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Username4242
Bree
Dec 11 2012, 8:11pm
Post #1 of 61
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Reviews, reviews, reviews!
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Previous review thread fell down quite a bit, so here's another.
I'll start things off with a *very* positive review!
http://darrens-world-of-entertainment.blogspot.co.nz/2012/12/the-hobbit-unexpected-journey-movie.html
(This post was edited by Altaira on Dec 11 2012, 8:20pm)
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Altaira
Superuser
Dec 11 2012, 8:13pm
Post #2 of 61
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From the Home Page: Tehanu's Review: Thumbs Up to a Richly Dramatic Telling
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Twenty-five minutes in to the film, I suddenly thought, Wait, people said it takes this long to get used to the 48fpm and the 3D. I've only just noticed it, and it's fantastic!” Perhaps there's something wrong with my eyesight, but for me at Wellington's Embassy at least, the colours glowed, the sparkling detail shone, and the screen showed a sumptuous feast of Middle-earth from the first frame. I was immersed in the reality from the first frame.
We were impressed by the clever way the introduction, which frames the story, wove this film neatly into the start of FOTR. You couldn't help but smile fondly at Ian Holm's cameo with Elijah Wood.
After a glance at the Bagginses in the Shire, we got our first glimpse of the dwarf kingdom, which was filled with details I think Tolkien would have loved. There was the lovely rhythm of Old English in lines such as (near as I can recall) “The dragon laid waste/ Death he dealt, a cadence that Tolkien himself fell into readily enough. A nice touch was the rhythm of the countless hammers on the anvils as we first see the smithies of Erebor, for a second I'm sure I heard the unmistakable, frenetic anvil rhythm of Wagner's Rheingold. I'll have to see it again to check if I was imagining things.
Talking of sound and music, the sound could well win another Oscar for sound editing. The sound was as deeply 3D as the picture, and used to striking effect during the Riddles in the Dark scene. Just as you can imagine that, lost in the dark, one's ears would magnify everything and prick the emotions unbearably.
The music disappointed me though. The cues for what we should feel were too obvious, and I wanted more new themes. It made sense to have an established sound-world for each place or character, but I kind of sighed internally when the angelic choir struck up again to signify Rivendell, or the music moved so obviously towards a restatement of the Ring theme or the Shire theme. It all felt a bit recycled, and unless some new themes or orchestration are introduced, I'm going to be heartily sick of them by the end of the third movie.
What's with the rampant contrabass trombones in every film score these days, too? Lately they've become de riguer for every action scene. Great instrument, but you can have too much of a good thing.
Some critics have complained of the film' slow introduction, but the action is worth the wait, to me the film felt very well paced indeed. You get a glimpse of Smaug right near the beginning. and like James Cameron's Alien, a glimpse, combined with superb sound effects, works tremendously on the imagination.
The acting was as I expected it to be: Superb. I'm speaking as a person who would be enthralled by watching Sir Ian McKellen or Martin Freeman reading a laundry list. But Richard Armitage I haven’t seen before, but he was equally compelling. The writers' choice was to keep the film tightly focused on their story arcs. Their evolving relationship is at the heart of the film, and if things are sacrificed, they are in favour of this. You will find a chapter of Tolkien's Unfinished Tales very illuminating in this respect, Tolkien described the initial distrust between Gandalf, Thorin and Bilbo absolutely like this. The relationship between these three is the crucial dramatic arc of this story.
Some scenes are framed slightly differently than in the book: Bilbo leaving Bag End for instance, or his encounter with the trolls. They keep much of the dialogue we know and love, but the changes reinforce the central drama of Bilbo, who chooses to follow his Tookish side rather than being bullied into the quest by Gandalf. The troll scene was always a bit unbelievable when I read it, 13 dwarves taken unaware and popped into sacks? The film version solves that.
We get to see some of the dwarves in more detail than others. Balin, Fili and Kili stand out from the crowd a little in this film; over the course of three films no doubt we will see more of the others.
Radagast was a bit of a scene-stealer, and provided a necessary link between the Dwarves' quest and the goings-on at Dol Guldur, with its hints of the larger story of the rise of Evil in Middle-earth. Sylvester McCoy had both charm and force as the dotty but spirited Brown Wizard.
You get to see a bit more of Saruman too. Gandalf is placating and mild before Saruman's ruthless beaurocratic coldness. How much does he know under the surface? It's an interesting scene as they fence with each other, Gandalf appearing to give way and offer no resistance, surely just a harmless old man. You get the sense of a game that has been played for a long time between these powers; Elrond and Galadriel are present too.
Riddles in the Dark was a tour de force by Freeman and Serkis. They acted the hell out of it, and it was fantastic. As others have said, the Oscars need to institute a new award, for best CGI character. In a film that relies so heavily on CGI, when it really counted, PJ fell back on good old theatre technique for scenes like this to give performances that were intimate, rehearsed and honed to perfection.
