Lord of the Rings - [Amazon] Spoilers

23-08-2022 3:18pm

OK I am finished commenting on Soldier Galadriel and such, so...

That trailer looks much better, in terms of look and cinematography. Massive reliance on blue/teal to give contrast, which is kinda offputting in a real world sense.

Looks more like a lived in universe than previous. Some earlier looked like CW level sets and costume (and like the issues with WoT)

My reservations on the story still remain but at least you can see where some money has been spent, as opposed to afforementioned Wheel of Time

TheIrishGrover · 25-08-2022 10:48am

Yeah, that trailer looked much better.

I don't know if it's just me (probably) but every time I see this shot, I think she looks like Matt Smith:

Reviews seem to be OK. I'll definitely give it a look but Jesus, they are not helping themselves with their snapshots...

https://gizmodo.com/lord-of-the-rings-rings-of-power-reviews-amazon-tolkien-1849451293

MisterAnarchy · 26-08-2022 5:44pm

One positive is that Bear Mc Creary is doing the soundtrack. The guy is hugely talented.

The soundtrack has been released today.

Galadriels theme is very good

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLmWhM2WCBg

The music for each of the eight episodes was recorded in London for four days, often with 90-piece orchestras; plus a 40-voice choir in Vienna, singing in various Tolkien-created languages; and soloists across Europe and in Los Angeles, playing hardanger fiddle, nyckelharpa, bagpipes, bodhrán drums and other world-music instruments.

McCreary composed nine hours of music in eight months, working long hours with just five days off in that time. “It just does not sound like a television movie,” he says. “It is the most ambitious thing that I’ve ever been attached to. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, to be able to pour myself into something so profoundly, and be given the space and the creative freedom to do the score I want to hear.”

https://variety.com/2022/artisans/news/lord-of-the-rings-rings-of-power-score-bear-mcreary-soundtrack-1235345372/

pjohnson · 26-08-2022 7:01pm

Bear has been fantastic throughout his time on The Walking Dead.

Agent Coulson · 26-08-2022 10:15pm

His sound track for Outlander is beautiful work and so haunting.

silverharp · 27-08-2022 6:58pm

The GOT show as its getting good reviews is going to take more wind out of the sails for this

Agent Coulson · 31-08-2022 6:24pm

First reviews are coming out.

The Guardian reviewer going big.

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power review – so astounding it makes House of the Dragon look amateur

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2022/aug/31/the-lord-of-the-rings-the-rings-of-power-review-so-astounding-it-makes-house-of-the-dragon-look-amateur

silverharp · 31-08-2022 7:28pm

differing opinion lol

https://twitter.com/Nerdrotics/status/1565020059780669445

BruteStock · 31-08-2022 7:34pm

lol@ at the cringe CW level dialogue in that tralier. "Hearts as big as our feet , chose not the path of fear , we must decide who we shall be , there is a tempest in me" 😳

Grace Randolph called Galadriel both a Karen and a Mary Sue. Think it's safe to say the show is going to suck balls.

NIMAN · 31-08-2022 10:49pm

I read on the Irish Times site that the Hobbits speak in terrible Oirish accents.

johnny_ultimate · 31-08-2022 10:49pm

The reviews for the most part have me cautiously optimistic there’s something at least solid here (albeit with some dodgy dialogue by most accounts), but Grace Randolph giving it a bad review is even more encouraging!

31-08-2022 11:11pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119551365#Comment_119551365

She's one I just can not listen to.

BruteStock · 31-08-2022 11:32pm

The Irish Times also called the Hobbits "filthy child-like simpletons"

silverharp · 01-09-2022 7:40am

You can guess that the ratings will settle with critics in the 80s and audience in the 60's

sekiro · 01-09-2022 6:01pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119549507#Comment_119549507

This reads like a bit of a troll review.

"It is so cinematic and grand that it makes House of the Dragon look as if it has been cobbled together on Minecraft."

"If that doesn’t sound like much fun, wait till you see what she does to a snow troll."

"Now, I just need to find someone with a huge telly to let me watch with them."

Haha.

Loafing Oaf · 02-09-2022 12:09am

So the first episode drops at 2 this morning and the second one...2 tomorrow morning?

Nody · 02-09-2022 8:45am

Had a glance at Rotten Tomato this morning and 83% / ~~50%~~ ~~49%~~ 47% and dropping is not exactly what I'd have hoped for honestly (house of dragons is currently 84%/84% for comparison). Looking at the audience comments (and ignoring the usual troll 1* and shill 5* one liners) the consistent message is that it's really great looking, stunning views but story & characters are lacking (I think the best definition I saw was "big, bland, beautiful "corporate" entertainment"). I'm still going to wait as it stands and if by the end of season 1 the reviews gets better I'll watch it but it's another miss for me as it stands on the initial reviews.

