LotR: The Two Towers

Rob Babcock · « **on:** 15 Jan 2003, 04:44 am »

Just got back from seeing the new LotR movie; really awesome! It's gonna feel like a long wait til the 3rd film!

Hopefully we won't have too awful long to wait for it on DVD. Of course, they'll prob do the standard and delux editions again. And I'll probably end up getting both again.

calsaint · « **Reply #1 on:** 15 Jan 2003, 03:36 pm »

I really enjoyed the first one far more. This one bored me ... maybe a "frame of mind" thing, but maybe not. Every time they cut to Treebeard I had to pinch myself to stay awake, and Aragorn going over the cliff only served to elicit a "yeah, sure he's dead". Smeagel (sp?) was darn interesting though.

JoshK · « **Reply #2 on:** 15 Jan 2003, 05:23 pm »

Interestingly my whole family and my sister's family to be (in laws) all went to see it and we all agreed that the second was FAR more entertaining than the first. Everyone thought the first was boring.

Night Wolf · « **Reply #3 on:** 15 Jan 2003, 08:29 pm »

never saw the 2nd yet, but we rented the 1st one on DVD (amazing how nice my realitivly cheap HT system can do!) anyway, it was pretty good, I didn't get the end, as they never accomplished what they were trying to do

that is until 3 days later I found out it was a trilagy, and that was only the first part of 3, lol
because I am like, why did the guy go over the waterfall and kill himself? he wizard guy fell in that pit (although I heard he comes back in the 2nd) and the fighters said they were going to fight to their death, so it was just the main guy (forgot his name) and his friend that almost drown himself by running after the main guy, and it was just them 2 left.

ending was real confusing, but maybe once I watch part 2, I will understand it more

Rob Babcock · « **Reply #4 on:** 15 Jan 2003, 09:12 pm »

I got real tired of Smeagle/Golem real fast. I thought the Ent thing was sorta cool, but I have to admit I played a lot of AD&D as a kid.

To me, the assault on Helmsdeep was the coolest medieavel/fantasy battle ever done a movie.

For me it's a tough call as to which was better. I missed Liv Tyler & Kate Blancett, who got practically no face time in TT. And Bilbo was so well played in LotR that I really missed him in TT. All in all, though, despite some heavy handed attempts at suspense, I thought it was superb.

Incidentally, even though I'm a big fan of fantasy literature, I've never actually read any Tolkien, so aside from what I've seen I dont' know anything about the story. I also don't know from the books which characters will live thru the last movie!

JoshK · « **Reply #5 on:** 15 Jan 2003, 09:23 pm »

I am in the same camp Rob. That was a bitchin fight scene at helmsdeep. Really freaking cool. My wife was freaked out by the bad guys.

Woodsea · « **Reply #6 on:** 15 Jan 2003, 11:02 pm »

I thought it was as good if not better than FOTR. Helmsdeep will be even better on the extended version of the DVD, because it will be uncut. The scene shows gimli choppin' heads off!!

shaynet · « **Reply #7 on:** 18 Jan 2003, 04:17 pm »

I personally can't wait for the extended Director's cut. The extended Fellowship DVD was much more coherent.

Having said that, I really enjoyed the theater release of Two Towers. There were a couple of pieces that I wondered about (Aragorn off the cliff, for instance), but overall I loved it.

My wife, not a fan, in general, of this genre of movie loved it. In fact, she asked me to dig out my copies of the trilogy so that she could read them.

Lex · « **Reply #8 on:** 19 Jan 2003, 02:14 am »

I saw it this week finally, but at home. lol.

Seriously, I saw the DVD here, a legitimate DVD. How, might you ask? Well, let's just say I have contacts. Contacts that I would never reveal.

This DVD is intended for Acadamy Awards reviews. They do the DVD early, so that the awards people can view it. In fact, it even had key scenes highlighted with the text in the lower part of screen, "For your consideration". That was a little annoying at times, but I feel lucky to have seen the DVD, a rare chance for a glimpse inside Hollywood.

I found myself paying closer attention when that notice popped up, as if I was reviewing the film. Sort of kewl!

I'd like to be able to say, yeah, the soundtrack was awesome. But unfortunately, it was late at night when I viewed it, and my daughter was sleeping. So, I wasn't really able to play the audio for it's full value at anywhere close to reference levels. It was a DD soundtrack, not DTS.

But all in all, very cool to see it first at home!

I had to ship it back the next day. sigh.

