Author Topic: 'The Hobbit' movie  (Read 105024 times)

Offline Brian

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Re: 'The Hobbit' movie
« Reply #330 on: December 16, 2012, 09:00 PM »
We went and saw it yesterday, and I really enjoyed it.  It was so nice to go back to Middle Earth again, and although I know it may not be enough info to spread throughout a trilogy, I am sort of glad to have more of these movies to look forward to again.  I thought the beginning, although pretty accurate, was a little slow getting going.  I loved the stuff with Gollum and Bilbo, and the action in the later parts of the movie was pretty great too.  Also loved the musical callbacks to Lord of the Rings.  Like I said, just nice to visit Middle Earth again, and kind of cool each time we got to see a character from those movies appear.

Like others, it doesn't compare to the Lord of the Rings experience to me either, but as a whole (like Scott mentioned) I can see what they are doing with the whole six film saga.  The Hobbit story, while great, just isn't the same as the LOTR for me.  I honestly didn't go into the Hobbit expecting to like it as much as Fellowship, Two Towers, or Return of the King...but I did still really like it, and hope to see it again.  Plus, it makes me appreciate those previous films all over again (I've been rewatching them lately as well).  I was maybe one of the rare ones here who hadn't read the books when I originally saw the movies in my early 20s.  I started learning more about the books as the approach to Fellowship was building, and went the opening weekend and was just blown away.  The other two films didn't disappoint either, but the feeling I had after seeing FOTR was one of those movie experiences I'll never forget.  It was sort of a "how have I not read these?" moment, and the anticipation for the sequels was great.  As I've said before, the Star Wars Original Trilogy are my favorite movies, but the LOTR trilogy are the best overall movies I've seen (particularly in the whole "nerdy" genre of movies).  But, back to the Hobbit, I thought it was well done, and I hope to see it again.  Already looking forward to the sequel next year.

Offline Jesse James

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Re: 'The Hobbit' movie
« Reply #331 on: December 17, 2012, 02:44 AM »
I went and saw it yesterday with my gf's sons at the local IMAX theater.

What Scott said resonated with me...  I think the comparisons with LOTR are, frankly, a bit unfair.  LOTR and The Hobbit are different books.  I saw Jackson, and this is sort of paraphrasing it, but say something like he viewed The Hobbit as a children's story written by Bilbo but based in an adult reality of the things that happened, and so he was trying to tell the "actual things that happened" with the movie.  So for that, I think the ties into the LOTR are fine.  I like that even, that they're trying to give it that LOTR Prequal film to set it apart from the actual book a little bit.

I also think there will be a little less LOTR Prequal feel in the next two films.  I think this set that into motion as much as maybe he will want to.  You'll get Legolas and stuff, but ultimately you'll get more of what The Hobbit's about as its own story in the next two films.

I almost wanted to pull out my college paper on this after watching the movie, haha.  Then I realized it probably sucked and I should back off the thought of reminiscing.  :-X

Anyway, I loved it and the kids loved it.  The oldest one's gf went with us, and it was her introduction to the Hobbit story, and she loved it as well.

I can see where some edits could've been made, but I don't know if it's enough to have widdled this down and condensed it back into 2 movies.  But there were definitely some slower parts. 

Everyone left the theater with the same bitch though, that it sucks waiting a year to see the next one.
« Last Edit: December 17, 2012, 08:55 PM by Jesse James »
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Offline Matt_Fury

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Re: 'The Hobbit' movie
« Reply #332 on: December 17, 2012, 07:22 PM »
I saw this on opening day and really enjoyed it.  I saw it in IMAX and will stay away from the FPS version if I go see it again.
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Offline BillCable

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Re: 'The Hobbit' movie
« Reply #333 on: December 17, 2012, 08:57 PM »
You mean HFR (high frame rate).  FPS = "frame per second" - something all movies have.   ;D
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Offline Brian

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Re: 'The Hobbit' movie
« Reply #334 on: December 18, 2012, 02:39 PM »
Seeing the Hobbit this weekend brought back memories of the time with the LOTR trilogy (or "Original Trilogy" I guess now) was coming out.  I had to look this up online to stir up some memories again:

Fellowship of the Ring Trailer

So, so good :).
« Last Edit: December 18, 2012, 02:40 PM by Brian »

Offline Nicklab

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Re: 'The Hobbit' movie
« Reply #335 on: December 18, 2012, 08:39 PM »
I finally saw the movie last night.  And it was thoroughly enjoyable!  I like the fact that they did another prologue.  Given how much Tolkien fleshed out the world of Middle Earth in appendices and such, you really do need some background before getting into the story.  And I REALLY liked that Peter Jackson gave the Dwarves some really good established backstory.

Another interesting thing?  Almost everyone came into this having seen The Lord Of The Rings trilogy.  And when we saw that we knew Gandalf and Bilbo to be old friends.  Seeing their introduction as Gandalf tries to enlist Bilbo into the company of Dwarves was enlightening.  Especially Gandalf talking about Bilbo's Took lineage.  And then to contrasting these scenes with the first part of the animated version of The Hobbit?  The difference is like night and day!

I'm definitely going to see it again in the theater, time permitting.
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Offline McMetal

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Re: 'The Hobbit' movie
« Reply #336 on: December 19, 2012, 10:07 AM »
Saw it last night finally in full 48FPS 3D and LOVED it. I think my expectations were tempered pretty well going in, based on some of the comments I have read here, but overall I thought it was terrific. Nothing like the train-wreck that was King Kong.

