Iron Man 3 May 8, 2013
Posted by oldboy in : Cinema, Comic Book , add a commentIM3 comes off as the weakest of all the Iron Man films (including cameos). In the run up to seeing this there was all this talk of the film taking a different direction, posters and trailers showed a darker tone. But in the end we got more of the same but far less entertaining and far more unrealistic villains. Ok, granted Iron Man fought Aliens in ‘The Avengers’ last year which was just as unrealistic and granted I was drunk for the first hour or so of watching this movie, but it still wasn’t good.
Why the heck did Stark need to be out of the suit for so long and why did he need to discover himself (yet again) in this movie and why did he need to go up against another corporate competitor and what the hell is it with those glowing people. For some reason I’m reminded of glow worms from my childhood. I kinda liked that the Iron Man movies at least had bad guys that were a bit closer to reality. The first part of the movie seemed to be going well but it dragged on after, Tony Stark tries to be James Bond and in the last 15 minutes shit just exploded everywhere. Screw the 3D. My Beer goggles do a better job.
The Mandarin. I liked Ben Kingsly as the Mandarin, he was great in many ways. But yes, I did see that twist coming because all movies are pulling the same move these days.
I think we’re done here right? Even Robert Downy Jr is considering hanging up his armor. I still want to see the character and actor in the Avengers sequels but if this is the direction of the standalones then no thanks.
Favorite Quote: “Ever since that big guy with the hammer fell out of the sky, subtlety’s kinda had its day.” - Aldrich Killian
Leaving Las Vegas April 11, 2013
Posted by oldboy in : DVD/Video/T.V., Movie Drunks , add a commentI can’t remember why I suddenly had an urge to watch this the other night. I have seen it a few times over the years and it still leaves me with the same feelings, it’s a great movie, Nic Cage’s acting is amazing and reminds me he did do other things before ‘Ghost Rider’. It is a deeply affecting story. Based on the semi autobiographical novel of the same name by John O’Brien who killed himself after selling the rights to the novel. There is a lot to this film and you definitely feel that while watching it. For me it brought back some memories, in particular, what an ex gf of mine told me after she watched it. Saying that the main character reminded her of me (no comment).
Our main character, Ben, goes to Las Vegas to drink himself to death. His Wife and Son are gone, he is not sure if they left him because of his drinking or if he started drinking after they were gone. He burns all his belongings, drives to Vegas, rents a Motel room and continues drinking. During the course of a nights drinking he has a chance encounter with a Prostitute, Sera, and after spending a night together talking and drinking a relationship starts to form between them.
Critics of the film say the story between the characters is unrealistic, that no prostitute would take a drunk off the street, that such a relationship can’t be formed. But I beg to differ. There are people who stick in bad relationships, hang around the wrong people and love those that suit them worst. Why is it different that a prostitute who is abused by her pimp and an alcoholic who has thrown his life away not find something in each other’s souls? They find in one another that person who doesn’t care about what they do but care about something deeper inside the soul.
This film hits me harder in the gut each time I see it. Not many films can do that on repeated viewings but this is one of them. It’s one of the best romantic movies around and it is one of the best ‘drunk’ movies to watch while drinking.
Favorite Quote: “Sera… what you don’t understand is - no, see, no. You can never, never ask me to stop drinking. Do you understand?” - Ben
Django Unchained March 18, 2013
Posted by oldboy in : Cinema, Western , add a comment
Over the last few years I have felt Tarantino has been basically making films which in essence are him whacking off as a Director and making a movies using every uncontrolled implus he has. It started with ‘Kill Bill’ the “4th” movie by Quentin Tarantino and continued with ‘Death Proof’ and ‘Inglorious basterds‘ in which he let himself loose on his homages to earlier cinema. That doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy those films. I got a real kick out of them but at times felt he was out of control and making films that just weren’t as engaging. Yet people were still eating it up as Tarantino cinema. Well I remember a time when Tarantino cinema was ‘Pulp Fiction’ and that was the fucking bomb. When I saw the trailers for ‘Django Unchained’ I was expecting more of the same as recent offerings, this time a movie stuffed full of western homages and basically Tarantino diddling with himself yet again. But I thought “fuck it, you got to see it anyway”. So the lights go down and before 10 minutes of the film had even passed I thought how wrong my expectations were and how amazing this film was.
