"The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug" opens wide December 13th.
Showing posts with label The Hobbit. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Hobbit. Show all posts
Nov 7, 2013
Extended trailer for "The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug"
They're calling this a "sneak peek" but it's really an extended trailer, and a darn good one at that.
"The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug" opens wide December 13th.
"The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug" opens wide December 13th.
Oct 29, 2013
New TV spots for "The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug"
I see approximately 1.7 seconds of new imagery in these two spots but I'll take what I can get.
"The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug" opens wide December 13th.
"The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug" opens wide December 13th.
Oct 2, 2013
5 new banners for "The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug"
While I'm on the subject of The Hobbit here are 5 newly released banners from the film featuring (top to bottom) Bilbo and the Dwarves, Thranduil, Bard the Bowman, Gandalf and Legolas. If you click on the images in the post it should take you to larger versions.
New full trailer for "The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug"
In the first Hobbit film it seemed a little like Peter Jackson was flailing around a bit trying to get a hold of the material. If what I've seen so far for "The Desolation of Smaug" (including this new trailer) is any indication I'd say he's found his footing. Lots more Legolas here too which indicates Orlando Bloom won't just be a walk-on like Elijah Wood was in "An Unexpected Journey" and at last... the dragon speaks!
Look for "The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug" this December.
Look for "The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug" this December.
Jul 3, 2013
New production video from "The Hobbit"
Peter Jackson starts right off stating that he's not making the trip to Comic-Con this year and gives his reasons (which sound perfectly understandable). He then offers up this feature covering the process of re-shoots, pickups and stuff that didn't get shot due to weather or whatever during principal photography for the remaining 2 films. Laketown and Dale look pretty amazing.
Take your time Peter. I for one will be waiting patiently for the final results.
Take your time Peter. I for one will be waiting patiently for the final results.
Jun 29, 2013
That's a wrap! Ian McKellen's last day as Gandalf
There are those who are of the opinion that McKellen may return at some point to play Middle Earth's premiere defender yet again but with the rights to Tolkien's remaining works closely guarded by his heirs (who it must be said have never been particularly thrilled with Jackson's cinematic interpretations) it seems more than a little likely that "The Hobbit" trilogy is the end of the filmic line for McKellen-as-Gandalf. (sniff!)
Jun 26, 2013
Peter Jackson talks about "An Unexpected Journey" extended DVD
Probably the most played DVDs in my collection are the extended versions of "The Lord of the Rings" movies. I've loved them from the day they were released and still watch them a few times a year. Well now Peter Jackson has finally broached the subject of the extended version DVD for the first of his Hobbit films in a conversation with Empire.
Regarding just what juicy unseen bits might be included in the extended version Jackson says: "You are going to get some serious Dwarvish disrespect of the elves at Rivendell". While his co-writer Philippa Boyens states: "You are going to get more of Hobbiton... We always wanted to wend our way through Hobbiton, but in the end Bilbo has to run out of the door." Jackson also adds: "We are putting things in the extended cut that are going to play straight into the second film... like this character Girion, who is defending Dale using black arrows against Smaug. And the black arrows play a part in an ongoing story, for they are the one thing that can pierce the dragon's hide."
Sounds good to me. We should be seeing the extended version of AUJ sometime in November so keep your eyes open.
Regarding just what juicy unseen bits might be included in the extended version Jackson says: "You are going to get some serious Dwarvish disrespect of the elves at Rivendell". While his co-writer Philippa Boyens states: "You are going to get more of Hobbiton... We always wanted to wend our way through Hobbiton, but in the end Bilbo has to run out of the door." Jackson also adds: "We are putting things in the extended cut that are going to play straight into the second film... like this character Girion, who is defending Dale using black arrows against Smaug. And the black arrows play a part in an ongoing story, for they are the one thing that can pierce the dragon's hide."
Sounds good to me. We should be seeing the extended version of AUJ sometime in November so keep your eyes open.
Jun 12, 2013
It's here! "The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug" trailer
I liked the first of Peter Jackson's "Hobbit" films. It was a good film. Not a great film but a good one. This, on the other hand, looks absolutely epic and has given me something to truly look forward to for when those long dark days of December descend.
"The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug" opens wide December 13th.
"The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug" opens wide December 13th.
