Movie: Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug

My rating on a 1-10 scale: 9.5

Genre: Fantasy, adventure

Series or set: Hobbit

Number in series: 2^nd

Primary actors: Ian McKellen, Martin Freeman, Richard Armitage

Length: Two and a half hours or so

Based on: Technically, the original Hobbit book, with a bit pulled from LOTR

Time period: Fantasy

Rating: PG-13

Year it came out: 2013

My overall opinion: A good movie! At the time of writing this, I’ve seen it twice in the theater and will see it once more before it goes out. I liked it better the second time than the first, though I greatly enjoyed it both times! Now, here we go with what I thought of it and specific people/creatures/events/etc, in no particular order.

Be warned: spoilers are not in the least avoided! Indeed, they abound.

Bolg – Another primary orc dude to dislike, in addition to Azog who is making a return from the previous movie. And once again, he has quite a unique look about him – almost like there are bolts in his head, or at least, that was my first impression. While Azog was still the main immediately-visible villain, Bolg was also around quite often to do his dirty work for him. Decidedly despicable.

Gold – There was so much gold in this movie! Seriously. Either I haven’t heard, or I don’t remember how many gold coins were made for these scenes, but it was clearly a lot. The sheer vastness of the dragon’s lair was stunning…but I’ll come to that in a bit more detail later. Anyway. So there was all the gold in the dragon’s lair, and then down in the furnaces and all the gold that was supposed to bury said dragon was also an immense amount. Most impressive!

CGI – Like the vast amounts of gold, there were also vast amounts of CGI – albeit, very well done in my opinion. As my friend pointed out, however, part of the charm and enduring quality of the LOTR trilogy is the fact that so much of it is real, not digital. However, the CGI in this film was done nicely and didn’t detract from the story.

Dragon – One cannot write a review of this movie without a section for the dragon Smaug! He was impressive, and seemed quite accurate to the book, which I greatly appreciated. He seemed quite reasonable as far as dragons go. Certainly very large, very strong, but not impressively wise. So yeah, a good dragon!

Underground sets – There were two amazing locations that were underground in this movie – one being Thranduil’s palace with wood elves and the other, obviously, being within the Lonely Mountain. Let’s start with Thranduil’s. After I got used to the idea of elves living underground instead of just in trees (accurate to the book as it is!), I quite liked it. It managed to be underground, yet still spacious and truly beautiful. And light. Elegant curves, making it elvish. A lovely place to live. And then there’s the whole area under the Lonely Mountain. As you may know if you know me (or have read this blog for very long), I have rather a fascination with caves and underground scenes – the Mines of Moria is my hands-down-all-time favorite part in the LOTR trilogy. So going underground again here had me on the edge of my seat. The dragon’s lair is gigantic and awe-inspiring. And then the melting area…but that deserves it’s own section. Suffice to say that I have gained a very deep respect for the work of the dwarves and the area that they have created under there. I’d love to visit – after the dragon is gone and all is at peace.

Forge/furnace/melting place – This part was all so amazing. I was fascinated by how everything worked, and by watching the whole process. It’s quite an ingenious plan in the end, that whole thing with the statue, though how Thorin could’ve ever actually thought it would work is beyond me. Anyway, this was all definitely one of my favorite parts!

Sauron, orcs, and the ring – Because they all go together a lot. Sauron first. I’m not sure if he was ever named or not, but he was definitely there and a rather prominent part of this movie. He even takes on the eye form in a way. Some of that eye part was a little silly, I thought, but certainly very dramatic. Then there was the ring – already Bilbo feels often compelled to put it on and disappear, and experiences a weird world when he does. Played up a little from the book, but not an all bad change. And finally, the orcs. This was a big thing about this movie that I didn’t like – remember the scene where Gandalf goes to Dol Guldur to fight against the evil lurking there and meets Azog and co? At some point, as Gandalf is looking, he is told by the orcs that “we are legion.” There was a lot of darker content in parts of this movie, and that combined with the particular use of the word “legion” (which is pretty Biblical) felt like it was a very direct nod to satanic or demonic behavior. I’m all for a good-versus-evil battle, and think that probably some of this story does definitely correlate to the Bible. However, I really don’t like it when demonic type stuff is in the story, even when it’s clearly evil. SO I strongly disliked that.

