Weekend Update - quiet weekend at home in front of the TV
It was a generally lazy weekend, full of lots of TV watching and movies.
Saturday night I watched Legally Blonde, which I haven’t seen in a while. I think what I love most about the movie is that Elle really does undergo a character arc. In the beginning, she IS that stereotypical blonde who only wants to party and snag a husband. But she actually undergoes a change and makes herself into something different. While still retaining the core part of her personality.
Saturday night I got to watch one of my favorites on cable, To Catch a Thief, with Cary Grant and Grace Kelly. I adore Cary Grant in this one, from his “casual French” outfit the first time we see him, to his black turtleneck catburgler gear. And Grace Kelly’s clothes are TO DIE FOR in this movie. I have always especially loved her ridiculous, enormous gold lame hoopskirted gown for the 18th century costume ball. *sighs* So lovely and over the top.
Sunday night I finally got around to watching The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, a year after it was released. Now, I loved the LOTR movies. I saw Fellowship eight times in the theater. I joined the Official Fan Club so I could get the magazines with all the lovely photos of the sets and costumes. I bought not only the regular theatrical editions, but when the extended editions came out, I bought those too. But when I saw The Hobbit in theaters, the new frame rate made my head hurt. And seeing a 3D movie in 2D meant that a lot of the scenes were blurry. And honestly? I just found the dwarves to be tiresome. So I saw it the one time, and haven’t seen it again. Not in the theaters, not on DVD, not on cable.
I’m glad I waited. It was even worse than the first movie. First there are the bad guys. In the LOTRs movies, the orcs and Uruk-hai were actors and stunt men wearing prosthetic makeup. In The Hobbit movies they’re all computer animation. And they look like it. It makes it feel like I’m watching a cartoon or a video game instead of an actual movie. And WTF is up with the armor? Who put huge nipple spikes on their armor? Those things look like door handles, they’re perfect hand grips in a hand-to-hand battle! No wonder the orcs keep losing, their armor designers are morons.
And WTF is Peter Jackson’s obsession with giant spiders? I know it’s in the books, but ewww, do we have to spend so much screen time on them in every fricking movie?
And the CGI in this movie just feels so damned cartoonish. It was bad enough when Legolas slid down a staircase riding a shield like a skateboard in Two Towers, but it’s even worse in this one, where all the fight scenes have everyone flipping and jumping around like they’re Spiderman or some other superpowered being instead of just elves (whose only real super power is living long enough to be badass….). In this movie, during the “ride down the river in barrels” battle, Legolas has a scene where he stood straddling two barrels, one foot on each dwarf’s head, shooting arrows at the orcs. Ridiculous.
Oh look, there are people of color in Middle Earth. I will give Peter Jackson credit for that. There weren’t any black folk in Middle Earth that I recall in the LOTR movies. Just a few swarthy middle eastern looking folks in the Oliphant scene, but other than that, the previous Middle Earth was white, white, white.
Still, sorely disappointed in this movie. Not nearly as much fun as it should have been, considering who stars in it and the amount of money they dumped into making it.
Saturday night I watched Legally Blonde, which I haven’t seen in a while. I think what I love most about the movie is that Elle really does undergo a character arc. In the beginning, she IS that stereotypical blonde who only wants to party and snag a husband. But she actually undergoes a change and makes herself into something different. While still retaining the core part of her personality.
Saturday night I got to watch one of my favorites on cable, To Catch a Thief, with Cary Grant and Grace Kelly. I adore Cary Grant in this one, from his “casual French” outfit the first time we see him, to his black turtleneck catburgler gear. And Grace Kelly’s clothes are TO DIE FOR in this movie. I have always especially loved her ridiculous, enormous gold lame hoopskirted gown for the 18th century costume ball. *sighs* So lovely and over the top.
Sunday night I finally got around to watching The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, a year after it was released. Now, I loved the LOTR movies. I saw Fellowship eight times in the theater. I joined the Official Fan Club so I could get the magazines with all the lovely photos of the sets and costumes. I bought not only the regular theatrical editions, but when the extended editions came out, I bought those too. But when I saw The Hobbit in theaters, the new frame rate made my head hurt. And seeing a 3D movie in 2D meant that a lot of the scenes were blurry. And honestly? I just found the dwarves to be tiresome. So I saw it the one time, and haven’t seen it again. Not in the theaters, not on DVD, not on cable.
I’m glad I waited. It was even worse than the first movie. First there are the bad guys. In the LOTRs movies, the orcs and Uruk-hai were actors and stunt men wearing prosthetic makeup. In The Hobbit movies they’re all computer animation. And they look like it. It makes it feel like I’m watching a cartoon or a video game instead of an actual movie. And WTF is up with the armor? Who put huge nipple spikes on their armor? Those things look like door handles, they’re perfect hand grips in a hand-to-hand battle! No wonder the orcs keep losing, their armor designers are morons.
And WTF is Peter Jackson’s obsession with giant spiders? I know it’s in the books, but ewww, do we have to spend so much screen time on them in every fricking movie?
And the CGI in this movie just feels so damned cartoonish. It was bad enough when Legolas slid down a staircase riding a shield like a skateboard in Two Towers, but it’s even worse in this one, where all the fight scenes have everyone flipping and jumping around like they’re Spiderman or some other superpowered being instead of just elves (whose only real super power is living long enough to be badass….). In this movie, during the “ride down the river in barrels” battle, Legolas has a scene where he stood straddling two barrels, one foot on each dwarf’s head, shooting arrows at the orcs. Ridiculous.
Oh look, there are people of color in Middle Earth. I will give Peter Jackson credit for that. There weren’t any black folk in Middle Earth that I recall in the LOTR movies. Just a few swarthy middle eastern looking folks in the Oliphant scene, but other than that, the previous Middle Earth was white, white, white.
Still, sorely disappointed in this movie. Not nearly as much fun as it should have been, considering who stars in it and the amount of money they dumped into making it.