The Movies

[Christopher Button]

My wife hates...HATES...the fantasy genre. Science fiction as well. But three years ago she wanted to watch the LOTR series over three consecutive weekends because she wanted to make a connection to pop culture. They quickly became her favorite movies, and she was more giddy to watch The Two Towers and ROTK than I was. Plus she now sees the humor in me talking to her with a Gollum voice.

They really are an epic collection of movies, and the Best Picture to ROTK was a well-deserved lauding for the greatness of the entire series. Worth a watch even if you have no familiarity with the Tolkien books whatsoever.

I'm not the biggest fan you'll find, but I will say that the opening scene to Two Towers is one of the greatest introductions to any film, ever conceived. To this day, it remains immeasurably fucking cool.

[Matt Neilsen]

As a voracious reader, Lord of the Rings was the first movie that I watched and thought, "Holy shit, that was on par with the books". And that's saying something, because the books are some of my favorites, regardless of genre. The story is so deeply rooted in classic archetypes that it only gets better with age. If you haven't watched at least the initial trilogy (putting aside The Hobbit movies), then it would behoove you to set aside a couple of weekends. Tolkien's synthesis of fantasy, the Hero's Journey, archetypes, philosophy, religion, etc. is incredible, and the films capture that dynamic in a way that is rarely matched when transposing book-to-screen.

Stretching out your viewings over several nights/weekends or binge-watching them straight through are both acceptable and highly encouraged. On further reflection, one ought to use a Linear Progression their first time through to build a sufficient foundation. Once adequate maturity is attained then you'll be ready for the higher-volume marathon viewings reserved for the intermediate/advanced connoisseur. After all, one shouldn't pursue programming outside of one's current abilities.

[Christopher Anderson]

I'm waiting on my DVD. Where did you see it?

A friend of mine has Kodi and was able to get it to stream.

[Alex Ptacek]

Rip, have you seen A Ghost Story? I think it is the best movie of the year.

[Mark Rippetoe]

Ordered. Thanks.

[LimieJosh]

He also displays some very strong characteristics; I can buy that 60 year old Luke wouldn't be as optimistic as 20-25 year old Luke, and would be more jaded, but his essential character was discarded. This was a guy who was willing to sacrifice everything to try to redeem his father, the face of evil in the galaxy, a man who had personally killed thousands of people and ordered and supervised the deaths of millions or billions more, all because he still sensed some good and conflict within him. But then we're supposed to believe he would contemplate and then almost try to kill his nephew - the son of his best friend and his sister - because he sensed he might become evil, even though he hadn't done any of that suff yet?!? This is the main issue I have with LimieJosh's post - it has a grain of truth, and an older jaded Luke who knows he isn't strong enough to defeat Snoke/Kylo alone could have been an interesting story, and a good place to bring Rey in. Completely disregarding his essential character and Hero's Journey? That was dumb, and what many rightfully find unforgivable.

That's very well said, Wolf. We actually agree entirely, you just said it better than I did. It was not the decision they made about his character per se, but their failure to demonstrate how such a character arc is remotely believable. As it is, we just have to believe that Ben is so broken and dark that Luke, the guy who found goodness in Vadar, just woke and decided he should die. And if that is true, it makes a mockery of the supposed struggle Ben has been feeling for two films.

[Dave Joksimovic]

Finally saw the new version of IT this weekend... mixed emotions. I've always thought the original TV version was overrated minus Tim Curry, so I really wanted to like an "unrestrained" version. I feel like they really missed an opportunity to make it awesome.

While Tim Curry's Pennywise was a little more "cerebral" (probably because of the restraints of TV) Skarsgard's is a somewhat overly violent version that relies less on generating fear in the kids than he does just scaring the crap out of them by constantly trying to horrifically murder them.

Tim Curry definitely wins out if you watch the sewer/Georgie scene back to back...

[appleswag96]

I just watched "Hush" very good horror/thriller with a unique twist. Would highly recommend.

[Mark Rippetoe]

Amazon says they shipped 2049 today.

[slhuckstead]

Amazon says they shipped 2049 today.

How was it?