Only 13 days to go till Return of the King!! <img src="../images/emoticons/ybigrin.gif"> We are already arguing about who's going to stand in line for a whole day to get tickets to the midnight session <img src="../images/emoticons/ytongue.gif">

Anyone else really hanging out to see it? Apparently there were 130,000 people at the premiere in NZ!!

What kind of movie is it ?
never heard about that

Despite hating blockbusters in general, I'm looking forward to it too... the battle scene in the last episode was fantastic.

- A kiwi cousin and her husband were at the premiere - he worked as a carpenter on the films, and is somewhere way down in the credits. I'll be cheering in the cinema when the name 'Grant Fahey' comes up, so if you hear a lunatic clapping at the very close of the film, that'll be me.

Tsk, philistines! <img src="../images/emoticons/ytongue.gif"> LOTR:ROTK = Lord of the Rings: Return of the King <img src="../images/emoticons/ytongue.gif">

Didgy, if you don't already know, the three Lord of the Rings films are based on the book of the same name by JRR Tolkien (well, three books actually: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and Return of the King). Lord of the Rings is considered to be *the* fantasy epic, which every other fantasy writer has been trying to emulate ever since <img src="../images/emoticons/ywink.gif"> Ok, maybe not *every* fantasy writer, but Tolkien is widely regarded as the first really major writer in that genre, thus is kind of a benchmark for later authors.

Interestingly enough, LOTR came about because Tolkien (who was a keen linguist) was creating his own languages - after a time, he realised that along with the languages came stories that begged to be written...lucky for us! The languages themselves are works of art. It's quite amazing to hear someone speaking Sindarin Elvish, knowing that it's a language that came entirely from the imagination of one man! And it's a beautiful language too <img src="../images/emoticons/ybigrin.gif">

Ok, enough frothing from me. By now I think you'll have gathered I'm a bit of a fan... <img src="../images/emoticons/ytongue.gif">

WE HAVE OUR TICKETS!! <img src="../images/emoticons/ybigrin.gif">
We're going to the midnight showing at Metropolis next Tues <img src="../images/emoticons/ybigrin.gif"> Sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo excited! They're also having a marathon that day but we can't go because Arni and his sis both have exams <img src="../images/emoticons/bbutbut.gif"> Luckily there's one in Hasselt on the 27th, so we'll go to that one instead <img src="../images/emoticons/ybigrin.gif">

LOTR:ROTK
OOOOKAAAAAY got it now !

marathon ??? movie marathon ?
not running marathon ?

The one in Hasselt is at Kinepolis ?

I'm dying to see ROTK on the first night it's out, but if you put me in a dark room after midnight, I'm highly likely to fall asleep. I'll have to catch it on the day after. FYI, the Kinepolis in Brussels is doing a LOTR marathon, too, but on consecutive days.

Are the marathon showings using the longer, 'director's cut' versions of the first two films (or are they just available on DVD)?

Camilla - i've been looking into that Sindarin language as I thought it just sounded like a nonsense version of Welsh. I cannot believe that there's a full set of Sindarin rules, vocab and grammar, with the more eccentric linguists out there actually studying it. My sis' has just called her daughter 'Arwen' because it's a traditional Welsh name...
... I now suspect it's because her dad secretly fancies Liv Tyler <img src="../images/emoticons/ysmile.gif">.

Didgy: yes, the marathon in Hasselt is at Kinepolis.

DB: bummer that the one in Brussels is on consecutive days, that makes it just too expensive what with trainfare or parking

Belgophile: Check out this site:
<a href="http://www.uib.no/People/hnohf" Target="_BLANK">http://www.uib.no/People/hnohf</a>/
It's probably the most comprehensive and scholarly online source on Tolkien's languages. The creator of the site is (I think) a linguist as well, hence his keen interest! There are whole groups of people out there who learn these languages, and who apply themselves to translating other texts into them. Quite frankly, I was amazed at their dedication!

I think the versions of the films shown in the marathons are just the normal ones, not the SE ones.

