Avatar Vs. Lord Of The Rings

If Pan's Labyrinth was on here instead of Avatar, that would have gotten my vote.  Still, I don't think it would have been as good of a match, because Pan's Labyrinth is more of an arty foreign film and The Lord of the Rings are Hollywood blockbusters (exceptionally made blockbusters at that.)

himtroy wrote: I feel the same way with LOTR except its been going on longer.  People act like it's some deep pseudo-intellectual story.  It seems like the same rehashed fantasy garbage to me...walking through this beautiful crazy landscape and getting attacked by dwarves, monsters, and the like.  I don't understand what the fuss is about.  If quality is measured by amount of walking watched then maybe this movie IS that great.

As a matter of fact, LotR would more likely be the story from which all the rehash came from, and not a rehashed story. The books of LotR, as far as I understand, are for modern fantasy somewhat what Court of the Crimson King is for Prog. Except that prog made many other masterpieces after said album, while Fantasy as a literary genre hasn't gained much respect.

DisgruntledPorcupine wrote: ^^ That movie was phenomonal. Odd, but wow...

Dellinger wrote: Now, about Pan's Labyrinth, what do you think... Was the fantasy "Real" or was it all in the girls head?

himtroy wrote: Dellinger wrote: himtroy wrote: I feel the same way with LOTR except its been going on longer.  People act like it's some deep pseudo-intellectual story.  It seems like the same rehashed fantasy garbage to me...walking through this beautiful crazy landscape and getting attacked by dwarves, monsters, and the like.  I don't understand what the fuss is about.  If quality is measured by amount of walking watched then maybe this movie IS that great.  As a matter of fact, LotR would more likely be the story from which all the rehash came from, and not a rehashed story. The books of LotR, as far as I understand, are for modern fantasy somewhat what Court of the Crimson King is for Prog. Except that prog made many other masterpieces after said album, while Fantasy as a literary genre hasn't gained much respect. That isn't true.  It was nearly the first, just the most popular.  So it's really more of a Beatles situation than a KC situation, it's a while ago and people don't really know.  So they just throw the credit at the Beatles/LOTR.

UndercoverBoy wrote: Dellinger wrote: Now, about Pan's Labyrinth, what do you think... Was the fantasy "Real" or was it all in the girls head? I always thought it was real, but now that you mention it, it could've been all in Ophelia's head because none of the creatures physically affected her or other humans.  But I'd like to think it was all real.

It's hard for me to separate the LOTR trilogy (my favorite movie[s]), but I have done it before: Fellowship is by far my favroite.  There is a good mix of all the classic Tolkien elements that I feel PJ really nailed in this first installment of the trilogy.  Besides, I really liked Boromir, and he died in this adapted film version of Fellowship!

RE Tolkien and rehashed fantasy garbage ^:  He did create the modern fantasy of which all other authors have copied since.  He was the first to really closely study Celtic, French, and Anglo-Saxon culture/myths/language and formulate them into a singular, extremely rich and very original fantasy story.  The greatest author in history, IMO.


Oh, yeah, forgot to mention Avatar!     Talk about a REAL rip-off!  I say we all hunt down that one person who voted for James Cameron's "crapsterpiece." 
He also ruined Ridley Scott's Alien masterpiece by creating that horrid sequel.

^ I know it is, I just can't watch it.  The dialogue, IMO, is terrible.  The stupid space marine one-liners pretty much made me cringe the whole way through. The ambience and psychological-madness of the original is lost in the sequel.  T2, on the other hand, is quite good.  And I'm sorry that you no longer respect me. 

himtroy wrote: The Quiet One wrote: himtroy wrote: Dellinger wrote: himtroy wrote: I feel the same way with LOTR except its been going on longer.  People act like it's some deep pseudo-intellectual story.  It seems like the same rehashed fantasy garbage to me...walking through this beautiful crazy landscape and getting attacked by dwarves, monsters, and the like.  I don't understand what the fuss is about.  If quality is measured by amount of walking watched then maybe this movie IS that great.  As a matter of fact, LotR would more likely be the story from which all the rehash came from, and not a rehashed story. The books of LotR, as far as I understand, are for modern fantasy somewhat what Court of the Crimson King is for Prog. Except that prog made many other masterpieces after said album, while Fantasy as a literary genre hasn't gained much respect. That isn't true.  It was nearly the first, just the most popular.  So it's really more of a Beatles situation than a KC situation, it's a while ago and people don't really know.  So they just throw the credit at the Beatles/LOTR.   Who was before, then? Just curious. Are you serious?  These things have been the focus of folk tales and stories forever.  How about Norse mythology?  Or Celtic mythology?  Or really any of the big mythologies?  Or we can go more popular and even say Beowulf, which has the same kinds of setting and creatures.  However that isn't nearly as good of an example as mythology, which contains an equivalent of basically any creature that was in LOTR.

Edited by The Quiet One - July 25 2010 at 21:15

The Return of the King, though in my opinion any of the Lord of the Rings trilogy is better than Avatar.