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RotK again
A slightly more coherent review also called: Moments I Teared Up in, since that made up most of the movie.
ETA: It was also great that the audience was fun -- lots of clapping and cheering (Eowyn and the Witch-King, Sam knocking out Gollum, many other things I can't remember).
Definitely the best of the three. It had me on the edge of my chair for pretty much the entire thing, starting from the Smeagol flashback, which started idyllic and turned truly frightening. Then (thankfully) a nice light scene with Merry and Pippin at Isengard, which just makes me sadder now knowing what happens later.
Pippin was awesome.
I think I started tearing up around the first Frodo/Sam scene, where Sam is trying to save enough food for the journey back, and you can see the look in Frodo's eyes. He knows he's not making it back. In fact, almost all the Frodo/Sam scenes made me tear up, especially when Frodo decides to leave Sam (although I sort of wish Sam went after him even before discovering Gollum's trick). Speaking of Frodo/Sam, very slashy. I really almost starting bawling when Sam finds Frodo in Shelob's clutches and tells him not to go anywhere he can't follow. *sniffs* And I'm glad PJ decided to move Shelob to the third movie, or this movie would have been a lot of walking around in Mordor, which is probably really not the best way to escalate the tension.
Pippin also broke my heart when he had to leave Merry -- he's so innocent, he can't see what's happening (I teared up here too). I'm kind of sad they cut out the scene in the preview, when Merry tells him they'll meet in the Shire again. But oh, the look on his face when he wants to know when he'll see Merry again, and Merry can't answer. I loved him very much when he decided to tell Denethor about Boromir, and I hated that he learned how to kill orcs. Then I teared up when Gandalf was telling him about death.
Denethor I feel was a little underused. But the scene between him and Faramir was almost too painful to watch, especially his final reply to Faramir as Faramir goes to almost certain death. And then Pippin sang and the tears started again.
Aragorn's journey wasn't quite as compelling -- I kept having this thought in my head that instead of the Passing of the Grey Company, it was the Passing of the Flourescent Green Company. Tee. The dead weren't very scary. But I loved that little throwaway shot with Aragorn in the foreground and the dead storming an oliphaunt.
The Rohirrim are awesome. Theoden also gives a better war speech than Aragorn.
And Eowyn finally gets her moment ^_^. You can almost see her start to despair again when Aragorn leaves and convinces her he doesn't and never will love her, and you can see just how ironic she thinks it is when Theoden is talking to her, wanting her to smile and to laugh again when I think she's already decided to die in battle. I loved how PJ directed the battle with the Witch-King so that she looked scared out of her wits, but stood her ground anyway. And I'm glad Theoden died knowing it was her. They also cut out that awesome shot of Eomer grieving in the preview.
There were just some absolutely stunning visual sequences as well -- the shots of all the warning fires lighting (although I kind of wanted to see a long shot where you could see them starting at one edge of the screen and progress to the other), the shot of Gandalf riding to meet Faramir's retreating army and the light chasing away the Nazgul. BTW, the Nazgul freaked me out. The shot where the Witch-King flies out for the first time, with Gandalf and Pippin staring at the column of green light rising next to Mt. Doom. The shot of Minas Tirith. I found it painful watching the orcs lob rocks at the White City, which was so beautiful. The shot of the Nazgul swooping down on the city. The shot of the Rohirrim riding down the hill to meet the orcs.
I liked the colors of the film too, how Mordor was oppressively dark and looming, with giant rock structures weighing down everywhere. Minas Tirith was an almost painfully washed out white, all cold marble. With the whiteness of Minas Tirith and Gondor and the darkness of Mordor, it was a relief to the eyes to go back to the green fields of the Shire.
And oh, the ending. I'm so glad PJ cut out the Scouring of the Shire, because I don't think I could have borne it if Frodo and Sam had to return to a war-ravaged home, after all of the hobbits had had the picture of the Shire in their heads for so long. I loved Sam trying to get Frodo to remember it, and Frodo saying he couldn't feel or see or taste anything but the Ring. And then he can't go home even in the end, because he's gone through too much, and it was so painful how the four of them were sitting there in the tavern, not quite knowing what to do.
This is about all I can think of right now...
On another note: trivia night was very fun! I want to do it every week now or something. I also went out for pizza with the boy and other GSB people and socialized. I'm quite proud of myself. Of couse, this all happens on the day in which I just want to go home and take a nap so I won't be completely asleep at work after the movie....
