The Hobbit: The Battle Of The Five Armies

I'm only going to give you a quick run-through of my thoughts on this film as I haven't had a lot of spare time to write and I am also trying to compile my top ten films of this year and most anticipated of next year lists!

So The Hobbit: The Battle Of The Five Armies. If you have kept up with my reviews of these films for the last couple years then you will remember that I enjoyed the first one, and very much disliked the second one. This one is... alright. My expectations were low but I found myself enjoying certain parts of this epic climax. The beginning was very cool and I really liked Smaug but I did feel this segment would have been better at the end of the last film, because when you come out of the cinema the opening is just a kind of an afterthought. The rest of the film has it's moments but is still bogged down by the worst aspects of the prequel trilogy; the overuse of CGI and no main character (or not enough use of Bilbo!). I mean come on, the film is called The Hobbit! And Martin Freeman is awesome, give him more to do in his own film! I did however enjoy the dynamics between Thorin and Bilbo in this film which I feel the last one kind of forgot about. Other actors I liked were Evangeline Lily, though her character was nothing more than a love interest, Lee Pace (did anyone else think it looked like he had pen marks on his face at the end of the battle?), Luke Evans and obviously Ian Mckellen who I believe may actually be Gandalf in real life... Anybody looking forward to seeing Billy Connolly in this film will be disappointed when he turns up as a cluster of pixels.

This film has good moments, a lot of the action is pretty cool looking, but never reaches the awesomeness or realisticness of Helms Deep or Minas Tirith. I'm very happy The Lord Of The Rings got made when it did, because Peter Jackson has definitely had a case of the George Lucas flu whilst making these prequels! The finale is epic in scale and Peter Jackson closes his trilogy a lot smoother than The Return Of The King. I wasn't left disappointed by this Hobbit film. The films won't hold up well over time but at least we'll still have The Lord Of The Rings to satisfy all our Middle Earth needs. I know this all sounds like negative points but I did enjoy the film I swear! It just wasn't anything special, that's all. It had the pressure of The Lord Of The Rings on it's back and was being adapted from a 300 page kids book, stretched into three really long films...

Look, I liked it, didn't love it, but it'll do. I am giving The Hobbit: The Battle Of The Five Armies a rating of 3/5.

What did you think of the final Hobbit film? Are you happy it's over or have you been left wanting more adventures in Middle Earth? Let me know in the comments below.

Thanks for reading!

Come back soon for my review of the year and what I am most looking forward to in 2015!

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

Same as last year, I didn't really get excited for the new Hobbit film until it was just about to come out. We've been to Middle Earth plenty of times before and you kind of know what to expect in terms of the tone and style of the film. So it was unfortunate that The Desolation of Smaug did nothing for me in terms of bringing me back to a world that I love to watch on screen. At least An Unexpected Journey brought me back into the world that I loved in way that gave me goosebumps as soon as I saw The Shire and heard the heartwarming music. This film however, feels more like a tribute to the world of The Lord of the Rings rather than being an extension of the mythology. It's the middle of the trilogy and that is exactly what the film feels like, a middle, it doesn't really have a beginning or an end. It's just a bit boring. Apart from the dragon, the dragon is awesome!

The second film in The Hobbit trilogy picks up with Bilbo and the Dwarfs as they travel to Erebor to reclaim their homeland from the dragon Smaug. A few things happen along the way, all action packed, but everything is sorted out pretty quickly, that's about it really. Directed again by Peter Jackson, who obviously has a love for the book his films are based on, so much so he is the first person we see in the film, but he also has to learn when to let go of something and stop dragging it out... into three films. Lets just say he is suffering from something I would like to call George Lucas syndrome. Lets see why.

Although the film is still titled The Hobbit, Bilbo isn't really the main character of the film. Actually there isn't really a main character of the film, Bilbo feels more like 'just one of the dwarfs' and we see a little bit of everybody else like Thorin, Gandalf and Kili and those other dwarfs, like the fat one and the stupid one and the old one. We get a little bit of Legolas as well, he wasn't in the books but his part is pretty cool although by the end it feels like he's outstayed his welcome. A new character is introduced, Tauriel, a female Elf who has been chucked in to the very male dominated sequel. Evangeline Lilly plays her well but like most women in film at the moment, her character is more of a half hearted love interest that sets up a love triangle between her, Legolas and Kili. Yes that's right, Kili. She does kick a lot of ass though. Another new addition to the cast is Luke Evans as Bard. Acting wise though everybody is just as good as the last outing, but none of the characters are ever given enough time to shine.

