Just give me a movie with swords

[Kent2010]

Originally Posted by Azaelia of Willowbottom

LOTR didn't really lead me to any other movies within the genre, though I tend to wind up interesting places when I follow LOTR actors around. Elijah Wood brought me to Everything is Illuminated, a truly unique film that is definitely within the top five on my favorites list. Viggo Mortensen led me to Hidalgo which has served my friends and I well in terms of rainy-day entertainment. Seeing his face on the cover of The Road by Cormac McCarthy led me to discover a bleakly beautiful book. I'm awaiting the movie with bated breath.

I do the same, although I haven't seen Hidalgo. I watched History of Violence and Eastern Promises just because it had Viggo Mortensen.

I don't care how bad the reviews are, I will watch any movie with Viggo, Ian Holm, or eventhough not an LOTR actor I wish she was - Natalie Portman.

Originally Posted by Azaelia of Willowbottom

I don't care for the special effects revolution that LOTR brought about. There's something about seeing flesh-and-blood people onscreen that no amount of computer wizardry can replace. That said, the special effects in LOTR do still remain the standard by which I judge other movies. So far, only the first Chronicles of Narnia really measures up. Movies need to have a soul, a purpose, beyond special effects, or they're just a disaster, and I hope that cinema realizes that sooner rather than later.

I really have enjoyed the Narnia movies and can't wait for The Dawn Treader. On some levels I think they are better than the LOTR movies. They aren't on the same 'grand' blockbuster scale like LOTR, but I like the attention on the characters. I thought most of the LOTR characters were one-dimensional or too simple.

Originally Posted by Nerwen

I doubt anyone would be complaining if those movies had been better in other ways, though– to repeat myself, there's a basic difference between using special effects to tell your story and telling your story in order to use special effects. By and large I think the LotR movies get it right (with notable exceptions, of course).

True, with a competent lead actor and a story line people can follow (I doubt the guy who played the Architect knew half the things he would ramble about), the CGI might not have mattered.

I have to admit I enjoy the Sci-Fi original movies, simply for the dreadful script and bad CGI. I've seen the Sci-Fi movies with better CGI than The Matrix, and I doubt those movies had the amount of money put into them as The Matrix.