What are you watching right now?

[techwizard]

There totally isn't. In the case of this movie they could have cut out an hour of superfluous junk. There's pointless action scenes, extended just...walking/running/flying scenes that go on way too long. Also, they added all this lore that wasn't in the book in order to tie this story to LoTR that I'm certain no one would miss. They also added this stupid villain character that eats up time and is completely unnecessary. If they had left that hour out and made it an hour longer it could easily be one movie.

It has its moments, but it's more disappointing than good.

Exactly as I predicted/expected, then. What a shame, Jackson should've known better. Even when it was still going to be a two-parter I had my reservations. But I thought that if they made it into two fairly short (120min max) movies they could get away with it. The same thing happed with Harry Potter 7. It just about works, but the first movie ends nowhere and some scenes just aren't as relevant as I was used to from the other 6 Harry Potter movies. It's so clear HP7 should've been a single 180min movie. The best HP movie (not book!) imo is HP4 (Goblet of Fire).

But making The Hobbit into three 3-hour movies is absurd. Anyone who's ever read the book can tell you they either have to make all scenes unnecessarily long, add irrelevant stuff (LoTR appedices), or do both. Doing the former ruins the pace of the movie, doing the latter ruins the cohesion of the actual story.

I own the Extended Edition box sets of the LoTR trilogy and even those border on absurdity (especially Return of the King) because they're just too long. Trying to do the same when the source material is 1/10th as big is a recipe for disaster.

I'm willing to bet PJ will end up regretting doing an obvious cash cow/fan service trilogy instead of a single 3-hour movie, which would've been just about perfect for The Hobbit. I wouldn't be surprised to see an "abridged" Director's Cut for the 10-year anniversary of the trilogy that cuts all the fluff and restores the pace of the book.

LotR appendixes aren't irrelevant at all, i don't see why fans of the books wouldn't be happy with getting more canon from the books put into film. i would understand if it were all creative licensing, but even though it wasn't in the hobbit book itself, a lot of the extra stuff was definitely happening at the time of the Quest of Erebor. the only places where things were really unneccessary was most of the story with Azog and his orc raids on the dwarves...that was just wrong. and a few things with radagast. but otherwise it was all good, and i hope to see extended editions that add more when the blu-rays come out.

[techwizard]

LOL

[Razor Knuckles]

[Sirgin]

Sabrina - (1954) - B-

--> Not all that remarkable movie with Humphrey Bogart and Audrey Hepburn. Some gaffs here and there.

The Shop Around the Corner - (1940) - B

--> Another old movie. This is more of a typical feel-good love story.

The weirdest thing about watching these old movies is looking up their wikipedia pages and seeing they've been dead for decades. A human life doesn't seem to last that long. Humphrey Bogart died in 1957!

Modern Times - (1936) - A

--> A classic, unlike the two above, imo. Some genuinely funny scenes, even today.

O Brother, Where Art Thou? - (2000) - B+

--> Great movie but it doesn't really go anywhere. I know that's the point, but still. The singing was the best part. That and the sirens.

[Zagnorch]

Caught A Christmas Story yesterday, naturally.

It's only the greatest Christmas movie ever.

[GrayGhost81]

Saw Rare Exports on Christmas eve. The one about demon Santa. Better than I thought but there was something hugely disappointing about the ending.

[two_scoop_steve]

Indie Game the Movie

[GrayGhost81]

Indie Game the Movie

I loved it, what did you think?

[Sirgin]

Limelight - (1952) - A

--> Great Charlie Chaplin film, quite serious, too. The whole movie is obviously about Chaplin himself, which is interesting.

The Red Violin - (1999) - B+

--> Fun movie, not what I was expecting but good all the same.

The 39 Steps - (1935) - B

--> A Hitchcock movie. You can see how old this movie is in certain scenes where the lighting is really sub-par. Or maybe it was the film used at the time?

Michael Clayton - (2007) - A

--> Already seen this one before. Great movie.

[Sauza12]

I just watched the first season and a half of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles with my daughter.  Now I'm watching the extras on the "Manos":  The Hands of Fate MST3K DVD while I do some work from home.

[The Metamorphosing Leon]

Breaking Bad again

[Sirgin]

Notorious - (1946) - F

--> Even though I complained about the lighting in The 39 Steps, this movie is 100 times worse. Atleast The 39 Steps was engaging. The plot in this one isn't big enough, the scenes are super slow. Everything about it annoyed me. Can't see what Hitchcock was thinking with this one. It starts confusing and ends abruptly. I think he had other things on his mind. Cary Grant and Ingrid Berghman are supposed to be big-time stars of the time but I found their acting dull.

Little Women - (1994) - A

--> Good movie. Typical historical drama, but not too sugar-coated. Funny to see Christian Bale before he was Batman.

Blade Runner - (1982) - B

--> I didn't think it was that special. It must've been at the time, considering all the effects and the style of the movie. I can understand how it was a benchmark, visually. The plot is paper-thin, which annoyed me. These bad guys need to be taken care of. Go. That's it. Why? No clue. I prefer Ghost in the Shell if I were to watch a cyberpunk movie.
The problem with creating near-future sci-fi movies is that you can watch them...in the near future. Some things in this movie seem really advanced, obviously, the androids. Other things are hilariously primitive. I couldn't stop laughing at the scene where Ford inspects a photo on a 8 inch CRT monitor. All the voice commands were stupid. If that's what monitors will be like in 2019, I'd rather have today's tablets with HD touchscreens. Oh and I was annoyed at the fact that it was night the entire movie. And raining.

[hXd]

Introduced my friend to Battle Royale that other night and she liked it! The next movie we're gonna do is 2LDK.

[pull_the_plug]

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

[hXd]

Watched Limitless last night, it was surprisingly good!