"It is a matter of grave importance that Fairy tales should be respected.... Whosoever alters them to suit his own opinions, whatever they are, is guilty, to our thinking, of an act of presumption, and appropriates to himself what does not belong to him." -- Charles Dickens
On the other hand, I found some of the visuals interesting. Tolkien's prose never specified that Erebor was anything more than some stone halls, while the movie gives it grandiose architecture that looked like World of Warcraft. If that's what his prose produced in some readers' mind's eyes, it goes to show where the whole fantasy genre came from. Rivendell looked even better than I remember from the Fellowship movie. And there's an elf king who rides an elk, looking like something off a Magic card.
"It is a matter of grave importance that Fairy tales should be respected.... Whosoever alters them to suit his own opinions, whatever they are, is guilty, to our thinking, of an act of presumption, and appropriates to himself what does not belong to him." -- Charles Dickens
I could never make sense of the "orcs are corrupted elves" thing. Why would Sauron turn his seven-foot immortal followers into short-lived midgets who die in 10-to-1 or worse ratios in battle with other races? I get that, in Platonism and Christianity, Being is Good, so evil would decline into lesser beings, but any mechanism for such in the setting is extremely vague at best.
"It is a matter of grave importance that Fairy tales should be respected.... Whosoever alters them to suit his own opinions, whatever they are, is guilty, to our thinking, of an act of presumption, and appropriates to himself what does not belong to him." -- Charles Dickens
Yep. "Hob" means a fireplace shelf, and a synecdoche for "homely things." So he was on the right track when he named half-size homebodies "hobbits."
Beholder and I discussed this once, and came to the conclusion that if regular goblins live in mines and caves and hobgoblins are smaller, nicer ones who live in our houses, hobbits are what hobgoblins become when there aren't any humans in their houses.
i get so angry sometimes i just punch plankton --Klinotaxis
I'm watching ParaNormam.
...it's pretty...I dunno... uninspiring? I'm not sure if it's on-purpose or not, but the animation isn't very fluid either.
I think I have a tendency to not like things in which the movie spends a lot of time establishing the main character is unpopular and picked on. It comes off as a disingenuous attempt to get the audience to sympathize and relate to the character.
"It is a matter of grave importance that Fairy tales should be respected.... Whosoever alters them to suit his own opinions, whatever they are, is guilty, to our thinking, of an act of presumption, and appropriates to himself what does not belong to him." -- Charles Dickens
Leigh and I just got back from seeing The Great Gatsby
There was some controversy over using of rap on the soundtrack, but there were zero anachronisms in visuals or dialogue, and the actors were good.
A friend of mine was genuinely infuriated by the film, but the particulars of why never came up given that the subject quickly switched to Tyler Perry of all people...
I'm not sure if this came up, but I haven't seen a full-length movie in a while. The last, I think, was Wes Anderson's first, Bottle Rocket, which I really liked.
"It is a matter of grave importance that Fairy tales should be respected.... Whosoever alters them to suit his own opinions, whatever they are, is guilty, to our thinking, of an act of presumption, and appropriates to himself what does not belong to him." -- Charles Dickens
Aaand today we saw Star Trek Into Dumbness with Justice.
It would have taken way more than casting an Indian as Khan to save it. A better script, for a start.
Sorry to dig this back up, but one of my biggest problems with the Hobbit was the climax where Bilbo stabs the white goblin chief. Bilbo's whole thing is that he's useful despite not being a warrior. He doesn't succeed by embracing the unfamiliar; he succeeds by using his natural skills in a way that suits him. You might as well end Wreck-it Ralph with Ralph becoming the hero of his videogame.
Sorry to dig this back up, but one of my biggest problems with the Hobbit was the climax where Bilbo stabs the white goblin chief. Bilbo's whole thing is that he's useful despite not being a warrior. He doesn't succeed by embracing the unfamiliar; he succeeds by using his natural skills in a way that suits him. You might as well end Wreck-it Ralph with Ralph becoming the hero of his videogame.
It really contrasted with how he decided to spare Gollum earlier in the film, so it was inconsistent even within the film itself.
Given the opportunity, Bilbo will always choose nonviolence over violence.
He still thinks "OMG! Lord of the Rings elves! So awesome" He doesn't seem to have any use for the way the elves of Rivendell are depicted in The Hobbit, as merry nature spirits who sing songs with lyrics like "tra la la lally", closer to the diminutive folk of Shakespeare and the Victorians than what he made them 20 years later.
To be fair, he spent an entire trilogy establishing that Tolkien elves were...well, Tolkien elves. It'd be jarring for most viewers to go against that portrayal.
A.O. Scott, while praising the cast including Quinto and Cumberbatch, dismissed the film in the New York Times, writing, "It's uninspired hackwork, and the frequent appearance of blue lens flares does not make this movie any more of a personal statement."[103]
So, just watched Jack Reacher as part of a social event.
