Does anyone have plans to see the Lord of the Rings trilogy at the movies on Tuesday Dec 16th?
Will there be any whistle playing in the ROTK film?
-John
Well since a small group of us have gotten together to watch the first two movies on opening day, we’ll be doing it again this year. 
bump
I would LOVE that, and here in Salt Lake they are offering it at one theater…but there are two problems 1) I’m home with three small kids all day and 2) the tickets sold out weeks ago in the first 15 minutes they were offered. But wouldn’t that be great!!
I’m going to be at the SF/Metreon one tomorrow. Any C&F’ers going to be there?
I’ll be dressed as Eowyn–if I can finish fixing the dress tonight. My Mom made it, long-distance, and mailed it to me and it was about five sizes too big! Anyway, PM me if anyone’s going to be there, we can say hello.
Im deliberately waiting until after the first weekend for several reasons.
- Being retired, I’ll have unopposed access to cheaper afternoon matinees then;
- Being a decades long addict, I’m still huffy about some of the glaring deviations (such as the Elvish Foreign Legion at Helm’s Deep) in the Two Towers. I can wait to see how they’ll bollix up the Ride of the Rohirrim or the Battle Before the Gates.;
- For those who get it, the STARZ cable network is outting on a big do with the first two this weekend (using the extended, not the threatre edition) - I’ll refresh on them before I see the final.
Yeah, I’m gonna see it.
Forth, eorlingas!
I’m almost embarassed to admit I’ll be at the midnight showing with all 3 movies being seen back-to-back. Wednesday will be a tough one 
but not in costume 
I wouldn’t want go go as anything other than one of the Rohirrim. Bit of a problem getting in with a horse and armor.
Me too. Huff, huff. 
I’m planning on going to the “all day” show today as well. It’s going to be a very long day. I’ll probably write a quick note when I get home tonight with some spoiler-less comments.
Jens/Chuck,
Concerning the first two installments, I was most disappointed about the theatrical mis-portrayal of Galadriel and Faramir. I’m hoping that Peter Jackson will make amends with Famamir’s character since in the books he “passed the test” by refusing the ring, which is a large departure from what was shown in the films.
-John
Hey John,
I was really upset about Faramir, too…but have you seen the extended version? I got it on DVD as soon as it came out and I must say, they do a better job of explaining their reasons for changing Faramir. They have a 5 or so minute long scene put back in between Faramir, Denethor, and Boromir that explained his motivations better. And also in one of the commentaries, PJ and Philippa Boyens explained why they made that change.
I still wished they had left him as he is in the books, but it made me feel a little better about the changes.
Ok. I’ve just seen the ROTK and the whole trilogy in one sitting. Whew! What a long day.
First of all, the theatrical release of ROTK is 3 hrs and 10 mins. I heard that PJ had to cut an hour and twenty minutes to get it at this length and it shows. I’m sure that most of it will make it back into the DVD. Watching all three movies back to back in a cinema is pretty amazing. And tiring. But it’s cool to see the continuity between all three films and to see how they’re different.
Bottom Line: It’s a good, entertaining movie, but you had better check your Tolkien books at the door, so to speak. There are many changes from the book, so be warned.
Between TTT and ROTK they did drawings for ROTK movie posters and free movie tickets.
After the showing of the ROTK, New Line gave away WETA minitures to everyone who attended. It’s a miniture that contains a single 33mm frame of each of the three movies.
[Edited to add that there wasn’t much whistle playing in the theatrical release.]
-John
Every theater ticket page I’ve looked at said the movie is 3 hours 42 min…no?
Cees,
ROTK started at 10:00 PM and went until 1:10 AM (without any trailers/previews). So the actual running time of the movie was about 3 hrs 10 mins.
Hope you enjoy the show.
-John
That’s real dedication. I’m impressed.
Hope you enjoyed it.
–Jay
I went to Trilogy Tues in SF and I have to say, it wasn’t as grueling as I thought it would be. Sure, you expect 12 hours in a movie theatre to be tough, but the movies were SO absorbing, time almost flew by. The people at the Sony Metreon–who are normally not the most tolerant group–were, I must say, incredibly nice and organized. They totally overlooked the “no outside food & drink” rule because so many people had to bring their own meals with them, for cost reasons. The crowd was really cool, very enthusiatic and everyone so polite.
As far as ROTK goes, who said to check your book at the door? I’m afraid they were right. The movie is GREAT, and has many many wonderful moments, but especially at the beginning, there’s a lot in the movie that just ISN’T in the book. There’s also some glaring omissions (which I won’t mention - spoiler free here) but hey, there’s always the EE DVD. I found it to have a little too much pandering–they really took every opportunity to have fight/battle scenes, when there might have been a little less of that. However, the big battle scenes are REALLY great, like nothing I have ever seen, and there’s plenty of quieter moments and character development and such. All in all, I recommend it, of course.
Hi Kar,
Opinions differ of course, but I found the changes in ROTK much less glaring than in TTT. Sure, there were some omissions that bothered me, but all in all I found the movie to be truer to the book than TTT.
And I agree, there’s a surplus of fighting scenes (a problem with all three movies IMHO) that could easily have been replaced with more “quiet” scenes (some scenes in the film felt very rushed), and yes, the Battle of the Pelennor Fields is magnificent.
In ROTK I was particularly anxious to see how PJ had handled the crucial climactic scenes (eg. Eowyn vs. Witch King, destruction of the Ring, the end of the story, etc.), which are all places where the story really could have been ruined. All in all, I was positively surprised and really pleased with how they turned out.
Jens
Yes, I’ll agree that most of the really crucial scenes were done VERY well. I was most worried about deviations in those places and I was also pleasantly surprised. The destruction of the ring, especially, was just perfect, as was all the Sam/Frodo stuff on Mount Doom. Really moving.
The weird Faramir arc that started in TT was a BIG problem for me, and the issues with that just carried over into ROTK. And some of the Elrond/Arwen stuff, while sort of interesting, didn’t really work for me. I mean, what was that all about? However, I was THRILLED to have them deal with the re-forged sword. It’s such a big deal in the books, I was happy to see it make it into the movies.
On the whole, after a little time has passed and I’ve had time to think about it, I think the changes will bother me less on the second (and subsequent) viewings. And then, you know, there’s always the EE DVD!
I wish there was an extended dvd of Fellowship with Tom Bombadil included.
Tony