Rating: 
Summary: cousinpaco's top action: #9
Review: I'm not a big fan of elves, wizards or dragons. So why is this movie in my top action list? Because of the last fifteen minutes.The climactic battle-royal with the Uber-Orcs is a gut-wrenching melee of blades and arrows. Sean Bean portrays a righteous juggernaut, fighting on even with three monster shafts in his chest. And wait until you see what Viggo Mortensen does to the final opponent... About halfway through the film, you see what Viggo is willing unleash upon Sean in order to protect the ring during their journey. That moment sums up the warrior-code ethic of this fine action movie.
Rating:
Summary: Lord of the Rings put Harry Potter to shame
Review: I'm not going to get to into it. Just give it a chance.
It's easily one of the best movies I've ever seen.
A great story, shown really well in the film. It has
some really good action scenes. Great special effects.
I've already seen it 4 times, and I wouldn't mind seeing
it again. If your bored one night or have nothing else to
do give it a chance. You'll probably like it. If your reading
this your atleast somewhat intrested.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant .Amazing
Review: I'm not gonna spend too much time on this because everybody has already pointed out every amazing aspect of this film If you've read the books, you'll love it. If you haven't, you'll still love it. Simply amazing. i recommend getting both versions.
Rating:
Summary: Absolute 5 stars! It doesn't get any better!
Review: I'm not kidding on this. Those who bought the theatrical release edition of "Lord of the Rings" will be sorry once they check out this absolutely amazing extended edition. "The Fellowship of the Ring" is not only one of the greatest fantasy films ever made. It's one of the greatest films ever made PERIOD! After having read the book so many times, after watching the movie so many times, this edition is just the thing I need to keep myself busy while waiting for the release of parts 2 and 3. The first two discs contain the whole movie, with an extra 35 minutes that includes, among other things, an extended introduction narrated by Bilbo Baggins. The picture and sound quality had never been so perfect, but even more amazing are the special features, contained in the other two discs. More than 3 hours of documentaries explaining each and every step of the making of the film, as well as the works of that genius J.R.R. Tolkien. Of the four diferent audio commentaries the one I enjoyed the most was the one with the cast members (although I admit that the one with Peter Jackson has much more information about the film). By the way, what about Viggo Mortensen (Aragorn)? Why wasn't he on that commentary track? Anyway, I'm really excited about this edition and I think any fan of the movie (or the book for that matter) should be too. It's just perfect in every sense. Don't hesitate another moment. Maybe with this we can forget the fact that we are still 2 years away from having the whole trilogy in our hands!
Rating:
Summary: GET THIS DVD!
Review: I'm not kidding. Get this DVD. Anyone who has every loved fantasy and everything mythical will LOVE this movie.
I admit there are drawn out parts in the movie, but the cast and action more than make up for it. You will be cheering by the end and wanting more. (November couldn't come fast enough)
Rating:
Summary: Would give it a 10
Review: I'm not one to read narrative prose, and although I have a friend who is an avid fan of the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings trilogy, I could never get into them myself. When the movie came out I was not certain I wanted to see it, but the trailers were so enchanting I couldn't resist it. This seems to have been a fantasy film year for me-Planet of the Apes, Harry Potter, Star Wars, Spiderman, Lord of the Rings! I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. The story hung together extremely well. There were no points where I stopped to ask myself, "Is this credible? Would he/she do this? Is this a logical outcome of that?" The bad guys were well and truly bad and the good guys well and truly good. Furthermore, the actors chosen for each part were outstanding. I couldn't imagine anyone else playing either of the two wizards than McClellan and Lee; each was given the right character to do and each did his part superbly. Frodo Baggins spent a little too much time looking wide eyed and misty, but his eyes are so beautiful, I decided I didn't care! I did find the use of the CGI characters a little repetitious. Since Summers' The Mummy first brought creepy crawlies out in force through CGI everyone seems to use the same types of renderings and mannerisms. It's time for something a little new in that direction, I think! The settings were enchanting and fun. I had seen a short preview of the film on TV which had discussed the Hobbit Shire and was impressed with the care that had gone into selecting its site and design. It was, indeed, delightfully fanciful. I was especially enamored, too, with the lands of the two groups of elves. Their architecture, costume, and personal grace were arresting. When Bilbo Baggins chose to live among them to write his book, I thought I could see retiring there to a life of contemplation and reading myself! The film was an absolute visual delight. When the CD came out I wasn't sure if it would take to a smaller venue-although my TV is 52"- but I needn't have been worried. It transfers to the small screen without difficulty. There are points when the dialogue seems a little forced, possibly because the smaller screen makes the human figures stand out more importantly from their background. It might also be due to the fact that it was my second viewing of the film, so I already knew what was going to be said, anticipation making it seem more forced. All in all the film is a masterpiece. I can hardly wait until the next chapter comes out this winter.
