September 11, 20241 yr War Hammer Space Marine 2 came out with big success and it's probably the most assessable way to get exposed to the Warhammer universe. It has a very cinematic and well made single player campaign. The game's aesthetics look like it was made 15 + years ago, no dei/woke, nothing. After seeing a lot of its content I can't believe that Amazon is considering producing a show. There are almost no place for female characters, it has absolutely no appeal to women and it is even too hardcore for the majority of male viewers. Everyone in Warhammer is serving evil or are extremely evil- degenerate and are ultra fascist/imperialist to the point of black comedy. They make the Samurai, SS & Romans look very soft.
September 11, 20241 yr On 9/5/2024 at 4:43 AM, Jade Bahr said: Haha I didn't thought about a Venom comparison but you're right. I think in season 1 they even talked about Sauron being spiritual in his "natural form" but since you can't see a spirit let alone a spirit with no human shell I think they choosed this dark slimy mass primarily to show Sauron's story/journey somehow in pictures. It's a tv show afterall living from visuals. I mean Sauron clearly sees himself as some sort of holy shiny bright saviour -implemented in the Annatar scene- but if we try to imagine something pure evil without any appealing form it's probably more like this black ugly repulsive mass!? "Guttering fetus" is one of the descriptions I read lol I was like eeew when I saw it 🫣 Reveal hidden contents Tolkein said that LOTR is (in retrospect) a Catholic work. So my interpretation of Sauron is that Tolkein used him to represent Satan like Milton did in Paradise Lost. So I think he is less an individual but more of, say a malignant force of infinite desires/greed and an entity that does not believe in the concept of morality. So naturally Sauron represents a force of infinite greed and lust for power (a human example would be the some of the Nazis or utopian futurists, some dictators or billionaires today) with an 'ends justifies the means' attitude. This is why Sauron's war machine is so profoundly sick/immoral (the orcs and everything we see in the peter jackson films for instance show what they are). Now you say Annatar as the 'fair face' of Sauron- another possible interpretation is both Halbrand & Annatar is just a tool for the ends (total domination). So Halbrand washes his face and changes his hair, and becomes a saint like figure to fool everyone. The Warhammer 40k universe is basically one where the humans are the Orcs and the God-Emperor (Sauron) at top. It is possible that Amazon will develop this show too. In LOTR (Peter Jackson) they depicted the Witch King/Nazgul (Sauron's servants) as being ghosts that wear clothing. When frodo puts on the ring the human apparitions appear. Sauron is also depicted as a spirit that wears armor but there's nothing organic inside.
September 11, 20241 yr I watched a bit of the Trump-Harris debate. It's quite obvious that Harris memorized and then recited counter-talking points against Trump. ABC news was also working against him. Trump's repeated use of the same talking points all the time (in the debate with Biden he just repeated the same talking points he does at his rallies ) make it pretty easy to develop ones to oppose it. It goes to show how brain dead Biden was.. Also Taylor Swift came out of the woodwork to endorse Harris after the debate lol.
September 11, 20241 yr 4 hours ago, Cult Icon said: Now you say Annatar as the 'fair face' of Sauron- another possible interpretation is both Halbrand & Annatar is just a tool for the ends (total domination). So Halbrand washes his face and changes his hair, and becomes a saint like figure to fool everyone. That's pretty much it. With the face of Halbrand he tried to seduced Galadriel (kinda successful kinda not I think he at least tempted her and managed to make her questioning her own morals etc)... Also not to spoiler anything but we also got a glimpse of Saurons "spiritual form" in E1 of S2 Spoiler "he forsook his body, and his spirit fled far away and hid in waste places; and he took no visible shape again for many long years." → The Silmarillion: Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age after Adar "killed" Sauron -played by Jack Lowden- with his own stupid crown (also one of my favorite scenes so far) Spoiler ... and now in S2 Annatar is about to make Celebrimbor his ring puppy. I mean you only can seduce people when you give them something they desire and I think the show nailed this part of Sauron so far. I already feel sorry for him when he realizes -too late of course- the evil behind the “fair face.” "what have you done to me?" poor guy I also think the fairer he gets the more merciless he is bonus actually he was doomed the very first moment
September 11, 20241 yr Of course LOL ‘The Lord of the Rings: Hunt for Gollum' Will Be Split Into Two Films Ian McKellen has confirmed that Andy Serkis’ upcoming “The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt For Gollum” will be split up into two films. McKellen, who will be returning as Gandalf, explains that he still hasn’t read the script, but that it’s supposed to be by finished early next year. “I’m told it’s two films,” the actor told ITV’s This Morning. It was recently reported that Serkis might be using AI to de-age his LOTR actors, which include McKellen, Viggo Mortensen, Elijah Wood and Orlando Bloom. The story of ‘Gollum’ is set only a few years after 2003’s “The Return of the King.”
