The Hobbit
Yesterday was son's birthday so we went to see The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey together. We had debated the various screening options and decided to go for the full 3D, 48 frames per second extravaganza. I'd never seen a film in 3D before never mind this HFR format promoted by Peter Jackson, which has caused some controversy over its suitability for cinema.
In the event I really didn't notice much difference regarding the frame format, which probably says something about my age and eyesight, as sharp-eyed son swore that it was very obvious, and that he loved it. At first I found the 3D downright distracting, so it was good that there was some prologue preamble involving older Bilbo (Ian Holm) and Frodo before the real story started. That gave me time to get used to the visuals. For the most part I still thought it more of a distraction than it was worth, but there were a few small instances of real wow factor.
Martin Freeman was, as expected, absolutely perfect in the title role. All the dwarves were fantastic though naturally one was drawn to the pretty i.e. Aiden Turner as Kili. :-)) As Thorin, Richard Armitage looked and was impressive. My son enjoyed all the extremely detailed fight scenes. I found much humour in the more domestic, and in Sylvester McCoy's woodland wonderland - he plays slightly potty wizard, Radagast the Brown wonderfully. Both of us loved the riddling encounter between Bilbo and Gollum. So much so that we diverted to Toys R Us on the way home and bought the mini Lego kit. Ha ha! http://thehobbit.lego.com/en-gb/products/79000/
It's a long film, but even so we wanted more at the end, knowing that this was only one third of the way through the tale, with many exciting characters still to appear. Alas, another whole year to wait for the next instalment, the Desolation of Smaug, although I suppose that solves what to do for son's birthday next year. :-) No more than teasing, tantalising hints at the appearance of that fine, treasure-hoarding, motion-captured dragon, however I swear that we saw the full shadowy silhouette of Mr Cumberbatch when the dark presence of the Necromancer was mentioned. I'm sure that I'd know that figure anywhere... amusing that he's so in demand right now that he's playing two characters!
We stayed right through the (very long) end credits to listen to the extended version of the dwarves Song of the Lonely Mountain, sung by Neil Finn:
Excellent production all round. Very well worth seeing. Will look forward to films two and three.
In the event I really didn't notice much difference regarding the frame format, which probably says something about my age and eyesight, as sharp-eyed son swore that it was very obvious, and that he loved it. At first I found the 3D downright distracting, so it was good that there was some prologue preamble involving older Bilbo (Ian Holm) and Frodo before the real story started. That gave me time to get used to the visuals. For the most part I still thought it more of a distraction than it was worth, but there were a few small instances of real wow factor.
Martin Freeman was, as expected, absolutely perfect in the title role. All the dwarves were fantastic though naturally one was drawn to the pretty i.e. Aiden Turner as Kili. :-)) As Thorin, Richard Armitage looked and was impressive. My son enjoyed all the extremely detailed fight scenes. I found much humour in the more domestic, and in Sylvester McCoy's woodland wonderland - he plays slightly potty wizard, Radagast the Brown wonderfully. Both of us loved the riddling encounter between Bilbo and Gollum. So much so that we diverted to Toys R Us on the way home and bought the mini Lego kit. Ha ha! http://thehobbit.lego.com/en-gb/products/79000/
It's a long film, but even so we wanted more at the end, knowing that this was only one third of the way through the tale, with many exciting characters still to appear. Alas, another whole year to wait for the next instalment, the Desolation of Smaug, although I suppose that solves what to do for son's birthday next year. :-) No more than teasing, tantalising hints at the appearance of that fine, treasure-hoarding, motion-captured dragon, however I swear that we saw the full shadowy silhouette of Mr Cumberbatch when the dark presence of the Necromancer was mentioned. I'm sure that I'd know that figure anywhere... amusing that he's so in demand right now that he's playing two characters!
We stayed right through the (very long) end credits to listen to the extended version of the dwarves Song of the Lonely Mountain, sung by Neil Finn:
Click to viewExcellent production all round. Very well worth seeing. Will look forward to films two and three.