Three Times The Hobbit?

[Morthoron]

Originally Posted by Kuruharan

Speaking of reviews...

This is a rather childish one.

The opening paragraph in particular was a doozie.

"I spent a fair amount of time during Peter Jackson’s latest installment in his Tolkien franchise comparing it to the Harry Potter movies, thinking how savvy J.K. Rowling’s approach to magic has been, how successful in the broadest way those films are."

Rowling's approach to magic was...savvy?

I don't think that word means what the critic thinks it means.

Aside from the Inigo Montoya quote, yes, teenagers waving about twigs and shouting in mangled Latinate is savvy, meaning Professor Mandingus Savvy, the first headmaster of Hogwarts, who initiated the whole prepubescent twig-waving, Latin-shouting fad among school-age witches. Voldemort turned him into a newt, but he got better.

[Nerwen]

Originally Posted by Mr88

A couple of them seemed more of a rant against the faster frame speed, more than the actual film. But the criticisms about the length "You can read book out loud quicker than the time it will take to watch all three films" or Jackson's apparent refusal to understand trimming and editting films are a part of wearing the director pants are undoubtedly spot on.

Well... I 'd prefer to say that, in the case of this particular film, they're *probably* spot on. That's sort of the point I'm making: none of these fanbrats have seen the film yet, any more than we have, and yet they've already decided it "must" be a flawless masterpiece, such that no valid criticism is even possible.

As for the frame rate issue, and whether that should be a factor... hmmn, I don't know. Thing is, it *was* made quite a selling point.

[Kuruharan]

Originally Posted by Morthoron

Aside from the Inigo Montoya quote

Inigo: Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya. You ruined my favorite fantasy setting! Prepare to die!

[Bêthberry]

A review from TORn about the regular film (24 fps) screening without the technical gewgaws.

Warning, spoilers!

Happy with Hobbit

[Morthoron]

Originally Posted by Bêthberry

A review from TORn about the regular film (24 fps) screening without the technical gewgaws.

Warning, spoilers!

Happy with Hobbit

Hmmm...it's not so much a review as it is a divine recapitulation.

But aside from the flattering characterization of the movie (I, myself, was almost moved to tears ), one does pick up that it takes a damn long time for Bilbo and the Dwarves to get going on their adventure, which is consistent with many reviews I've read that state the movie doesn't really pick up speed until Bilbo meets Gollum.

And even with superfluous subplots, the first movie ends at the Carrock on the verge of Mirkwood; so one can easily see that two more movies would not be necessary in telling the remainder of the story. Which presupposes, of course, that the final two movies will center on the original plot of The Hobbit at all.

This leads me to believe that Guillermo del Toro's original scripting of a two-movie version of The Hobbit would have eliminated much of the extraneous flab that hangs like jowls off the head of a hog, and would be best served as additional fodder on an extended edition blu-ray.

[SonofUgluk]

New review in from The Telegraph , and it's not good , I will however make up my own mind in a week or so

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/f...ie-review.html

[Kuruharan]

Like butter that has been scraped over too much bread” was how JRR Tolkien described the supernatural world-weariness of Bilbo Baggins in the opening chapter of The Lord of the Rings.

What a great opening line for the review, especially the way it was used.

The stuffing is required because Jackson and Warner Bros have divided Tolkien’s fairly short story into three incredibly long films, which will mean vastly inflated box office revenues at the small cost of artistic worth and entertainment.

Way to go for the jugular! I don't think there is any better way to sum up this mess.

Here, Gandalf has an interminable conversation with Galadriel (Cate Blanchett), Saruman (Christopher Lee) and Elrond (Hugo Weaving), which gets so boring that Bilbo and the dwarves leave without them.

Ah ha ha ha ha!

I have decided I like this critic!

Thus spake Kuruharan.

[Inziladun]

This is to me the most interesting:

This film is so stuffed with extraneous faff and flummery that it often barely feels like Tolkien at all – more a dire, fan-written internet tribute. The book begins with the unimprovable ten-word opening sentence: “In a hole in the ground there lived a Hobbit.” Jackson, by contrast, starts with an interminable narrative detour about a mining operation run by a team of dwarfs, involving magic crystals, orc armies and details of dwarf family trees that are of interest, at this early stage in what is supposed to be a family film, to almost nobody.

The first sentence could well apply to Jackson's previous efforts at Tolkien.

As for the rest, it's pretty much what we "unjust" critics here have been ruminating about for some time.
At any rate, I may end up seeing it despite my misgivings. I am matched against a power too great for me (my wife), who has said she wants to go.

[Kuruharan]

This is one of the most scathing reviews I have seen yet. The critic pulls no punches and is direct and blunt, even though I completely disagree with his assessment that the LOTR film trilogy was a marvel of cinematic triumph.

[edit] Its...uhh...actually the Atlantic Wire...and I am hoist yet again by the inability to edit headings

[alatar]

Originally Posted by Atlantic Wire

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, is such a sullenly, basely commercial and junky affair, a movie that feels not crafted with Jackson's seemingly divine inspiration...

Melkor perhaps?

[Bêthberry]

Originally Posted by Kuruharan

[edit] Its...uhh...actually the Atlantic Wire...and I am hoist yet again by the inability to edit headings

Kuru, if you go to "Advanced Edit" you can change the title.

Originally Posted by alatar

Hoot! Maybe this is PJ's plan to make us all much fonder of LotR.

I do like eternal optimists.

Originally Posted by davem

I'm being 'taken' to see it

Do remember you can vent here if not domestically.

[TheLostPilgrim]

I've seen a lot of comparisons with The Phantom Menace...

[Inziladun]

Originally Posted by TheLostPilgrim

I've seen a lot of comparisons with The Phantom Menace...

Hardly a ringing endorsement. Who gets to be Jar Jar? My money's on Bombur.