Rating:
Summary: best movie ever
Review: I'm not really into sci-fi/fantasy, but I've read all the LOTR books and I've seen the first two movies. I have nothing but praise for the first movie in the triology. It's got everything: excitement, adventure, romance, danger. Great movie.
Rating:
Summary: I'm a Sucker for Extra Footage
Review: I'm not sure exactly what I expected from the extended edition of FoTR, but I'm
fairly sure whatever my expectations were, they were certainly exceeded. Even
in the introduction there were extra clips (of Isildur putting the ring on when
attacked by Orcs)...in fact, even the placement of the movie title was changed. The movie actually opens with Bilbo writing his book, and then loads of extra
footage from the Shire. It continues on to the part where Frodo meets Gandalf,
but the dialogue is slightly different! Bilbo is actually narrating a lot of it
(evidently from his book), and the changes are brilliant! I didn't even realize
how many loose ends and abrupt scene changes there were in the original FoTR
until I saw how they were improved. A sampling of a few additions include an extended tavern scene with the hobbits;
woodelves on the trip to Bree; hobbits and Strider (Aragorn) making their way
through Midge Swamp and a lot more. A lot of the additions were very minor and
hardly noticeable - but they improved the flow of the movie as a whole; things
like an extra second of video here, or a couple extra words there pull
everything together in a great way. The major additions would be in the land of Lothlorien. There was a lot of extra
footage from the point when the fellowship leaves Moria until they get on the
River. Not only do you get to see Galadriel giving the fellowship gifts
(although Sam's box of soil seems to have been skipped...), but you also get to
see Aragorn arguing with Haldir on a Flet, and you get to hear a lot more
dialogue (which closes a lot of loose-ends). After Lothlorien, you get to see Gollum swimming with his log on the river and
you get to see Aragorn and Borimir angrily discussing the ring and the path
they'll take (ultimately, if you had any doubts concerning Borimir's motives,
they'll be extinguished here). There were also a few more snippets of fighting
in the end with Borimir's death. The additions to the movie that Jackson made were great, this release will
probably make a few "Tolkien purists" reconsider the movie and possibly enjoy it
a little more. A few of the detractions I had about the theatrical version were
pretty much taken care of (In the original, the gifts from Galadriel and the
relationship between Gimli and the elves were sort of missing). The actor interviews, which actually weren't all that enlightening still made
the boxed set fun and interesting. All of the DVD extras are amazing - I now
know more about the movies than I ever thought possible...I can probably
describe in great detail how most of the special effects in the movie were
created. This boxed set is worth the few extra dollars...even without all the DVD extras,
the changes in the film itself make it a worthwhile purchase.
Rating: 
Summary: And the award for Hype Over Substance goes to. . .
