Category: LotR

Seven…

TIME: “Here is an epic with literature’s depth and opera’s splendor — and one that could be achieved only in movies. What could be more terrific?…three huge installments, one supreme enthrallment. Ecstasy trumps exhaustion in the reliving of a great human quest, a cinematic triumph.” Also, an interview with PJ on Christopher Lee and the EEs, and an all-new clip! This one’s more spoilerific than the nine-minute batch of a few days ago (it’s an event early in the film), so you may just want to keep away.

8 Days…

but who’s counting? Variety: “A ‘King’ that earns its crown, Peter Jackson’s final installment in his monumental ‘The Lord of the Rings’ represents that filmmaking rarity — a third part of a trilogy that is decisively the best of the lot.” Hollywood Reporter: “Sure to be an Oscar contender in many categories and a breathtaking argument for director Peter Jackson winning every award there is to give, ‘King’ has none of the usual deficiencies that frequently scuttle third films.” New Zealand Herald: “We come to it at last, the great film of our time. The film which makes the heart leap, the tears flow, the adrenaline race like never before…Peter Jackson and his crew have saved the best and the boldest for last.” I don’t get it…what is it exactly you’re trying to tell me?

Norwegian Palantir.

Only eleven days to go until RotK….it’s getting tough, isn’t it? Well, if you’re anything like me, you’ll enjoy these nine minutes of streaming footage from the final chapter (free, painless sign-in required, click on the union jack at top right for English.) Like the TTT footage that premiered early last year, these are all character beats from early in the film, so if you already know what happens in this last outing, a little peek wouldn’t hurt, would it now, precious? (You can also download the first of the nine clips here.) Update: The nine minutes of clips are now downloadable as a WMV file.

The End of All Things.


Peter Jackson received a hero’s welcome in New Zealand yesterday as the Return of the King officially premiered in Wellington. I’ve been reading a number of online reviews lately, which I won’t link to as they’re so spoilerific. But so far the consensus seems to be (a) RotK is easily the best of the three and (b) some of the Theatrical Edition streamlining will aggravate Tolkien fans. I must admit, I was disturbed to find out some of the many scenes that have been edited out of the film, but I presume they’ll all be back for the EE next November, so I guess I really can’t complain. And if RotK is half as good as everyone is making it out to be, then I probably won’t care once the film starts anyway. At any rate, only two weeks to go… Update: Here’s a relatively non-spoilerish review that gets the consensus point across: The film is stunning. Amazing. Frightening. Breathtaking. Heartbreaking. Epic and intimate all at once. Booyah.

Succumb to Temptation…

Well, while I did pick up the soundtrack this morning. we’re getting to the point in the RotK release cycle where I’m starting to feel ambivalent about seeing this stuff before December 16th. Newsweek prints a very spoiler-filled first review and declares, “It’s an epic. It tells a passionate, elemental story. It takes the principal filmmaking currency of our times, special effects, and makes them matter. Is it a fantasy? It’s a lot of people’s fantasy, yes.” (The article also tells how the movie begins…I won’t put it here, but I’m somewhat proud of myself for having guessed it a year ago.) The Newsweek cover story also has a couple of all-new pictures, and a snippet from Andy Serkis’s forthcoming Gollum book reveals even more about the decisions made in RotK. All of this is very spoilerish stuff, even for those of us who’ve read the trilogy. You have been warned.

March of the Morgul Host.


With Return of the King less than a month away, several all-new spoilerish pics have shown up online, including this shot of Minas Morgul emptying for war and this striking picture of the event that kicks off the third film. If you haven’t read the books, leave that second link alone. I wouldn’t have posted the other pic here if (a) it weren’t so gosh darn pretty and (b) Minas Morgul didn’t feature so prominently in the RotK trailer (and FotR.)

Endnotes.


TORN.net get the full version of Annie Lennox’s “Into the West,” soon to close a splendid fantasy trilogy at a theater near you. Those of you who found the Soundtrack.net excerpt to be a tad shrill will be happy to discover that that 30 seconds was the loudest part of the song. Also, in LotR news, I missed out on the TTT:EE Grand Central extravangaza yesterday, although it may have been just as well given some of the complaints coming in.

Voice of Saruman.

Christopher Lee speaks out about the editing decisions to RotK noted here, and he sounds quite put off. I’m worried too, frankly, but I’ll assume PJ knows what he’s doing. (Via Metafilter. Speaking of which, thanks to Kestrel’s Nest for Mefi’ing my TTT:EE review and effectively doubling my hits today, not that I still check that kinda thing, of course. I also liked the poster who suggested that the GOP is behind the Saruman cut, a la Ronald Reagan.)