The Hobbit

I recently saw The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and I thought it was one of the better movies I have seen this year. It is a prequel to the Lord of the Rings trilogy, but since it has been over 30 years since I read The Hobbit, I am in no position to comment on how well the movie followed the book or complain about what artistic liberties were taken by Peter Jackson.

The story deals with the dwarf kingdom being attacked my a dragon and they are displaced from their homeland for years until a descendant of the king decides it is time to return to their kingdom and reclaim it. 13 dwarfs and a wizard recruit Bilbo Baggins to help them with their quest. You will see many LOTR characters that you are already familiar with in this movie including, Bilbo, Gollum, Gandalf, Elrond, Galadriel, and Saruman.

The only thing that really distracted me were such extreme special effects. I understand that computer generated effects are a necessity when you are making a fantasy movie, but some of the scenes, like the dwarfs running away from the Goblins, just seemed too busy and reminded me of a video game. I also thought it was incredibly convenient that despite experiencing multiple life threatening accidents, battles, and falls, none of the good guys ever got injured.

There is plenty of action and special effects during this nearly three hour production. I just wish I didn't have to get strung along for three years in order to finish the series, but I am looking forward to the second installment next year. I give The Hobbit 8.1 stars.

Subtitles Gone Bad

I'm not very cultured or artsy, so most of the movies I watch don't involve subtitles. I don't mind reading subtitles as long as they are legible. The other day I watched The Hammer which is a true story about a deaf wrestler. Since many of the characters in the movie were deaf, there was a ton of signing and therefore, a big need for subtitles.

The problem with this was that the font was too small for me to read and half the time the white subtitles were transposed on a light colored background so it was impossible to read. At one point it got so bad that I thought I might be the subject of a practical joke show and started looking around my room for hidden cameras.

The last time I noticed such bad subtitle work was on the newest Pearl Harbor movie. Each time they showed what the Japanese were saying, the color of the subtitles just blended in with the background. How do movies pass their final editing and get released to the public with such poor subtitle work? I think this is a much bigger goof up than having the boom microphone show in the frame of a movie.

So my advice to those of you who may be making a movie involving subtitles- Do a better job of it!

Skyfall

Last week before leaving town I decided to kick my vacation off by seeing Skyfall. I have been looking forward to seeing this movie for some time and I thought it was better than the the prior Quantum of Solace installment. Skyfall begins as a computer drive containing a list of secret agent's identities is stolen and the names and identities of those spies are made public. We later learn that the person responsible is an ex MI6 operative who has a grudge against M.

Daniel Craig gives a good performance in this film. One thing that I have liked about his character is that he is not perfect. The prior Bonds never seemed to make mistakes and relied too heavily on gadgetry. I have enjoyed seeing Craig as an agent with a human side. This is only the second Bond movie where he cries. The first was On Her Majesty's Secret Service after his wife was killed. I particularly liked the scenes that showed his difficulty in coming back to the service after sustaining an injury in the opening sequence.

The majority of this movie takes place in the United Kingdom. There is not the usual amount of exotic locations and globe trotting, but there are also some scenes in Turkey and China. Javier Bardem plays a flamboyant and creepy villain in this movie. Ralph Fiennes and Albert Finney have minor roles, but are a nice addition to the cast. It was also interesting to see the introduction of a new Money Penny and Q. I think Judi Dench has done a great job as M over the years.

One complaint I had was how the movie took on a "Home Alone" turn at the end as they booby trap Bond's childhood home as they prepare to defend themselves against their pursuers. This may not have been the best plot or the best Bond film, but I was still glad to see it and enjoyed it more than several others (The World is Not Enough, Licensed to Kill, Diamonds are Forever, Octopussy, A View to a Kill, Never Say Never Again, etc.)

I was shocked when I read so many reviews of haters who didn't care for this movie. There have been 50 years of 007 films and some are definitely better than others, but I like what Sam Mendes did as the director of this installment and I give Skyfall 8.0 stars.

Taken 2

I really enjoyed the First Taken movie so I was glad to hear a sequel was coming out. I recently saw Taken 2 and overall I enjoyed it but I had a few serious concerns with this movie.

I never realized how pronounced some of the actors facial features were. Liam has a distinctive nose and Famke Janssen has some interesting eyebrows that kept distracting me. It's good to know that distinctive facial features are not a hindrance in Hollywood. I say that because my forehead is the same size as a regulation checker board.

Anyway, back to the movie... I enjoyed the performances of all of the actors, but I felt like his buddy friends were insignificant and were almost comic relief. They reminded me of the three Disney cartoon ducks during the scene when he calls them at the golf course.

I liked this movie but I had a little problem with him instructing his daughter to throw grenades off the roof tops so he could hear how far away she was from them. I found it convenient that he just happened to have them in his luggage- I know he is a security specialists, but most body guard's weapons of choice are not grenades.

The scene that really bothered me was when they stole a taxi with a shiny yellow paint job and had a chase through busy streets and experienced 5 or 6 serious crashes, yet there was not a single scratch on it! COME ON!!!

This movie obviously cost millions of dollars to make so why would they choose to ignore the fact that cars get damaged when they collide into other objects? I would rather see boom microphones hanging down in the picture or have visible crew members in a scene than have such blatant disregard for physics.

Despite my complaining, I still liked this movie. Liam Neeson may have a particular set of skills, but apparently so do I, picking the details of a movie apart. I give Taken 2  6.9 stars.

Total Recall

I saw Total Recall a couple weeks ago and have been so busy lazy that I never did a write up.

I always like futuristic/post apocalyptic scenarios where the masses are oppressed and have to fight against "the man", but this movie was missing something and I'm not really sure what. I thought Colin Farrell was decent in the lead role and can't put any blame on him.

Kate Beckinsale plays Farrell's wife who is actually a cop who is trying to kill him after he realizes who he really is. She was kind of like a Victoria's Secret version of the Terminator in this movie as she relentlessly pursues him. Jessica Biel's plays an ally to Farell who helps him evade the manhunt for him, but her role wasn't very developed and I had a hard time caring that much about her.

If you like science fiction, action, pretty women, and special effects, then you will probably like this movie, but it is more of a wait for it on DVD type of movie. I was hoping it would have been better. I give it 6.2 stars.