TV/Movies Megathread

[viper37]

The same was true for the way he had Aragorn march on the Black Gates - essentially doing it because it was boneheaded and he was a bonehead.  In the books, Aragorn and Gandalf (and Elrond) had set it up so the Sauron was sure that Aragorn had The Ring.  That's why Sauron "emptied his lands" in the books - he thought he could grab The Ring if he sent enough orcs and trolls that not even The Ring could save Aragorn.

that's pretty much implied that they want the Eye of Sauron fixed on them.

It's outright stated that they want the Eye of Sauron fixed on them, but in the movies there's no reason for Sauron to fix on them at all.  They were less than 10,000 guys with no siege equipment on the outside of an impregnable gate. Without the ring, they are no threat at all. 

Exactly. Sauron knows they wouldn't attack him unless they have the ring. They are bluffing Sauron so Sam&Frodo can have time to destroy the ring.  Sauron believes anyone in posession of the ring will want it for himself and no one would even dare challenge him without the ring. How else could they have beaten his mighty army with a bunch of green slime without the power of the ring?

All is left for you to discover, which makes it a great movie.  Unlike some others where they feel the need to take you by the hand to bring you to their desired result.  Some things are better left to the imagination of the viewer.

And frankly, "magic induced fear" doesn't sound any better on screen than having the green slime kill all ennemies.  If anything, it looks better on screen that way.

[viper37]

I never did figure out why Jackson even filmed the silly "Frodo in Osgiliath" scenes, et alone why he left them in the movie when it was clear that not even he could figure out how Frodo could possibly have escaped the Nazgul he came face-to-face with (the film just cuts away and Frodo is next shown having escaped). [BTW, how cool is it that "Nazgul" is a word in the spell-check vocabulary?]

I do not recall such a shot from the extended edition...  Are you sure you're not confusing with the butchered theater version?

[jimmy olsen]

Cowboy Bebop trailer!

https://twitter.com/netflix/status/1441830573182525444?

[grumbler]

Exactly. Sauron knows they wouldn't attack him unless they have the ring. They are bluffing Sauron so Sam&Frodo can have time to destroy the ring.  Sauron believes anyone in posession of the ring will want it for himself and no one would even dare challenge him without the ring. How else could they have beaten his mighty army with a bunch of green slime without the power of the ring?

That's the way the book did it, not the way the movie did it.  In the movie, they marched on the back gate because Gimli said "Certain death?  Small chance of success?  What're we waiting for?"

All is left for you to discover, which makes it a great movie.  Unlike some others where they feel the need to take you by the hand to bring you to their desired result.  Some things are better left to the imagination of the viewer.

There is no evidence that Jackson ever understood why the Army of the West went to the Black Gate.  You know why, because I told you why.  There's nothing in the movie to "discover" about their motives, because their motives in the movie are dumb.

And frankly, "magic induced fear" doesn't sound any better on screen than having the green slime kill all ennemies.  If anything, it looks better on screen that way.

I have no idea what point you are trying to make.  When you read the books, you will discover that the Army of the Dead was never at the Battle of the Pellenor Fields.  Jackson changing it so that they were (and that they were unstoppable killing machines) simply made the rest of the battle utterly meaningless.  Every one of the "good guys" that died in the battle, in Jackson's version, died in vain.  The dead were going to kill all the Orcs and trolls and elephants and Easterlings no matter what else happened.  If the Rohirrim had just stayed home, they'd all be alive and the Orcs, etc would be just as dead.  If the soldiers and civilians in Minas Tirith had just all gone to the top level and shut all the gates, they'd all be alive and the Orcs, etc would be just as dead. Jackson's made-up creation made the whole second half of the movie moot.

In fact, Jackson's changes to the story make Aragorn into a fucking moron for not telling the Army of the Dead that they would be released from his service once they'd killed all of the orcs, Nazgul, and trolls in Mordor.  Frodo and Sam could just have strolled over to Mount Doom and done their thing.  Failure to do that was criminal negligence on Aragorn's part.