It was an excellent film and I can't wait to go again.
We were lucky enough to go to the midnight screening at Wellington's Embassy theatre. Fully half the audience were in costume, and the buzz of anticipation was incredible in this audience, which included many extras no doubt anxious to see whether they'd made the cut. People were entertained by having their photo taken with an orc in full Weta prosthetics, or just watching the parade of magnificent costumes. What a great crowd to see it with!
Koru: Maori symbol representing a fern frond as it opens. The koru reaches towards the light, striving for perfection, encouraging new, positive beginnings.
"Life can't be all work and no TORn" -- jflower
"I take a moment to fervently hope that the camaradarie and just plain old fun I found at TORn will never end" -- LOTR_nutcase
(This post was edited by Altaira on Dec 11 2012, 8:17pm)
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Altaira
Superuser
Dec 11 2012, 8:19pm
Post #3 of 61
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Thanks, Username4242 --> links to the previous seven threads inside
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Thread 1
Thread 2
Thread 3
Thread 4
Thread 5
Thread 6
Thread 7
Koru: Maori symbol representing a fern frond as it opens. The koru reaches towards the light, striving for perfection, encouraging new, positive beginnings.
"Life can't be all work and no TORn" -- jflower
"I take a moment to fervently hope that the camaradarie and just plain old fun I found at TORn will never end" -- LOTR_nutcase
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ElendurTheFaithful
Rivendell
Dec 11 2012, 8:55pm
Post #4 of 61
(1246 views)
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we just need a couple of fresh reviews from top critics to go to 80%
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Lusitano
Tol Eressea
Dec 11 2012, 9:27pm
Post #7 of 61
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The music disappointed me though. The cues for what we should feel were too obvious, and I wanted more new themes
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Dont understand. Many claimed it was amazing and very well done...
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Aragalen the Green
Gondor
Dec 11 2012, 9:28pm
Post #8 of 61
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I haven't seen this review yet, from TORn's Arathorn?
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http://www.theonering.net/torwp/2012/12/10/66952-unspoiled-for-the-hobbit-an-unexpected-journey-arathorns-review/
" 'Twas a near thing!" said Spam. "Came nigh to a-spoilin' me pantaloons."
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Elessar
Valinor
Dec 11 2012, 9:36pm
Post #9 of 61
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I DL my copy of the SE version last night and thought it was as good as the soundtracks from Lord of the Rings. It has a few of the same cues from LOTR but as a whole I thought I heard a lot of new stuff that sounded quite good.
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BeornBerserker
Lorien
Dec 11 2012, 9:47pm
Post #10 of 61
(1130 views)
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJGUk2tRKZY
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Lacrimae Rerum
Grey Havens
Dec 11 2012, 9:47pm
Post #11 of 61
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Sorry I'm not sure what you mean.
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The percentage is just the proportion of "fresh" ratings out of the total number of ratings. At the moment, for example, there are 45 fresh ratings out of 61 total reviews therefore 74%
What do you mean by "+-3" ?
LR
(This post was edited by Lacrimae Rerum on Dec 11 2012, 9:50pm)
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unexpectedvisitor
Rohan
Dec 11 2012, 9:49pm
Post #12 of 61
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that Tehanu has no issues with the HFR presentation and pretty much flat-out loves what it brings to the experience while someone like Drew McWeeny can dislike it so much to the point of questioning whether it was even projected the right way (which makes me wonder if maybe his screening wasn't?)
i'm a person that loves the traditional look of film and i like my movies to look like movies. i watch a lot of old movies and everything in between. i am not a fan of the way reality TV looks, soap operas look, high refresh rates on HD TVs look...all these things that HFR has been compared to even though it's not exactly the same thing (BBC documentary is about the only comparison that doesn't make me cringe). at the same time, i try to be open to advances in technology and, while i've never liked the 3D experience, a lot of that has to do with how the flaws in the image are magnified, and HFR is supposed to help address that issue.
i'm expecting it to be akin to my Avatar philosophy--as in, why would you watch Avatar other than to experience it in 3D in a big theater? now, i expect The Hobbit to be a much more involving film and story for me than Avatar was, but the question becomes: if you're gonna watch The Hobbit in 3D, why would you not watch it in HFR?
so i am very curious to see how i will respond to HFR. at this point, i really have no idea. i suspect i may, overall, prefer the old-fashioned 2D 24 fps viewing that i will have at some point, but will probably appreciate what HFR does for watching the movie in 3D.
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Lusitano
Tol Eressea
Dec 11 2012, 9:52pm
Post #13 of 61
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theres plenty of new stuff? it doesnt feel recycled or living off past glories?
