Ebert & Roeper - Lord of the Rings Trilogy

This episode comes from Larry Koehn of Siskel and Ebert Movie Reviews website. I believe he actually edited the video.

[@hiattgrey9161]

My dad read The Lord of the Rings books when he was younger and he was there for all three movies. And he still has his movie tickets to them.

[@GuamCruiseA.K.A.HarryKim]

Siskel would have been a Fellowship chad

[@linkbiff1054]

Siskel would have called the first two some of the best of 2001 and 2002. He would have called ROTK THE best of 2003 with a bullet

[@zmani4379]

Jackson's trilogy has made such an impact that it's come to define the books in many people's minds - so it's interesting to hear Ebert's concerns, as a longtime Tolkien fan, about the spirit of Tolkien being compromised by the demands of 21st century tent-pole film-making - interesting that for the first film, Roeper complains that it's too long, whereas Ebert feels it's too rushed; this sense of pacing is a big aspect of the books' charm for him, a sense of whimsy and taking one's time that really lets you soak in the sense of travel, absorbing the different locations along the way, and it also ties in to the homespun values of the Shire - Ebert makes this point more explicitly in his written reviews, in which he's more lukewarm, in contrast to his response here, which is more supportive of the films, reacting to Roeper's more sharply negative reaction - I'd have liked to hear Siskel's take, which I imagine would have also leaned towards the books or the literary aspect of this material

[@jeepneygang]

Amazing Roeper ... everything you said about the first movie was wrong.

[@chardrum]

Roeper was completely wrong.

[@Hack_The_Planet_]

I always loved how grounded the first movie felt. Certainly big, but it’s a nice buildup

[@MarvinMonroe]

Such a weird take by Roeper. "They're going after a silly little ring! What a dumb thing to search for"

[@Hack_The_Planet_]

Merry Christmas That Old TV 📺!!!!!

[@ilovebrandnewcarpets]

A flat thumbs down to LOTR is a wild take

[@jimlang7461]

Roeper's comments have not aged well. lol

[@amp279]

Considering how beloved Lotr trilogy has become, he was way off here.

[@UnleashthePhury]

As Lindsey Ellis once said, “the Fellowship of the Ring is so good it makes me angry.”

[@mediamaniac898]

I’m one of those people who read the books (and still do every year) before watching the movies. There is a lot to love about Jackson’s trilogy, but The Two Towers is the weak link because it sidelines Frodo and Sam, while they should have been the focus. Regardless, each movie is very good to great, and the trilogy comes together well as a whole. I just wish more people understood that Tolkien took his time to make Middle-Earth a character in and of itself. I still consider it probably my favorite movie trilogy, and these days when everything is woke, I appreciate it even more, warts and all. The Extended Editions add in some scenes that please die-hard Tolkien fans such as myself. Every fall, I return to his epic (really one book told in three parts), and watch the trilogy at least once a year.

[@IrishCarney]

I absolutely loved Fellowship, but found Two Towers a bit too grim and slow. Return of the King was great and sweeping. Maybe the reason I think I like Fellowship the best was simply the sunlit green of the Shire.

[@tmage23]

Two Towers is probably the weakest of the 3 by virtue of being the middle chapter. It serves less as its own story (though things certainly do happen) than as a bridge between Fellowship and Return. It has neither a proper beginning or a proper ending. It just kinda starts where it starts and ends when it's done. I like it a lot more when I'm binging the entire trilogy than when I watch it as a single film

[@IrishCarney]

@@tmage23 The Empire Strikes Back has the same bridge/middle chapter issue but it's an outstanding film

[@tmage23]

@@IrishCarney Sort of but not really. Empire tells its own story. It does fit within the overall narrative of the original trilogy but it was conceived as a separate film. The Lord of the Rings was originally written as one volume with Tolkien's publisher insisted by split into 3 volumes so TTT was never intended to be a separate book.

[@doodoobonejones]

Can you upload the Ebert & Roeper review of Herbie Fully Loaded?

[@vincentwilliams5271]

Lord of the Rings is loooong but good 👍

[@hungwilliam44]

Roeper is a depressing obnoxious killjoy. Seriously, I hate him. Merry Christmas.

[@Hack_The_Planet_]

Talk about killjoy

[@hungwilliam44]

@@Hack_The_Planet_ And a happy new year.

[@Sly88Frye]

Well to be fair a lot of film critics are very harsh on well a lot of films that don't really deserve it. I do agree that the film is very long but I mean the difference for me is that I enjoyed the movie despite how long it is because it's just a great overall film, but I can see why some people would get tired of how long it is.

[@hungwilliam44]

@@Sly88Frye Yeah but if your cousin say was going on about how long it was and had a sneering voice like Roeper you'd throw the gravy boat in his face admit it.

[@gmancolo]

And I usually dislike Ebert.

