Lord of the Rings and Hobbit movies

[Still Servant]

Oh, I also wanted to add that when all the extended Hobbit films are released on blu-ray, I will try to do a marathon sitting of all the Rings and Hobbit films. It's going to be amazing. I did this with the Rings films a few years back and it was so much fun. I think it was like 11 1/2 hours. It really is the best way to watch those movies.

6 movies, 23ish hrs, that's a lot of watching!

I know, right?! I might just be crazy enough to do it. The question is, do I watch them in proper timeline or in the order they were released? I'm thinking proper timeline.

[Tatts4Life]

I'm gonna watch them in proper timeline. I'm just gonna skip that crap in the beginning that shows frodo and others getting bilbos party set up since that didn't take place in the books.

[mae]

Going to watch the second one this afternoon. No fancy-shmancy 3D for me.

[Merlin1958]

Going to watch the second one this afternoon. No fancy-shmancy 3D for me.

Saw it yesterday, it's really great and no 3D is the way to go, IMHO

[fearless-freak]

saw it the day it came out over here in the UK and the first showing

[mae]

Going to watch the second one this afternoon. No fancy-shmancy 3D for me.

Saw it yesterday, it's really great and no 3D is the way to go, IMHO

Can't wait till this 3D fad dies out. Saw it in glorious 2D (4K). Just a beautiful picture, unlike with 3D.

[Merlin1958]

I know it's secondary to the story and action, but I can't help but marvel at the settings and views that, Jackson routinely includes in all these films!!

Spoiler:

BTW, anyone catch the "Cameo appearance" in the beginning of the film?

[alkanto]

So ..... I didnt like it

[Bev Vincent]

I thought the 3D added glorious depth to the magnificent vistas. The production diaries on the DVD of part one shows some of the location selection and filming.

[Merlin1958]

So ..... I didnt like it

OK, but can you be a little more specific?

[ladysai]

My girls and I are thinking about going to The Desolation of Smaug on Christmas day, so I will be watching this one sometime tomorrow.

[Fall of Gilead]

You're in for a great time!

[alkanto]

So ..... I didnt like it

OK, but can you be a little more specific?

Spoiler:

The biggest issue was the delineation from the actual plot. There was SO much time dedicated to Legolas and Tauriel, and that awful love plot between Tauriel and Kili. WHAT THE HELL???? They kept him behind from seeing the treasure just so he could get sick and be involved in a complete re-hash of the Arwen/Frodo scene from The Fellowship. It was 100% unnecessary and was a waste of my time.

Despite that, Smaug was amazing. I would have willingly paid the $9 to see the Smaug scene and left the theatre happy. I was just pissed that i had to sift through so much needless shit to get to that part.

[sgc1999]

Peter Jackson screwed the pooch on theses movies. how he could make these movies so bad after doing such an excellent job on TLOTR is beyond me.
very disappointing!

although if its for your kids they will enjoy it.

[Merlin1958]

So ..... I didnt like it

OK, but can you be a little more specific?

Spoiler:

The biggest issue was the delineation from the actual plot. There was SO much time dedicated to Legolas and Tauriel, and that awful love plot between Tauriel and Kili. WHAT THE HELL???? They kept him behind from seeing the treasure just so he could get sick and be involved in a complete re-hash of the Arwen/Frodo scene from The Fellowship. It was 100% unnecessary and was a waste of my time.

Despite that, Smaug was amazing. I would have willingly paid the $9 to see the Smaug scene and left the theatre happy. I was just pissed that i had to sift through so much needless shit to get to that part.

Peter Jackson screwed the pooch on theses movies. how he could make these movies so bad after doing such an excellent job on TLOTR is beyond me.
very disappointing!

although if its for your kids they will enjoy it.

Fair enough, Alkanto. However, this review kinda opened my ayes a little to what, Jackson is doing. Might be worth a look. I too, am a purist, but I can see this being, Jackson's vision.