Legolas – He’s back! Technically, it’s true, he’s not supposed to be but I think his appearance was more than worth it. It was great to see him again. He wasn’t a character who the audience got very attached to in this movie like he was in LOTR, and you never really got to know him – he spent most of his time doing awesome trick shooting. Speaking of which, I laughed when he stood on dwarf heads as they floated down the river and shot orcs – they all shot orcs. Epic. But yes! Legolas was back, up to amazing tricks once again.

Tauriel – Finally! A female elf who’s a fighter! She was a delight to watch. I did think that the whole thing with her and Kili was a little silly – I mean sure, he’s cute and awesome, but he’s a dwarf and she wouldn’t fall for him. Ever. But all in all, I thought she was awesome and her fighting skills are amazing!

Dwarves in barrels and spiders – The barrel scene was delightful, as I have suspected since the very beginning. While I didn’t absolutely fall in love with it, it was good and certainly enjoyable. And Bombur flying out of the river in his barrel, crashing down a hill, and killing many orcs? That was amazing. The spiders…definitely gross, but a good part of the movie.

Bard – We finally get to meet Bard here! He’s not bad looking, and seems like a nice enough man – I had to keep reminding myself that while he has his good points, he’s a bad guy in the final battle (although Thorin is too a little bit). But here Bard has a son and two daughters who we get quite attached to, and I’m curious to see how they paint him in the third movie.

Fire – Strange to say, the fire in this movie really stood out for me. Lol, it sounds weird – but I walked away thinking “There was so much fire!” Smaug was certainly very fond of it and used it often. Random point.

Nazgul beginnings stuff – To anyone not familiar with the Lord of the Rings movies, much of the fore-shadowing in this movie may go unnoticed and may even seem confusing. However, LOTR fans will be fascinated by the beginnings of the Nazgul. My only drawback is, of course, that this is not really in the book at all and technically shouldn’t have been included in this movie. Their burial place, where Gandalf and Radagast visited, was fascinating though!

Gandalf’s journeyings – I will be the first to admit that seeing where Gandalf went after leaving the hobbits was fascinating, and for the most part, it makes sense to have included it – time-wise, at least. Though I think much of it isn’t learned until LOTR in the books. But it was interesting, for sure, despite the made-up parts.

Peter Jackson’s cameo – Yup, there he was within the first few moments of the actual film, chomping down on another carrot in a distinct nod to Fellowship of the Ring! I was quite excited that I caught his cameo this time. :D

Book faithfulness – Well, as some other person said, about half of it is from the book and half of it is just made up and stuck in and added to make it more exciting. It was definitely exciting. And some of the improvements were indeed improvements – some I didn’t like as much.

Something missing – One thing that hit me really hard to not have was the awesome way that the dwarves are introduced to Beorn. Here they see him as a bear, and then get chased by orcs and all just kind of run into his house. Remember how in the book, they come in by twos following Gandalf’s instructions as he steadily spins a tale, except for Bombur who comes a little before he’s supposed to? It’s such a cool way to do it, and I really missed that here. I also noted that this movie entirely skipped the river with the water that they couldn’t touch (except Bombur touched it and fell asleep and they had to carry him a great distance).

So there you go – a complete run-down of my thoughts concerning Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug! Worth your time and money to see in the theater? Absolutely. I can’t wait to watch it again!

Want more Tolkien and Hobbit things? Check out my Tolkienesque Pinterest board!

Have you seen it? What did you think?

Giveaways and a Birthday

Today is a special day...it's J. R. R. Tolkien's birthday! He would be 120 today if he were still alive. Let this encourage you to re-read his Lord of the Rings trilogy, along with The Hobbit (especially since the first movie is just out! Find my review on the right). Please join me in wishing him a happy birthday!

Now, on to the giveaways. I'm not having one (remember though, that I'll have one when there are 200 followers! We're up to 196...), but several other blogs are having them to celebrate the new year, and even a few left over from Christmas. Let's see what you could get!

