The Hobbit movies

[Zook]

Next up will be his 10-film series for The Silmarillion   

Score by Blind Guardian?

[jammindude]

Next up will be his 10-film series for The Silmarillion   

Score by Blind Guardian?

He's stated before that would have LOVED to reference that and Unfinished Taless in this  story...but he doesn't have the rights. That's why Gandolf can't remember the names of two of the wizards. ....because they're only mentioned in a book they can't make any mention of.

It's quite maddening,  actually.

[The King in Crimson]

Next up will be his 10-film series for The Silmarillion   

I would... kind of be okay with this. Seeing Ungoliant, Glaurung, Thangorordrim, Fingolfin vs Morgoth, the fall of Gondolin, Turin, and Sauron getting punked by every other douchebag in Beleriand would be worth a few more comic-relief dwarfs and needless CGI-fests.

Yeah, yeah, yeah I know, Chris Tolkien won't sell, but... a man can dream.

[Lucien]

I would love to see Iluvatar's creation of the world through music, and Melkor/Morgoth's subsequent anger issues toward it.

[ariich]

  Not in a terrible way though.  I mean, it takes a certain skill to get a 8-hour trilogy out of a 320-ish page novel.  That's an hour for every 40 pages.   

Well, most (but not all) of it comes from the LOTR appendices, so that's a lot more genuine Tolkien writing contributing than just in The Hobbit itself.

[The King in Crimson]

Well, most some (but not all) of it comes from the LOTR appendices, so that's a lot more genuine Tolkien writing contributing than just in The Hobbit itself.

FIFY

[MetalJunkie]

I just saw a quote attributed to "Sir Peter Jackson." I had no idea he was knighted.

[ariich]

In 2010 apparently.

[MrBoom_shack-a-lack]

https://www.eyeofthetiber.com/2014/10/07/peter-jackson-announces-plans-for-72-part-movie-series-of-the-silmarillion/

[MrBoom_shack-a-lack]

[Silver Tears]

[bosk1]

[ariich]

[hefdaddy42]

[MrBoom_shack-a-lack]

[jammindude]

[Dark Castle]

[Zantera]

Meh. It will probably be good, but the combination of no trailer yet and the movie dropping soon as well as the first two not being LOTR-level of fantastic, I'm only casually excited about this. I didn't see any of the first two Hobbit movies at the cinema, and after seeing them at home many months later, I didn't regret not seeing them at the cinema either.

The first Hobbit was good, the second one was great, and the third one will hopefully be great too, but this poster doesn't really get me more excited or anything.

[Shadow Ninja 2.0]

Thorin's really got that Aragorn look down.

[bosk1]

I dunno.  I'll see it, and I'll like it, but I will also likely be disappointed by it.  I liked the first one a lot.  I liked the second one a lot, but was honestly disppointed by (1) the adventures of Legolas and his g/f in Rivendell, along with the orc pursuit into Rivendell, and (2) the battle with Smaug the Inept-at-catching-dwarves.  Jackson & co. made some absolutely brilliant calls in telling the story in the LOTR trilogy.  IMO, every single place they deviated from the books absolutely 100% worked.  In the Hobbit trilogy, some of his deviations from the book just leave me feeling like the trilogy has jumped the shark.  And I do NOT mean the decision to include and eloborate on material from the appendices, the focus on the Battle of Five Armies as the climax (including the backstory), and more of a conscious effort to integrate the Hobbit trilogy into the LOTR movie trilogy.  All that is fine.  Even Legolas being part of the story is fine with me.  It stands to reason that he would have been around for these events despite not being mentioned in the book, so that all works.  It is just the over-the-top nature of how events like the two I mentioned above are portrayed.  It makes the story just silly rather than a story where I can suspend belief and immerse myself in as I could with the LOTR films.

[Shadow Ninja 2.0]

^ I've only seen the first one, but there were definitely moments in it that just felt too silly to me. Notably the dwarves cleaning Bilbo's kitchen, and whatever the hell they did with Radagast.

