The Hobbit - The Movie: Speculation and Discussion

[Philipa]

That is a hard decision. I would like my daughter to see the first movie at home. She was too afraid to see it on a big movie screen. I may just buy the dvd's when they come out.

[Merry]

How old is your daughter now, Philipa?

I broke down and ordered the DVD today. What a sap I am! I'll probably buy the EE, too. It'll be interesting to see if the extra material is more stupid fighting or actual intelligent character/plot development.

[Lindariel]

I pre-ordered the DVD. And I'm with you Merry -- I will NOT buy the Extended Version if its just more dumb fighting. I think this Hobbit has been "extended" enough already!

[Philipa]

How old is your daughter now, Philipa?

I broke down and ordered the DVD today. What a sap I am! I'll probably buy the EE, too. It'll be interesting to see if the extra material is more stupid fighting or actual intelligent character/plot development.

Kay is 15 though she's not into blood and gore she could have handled the movie on a big screen. It was that we didn't know how it would be.

I'm actually going to wait till my library has it. I'm the first on their list.

I may just wait till all three movies are out and then buy them in a nice set. After buying the theatre versions and extended versions of lotr... I'm not in a hurry to make that same mistake twice.

I will NOT buy the Extended Version if its just more dumb fighting. I think this Hobbit has been "extended" enough already!

Here, here!

[MICHKA]

Et moi j'attends sagement les 3 films sur écran d'abord avant de m'engager pour les dvd, comme je l'ai fait pour LSDA, la trilogie complète, puis la version bluray avec tous les suppléments( c'est à cause de la version collector que j'ai mieux connu et apprécié V.M quand c'était la sortie spéciale et devenue fan )j'ai toujours regretté de ne pas l'avoir découvert sur grand écran, j'espère encore une redistribution, comme cela s'est longtemps fait pour des films importants tel que ''Autant en emporte le vent''; peut-être pour un anniversaire, les 10ans sont passés....Mais je garde espoir....

[Philipa]

Et moi j'attends sagement les 3 films sur écran d'abord avant de m'engager pour les dvd, comme je l'ai fait pour LSDA, la trilogie complète, puis la version bluray avec tous les suppléments( c'est à cause de la version collector que j'ai mieux connu et apprécié V.M quand c'était la sortie spéciale et devenue fan )j'ai toujours regretté de ne pas l'avoir découvert sur grand écran, j'espère encore une redistribution, comme cela s'est longtemps fait pour des films importants tel que ''Autant en emporte le vent''; peut-être pour un anniversaire, les 10ans sont passés....Mais je garde espoir....

That sounds like a better plan to get the best quality movie you can have in your home. I just don't have the patience to wait that long.

[Merry]

I bought the LOTR sets FOUR TIMES! First the VHS, then the DVD, then the extended DVD, and then lost all of them in the flood of 2008! (They weren't swept away by the river: they were stolen, along with all of my movies and CDs, by looters. ) Then I bought a used set of the EEs at the second-hand store.

PJ and gang have enough of my money, don't you think?

[Philipa]

I bought the LOTR sets FOUR TIMES! First the VHS, then the DVD, then the extended DVD, and then lost all of them in the flood of 2008! (They weren't swept away by the river: they were stolen, along with all of my movies and CDs, by looters. ) Then I bought a used set of the EEs at the second-hand store.

PJ and gang have enough of my money, don't you think?

My word that was something. I agree, enough money for that franchise already.

[Merry]

And yet I did buy the Hobbit DVD and I watched it last night! I saw it only once in the theater, so I was surprised at how much I didn't remember.

A few thoughts--

--The whole scene with Galadriel was interesting. Apparently she and Gandalf can communicate secretly without Elrond and Saruman knowing what they're saying. Also, Galadriel promises Gandalf that she will come to his aid if he needs it, so I suppose we will see her again when they battle the Necromancer. That'll be interesting! Will we see warrior Galadriel? She also sort of disappears at the end of her talk with Gandalf--I didn't know that was in her bag of tricks.

--The goblin cave scene seems even more incongruous to me this viewing. It just seems like a cartoon. PJ is famous for saying he aims for realism, but this scene is really lacking. Every dwarf and Bilbo should at least have multiple broken bones! Compare this to the incredibly nuanced Riddles scene. It's like two different movies. That's the last time I'll waste time watching the scene--thank God for scene selection! Even Azog isn't impressing me as a villain.