Almost 3 hours later I came out of the cinema believing I had seen the best Tarantino film since Pulp Fiction and I felt that way throughout the entire film. This a pretty fucking great movie and definitely in my top 10 of this year. He nailed it. I’m delighted he did. I also have to disagree with those that thought it was overly long because the film had my complete attention for every second of it’s silvery goodness. I put a large part down to the script with dialogue that isn’t just bringing us from point A action scene to point B action scene but actually has resonance and MEANING. That combined with the beautiful cinematography, ear blistering soundtrack and fantastic acting particularly of Christopher Waltz, Samuel L Jackson, Leo DiCaprio, Jamie Fox and a cameo by Franco Nero had me feeling like I wasn’t watching a Director whacking off but was been whacked off by what was onscreen.
Ok, so Historical accuracy aside this is a Tarantino film and some of us enlightened folk know that he makes film these days that are films rather than accurate historical flicks. That is unless you actually believe that he thought Samurai swords were allowed as carry ons on Airplanes (use your heads people). The tricky thing is that there are aspects of Django which are definitely addressing history and issues of America’s past. Yet it isn’t an allegory and Tarantino himself doesn’t call it a western per say but a southern. He’s clearly made a film where he is saying something and yet not abiding to any type of rule in the way he does it.
The other controversial aspect of the movie is the depiction of violence and I do believe that this was more graphic than needed to be and you shouldn’t be takin your lady friends to this one fellas.. Then again, I sure wasn’t aching for a real gun fight after seeing people’s faces implode in this movie. I don’t believe violence in movies inspires violence in reality. We have 24 hour news coverage that does that, News which dramatically depicts wars, executions and bombings as entertainment that scares the shit out of society and has some of us locked indoors in fear. If movie violence inspires people to go out and do the same then those people are likely to have a mental problem to begin with and lets face it, movies don’t put AK47s in people’s hands. If you are going to blame films for violence then you’ll have to blame novels, blame history and blame Tom and Jerry.
My own grip is that this was fuuking loud! The director sometimes does give notes for the projectionists as to how to light the film. That might include sound too. Anyway the sound on this was definitely loud enough to strain my ears to the heights of standing by a speaker at a night club.
What’s next for Tarantino? Anyone for Zatoichi? I dreaded the idea before but now…… do it do it do it!!
Go see ‘Django Unchained’. But for a more appreciative experience go watch ‘Django’ and Sukiyaki Western first!
Favorite Quote: “Sorry, I couldn’t resist” - Dr. King Schultz
Flight
Posted by oldboy in : Cinema, Movie Drunks , add a commentA man wakes up having blacked out the night before, for a moment he feels fine, rested until he starts to wonder how he got there. How he made it from outside to bed? He turns over to see a bin lying beside his bed and the contents of some of last nights dinner are in it, the rest are over and down the side of his bed. He gets out of bed thinking that’s the worst part but the bottle of wine, 3 beers and whiskey he had been drinking are also all over the floor so much so that it has flowed from the edge of the wall to under his bed. He spends the better part of the day cleaning up the mess before going to see the movie ‘Flight’ about an alcoholic airline pilot.
‘Flight’ is a good film and I dare say I might be actually qualified to say that Denzel gives a great performance, not as a pilot but as an alcoholic and it’s interesting to see his character’s story plays out. I think the movie does a great job of showing how people can stop drinking when they think it’s become a problem but fall back on it when things go wrong and out of control. I like that it shows that alcohol isn’t always the source of the problem but a solution to one that in reality makes it a bigger problem.
Another great scene is when his character sits listening to other alcoholics talking about their problems but angrily walks out the meeting finding no relation to them. In a way lying to himself but also putting himself beyond those other people with addictions. He doesn’t have a problem. He’s insulted to be compared to those that do. Don’t some of us also think that? We don’t want to compare our mistakes to those of others because no, we aren’t like them, we’re different.
In ways we the film going audience are sympathetic to the character and also equally despise him for not wanting to be punished for his problem. The punishment being jail time even though he had saved lives. Can we condemn a man for desperately wanting to save his ass for a personal problem after having done such an amazing feet? He certainly battles those questions too and does so with the bottle. Holding a bottle of hard licquor in his hand and choosing between oblivion or cold reality that seems hopeless. Who hasn’t been there at times.
I’m hitting spoiler territory with this next part. Film critic Mark Kermode mentioned in his review that there’s a point in the film where the wing of the airplane clips the top of a church tower and from this point you can see where the movie might be going. Admittedly I didn’t see it going that way unless the church goers were going to sue him and blame his alcoholism on the damage to the church. I felt some frustration that the character is saved in a moment of desperation when he whispers the words “god help me under his breath”. Some characters around him are believers in God but throughout most of the film he never comes across as a man who even has God on his mind.