September 11, 20241 yr 6 hours ago, Cult Icon said: Also Taylor Swift came out of the woodwork to endorse Harris after the debate lol. Spoiler ssstwitter.com_1726056746859.mp4
September 12, 20241 yr ‘Rings of Power’ Season 2 Is So Much Better Than ‘House of the Dragon’ The most expensive show in TV history, the “Lord of the Rings” prequel has a major creative glow-up in Season 2. From storytelling to visuals, Middle Earth > Westeros. Hunky Sauron returns in the second season of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, and though he divided fans during the series’ maiden run, his duplicitousness proves the lynchpin of its superb sophomore outing. Determined to create additional rings of power and, with them, to manipulate Middle Earth’s numerous races into aiding his quest for world domination, Sauron is a villain of menacing Machiavellian proportions, and Charlie Vickers’ sterling performance as the dark lord drives much of this thrilling saga. Rife with deceptions and betrayals, the latest installment in the J.R.R. Tolkien-inspired prequel is a grand and unnerving showcase for Sauron’s superior cunning, intuition, and gift for treating his adversaries as pawns and rendering them fools—including a legendary craftsman who turns out to be the one dupe to ruin them all. With these eight new episodes, The Rings of Power, launching August 29 on Prime Video, remains a worthy backstory complement to Peter Jackson’s Oscar-winning cinematic trilogy, marked as it is by CGI that brings the diverse realms of Middle Earth to stunning life, intricate plotting that’s rooted in three-dimensional characterizations and a sense of this civilization’s history and lore, and a collection of set pieces that culminate with an all-out war that recalls The Two Towers’ Battle of Helm’s Deep. Filled with extravagant monsters, vast and unique lands, brawny skirmishes, and striking tableaus, J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay’s fantasy epic—the most expensive TV show ever produced—is an aesthetic triumph, its direction (courtesy of Charlotte Brändström, Louise Hooper, and Sanaa Hamri) and score (by Bear McCreary) channeling the sweeping scope and scale of its big-screen ancestors without ever feeling duplicative or redundant. Yet more important than its style, ultimately, is its nuanced multi-pronged narrative about greed, ambition, and seduction, all of it exploited by Sauron for devious ends. There’s more going on in The Rings of Power than just about anything on television, but Payne and McKay weave their several storylines together into a coherent tapestry of honor and treachery, selfishness and altruism. Having discovered that her comrade Halbrand was Sauron, Galadriel (Morfydd Clark) becomes convinced that the three rings of power created with the dwarves’ mithril is the key to saving the elves from extinction. Given that they were designed under Sauron’s watch, however, Elrond (Robert Aramayo) is deeply distrustful of the rings, thus putting him at odds with his long-time friend. Their dispute is one of many sown by Sauron, who having outed himself to his former allies allows himself to be captured by Adar (Sam Hazeldine, replacing Joseph Mawle). The Orc leader holds him prisoner without realizing his true identity, and in an opening flashback, he's revealed to be the figure who, in the aftermath of Morgoth’s demise, attempted to kill Sauron, played in this earlier incarnation by Slow Horses’ Jack Lowden. Following his escape from Adar’s military encampment, Sauron travels to Eregion to meet with master elven smith Celebrimbor (Charles Edwards), whose trust he gains after divulging his “authentic” (read: false) self as Annatar, an elf god. Celebrimbor’s genius and hubris are easy prey for Sauron’s trickery, and he’s soon persuaded to craft new sets of rings, beginning with seven for the dwarves. Dwarf King Durin III (Peter Mullan) is eager to accept these gifts, considering that their predecessors restored the elves’ immortality and his mountain kingdom of Khazad-dûm has suffered cave-ins that have left it without sunlight. Alas, the ring he wears quickly corrupts his heart and mind, making him mad with avarice, which seriously concerns his estranged son Prince Durin