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Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Saturday, December 15, 2012

The Hobbit review

I literally just came back home from watching the Hobbit in HFR (48) 3-D, the way in which Peter Jackson wants me to see it.  Those who know me know that I am a cinephile... heck I watched 34 horror movies in 31 days for goodness sake.


I am also a hardcore Tolkien fan. I grew up on the books, love the BBC radio-drama and adore the LOTR movies, so really Peter can do no wrong for me with this franchise.  Or so I supposed when I walked in.
First off, the 3D was great, I had no problem with that, I enjoyed it, the High-frame-rate was a challenge.  I understand people saying that it looked like a BBC play on TV.  It really did too.  The first 5 minutes I was just sitting there tripping.  I was like, 'oh man, what the heck'.  I am a huge fan of old movies and films with grit and texture, I like the painterly quality of films and the lighting, for instance I love Michael Mann films, and when he moved to the digital with Collateral I wasn't that thrilled but I went with it.  So with this I go with it.  I MUST see this again, old-school 24 frames 2D.  I think once I see it that way I can better assess it, but honestly, it was different, and I am so used to films having a different quality than TV that it was odd for me, but it might simply be something I have to re-program my brain.

The story is fine, but this was not my favorite of the bunch.  I felt some of the film was played for laughs, but I understand from a story-telling you need to relieve the tension, but there were 2 modern jokes that I felt were off, the golf joke and the crochet joke.  Also the chapter Riddles in the Dark, with Bilbo and Gollum I have always felt was creepy and sinister, but in the film it's played for laughs at times and that hit me wrong too.
I think the film rushes Bilbo into being a action-hero a little too early in this trilogy and if we have to deal with this albino-orc for 2 more movies it will be tiring.  I still can't figure out how they are going to put in enough for 2 more movies, even with the Necromancer, will there be enough?  I have no idea.

Go see it.  The dwarves are great.  Martin is great.  I need to see this again and think more about it.

AJ

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