Anyway, it’s a great film and an excellent performance by Denzel Washington who has said he didn’t even drink while making this film. That’s acting folks.
Favorite Quote: “I drink because I CHOOSE TO!” - Whip
A Good Day to Die Hard February 17, 2013
Posted by oldboy in : Cinema , add a commentBruce Willis stars as Bruce Willis in the 5th Die Hard film ‘A Good Die to die hard’, a title which was taken from the Klingon saying “Today is a good day to die”.
I was glad to hear so many bad reviews for this before I watched it as my lowered expectation and pissy mood made this mildly entertaining. I wasn’t as disappointed as I expected and it’s better than ‘Live Free or Die Hard‘. There was even a “fuck” and a “yippie Kay Yay Mother Fucker” in this one that was totally inaudible in the previous film. In my opinion John McClane isn’t John McClane unless he can say “fuck” a lot which is what I realized when I watched the unrated version of ‘Live Free and Die Hard’. Unfortunately Willis doesn’t care or doesn’t remember about what his character used to be like but this John McClane isn’t the one we know from the first 3 films in the franchise… Maybe it’s the hair or something….
But does it matter? We’re never going to get a ‘Die Hard’ like we used to anyway so character development is out the window. To think that the original ‘Die Hard’ gave their character’s 23 minutes before anything exploded, before anyone was shot. Now we’re lucky if we even get 10 minutes in action movies such as this.
Lets not even get started on the rating system the film has. In some countries it has a lower rating to gain more of a younger audience but from reports of the R rated version there doesn’t seem to be much of a difference between cuts. The whole situation stinks of the studio only giving a rating that will get the largest audience in each country.
The Good, the return of the Die Hard theme music, the action, the car chase, when things went kaboom! etc. The Father Son storyline isn’t pretty fluff and the only good moment between McClane and his son is when they say they love each other before going into a shoot out which might (haha) kill them. The Villains of the story aren’t all that interesting but are far more imposing than that joke of a guy in Die Hard 4.
So I don’t know what else to say about this, it’s not really Die Hard and it’s nothing like the Die Hards we used to know. If you like action and especially CGI action with superhuman like characters then go see it. Leave your brain at home. To me this film just seems to be a set up to keep the franchise going with McClane’s son Jack taking on the mantle.
Fuck that.
Favorite quote: “Need a Hug?” - John McClane
Cyber City Oedo 808 February 12, 2013
Posted by oldboy in : Animation, DVD/Video/T.V., Science Fiction, Anime/ Manga, Best Ever , 1 comment so far
A favorite anime of mine which I first viewed in the early 90s late at night on the UK Channel 4 back when it used to show anime on weekends. Back then anime was still a bit of an underground cult, it wasn’t as accessible, an unknown among many people and had slightly more respect before the days of Pokemon.
It blew me away the first time I saw it. The animation style, the characters, the stories. It was dripping of Cyberpunk and opened up a new world of anime to me. Viewing Cyber City Oedo years later represents to me what I miss in Animation these days. The colors in animation today are dull, pale tone, the characters look less human, more otherworldly in appearance. Cyber City Oedo was colorful, vivid, the characters were designed closer to that of real people. The action was in your face. Less artistic and more like a real action film. It didn’t pander to a general audience. But I guess being an OVA film it can get away with that.
The story revolves around 3 criminals released from prison in the year 2808. They work for the special service section of the police catching other criminals in the attempt to reduce their own prison sentences which are into hundreds of years. To prevent them from escaping they each wear an explosive collar around their necks (oh yeah!) and if they fail their missions they’ll be feeling quite light headed after too. The first two episodes are of excellent quality. The third loses it’s way a bit in terms of story, animation quality and even the english dub seems a bit off. It’s a little closer to Kawajiri’s other offerings.
Part of it’s cult status is not just the animation and story but the UK dubbing which took some liberties with the dialogue, although in my own estimation it makes for some kick ass and at times hilarious lines such as..
“You wouldn’t recognize a goddamn vampire if one jumped up and bit you on the end of your fucking dick. So just get off my back.”
or
“Eat this dick splash!”
The UK voice cast delivers these lines with all the gusto they can muster and it wasn’t surprising to hear this kind of dialogue in dubbed anime back in the day. Added to that was a legendary soundtrack by Rory McFarlanes which forgoes the slightly generic Japanese anime theme of the 80s and replaces it with something suiting it’s Cyberpunk setting. Most fans seem to love it and would rather have that version on DVD than the original Japanese music.