LOTR had funny stuff, but it never felt silly, in my opinion. And I'm not saying The Hobbit was bad, I definitely enjoyed it, I just think it could have been better.

[Tom Bombadil]

I dunno.  I'll see it, and I'll like it, but I will also likely be disappointed by it.

Probably this.

IMO, every single place they deviated from the books absolutely 100% worked.

Can't say I agree with that though

[Shadow Ninja 2.0]

I presume you're referring to the absence of your namesake?

[jammindude]

Actually, I think having The Hobbit be more generally "light-hearted" is going to make the six film story arc flow better.   The first three films are a nice, adventurous romp that serves as a set-up for the "serious ***"   

[bosk1]

I have no problem with lighthearted.  But "lighthearted" and "ridiculous" are not the same thing.  The fight with Smaug was ridiculous. 

[jingle.boy]

.  The fight with Smaug was ridiculous.

Yeah, that was just a bit over the top.

[Zook]

A giant talking dragon is over the top. All of your complaints about a fantasy movie are over the top.

[Tom Bombadil]

I presume you're referring to the absence of your namesake?

Actually not really. I'm ok that they left out ol tommy bomber. For the most part, the changes they made in the first and second movie were acceptable, but the third movie is by far the worst, whereas IMO, the third book is by far the best, so it's mostly the changes in that one that I don't like.

Staying with the thread, I totally agree about the Smaug scene and the Legolas scene. They were completely ridiculous, and the latter only increased my disdain for Legolas.

[Xanthul]

^ I've only seen the first one, but there were definitely moments in it that just felt too silly to me. Notably the dwarves cleaning Bilbo's kitchen, and whatever the hell they did with Radagast.

LOTR had funny stuff, but it never felt silly, in my opinion. And I'm not saying The Hobbit was bad, I definitely enjoyed it, I just think it could have been better.

I agree with all of this and add the obnoxious escape from the goblins to the list. All I could think while I was watching that scene is how much better the escape from Moria was.

[hefdaddy42]

The goblins scene in the first and the barrel scene in the second are just stupid, and all of the CGI goblins are disappointing, when so many of the orcs in the LOTR trilogy were practical.

[Lynxo]

I agree with most of the critisms:
- CGI orcs were disappointing
- Terrible romance is terrible
- Smaug hide-and-seek scene was weird
- Legolas inclusion wasn't that well made

And it's so disappointing to me because there's so much about these movies that I really enjoy. It just feels like wasted potential. I really think this could have been another LOTR-level of awesomeness.

But I won't be all negative, I enjoyed the first two movies and will likely enjoy this one as well.

[jingle.boy]

Though, I found the Smaug battle scene even more laughable than the hide-and-seek.  At least the hide/seek was somewhat properly represented from the book.

[ariich]

Have to say, most of those things don't bother me in the slightest - the only thing I find a bit disappointing is the CGI monsters, and I agree with hef that the goblins, orcs and uruk hai in LOTR are so much more convincing.

On the whole I really like the Hobbit films so far, but there is a gulf between them and LOTR, and I don't find any of those criticisms bother me. I just think the story lacks the depth that LOTR has. I think Jackson has been doing a great job of expanding it, using the LOTR appendices and generally tying it into that story more, but ultimately I think it's just not as strong a story.

[Zantera]

With LOTR, everything just felt connected in a perfect way. With Hobbit, you can tell they stretched the material and incorporated stuff from other books that weren't necessarily related. Take the whole Necromancer-plotline for example. While I like those scenes, they really stick out in the movies. You go from a pretty relaxed and fun atmosphere with the dwarves and a hobbit going on this one adventure to fight a dragon, to Gandalf talking about Sauron and "the end of the world". I can understand that they want it to segue into Fellowship of the Ring, but it results in the tone being all over the place.

[The King in Crimson]

I'm interested in seeing how PJ takes 3-1/2 hours to cover the final 60 pages of the book finishes the story, but my expectations have been thoroughly lowered by the first two movies.