Lex

nathanm · « **Reply #9 on:** 19 Jan 2003, 08:23 am »

There's two reasons why this otherwise overwhelmingly excellent movie(s) aren't as good as they could be; the first is the screenplay itself and the second is the movie system itself which dictates that a movie cannot be over X amount of time long. I almost feel like skipping TROTK entirely and just waiting for the extended DVD to come out. Why go see something now that you already know is going to be improved later on? Feh! Of course this series is an exception because Tolkien's world is so vast that I cannot imagine it ever being TOO long. The problem is that there's so much that's NOT on the screen that the viewer knows about and wants to see, which is much different than a movie written to be a movie from the get go.

nathanm · « **Reply #10 on:** 19 Jan 2003, 08:30 am »

and another thing; wouldn't it have been way super duper cooler if they would've followed the book and made Shelob's Lair the climax of the film instead of the overblown Helm's Deep battle? What a fantastic cliffhanger ending! The Choices Of Master Samwise...here Jackson would be able to make the audience think a character is dead (something he's really got a thing for, obviously) and still be book-accurate!

I can't hardly wait to see how Legolas, Gimli, Merry and Sam get to do their "phony death" scenes in ROTK...

bubba966 · « **Reply #11 on:** 21 Jan 2003, 05:52 am »

Here's a question for you all. In the Helms Deep fight when they blow the wall, did the subs bottom out in the theater you watched it in? And if it didn't do you know for sure that it was running in digital? And I don't mean if it SAID it was running in DD/DTS/SDDS, but were you able to tell that it was runing in digital? The first time I saw it the subs bottomed out while it was running in DTS. But the second time I saw it the digital crapped out a bit before that scene and didn't kick back in until afterwards. So it didn't bottom the subs out while it was running in analog, even though the analog system was fairly well calibrated.

I thought FOTR had some serious low end to it. But TT blew right by the LFE on FOTR. Makes me wonder what I'll be shaking loose at my place when I get a hold of the TT DVD?...

One friend of mine knows a few people in the business. One friend of his is in NZ right now working on the Two Towers DVD. And a few nights ago Peter Jackson invited him to his place for a showing of ROTK in his private screening room.

Ahhh, to be paid for such things. If only I had a job like that...

The reason the LOTR movies aren't over 3 hours long has to do with the fact that you can't get much over 3 hours worth of film on the platter. The platter for the projectors just aren't big enough.

So when Gods & Generals gets released shortly, they're going to have to have an intermission. It's 5 1/2 hours long, which certainly won't fit on a single platter!

Rob Babcock · « **Reply #12 on:** 21 Jan 2003, 11:42 am »

When it hits DVD, my subs won't bottom out, I can tell you that much!

bubba966 · « **Reply #13 on:** 23 Jan 2003, 08:10 pm »

My subs won't be crapping out either. It'll sure be fun trying to get them to though...

Brandon B · « **Reply #14 on:** 25 Jan 2003, 06:57 am »

Quote from: bubba966

Here's a question for you all. In the Helms Deep fight when they blow the wall, did the subs bottom out in the theater you watched it in? And if it didn't do you know for sure that it was running in digital? And I don't mean if it SAID it was running in DD/DTS/SDDS, but were you able to tell that it was runing in digital? The first time I saw it the subs bottomed out while it was running in DTS. But the second time I saw it the digital crapped out a bit before that scene and didn't kick back in until afterwards. So it didn't bottom the subs out while it was running in analog, even though the analog system was fairly well calibrated.

Saw it in Westwood Village at a theater with an absolute top notch sound system. Did not bottom out. I don't think you can bottom that place's system out. And it was absolutely running DD.

Now at the local mall, it was shite.

Lex, I get to borrow a similar item soon.

BB

bundee1 · « **Reply #15 on:** 24 Feb 2003, 06:52 am »

I walked into a store in the east village looking for a Baby Huey cd when I thought I recognized scenes from the Two Towers playing on a small monitor with those captions that read for your attention or something like that. I picked my jaw off the floor and asked how did he get that. I asked them how much for a copy (full dd 5.1). The guy told me to come back later because the bootlegger hadnt delivered the discs yet. I came back a week later and the guy had flaked out and never delivered. I try not to support bootleggers on things I like, but I had to have this disc. I would still buy the official release but didnt want to wait that long. I have 2 bootlegs of SWEP1 on video, plus 1 legit vhs and 1 dvd.