An IM conversation posted during the V's discussion on Return of the King:


Jeremy: now that its done, does LOTR Trilogy trump the original Star Wars trilogy?
Nick: Mmmm
Nick: Hard to say
Jeremy: damn, it is?
Nick: Yeah
Nick: LoTR has a mega-advantage in that it has today's technology and a hojillion dollars behind it.
Jeremy: and 3 hours a piece
Nick: Yeah
Nick: But Star Wars was lo-fi
Jeremy: and had Darth Vader
Nick: Yeah
Nick: And wasn't based on something that's been around for decades
Jeremy: and black people
Nick: HAHAHAHAHAHA
Jeremy: you should do a poll on the V
Nick: One of my comments when we got out of the cinema was "Man, Jeremy Love is NOT going to like that"
Jeremy: the whiter you are in LOTR the more noble you are
Nick: Because the only black dudes in the film are (1) Allied with Sauron (2) Ride giant elephants and (3) Have their faces all painted voodoo style
Nick: Totally
Nick: Did you notice how as Frodo got dirtier and dirtier, he got less noble?
Jeremy: EXACTLY!
Jeremy: and how Grand Wizard Gandalf came back dressed like the KKK
Jeremy: the charge he lead in Two TOwers was straight out of Birth of a Nation
Nick: Hahahahaha
Jeremy: I'm not kidding! Compare the shots!
Nick: Note how the Orcs wear BLACK
Jeremy: anything brown was EVIL
Nick: Hahahaha

Well worth reading the whole thread, by the by (the above link skips the first 65 posts that were written before anyone saw the movie). I think they're nitpicking Eowyn's shining moment too much, and some of you may not like them pointing out some other flaws, but the Gollum/Terminator 2 posts are a riot, and they did remind me that I completely forgot to mention the Beacon Lighting sequence in my review which, being the one moment of the film that nearly had me in tears, is trully an egregious sin of omission.