never even seen it, but i knew what it was from the first pic

I actually enjoyed it. I've been sleep walking for years and I could relate to how reality and dreams merge sometimes and feck with your mind.

as something trying far too hard to be weird

it's a good film.

then i can buy it if i like it

'borrow' it from the internet.

i prefer my film watching to be in my comfy area

Your legendary 'comfy area'.

would it be improved by being off my chops whilst watching it? i only ask for scientific purposes, of course

It's a film which requires some pondering. One thing I love about it is that every time I watch it, I can see a different possible interpretation of what happened.

I think that's why I prefer the original to the director's cut, Richard Kelly had this whole backstory which he included more of in his later version, but I think it detracts from the joy of working out your own version of events.

i'll avoid the hallucinogens, then

ok, now i'm definitely going to have to watch it

which is substantially worse.

I didn't expect to like it and it really took me by surprise.

a pretentious student-type, after it had finished, said loudly: "Ok, give me five pounds anyone who'd like me to explain the end to you.'

and said "ok, anyone who wants me to punch this uppity cunt upside the gullet can give me the £5 instead"

wish you'd been in the audience. :)

there were two Warhammer types* sitting behind me and my friend, and they spent the first ten minutes loudly nerding out about the deviations from the book. After I turned round and glared at them for a minute, they shut up.

As the end credits rolled, one of them sneered "based loosely on the book by J.R.R. Tolkein." There's no pleasing some people, is there?

* I should probably admit that I used to play Warhammer when I was young

I once saw a French film with a fluent Francophone (a slightly mad maiden aunt) who kept tutting and mumbling about how badly translated she thought the subtitles were, and giving her version.
Not quite often enough for me to get pissed off enough to say anything, but just often enough to be annoying.

It stayed pretty close to the book as I recall it. No Tom Bombadil, for which Peter Jackson deserves a fucking knighthood, a lot of tedious shit cut out from the beginning, Frodo a bit younger. Can't think of anything else. The second film veered crazily off and the third film cut off the ending to replace it with about five or six other endings, but the first seemed pretty close to me. Oh, also a troll.

Because he wasn't a "creature" when the ring came to him, you see. That's the level of nerd rage we're talking about.

some people really have to step back and re-evaluate their lives sometimes

a cave troll. love the way boromir says that!

fuck it, nothing on telly tonight, i'm watchin fellowship of the ring

My work here is done.

And the bit where the hobbits steal a load of swords was cut out.

That would have been good, but zombie types tend to get cut from films. There's at least one missing from the Shining.

except it involved Tom Bombadil so I'm opposed to it on principle. It didn't entirely make sense the way they got their swords in the film.

"HERE HOBBITS HAVE SOME HOBBIT-SIZE SWORDS I HAPPEN TO ALWAYS CARRY AROUND WITH ME"

fuck it, i'm gonna read the book again. it's been a long time.

for the first time in at least ten years.

It didn't stand up well, to be honest.

I reread and tolerated a few David Eddings recently (Mallorean and Elenium are actually not too bad if you can get over the characters being palatte-swaps of one-another). Then again I also read the Dreamers series and oh my fucking GOD it was the worst piece of shit I've ever read, with a bunch more palatte-swaps. Unfortunately the colours were running very pale by then.

as is the film

HARD

I saw the first fifteen min of Donnie Darko once and got bored.

because on first viewing I thought this was wank.

Both in its own right, and because it's about my second-favourite film. Might have to go and listen to the Liquid Spear Waltz now.