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

[ellid.livejournal.com]

A bunch of my friends were less than pleased when I declined the chance to go and cited all the mediocre reviews. "You know the mainstream press doesn't like genre! Why are you listening to them?"

That's when I pointed out that reviewer for Aintitcoolnews, a site that has supported Peter Jackson's Tolkien films for something like fifteen years, gave it a lousy review, and so did a film critic near Boston whose work as an SF reviewer got him nominated for a Hugo. It is NOT just the mainstream press that is pointing out that this movie is way too long.

I'm waiting until Christmas, and using a couple of free passes I got for donating blood. No way am I spending actual money on this.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

I adored the LOTR films to no end. They are in my top ten films/film series of all time, but I know when pacing is working and when it isn't. Mainstream press can suck like mad when it comes to genre reviews, but when even the fans are saying, "Eh..."

Could you point me to the reviews you mean? I have the worst time navigating Ain't It Cool because there are so many reviewers/posters there.

[ellid.livejournal.com]

Mr. Beaks was less than pleased at the first chunk of the film, which seems to be almost universal. (http://www.aintitcool.com/node/59869)

Daniel Kimmel was nominated for a Hugo for his book on SF films, Jar-Jark Binks Must Die. (http://www.scifimoviepage.com/hobbit.html)