The setting of the series is in a futuristic Oedo and the characters and setting reflected that. The stories are varied from People trapped in a Tower (ala Die Hard). Robots with Psychic powers (ummm..) and Vampires (vampires). There was a rich world of storytelling opened up in this SF Cyberpunk series but…. this is all we got. Just 3 episodes. I’m still as disappointed now as I was 20 years ago when no more episodes were broadcast.
In my opinion this is a MUST SEE animation that is still riding the cult status two decades on.
Favorite Quote:“You fuck this up and i’ll pop all your collars for sure.” - Hasagawa
Edge January 24, 2013
Posted by oldboy in : Books, Science Fiction , add a comment
Suzuki Koji has mentioned in past interviews that while he was writing ‘Ring’ he didn’t know where the story was going or how it was going to end. I don’t know if he has the same method of writing with his other works but I certainly got that feeling with ‘Promenade of the Gods’ and here too do I get the feeling that it might have been the case. While it doesn’t fall flat on it’s face like ‘Promenade of the Gods’ it does have an ending where the main character is able to solve ‘Edge’s mysteries due to the discovery of a third nipple.
I admire the passion at which Suzuki writes about this stuff. He throws tons of scientific theories at us from the creation of the universe to quantum theory to mathematical equations and historical disappearances of civilizations. It’s heavy going at times but if you have any interest at all in history, the world and science then this is an interesting read, but not entirely as fun as I hoped. He does go to great lengths to explain things in detail and there’s even a bibliography at the back of the book that has everything he is referencing. I did find a lot of the stuff interesting, in particular Wave functions ability to collapse through Human’s perception of them.
If Star Trek 09 is at one end of the spectrum of science making sense (in that it explains nothing) then Edge is at the opposite end. In fact reading ‘Edge’ explains Star Trek 09 better!
In some ways ‘Edge’ resembles another book of his, ‘Loop’, but ‘Edge’ gets bogged down with characters having long discussions that introduce more and more theories. You get the feeling half way through that you’re being set up for disappointment as you can’t possibly write an ending that will satisfy everything brought up in the book. In a way then it kind of loses focus but in some respects the ending brings us right back to the heart of the story.
Story similarities aside, there are other things that link this with ‘Loop’ and the ‘Ring’ World. Character’s get a citrus/lemon smell before they disappear. Much like we read in Ring where some characters got a similar smell before their death or before having an uneasy feeling of a future event. The connections to ‘Loop’ seem to be that both our main character Sae in ‘Edge’ and Kaoru in ‘Loop’ get the sense that they are being watched by the sky above. There is also a mention of an underground military facility in Arizona which has hundreds super computers linked together. Arizona is located right next to New Mexico and for those who read ‘Loop’ you’ll remember that this story also featured a similar underground facility in New Mexico with computers linked together. The proposed cover design for this by Peter Mendelsund also matched the design of the covers for the Ring books by Chip Kidd. But now the cover has been changed to something less eye grabbing.
I still think Suzuki’s best work is when he writes Horror/SF I hope Vertical decides to translate and publish Suzuki’s newest Novel ‘S’ which is a return to the world of Sadako!
Ring Ø:The Birthday January 14, 2013
Posted by oldboy in : Horror, DVD/Video/T.V., Ring, Asian Cinema, Book to Film, J-Horror , add a comment
‘Ring 0′ リング0 バースデイ is in many ways the most unlike Ring film in the series. It hits scare points of ‘Ring’ and ‘Ring 2′ but it’s less terror and more tragedy. Here Sadako isn’t yet the monster we know from the previous films. Here she is a super sweet, cute girl that has a smile that could evaporate the ocean. Where was i… yes, the monster aspect is there somewhere but Ring 0 plays Sadako as more like Frankenstein’s Creature from the first Universal Frankenstein movie in 1931. Seeing the good Sadako being beaten to death by an angry acting troupe is like watching Frankenstein’s creation trapped in the Windmill being burnt down by an angry Mob who see him as nothing more than a monster.
It’s this innocent, misunderstood Sadako that makes this different to anything we’ve seen before. Even in the books she’s not this nice and has a seductive personality along with a few other “things” that make her very different to the Sadako here. Screenwriter Hiroshi Takahashi does a good job of creating a new back story for Sadako that ties in with the supernatural side of Sadako he created with Ring and Ring 2. Yet he also incorporates the story ‘LemonHeart’ from Suzuki Koji’s novel ‘The Birthday’. Norio Tsuruta does an excellent job of putting it all together onscreen and it’s quite a visual feast of a film that is haunting in a dramatic way. Interesting to note that Norio Tsuruta was suggested by Hiroshi Takahashi as a possible director for Ring.
