It doesn't get more epic than this!

Ok here's my great confession: I am not a Tolkien fan. I was much more suited to C.S. Lewis when I was a kid; I read the Chronicles Of Narnia and it enthralled me... never did I notice the misogyny and racism which many people claim to find in those pages! Plus, when it came to film, I went on record stating that there is no epic better or bigger than the original Star Wars trilogy.

And then I saw Fellowship Of The Ring. I was a big fan of Dungeons & Dragons when I was a kid, and honestly it wasn't until I saw Fellowship that I realized just how much of my connection to myth & anglo-saxon-inspired medieval fantasy came ultimately from the imagination of Tolkien. Now, as I approach the age of 40, I must say that I will always look upon the original Star Wars trilogy as the defining epic film of my earlier years... but the Lord Of The Rings saga has taken it over as my all-time favorite epic work of film-art.

I do still maintain, however, that Tolkien's writing is not all that great. His vision, the gift he had for language, and his ability to create the world in which the saga takes place -- as well as its earlier ages as chronicled in the Silmarillion -- is all without parallel in literature, handsdown; however, from sentence to sentence his writing is... clunky. I say that with love in my heart, really. :)