Wow, that movie has the best problems with motivations. We spent a good half of the movie wondering what was up with the black guy and why he was doing the things that he did. I feel like we have a better understanding of the title character than anyone else, and he's supposed to be the inscrutable loner that nobody understands.
Man is a most complex simple creature: see what he weaves, and how base his reasons for doing so.
I'm perfectly okay with Radagast and his Rustabell Rabbits.
I'm not okay with Azog or the Council or any of that other stuff. It's mostly handled poorly, and some of the other ideas could be integrated with a little more grace.
OK, I just want to put this out there: Django is not a good guy.
Django is a nod to spaghetti western protagonists, who had motivations like money or revenge. In Django's case, it is revenge against those who oppressed him and treated him like an animal.
The people he opposes are bad, definitely. But being victimized by evil people does not automatically make you a good guy. It is revenge, not justice (there is a difference), that motivates Django. And that works well, because honestly:
Watch this and tell me this isn't satisfying. Tell me that a man who denies other men mercy being denied the same is not enjoyable. Revenge doesn't make people admirable: it makes them relatable. We're supposed to live vicariously through Django, not hold him up as a paragon of goodness.
Tarantino actually explored similar territory with the Bride from Kill Bill, really. Granted, the circumstances of what she needed to get her revenge for does make her slightly sympathetic but we're shown that she's not entirely a paragon of virtue either. She's the lesser of two not-quite-evils, in a way, considering how brutal she and the rest of the Deadly Vipers were.
I'm perfectly okay with Radagast and his Rustabell Rabbits.
I'm not okay with Azog or the Council or any of that other stuff. It's mostly handled poorly, and some of the other ideas could be integrated with a little more grace.
Radagast's portrayal was pretty decent, I'll admit that. But I would have introduced him in a less intrusive way. The way that Jackson does it, he's just sort of shoved in there after a short introduction. There's no reason for him to be in the movie when he appears, that's what I'm saying.
What's wrong with the Council? I found their portrayal pretty good. It fleshed out Sauron/Necromancer, a detail which went mostly ignored in the original.
Azog...well yeah, I agree. What made the Hobbit so fun, in my opinion, was that until Smaug there was no big overarching antagonist. There was no constant pressure being put on the characters, which allowed for a lot of fun and wacky antics. It was kids' fun at its purest.
Part of the problem here, I think, is that the producers are trying to reconcile LoTR and The Hobbit. And that just doesn't blend well with me. Big fate-of-the-world wars are fine, but turning something that isn't meant to be that just cheapens both.
i get so angry sometimes i just punch plankton --Klinotaxis
If by "the Council" do we mean, Gandalf, Elrond, Saruman, and Galadriel?
I had no problem with their portrial, but the fact that Saruman and Galadriel are just sort of hanging out in Rivendale seemed a little too convenient..bad fan-fic convenient.
On a side note, Saruman's comment about Radagast and mushrooms amused me because he mentioned something similar to Gandalf about Hobbit's pipe-weed in Fellowship.
Maybe Saruman should start a drug awareness campaign.
i get so angry sometimes i just punch plankton --Klinotaxis
Friday and I attempted to watch Skyfall, we bailed about 30 minutes before the end. This is on the heals of watching Casino Royal and Quantum of Solace.
Yeah...we've decided we probably don't like Bond films, at least the more recent ones. Casino Royal and Skyfall are too goddamn long. Quantum of Solace is fine, but it's also a half an hour shorter than either.
Honestly, if the Bond films just kept things to a reasonable, if high length for an action film. They'd be OK, but around an 1 hour and 45 minutes in, one starts to wonder when Bond will FINALLY win and return statusquo to normal.
Also, they had something of an interesting plot going with the first two movies that is abandoned by the third. :/
I disliked Quantum of Solace to the point that I was completely fine with dumping that plot, honestly. Much as I like the Evil Cabal of Bad Guys archetype, I couldn't make heads or tails of what was supposed to be going on in that movie other than 'oil, villains.'
i get so angry sometimes i just punch plankton --Klinotaxis
Well "oil villains" who where basically rich members of society potentially involved with acts of terrorism or directly supporting groups who where involved with acts of terrorism.
Kinda annoying to have loose ends like that, especially when M6 actually identified several of them.
I did like that QOS was a direct sequel to Casino Royale, and I would like to see the series continue in that direction. We've had 50 years of standalone Bond stories, so it would be cool to get some more continuity.
I feel like Skyfall did a good job of setting up potential for that, since it re-established some new/old characters and made it clear that Bond is part of a team.
i get so angry sometimes i just punch plankton --Klinotaxis
If it weren't for a couple of scenes or lines, World War Z might be one of my favorite movies ever. Still pretty good, though.
Man of Steel made good use of its special effects budget and had a great fight/action scene towards the end of the movie. However, the writing and acting was atrociously bad and despite the effects, this was a worse superman movie than the last one.
i get so angry sometimes i just punch plankton --Klinotaxis
Superman 1 was pretty good, a bit deus ex machina, but the movie hinted pretty heavily that Superman was basically Jesus. So I'm OK if he used his powers to resurrect indirectly.
