General Hobbit Movie Info (AVOID IF YOU DON'T WANT SPOILERS)

[yovargas]

drawnoutendlessandendlesslyboringmindnumbinglystupid battles

If you're hoping the battle of the five armies is over in a couple minutes I expect you'll be disappointed.

[sauronsfinger]

Here is his "fat people" stand-up bit

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXTq2_3LfXM

If there is any irony in it, sadly it is one part irony and 99 parts sarcasm and mean spiritedness. He goes for four minutes ripping on overweight people and only then does he mention that he is not perfect himself. That lasts all of five seconds and is fairly mild compared to his finger pointing at others. And then he goes right back to the previous material.

It reminds me of the SEINFELD epsiode where George Costanza is trying to decide if he should date a woman who is bald. Elaine tries to bring him back to earth by telling him "your'e bald" despite his new toupe.

Jerry: Hey there he is. So what happened? Could she detect it?

George: That's an interesting question.

Jerry: How so?

George: How so? I'll tell you how so. She's bald!

Elaine: What do you mean bald?

George: What do you think I mean bald? Bald. Bald bald.

Jerry: She's bald?

George: She's bald.

Elaine: Oh come on.

George: Oh come on? No come on. She took off her hat and there she was (waving his hand over his

head) hello. It was like I was looking at myself in the mirror.

Elaine: Well maybe she got a haircut or something.

George: Let me tell you something. No one walks into a beauty parlor and says "Give me the Larry Fine."

Jerry: Women go bald?

Elaine: Yeah, I've heard of that. I mean they usually wear a wig.

Kramer enters.

Jerry: Hey.

Kramer: Hey.

George: You fixed me up with a bald woman.

Kramer flinches.

Kramer: Bald?

George: Yeah, that's right.

Elaine: Do you see the irony here? You're rejecting somebody because they're bald.

George: So?

Elaine: (puts her hands up to her mouth) You're bald!

George: No I'm not. I *was* bald.

I guess Gervais is just not my cup of tea. Of course, they could write in a scene where the Gervais as Bilbo rips on the company of Dwarves for being short. There is your comedic relief.

[Elentári]

Ricky Gervais? Definitely a no-no for me...

Hmm...Stephen Graham? Possible, but to me he seems more of a Merry or Pippin "cheeky chappy" type, with that twinkle in his eye.

[N.E. Brigand]

Russell Crowe subordinated his "action hero," "tough guy" persona to give what was, for me, a sharply affecting and genuine performance as Jack Aubrey in Master and Commander. YMMV, but I love that film, and in no small part because of the casting of Crowe, which initially had horrified me.

I had the same experience with Crowe, though a few years earlier, watching him as the mild-mannered whistleblower in The Insider two years after first seeing him as a thuggish cop in L.A. Confidential. And then he did it again, following Gladiator with A Beautiful Mind (two good performances in mediocre films, to my mind). Versatility!

[Primula Baggins]

Yes, he has that. I was distracted by Gladiator, in which he was good enough that one might judge it was his natural kind of role, and I never saw The Insider. And, some rather thuggish incidents in his off-screen life left me unimpressed with him overall. I suppose I should have trusted Peter Weir's judgment, given how fine an adaptation it turned out to be, though faithful more to the spirit than to the letter of any one of the books.

[Pearly Di]

Ricky Gervaise as Bilbo?

NO.

Just ... NO.


Am shocked that Yov didn't like Holm's Bilbo.

In my eyes, Sir Ian's Bilbo can do no wrong. He was Bilbo for me: you could see in him glimpses of the complacent little gentlehobbit Bilbo used to be and the restless adventurer he had become. He had Bilbo's compassion and fatherliness towards Frodo, but his performance also showed the darkness within Bilbo that was purely down to the Ring.

I also adore Cate's Galadriel, who transcends all of PJ's mucking about. Film Galadriel seemed to me to be like Silmarillion Galadriel.

Sean Bean's Boromir made me actually like the character for the very first time.

Sean Astin's Sam became too bossy. I like him best in the first film.

Viggo's Aragorn did whisper a mite too much. But dang, that man looked sooooooo good on a horse.

Film Éowyn thought so too.

I was driving back from Norfolk today, through some snowy, sleety showers and the sky in the West was very dramatic, a rose-gold burning light beneath glowering purple clouds ... as I drove on the A11 through Thetford Forest, they were playing an extract from FotR on Classic FM. I can never hear that wonderful, heart-stirring music without a warm glow suffusing me entirely.

[Elentári]

Happy New Year, Di!

Di wrote:

I was driving back from Norfolk today, through some snowy, sleety showers and the sky in the West was very dramatic, a rose-gold burning light beneath glowering purple clouds ... as I drove on the A11 through Thetford Forest, they were playing an extract from FotR on Classic FM. I can never hear that wonderful, heart-stirring music without a warm glow suffusing me entirely.

Was that about 16:20 pm this afternoon???? I was just leaving Canterbury after singing Evensong, and as I started up the car they were playing "The Breaking of the Fellowship" - perfect timing...


Going back to who should play Bilbo, I would also rate Sam West as a possibility...



http://www.life.com/image/80271731

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_West

[Pearly Di]

Happy New Year, Di!

And to you, Elen.

Was that about 16:20 pm this afternoon???? I was just leaving Canterbury after singing Evensong, and as I started up the car they were playing "The Breaking of the Fellowship" - perfect timing...

Yes, that was the time.

Sam West is an excellent suggestion.

The older he gets, the more like his dad he looks ...! (Actor Timothy West.)

[sauronsfinger]

I just noticed that when Solicitr mentioned Gervais as Bilbo, it was with a broad wink smilie.

[Elentári]

Did anyone else notice the other clue...he also misspelt his surname....(which is not like Soli)

[Padme]

Sean Bean's Boromir made me actually like the character for the very first time.

