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Ancanar Teaser Trailer Available

Posted by michael on from the support-independent-film dept.

Still Gainfully Unemployed writes "A teaser trailer for Ancanar, an indie Tolkien inspired fantasy film, has been released. Check it out. It's not a Tolkien story, but rather inspired by his works."

42 of 135 comments (clear)

  1. Ancanar has not the bandwidth of Tolkien by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Give us a mirror to gaze upon, oh mighty wizzard! :)

  2. Based on the works of Tolkien by Well... · · Score: 5, Funny

    Do you mean based on as in the way The Two Towers is based on Tolkien, or is it more accurate than that?

    1. Re:Based on the works of Tolkien by Well... · · Score: 2, Insightful

      You're right, I did recognize some of Tolkien in The Two Towers, but I recognized even more Peter Jackson.

    2. Re:Based on the works of Tolkien by Paolomania · · Score: 4, Funny

      i guess that to some, anything less than scrolling the text of LOTR over the movie screen would not constitute as a "movie adaptation".

    3. Re:Based on the works of Tolkien by dinivin · · Score: 2

      You're right, I did recognize some of Tolkien in The Two Towers, but I recognized even more Peter Jackson.

      Thank God! Otherwise, the first two hours of the movie would have been even more boring.

      Dinivin

    4. Re:Based on the works of Tolkien by NaturePhotog · · Score: 4, Interesting

      It wasn't what was taken out, it's what was added.

      I didn't mind surfer-dude Legolas, but the "Mr. Frodo, we shouldn't even be here!" line from Sam when they're taken to Osgiliath makes my wife and I chuckle each of the times we've seen Two Towers. And we missed the huorns taking out the orcs at Helm's Deep. The extra footage on the DVD for Fellowship says a lot of the changes they made there were to 'keep the ring moving towards Mordor', and I could apprecitate them. But in Two Towers, the side trip to Osgiliath / making Farimir into a Boromir clone in terms of ring-lust, and Aragorn's tumble over the cliff just made no sense to us.

      But back on topic, I'm happy to see more fantasy films inspired by Tolkien's work. I just hope (as an earlier poster said) that it's not like Red Sonja or some of the other action-fantasy movies of the 70's and 80's.

    5. Re:Based on the works of Tolkien by macshit · · Score: 3, Funny
      i guess that to some, anything less than scrolling the text of LOTR over the movie screen would not constitute as a "movie adaptation".

      Ha ha ha! You think that would suffice?

      If they did that, there'd be violent protests that the text was not the right version...

      `` Clearly, there should an extra comma on page 453, line 10, after the word "Alpo." I can't believe that awful hack Peter Jackson left it out! bastard. Bastard! YARRRRG!!!!''
      --
      We live, as we dream -- alone....
    6. Re:Based on the works of Tolkien by Flambergius · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I'm not really a PJ apologist but I do play one on Slashdot.

      I too was quite taken aback by Faramir's apparent boneheadedness. Later I did some reading, both Tolkien and forums, and found quite satisfactory explanation for the "changes".

      To many people, including myself, Faramir was defined by single event and a quality shown in that event. He lets the ring go, thus he is wise, especially compared to Boromir. But that's not the whole story, he is also captain of Gondor and a shrewd interrogator. Further, his relationship with his father is strained. Read the book, those things are in there, At points, early in his interrogation of Frodo, Faramir is actually quite un-symphatetic.

      Faramir of the movie is actually closer to Faramir of the book than Faramir in my memory was. I think this is true for many people. Faramir is the good guy, and his darker side, or character development, is forgotten. In the movie Faramir is left half-done, his story and development has just begun (see ROTK for the end :-)) and so-far the darker side is more prominent.

      It isn't so much changing Faramir's character than it is changing the details of the plot. In the movie Faramir doesn't try to take the ring for himself, he tries to please his father, but in the end he sees that ringbearer must be allowed to go to Mordor. That's not out-of-character for Faramir described in the book. Side-trip to Osgiliath is a detail of the plot and it remains to be seen how that change is spinned in ROTK. What is the importance of Nazgul seeing Frodo (the Ring?) in Osgiliath? It's not in the book but might be used to justify something in ROTK, like the whole Sauron's ill-judged (too hasty) offense on Gondor.

      Aragorn goes of the cliff because

      1) somebody has to and
      2) he is about to get a second flash-back.

