It’s been a busy past week for me with winter classes wrapping up but it turns out that a watch-through of the Lord of the Rings trilogy was the best way to get through it.

I’ll admit this was my first real watch of the trilogy. I’d seen the first movie a couple times but then just bits and pieces of the next two. This time I decided to watch the extended editions but only watch half of each one in a single sitting, which now I’m convinced is the proper way to watch them. Each half is still plenty long and you get twice the time to soak everything in!

It’s hard for me to believe these movies came out when they did over 20 years ago. The visual effects would have been breathtaking back then, and they still are today. Apparently they relied on some really well made miniature models for a lot of their wide shots and effects, and then of course there were the really detailed sets they filmed on. That’s not to say that there weren’t also a bunch of very impressive CG shots, even by today’s standards. It all really goes a long way towards grounding the characters in this super engaging world.

The characters… I got way more attached to all of them than I have any other set of movie characters. They’re just excellently written and perfectly cast. I can’t really think of a movie that left me with such bittersweet relief at the end.

You owe it to yourself to watch these movies if you’re like me and somehow haven’t seen them until now. I see now why they’re such classics and I’m certain they’ll still be decades from now.