The Last Homely House

This week, our hosts review the movies in conversation with book 4 of the Two Towers. They focus exclusively on the parts of the movie that focus on Frodo and Sam. Jon, in particular, gets on his soap box about the difference between Faramir of the books and the character he calls "Filmamir."

This week, our hosts discuss how the film version of the Two Towers doesn't fully incorporate all the material from the book. Instead, it moves much of the material into the next movie. They toss around the question of why the writers would do this. 

Though reviewing the movie version of the Two Towers, our hosts follow Tolkiens presentation by focusing solely on Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, Merry, and Pippin. As always, they share their likes and dislikes. They also discuss how well the movie has held up over the last twenty years.

Our hosts wrap up their reveiw of the Fellowship of the Ring, culminating in the breaking of the fellowship and the death of Boromir. 

The review of the Fellowship of the Rings continues, picking up in Rivendell. 

The review of the Lord of the Rings - the Fellowship of the Ring continues. Today, our hosts merely get out of Bree and make it to the Ford of Bruinen in their analysis. As a side note, this is the fourth episode they recorded in one day, so they start off a little punchy.

This week, our host begin their review of the Lord of the Rings movies, beginning with the Fellowship of the Ring. Their analysis slows down significantly, as they critically assess their likes and dislikes, as well as the choices made by the writers and director. Get comfortable. This is going to be a longer analysis. 

In their final review of the Hobbit triology, our host finish their analysis of the Battle of Five Armies. From there, they provide their final thoughts on the triology as a whole.

In today's episode, our host begin their review of the third and final installment of the Hobbit triology - The Battle of Five Armies. As usual, they debate the movies strengths and weaknesses. After all this time, is it better or worse than they remember?

In part two of their review of The Hobbit - The Desolation of Smaug, our host geek out over dragons and evaluate just how non-canonical this movie was. However, is moving beyond the canon a good thing? Listen and find out. 

This week, our hosts move on to the second of the Hobbit movies: the Desolation of Smaug. While there are things that they like, the number of criticisms increases. Listen to find out exactly what they are.

Today our hosts continue their review of An Unexpected Journey. This time, they focus on Goblin Town and Riddles in the Dark, as well as out of the frying pan and into the fire. Once again, they talk about their likes and dislikes. As is always the case, they don't always agree.

This summer, our hosts our going back in time and reviewing the Hobbit and LOTR movies. Today, they begin with a review of An Unexpected Journey. What are our likes and dislikes?

Why does everthing connected with Aule seem to go bad? Why did so many of his followers and students turn to evil? What's the problem with Aule? Our hosts wrestle with these and other Aule related questions in today's episode. 

Tolkien loved dragons. These creatures played a sizable role in his writings. In today's episode, our hosts explore the origins of dragons. They compare and contrast Tolkien's depiction with ancient mythologies and modern depictions. They also address the question of why we like dragons so much. 

Today our hosts continue their discussion of villians in Middle-earth. In this episode, they discuss some of the lesser, yet still powerful beings. These include balrogs, Sauruman, and the Ringwraiths.

What were the characteristics of the villains in MIddle-earth? What did they have in common? What made them different? In today's episode, our hosts discuss the character traits of Melkor and Sauron.

In today's episode, our hosts examine the kinds of qualities that characterize the heroes in Tolkien's writings. 

Welcome back, Jon! In today's episode we continue our covnersation about happily ever after. Jon adds his thoughts to the conversation. We also explore the idea of eucatastrophe, as well as good endings versus happy endings. We wrap up with a conversation about heroic traits in Tolkien's writings. 

Sadly, Jon couldn't make it today, so Ron and Jasmine had to carry the episode without him (a tall task, indeed). Does Tolkien not like "and they lived happily ever after?" Ron and Jasmine have a conversation about where Tolkien does and doesn't incorporate this motif into his stories. They speculate about possible reasons why Tolkien's stories rarely resolve with a truly happily ever after conclu...

Are there Christological characters in Middle-earth? What kind of traits would make them such a character? Which characters fit this category? These are the questions our hosts wrestle with in today's episode. 

How well does Aragorn of the movies compare with Aragorn of the books? Ron and Jasmine debate this point in detail. From there, Jon expresses his disappointment with the portrayal of Faramir in the movies. 

With the start of the new year, according to the Gondorian calendar, season 2 begins for The Last Homely House. After a brief discussion about the new Gondorian calendar, our hosts discuss their favorite characters from the Lord of the Rings and how well or poorly they were interpreted in the most recent movies. 

Season 1 of the Last Homely House: A Tolkien Roundtable has set sail for the uttermost west. Our hosts take time to reflect on their first season of creating a Tolkien podcast. How did they feel going into the podcast at the beginning? What were their favorite episodes? How do they come up with topics week after week? Where do we go from here? These questions and more are answered in today's episo...

Tolkien was not just a brilliant author. He was also a poet and a painter. In today's episode, our hosts discuss Tolkien's poetry and illustrations of Middle-earth.