The first act of the film is the worse though, we are chucked back into the story pretty much straight away in an uneven and sometimes poorly edited opening. Everything feels a bit rushed, which is weird for a film that lasts for 2 and a half hours! It does get better though, but not by much. The middle part still feels oddly dragged out and boring until the final act where things get a lot better but then it just ends. It ends in a way that would be great for penultimate episode of a TV show, but Game of Thrones this is not. We are not waiting a week to see the finale, we are waiting a whole year! I have read the book and I can see many better places to end the film, especially with The Battle of Five Armies that is going to make up most of the third film. Don't get me wrong, There and Back Again is going to epic in spectacle but I cannot see it being anymore then a war film, I hope I'm wrong.

The soundtrack is obviously just as good as the last but certain pieces play at the most obvious of times and that makes you wonder if Jackson thinks we're stupid, as if we can't tell that this bit is supposed to be happy or this is bit is supposed to be sad. I know this is what soundtracks are for but in this case it feels forced and cheesy. And while we are on the subject of cheesy, you know those cliche moments in films where it looks like your heroes are about to lose then all of a sudden somebody comes and saves them? Well this happens in the film, a lot. So much so that it gets really annoying after you've seen it for the tenth time. 

Then there's the CGI. There is loads of it and it most of the time it looks out of place. The barrel sequence you see in the trailer is one of the best examples as it is so obvious when real footage is being used and when CGI takes its place, everything just looks a bit out of place. And whenever the big white Orc turns up he looks like something out of a video game. When the Orcs are real people with make-up and prosthetics it really looks good, they come across as a lot more menacing because they look real! There is also a lot of violence against the Orcs that really do push the boundaries of the 12A certificate. I have no problem with it but it is sure to be controversial, especially with the latest study that found more gun violence in 12A's than in any other film certificate.

The best thing about this film was the dragon Smaug. He looked incredible, now he was a CGI creation that truly looked magnificent. In fact I would go as far as saying that he is probably the best dragon ever to grace our screens. Benedict Cumberbatch is perfect in the role and he not only voiced the creation but did motion capture for some of the screens. As soon as we get to Smaug in the film it is awesome. If the whole film had been as good as the scenes with Smaug it would have been an easy 5/5 film. But unfortunately, this film won't be getting that score from me and it is unfortunate because I loved the previous film and The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

The Desolation of Smaug  was a CGI overloaded film, with bad pacing and direction. The film felt like a dragged out middle chapter with no beginning or end. I'm surprised at the critics reception to this film, with many heralding it as better then the first film, for me it is not, in any way. But that's just my opinion. I am giving the film a rating of 2.5/5. The .5 was added because Smaug was so awesome. The final film better be good!

Judging from first reactions I am obviously in the minority when it comes to my opinion on the film, so let me know what you thought of it in the comments below. Do you agree or completely disagree with me?

Thanks for reading!

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey 3D HFR

This could be one of the hardest films I have had to review. I didn't know whether to be excited for The Hobbit or not this year. I was a massive fan of The Lord of the Rings trilogy and didn't want Peter Jackson to ruin its legacy by releasing a prequel that I didn't believe could be as epic as the previous films. Then there was the news that it was going to be turned into three films, which I'm still not too happy about. Though after seeing it last night I am pleased to say that I thoroughly enjoyed the film and it sure does feel good to have Middle Earth back on the big screen. However I'm not too sure that watching the film in 48 frames per second (fps) is the way forward. But more on that later. I would just like to mention that this review is spoiler free.

The first part of The Hobbit trilogy follows a gang of Dwarfs who want to reclaim their home and treasure stolen off them by the dragon Smaug. Led by Gandalf who insists that the hobbit Bilbo Baggins would be a great addition to the gang.

The journey the gang take is very similar to the journey taken in The Fellowship of the Ring, but the film does not feel the same. It stands on its own but still has that light but serious tone that was kept throughout the whole of the franchise. And like the rest of the franchise, this film had a top notch ensemble cast, of which you probably already know, but I want to pick out the two people I thought were the best in this film, and those two are Martin Freeman and Richard Armitage who played Bilbo and Thorin. Both were outstanding in their roles and the film would not have been as good without them. Everyone one else was also on form but they were the two performances that stood out the most.

