The Hobbit

[Angrist]

I was already planning the LotR marathon in anticipation of the The Hobbit release, for me and some friends.
But then 1 friend decided that he doesn't want to watch LotR before The Hobbit. He wants to be overwhelmed by Middle Earth again... and that works better when you haven't seen anything lately.

So the rest of us kind of agree. No Lord of the Rings before this next movie! We'll do the marathon afterwards.
At least I got to read the book one last time before the movie. (It makes me want to start LotR right now, but I'll hold out for a few months.)

[Teuthida]

http://chrisgoestothemovies.com/2012...s-an-overview/

Gives examples of the same clip with 24 vs 48 frames per second. Thoughts? Preference?

[Vampyr]

I hate the soap opera look of the 48fps. The first thing I do on a TV with anti-motion blur technology is disable it.

[Angrist]

I have 6 (or 7) tickets reserved for me and some friends. It's for the midnight premiere, at 00:12. So that's in the night between Tueseday and Wednesday 12-12-12.

That means I'll see it at least 6 hours before any of you do.

After that I'll go to another cinema which plays the 48fps version, so I'll be able to compare pretty well.

[Teuthida]

I look forward to hearing what you have to say on the matter.

I haven't seen a movie in the theaters since The Dark Knight (against my will), and The Lord of The Rings remains the only trilogy that I've seen in its entirety on the big screen. Thinking will do the same for The Hobbit.

[Angrist]

Don't expect impressions before the American midnight launches. I'll probably fall asleep right when I get home.

[Teuthida]

[KillerGremlin]

Originally Posted by Vampyr

I hate the soap opera look of the 48fps. The first thing I do on a TV with anti-motion blur technology is disable it.

You get used to it...it took me a few months.

Once you do get used to it, regular TV looks like dogshit and it's hard to look back.

[Vampyr]

I think I'm going to the midnight release next Friday - should be awesome.

I'm actually pretty excited about the 48fps in a theater - it will be a new experience at least. It probably is just a problem of being used to something.

[Angrist]

Next Friday as in tomorrow? There's some kind of pre-premiere? That's not fair!

Just 5 nights away for me!

[Vampyr]

Originally Posted by Angrist

Next Friday as in tomorrow? There's some kind of pre-premiere? That's not fair!

Just 5 nights away for me!

I think tomorrow is "this" Friday, "next" Friday is the 14th.

[Angrist]

Ok ok. I'm glad to hear I'll still be the first one to watch it.

Just 33.5 hours away!

[Angrist]

It's 4:30 AM and I just got back from The Hobo: An Unexpected Journey.

Spoiler free impressions:
It's pretty much what I expected. It takes its time, which isn't as bad as some reviewers make it sound like. It adds some action here and there, but let's be honest... the book didn't have much action in the first part.
The world feels great. It gives this familiar feeling but is new enough to surprise and amaze.
It's not LotR, but I felt like it wasn't trying to compete with that. It has a lot more... cute fantasy in it, like talking animals and Goblins in all forms and sizes.

Spoiler impressions:
The movie starts off with a totally unexpected history of the Lonely Mountain. It's great to see the culture the Dwarves had there! And there's a sneak peak of Smaug, which looks like will be an awesome Dragon.

The Hobbiton scenes put me in a dilemma. On one hand it's great to see the lovely and quiet life of Bilbo and how he meets the Dwarves... on the other hand it gets a bit slow and you just wish them to start already. Not too sure about that one.

The addition of Radagast the Brown is bold. I feel they're really walking a thin line here, making him such a weirdo. The same with the singing Goblins.

I understand the addition of an Orc 'arch enemy'. That they took Azog (who is referenced in the book, but died decennia ago) makes sense. But we all know how it's going to end... He'll die in movie 3, after doing some damage. A bit cliché and I wonder if the movie really needed it.

Why all the fighting all the time? I know they're trying to please a big public here, but in the end it was just annoying. "We haven't fought anything in 20 minutes, quickly charge into those Orcs that we previously thought were too many to fight!" Also, when did Bilbo become such a good swordsman?

The White Council vs Necromancer stuff doesn't bother me yet. As expected it distracts a bit from the main story, but that's about it.

That's all I can think of right now. I appreciate all the extra story elements they added, like the rivalry between Dwarves and Elves. I'm looking forward to Part 2.

I'll watch the high framerate version early next week.

[Professor S]

Originally Posted by Angrist

Spoiler free impressions:
It's pretty much what I expected. It takes its time, which isn't as bad as some reviewers make it sound like. It adds some action here and there, but let's be honest... the book didn't have much action in the first part.
The world feels great. It gives this familiar feeling but is new enough to surprise and amaze.
It's not LotR, but I felt like it wasn't trying to compete with that. It has a lot more... cute fantasy in it, like talking animals and Goblins in all forms and sizes.

From what I've seen most reviewers objections are based on the fact that The Hobbit isn't LotR... and it isn't. That's why it's called The Hobbit. Middle Earth is a much safer place during the time of The Hobbit. To be honest, I think the reviews of this movie have been some of the worst I've seen to date. Reviewers seem completely unable to review this movie on it's own terms.

Hell, the one I read from Slate starts out with how much the reviewer dislikes the fantasy genre...

[Vampyr]

I'm glad to hear you enjoyed it. I'm not really expecting it to be much like LotR...I just want another romp through Middle Earth.

Only about 26 hours left for me.