Man is a most complex simple creature: see what he weaves, and how base his reasons for doing so.
"Watch this and tell me this isn't satisfying. Tell me that a man who denies other men mercy being denied the same is not enjoyable. Revenge doesn't make people admirable: it makes them relatable. We're supposed to live vicariously through Django, not hold him up as a paragon of goodness."
Superman 1 was pretty good, a bit deus ex machina, but the movie hinted pretty heavily that Superman was basically Jesus. So I'm OK if he used his powers to resurrect indirectly.
"Watch this and tell me this isn't satisfying. Tell me that a man who denies other men mercy being denied the same is not enjoyable. Revenge doesn't make people admirable: it makes them relatable. We're supposed to live vicariously through Django, not hold him up as a paragon of goodness."
Superman 1 was pretty good, a bit deus ex machina, but the movie hinted pretty heavily that Superman was basically Jesus. So I'm OK if he used his powers to resurrect indirectly.
I mean, his shtick has always been taking lowbrow cinematic ideas and making them into something more in a manner that does not dilute the appeal of the basic formula he's building on, but this sort of thing he's been mining here leaves a very bad taste in my mouth
i get so angry sometimes i just punch plankton --Klinotaxis
Zod was pretty poorly written and the actor was bad as well. There's a great (in that it's absurd) scene where Zod is having something of a psychic conversation with Superman using drugs and the ship they are on where Zod talks about changing earth's atmosphere to be like Krypton's. When asked "What will happen to the people of earth?" Zod presents an ocean of skulls that Superman promptly drowns in.
I THINK Zod was attempting to show that Superman can either join him or die, but it's just sort off "They'll be dead, this is what it might look like if we collected all the bones and dumped them by the house you grew up in! Neat, huh?"
Seriously, when Russel Crowe is the best actor of the film, you're in some serious trouble.
Comments
On the other hand, I found some of the visuals interesting. Tolkien's prose never specified that Erebor was anything more than some stone halls, while the movie gives it grandiose architecture that looked like World of Warcraft. If that's what his prose produced in some readers' mind's eyes, it goes to show where the whole fantasy genre came from. Rivendell looked even better than I remember from the Fellowship movie. And there's an elf king who rides an elk, looking like something off a Magic card.
Something about being concerned about the moral/spiritual implications of their being simply an entirely villainous race, IIRC.
Edit: extensive list of possible origins here.
i get so angry sometimes i just punch plankton --Klinotaxis
Yep. "Hob" means a fireplace shelf, and a synecdoche for "homely things." So he was on the right track when he named half-size homebodies "hobbits."
Beholder and I discussed this once, and came to the conclusion that if regular goblins live in mines and caves and hobgoblins are smaller, nicer ones who live in our houses, hobbits are what hobgoblins become when there aren't any humans in their houses.
speaking of peter jackson i just saw Heavenly Creatures and wow fuck this world
i mean it was a good film. very good
but dont watch it expecting rainbows and happiness
i get so angry sometimes i just punch plankton --Klinotaxis
i get so angry sometimes i just punch plankton --Klinotaxis
Leigh and I just got back from seeing The Great Gatsby
There was some controversy over using of rap on the soundtrack, but there were zero anachronisms in visuals or dialogue, and the actors were good.
Aaand today we saw Star Trek Into Dumbness with Justice.
It would have taken way more than casting an Indian as Khan to save it. A better script, for a start.
Assassin poems, Poems that shoot
guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys
and take their weapons leaving them dead
i get so angry sometimes i just punch plankton --Klinotaxis
Assassin poems, Poems that shoot
guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys
and take their weapons leaving them dead
Assassin poems, Poems that shoot
guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys
and take their weapons leaving them dead
Wow, that movie has the best problems with motivations. We spent a good half of the movie wondering what was up with the black guy and why he was doing the things that he did. I feel like we have a better understanding of the title character than anyone else, and he's supposed to be the inscrutable loner that nobody understands.
Tarantino actually explored similar territory with the Bride from Kill Bill, really. Granted, the circumstances of what she needed to get her revenge for does make her slightly sympathetic but we're shown that she's not entirely a paragon of virtue either. She's the lesser of two not-quite-evils, in a way, considering how brutal she and the rest of the Deadly Vipers were.
Assassin poems, Poems that shoot
guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys
and take their weapons leaving them dead
i get so angry sometimes i just punch plankton --Klinotaxis
i get so angry sometimes i just punch plankton --Klinotaxis
i get so angry sometimes i just punch plankton --Klinotaxis
I feel like Skyfall did a good job of setting up potential for that, since it re-established some new/old characters and made it clear that Bond is part of a team.
i get so angry sometimes i just punch plankton --Klinotaxis
i get so angry sometimes i just punch plankton --Klinotaxis
i get so angry sometimes i just punch plankton --Klinotaxis
ick
i get so angry sometimes i just punch plankton --Klinotaxis
i get so angry sometimes i just punch plankton --Klinotaxis