I saw it...

[Mike Holmes]

This might not be the appropriate site to comment on a movie. But having seen it I must say that I am truely inspired and feel the need to just say the following.

Go see it. Soon.

Mike

[Ian O'Rourke]

I can't wait either, I have feeling it may be a 1977 moment.

[hardcoremoose]

Just got back form seeing it.

People will argue about interpretation from now until eternity, but there are moments in this film that are so dead-on that they transcend the ability to critique them.

Of course, someone will prove me wrong...:smile:

And for the record, Gwaihir is sweet.

- Moose  

[Mike Holmes]

On 2001-12-19 16:31, hardcoremoose wrote:
People will argue about interpretation from now until eternity,

There's always one curmudgeon out there, but I'd think that this film might even cure the worst of em.

but there are moments in this film that are so dead-on that they transcend the ability to critique them.

Amen.

And for the record, Gwaihir is sweet.

There are so many sweet moments in this film that I can't believe it only took three hours to show them all. You can tell he had to cut to get it down to there. I'm hoping that there's a five hour directors version somewhere.

Only problem now... we have to wait a year for the next installment. Aaaarrrrrgh!

Mike

[hardcoremoose]

Yeah, waiting is going to suck.

And my understanding is that there will be a Director's Cut on DVD, which will give the fight scenes a little more edge.  Not that they weren't edgy as it was...I think a Director's Cut for the sake of adding more violence may hurt the overall tone of the film (however, I trust Peter Jackson implicitly, and will give him the benefit of the doubt).

One of the cool things about this film is that there is always something else to look forward to.  First it was appearance of The Nine, then it was the Introduction of Strider.  Then I foundd myself eagerly anticipating Gandalf's rescue (I really like Gwaihir), then the Balrog, and then Boromir's sacrifice...and then the movie was over.

Hey everyone...January 3rd is Tolkien's birthday.  It's also mine.  Everyone come up to Michigan and we'll go see the film together.  I'm serious.

- Moose

[Mike Holmes]

BTW, I got to see the movie on a super-sized screen with THX. There were vertiginous moments that had me really dizzy (might also have been the sleep deprivation of watching a film at 12:01 AM till three). I highly suggest such an experience if it can be had. I haven't gripped my armrest that hard in ages.

Cave troll, swooot!

Mike

[James V. West]

Un-fucking-believable.

I expected something good...but hell's bells...

That was incredible. I laughed, cried, and was totally immersed for three hours.

I reeled. I was stricken with some kind of religious experience.

wow.

James V West

P.S. I'm going again!

[Matt Snyder]

I agree with most everybody -- the movie was wondrous and beautiful. Everything fantasy should be.

Moose -- I'm with you man. The scene where Gwaihir saves Gandalf took my breath away. At that moment, I really felt as though fantasy came into it's own. Fantasy that everyone can appreciate had arrived. I loved it.

But, I have to say my favorite scene/sequence was the Balrog and the fellowship leaving Moria. I can't imagine how many times I've been on a dungeon adventure. Much of our bloody hobby is devoted to just those chapters. But this scene ... wow, it never hit me how much emotion is involved until I saw Frodo weeping and Boromir holding Gimli back from re-entering Moria, where his cousins lay dead.

I'd give up all my gaming for one session like that! What a great film.

[Ron Edwards]

Ah, gentlemen ...

I hate to do this, 'cause I saw it too. But really, it ain't Forge talk, now is it? That was a rhetorical question. It isn't.

So with great regret, let's kill th'thread.

Best,
Ron

[Mike Holmes]

My apollogies. My weak excuse is that LotR is possibly the most influential novel as far as RPGs (seeing as the first RPG was more or less based on it) and experiencing the film makes me feel like making up new and better RPGs. Really.

But all I've done is rant about the film. Sorry.

Mike

[Ron Edwards]

Oh hell, Mike, don't apologize. Having seen the flick on opening night, I spent all of Thursday in an impatient frenzy to talk to more people about it. I'm with you.

So bye-bye, thread, it was hard to kill ya.

Best,
Ron

[Blake Hutchins]

Is there room for a forum that discusses sources of inspiration, literary and cinematic resources, and the like?  Seems to me that topic is one that could be pretty relevant and interest to Forge members.  This needn't be a dumping ground for off-topic social natter, but there have been discussions of literature on the Sorcerer forum.  I personally would love to exchange some opinions about LotR and other stuff that serves as inspirational underpinnings.  Sure, there'll be some gushing there, but given some focus, it shouldn't devolve into a chat board.

Best,

Blake

[Ron Edwards]

Hi Blake,

At first glance, RPG Theory sounds like a good place to me, especially if we keep it pretty locked into role-playing inspiration. Or Actual Play or Design, with the same proviso. It all depends on what aspect of role-playing is being addressed.

The danger is that movies have a way of sucking up focus towards themselves, per se. I am very wary of the Forge becoming a "let's rap pop culture" site. Besides, we all have email and can set up mini-mailing-lists with one another with a "respond to all" click, and there are so many places to chat movies or comics or what-have-you ...

Another issue is when newcomers show up. We might all, at this moment, solemnly pledge to stay RPG-focused when we talk about the new movie, but the newcomer is only going to see "movie chat" and the whole "oh, we were talking about the movie in this fashion" thing will have to be said, and there you are, back to elitism all of a sudden.

Maybe the thing to do is to start threads with very strong role-playing focuses. I'm willing to try it out, with reservations.

Best,
Ron

[jburneko]

On 2001-12-21 19:31, Blake Hutchins wrote:
Is there room for a forum that discusses sources of inspiration, literary and cinematic resources, and the like?

I'd like to second this.  I often find myself starting a post thinking that I'm interested in applying a certain 'source material feel' to an RPG and I suddenly realize I'm not talking about the application to RPG part but rather an analysis of the source material itself with the intent of later aplying those insights to roleplaying.

This is effectively what happened down in the Sorcerer Forum.  I brought up my issues that I had with the source material listed in Soul but then dropped the discussion when I realized that I was focusing on the source material instead of the technique being discussed.

Just my 2 cents.

Jesse

[James V. West]

Ron's got the right approach on this one. The Forge is awesome because everyone who uses it respects what it was designed for.

I guess we were all so damn hyped up after seeing it we had to spew a bit.

I think what Ron is getting at is that all the threads here ought to be centralized on the concept of rpg and rpg design, regardless of what resources are being mined for inspiration. Thus, a thread on the profound narrativist wellspring of ideas the film (or any creation) provides would probably be in line. Right? Or maybe a discussion of how to get *that* kind of intensity out of combat without compromising story.

Later

James V. West