You could win Downton Abbey Season 3 (or 2 or 1, or you could win a variety of other movies including Brave!) or a $25 gift certificate for Amazon (or $10 for iTunes)...pretty awesome giveaway, huh? Just click HERE for this giveaway! And incidentally...that's a really fun blog to browse too!

Or, you could win The Way of Grace by Cathy Bryant. Again, this giveaway is on one of my favorite blogs, and this book looks well worth reading! Click HERE to go enter.

Finally, you could win Melanie Dickerson's newest release, The Fairest Beauty. It looks like it's a delightful fairy tale retelling! Just click HERE.

There you have it, folks! Go enter some of these awesome giveaways. :) Oh, by the way...this is my 1200th post. :D

*Edit:* It's not Tolkien's 120th birthday, it's his 121st. I'm still thinking in 2012 time...saw someone else post that it was 121st, and thought they were wrong. But I checked my math and...I was wrong. SO. I apologize.

Movie: Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

My rating on a 1-10 scale: 9.5

Genre: Fantasy, classic, adventure

Series or set: The official prequel to Lord of the Rings

Primary actors: There are a lot! They include Ian McKellen, Richard Armitage, Cate Blanchett, and Martin Freeman along with others.

Length: About three hours -- just under.

Based on: The classic and amazing work of literature, The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien.

Time period: Fantasy

Quote(s): Go here for quotes!

Year it came out: 2012 (December 14)

My overall opinion: It lived up to all my hopes and dreams. Before you read any further: this review will have spoilers. Please do not read until you've seen the movie. It'll be so much better then!

Now that we're all clear on what you are or are not doing (and you'd better not be reading this if you haven't seen it -- I'm serious!)...let's go. This is in no order...just as it comes to mind. :) I saw it just a few hours ago, so it's not all in order yet.

Azog -- disgusting. And inaccurate. I knew he wasn't in Hobbit, but wasn't sure about the whole thing with Thorin. On coming home and looking it all up in my Complete Guide to Middle-Earth by Robert Foster, I discovered that sure enough, Thorin had nothing to do with Azog. Yes, Azog killed Thror, Thorin's ancestor. But though Thorin fought in that battle, he didn't apparently have personal contact with Azog. Azog was killed in that battle as well and most certainly did not come back. However, including him certainly added some excitement!

Soundtrack -- amazing. Beautiful. Unebelievable. Never going to stop listening. I love it SO much. Combines Lord of the Rings' music with the theme of the Lonely Mountain song in a beautiful way, blending familiar and new seamlessly. I found a copy on youtube and can't stop listening. I had included it below, but it appears to have stopped working, so I removed it again. It's awesome and I can't wait to get the CD soundtrack!

Panoramic scenes -- Again, beautiful. Simply stunning. Especially in a theater. The landscape is so beautiful! And there's a wide variety too! More on sets and stuff in a bit.

Goblin king -- Wow. That guy was super interesting, my dad's favorite character...for looks, you understand. A huge flap of flesh almost like a beard...so unbelievably disgusting and, well, fascinating! Warts everywhere. Puppy dog eyes. He's scary, he's disgustingly fat, he's...wow. Definitely a memorable part of the movie!

Sets -- There were so many amazing sets that I had no idea were coming! Or at least, I really had pictured them all wrong when I read the book, and hadn't pictured at all for the movie! For example, the whole goblin kingdom under the Misty Mountains (more on the kidnapping later). Astounding! And Rivendell -- beautiful. Even more so than in LOTR, I think. The waterfalls and all were amazing! I was pretty impressed. Also, the scenes including peeks into Moria (so familiar to me!) and Erebor (pretty cool) were exceptional.

Rivendell -- I loved it. Like I said above, the waterfalls were so pretty. The whole place was beautiful, and apparently also caught in perpetual sunrise. Though the movie spent relatively little time there, it was clear how peaceful and calm it was...I liked it.

Elrond -- My only reason to include him in this particular part was his age. I felt like he looked significantly younger here than in LOTR. Having looked at pictures online, I may have been mistaken. I thought his hair was a bit gray in LOTR...guess not. But he has a lot of lines on his face there, and (if my memory serves me right) not so much in HAUJ. That may be just me. Now, I know it  was 60 years or so between HAUJ and LOTR, but since Elrond's thousands of years old...he shouldn't age.

