The Hobbit films, previously to be directed by Guillermo del Toro and now to be directed by Peter Jackson again.

dying at that

this was actually pretty good...for the first hour or so. after that it goes into ridiculous nonstop action/CGI-overload mode (though the gollum riddle scene was well done). it's pretty exhausting.

The IMAX 3D screening I saw was supposedly 48fps but I didn't notice any real difference.

nah it stands for 'filler peter scenes' iirc

I hereby dedicate this review to be My Official Position on a film I'm not going to see:
http://www.wired.com/underwire/2012/12/hobbit-review/

really enjoyed it. sorry guys. carry on.

and i really hadn't expected to. and the 48fps looked fine.

Really funny piece in Slate, from two viewers who knew next to nothing about Tolkien:

http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/im/2012/12/the_hobbit_movie_reviewed_by_tolkien_virgins_does_the_peter_jackson_film.html

I laughed out loud at the solemn shot of the Elvish king gazing down on everyone from his moose.

that bit is hilarious

The moose bit cracked me up as advertised.

I thought the HFR looked pretty jarring in smaller spaces, but for the (endless) faraway pans of the group trekking across the wilderness it had an interesting quality. Sort of like tilt shift photography, maybe?

The idea that it looks bad because it looks like television is fair enough, but I don't hate how television looks. It felt like live television at times but for me it made it surreal rather than bad per se.

The Gollum section was terrific, and the goblin king was good fun.

But, again, have you specifically seen TV running the motion smoothing, aka soap opera, effect? It's jarring enough that people often return their sets before they realize they can turn it off. Is the HFR that bad?

FWIW, future Avatars will be 60fps, which is also what video games apparently run at.

I've watched soap operas before and have seen motion smoothing.

i hate motion smoothing more than anything in the entire world but i was hoping this fps stuff would be different and wouldn't have that weird bizarro effect cause it isn't interpolating frames or w/e

i'm worried

It WAS effective in showcasing some of the effects with increased clarity, but the motion-smoothing-like movement and game-cutscene feel of the more sweeping camera movements was a little distracting.

Oh, and also, this was 80 minutes of movie stretched to over twice that length.

i hate the faux science nerdy attitude people are taking about it (incl jackson and cameron) the whole "adjust your eyes sheeple this is the future!" like just cause photography exists it doesn't make paint obsolete, just cause you can do something you couldn't do before doesn't make it better, etc

This film was great If you like 3 hours of dudes with big noses sitting around a campfire stroking their beards

My Dinner With Thorin

P much

The most animated the crowd at my showing got was when IMAX guy told everyone the First 9 minutes of Star Trek wouldn't be shown as advertised, then started The Hobbit entirely out of focus while the entire audience rubbed their eyes thinking it was just them.

Feared for my life, was only armed with commemorative posters for self-defense...

Man the HFR made this look, by turns, a bad Britcom, a video game cutscene, and a better movie than this one unburdened by human actors.

Ballsack goblin was straight up the best part of the movie. Art direction & character design had del Toro's fingerprints on it.

The first ten minutes are just unconscionably bad. Show up late.

Okay that was seriously one of THE most over the top ridiculously indulgent films I have ever seen in my entire life. I'm mildly terrified it even exists and even more about what the extended version must be like. Of course, I loved it, but Jesus H.

Yeah, the idea that there's 25 mins on the cutting room floor, and two more three-hour flicks to come...

thought this was fun, but I went with a Tolkien superfan aka the missus aka do not speak ill of this franchise ever, so I might be biased
48 fps is way more jarring than 3d, forgot I was even thatching 3d most of the time

thatching, ho ho, autocorrect
watching, obv

the only time i noticed the HFR was during big panning shots, where it started to look and feel like a magic eye picture

Seems the screening I saw wasn't actually HFR. So disregard my comments upthread on the matter.

there's plenty to like about this. definitely not the disaster i was expecting, though it is way overstuffed.

I expected much, much worse than this. all of the issues and quirks that I was concerned with going in ended up somehow fitting into the world and larger aesthetic just enough.

and have to say, I didn't feel like it was padded at all... I think hardcore Tolkien fans probably want to see enough travel shots and attention given to scenes like the Unexpected Party, although I can totally understand how a lot of critics wouldn't like that

all in all, LOTR had a more universal/classic appeal, whereas this is definitely much more of a pure fantasy Genre Film for fantasy nerds, but I felt it worked in that sense

well, okay, I mean the Azog stuff was padding, and some of the battle/chase scenes, but all the book stuff left in were details I would rather be in there

didn't really mind Radagast, and the White Council stuff was fine, I thought

the Battle of Azanulbizar flashback had a kind of awesome, bleak beauty to it - though it looked like a Warhammer game brought to life

Rewatched "Fellowship" last night. Damn it's pretty amazing how fast this movie moves, at least in the first half. One thing that struck me was how cheesy and bad some of the special effects setpieces are. Like the bit where Frodo and Aragorn are on the broken stairway and everything is crashing around them and they can't make the jump, so they 'ride' the stairs as it slides down. You have a shot with some of the most glaring blue-screen i have ever seen ever. Also there's an over-reliance on that choppy framed 'slow motion' effect that i really really hate.

