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 Post subject: The Hobbit: the desolation of smaug
PostPosted: Tue Dec 03, 2013 5:42 pm 
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Very excited


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 Post subject: Re: The Hobbit: the desolation of smaug
PostPosted: Tue Dec 10, 2013 4:32 pm 
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Damn right!

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 Post subject: Re: The Hobbit: the desolation of smaug
PostPosted: Tue Dec 10, 2013 5:08 pm 
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I'M NOT FEELING IT!

But seriously, I saw someone call this movie "The Hobbit Wars" and I think the name is fitting. I mean, why didn't they just make two movies from the book? Its a pretty good book.

Instead, they've injected all of these fabricated storylines, and brought Sauron into it with war scenes in every act. Its ridiculous. I remember seeing Spielberg talk at some forum and he was saying that, as impressive as CGI effects today are, they stand as the biggest blow to audiences suspension of disbelief as the limits get pushed further and further beyond what was previously capable in film. Specifically, if you see 400,000 armed elves storming a field, you KNOW that no studio paid that many extras and you know its fake. You are separated from the moment and can only think "Gosh, those are good effects".

I wish Peter Jackson had heeded that take because I'd be surprised if he wasn't jerking off to the scope his Weta Studio artists are putting these stories too. The goblin king scene in the first Hobbit movie was fucking retarded. Its supposed to be dozens of goblins holding them hostage in a cave and instead they made the scene to Death Star proportions. If there was a cavern the size of the Astrodome filled with goblins, I think Tolkien would have notated it as such.

I wish Jackson would have the balls to make a smaller scale compelling fantasy film. Thats the challenge. Anyone and everyone is making the huge stuff.

All that being said, I'll see this. On pay per view so I can fast forward when I want.
Gah. What a waste.

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 Post subject: Re: The Hobbit: the desolation of smaug
PostPosted: Wed Dec 11, 2013 10:54 am 
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^ Even if that's correct and even if that's the kind of movie I would also like to see, I wouldn't blame Peter Jackson.

It's people...people, with their movie-going dollar, that dictate what kinds of movies will do well. It seems to lessen the risk of a studio giving a director a multi-million dollar budget if they know John Q. Public will be satiated with spectacle, hyperbole and bombast; the appetite of the American audience member is to blame for the state of modern movie making.


Just look at this new Keanu Reeves movie '47 Ronin'...


The same hack cgi; the same boring gun-metal blues and grays filter and the same paint-by-numbers storyline.

I really miss the giant puppet Falcor, or even the stop-motion Sinbad monsters.

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Last edited by Damocles74 on Wed Dec 11, 2013 6:28 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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 Post subject: Re: The Hobbit: the desolation of smaug
PostPosted: Wed Dec 11, 2013 1:32 pm 
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I'll buy that for a dollar.

*extra points for the word "bombast". I think in my whole life I have never taken the opportunity to use that word in a sentence...

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 Post subject: Re: The Hobbit: the desolation of smaug
PostPosted: Wed Dec 11, 2013 4:57 pm 
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Image


http://filmdrunk.uproxx.com/2013/12/irate-responses-to-negative-hobbit-reviews-people-havent-seen-hobbit-yet

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 Post subject: Re: The Hobbit: the desolation of smaug
PostPosted: Wed Dec 11, 2013 6:37 pm 
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I'm ready
Image

I'm going to be wearing my thick-waled, braced and vented hobbit corduroy jacket for the opening.


I may even smoke my hobbit rune pipe right there in my seat!
Image

I would love to blow long bottom leaf right in the ushers face as he briskly escorts me out of the theatre xD

I could scroll through hobbit homes all day long, sigh
http://hobbithouses.tumblr.com

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 Post subject: Re: The Hobbit: the desolation of smaug
PostPosted: Thu Dec 12, 2013 2:03 am 

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Haven't even seen the first Hobbit yet. Really enjoyed the LOTR trilogy. I'll make an effort once i get a TV next year.

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 Post subject: Re: The Hobbit: the desolation of smaug
PostPosted: Thu Dec 12, 2013 10:48 am 
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^ I think you'll dig.
You just have to mentally insert Dando Shaft, Mellow Candle, Fairport Convention et al. into the scenes that seem fitting.

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 Post subject: Re: The Hobbit: the desolation of smaug
PostPosted: Thu Dec 12, 2013 10:35 pm 

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Hmmmmmm. Maybe a The Hobbit/Wyrd Folk Vol. __ ala Wizard of Oz/Dark Side-esque viewing might be in order? Running time of the CD won't be an issue either. Something to enjoy with a pipe full of ye Olde Toby maybe?

