The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
I'm still having issues narrowing down my icons. I had $2 worth of LJ credit so I figured I might as well use it and extended my icons to 20 for a year at least. I figure that way it'll make it easier and maybe by then I can finally narrow it down to 15. But even getting it down to 20 is proving hard. Right now stuck at 23 and don't want to get rid of any of them. T_T Boo.
Also really hating how every time I go to write an entry...LJ has changed something YET again. >_>
Work has really drained me but that's another entry for another time. But I do want to FINALLY write up my thoughts about the first of The Hobbit movies 'cause I went to see the midnight premiere on Thurs/Fri and just never got a chance to actually write about it.
So first off let me start with saying just how much of a big deal this movie was for me. When I was little, my Dad read to me practically every night. And of course started off with the typical picture books and Dr. Seuss, etc. But pretty early on Dad got me into the classic fantasy. Because when my brothers were little, he decided to read Narnia and Lord of the Rings to them and so he decided to keep the tradition and to the same with me. And so these books have always had a lot of meaning in our family. I absolutely adored the Chronicles of Narnia and The Hobbit. I uh...kinda fell asleep every time Dad tried to read LOTR to me though. lol I think we did get through Fellowship but I think we never got past the first few chapters of Two Towers. And I barely remember anything of those books. I think the descriptions were just too lengthy and boring for me as a kid. But! I ADORED The Hobbit. And I grew up watching those silly cartoon versions of the books. And yeah, they may be pretty bad but back then I didn't care and thought they were brilliant.
Dad and I know pretty much all the songs from the cartoons and we still sing some of the lines from them to each other randomly. XD Mainly "Funny little birds, they have no wings. Oh what should we do, with the funny little things." and "Where there's a whip...there's a way." because there's nothing better than singing Orcs. XDXD
But anyways! Granted Narnia are still the biggest books of my childhood. I did always love them the best and the first movie made me cry in the theater in joy. ...the 2nd movie made me cry for a very different reason. And I've never quite forgiven them for that. But I just KNEW they would do a good job for The Hobbit and as that's my 2nd biggest book of my childhood, at least it was something to look forward to. Because I did really love the LOTR movies and even though I could never get myself to finish reading the books for them, the movies made me fall completely in love with the stories. I read fanfiction and everything back when they came out. But I never did dress up for them. I wasn't quite as heavily into cosplay back then and I wasn't very experienced with sewing. And well the thought just never really occurred to me.
So I decided I should dress up for The Hobbit because I've been wanting this since I was little and I just knew the movie would be good. And like I said, I loved that book the most of the series. While I never got through LOTR, I re-read The Hobbit at least 3 times throughout my childhood and teenage years.
So yeah...
Here is me as Bilbo Baggins at the midnight premiere. XD I'm still unsure if I like the wig or not. It was the best I could find on ebay in the short time I had. But part of me wonders if I should just use my real hair since his hair did kinda look a bit dark in the movie itself even though I had thought it was meant to be more of a dirty blonde/light brown? Every image it looks different though. XD
This was my first time doing a big midnight premiere so I had nooo idea we would be getting free stuff so I practically giggled in delight when they handed us our posters. It was also cool how with my theater, we have two floors and basically the top floor was ONLY The Hobbit that night so the entire floor was nothing but geeks hanging out when we walked in, about an hour before the movie start. There were a lot of teenagers just hanging and sitting around and it did make me feel a bit old...realizing that almost everyone else there was a teenager or college student. ^^;;; Ah well. At least I look young so I'm sure they all thought I was the same age as them. Though I was a bit dismayed that not many people dressed up for it at my theater. Heard one girl say that they tend to dress up more at the other local theater. Ah well. But it was still very cool! They had four theaters playing it and we went to the IMAX because...well why not? XD
These kids got really excited when they saw me. XD They were all "I want a photo with the hobbit!!!" so that made me happy. Though in this you can see my obviously NOT hairy feet. ^^;;; I was debating doing it but decided not to bother considering I was going to have shoes on and all. I will do it for a con though.
