So I watched Lord of the Rings for the first time and....

[Aegon]

It's my love for Game of Thrones that convinced me I might enjoy it. I realized afterward that the ASOIAF series is really just a political drama set in a fantasy world. The inclusion of magic ruins the tension for me. Magical birds that can fly them wherever, magical demon things...I have trouble taking it seriously. Not to mention the fight between Gandalf and Dracula toward the beginning of the first film made me laugh quite a bit, because the way it was shot made me think about how the actors were just flinging themselves around. Gandalf coming back from the dead despite wizard resurrection not really being established in the first film brought me out of it too. They spent a lot of time on Boromir's death in the first film, but he was barely in it, seemed like a jerk, and then went mad and tried to kill Frodo for the ring. I'm supposed to be that moved by his death?

I don't doubt the quality of the source material. I appreciate meticulous attention to detail by authors and it sounds like I'd get that from Tolkien. But the (first two) films just weren't anything spectacular to me. If they were recognized as pretty good fantasy films I wouldn't have even made a topic, but they're regarded as some of the best movies ever, and I just don't see it.