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Seriously, I wonder why they were so much stingier w/the commentary tracks this time around, since they clearly didn't skimp on the Appendices. All I can imagine is that, given the rushed production schedule, the cast and crew simply weren't available to sit down and do the tracks. Pity, because in addition to the production and design commentaries, I could see two cast commentaries...one with the principal cast (including Armitage), and one with just the dwarves.

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Discuss.

What would be the point in that? It wouldn't add any information, merely repeat what is said in the appendices. The cool thing about the various commentaries in the LOTR EEs is that they added more info to what was already available in the Appendices (sure, some stuff was repeated, that's inevitable, but there were still stuff exclusive to the commentaries). What you suggest would bring nothing new to the table.

Sorry to sound so harsh. :P

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21 minutes ago, Jay said:

Better than the theatrical cut, though.

 

I'm not even sure that I agree with this.

 

There are a few things I was happy to have.  The slightly extended opening Smaug battle was a smidge better.  The orc attempting to get Gandalf's ring added something, although it didn't stop the Nazgul fight from being confounding nonsense.  The little bit of added business between Bofur and Bilbo before Bilbo sneaks off with the Arkenstone helped.  The funeral was great.

 

The VAST majority of additions (or at least meaningful additions) are just different gags during the battle, and fight gags are like the one thing in this movie that I thought Jackson's theatrical cut already had WAY too much of.  Some of them got a chuckle out of me, most - whatever, they didn't.  Some uys got crushed, somebody's bladed wagon wheels pulped four trolls' heads simultaneously, a troll choked to death on Alfrid.

 

Some of the added stuff helped the battle make sense LOGISTICALLY (mainly the goat stuff and the cart chase).  But it didn't help the movie make sense for me - not as a one-movie whole, not as a capper to the trilogy, and not as a bridge to LOTR.

 

In the first time seeing the extended version (and the third time seeing the movie overall), my biggest problem remains.  Thorin - our secondary protagonist, and frankly, a character that the series treats basically as the main protagonist -  is completely unlikeable, in a way that is so uninteresting that it drags the film down.  Because he's their king, he also sidelines every other dwarf to either tearfully protest or sit around bored for 2/3 of the movie.

 

This was also the first time my wife saw the movie in NON-HFR, and her reaction - at least during the opening Laketown sequence - was, "Oh, it STILL looks awful"

 

I know Jackson's official statement was that he wanted a tight war movie, but the fact that there were zero reshoots for the third movie bothers me. The extended version offerings were somewhat limited, and the film kind of (IMO) didn't come together as a whole.  I'm operating on the assumption that WB cut Jackson off at the purse strings after DoS, and the movie suffered as a result.

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7 minutes ago, Stefancos said:

Five Armies is the better film

 

Really?

 

DoS at least allows for better performances and highlights.

 

BotFA is one ugly looking mess.

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That they're both messes, I wouldn't dare argue. But something about the more emotional parts of BotFA ring false for me, like they're scripted beats.

 

DoS at least had the Smaug/Bilbo act, which translated fairly well. And for the most part, the film still looked visually better than BotFA.

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DoS still has some natural vista shots that put it above BotFA. The latter is like watching vomit covered skies for 3 hours.

 

And they're both bad films. But I can enjoy a handful of scenes from DoS (namely the Smaug conversation scene) and tune out the rest. Whereas I struggle to do the same with BotFA, and the more I think about that one, the more annoyed I get.

 

Who would have thought, that AUJ would remain the best film of the lot?

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3 minutes ago, KK said:

DoS still has some natural vista shots that put it above BotFA. The latter is like watching vomit covered skies for 3 hours.

 

And they're both bad films. But I can enjoy a handful of scenes from DoS (namely the Smaug conversation scene) and tune out the rest. Whereas I struggle to do the same with BotFA, and the more I think about that one, the more annoyed I get.

 

Who would have thought, that AUJ would remain the best film of the lot?

 

Agree with all of this!

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Tolkien was rolling in his grave when that scene was written and again when it was shot and third time when it was released to the world!

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1 hour ago, Incanus said:

Tolkien was rolling in his grave when that scene was written and again when it was shot and third time when it was released to the world!

 

Shoudln't have included a scene of dwarves bathing in the book so. 

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I don't think he imagined and thought about them to a great extent, in normal or literary life.

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2 hours ago, Incanus said:

I don't think he imagined and thought about them to a great extent, in normal or literary life.

 

In that case he's rather different to the rest of us.

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On 7. November 2016 at 5:41 PM, BloodBoal said:

Visually, I can't choose between the two. It'd be like choosing between dog poo and cat poo. At the end of the day, it's still poo.

 

Can't believe you prefer DOS overall, though, the most awful Middle-Earth film. Maybe you're no true Tolkien fan after all. Maybe you're just a fraud.

 

The Hobbit films are not exactly perfect, but to refer to them as dog shit is really not appropriate at all.

Get off your horse there.

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