Randall Munroe of xkcd has posted intricate movie graphs that help explain the sequence of characters for those who have trouble figuring out what went on over a long narrative. The most helpful is the largest graph, which deals with the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Grouping of lines shows which characters are together over time. There are also graphs for the original Star Wars trilogy, Jurassic Park, 12 Angry Men, and Primer.
Only a small portion of the LOTR graph is shown here. Link -via reddit
I believe this time line is referring to the movies which Saruman did die at Isengard (in the Special Edition).