VHS and Betamax You Have Recently Rented

[BomberPat]

The Fellowship Of The Ring

A few years back, right before I moved in with my other half, she was planning on starting a Lord Of The Rings rewatch, and never got round to it once I got here. We had nothing planned for Sunday, so figured we'd make a lazy day of it, and get cracking on the first film.

As an additional extra, I made her aware of the writer Nate Crowley's annual tradition of "There And Snack Again", in which he, his family, and guests, watch the entire extended editions of the Trilogy, eating whatever food gets eaten on-screen at the time it's eaten. Hard Mode extends to eating food that is merely visible, or mentioned in dialogue.

So we figured we'd do a scaled down version of that, and got appropriate snacks for Fellowship, to eat along with the movie.

This might be sacrilege, but I could do without the Extended Editions. Certainly for Fellowship, I think it slows the pacing down to an absolute slog, and adds a lot of lore-dumping but very little drama or essential scenes. It feels like you're drowning in exposition before anything really happens, and it's amazing how massive these films got considering how heavy it goes on the world-building in this film. It's my first time watching it a long time, and it's just full of fantastic performances - Ian McKellen is superb, and Sean Astin is the absolute heart of this film. 

[SuperBacon]

16 minutes ago, BomberPat said:

So we figured we'd do a scaled down version of that, and got appropriate snacks for Fellowship, to eat along with the movie.

I'm more interested in the snacks. Either show them or tell us what they were please

[BomberPat]

9 minutes ago, SuperBacon said:

I'm more interested in the snacks. Either show them or tell us what they were please

To do a full "There And Snack Again", you can see the menu and outline of it here (this is a few years old, and more has been added to it in the years since): 

https://www.nate-crowley.com/single-post/2019/02/05/there-and-snack-again-how-to-eat-everything-in-lord-of-the-rings

For our lower key snacks for the Fellowship:

• Apples
• Bread
• Cake
• Carrot Sticks (I didn't want to do the full Peter Jackson cameo carrot chomp on a full carrot)
• Bacon, mushroom, tomatoes and sausage (or veggie equivalent)
• Seeded flatbread to act as Lembas bread

Plus tea and coffee. Added crisps for general context-free snacking. 

The menu gets a little more extensive in the second film.

[Devon Malcolm]

On 9/22/2024 at 9:43 AM, FLips said:

Aliens

We both really enjoyed the film but agreed the first was better. One alien somehow was scarier than a swarm of them, and the alien queen doesn't really get enough camera time to feel like a major threat.

We didn't realise how much pop culture and influence came from just this film alone. "Game over man, game over" and "Get away from her you BITCH" are fantastic lines, and we both popped at "They mostly come out at night, mostly" because we didn't know it was from this and only heard it on South Park. The dropship looks to have been copied peice for peice in the Halo games, and obviously Samus from Metroid is influenced heavily by how badass Ripley is in this.

The cast is great, with even grunts that get picked off the second they land on the planet getting a personality but naturally they save the best for last. Hicks, Bishop, and Ripley are a great final 3, but Hudson was a blast too. Burke is an all-time arsehole.

And this is where my Alien journey finishes I think. I don't have much interest in any past the first two, both of which I would happily watch again. I know bits of what becomes of Ripley and to be honest she's so flawless in these two I have no reason to watch universally agreed worse films to sully it.
 

While the first two are fresh in your mind, try and catch Alien: Romulus at the cinema. It takes place between Alien and Aliens. It was surprisingly enjoyable.

[Carbomb]

I've always loved the LOTR films, and never understood why so many people say they're dated. They still look great to me. 

The fantasy slag in me loves the extended editions, but it depends on the mood I'm in; if I'm sat with people who are watching for a solid adventure film, it's the originals. If I'm in the same frame of mind that likes to read stuff like The Iliad or the LOTR books themselves, I'll watch the extended.

[Bellenda Carlisle]

I saw Lord of the Rings (extended) for the first time in like 20 years over 3 consecutive days at my cinema a couple of months ago. It was great, it deserves its status as a modern classic. i thought it might be a bit much but by the time the third one rolled round i was well up for it. 

The amount of memes from it is insane, it's almost distracting it's so constant. I forgot how much I loved Frodo, I still really like Elijah Wood but he was next level appealing in LOTR.

 

Spoiler

Was hoping the extensions would include more Saruman, for a 13 hour story i felt he got a bit shafted 

 

[DavidB6937]

LOTR is a tough one for me. I have a real emotional connection to the trilogy as they came out around the time I first attended comic cons, back when they weren't massive in this country compared to now.

