Random Movie Musings

I just saw The Hobbit a couple days ago and I adored it. I know some have criticized the tone for not being consistent, but I personally enjoyed that they included some silly antics from the books even while making the movie as a whole feel more like Lord of the Rings.

Adding my two cents about the effects: the only one that didn't work for me was the Goblin King. And I feel the need to point out that Gollum looked even more amazing than he ever has.
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All things die, Anakin Skywalker, even stars burn out.

So this is how liberty dies....with thunderous applause.

Those without swords can still die upon them

The world is a mess and I just need to rule it.

Master Joined: 15 Apr 2008 Posts: 4434 Location: Korriban

Yesterday I saw Les Misérables.

OH MY GOD. SO GOOD!!!!!!

Everything about it was amazing. Great cast, great singing, great costumes and sets and everything.

Tears were shed. I cried during A Little Fall of Rain, Bring Him Home, and Empty Chairs At Empty Tables.

My only criticisms:
1- It was long. Like, over 2.5 hours. That works for on-stage musicals, but movies don't have intermission. By the intermission point (One Day More, if memory serves), I really needed to pee.

2- I didn't care for the young man who played Marius. Decent voice, but when compared to how amazing the others looked and sounded, he wasn't great.
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It was the year of fire… the year of destruction… the year we took back what was ours.
It was the year of rebirth… the year of great sadness… the year of pain… and the year of joy.
It was a new age. It was the end of history. It was the year everything changed.
The year is 2261.
The place: Babylon 5.

Knight Joined: 10 Apr 2011 Posts: 436

Any idea how long it would take for the 2 disc edition of TDKR to drop to 19.99 on Amazon? It's clocking in at a whopping $35 right now and I don't want to pay that much for it.

Master Joined: 15 Apr 2008 Posts: 4434 Location: Korriban

Master Joined: 11 Jun 2009 Posts: 1355

I saw Monsters Inc 3D last Wednesday. It was pretty good. You can tell it's a lot easier post-convert CGI animated films than it is live action.

I really want to see The Hobbit too... I better get it done before they stop offering it in HFR!
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I saw Life of Pi yesteday and if I were to give it a mark out of 10 I'd give it a 15.
It was amazing!!! I almost shed a tear or two at the end!
I literally had NO problems with it...well none that I can think of at this point but none the less, it was awesome.
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We fight, we earn, we never learn. And through it all, the hero falls...
~Heroes, Mika~

The Hobbit: I thought Peter Jackson did a real good job with the movie. The story was fun, entertaining, and kind of epic. Even though it's only the first half of the story, it felt complete enough.

My two gripes: number one, I did feel nauseous after the movie. I'm not sure if that was because of the high frame rate or what. Number two, it was very long. Too long to sit through without an intermission. Really, if a movie is going to be this long, it should have an intermission. There was a rush after the movie as everyone stormed the nearest bathrooms.

Abraham Lincoln Vampire Slayer: the previews of this movie looked good, and it was a film I wanted to see. Somehow I missed it at theater, so I ended up renting it recently. Sadly, it wasn't that good. It's a so-so movie. Nothing I'd recommend.
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There was a cracked article today about genre movies not being made anymore. I was happy to see that someone else felt exactly as I do about the new Superman movie.

@Dog: I thought the idea was to keep Superman Superman (i.e. an idealistic goody-goody), but to make the world around him gritty and realistic and therefore unaccepting of him. I love the idea personally, because it gets to the heart of your gripe: We don't want Superman. We have no room in post-modernity for a genuine hero, fighting the good fight and expecting nothing in return. There has to be a catch: he either is psychologically damaged or has ulterior motives. I think its the perfect way to bring the neglected Superman into the 21st Century.

Granted, I do understand where you're coming from. I respect idealistic story-telling and I miss it.
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Where sky and water meet,
Where the waves grow sweet,
Doubt not, Reepicheep,
To find all you seek,
There is the utter east.