And here is Ren and I being total dorks in the theater. XD All the middle seats were taken (I have a thing about trying to get the exact middle of the theater XD Kinda like Sheldon from Big Bang Theory but not as obsessive lol) but we still got decent ones a little further to the back and to the side ish.
It was a bit odd just sitting around for an hour, waiting for the film to start though. Mainly because I noticed a lot of the college kids in the theater...all knew each other. o_o; And it made me miss my own college group that I used to see movies with. They had their own group gathering for the movie but I didn't know if I could bum a ride since they were going to a theater further away. That and I didn't want to just abandon Ren, who I know wanted to see this film with me. But anyways, enough of that rambling and onto the actual film!
So I must admit, I was rather impressed by the IMAX 3D. It definitely was a lot more impressive than regular 3D, which hasn't impressed me much at all except for Avatar. The Hobbit wasn't that big of a 3D movie but it really showed in the previews for films that are. There was an ad for the Avatar 3D Blu-Ray and THAT was impressive. And then we got to the Man of Steel trailer which we all cheered for and figured that was the big preview of the night. Until another one started...and we hear Star Trek noises and EVERYONE got excited. XD Except it wasn't just a trailer...it was like 12 minutes of the actual film. O_O And when Benedict Cumberbatch showed up on screen...the whole audience SCREAMED. It was hilarious. XD You could tell this was a theater full of geeks at least. But to be honest, I think they should have just ended the trailer there. That would have been enough to make us all happy. The next scene though...was really confusing and kinda an odd thing to show us but I guess it does make you want to see the film to find out if nothing else so I guess that was their intention. XD
But onto The Hobbit! I absolutely LOVED every second of it! Yeah, as predicted they definitely added A LOT of stuff to it but I didn't mind. It worked well. I haven't read The Silmarillion so I'm unfamiliar with the stuff from it but in a way, its kinda exciting as I get to see new stuff? XD The Pale Orc rival for Thorin was interesting and I'm not sure if the movie needed it but it did provide a rather epic scene at the end so I'm okay with that too.
I lovedlovedlovedLOVED Martin Freeman as Bilbo so much I can't even express it enough. He was PERFECT! I have one friend who said they ruined his character and I don't know what she's talking about honestly. Because I felt he was very true to the character. I loved how obvious it was that he was constantly awkward and it was just so adorable. I was a little worried that they would focus too much on Thorin and not enough on Bilbo from the way the movie started but by the end, I feel like they really brought the focus back to him and still established him as the main character. The bit at the end where he ran into the fight to protect Thorin just made me T_T with joy.
I guess the only things I didn't like were some of the small changes that I just found...odd. Like when Bilbo first runs off to join the group. In the book, he's very much still unsure of this whole adventure thing and they make an issue of him being late and he's still very much being thrown into the whole mess without him really getting a chance to realize what's going on. But in the movie they have him running to them by his own will, obviously WANTING to go. And yeah, that was a cute way of doing it and I can see why they would want to make him more willing but...it just seemed kinda odd? I didn't really feel like they established why he changed his mind there. And there there was the whole bit with the goblins that also played out a tad bit differently than the book and well, I guess the only reason that bit bothered me is 'cause it was one of my favorite parts in the cartoon. lol Not sure why. XD Also the way the goblin king died was...odd. I didn't quite get that bit at the end after Gandalf slashed him. Why he basically just let Gandalf kill him there. I think I'm going to try to pay more attention to that bit the next time I see it to see if maybe I missed something there. It just seemed...odd.
