Posted on 12/02/2012 10:56:54 AM PST by Eurotwit
WELLINGTON, New Zealand -- There’s only one real wizard in Middle Earth - and it’s director Peter Jackson.
The auteur from Down Under unveiled “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” - the first installment of his prequel trilogy to his “Lord of the Rings” series - in his native New Zealand Wednesday.
It was an eye-popping night, from the celebrity-filled red carpet to, more important, the action on screen.
Based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s 1937 children’s tale which set the stage for the author’s much darker and heavier later books, Jackson’s “The Hobbit” harkens back to a more innocent time when men were men and gold-hoarding dragons were the biggest evils plaguing the land.
Martin Freeman stars as the titular reluctant hero, who’s tricked by the wizard Gandalf (Ian McKellen) into accompanying 13 dwarves — led by Thorin (a square-jawed Richard Armitage) — on a quest to reclaim their ancient homeland from the worst of those dragons.
The movie offers technological wizardry, thanks to a 48 frames-per-second format, twice the industry standard. Critics who saw a trailer earlier this year were unimpressed, but after a minute or two of adjusting, the higher resolution is eye-popping, similar to discovering HD television for the first time.
Gollum, voiced by Andy Serkis, makes a cameo in Peter Jackson's 'The Hobbit.'
Alas, the higher resolution has one downside: it really makes you wince when you see the obscenely corpulent Goblin King in such crystal clarity.
Lighter and funnier than its “Lord of the Rings” predecessors, “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” remains faithful to the fantasy world last seen in the 2003 Academy Award-winning “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.”
The connections abound through the two-hour-forty-minute epic, including important cameos from Andy Serkis’ Gollum and Elijah Wood’s Frodo.
The result runs rings around most special-effects driven blockbusters.
The movie opens Dec. 14 on this side of the Pacific.
New clip of Gandalf giving Sting to Bilbo:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=XMkb1gp6KsQ
Enjoy :)
ping
Looks sucky.
Peter Jackson did such an amazing job with LotR, I was floored at how silly and pathetic his King Kong was. I guess he needs to stay in the Tolkien world.
Quite a few years ago, I bought the cartoon version of “The Hobbit” on what was called a CD back then. It was actually a really big record which was totally enclosed by it’s plastic container until you inserted it into the player.
The player actually worked by a needle just like a vinyl LP record album. The quality was no where near the modern Btu-ray or even a video tape but was still good enough to watch.
The cartoon version was actually very good. My little daughter really liked sting. I had a Gerber Mark II knife and she would call it “sting”. It did actually look a bit like that small sword.
The music was pretty good too. It will be interesting to watch the new movie.
I introduced the book to my coworkers at a power plant in 1969 most were enthauled, we even had a coworker who is still known as Frodo, 43 years later.
I hope they haven't screwed this up as they did the Lord of The Rings.
I introduced the book to my coworkers at a power plant in 1969 most were enthauled, we even had a coworker who is still known as Frodo, 43 years later.
I hope they haven't screwed this up as they did the Lord of The Rings.
I have a dial-up connection so can’t download the video.
Have you seen Mr. Spock singing “Bilbo Baggins” If you do, your first impression will likely be “What was he thinking?”.
It is so bad that it is good.
For hoot, read Bored of the Rings
by Harvard Lampoon!
http://www.amazon.com/Bored-Rings-Parody-Tolkiens-Lord/dp/0451452615
“Quite a few years ago, I bought the cartoon version of “The Hobbit” on what was called a CD back then. It was actually a really big record which was totally enclosed by it’s plastic container until you inserted it into the player.”
LOL. Our ages are showing. I remember the short-lived video discs well.
I still have a player and maybe a dozen of the discs. Around 5 years ago I tried to play one and the rubber drive belt had turned to goo.
I replaced it with a rubber band and to my surprise, it worked. I am sure if I get it out again, it will need another belt.
I read that back when I was in middle school.
Can still remember picturing the “elven goodies” back then...
But you beat me to it. Welcome to the thread. I'm sure there will be plenty glass half-empty/down on life types to follow you. Seems like there always are. Always seems like there is someone who wants to let everyone else know they think something sucks. So far...you are it. :-)
Do you have firefox and download helper? The music and vid files are a lot smaller today than 20 years ago. Maybe 4-5 mb. on dial up 30-45 mins tops.
When you are slow, you blow. ;)
Yeah...I could see how one can make that judgment from a 50 second clip in a 3 hour movie...LOL
The first part of the prequel TRILOGY?
I had been under the impression that The Hobbit was only being broken up into two parts. I am still deciding if I am happy to have three more movies in Middle Earth, or if I am wondering how that little story can get stretched so far.
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