I finally saw the film today, and I loved it. I only had two big nitpicks, and both have to do with times when Inappropriate Laughter was induced.

Instance #1: "So passes Denethor, son of Icthilien." Well yes, and at a pretty good clip at that. It didn't help that my friend whispered to me at that moment "Wish on a falling Steward."

Instance #2: The big double-take by the Eye of Sauron when the Ring fell into the fires of Mount Doom. All it needed was the aaahhhhOOOOOgah! sound effect from a Tex Avery cartoon to make the moment complete.

Other than those two moments, the film had me absolutely rapt from beginning to end. The cheer points and cry points were pretty much as people have described upthread, but there were three--no, four--bits that had me particularly verklempt. Actually, let's make that five.

* After Frodo tells Sam to go home, and Sam breaks down and weeps.

* In a similar vein, the horror and grief on Sam's face when Frodo finally succumbs to the Ring's temptation in Mount Doom.

* After the return to the Shire, the quiet moment when the four hobbits are sitting around the table at the Green Dragon, drinking in the sheer dailyness and innocent cheerfulness of the Shire, rejoicing in what they have saved while at the same time knowing that they themselves can never enjoy that basic "Shireness" in quite the same way as before. It was that moment more than any other that brought home the idea that Tolkein himself had fought in and suffered through WWI.

* Bilbo, upon walking to the ship, saying he feels up for one more adventure. I don't know why that made me so happy-sad, but it did.

* Seeing Frodo on the ship, looking happy and at peace for the first time since the beginning of the first movie.

I just got spam from Gollum. I always knew there was something creepy about that guy.

Hey, according to that SciFi Weekly interview, Billy actually wrote that rilly depressing song he sang to Denethor the Dick. Trés kneato. I'd no idea the wee lad was so talented.

He wrote the lyrics? I'd heard he did the tune.

I'm pretty sure Fran wrote the poem, and Billy set it to music.

ita, you did get a chance to see this month's GQ cover, didn't you?

Billy said he picked a poem of Tolkein's and wrote the tune.

tina, thanks for posting that article! I love them all so much.

Scifi.com: What was on your gag reel at your wrap party?

Bloom: Mine's got [the '80s song] "Hungry Eyes." And I'm pulling out my sword. ... Aragorn pulls out his sword, and Legolas is turning [looks sexy], and then he pulls out his sword, and then I'm throwing the bow: [sings] "Hungry eyes ..."

Want to see this now!

I went to see ROTK for the third time this afternoon with two friends. You know, I thought I was going to be OK and not cry. I was so very wrong. One part I cried at that I hadn't before was when the Rohirrim shout "Death!" before they charge onto the Pelennor Fields. Gave me shivers, it did. And I think the bit with Gandalf telling Pippin about death will make me cry even on my hundredth viewing. Gah.

[Edit: We're not whitefonting any longer, right? End of the weekend?]

Tom Cruise has been nominated for Best Actor !!!! for the Golden Globes.

PJ for Best Director, RotK for Best Picture.

Its studio is pumping Cold Mountain so hard it's liable to spring a leak any minute.

But ... Tom Cruise?

There was a post for Last Samurai at the theatre on Christmas that, at first glance, looked just like the main Aragorn poster for RotK, Viggo and his sword backed up by the massed armies of the West. The interesting thing about the poster is, all you see is Tom Cruise's back. It's a shot of him in the samurai armor, he's swinging a sword, he's got the long hair, so to the swiftly looking eye you've got all the elements of RotK--armor, sword, army, even the coloration is the same--but the words that will, hopefully, stick in your mind are "The Last Samurai." I guess the very similar poster they've had that shows Tom's face wasn't working.

To be fair, it looked like a fairly decent film, even if only for a chance to look at samurai armor. But it's probably something we'll rent so we can freeze-frame the DVD and nitpick over armoring details.

Sorry, but even New Line isn't making enough money that they could pay me to see Dances with Ronin.

This is wonderful news--for us. When/if studios see that people like good movies, not just blockbuster-style movies, and spend money on them, it is a good thing.

Call me cynical, but I suspect the effect of the fims' success among studio execs will be that lots of Dungeons & Dragons and Hercules: The Legendary Journeys style movies will get made in the next few years. I don't see why the LotR movies would make their point about audiences and good movies any better than Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, or Alien did.

"[...]It gives a whole new dynamic and I can assure you that the DVD version of Return of the King will be longer than 4 hours and 50 min." -- Note that this was translated into Danish by the newspaper and then back to English by us.

Heh. They forgot "This was translated from Viggoese to English into Danish..."

Call me cynical, but I suspect the effect of the fims' success among studio execs will be that lots of Dungeons & Dragons and Hercules: The Legendary Journeys style movies will get made in the next few years. I don't see why the LotR movies would make their point about audiences and good movies any better than Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, or Alien did.

Party pooper.