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Where to being? Uhm... lots of stuff happened and a lot of it I'd rather not discuss... 'cause I'm a jerk like that. ^_^

Anyway, to get the ball rolling again, here's my list of annoyances and things I really liked about the Lord of the Rings movies. It's mostly about characters and scenery. In alphabetical order.

Aragorn
Aragorn was totally okay with becoming the King of Men. He embraced it, not just because of Arwen, but because it was his birthright. But, Peter Jackson kinda made him into "the hero that didn't want to be a hero," which is very much mainstream these days, as near as I can tell. Also, that palantír scene where he drops the orb? No. That didn't happen. He took control over it and showed himself to Sauron in his kingly splendor. He also already had Anduril, the Flame of the West at the beginning of the first book.

Arwen
Arwen appears once in the first book and at the end of Return of the King. The most pivotal things she did for the story was provide some motivation for Aragorn and give him the Standard of Elendil, marry him at the end, and give Frodo her passage on the Last Ship. There was no crying or whispering crap. She didn't talk much. She didn't NEED to.

Bilbo
Ian Holmes did a very good job playing Bilbo Baggins. There was only one problem I had with Bilbo: Not enough screen time.

He was at the Council of Elrond in the first book. He originally volunteered to take the ring to Mount Doom. Boromir actually scoffed at this and suddenly realized that no one else was laughing with him. Bilbo felt that the Ring was his responsibility and he should finish the job. The Council thought otherwise, so Frodo took it upon himself. He was not in the dark about the Ring being destroyed in the books the way he was in the movie. Otherwise, Bilbo was awesome.

Boromir
Boromir was well done. I can't think of anything I disliked about Boromir.

Denethor
A reasonable, yet stark-raving madman. He was played very well. The only thing that bothered me was that he wasn't holding a palantír when he died. That was how he knew about Aragorn and other things in the movie. He also didn't fall to his death. The Tower of Ecthelion was at positioned at the place where he fell down. In the book, he kinda just roasted in the tomb.

Elrond
Elrond was a p***k in the movies. I didn't like that. In the books, he totally approved of Aragorn and Arwen's marriage, but he told Aragorn he would not let his daughter wed anyone less than the King of Númenor.

Ents
I would've liked to see more Ents, especially Quickbeam. Quickbeam was awesome. He got his name because he answered a question being asked in Old Entish (which takes a long time to say anything in) before the question was even totally asked.

Éomer
I liked Éomer. He was cast very well and his performance was awesome. I just wish Peter Jackson had expanded more on the relationship he and Gimli had. Éomer and Gimli had a bit of a falling out in The Two Towers regarding whether or not Lady Galadriel was an evil witch. Still, he was awesome, especially when he dropped two Mumaks with one spear. m/

Éowyn
Miranda Otto did an amazing job of playing Éowyn. She captured her perfectly. Fair and cold, like a morning in pale spring still clinging to winter's chill in The Two Towers, but she warms up later. She does an amazing job expressing herself through that helmet on the battlefield in the third movie. You can see whatever she's feeling; pain, terror, sorrow. The only thing I didn't like about her in the movie (and this is Jackson's fault) was that she didn't cut off the head of the Fell Beast in one swing like she did in the book. That made me sad.

Faramir
I really liked Faramir. I can only think of one thing I didn't like about Faramir and that was his introduction in the second movie. He was very kind to Frodo and Sam in the second book. He provided them with food and information and then he let them go in the book. Not so much in the movie. Oh well. He was still awesome.

Frodo Baggins
Elijah Wood plays Frodo Baggins very, VERY well. My gripe about Frodo was the fact that he was incapacitated during the chase scene in the movie. In the book, Glorfindel (mentioned later) gives tosses him on a horse and makes him run to the river. Frodo fends off the Nazgûl himself. He raises his sword in defiance of the Wraiths and says, "If you want me, come and claim me." He also wasn't a big a jerk to Sam in the book as he was in the movie. Sure, we could blame it on the Ring, but I blame it on Jackson needing dramatic stuff. He also didn't try to take the Ring back from Gollum in the book. If I remember rightly, he kinda wallowed there in pain while Gollum jumped around like a maniac in Mount Doom's caldera.

Galadriel
Galadriel was captured well. I don't think you could've picked anyone better than Kate Blanchette for her. Well... maybe, maybe Emma Thompson. But not likely.

Gandalf
I can't say anything bad about Gandalf other than, "FREAKIN' A, MAN! YOUR STAFF DIDN'T BREAK!! YOU'RE MORE POWERFUL THAN THAT!!" But, Jackson needed a dramatic moment. Of course, I suppose a lot of other people noticed the continuity error that followed.