Mar 3, 2013
"The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" pass $1 billion in global box office
While it's domestic take of just over $301 million is the smallest of any of Peter Jackson's Tolkien adaptations the global marketplace has come through in a big way for "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey". The first film in the new trilogy topped the much coveted $1 billion mark this past weekend following its recent opening in communist China to become just the 15th movie in history to reach that lofty plateau.
Feb 28, 2013
"The Hobbit: There and Back Again" release pushed back
Warner Brothers has announced that the release date of the third and final installment in Peter Jackson's "Hobbit" trilogy has been pushed back from July 18, 2014 to December 17, 2014. The move is not a big shock considering all of Jackson's previous Tolkien adaptations have releases in mid December. The real surprise (for me anyway) was that they considered a July release at all.
The first movie in the trilogy has recovered from a somewhat sluggish start and is closing in a billion dollars at the worldwide box office. Sure that includes ticket premiums but a billion dollars is still a billion dollars. The second film "The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug" is set for release this December.
The first movie in the trilogy has recovered from a somewhat sluggish start and is closing in a billion dollars at the worldwide box office. Sure that includes ticket premiums but a billion dollars is still a billion dollars. The second film "The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug" is set for release this December.
Dec 16, 2012
"The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" - 2012 - movie review
"The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" is, on the whole, a delightful film. Though it hits many of the same beats as its Lord of the Rings predecessors, occasionally lapses into flat out nostalgia for said earlier trilogy, suffers in spots from second rate CG (see: the wargs) and lacks a true climax it nonetheless manages to succeed in spite of itself.
The film starts slowly with Bilbo (played by Ian Holm as he prepares for the party at the beginning of "Fellowship of the Ring") narrating the mandatory prologue. The purpose of this prologue though is different than the one on Fellowship. That prologue's job was mainly historical while the prologue here serves to present us a more fully realized picture of the Dwarves than Tolkien himself gave us in the book. Consequently by the time they arrive at Bilbo's door their zany antics are no longer just the cuddly wuddly shenanigans of a bunch of munchkin clones but instead can be seen almost as a kind of defense mechanism the Dwarves employ to deal with their time in the wilderness. So, right off the bat Jackson diffuses an aspect of the original story that could have potentially kept a lot of adult butts out of theater seats and actually makes it a kind of dramatic ally in the process.
After the prologue we flash back 60 years and Gandalf arrives at Bag End to coerce a much younger Bilbo (Martin Freeman) into joining the company of Thorin Oakenshield as the Dwarf leader and his band of a dozen compatriots set out on a quest to reclaim their historical home Erebor (The Lonely Mountain) from the dragon Smaug. Smaug - as we learned in the prologue - crashed the Dwarf party decades earlier and laid claim to the Dwarf king Thror's accumulated treasure. Bilbo is reluctant to go but Gandalf eggs him on by reminding him of his earlier, apparently more adventurous days. Ultimately, faced with the fact that the company has left without him Bilbo is bitten by wanderlust and catches up to them.
As they head out on their way the company is beset by Orcs who seek to capture and/or kill Thorin for his having cut off the arm of the Orc leader, the Pale Orc, during an earlier battle. We're also presented with the wizard Radagrast the Brown who lives a solitary life in the forest. He's become aware of a dark force at work but can't put his finger on exactly what it might be. We see the Stone Giants duking it out in perhaps the movie's only truly pointless scene and we visit the underground kingdom of the Goblins, which is connected to the same cave where Gollum is holed up with the ring of power and where Bilbo engages him in the world's most famous riddle game.
Jackson and company go to extraordinary lengths to retrofit The Hobbit into the LOTR narrative (Tolkien of course never intended The Hobbit to be anything but a stand alone children's book). The introduction and handling of all things "ring of power" are given waaaaayyy more weight than they had in the original story, Sauruman (Christopher Lee) is given a steady stream of dialogue hinting that he's already at work to undermine the good people of Middle Earth and that shadowy figure Radagrast is dealing with is built up until his/her identity - though unspoken in the movie - becomes crystal clear to everyone in the audience who hasn't been living under a rock. (At the time he wrote The Hobbit Tolkien had no idea who this character would morph into.) It's a narrative sub thread that was present in the book to be sure but is used here in a wink wink fashion intended to bolster the prequel trilogy's prequel-cred (say that 5 times fast). It's during these moments - when the film makers motivations are on full display - that the movie stumbles a bit.
