Official 'The Hobbit' Thread - - Part 16

[Marvolo]

Being a fan sci-fi and fantasy first and foremost, screw the Oscars. They seem to mostly take a path of ignoring these types of films except for special effects and costumes.

Although the whole Transformers asking for their consideration thing is one of the ridiculously humorous things I have seen in a while.



Fury Road does look great, I think alot of films would simply of been so much better if they just looked better.



Practical effects still are superior to me, CG I used to be so excited about but now I prefer it in moderation.



I have such a big book backlog it's silly, I've bought more books in the past year than I have in the last five...and I only through one of them. Dumb video games, comics, and life in general is distracting me!

Its the same for me. I bought a Kindle last Christmas and Im constantly finding great deals on books. My book collection and back log has gotten absurd, but I keep buying. One day Im gonna be happy I bough all these books...until the apes take over and the power grid fails and I cant access my ebooks. Then Im gonna be SOL.

 

[Doc Ock]

Its the same for me. I bought a Kindle last Christmas and Im constantly finding great deals on books. My book collection and back log has gotten absurd, but I keep buying. One day Im gonna be happy I bough all these books...until the apes take over and the power grid fails and I cant access my ebooks. Then Im gonna be SOL.

Digital is evil! I have a great used bookstore near me that has the default price of 2.95 for all paperbacks and 5.95 for hardbacks with lots of nice exceptions. So I try to go there every two weeks. I got the Children of Hurin and The Silmarillion hardbacks for a dollar each! I also got several books in the Wheel of Time series but I told myself to stop as I don't know when I'll get to reading! I can't help it though, it's so easy to buy books so cheap.

 

[DigificWriter]

I've definitely warmed quite a bit to the first film. The second though, I will never be able to get behind.

I really don't understand why Desolation of Smaug is so polarizing. I personally think it's better than AUJ, which was, as noted earlier, a very good film in itself.

DoS might not have the humor of AUJ, but it's well-crafted and a very good continuation of what AUJ sets in motion. It also avoids the feeling of 'middle chapter syndrome' that occasionally plagued its LOTR counterpart, TTT, and has some extremely fun action sequences in it. It also really allows Bilbo to come into his own as a hero (AUJ might be telling Bilbo's recollection of the events it chronicles, but he's very much a side character in it).

 

[ares834]

DoS needed to slow down and breathe. I enjoyed it (almost solely because of Smaug) but the film was almost nothing more than action sequence after action sequence. Part of this, I think, was due to the backlash from some fans about how slow AUJ was.

 

[DigificWriter]

^ I don't personally see why the preponderance of action is an issue, but to each their own.

 

[I SEE SPIDEY]

My bro asked me if I was going to see this film and I said "I haven't even seen the second one."

I thought The Hobbit was fine but nothing super memorable. I am a massive fan of the LOTR's films but The Hobbit films just can't seem to garner the same level of interest from me. Overall I just don't know if it was a great idea to make these films. I guess money wise it was but artistically? It just kinda seems like cash grab central to me.

The Rotten Tomatoes score is what it is. Critics were never in love with this series, nothing wrong with people who are but if those people were expecting a LOTR type reception for this last film they were setting themselves up for disappointment.

 

[Marvolo]

Digital is evil! I have a great used bookstore near me that has the default price of 2.95 for all paperbacks and 5.95 for hardbacks with lots of nice exceptions. So I try to go there every two weeks. I got the Children of Hurin and The Silmarillion hardbacks for a dollar each! I also got several books in the Wheel of Time series but I told myself to stop as I don't know when I'll get to reading! I can't help it though, it's so easy to buy books so cheap.

Unfortunately the closest book store to me is a Barnes and Nobles. There are some things I buy there, but most of their prices can be beat on the kindle marketplace.

 

[Victarion]

The thing about Elric is that might hurt its chances is that the lead himself is an amino dude. I can see the studio execs saying "We can't sell that to the public!"