Why we have two Sadako’s isn’t really explained in the film. We do see some documents in professor Ikuma’s Home relating to it but nothing more is said. It seems to be some kind of Mitosis. The actual explanation is given in a prequel Manga released around the same time as the movie called “The curse of Yamamura Sadako”. In it, little Sadako’s stress over her mothers insanity causes her to split in two, one normal Sadako and one that looks like her father…
Nakama Yukie gives a fantastic performance as Sadako. Butter would not melt in her mouth, folks. Today she can often be seen on varity shows, dramas and TV commericals (sometimes wearing that White Sadako dress)
The best way to enjoy the film is to go into it fresh without any preconceived expectations of getting the same “it’s behind you” feeling that ‘Ring‘ and ‘Ring 2′ gave you. By the end of the film you are definitely on the side of Sadako and ready to be one of her shamblers.
Favorite Quote: “If I could be reborn, even though it violates the will of God himself, I would want to be at your side, with you. If it were all a dream when I awoke, if only you were there.
But the light of morning shows me as I really am.
Still, I want to say..
I love you. ” - Sadako Yamamura
Ring 2 January 6, 2013
Posted by oldboy in : Horror, DVD/Video/T.V., Ring, Asian Cinema, J-Horror , add a comment
When I first watched ‘Ring 2′. 10 years ago… I really liked it. It wasn’t as good as ‘Ring’ but I thought it to be a very worthy successor to it and in many ways it was. It was the successful alternate sequel that ‘Rasen’ wasn’t. It kept the tone of the first film and expanded on it with some shit your pants scary scenes but suffers from dragged out scenes and filled with technobable that would make a Star Trek writer proud.
I’ve watched the film quite a few times but over the years I have also read the Novels the films were based on which have expanded the Ring World in my mind. Now, all these years later I start to see some glaring flaws with ‘Ring 2′. The impression I’m left with at the end is that it had a lot of scenes with people standing around looking stupid and then Mai (our heroine) faints. Really. The film consists largely of scenes like this. I was counting the seconds of characters standing there with dumb looks on their faces until the moment that Mai Takano played by Mai Nakatani faints. It seems like a mistake to replace heroine Reiko Asakawa played by Nanako Matsushima from the first film after her strong performance. In general Mai is not only physically weaker but a character with little background, all we really know about her is that she “worked” with Ryuji; Reiko’s ex husband and father of her Son Yoichi who seems to have been possessed by Sadako in some way.
It also starts to veer away dramatically from the source material. This was in part because of Rasen and how unsuccessful that was. Ring 2 has a new story separate from the spawn of Author Suzuki Koji’s original idea. Now characters seem to have developed Psychic powers. Powers that include telepathy, astral projection, some Akira type killing powers and communication with the dead. Yes, our character’s have become almost superhuman in some aspects and their powers are increasing fast over this sequel’s 92 minutes.
I like that the film attempts to keep some continuity of the financial failure sequel Rasen. It seems here too that Mai is on her period in this film too which might excuse her fainting every 5 f’ing seconds.
To avoid further confusion on which sequel is which and what is actually based on the book check out below.
Another thing that ‘Ring 2′ expands on is Sadako’s origins. Clearly Ring and Ring 2 have taken the Supernatural horror path and made her the Daughter of the Sea, we might even say daughter of ‘The Devil’ since the Sea is considered the Underworld in some religions. Sadako is Japan’s answer to Damien.
Sadako’s Uncle informs Mai that Hot Mom Shizuko gave birth to Sadako and then told her Brother that she had given Sadako to the sea, however the next day Shizuko returns with baby Sadako in her arms. This story is recounted in what appears to be a cave of Sai-no-Kawara (Children’s Limbo) at the moment that Mai questions whether Sadako is born from the sea there is a strong wind as if to answer her question.
‘Ring 2′ doesn’t end as dramatically as ‘Ring’, the scarier scenes take place earlier in the film with encounters of Sadako’s Mother Shizuko and a recently deceased (at the hands of Sadako) Schoolgirl Kane providing tense horror moments.
