Hobbit!

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Re: Hobbit!

Postby Hammer of Los » Wed Dec 12, 2012 12:32 am

...

For keeping Warner Bros. happy, Prime Minister John Key, a former Merrill Lynch currency trader, got a replica magic Hobbit sword from U.S. President Barack Obama and a chance to hang New Zealand’s fortunes on becoming the tourist destination for Middle Earth enthusiasts.


Do you think the sword glowed when he approached it?

...
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Re: Hobbit!

Postby Jeff » Sun Dec 23, 2012 3:09 am

JackRiddler wrote:They could have done LoTR in 5-6 parts instead, really now. And had "The Scouring of the Shire," best chapter in the whole work. As it was, Part III was an extreme acceleration. Some very dramatic passages, like Eowyn and Pippin (or is it Merry) taking on Nazgul No. 1, turned into one-minute Transformers-style battles. Despite that, they still found what felt like 20 minutes to an hour for Sam and Frodo to finally get it on, all weepy-like, on the mountain after dropping the ring?


Ah, quite so. Though I think that's greatly ameliorated in the extended editions. Return of the King has almost an hour of additional and extended scenes, some quite significant.

And who was the general in charge of the good guys on the last battle? ("Let's mass backwards into a crowded circle on a flat space, totally vulnerable on all sides! Damn it, it's not the STRATEGY or the WEAPONS but the SPIRIT OF THE MAN that wins the war!")


I believe that's an example of the extended version adding sense to the narrative. The strategy wasn't to win, but to distract Sauron's attention from Frodo. I don't think that was made clear in the theatrical release.

And yeah, The Hobbit.

I was prepared to be disappointed, but happily wasn't. In fact it didn't drag for me as much as The Fellowship did at first viewing. Though it grates that Thorin is young and hardly Dwarfish at all.
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Re: Hobbit!

Postby justdrew » Sun Dec 23, 2012 6:29 am

I think it's very well done so far :thumbsup


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Re: Hobbit!

Postby Hammer of Los » Mon Dec 24, 2012 3:44 am

...

That cartoon rocked man.

Except the elves looked funny.

...
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Re: Hobbit!

Postby Project Willow » Mon Dec 24, 2012 10:36 pm

Jeff wrote:I was prepared to be disappointed, but happily wasn't. In fact it didn't drag for me as much as The Fellowship did at first viewing. Though it grates that Thorin is young and hardly Dwarfish at all.


Yes, he's far too young and mannish-handsome. This installment stuck closer to the story line which I liked, but it felt like a 3 hour extension of LOTR. I wasn't expecting that, exactly. The Hobbit was written as a children's fairy tale. I was hoping it might be a little softer, less thriller-like within its violent scenes, and some of the style elements updated, for a new overall feeling. Instead I felt I was looking at yet another painting by the same landscape painter of the same vista. The orchestration, the segues, much of the camera work, utterly, annoyingly, predictable. One can create continuity in a body of work without lapsing into boring repetition. I did enjoy the interwoven songs however.

Two things I really did like, Radagast the Brown, down to his bird poop decoration, and Bilbo, his character was written and portrayed quite well.

Sometimes I didn't like the 3D effect. It was novel at first, but then it would get in the way, and made my head feel funny. I found my myself turning away from the screen occasionally to set myself right.

And what a shocking lack of guardrails! Don't these races ever fall down? Are there no building codes? Hmmmm, on second thought, if orcs trip, no one cares, and Elves, they don't trip. Doesn't explain the dwarves.

I'm still looking forward to what happens in Mirkwood.
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Re: Hobbit!

Postby Jeff » Tue Dec 25, 2012 12:44 pm

Project Willow wrote:Instead I felt I was looking at yet another painting by the same landscape painter of the same vista.


Very true. In fact I chose 2D and 24fps, so I purposefully sought that out. I wanted to revisit a familiar gallery. But watching another helicopter shot of our plucky band race along a ridge did make me yearn for something new.

Radagast, yes, loved him, though he could have been less ridiculous. (Like, I wish he'd have been credited for sending the Eagles.) And I could really believe that Ian Holm had once been Martin Freeman.

Overall, I'll try to reserve my judgement for three years, after I've seen the whole damn, extended thing. That will be the way to make a fair comparison of The Hobbit with LOTR.
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Re: Hobbit!

Postby beeline » Fri Dec 28, 2012 2:06 pm

Project Willow wrote:Sometimes I didn't like the 3D effect. It was novel at first, but then it would get in the way, and made my head feel funny. I found my myself turning away from the screen occasionally to set myself right.


This is something I've noticed since I went to see Avatar in 3D: it seems like it takes my brain about an hour to adjust to the 3D effect; for the first hour or so, everything looks 'choppy,' but after that, the effect works well.
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Re: Hobbit!

Postby justdrew » Fri Dec 28, 2012 6:49 pm

well, I'll pass on any entertainment experience that requires my visual cortex to rewire itself.

it's not even really 3d. if it were actually 3d there wouldn't be a problem.
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Re: Hobbit!

Postby JackRiddler » Fri Dec 28, 2012 7:01 pm

justdrew wrote:well, I'll pass on any entertainment experience that requires my visual cortex to rewire itself.

it's not even really 3d. if it were actually 3d there wouldn't be a problem.


Dude, you'd be stuck in Middle Fucking Earth with rampaging orcs and no working toilet, that wouldn't be a problem?
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Re: Hobbit!

Postby justdrew » Sat Dec 29, 2012 1:32 am

JackRiddler wrote:
justdrew wrote:well, I'll pass on any entertainment experience that requires my visual cortex to rewire itself.

it's not even really 3d. if it were actually 3d there wouldn't be a problem.


Dude, you'd be stuck in Middle Fucking Earth with rampaging orcs and no working toilet, that wouldn't be a problem?


does Beorn shit in the woods?

what I mean about it not being real 3d... no matter where you stand, you can't see 'behind' anything. It's locked to one perspective (where the cameras were) anywhere else it's not 'correct' - there's likely one seat in the theatre that's at just the right spot (on the perspective line and at the right distance from the screen).

to do it 'real' you'd have to at least scan each scene from every possible perspective, so you could walk around the screen-space and see the backs of things, etc. but we'll probably not do such things until we can make free floating projections into a screen-space that look 'real' and I hate to tell the woo-sphere, but I don't think there's even a slight chance we have such technology. On the other hand... it could be done if the glasses actually had small screens in each eyepiece and were setup to project light directly into the eye.

1080 or better HD VR goggles do already exist, but for the moment remain VERY expensive. but display tech is getting cheaper fast, so we may see such things in the $250 range in 5 years.

So really NOW is the time to start work on making the First VR movie, although you might want it to be the first VR interactive experience, rather than just a fully passive movie that you can ghost around in.

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Re: Hobbit!

Postby Hammer of Los » Sun Dec 30, 2012 10:25 pm

...

I loved all Tolkien's works so very much.

I can live without seeing another ghastly movie.

I'd rather reread the book.

Too much emphasis on visual stimulation.

All this screen watching.

I don't like looking at flat screens much.

Real life is real 3d, and super high res.

Although not as exciting as a movie.

Well, not always.

...
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Re: Hobbit!

Postby justdrew » Sun Jan 06, 2013 3:19 am

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