Mayonnaise, what else would the French use on the fries? Well not just the French. I suppose it is not less strange than using vinegar with your fries, malt vinegar if you can get it!
Favorite Middle Earth Race
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Watched the Hobbit last weekend.
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The only time action occurs is when the Orcs show up. Other than that it’s “my precious” mantra and giant bugs. ZZZZZZZZZZ. That movie was way too long and it’s always the same damn thing…Lets go on a trip across wretched terrain and fight things along the way till the big battle at the end. And everybody talks in a manner like some cartoon character ( evil speak)
That sums up LOTR
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Men obviously. We are the master race of Middle Earth.
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Humans. Can’t be doing with that airy fairy Elf stuff, those thieving Halflings and the less said about those Scottish stunted individuals, who forever fall over their beards, the better.
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@wittmann:
those Scottish stunted individuals, who forever fall over their beards
That’s a very interesting description which I’ll have to mention to a friend of mine who’s a great Tolkien fan.
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I like everyone in film to have a BBC English accent.
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I have to side with the Elves because they are the only ones who have hot women….
The humans hottest chick was Eowyn? Ack…Not saying she was terrible, but if that’s the best the human race has to offer, no thanks…besides…Elven chicks don’t age! What’s a cougar for Elves anyways, like 2000 years?As for the Hobbit, just refer to “How it should have ended” It fits perfectly with Imperious Leader’s bah humbug spirit.
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Yeah… Men. Numenoreans are some of the coolest people Tolkien ever created. Way better than elves.
Okay… Hobbit commentary time!
Did not care for An Unexpected Journey. Way too long and drawn out, even for a very adamant LOTR/Tolkien fan such as myself. One of the few movies I actually got bored with in theaters.
I felt that Desolation of Smaug was a little more entertaining, but still far too long and over-complicated. Smaug himself was extremely well done and Martin Freeman was very good, but the rest of the movie sort of ruined the whole. Too much stylized action, too many orc chases and unnecessary changes to the story. The CGI use makes everything look very fake and fantastical, even without seeing it at high frame rate. The entire river chase seemed like a video game and not a movie. Jackson should have stuck to his bigature models and prosthetic orcs.
I loved Lord of the Rings, and I love Tolkien’s work, but this stray a bit much and unnecessarily so in my eyes. I feel no need to go out and buy these films in the same way I did with LOTR.
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Let’s try to remember that there is a distinct difference between the depth of the writings in The Hobbit compared to The Lord of the Rings. Hoffman is right that the story has changed in the Hobbit and much was added to it in the movie. This was a necessary evil. The book was simple…so simple that Tolken even had to revise it afterwards, although that was to attempt to align it with the real masterpiec of his (LOTR).
I would have to say both Hobbit movies were far more exciting than the Fellowship. While it does the job, that movie was WAY far more drawn out than it needed to be. The Battle in part 3 will not come close to that of Helm’s Deep or the White City (IMHO, Helm’s Deep is better than the battle at Minas Tirith).
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Let’s try to remember that there is a distinct difference between the depth of the writings in The Hobbit compared to The Lord of the Rings. Hoffman is right that the story has changed in the Hobbit and much was added to it in the movie. This was a necessary evil. The book was simple…so simple that Tolken even had to revise it afterwards, although that was to attempt to align it with the real masterpiec of his (LOTR).
Yes, people with a good knowledge of Tolkien know that The Hobbit was written first and had nothing to do with LOTR because the latter was not even conceived yet. However, that has little to do with whether or not the movie is effective or not.
At first I was skeptical, yet hopeful, that making The Hobbit into 3 movies was a wise move; one that was predicated on giving us more Tolkien as opposed to making more money. While I do still believe that Peter Jackson wanted to give us more Tolkien, he has not done it particularly well. I read somewhere that in 3 movies, we will have 2 minutes of screen-time for every page in The Hobbit. That itself is an incredible statistic. A below average reader could finish the book in less time than it takes to watch the movies! To me, that is not necessarily a good thing. Yeah, it means we get to see more of Middle-Earth, but as you pointed out Mallery, The Hobbit is simple and not very deep in plot. This takes an already short and thin story and stretches it further than can really be justified. Butter scraped over too much bread, if you will.
I would have to say both Hobbit movies were far more exciting than the Fellowship. While it does the job, that movie was WAY far more drawn out than it needed to be.