      It's a pretty good fight with the worg-riders, but it would be (mostly) pointless unless it has impact to the story/movie in the whole. If nobody important gets hurt then the fight is meaningless (ok, there are other ways to have meaningful fights but that's not the point). Aragorn has already had a flash-back. Hearing little voices in your head are you, schizo? Ok, it wouldn't actually be that bad, but being knocked-out is always a good excuse for a flash-back.Also, Aragorn going MIA and then coming back, lets Eowyn do those wonderful looks. You know, all that heavy breathing is now expression and not just asthma.

      --Flam

      --
      Computers are useless. They can only give you answers - Pablo Picasso
    7. Re:Based on the works of Tolkien by WNight · · Score: 2

      I don't think Faramir expressed great ring lust this time. The scene with him and the sword seemed more like intimidation, trying to make Frodo talk. It replaces long dialog between Frodo and Faramir, where the details come out slowly.

      Faramir never, even after seeing it, makes a personal grab for the ring, as he would if overcome by it. I think they just felt that with the screen time given, for him to see it (something they have shown repeatedly is very seductive) and then turn it down, is unreasonable. Even in the book this action is taken only after a fair bit of time. His decision was to take the hobbits, leaving them with the object - a very smart move if he even guessed at it's seductive power, and take them home where a better decision could be made. It's not until he realizes the urgency of the situation, and how ultimately important the ring is to the dark lord, via the (overdone) nazgul scene, that he decides he needs to make an immediate decision.

      And really, to say that Faramir was immune to the call of the ring in the book is a little misguided. He never handled it, or had it offered to him. He was smart enough to know to stay away from it, but that doesn't imply he could have turned it down. He also had the benefit of knowing Boromir was dead, and that he had to be more careful now.

      The battle scenes were my peeve with the movie. Particularly Aragorn going over the edge. Also, the split-second timing saving Aragorn (and Helm's Deep) from the hordes of Orcs by Gandalf. But, I realize that this last bit is in the book and it's pretty much standard, nobody believes you can have tension without everything coming down to the last second.

  3. Tolkei n inspired ? by EpsCylonB · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It's not a Tolkien story, but rather inspired by his works.

    Doesn't that describe the vast majority of fantasy novels ?

    1. Re:Tolkei n inspired ? by flogger · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Heh, True. I was gonna say the same thing.
      The Dogma movie was probably, somehow, inspired by the bible. Yet I know plenty of church-going people that just don;t like it.
      I wonder how many Tolkien lovers are gonna hate it becuse it ain't Tolkien.

      --
      ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
      "First things first -- but not necessarily in that order"
      -- The Doctor, "Doctor
  4. I know nothing of Anacar... by stefanlasiewski · · Score: 3, Interesting

    The LotR series is so popular, I'm sure we will see many LotR-inspired films in the next few years.

    Hopefully this round will be better then "Conan" & "Heavy Metal" clones like "Beastmaster", "Red Sonja", etc. from the 70's and 80's

    This looks like a lower budget movie, which should be entertaining.

    --
    "Can of worms? The can is open... the worms are everywhere."
    1. Re:I know nothing of Anacar... by jpt.d · · Score: 2

      Hey mac, Red Sonja was a good movie! The beastmaster - never saw any movie, but the series is mostly good.

      --
      What we see depends on mainly what we look for. -- John Lubbock Now search for that bug slave!
    2. Re:I know nothing of Anacar... by Old+Wolf · · Score: 2

      Is this just a general fantasy movie, or does it use Tolkien characters or races? I guess they would have to be careful to not step on copyrights etc. owned by the Tolkien estate, who are notorious for shutting down productions that they don't like.

    3. Re:I know nothing of Anacar... by BadlandZ · · Score: 2
      Hopefully this round will be better then "Conan" & "Heavy Metal" clones like "Beastmaster", "Red Sonja", etc. from the 70's and 80's

      My God, I HOPE your right! If LofR is the FIRST of a series of trend movies, and will follow the 80's trend movies, we know better are in the works!

      Say what you will, but I happened to enjoy some of those films. I thought "Rock and Rule" was way cooler than Heavy Metal (and Rock and Rule had Iggy Pop and Lou Reed, how can that be WORSE than Heavy Metal).

