The Hobbit (the Jackson films)

[Janie]

I have to admit that I'm far more excited about the extended version of DoS (especially the extras) than the third film. Of course I will watch it but I usually wait for the dvd anyway so it doesn't make any difference to me. I'm not a fan of battles in general and this film is supposed to be mostly about it. And they kill the dragon so I know I won't like that part, that's for sure. Of course there are things I'm looking forward to see like Gandalf, the death of a few characters I don't like and it's always good to see Middle-Earth so... yeah, I'm looking forward to see it but the main reason is that I told myself that after the third Hobbit dvd is out I will do a marathon of all Hobbit and LotR films chronologically (first the Hobbit and then the LotR). And I haven't seen the LotR films for at least two or three years. 

[Schlauer Fuchs]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOw44VFNk8Y

[Arcadia]

You know you're obsessed when you want to fly a certain airline just to see the safety videos.....

[Carol the Dabbler]

But I don't want a LotR-like movie -- I want a Hobbit-like movie (silly me!).

 

Well, I do. I really didn't like the Hobbit-like moments in the films, like the dwarfs singing in Bag End. The mixture of those elements that remind you of the Hobbit being a children's book and those that make it look like the epic LotR films doesn't work for me at all. Whenever they do those Hobbit moments I briefly close my eyes and hope that it'll be over soon.

But what I said (tongue in cheek) was that I was being silly for wanting the movie to be something like the book -- not that I wanted to see only the silly moments! While I did very much enjoy the scenes at Bag End, and while Jackson did a very authentic job with certain classic Hobbit scenes (Riddles in the Dark, for example, and Bilbo's meeting with Smaug), there were a good many other non-silly classic Hobbit scenes that he railroaded, trivialized, or changed almost beyond recognition (Bilbo rescuing the dwarves from the spiders, for instance, the naming of Sting, and the entire Laketown scene).

 

I'm hoping that he'll find time in the third installment for something besides the big noisy battle.  I'd love to see some of the quiet little scenes that add so much to the book -- e.g., Bilbo's crucial role in bringing peace between the dwarves, elves, and "men," and his spontaneous poem at his first view of Hobbiton.  Of course, I also want to see the auction, which will probably strike you as somewhat silly!

 

[Arcadia]

I LUV the "silly" bits. More silly hobbits, please! Less grim dwarves and growly orcs! Up with Bard, down with Smaug! (Altho he is rather glorious.)

 

[avoca]

I did love LOTR film because it's well made, with a great cast and very entertaining, but mainly cause I adore the book.

 

I liked The Hobbit book too, but much less than LOTR, though I do like The hobbit movies more. and not cause of martin or benedict, actually. they certainty add something special to the films, martin especially, but that's it. 

 

I have seen dozens of times first two Hobbit films and I look very forward to the third: roll on, december! 

 

 

well, the dragon is not meeting a happy end, but you'll see plenty of it, so no worries. this if the book is taken in the proper consideration by mr jackson..

 

 

and battles.. well, with the title going The battle of the 5 armies, there'll likely be a good share of the film devoted to fights.

 

though spectacular, I'm not overly fond of wars either: aside being a little of a wimp, I get easily bored by such scenes.

 

 

what I like the most of The Hobbit book (the typical english everyman from the war times)  is the concept so brilliantly phrased in The imitation game "sometimes it's the people no one imagines anything of who do the things that no one can imagine"

 

and how it shows that little acts of kindness can change the world.

[Carol the Dabbler]

though spectacular, I'm not overly fond of wars either: aside being a little of a wimp, I get easily bored by such scenes.

 

what I like the most of The Hobbit book (the typical english everyman from the war times)  is the concept so brilliantly phrased in The imitation game "sometimes it's the people no one imagines anything of who do the things that no one can imagine"

 

and how it shows that little acts of kindness can change the world.

I agree about the boring battles -- I practically fell asleep at several points during "Smaug" when it was all slash, bang, lunge, etc. for interminable periods of time.  But I suppose (as I believe someone else recently said) boys will be boys, so what do you expect from Peter Jackson?  As long as they have plenty of the good stuff as well, I'll be fine with it.

 

And yes, I love that the majority of Bilbo's important and heroic moments (in the book, at least) don't depend on brute force.

