TV/Movies Megathread

[Valmy]

You really, really wanted to sit for 5h30 straight without moving to watch a movie?

That movie? Yes

[viper37]

I like the Jackson movies.  Much better than the original books filled with singing.  If you guys wanted heroes singing all along their way to battle, you should watch the Lion King and the Snow Queen or whatever it's called, it will be better for your tastes

I hate singing in movies.  This is Hindi stuff.  No cultural appropriation, please. 

[viper37]

You really, really wanted to sit for 5h30 straight without moving to watch a movie?

That movie? Yes

I liked it, but geez, I could never do that.  Have to drink, go to the bathroom at some point.

Extended blu-rays are perfect for me.  Same goes for the Hobbit trilogy.  Only one part was really messed up, when the dwarf prince goes from Darth Vader to Anakin Skywalker in 30 seconds.

[fromtia]

What about the cheesy deal where Merry and Pippin have to trick the Ents into attacking Saruman?

I mean don't get me wrong, I loved that trilogy but yeah Jackson's attempts to improvise new stuff was a little rough...and obviously that was a warning of things to come in The Hobbit.

Indeed. The Hobbit movies were pretty terrible. I liked Beorn the bearman sequence and some lovely bits but overall really ropey.

[celedhring]

What about the cheesy deal where Merry and Pippin have to trick the Ents into attacking Saruman?

I mean don't get me wrong, I loved that trilogy but yeah Jackson's attempts to improvise new stuff was a little rough...and obviously that was a warning of things to come in The Hobbit.

Do they really "trick" them? They just make it so they see the devastation Saruman has caused in order to spur them into action. I thank that was an allright change. I was more annoyed by all the "look this character seems to have died - no he actually survived!" scenes. And the Gimli slapstick. And the CGI ghosts. And...

(Don't get me wrong, I love the adaptation)

[fromtia]

"look this character seems to have died - no he actually survived!"

yeah, like that wizard.

kidding, kidding. 

[Valmy]

What about the cheesy deal where Merry and Pippin have to trick the Ents into attacking Saruman?

I mean don't get me wrong, I loved that trilogy but yeah Jackson's attempts to improvise new stuff was a little rough...and obviously that was a warning of things to come in The Hobbit.

Do they really "trick" them? They just make it so they see the devastation Saruman has caused in order to spur them into action. I thank that was an allright change. I was more annoyed by all the "look this character seems to have died - no he actually survived!" scenes. And the Gimli slapstick. And the CGI ghosts. And...

(Don't get me wrong, I love the adaptation)

Well you might have been ok with it, but your other points are certainly in that vein: stuff Jackson added.

And yes I laughed at the very notion that you could make a good movie version of the LOTR trilogy and boy was I wrong. I was never more happy to be wrong.

[dps]

You really, really wanted to sit for 5h30 straight without moving to watch a movie?

That movie? Yes

Usually when a movie is that long, most theaters will put in a intermission or two.

[grumbler]

What about the cheesy deal where Merry and Pippin have to trick the Ents into attacking Saruman?

I mean don't get me wrong, I loved that trilogy but yeah Jackson's attempts to improvise new stuff was a little rough...and obviously that was a warning of things to come in The Hobbit.

Pretty much every time the movies deviated from the book, the change was a disaster.  The army of the dead making the whole charge of the Rohirrim and the death of Theoden completely pointless (the battle would have gone the same way of the whole nation of Rohan had just stayed in bed that morning), the silly walking around on piles of skulls, the even dumber Legolas slays the Oliphant thing (worst setup to a wisecrack ever), etc.

The LOTR movies could easily have accommodated all the good cut scenes by eliminating all the dumb added stuff.  The Hobbit movies could have been greatly improved by eliminating every scene without Smaug.

[Razgovory]

Looking forward the new Dune movie, too. Hopefully third is the charm. I happen to have a very fond spot for the Lynch effort though, which manages to be both great and terrible at the same time.

Never understood the love the love Dune gets.  I read the book and saw the film but wasn't impressed by either.

[dps]

Looking forward the new Dune movie, too. Hopefully third is the charm. I happen to have a very fond spot for the Lynch effort though, which manages to be both great and terrible at the same time.

Never understood the love the love Dune gets.  I read the book and saw the film but wasn't impressed by either.

FWIW, I think the book is over-rated.  It's good, but not as good as it's reputation IMO.

[Valmy]

IMO you are both wrong

Though I don't think the first book is necessarily the best in the series.

[Barrister]

Looking forward the new Dune movie, too. Hopefully third is the charm. I happen to have a very fond spot for the Lynch effort though, which manages to be both great and terrible at the same time.

Never understood the love the love Dune gets.  I read the book and saw the film but wasn't impressed by either.

I think it has to be viewed in part when compared to the era it came out - 1965.  That kind of far, far future setting, very alien human society was pretty novel back then.


And I've never heard that before V - I thought the first book was great then slowly declined, till it just kind of fell off a cliff.

[Admiral Yi]

What appealed to me about Dune when I first read it was the originality and completeness of the universe he had imagined.  I read it again maybe five years back and definitely didn't get the same rush.

Agree with Beeb about the exponential decline in quality of the series.  Cliff edge after #3 I'd say.

[fromtia]

I read Dune when I was pretty young, in my teens, and as Yi says loved it for the world building. I have not revisited it and I imagine it might be best not to. I read "Children" and "God DEmperor" which were not terribly good. All the recent stuff (from the last 25 years) seems awful.

I loved the "dune Encyclopedia" from the early eighties and I especially hated how the son of Herbert and his co author shit canned it and replaced it with their utterly dull trope heavy fleshing out of the history of Herberts universe. Bah!