And re: naming of kids, I believe there were quite a few girls in the 70s called Galadriel <img src="../images/emoticons/ytongue.gif">

I almost got lost in Tolkien's world 25 years ago. For a seventeen year old, I still consider it dangerous reading! But after all these years, I now see it as a long, boring book, full of bombastic would-be heroes. Stylistically it is also very imbalanced. The "Fellowship" has a lot of humour but the "Return of the King" is almost a fascist book.

I also learned Tolkien, as Professor of ancient (Nordic) languages, was rather miffed by the fact that Brits didn't have a Great National Epic, as the Germans, Icelandic or Fins had. He therefore went on to fill that gap himself. Remember whe wrote it during WWII!

But I do agree it remains a wonderful "sub-creation" as Tolkien himself described it. Today my favorite Tolkien books are "The Hobbit" and "Farmer Giles of Ham".

ROTK is almost fascist? How so?

Hard to explain:
it's the general atmosphere of "following the great leader", the pompous monologues of allegiance to the Cause, that sort of Nuerenberg style mass action amongst Mussolinian architecture, that runs from the pages. It reminds of Karl Orff music and the Eeuwfeestpaleizen on the Heizel. There's neopaganism, something that wasn't uncommon in Nazi circles and also a cryptochristian feeling of destiny and suffering for the redmption of the world.

Pfffffffff... I hope I clarified something ... it's just a feeling after all.

A propos, I cannot find this thread on the research going on about the parallels between LOTR and GW Bush? I thought I read it on this forum?

Anyway, apart from Bush being Sauron, and the impossible coincidence of the Two Towers, They found Sadam Hussein in a hole in the ground today: does that mean he's a Hobbit?

ketchup, I thought that the key analogy in the LOTR was pastoral luddism, Tolkien contrasting Sauron's post-industrial materialism and empire-building with a kind of neo-Virgilian idyll of sustainable husbandry as embodied in The Shire.

If Bush is Sauron then I guess Blair is Saruman? Who's Arwen? And Gandalf? In fact, who are the good guys?

I'm struggling with your albeit semi-logical interpretation here Ketchup. It's far easier to recognise Belgo's natural vs industrial line of reasoning.

And doesn't King Arthur and the KOTRT qualify?

oh dear, I've just realised we are a long way up our own arses.

Do you fancy Cate Blanchett?

A long way up your arses? does that make you Hobbotts? <img src="../images/emoticons/ytongue.gif">

Ketchup, I think I'd have to say you're drawing rather a long bow (ar ar ar) with that analysis of LOTR, but don't forget, I'm unreasonably addicted to it, and have it placed upon a pedestal high among the clouds <img src="../images/emoticons/ytongue.gif">

I know the feeling. I'm glad I climbed down from these clouds and shed off that Tolkien addiction twenty years ago. The picture is clearer when you look at it from a safe distance.

with brown sauce (everyone knows Ketchup is yuch...)

I have no clue what you guys are on about !! But if its supposed to be that great I will try to watch LOTR:ROTK. To be completely honest the first two LOTRs have made no sense to me !!

In four hours we'll be sitting in the cinema waiting for the movie to start <img src="../images/emoticons/ybigrin.gif">

Four hours later and thinking of you as you're counting down! Enjoy the movie! I hope it's everything you are expecting.

Wow

It was amazing. Everything I dreamed, and more!!

We got home at 5am (had to take Arni's friend back to Breda), I've had only 5.5 hours sleep so I'm a little incoherent <img src="../images/emoticons/ytongue.gif">

But omg it was wonderful <img src="../images/emoticons/ybigrin.gif"> We're going again on Friday. And again on the 27th. And probably more times after that <img src="../images/emoticons/ytongue.gif">

I read that it's spectacular. I'm going to have to see all three, but it's going to take me days to get through them all, no? For some reason, LOTR has never appealed to me.

Raquel: The best bet is probably to rent Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers on video, watch them on consecutive days, then go see Return of the King on the third day. The movies are all in the region of three hours long, so can be a bit overwhelming to try and watch all at once. They may not be your cup of tea, but it's worth a try because they are so beautifully made. The effects are breathtaking, George Lucas is probably weeping enviously into his pillow as we speak!