Where did the splinters of the staff go? They weren't on the ground around him.

Where and when did he get another staff? It was there at the end of the third movie when they were sailing away. That's my only gripe about Gandalf.

Ghân-buri-Ghân
Now, I don't think anyone who's seen the movies alone knows about Ghân-buri-Ghân. He guided Théoden through the forest when the clouds of Mordor hung over Gondor. Ghân-buri-Ghân was a Woodsman. He was a different race of creature altogether, but he was awesome. Pick up the book sometime. You'll know what I mean.

Gimli
Gimli's character as the "sloppy comic relief" made me mad. Dwarves were frickin' CLEAN. You know those extravagant feasts they had and how long they lasted? They lasted so long because they were meticulous eaters and it was almost sacrilegious to get their beards dirty. The drinking game in Return of the King would never have happened. Gimli would never have used his beard as a napkin like he did in the second movie. He would've had his beard plucked out hair by freakin' hair and had the crap beat out of him for being disrespectful.

...Muster a legion of Dwarves, fully armed and filthy. Not so. As previously stated, the Dwarves were very clean people.

Bad idea! Very hand in a tight spot, these lads. Despite the fact they're dead. No. Nuh-uh. If Aragorn hadn't released the Men of the Mountain after he had given his word, Gimli would've beaten the hell out of him. Dwarves were honorable and noble.

However, the Gift of Galadriel scene, when he was talking about the hair, I thought that was well done. That more or less redeemed him a bit.

Glittering Caves of Aglarond
Like Ghân-buri-Ghân, very few people would know about this unless they had read the books, specifically, The Two Towers. The Glittering Caves of Aglarond were the caves behind Helm's Deep. I would've liked to see more of the caves, but... ehh... oh well.

Glorfindel
If you haven't read the books, you don't know Glofindel. Glorfindel, in the first book, he FIGHTS the Nazgûl that were chasing Frodo, which is more than can be said for Arwen, who just kinda rides off. He was also present for the Council as I recall. He shows up in Return of the King, I believe, as one of Aragorn's generals. It's been a little while since I've read the books, but dangit... he was so much cooler than Arwen.

Gollum
So awesome.

Gondor
All the scenes in Gondor were awesome. Osgiliath was well done, Minas Tirith, aside from the positioning of the Tower of Ecthelion, was exquisite. The beacons, however, were being lit as Gandalf and Pippin were riding to Minas Tirith. Oh well. Still rocked, though. I loved that music.

Legolas
Legolas was okay... I guess. He had some better lines in the book, but in the movies, he spoke in very short sentences, a paragraph if we were lucky. Still, he kicks enough a** that he can come out of a melee fight with nothing but a dirty smudge on his forehead. He also had some pretty funny lines. Elves are made of teflon.

Meriadoc (Merry) Brandybuck
I can't say anything bad about Merry. He was awesome.

Mouth of Sauron
Oh my GOD! This man was creepy as all-get-out and just... *shudder* The only gripes about him I had were his head didn't get cut off in the book. Well, Jackson needed a dramatic scene, so he got it. Yay?

Peregrin (Pippin) Took
Oh, that fool of a Took. He's just so adorable! EEEEE!!!

Rohan, Land of the Horselords
The only gripes I have about Rohan are that it wasn't green enough and its people. Rohan's people were more or less Vikings. When they all kneel down in the second movie when the one guy says, "Hail, Théoden King!" it made me unhappy. In the book, they were all, "RAAAAH!! HAIL Théoden!! HAIL THE KING OF ROHAN!! RAAAAAHH!!!" and bangin' on their shields! Where's the life?!

Samwise Gamgee
I can't say anything bad about Sam. I really just can't.

Saruman
Saruman= awesome. That's all there is to it.

Sauron
I just can't gripe about the Dark Lord. I just can't. He was awesome.

Shelob
I don't like spiders. I REALLY don't like huge spiders that eat people. Shelob, however, is the exception. She was superb.

Théoden
I liked Théoden. I didn't like, however, the way he just kinda gave up in the second movie. It was he who said to Aragorn, "Ride out with me. For Death and Glory. For Rohan!" Still, the speech at the beginning of the Charge of the Rohirrim in the third movie was just... phenomenal. I loved it. That scene always makes me cry because it's so awesome.

Witch King of Angmar
The Witch King of Angmar was just downright scary.
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So that covers my rant. I hope I've provided you all with some decent entertainment. smile Tah!