A return to Middle Earth

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey review.

Seeing my favorite book in all of Middle Earth come to life on screen was an amazing experience. I may be biased since I enjoyed the book better than the rest of the novels but I feel that we have seen the better film (and once it's done the better trilogy)

This review will be spoiler laden:

Spending extra time in the Shire was a treat for me. I can never get enough of Hobbiton. And since we didn't get to see the scouring of the Shire in the previous films, it was nice to visit again. Tying this film to the beginning of Fellowship was a lovely touch. Then we jumped right back to the main story and Martin Freeman appeared. Genius casting as the younger Bilbo. 

For all the extra bits added in to the film I must say so far I am impressed. The Hobbit was primarily told from Bilbo's perspective so getting a bit more back story on the Dwarves and their fall from Erebor was handled perfectly. Bringing back Radagast to help tie in the Necromancer was seamless and Sylvester McCoy played the role with the perfect amount of weirdness.

So some are looking at the Hobbit book and thinking 'how can they make three films out of this?' and at face value they would be right. To me though it looks like Jackson is going for as true of an adaptation as possible and that just fills me with glee. We ended the first film with escaping the Goblin King and being saved by the Eagles. I predict the next film will see everything up to the death of Smaug and then the final film will be the battle of the Five Armies. Where will we see Gandalf and his dealings with the Necromancer will be interesting.

I saw it in 3D Imax (the imax was nice, but the 3D is still not worth it for me) and the film did look amazing. I did not get to see it in the new 48fps so I still can't say anything about it. At this point I will wait until another film comes out with it to form an opinion. If I go see this film again, its going to be a standard projection.

My fractal view upon Skyfall

Slightly Spoilerish review of Skyfall


Skyfall to me was a wonderful third chapter to the beautifully rebooted Bond universe. The last three films have built this new powerful origin into the true Bond we know and love. What we have seen now is the final cut to the diamond to jeweled perfection.

The classic nods were wonderful (spoiler-ish: the license plate on the DB-5 is the same as Connery's) and the villain was a true bondian treat. The final cap to the diamond was the end for me. Using that location just makes the whole concept come full circle to where we were back to Dr. No, in kind of a fractal sense of the greater Bond mythos.

Mendes was an interesting choice to me at first but I found his style to be the perfect story telling for this chapter. There were a few scenes (while neccesary for the plot flow of the film) that strained credibility but as we are nearing perfection in the previous rough diamond of Daniel Craig Bond, I was able to over look them.

Some may still not fully like Craig as Bond but to me he has more than proved himself. His brute force from before has been finely honed into a strong forced Bond. He is ready for more and I hope the next film lives up to more true Bondian Lore as we got in Skyfall.

Blade Runner Sans Dialog Part 1

Last year as an experiment I decided to clip out all speaking from Blade Runner. What was left was actually an amazing film that allowed you to focus on the ambiance and beauty of each frame. The side affect was the conversations were then truncated down to awkward and strange moments between characters. I give you the first part in an ongoing series of Movies Without Words-Blade Runner.

Raiders of the Lost Ark-Imax Review

For the record, Raiders of the Lost Ark is my favorite movie of all time. Outside of one minor plot hole*, it is a perfect film. I dare anyone to find me a more perfect and fulfilling film.

My first ever viewing was in 1982 watching it on VHS with the family at Grandma's house.** I then recorded it off of TV and watched that copy to death. Obtained the DVD when it came out. The soundtrack by John Williams has found a permanent place in my music collection and is never removed from my mp3 player. To say I am a bit of a nut for this film is a bit of an understatement. While I don't own a fedora or a whip, Dr. Jones will forever be my number one favorite fictional character.

So if I have seen this film so many times, would one more time really be worth it? With the recent release of a cleaned up imax print in theaters I knew I had to see it again for I had never actually seen this film on the big screen. The cleaned up print they delivered was amazing. I saw details in the film that I had never seen before. The gold idol he steals in the opening? The detail in it's eyeballs alone was beautiful. Marion's scarf she wears in Nepal? Who knew there were sequins and detailed design in it?

Ben Burtt apparently went back to the sound masters and created a new mix for this release. At points I was moved to tears at how beautiful it sounded. The boulder in the temple? You felt that thing coming at you. When Marion flips the mirror and catches Indy in the chin? Ouch. Every punch, shot, or even bad guys getting run over was even more visceral at the level of sound involved.

I did not think it possible to improve on the greatest film ever made, but this release delivered to me a religious experience (no pun intended with the power of the ark)that I have rarely if never felt in the cinema. Thirty one years later and this film still impresses me.




*How exactly did Indy travel on the submarine to the Nazi island? Surely that ship submerged during it's trip. (I know of the deleted scene with the periscope lashing but that small hole has always bugged me) Also, is anyone else still a little creeped out by Indiana's earlier statutory relationship with young Marion?

**Mom even covered my eyes when the big Nazi gets chopped up by the plane prop, but she let me see the melting bad guys at the end. When I asked her about it this recently she exclaimed that 7 year old me didn't need to see useless gore, but understanding the power of the Ark/god was vitally important.

Micheal Caine

Micheal Caine...you are one suave man.


 

The Dark Knight Reminisces

Let's just dust off this here thing.


I will be the first to admit, as a life long Batman fan I have had my own prejudices against the Nolan Batman films. After completing the trilogy this year, I have gained a new insight into the whole thing.

Just got done watching "The Dark Knight" again after only seeing it once. I found alot more to appreciate in the film than I did the first time. I honestly should have visited it again sooner.  Problems I had felt were present before were nowhere to be found. It truly is the best of the three when we stay in the realm of "make a 'real world' Batman" world.

The Dark Knight Rises was still the better film, if we imagine it being closer to the comic book world that Batman comes to. I can see how one might see that as a flaw of TDKR but I think it may have been more altruistic to Batman fans like me. TDK was the pinnacle to the realistic world view of the Batman so Nolan realized he couldn't top that so let's make one more inline with the books. He also played to the fans with giving us his version of Robin after claiming he never would.

At this point, I don't see any need to continue the Nolan 'verse. Even with the opening they left to continue I think we have all we need to see out of this Batman. I await the next version that we know will come.

In my theater....no one can hear me whimper like a little girl

In preparation for the June 8th release of Prometheus I plan on watching the first three Alien films. Even if the connection between Prometheus and Alien/s/3 is tiny, I think it is good to revist this world. I just need to find time to watch after Annette goes to bed. I will be watching the following versions of the films:

Alien-Original Theatrical cut

Aliens-Directors Extended cut

Alien3-Assembly Cut (a re-do of the film that is closer to Fincher's original vision. More info here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alien_3#Special_Edition_DVD_.26_Blu-ray)

If you have any thoughts of seeing Prometheus, I recommend you do the same.

The Tarantino Mix Tape

I have a well known love/hate relationship with Mr. Tarantino. I think however, the following video has allowed me to appreciate him as an artist fully. My issues with his work lie in his overuse of homage and blatant straight theft of scenes. He writes some snappy awesome dialog, but I keep being disappointed by lack of something new to be shown. But my criticism of his work may have been a bit over zealous.

I just need to accept that Tarantino is the king of the mix tape.

(warning: contains all of the usual violence and language one finds in a Tarantino flick)

The Tarantino Mixtape from Eclectic Method on Vimeo.