RoryMurphyJnr · 02-09-2022 8:47am

Loved the first episode, not sure why they gave Lenny Henry an Oirish accent as it doesn't work.

Looking forward to lunchtime when I get to watch EP 2

Hurrache · 02-09-2022 10:06am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119557971#Comment_119557971

Rotten Tomatoes and IMDB are more or less useless as a yard stick for anything like this. They often get spammed by groups with stupid little grievances over minor things. There's a pile of people upset since trailers were released because there were black people in it which they insist is because Tolkien's world wouldn't have had any.

breezy1985 · 02-09-2022 10:22am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119555671#Comment_119555671

It sounds like a lot of the appeal is the imagery which is grand for an episode but will get old fast.

I'm looking forward to watching tonight despite the Galadriel warrior princess ad looking like sht.

Nody · 02-09-2022 11:07am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119558411#Comment_119558411

I agree score alone can't be used; hence the review of comments and yes it has it fair set of trolls/shills doing the "Woke garbage" / "Best thing eva!" approach. But even reading those who give low scores, and high scores, the consistency on both sides was summarized above. It looks great, stunning vistas from both sides but on the negative side the story/dialogue kept coming up and it was not often mentioned as a positive on the other side. Having comments such as "Nice to be back in Tolkiens world" does not exactly praise the show per say or 10/10 "Better than the hobbit but worse than LoTR" etc. I don't take the score as some absolute guide but the simple fact is reading the user reviews they are showing consistency in certain complaints and praises is what I'm looking at.

silverharp · 02-09-2022 11:16am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119558411#Comment_119558411

I'd disagree, it would show a lack of enthusiasm if what passes as the general public on RT cant push it back to where it "ought" to be. Generally a show is going to have some serious flaws if the critics give it a high score and the audience is much lower. If a company spends a billion on a show and the reaction is meh from the public, that's the company's problem and fault not the audience.

breezy1985 · 02-09-2022 11:28am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119558792#Comment_119558792

The idea though is that RT users are not a good graph of the general public because there is an overwhelming amount of fanboys and anti "woke" morons signed up.

For instance IMDB had The Dark Knight rated as the greatest movie of all time before it even came out in cinemas. The opposite then for the likes of Star Wars who get coordinated attacks from disgruntled basement dwellers.

Body is right you need to read a number of reviews both public and critic and pull out the common comments from the reviews not written by losers.

Hurrache · 02-09-2022 11:38am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119558792#Comment_119558792

It's not accurate though. As the guys say, you need to delve right into the reviews to get some sort of general gauge to the movie/show.

And secondly, people like different things so what one person may thoroughly enjoy, others don't. Doesn't mean the subject of the review is necessarily bad.

The overall score/percentage on IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes don't mean much when it comes to big shows like this.

johnny_ultimate · 02-09-2022 11:40am

All audience scores on the internet should be ignored IMO. I count everything from the unholy mess that is Rotten Tomatoes to more enthusiast spaces like Letterboxd. None of them represent the actual public anyway, just the userbases of the respective platforms. Reading user reviews is another thing entirely, where you can at least somewhat filter through the rubbish - but the scores themselves are a meaningless, easily manipulated metric.

The show's out now. Just watch it and make up your own mind. Or don't, if you'd prefer. But dwelling on audience scores is a pointless exercise given how prone they are to manipulation, grievances and false consensus - especially for big franchise shows or films that are seemingly automatically enrolled in tired culture wars and fanbase battles.

pixelburp · 02-09-2022 11:49am

The idea you can assign percentage-point accuracy to something as inherently subjective as art-entertainment is - and will always remain - deeply flawed, reductionist and prone to obvious abuse or bias. Especially when considering controversies like Captain Marvel that necessitated a change to the code so obvious Bad Faith Morons could no longer review-bomb a movie that hadn't come out yet. Or leaving aside the false metric of anything over 3/5 being "fresh". Three out of five used to be "meh" - now it's as valid as 5 stars?

By the very nature of the technology and its user-base, you will tend to have an over-representation of those either wildly hyped, have a chip on their shoulder - or something that's a reaction to either of those extremes. You completely lose the myriad of shoulder-shrugs and "meh"s cos obviously - if something's aw'right, nothing special - you're unlikely to be moved enough to "score" it. Thus all that's left are polar opposites requiring filtering. At least professional reviews have to give an opinion, no matter how mediocre or forgettable the thing might be.

I said it before, and I'm probably biased 'cos I use the site myself ... but at least something like letterboxd will show the grading "curve" across all the star ratings; so you can get a better understanding of how reviews spread across the overall userbase; not this One Score to Rule Them All aspect, wielded like a cudgel.

RT scores aren't a proof. They're just ... I dunno, MeowMeowBeenz for media

pixelburp · 02-09-2022 11:52am

TL:DR? This is why Rotten Tomatoes is patent nonsense. Neither score is accurate. Clearly both should be 100%, and any argument to the contrary provably false