The Hall of Fire

How come? Do you detect an explicit (or implicit) undercurrent of racism in the Academy?

I don't see how western nations are "powerless." Yes, terrorist attacks will happen from time to time, but they're hardly an existential threat when all such murderous idealists can do is shoot up office buildings and kill unarmed people. If anything, it's a humiliating blow to Islamist fa...

Sorry, I thought you were referring to the final Thorin/ Azog fight in BOFA. I remember the radical change to that scene in AUJ, and though I understood the outcry from those who follow the thematic landscape of Shore's score, I didn't share the fuss. Yes, it's the Nazgûl theme, but it works rather ...

I would take back all my criticisms of PJ if he included a sequence where Alfrid and Legolas inexplicably travel to the Paths of the Dead, and are buried by a skull avalanche.

I haven't seen most of the other nominated films for VFX, but I thought the visual effects in BOFA were nothing special. There was simply too much that looked false to me, whether it was ravens, CGI dwarves or what have you. But having seen the trailers for the other films (and having seen GotG) I n...

I find it funny that PB gives partial credit to GDT for Tauriel. Burden-sharing, perhaps!

How different was it on the album?

Interesting. There's so much to look forward to, though Alfrid's comeuppance is the least of it. I like the implication, in the TE, that he survives. One's moral choices should not be judged by whether they lead to life or death. Alfrid seems to slither his way to safety, and that's a fine ending fo...

Did you appreciate Pace in BOFA more so than in DOS? I know you didn't much care for his performance in the latter.

Personally, I think he's great.

I quite like Treebeard, and think this post is a lovely defense of his character. But interestingly, on a recent reading, I found that it was exactly Bombadil's absurdity and flights of existentialism that made him more accessible (and enjoyable) to me, than Treebeard. But that may be me and few oth...

Beware. They took the fireplace out of the Eagle and Child! Boo! Nonetheless, during my two-year stay in Oxford, I visited there often...Especially on trivia night. It may also make sense to take a trip to the Bodleian Library, where there are some original Tolkien manuscripts (and some artwork, I b...

SV,

Also because Gandalf and the eagles coming to save Frodo and Sam from the slopes of Orodruin is one of my favorite scenes in the sextet.

Agreed. A visually (and thematically) sublime scene. One of Jackson's best.

Not to mention that the "comedy moment" of the dragon falling on top of the Master immediately deflated the significance of the dragon being killed.

But yeah. Stephen Fry, rather than Ryan Gage, would have been a more enjoyable source of comedy and tension within the Laketown camp...

I grew up with pretty regular ice storms, and know what you mean. Though I was a kid-teenager, so my parents usually had to deal with their effects! I just got to stay home from school.

Thanks, Professor! Sorry for being late. I was rereading one of your books.

Beautifully disastrous.

But most of the system, even based on the data you provided, is indeed broken! Parts of it may not be AS BROKEN as some advocates have described, but there's still a systematic racial bias across most of the criminal justice system. If I was black, I would find it very hard to be patriotic about the...

Voronwë the Faithful wrote:The sadness of what she is saying juxtaposed against the more upbeat music is really poignant.

This.

V-man, There are, of course, far fewer successful filmmakers than there are lawyers, accountants or generals. You missed my point. The point is, that though film and art school are very useful for the development of a good filmmaker, they are not critical or necessary, as is law school, an accountin...

Well said, Al. These are the reasons I'll use the next time someone challenges me on it! Unless they're copyrighted, of course. In which case I'm willing to pay.