Sometimes, it takes a while: LOTR extendo edition box sets review

So LOTR is old news in 2008, unless you're talking about The Hobbit. But I finally purchased the Extended Edition DVDS (second hand and at a severely reduced price, of course) and after a hell of marathon viewing, watched all of the features and good deal of the special features. I'm already like 16 hours in and I don't know if I can hang on for the commentary tracks unfortunately.

As far as each of the features extended scenes go, I'm all for it. I always hated it when people bitched about how long the theatrical cuts of these movies, because it really takes all the meat off the bones when you're doing an adaptation and have to cut it down. The bits and pieces that weren't in the original edits are generally seamlessly integrated, and often explicate continuity across the films of the series.

Aside from the deleted scenes, the thing that sticks out about these movies is just how damn good they are. Well made movies have so much more staying power than their b and c-movie counterparts. Thank god that Troy happened in response to the Lord of the Rings trilogy instead of in place of it. The care and technical perfection that went into the final product is astounding--and its really well documented in the special features discs. As below the line memeber of the film industry, I know how much work it takes to make something look as good as these films look, and I can't imagine the endurance it took for a production on such a grand scale as this. I think its safe to say that shooting three films concurrently is feat saved for the most badass of badddassss crews and production team.

That's all I'm going to say about the movies, because by now if you haven't seen them I doubt you'd be reading this or know what the internets is.

Peter Jackson's other movies (that aren't King Kong) are simultaneously great, twisted and weird, and are all worth checking out. Meet the Feebles is one of the single most derogatory piece of anything with puppets in it. Dead Alive is a gory suspense-zombie-comedy with perhaps the most over-the-top violence ever. The lesser Jacksons are worth it too, but less notable.

And yay for another uninteresting post without pictures!