REVIEW OF THE HOBBIT: THE BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQex4lpcdFSA1f3ZRw7txSiXa1YMa1Oi7AEbKxjz-Nf6LulJ-afLAyvI4AwZmuL4zdQ8ZkE_wnsuvSWNbJRQLqC2qpEe5sfKR9p1BU_VlpcUIk3v3Ne9t5xh8qNxvmoLy1IMADRkkrHSQ/s1600/The-Hobbit-the-battle-of-five-armies-poster-the-hobbit-37565139-1024-1453.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQex4lpcdFSA1f3ZRw7txSiXa1YMa1Oi7AEbKxjz-Nf6LulJ-afLAyvI4AwZmuL4zdQ8ZkE_wnsuvSWNbJRQLqC2qpEe5sfKR9p1BU_VlpcUIk3v3Ne9t5xh8qNxvmoLy1IMADRkkrHSQ/s1600/The-Hobbit-the-battle-of-five-armies-poster-the-hobbit-37565139-1024-1453.jpg" width="140" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">2014 rating: **1/2</td></tr> </tbody></table> The first post-production buzz concerning the third HOBBIT was that it had another name...<br /> <br /> <div style="text-align: right;"> </div> <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6d73oLMu9Zo8s3SKGaNDMtIw8DC4rzwGxGOk4W4JP0LklPvzs8PcKq3MFsJD-a54RjUDLwQgAwMuAA4HZPL-D6bFoNGhGlD0yK_3aRzIVeoGYGteTLuHXzvlFX8mY-U1n6z9v4Em9l58/s1600/the_hobbit_the_battle_of_the_five_armies_2014_adventure_fantasy-t2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6d73oLMu9Zo8s3SKGaNDMtIw8DC4rzwGxGOk4W4JP0LklPvzs8PcKq3MFsJD-a54RjUDLwQgAwMuAA4HZPL-D6bFoNGhGlD0yK_3aRzIVeoGYGteTLuHXzvlFX8mY-U1n6z9v4Em9l58/s1600/the_hobbit_the_battle_of_the_five_armies_2014_adventure_fantasy-t2.jpg" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Smaug Fully Loaded</td></tr> </tbody></table> No longer THERE AND BACK AGAIN, which is what Bilbo Baggins called his adventurous autobiography, the new title, BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES, is pretty self-explanatory. And on the visual end, the 3D is so clean and clear, losing the essential celluloid grain, the picture resembles a BBC Miniseries shot on video... But names and technology aside, there’s a good and a bad to this final installment of Peter Jackson’s nine-hour epic based on a relatively short novel, which at times felt like “butter stretched onto too much bread.” <br /> <div style="text-align: right;"> </div> <br /> At the conclusion of THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG, the vengeful flying beast, after being awakened and thoroughly ticked off, was ready to paint the town flamethrower red. But the full-on dragon attack isn’t much. And followed by an hour of ponderous melodrama, the movie should have been retitled DAYS OF OUR DWARVES… <br /> <br /> <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicclZHJJa8A88zNPI7l3vFlIsOnnnIcacdgLw5xTqUS9zBOiPoCVVNQUYpHqKHoOaRDXG-8d_pTHRylvjk7z01Lz6emEGMTTp95AOQiem5K5Bl6dLcji5P_7U06Rb1FXhNVFmyy-lHOx0/s1600/Hobbit3.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicclZHJJa8A88zNPI7l3vFlIsOnnnIcacdgLw5xTqUS9zBOiPoCVVNQUYpHqKHoOaRDXG-8d_pTHRylvjk7z01Lz6emEGMTTp95AOQiem5K5Bl6dLcji5P_7U06Rb1FXhNVFmyy-lHOx0/s1600/Hobbit3.jpg" width="192" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nothing beats Tolkien Art</td></tr> </tbody></table> Either suffering along with Thorin Oakenshield and his greedy lust for gold, hearing tempting voices much like Bilbo and Frodo would for The Ring... or as bowman Bard incessantly whines about how his people are the Nots to Thorin’s Have… and the pointless romance between dashing Kili and love interest Tauriel: It’s both a blessing and a curse when the movie starts living up to the shiny new moniker: <br /> <br /> For the Elves and humans are ready to fight Thorin, while those grotesque Orcs have it in for everyone, including a last minute dwarf army. But how can we spend two long hours on a battlefield?<br /> <br /> <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpk4H9CXmpsROclOUo0b4qUzqbUW0kIqY4rTrkGnNQt9oMK-qVVaOGztg-vtZKAmXOqFmLNMmUG9RyYAJqbUjv9x_Os2d4rKrj0V9f3EYKw_WUMSxgkrRZGvOo83omkbA1ZOXJExnTgdc/s1600/thorin_a_study.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpk4H9CXmpsROclOUo0b4qUzqbUW0kIqY4rTrkGnNQt9oMK-qVVaOGztg-vtZKAmXOqFmLNMmUG9RyYAJqbUjv9x_Os2d4rKrj0V9f3EYKw_WUMSxgkrRZGvOo83omkbA1ZOXJExnTgdc/s1600/thorin_a_study.jpg" width="162" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"What about me?!?"</td></tr> </tbody></table> Veering off the rowdy front lines to take part in several personal bouts between key rivals are not only the best scenes, we finally get connected to the action and the characters – and the characters through their actions instead of endless expository dialogue (tying into LORD OF THE RINGS). Ironically enough, the most important player isn’t Bilbo, who seems peripheral at the end of his very own trilogy. <br /> <br /> Initially hired by Dwarves as a burglar to steal the dragon’s gold, other than his stint with Smaug we never get to know him the way we did Frodo… or Sam. Which doesn’t mean Martin Freeman didn’t do a good job in the role. But if this ambitiously flawed saga were called OAKENSHIELD, it would have been literary blasphemy against creator J.R.R. Tolkien, sure, but Thorin's the one Peter Jackson chose to dwell on throughout. Bilbo was merely an employee. 