Still, while An Unexpected Journey does occasionally stumble it never careens entirely off the track and through most of the film I sat drooling at the spectacle like the obedient 21st century entertainment consumer I can be. There is plenty of wonder, joy, intrigue and pathos on display as well as physical humor that had little place in the earlier trilogy but which works here because it's both character appropriate and isn't overused. If there is a genuine "problem" dogging the production it's the same narrative one that popped up in the earlier trilogy: the eagles. Is there a person alive today who doesn't see them and think "why don't they just fly all the way to your location of choice here?" Damn good question that...
As far as the cast is concerned Martin Freeman is fine as Bilbo but perhaps just a bit too much the everyman to be perfect for that character. Frodo, in the form of Elijah Wood, makes an appearance at the start of the film but was gone before everyone in the theater had taken their seats. Richard Armitage as Thorin brings tremendous range and authority to his role while the rest of the Dwarf actors are neither problematic nor memorable, which is probably the best you can ask. The one-man distraction machine that is Andy Serkis has his time here blissfully limited and isn't the anchor weighing down the proceedings he was in "Two Towers" and "Return of the King". Many of the other returning veterans though were decidedly worse for wear and whenever the likes of Christopher Lee or Ian Holm were on screen you could almost see the hands of the assistants reaching out prepared to catch them should they keel over. Ian McKellen as well looks exceedingly ashen at the beginning of the film but miraculously seems to get younger and more vivacious as the film goes along.
Though three hours long I didn't feel at any time that the film was dragging. Some scenes - like the whole Goblin kingdom under the Misty Mountain sequence - could have been cut and I wouldn't have missed them at all but they didn't (with the exception of the rock giants scene) feel like they'd just been dropped into the story from another planet. They fit. They just weren't needed.
Film making is like painting: sometimes you need to mix yellow and blue right on the canvas to get the green you want and sometimes you can just use the green that's in the tube. In Jackson's world, where he's the editor in chief who believes everything he does is right, what you get is lots of mixing on the canvas that isn't really necessary. The Goblin scene is one such example. It wasn't bad per se, it just didn't add anything to the story. It smacked of content for an extended DVD release.
I entered the theater to see "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" last night with my mid-drift bulge quivering in nervous anticipation. Would it be a garden of cinematic delights ala "Fellowship of the Ring", a tortuous epic that largely got lost on the way to The End ala "Return of the King" or pretty good ala "The Two Towers"? The answer is "yes". There's a garden of cinematic delights clanking around inside a pretty good movie that bears little resemblance scale-wise to the source material and is padded with narrative moments it doesn't really need. But it's only when you get to the end of the film and begin to think back upon it that you realize that not much actually happened here, that much of the action in the film has taken place in flashback or on the sidelines. In three hours Bilbo and the Dwarves basically went down the street and around the corner where they spied their destination a hundred miles hence. It's a testament to Tolkien's book, the astonishing New Zealand locations (both natural and CG enhanced) and Peter Jackson as well that so little could be made to feel like so much. Hopefully though, in subsequent installments, what I feel I'm getting will match what is actually delivered.
Note: I saw the film in 2D on a standard screen at 24 fps, unconvinced by any arguments I'd heard explaining why I should see this movie in 48 fps, 3D IMAX. As it turns out I made the right choice. It looked great in the traditional format.
The film starts slowly with Bilbo (played by Ian Holm as he prepares for the party at the beginning of "Fellowship of the Ring") narrating the mandatory prologue. The purpose of this prologue though is different than the one on Fellowship. That prologue's job was mainly historical while the prologue here serves to present us a more fully realized picture of the Dwarves than Tolkien himself gave us in the book. Consequently by the time they arrive at Bilbo's door their zany antics are no longer just the cuddly wuddly shenanigans of a bunch of munchkin clones but instead can be seen almost as a kind of defense mechanism the Dwarves employ to deal with their time in the wilderness. So, right off the bat Jackson diffuses an aspect of the original story that could have potentially kept a lot of adult butts out of theater seats and actually makes it a kind of dramatic ally in the process.
After the prologue we flash back 60 years and Gandalf arrives at Bag End to coerce a much younger Bilbo (Martin Freeman) into joining the company of Thorin Oakenshield as the Dwarf leader and his band of a dozen compatriots set out on a quest to reclaim their historical home Erebor (The Lonely Mountain) from the dragon Smaug. Smaug - as we learned in the prologue - crashed the Dwarf party decades earlier and laid claim to the Dwarf king Thror's accumulated treasure. Bilbo is reluctant to go but Gandalf eggs him on by reminding him of his earlier, apparently more adventurous days. Ultimately, faced with the fact that the company has left without him Bilbo is bitten by wanderlust and catches up to them.
