JRR Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, and Other Middle-Earth Stories Book • Page 4

I might need to grab that

 

In college I took a Tolkien class with my favorite college professor. I loved it.

 

I re-read The Hobbit in December and should be finishing up Fellowship this week. These stories never get old and I'm always discovering new little things and hidden connections. Tolkien, you genius. Happy belated birthday, Professor.

 

I need to give some time to re-reading these. This year, perhaps.

 

Billy Boyd looks so old

 

Elijah hasn't aged at all, dang. He's so cute.

 

So my ranking of the movies has changed a lot over the years. After they first came out I was all about King>Fellowship>Towers. About 5 years ago I thought King=Fellowship>Towers. After my first rewatch in 5 years last weekend, I'd now rank them as Fellowship>Towers>King. I finally realized that while nearly every scene/sequence in the first two films is damn near perfect, King is a bunch of perfect sequences punctuated by a handful of lackluster ones, and for its staggering runtime it somehow still feels rushed once the Battle of Minas Tirith is over.

 

I need to rewatch them again but I've always preferred Towers - I think the Battle of Helm's Deep is the best battle in the trilogy of films.

 

The Two Towers was really weird to watch after reading the book. I always thought of these as a faithful adaptation but the differences there are huge.

I'll be rewatching ROTK soon

 

Yeah Helm's Deep is by far the best battle in the series. The build-up is absolutely perfect and there's an urgency and brutality that isn't present in Minas Tirith, even if that latter battle is a technical marvel.

 

Helm's Deep is easily the best battle, but Towers is so unfaithful (for often very easy to understand reasons) that I have to rank it last.

 

Fellowship>Towers>King has always been my order of choice.

 

King is definitely my least-watched, although it's the only extended edition I have. still bummed I passed them all up at a Goodwill once.

 

Does anyone here prefer the theatrical editions to the extended versions? I don't think I've seen the theatrical versions in 10 years, I'd be interested to know if I prefer them now. I could definitely see myself preferring the theatrical version of ROTK more.

 

"Well, here at last, dear friends, on the shores of the Sea comes the end of our fellowship in Middle-earth. Go in peace! I will not say: do not weep; for not all tears are an evil."

 

The best.

 

Watching LOTR and I would shit my pants, as an actor, if I had to work with something that looked like Lurtz. I'd know it was fake but I think I'd still be scared out of my mind.

 

My wife and I have been going through the movies again as well! We just finished The Two Towers after two weeks of on-again, off-again viewing (we watch the extended editions after we've finally put our little one to bed so it takes even longer to get through). I always laugh at this particular line reading:

 

I never appreciated the comedic relief clip with Gimli until I got older.

 

Helm's Deep is one of the best battle sequences in film history. (#1 the Normandy Invasion in SPR of course)

 

I watch these movies with my girl every year right around Christmas time. It's our favorite tradition. In the last couple years I've started reading the trilogy in October and finished up right in time for the movies.

I don't think I'll ever get tired of doing this.

 

As far as film ranking I think I'm Towers>Fellowship>King. King is last only because I tend to get a little depressed as it's ending and I know it will be a whole year before I get to enjoy them all again.

 

Fellowship>Towers>King

 

King=Fellowship>Towers

Order is important in that first part for me.

However, Towers has the best scene.