      Conan inspired The Beastmaster? Well, honestly, I thought they both sort of sucked. But, Conan the Barbarian was out in 1982, and Conan the Destroyer was out in 1984. The Beastmaster was released in 1982. How can you believe that they put out Conan the Barbarian, and immediately went "good idea" and put out "The Beastmaster" the same year, with better production, a deeper story, better polished, as a "copy cat" THAT CAME OUT A COUPLE MONTHS LATER? Sad 80's referances there...

      Sad part is, LotR isn't the trend setter. Harry Potter is the "Conan" of the 2000's. And LotR's is the "BeastMaster" of the 2000's. I'm sorry, I want to hope for better too, but I just don't think it will happen.

    4. Re:I know nothing of Anacar... by JabberWokky · · Score: 2
      Guys - c'mon! Basic facts here...

      Conan was published before Lord of the Rings!!! Sheesh - this is like the third time I've had to jump into a Slashdot discussion because people don't know their golden age SF. Phoenix on the Sword, the first Conan story was written by Robert Howard in Wierd Tales in 1932. In the next several years, he wrote seventeen more. The Hobbit didn't appear in print until 1937, and the Lord of the Rings didn't appear until 1954, over twenty years after Conan first appeared in Hyboria.

      Note that this reply occurs here due to the following stuff, not directly as a response to this thread, but more as a response to the whole "Lord of the Rings inspired every other fantasy work" theme that pervades replies to this article.

      Rock and Rule was great. Debbie Harry, Lou Reed and Iggy Pop set to nifty Bakshiish over the top animation. Fire and Ice had Frazetta doing the character design, which was even better, and was authentic Bakshi. And of course Wizards, a Bakshi classic.

      --
      Evan

      --
      "$30 for the One True Ring. $10 each additional ring!" -- JRR "Bob" Tolkien
    5. Re:I know nothing of Anacar... by stefanlasiewski · · Score: 2

      How can you believe that they put out Conan the Barbarian, and immediately went "good idea" and put out "The Beastmaster" the same year, with better production, a deeper story, better polished, as a "copy cat" THAT CAME OUT A COUPLE MONTHS LATER?

      Well, this "copy cat" thing happens frequently. "A Bugs Life" and "Ants" came out at the same time, "Deep Impact" and "Armageddon"... and we're their two "Volcano appears in the middle of a metropolian area" movies at the same time (I never saw either).

      A rumor leaks that "Studio A" is going to release a movie about $SUBJECT, so "Studio B" quickly produces a similar script also about $SUBJECT.

      --
      "Can of worms? The can is open... the worms are everywhere."
  5. Download it... by Theom · · Score: 5, Informative

    Here. I hate to look at movies within a web browser, is there actually a QuickTime plug-in for Mozilla?

    --

    mp3: l33t term for empty.
    1. Re:Download it... by Doom+Ihl'+Varia · · Score: 2, Informative

      Code Weaver's CrossOver Plugin. Definately worth the cash. There is a free demo you can try out.

    2. Re:Download it... by galaga79 · · Score: 2

      I know Quicktime 6 includes a plugin for Mozilla, but then you didn't say which operating system you are using.

      --

      aus.music.scrapbook
  6. Re:Less than 10 replies.... by BarrettAnderson · · Score: 2, Informative

    no, it was TORNed like a week ago. slashdot is pretty late on this news.....

  7. Yeah... quite a bit has been inspired by Tolken... by autopr0n · · Score: 4, Insightful

    And the vast majority of it sucks.

    --
    autopr0n is like, down and stuff.
  8. Two Towers now showing at Slashdot... by SkoZombie · · Score: 4, Funny
    Starring:
    • Cowboy Neal, as Gandalf as Not-so-gray
    • ./ readers, as the orcish hordes
    • micheal, as Saruman (He is directing the orchish hordes, remember?)
    • http://www.ancanar.com/, as the wall of helm's deep
    • Apache Server, as aragon and gimli (trying to hold back the orcish hordes)
    • Slashdot Effect, as the pyro effects that destroy the walls of helms deep.
    1. Re:Two Towers now showing at Slashdot... by Jace+of+Fuse! · · Score: 2

      ./ readers, as the orcish hordes

      Didn't you mean ./ readers, as the Trolls?

      --

      "Everything you know is wrong. (And stupid.)"