Gandalf, Elrond, Saruman, Galadriel -- The whole council meeting at Elrond's was all wrong. Saruman and Galadriel never appear in the book. Gandalf does go to visit Saruman, but it's not mentioned except that he's gone...and you only learn where in LOTR (I think...maybe appendices or something?). Galadriel was beautiful, but shouldn't have been there. And Saruman...well, yeah, I talked about him.

Gollum -- Somewhere on the web I saw someone call him cute and say they kind of liked him. At the time, I admit that I laughed at them...how could anyone like Gollum? But now that I've seen him here, I see what they meant. He is pitiable! And almost cute during the riddle game! Which I loved, btw, except that they left out some riddles...very sad. Interesting to see him here.

Bilbo -- One can hardly review HAUJ without mentioning Bilbo. I've seen some reviewers that bashed him, but personally? I though Martin Freeman made a great Bilbo. His face expressions were so neat! I liked those. I think they did a good job with picking Martin for Bilbo...I never did like Elijah Wood as Frodo, so I'm glad that this one's straight on.

Fili and Kili -- Liked them a lot! Especially Kili. They're awesome little guys. :) And I am suddenly not anticipating the third movie if it follows the book. Which I generally strongly advocate, but might make an exception for here. And if you don't know what I'm talking about...go read the book. You should've read it already anyway. :) But yeah, I liked them! Oh also. By my third time through, one thing had become clear...one of my all-time favorite scenes is when Kili jumps out from by the rock and shoots an arrow and kills the warg and orc. SO MUCH AWESOMENESS there.

Thorin -- Ah, the other must-review character. Gotta admit, Richard Armitage was great! I had seen him as Mr. Thornton in North and South and knew of his roles in Sherlock Holmes and ...was it Robin Hood? Anyway, I didn't quite know what to expect. But? I loved it. Okay, fine, I loved him. Overall. But it was rather hilarious to see him looking so short by Gandalf! A guy with a personality like he has definitely shouldn't be short. But he was pretty much awesome as a short dwarf with a big sword.

Radagast -- Okay, the whole Radagast thing was weird. I knew that he'd be in here (even though he technically shouldn't be according to the book) but like that? He was just a little ditzy! I didn't like the way he was portrayed. Now, it's true that we have practically no information about Radagast the Brown. But I don't think he was quite this crazy. And that white stuff on his head...what was it, bird doo? No. All wrong. Nests in the hair are one thing, bird doo quite another.  

History -- It wasn't in the book. And I thought it was a great idea and a great addition. All that history at the beginning of the film, and sprinkled throughout? So neat! I loved it! Seeing those things on screen was amazing. Definitely worth adding, and I'm glad they did. So yup, really liked that.

In Relation to the Book -- Overall, HAUJ did a tolerably good job of following the beginning of Tolkien's original book. One difference (not including all that I've already mentioned in passing) would be the orcs and ... wargs? you know, those things who chase the dwarves and Bilbo. Very reminiscent of LOTR TT, but not a great fit here...though they definitely added intensity. Also, the part where they all fall into the goblin realm...again, that's not how it happened in the book. I always though a crack opening at the back of the cave was plenty frightening enough, and I don't know why they had to change it to the floor cracking open. The same goes for Bilbo's fight with a goblin and fall to Gollum's lair. Though there I admit that I can see why they wanted to add a little excitement. Technically, you know, Bilbo was there through the whole goblin battle! But all in all? I'm pretty satisfied.

Stone giants -- Considering that they only have a sentence or two in the book, they were much more played up here! I'd been anticipating seeing how Peter Jackson would interpret them...no disappointment. Very interesting! Again, that section was greatly drawn out (compared to the book -- by no means boring!) but good.

Humor -- The humor was not something I was expecting...and I loved it! Gandalf had a funny comment or two, and there were a few characters who made you laugh too! It was great. :)

Battles -- Like in LOTR, they were amazing. Big scale, lots of people, and a fast camera. Great battles, for being battles!

All around -- A great movie! I can't wait to see it again.

