What Movie Did You Just Watch

[Avaitor]

We haven't talked about this year's best picture nominations yet, have we?

• American Sniper
• Birdman
• Boyhood
• The Grand Budapest Hotel
• The Imitation Game
• Selma
• The Theory of Everything
• Whiplash

I've still only seen Grand Budapest, but I should be able to have a chance to see more of these by the time the show comes on. Still, that was a very good film, one I'd be happy to see win.

[Commode]

I just watched American Sniper earlier today, after reading about the stir it's been causing on the internet.  It was pretty good, but I don't know about Best Picture worthy.  Also want to see Boyhood, I typically like Linklater films and I've heard good things.

[gunswordfist]

i caught a little bit of terminator salvation on tv for a second time...i can't believe this generic syfy channel movie is t4. it sucks that cameron never got the good robot war movie he wanted.

[Speedy]

Double Indemnity in theaters.  Excellent, excellent movie.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Finally saw the last Hobbit movie.

The Lord of the Rings movies are going to go down as the better trilogy, no doubt. This movie was almost entirely unneeded since the first twenty minutes should have basically been in the last movie and the rest is just action set-piece after action set-piece. All the added material is fairly disposable, too, not adding anything to Tolkien's work and padding the movie out way too much. On top of it, Bilbo's entire epilogue and journey back to the Shire is pretty much cut out leaving out much of the fun.

I think there's a decent movie in here somewhere, but as a whole The Hobbit is a miss. Such a shame as there is a lot of good stuff buried here. The book is monumentally better paced, more exciting, fun, and is just all around superior.

[talonmalon333]

Finally saw the last Hobbit movie.

The Lord of the Rings movies are going to go down as the better trilogy, no doubt. This movie was almost entirely unneeded since the first twenty minutes should have basically been in the last movie and the rest is just action set-piece after action set-piece. All the added material is fairly disposable, too, not adding anything to Tolkien's work and padding the movie out way too much. On top of it, Bilbo's entire epilogue and journey back to the Shire is pretty much cut out leaving out much of the fun.

I think there's a decent movie in here somewhere, but as a whole The Hobbit is a miss. Such a shame as there is a lot of good stuff buried here. The book is monumentally better paced, more exciting, fun, and is just all around superior.

It's still in theaters? Feels like it's been a while. Anyway, I do think the movie is at least better than the first Hobbit movie, which was just too slow for me.

Also, what epilogue are you referring to? I might not remember all the details from the book. As for Bilbo's journey back, I can understand cutting it for cinema purposes. And I liked the last minute of the movie, how it tied things together. But as a whole, I do agree that most of the good stuff is just buried. Peter Jackson could have made the movie substantially better by shaving an hour off of it (same could be said for the other two movies as well).

[Spark Of Spirit]

I mean the entire section of the book after the battle of five armies. It was basically all about Bilbo going home. None of it is here.

I'm sure there will be a fan cut that chops off a lot of the dead weight, but I don't think you can fix things like what they did to the barrel sequence. That was just a misfire.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I think that had this just been 2 films directed by Guillermo Del Toro as originally planned, it would've been excellent. Unfortunately, there was just too much studio meddling, here.

As for the last film, I actually enjoyed it, but it's definitely the weakest live-action adaptation of a Tolkien book. There just wasn't enough material for a full movie, here, even with bits from the extended lore included in this.

Overall, I found the first film to be solid, the second to actuslly be very good, and the third to be decent but far too padded out. I wouldn't agree with anyone who calls these the equivalents of the Star Wars prequels, but they certainly are very flawed and nowhere near as great as TLOTR trilogy.

[Spark Of Spirit]

No way would I rank them with Star Wars prequels. This had actual acting and a story that had a solid foundation even if not used to its fullest potential.

Either way, I'm glad it's over and done with now.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I'm sure there will be a fan cut that chops off a lot of the dead weight, but I don't think you can fix things like what they did to the barrel sequence. That was just a misfire.

I actually liked that sequence in the second movie. It was unnecessary for sure, but there's something refreshing about an action scene that combines good choreography and practical effects with CG rather than just full-on CG bull-shit. Modern Hollywood absolutely sucks at action scenes, so whenever we get a good one I can't complain. That scene was at least entertaining in an intentionally comical way. The battle at Laketown was going overboard, though, and the forced romance subplot was embarrisingly bad. I'd call that the biggest misfire, myself, aside from the obvious fact that this should not have been 3 films.

[talonmalon333]

I wouldn't agree with anyone who calls these the equivalents of the Star Wars prequels, but they certainly are very flawed and nowhere near as great as TLOTR trilogy.

Agreed. Even the worst Hobbit movie is overwhelmingly better than the "best" Star Wars prequel.

I also agree that one of the biggest misfires of the trilogy was the forced romance.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Yes, the subplot that just . . . ends. And then that character is never heard from again. Talk about pointless.

[Foggle]

I'm in the vast minority of maybe five people who loved the first Hobbit film, didn't much care for the second one, and have no interest in ever watching part 3.

I'm sure there will be a fan cut that chops off a lot of the dead weight, but I don't think you can fix things like what they did to the barrel sequence. That was just a misfire.

I actually liked that sequence in the second movie. It was unnecessary for sure, but there's something refreshing about an action scene that combines good choreography and practical effects with CG rather than just full-on CG bull-shit.

Same here. That was actually one of my favorite parts out of both movies.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Benedict Cumberbatch as Smaug pretty much makes the second movie for me, though I'm in the minority who preferred it to the first one. Most people are lukewarm to the first movie and hate the sequels. I liked AUJ,  but found it kind of boring at parts, yet I was constantly entertained by TDOS with the exception of the romance subplot and how they basically spent way too much time in Laketown. I suppose I'm just weird in that way.

TBOTFA is odd, in that I enjoyed it despite how dragged out it was, but it's probably the only movie in TLOTR franchise that I will never re-watch, or at least have no intention to. Once is enough. Here's how I would rank these:

1. The Return of the King
2. The Two Towers
3. The Fellowship of the Ring
4. The Desolation of Smaug
5. An Unexpected Journey
6. The Battle of the Five Armies

Anyways, despite being somewhat disappointing, it's still a bit of a bummer that all of the best Tolkien material has been adapted. I don't exoect to see such a big fantasy film series epic for a long time to come. Not unless we ever get those Robert's Rebellion or Dunk and Egg movies made.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Well it isn't as if Prydain is ever being adapted. Unfortunately.