Another Hobbit thread... just what we needed. You know, I used to like Tolkien, but now I'm bored with it, and you should all stop talking about it too.
It's like, in order to restore honour to the family name, he has to sacrifice his only male heir and so the name perishes. Jeez, this is deep. I'm welling up just thinking about it.
Actually I completely missed that chance to grin at the film. Darn. Do you get tired of the line "They were bred for a single/one purpose[dramatic pause]. War."? I think it was used at least three times in these films. They could liven it up a little with some other answer sometimes. Like "to disco", "weddings" or "be nice and polite".
I have thought it in the darkness, alone, in the bitter watches of the night, when all my life seemed shrinking, and the walls of my bower closing in about me, a hutch to trammel some wild thing in. And I just don't know! I just don't know!
Yeah, the Bag End segment is my favourite segment of the film so far with the exception of Bilbo's conversation with Smaug. I think a lot of the criticism of its length is rather unfair.
Alright, guess it's my turn. I was 6 years old when the Fellowship of the Ring came out. I had no idea these movies existed, my parents didn't care for them either, it was a dark Tolkien-less age in the household. But I was an active reader as a young kid, and like most readers at that age, I was particularly taken with the fantasy genre, and anything with swords, wizards and magic was bound to attract my eye. So it was around 2003, when I was about 8 years old, that I started to notice all the hype surrounding Return of the King. I noticed talk on the radio, massive posters everywhere, etc, etc. And pictures of a man in white robes and a staff, and another with a sword all piqued my interest. So when it came the time to ask my parents what I wanted for Christmas, I said I wanted The Lord of the Rings movie. Of course, being my parents, I was surprised and disappointed to the find a VHS of the Bakshi adaptation, gift-wrapped under my tree. It wasn't what I was looking for, but I decided to give it a try that day, and I hated it. I vehemently disliked it, mainly because it was frighteningly bizarre in parts (was not a fan of the rotoscoping), and I couldn't follow any of it. I couldn't blame my parents, because again, they had no idea who or what Tolkien was, and neither did I at the time. But that was the point where I "realized" Tolkien was not for me, and I didn't bother from that point forward. Things started to change a bit in the fifth grade, when I was about 10 or 11. Always being the kid who wandered around in the school library, there were a couple of copies of the LotR novels lying around. They were incredibly thick, but I was looking for a challenge, and I decided might as well give it another try. And everything changed. I have to admit, at the time, I couldn't quite grasp the enormity and depth of the work, but I fell in love with the characters, I adored the sense of adventure, it was everything a fantasy nut like me could ask for! My classroom teacher took notice of my reading the Tolkien books (she was well aware of my aptitude for reading), and being a Tolkienite herself, introduced me to the films. She personally lent me her own copies, and on retrospect, that act of kindness helped change me into the person I am today. Naturally, I was very taken with the films. They blew me away, just the sheer scope of it all. There were of course, some scenes that bothered me (having coming straight from the books), like the Saruman and Gandalf battle, which I love now, but hated then. The fact that Saruman didn't have his own intentions with the ring in LotR also displeased me and I also remember being surprised by the giant eye, if only because I didn't quite understand it in the book. Tolkien was very ambiguous about it, and a lot of the hints just flew by my poor 10 year old mind, and I was picturing a physical Dark Lord image, so it took me a while to understand the concept of the eye. I had to ask my teacher about it too, and cross-reference with the books to check if this powerful dark lord was really just an oversized cat's eye... Anyways, the music affected me on a subconscious level too. I'd be stomping the 5/4 rhythm on my feet or on the walls all the time, or humming the Fellowship theme. But again, I had no idea that film music was available to the public, and that it was an art form in itself. It wasn't until I heard Chevelairs de Sangreal once, during some Internet surfing, that my eye turned to film music. Howard Shore's FotR was the fourth score I purchased (1) Da Vinci Code, 2) Gladiator, 3) Star Wars, 4) FotR...). And you know the rest... Tolkein is very dear to me, but PJ's films mean a lot too. This really was the Star Wars of my generation, and I don't think some of the old coots here truly understand the effect it had on us. My biggest regret is that I wasn't there for the big wave, and that I didn't get the chance to experience the fever and mania when it was happening. Either way, PJ brought to life an entire world that at one point was only stuck in my 10-year old mind. And as the years have passed, my appreciation has only grown. Each year, I rewatch this trilogy around the Christmas season, and each year I find something new to appreciate. I remember when I first watched the appendices and how much they blew my mind and made me appreciate more the actual craft behind these films. And though RotK may have been the most flawed of the three, it was and continues to remain my favourite, because it once again brought so much of that world to life, and it really was the most emotional