[@HarbingerOfBattle]

Wow. I guess Roeper just hates good movies. Not too surprising from a guy who's favorite film is Ferris Bueller.

[@gmancolo]

Wow. LotR was wonderful the first time, and has held up pretty well. Roeper is just silly. And the Harry Potter movies are pretty lame.

[@jstewlly4747]

I love LOTR as adult but Harry Potter has my heart more idk why they came out around same time but HP had my heart guess I was young but even as adult HP still is more epic THE NORTH MAN IS BEST EPIC I EVER SEEN HOPE YALL GIVE IT A CHANCE

[@mike-mz6yz]

I can totally get liking HP more and connecting with it on a deeper level....but LOTRs is objectively the more epic story lol for one thing the scale is so much larger. HP deals with a threat rising to one country where LOTRs deals with a whole world. I dont want to go into detail about what defines an epic...but its a specific thing like westerns or comedies. HP isn't meant to be an epic. LOTRs is a fantasy epic where HP is more modern fantasy(or at least was when written) North man is a great example of an epic though. I love both btw

[@ljs1668]

Just a reminder why I don’t always listen to critics. It seems like maybe their tone changed throughout as they realized how much people loved these movies, especially Roeper. Shameful review of Fellowship.

[@patrickjames1798]

He basically stated that he understands why people like them, but he thought there were too many characters, and it just didn't work for him. There's nothing wrong with that, and calling it shamefull is narrow-minded.

[@egggnome6266]

It was certainly interesting listening to these non-Tolkien fans as they experienced the movies from the perspective of the films alone. Imagine thinking the third movie was the best of the three, or that The Two Towers didn't have such a canon breaking element hanging over the entire film. Jackson did say he had to film them like this for general audiences though, so I guess this exemplified how it worked.

[@thefonzkiss]

1:51

[@newwavepop]

i was already an adult when the Harry Potter nooks came out and i never read them so i dont have the same attachment to them that A LOT of people seem to have, so i watched all those films once and i enjoyed them but not enough that i have ever watched any of them again so i dont really get them saying they liked that better. i was VERY ambivalent when i first heard they were making the Lord Of The Ring films because there is simply no possible way it can be done well, yet somehow they ended up amazing me and pulling off the impossible. i have my complaints most of which are minor and some of that is casting as i just really can not stand Orlando Bloom. other than his existence and a couple of very short cringe scene with Legolas i think they are really great films. one thing i have mixed feelings about is i have not read the books since the 80s but my biggest memories by far of reading the books was the Mines Of Moria part, in my memory that was a huge long epic chase that went on for days or weeks full of small skirmishes and escapes so its weird to see it happen so fast in the film. it bugs me a little that Ebert keeps complaining that it doesnt capture the whimsy of the books as if he is a big fan, but then he complains about it not being believable how active Gandalf is. Gandalf is not an elderly human thats just how he chooses to appear. he is basically the same kind of being that chose to appear as the Balrog. which is why they have an epic fight because they are equals.

[@aarondavis8943]

The original nerd vs Chad.

[@JoeyArmstrong2800]

I'm embarrassed to admit I felt the same way as Roeper about the first movie. I almost fell asleep in the Theater. Than The Two Towers came out and knocked my socks off.

[@CharlieNagoo]

You should be embarrassed.

[@jstewlly4747]

I fell asleep in the first a d second I was like 7 or 8 but it wasn't as good when I rewatched as adult I agree with Ebert But Two Towers though was so dark as adult I loved it and ROTK is a masterpiece of epic portions

[@rosario508]

I actually agree. I didn’t like the first one either. As a matter of fact I kept walking out of the theater and the only reason I didn’t leave is because I was with a friend and he sat through the whole thing. It put me off from seeing the rest of the trilogy. However a local art-house movie theater is playing the entire trilogy so I’m going to give it another shot.

[@75pdubs]

i thought it was just me. i tried about 5 times but could never get more than 30mins into it.

[@ArthurCSchaperMR]

Wow! They really went off on this trilogy! I like LOTR more than Harry Potter, by the way.

[@gterrymed]

LORD OF THE RINGS IS EXCELLENT!!!!!!! All Three Films are excellent but you know Frodo isn't going to die. lol Roeper is too daggone young to appreciate movies like Ebert.

[@thefonzkiss]

He goes into the west at the end to die.

[@gterrymed]

@@thefonzkiss that stupid spiderbite; no suspense. Frodo will live. And Frodo won't be thrown into the volcano. It's like The Avengers winning against Thanos; 2 Billion dollars in revenue from people to see a movie they already know the answer to.

[@ronshadian9695]

How can roeper not be informed as to the original story of Lord of the rings which portrays the story of Good and evil from a Christian point of view where the ring of power symbolizes the covetous nature of the flesh which unceasingly in spite of itself, seeks out the desires and indulgences of the flesh, at the expense of the soul or internal spirit which too is in constant peril.