Lord of the Rings Movie Marathon

[Halasían]

That's right, 22 years after seeing all three movies in a theatre on 'Trilogy Tuesday', Alqualisse and I are going to do it again on January 24th.
The content of the movies and my well-documented issues I have with then aside, it's more of a 'life' thing for us...
If it weren't for the making of these movies, Alqualisse and I would never have met on The One Ring .com (TORc) in 2001.
We wouldn't have bridged the half a world to meet in person and attend the Trilogy Tuesday event in Spokane Washington in 2003.
We wouldn't have gotten together as life-partner soulmates in 2007. We've been married 17 years now, and so we're doing this!

 

[Fingon_Findekáno]

What a special history to share between you two! 🥺

Where I live, the theaters will be showing the Lord of the Rings trilogy extended editions over a three-day period, one movie for each day, rather than as a whole one-day marathon. @Maedhros_Nelyafinwë and I are going on January 24th to see The Two Towers together, as her Christmas present to me. We're very excited to see it on the big screen! 😃

 

[Elthir]

Have fun!

Just don't sit near these
two guys in the theater.

 

[Vardarianna]

Oh this is so sweet! Love a good love story!

 

[Squint-eyed Southerner]

There have been marriages of members who met here on TTF too, by the way.☺️

 

[Halasían]

There have been marriages of members who met here on TTF too, by the way.☺️

Yeah, I remember Wonko and Snaga got married. Probably raising teenagers now. Also, I remember HLGStrider (Elgee) got married, but am not sure if her husband was a member here. Any others I missed?

I remember a couple on TORc getting married with big fanfare. He had a Hobbit name and she had an Elven name. Years later, he started a thread called 'Hobbit Holes have Small Closets'. It was a divorce announcement.

 

[Squint-eyed Southerner]

I thought I remembered others, but may be mistaken.

Of course, some might have kept theirs secret. 😉

 

[d4rk3lf]

There have been marriages of members who met here on TTF too, by the way.☺️

Funny... I was just thinking on proposing you.

 

[Halasían]

There have been marriages of members who met here on TTF too, by the way.☺️

Funny... I was just thinking on proposing you.

He was part of the Statler and Waldorf duo. Hoping they didn't get divorced.

 

[Halasían]

The Lord of the Rings Movie Marathon - It is now the morning after Alqualisse and I headed to the theatre at ten in the morning and walked out at 11:44PM. I'll note now that we did take walks and eat and drink between the films, and there was a good extra fifteen minutes of time to use before two Towers and Return of the King due to Peter Jackson mumbling on and on like he had been hitting The Gaffer's Home-brew before each movie. Overall, the whole marathon experience was quite relaxing. Kudos goes to Millers Junction Theatre's air-conditioning on a 44° (C) day, comfortable chairs, allowing outside food to be brought in, and the Dolby Atmos sound system.

It had been around ten years since we last tried to watch these films at home with my EE-DVD set, and we never made it through a complete three-film watching since 2010. The DVD box set had been in storage and when I pulled them out a couple years ago, a queen of little black ants decided the case was a perfect place to set up home. They had infested the disk cases of Two Towers and Return of the King, and was expanding into Fellowship of the Ring. The DVD box set went into the garbage bin. A side note to this... as of the One Ring refused to get chucked into the molten rock of Mt Doom, I was at a garage sale down the street from our house and I come across the very same EE-DVD boxed set still in its original shrink-wrap. I paid the asked-for $4 for it and they threw in a DVD of the movie 'Kokoda'.

So ... doing this 'life' thing as I explained in my previous post was always going to be a nostalgic fun event for us more than for any love of the movies. That said, seeing them in a modern theatre with a modern sound system did give me a new appreciation for them. I even tweaked my critical analysis of parts of them, liking some things better than I did twenty years ago, and not liking some things I initially liked twenty years ago. I'll go over each movie and highlight some things. I'll probably edit this at some later point, but wanted to capture my initial thoughts as soon as possible.

Fellowship of the Ring - I'm still amazed at the detail of The Shire and how hobbits were presented. Ian Holm was spot-on as Bilbo which tracks with my original assessment. I initially didn't like Elijah Wood as Frodo, but I have tempered that and thought he turned in a respectable job of portrayal. The Shire scenes were a great start to these films.

