Re: The Desolation of Smaug pre-release thread [3] [SPOILERS]

[malickfan]

I have the same approach to Indiana Jones 4  

Which I actually quite enjoy in an odd sort of way  

[Yavanna]

Ahhh, Sinister (may I call you Sin?) I completely agree with you. My only reason for even tolerating Radaghast is that I know the actor well (in fact, I've just missed meeting up with him this past weekend at a WHO con)- Sylvie McCoy - whom I love as a person and have had a few heart to heart chats with over a pint. I miss him dearly! I worked this weekend and so could not renew our friendship after a long three years or more. I didn't even notice the bird droppings until my third look at his work. I thought it a little gross, but tolerable, as a touch that the makeup artists at WETA would have thought of it, and probably not PJ himself.

Oh, well. What's done is done (IMHO way to much fighting and giants and idiocy) but I will tolerate some of it for the sake of getting to see Bilbo deal with Smaug. Certainly hoping they're not seriously going to compromise Dain as described...what a shame that would be.

[Mrs Figg]

I enjoy the first 5 minutes anyway. Indiana Jones 4 that is.

[Pettytyrant101]

McCoy is from my home town, and he was the Doctor, and he was apparently great in King Lear playing the Fool to Mckellans King Lear, sadly for me Radagast is black spot on that illustrious career, but the fault lies with the script as much as anything else.

[malickfan]

I trust you will be getting him to read you new improved Hobbit story script?  

[Pettytyrant101]

Only if I recast him as Raddy wouldnt be in my version at all.

[RA]

Is he in the edit?

[malickfan]

Maybe he could play the Drunk Elve? Making funny noises, treating thinks as a joke sounds just like Mcoy.

[Pettytyrant101]

Is he in the edit?- RA

No he is not in the purist edit at all.

[Sinister71]

Yes Yavanna feel free to call me Sin everyone does.   I get McCoy's over the top persona and understand why he was cast. So I really can't fault him for the role of Radagast. He was simply doing what Jackson hired him for. I actually don't mind the overall look of the character but despise the Bird shit on his face. Jackson went from making Radagast eccentric and quirky to being a dirty hermit who obviously doesn't bathe. IMO there is a huge difference  

Met McCoy twice myself at conventions and he seemed like a rather likable bloke. But I have to say he is not my favorite Doctor Who. Tom Baker gets that privilege

[Eldorion]

I was just speaking to Nagual, who I just managed to convince to go see AUJ with me last year and he said it took all his control not to walk out halfway through.

Needless to say he is not going back for more, and on the strength of this stuff, coupled with the the removal of the Beorn introduction, the whole Tauriel and Legolas thing, turning the barrel escape into a chase sequence, Azog being in it, the Necromancer getting in on the scene, Nazgul tombs, Radagast, no happy prophecy waiting to be fulfilled at Lake Town, a testicle eating Stephen Fry (ok that one might not to be too unusual but at least normally he keeps it in private!), and Bard, Legolas' bastard human twin, I am not sure I can stomach it either.*   

Unfortunately I shall have to due to contractual obligations with Pure Publications to provide a NotP film review (I really need to start reading the small print, but in an Angmar and Son contract even finding the small print is a task in itself  )

Just noticed this. You'd better be back with another review! Your one last year was top-notch. Plus you have a parody that needs finishing.

[Eldorion]

I'm really glad to see you back, Sin! I'm glad that your semi-break from Tolkien forums has helped you have a more positive outlook. I think you're right about the approach that PJ has taken with the films. All the LOTR references and expanded plotlines have made him run straight into the same problems that other filmmakers who attempted prequels before him ran into. PJ could have avoided a lot of that since the book gave him a guideline to not just feeling like a lesser copy of the earlier films, but the decision to make the tone "LOTR Lite" removed that possibility from the start IMO.

[bungobaggins]

turning the barrel escape into a chase sequence

This got me thinking.

How many chase scenes will we get in TH movies when all is said and done?

AUJ
1. Wargs, Trollshaws to Rivendell
2. Goblin town
3. Wargs, other side of the Misty Mountains

DOS
4. Beorn chases the company into his house
5. Barrels out of Bond
6. ??? Possible Lake Town chase scene involving Bard from LEGO set
7. ??? Possible chase scene with orcs and elves pursuing the company into Lake Town
8. ???

TABA
???

omg I frickin hate chase scenes.