The Children of Hurin

Author: J. R. R. Tolkien

Genre: Fantasy, history

Series: It’s the early history of Middle-Earth, and gives background on characters mentioned in a legendary manner in Lord of the Rings

My rating on a 1-10 scale: 8

Type: Fiction

Number of pages: 313

Time period: Fantasy

My overall opinion: While I didn’t love it, it was very interesting and I learned some fascinating historical “facts” about Middle-Earth before the Third Age (in which Lord of the Rings and Hobbit took place). My favorite thing about this book, though? Alan Lee’s amazing pictures. Every 10 or 15 pages, a beautiful glossy picture, usually of a location, was inserted. Most of them were done in amazing grays, browns, and greens, and had an amazing amount of detail. I had to keep myself from flipping ahead to look at the pictures, and it’s been a long time since I really wanted to look ahead! As you may know, Alan Lee was one of the concept artists for the Lord of the Rings movies, and now for the Hobbit films. SO, this book is just about worth reading for the pictures! But it was also quite easy to read for me, and an enjoyable addition to Tolkien’s literature.

Following Gandalf

Author: Matthew Dickerson

Genre: It’s a companion for Lord of the Rings and Hobbit. 

My rating on a 1-10 scale: 9

Type: Non-fiction about a fiction book (?)

Number of pages: 234

My overall opinion: Overall, I really enjoyed it! Dickerson did a good job of not reading into the book too much – pet peeve of mine. :P This book included a lot of quotes from Lord of the Rings and Hobbit, which I enjoyed. One or two chapters got a little too theological about things, IMHO, but that was only a bit. For the most part, this book is great and will answer some of your questions about Gandalf, Ilúvatar, Aragorn, and others. Very good overall, and I recommend it for any Tolkien fan!

Day 24 – Books

Six Favorite Classic Authors

Classic books are some of the best ones out there. And naturally, that makes their authors some of the best ones out there too. J Note that Jane Austen isn’t mentioned here…I definitely consider her one of the best, but she’s been talked about so much on here, that I’m not including her here.

#1. Baroness Emmuska Orczy. She wrote most notably The Scarlet Pimpernel, a long time favorite of mine. She also wrote sequels for it, including The League of the Scarlet Pimpernel among others.

#2. L. M. Montgomery. Best known for Anne of Green Gables. She wrote a lot of other books as well, all delightful. Find more about her from when I had L. M. Montgomery Day! Herself, her books, the movies of her books.

#3. J. R. R. Tolkien. He wrote The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, along with some other smaller books. Learn about him from J. R. R. Tolkien Day! Himself, his books, the movies of his books.

#4. Louisa May Alcott. Known for Little Women. She also wrote Little Men, Jo’s Boys, and more. Eight Cousins is a favorite of mine.  

#5. C. S. Lewis. Especially notable are The Chronicles of Narnia, a seven book series. He wrote a variety of other books as well. Learn more about him from C. S. Lewis Day! Himself, his books, the movies from his books.

#6. Alexander Dumas. Known for writing The Three Musketeers. Also wrote other books, including The Man in the Iron Mask and The Count of Monte Cristo.

J. R. R. Tolkien Day: The Movies

As many of you know, I'm passionate about some of these. Let's start with the documentaries. I haven't seen any of these, but they're out there.

First, Master of the Rings.

Apparently, there was also a 1968 BBC documentary on Tolkien.

Let's move on. In 2001, The Fellowship of the Ring came out. It was and is very popular. It made over $870 million dollars worldwide.

Next out, in 2002, was Two Towers.

Finally, the final movie came out: The Return of the King.

And now, in two parts coming in 2012 and 2013, The Hobbit is being made.

Prior to the Lord of the Rings movies mentioned above, there were some ones made in comic style. I haven't seen those, though.

So. Now you tell me: which Lord of the Rings movie so far has been your favorite? Are you anticipating The Hobbit?

J. R. R. Tolkien Day: His Books

Welcome back to this part of J. R. R. Tolkien Day, part of The Ultimate Book Bash!

Tolkien wrote several very famous books, but also a great many that you and I may have never heard of. We'll start with the famous ones.

The Hobbit. Something of a prequel to his next famous books, The Lord of the Rings. It was written in 1937.

The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King came out in 1954 and 1955. They were instantly loved. This complex trilogy follows the adventures of Frodo and his friends as they travel to destroy the Ring.

