1. More of DALE, including the BLACK ARROWS. Director Peter Jackson mentions a previously unseen character: "Girion, who is defending [the city of] Dale using black arrows against Smaug. And the black arrows play a part in an ongoing story, for they are the one thing that can pierce the dragon's hide."
2. More king of the wood elves; THRANDUIL. Peter Jackson: "There are also issues with Thranduil. We get some of the reason why he and the dwarves had a falling out to do with these white gems..."
3. More of HOBBITON. Producer Phillipa Boyens: "You are going to get more of Hobbiton. We always wanted to wend our way through Hobbiton, but in the end Bilbo has to run out of the door."
4. The OLD TOOK'S PARTY: In which we see a younger Gandalf meet Bilbo Baggins as a young child, convincing the wizard of the young hobbit's bravery and courage. I won't spoil it for you, but it involves a dragon and a bit of magic.
5. Dwarf antics at RIVENDELL. Peter Jackson: "You are going to get some serious Dwarvish disrespect of the elves at Rivendell." Bofur leads the troupe in a rowdy chorus of "The Man in the Moon", a classic Tolkien pub-song.
6. The SONG of the GOBLIN KING. Producer Fran Walsh: "You are going to get more Goblin Town, and the Great Goblin singing his song. It is a great song, but it was just another delay in terms of moving the story along." Peter Jackson: "A number one hit from the Goblin King. Barry Humphries is going to rise up the charts!"
Well, all looking good on these fronts! The roads lead ever on and on...
Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>
The packaging is great, the slipcase is thick and sturdy and the back features an embossed acorn emblem of Bilbo's waist coat buttons. The case that the Blu-Ray discs are in is black, just like the Lord Of The Rings Extended Edition Blu-Ray set. Not a blue case like most other Blu-Ray movies which I think makes this version cohesive with the Lord Of The Rings set, which I as a fan appreciate the continuity. The special features are as follows:-The Filmmakers' Commentary Director/writer/producer Peter Jackson and writer/co-producer Philippa Boyens provide their perspective and stories on creating the first film.
-New Zealand: Home of Middle-Earth From Matamata to Queenstown, travel with Peter Jackson and his team across the stunning locations of New Zealand, transformed by the filmmakers into Middle-Earth.
-The Appendices Part 7: A Long-Expected Journey A 14-part chronological history of the filming of An Unexpected Journey, covering pre-production in the various departments of the film in the months leading up to the start of principal photography, the boot camp training for the main cast, and the work done on set chronologically through the three shooting blocks and in the world of its digital effects. Chapters include:
*The Journey Back to Middle-Earth
*Riddles in the Dark: Gollum's Cave
*An Unexpected Party: Bag End
*Roast Mutton: Trollshaws Forest
*Bastion of the Greenwood: Rhosgobel
*A Short Rest: Rivendell and London
*Over Hill: The Misty Mountains
*Under Hill: Goblin Town
*Out of the Frying Pan: The Forest Ledge
*Return to Hobbiton: The Shire
*The Epic of Scene 88: Strath Taieri
*The Battle of Moria: Azanulbizar
*Edge of the Wilderland: Pick-ups and the Carrock
*Home Is Behind, the World Is Ahead
-The Appendices Part 8: Return to Middle-Earth Another selection of documentaries and featurettes, further detailing the development, design and production of An Unexpected Journey:
-The Company of Thorin Explores the characters and backgrounds of the five families of dwarves and the company of actors chosen to play Thorin's company on the Quest of the Lonely Mountain. Chapters include:
*Assembling the Dwarves
*Thorin, Fili & Kili
*Balin & Dwalin
*Oin & Gloin
*Dori, Nori & Ori
*Bifur, Bofur & Bombur
-Mr. Baggins: The 14th Member A revealing look at the film's charismatic and talented lead actor, Martin Freeman.
-Durin's Folk: Creating the Dwarves Reveals the journey and process of designing, conceptualizing and physically realizing the dwarves in The Hobbit.