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 Post subject: Re: The Hobbit: the desolation of smaug
PostPosted: Sat Dec 14, 2013 11:31 am 
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^ I'd like to see that playlist ;)
Goin' tomorrow to get my ramble on


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 Post subject: Re: The Hobbit: the desolation of smaug
PostPosted: Sun Dec 15, 2013 5:09 am 
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That was fucking brutal. When George Lucas put out a crappy prequel (and that's what these hobbit movies are written as) he had the decency to not make it three fucking hours long.
Those fight scens? Are y ou kidding me? It was like I was watching a Jackie Chan movie.

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 Post subject: Re: The Hobbit: the desolation of smaug
PostPosted: Mon Dec 16, 2013 6:17 pm 
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Loved it. I even love that the dude in the seat behind me piped "well that sucked" at the end. Don't like it? Go watch 'Hunger Games' with all the other Starbucks™-minded people.

It's a cliffhanger ending of a movie that has no real beginning or resolution because it lies in concatenation with a greater triptych. You have to kind of accept that going in (like you would with the Two Towers), it will make sense in the end in a box set dvd kind of way.
As far as believability, pacing and action are concerned, well the whimsy is still there and the fight scenes are nowhere near as over-the-top as The Matrix (I hate these movies), Pirates of the Caribbean etc.
The pros far outweigh the cons in my estimation. The loose and free band-on-the-run in constant pursuit feel; the anglo-witticisms of Bilbo; the fight with Gandalf and the black ichor later revealed to be ??? and the mossy, misty impressionist way the moon focal blurs the landscape at night are an attention to detail which give you much more of what you've come to expect from this franchise.
4 forks!

My favorite scene is fairly innocuous. It's simply the prosaic hog munching on Kingsfoil *chomp* in the lake town ;P

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Last edited by Damocles74 on Mon Dec 30, 2013 8:54 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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 Post subject: Re: The Hobbit: the desolation of smaug
PostPosted: Mon Dec 16, 2013 7:24 pm 
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*********SPOILERS*********








Damocles74 wrote:
Loved it. I even love that the dude in the seat behind me piped "well that sucked" at the end. Don't like it? Go watch 'Hunger Games' with all the other Starbucks™-minded people.


Thats not a choice. How is the Hobbit not a film for Starbucks minded people. Its a fucking prequel.

Damocles74 wrote:
It's a cliffhanger ending of a movie that has no real beginning or resolution because it lies in concatenation with a greater triptych. You have to kind of accept that going in (like you would with the Two Towers), it will make sense in the end in a box set dvd kind of way.


I have to accept that going in?!?

I like how Jackson wants the payoff of tapping the elements of the Lord Of The Rings trilogy - "thats mah little one, Gimli". Like i'm supposed to squeal with delight at how water tight the chronolgy is. Its such a rich and established story...
But then when Gandalf is confronting fucking Sauron face to face I'm not supposed to wonder why that never came up in the Rings trilogy. Thats just a "never you mind" moment right?
I didn't realize Peter Jackson had become a talented-director-who-needs-the-audience-to-help-him-out.
Its pathetic. The giuy failed to put together a good film. He gave into his own indulgences, he couldn't decide where the importance of scope would be and he stepped all over a great story because he wanted to repackage a story that had already been a hit. He's made a film we've already seen(the same character motivations, the same themes) and he's pawning it off with the title of a completely different piece of literature.

Its a movie perfectly crafted for the Starbucks crowd.

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 Post subject: Re: The Hobbit: the desolation of smaug
PostPosted: Tue Dec 17, 2013 10:23 am 
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Naw, it's more nerdcore than anything else.
LOTR folk are firmly entrenched in the camp of Star Wars/Star Trek type people, or even the video game culture of Fable meets Skyrim.
The seemingly disparate sequences that punch [pin] holes in the greater arc of the story are there, but very few and far between AND it's something Tolkien does himself if you've ever read The Silmarillion..I gave up on that book halfway through.
Peter Jackson also said that he deviated away from the book and mined the appendices/index at the back pages of The Return of the King book for greater source material. I perused it last night and it's the marrying of things that don't happen in The Hobbit, but exist and could exist in the overall history of this fantasy world.

Artistic license is the prevailing cry.


To fully appreciate the back and forth between Bilbo and Smaug, I'd recommend reading another Tolkien treasure: Farmer Giles of Ham.