IV (Owain Arthur) and daughter-in-law Disa (Sophia Nomvete) but earns Sauron further mithril supplies for his ring-making endeavor. Elsewhere in Middle Earth, elf warrior Arondir (Ismael Cruz Córdova) is grieving a painful loss and crosses paths with Isildor (Maxim Baldry), who winds up partnering with a wild woman named Estrid (Nia Towle), whose romantic feelings for him are as obvious as her motivations are clandestine. In Isildor’s native Númenor, blind queen Míriel (Cynthia Addai-Robinson) and her beloved right-hand man Elendil (Lloyd Owen) find themselves at odds with scheming politician Pharazôn (Trystan Gravelle), who wants to usurp the throne and free their kingdom of elven influence even as he secretly wields an elf crystal ball (known as a palantir) that, like so much in The Rings of Power, spreads Sauron’s influence like a plague. At every opportunity, the dark lord takes advantage of men and women’s dreams and desires, noble impulses and base vulnerabilities, to advance his plan. Though he’s not always present in these narratives, Vickers’ baddie hovers over them like a malevolent specter, orchestrating chaos with a seemingly helpful insinuation here and a tantalizing promise there. This is just the tip of the iceberg for The Rings of Power’s second season, which also picks up with the Stranger (Daniel Weyman)—accompanied by his diminutive Harfoot friends Nori (Markella Kavenagh) and Poppy (Megan Richards)—as he searches for a staff spied in slumbering visions. This trek leads him to Tolkien favorite Tom Bombadil (Rory Kinnear) as well as a Dark Wizard (Ciarán Hinds) who commands a battalion of skull-masked marauders. The identities of the Stranger and the Dark Wizard are hardly big mysteries, but the series nonetheless has fun playing coy with them, and it offsets that impishness with a mounting atmosphere of doom and gloom begat by Sauron, whom Vickers inhabits with a calculating friendliness and benevolence that belies his monstrous intentions. The actor’s terrific turn evokes both Sauron’s slyness and the bottomless void it masks, and it’s matched by a collection of equally solid performances led by Clark, whose fierceness and resolve are as daunting as her skill at rolling her Rs (especially when she purrs “Celebrimbor” and “Sauron”) is impressive. The Rings of Power elegantly balances its myriad points of interest, only faltering slightly with a Númenor thread that too closely resembles House of the Dragon. Still, unlike that TV rival, Payne and McKay’s series boasts no stagnant placeholder episodes; every scene and subplot moves with urgent purpose. Better yet, it exudes grandeur in its expansive panoramas of Middle Earth and conflicts between combatants big and small, and it rarely indulges in one-dimensional writing, such that even the Orcs are complicated creatures rather than merely snarling, rabid fiends. Building to a prolonged campaign between forces that don’t (or refuse to) understand that their strings are being pulled by a virtuoso puppeteer, The Rings of Power is a tragedy born from arrogance, gluttony, and ego. Suspenseful, graceful, and frequently breathtaking, it’s a portrait of the way in which our chief strengths are also often our greatest weaknesses—a notion embodied, here, by Celebrimbor, an artist whose aspiration for immortality is the seed of incalculable destruction.
September 12, 20241 yr Ok this scene made me legitly choking, croaking and finally screaming at my television RUN GIRL!!!! 🤣 Or not? 😚 My neighbours probably thought now she's gone nuts LMAO THE RINGS OF POWER: 2.05 — Halls of Stone Spoiler bonus This episode was so good omg Spoiler The show just does a great job of showing how terrifying and depraved Sauron is. The way they show him manipulating and gaslighting the elves and muddling the truth and speaking beautiful nothings! The way he talks shit about his coworker by the watercooler - blaming Brimby for his own mistakes. The way he flatters young inpressionable intern. The way he patronisingly flirts wit her to get her loyalty...
September 13, 20241 yr This scene and how they played with light and shadow is *chefs kiss and not subtle at all Spoiler Everyone Sauron
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