I know I'm seeing them through the rose tinted glasses of "Rabid Fan", but the story as it stands is pretty good too, esp if you enjoy fantasy <img src="../images/emoticons/ybigrin.gif">

And to anyone who's thinking of waiting till it comes round on telly, these are definitely films that should be viewed on the big screen at least once if possible! The tv just doesn't do them justice.

I totally agree with Camilla. LOTR has to be seen on the big screen. And more than once!

Yes! Yes!! <img src="../images/emoticons/ybigrin.gif">

Although...ten times may be a little excessive... (where is the blushy icon, darnit??)

Have you seen ROTK yet, DB? <img src="../images/emoticons/ybigrin.gif">

A good enough story can be watched on a matchbox-sized screen. I'm not into special effects.

Fair enough, Marcel, I'm not going to argue with people who watch films on TV. I personally think it's a totally different experience. I'm a real cinemaniac, going at least once a week to the movies and of course I've got a sophisticated home cinema system at home, too.

Nope, Camilla, I haven't seen ROTK yet but hope to this weekend, assuming it's not too crowded at the Kinepolis in Brussels! Ten times is a lot. I think I've seen "Fellowship" and "Towers" both three times each, including once each on DVD... and my little black kitten is nicknamed Nasgûl.

Indeed, everyone to their own. I have nothing against the cinema, it's just that it is not something I need.

It's like ski-ing. I have friends who simply MUST go every year, who state that you either love it (like them) or hate it, and there is nothing in-between. I argue against this, as I enjoy ski-ing but have only been a couple of times (and will probably go again). However, I do not miss it if I don't go.

I just saw ROTK. It just didn't have the magic or the suspense of the first two films, plus 201 minutes sure is a hell of a long time to sit in a movie theatre. Honestly, I was disappointed.

I just saw it too, and thought it the best so far!? The theatre (Stockel) might have helped - the screen might not be the biggest, but those armchairs sure are easy on the butt.

Granted, Jackson could cut down on those long, lingering gazes.

They had an intermission! I felt like I might have to stand for God Save the Queen at any minute. Everyone clapped loudly at the end. Does that happen often?

We saw it for the second time last night. No one has clapped or anything either of the times we've seen it, but I've heard lots of stories about that happening in other theatres (along with sobbing at all the sad places <img src="../images/emoticons/ytongue.gif">)

DB, sorry to hear it was a disappointment for you <img src="../images/emoticons/bbutbut.gif"> Such a bummer after all the anticipation, hey?

What did everyone think of Shelob? I have a major spider phobia, so I spent those scenes hiding behind my scarf. I'm not sure I'll ever be able to watch that part all the way through!

I thought the Mumakil were amazing, and Minas Tirith was beautiful! I was really looking forward to the Paths of the Dead, but I thought PJ let the side down a bit by making them all greenyglowing like they were irradiated or something. And I thought the bit where Arwen's life was tied to the power of the Ring was a little OTT - I guess they had to keep her in the story *somehow* but it was just a little too corny for me. On the other hand, I know a lot of people found Eowyn's line (where she fixed the Witch King's wagon) was corny, but actually I liked it <img src="../images/emoticons/ytongue.gif"> The beacon lighting scene was really impressive, and I loved the eagles too (although Arni calls them "eagles ex machina" <img src="../images/emoticons/ytongue.gif">)

I ended up seeing it twice over Christmas, although in fact the 2nd time was overkill. I found the first half majorly slow....basically it didn't get up and running until the battles began. But when they did - it was something else - superb. Frodo was aggravating and annoying - I wanted him to go over the top with Gollum in the end. In balance, I think the 2 Towers was the best one.

YAY YAY YAY!!! 11 Oscars, a clean sweep!! <img src="../images/emoticons/ybigrin.gif"> <img src="../images/emoticons/ybigrin.gif"> <img src="../images/emoticons/ybigrin.gif">

Congrats to PJ and all involved in LOTR - a great job done by all, and the awards very well deserved!! <img src="../images/emoticons/ybigrin.gif"> <img src="../images/emoticons/ybigrin.gif"> <img src="../images/emoticons/ybigrin.gif">