These didn't take me out of the experience, tho. Cos O SHIT THERE ARE TWO WIZARDS FIGHTING... I'm still looking forward to the Hobbit.

Like the bit where Frodo and Aragorn are on the broken stairway and everything is crashing around them and they can't make the jump, so they 'ride' the stairs as it slides down.

Maybe a bit fake looking, but it's still the most exciting heart-in-mouth moment in the movie.

Clearly what Jackson needs to to do is go back and re-do the effects.

Will stan unreservedly for the original LotR films, so went in feeling jitters given the mixed reviews, and 48fps related guff, but viewed in "proper" IMAX HFR 3D (screen in Manchester is 2nd biggest in UK iirc) and figured might as well give into PJ's directorial vision. Loved it from start to finish. Running time not even close to being an issue, all the backstory and diversions just felt like more fun to me. Cast pretty uniformly ace, esp the dwarves, but Freeman made a very decent fist of it. Won't spoilerise anything, but the final sequence filled me with the kind of heart-thumping joy I get from the lighting of the beacons in RotK. Def want to see again.

oh and re: 48fps. No question, it's unusual and in many scenes takes away that filmic look which is part of cinema's established visual grammar. My eyes got used to it within a few mins though, and the extra clarity on the battles and location shots was eye-popping at times.

Damn Bill, I'm going to see it on Wednesday and I want my expectations kept low!

i didn't know that i wasn't watching it in HFR before so i take back my acceptance and now wonder what the hell is wrong with his wide panning shots

why did they subtly change the "time! time!" riddle thing?

much prefer this version of that scene

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puOXTlG94x8

Watching "Two Towers" now. Damn, we have a movie that starts with a wizard fighting a giant monster on fire falling through the center of the planet or whatever. Great fucking way to start a movie! After that it kinda gets slow but eh. And the Ents, as draggy as they are, are my favorite part of this whole series. I just love how surreal it is, these walking and talking trees, grumbling and creaking.

saw it last night in 2D regular FR - it was a lot of fun and i ignored any problems or inconsistencies (the giant eagles bit annoyed me though).

and Ned is correct - it's like eating a triple scoop ice cream with three flakes in.

I really really enjoyed it despite its many flaws. Didn't feel its length at all. The unexpected party and riddles in the dark were the best sequences.

I saw it in boring old 2D/24 as well and that was just fine for me.

Maybe that's the key. The only time I felt like I wished I was watching it in 3D/48 was during the opening sequences, which were plainly showcasing the new format. I'm tempted to say I preferred it to Fellowship, which is saying something. My main problem was with storyline (I read the Hobbit when I was a kid, so I don't remember much about the plot at all), but there seemed to be one too many deus ex machina moments where Gandalf would just turn up at the last minute and save the day with a spell. I vaguely remember the bit with the three trolls being a lot more cunning in the book, but maybe someone can clarify that for me.

Gandalf looked and sounded much much older than he did in LOTR trilogy. Obviously the actor is much older, but I was surprised by his wheezing and grunting, half expecting him to cast some sort of rejuvenating spell on himself at some point in the film.

i rather liked the dwarves singing/humming in baritone harmonies

Yeah me too. I liked the dwarves generally, though Thorin was a bit of a bore. Freeman was excellent as well.

Things I didn't like were Radaghast (just daft), the council thingy with Galadriel and a plainly already evil Saruman (which was slightly Phantom Menacey in its shoehorning in of familiar characters) and the big Goblin chase, which largely just made my eyes go funny. The trolls were mediocre, and you're right that there were too many deus ex machinas.

The White Orc was a decent addition, he was nice and scary.

I was able to parse Radaghast as a bit of cutesy light relief (loved the rabbit sleigh). Agree on Saruman - I wish they'd made him a more contrasting character to LOTR. Galadriel has always kind of wound me up, both in this and LOTR and I'm always feeling as though there ought to be a bit more backstory/explanation as to why she's so highly thought of in the films.

freeman's sitcom style of acting is one of the few things i didn't like about this (along with the stupid warg attacks)

radaghast was easily one of the best bits, just suddenly this disney ass dude with birdnest hair hotboxing dying hedgehogs

HFR was incredibly distracting at first, you feel like you're watching at 1.5x speed, but i got used to it after 10-15 mins. i dont really have a strong opinion on it yet, you do notice the lack of motion blur in the action scenes but otherwise its just there. i dunno.