-The Peoples and Denizens of Middle-Earth Focuses on the realization of new characters and creatures encountered in the first film, from casting to characterization to physical and digital design. Chapters include:
*The Stone Trolls
*Radagast the Brown
*Goblins
*Azog the Defiler
-Realms of the Third Age: From Bag End to Goblin Town Follows the creation of the Middle-Earth locations from conceptual design to set and prop building to fully digital realities. Realms explored include:
*Hobbiton
*Rhosgobel
*The Misty Mountains
*Goblin Town
-The Songs of The Hobbit A look at the realization of Tolkien's songs in An Unexpected Journey.
Best Deals for The Hobbit An Unexpected Journey (Blu-ray 3D) (2012)
Almost clicked the order button, but due to my love of the extended versions of the original trilogy, I decided to do a little research before I made that mistake. in doing so, I discovered that the Blue-Ray/DVD set for release on March 19th will contain only the theatrical version of the movie. Warner Bros is including a teaser trailer containing Dragon Smaug with this version in order to entice people to buy it. The extended version of 'The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey' will be released in time for Christmas 2013. As with the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, Warner Bros. is trying to stick it to the consumer again by hoping people will buy both versions. Sorry, WB... I can wait another nine months. In the meantime, I'll rent a copy to satisfy my urge to see it sooner.Honest reviews on The Hobbit An Unexpected Journey (Blu-ray 3D) (2012)
This movie is FREAKING AMAZING!!! I was getting really worried before going to see it because of some negative reviews, but there is nothing to worry about. If you loved the Lord of the Rings movies, especially the extended editions, then you will love The Hobbit too!A little bit about me: I grew up on the animated movies, read the books when I was in sixth grade, and have reread them several times over the years. I'm a HUGE fan, but not a "purist", and saw each of the live action films several times in the theaters. I took a class on Tolkien in college (and knew more about the books than even the teacher lol), went to view the original manuscripts at Marquette University in Milwaukee twice, and borrowed most of the History of Middle Earth books from the library but just skimmed them. I'm pretty familiar with much of the appendices/deleted chapters/abandoned attempts at revising The Hobbit and sequelizing Lord of the Rings, etc.
I've been waiting for The Hobbit since 2003, and have been following the production online. When it was announced 5 months ago that Peter Jackson was splitting the story into 3 films (after already completing production on the 2-film adaptation), my heart sank. It's not that I was opposed to turning The Hobbit into a trilogy (despite that it's meant to be a children's story and not an epic), but I just didn't think there was enough story and it seemed like a cash grab that would probably destroy the pacing. But, Peter Jackson hasn't let me down before and so I held out hope. In fact the more I heard him talk about giving the dwarves a bit more character development and backstory and adding in all the stuff about the White Council, I began to look forward to it.
When a couple weeks ago reviews starting coming in saying that, as I had first feared, the movie dragged and the pacing was terrible, I prepared myself for disappointment. Even though hardcore fans on messageboards like theonering.net who had seen the movie early kept saying it was terrific, the negative reviews from professional critics kept coming in. The movie is "bloated" and "dull" and "misses the point", they said. And so I was VERY nervous going to see the movie this afternoon.
I'm pleased to say that not only is the movie incredible, but it's on par with the Lord of the Rings movies. I haven't felt this way about a movie since Fellowship of the Ring 10 years ago. I haven't been able to stop thinking about it all night, and I can't wait till I can go see it again. I sat in the theater for nearly three hours with the biggest grin on my face the entire time. The movie didn't feel bloated or stretched thin to me. I was worried that there would be all these scenes that went on too long or belonged on the cutting room floor, but I can't think of anything I would have left out. It was like watching the book acted out on the screen in front of me with really great acting, music, and production values.
The cinematography has really improved in the last 10 years! Wow this movie is beautifully shot! Howard Shore's music is once again great, though there are some little deletions and changes from the Original Soundtrack -the only one that really bugged me though was the use of the Nazgul theme over Thorin fighting Azog. There was better music there in the Original Soundtrack and changing it was a horrible decision.
I love the added stuff with the White Council/Necromancer. It's all there in Tolkien's appendices and in "Unfinished Tales", and (blasphemy for saying so) depending on how this continues to play out over the next two movies I may end up liking this even better than the book! Either the next film or the one after that will have the Battle of Dol Goldur and, from what I've heard, we will see Gandalf, Saruman, Radagast, and Galadriel battling werewolves and giant spiders as they try to drive out the Necromancer. I can just imagine how awesome that will be if Peter Jackson pulls it off!