In 1962, The Adventures of Tom Bombadil came out. I haven't read this, nor have I read reviews, so I don't know how good it is.

Tolkien wrote a huge variety of complicated Middle-Earth histories.

You can find a complete list of Tolkien's works by clicking here.

But remember...we aren't done with Tolkien yet! The best is yet to come. Maybe. ;)

The Ultimate Book Bash: J. R. R. Tolkien Day

So. Last night I was thinking about the Book Bash and turning over an idea I've had for a while about really posting a whole bunch during the UBB. And I decided...well, it was like this. I thought to myself "You know what? We're just going to do this. I'm going to post six times a day for a week. I can do that." Yes I can. And here we go. Each day, Tuesday through Friday, will be for a specific author. Today's: J. R. R. Tolkien. If you have anything to post that has to do with him, now would be a great time. :)

Wednesday: Jane Austen (just for all you Austenites. :)
Thursday: L. M. Montgomery
Friday: C. S. Lewis

Feel free to post anything to do with the author on that day on your blog! And have fun!

Now, right here is our first post today about Tolkien.

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was born on January 3, 1892. He had one younger brother. In 1911, the census shows that he was going to school in Edgbaston (that's in England). That summer, he went on holiday to Switzerland, and there, he got his ideas for Bilbo's journey across the Misty Mountains. When he was 16, he had met Edith Mary Bratt, who he later married. There are some humorous stories from this time period in Tolkien's life, which you can read on Wikipedia. :)

Finally, he married Edith. Sometime after mid-1915, he entered the army. In 1916, he got trench fever, a disease carried by lice. After he returned from fighting there in World War I, he started working with Oxford English Dictionary. Right before World War II, the government considered Tolkien to be a code-breaker, and he entertained hopes of becoming one. However, the government didn't need him after all.

He had four children: John, Michael, Christopher (who did much work with his books after his death), and Priscilla.

The Lord of the Rings was published in 1954 and 1955. Various other books were published, with help from his son, after his death, including The Silmarillion.

He died at the age of 81 in 1973. His wife had died a few years earlier.

So ends our first Tolkien post! More coming!

Lord of the Rings Extras in Books (aka, My Wishlist)

I was browsing Amazon today and discovered something. They have lots of companion books for Lord of the Rings, from movie guides to atlases. And since I have, in the last few months, become quite Lord of the Rings obsessed, well, I loved this. :) Saying it's my wishlist is partially joking...but not totally. ;) Mostly I'm doing this for my benefit (because I love Lord of the Rings and I also love lists). However, you may also find something new worth looking at. Here goes!

The Atlas of Middle-Earth by Karen Wynn Fonstad

I'll admit, it looks awesome. According to the reviews, it mostly talks about the Third Age, which is when Hobbit and Lord of the Rings took place. It also has some about the First and Second Ages, where Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales occurred. Mind you, I'm getting all this from reviews and the info on Amazon. There are regional maps (of the Shire, the Misty Mountains, Mordor, etc) and thematic maps (of the vegetation, climate, population, language spoken, etc). Now I really want to read it...and I'm in luck! Our library has it.

The Lord of the Rings Weapons and Warfare by Chris Smith and Christopher Lee

I'm just going to say it once more here. Everything that I'm saying is from either the reviews that others have left on Amazon, or from the product information there. Okay? So. Though I may tell it as truth, it's not from my personal experience. It has information about the Lord of the Rings characters, and even a little history from before the trilogy! I'm presuming this is probably before The Hobbit too. It does indeed appear to be written from a military perspective (duh, take a peek at the title), but has plenty of pictures. It even talks about the Dead Marshes! 

The Making of the Movie Trilogy by Brian Sibley

It apparently has over 300 photographs, from all three films. Sibley talks about the actors, the wardrobe, the miniatures, the computer graphics. He goes into baking lambas (you know, the elf biscuit things), creating Treebeard, the moth used by Gandalf for a messenger, etc. Also quotes from the actors, and interviews with a couple. One reviewer states that it's more about the movie and the graphics than the actors.

