The Hobbit (Dec 14, 2012/Dec 13, 2013/Dec 16, 2014)

[kuronosan]

Alfrid was a waste. Everyone in the theater seriously got tired of him.

[BaneTheBrawler]

Yeah, Alfrid was stupid.

Galadriel. I forget if she from the first age, but I know she is very old and her power is hinted at a lot during many of Tolkien's writings.

She is. She's one of the Noldor, one of the tribes/races of Elves who went West into the Undying Lands when the Valar called. The Noldor also returned East with Feanor (the elf who forged the Silmarils) against the wishes of the Valar. She's a serious fucking badass. Her time in the Undying Lands enhanced her already formidable powers, plus she also holds Nenya, the Ring of Adamant. One of the Three, it's powers are "preservation, protection, and concealment from evil."

i fucking love tolkein lore. i could talk about it all day

[Tyrath]

Hey Bane how awesome would it be to see some movies about the battle against Morgoth? Assuming they did it properly, of course. I get hype everytime they call Sauron the servant of Morgoth in the movies. War of Wrath, 7 Balrogs and Ancalagon the Black, who makes Smaug look like a bitch. Gimme.

[BaneTheBrawler]

that would be fucking amazing. i've mentioned before that i think they should do a TV series. they could frame it as Elrond telling young Aragorn (and/or Bilbo) the Silmarillion, which I think Tolkein would approve of. Start with scenes of Rivendell, have either young Aragorn sitting down for a lesson or have Bilbo arriving and settling in, then either do it as Elrond telling the story or Bilbo recording it. It would mesh so perfectly with the existing lore, and gives an excellent framework for a narrator to do some narrating, the way some of the stories do.

[Cichy]

They could also do a movie or two about the original battle against Sauron where he lost the ring. How fucking amazing was that scene in the opening of the Fellowship. Silmirion is currently out of the question since Tolkiens estate does not want to let go of the right at the moment.

[kuronosan]

After what Jackson did to the Hobbit I don't blame them.

I loved it as its own movie but three movies were unnecessary.

[Inshiya]

They could also do a movie or two about the original battle against Sauron where he lost the ring. How fucking amazing was that scene in the opening of the Fellowship. Silmirion is currently out of the question since Tolkiens estate does not want to let go of the right at the moment.

I always hated the opening scene. For me, the books always painted Sauron as this demi god who could "burn the mountains themselves." Entire armies would fall to their knees paralyzed with fear, unable to stand in his presence.

In the movies, he was just basically Sauron the Barbarian. "let me swing my big club at you."

[Rulke]

^PJ's depiction of Sauron has always bothered me. Even his final choice for the armor design was horrible imo. Taking down dozens of guys with one swing was the least he could show.

[Cichy]

As weird as it sounds I think he wanted to make him more "grounded." No one in the movies is that super powerful if you look at it. Some got strength, some got agility, some magic but no one has some sort of amazing power. But yeah, when I read the books I imagined not only Sauron much stronger.

[Moss]

I enjoyed it, but it did seem to drag a bit. They really should have shown more Beorn, his entrance was the coolest part of the movie

[Ohemgee]

Can't wait for the fan edit

[kuronosan]

Can't wait for the fan edit

This.

[Outlaw]

I saw it Saturday but when I got home it was late and I was tired and forgot to comment lol.

Spoiler: show

I thought it was good overall but there were some parts they could have done without like what people were saying with Alfrid. My favorite scene was when the White Council was fighting the Nazgul and Sauron. That was incredible! The final battle was pretty good but it was kinda spoiled by the fact that when the Dwarves come running out of Erebor they are not wearing their good armor. wtf?! Did they film that scene first and forget about it? I knew Thorin was going to die of course and I dreaded seeing it on screen. Even though I was bracing for it it still packed a big emotional punch.

[BaneTheBrawler]

no, they didn't forget.

Spoiler: show

in the scenes where thorin is coming back after beating the goldlust you can see the armor laying all around them. i guess they got bored and took it off.

[Outlaw]

Ah, I didn't notice that. Still..

Spoiler: show

I don't understand why they didn't have them wear it in the battle. In the book they come running out of the mountain with the best quality armor and weapons from the treasure horde. That disappointed me. I would have thought the film makers would've used that chance to make a cool looking scene.

[BaneTheBrawler]

yeah, me too.

[Byrd]

Saw it last night. It was about what I expected. Fun, but not hugely memorable in the same way the original trilogy was. My personal opinion is that the six films were released in reverse order of quality. Fellowship of the Ring was the best, and there was a slow decline to this film, which was just one long (but very well executed) battle. Again, not saying it's a bad film, it's just not quite the same as the first trilogy.

Spoiler: show

After the third scene with Alfrid, I realized he was just Jar Jar Binks reincarted in a different film. Every time he was shown on screen it was "Oh, I wonder how they are going to show him being a terrible person this time." He was a complete pointless character, other than maybe to show the townspeople that Bard was the right choice as the new leader. After that scene, though, nobody would have ever missed him again. Since they kept showing him, I was really expecting some sort of comeuppance after all that buildup.

[Tyrath]

Fellowship of the Ring was the best,]

Correct answer was Return of the King.

Imo the order of enjoyment:

Lotr 3 > Lotr 1 > Lotr 2 > Desolation of Smaug > Battle of 5 armies > The Hobbit.

[Byrd]

Correct answer was Return of the King.

Imo the order of enjoyment:

Lotr 3 > Lotr 1 > Lotr 2 > Desolation of Smaug > Battle of 5 armies > The Hobbit.

I definitely preferred Fellowship over Return, and still do. I think part of it was the sense of relief I felt at the first one that it could be done right and stay mostly true to the source material on a big budget. By the time RotK came around, it was expected. The Moria sequence in FotR is one of my all time favorite movie sequences, and the 30 minute wrap up in RotK dragged on a bit much (yes, I know it was truthful to the source material) for me. The battle for Helm's Deep is, to me, more memorable than anything in RotK, as well.
I've only seen the new hobbit movies once each in the theater, so I might revisit that order when I view the extended versions.

[BaneTheBrawler]

i missed sharkey though