Review: I'm not sure what the actual running time of the extended edition is. It felt like about eight hours, and it took a conscious effort of will to sit through it for the duration. I never saw the theatrical release, but it couldn't have been much better, even if it were shortened by an hour or more: this is a very ponderous, overblown, over-hyped movie, full of gimmick but bereft of substance. If there were an Academy Award for Most Ham-Handed, Self-Important Direction, Peter Jackson would have won, ham-hands down. Jackson's direction has all the subtle nuance of a jackboot to the groin; in every scene we sense him just off camera shouting "Look at me! I'm directing a REALLY IMPORTANT EPIC MOVIE!" But the final effect of his over-strained, over-reaching effort to make everything extra-big, extra-important and extra-colossal is merely to make a potentially good movie into a dead weight, lacking any importance or even anything of interest. The script is sketchy at best, devoid of anything resembling character development or cohesiveness, and providing none of the depth of the original Tolkein books. The actors stumble through each scene as if walking to death row, delivering somnolent, wooden performances, and looking as if they'd rather be somewhere else. Not one character comes through as likable, or interesting, or even vaguely worth caring about. Two hours into this "epic" I started wishing they'd just give the ring back to Gollum and all go home, so I could move on to something interesting. The background score, courtesy of Howard Shore, is as self-important and heavy-handed and tedious as the direction, and at times it puffs up and swells to the point of treading on the lines being spoken. (Fortunately, this doesn't make much difference insofar as exposition, and it won't affect your ability to follow the story; just go with the flow into the Next Big Scene with the assurance that you haven't missed anything important.) What this movie does have plenty of is Special Effects, and that seems to be what audiences want these days. It's a sad fact of modern day movie-making, but it had to happen someday: the computer is more important here than the script, the actors, the story, or the director. It's made very clear throughout, in every scene, in every frame, that whiz-bang super-duper eye-popping effects were on everybody's mind, and no doubt lots of geek hours and tons of techno bucks went into the production to make it all look just so. The only problem is, it ends up looking just so-so: the effects and the swooping camera shots are used, overused and abused so much that there's really nothing all that impressive about it; there was nothing in this movie that wasn't done better fifteen years ago in Willow, where the effects were perhaps less sophisticated, but were more judiciously applied and better integrated into a much better movie. In fact, if you're looking for a good fantasy adventure to add to your collection, just pick up a copy of Willow. The Fellowship Of The Ring may be almost obligatory to watch once, given all its hype and the marketing mega-blitz that accompanied it, but it isn't a movie to watch again and again, so save some money by just renting it. With the money you save, you can buy Willow and get excellent performances, deft direction, a good score, and plenty of passion, humor, and excitement. And it even has a village full of little people, lots of sorcery and magic, and a terrific battle between good and evil, all in a movie that's worth watching more than once. Oh, and as for the dozen (or forty, or whatever it is) hours of "extras" and "special features" that accompany the movie: I didn't watch them. I'll concede that it's possible that many hours of self-congratulatory documentary about "How We Made This Movie & Ain't It Impressive" could, maybe, perhaps, be more interesting than the movie itself. But I'm not willing to invest the time to find out. All that extra stuff just looks like a self-conscious effort by New Line Cinema to cover up for the feature's lack of substance. Maybe if they'd put all that time and money and effort into the feature film, instead of the "Look What We Did!" extras, they'd have made a good movie. Maybe.
Rating:
Summary: I'm still trembling...!!
Review: I'm out of words!! This is simply the best adventure / fantasy / action movie I've ever watched. Yes, I've read the books. Yes, I know the producers / director / screenwriters changed a lot of stuff, some you can understand or reason why they did it, some you have not the slightest idea why they were changed. But that's always the same in translating books to screen... But, in this case, we clearly sense that every frame was shot thinking it was THE BETTER THING TO DO; it is clear they could not avoid cutting some stuff, because, after all, the trilogy is a product that must generate profits, and you could not possibly make a movie more than 3 hours long (a movie that does not end!). If TOm Bombadil sequence were put on it, for example, many viewers could possibly think the movie is "slow" or something like that. I think they did the best handling the artistic / commercial interests, without one damaging the other. The introductory sequence tries brief to explain to Ring history, and it was a good idea.
The cast is marvellous. The special effects are marvellous. I think that those who not read the book can sense the slow transition for the hobbits, from an idihlic existence in the SHire to a quest that raises and raises in desperation and urgency from second to second!! Viggo Mortensen no doubt had the role of his life, and he grabbed it with both hands, making Aragorn the perfect hero, the perfect warrior. All the cast is marvellous, simply put. They really put life into the characters. Well, I'll stop here. I'll only say that at some points along the movie I felt tears coming to my eyes, and I must make it clear that this not happens very often..
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