I still liked the Prancing Pony scenes, and the introduction of Strider with his draw on his pipe and his eyes lighting up in its reflection under the hood was spot on. I'll have more on Strider/Aragorn later, but Viggo did an A1 job of bringing the book-character to life in the first movie. The screenplay hadn't yet messed it up.

I still groan at the point Arwen shows up as it is the 2nd major deviation from Tolkien's story (I'll get to the first later). As much as I still don't think Liv Tyler fits my mind's eye of Arwen Undomiel, I have come to respect her ability to bring the part to life, such as it is in these movies.


The Two Towers - This mostly tracked with my old assessments... Fangorn and the majority of the scenes with Treebeard are still boring yawner parts and are good for taking a bathroom break and visiting the snack bar, but one scene in the EE is Merry and Pippen sipping the ent-draught and arguing about who was taller. It was a well-written part that captures one of the little fun things in the book.

I had originally thought that the Rohirrim were portrayed as being a bit too rustic especially in the scenes around Edoras. It fit for the Dunlending sacking of the Westfold, but I originally thought that the grand capitol of Rohan would be in a better condition. I have changed my mind on this. With King Théoden in such a state (I still hate how his 'possession' was portrayed), things could have been allowed to slide toward ruin, with Grima and his thugs likely pocketing the coin.

Overall, the screenplay still annoys me in how they messed up the great character performance of Bernard Hill as Théoden, and the mess it made out of Éomer's part. That said, Karl Urban portrayed the character of Éomer wonderfully. One scene that I have erased my initial misgivings on was when Éomer and his éored come across Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas. My original issue with the terrain has relaxed a little, but I still don't see any of the lush green marshy plains of Rohan's Easrfold as described in the books. My initial kudos to Miranda Otto as Éowyn are only added to. Again, a solid performance and portrayal, that, like Éomer and Théoden though less so, are let down by the screenplay. The whole 'stew' scene still irritates me, and even moreso. Yes, I know it was a 'joke scene', but it really demeans the Éowyn character with Miranda Otto acting like a blonde dingbat. The 'stew' aside, what is talked about between Éowyn and Aragorn was worthy of having in the movie.


The Return of the King - The things that gave me the irrits twenty years ago still gives me the irrits. The character of Denethor was already destroyed by PJ Walsh and Co at the time they handing John Noble the script. He provided the Denethor they wanted, and I still wonder how well he would have portrayed a 'proper' Denethor. I think I appreciated David Wenhem as Faramir a bit more, as I'm sure he 'got' the book character as an actor and he brought it to light quite well with his thoughtful insights along the way. Where the wheels came off the cart for him was when it was written that he was going to take the hobbits and gollum to Osgiliath. Too much was made of the whole Denethor-Boromir-Faramir family dynamic that PJ Walsh and Co dreamed up that it totally destroyed this whole part of the films for me. I was the only one who cheered in the theatre when PJ got skewered by Legolas's Gimli-caused wayward arrow.

I still appreciate the Rohirric parts, and the charge is awesome even if the dated special effects are more noticeable now. The general battle scenes were quite good (as was Helms Deep in Two Towers which I failed to mention). The added scenes of Aragorn healing Éowyn, and her and Faramir's interaction in the House of Healing wanted me to see more of them.

I still hate the all-magical dead 'green-ant' army showing up in the battle on the Pelennor fields, but thought they were reasonably portrayed up to the taking of the ships. Also, the whole dynamic with Frodo turning on Sam in favor of Gollum is still crap.


Overall - most all of my complaints remain with the overall screenplay, with a few more points noted. It is still a hot mess. I mentioned the 2nd major deviation earlier in the Fellowship, so here is the first major deviation ... it revolves around the character of Strider/Aragorn. Viggo Mortenson's stellar portrayal aside, the made-up character story of Aragorn as presented didn't make any sense twenty years ago, and at best, is mildly confusing with all the extended scenes added. The whole 'choosing exile', the whole 'line was broken. but was remade' bits tied to the northern Dúnedain scraps that are tossed out in the EE scenes just doesn't work.

