The Hobbit: An Unexpected... Dilemma?

I am a HUGE fan of J.R.R. Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" novels, and that of course includes the book that preceded it, "The Hobbit". I don't know exactly why, but I feel more attached to the "Hobbit" book than I did with LOTR. Maybe it was the fact that my mom read "Hobbit" to me when I was younger, and then when she read LOTR to me, the movies were just about to come out, so I guess I've just had more time to get attached to my vision of the book.

While I am very excited for this upcoming film adaptation of "The Hobbit", and I a big fan of Peter Jackson and the way he did LOTR, I am facing a bit of apprehension about it, too. The biggest reason I am uncertain about it is the fact that they are splitting the book into THREE movies. Seriously, I think the book is shorter than half the size of one of the LOTR books (don't quote me on that, I don't know for a fact). Harry Potter created a trend of splitting books into multiple movies, because Twilight copied it and now The Hobbit. I do think that they were justified in doing the split for Harry Potter, but I just don't get why Peter Jackson would do this to The Hobbit. The only way they could fit Hobbit into three movies is if they are adding stuff to it, and that's just not right. I also bet New Line Cinema's in it for the money since the LOTR movies were so popular.

The other thing I'm really somewhat unsure about are the thirteen dwarves. That had to be a daunting task going into the filming process, trying to make them all look different and distinguishable... but I'm not exactly digging the looks for some of the dwarves in this film. I've gotten used to some of them, but some just don't look dwarfish enough for me. I'm going to list them below and rate them 1-13.

GLOIN - #1
As the father of Gimli, the dwarf we all know and love from LOTR, Gloin is probably the best looking dwarf out of all of them in my own opinion. I also like the way they have Gloin carrying the same axe as Gimli did in LOTR.

DWALIN - #2
It's a different look, but I kinda like it.I can see him being a dwarf. A tough dwarf. I don't really remember if Dwalin was written as being a tough guy, but whatever. Still looks cool.

OIN - #3
Again, different, but still pretty dwarfish.

BALIN - #4
A bit cartoonish maybe, but I'm digging that coat. That's some nice threads.

DORI - #5
Decent. B-.

THORIN - #6
As the leader of the company of dwarves, Thorin has to look very distinctive from the rest. They went the Aragorn route for him, making him more handsome than you'd think a dwarf would be or the book described him.

BOMBUR - #7
I don't really like the braided beard (?), but they did make him fat, and that was his big character trait.

BIFUR - #8
A little wild, but still, what's with the hatchet wound?

BOFUR - #9
I don't know whether to compare his look to a hunter or a pirate. Does not scream "dwarf" though.

NORI - #10
Do I even need to comment?

FILI - #11
NOT. DWARFISH. ENOUGH.

KILI - #12
NOT. DWARFISH. AT ALL.

ORI - #13
Uh.................................... ?

I've been ranting on the things I don't like about what I think could be bad. However, to be fair, I don't know that it will be bad. In fact, since the movie has already premiered in New Zealand, there are already reviews for the movie up on IMDB.com. I didn't really read all of them, but five out of eight reviews gave the film 10/10 stars. That's not a common occurrence, by any means. Apart from that, there are several things I'm excitedly looking forward to about this movie. At the top of the list is seeing Martin Freeman as Bilbo Baggins.

I've really only seen Martin Freeman in the British television series "Sherlock", and I watched one episode of the British "The Office", where he plays the Jim Halpert character equivalent. From what I have seen of him, I think he is going to be a brilliant Bilbo. There are other cast members I'm excited for, such as the returning cast of Ian McKellen as Gandalf, Hugo Weaving as Elrond, Andy Serkis as Gollum, and even Elijah Wood as Frodo (for nostalgic reasons). The other thing that I'm looking forward to is... yep. The soundtrack.

Howard Shore's music scores for "Lord of the Rings" are what I think to be the all-time greatest soundtracks in existence. He really sells the history and the legends and the magic that were the backbone of the films, and I was overjoyed when I learned that Shore would be returning to score The Hobbit. I have listened to samples of the soundtrack and it's just like going back into the original films. It made me very happy.

Another thing I'm looking forward to (although maybe not necessarily excited for) is this new "48-frames-per-second" deal. I'm told it's pretty close to how the human eye perceives normal movement, making the film appear more realistic. I've also heard of people becoming sick while watching the movie. I guess that's the risk of doing new technology. I'll reserve my own judgement until after I've seen it.

Well, this is where I will leave off for this blog post. I will come back and write another review after I've seen the movie. Until then, we are going there and back again to Middle Earth in J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Hobbit".

My Reviews: Sherlock - Season 2

I previously wrote a review of Sherlock season 1, and I loved it. Now I'm moving onto season 2.

I first watched it online off the BCC (or PBS, I forget where it was) website, where it was available for a short period of time. The quality wasn't great, but hey it was free. More recently, I acquired it on DVD from my library, so I could watch it again and pay more attention. As was the case in season 1, I enjoyed the season greatly. That being said, I probably enjoyed the first one better.

I still won't go into details on the plots, it's still mystery-oriented (obviously) and I still believe you shouldn't know too much about mystery plots going into the show. I'm told that the three episodes they did for this season were adaptations of three of the most popular Sherlock Holmes stories. I've never actually read them, though. They definitely went down the darker route, and made Sherlock almost an unlikeable character at times. They also delved deeper into the characters, fleshing out the relationships of Sherlock and Mycroft. At times, though, I felt Watson's character development was put on hold.

The first episode of the season went way over my head the first time I watched it. It might have been just because I was watching it in my living room while my dad and brother were watching sports on the TV... but the story WAS complicated. BUT.... the last episode was just. Pure. AMAZING. The ending had me glued to the screen, and that's actually hard to do for me! I'm struggling not to give away any spoilers in this review, but just trust me: It's done very well, and I hate having to wait for the next season!

my reviews - Sherlock, season 1

I've loved the adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes that starred Robert Downey Jr., and when I heard about this British television series version of Sherlock Holmes that was set in modern times, I was skeptical. Eventually, I was bored one night browsing Netflix and came across Sherlock. I didn't watch it then, I decided to watch The Office. But I kept thinking about Sherlock and the next day I went and watched the first episode. As soon as episode 1 ended, I started episode 2. Then 3. I was very disappointed that the first season only had three episodes... I loved it.

The writing is good. The acting is good. The cinematography is good.  All in all, the show is good. I'm not going to say a whole lot about the plots in this review, because in my opinion, you shouldn't know too much about mystery films (and shows) before watching them.

As is the case with all shows I watch for the first time, I was unsure of whether or not I would like it, but as I've already said, I did. The thing I was most unsure about at first was Sherlock himself. Played by Benedict Cumberbatch, he actually looks a bit weird at first, but I soon got over it, and he plays the part extremely well. He actually rivals Robert Downey Jr., and I never thought that was possible.

You can't have Sherlock Holmes without his faithful follower, Dr. Watson. This may have been the thing that peaked my interest, because Watson is played by actor Martin Freeman, who is also set to play the lead role in the only movie coming out this year that I'm interested in, "The Hobbit". He is also a great Watson and I think he will make a great Bilbo Baggins.

The fact that the show takes place in modern times does not hinder the story element at all. If anything, it compliments it. They don't make a big deal about it (like most films that are adapted in modern times do), it's all about the mysteries, and all about Sherlock and Watson. The mysteries themselves are well thought out and always keep you thinking. I didn't figure them out until the end, and I love it when that happens! I cannot wait to see season 2!

Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock Holmes and Martin Freeman as John Watson