Stormbringer is also one great big acid trip, too. Might be pricey to do it justice on screen.

 

[Marvolo]

Thought yall might find this interesting:

In April, 2012, a representative of fandom via TheOneRing.net, was asked to be on set during five weeks of the filming of the Hobbit films.

This is a bit from that set visit:

CUTTING REMARKS

“Now, in every film I’ve ever made, scenes get cut because you tend to write more than what you really need.”

But fans, many fans, feel that Jackson’s extended editions of the films are the definitive ones.

“It may be a brilliant, beautiful scene and yet it’s just irrelevant. You can do without it so you usually get to a stage in a film where you need to cut time out and you just have to look for what you can do without.”

But that doesn’t mean he shoots with the extended scene in mind.

“…as far as I’m concerned everything we’re shooting is for the movie — for the theatrical movie,” he said. I probe to make sure he meant that and that I understood it. I look for a contradiction but don’t get one.

“I mean, they are all very legitimate scenes that exist in the body of the story. We don’t shoot them as being bonus scenes, we don’t shoot them knowing that they’re going to be in an extended cut at all. We just end up trying to shave running time off the movie and get those bits whether they’re short or long or just fragments or entire sequences, those pieces can — I always love putting them back again because it pains me to take anything out. The extended cuts have reduced that pain.”

It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that as an interviewer in the tent, literally outside the ruins of the gates of Dale, I was hyper aware of time. I was delighted by Jackson’s transparent answers but I knew a few long answers meant it would cost me some questions. There were essential, “must ask” themes but I was thrilled when the conversation turned to the extended editions of the films. Fans want to know about them but journalists from more mainstream publications might not even be aware of them. The EEs are a bit of a passion concept for me but if I didn’t ask, maybe nobody would.

As TheOneRing.net readers and careful watchers of the LOTR DVDs know, there is much more material conceived and shot for the fabled “Ultimate Version” of the Rings films. While Jackson may feel differently now than he did during the shoot, he was happy to entertain the idea of revisiting what I think of as the mythical, rainbow-colored-unicorn-edition, with the architect of the extended home video content on Jackson’s movies, Michael Pellerin, a great filmmaker on his own, working in tandem with Jackson.[/b

http://www.theonering.net/torwp/201...ies-and-all-middle-earth-with-theonering-net/

The whole interview is at the link. Id love to have those Ultimate Versions of LOTR if for no other reason than to see what else was shot but cut from FOTR, TTT, & ROTK.

 

[Victarion]

I wonder if the scourging might be there in some form.

 

[Quasimod0]

Apparently there was also some stuff with Gimli and Legolas shot to kinda wrap up their story. But it didn't make it into the extended cut.

 

[Marvolo]

I wonder if the scourging might be there in some form.

I doubt it. Jackson and Philipa have always seemed adamant about not wanting the scrounging at the end of ROTK after everything has just been wrapped up. Thats why they showed it very briefly in Galdriel's mirror.

 

[Marvolo]

Apparently there was also some stuff with Gimli and Legolas shot to kinda wrap up their story. But it didn't make it into the extended cut.

Yep. There was stuff shot of an older Gimli back home in the Glittering Caves and brief stuff of Gimli and Legolas walking together through the forest. IDK whether they shot him and Legolas departing to Valinor tho. That would have put an awesome bow on their friendship in the filmz. Legolas and Gimli were so close that Legolas wouldnt even leave him behind for Valinor. Gimli was the only dwarf to ever go to the Undying Lands.

 

[redhawk23]

^ I don't personally see why the preponderance of action is an issue, but to each their own.

Because after the fifth time you see a cgi Legolas jumping through the air decapitating an orc it just becomes a numbing experience.

 

[Quasimod0]

One thing that these huge CGI battles show to me, is that we could have MUCH better Thor films. lol. Imagine Thor destroying armies with his lightning powers and hammer. There's no excuse anymore to not have epic scenes like that.