Definitely, and respectfully, disagree. While the Fellowship (both book and film) is the most tedious of the three, the film has a more intriguing beginning, a more balanced middle and a more natural climax/ending, than either of the first two Hobbit films. In terms of excitement (which I am assuming you mean general action), Fellowship is also better with between 5 and 6 distinct action sequences (some particularly memorable), depending on how you count. ‘Unexpected Journey’ had, what, 3 or 4? and was ridiculously long and tedious to boot. It has been a year since I saw it. ‘Desolation’ had as at least much action as Fellowship, certainly more sustained action. Rotten Tomatoes, which I tend to agree with in terms of overall ratings, give The Fellowship a 92% fresh, while the first and second Hobbit films are at 65% and 74%, respectively. Jackson’s films are not for everyone, but for those who enjoy them, I would say that these statistics are very representative of reality.
Fellowship has a runtime of 178 min, theatrical. ‘Unexpected Journey’ has 169 min. That is only a 9 minute difference. The Fellowship of the Ring at least had an entire book to cover (some 480 pages worth), whereas Unexpected Journey has almost the same runtime for approximately 380 fewer pages of literature. Pacing of Fellowship is far better too. I have already mentioned the action scenes, but a god deal of Fellowship’s ‘exposition’ scenes, such as the Council of Elrond, opening Shire sequences and Lothlorien are all actually in the book. Unlike many of the expositions in ‘Unexpected Journey’. It takes 45 minutes just to get out of Bag End in ‘Unexpected Journey’… while The Council of Elrond (which is an entire chapter in Fellowship) takes up only about 10 minutes of screen time, and conveys a lot of critical information.
All in all… The Hobbit films have been a let down for me. It’s great, I suppose, if other people like and enjoy them, but they seem very different from The Lord of the Rings films, in terms of visual and script quality. I cannot seem to enjoy them very much. Certainly, there are good moments (Riddle game, meeting Smaug) but they are surrounded by mostly boring plot exposition, over-the-top orc fights/chases and disappointing source deviations. Some of these could be borne if the movies did not seem to drag so much.
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Minas Tirith battle was destroyed by those stupid invincible green ghosts turning up and killing everything in their path.
Jackson even admitted he hated the ghosts, so then why did he used them to ruin the climax of the battle?
I have not seen the Hobbits films as I lost patience with all the idiotic changes he made in LOTR, none of which improved the stories.
Elves turning up at Helm’s Deep - yuk!
Hobbit would have made a great one-off film. Three is sucking the sauce bottle to destruction.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/markkermode/posts/The-Desolation-Of-Smaug-An-Analysis
wonder if Krieghund is working on this one:
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/135219/the-battle-of-five-armies
Me voted for Ghan-buri-Ghan - him too good to be in stupid film.
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Balrogs are where it’s at!
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Minas Tirith battle was destroyed by those stupid invincible green ghosts turning up and killing everything in their path.
Jackson even admitted he hated the ghosts, so then why did he used them to ruin the climax of the battle?
To incorporate the Army of the Dead into the movies (after Aragorn went to seek their help to release them from their debt) either meant doing it at Pelennor fields or adding in the entire section of the war that was in the books but left out where they defeat the Corsairs prior to Aragorn and the Grey Company sailing on to Minas Tirith.
I imagine it would have made the movie another 20-30 minutes longer, even though that would mean sticking closer to the books.
Personally, I loved the LotR both in novel and film forms. The movies were incredibly well done all things considered (admittedly the books are always better). I can not go into a movie adaptation expecting to see the book come to life as written … that never, ever, ever happens and guarantees disappointment every time.
In any case, that said, I put my vote with the Dwarves. I don’t know why I do, but I do prefer them over all the other races of Middle Earth. Possibly because, outside of Men, they are the least mystical/fantastical. Just stout, hardy, plucky people looking to reclaim their place in the world and their homes, knowing full well their time is near the end. I’d love to see an entire series of novels about them alone!
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I know it’s not middle earth, but the trolls in “Willow” were awesome, so thats my choice (stupid answer eh?).
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Yeah, that is like asking a Star Wars question and getting a Stargate answer.
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Yeah, that is like asking a Star Wars question and getting a Stargate answer.
Your geek is showing :lol:
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@Young:
Yeah, that is like asking a Star Wars question and getting a Stargate answer.
Your geek is showing :lol:
I flaunt it. 8-)
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@Young:
I know it’s not middle earth, but the trolls in “Willow” were awesome, so thats my choice (stupid answer eh?).
Whenever you blast one with a magical wand great things happen! The bloody meatball with dragons heads was awesome.
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