It's all about the money, money, money
#88: The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug - The dwarves, along with Bilbo Baggins and Gandalf the Grey, continue their quest to reclaim Erebor, their homeland, from Smaug. Bilbo Baggins is in possession of a mysterious and magical ring. [imdb]
So first: love this world, love how they show it, yay dragons and hobbits and dwarves and wizards, etc. Take all that for granted, said and done. I saw it in HFR 3D, but alas, not in IMAX this time.
On to the specifics! I agree with most people that this second movie was more balanced than the first, without dragging sequences, but boy, did it feel long. I have come to have a lot of Feelings about the trilogizing of this book, and my conclusion, here at the two-thirds mark, is that it was not the way to go. Two movies, absolutely. Three...not so much. Cutting the Gandalf/Dol Guldur story would've done it, pretty much, and while all of those scenes were great on their own, the storyline felt like a distraction from Bilbo and the dwarves. I understand the motivation, but in hindsight, I think it should've been left out.
Who knows, maybe movie three will change my mind.
Some things I loved: DWARVES IN BARRELS OMG. That's the the best part of the book and they killed it in the movie. As long as they got that right, I was going to be happy with the movie. I love that it was long and don't even care about all the dramatics in it, because it was visual and fun. Bouncing Bombur was kind of amazing.
The spiders scene was also great. They were gross and scary, and finally Sting got its name properly. I liked watching Bilbo figure out the ring and gain confidence with it.
And, of course, Smaug. Indeed, he was magnificent. He's such an iconic villain and monster, and the movie did him excellent justice. This is where PJ and friends know how to get it right, and where technology and storytelling really come together.
Visually, this was a more exciting movie, because of the variety of scenes and characters ranging in height. In the first movie, you forget how the dwarves and Bilbo are actually short, since they're mostly in scenes with each other. This time, we got contrast with elves and men.
I liked Tauriel, too. I was pretty ready to like her but yes, I did appreciate the addition of a lady to this bro-fest of a series, and she fit into the world well. And, of course, Thranduil the fabulous - world of yes. I wouldn't have minded hanging out in his halls for longer, but there was a lot of plot to get to.
Even though Kili is my dwarf boyfriend, and I don't object to subtle dwarf/elf action, I'm not thrilled with the pastede-on-yay triangle. It wasn't necessary.
Also not necessary, but hilarious and much appreciated: finding any excuse for Legolas to show up and do something elfy. I died.
The Laketown stuff was kind of meh, and the Beorn scene did nothing but show how HFR filming can reveal CGI imperfections. It's weird, because some of those enhanced scenes looked great, but others seemed half-done. We caught the Colbert cameo.
At the end, I still wanted to jump right into the third one, so...success!
#89: American Hustle - A con man, Irving Rosenfeld, along with his seductive British partner, Sydney Prosser, is forced to work for a wild FBI agent, Richie DiMaso. DiMaso pushes them into a world of Jersey powerbrokers and mafia. [imdb]
David O. Russell movies all have a lot in common. The characters are brilliant and the actors rise to perform them superbly. However, the stories don't hold up their end. The Fighter wasn't that interesting, and Silver Linings Playbook fell apart towards the end. American Hustle does a little better, because its problems are at the beginning, which was sloooooooooooow. Between the turtle pace and the theatre's A/C blowing in my face, I literally could not keep my eyes open for a large chunk near the beginning. That said, it did pick up, continuing to gain pace and interest through the end.
Really, though, his movies are for the actors. Christian Bale and Amy Adams were sublime, and it's a shame everyone just expects that of them at this point, because their characters, for all that they would stand out in another movie, were overshadowed by the manic roles for Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence. Those two were great, too, but we all preferred Adams and Bale's more mature performances. Though we did enjoy Cooper's tiny curlers immensely.
Definitely a great movie with a lot of surprises, and a fine acting showcase.
So first: love this world, love how they show it, yay dragons and hobbits and dwarves and wizards, etc. Take all that for granted, said and done. I saw it in HFR 3D, but alas, not in IMAX this time.
On to the specifics! I agree with most people that this second movie was more balanced than the first, without dragging sequences, but boy, did it feel long. I have come to have a lot of Feelings about the trilogizing of this book, and my conclusion, here at the two-thirds mark, is that it was not the way to go. Two movies, absolutely. Three...not so much. Cutting the Gandalf/Dol Guldur story would've done it, pretty much, and while all of those scenes were great on their own, the storyline felt like a distraction from Bilbo and the dwarves. I understand the motivation, but in hindsight, I think it should've been left out.
Who knows, maybe movie three will change my mind.
Some things I loved: DWARVES IN BARRELS OMG. That's the the best part of the book and they killed it in the movie. As long as they got that right, I was going to be happy with the movie. I love that it was long and don't even care about all the dramatics in it, because it was visual and fun. Bouncing Bombur was kind of amazing.
The spiders scene was also great. They were gross and scary, and finally Sting got its name properly. I liked watching Bilbo figure out the ring and gain confidence with it.
And, of course, Smaug. Indeed, he was magnificent. He's such an iconic villain and monster, and the movie did him excellent justice. This is where PJ and friends know how to get it right, and where technology and storytelling really come together.
Visually, this was a more exciting movie, because of the variety of scenes and characters ranging in height. In the first movie, you forget how the dwarves and Bilbo are actually short, since they're mostly in scenes with each other. This time, we got contrast with elves and men.
I liked Tauriel, too. I was pretty ready to like her but yes, I did appreciate the addition of a lady to this bro-fest of a series, and she fit into the world well. And, of course, Thranduil the fabulous - world of yes. I wouldn't have minded hanging out in his halls for longer, but there was a lot of plot to get to.
Even though Kili is my dwarf boyfriend, and I don't object to subtle dwarf/elf action, I'm not thrilled with the pastede-on-yay triangle. It wasn't necessary.
Also not necessary, but hilarious and much appreciated: finding any excuse for Legolas to show up and do something elfy. I died.
The Laketown stuff was kind of meh, and the Beorn scene did nothing but show how HFR filming can reveal CGI imperfections. It's weird, because some of those enhanced scenes looked great, but others seemed half-done. We caught the Colbert cameo.
At the end, I still wanted to jump right into the third one, so...success!
#89: American Hustle - A con man, Irving Rosenfeld, along with his seductive British partner, Sydney Prosser, is forced to work for a wild FBI agent, Richie DiMaso. DiMaso pushes them into a world of Jersey powerbrokers and mafia. [imdb]
David O. Russell movies all have a lot in common. The characters are brilliant and the actors rise to perform them superbly. However, the stories don't hold up their end. The Fighter wasn't that interesting, and Silver Linings Playbook fell apart towards the end. American Hustle does a little better, because its problems are at the beginning, which was sloooooooooooow. Between the turtle pace and the theatre's A/C blowing in my face, I literally could not keep my eyes open for a large chunk near the beginning. That said, it did pick up, continuing to gain pace and interest through the end.
Really, though, his movies are for the actors. Christian Bale and Amy Adams were sublime, and it's a shame everyone just expects that of them at this point, because their characters, for all that they would stand out in another movie, were overshadowed by the manic roles for Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence. Those two were great, too, but we all preferred Adams and Bale's more mature performances. Though we did enjoy Cooper's tiny curlers immensely.
Definitely a great movie with a lot of surprises, and a fine acting showcase.