 

[SuperJediHero]

I was kind of disappointed at the bridge between Hobbit and Lord Of The Rings. I felt this aspect was awful! Felt rushed in the end!

 

[A Necessary Evil]

Just got out of this. Quite enjoyed it. 8/10

 

[Marvolo]

Found a picture of Bolg I hadn't seen before where he actually looks pretty damn good. Spoiler tagged for size. There are no spoilers.

Spoiler

The detail in his skin and underlying tissue is great. I can't wait to own these films in 4K!

 

[Herolee10]

So is Legolas pretty much

Spoiler

alienated from his father by the end of the film?

 

[Marvolo]

So is Legolas pretty much

Spoiler

alienated from his father by the end of the film?

I doubt it.

Spoiler

I read in a review that at the end of the film Thranduil sends Legolas to "find a Ranger". He doesn't call ths Ranger by the name of Aragorn, but it's implied that that is who Thranduil is referring to.

To those who have seen the film, does this really happen in the film? If it does take place in the film then I doubt Legolas is estranged from his father if he's still taking his orders.

 

[Greens]

RotK is the weakest by far.

But man, does that scene of Barad-dur's destruction get me every time.

RotK has some weak spots, I agree. It does have one of my favorite scenes in film ever, namely the charge of the Rohirrim. Beautiful scene. I also love Faramir's charge on Osgiliath with Billy Boyd's voice in the background. The whole trilogy is comprised of these beautiful epic scenes. Even a scene on a much smaller scale like Boromir's death is just perfect.

"You shall not pass" has become a "movie quote". Nothing like that will come from the Hobbit trilogy. It just does not have the it-factor.

 

[Greens]

I doubt it.

Spoiler

I read in a review that at the end of the film Thranduil sends Legolas to "find a Ranger". He doesn't call ths Ranger by the name of Aragorn, but it's implied that that is who Thranduil is referring to.

To those who have seen the film, does this really happen in the film? If it does take place in the film then I doubt Legolas is estranged from his father if he's still taking his orders.

Yes, that is exactly what happens.

 

[CGHulk]

Someone over at TORn posted this, it's apparently from the BotFA Chronicles book. Maybe I should just wait for the the Extended Edition so I won't be disappointed in what I'm not seeing this in theaters.

Spoiler

Thorin's funeral!

 

[Marvolo]

Someone over at TORn posted this, it's apparently from the BotFA Chronicles book. Maybe I should just wait for the the Extended Edition so I won't be disappointed in what I'm not seeing this in theaters.

Spoiler

Thorin's funeral!

That looks positively beautiful! Can not ****ing believe he shot this and removed it from the film! I know I said the [BLACKOUT]funeral[/BLACKOUT] wasn't necessary, but that was when I was assuming Jackson gave the character a send off in another way. But now I know the [BLACKOUT]funeral[/BLACKOUT] was the send off and Jackson cut it!




Another bit from the interview I linked to in an above post:

Jackson speaking about post-production of The Hobbit trilogy,

QUICK TAKES: HOW IS THE HOBBIT PRODUCTION DIFFERENT FROM RINGS?

“From the first day that shooting, the postproduction begins. So it’s important that that pipeline is as smooth and efficient as possible which is why I juggle my days doing music reviews with Howard [Shore], Weta [Digital] reviews with Eric [Saindon] and editing and doing selects with Jabez [Olssen] here. It’s like I’m in postproduction as at the same time as I’m in production and that’s kind of how you have to do it really.

“We tended not to do that on The Lord of the Rings films, with Lord of the Rings films we had a year of postproduction for each film, so we literally had an entire 12 months without shooting apart from pickups that we would shoot occasionally. Whereas this movie, a lot of that postproduction has had to happen while we’re shooting the film so that we’ve got the jump on it because we’ve only got half the length of time once we wrap.”

They probably should have stuck with their LOTR schedule. The Hobbit schedule resulted in some not quite finished VFX.

 

[CGHulk]

Apparently these scenes from the trailers were not in the movie as well!

Spoiler