24 Comments

I like Horizon actually. But that trailer at the end was a really bad idea.

Personally I think Fellowship could work without the prologue. It is good but like a lot of them it tends to demystify and reveal things long before the audience is supposed to learn them. At one point the idea was to apparently do flashbacks when Gandalf first tells Frodo the story of the Ring. Id be curious to see that version of the movie.

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Ran some TOR last weekend. Looking to put together a regular group for it…

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How do you like it compared to D&D?

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Well as an avid avoider of 5th Edition I thought it was great. But what really resonated is how much like LoTR/Hobbit it actually feels. It has some wonderful mechanics.

Full disclosure I had run a few sessions of the 1E version and found it a tad clunky. This one is much more streamlined.

It’s no Blades in the Dark (the penultimate RPG imho) but I liked it quite a lot. Trying to organize some more sessions for January. Drop in, drop out. Low commitment.

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Comfort movies - West Side Story original one, Karate Kid, Annie!

Kate Winslet role - the Mildred Pierce TV miniseries that also had Guy Pearce and Evan Rachel Wood!

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Karate Kid is on my list too! 😁

Speaking of Evan Rachel Wood: Should I rewatch She's All That?

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I never watched She's All That but I just looked up the cast list, wow it's stacked - I'm seeing Kieran Culkin, Usher, Freddie Prinze Jr., Anna Paquin, Milo Ventimiglia, and on and on. But no ERW! The leading lady though was Rachael Leigh Cook which understandably would easily be confused with the name Evan Rachel Wood :) Whatever happened to RLC huh?!

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😂 you're right, I mixed them up 🫠🫠🫠

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Here goes!

1) In your opinion, what’s the best sequence or scene in the Lord of the Rings trilogy?

– The death of Boromir. Such a profound scene of redemption and tragedy.

2) What’s your go-to comfort movie?

– Princess Mononoke. One of my favorite movies of all time. Even though it's both dark and sophisticated, it still comforts me. Makes me all warm and fuzzy inside just thinking about it.

3) Kevin Costner’s hat in Horizon is freaking dumb, right?

– Yes.

4) Do you have a favorite Kate Winslet role?

– Of course I do! Clementine Kruczynski in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

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I still haven't seen Princess Mononoke! 🫠 Do you find gamers are more likely to enjoy it?

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That has never even crossed my mind. It's just objectively a kick-ass movie regardless of your flavor of nerdery, you should pause everything else and SEE IT ALREADY!

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To be honest, in regards to Lord Of The Rings, I came in as a Peter Jackson fan, circa "Dead Alive". So at the beginning, I was like, "Okay, sure, I'm okay with this nerd crap." And as it went on, I remember being very, "Okay, now I'm feeling this." It was probably that final Fellowship battle, when Boromir faces down that one badass orc, when I was like, "Shoot, I'm gonna have to become a Lord of the Rings guy now, aren't I?" I couldn't NOT be impressed by that.

But then the dwarfs show up at Bilbo's place at the beginning of "The Hobbit" and start singing and I was like, "Oh yeah, this is why I hate this stuff."

Fromtheyardtothearthouse.substack.com

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Even for a self-styled nerd who loves fantasy stuff, the Hobbit movies are a travesty.

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I miss Peter Jackson :(

Fromtheyardtothearthouse.substack.com

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Agreed 100% on the prologue of LOTR. Never seen so much back story be put out there so well and quickly and I love films that "cold open" like that and then drop the film title 10 minutes in once you're already invested.

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Two more things: 1) I enjoyed Horizon and want to see the rest of it, but I agree the way the ending segues into a trailer for the next part is absurd. That certainly left me scratching my head when I saw it in the cinema earlier in the year. 2) Transformers One was a genuine surprise in that it wasn't a total piece of shit but actually enjoyable. Most of the audience were my age, which also surprised me.

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To actually respond to your questions properly:

1) Too many to choose from. The Black Riders at the Ford? The Mines of Moria? Helm's Deep? The Ents storming Isengard? Shelob's Lair? The Ride of the Rohirrim? Do not make me choose. I will not choose.

2) Too many to list.

3) I can't say that occurred to me whilst watching.

4) Heavenly Creatures.

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Ohh I kinda forgot about the Ride of the Rohirrim! Love that one.

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I love the prologue in this film. With brevity and style, it sets out Jackson's sweeping cinematic statement of intent, urgently grabbing the viewer and promising this is (at last) going to be the epic these characters deserve. As a lover of the novel I was won over immediately, and relaxed into Jackson's brilliant translation from one medium to another. A great novel became a great series of films (I agree, the first one is best).

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So well said!

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Great article! I have a lot of favorite comfort movies, but I’d say my top two are Big Trouble in Little China and Young Frankenstein.

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Big Trouble is so quotable!! Great pic. 🤓

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It is!!!

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"Animation has always been the franchise’s true home;" Absolutely!

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