@Dog, I read the article, and while I agreed with some of what the author said, he mentioned the the last time someone made a optimistic Superman, we got Superman Returns and everyone hated it, like the general public can't deal with optimism. People didn't hate Superman Returns because it was old fashioned. They hated it because it kinda sucked.....

Anyway, I have seen Les Miserables and y'all, it was beautiful. I loved it. Anne Hathaway deserves every award she's going to get for her performance and she also gave a significantly more impressive vocal performance that I was expecting from her. She and Samantha Barks as Eponine were my favorites. Russel Crowe was better than I expected, but wasn't great. And Amanda Seyfried was pretty danged annoying because of her vocal tone. But amazing movie.
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All things die, Anakin Skywalker, even stars burn out.

So this is how liberty dies....with thunderous applause.

Those without swords can still die upon them

The world is a mess and I just need to rule it.

Reep: I see the appeal and personally I prefer that too. I don't really like Superman for that reason. I prefer Batman. Which is the point, we don't need a Superman to test against weakness and corruption and bitterness of moral social erosion because we have already had one all along. Superman is an uncompromising moral champion and an ideal of a bygone time and we need him for those reasons even more in the face of post modernism, and it proves the point that they don't make em like they used to.

I do think that can work today and I think that was a big part of what made Avengers so successful.

Padme: I liked the article overall, but I agree with you that the failing of Superman Returns was more for other reasons.

I think that part of it is that genre shifts follow a trend, but it doesn't always work. In the case of superhero movies that mold breaker was The Dark Knight. To a certain extent movie producers think that you have to follow the Dark Knight formula to make a successful modern superhero movie. But super heroes are just part of scifi fantasy, and are actually mutli genre movies, so there is more range there than just dark and brooding for the college students and popcorn cheez for the kiddies.
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They have taken the hearts and minds of our leaders. They have recruited the rich and the powerful, and they have blinded us to the truth! Our human spirit is corrupted. Why do we worship greed? Because, outside the limit of our sight, feeding off us, perched on top of us from birth to death are OUR OWNERS. They have us! They control us! They are our masters! Wake up! They’re all about you, all around you!

I saw The Hobbit last night.

I have very mixed feelings. I'm pretty happy as a Tolkien fan, because of how close the movies sticks to its source(s), but as a movie goer I thought the movie was clunky. There were a lot of rabbit trails and the pacing was very slow. Marin Freeman was excellent as Bilbo. I couldn't have asked for a better actor. Richard Armitage was also very good as Thorin and Ian McKellen was good as Gandalf as always. Erebor looked really weird - almost sci fi-like. It didn't look like it belonged in Middle Earth. Actually a bunch of things seemed out of place in Jackson's Middle Earth. The CGI looked really fake and I never became immersed in the world like I did in the LOTR films. I don't know why they didn't stick with prosthetics. There was also a surplus of cartoon physics - something LOTR didn't have. Rivendell was beautiful as always and I loved the instruments, armour etc. The Gollum scenes were great. Gollum looked very real and Andy Serkis hasn't lost his skills. Overall my Tolkien fandom saved me and I actually really enjoyed it. This movie moreso than LOTR really felt like it was made for book fans. There was a lot of nods that only fans will get and the expanded plot would seem really random to a non-fan.
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Where sky and water meet,
Where the waves grow sweet,
Doubt not, Reepicheep,
To find all you seek,
There is the utter east.

Master Joined: 15 Apr 2008 Posts: 4434 Location: Korriban

I'm really feeling the Alien franchise right now. With Aliens: Colonial Marines dropping in a month I'm super psyched.
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Perfection is a lifelong pursuit requiring sacrifice. The only way to get it quicker is to sacrifice the most.

Django Unchained: I like Tarantino so I had to see this, and I was not disappointed. The actors did a great job, the characters were great, the story was great, it was a good job all around. My only gripe would be two scenes were there was hip hop/rap music which sort of drew me out of the movie, but otherwise it was very entertaining.
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