Okay, that was kind of a lame subject line.
On the other hand, these scanned pics from next year’s LotR calendar (i.e., with pics from RotK) are, well, very cool.
Gandalf swinging about Glamdring with abandon.
Frodo in Shelob’s lair (with the Vial of Galadriel?!).
Sam cradling Frodo.
Denethor looking too clever for his own good.
My only gripe: Eowyn in a dress, looking wistful. Unless showing her otherwise would be a spoiler …
And let me say this about one other pic, shown at the right. I know some folks have griped over Cate Blanchett as Galadriel, and it is true that she is not a classic beauty model like Liv Tyler. But, damn, I love her voice, and her wise/gentle/amused/knowing smile is just plain ol’ perfect. The Lady of the Golden Wood is certainly someone to both worship and fear …
Good casting, sez I.
(via Andrea)
Oooh, so pretty!
I agree with the Éowyn assessment.
Yeah, if it were up to me I’d have included Eowyn in butt-kicking mode and left the wistfulness to Arwen.
I agree about Blanchett, also. Galadriel calls for beauty but also a little something… eerie, and I think she was great. I’m not crazy about her temptation scene in FOTR, but that had more to do with the weird animation stuff they did than with anything related to her in the role.
Yeah, that didn’t quite work the way I thought they wanted it to (though it was akin to the Ring-o-Vision effect). But they had the right idea.
I find it interesting that Jackson has Galadriel playing a more leading role in events than she ostensibly does in Tolkien’s original. The choice in the narration, as well as her intervention with Elrond, both serve to point up the power and involvement she has in the whole story.
I don’t thing elven beauty should be based on human notions of beauty, anyway. They are *other*. What they find attractive we might find frightening (hence glamour, no?).
I think the casting for Galadriel is perfect, and that Arwen might have been a bit more exotic… (although I am enjoying Liv’s perfomrmance, no doubt there)
jai durge
vrb vuddle!