--I like Elrond more this movie. Is there a bit of a difference in costume design in Rivendell? Their clothing seems a little less ethereal. It was great seeing Elrond on horseback leading a sorty. It was nice to see Figwit again. Still loved the salad jokes!

--I still like all the different dwarves and look forward to some of them being even more differentiated in the next movies. I liked the relationship among Fili, Kili, and Thorin, although I wish that Fili and Kili looked more like brothers.

--I know it is nearly blasphemy to say so, but Ian Mc isn't knocking my socks off this time. Maybe age is catching up with him. But Freeman and Armitage are perfect! What I love about them is that they are all in; in other words, they're not winking at the camera as if to say, 'I know this is ridiculous'. They are 100% committed to their characters. Bilbo especially could be played as a kind of inside joke, but Freeman seems utterly sincere to me.

--Radagast didn't seem as bad this time, but still: some of this did seem to me to be just an inside joke. Maybe to British audiences who are more familiar with this actor, he seemed more familiar. But a bunny sled? Really? Even the troll scene seemed to be more of a vehicle for little boy gross jokes.

The movie is mostly still fun to watch, with flashes of brilliance! But it's pretty uneven in quality. I wonder if the early confusion about who would be the director is coming out here.

[MICHKA]

Merci pour cette nouvelle analyse après deuxiéme vision, c'est toujours très intéressant de revoir plus tard pour expérimenter, redécouvrir et finaliser les scènes en les découpant. Je crois que les dvd sont sujets à cela, ils permettent de choisir et étudier en profondeur , en revenant sur une séquence plus ou moins réussie. Alors nous n'avons pas fini d'en discuter!!

[Merry]

Another thing my DVD had was a code that allowed us to watch a 'live event' at thehobbit.com this afternoon, in which PJ revealed some material from "The Desolation of Smaug" and answered questions about the movie, a bit of a teaser, I guess. Did anyone else watch it?

[Lindariel]

Merry, I intended to watch it, but did not get back from Palm Sunday service + Holy Week choir rehearsal in time. Can you provide some details?

[MICHKA]

D'après R.R nous voyons que P.Jackson s'est bien servi des autres livres de Tolkien pour peaufiner son film, il a fait des investigations à travers l'oeuvre pour augmenter ses illustrations et son thème, ce qui est intéressant pour les gens qui connaissent moins les autres travaux , cela enrichit l'information sur les évènements et les héros de cette fresque épique. Ce n'est pas un mal.Qu'en pensez-vous?

[Merry]

(Very good use of your time, Lindariel: in the many choirs to which I have belonged, we have called this 'Church Nerd Week', during which otherwise fairly normal people spend way too much time in church!)

Some version of the 'live event' is supposed to be posted at thehobbit.com soon, so you'll be able to see for yourself. It started with PJ and Jed Brophy touring us through some of the production facilities. They showed a couple of computer graphics of Smaug that were really just bad cartoons and tried to make us believe that this was the real Smaug! Then they went into a Q&A session, during which some of the cast (Orlando, Stephen Fry, Dom, Billy, Evangeline, Lee Pace, Luke the Bowman are the ones I remember) ask questions and give their best regards. Some twittered questions were also answered. In the course of this, some clips were shown from 'The Desolation of Smaug'. Nothing too revealing here: I remember seeing Gandalf and Radagast exploring Angmar's tomb, the dwarves all netted up in spider web, Orlando and Evangeline acting in front of a green screen, Bilbo giving the same line over a dozen times as they were in a boat travelling to Lakeland, the dwarves in barrels (they're actually floating in half barrels not closed up--not sure how that's going to work out in the scene). There was a very brief shot of Beorn's house, which looked wonderful, another shot of Thranduil's palace, which is not what I expected. Stephen Fry is pretty creepy as the Master, complete with a bad comb-over!

I know this is very scattered, but that's how it was. In some ways, it was like one of PJ's vlogs.

Michka, I think I agree with you the including material from outside the book is not a bad thing. But I'll reserve final judgment for when we see it!

[Merry]

Since we have no school today (yay!), I stayed up late last night and watch parts of 'The Hobbit' again. One thing I noticed is that, after Thorin is clobbered by the pale orc and the eagle carries him to safety, he is at least unconscious. Gandalf passes his hand over Thorin's face and he regains consciousness. Do you think the moviemakers meant to suggest that Thorin was dead and Gandalf brought him back to life? Not sure I like that!