As they head out on their way the company is beset by Orcs who seek to capture and/or kill Thorin for his having cut off the arm of the Orc leader, the Pale Orc, during an earlier battle. We're also presented with the wizard Radagrast the Brown who lives a solitary life in the forest. He's become aware of a dark force at work but can't put his finger on exactly what it might be. We see the Stone Giants duking it out in perhaps the movie's only truly pointless scene and we visit the underground kingdom of the Goblins, which is connected to the same cave where Gollum is holed up with the ring of power and where Bilbo engages him in the world's most famous riddle game.
Jackson and company go to extraordinary lengths to retrofit The Hobbit into the LOTR narrative (Tolkien of course never intended The Hobbit to be anything but a stand alone children's book). The introduction and handling of all things "ring of power" are given waaaaayyy more weight than they had in the original story, Sauruman (Christopher Lee) is given a steady stream of dialogue hinting that he's already at work to undermine the good people of Middle Earth and that shadowy figure Radagrast is dealing with is built up until his/her identity - though unspoken in the movie - becomes crystal clear to everyone in the audience who hasn't been living under a rock. (At the time he wrote The Hobbit Tolkien had no idea who this character would morph into.) It's a narrative sub thread that was present in the book to be sure but is used here in a wink wink fashion intended to bolster the prequel trilogy's prequel-cred (say that 5 times fast). It's during these moments - when the film makers motivations are on full display - that the movie stumbles a bit.
Still, while An Unexpected Journey does occasionally stumble it never careens entirely off the track and through most of the film I sat drooling at the spectacle like the obedient 21st century entertainment consumer I can be. There is plenty of wonder, joy, intrigue and pathos on display as well as physical humor that had little place in the earlier trilogy but which works here because it's both character appropriate and isn't overused. If there is a genuine "problem" dogging the production it's the same narrative one that popped up in the earlier trilogy: the eagles. Is there a person alive today who doesn't see them and think "why don't they just fly all the way to your location of choice here?" Damn good question that...
As far as the cast is concerned Martin Freeman is fine as Bilbo but perhaps just a bit too much the everyman to be perfect for that character. Frodo, in the form of Elijah Wood, makes an appearance at the start of the film but was gone before everyone in the theater had taken their seats. Richard Armitage as Thorin brings tremendous range and authority to his role while the rest of the Dwarf actors are neither problematic nor memorable, which is probably the best you can ask. The one-man distraction machine that is Andy Serkis has his time here blissfully limited and isn't the anchor weighing down the proceedings he was in "Two Towers" and "Return of the King". Many of the other returning veterans though were decidedly worse for wear and whenever the likes of Christopher Lee or Ian Holm were on screen you could almost see the hands of the assistants reaching out prepared to catch them should they keel over. Ian McKellen as well looks exceedingly ashen at the beginning of the film but miraculously seems to get younger and more vivacious as the film goes along.
Though three hours long I didn't feel at any time that the film was dragging. Some scenes - like the whole Goblin kingdom under the Misty Mountain sequence - could have been cut and I wouldn't have missed them at all but they didn't (with the exception of the rock giants scene) feel like they'd just been dropped into the story from another planet. They fit. They just weren't needed.
Film making is like painting: sometimes you need to mix yellow and blue right on the canvas to get the green you want and sometimes you can just use the green that's in the tube. In Jackson's world, where he's the editor in chief who believes everything he does is right, what you get is lots of mixing on the canvas that isn't really necessary. The Goblin scene is one such example. It wasn't bad per se, it just didn't add anything to the story. It smacked of content for an extended DVD release.
I entered the theater to see "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" last night with my mid-drift bulge quivering in nervous anticipation. Would it be a garden of cinematic delights ala "Fellowship of the Ring", a tortuous epic that largely got lost on the way to The End ala "Return of the King" or pretty good ala "The Two Towers"? The answer is "yes". There's a garden of cinematic delights clanking around inside a pretty good movie that bears little resemblance scale-wise to the source material and is padded with narrative moments it doesn't really need. But it's only when you get to the end of the film and begin to think back upon it that you realize that not much actually happened here, that much of the action in the film has taken place in flashback or on the sidelines. In three hours Bilbo and the Dwarves basically went down the street and around the corner where they spied their destination a hundred miles hence. It's a testament to Tolkien's book, the astonishing New Zealand locations (both natural and CG enhanced) and Peter Jackson as well that so little could be made to feel like so much. Hopefully though, in subsequent installments, what I feel I'm getting will match what is actually delivered.
