Film: The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013)

[McParadigm]

"Tom Waits Reads Old Movie Scripts" would probably be a pretty great YouTube channel, but not if it was just some jackass imitating him.

[McParadigm]

I thought RedLetterMedia's idea that someone could create a fan edit of these movies once the third one comes out...an actual telling of the Hobbit, allowing only those additionals made essential by Jackson's manipulations...was a great one. Obviously it still couldn't be a faithful adaptation, but I bet it would be a pretty good 3 hour movie.

[dimejinky99]

Yeah that'd be pretty good to see.
There's some good stuff in the extended editions. Including a conversation between Gandalf and Elrond, about Thorin, and overheard by him, that really should have been included in the original cut, but its left to the EE.

Makes you wonder what other important scenes/dialogue was cut in favour of them effing rabbits.

[McParadigm]

So is trying to kill a fire breathing dragon with molten gold the stupidest idea in the world, or just close to it?

Who knew it could withstand high levels of heat? Garsh.

[stip]

I just got back from seeing this and I loved pretty much every second of it. Sooooo much better than the first one. I'm on my way back out the door, and will be happy to argue this stuff later, but I thought most of it was excellent, and the stuff that wasn't was staged artfully enough that I was willing to suspend disbelief about the tactical choices made regarding what will and will not kill a fire breathing magic dragon. I am not sure the physics involved were totally accurate, but I don't care.

Smaug was incredible.


I really enjoyed the barrel sequence, for all its absurdity

I would much rather watch Tauriel than Arwen

They did explain that these elves are more savage/less wise

Legolas was more enjoyable here.

It's nice to see Gandalf do magic

Sauron was VERY well done. Much better than in LOTR.


This made me kind of want to reread the Silmarillion, despite knowing full well that these are not enjoyable books.

[McParadigm]

Legolas was more enjoyable here.

Sauron was VERY well done. Much better than in LOTR.

You're the worst.

Also, did you really love (not like, but love) the entirety of the Watertown sequence? Honestly? All 347 minutes of it?

[stip]

No, that was like, not love, but I enjoyed it fine. I like the towns Jackson builds

[dimejinky99]

Ah that's great. Delighted you liked it Stip. I'm gonna go see it in 2D tomorrow, early in the day in my own. Get into it as much as possible.
The entire Laketown sequence will always suck the life out of the film though.


The Silmarillion is really a wonderful creation myth though.
And once you get it into your head that the endless elves names aren't really super important to remember, you'll fly through it.
The chapters dealing with the undying lands, the Avari, Gondolin, and Beren and luthien(and Morgoth) are really great.

If you want a tale from that time which is really expanded and complete in all senses, you should buy the Children of Hurin.
Immensely enjoyable and Tolkien at his best.

[McParadigm]

Here, stip, so you can enjoy it all over again: the entirety of Legolas's performance in this movie.

[dimejinky99]

I think Lord of the rings was possibly the last great cinematic epic of our time.
These films are just a fun kids book turned into fun adventure films, and that's fine.

Is what I hope to be saying this time tomorrow after my second time seeing it.

[dimejinky99]

Here, stip, so you can enjoy it all over again: the entirety of Legolas's performance in this movie.

[McParadigm]

I think Lord of the rings was possibly the last great cinematic epic of our time.
These films are just a fun kids book turned into fun adventure films, and that's fine.

Is what I hope to be saying this time tomorrow after my second time seeing it.

I really think this was a step up from the last one. Sections of it were incredible, and I don't think I'd say that about anything in Unexpected Journey.

I just don't get why we packed insignificant and uninspired elf and human subplots in, failed to provide an ending that offered at least a contained resolution (see: Fellowship and Two Towers, Empire Strikes Back), and followed up a claustrophobic and powerful dragon scene with Bilbo with scene after scene of said dragon behaving like a complete halfwit during his confrontations with the dwarves. I also don't see how the next movie could successfully incorporate Bilbo in to any sizable degree, and I can't stress enough that he is 95% of what makes this movie good.

[McParadigm]

[makeshift]

worse than the first- smaug was cool

[stip]

Ah that's great. Delighted you liked it Stip. I'm gonna go see it in 2D tomorrow, early in the day in my own. Get into it as much as possible.
The entire Laketown sequence will always suck the life out of the film though.


The Silmarillion is really a wonderful creation myth though.
And once you get it into your head that the endless elves names aren't really super important to remember, you'll fly through it.
The chapters dealing with the undying lands, the Avari, Gondolin, and Beren and luthien(and Morgoth) are really great.

If you want a tale from that time which is really expanded and complete in all senses, you should buy the Children of Hurin.
Immensely enjoyable and Tolkien at his best.

I like the mythology (and I've read it two or three times over the years. Maybe just twice). It's just a tough slog.

[stip]

Okay, let me clarify. I really enjoyed the scenes where Legolas was fighting orcs. It was eye candy, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I adored the river scene, as unrealistic and absurd as it was.


I thought the gandalf exploring the crypt was cool (Jackson's roots are in horror and it showed), and I really liked the confrontation in Dol Gurder. Sauron's reveal was quite well done.

Spoiler: show

IIRC, the elves show up en masse for the finale of the hobbit, as does whatever army laketown has. So these scenes, while definitely distracting from the much more interesting main story (although I still enjoyed these), may be setting up the finale. We'll see.

[dimejinky99]

Bilbo is undoubtedly the star of the show and maybe it's better if he's a little underused.
Too much of a good thing and all that.

But they could utilise him a little more. I wanted more of his meeting and dealing with Smaug.
I'll know tomorrow for sure.

[McParadigm]

I thought the Smaug / Bilbo scene was well paced and run. It just got chopped up by less important side stories and led to a blah physical confrontation re:dwarves.

[bada]

Ah that's great. Delighted you liked it Stip. I'm gonna go see it in 2D tomorrow, early in the day in my own. Get into it as much as possible.
The entire Laketown sequence will always suck the life out of the film though.


The Silmarillion is really a wonderful creation myth though.
And once you get it into your head that the endless elves names aren't really super important to remember, you'll fly through it.
The chapters dealing with the undying lands, the Avari, Gondolin, and Beren and luthien(and Morgoth) are really great.

If you want a tale from that time which is really expanded and complete in all senses, you should buy the Children of Hurin.
Immensely enjoyable and Tolkien at his best.

I like the mythology (and I've read it two or three times over the years. Maybe just twice). It's just a tough slog.

Stip I'm curious. I've seen you mention several times that you don't think Tolkien is a good writer. What makes you keep coming back to his books?

[Mecca]

So is trying to kill a fire breathing dragon with molten gold the stupidest idea in the world, or just close to it?

Who knew it could withstand high levels of heat? Garsh.

the Desolation of Smug