And, yes, this felt to me like a complete movie. One of the reasons I originally hated the idea of a trilogy was I expected to feel short changed by only seeing a small fraction of the story and then having to wait another year. But I felt like there was plenty of story and they got into plenty of adventures.
My only nitpicks are few: I liked the design of the Great Goblin but I thought he acted way too cartoony. My other is there were a couple times where Bilbo and the dwarves fell from a height of like 500 feet and just got back up. They would have been killed. I also thought the character Azog was fine, but why did he have to be all CGI? Why couldn't it have been an actor in makeup like Lurtz in Fellowship of the Ring? Those are really my only nitpicks though.
As I sat in the theater I had a feeling like this is one of the best filmgoing experiences I've ever had. I had the same feeling watching Lord of the Rings. As someone who originally hated the idea of making this into a trilogy, now I say bring it on!!!
UPDATE: I got to see the movie in 48 frames per second (HFR 3D) yesterday. I had only seen it in regular 24fps 3D before. 24fps has been the standard for film since the Silent movie days. The Hobbit is the first movie to be shot at 48fps to give it a sharper look. Unfortunately the technology is new so only a few theaters are equipped to even show it at 48fps. Many of the reviewers were saying they hated it, that it looks like a BBC TV movie. I was still curious to give it a try because it's new technology and it's how Peter Jackson intended you to see the movie, but I didn't want it to distract from my first viewing if I ended up not liking it, so we saw the movie first at 24fps 3D.
Anyway, I liked it and I didn't think it looked "cheap" or like a "soap opera" at all. It looked really sharp and there were some parts where the people looked like they were really right in front of you. In addition to that, motion blur is completely gone now and I've heard from other people who get headaches from watching 3D movies that they were fine watching this one, thanks to the 48fps.
Peter Jackson has confirmed that there WILL be an extended edition dvd/blu ray like they did with the Lord of the Rings movies. So you may want to hold out from buying the theatrical dvd when it comes out and get the extended edition.
Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for The Hobbit An Unexpected Journey (Blu-ray 3D) (2012)
Are you ready to return to middle-earth? Why wouldn't you be? Peter Jackson, with the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, brought us to a place that many thought wasn't possible except in the written form. A product of many of our childhoods, J.R.R. Tolkien constructed an elaborate world of wizards, trolls, elves, dwarves, humans and most importantly Hobbits. It is an elaborately detailed world of maps, homelands, stories and adventures. It couldn't possibly be realized anywhere close to what J.R.R. Tolkien's imagination did. Yet, Jackson pulled it off better than anyone could have hoped. Now, he's trying again."The Hobbit" is a step backward into the history of middle-earth. It is quite simply the adventure that Bilbo Baggins takes that leads to him writing his book, "There and back again". Peter Jackson is trying to do the unthinkable with this trilogy, duplicate the magic he pulled off before. Much can be told from this first installment and whether or not the magic is still there.
The movie, filmed at twice frame-speed as traditional film (48 frames) has many geeks talking about how it will look too real. Ultimately, at 48 frames, it could look as crisp and real as a soap opera. Well, first of all, with a film like this, it takes a lot of guts to attempt such a thing; a movie with such obvious special effects and makeup. Yet, the opposite could also be achieved; a level of escapism and realism that not only delivers a quality movie experience, but also sucks you into a world that you don't want to leave.
Peter Jackson has learned a few things from his first trilogy and you can see it in "The Hobbit". This world is even more realized. The characters are more fleshed out. Richard Armitage's depiction of Thorin is full of heart and passion. The faithfulness to the book itself is even more realized. More importantly, the journey is even more colorful and creative.
"The Hobbit" is a lot of the same. It's another journey full of adventure and trolls, dwarves and orcs, but again, it is a quality journey. The escapism you feel in this film is like nothing you've ever felt before. When it was time to go, at the end of the film, I didn't want to. I was there. I was in middle-earth, ready to take the journey ahead with Bilbo, Gandolff and the band of Dwarves. I didn't care about length or how long I had been sitting there. I was invested. That, is really all any movie can do.
No comments:
Post a Comment