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Funny, I hated that part with Smaug the most.

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Thought that was far and away the best scene of the Hobbit movies.

I still don't understand these additional scenes that Jackson has added. I still think he would have made an awesome adaptation if they stuck to the original plan and made two movies. There are some great scenes in both films , but there is a bunch of crap as well.

[This message has been edited by jbsj9698 (edited 7/28/2014 3:12p).]

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I still don't understand these additional scenes that Jackson has added. I still think he would have made an awesome adaptation if they stuck to the original plan and made two movies.

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Because they wanted to make $3 billion dollars instead of $2.

Saw both the first two on BluRay and enjoyed them both. I might try to catch this one in the theatre.

I know this is the same discussion we went over last time the teaser rolled around, but man those effects just look cheap and awful.

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Because they wanted to make $3 billion dollars instead of $2.

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I understand that. At some point one would think Jackson or someone at New Line would have some consideration about making the best movie possible instead of how much more money could be made.

But I'm sure I'm being a bit naïve.

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but man those effects just look cheap and awful.

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Unfortunately, I mostly agree. I just can't understand why the company that did LOTR and Avatar somehow can't make these movies look as good as those.

Some of it has been great (Smaug and Gollum come to mind), but some has been downright cringe-worthy. Is it a lack of time? Cause it sure as hell isn't lack of budget. Maybe the 48 FPS is affecting it.

[This message has been edited by Brian Earl Spilner (edited 7/28/2014 4:16p).]

Unless there's something about doing 48 fps that makes it look like crap in 24 too, I don't think so. All the orcs have looked just plain awful. Azog and Bolg look like cartoon characters.

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I understand that. At some point one would think Jackson or someone at New Line would have some consideration about making the best movie possible instead of how much more money could be made.

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Don't get me wrong... I agree completely. But it's always going to be about the money. Especially when it's that big a number. But I'm sure directors and studios get in spats about things like this a lot.

No doubt. It just makes me a little sad because it could have been incredible. This was one of my favorites growing up and I just hate to see what has been made of it.

well hell, i looked up this thread after seeing the trailer, expecting to see people as excited as i was. i ****ing LOVED that trailer and am super excited for the last installment. CGI was fine to me, but i don't have super high standards, as long as you're entertaining me and telling a good story

hearing billy sing again gave me chills, that was a smart move

Honestly, I think Jackson got a little too big for his britches by packing in all this extra stuff (the elf/dwarf love, Legolas, Gandulf visiting the made up prison of the Wraiths).

In doing so, he rushed through the better part of the books such as trying to follow the elves and getting captured by the spiders and the dwarf's imprisonment and barrel escape.

I know purist are sick of Jackson stretching stuff out but holy crap that looked good-- cannot wait!!

It isn't like there are other quality fantasy movies rolling out right now so I'll take what I can get.

I will say, that I think of the stuff that Jackson made up out of whole cloth I did like the part where Gandalf visited the Nazgul crypts.

Did he make that up or pull from appendices? I haven't read all of that, but that's where I understood him to have been when he left them at Mirkwood.

Did Bilbo lose a contact?

Maybe he dropped the ring?

I won't be seeing the third one. The second one was incredibly stupid. WAY too many Peter Jackson add ins. That trailer looks horrendous.

Might just be taking a rugby piss

i think bilbo fell asleep in his own movie.

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i think bilbo fell asleep in his own movie.

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Accurate to Tolkien.

If I had more time, I'd put Tebow on that poster with Bilbo.

Granted I was 27-29 and single when LOTR came out, and 38-40 with 2 babies when the Hobbits have come out, but I'm almost amazed how very little I care about these movies. I want to, I really do. I tried to watch the first one on cable 2-3 times before I made it all the way through.

It's just not a story worth 3 movies and it painfully shows.

To be honest, I kind of feel the same way. Not that I don't like the movies, I do, but they haven't really impacted me the way the LOTR movies did. Maybe it's a little bit of nostalgia goggles, but I also think the Hobbit movies haven't been nearly as epic in scope, and by that I don't mean just big battle scenes, I mean the feeling of all Middle Earth being in peril.

I loved that there were so many characters involved, yet they were all developed enough that you actually cared about them. By ROTK, you had the members of the Fellowship, the people of Rohan, Gondor/Faramir, Elrond/Arwen, and you cared about all of them. With the Hobbit we have the dwarf company + Bilbo, and Gandalf. And that's about it. Tauriel hasn't really been developed enough yet to care about her much, and Thranduil is just kinda there.

I don't think this is the only reason it hasn't quite reached LOTR levels, but I think it's a big one. Maybe the music hasn't been as memorable either.

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but I also think the Hobbit movies haven't been nearly as epic in scope, and by that I don't mean just big battle scenes, I mean the feeling of all Middle Earth being in peril.

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That's the thing. That's the way the book was written. Middle Earth WASN'T in peril (as far as they knew). It was just the story of one little hobbit's journey "There and Back Again".

You're right, and nobody can fault PJ for that. But let's take for example, one of the most memorable scenes in LOTR, when Gandalf stands off with the Balrog in Moria.

That whole scene was just epic, from the moment you hear the rumblings coming from deep in the mountain. There was a great buildup to the moment on the bridge. (The soundtrack didn't hurt here.)

Compare that to the Gandalf vs Sauron scene in Dol Guldur. It SHOULD'VE felt just as epic, if not more so considering the participants, but it just didn't. At least for me.

It was pretty badass though, let's be clear.

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You're right, and nobody can fault PJ for that. But let's take for example, one of the most memorable scenes in LOTR, when Gandalf stands off with the Balrog in Moria.

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Except they can, because Jackson took what was a nice story with some really cool moments and tried to turn it into a 3 movie, 10 hour saga.

It's kind of like that new Noah movie. I haven't actually watched it except for over someone else's seatback on a flight, but it looks like they took a nice story with an interesting character, and somehow included opposing warlords and giant rock monsters. WTF!

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Maybe the music hasn't been as memorable either.

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Oh, I consider the scores for both Hobbit movies to be quite memorable. I have both right alongside the LOTR scores that I play frequently.

I love the Smaug music, especially the track titled 'A Liar and a Thief', from Desolation. Good film music all the way through.

I know I'll go see the final movie, but I'm not as excited as the others.

Battle scene at the end of BoFA will be 45 minutes long.

http://insidemovies.ew.com/2014/10/23/peter-jackson-hobbit-the-battle-of-the-five-armies/?hootPostID=f98694c6f4f6f2b3b632f088ebdec2e1

They have to do something to fill up 3 hrs of movie time since there are only about 20 pages of the book left.

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They have to do something to fill up 3 hrs of movie time since there are only about 20 pages of the book left.

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Has anyone actually looked to see where, page wise, where Hobbit 2 left off?

He managed to make such sterile and plodding movies this time around that it is sad. When you can't even use a dragon to perk things up you have got real problems.

I am seriously going to watch the movie not because I want to but just to see it to the end. I find so little joy in this trilogy. Should have been two movies at best, maybe even a three hour movie at best.

I mean come on:
1. Balls on chin goblin king
2. Legolas
3. Kili/elf chick romance
4. Gandalf vs Sauron. Yet he kept it quiet for 70 years....
5. Barrel chase/elf-orc hunt
6. Bird poo head
7. Axe-in-head
etc.
etc.