(Vermis @ Nov. 25 2006,17:10)
QUOTE
I share a lot of your views, but not your choice of 'babe'. ?To me, she's the personification of what went wrong with the movies, thanks to her appearance in the first.
I liked her in Team America: World Police, though.
I thought it was time i waded in on this lotr bashing - sorry, debate 
To be honest, I've never read the books - I've been put of by a friend who, inspite telling me they're great, follows this by saying around 2/3 of the books are description of the characters travelling, stopping soewhere to camp, then travelling again, then stopping somewhere to camp... etc.
I went to see Fellowship on the back of a huge amount of expectation, and some high critical praise.
I was blown away. The moment at which I knew these films are on an equal cultural footing with the original Star Wars trilogy was Gandalf's confrontation with the Balrog.
For the next two years I waited with baited breath for the sequels, and loved every moment of them.
A recent article on the trilogoy in a renowned film magazine I read said the greatest acheivement of the films was that, in our supposedly 'cynical' times, the public by and large accepted without question the world so lovingly and lavishly created by the film makers. I was totally swept up by them, and for the three successive Christmases the films were released I was taken to Middle Earth, like so many other people.
When people criticise them for steering away from the books, bear in mind that film franchises based upon popular books which DO stick to the source slavishly usually lack the dramatic or emotional impact the books may be noted for (I'm thinking directly of Harry Potter here - loved the books (even if the lastest is dragging the school-year structure too far), but have been boreed to tears by the films). In that respect, if I ever do read Tolkein's books (having only read the Hobbit), I will do my best to regard them in a different light to the films.
And Smaug, and the Battle of Five Armies, and .... 