of the films. I shed man tears the first time I saw that Grey Havens scene came on, and sometimes I still do. These films and books are very personal to me, and as much as guys like Sharky grew out of them, I don't think I can. They'll always stick with me. When the rumours were afloat, my brother told me a Hobbit film be coming up. I hated the idea. I remember telling him how stupid that'd be, that it'll never live up to the original trilogy, that it could ruin everything! But those were rumours, and I never followed any of it, and I didn't think it would happen. But things got serious eventually, and I was onboard, so long as they brought the same team back. So you imagine my disappointment when I heard Del Toro was taking on the director's helm. And then how pleased and happy I was when PJ jumped in again. I was excited!! This was MY chance to relive the Middle-Earth fever in real-time! Or so I thought. I joined JWFan at 2011, and I believe BB, Incanus and some others can attest to my fanboy-ish excitement. And when that teaser came on...man what a teaser! Incanus was at some holiday retreat, so I got to do the little "analysis" of the trailer music, and was behaving as fanboyishly as any fanboy could get. As more stills and rumours came out, things did sound a bit worrying, but I, among many others never flinched in our optimism. One funny instance was when rumours popped up of this becoming a trilogy. I recall BloodBoal and I firmly denying the possibility, and that PJ would never sell out like that! Of course, we were shamefully proven wrong, and Luke Skywalker continued to ominously foretell the Lucasification of PJ. But regardless of whatever minor faults it may have, this was going to be THE movie of the year. I avoided all reviews and everything and booked tickets to the first showing. I had a band concert that very night, but I was NOT going to miss the first showing of the new trilogy. So as soon as I finished the performance, my and my brother rushed to the theatre, and luckily made it (because as always, the movie starts later due to commercials). So there we were, sharing some last minute thoughts before the epic was going to play. We were talking about how lucky we were these films were being made, because it gave us the chance to relive what so many people went through during the releases of the OT. We were so pumped...and then the prologue played. It was surprising how instantaneous all of it was. I didn't even like the first shot of Bilbo writing, but the moment I saw Erebor, I knew this was not going to be what I was hoping it would. And as the film kept playing, my heart kept cracking... It's always hard coming out of a film you had huge expectations coming in with, but leaving with massive disappointment. You just don't know how to put your thoughts to words. Some of my other Tolkien friends watched it on that night too and they were telling me how much they loved it, and I didn't have the heart to tell them how much I didn't...and I watched again with two other groups, where the film held up better, but gone was all the wonder I had hoped for. There was lots of discussion here following that movie. And I came to the conclusion that there were a lot of circumstantial issues that prevented AUJ from being the film it could have been, not to say that PJ wasn't free of blame, but that this was a minor setback in the trilogy. I convinced myself he was going to make amends with DoS. He had to right? There is so much more content to use, you couldn't screw it up! The first trailer was far too cartoony for my tastes, but being JWFan, we convinced ourselves that CG was still being worked on. And then I watched DoS...and once again, that opening sequence (the one after the prologue, with all those fake purple skies) made me want to cry, and not in a good way. And as the film progressed, the slow pace of AUJ seems to have been fixed, but it all felt wrong. And the CGI wasn't even my major concern, it was just the way PJ speeds through all the characters and locations...it was too fast. And I hated it, because I didn't care for any of the characters. Gandalf seemed meaningless, Bilbo got shafted to the side, all the new characters seemed superfluous. And it hit me, there was no going back. This was not the PJ of LotR. These films were not going to move me like LotR did. These films were something else... I loved the Smaug scenes though, brilliantly performed, mostly great CGI, all well done, with the exception of the dwarves vs. Smaug sequence (I like to pretend that never happened). So in the end, I came off with a better impression than AUJ, I mean it was more entertaining right? But as the months passed, I grew more and more frustrated by it. Because it was so far from what I loved about LotR. And for that reason, I think AUJ is the better film, just because it felt like we were still in Middle-Earth. I now acknowledge what the new Hobbit trilogy is, and I expect to be entertained by BoFA, but I don't expect to be terribly moved. The scores of course, are a different matter. So while the Hobbit films disappoint, I'm glad I got on this journey with PJ, and it's hard not to feel nostalgic at this point. If only because I never really got the chance to say goodbye back when RotK ended. I never went through any of that, and I suppose that's what made me all the more frustrated with these films because I was hoping this would have been my chance to experience what that must have been like. But maybe BoFA will give me that in its final scenes. Because LotR does mean a lot to me, both films and books. Sorry about the long post...turns out I had more to say than I expected lol.
