The Hobbit

[Swindle]

Saw this with some friends.

Eh... I'd say about a 3 star movie. Good, not great.

Needs a tighter edit, of course, that's a choice, given their desire to squeeze 3 movies out of a rather breezy book. Pure Greed. It took rather long to get, what?, 100 pages into the book?

On the stuff I liked front, I always liked Bilbo more than Frodo. Its nice to see him take center stage. The riddling contest is one of my favorite chapters, nice to see that on screen.

[Zarana-X]

This is the only Rings book I've read. All I really remember is the dinner mocking song and breaking dishes.

[Bravo]

I'll wait for crowds to die down before I see it.

Not that ethusiastic. We know Bilbo lives and gets the ring. LOL.

[Felix]

Ugh, a trilogy, really? My excitement to see this just went from a 7 to about a 2.

I'll probably watch this with my friends Saturday though.

[Swindle]

There was a point in the film when Frodo makes a small appearence and it reminded me of the driods being shoehorned into TPM (look, remember when these movies were great!).

[Zarana-X]

I saw it last night. I liked it. I don't think he's being greedy for making it a trilogy, I think he want's to make sure everythign is covered. The Rings movies all got , like an hour or so extra footage on the dvd's. This is just preemptive exta footage. Yeah, it was long. There wasn't any point that felt dull or unimportant enough to go take a piss, and I really had to go by the end.

[Swindle]

[Bravo]

As one of the last people on Earth to see this film, I have to say it was pretty decent.

I never read the book, but anyway...

I like Bilbo more than Frodo.

Ian McKellan's presence lifts the movie up. If they'd have recast his role...not sure I'd have bothered to (eventually) go see it.

The prologue was good because...it takes them 45 mintues to get to Skull Island anywhere.

The CGI Orc leader looked off. The Wargs still look fake as shit. I think a huge chunk of the budget was spent making Elijah Wood, Ian Holm and Cate Blanchett look like they did 10 years ago.

Gollum was a lot better looking in this film.


Much of the action was too slapsticky, especially the goblin city escape. It was also excessively one-sided even for an adventure movie. No good guy dies. They used that damned Wilhelm Scream effect for a falling Goblin...like they sound like that.

The singing didn't bother me much. They kept enough to have it, without over doing it.

Talking trolls...contrast with the near mindless brutes in LOTR. Actually, not a bad thing. Just seems odd.

Radagast the goofy. Stop the quest, we have to have magic tree hugger revive a hedgehog! I don't oppose his inclusion in the film, merely how he was included.

Necromancer...seems like hey, we knew evil was coming back 60 years before LOTR and uh...we later seem surprised anyway.

Saruman being a useless bureaucratic shitheel? Is he already turning to evil or just a worthless prick? I understand that scene was not in the book.

And the mountain giants was a "WTF am I watching?" moment. Rock people? Really? Huh?

Goblin keep growing as long as they live?

Gollum really does eat people. Happy nightmares, kids.

pine cones are like made of napalm.

[Bravo]

Saw the DESOLATION OF SMAUG today.

Over a month after release and still a fair crowd for a sunday afternoon.

Better in than the previous one in some aspects, but also seemed maybe even more padded.

SPOILERZ

Talking spiders? WTF am I watching?

Evangeline Lilly is looking fine and cherry wine in this.

King Stuckup of the Elves. Master Shitheel of the rivertown. Thorin Oakenshield (at least half the time)? Is there any king/leader/ruler in any of these films that isn't a dick? Besides Aragorn?

I'm confused. Now Gandalf knows its Sauron, knows the 9 are missing from their tombs, but decades later he finds it surprising the evil is rising and the Wring Wraiths have been unleashed.

Smaug is the original Scrooge McDuck, with his money bin.

[Felix]

I just got done watching the first one
Not a bad movie at all in my opinion. I wish they had left Frodo out altogether, it just seemed very pointless to include all the introductions. Other than that I enjoyed it quite a bit, I even went a rewatched the LOTR trilogy. Only thing I hate in those movies are those close ups of Frodo and slow mo scenes where they all hug each other. Would have been fine in regular motion, but the slow mo makes it incredibly awkward and uncomfortable to sit through. You would think somebody in the editing room would say, "No, we're not doing that, that's stupid, I get payed to point out stupid things so the film can be it's best."

I can't look at Jabba the Hutt the same anymore. He looks like the Goblin King or vice versa. I still need to see the second one with Smaug when it comes out on DVD.
Oh, I liked Radacast a lot, but the forest rabbit sled thing was just fucking stupid.

Been thinking about picking up some of the 6" figures from Toybiz or Bridge-Direct. Haven't ever really seen any in person. From online pics some look much better than others, like the orcs, they seem to look pretty cool. I see they've started doing 3 3/4 figures, if the quality is there, I'd prefer that scale, but from the pics I've seen, I'm not impressed.

You guys have any opinions on the toys?

[Bravo]

A lot of the 3 3/4" (really 1:18) stuff can be mostly be found for cheap (really cheap in some case), except Azog and Radagast who will probably not see release in the USA. (they released the 6 inchers of those two, though)

Thanks to K-Mart clearances, I have everything 3 3/4" from the first movie except Goblin King (long gone from stores) and the Gandalf and Bolg set, which I keep missing at these Toys R Us sales I don't know about, so they may be all gone before I ever get it. I noticed the new five pack (which only includes one new figure, the elf king) was all gone last time I went to TRU.

The figures are pretty good and well articulated. Gollum has less articulation, but he's so small it's understandable. Bilbo's likeness isn't so great. The Warg and rider set is cool, they really gave the warg articulation, and its rider can pass for a Star Wars alien. The goblin is well...I don't like his character design, but the figure is okay. I never opened the rest.

I don't why the line did so badly, but some stores didn't carry it at all. The manufacturer, Bridge Direct, showed the remaining dwarfs, Azog and Radagast at Toy Fair. But then they got cold feet and only released a few 6 figures and a 5-pack with 4 reissued figures . You'd think they'd make a 5 pack with all new characters, instead of a chicken shit move.

I'm no one to talk, I never got anything at full price. :-X