 

[Arcadia]

For some reason I didn't mind the battles in LOTR but I agree, couldn't wait for them to be over in "Smaug". Perhaps because I knew it was all made up by Jackson & Co? And seemed to exist mostly to insert elves deeper into the story? I'm all for elves but it just felt contrived. Oh well, any time spent in the company of hobbits is time well spent, imo, I'm looking forward to the next installment.

[SherlockedCAMPer]

Hobbitses is awesome *spoken like Gollum* My son currently has hobbit like hair (although beginning to get too long) and for a little bit was getting hobbit like feet (no they were not hairy & yes we corrected that)

[Arcadia]

Hobbitses is awesome *spoken like Gollum* My son currently has hobbit like hair (although beginning to get too long) and for a little bit was getting hobbit like feet (no they were not hairy & yes we corrected that)

Rather leathery on the bottom, you mean?

[SherlockedCAMPer]

More like he likes to go around in bare feet like hobbits and all that can be picked up in a house by doing so.

[Schlauer Fuchs]

I'm hoping that he'll find time in the third installment for something besides the big noisy battle.  I'd love to see some of the quiet little scenes that add so much to the book -- e.g., Bilbo's crucial role in bringing peace between the dwarves, elves, and "men," and his spontaneous poem at his first view of Hobbiton.  Of course, I also want to see the auction, which will probably strike you as somewhat silly!

 

It doesn't strike me silly at all! That's exactly what I meant when I said I missed the calm moments in the second Hobbit film and that I felt the largest part of the film was one big chase (and therefore: rather boring). The only moment I really really liked was the first encounter of Bilbo and Smaug until the dwarves turned up it became a long (and at times ridiculous) chase again. Though that does sound like a damning review and I don't totally dislike the film, I just don't like him as much as the other Middle Earth films.  Maybe I'll borrow the DVD from someone and watch it again to focus more on the good scenes.

 

[Carol the Dabbler]

OK, so it was just the dwarvish musical food-fight that you found silly?  When you said this:
 

I really didn't like the Hobbit-like moments in the films, like the dwarfs singing in Bag End. The mixture of those elements that remind you of the Hobbit being a children's book and those that make it look like the epic LotR films doesn't work for me at all. Whenever they do those Hobbit moments I briefly close my eyes and hope that it'll be over soon.

 
... I assumed you didn't like any of the humorous moments.

 

[Schlauer Fuchs]

It wasn't only the dwarf song that I found silly, no. But it wasn't all the humerous moments, neither.

 

I hate the golf joke, for example. I know it's in the book, but that one really destroys the illusion of the Middle Earth for me that Jackson creates. And I'd better remain silent about the troll scratching his bottom or using Bilbo as a handkerchief. I didn't find that funny at all but just stale.

One scene that I really like and that has some great funny lines is the riddle scene. Both Gollum and Bilbo have some fantastic funny moments there. These jokes fit in with the whole atmosphere of the film, with the world the films present. And I'm sure there were more scenes with humerous elements that are fine with me, but I can't recall them right now; it's been too long since I've seen either of the films.

 

So there are great humerous scenes. But many jokes are somewhat forced in my opinion. Those jokes are fine in the Hobbit book because they fit in with the whole tone of the book which is quite different from that of the LotR books. But Jackson mixed those two very different approaches towards Middle Earth up in the Hobbit movies, and for me that doesn't work out in many cases.

[Carol the Dabbler]

I hate the golf joke, for example. I know it's in the book, but that one really destroys the illusion of the Middle Earth for me that Jackson creates.

I agree that Tolkien's golf story (told with a straight face in the book) strains credulity, which may be why I prefer the way it was handled in the movie -- with Bilbo accusing Gandalf of making it up, thus confirming that the head-down-a-rabbit-hole thing is just a joke. We're still left with the idea that golf is played in Middle Earth -- but why not? There's nothing inherently high-tech about it. Their game may not be exactly what we know as golf, but as long as it's similar, that would be the logical translation.

 

The sports joke that I didn't care for was the crochet / croquet one, mostly because it uses a current-world slang term in a current-world colloquialism. Best to avoid that sort of thing in alternative-universe stories, I think -- it leaves you sitting there wondering whether they actually use the equivalent expressions in Middle Earth, rather than paying attention to the movie.