Spoiler:

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/65552

[DoctorDodge]

Just seen it. Gotta admit, I loved it. I didn't mind the changes in plot so much (now don't get me wrong, I adore the book, but that's less due to the story and more due to the storyteller, and Tolkien's wit and mini calls for audience participation just can't be copied and work on screen as much), although I can understand why you wouldn't be a fan of them - I wasn't so keen on The Two Towers at first for the radical change of Faramir trying to take the hobbits to Minas Tirith (what I loved about the character of Faramir is that he was clearly better than his brother in the book, although he was still clearly tempted, and the film kind of took away from that a little by comparison) - but overall, it had so much of what I loved about the Lord of the Rings movies - beautiful locations and exploration of Middle Earth (the Elven and Dwarven cities in particular were gorgeous), there was a nice balance in the plot

Spoiler:

splitting up the dwarves and having some sequences in Laketown really helped I think - it avoided the trap of having one long sequence with Smaug that went on for 50 minutes and instead balanced it out by inter-cutting with other key battle sequences, like Helm's Deep and Osgiliath in the Two Towers film, despite the book being split cleanly into two: the story of Frodo and Sam in one half and the story of the rest of the fellowship in the other,

and most important of all: some kick-ass battle sequences. Legolas was a serious bad mofo in this one.

Overall, I'd give it 8/10. I enjoyed it even more than the first film, if I'm honest. A good balance between a decent adaptation and a prequel to the Lord of the Rings movies. Can't wait for the final film next year.

[Tatts4Life]

We saw it last night with our kids. While I thought it was good my two girls who are 8 and 12 LOVED it. Their favorite part was everything with Smaug. Now it's been forever since I read the book, but to me I think peter Jackson should of made the hobbit into two movies and not three. The perfect spot to end the first movie would be when thorin opened the door into the mountain. Then the second movie would be nothing but pure awesomeness.

[fearless-freak]

under Guillermo Del Toro's direction it was going to be two movies but then stuff came up about the movie not being officially green lit when they were making the stuff, Peter Jackson did not want to direct them after making the LoTR trilogy back to back but he eventually stepped forward to do it and it was the studio that wanted to do it as a trilogy

[Merlin1958]

under Guillermo Del Toro's direction it was going to be two movies but then stuff came up about the movie not being officially green lit when they were making the stuff, Peter Jackson did not want to direct them after making the LoTR trilogy back to back but he eventually stepped forward to do it and it was the studio that wanted to do it as a trilogy

Just FYI, but I believe it was a dispute between Jackson and the studio over $$$ that was the reason Jackson refused to do the Hobbit. Once that was resolved it was all good. The rights had already been secured.

[alkanto]

admittedly, after a re-watch, I liked it better. I just had to accept the changes and move on. I still like the first one better, however.

[fernandito]

The movie was ok, just ok. So much of it was filler and it showed. I'm hoping TDOS has a bit more meat.

[Tatts4Life]

So I'm showing my girls the Hobbit cartoon since they really like the Peter Jackson movies. It's been forever since I've seen the movie and also a long time since I read the book. But since we've seen the live action version so recently I keep thinking, wait that's now how it happens. We'll I go on wiki to read about the book and come to find out the cartoon follows a whole lot closer then I remember. They make it seem like Bilbo is a big help in PJ's movie because he has the ring all ready when from what I read he hardly does crap and doesn't get the ring until after the goblins.

[fearless-freak]

that's the trouble with adapting a book into film, its reworked to make the director's job easier

[Iwritecode]

So I'm showing my girls the Hobbit cartoon since they really like the Peter Jackson movies. It's been forever since I've seen the movie and also a long time since I read the book. But since we've seen the live action version so recently I keep thinking, wait that's now how it happens. We'll I go on wiki to read about the book and come to find out the cartoon follows a whole lot closer then I remember. They make it seem like Bilbo is a big help in PJ's movie because he has the ring all ready when from what I read he hardly does crap and doesn't get the ring until after the goblins.

I just watched the live action movie for the first time a couple of days ago and was actually quite surprised in how much it differed from the book and original cartoon.

[mae]