The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug Reviews

Mad Dog wrote: I didn't like The Hobbit when I first saw it, but gave it another shot knowing what to expect and liked it. Still some scenes I don't care for and the humor must be a kiwi thing because its almost exactly like Hercules/Xena jokes. Recently I sat down and watched the extended edition. Despite being longer I felt many of the scenes should have been left in (felt the same about LotR). I particularly liked the early scene of the dwarves being complete dicks to the elves and basically breaking the alliance before the dragon attack. I'll probably see the new one next week but as usual won't feel like I've truly seen it until Jacksons extended cut is released next year.

Is the extended version out on blu ray? Checked Amazon, yes it is. Looks like 13 minutes? Hoping for more. But purchase made. Thanks for the heads up.

Black Barney wrote:

Jeff White wrote: "The Hobbit is about Bilbo coming into his own and eventually realizing his destiny of restoring an ancestral home from the dragon Smaug (then attempting to prevent a massive race war)."

Sounds epic to me.

Sounds like a Tuesday to me. Just last week, I kicked out a dragon that was squatting in an old hostel.

metalface13 wrote:

mikecl wrote:

Shellhead wrote: ...so what we're seeing is a sell-out on an unprecedented scale.

Oh it's not unprecedented. It's the way business is done these days. And not just movies either. How many recent songs have you heard ripped off for advertising jingles?

Ripped off? I'm pretty sure they are being paid quite handsomely for it.

I know. My point is we're the ones being ripped off.

Despite all I've said against the Hobbit trilogy so far in this thread, I actually have hope that this second installment will be entertaining. Jackson is adding a lot to this story to pad out the book into a full-blown trilogy, so there is still reasonable chance that it will be good. On the other hand, Jackson didn't do much to help The Two Towers, the weakest part of the LoTR trilogy. His major contribution was an overly bloated version of the battle of Helm'a Deep.

Damn, I thought the Two Towers was the best of the LotR films, and enjoyed the Battle of Helm's Deep tremendously. I enjoyed it more than the battle of Minas Tirith/Pelenor Fields/whatever battle it was called in RotK.

Guess we just don't see eye to eye on this series.

I'm so aligned with Shellhead it's nuts. Two Towers was weakest of the three (although still good). Helm's Deep was fine but too long. ROTK's battle is epic for Theoden's speech alone. My favourite moment of the entire trilogy.

am also hoping that this Hobbit movie is great but I doubt it. What's going to be in the third one? The trip home?

Black Barney wrote: What's going to be in the third one? The trip home?

Hilarious! Maybe they'll it call it..The Departure from Smaug...or... There, Around the Bend, Up The Glen, Into The Den and Back Again. That's pretty exciting just writing it. However, what I have heard is that Smaug's appearance pretty much signals the end of the movie. Yes that's right. It's a cliffhanger! Could it get any better?!

Fortune and Glory fans will surely approve.

P.S. My "thank you" in the previous thread is for your joke only. I still intend to see this movie even if I have to toothpick my eyes open. Good Canadian Elf Evangeline Lilly is easily worth that.

Black Barney wrote: ROTK's battle is epic for Theoden's speech alone. My favourite moment of the entire trilogy.

You're sick.

Theoden's 'Where is the Horse and the Rider?' speech from Two Towers was far better than his second rate Braveheart speech in RotK. No joke, but that moment in Two Towers, that moment of impending doom and no hope is my favorite part of the trilogy. I quote that speech all the time when things go south.

Black Barney wrote: I'm so aligned with Shellhead it's nuts. Two Towers was weakest of the three (although still good). Helm's Deep was fine but too long. ROTK's battle is epic for Theoden's speech alone. My favourite moment of the entire trilogy.

am also hoping that this Hobbit movie is great but I doubt it. What's going to be in the third one? The trip home?