But I love how they gave all the dwarves individual personalities for the most part. Some of them still kinda disappeared into the background but its hard when you have that many of them. And in the book really only Thorin stood out at all. And I liked them giving the older dwarf more lines and a bigger part (I forget his name at the moment). Slightly annoyed me how they gave a bigger role to Kili and Fili as I feel like they did that just so the "pretty" dwarves would have a bigger role. 'Cause to me, dwarves aren't meant to be attractive by human standards so it did annoy me they did that, obviously to give more appeal from a regular audience. But at the same time, I did really like them so it was hard to complain too much. But I would like a little more focus on the older dwarves, to be honest. In the book I always thought of Kili and Fili basically being the young "idiots" of the group since they are inexperienced and get the group in trouble several times. The movie played them off more as young warriors instead. And I hear rumors of them giving one of them a love interest in the 2nd and/or 3rd movies...which also bothers me a little but I'll wait to see before I judge that one.
Gandalf was mother fucking amazing as always though. Not a complaint there. Gandalf has actually always been my favorite character in general. I named quite a few stuffed animals after him when I was little. XD And always dreamed of running into a motherfucking awesome wizard like him. One of my original characters is kinda inspired by him (though she's much younger looking in appearance but has that whole mysterious mystical character thing going on). And Ian is just fucking perfect as him. I imagine his face every time I think of Gandalf now ever since the Fellowship movie. And it's so much fun to see teasing Gandalf once again. I love Gandalf the White and how badass he is but Gandalf the Grey is sooo much fun.
And loved the elves too of course. Was not surprised that they did make a longer scene involving them and that they found a way to put Galadriel in there. I do love her so I don't mind at all. And it was nice seeing a little big of Thranduil in the flashback scene since I didn't expect to see him at all until the next movie. Gotta say...I'm totally a fan already. XD Might even cosplay him some day along the line. Mostly because I love how they did the leaf crown. lol Might sound silly but that was my favorite aspect about him in the book. And well...he's pretty. >>;;
I also did like how they did the whole lead-in to the beginning of Fellowship with Frodo and all. I originally thought I'd hate that bit since I knew they were doing that ahead of time. But I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked it. And impressed that despite the fact its been like 10 years, they managed to get Elijah Wood to look like how he did back then. Granted I don't think he's really aged a lot physically since then but still. XD
I think I'm going to die waiting for the second film though. I want it nooooooow. T___T
~Lyn
Also really hating how every time I go to write an entry...LJ has changed something YET again. >_>
Work has really drained me but that's another entry for another time. But I do want to FINALLY write up my thoughts about the first of The Hobbit movies 'cause I went to see the midnight premiere on Thurs/Fri and just never got a chance to actually write about it.
So first off let me start with saying just how much of a big deal this movie was for me. When I was little, my Dad read to me practically every night. And of course started off with the typical picture books and Dr. Seuss, etc. But pretty early on Dad got me into the classic fantasy. Because when my brothers were little, he decided to read Narnia and Lord of the Rings to them and so he decided to keep the tradition and to the same with me. And so these books have always had a lot of meaning in our family. I absolutely adored the Chronicles of Narnia and The Hobbit. I uh...kinda fell asleep every time Dad tried to read LOTR to me though. lol I think we did get through Fellowship but I think we never got past the first few chapters of Two Towers. And I barely remember anything of those books. I think the descriptions were just too lengthy and boring for me as a kid. But! I ADORED The Hobbit. And I grew up watching those silly cartoon versions of the books. And yeah, they may be pretty bad but back then I didn't care and thought they were brilliant.
Dad and I know pretty much all the songs from the cartoons and we still sing some of the lines from them to each other randomly. XD Mainly "Funny little birds, they have no wings. Oh what should we do, with the funny little things." and "Where there's a whip...there's a way." because there's nothing better than singing Orcs. XDXD
But anyways! Granted Narnia are still the biggest books of my childhood. I did always love them the best and the first movie made me cry in the theater in joy. ...the 2nd movie made me cry for a very different reason. And I've never quite forgiven them for that. But I just KNEW they would do a good job for The Hobbit and as that's my 2nd biggest book of my childhood, at least it was something to look forward to. Because I did really love the LOTR movies and even though I could never get myself to finish reading the books for them, the movies made me fall completely in love with the stories. I read fanfiction and everything back when they came out. But I never did dress up for them. I wasn't quite as heavily into cosplay back then and I wasn't very experienced with sewing. And well the thought just never really occurred to me.