      Moderation Totals: Wrong=2, Stupid=3, Total=5.
  9. Umm.... by LordYUK · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The search begins?? for what, better actors and a plot? Sheesh, this is one of these storys that got rejected from Xena isnt it? seriously, it looks horrible, but it has elves and swords, so what the hell, I'll go see it...

    --
    This is my sig. Its pathetic.
  10. Some A LOT more than others. by fireboy1919 · · Score: 2

    http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0345 314255/103-9283348-9273448?vi=glance

    Sword of Shannara.

    It's about a humble farmer dude who is told to leave his home by a great and powerful old wizard so that he can fulfill his destiny of destroying an evil phantom-like wizard, something which can only be done with the help of a magical artifact (this case it's a sword, not a ring).

    Other intersting points in the story:
    the king of one group of people is having his judgement clouded by a wicked chancellor who is actually working for the evil one. This is undone by the heroes, and the king helps defend against the onslaught of the army of evil orcs.

    That army of orcs almost breaks through the inner part of the castle by going through the only available opening: the sewers. They know about this because the chancellor escaped and told them.

    The epic battle to seize the castle encompasses four waves - three inner battlements are conquered, and a fourth when the orcs are defeated by a reenforcement force .

    Sound familiar? 'Cause I had to keep checking the title to make sure I wasn't reading Two Towers.

    --
    Mod me down and I will become more powerful than you can possibly imagine!
    1. Re:Some A LOT more than others. by Twirlip+of+the+Mists · · Score: 4, Insightful

      the king of one group of people is having his judgement clouded by a wicked chancellor who is actually working for the evil one.

      Yeah, not like that particular story element goes back to the Bible or Homer or anything.

      --

      I write in my journal
    2. Re:Some A LOT more than others. by Sabalon · · Score: 2

      You forgot about the mystic Allanon, who comes and goes with the party. But these, while obviously inspired by, stand alone well enough on their own - and after the first book are even more on their own.

      Try

      http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/045145810 9/ qid=1042486751/sr=2-2/ref=sr_2_2/104-3437608-64655 32

      The Iron Tower: The Dark Tide/Shadows of Doom/the Darkest Day
      by Dennis L. McKiernan

      These books so closely parallel LotR it's not even funny - even having short people as part of the main story, a watcher in the water right before they go into some forgotten underworld, etc...

      In his defense, he does say in the preface how he loves LotR and wrote these because he couldn't find any other epic fantasy like it. While they are decent books, he could have not copied it so closely.

  11. "After the King" by devphil · · Score: 4, Interesting


    is a collection of short stories, all inspired by Tolkien and written to honor him. Some major fantasy/SF authors participated. One of the stories even has Bilbo make an uncredited cameo. I highly recommend it.

    --
    You cannot apply a technological solution to a sociological problem. (Edwards' Law)
  12. Snowboarding by MenTaLguY · · Score: 2

    Actually, I discovered recently that the "snowboarding" thing isn't necessarily as "anachronistic" as we might have thought.

    As a friend pointed out, Petrarch wrote about germanic tribes surfing/sledding on their shields (naked!) down snowy embankments into battle -- that was 2000 years ago. So shield-surfing is a pretty old idea.

    --

    DNA just wants to be free...
  13. Re:Fantasy and Fantasier by DarthWiggle · · Score: 3, Funny

    Flamebait? Jeez, that'll teach me never to make fun of fantasy again.

  14. Mirror of trailer by doubleadesign · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I put it up on my .mac site Enjoy. I'm not so sure it's going to be a hit or a cult classic but, maybe worth an hour and a half or so. I've wasted plenty of my time watching other trash.

    1. Re:Mirror of trailer by zephc · · Score: 2

      bad idea, prepare to have your account suspended =]

      --
      "I would say that 99 per cent of what my father has written about his own life is false." - L. Ron Hubbard Jr.
  15. Re:Legal Issues? by PaddyM · · Score: 2

    Whatever, those are retarded laws that stifle free speech and creativity.

    And speaking of stifling free speech, there's a whole bunch of Final Fantasy Fan Fiction that I keep submitting for a story, but it keeps being rejected. :P

  16. Re:Two Towers by MrResistor · · Score: 2

    Does anyone remember the LOTR cartoon?

    I've been trying to forget it for years, only to be reminded of it every time an LotR story shows up on slashdot.

