'The Hobbit'

mistercharlie · December 22, 2013, 07:26:03 PM

Quote from: antelope19 on December 22, 2013, 05:12:03 PM
Quote from: emayPhishyMD on December 22, 2013, 04:59:14 PM
I thought the first one was a little dragged out.
Still havent seen the 2nd one yet. wanna catch the first again before I go see the second. is it on netflix?

I don't think it's on Netflix.

I'm gonna go see this for a second time tomorrow.

As Todd, said it's on HBO, that's where I watched it. I liked it, but agree that it dragged a little. I don't think it's been mentioned yet but I really like the way they did the dwarves songs. I was singing That's What Bilbo Baggins Hates all day at work today.

antelope19 · December 24, 2013, 12:22:21 PM

Thinking I need to see this in 3D as well.

VDB · January 04, 2014, 12:39:07 AM

Saw the second one tonight. Jackson takes one step closer to becoming our next George Lucas.

Hicks · January 04, 2014, 12:55:02 AM

Quote from: V00D00BR3W on January 04, 2014, 12:39:07 AM
Saw the second one tonight. Jackson takes one step closer to becoming our next George Lucas.

Not sure if compliment or not.

whatapiper · January 04, 2014, 02:11:11 AM

Watched over the holiday with my eight year old after reading book together for the 2nd time, good stuff. I really appreciated the back story not evident from the original hobbit. I'm sure I'd nitpick this one to death if i were alone but with my son it was fantastic.

VDB · January 04, 2014, 01:30:38 PM

Hicks: It was not.

Let me preface by saying that, other than listening to the audiobook a few years ago, I didn't approach the Hobbit movies with heavy experience with the written version. I'm sure that influences the perspective of many who have, which is fine. I just came at them as a movie fan and big fan of the LOTR trilogy, which I regard as an unqualified masterpiece.

Even on their own, but especially in comparison with LOTR, I found the Hobbit movies to fall way flat. I don't even need to dwell on the inherent silliness of the story and its characters, as I know that's influenced by the source material, and Jackson has even tried to give these films more weight by playing up the ring, the coming of Sauron and the nobility of Oakenshield's quest to reclaim the heritage gem as part of taking back his people's homeland. It's the execution that does little for me.

Like khalpin pointed out, LOTR was so rich with detail -- hand-made detail -- and The Hobbit just looks like a big vomit of CGI. The use of CGI can really enhance films, obviously, and create things you never could in reality, but the eye can still generally tell what's real and what's not. So when everything looks not real, you have a problem. In LOTR, everything from the sets to the locations to the costumes to the miniatures had an indisputable air of tangibility that created an immersive, believable world. CGI was used to augment and extend this world, not create it from scratch. The uruk-hai and ring wraiths were scary in LOTR because they were really there -- men in costumes cutting an actual, imposing physical presence. The white orcs in Hobbit aren't scary; they just look fake. Good for CGI, sure, but still fake. Those times in LOTR when you were looking at pure CGI, it was easy to tell and more jarring. But that's the entirety of the Hobbit films, it seems.

In concept, the inclusion of characters and actors from the previous trilogy helps with continuity, but again I have to quibble. It's been, what, a dozen years? The years are evident on all of them. Elijah Wood was thin and no longer boyish; Orlando Bloom was notably puffier; Cate Blanchett and Hugo Weaving showed age that elves should be immune from; Ian Holm had to be so heavily made up I wasn't sure if that was him or someone else made up to look like him; and Christopher Lee and Ian McKellen are obviously getting no younger.

(Side note: this is why I hope to god none of the old actors show up in the new Star Wars films unless they are set a minimum of 30 years after Jedi.)

Aside from Bilbo and Gandalf, I really didn't care about any of the characters. The dwarves are mostly goofy and hard to distinguish except "oh, that's the one with the bowl cut." Oakenshield is a dickbag. Legolas had one single expression the entire movie. That love triangle? Um, OK. Even Gandalf comes and goes at random and when he's around seems to spout off half-conceived wizardisms that have about 1/4 the gravitas of his dialog from LOTR. I love Martin Freeman's subtlety and humanity (hobbitity?) as Bilbo, but we get too little of him. At times during the film last night, I found myself just plain disinterested.

Even the music bothered me: the same five passages, it would seem, played intermittently and arbitrarily.

So there you go. This rant might have me appear more angered by the experience than I really was. I'm fine, actually. There were parts I liked: the POV ride down the river combined great effects with compelling camera work, and I thought that Smaug, for being a giant, talking, CGI dragon, was as well executed as one could hope for. I went in with low expectations after the first one, and they were not exceeded. It'll be the same for the third one, and then I'll move on with my life go back to rewatching LOTR.

antelope19 · April 04, 2014, 08:42:18 AM

Heading over today to pick up the Blu ray!

antelope19 · December 12, 2014, 11:29:55 AM

http://www.ew.com/ew/static/longform/hobbit/desktop/

Holy LULZ

Stephen Colbert, FTW!

VA $l!m · December 12, 2014, 02:47:20 PM

the Smaug interview on Colbert was epcot

antelope19 · December 12, 2014, 03:09:19 PM

Quote from: VA $l!m on December 12, 2014, 02:47:20 PM
the Smaug interview on Colbert was epcot

Yeah, hilarious. I couldn't find a YouTube though

khalpin · December 24, 2014, 04:06:56 PM

Just saw this with my 9-year old son. He enjoyed it more than I did, but what I'm most excited about is I can now introduce him to the LotR movies. Gonna be an awesome Christmas vacation.

rowjimmy · January 03, 2015, 01:33:26 PM

I enjoyed the third installment.
Taking it as it is- Peter Jackson's The Hobbit- allows me to relax and enjoy the additions and revisions comfortably. I'd say he's done remarkable work developing a six-film saga that glorifies the original works without attempting to supplant them.

Now it's time to go back and re-read yet again.

rowjimmy · January 21, 2015, 09:33:02 AM

https://tolkieneditor.wordpress.com
Three movies cut back into a single 4.5hr movie...

mistercharlie · January 21, 2015, 10:01:23 AM

Quote from: rowjimmy on January 21, 2015, 09:33:02 AM
https://tolkieneditor.wordpress.com
Three movies cut back into a single 4.5hr movie...

Cool, thanks. I'll be watching this tonight after the wife leaves for work. Hell, if it's good enough of an edit, I may even be able to talk her into watching it. After sitting through all three of the LotR movies over the course of two days a few years ago she has said that she doesn't want to watch The Hobbit trilogy.

Caravan2001 · January 21, 2015, 11:53:39 PM

So, I never get to go to the movies. I think the last movie I saw in the theatre was actually the last Hobbit, with Hicks. Was on a business trip last week and went to see this on IMAX at a killer theatre with great sound. Only 4 other people there. I was blown away. Super sick. I loved it. Best of the 3 Hobbits IMO, and I love the way the tie it into LOTR at the end. Taken at face value (Action/Fantasy flick), I loved it. Might not have had as much impact on a TV, but in IMAX, it was tight!

News:

'The Hobbit'