw the Troy trailer and thought those might be too many ships.

Well, her face did launch a thousand ships...

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Well, her face did launch a thousand ships...

And there are at least a thousand in that shot.

 

[mmu1]

Anyone that criticizes "Pirates of the Carribean" for being over the top has no business being a film critic. The point has pierced his sternum and lodged itself in his spine and he didn't notice.

And Peter Jackson, especially by today's standards, is actually very good at knowing when not to use computer graphics, or at how to use FX in fairly subtle ways.