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: : : "The Princess Bride"

: : Too whimsical. William Goldman did a great job with this (also
: : the book) and a nice but silly "Who really wrote the book"
: : audience spoof (if you want to know I will tell you). But
: : overall, I would rather LOTR not end up like this. The
: : characters were well-constructed, but built to be silly. LOTR
: : will not float in this format.

: But why can't fantasy be whimsical? And Tolkien was whimsical. I wouldn't mind if Jackson gets a little whimsical.

No, a little whimsy would be great. But a lot will ruin it. Can you imagine Gimli saying to the balrog: "Ello. My name is Gimli son of Gloin. You kills Balin. Prepare to die."

: : : "Dragonheart" (YES! "Dragonheart!", despite the bad acting
: : : from the ugly king)

: : This was a fun film, but that's the best I can say about it.
: : CG of the dragon was ok, but not spectacular, the characters
: : couldn't decide between silly or serious, and the overall
: : effect left me wanting. I wouldl take almost any format other
: : than this one for LOTR.

: This movie will be a classic purely because of the interplay between Sean Connery and Dennis Quaid. In fact, Quaid alone almost makes up for the scenes where the secondary actors do their best to butcher the movie. But when Quaid and Connery are going at it, I can forget all the bad stuff. The movie could have been better, but Quaid and Connery were at their best for these type of characterizations.

Granted, in review of the Quaid/Connery moments, this was a great movie. Everything else should have been left on the cutting room floor.

: : : Anything with the name "Star Wars" in the title

: : Except The Phantom Menace I will agree with that statement.

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: Robert Trebor (Salmoneus on Hercules and Xena) characterized the movie as a two-hour pod race. I can't disagree with him, but I think it was a great two-hour pod race. Liam Neeson did a fantastic job as Qui-Gon Jinn. I could have done without the kid, but as he was central to the storyline, well,...

And therein lies the rub. The whole story is supposed to be focused on young Skywalker prior to his conversion to the darkside and his emmient overthrow of the evil Emperor. If we hate the boy already, how can we empathize with his plight later? Bad, bad, bad movie-making.

: : : Nothing else of high quality comes to mind. Unless you would
: : : allow some of the swashbucklers from the 40s and 50s.
: : : "Against All Flags" was a classic, and "Captain Blood", too,
: : : but then, I'm a BIG Errol Flynn fan.

: : All great films, which I enjoy emmencely but which I am not
: : certain the format would work for LOTR today.

: It's not the format, it's the feel. The pacing, the acting, the panache that impacts on the audience. These films would go over well in today's theaters, I'm sure. "The Wizard of Oz" did pretty good when it was rereleased a couple of years ago. That's because people love quality.

They go over well because (IMHO) they are re-released as the classics they are. But honestly, no one would sit through The Wizard of Oz if it were released for the first time today. It would be termed boring, poor f/x . . . etc. As a movie of it's time, sure, great, I like it, I own it, I watch it. But not as a modern story-film. It doesn't work for todays audience.

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: : ...Willow was nice, and perhaps hits the closest of any other
: : films, even the humor in it had serious undertones which would
: : translate well, but at times this movie suffered from the same
: : problems as Dragonheart.

: I felt "Willow" fell far short of its promise. Every time it approached high fantasy, it dropped down into dreary pseudo-medieval schlock (like the business with Madmartigen in the tavern). And the special effects with the brownies were horrible -- the lighting was almost always wrong for them.

: Good scenes from "Willow" usually involved Val Kilmer and Joanna Whalley, but overall it just didn't deliver on what it promised. Nelwyns are not hobbits.

All very true. Madmartigan was the best part of the entire movie. Without him no one would care about Elora Danon or any of the rest. Though I did enjoy the evil general Kel and the final fight scene between Madmartigan and Kel. But what was up with the Lenny and Squiggy wannabe brownies?

The book (as often as not) was somuch more fun.