ETA: It was also great that the audience was fun -- lots of clapping and cheering (Eowyn and the Witch-King, Sam knocking out Gollum, many other things I can't remember).
Definitely the best of the three. It had me on the edge of my chair for pretty much the entire thing, starting from the Smeagol flashback, which started idyllic and turned truly frightening. Then (thankfully) a nice light scene with Merry and Pippin at Isengard, which just makes me sadder now knowing what happens later.
Pippin was awesome.
I think I started tearing up around the first Frodo/Sam scene, where Sam is trying to save enough food for the journey back, and you can see the look in Frodo's eyes. He knows he's not making it back. In fact, almost all the Frodo/Sam scenes made me tear up, especially when Frodo decides to leave Sam (although I sort of wish Sam went after him even before discovering Gollum's trick). Speaking of Frodo/Sam, very slashy. I really almost starting bawling when Sam finds Frodo in Shelob's clutches and tells him not to go anywhere he can't follow. *sniffs* And I'm glad PJ decided to move Shelob to the third movie, or this movie would have been a lot of walking around in Mordor, which is probably really not the best way to escalate the tension.
Pippin also broke my heart when he had to leave Merry -- he's so innocent, he can't see what's happening (I teared up here too). I'm kind of sad they cut out the scene in the preview, when Merry tells him they'll meet in the Shire again. But oh, the look on his face when he wants to know when he'll see Merry again, and Merry can't answer. I loved him very much when he decided to tell Denethor about Boromir, and I hated that he learned how to kill orcs. Then I teared up when Gandalf was telling him about death.
Denethor I feel was a little underused. But the scene between him and Faramir was almost too painful to watch, especially his final reply to Faramir as Faramir goes to almost certain death. And then Pippin sang and the tears started again.
Aragorn's journey wasn't quite as compelling -- I kept having this thought in my head that instead of the Passing of the Grey Company, it was the Passing of the Flourescent Green Company. Tee. The dead weren't very scary. But I loved that little throwaway shot with Aragorn in the foreground and the dead storming an oliphaunt.
The Rohirrim are awesome. Theoden also gives a better war speech than Aragorn.
And Eowyn finally gets her moment ^_^. You can almost see her start to despair again when Aragorn leaves and convinces her he doesn't and never will love her, and you can see just how ironic she thinks it is when Theoden is talking to her, wanting her to smile and to laugh again when I think she's already decided to die in battle. I loved how PJ directed the battle with the Witch-King so that she looked scared out of her wits, but stood her ground anyway. And I'm glad Theoden died knowing it was her. They also cut out that awesome shot of Eomer grieving in the preview.
There were just some absolutely stunning visual sequences as well -- the shots of all the warning fires lighting (although I kind of wanted to see a long shot where you could see them starting at one edge of the screen and progress to the other), the shot of Gandalf riding to meet Faramir's retreating army and the light chasing away the Nazgul. BTW, the Nazgul freaked me out. The shot where the Witch-King flies out for the first time, with Gandalf and Pippin staring at the column of green light rising next to Mt. Doom. The shot of Minas Tirith. I found it painful watching the orcs lob rocks at the White City, which was so beautiful. The shot of the Nazgul swooping down on the city. The shot of the Rohirrim riding down the hill to meet the orcs.
I liked the colors of the film too, how Mordor was oppressively dark and looming, with giant rock structures weighing down everywhere. Minas Tirith was an almost painfully washed out white, all cold marble. With the whiteness of Minas Tirith and Gondor and the darkness of Mordor, it was a relief to the eyes to go back to the green fields of the Shire.
And oh, the ending. I'm so glad PJ cut out the Scouring of the Shire, because I don't think I could have borne it if Frodo and Sam had to return to a war-ravaged home, after all of the hobbits had had the picture of the Shire in their heads for so long. I loved Sam trying to get Frodo to remember it, and Frodo saying he couldn't feel or see or taste anything but the Ring. And then he can't go home even in the end, because he's gone through too much, and it was so painful how the four of them were sitting there in the tavern, not quite knowing what to do.
This is about all I can think of right now...
On another note: trivia night was very fun! I want to do it every week now or something. I also went out for pizza with the boy and other GSB people and socialized. I'm quite proud of myself. Of couse, this all happens on the day in which I just want to go home and take a nap so I won't be completely asleep at work after the movie....