And his 'stache.

I usually don't like slap stick, which is probably why both the stormtroopers and droids bothered me as much as they did. It's hard to have any sort of tension in a scene when the baddies are your comic relief.

That's kind of my gripe.

No, you're not the only one. I wish there had been more variety in encounters, more objects to populate the pre-fabbed structures (though I actually really liked the idea that most of what you found was pre-fabricated), and that the Mako had handled better, but the planet exploration was one of the things which made…

Yeah, it really would be a great detail to put in the story, if not a theme in itself—the Empire's troops out of practice because of their own success. Unfortunately, I bet you we're not going to get that story :(

I think my only real gripe with this is the stormtroopers doing the derpy "hey, what could this flashing device be? I better lean as close as I can and make sure all of my friends are nearby in case it exploded or something."

But Star Wars has a running theme of utterly incompetent, faceless baddies. I've never liked…

Fair enough.

At least for me, Jackson's interpretation really missed on the entire aesthetic of the story. I realize he's trying to tie it directly into the other trilogy, but the LoTR-esque tone is really incompatible with the narrative of The Hobbit. It's a fundamentally different story, narrated by a human (presumably Tolkien…

I keep finding old Soviet interpretations of things like this. A few weeks back I found a Winnie the Pooh . . . very odd, but still kind of cute.

Was this a big thing back in the day? Creating Russian versions of Western media?

Oh how I wanted to like these films. If you enjoyed them, then I'm glad for you, but a lot of us have been really frustrated with the direction they've been taken.

Indeed. There was a scope—and internal consistency—which the other two titles never managed to recapture. Despite the lower production value and wonky mechanics, 1 is very much my favorite out of the series.

BTW, if you haven't already go do some research on where the name Elendil comes from and how that character's legacy carries through his works. It's pretty mind blowing.

I didn't really appreciate LoTR until I went through the Silmarilion. It's a rough ride, but boy does it make the rest of the mythos something amazing.

I have such a love-hate relationship with this series. I'm in love with how I wanted it to be, and I've done a good amount of reading and daydreaming in this universe, but I find a lot in games 2 and 3 disappointing when I actually play them.

Agreed on all points. Dredd's comic dipped heavily into saving the entire country/planet enough times that it was actually really refreshing to have a small-scale plot.

Actually, I think movies overall tend to be better when the plots are driven around individual characters or smaller stakes. It gives room the explore…

Yeah . . . I actually can't quite explain why I like this film. It doesn't do a very good job of adapting the books, it's fantastically wonky, and is probably indecipherable if you didn't at least have a passing knowledge of the novel before watching. I mean, when it came out in theaters there were handouts with a…

Oh, I gotcha. Then yes, I think you're right.

Indeed. Just voicing my agreement :)

I don't want to put words in your mouth, but it seems to be that the "global audience" you're referring to is actually the West, not the international community. If we really were taking into account the tastes and values of each cultural group on the planet, or even the largest groups, we'd have to make severe…

There's a difference between being hurt by racism and not liking a piece of media. And, in my opinion, getting up in arms in behalf of a population which we think *should* be offended, but isn't, falls deep into the second category.