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Author Topic: The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug Marcel Birgelen Film God Posts: 3357 From: Maastricht, Limburg, Netherlands Registered: Feb 2012 posted 12-14-2013 05:16 PM                     I've already commented on the looks of the HFR in this other thread. So, I watched this year's Hobbit movie. I've read the original trilogy years ago, but not The Hobbit. The Hobbit is just ONE book and not THREE. I'm still amazed at how much you can stretch a story... The presentation in 3D HFR (and "Dolby" 7.1) itself was quite flawless, the switch between the 3D 24 FPS trailers and the HFR feature presentation was entirely flawless. The theater was packed. As a bonus feature, the "commentary track" was on: It was provided by a woman next to me, describing everything happening on screen... Unfortunately, the mute function was broken, after politely asking to shut the fuck up, she didn't quiet down, but distributed her bucket of popcorn somewhat evenly over the floor. (Actually, she picked up the biggest heap, put it back into her bucket and continued eating...) Let's get back to that story stretching: The story on this one is so thin, it's not only translucent, it's practically transparent. Some dwarfs, a wizard and a hobbit need to get inside a mountain to retrieve some important glow-in-the-dark jewel. There's just a little catch, one giant greedy, evil dragon is also present in those same caves. Besides that, there are some orks that want to rain on the parade as well. The concept of the whole movie is no different than that of the second half of the first. The main characters are constantly on the run for something evil and run from one adventure into the next. Since having Gandalf present would make stuff too easy, he receives some telepathic message and leaves the pack to their fate. After a hour and a half of running from one adventure to the next, this whole thing starts to get very boring. Since you already know they will eventually arrive at their destination and encounter some big dragon beast, there is no suspense whatsoever. In contrast to the first movie, this one is much darker. Besides the often stunning sets and scenery, I really hated the look of it. Even the whole "inside the mountain" part is dark and bleak. Yeah, I know, it's supposed to be dark, but why is there any light for them to see at all, without a single candle being lit? There was a big dragon there, shouldn't he be able to light some candles to make the place look a bit more colorful? All in all, I hated it. It was ugly looking, the HFR didn't really improve and it was utterly boring. Right now, I don't feel any urge to see the last part...  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 12-14-2013 05:34 PM                     With respect to 24fps to 48fps 3D transition...I'm curious...which 3D process and which projector? It actually could make a difference.  |  IP: Logged Marcel Birgelen Film God Posts: 3357 From: Maastricht, Limburg, Netherlands Registered: Feb 2012 posted 12-14-2013 06:04 PM                     The projector is a Christie CP4220. The 3D System is XPand 3D Passive with motorized mount. The circular polarization of the XPand Passive system is the same as RealD. I used my own Polaroid 3D glasses, that are "RealD certified". Not that I do think their polarizers are really better, but the glasses block more light from the sides and look cooler .  |  IP: Logged Geoff Jones Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 579 From: Broomfield, CO, USA Registered: Feb 2006 posted 12-19-2013 07:57 PM                        I wanted to see it on the big screen at Harkins Northfield and had tentative plans to go Wednesday night. I noticed on Sunday that their website only showed listings thru Tuesday. So I called them up and asked if it would still be on the big screen on Wednesday. "Oh sure," said the Harkins dimwit who answered the phone. Tuesday I checked the updated listings and Anchorman 2 was on the big screen starting Wednesday. Sigh. So I went to the much closer AMC Promenade in Westminster, #12. It wasn't a terrible presentation, but the audio was too low. I found myself straining to hear the dialog at times. The only other thing to note, presentation-wise, is that an AMC dimwit started cleaning the glass window at the projection port during the credits while I was looking for my friend's name in the credits. I managed to spot it as it scrolled up the screen under a blurry shadow. As for the movie, I thought it was terrible. It was as if someone accidentally erased the word "finesse" from the dictionary while they were making this movie and the very concept ceased to exist. There was no sense of danger, no character development. It felt like a three hour video game. (And I'm a fan of the license and the LotR films.) Not recommended.  |  IP: Logged Bobby Henderson "Ask me about Trajan." Posts: 10973 From: Lawton, OK, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 12-20-2013 12:49 PM                     Cinema: Harkins Theatres Bricktown 16 Screen: Cine Capris Format: 2K 'scope, 2D, Dolby Atmos Presentation Problems: None Rating: 3 stars out of 4 I'm just now getting around to posting this review, even though it has now been a week since I watched the movie. quote: Geoff Jones Tuesday I checked the updated listings and Anchorman 2 was on the big screen starting Wednesday. Sigh. I don't know what the management at Harkins Theaters was thinking, but with all the hype surrounding Anchorman 2 I suspected they would put that movie on all its Cine Capri screens when it opened Wednesday. Sure enough, they did so. That's why my girlfriend, two of her daughters and I went to see The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug last Friday night. I don't often watch movies during opening weekend, but if I wanted to see the show in Dolby Atmos I had no choice. The movie itself is decent, but like An Unexpected Journey, it isn't on the same level as the Lord of the Rings movies. Peter Jackson made some odd choices of what he didn't include from The Hobbit novel and other stuff he added that wasn't in the book. At least this installment felt more like it was going somewhere. Some of the action sequences, involving the dwarfs, got pretty silly and implausible. That effectively deflated any sense of suspense. The movie got better when the Necromancer and the dragon, Smaug, appeared on screen. Smaug is the main reason to see the movie. It's one hell of a dragon and I think the coolest CG monster since the T-Rex in Jurassic Park. Smaug wasn't just generic fearsome looking like so many monsters, it had some real visual attitude. Interestingly, Benedict Cumberbatch did the voice work on both Smaug and the Necromancer. The color grading on this movie seemed kind of strange to me. A bunch of scenes looked almost like black and white material that had been colorized. I wondered if this might have been done in an attempt to tone down the motion flow video look in the HFR 3D version. I'm thinking about watching this movie again in HFR 3D at the Moore Warren Theater just to see HFR for myself. The Dolby Atmos mix was pretty good. It wasn't as aggressive as Gravity in terms of sound panning, but it was very clear the mixers did a lot more than merely port a standard 5.1/7.1 mix into Atmos format and call it a day. The mix was at its best when the Necromancer and Smaug were on screen.  |  IP: Logged Justin Hamaker Film God Posts: 2253 From: Lakeport, CA USA Registered: Jan 2004 posted 12-20-2013 03:16 PM                        As a fan of The Hobbit, the book, I have to say I have been very disappointed by the first two parts of The Hobbit the movie. While the visual elements are done extremely well, there is so much added that it almost becomes a different story. I don't know if Jackson and company have pulled material from The Silmarillion and the appendices of The Lord of the Rings, but there is so much extra. What's worse is that this over done project isn't even faithful to the material in The Hobbit. quote: Marcel Birgelen I'm still amazed at how much you can stretch a story... Of the nearly 3 hour running time, only about an hour of the material is actually from the book. I don't know where all the other material comes from, but even the stuff from the book is not particularly accurate to the original story.  |  IP: Logged Jonathan Goeldner Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1360 From: Washington, District of Columbia Registered: Jun 2008 posted 12-20-2013 07:35 PM                     P. Jackson and folk can't use the Silmarillion material - as they don't own the rights of the book and it's contents. as for the movie itself - it was okay, but nothing to actually rave about. Even at a shorter running time, the editing was still patch work and not well paced. [action, dialogue. action, more dialogue, rinse repeat] The Atmos mix was good, but not as aggressive as the prior movie, but it did have excellent use of the above head speakers when Smaug lumbered over the Dwarves (and us the viewer).  |  IP: Logged Terry Lynn-Stevens Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1081 From: Toronto, Ontario, Canada Registered: Dec 2012 posted 12-20-2013 09:41 PM                     quote: Justin Hamaker The Hobbit, the book, I have to say I have been very disappointed by the first two parts of The Hobbit the movie. While the visual elements are done extremely well, there is so much added that it almost becomes a different story. It is pretty clear that they stretched out a smaller story into a too long a series. I am surprised at how much money the first movie made, this one is not going to do as well but will still do well. What is even more shocking is that people are willing to see Hobbit 2 twice. Who is the bigger fool? Peter Jackson for stretching out a single story and ruining his legacy or the poor fool who pays for it twice.  |  IP: Logged Stu Jamieson Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 524 From: Buccan, Qld, Australia Registered: Jan 2008 posted 12-29-2013 06:54 AM                     Had a patron come out of the Hobbit to complain tonight. He said the movie was running too fast. I had to give him a crash course in HFR.  |  IP: Logged Marcel Birgelen Film God Posts: 3357 From: Maastricht, Limburg, Netherlands Registered: Feb 2012 posted 12-29-2013 07:15 AM                     Maybe Warner Bros should've added a short (optional) introduction to the HFR version, explaining the "merits" of HFR.  |  IP: Logged Stu Jamieson Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 524 From: Buccan, Qld, Australia Registered: Jan 2008 posted 12-29-2013 05:32 PM                     "Warner Bros wish to advise that HFR is shit. We hope you enjoy the feature."  |  IP: Logged Jonathan Goeldner Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1360 From: Washington, District of Columbia Registered: Jun 2008 posted 01-01-2014 09:30 PM                     ^ tee-hee - you're funny.  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 01-01-2014 10:28 PM                        How could a customer saying the movie is running too fast have anything to do with HFR? Unless you were pulling his chain. I'm not into these kinds of movies so have not watched it, but we're just wrapping up our run here and the grosses have been terrific. Week 2 outgrossed Week 1 -- which wasn't a huge surprise due to the Christmas holiday week, we often get a lot of people home for the holidays....but then week 3 came along and grossed almost exactly the same as week 1, which is pretty much unheard of. So I'm thinking word-of-mouth on this must be pretty great. In the end it has *almost* equalled the first movie, less than $100 difference. And this is with the second week not having 3-D available (our dishwasher decided to take a short vacation). So actually butts-in-seats-wise, this movie outdid the first one by a few people.  |  IP: Logged Stu Jamieson Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 524 From: Buccan, Qld, Australia Registered: Jan 2008 posted 01-01-2014 10:58 PM                     People perceiving HFR as running too fast or "sped up" is quite common, Mike. It's a trick of the mind, of course, but the perception is real to many folks.  |  IP: Logged Bobby Henderson "Ask me about Trajan." Posts: 10973 From: Lawton, OK, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 01-01-2014 11:02 PM                     This movie was the box office earnings winner this past weekend, beating The Wolf of Wall Street and Anchorman 2. There's little doubt a good chunk of The Hobbit's $29 million take came from the hefty price premiums at IMAX-branded theaters. Still, I'm kind of surprised theater chains haven't put this one back on some of the other premium big screens. It played for only 5 days at the Harkins Bricktown 16 Cine Capri theater (in Dolby Atmos) before being replaced by Anchorman 2 and then The Wolf of Wall Street the following week. I suppose they'll stick the new Paranormal Activity cash grab in that theater next.  |  IP: Logged

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