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Altaira
Superuser
Dec 11 2012, 9:53pm
Post #14 of 61
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It's on page three in Review Post #7 :-) //
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Koru: Maori symbol representing a fern frond as it opens. The koru reaches towards the light, striving for perfection, encouraging new, positive beginnings.
"Life can't be all work and no TORn" -- jflower
"I take a moment to fervently hope that the camaradarie and just plain old fun I found at TORn will never end" -- LOTR_nutcase
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Elessar
Valinor
Dec 11 2012, 10:04pm
Post #16 of 61
(1040 views)
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It has old stuff mixed in which I love but it feels basically all brand new. It's a great OS I think.
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unexpectedvisitor
Rohan
Dec 11 2012, 10:05pm
Post #17 of 61
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if there's a lot on the CD release that isn't in the actual film? or if the music is sometimes lower in the mix and it's easier just to notice the stuff that you're familiar with?
because if you listen to the music by itself there is certainly a lot of new and/or reworked material. also, a VERY heavily motif-based approach is at the very foundation of how Shore approached his LotR work, so it only makes sense that a lot of connections would be drawn between his scores for The Hobbit and LotR. it isn't just recycling of material, this is actually how Shore builds layers of depth and resonance within his scoring. he takes themes and motifs associated with certain characters or ideas and he reiterates them in different ways according to the nature of the scene and the other elements it incorporates. he then sometimes intertwines these themes with new material or specific dramatic beats, but the emphasis is not on new, new, new, it's on using the information and associations that are built into the established framework. for instance, hearing some sort of an iteration of "Bilbo's Pity" in AUJ doesn't strike me as uninspired or just a rehash...it strikes me as right and true to the larger context of what Howard has been doing with these scores.
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Aragalen the Green
Gondor
Dec 11 2012, 10:11pm
Post #18 of 61
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Yes, it is hard to keep up with the posts
I did like this review in particular, as Arathorn had remained out of the loop and "unspoiled" as he puts it, for 10 years. Very refreshing to hear from someone that is familiar with The Hobbit but hasn't been rabidly following spoilers (like many of us have  ).
" 'Twas a near thing!" said Spam. "Came nigh to a-spoilin' me pantaloons."
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Lusitano
Tol Eressea
Dec 11 2012, 10:11pm
Post #19 of 61
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its comforting to know.
You too unexpectedvisitor
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ElendurTheFaithful
Rivendell
Dec 11 2012, 10:17pm
Post #20 of 61
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So right now it 74%, if a top critic gives rotten score goes down 3 (71%), and if it's fresh score goes +3 (77%).
Isn't that the math?
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unexpectedvisitor
Rohan
Dec 11 2012, 10:17pm
Post #21 of 61
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as to what specific characters or elements Tehanu thought should have new themes? Radagast is new and so has a new (and striking) motif. the dwarves are new and have the lovely and very memorable Misty Mountains theme, which is prominently featured on the soundtrack. "A Thunder Battle" has the stone giants, never mentioned in LotR, and so the music is appropriately new. the orcs have some new motifs...i feel like for characters and places that we've seen before, we SHOULD be getting a lot of connections back to the LotR music. in "The White Council" you have an elaborate weaving together of prior themes that we have heard associated with Galadriel, Saruman, etc. this only makes sense to me.
i imagine that we will get more new material in the next two films as the story takes us to places that weren't encountered at all in LotR and you have more of new characters like Beorn, Thranduil, Bard, Smaug, etc.
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ElendurTheFaithful
Rivendell
Dec 11 2012, 10:19pm
Post #22 of 61
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Guy from NewYorkPost gave it fresh, and although top critics score moved from 30% to 36%, overall score stayed at 74%.
I don't know anything anymore about how they compile all those ratings man
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frodolives
Lorien
Dec 11 2012, 10:40pm
Post #23 of 61
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No, top critics don't count any more than any other critic. It's just math. When a film's score is above 50%, and bad reviews will tend to tilt the weight back more than will good ones and vice versa. That's why one good review in the top critics circle brings it up 6 points (fewer reviews) and why it has limited effect on the overall score (more reviews). Math is your friend! ;)
(This post was edited by frodolives on Dec 11 2012, 10:41pm)
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Elutherian
Rohan
Dec 11 2012, 10:41pm
Post #24 of 61
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http://www.comingsoon.net/news/reviewsnews.php?id=97957
The Grey Pilgrim, they once called me. Three hundred lives of men I walked this earth, and now I have no time...
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Lacrimae Rerum
Grey Havens
Dec 11 2012, 10:43pm
Post #25 of 61
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Top critics count exactly the same as anyone else. Im not sure where the 3% idea comes from but it isn't the case.
LR
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