Film: The Hobbit : Battle of the five armies (December 2014)

[bada]

The battle scene is going to be 45 minutes long.

I am so pumped.

With comic relief even 90 seconds. Still pumped?

[LoathedVermin72]

The battle scene is going to be 45 minutes long.

I am so pumped.

With comic relief even 90 seconds. Still pumped?

You know I am.

[dimejinky99]

It'll be hilarious if Smaug dies in the first ten minutes of the movie.

By all rights, that's exactly what should happen..he destroys the town, gets shot down doing it, then everyone with a grievance against the dwarves, comes for their share of the gold, men suing for compensation for the destruction of Lake town/displacement of its people etc..

[stip]

The 45 minutes of war will only be topped by the 90 minutes of arbitration that precedes it!

[stip]

I started watching the first hobbit extended edition yesterday while the girls were napping, and there was a nice subtle little moment I never noticed before. Jackson et all do a really nice job making Bagend feel empty and lonely after the dwarves leave, as compared to how homey and inviting it is before they arrive. I don't know if its the lighting, the camera angles, or the acting but it was quite striking.

[Alex]

I started watching the first hobbit extended edition yesterday while the girls were napping, and there was a nice subtle little moment I never noticed before. Jackson et all do a really nice job making Bagend feel empty and lonely after the dwarves leave, as compared to how homey and inviting it is before they arrive. I don't know if its the lighting, the camera angles, or the acting but it was quite striking.

a classic jackson sleight of hand

[LoathedVermin72]

So I rewatched An Unexpected Journey EE and the first hour of The Desolation of Smaug EE last night. I love them both, but I have to admit that I really don't think I could defend them as "good" filmmaking.

[stip]

how much do you think is jackson's direction, how much the source material, and how much the attempts to pad the source material?

[LoathedVermin72]

how much do you think is jackson's direction, how much the source material, and how much the attempts to pad the source material?

I think it's primarily Jackson and padding. That Bagend scene in AUE - again, even though I like it - is inexcusably long. The pacing is very sluggish in these movies. I feel like the source material was likely more focused both in terms of narrative and themes (same goes for LOTR), and Jackson's films set themes and focus aside in favor of bloated visual bombast (and, in the case of the Hobbit movies, lots of semi-embarassing humor). Again, I LOVE that bombast. Enough so that I overlook how unfocused and thematically incoherent the movies are. But, on a filmmaking level...they're kind of bad.

[LoathedVermin72]

The fact that these movies are also shot on digital and feel like they're about 80% CGI doesn't help, either. I miss the tactile look of LOTR.

[dimejinky99]

I started watching the first hobbit extended edition yesterday while the girls were napping, and there was a nice subtle little moment I never noticed before. Jackson et all do a really nice job making Bagend feel empty and lonely after the dwarves leave, as compared to how homey and inviting it is before they arrive. I don't know if its the lighting, the camera angles, or the acting but it was quite striking.

The score can do a lot to summon that feeling, in scenes like that.

Shore has confused a lot of these films fans, his work in the Hobbit movies being entirely forgettable compared to his work in LOTR, the music was integral to every scene in those films and was memorable as well as fitting perfectly. He just hasn't brought it so far in the Hobbit films, sub-par score for sub-par films maybe.

[LoathedVermin72]

I started watching the first hobbit extended edition yesterday while the girls were napping, and there was a nice subtle little moment I never noticed before. Jackson et all do a really nice job making Bagend feel empty and lonely after the dwarves leave, as compared to how homey and inviting it is before they arrive. I don't know if its the lighting, the camera angles, or the acting but it was quite striking.

The score can do a lot to summon that feeling, in scenes like that.

I actually think the absence of score is a big part of what makes that scene striking. It's all about contrast. Before that scene, the viewer just spent 20 or so minutes in a very busy, noisy Bagend, with loads of dwarves everywhere making all kinds of ruckus, Shore's score underscoring everything, the lighting having a very warm, golden quality. Then in this scene...silence. The light is cold, white, and harsh. The emptiness and silence is what registers. It's very effective.

[dimejinky99]

They arent films i've gone back to with anything like the frequency I did with LOTR, so i stand corrected.

[LoathedVermin72]

They arent films i've gone back to with anything like the frequency I did with LOTR, so i stand corrected.

But, in general, I do agree with you about Shore's score. It's definitely not what it was in LOTR.

[dimejinky99]

Really isnt. I've never wanted to own a score since Return of the Jedi. All of the LOTR scores were beyond great.

[Rangi Guy]

So apparently this is now at our local airport

[dimejinky99]

Saw that. Looks so cool

[dimejinky99]

someone caught the new trailer on their phone..

[dimejinky99]

They seem to be blaming Thorin for waking the dragon and ruining the town. Gandalf put him up to it though. In the films at least.

[Alex]

is thorin the regal dwarf with the intense gaze?