A movie theater here in the Twin Cities does an annual LotR marathon. Some fans even show up in costume. There was an article in one of the local papers about it a while back. Anyway, they interviewed this one diehard fan to get some insight about the overall experience. He admitted that it made for a really long day of viewing, even with bathroom breaks during the credits. He said that he planned to take a nap during the 30-minute slow stretch in The Two Towers, just before the start of the Battle of Helm's Deep.

I believe that it's a commonly-held viewpoint that The Two Towers is the weak part of the trilogy in both print and movie form. The book bogged down with the introduction of like 30-50 new characters that all had names beginning with "E." In the movie, it was the lull before the Battle of Helms Deep, the long battle, and then the whole bonus battle sequence with the worgs at the end that feels completely like it was tacked on during the editing process.

For me the first one is clearly the best of the original LOTR movies and the third one the worst. I really missed the attack on Hobbiton (I don't even like the books but that part just moves me for some reason) and secondly the added crap in the ending, in fact almost all of the tie up at the end, just bores me. So even though I think the second one is worse overall the lows in the third are the worst single moments to me.

But I've still watched the entire extended edition three times over all, after having seen them all in the theatre. There really hasn't been a movie series in years that makes me want to be a kid again as much as these movies... Hobbit included.... makes me want to be a kid again, you understand, so I could experience them that way instead. It's a really warm Sunday afternoon kind of feeling for me. I love them.

Jeff White wrote: Damn, I thought the Two Towers was the best of the LotR films, and enjoyed the Battle of Helm's Deep tremendously. I enjoyed it more than the battle of Minas Tirith/Pelenor Fields/whatever battle it was called in RotK.

This.

The Two Towers is to LoTR what The Empire Strikes Back was for Star Wars. Better than RotK in every way.

The battle in RotR should have been the peak but it couldn't top Helm's Deep even with all the chants of 'death, death, death'. Mostly the Minas Tirith scenes were marred by an idiot of an actor playing Denethor - the biggest HAM of the series badly, badly directed by Jackson ie. the way he devours his chicken and bursting cherrying tomatoes. Please.

Also any film that features sobby-eyed hobbits prancing around on a bed near the end doesn't deserve to be called the best of the series.

Don't get me wrong, I don't think ROTK is the best of the three, Aragorn's speech in front of the black gate is absolutely atrocious. I just think the battle sequence in ROTK is far better than Helm's Deep. I love all of Theoden's speeches. He's my favourite character.

Fellowship of the Ring is clearly the best of the three I think. It's fantastic. The Nazgul in Bree, on Weathertop, chasing Arwen/Frodo, the Watcher in the Water, the Balrog...so many terrifying enemies. I was scared all the time watching it. And the ending was glorious since I hadn't read the books and didn't know about Gandalf the White. Gimli also isn't a parody in this one. He actually has some depth.

I saw it over the weekend at a film festival in Austin. It was about the same as the first -- if you liked An Unexpected Journey, you'll probably like this.

It got a pretty tepid reaction from the whole room, and this festival is where all three LOTR movies premiered to thunderous applause.

433 wrote: I saw it over the weekend at a film festival in Austin. It was about the same as the first -- if you liked An Unexpected Journey, you'll probably like this.

It got a pretty tepid reaction from the whole room, and this festival is where all three LOTR movies premiered to thunderous applause.

For me, Peter Jackson and Tolkien gets a free "star" (for theme I love) right there. So if it's a two star movie, it's automatically a three star movie by virtue of its theme. If it's a three star move, which I think it is, than for me it's a four star movie.

I rate Westerns and Sci-Fi the same way. When I think of how easily this movie is slagged (not entirely undeservedly I concede because of length) and how well received the truly abominable Chronicles of Riddick was here (I know Pitch Black and you sir are no Pitch Black) which for me is a one star movie WITH my rating system which is to say - Zero, I have to take LOTR criticisms here with a pound of salt.

433 wrote: It got a pretty tepid reaction from the whole room, and this festival is where all three LOTR movies premiered to thunderous applause.

I'm not sure if it can be determined to be the same audience at both, but being a decade removed I'd wager that those in attendance are all a bit more jaded now.