I read the article a couple of times and have to say I am not sure what they were going for. It seems like some kind of outrage but for me this level of detail just shows the commitment the director has for his/her story.
For simple things like "Shawn of the Dead" I doubt that a lot of work went into the bits. They probably came up with the bits while they were actually developing the script/scenes. Man I would have loved to be a fly on the wall then <G>. As for "Lord of the Rings" take that detail and then look at possibly 3 of the greatest films of the genre ever made.
It is the detail, to me, that makes the film in many cases ... especially when the film in question is technical in nature.