[grumbler]

I never did figure out why Jackson even filmed the silly "Frodo in Osgiliath" scenes, et alone why he left them in the movie when it was clear that not even he could figure out how Frodo could possibly have escaped the Nazgul he came face-to-face with (the film just cuts away and Frodo is next shown having escaped). [BTW, how cool is it that "Nazgul" is a word in the spell-check vocabulary?]

I do not recall such a shot from the extended edition...  Are you sure you're not confusing with the butchered theater version?

I'm quite sure.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_dMBDtEAog

Note that the Nazgul is RIGHT THERE.  He SEES THE RING.  And the he just FLIES AWAY.  It's a totally moronic scene, and is 100% from Jackson's script (obviously, JRRT never wrote that kind of unthinking crap).

[Eddie Teach]

They did state the attack on Mordor was a diversion, at least in the extended edition.

[Syt]

First look at Sandman: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBXqrBl6pEo&ab_channel=Netflix

Doesn't look too shabby, but it's kind of weird to see his eyes look normal.

[The Larch]

Oooh, Charles Dance!

[Josquius]

My excitement and confidence in live action cowboy bebop has just gone up a notch with the opening credits.

https://youtu.be/Yq2N-9EmedA

[Syt]

I don't know, looks like a 1:1 remake. I never understood the point of those.

[celedhring]

I love Cowboy Bebop, but it's the quintessential style over substance show (but what a style).

Is it really 1:1? Yeah, that would be pointless indeed.

[Berkut]

I never did figure out why Jackson even filmed the silly "Frodo in Osgiliath" scenes, et alone why he left them in the movie when it was clear that not even he could figure out how Frodo could possibly have escaped the Nazgul he came face-to-face with (the film just cuts away and Frodo is next shown having escaped). [BTW, how cool is it that "Nazgul" is a word in the spell-check vocabulary?]

I do not recall such a shot from the extended edition...  Are you sure you're not confusing with the butchered theater version?

I'm quite sure.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_dMBDtEAog

Note that the Nazgul is RIGHT THERE.  He SEES THE RING.  And the he just FLIES AWAY.  It's a totally moronic scene, and is 100% from Jackson's script (obviously, JRRT never wrote that kind of unthinking crap).

Faramir sticks an arrow in his mount. Prsumably there are other men around, and the Nazgul doesn't think it can kill them all and get the Ring?

I mean, he didn't "just" fly away.

[The Larch]

I don't know, looks like a 1:1 remake. I never understood the point of those.

Well, Faye seems to wear a much more realistic wardrobe, for starters.   

Is the kid hacker character in the show?

[grumbler]

They did state the attack on Mordor was a diversion, at least in the extended edition.

Sure.  But, when the logical question of why Sauron would even scratch the Army of the West fleabite was raised, Jackson's answer was "Oh, I think he will."  Had Aragorn said "because we will make him believe that we have The Ring," then the entire attack would make sense to the audience. 

The whole point of the attack on Mordor (in the books) was to convince Sauron that he knew where the Ring was, and make him think Aragorn, with the Ring, was way over-confident after winning at the Pellenor Fields and thus vulnerable to getting swamped outside the Black gates, Ring or not.

But Jackson didn't seem to know that because he didn't seem to have read the books.  In horror movies, the protagonists always do dumb things because reasons.

[grumbler]

Faramir sticks an arrow in his mount. Prsumably there are other men around, and the Nazgul doesn't think it can kill them all and get the Ring?

I mean, he didn't "just" fly away.

  The whole point of the Nazgul is that they are themselves ringbearers.  They can't even be hurt by normal men with normal weapons.  And the idea that the Nazgul would choose to save his mount from an ouchy rather than get the Ring is not plausible to me.  The main mission of the Nazgul all along has been to get the Ring for Sauron.

It was a dumb and unnecessary scene that just showed how little Jackson understood the books.