[bungobaggins]

[Sinister71]

             

[Eldorion]

This got me thinking.

How many chase scenes will we get in TH movies when all is said and done?

The real question is whether there will be more chase scenes or more cliff-dangling scenes by the time the trilogy is complete.

[bungobaggins]

How many cliff-dangling scenes were in AUJ?

Bilbo and the Stone Giants, and 15 birds. Two? I think there's going to be more chase scenes. Unless I missed some in AUJ.

Oh, wait, there's probably going to be a lot of dangling off the edge of the Lonely Mountain.

Prediction: During the Bo5A, Azog will become set on fire somehow and will precede to jump off the top of Erebor à la Denethor.

[Eldorion]

I could swear there were some cliff-dangling moments in goblin-town. I might have been mixing it up with some of the dangling in the Trollshaws too. It's been a while since I've seen the film, but I recall being annoyed with the amount of dangling in it.

[Sinister71]

How many cliff-dangling scenes were in AUJ?

Bilbo and the Stone Giants, and 15 birds. Two? I think there's going to be more chase scenes. Unless I missed some in AUJ.

Oh, wait, there's probably going to be a lot of dangling off the edge of the Lonely Mountain.

Prediction: During the Bo5A, Azog will become set on fire somehow and will precede to jump off the top of Erebor à la Denethor.

The only dangling scene that would have been perfect in AUJ was where Bilbo SHOULD have been dangling from Dori's feet while dangling from an eagle. Crying "Oh! My arms, my arms!!" while Dori was crying "Oh! my legs, my legs!!" all while the eagle was saying nothing  but I guess that was too close to the book to make the cut  

       

[bungobaggins]

How many cliff-dangling scenes were in AUJ?

Bilbo and the Stone Giants, and 15 birds. Two? I think there's going to be more chase scenes. Unless I missed some in AUJ.

Oh, wait, there's probably going to be a lot of dangling off the edge of the Lonely Mountain.

Prediction: During the Bo5A, Azog will become set on fire somehow and will precede to jump off the top of Erebor à la Denethor.

The only dangling scene that would have been perfect in AUJ was where Bilbo SHOULD have been dangling from Dori's feet while dangling from an eagle. Crying "Oh! My arms, my arms!!" while Dori was crying "Oh! my legs, my legs!!" all while the eagle was saying nothing   but I guess that was too close to the book to make the cut  

       

THAT scene was in the Rankin Bass version!!!!!    

[chris63]

It seems, however, that he did leave out the iconic scene where Gandalf tells the story to Beorn and has the dwarves come in two by two... Sounds like they just get chased in.

Shame, i like that bit in the book

[halfwise]

PJ has forsaken charm for the sake of the heroic. When he does try to do charm, he gets maudlin.

Too bad, in LoTR he occasionally did charm just fine.

[Sinister71]

How many cliff-dangling scenes were in AUJ?

Bilbo and the Stone Giants, and 15 birds. Two? I think there's going to be more chase scenes. Unless I missed some in AUJ.

Oh, wait, there's probably going to be a lot of dangling off the edge of the Lonely Mountain.

Prediction: During the Bo5A, Azog will become set on fire somehow and will precede to jump off the top of Erebor à la Denethor.

The only dangling scene that would have been perfect in AUJ was where Bilbo SHOULD have been dangling from Dori's feet while dangling from an eagle. Crying "Oh! My arms, my arms!!" while Dori was crying "Oh! my legs, my legs!!" all while the eagle was saying nothing   but I guess that was too close to the book to make the cut  

       

THAT scene was in the Rankin Bass version!!!!!    

But it was a naturally comedic scene from the book as well which was perfect comedy that didn't resort to burping, food fighting, bouncing around naked in public, being rude, or having to be made completely up. It was something funny that Tolkien wrote into the story that added to its charm. Rankin and Bass got their version of the Hobbit right, it might have left out a few details like Beorn but at least it used the natural comedy from the source material instead of making up useless juvenile material that really doesn't tell the Hobbit story.

[bungobaggins]

It seems, however, that he did leave out the iconic scene where Gandalf tells the story to Beorn and has the dwarves come in two by two... Sounds like they just get chased in.

Shame, i like that bit in the book

Wait, there was a book?

[bungobaggins]

Yes, Sin, it is naturally comedic. But you know good ole PJ, he's gotta make sure we know when to laugh by using Adam Sandler type humor!