The Lord of the Rings: The Motion Picture Trilogy (Theatrical Editions) [Blu-ray]Joel writes: Check out these review comments from people on Amazon regarding the blu-ray release of the theatrical editions. There’s a story there how, in this economy, people are angry at New Line for doing the ‘double dipping’ by releasing the theatrical first, and the extended later. It has forced the trilogy down to a 2-star average rating. I’ve not seen something quite like this before – love of the film, but such anger over a release/marketing policy. There’s 34 pages of >90% bitter reviews.

Xoanon here: I’m not too sure how much of ‘New Line Cinema’ exists, so venting to them may not help. LOTR is now a property of Warner Bros., and I assume the release schedule is of their doing. One sure fire way to get their attention is to visit this link and send them a kindly worded email expressing your disappointment. You never know, fans made LOTR a hit, and perhaps we can make a difference here as well.

Diane writes: Cinemaworld celebrates the 6 year anniversary of The Lord of the Rings trilogy with an exclusive screening of all three The Lord of the Rings films on April 25th & 26th, starting at Noon. See these ground-breaking films, up on the big screen again, on film, in all their glory. Cinemaworld is also proud to announce that we have managed to reserve the Extended Editions of Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers, showing you more of the movie than ever before! The fun starts at noon with 20 minute intermissions between film. Join us to relive one of the greatest feats in modern movie making. More…

The folks from Crescent Moon Publishing send along word of two Tolkien books available on Amazon.com. Take a look at Tolkien’s Heroic Quest (Paperback) and J.R.R. Tolkien: The Books, The Films, The Whole Cultural Phenomenon, Including a Scene By Scene Analysis of the 2001-2003 Lord of the Rings Films (Paperback). Continue reading “New Tolkien Books from Crescent Moon Publishing”

When director Peter Jackson asked Howard Shore to compose the score for “The Lord of the Rings” film trilogy, Shore studied J.R.R. Tolkien’s fantasy world before beginning four years of writing music. At a Master’s Tea Tuesday afternoon, Shore shared insights about composing, orchestrating, conducting and producing more than ten hours of music to accompany “The Lord of the Rings” films in front of more than 100 students in the Branford College common room. The Academy Award-winning composer, who also wrote the scores for “Mrs. Doubtfire” and “Doubt,” among others, also told stories about working on other genres of music before his venture into cinema. Shore began the talk by describing his first encounters with music. From the beginning, his clarinet teacher felt it was important that he learn music composition techniques such as harmony and counterpoint, he said. By the time Shore was 11 years old, he was already writing small pieces. Shore shares insights on ‘Rings’ trilogy