The Fellowship Of The Ring

Answers to some of your queries:

Actually you do. When they see each other for the first time, he touches her hand when she's about to leave, tenderly, and says," Be careful." they also discussed who was the faster rider, which would imply that they knew each other.

I'm going to stop trying to break this movie down. I'll wait til all three movies are released to make my decisions.

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"I was walking down the street with my friend and he said, "I hear music", as if there is any other way you can take it in. You're not special, that's how I receive it too. I tried to taste it but it did not work." - Mitch Hedberg

Subtleties = nuances
Subtitles = written translation of dialogue

I'll go see the movie again soon and check out all the stuff again.

I deliberatly didn't read any of this thread.

It was ana amazing film, epic, intimate, brilliant. It is what film and cinema and yes, dare I say it, movies are all about. It took your wholley to another time, another place and let you walk among the halls of Rivendell, the woodlands of Lothlorien, and the mines of Moria. It was brilliant.

Next step, the two towers -- which means much more of Christopher Lee and even better, our first really good look at my favorite character from the book [note I see book, not book] -- GOLLUM.

This film was great, and basically, it can only get better.

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Here's a question for some of ya'll: how did your opinion of the film change upon multiple viewings? I know Holden's seen it several times. I don't know who else has had the privelage to see it more than once, though.

I've seen it three times, and my opinions did shift a little each time, as is to be expected. The sequence in Moria is better than I gave it credit for the first time around (even though I thought it was amazing the first time around), and the score is amazing. I didn't notice the score TOO much the first time around...too much to look at, and it fit so well with the movie in general. The second and third times I took greater note of the music in the background.

I also found it amazing that I was more chocked up during my third viewing than during my first or second. I also became more aware of Frodo's facial expressions (which worked wonders), and some of the things in the background. Anyone catch the director's cameo in Bree, or the Hobbits camping out amongst some familiar ol' trolls with Strider? (personally, I missed PJ the first time around...but I think I read about it afterwards, and subsequently saw it clearly the next two times. I didn't notice the trolls the first time, either. Nice touch.)

I've been wanting to catch this again, but have been too busy to catch it again. When I do, I'll let you know.

I noticed Jackson's cameo the first time I saw The Fellowship of the Ring, or at least I thought surely that had to be him. On my second viewing, when I knew exactly where to look, it cleared any doubts I had - it is definitely him.

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"Film is a disease. When it infects your bloodstream it takes over as the number one hormone. It bosses the enzymes, directs the pineal gland, plays Iago to your psyche. As with heroin, the antidote to Film is more Film." - Frank Capra

Where is that?
Sorry if it's back further. So I skim.

Just after the four Hobbits enter Bree, before they find the Prancing Pony, Jackson can be seen as a drunk on the street in the rain. He's on the right-hand side of the frame. He spins toward the camera and belches. It's a quick cut, but if you know what to look for, you'll see him.

Btw, I've never read the books or seen the cartoons or muppets.

Regarding the characterisation, I didn't notice any problems with it. What you need to realise is the both wizards, elves, dwarves, hobbits and men are not that much different except in spirituality and culture. Basically, all of them are just PEOPLE. In the books, [I know, I know, you haven't read them] you forget that the hobbits look the way they do, height wise, or that the elve and the dwarve are meant to look totally different. They are all people with special traits, and those traits were well brought to the screen.

I am not even going to go into this but, Frodo and Sam were NOT gay.

What's up with being homophobic? Is that nessasary?

And I'm straight, BTW, in case anyone was wondering.

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Me? I'm not homophobic. You mean JR Tolkien. Or did you not notice how everyone in the movie is gay except for the humans? Hobbits, gay. Burly dwarf guy, gay. Bilbo, gay. Gandalf who's always hanging out with hobbits, gay. Elves, bisexual. That's what I'm saying, we get it, to be gay is to be an unaturall strange creature. Did we really need to see Sam and Frodo hugging to figure out this movies true message? Subtle is better sometimes.

Heh, heh. Funny, man. You had me going there for a second.

I was gonna say...I thought you were serious. I start fuming when people think they're gay. Can't these fools see PAST their own time and place? This was written around 50 years ago. There's no sexuality in the books, really. None. There's no hidden anything; it's meant like a historical record of sorts...which is one of the reasons so many people find the books to be boring.

And dude, it's Gandalf, not Gandolf. Argh.

I watched the most brilliant documentary that combined information on the film and on Tolkien's life, and I can only hope it will be on the DVD.

It started by going through, like you know "the making of" stuff, and while this was enjoyable for a a part [very enjoyable in fact, they found "Hobbiton" a year before shooting and started planting vegetables and gardens so it looked 100 years old when they got there!] it then progressed into the more interesting stuff -- the universal themes that Tolkien was using and the insperation for Quenya from Finland and the mythology he felt the Britain had been robbed of. It also compared Hobbiton to his home town of Manchester and the destruction of it to the industrial revolution to Sauron taking over Middle Earth. It also went into depth that some of the writing's he wrote in the trenches of WWI became pre-requsite writings of hobbiton and Middle Earth. Despite the fact that he once wrote "Once in a hole a hill there lived a Hobbit" on the back of a blank test paper, is irrelevant and this doco argues that despite Tolkien saying it wasn't [because he so badly didn't want it to be linked to modern times -- he wanted it to be this mythology] that Middle Earth began a long time before, when he was a teenager and during WWI. He also refused to admit that WWII compelled him to write even further into it, good vs. evil, and once again that was because he so badly wanted to write a mythology for Britain.

Having Elijah Wood was a waste of time, he's "insights" were pointless, but Ian McKellen, Cate Blanchett, Peter Jackson and especially Christopher Lee gave fantastic insight. It ultimatly showed how the story and theme became so much to them. Christopher Lee ended by comparing the story to any stage of history -- but especially the one we are living in right now. He said:

"Today, I believe, that there are more conflicts and indeed wars than anywhere else in the world....and where is the ring-bearer?"

AMEN!

Really, that insight of Gandalf's is applicable to any time, any place, in history or in our personal lives. It's just especially poignant now.

As I said: Everything is universal. Good Vs. Evil. Small people doing big things. Everything is those books is always applicable. That's the point.

Sure it was, the movie starts with an introduction of the ring and the basic plot of the movie. Then it's just run and fight, run and fight. They were still running and fighting when it ended. What else happened? It was a movie about nothing. Something will happend in later parts but this one was just a long introduction. As a stand alone movie it lacks something. It can't stand alone, it needs it's other parts. I did think it was good tho. The parts that made me emotional were the Hobbits being scared. Whaaa! To be a little fellow in a world of big humans and scary monsters! Bilbo regretting passing the ring on to Frodo. Waaaa!



As for the gay thing.