‘Ring 2′ also features dumb males once again in a J-Horror film. I had previously discussed this in my review of ‘Kairo’. Yes, all the men in this movie are complete idiots with 1st Prize going to reporter/cameraman Okazaki who lets a hot girl who is attracted to him die to save his own ass. In the end the girl Kanae returns to haunt him and some people have even suggested that any future sequels might have continued with Kanae as the ghost Villainess.
I watched this version of ‘Ring 2′ on the remastered DVD Tartan Box set released a few years back. The subtitles are good and make the plot far clearer than the original subtitles of the previous Tartan. Strangely though it brings back the Translation of “Frolic in the brine, Goblins be thine” line that was changed in the first film.
Favorite Quote: “That Boy isn’t Yoichi anymore.” - Granpa Asakawa
The Hobbit: An Unexpeted Journey IMAX 3D 48fps December 20, 2012
Posted by oldboy in : Cinema, Fantasy, Book to Film , add a comment
That was certainly different. I’ll come right out and say that I believe 48fps isn’t a suitable way to watch movies and I don’t believe it will catch on. Here’s why.
Your eyes need to adjust to it.
From the opening scenes it looks like a daytime Chinese historical TV drama. Or those high definition TVs you see in shops where everything is moving too fast and looks as if it’s been sped up. Peter Jackson has said that it will take time for our eyes to adjust at the beginning and I grant that it did. But if this is the way of Movies in the future does that mean that my eyes must adjust to the new 48 frames per second before I can fully immerse myself in a movie? This is my biggest problem. It was less obvious later on but when you start to think for a second you begin to notice the sped up frames again. Day time scenes are the biggest problem while scenes in darker areas or during evening and night are not so much of a problem.
I’m sure there was a collective WTF moment among the cinema audience during the first 20 minutes at least. It’s very jarring. In my opinion a movie should look like a movie. I can live with 24 frames per second if it means that the movie will “Look” like a movie. I believe that is the most important thing to everyone isn’t it? Movie’s distinguish themselves from Television by having their own film quality. In fact many TV shows AIM for that movie look. Take for example the TV series Red Dwarf which removed frames to get that “film look” during series 7.
It could be that 48fps is taking the clarity of image appreciation too far and I feel like I want to watch ‘The Hobbit’ a second time in 24fps to get a real feel for the film. There might be an argument that we haven’t grown up with it so we aren’t used to it but I believe after 100+ years of cinema 24fps is the way to go. 48fps looks unnatural and if reports of people getting motion sickness from this are true it’s another reason not to go with it in future.
Now the film! The Hobbit! Well I almost wonder if I could have read half the book faster than the time it took for the film to portray it. It does seem a little stretch out and there’s a big epic gap missing in the film since Sauron and the Ring are not the main focus of the quest.That is because I the Hobbit is very much a proto-story to the LOTR Books. As one or two films I think the Hobbit could work better but since the reports of the third film being made came pretty late I would imagine Part 1 was completed by then. So does that mean the passing is supposed to be like that? A shorter running time might have helped. Sometimes I got the feeling that scenes were stretched out unnecessarily to gain the long running time. Scenes have added action that they didn’t necessarily have to begin with. I think Drew McWeeny of Hitflix put it best in his review “if Tom Bombadil came from “The Hobbit” and not “Lord Of The Rings,” fans would be listening to Tom sing every word of ever song and watching him prance about in vivid 48FPS 3D this Christmas.”
The film could do with being a little more humorous like the novel too because the next two films obviously will get darker (and hopefully better).
Yet, there is so much to like about the film, it’s loving made and highly detailed though animals don’t talk in this like they did in the book nor does Gandalf say “Great Elephants!”. Peter, i’m waiting… We also have Ian Humphreys, the 7th Doctor Sylvester McCoy, Christopher Lee. Wonderful cast.
Favorite moments: There is a scene where Gandalf and Radagast are talking and at the moment when Radagast says he has something on the tip of his tongue Martin Freeman as Bilbo looks around at no one in particular in a confused way. A nice homage to the office. If Bilbo had looked directly at the camera I would have died laughing.
Having read the Hobbit two years ago I had hoped seeing the book come to life would be a more magical experience like the original LOTR films were 11 years ago. But it feels a little too padded for my full liking. It is by no means bad though. I want to see the film again in 2D in 24fps for it would obviously match the feel of the LOTRs Trilogy more. Will they release a extended version of this? I can’t imagine so since the movie itself feels extended!
Favorite Quote: “Saruman believes it is only great power that can hold evil in check, but that is not what I have found. I found it is the small everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keep the darkness at bay… small acts of kindness and love.” - Gandalf