The Hobbit

[Atokirina]

Anyone seen the Desolation of Smaug yet?
I absolutely loved it. I can't believe what a good job they did! I was so skeptical when I heard that this tiny book was gonna be three movies, but in my opinion The Hobbit Trilogy is even better than the original LotR Trilogy!

[Kiyevanie]

Got tickets for the 30th. And I'm really looking forward to it

[spudtrooper15]

Gotta disagree with you there Ato.
I love them, but LOTR is still better in my book. But you know that from Facebook already. haha

[Xacoon]

Now that was a good movie! Far better than the first one!

[Nawmtirea]

I have to disagree (for now) with Spud. I found it a boring chore to sit through the 3 LOTR movies (which I saw on video, not in the theater), but found both Hobbit movies quite entertaining (although seeing both of them in the theater in 48fps 3D does give them an advantage). Both Hobbit movies were well paced and full of action, although when I saw the LOTR movies I saw the extended 4 hour versions of each, so the pacing was a lot slower, and it was my first venture into Middle earth, so the world was unfamiliar to me. We just bought the 15 disc box set of LOTR at a boxing week sale, so I'll eventually make another run at watching the LOTR trilogy again, and try to tackle the 40+ hours of bonus material. I think I liked the 2nd installment of the Hobbit better than the first, and loved the whole barrel escape down the river scene. Last night we were deciding on whether to watch the first LOTR film again, or do a 4th anniversary screening of Avatar, and, well, of course Avatar won.

[Nawmtirea]

Oh, here's a cool (to me) little tidbit of information about The Hobbit. One of my best friends from when I went to university in Peterborough, Ontario moved to New Zealand years ago to be a teacher. He's a short, stocky guy, and he got to play one of the dwarf extras in the film! He said it was really cool getting made up in the wardrobe and makeup, and had to sign strict confidentiality agreements not to tell anything about the movie. Now that it's been released, I'm going to facebook him to see if he has any cool photos of himself in his dwarf costume.

[Kiyevanie]

Gonna watch it tonight...

Guess Hollywood's out of fashion - to be part of the really cool movies you have to move to New Zealand

[CyanRachel]

Gonna watch it tonight...

Guess Hollywood's out of fashion - to be part of the really cool movies you have to move to New Zealand

Yeah, like James Cameron is doing with the Avatar sequels.

I saw The Hobbit DoS and I really liked it! Wow -- that dragon Smaug was EPIC!!! And definitely worth it to see the movie in HFR (48fps) 3D!

[Kiyevanie]

Exactly... all the Middle Earth movies and all the Avatar sequels. New Zealand, you're a lucky country
(They had an ad for NZ as a vacation destination before the movie - it's breathtakingly beautiful as landscape. There even seem to be The Hobbit-Tours... I wonder if they include a visit to Weta, I'd soooooo make a not so short detours to the Avatar section there )

Okay - so back from the movie now. Definitely loved it and definitely gonna see it again. But, gee... what a cliffhanger at the end

I absolutely loved Tauriel as an additional new character (mainly because she's my decades old roleplay character come to life... red-haired elven archer being friends with dwarves anyone?, but she's definitely badass too. So what's not to love there? ).

Only thing is: I wouldn't recommend the movie for people with serious arachnophobia.

[Elyris]

[Nawmtirea]

Ok, just re-watched the first LOTR movie the other day, and I liked it the second time around. The first time I saw LOTR, I was new to the whole world and knew nothing about the characters, worlds, etc and there were so many characters that I couldn't keep track of them and couldn't tell the 2 human characters apart (I still don't know their names yet, Aragorn and someone else, but he became an arrow pin-cusion so I guess I don't need to learn his name now)
But now that I've seen the Hobbit films, and have been playing the Lego LOTR game on the X-box, I recognize the locations and know a lot of the characters names. But I still have one question... Does it ever stop raining in Bree?

[Kiyevanie]

The "pin cushion" is probably Boromir. Tall, dark blonde and a beard? Played by Sean Bean, the actor who leads the top ten of actors who die most in their movies?

Oh, and no idea if it ever stops raining in Bree, can't remember the weather in the first scenes of the Hobbit 2. But it always seems to be night there.
(I've seen sunshine in the online game, does that count? )

[Elyris]

I just ordered my tickets for today (suddenly after all).

[Kiyevanie]

Sweet - have fun there

I'm gonna go a second time on Sunday.

[Elyris]

A second time?

[Kiyevanie]

Yepp

Didn't get tickets for a 3D showing last time and want to see it with 3D and HFR now.

[spudtrooper15]

I'm going to see it again this weekend probably with my little brothers. It still irritates me that it strays so far from the book, almost to the point where it shouldn't be called The Hobbit, but its a nice action movie, so I'm there.

[Elyris]

Just came back from watching it.

Not bad, not bad at all. I can live wit hwhat my mom calls artistic freedom (and in some points it would've pushed a bigger hole in the all-in-all logic if things hadn't been changed in certain directions).

Funny side-fact: I had parked the car in a underground carpark (beneath the 'mall - a very, very dead place - where the cinema is located), so I had to radio while I was in there and guess what the first song was when I got back on the surface? Ed Sheeran - I see fire.

Mom and I were both like LoLwut?

[Kiyevanie]

That song plays a lot lately... well, listening to the lyrics gives you kind of an idea that there in the movie it's not all butterflies and rainbows

Straying from the book: I got it as a present last Christmas, but decided that I'm gonna wait reading it until the last movie came out. That way I can just enjoy the movies the way they are and then have fun with the book later.

[spudtrooper15]

Probably a good idea Ki, because I was quite disappointed. Especially considering that the Hobbit is so much more of a condensed story in the book as compared to LOTR, I was really hoping that they'd stick to the book more. LOTR I can understand because that story is so vast and detailed but the Hobbit could have easily been represented accurately in three movies. Even going and seeing it again with my little brothers this weekend when the Taruial/Kili parts came up I just wanted to go "MAAAAEEEEEEHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

[Kiyevanie]

Yeah, that way I can just enjoy the movie without having to look out from any deviations from the original plot. And I DO love Tauriel as a character, so no MEH here

[Elyris]

And Kili's one attractive dwarf too. >_>

[Kiyevanie]

That too...

[Elyris]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oays5TvOgWc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHqn46BBZOw

[spudtrooper15]

Which doesn't make a lot of sense because Dwarves aren't portrayed as being attractive. That's left to the Elves.