So I met the majority of the cast around 2003/2004 time in Milton Keynes and London. They'd do screenings and talks. I worked the events so got to spend a decent amount of time with most of them. So I've never really seen the movies as is, and always had that deep connection to them.

Sadly most of the people I knew and had friendships back then aren't really a part of my life anymore so the trilogy is a tough watch now and a reminder of a life lost in many ways, but it'll always hold a special part in my heart.

[LaGoosh]

18 minutes ago, Carbomb said:

I've always loved the LOTR films, and never understood why so many people say they're dated. They still look great to me. 

I think some of the CG looks slightly dated at times generally it's still pretty fantastic. Even if something doesn't look 100% realistic the story and tone covers for it.

To me the films are an absolute marvel. Just a unique moment in time where absolutely everyone involved in every part of production was firing on all cylinders. There's some sequences across all 3 films where when you take in every aspect of movie making I would argue they are just the absolute peak of what is possible in cinema. I love all of them but Fellowship is by far my favourite. You just can't beat that "group of lads on a big adventure" feeling.

Edited Monday at 10:41 AM by LaGoosh

[FLips]

We watched all the LOTR and Hobbits for the first time recently and did the extended versions of all of them. On a rewatch we’d do extended LOTR if only for 

Spoiler

Saruman’s hilarious water wheel dunking death

But would likely do standard Hobbits. Great films though, even the less good ones.

Edited Monday at 10:44 AM by FLips

[Carbomb]

I have to say mine, by just a smidgen, is The Two Towers - when the cavalry finally arrived, I found myself punching the air.

The Hobbit really shouldn't have been made into a trilogy. It's a dualogy at most. But, of course, it's not fashionable nor profitable to do so - Kill Bill is probably the only purpose-written dualogy I can think of in relatively recent cinema.

It's tricky, though - I'm in two minds about the Legolas/Tauriel story, because it felt like it was adding a bit of flab to the film to justify making it a trilogy, but at the same time it's such a male-heavy story that it felt necessary to add Tauriel anyway. Plus, I quite liked the Azog the Defiler showdown.

Edited Monday at 11:00 AM by Carbomb

[LaGoosh]

1 minute ago, FLips said:

But would likely do standard Hobbits. Great films though, even the less good ones.

I'm not a huge fan of the Hobbit films. The first one is pretty good. The second and third are pretty ropey for the most part. However considering the insane pressure and lack of time Peter Jackson had to make them it's pretty incredible how coherent, put together and sometimes ambitious they are. Most film makers would have crumbled and churned out absolute shit. Seems like the experience soured Jackson so much that he can't be bothered to make another film though which is a massive shame.

[SuperBacon]

There is a LOTR thread, which was originally created for that shit TV show that no one ever finished.

Another rainy Sunday yesterday and another Hitchcock classic, Suspicion. 

I can never get over Cary Grants accent quite frankly so that always puts me off, but this is a belter of a film, superbly held together by Joan Fontaine.

Then rewatched Casablanca again, which the eldest had never seen. Just a 10/10 film, with no fat, all relevance, doesn't outstay its welcome and bang, we're done.

I will say this though, Bogart was punching big time. Bergman in this might be the best anyone has ever looked on screen. 

Finished off the day with what I consider the quintessential Sunday night film, Stand By Me. A pure comfort blanket.

[Carbomb]

34 minutes ago, SuperBacon said:

Bergman in this might be the best anyone has ever looked on screen. 

For me, that would be Halle Berry in Boomerang, Gina Lollobrigida in The Law, Bebe Neuwirth in The Associate, or Aya Sugimoto in anything ever.

[SuperBacon]

29 minutes ago, Carbomb said:

For me, that would be Halle Berry in Boomerang, Gina Lollobrigida in The Law, Bebe Neuwirth in The Associate, or Aya Sugimoto in anything ever.

Winona Ryder in Reality Bites or Russell Crowe in Gladiator also.

[LaGoosh]

Recently watched Rebel Ridge which I enjoyed to pretty much the same standard as the director's previous films Blue Ruin and Green Room. Incredible set up and almost unbearable tension for the first half then kind of petering off and feeling a bit underwhelming in the second half. It was definitely good but I just don't think it's possible to maintain that level of tension for an entire film so once that starts to naturally drop the film just isn't as engrossing.