Has anybody seen it, is it any good?
If you liked the first then you'll like Desolation of Smaug.
Saw it last week on Friday in 3D.
Bloody loved it. It was a great film!
It's a lot better than part 1 but mostly because it's faster moving. Still rather long though and padded out a bit.
Same as jimpav really. Most of the people in The Picturehouse had just got caught in a deluge so by the final scenes there was the smell of clothing drying out, a bit of steam and some very damp seats for the next showing. Go see it Mrs B and then we can re-enact the river chase scene up and down P2.
I wouldn't go at gunpoint. I read everything he ever wrote, including The Father Christmas Letters, but I fell out of love with it all in the late 70s when it turned into a kind of religion.
Here's my thing, though. How do they get three movies out of one book? Greed?
The first one I nearly fell asleep but this one was much better
Just got back from cinema, enjoyed film. There is so much extra added/changed compared to the book, more I think than the first film. I do think Martin Freeman is ideal as Bilbo, and always have to chuckle when screen writers feel they have to fit in a previously non existant love interest into the Tolkien films. I tell you from my point of view as a women we do not require a love interest, oggling Rossetti actor is quite sufficient to keep us interested
I still haven't watched Lord of the Rings. Like a lot of books I read over and over when I was much younger, I remember Tolkein's as being magical, full of incident and poetry and magnificence. Someone else's computer-generated vision of them - even another re-reading - however good - can only damage the memories.
Quote from: Jimpav on December 20, 2013, 09:28:39 PM
It's a lot better than part 1 but mostly because it's faster moving. Still rather long though and padded out a bit.
that's what happens when you turn a small book into a trilogy. the director deserves an Oscar for this feat alone
Quote from: HatterDon on December 20, 2013, 09:49:10 PM
Here's my thing, though. How do they get three movies out of one book? Greed?
To enjoy the films (which I do) you have to accept that it is Peter Jackson's take on JRR's Middle Earth not a film of the Hobbit as this trilogy is not even close to being a like for like adaptation.
I think Jackson loves Middle Earth. Yes he has made a fortune from it but, although I cannot claim to know the guy, it looks to me as though the films have been done by a devotee rather than just purely as a money spinner
Quote from: The Bronsons on December 21, 2013, 01:13:21 AM
I still haven't watched Lord of the Rings. Like a lot of books I read over and over when I was much younger, I remember Tolkein's as being magical, full of incident and poetry and magnificence. Someone else's computer-generated vision of them - even another re-reading - however good - can only damage the memories.
I understand this totally. I was very very concerned and apprehensive when I first went to see the films. I ended up seeing the Fellowship 3 times in the cinema.
I love the films but that does not stop my love for the books that I have re-read on multiple occasions over the years. I still get the same magical enjoyment I had when first reading them when I was a boy in the 70s
Quote from: HatterDon on December 20, 2013, 09:49:10 PM
I wouldn't go at gunpoint. I read everything he ever wrote, including The Father Christmas Letters, but I fell out of love with it all in the late 70s when it turned into a kind of religion.
Here's my thing, though. How do they get three movies out of one book? Greed?
It's not my thing at all but I think I read a couple of weeks ago that someone connected with the films (could be the producer?) it taking the film studio to court as he is only getting royalties for the first film as that was the only one named in the contract.
Or something like that...!
The films and the books are always different animals. Like the James Bond films and every film based on books, one just has to look at the them as different. The Lord Of The Rings films were wonderful entertainment and The Hobbit was very much setting up for the next two films. Can I compare them to the books? Not in the slightest.
Quote from: Burt on December 21, 2013, 08:47:51 AM
Quote from: HatterDon on December 20, 2013, 09:49:10 PM
I wouldn't go at gunpoint. I read everything he ever wrote, including The Father Christmas Letters, but I fell out of love with it all in the late 70s when it turned into a kind of religion.
Here's my thing, though. How do they get three movies out of one book? Greed?
It's not my thing at all but I think I read a couple of weeks ago that someone connected with the films (could be the producer?) it taking the film studio to court as he is only getting royalties for the first film as that was the only one named in the contract.
Or something like that...!
Burt,
This is possibly all to do with the original 1969 contract and the term Merchandising. There have been a number of slot (gambling) games released playing on the name, and the family are a little upset as this so they are asking a court to restrict the name usage in merchandising. Fortunately little to do with the film side of the contract.
The following is an extract of the story from 2012
Thus, you can now turn on your computer and play "Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring: Online Slot Game" – for a price, of course.
The game features images of your favourite Lord of the Rings characters like Frodo, Aragorn, and Arwen.
The Tolkien estate is not happy. Family members say the original contract cannot be extended to include web-based products. Worse yet, they say, the slot games have offended Lord of the Rings fans, thereby damaging the image of author Tolkien himself.
They filed suit against movie maker Warner Brothers and its merchandisers, demanding a halt to the slot machine games and $80 million in damages.
The lawsuit claims that Warner Bros and the other defendants have "with increasing boldness, engaged in a continuing and escalating pattern of usurping rights to which they are not entitled."
The lawsuit comes ahead of the world premiere in Wellington next week of "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey," the first instalment of director Peter Jackson's highly anticipated new Tolkien trilogy.
Still watching the first one but they haven't left the kitchen yet.
Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk
Quote from: Lighthouse on December 21, 2013, 12:25:45 PM
The films and the books are always different animals. Like the James Bond films and every film based on books, one just has to look at the them as different. The Lord Of The Rings films were wonderful entertainment and The Hobbit was very much setting up for the next two films. Can I compare them to the books? Not in the slightest.
Ah Lighthouse I like the Ian Fleming books as well. He is actually buried near where I live.
Just ordered Eugene Onegin by Puskin to be delived in Edinburgh for my Christmas reading.
Quote from: MJG on December 21, 2013, 09:45:21 PM
Still watching the first one but they haven't left the kitchen yet.
Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk
The song's good the Dwarfs sing as they are settling down to sleep at the beginning, very moving.
Much better than first. Stayed relatively true to story but like part 1 and two towers added a few skirmishes with Orcs that didn't happen, plus a random female elf. Encounter with smaug largely exaggerated too but overall liked it. Would put it level just behind fellowship and some way behind return of king in third place of the 5 films.
Takes something like half an hour for Bilbo to leave the Shire...
Decent film but I thought it was worse than the first one. I found myself questioning something in almost every scene.
