I just showed my girlfriend Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring for the first time in her life- well, she saw it once when having an extreme fever and vowed to never watch it again, until I told her I'd personally go find an orc in the forest near her house, slay it and make a frilly coat out of its hide for her to give it another chance- and it got me thinking about what people's opinions of the films where that have taken over the original Star Wars flicks as the movies I'm talking about when referring to "The Trilogy".

Which one of the flicks is your fav and how would you rank them all? If your answer is "F, F and F-", go take your Hobbit hate somewherez else!

Return of the King- A+

One of the more perfect films I've ever seen, and possibly one of the best things I've seen period. An amazing journey comes to a close in one of the most intense and fulfilling way possible. I don't wanna say this dwarfs other movies labeled as "epic", but the movie is roughly a hundred times more amazing than a fireworks show beamed directly into your senses while eating a New York-style pizza hand delivered by the Swedish Bikini Team. The extended version of this movie I like LESS than the theatrical one, because it takes away lots of the surprises you see later in the film and shows Gandalf as a gigantic pussy with the head Ring Wraith splintering his staff like it's a dead twig in August. I was one of the few people who wanted three more endings on top of the five that we were already given.

The Fellowship of the Ring- A

Introductory movies don't get much better than this one. Really well paced, everything made as clear as it could be when you have a zillion separate races of beings big and pet-sized running around (and naming your two head evil dudes Sauron and Sauromon is just a weeeeeee bit confusing, JRR!), it succeeds in ways that something like the first X-Men never could and seems like a flick not leading you by the brainstem through the paces of introduction, like an awkward meeting and mingling with all your grandmother's friends at her nursing home. The extended version didn't really faze me one way or the other, helping nor hurting the final film with the exception of having a lot more detail on the mini pothead hobbits which I greatly enjoyed.

The Two Towers- A-

My least favorite of the three flicks, and by "least favorite", I really mean "the least incredible and life-affirming". Some great battle scenes and plot development besides, Clerks 2 actually made the same joke I had been saying about this ultimately awesome bridge-the-gap movie in regards to the plot of the three hour-plus running time: "Hi, I'm an Elf, a Human and a dwarf running over epic landscapes. And we're gonna keep running while you watch us like suckers. Yup, still movin!" The extended version I thought was the best example of putting bits into the film that really added in some nagging problems i had with the flow and plot of this one.

So, what's your ranking?

Also, the behind the scenes on each movie's extended editions is nearly as fascinating and all-inclusive as the films themselves.

PS- I'm not a fantasy nerd either and have not dressed up like any of the characters during my entire life.