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

[Gawdzilla]

I read LOTR multiple times, as a child/teenager and the movies seemed... uhm... acceptable, from my point of view, although I had low expectations to begin with, because I didn't think the Hollywood format could in any way enrich my appreciation of Tolkien's work. But I can see how someone can find the movies outright boring, especially if they haven't read the books, came in with built up expectations, due to all the hype and are familiar with the generic fantasy tropes, many of which were established by Tolkien.

I have pretty much the same view of Star Wars - I didn't watch those movies as a kid, but I kept hearing about them and I had seen a lot of stuff that was influenced by them, so when I actually watched them as an adult - they kinda looked like just another dumb 80's space-adventure. I find SW more interesting as a cultural phenomenon, than a story, or a universe. For example - I still haven't seen Ep. VII and all I remember from the prequels is that the kid becomes Darth Vader for some reason, but I massively enjoy watching people rave/rage about those movies...

Yeah, seriously, I never got what the deal about the Star Wars movie was. A friend made me watch one of them in theaters, and the whole time I was bored out of my fucking mind.

I liked the pod race. The bad guy's pod racer sounds exactly like a V-1 "buzz bomb" from WWII.