Thread by @17cShyteposter

After some discussion with him, I think the enjoyment of Dune is directly proportional to whether you think Fellowship was the best or the least of the LOTR trilogy

I go Fellowship. Nemets goes Return of the King. There's a clear aesthetic judgment at play here

https://twitter.com/Peter_Nimitz/status/1457546684574027779

ROTK is about the Actions of the Decisive Moment, aka the ultimate climax, what this says about its actors and their values and how they acquit themselves, along with the resulting catharsis that is the consequence of all the things that has led up to this moment

When Theoden shows up to the deciding battle of ROTK, and gives his final speech, this is the most powerful singular moment of the trilogy. You can imagine yourself being goaded into battle by his words. That's incredible cinema and storytelling, total buy-in

A moment that deep is hard, perhaps impossible, to achieve in Fellowship, when the highest-stakes battle is Boromir overcoming his weakness to protect the hobbits he's always had some contempt for, as he's just become lordly enough to recognize their quality

A powerful moment in its own right. Essentially the moral climax of many other very good movies, like A Quiet Place

But only the beginning of the climactic developments of LOTR. Another great argument for ROTK, after its figures have *all* grown into the heights of their powers

Still, I have always loved Fellowship most. Specifically *because* that is where we see the heroes before they're real heroes, and as they're only just starting to take on the mantle

And I think the major reason I love Fellowship most is because that's when the Dream begins

Not just for the characters, but for the vivid, complete, and engrossing presentation of the setting. Fellowship and Dune open up worlds that feel fully realized, that don't feel like ours, that you can get lost in. I very rarely feel this from a movie

You can only experience that original Sense of Wonder, of being initiated into a new world, a single time. To me, any movie (or book etc) that can do that isn't "boring," it's the opposite, a work of magic

The later works can fulfill the initial promise given to you, but it feels to me more like a foregone conclusion *of* that promise (unless the author loses the plot, his original promise, like Game of Thrones for instance)

But that initial hit is unrivaled

The Matrix made me believe (oops lol). Fellowship made me believe (and fully rewarded its promise). Dune made me believe. I can only hope the second half pays off what it has promised

But it is, just simply, the rare work that makes me *believe*. That's my favorite thing.