Viewing Thread:
"Empire's Top 100"

Absolutely stupid. They're supposed to be critics?

Donnie Darko - 21. Ridiculously high.
Casablanca - 46. Ridiculously low.

Oh, and number one and two? Drum roll please...

1. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
2. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

Someone needs to be shot.

Widge wrote:
> The biggest shame, and even bigger since I hear that it isn't coming
> to the extended DVD version, is the omission of The Scouring Of The
> Shire.

You mean when they returned and the hobbits of the shire were enslaved by wild men and they had to drive them out?

monkey_man wrote:
> He's just got a really vivid imagination in that crusty old noggin of
> his, and he knows how to portray that on film. That Kong film better
> be good though - the Jeff Goldblum version was on a while back, I
> nearly shat in my pants with laughter at the big ape/blatant monkey
> suit!

Well, I've read the script written before the LOTR gig, and its crap. Hopefully though, their experience on LOTR will have tempered them a little.

http://www.scifiscripts.com/scripts/kingkong.txt

He's just got a really vivid imagination in that crusty old noggin of his, and he knows how to portray that on film. That Kong film better be good though - the Jeff Goldblum version was on a while back, I nearly shat in my pants with laughter at the big ape/blatant monkey suit!

monkey_man wrote:
> But Braindead was excellent, as was The Frighteners! He may not have
> had the best tools at the time, but there's no doubting he's a
> talented film-maker.

I really liked The Frighteners! It hit a certain chord with me....

Pandaemonium wrote:
> “right, now he’s gone, lets check his back catalogue”
> “what are they?”
> “’Bad Taste’ ‘Brain Dead’ ‘mmet the feebles’ ‘heavenly creatures’”
>
> (a number of hours later)
>
> (collectively) “………………….ooohhhhhhhhhhh, fu…………..”


But Braindead was excellent, as was The Frighteners! He may not have had the best tools at the time, but there's no doubting he's a talented film-maker.

Back on topic to the top 100! I thought it was alright but I also found it a touch commercial in places. I prefer Channel 4s poll to this. My girlie thinks that Star Wars is an overrated piece of poo, she prefers the Indy triology to it. I don't think I'll ever be able to get her into it.

Even my stories of when I met Darth Vader in Debenhams when I was about 4 don't seem to endear it to her. I was scared shatless of Vader, he was MASSIVE compared to wee ol' me. After leaving Debenhams, I asked my bro where he'd parked his tie fighter. He said that it was on the roof. I couldn't see it, but then again, I was very short at the time.

Class moment from the documentary of Two Towers:

Aragorn and the others happen upon the charred remains of the Uruk-hai. Jackson gets him to kick the helmet towards camera and scream in anguish. So Viggo does it a few times and each time he gets nearer the camera. Jackson thinks, 'He's getting nearer each time, I'll get him to do it one more time'. Viggo kicks it pretty much on target, lets out a heartfelt scream and falls to his knees in sadness. A class piece of acting. Later they discover that as Viggo kicks the helmet, he breaks two toes in the process, but carries on acting using the pain to fuel his scream. And thats the scene that gets in the movie!

He was lucky though, the publisher was only going to give the licence to do TWO movies. So the entire thing would have had to be crammed into two showings. Luckily they opened up to other publishing giants to see if they wanted to release part of it and the duties got split between two producers. One got one movie, the other did the other two. Or something like that.

The entire Arwen thing could have been a downfall, since Hollywood DEMANDS a love interest thing, she almost got scripted into helping out in Helms Deep ... which was a MASSIVE departure from the book (featuring Arwen to that amount was enough, her main showing is in the bloody appendix!). Liv Tyler was getting trained up for battle in Helms Deep when news of the script was leaked to the net and the Tolkien community went MAD. So they had to withdraw it. Thank god I say too.

I bet he lied on his CV and said he directed Lawrence Of Arabia or something...

Widge wrote:
> Oh maybe cliches, but I suppose Tolkien did invent them all in the
> first place! Just about ever fantasy has come from his template.

He didn’t invent but he amalgamated them from existing folklore and legend, but I know what you mean if relating to the fantasy (particularly books) in creating the genre. As I’ve mentioned “Der Ring des Nibelungen” featured a lot of “fantasy” elements (and an all powerful magic ring), and the Wagner operas based on the legend were written between 1848-76.

I always laugh thinking of Jackson pitching the movies.

“right, now he’s gone, lets check his back catalogue”
“what are they?”
“’Bad Taste’ ‘Brain Dead’ ‘mmet the feebles’ ‘heavenly creatures’”

(a number of hours later)

(collectively) “………………….ooohhhhhhhhhhh, fu…………..”