Jackson's Ring

[Samuel Moyer]

Good... ha ha... you will like Legally Blonde... An actual movie my wife
likes that I don't mind sitting through.  I am still a bit bummed by the
Lord of the Rings.  I really don't understand why Jackson felt he had to
re-write certain scenes... Like you, Dave, I feel Aragorn ought to be older,
more worn by the life he has been living... Instead all the added parts for
Liv Tyler and a better looking Aragorn to turn this into something of a
romance I suppose.  Thought the Special effects were mostly great, overused
at times... the scenes where Frodo wears the ring are very good, but the
scenes where Gandalf, Galadriel, Bilbo, etc... are tempted by the ring are
just stupid.  OH... and the beginning, I agree, totally unnecessary.  Maybe
he liked 2001's beginning.

Overall, the movie is great.  Just liked the book better.

Sam

----- Original Message -----
From: "Dave Monroe" <davidmmonroe at yahoo.com>
To: "Sam Moyer" <smoyer at satx.rr.com>; <pynchon-l at waste.org>
Sent: Sunday, December 23, 2001 1:58 PM
Subject: RE: Jackson's Ring


> Very quickly, lest I spin my own epic trilogy on the
> subject.  The expository beginning was absolutely
> unnecesary, as the background info could, and should,
> have been introduced as it was in the novel (largely
> by Gandalf, with both Bilbo and then Frodo, right?).
> I was a bit annoyed by the near Hummel-figurine,
> Renaissance-Faire, "Celtic" cuteness about the edges
> of the Hobbits, but ... and cf. Gimli, though I'll
> forgive Jackson's liberties with the dialogue for that
> one good dwarf gag.  Note, by the way, how the
> Galdriel/Frodo scene is taken straight from the book,
> and yet looks nothing like anyone might ever expect it
> to.  And I don't see why not David Bowie as Elrond;
> most everybody else in the film is well enough known,
> and, largely, recognizable, and Hugo Weaving is just
> too plain (vs. ...) ugly.  Jackson's elves, by the
> way, are a strangely gazebo-loving people ... and it
> helps to know Jackson's earlier films, their
> indebtedness to Ray Harryhausen stop motion animation,
> and their affinities with those of Sam Raimi (producer
> of New Zealand-based "Hercules" and "Xena" series,
> among other things ...).  The Saruman/Gandalf showdown
> ran like a kung fu wizard duel from any 80's Hong Kong
> supernatural film (Zu: Warriors of the Magic Mountain,
> Bride with the White Hair, et al.), in case anybody
> has any funny ideas about it being inspired more by
> Snapping Turtle, Drunken Monkey rather than the films
> which also inspired Ang Lee.  The Ringwraiths are
> great, clearly the next step up from the Grim
> Reaperesque creature in The Frighteners (which was
> astonishly creepy for how presumably little was spent
> in accomplishing it).  Also liked the creepy effects
> when Frodo has the Ring on.  Indeed, by and large, the
> film looks great, ran better than I expected (though I
> did have to wake one of my brothers up at one point),
> and I stand by my contention that, if the films are
> going to be made now, only Peter Jackson should have
> been allowed to make them.  As he was, so ...
>
> Next up: Wes "Rushmore" Anderson's The Royal
> Tenenbaums, and maybe, just in case, Guillermo del
> Toro's The Devil's Backbone (if only I could get at
> the most recent Godard film), and I can start working
> on my 2001 Top 10 list.  In the Mood for Love,
> Memento, Ghost World, The Others, Mulholland Drive, I
> suppose, er, Legally Blonde ...
>
> --- Sam Moyer <smoyer at satx.rr.com> wrote:
> > The critic makes some good points... but Arwen
> > already gets a bigger role than she had in the
> > book... Tolkien did not add a lot of female
> > characters into this story.  I think the reviewer
> > would also have a problem with Moby Dick.  Not all
> > movies must be about romance so they?
> >
> > Forgot to mention... Quail said that Ian McKellen
> > deserves best Actor... I haven't seen many other
> > flicks this year, but hell yeah, why not.  He
> > is very good as Gandalf.
>
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