I had the strange impression during the opening Lake town scene of everyone trying to "get back in the groove", for lack of a better term. I haven't watched DOS since theaters but I just felt this strange air of none of the actors buying into the proceedings at all, which diminished after that point and I had also not felt in the previous installments. I don't know if it's just me or if I'm doing a terrible job of articulating this.

Overall, this one felt torturous. I was so thoroughly disappointed by AUJ, as I think most sane people were, that, with extremely lowered expectations, I did manage to enjoy DOS and all of its excesses. But this one seemed to crank of the issues of these films, and Jackson's filmmaking style in general up to 11. The most enjoyment I've gotten from these films is seeing Legolas perform ridiculous CGI stunts, as that seems to be one of the only qualities these films share with LOTR.

Even knowing what was coming, it's been a while since I've been quite so viscerally horrified by an act of violence on screen as I was by Oberyn's death.

I would love for you guys to do Wings of Desire, but unless someone has some hidden love for it I could see it not working out. Although the fact that it has an off putting Nicolas Cage remake might make for some good discussion.

After how incredibly let down I was by AUJ, I had zero expectations for this movie and I ended up enjoying myself far more than I have AUJ on either of my two rewatchings. However, despite receiving the blu-ray as a gift I have yet to feel compelled to revisit it. It really breaks my heart how much the magic has just been lost with these films. I guess it makes the rings films seem all the better for the comparison, but I still don't understand how this team can have dropped the ball this much. And I still wish we could have seen GDT's version of the movies...