(nodding vigourously with all points. Yeah, on both sides.)

I love the movies, but there are some really really bad decisions in them. Which in a way may be the zen-type blemish that enhances the overall....if Spielberg had done them, there would be no jarring missteps, but there would be nothing new and breathtaking (also, the Nazi imagery would've been more than just the one scene).

IMHO, most of the missteps were in ROTK. The way Merry and Pippin joined up with Sam and Frodo sucked, as did the interesting physics of "Lean forward, Frodo! Your 80 pounds will affect this several thousand tons of falling stonework!" But otherwise, FOTR was amazingly good. I'm even reconciled to Arwen, although not to Liv.

TTT, I'm still wavering on Theoden's possession. The only things I really really hate from that movie are Slapstick!Gimli and the bullshit with the warg battle and disappearing Aragorn (tho they did give us Arwen the Magical Kissy Horse). The stuff in Osgiliath I hated at the time but am OK with now.

ROTK fell down hard for me, because every scene that was an emotional walloper in the book was changed for the movie, and lessened in the change. Pippin being tempted by the Palantir. Saruman's death scene (missing entirely, and even the one that will be in the EE isn't as meaningful). The Scouring, gone. The Fellowship's despair at the Morannon. Denethor's attempted destruction of himself and his son, his madness in general, and his death. It just comes off silly in the movie. Eowyn's descent into that dark desperate place, and her and Merry's victory over the Witch-King. Sam's choice.

The battles and the beacons were way more emotional than in the books, so I guess that's the trade-off.

watching FotR EE day before yesterday and during the scene at the end when he rescues him from drowning I got all sad thinking about Frodo making Sam leave in RotK

This is a great thing about these movies: the rewatch potential is amazing. I tear up at the Council of Elrond now when Mippin joins up, and I tear up seeing happy healthy Frodo.

I watched the extras on Once Upon a Time in Mexico this afternoon and you know what? I now want one of the LotR dvd sets to have a track w/o dialogue but with soundtrack and soundtrack commentary only.

The Matrix did that, and it was marvellous.

Oddly, Don Juan diMarco had one too, with subtitles. It was really fascinating.

Raquel, it is but a tiny nitpick, but I thought Aragorn had Frodo "lean forward" so as to be better positioned for the jumping and carrying him forward, not to affect the swaying stone staircase, 'cause, like, that would be silly, right?

I definitely thought Aragorn had Frodo lean forward so as to affect the direction of the toppling slab of stone. La la la, not thinking about it too hard...

We were just snarking at this the other night. You know, if you are part of a fellowship whose job is to tag along with the Ringbearer on his way to Mt. Doom, it might be a good idea to toss him across first, say, before the giant steps start to fall conveniently in the right direction.

Damn -- look what we missed:

El episodio de Miami Vice en donde aparece Viggo "Red Tape," será televisado en EEUU por el canal TNN en la mañana de abril 17. ¡Gracias a Dawn!

What about that pause? Y'know, when the Fellowship's in that big open cavern, and 30000 slimy things climb down the pillars and completely surround them, and sit there. For three minutes. Thinking '30000 of us, 9 of them, can we take them?'

It's only an editing glitch, but it messes with the suspension of disbelief, and that bugs.

Hey, you can tell Legolas was thinking "30,000 of them, one of me. I can take them!"

"30,000 of them, one of me. I can take them!"

"And that dwarf will totally think I'm hot."