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Last edited by Damocles74 on Tue Dec 17, 2013 11:21 am, edited 2 times in total.

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 Post subject: Re: The Hobbit: the desolation of smaug
PostPosted: Tue Dec 17, 2013 11:16 am 
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I think everyone gave up on the Silmarillion halfway through.

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 Post subject: Re: The Hobbit: the desolation of smaug
PostPosted: Tue Dec 17, 2013 2:49 pm 
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Not me. I didn't even bother.

Haven't seen this latest 3 hour monstrosity. I'll watch it when it's available on demand or on Netflix. Loved the Lord of the Rings trilogy (although they do wear thin on repeat viewings). Thought the first Hobbit flick was tiresome and dull and more of the same, minus the charm. Which is a shame, because I'd take Martin Freeman over Eliaj Wood any day of the week.

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 Post subject: Re: The Hobbit: the desolation of smaug
PostPosted: Thu Dec 26, 2013 1:56 pm 

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Arzgarth wrote:
I'd take Martin Freeman over Eliaj Wood any day of the week.

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 Post subject: Re: The Hobbit: the desolation of smaug
PostPosted: Fri Dec 27, 2013 12:30 pm 
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Truthfully, Bilbo is a more interesting protagonist than Frodo ever was. All Frodo does is whine.

I will say, the 2nd Hobbit is better than the 1st (sans the really shitty and obvious GoPro footage during the barrel ride). But it was worth it to see Smaug and the collective groan of the theater audience when the credits began to roll. Seriously, we have three more hours of story to tell after this one? They must have read a different book than I did.

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 Post subject: Re: The Hobbit: the desolation of smaug
PostPosted: Fri Dec 27, 2013 11:25 pm 
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Peter Jackson found 12 more hours of footage!!!!

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 Post subject: Re: The Hobbit: the desolation of smaug
PostPosted: Sat Dec 28, 2013 5:23 pm 

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Saw it yesterday, on a pot brownie which helped me just relax into it and sit still. Overall I didn't find myself caring about the characters or what might happen next. Maybe I've seen enough of this type of film that they've become cliche.

On the plus side though EPIC WIZARD FIGHT!!! And Smaug was pretty cool to watch.

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 Post subject: Re: The Hobbit: the desolation of smaug
PostPosted: Sat Dec 28, 2013 6:54 pm 
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I think this trio of Peter Jackson films (all 9 hours of them) has sounded the death knell for big budget film with CGI effects as the centerpiece.

What goes up, will always come down.



'47 Ronin' to lose $175 million
http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/movies/2013/12/28/keanu-reeves-47-ronin/4231795/

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 Post subject: Re: The Hobbit: the desolation of smaug
PostPosted: Sun Dec 29, 2013 4:38 am 
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I've liked both films so far. Everywhere I go online there's a hoard of people bashing the films "peter jackson sucks" "too much cgi" "why isn't it like the book".

Get over yourselves. The book is near and dear to me but I have no problem with the changes.. we're getting a new vision inspired by the original work. Nobody seems to look at it that way instead just cry it's not exactly like the book for the sake of being nitpicking little cunts.

There are some things I don't like myself.. like the Tauriel love thing.. also the meeting with beorn and the mirkwood parts are probably the most memorable moments of the book to me and they had both of those parts over and done in the opening 20 minutes of the film. sort of sucked but it was still a fine film. really enjoyed it.

If you don't like it sit at home read the fucking book. I've read the book so many times it's nice to see a new vision of it all


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 Post subject: Re: The Hobbit: the desolation of smaug
PostPosted: Sun Dec 29, 2013 12:17 pm 
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I think people are upset because you buy what you are sold.

People aren't flocking to see "Peter Jackson's 3 hour Epic Inspired By The Hobbit", they are paying money to see the book they love. If its not the book, then don't market it AS the book, which is what Peter Jackson did.
Hollywood takes a lot of liberties with audiences but the new trend in bait-and-switch marketing is infuriating. I think he deserves the scorn.

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 Post subject: Re: The Hobbit: the desolation of smaug
PostPosted: Mon Dec 30, 2013 5:34 am 
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True to a point but I recall Del Toro and Jackson both stating years before this even got off the ground it probably would not be a true interpretation of the book. Plus once it got announced it was going to be a trilogy people should know right then and there this isn't the hobbit you grew up with.

Could they have done it in 1 or 2 movies? ofcourse. It is basically stemming from money grubbing studios wanting a full trilogy but in this case so far it has worked out in the favor of the viewers imo at-least.


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