In the supplemental material, I liked the third disk far better than the fourth.
The third disk guides the reader from the original word to the “Movie Idea” (pre-filming). The inescapable sense I got was how much fun everyone was having making this film. For conceptual design PJ brought in a couple of renowned Tolkien artists and mined them for all they were worth (pointing out designs for the base of Orthanc or the entry of Bag End and asking, “I’ve always wanted to know, what does the rest of it look like?”)
The forth disk is a let down. The actors did a great job in the film, but, as a semi Tolkien geek, I am not all that impressed with their vision of the film (or maybe it just removes the “realness” of the film). There are a few of the actors (most notably Sean Bean) who, I thought, gave good insightful dialogue on the conversion from the book and the whole Tolkien experience. Most of the group really didn’t add all that much. Liv Tyler made a great on-screen Arwen but I can barely stand her in the supplemental stuff. I haven’t yet got to the post-production phase, which may be worthwhile.
I am currently working my way through (and really liking) the PJ commentary. I doubt that I could stomach the cast commentary.
havent even watched all of the stuff but this is definitely one of the best dvd’s ever if not the best! certainly the best ive seen anyway.
highly recommended, esp. if you love tons of bonus features!
I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the EE dvds and watched a goodly chunk of the extras – most of which are well worthwhile… if you’re a fan/slightly obsessed.
Mrs. Apollyon complained that there wasn’t enough detail on the costuming… but then that’s her little obsession and she is currently making an elven dress for someone who will be wearing it to the NZ premiere of TTT.
One cool thing (from my POV); I know three people who worked on the film (making things at Weta) and all three of them appeared (if only briefly) in the extra material. (Technically one of them was in the film too – since he was an Orc armorer in Isengard – PJ used his Weta smith/armorers as Orc smiths, partially I understand for reality and partially for safety because the molten steel in the movie was quite real and they were really pounding ret hot metal on camera). That said, I don’t know which Orc he was so it was nice to see him (and the other two) working in the Weta workshop.
The only ‘sniping’ that went on between the two in the original cut was the bit at the council, “I would die before I see the ring the hands of an elf,” and all that. All the rest of the interaction between the two is only in the EE. And there’s a small boatload of snotty comments between them in the books that never made it into either cut of the film.
As far as a unified force: For the most part, yes. They didn’t all like each other (the only overt hostility is the two racial enemies we’ve been going on about) but they were all comitted to defending Frodo, and keeping the ring out of Sauron’s hands. The only scene in the EE that went beyond the books, that I recall offhand, is Aragorn telling Boromir he’d never take the ring within 100 miles of the White City.
(However, this does sum up most of the debating they do in the books, which isn’t in the film, but a bit more harshly.)
Okay, DVDs have been around for like, what, a year or so?
Don’t you think it’s just a little premature to talk about “the greatest DVD ever?” Maybe, I dunno, you might want to wait until the medium has actually established itself as fairly permanent? :rolleyes:
d&r
DVDs have been around for about 5 years now. They are also the fastest growing consumer electronics product in the history of the medium. I think that counts as having established themselves.
My opinion is that Criterion’s release of Brazil has a slight edge on LotR:EE. LotR:EE is a very close runner-up, though.
Babarain, maybe the OP should have said Best DVD package to date. CyperPundit does question if this will set the standard for future DVD releases. I say yes. I am sure that Speilberg is already getting prepared to come out with a similar package for his next overhyped, mediocre movie.
Sometimes too much is over kill. For instance, in the TTT DVD release I don’t know if I would be so intersted in seeing the forced perception and computer graphics as much. I have seen how it is done already.
I see you point though and it reminds me of movies that come out in January and have the quote “Best Movie of the Year”. Well big deal , it January 10th!
DVDs have been around a lot longer than a year but the popularity has increased due to the price decreasing. The studios can sped more time and money into packages such as this because they know the market is there to buy it. The bar has been raised. Now we have to wait to see what movie will warrant such DVD package like FOTR. Who knows, it might not be until TTT is released.
“I don’t know if I would be so intersted in seeing the forced perception and computer graphics as much”
That’s a good point but it’s a matter of degree. There will always be new problems with every film and it will be interesting how the film-makers tackle them even if it’s not quite as interesting as the first time round.
BTW did anyone else like the little editorial demonstration where they show footage with multiple cameras and showed how the editors choose the final cut ? I wish there were more features like that which really show you the nitty-gritty of filmmaking. In fact if they exploited the full powers of a PC there are amazing things they could do with interactive features where,for instance, you get to play at being editor. I hope that’s where DVD’s go next.
I thought it rather clever, m’self. As an actual feature (IOW, something you can do for the whole film, not just one specific scene) it’d only really be useful for shorts or 3 and 4 disc collector’s sets, though. Think of the storage space needed for an entire film, with 3 or 4 different shooting angles.
It’d at least give the “angle” button a purpose outside of porno.
Incidentally, check out the Independence Day collector’s edition. There’s a similar feature on the supplemental disk, using different audio tracks instead of camera angles. You can cue in just the music, just the voice track, or just the foley track. Also pretty neat.
She’s not the only one. I can’t sew a stitch and that was the first thing I complained about. I wanted a full-length documentary on the costumes too!
I guess I am an obsessed fan, because while I loved everything that was there, I thought it was all too short. I could do with another few discs with extras. I wanted many more commentary tracks, more on costumes, more on Tolkien, more on New Zealand locations, more on Middle-Earth locations, more on miniatures (and “Bigatures”), more Editorial Demonstrations (SEVERAL more), more on the artisans involved, more on the writing, casting, filming and editing process. More on the music. More on the release aftermath (it was all way too humble). I wanted to hear everybody’s thoughts on what they thought when they saw the finished film. I wanted the full-length Charlie Rose interview. I wanted to see the demo tape Jackson made and showed to New Line. I wanted to see the audition tape Elijah Wood made for Peter Jackson. I wanted to see the 20-minute preview that was shown at Cannes. More more MORE!