franchise, martin freeman, peter jackson, sequel

REVIEW OF THE HOBBIT: THE BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES

2014 rating: **1/2 The first post-production buzz concerning the third HOBBIT was that it had another name... Smaug Fully Loaded ...

THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbthwqI_sXGn2S6M8YBCbY-EWB3oRO-vqtO_EsI45DFrwXxCS7LJJsdp5KRsQaoAEgq3uEsYP6a_vpS8glB8oIVX8lGWLeNlYfe3GsZm5mup0hNjwaKq3ucJfI8Eyy53LXox9nmLL4pp3X/s1600/the-adventures-of-tintin-the-secret-of-the-unicorn.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="448" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbthwqI_sXGn2S6M8YBCbY-EWB3oRO-vqtO_EsI45DFrwXxCS7LJJsdp5KRsQaoAEgq3uEsYP6a_vpS8glB8oIVX8lGWLeNlYfe3GsZm5mup0hNjwaKq3ucJfI8Eyy53LXox9nmLL4pp3X/s640/the-adventures-of-tintin-the-secret-of-the-unicorn.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>year: </b>2011 <b>voices</b>: Andy Serkis, Jamie Bell <b>rating:</b> ***1/2</td></tr> </tbody></table> <br /> <br /> Steven Spielberg’s computer animated adventure about a young boy Tintin, his little white dog Snowy, and an endearingly drunken Captain Haddock might be too much of a good thing – but it’s a good thing nonetheless.<br /> <br /> The frantic action is non-stop: from the minute Tintin sees a model ship called THE UNICORN, he’s dead set on buying it. But a few seedy characters want it for themselves and the daring young investigative reporter needs to find out why – all having to do with the lineage of the underdog alcoholic Captain, held hostage at sea by the main antagonist: a greedy yet cunningly classy villain named Sakharine, much like Belloq from Spielberg’s RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, which this movie tries hard to emulate by wielding a constant handing-off of perilous escapades.<br /> <br /> The problem is we don’t get to know any of the characters enough (who'd be more interesting if they were actually human) to really care about them, or take part emotionally in their quest: which is too hackneyed to sustain genuine interest, although the dialog sets up each situation well enough and there are a few semi-witty moments by two keystone cops.<br /> <br /> But the best scenes involve Haddock, voiced wonderfully by Andy Serkis, recalling his father’s pirate ship battles: the imagery of the tale surrounding the scene as he talks. And the rambunctious Snowy merely provides a peripheral mascot to the action, yet he’s a character worth loving for no other reason than being furry and cute.<br /> <br /> As for Tintin, he’s got a heart for adventure but why exactly? Well perhaps it doesn’t matter… If you want two hours of nothing but thrills, this will do it for you. With the constantly moving camera gliding in, out, up and around like a ghost on pep pills, it feels more like producer Peter Jackson’s baby than Spielberg’s. But it’s the John Williams score, and the feeling of being young again, that gives the iconic director his signature throughout. 

action, adventure, andy serkis, computer animated, daniel craig, peter jackson, steven spielberg, tens

THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN

year: 2011 voices : Andy Serkis, Jamie Bell rating: ***1/2 Steven Spielberg’s computer animated adventure about a young boy Tintin, h...