I must say I was expecting this film to be quite a slow one, with a lot of the action to be left for the sequels but this was not the case at all, there was blooming loads of it! This film may not have as many grand scale epic war scenes as the other films did but the action set pieces are brilliant. My only criticism would be the amount of CGI and animated characters put into the mix which sometimes looked out of place because of the format that I saw it in.

This comes to my point about this being a hard film to review because although I loved it, I really did not like the higher frame rate that I saw it in. Films are usually filmed and shown in 24 fps but Peter Jackson decided to film in 48fps and give us the option as to which format to see it in. As a budding filmmaker this format intrigued me and I was very interested to see what it looked like. I can only describe it as  being almost like a super HD version of the film. Everything was in focus and it seemed a lot like live television. A lot of critics have been saying that it looks so real that it looks fake and now after watching I can understand what they mean by that. Unfortunately because it looks so real, when there is animation involved it is obvious. Which is too bad because the animation is some of the best I've ever seen but unfortunately still doesn't look real, or at least not real enough to be shown in 48fps with human actors. When all that was on the frame was animation, it looked incredible but when you mix it, it looked awful. This isn't good because it takes you out of the story and back into the cinema where you are watching the film. If a company was to make a motion capture animation film in 48fps then it would definitely work but live action not so much. I can't help but feel I may have enjoyed the film just a little bit more in its regular format.

The 3D however does look stunning in 48fps but because the stuff on screen looks fake then they kind of cancel each other out. Still though, some of the best 3D I've seen.

If you are a fan of The Lord of the Rings then you are going to love this film! I felt very nostalgic seeing Middle Earth in all it's beautiful glory on the big screen once more, a feeling I hope to get again when they release the new Star Wars film in 2015.

If you are a fan of the book and read it when you were younger like me, then you will be very happy with how they adapt some of the best bits for the big screen. My favorite bits of the book such as the scene with the three trolls and the game of riddles between Bilbo and Gollum (who looks better then ever!) are also my favorite parts in the film. Although Peter Jackson has stretched certain scenes out to make them bigger and more cinematic, it never feels too far from the source material. The film, like The Lord of the Rings, just felt a little bit too long, but I can now see why they were going to split the story into two, but splitting into three is yet to be justified in my mind.

Everything you loved about The Lord of the Rings is back and thankfully it maintains it's excellent standard. I am looking forward to the next two instalments but will most likely see them in 24fps. It's hard to rate this film because no matter how much I loved it there was still a lot I didn't like because of the format I saw it in, therefore I am giving The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey a rating of 4/5.

What do you think of the 48fps? Which format is the first part of The Hobbit best in? Did you like the film at all? Please comment below!

Thanks for reading!

5 Films To Still Look Forward To In 2012

Well the summer of movies is over and what a summer it was! You may be feeling a bit down about the rest of the year and the films it has to offer, but don't fret we still have some pretty awesome stuff coming our way! These are the films I am excited about that are coming out this year in the UK. So Django Unchained will not be on here unfortunately.

5. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

Some of you may be surprised this is not at the top of my list but unlike the other films, I know what to expect of this one. I expect it to be great, however I have been put off my the recent splitting of the story into three films. I feel like it's a bit of a money grabbing thing but Peter Jackson has denied this. Either way it's going to work because there is no way I'll be missing it.

 

4. Seven Psychopaths

If the hilarious trailer isn't anything to go by then the director Martin McDonagh 's previous film just might. In Bruges was a brilliantly funny film that was different to anything before it. That is why a lot of people are looking forward to what McDonagh does next, including myself.

 

3. Skyfall

A new James Bond is always a good thing, even if the last one was pretty bad. But things are looking better, especially for those who want a return to form, as Sam Mendes is on board as director and looks to be making an epic. Daniel Craig also says he feels better about and has signed on for more films which could see him becoming the actor to have played 007 the most! Bond and Mendes seems like a perfect match really!

 

2. Ruby Sparks

From the people who made Little Miss Sunshine what more can I say?

 

1. Looper

Bruce Willis playing Joseph Gordon-Levitt! Joseph Gordon-Levitt playing Bruce Willis! A time travelling sci-fi directed by Rian Johnson!

 

 

 

So do you agree with me? If you like you can post your top 5 in the comments below.

 

Thanks for reading!