Yeah, it's long, but it didn't FEEL long to me, it seems to pick up momentum as it goes along. I thought the casting was once again very strong, especially Bilbo and Thorin. They both did a great job with those roles.

The soundtrack and cinematography were outstanding as expected...and once again, the breathtaking landscapes of NZ were in full glory. Damn, that's a beautiful country.

The scenes in the Goblin lair were incredible, just so much going on in there I will definitely need to re-watch those scenes many, many times. I also loved the preamble showing Erebor and the dwarf kingdom in the height of its glory. That was really well done.

I can't say I was crazy about Radagast, I just don't see the need to have inserted him in there, and it seems sort of contrived especially showing up just after Gandalf has explained who he is. Rabbit-sled? Hrmm.

I did enjoy the scenes with Galadriel and Saruman in Rivendell, although none of that stuff happens in the book. I guess they are going to make a more robust sub-arc showing what Gandalf does when he splits apart from the group in the next movie, so they had to set that up somehow.

The songs were mostly Ok I think. "That's What Bilbo Baggins Hates" was comical enough, and the "Under the Mountain" song the dwarves sing right after that was freaking awesome. But the Goblin-song just seemed silly and sort of out of place to me. Kinda wish they would have cut that.

Like the singing, the voice work was the other thing I was most curious to see how they handled. EVERYONE talks in the freaking book, even the Wargs and Eagles. I was glad they kept those two silent in the movie. I wasn't so crazy about the trolls, I always think back to the cave troll in Moria which was just a mindless brute so it was odd to hear them breaking out the Cockney accents. No real way around that one though. The thing that bothered me most was the Goblin King's voice. Just not scary or imposing at all. Guy just comes off as a corpulent clown.

Jackson got way more right with this movie than wrong though, so any complaints I would voice at this point would be pretty minor.

One thing that troubles me though - that very last scene. WHY DOES SMAUG LOOK BLUE?!?! I am REALLY hoping that it just some funky lighting going on because that needs to be one full-on bright RED dragon. :)
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Offline Qui-Gon Jim

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Re: 'The Hobbit' movie
« Reply #337 on: December 19, 2012, 11:09 AM »
I loved it too.  Those Rivendell scenes while not in the proper novel are in one of the appendices.  I think it does a nice job fleshing out why Gandalf gets involved with these guys in the first place, which always puzzled me when I first read it many years ago.

I loved the film.

Offline P-Siddy

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Re: 'The Hobbit' movie
« Reply #338 on: December 19, 2012, 12:48 PM »
I'm glad to hear that they included the songs.  I really loved that part of the novels and wondered if they include them.

Offline efranks

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Re: 'The Hobbit' movie
« Reply #339 on: December 19, 2012, 01:18 PM »
...and the "Under the Mountain" song the dwarves sing right after that was freaking awesome.

That was one of my favorite parts of the movie.  That song was perfect.

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Offline McMetal

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Re: 'The Hobbit' movie
« Reply #340 on: December 19, 2012, 03:34 PM »
I forgot to mention also - Gollum looked a MILLION times better in this film, IMO. Not nearly as fake or CGI looking as in LOTR, I don't know if that is a by-product of the 3d/HFR or what, but it was probably the best "live creature" CGI I have even seen.

And yeah, he was downright scary down there in his Gollum hole.
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Offline Jesse James

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Re: 'The Hobbit' movie
« Reply #341 on: December 19, 2012, 03:53 PM »
The Trolls are all different breeds of troll, like Orcs are varying breeds (and Goblins more or less a lesser breed of Orc).  There's mountain trolls, cave trolls, etc.  Even the battle trolls are different from the Cave Troll in Moria...  I figure some are smarter than others.
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Offline McMetal

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Re: 'The Hobbit' movie
« Reply #342 on: December 19, 2012, 09:21 PM »
That's a good point about the orcs/goblins...the book doesn't seem to make much distinction between the two but I always considered them to be totally separate races. The goblins seem fairly distinct as a species.

What's interesting is you never actually see any goblins in LOTR, whereas you see just about every other creature under the sun Saruman and Sauron can pull together. Either they got decimated after the events of these films, or they just did all their helping offscreen I guess.
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Offline Nicklab

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Re: 'The Hobbit' movie
« Reply #343 on: December 19, 2012, 10:13 PM »
The Goblin town looked pretty amazing!  You could never build a set like that, and it looked really convincing.  Although the end of the chase through Goblin town was a little difficult to believe.

As for the difference between the Goblins and Orcs?  I like that we got to see both Goblins AND Orcs.  And that's cool in the leadup to LOTR, where Gandalf talks about how Saruman crossed Goblin men with Orcs to create the Uruk Hai.

But some of the Orcs looked...OFF.  Some of the Warg riders looked very much like the Orcs you saw in LOTR, like guys in makeup & prosthetics.  But Azog looked like he was completely CG to me.  Which is weird, because I knew the actor who played Azog, but I couldn't recognize him.  Was Azog like Gollum, a character who was done completely via motion capture?  And there were at least a few other Orcs that looked that way, too.
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Offline Matt_Fury

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Re: 'The Hobbit' movie
« Reply #344 on: December 20, 2012, 12:42 AM »
You mean HFR (high frame rate).  FPS = "frame per second" - something all movies have.   ;D

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