 

So there are great humerous scenes. But many jokes are somewhat forced in my opinion. Those jokes are fine in the Hobbit book because they fit in with the whole tone of the book which is quite different from that of the LotR books. But Jackson mixed those two very different approaches towards Middle Earth up in the Hobbit movies, and for me that doesn't work out in many cases.

I agree with you for the most part -- but a] I'm not 100% in favor of them in the book either, and b] Jackson seems to have made up the worst ones.

[Carol the Dabbler]

Radio Times is reporting, "The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies is going to end with a fight scene lasting 45 minutes."  To which I reacted, "W-h-a-a-a-t!  How can they end it with the battle?!  What about Bilbo's return to Bag End?!"

 

But there's good news (unless you like movies that end with 45-minute battle scenes) -- what their cited source, Entertainment Weekly, actually referred to was "the 45-minute fight at the climax of The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies."  (That's climax, RT, the big exciting part, which is hardly ever right at the end.)  And I like what they quote Jackson as saying about the Eagles.

 

[Schlauer Fuchs]

 

The sports joke that I didn't care for was the crochet / croquet one, mostly because it uses a current-world slang term in a current-world colloquialism. Best to avoid that sort of thing in alternative-universe stories, I think -- it leaves you sitting there wondering whether they actually use the equivalent expressions in Middle Earth, rather than paying attention to the movie.

 

That made me rewatch the first Hobbit film today, because I couldn't remember that joke at all. So I chose to watch the film, alternating languages every now and then. Lucky enough, the English version was on when that joke came up. Though I have watched the film in English before, that scene only got stuck in my mind in the German version because there they have another pun. They obviously needed one since there is another word for "crochet" in German and they had to find a wordplay with that word. And what they found is one of the jokes that I actually like for it fits in the universe and even the dwarfish race. The literal translation of the German joke would be something along this line:

 

Bilbo: Excuse me, that is a doily, not a dish cloth.

Bofur: But it's full of holes!

Bilbo: It's supposed to look like that, it's crochet [geknöppelt].

Bofur: You can't beat a good brawl [Klopperei]. If you've got the right stick [Prügel].

 

I did my best to find a translation for "Prügel" that would carry the double meaning - does it?

[Carol the Dabbler]

Yes, I like that better than the English version -- sounds a lot more like something you'd hear in Middle Earth.  Not sure how good a pun it is, but hey, those dwarves had drunk HOW much beer?

 

 

[SherlockedCAMPer]

Apparently the London premiere of the Hobbit will be dec 1 from Leicester Square (same place as TIG) and will be live streamed. When I get to my computer, I will try to get the info over here.

[SherlockedCAMPer]

Here's the video... (Sorry no Benedict but we do have Martin in there)

 

http://youtu.be/iRtpaFgrZ8E

[Carol the Dabbler]

Whoever finds out the details of the live streaming first -- please post it here! 

 

[Carol the Dabbler]

Digital Spy has posted a video of a phenomenon we've all heard about but I had never seen before -- Martin Freeman's differing performances on different takes of the same scene.

 

There's enough showbiz in me that I don't want to do it just for the camera I also want the 500 people in the room mildly entertained and mildly distracted for the next three hours.

 

You can read the entire article (and more to the point, see the video) here.  (Sorry, it's a Flash video, which alas I do not know how to embed here -- but the link will take you there.)

 

[Carol the Dabbler]

Radio Times has posted a video about Benedict Cumberbatch's audition for the role of Smaug, which includes some bits from his audition tape (as well as what appears to be a brief snippet of Martin Freeman's audition for the role of Bilbo):

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=fiQQC8pVuV8

 

[Carol the Dabbler]

Business Insider has posted what I take to be a couple more items from the extended-edition Desolation of Smaug DVDs:

 

First, a behind-the-scenes look at getting the dwarves into the barrels, with several neat GIFs and a video.

 

Then a detailed look at the making of Smaug himself, likewise with GIFs and a video.

 

[Janie]

The new trailer for The Battle of Five Armies:

 

 

To be honest, I don't know what to think about it. I mean, it looks great but it doesn't feel like The Hobbit anymore