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Hobbit lives up to expectations

Sheilawisz

Queen of Titania
Moderator
This is excellent news for all of us, really can't wait to watch The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey!!

I want to watch it in my birthday with my sister, so I'll have to wait for December 16th... at least you can watch it the 14th. Then you all will be writing here about how awesome it is, and I'll be even more desperate to watch it.

The Hobbit trilogy will make history =)
 

Black Dragon

Staff
Administrator
I'm not going to get to see it until the 15th, as that's when our babysitters (grandma & grandpa) are available.


This is excellent news for all of us, really can't wait to watch The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey!!

I want to watch it in my birthday with my sister, so I'll have to wait for December 16th... at least you can watch it the 14th. Then you all will be writing here about how awesome it is, and I'll be even more desperate to watch it.

The Hobbit trilogy will make history =)
 

CupofJoe

Myth Weaver
And we lucky Brits get to see it on the 13th.
But I don't think I'll see it in the cinema, full of people on their mobile phones... and the film is usually out of focus until you tell them... because they are still showing it through the 3D filter. I really dislike British cinemas...
 
And we lucky Brits get to see it on the 13th.
But I don't think I'll see it in the cinema, full of people on their mobile phones... and the film is usually out of focus until you tell them... because they are still showing it through the 3D filter. I really dislike British cinemas...

Hehe, me too. I saw the Return of the King in the cinema, and it was epic on the big screen, but cinemas, audiences and advertising has got worse since then.
 

Black Dragon

Staff
Administrator
I haven't been to a movie theater since Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I'm hoping that the cinema experience hasn't gotten worse in the U.S. over the past couple of years.
 

Jess A

Archmage
Yes advertising has gotten ridiculous these days. I show up late on purpose; I won't waste my time watching ads. And if I think the cinema is going to be full, I bloody well show up several weeks after it's released...I intend on doing this for The Hobbit and Skyfall. Eager as I am to see them both, I am not eager enough to brave the crowds. I do remember lining up for hours to see the LOTR trilogy - I kindly went along with my friend when I would have otherwise waited.

Something I've noticed is that they are putting film previews in with ads. So there's no just skipping the advertising section and arriving to see the previews.
 

Sheriff Woody

Troubadour
I go to the theater in the morning/early afternoon. Not only are the tickets cheaper, but there are less people in the audience, and all the annoying kiddies are in school. It's a quiet and peaceful affair that allows me to sit back with some lunchtime popcorn and just enjoy the movie.

Going first thing in the morning on December 14th. :)
 

MFreako

Troubadour
Going to watch it on December 12th. Been waiting for it a while now, the geek that I am. Kinda excited :p
 

Jess A

Archmage
Australia has decided to release it Boxing Day (26th) - marketing and all that. So I have to wait a bit longer. Especially as I will probably wait two weeks after its release date before I go! So many good films to see though.
 

Reaver

Staff
Moderator
There's a Midnight showing here, but I already know that it's going to be packed, so I'm opting for the 11 am showing. Hopefully it won't be too bad.

I also hope that the movie isn't a let down.
 

tlbodine

Troubadour
I think we're aiming for the midnight release tonight. If not, there's always tomorrow. I'm pretty excited -- it'd been a long time since I've braved a midnight release...
 

Chilari

Staff
Moderator
I personally did not feel it lived up to expectations. It was good, don't get me wrong, but expectations were very high and it fell short. I felt it dragged a bit, and at 2 hours and 46 minutes was much too long; a lot could have been cut. The film's main villain was manufactured, the pacing was off and suspension of disbelief was too frequently broken. Having said that, Gollum was spot on and everything looked utterly gorgeous. I have posted a full review on my website, if anyone wants to read it.
 
I personally did not feel it lived up to expectations. It was good, don't get me wrong, but expectations were very high and it fell short. I felt it dragged a bit, and at 2 hours and 46 minutes was much too long; a lot could have been cut. The film's main villain was manufactured, the pacing was off and suspension of disbelief was too frequently broken. Having said that, Gollum was spot on and everything looked utterly gorgeous. I have posted a full review on my website, if anyone wants to read it.

Just read your review, interesting and well written (I haven't seen the film yet). It's kind of a shame though if it has silly moments that don't work, I found them quite jarring in the original trilogy. My least liked scenes are the ones where Legolas "skateboards" downstairs on a shield, and takes down an occupied mumak single handed. Hope he's not trying to be Indiana Jones in these films. By the way, does it end before the Mirkwood sequence.
 
Just came back from seeing it. Honestly, I think it's a good, fun movie, pretty much.

Over-all, it has all the bells and whistles you'd expect, and the characters are all very likable. Martin Freeman does a fantastic job as Bilbo and the dwarves are a fun (but occasionally very serious) bunch. There's also seveal familiar faces from the older movies swinging by in cameos, most of which don't feel completely shoehorned in. We even get to meet Radagast the Brown, which has got to be a first as far as I know.

This movie does have a somewhat different mood and feel to it compared to the LotR trilogy. I feels... I wouldn't say more childish, but it definitely doesn't take itself quite as seriously. It's more lighthearted, I guess? Wether that's a good or bad thing, I suppose comes down to your individual taste. It certainly has more sense of humour, anyway.

(I know the books are exactly the same way, The Hobbit being more of a children's story, but it's sorta wierd seeing it translated to the movie screen like this.)

There is a lot of padding, though - they pretty much have to pad it out for it to last three movies. Again, not sure if this is necessarily a bad thing since it's actually pretty well done. They spend a lot of this first movie building up some kind of looming threat, as if everything that goes on in this one is just signs of something worse. I quite liked that.

On the other hand, it also makes the story feel kinda disjointed, because it's really just a trip from Shire to the Lonely Mountain and the story here is just all the things that happen to the group along the way. Actually, it kinda reminded me of Skyrim, the way they kept running into adventure on their way to the adventure.

("Let's head to that mountain and fight a dragon. We're attacked by wolves! Now we're fighting trolls! Hey, I heard that there's a necromancer living in that old abandoned fortress!")

Also, some of the shenanigans do go a bit far. The thing that broke my suspension of disbelief was Gandalf
doing the butterfly trick to summon the giant eagles again. Now, I know that's part of Gandalf's resumé, but... it's a butterfly. They're not even very fast flyers by insect standards. So unless the eagles are roosting behind that big rock right over there, there is no way that butterfly would reach them in time.

But of course, the butterfly flutters off and five minutes later some huge goddamn eagles show up. I'm pretty sure I'm not even exaggerating.

I'm also displeased that Glamdrig and Orcrist don't glow like Sting does. (Especially since Gandalf explains to Bilbo that elf blades do just that, as if it was a very common feature.) I think Peter Jackson threw away a great opportunity in not having three glowing swords as opposed to just one. Because, as we all know, glow-in-the-dark swords are as awesome as they are impractical.

Oh and why is one of the dwarves fighting with a slingshot? Even Bilbo got a real weapon; give the poor guy a bow or something.

Oh well, I'm probably nitpicking. Over-all, it was a good movie and I will definitely see the other ones.
 
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