[quote="Kingofpain89"]
I also fondly remember the Rankin-Bass versions of The Hobbit and Return of the King.  I could have done without the songs though.  
quote]

   Well, there you go....

    One man's classic moment is another man's irritating pause in the action.

    I thought that the songs were an excellent way of telling about a journey and moving the story along.  The songs made the show, man!  

    Now, who can beat Roads Go Ever On, or Fifteen Birds in Five Fir Trees?  Or, who hasn't loved We Don't Wanna Go to War Today from Return of the King? There's also, Down Down to Goblin Town, who doesn't love that one?  

    Also, the voice acting for Gollum was really good.  And, the scene with Smaug's eyes, glaring about his lair as searchlight beams...well, that really hooked me on the genre.  It was some of Tolkien's best writing.

Mark  

MShipley88 wrote:

Kingofpain89 wrote:I also fondly remember the Rankin-Bass versions of The Hobbit and Return of the King.  I could have done without the songs though.  
quote]

   Well, there you go....

    One man's classic moment is another man's irritating pause in the action.

    I thought that the songs were an excellent way of telling about a journey and moving the story along.  The songs made the show, man!  

    Now, who can beat Roads Go Ever On, or Fifteen Birds in Five Fir Trees?  Or, who hasn't loved We Don't Wanna Go to War Today from Return of the King? There's also, Down Down to Goblin Town, who doesn't love that one?  

    Also, the voice acting for Gollum was really good.  And, the scene with Smaug's eyes, glaring about his lair as searchlight beams...well, that really hooked me on the genre.  It was some of Tolkien's best writing.

Mark  

It wasnt necessarily the songs themselves that I didnt like.  It was the guy singing them that I disliked.  What the hell was up with the vibrato?  Sounded like he was running a jackhammer at the same time he was singing.     I did get tired of one of the songs in Return of the King.  I think it was titled "The Bearer of the Ring" or something like that.  It just went on and on and on....

ExTSR wrote:Well as we say in my production room, 'where they're a whip, there's a way...'

A line so great, I got it on a bumper sticker.  

bbarsh wrote:The Hobbit is excellent. And yes, I like the songs, too. They add color and a certain "feeling" to the movie. The Return of the King movie isn't as good, but still fun to watch.

I still read The Hobbit about once every few years. I used to read every summer...that was some time ago, though.

i still reckon that if they did the hobbit as a proper movie, it would be way better than lord of the rings.

i wish the movie companies would quite arguing about contracts and cuts etc and get it sorted.

Al

Yeah I heard the same, which I believe he should, seeing as it would keep things consistant.

ShaneG.

Kingofpain89 wrote:The Disney rerelease Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind is essentially the same movie with voiceovers by "famous actors" and a few added/deleted scenes.  I know that there is an original Japanese version out there but I have never seen it.  Great fantasy/post-apocalyptic flick.

*nod nods* v.m. agreed.
I haven't seen the US version, but it's 32 minutes shorter according to the timings posted online (more than a few scenes, perhaps).

Lots and lots of suggestions I'd have made here, although a ton of stuff I haven't seen.

I loved Krull. Willow too. Those were the two seminal sword and sorcery movies for me. Imo, Krull was just fantastic. It's totally the "Ok, this guy joins the group just because" style of party selection, heh.  "Oh look, a cyclops. Well, uh.. he kinda joins the group. Nobody ask why. And oh, hello mister bandit! Oh.. you're joining too.. ok, good thing you were wearing your 'I'm a PC' badge or we might have killed you!"

Brotherhood of the Wolf was a really interesting movie, with some fantastic action scenes, but there was just too many stupid things going on, imo. The French naturalist guy somehow becomes a badass fighter, and the kung-fu Iroqois sidekick was just too funny. Also one of the few movies that I thought Catherine Zeta Jones was really bad in.

The recent "King Arthur" (with Kiera Knightley in a leather bikini) was, imo, pretty good. Definately a group of D&D fighters, and it was done in a sorta-reasonable fashion.

The only thing I can think of to really add is "Record of Lodoss War", which is a 5-tape series. It's pretty obvously based heavily on D&D, and isn't too terrible.

Although, you could add the recent "Brothers Grimm" movie to the list - it's a little bit too futuristic for the times with the technology, but essentially a fantasy movie.

Dragon #283 (May 2001) — yes, yes, a 3e issue; sue me — has a great article called "Swords & Cinema" that touches upon every movie listed here and many more. It's a full eight pages long, and it's actually quite a fun read.

Just for grins, here's the top five movies from each of the two authors of the article:

Guy #1
1. Conan
2. Fantasia
3. Army of Darkness
4. The Seven Samurai
5. Princess Bride

Guy #2
1. Braveheart
2. Jason and the Argonauts
3. Chinese Ghost Story 3 *
4. The Three Musketeers
5. Princess Bride

+++++

* I've never heard of it, either ...

i just bought a DVD yesterday which look real interesting...must try and watch it later.

Samurai Commando mission 1549