So I’m sitting there in the theatre last night waiting for Rush Hour 2 to start. The previews roll through and I see Nicholas Cage attempting an Italian accent and some sort of cops and robbers movie coming out in three and a half years.
Then the next preview pans across a lush green forest while the announcer talks about “The Ring that binds,”
“ooh! ooh!” I exclaim, poking my friend next to me.
“What?” she asks and I point up to the screen in excitement.
And then sixty seconds of elves and magic and dragons and Frodo and Gandalf and dwarves and swords and fighting and music and explosions that shake down castles and sorcery that lights the sky like a supernova and “my precious.” The Ring.
Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings, the screen triumphantly proclaims. Coming December 2001.
“Oh, we are so going to see that,” I tell her.
She looks up at me with pure innocence and wonder. “Is that a book?” she asks.
Well, if summer movie-going has taught me anything, don’t get hooked by the trailer. Saw a bunch of garbage this summer, mostly based on trailers. The up-side is that I have seen the LOTR trailer several times and will likely be the first in line to see LOTR and its sequals (which fortunately have good names…)
BTW, how was Rush Hour 2? The trailer looked great…
I have a copy of the preview. The actual film that they run through the projectors at the movie theatre. I’m hoping it might be worth something someday.
(Planet of the Apes preview is also on the reel, along with a couple previews for other movies that I don’t care about.)
Rush Hour 2 was about what I expected. I love Jackie Chan and don’t like Chris Tucker. Chan was amazing as always and Tucker was, well, Tucker. The plot made no sense whatsoever and was basically an excuse to let Tucker make jokes and Chan kick some ass.
FWIW, I’m not holding my breath…if you ever had the misfortune of seeing the Rankin-Bass production/travesty of “The Hobbit,” you already know how Hollywood can butcher Tolkien.
Me. Tight l’il elf outfits don’t do a thing for me.
Trust me on this.
As for the LOTR movie…I want it to be good. I hope that it’s good. Everything I’ve heard and seen looks good. But I’m still bracing myself for it to be crap, just in case. I remember the previews for Heinlein’s Puppet Masters, where they only showed sceens from the first 45 minutes and it looked great (and we all know what a disaster it turned out to be!)
And Poopah: even worse than the Rankin-Bass Hobbit was the Rankin-Bass “Return of the King”. Y’know the scene where Frodo and Sam are disguised and in the Orc army and the horror and misery of that scene? R-B took some of the phrases the Orc leader said and made them into a jolly marching song.
There’s also the bit where Frodo (or Sam) dreams about frolicing in the petunias with Orcs at a sort of love-in.
At least we know that the current film can’t be worse than that! (and like I said…all signs are promising, and Peter Jackson has actually read the books! That’s always a good sign.)
My husband & I went to see Rush Hour 2 on Thurs. and also saw the LOTR preview. He leaned over to me and said, “I must be a big nerd, 'cause I’ve got goosebumps.” about a minute later I leaned over and said, “Well then I must be too 'cause I’ve got them too.” I’d only seen the preview on the website , and it was so groovy seeing it on a big screen. I hope it’s good. We are SO there when it opens!
Where there’s a whip! There’s a way!
Where there’s a whip! There’s a way!
We don’t wanna go to war today,
But the lord of the lash says nay, nay, nay!
We’re gonna march all day, all day, all day!
Where there’s a whip, there’s a way!
Oh, and then there’s this lovely ditty:
When Bilbo found that magic ring
In Gollum’s cave of gloom,
He never thought that it would turn
Into a Ring of Doom…
The horror, the horror!
Anyway, I’m waiting with bated breath for LotR to come out. It’s not just based on the trailer – I’ve been following the development of the movie for about three years (yeah, I know, I’m a sad little geek; you don’t have to tell me ;)) and things are looking very good. (They’ve even cut Liv Tyler’s extra scenes. :p) I mean, I’ve read reports from people that wanted any excuse to tear it to bits, and after seeing some footage all they did was rave about it…
Saw the preview as well (and agree about Rush Hour 2: ineptly directed, badly ad-libbed, Chris Tucker is replaceable by any smart-mouthed actor, Jackie Chan amazing).
It looks excellent, but I may give the movie a miss.
See, I’ve read the books for decades. I lived the books for so long. I still remember reading to the end of LOTR, then going on into the appendices, right to the last page of the book, and I still didn’t want it to end.
And I was excited about the teaser trailers, but now that I’ve seen more, I’m beginning to see Peter Jackson’s vision of LOTR, and not my own, and I don’t think I want that happening, at least just yet.
I always thought Tom was one of the most interesting characters in the series and the one that I related to right away. The lack of explanation of exactly what or who he was makes him interesting. Also, the fact that the One Ring® doesn’t affect him adds to his mystique.
Well, I think I’ll go singing through the forest now. (someone catch phouka if she swoons)
Tom-diddly-om Bomba-ring-a-ding-a-dill-o didn’t do drugs, neighbor, it’s just that he’s busy with a role in a car-diddl-artoon show!
He’s been on the (hey dol, merry dol!) Simpsons since the fir-diddly-rst season under the name “Ned Flanders” (he had to shave his beard for the role, but…)
(and like I said…all signs are promising, and Peter Jackson has actually read the books! That’s always a good sign.)
