Duck, it's the Film Curmudgeon! (Non-spoilery short overview of The Hobbit.)

[amanuensis1]

The Hobbit: Way, way, WAY too long. I was writhing. There's some genuinely charming stuff in there, but most scenes are five times as long as they should be, and every major scene is played out five times over. Pacing, Peter, PACING. The Hobbit is an entertaining, nicely-paced book. Why bog it down so badly with all that extra filler?

(Except The Riddle Game. The Riddle Game was fabulous. The movie should have been The Riddle Game plus one hour. And that's all it should have been.)

My suggestion: stay home, wait for someone to cobble together a heavily edited-down version. You won't, but if you did I think you'd be happier.

Peter, you've got a chance to correct this with the next two. Edit them down. Don't pull a Lucas on us.

(Nothing to do with the film content, but I absolutely hated the 48 fps release. It looked like videotape. Please do not let this be a trend that lasts, ugh.)

Comments

[the_con_cept.livejournal.com]

Yeah, at best I'm hearing pretty lukewarm stuff about it. Very disappointing. On the other hand, Tolkien had a big problem with that himself, so at least it's true to its creator? *sigh* I will definitely wait. I can't afford it right now anyway. But yeah, I've heard terrible things about the 48 fps.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

Jackson fell into the "more is more" trap on this one. Edit it down, it'd be delightful.

I'm scared because the 48 fps is not universally loathed. I NEED it to be universally loathed so it dies off. It's so ugly.

[the_con_cept.livejournal.com]

Oh, jeez. Maybe the director's cut will be shorter and better, lol?

Speaking of bad movies though, I decided to 'cheer myself up' by watching Voyage of the Dawn Treader tonight (and you are speaking to someone who has no 'taste' and actually loves The Chronicles of Narnia, barring, of course, that book that never happened) and I have never seen an adaptation less true to its source. Oh, god, it was painful. And I recognize that Lewis is not actually Shakespeare, but he WAS Shakespeare compared to this. Oh, goodness, it's so terribly terrible. It's laughably bad. And I'm so sad, because it was my favorite of the books. This is the corniest, CGI-est, most illogical thing. It was like the writers put their heads together and said, "Dawn Treader. Everyone knows that story. Obviously, this calls for an AU!"

Well, if it's any consolation, I haven't heard a single person say anything positive about 48 fps. So at least in my circles, it's universally loathed. :) We can always loathe it a little harder and with more panache, though, if it helps!

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

I'm glad I didn't have such a strong memory of Dawn Treader that I noticed the significant changes. I didn't, really!

[florahart]

This is how I feel about 3D in general, and yet, people seem to like it, damn it.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

I now can empathize with those who hate 3D! I'm one of those who loves 3D. Now I'm getting a taste of what it's like for those who've been hating it.