On the back of the Jurassic World trailer and re-reading the book, Jurassic Park. Found myself wishing it had been closer to the book in terms of Hammond and maybe even the grim violence wrought upon the characters but you can't have everything and what there is still remains a very good film. Bob Peck every time is a delight, that weariness he has towards the park, the slight smile as the T-rex gives up the chase on the jeep or the realisation before the raptor jumps him. Sam Neill is great, Laura Dern (Bryce Dallas Howard seems to be channelling her right down to her shout of "Run!"), Goldblum and of course Dickie Attenborough. Special mention to Samuel L. Jackson Having not seen much of the JW thread and kept away from details I didn't realise JW was a continuation, being on Isla Nublar after all those years and so wonder what, if anything of the films will crop up in JW. Presumably Site B exists in some way. Anyway, JP does the job right down to the end and that shot of the pelicans accompanied by the Theme. And The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, driven by vivid technicolour, Roger Livesey's endless energy and charisma, the film remains profound moving. Personally, this is one of the best films made, if not simply from P&P's body of work.
I can't entirely disagree with that, but I wouldn't say that I don't fail to misunderstand such sentences when I haven't neglected to re-read them more than two or fewer times. Not!
FOTR - countless times, since I worked at a movie theater at the time and could walk in and out and continually saw bits and pieces during it's whole run. I probably did a full sit down showing without getting up 3-4 times, including for sure a viewing in early 2002 when the TTT trailer got included before the end credits
TTT - 3 or 4 times
ROTK - twice, the first at the trilogy screening they did the day before the wide release (FOTR EE, TTT EE, then ROTK premiere, for $25). Actually maybe i saw it two more times after that not one more time, I dunno
AUJ - thrice (2D, HFR 3D, IMAX 3D)
DOS - once, but I wish I had seen it again in IMAX
Also I did another trilogy screening (LOTR EEs) just before AUJ came out. That was great.
What about the other films?
I watched The Two Towers either nineteen or twenty times in the cinema, and The Return of the King either ten or eleven. I dropped the linear trend with An Unexpected Journey (three times) and The Desolation of Smaug (five).
That's why I went so many times. Not to wind you up, I mean, but it looked pretty brilliant on a big screen and I knew I wasn't likely to have the chance to see that ever again.
Moon runes, feasts of starlight, lunar-sensitive keyholes: it's the Motif for Photons Which either Did not Originate from the Sun or Were Reflected off a non-Terrestrial Object before Reaching Middle-earth.
Moon runes, feasts of starlight, lunar-sensitive keyholes: it's the Motif for Photons Which either Did not Originate from the Sun or Were Reflected off a non-Terrestrial Object before Reaching Middle-earth.
Moon runes, feasts of starlight, lunar-sensitive keyholes: it's the Motif for Photons Which either Did not Originate from the Sun or Were Reflected off a non-Terrestrial Object before Reaching Middle-earth.
There are Hobbits in Bree, and at first glance Thorin in his hooded cloak during a stormy night might be mistaken for a Hobbit, especially from behind. Problem solved.
Glóin the Dark got a reaction from Incanus in The Hobbit Film Trilogy Thread
Glóin the Dark reacted to KK in Howard Shore's The Battle of the Five Armies (Hobbit Part 3)
Glóin the Dark got a reaction from Sharkissimo in What have the last 15 years of big-screen Tolkien meant to you?
Glóin the Dark got a reaction from KK in What have the last 15 years of big-screen Tolkien meant to you?
Glóin the Dark got a reaction from Joe Brausam in The Themes of Howard Shore's The Hobbit
Glóin the Dark got a reaction from Dixon Hill in The Themes of Howard Shore's The Hobbit