So I decided I should dress up for The Hobbit because I've been wanting this since I was little and I just knew the movie would be good. And like I said, I loved that book the most of the series. While I never got through LOTR, I re-read The Hobbit at least 3 times throughout my childhood and teenage years.
So yeah...
Here is me as Bilbo Baggins at the midnight premiere. XD I'm still unsure if I like the wig or not. It was the best I could find on ebay in the short time I had. But part of me wonders if I should just use my real hair since his hair did kinda look a bit dark in the movie itself even though I had thought it was meant to be more of a dirty blonde/light brown? Every image it looks different though. XD
This was my first time doing a big midnight premiere so I had nooo idea we would be getting free stuff so I practically giggled in delight when they handed us our posters. It was also cool how with my theater, we have two floors and basically the top floor was ONLY The Hobbit that night so the entire floor was nothing but geeks hanging out when we walked in, about an hour before the movie start. There were a lot of teenagers just hanging and sitting around and it did make me feel a bit old...realizing that almost everyone else there was a teenager or college student. ^^;;; Ah well. At least I look young so I'm sure they all thought I was the same age as them. Though I was a bit dismayed that not many people dressed up for it at my theater. Heard one girl say that they tend to dress up more at the other local theater. Ah well. But it was still very cool! They had four theaters playing it and we went to the IMAX because...well why not? XD
These kids got really excited when they saw me. XD They were all "I want a photo with the hobbit!!!" so that made me happy. Though in this you can see my obviously NOT hairy feet. ^^;;; I was debating doing it but decided not to bother considering I was going to have shoes on and all. I will do it for a con though.
And here is Ren and I being total dorks in the theater. XD All the middle seats were taken (I have a thing about trying to get the exact middle of the theater XD Kinda like Sheldon from Big Bang Theory but not as obsessive lol) but we still got decent ones a little further to the back and to the side ish.
It was a bit odd just sitting around for an hour, waiting for the film to start though. Mainly because I noticed a lot of the college kids in the theater...all knew each other. o_o; And it made me miss my own college group that I used to see movies with. They had their own group gathering for the movie but I didn't know if I could bum a ride since they were going to a theater further away. That and I didn't want to just abandon Ren, who I know wanted to see this film with me. But anyways, enough of that rambling and onto the actual film!
So I must admit, I was rather impressed by the IMAX 3D. It definitely was a lot more impressive than regular 3D, which hasn't impressed me much at all except for Avatar. The Hobbit wasn't that big of a 3D movie but it really showed in the previews for films that are. There was an ad for the Avatar 3D Blu-Ray and THAT was impressive. And then we got to the Man of Steel trailer which we all cheered for and figured that was the big preview of the night. Until another one started...and we hear Star Trek noises and EVERYONE got excited. XD Except it wasn't just a trailer...it was like 12 minutes of the actual film. O_O And when Benedict Cumberbatch showed up on screen...the whole audience SCREAMED. It was hilarious. XD You could tell this was a theater full of geeks at least. But to be honest, I think they should have just ended the trailer there. That would have been enough to make us all happy. The next scene though...was really confusing and kinda an odd thing to show us but I guess it does make you want to see the film to find out if nothing else so I guess that was their intention. XD
But onto The Hobbit! I absolutely LOVED every second of it! Yeah, as predicted they definitely added A LOT of stuff to it but I didn't mind. It worked well. I haven't read The Silmarillion so I'm unfamiliar with the stuff from it but in a way, its kinda exciting as I get to see new stuff? XD The Pale Orc rival for Thorin was interesting and I'm not sure if the movie needed it but it did provide a rather epic scene at the end so I'm okay with that too.