    Thanks a lot!!!

    --
    Under capitalism man exploits man. Under communism it's the other way around.
  17. Re:It seems to depend. by bsartist · · Score: 2
    I'd imagine that if you made a movie about the Great Hobbit Orgy at Gondor, you'd be bitchslapped back to the First Age.

    They might try, but parody is completely legal. Or haven't you heard of Bored of the Rings? The first paragraph pretty well sums up the tone of the whole book:
    When Mr. Dildo Bugger of Bug End grudgingly announced his intention of throwing a free feed for the boggies in his part of the Sty, the reaction in Boggietown was immediate - all through the messy little slum could be heard squeals of "Swell!" and "Hot puppies, grub!" Slavering with anticipation, several recipients of the invitations devoured their little engraved scrolls, temporarily deranged by transports of gluttony. After the initial hysteria, however, the boggies returned to their daily routines, and is their wont, lapsed back into a coma.
    Who can forget the song of Tim Benzedrine?
    Toke-a-lid! Smoke-a-lid! Pop the mescalino!
    Stash the hash! Gonna crash! Make mine methedrino!
    Hop a hill! Pop a pill! For Old Tim Benzedrino!
    Hilarious stuff - unless, of course, you think of Tolkien as God, and regard any mocking of his work as sacrilege.
    --
    Lost: Sig, white with black letters. No collar. Reward if found!
  18. Peter Jackson inspired not Tolkien by gad_zuki! · · Score: 2

    Looks a lot more like they were taken with the movie adaptation of LOTR than the source material itself. A lot of things are "Tolkien inspired," but I think its more fair to call this LOTR movie inspired. The bits of CGI, the trailer, etc all scream, "We really liked Fellowship, lets make our own" instead of ,"Lets make a good Tolkien flick."

    Afterall, if it didn't try to emulate the "look and feel" of LOTR it would just be another fantasy movie and probably never be posted on slashdot.

  19. Re:Yeah... quite a bit has been inspired by Tolken by hype7 · · Score: 2
    And the vast majority of it sucks.


    case in point - that ancanar movie linked above. looks like a high school production.

    what sucks about that is, when it fails, studios etc think it failed because it's fantasy, not because *it sucked*. ::sigh::

    -- james
  20. Re:It seems to depend. by bsartist · · Score: 2

    I think the point of the poster was that a story contrary to the tone and message of Tolkien, and clearly exploitative of him, would be shot down.

    And my point was that Bored of the Rings is clearly quite contrary to Tolkien's message, and clearly exploitative - and yet, Tolkien's lawyers don't stand a snowball's chance in hell of shooting it down, because parody is completely legal.

    --
    Lost: Sig, white with black letters. No collar. Reward if found!
  21. Re:Two Towers by cthulhubob · · Score: 2

    no, no - that was "The Hobbit" cartoon version... the FotR cartoon was made by different people, and didn't have random pointless singing by orcs.

    It still sucked, but was nowhere NEAR as bad as The Disneyfied Hobbit movie. It actually had some redeeming qualities, like the flashback to Smeagol strangling his brother Deagol and taking the Ring - I keep waiting for that flashback to show up in the Peter Jackson films. If it doesn't happen in Return of the King that would suck - I was totally expecting it in The Two Towers after he called himself a murderer, but they left the obvious hook unexplained instead.

    "Give us that ring, Deagol my love."
    "Why, Smeagol?"
    "Because it's my birthday, my love... and I wants it!"

    --

    In post-9/11 America, the CIA interrogates YOU!
  22. Or even better, a link that works by spoco2 · · Score: 2, Informative

    Try this one instead.

  23. Re:Two Towers by Sabalon · · Score: 2

    While stuff like Boromir as a viking and Aragorn as a native american indian scout could scar you for life, in a lot of ways it was a lot more faithful to the books than the PJ works.

    Funny thing is, you mention this on a tolkien newsgroup and they go nuts. They will go on about how it left out the old forest and Tom Bombadil - hey...so did PJ.

    So they go on with the next best thing they can find, which is usually a dig about the animation styles. Or they will bitch about the Nazgul crying/screaming after they missed Frodo in Bree (oh wait..the PJ movie did the same thing.)

    I still like it - though it is kinda hard to watch sometimes. Not as bad as the Return of the King movie.