My initial assessment of Strider/Aragorn was based on the theatrical cuts as originally presented, and though I gave Viggo an A+ on his bringing Aragorn to life, I thought the screenplay wrote him as way too weak and reckless especially in The Two Towers (I initially thought this twenty years ago as well). I had to notch my initial critique down some on how the character came across to me now.

As I said; I will probably edit this a lot in the coming days, but this is my 'day after' review. As fun as it was spending the day with my wife revisiting the three movies in a marathon, we both seriously doubt we will ever do this again.

To anyone who wishes to take exception to my assessment with the usual 'it's a movie and changes needed to be made blah blah blah et cetera Peter Jackson apologetics, anything you say is automatically null and void to me because I don't care to hear it all again. These movies were, are, and always will be a big budget fanfic based on Peter Jackson's vision, period.

 

[Backyard Professor]

Thanks for the return and report of your views and impressions!

 

[Fingon_Findekáno]

Yesterday @Maedhros_Nelyafinwë and I went to go see the Extended Edition of The Two Towers, which I quite loved seeing on the big screen! Oh, to admire the sweeping shots of grand landscapes and hear such beautiful music as the story unfolds! 🤤 Plus, while others may find it overstimulating, I liked how the seats vibrated with emphasis throughout, as if the ground were truly quaking with the thunderous marching of armies. In the theater itself, the audience was pretty well filled out, and they reacted positively throughout the movie too. Even gave it a round of applause at the end.

I thought the extended scenes fit in very well, adding more depth, more humor, more content to enjoy! Merry and Pippin have several extended scenes, and the Ent-draught one was indeed quite funny. I was also pleased to see the Ents going to Helm's Deep and finishing off the remainder of the Orcs, as it happens in the book. As for the regular scenes, I'll always love the moments where Sam supports and cares for Frodo. His speech towards the end in Osgiliath about there still being good in this world worth fighting for is one of my favorites. 🥺 Oh, and Rohan is always amazing too. Loved watching Théoden and Éomer. Théodred's passing was also heartbreaking.

In addition, being an obsessive Silm-focused Elf, I always love watching these movies because they provide so much inspiration for visualizing the First Age with all its landscapes, characters, battles, and more. It helps make Beleriand feel all the more real. It's also fun to spy for any references to the First Age (like the Ring of Barahir)! ✨

Overall, Maedhros and I had a very good time together, laughing at the funny moments and finding much to enjoy in this masterpiece. As amazing as it would have been to also see The Fellowship of the Ring and The Return of the King on the big screen as well, our schedules did not allow it (we both have the EEs on DVD, so we can watch them at home, but it's special to see them at a movie theater). I am very grateful we had the opportunity to see The Two Towers though, as this was her Christmas present to me. Thank you, Maedhros! 😄😊

 

[Maedhros_Nelyafinwë]

Indeed! As I told my parents last night, I didn't know how badly I needed to see a Lord of the Rings movie. I was initially unsure of my ability to get through an entire Extended Edition in one sitting, but the movie had me so sucked in that it felt like no time at all.

Sam's "It's like the great stories" speech had me in tears. Definitely my favorite Tolkien quote, and Sean Astin delivers it so perfectly!

Also, Aragon. Just 👌🏻😍

I've also always loved the costumes in this trilogy. There's clear historical inspiration with fun fantasy touches, and they're all so incredibly detailed and well-crafted. And of course, the scenery and music are such a treat for the senses.

 

[Backyard Professor]

My wife and I recently re=watched the entire trilogy extended version of all of the Hobbit and LoTR and thoroughly enjoyed them, even though we know they differ from the books. We do this about once a year. It's refreshing to say the least.

 

[Halasían]

Yeah yeah yeah, you watched A movie in the theatre, or watched the three movies over three days in a theatre, or the movies at home on TV.

I thought it was a bit crazy to spend a day in costume in December 2003 for 'Trilogy Tuesday' and never thought I'd do that again.

Fast-forward to 2026 and we did it again! Has anyone seen all three movies in a theatre all on the same day? Has anyone done it twice??

Alqualisse and Halasian for the win! 🤣
Now... where's that firkin of the Gaffer's homebrew... Hope Peter Jackson didn't drink it all.