The Art of The Lord of the Rings by Gary Russell

Russell looks at the concept art in the trilogy. Pictures include everything from storyboards and pencil drawings to paintings and action shots. Some of it doesn't appear in other Lord of the Rings companion books! It also has a bunch of pictures of maquette models: apparently these include things like trolls, Shelob, Treebeard, etc. It's organized by artist as opposed to by object. Over 200 pages, and apparently the pictures are really awesome!

Right quick, I want to point out that Gary Russell also wrote "Art of" books about each of the individual films. I have had a friend tell me that the one for Fellowship of the Ring, at least, was quite good. So check into those if this interested you.

The Lord of the Films: The Unofficial Guide to Tolkien's Middle-Earth on the Big Screen by J. W. Braun

This one is said to be a scene-by-scene breakdown of Lord of the Rings. Apparently there are also games (?) and interviews with the filmakers. It also mentions mistakes that ended up in the final movie (though you could mostly find that on imdb.com) and a look behind the scenes. Some say there's a lot of the stuff that makes you say, "Awesome! I didn't know that!" I love those things.

The Complete Tolkien Companion by J. E. A. Tyler

It's said to be the "complete guide to lands, legends, histories, languages, and people." It explains everything and anything you can find in any of Tolkien's books concertning Middle-Earth, including the Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Hobbit, Unfinished Tales, The Silmarillion, etc. Tyler fully explains the Elvish system of writing, as well as including maps and family trees. Now, having looked at customer reviews, several are saying it's awful and mixes "fact" with "fiction." Also they say it's a bit confusing. So there are better ones, perhaps, but this is one to consider. For example, see the one below.

The Complete Guide to Middle-Earth by Robert Foster

Having done some more research, I'd say this is a better Tolkien companion than the one above. It has way more ratings in general, and definitely more 5-star and fewer 1-star ratings. So. What does it have to offer? One reviewer states that it has definitions for pretty much every word, person, and place that Tolkien uses. It looks like Foster did a ton of work on this, referencing characters where they have several names by each name. He seems to report the "facts" without mixing in his opinion, unlike some. I'd say, go for this Tolkien guide, thought it's a little outdated.

The Lord of the Rings Complete Visual Companion by Jude Fisher

I've known ever since I first saw the movies that I would want a book full of pictures from Lord of the Rings. I considered buying all the individual books, since they have one for each of the three movies, but this one seemed the most complete and the cheapest. :) I still don't own it and have never read it, but I hope to someday! Hundreds of photographs. Everything is in here, from places to people to animals. This guide includes the pictures from the other three pictoral guides, plus rounds it off with finale pictures. There's even a chapter about Aragorn and Arwen's wedding and coronation! Also final ones about the hobbits. I'm definitely buying this one as soon as possible.

Now here's one that I actually have read:

The Lord of the Rings Official Movie Guide by Brian Sibley

Well, I have to admit I didn't think a whole lot of this one. Sure, it had some pictures. Not nearly as many as I'd hoped for. It had a one page bio about each primary character, plus a large picture. I was hoping it would be like my Narnia movie guides for The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and Prince Caspian, but compared to them, this was a flop. Now, this is all my opinion...you might think very differently. But I recommend that you read it before you buy it!

Lord of the Rings Trilogy Photo Guide by J. R. R. Tolkien

This book appears to be aimed more at kids. And it's not a movie guide, whatever the title. According to the product description, it's "the official children's storybook covering all three Lord of the Rings movies." 250 some photographs in 160 pages. If I bought this, it'd just be for the pictures. Because I read the real books. :) There's only one review on Amazon, but it's a positive one. So!

The Music of the Lord of the Rings Films by Doug Adams

I didn't hear of this until today. And I'm not going to go out and buy it. But it does sound a bit interesting! This set includes original manuscript scores and a talk with the composer, Howard Shore. Also includes a rarities CD. For more, see the really long review on Amazon. It's over my head.

Note that photo guides/visual companions have been done for each film by Jude Fisher and David Brawn, seperately.

Other books you might enjoy include Creatures of the Two Towers by David Brawn and The Lord of the Rings Location Guidebook by Ian Brodie. There are no doubt many more. :)

Coming someday soon...a post with a variety of Lord of the Rings movie posters! :)

PS: If you've read any or all of these...I'd like to know what you thought of them!