Note: I saw the film in 2D on a standard screen at 24 fps, unconvinced by any arguments I'd heard explaining why I should see this movie in 48 fps, 3D IMAX. As it turns out I made the right choice. It looked great in the traditional format.
Dec 15, 2012
Final "Hobbit" production video
Chris and I are headed out tonight to see "The Hobbit" so this represents the final piece of buildup, which is pretty amazing when I think about it. Can't believe the movie actually goes wide this weekend.
So anyway this final production video covers the hours and days leading up to the big Wellington premiere. Also, Chris should have his review up in a day or two so be sure to check back for that.
"The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" hits theaters... NOW!
So anyway this final production video covers the hours and days leading up to the big Wellington premiere. Also, Chris should have his review up in a day or two so be sure to check back for that.
"The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" hits theaters... NOW!
Dec 7, 2012
13 minute preview of "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey"
With 2 weeks to go until the film opens anticipation is peaking. To give true fanatics that little push over the edge into complete hysteria Peter Jackson and Co have released this 13 minute preview. There is a LOT of footage in here that never made it into any of the trailers or already released TV clips and that alone makes this something worth watching. Not only that but Christopher Lee makes his first appearance during this go 'round in Middle Earth. While he's certainly showing his age physically it's great to see that he retains his unbridled enthusiasm for the material.
Dec 2, 2012
Smaug crashes the party in "Hobbit" TV spot 10
The marketing department is working overtime in the buildup to the December 14th release of "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey". This newest TV spot boasts a cameo by the big baddie of the trilogy himself, Smaug. Don't blink or you'll miss it.
Dec 1, 2012
TV spot #9 for "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey"
12 days to go until we find out if Peter Jackson's return to Middle Earth was worth the wait or if it'll drown in dwarf-clowns and disappear into 48 fps hyperspace. Fingers officially crossed.
Nov 29, 2012
New TV spot for "The Hobbit"
2 weeks and counting down until the US release. This is the first spot I've seen that has Frodo front and center. It also demonstrates pretty clearly that the great Ian Holm is too old to have played the younger Bilbo as many fans were hoping he would when the film was being cast. Still, it's good to see both him and Elijah Wood in Middle Earth again.
"The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" opens December 14th.
"The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" opens December 14th.
Nov 24, 2012
Production video #9 for "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey"
It's hard to believe there's less than 3 weeks to go until the big premiere of "The Hobbit" but it's true. After years of legal wrangling with fans having their hopes repeatedly raised and dashed the hour is nearly upon us when we can sit down in a dark room with a bunch of strangers and indulge in some first rate fantasy!
Just to add fuel to the anticipatory fire Peter Jackson et al have released what will probably be the final production video which takes us through some of the madness as deadlines loom in Kiwi country and folks are living on coffee and fear. Let's have a look.
"The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" opens December 14th.
Just to add fuel to the anticipatory fire Peter Jackson et al have released what will probably be the final production video which takes us through some of the madness as deadlines loom in Kiwi country and folks are living on coffee and fear. Let's have a look.
"The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" opens December 14th.
Nov 17, 2012
Bilbo takes center stage in new "Hobbit" TV spot
The latest TV spot for "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" has hit the small screen and it's all Bilbo all the (30 second) time. Lot's of previously unseen shots. Check it out.
"The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" opens December 14th.
"The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" opens December 14th.
Nov 3, 2012
Advanced tickets for "The Hobbit" go on sale Wednesday
According to Deadline tickets for "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" will go on sale Wednesday November 7 at noon, both online and in theaters. That's more than a month ahead of the December 14th release date. All-day screenings of the full, extended edition version of "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy are scheduled for December 8th and 9th in selected theaters nationwide and you'll be able to buy tickets for these "Rings" marathons on November 7th too, along with your Hobbit tickets.
Nov 1, 2012
New international TV spot for "The Hobbit"
Sometimes you gotta go overseas to get those little snippets you won't see stateside. This spot has a nice balance of humor and heaviness as well. Take a look.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)