I lovedlovedlovedLOVED Martin Freeman as Bilbo so much I can't even express it enough. He was PERFECT! I have one friend who said they ruined his character and I don't know what she's talking about honestly. Because I felt he was very true to the character. I loved how obvious it was that he was constantly awkward and it was just so adorable. I was a little worried that they would focus too much on Thorin and not enough on Bilbo from the way the movie started but by the end, I feel like they really brought the focus back to him and still established him as the main character. The bit at the end where he ran into the fight to protect Thorin just made me T_T with joy.
I guess the only things I didn't like were some of the small changes that I just found...odd. Like when Bilbo first runs off to join the group. In the book, he's very much still unsure of this whole adventure thing and they make an issue of him being late and he's still very much being thrown into the whole mess without him really getting a chance to realize what's going on. But in the movie they have him running to them by his own will, obviously WANTING to go. And yeah, that was a cute way of doing it and I can see why they would want to make him more willing but...it just seemed kinda odd? I didn't really feel like they established why he changed his mind there. And there there was the whole bit with the goblins that also played out a tad bit differently than the book and well, I guess the only reason that bit bothered me is 'cause it was one of my favorite parts in the cartoon. lol Not sure why. XD Also the way the goblin king died was...odd. I didn't quite get that bit at the end after Gandalf slashed him. Why he basically just let Gandalf kill him there. I think I'm going to try to pay more attention to that bit the next time I see it to see if maybe I missed something there. It just seemed...odd.
But I love how they gave all the dwarves individual personalities for the most part. Some of them still kinda disappeared into the background but its hard when you have that many of them. And in the book really only Thorin stood out at all. And I liked them giving the older dwarf more lines and a bigger part (I forget his name at the moment). Slightly annoyed me how they gave a bigger role to Kili and Fili as I feel like they did that just so the "pretty" dwarves would have a bigger role. 'Cause to me, dwarves aren't meant to be attractive by human standards so it did annoy me they did that, obviously to give more appeal from a regular audience. But at the same time, I did really like them so it was hard to complain too much. But I would like a little more focus on the older dwarves, to be honest. In the book I always thought of Kili and Fili basically being the young "idiots" of the group since they are inexperienced and get the group in trouble several times. The movie played them off more as young warriors instead. And I hear rumors of them giving one of them a love interest in the 2nd and/or 3rd movies...which also bothers me a little but I'll wait to see before I judge that one.
Gandalf was mother fucking amazing as always though. Not a complaint there. Gandalf has actually always been my favorite character in general. I named quite a few stuffed animals after him when I was little. XD And always dreamed of running into a motherfucking awesome wizard like him. One of my original characters is kinda inspired by him (though she's much younger looking in appearance but has that whole mysterious mystical character thing going on). And Ian is just fucking perfect as him. I imagine his face every time I think of Gandalf now ever since the Fellowship movie. And it's so much fun to see teasing Gandalf once again. I love Gandalf the White and how badass he is but Gandalf the Grey is sooo much fun.
And loved the elves too of course. Was not surprised that they did make a longer scene involving them and that they found a way to put Galadriel in there. I do love her so I don't mind at all. And it was nice seeing a little big of Thranduil in the flashback scene since I didn't expect to see him at all until the next movie. Gotta say...I'm totally a fan already. XD Might even cosplay him some day along the line. Mostly because I love how they did the leaf crown. lol Might sound silly but that was my favorite aspect about him in the book. And well...he's pretty. >>;;
I also did like how they did the whole lead-in to the beginning of Fellowship with Frodo and all. I originally thought I'd hate that bit since I knew they were doing that ahead of time. But I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked it. And impressed that despite the fact its been like 10 years, they managed to get Elijah Wood to look like how he did back then. Granted I don't think he's really aged a lot physically since then but still. XD
I think I'm going to die waiting for the second film though. I want it nooooooow. T___T
~Lyn