I just looked at my picture frame, and I got Gandalf from RotK, Frodo, Sam, and Gollum walking through Emyn Muil in TTT, and my favorite FotR image: Boromir holding the Ring on Caradhras!!

Another thing I noticed on the second viewing: if you read what Frodo's writing at the end, you see that Sam is already Mayor at that point!

VICTOR!!!

AIMEE!!!

Arty film critic who hates this kind of stuff, or someone who should know better?

Probably the latter. He's usually a passable critic, he just has a terrible hate on for all things LotR. It's kind of weird.

The beacon scene was tremendous, but I kept thinking, "Man, some poor schmoes really pulled the crap duty stations."

I've been ranting elsewhere for 1.5 hours on the inconsistencies and whatevers within the movies, but upon sober reflection, there's only one part in this movie that might come close to the disaster that is Brunhilde-Having-An-Orgasm Galadriel in FOTR. I literally cannot watch that scene anymore. I don't think there's anything in ROTK I won't be able to watch over and over, except maybe Gollum twirling around on invisible Frodo.

Elijah Wood did a fantastic job at the end with his facial acting. And I don't understand how Orlando Bloom can look so amazingly perfect as Legolas.

Fangirl question: do Legolas' eyes keep changing color? I could swear they are brown except when he gets an intense dilated-eye closeup.

Fangirl question: do Legolas' eyes keep changing color? I could swear they are brown except when he gets an intense dilated-eye closeup.

Orlando's eyes are a gorgeous brown--but he wears blue contacts for Legolas. I'm wondering if that wasn't a continuity problem? I didn't notice any change, though.

Finally catching up here -- between the sinus headache I had going in and the crying during, I got dizzy/nauseous after the movie and had to come home and lie down for a couple of hours.

Not that I was having an emotional reaction to the movie or anything. :-)

Just a few points --

* I loved how =happy= Gollum was to get the ring back -- all the way down the fall.

* Also loved how the Ring heated up and showed its lettering as it lay on the lava -- and then did dissolve. A friend at the showing said that she thinks the last thing you could see of it was the shadow of the letters, but she'll have to see the DVD to be sure.

* We also got one of the few small cheers in our mid-day theatre audience when the eagles swooped in on the remaining aerial Nazgul

* my crypoints were Pippin's song, Theoden's death, and the Pippin/Gandalf conversation about death. Billy Boyd was the biggest surprise about the movie for me. From the book I would have expected that Merry would have been the more dramatic part....

More as I think of them. Still well-satisfied, even if there's a bunch of stuff missing that I wanted to see.

Re: Aragorn and Eowyn, I thought he might be leading her on too with the cup thing, or he might not know the significance of the interaction to her. From her I got the sense that asking him to drink from her cup was a big deal and meant something significant; from him I mostly got the sense that he wasn't sure how to act around her because he *didn't* want to lead her on, and he was a little sad that he couldn't love her like she wanted him to.

Every time someone mentions their crypoints it makes me cry again. Possibly I should not have spent an hour listening to the soundtrack and sobbing in my room this afternoon.

Although I do understand the perspective of people who complain that slashers simplify complex relationships by making them about sex. I do. This way, though, I get to enjoy it on two levels.

In my experience, sex rarely simplifies a complex relationship. This is probably one reason why I find slash so appealing.

Oh, and when Sam gets up to go talk to Rosie at the Green Dragon? From the faces of the other hobbits, I thought he had just grabbed her and started kissing her--they all looked like they were thinking "oh, time to look away now." Anyone else get this impression?

Kathy, about Billy Boyd making up the tune? Fucking incredible. And I also agree about the music as Frodo crawls desperately up Mount Doom--that flute line is so gorgeous.

Oh, hey, and dogs at Meduseld! Or at least a dog.

the disaster that is Brunhilde-Having-An-Orgasm Galadriel in FOTR

(I like that part of FOTR. Gives me chills every time, it does. I thought it a very effective rendering of the sequence.)

I like it too, Sean. Come sit in my corner.

OK, you guys can have my share of it then.