I've been meaning to ask: where are things at now? Has all interest in you died off or are you still getting harassed?

Well, Tolkien's original strong woman was Lúthien. She was about as strong as they come. She was an elven princess who fell in love with Beren, a mortal man. When he was captured and tortured by Sauron, she faced him herself. Sauron. The dark freaking lord. With the help of Huan the hound the two of them defeated waves of wolves and a shapeshifting Sauron, beat his ass, made him hand over the keys to the dungeon and banished him from the land.

She healed Beren and the two of them lived like bandits in the forest, very unfitting for a highborn elven lady. Tolkien didn't stop there, though. Like a boss, she helped her lover Beren steal the Silmarils, the most precious jewels ever crafted in Arda, right from the crown of Morgoth himself. The original dark lord, who made Sauron look like a kitten by comparison.

When Beren died fighting off the mightiest of all werewolves, she died of grief, then pleaded to the Valar (the gods) in the afterlife to let her reunite with Beren, at the cost of her immortality. Her sacrifice moved them and both were brought back from death as mortals; the only time that ever happened to lesser beings in Tolkien's mythos. The two lived out their mortal lives and had many children, eventually becoming the ancestors of Elrond and Arwen.

Tolkien requested his wife Edith's grave be inscripted with the name Lúthien. When he died, the name Beren was added to his inscription.

Syl, did you see The Door ("Die Tür") with Mads Mikkelsen? I quite liked that one.

Aaaand following. Love it.

What I missed from the Hobbit was the colour grading they did back in LOTR. There was a desaturated, subtle blue-y green tint  to the world and they weren't afraid to get grainy. That made the whole thing feel so much more like an old story. Couple that with models and prosthetics and PJ's never ending mantra of "it has to feel like it's real" and you end up with a world you feel you could walk right into.

Hobbit went the complete opposite direction. The colours are vibrant and tend to ooze from every nook and cranny. The camera dives and swoops, actors are replaced with digital stunt doubles. While that might be impressive on a technical level, I feel a big disconnect between this story and LOTR. You could argue that we're watching the story from Bilbo's perspective and therefore the world is more of a marvel and wonder than if it were read from an old tome.

Y'know I keep hearing that argument: "well the story is told from Bilbo's perspective, so XYZ." I'll agree that the book certainly is that way. But the movie isn't Bilbo-centric. We have the same omniscient perspective that we had in LOTR. I'm getting really sick of hearing that reasoning because people are using it as a way to explain away everything that could be criticized about the films.

I'm still optimistic, though. I love LOTR and it will always hold a special place in my heart. I enjoyed the Hobbit a lot, just not on the same level as LOTR. I have a feeling I'll probably enjoy this movie a lot, too. It has the same spirit as LOTR underneath it all, but the surface is different enough that it doesn't feel the same. Ultimately though, the spirit of the books is what means the most to me, so I'm still looking forward to watching this.

I stand corrected, redxavier. It's hard to remember all the plot details from book to book. You're right; those are pretty awful traits.

Still, I like that she has and arc and I do still like her character. Is she a hero in the classic sense? No. But I do like her trajectory and I like her point of view, even if it is incredibly different from the other characters in the series.

Also, we need a separate thread for shipping Jaime and Brienne.

Anyone wanna place bets on how long it'll take until Maisie Williams' vine post becomes an autotuned dubstep track on YouTube?

@Shackman:
Brilliant idea. Let's start with something dead easy. How about Return of the King? That'd be a piece of cake, right Alex?

It would also get problematic from a copyright standpoint. Unless it's considered educational. Is that a thing? If something's being analysed for educational purposes it's okay to use?

Because if it is, I'd eschew the audience needing to do the pause and rewind stuff and just do it on the show.

"Mother" is totally worth seeing. It's a quiet, intimate slow-burn of a film. In some ways, it doesn't feel very Korean if what you're used to is stuff like "Oldboy" and "The Host". I really enjoyed it. My guess is it's not for everyone, though.

What I love so much about Korean movies in general is their ability to seamlessly move between dark drama and lighthearted humour and then back again without ever losing the overall tone of the film. There's something going on deep down on a cultural level, I think because I've noticed that happening on a number of different films by a number of directors. They have their own flavor. And to me, they often feel more cinematic and sometimes more fulfilling than a lot of Western films because they don't attempt to follow any of the usual Hollywood conventions and it's a really refreshing experience.