Having seen the documentaries on the miniatures where you see Minas Tirith, I thought I had a pretty good idea of what to expect - but it just took my breath away. From the camera coming up over the ridge from the bottom and just going up and up and up. Then to Gandalf riding through the streets the whole sequence was better and so much more realistic than I could have imagined.

Another thing I thought I was prepared for was the landscape. How much more beautiful could NZ look than in FotR? Once you've seen one snow capped mountain range, you've seen em all - right? Uhm. Wrong.

Unexpected sobbing moment? Sure, I cried at the reunion scene - but the harder Gandalf laughed, the harder I cried.

I *know* I was getting looks. And I don't care. Stoopid lame crowd.

Sean, I wanted the whole thing too, but I knew that wasn't going to happen. I just didn't realize how thoroughly truncated the dialog in question was going to be.

As you say, it's one of those "Hey, if that's the worst I can come up with to complain about, life's pretty good," things. I think on balance PJ and the crew added more stuff I liked than left out stuff I wanted, so I feel a bit ungrateful grumbling...but still. Must. Pick. Nits. (More. Fun. Than. Packing!)

Yeah, tina, there were definitely moments when I actually gasped at the scenery. That was one of the joys of seeing FOTR and TTT on the big screen again, remembering just how incredible those mountains and valleys are. Gah. Oh, and Gandalf and Pippin riding through Minas Tirith took my breath away too.

Ah, dang, Maytree.

That's the ONE part of JRR's writing I ever liked.

I saw it last night with my brother, my sister and a friend of hers. I yielded to my sister's urging and wore the Nazgul costume I'd made for Elena's LotR Halloween party. My sister and her friend were Merry and Sam, respectively. We were the only people there in costume, but the audience seemed pretty evenly enthused. There was talking, but it was almost all of the "OH! Sam just [whatever Sam did]" which I didn't mind.

I really really enjoyed it, although I did find that I really noticed places where there will be scenes added for the EE. Still lots of fun.

A thing that made me laugh: when Arwen has the vision of Aragorn and the child, what I imagined as her thoughts was "I can't leave! I may have gotten him pregnant!"

I laughed inappropriately after Aragorn gets crowned, when he sees Legolas before he sees Arwen and it sooooo looked like *they* were the ones about to get married

Many reviewers have loved the subtlety of the crowning scene. At first I was a little sad that 1) it really meant the end of dirty stanky nummy Strider and 2) they didn't have Frodo hand Gandalf the crown.

But on afterthought, I have to agree with the reviews - a more elaborate scene in its place would have just drawn out the multiple endings things.

Any Legolas/Aragorn slash is mostly Bloom or the director's fault. He says things to him with such intimacy. And is answered back with such fondness. Boys don't do that, so much.

As for the Sam/Frodo -- hell, the text had more than the movies.

I wasn't feeling any Legolas/Gimli, or Merry/Pippin. Those came across as very het interactions, although I've been accused of wanting to slash anyone that share (un)kind words.

He says things to him with such intimacy. And is answered back with such fondness.

And there is a metric ton of "we are so about to make out" to their constant mutual shoulder grabbing.

I'm with you on the rest slashwise. The movie has never come close to the slash-fest of the books re: Sam/Frodo. Not even Frodo's sadness at Sam mentioning Rosie on the rock.

eta: going from the movie almost straight to work this morning has made my already really bad spelling much worse FTR.

there is a metric ton of "we are so about to make out" to their constant mutual shoulder grabbing

Oh, yeah.

I still maintain that if the "You're late. You look awful" necklace handover had been a guy/girl thing, people who don't see the L/A would have thought there was a spark, if it were played note for note.

He does an eye scrinchy thing and everything.

Question that spans TTT and RotK -- does Aragorn lead Eowyn on? I think he was a bit of a tease, until he found out Arwen hadn't sailed.

I feel like he was being a *bit* of a tease. Especially the look back he gives her as he goes to fight the wargs in TTT. But even that, I don't think, reached the level of actually leading her on. This is why I really missed the Eowyn/Faramir story - because she deserves a happy ending damnit (as does Faramir) - and Tolkien gave them one.

I would be very curious what a non-book reader thought of how Eowyn's story ended.