The Desolation

[Aiwendil]

I finally forced myself to sit through it a few days ago.

I liked Stephen Fry as the master of Laketown.

That's about the only positive thing I can think of to say about it.

[Inziladun]

Originally Posted by Tuor in Gondolin

No need to waste time and money on PJ's failed Hobbit. I'll stick with the 1977 Rankin/Bass version until a reasonable production of The Hobbit is done.

The R/B film has some issues, and unquestionably left out some scenes from the book, but at least there was no "love triangle" to needlessly cloud the original plot.

Originally Posted by Aiwendil

I finally forced myself to sit through it a few days ago.

I liked Stephen Fry as the master of Laketown.

That's about the only positive thing I can think of to say about it.

I told myself if I ever saw AUJ, it would be after it came out on satellite, so I could avoid (directly) lining PJ's pockets. It's been available all this month and I still haven't yielded, and I'm confident that will continue when DOS appears.

[Kitanna]

I finally went and saw this with my roommate. I will say I liked it much better than the first movie overall, but that doesn't say much.

Pros:
-It was a bit cheesy, but I actually liked the scene between Thorin and Thrainduil.
-Beorn for the few minutes he was in the movie
-I liked Luke Evans as Bard the Bowman, but he did look a bit like Orlando Bloom's character Will Turner from Pirates of the Caribbean
-Stephen Fry is generally fantastic

Cons:
-Beorn only got a few minutes
-Kili/Tauriel what the heck? I feel like it cheapens the friendship Legolas and Gimli have
-What did PJ do to Bard's character?
-Dol Guldur, enough said
-Whatever was going on with the forge at the end. I'm not really sure what Thorin and Co hoped to accomplish
-A handful of dwarves are left in Laketown?

Since Orlando Bloom is now closer to 40 than to 20 it does make Legolas look like he has the Benjamin Button disease and I thought about that almost the entire movie. So I pretty much came away from the movie believing elves must age backwards.

[Morthoron]

I went to see The Dissipation of Smaug this evening. As I have staunchly refused to give Peter Jackson any more of my money, I fortunately went free, as my daughter received a theater gift card from one of her aunts for Christmas.

I will perhaps write a longer critique later, but for now I will only say that the movie was absolutely the most dreadful melange of poorly penned subplots and derivative nonsense that I have ever seen. This in no way is The Hobbit; this, my dears, is fan-fiction gone amok, and Peter Jackson -- with his enormous, pendulously hanging goiter of an ego -- has completely lost his flippin' mind.

As opposed to Jackson's previous forays in destroying and reassembling Middle-earth a CGI brick at a time, I didn't even enjoy the cinematography this time around. Everything looked fake and everything was completely over-the-top.

[Eomer of the Rohirrim]

Originally Posted by Morthoron

I went to see The Dissipation of Smaug this evening. As I have staunchly refused to give Peter Jackson any more of my money, I fortunately went free, as my daughter received a theater gift card from one of her aunts for Christmas.

I will perhaps write a longer critique later, but for now I will only say that the movie was absolutely the most dreadful melange of poorly penned subplots and derivative nonsense that I have ever seen. This in no way is The Hobbit; this, my dears, is fan-fiction gone amok, and Peter Jackson -- with his enormous, pendulously hanging goiter of an ego -- has completely lost his flippin' mind.

As opposed to Jackson's previous forays in destroying and reassembling Middle-earth a CGI brick at a time, I didn't even enjoy the cinematography this time around. Everything looked fake and everything was completely over-the-top.

Dinna hold back, man.