Film Éowyn thought so too.

I disliked Boromir even more after the movie, I guess I can attribute that to Sean B, as I never liked him much in the books. Éowyn (as much as I love Miranda) was too teenage girl in love in the movies for me, up until the Wiki. I expected a much stronger Éowyn.

[vison]

Sean Bean's Boromir made me actually like the character for the very first time.

Film Éowyn thought so too.

I disliked Boromir even more after the movie, I guess I can attribute that to Sean B, as I never liked him much in the books. Éowyn (as much as I love Miranda) was too teenage girl in love in the movies for me, up until the Wiki. I expected a much stronger Éowyn.

The actress who played Éowyn was too soft looking, in my view. I wanted someone who had a kind of Nordic sterness. A young Liv Ullman? Well, Ms. Otto probably could have done it better if she hadn't been told to act like a sappy teenager. But the worst blow in the movie, nearly, was her failure to utter the lines Éowyn spoke to the Witch King. How hard would it have been to let her do that? Why? Why? Why? I fully expected Helen Reddy's voice on the soundtrack: "I am woman, hear me roar!!"

*sobs*

[Primula Baggins]

There, there, vison. I know how you feel, when some of Sam's greatest lines, lines that I'd been looking forward to seeing spoken for years, weren't so much spoken as mooed. . . .

I really think that was the direction, that there might have been other takes that would have made me happy.

*sobs*

[vison]

Sister!!!

Ah, well.

We cannot expect perfection in this vale of tears . . . .

[Primula Baggins]

No, not as long as major filmmakers refuse to listen to our advice. . . .

<shakes fist at the heavens>

[eborr]

I was driving back from Norfolk today,:

aha another time traveller

[Sunsilver]

Annoying Purists...where?

I thought one of the other reasons Arwen at Helms Deep was cut was because Liv wasn't gracefull enough to pull off Elf Princess during her fight scenes, i.e. she was too lanky and ill-coordinated to pull it off. It's why there are not many 5"10" ballerinas. Corus girls and other types of dancers however there's plenty of super tall women. I've seen some of Liv's other work and she isn't the most gracefull person in the world. She obviously did not inherit her daddy's sense of rhythm.

I do hope is she is in The Hobbit and Hobbit II and is shown dancing around the forrest that they get her serious dancing leasons.

Coming in late here...

I recall seeing a news item which said Liv was very uncomfortable on horseback, and with the battle scenes in particular. She tended to hide behind Viggo (smart woman! ) and at one point, lost control of her sword, whacked Lego's horse on the nose with it, then dropped it on the ground, where the horses trampled the very valuable weapon out of shape.

I'm sure her ineptness, which would have meant many re-takes of these scenes, was one of the reasons P.J. decided to change her role. I'm sure the storm of internet protest was also a factor. Liv was very, very upset about the criticism, and it actually had her in tears.

Liv had the misfortune of being cast as the eye candy...

In my opinion, Liv's problem is she is good for nothing BUT eye candy! She was given the chance to be more than that, and failed miserably. (Not that I'm the least bit upset that P.J. removed Xhen-Arwen from the film.) Sorry, I have ZERO respect for her! She was by far the weakest actor in the film.

Personally, I LOVED Bilbo's transformation at the Havens! To me, it showed two very important things:

1) How strong Elrond's healing powers were, or how strong the healing powers of the Havens were. (Perhaps it was similar to Lothlórien in that respect.) Or, perhaps even the though of reaching the Blessed Lands had a restorative effect.

2) The indomitable spirit of Bilbo, which was also present in Frodo, and was what made the whole marvelous adventure possible. I just LOVE it when he says, "I'm always ready for one more adventure!" (Remember Gandalf's speech about hobbits being able to surprise you, and also being as soft as butter and as tough as old tree roots....) Okay, need to look up that quote to make my meaning plain!

As you can see from Frodo's smile as he boards, the departure had a similar restorative effect on him.

I thought it was a marvellous, very well-thought-out piece of film making! The Grey Havens scene remains one of my very favourites.

[Padme]

What I don't understand is why they didn't put her in a beginning ballet class to learn to move her body correctly. Football players do ballet for that reason, it's not because they want to dance but to learn how to cooridinate their body motions. Ballet isn't the only dance type this will work with either, most serious dance requires learning to move the body fluidly.

[ToshoftheWuffingas]

I've no need to drive back from Norfolk and its sunsets. I live but a stone's throw from it
Sam West's Dad is my pick for Thorin. Grumpy dourness oozes out of his ears with no effort. Ricky Gervais would be a disaster for Bilbo and I suspect solictr knows that. Gervais specialises in ironic, sarcastic uncomfortable, indeed unpleasant humour. I'd be very surprised if he could convey moral courage convincingly. This is no comment on his personal character, merely on his comic persona.

David Mitchell, David Mitchell, David Mitchell for Bilbo! He could even be made to look somewhat like a younger Holm.

Ian Holm of course is THE definitive Frodo in the BBC radio series, surpassed only by Bill Nighy as Sam.

[solicitr]

Did anyone else notice the other clue...he also misspelt his surname....(which is not like Soli)

Gee, that's nice of you, Elen- but I really did just screw up. Prolly thinking of the Inkling, Fr. Gervase Mathew.

I wouldn't write off Gervais as incapable of the role, or permanently typecast as a smirking nasty. If you've seen him in Extras a lot of clueslessness and conscience (even if feigned) shows through. Nor am I much bothered by a politically-incorrect standup routine: after all, if I were to boycott actors for their offensive politics I'd never see a movie!

What do folks think of Simon Pegg as Mr Baggins? (of course, his dance card's full what with Tintin and his Scotty gig and his promised spot in the next Tarantino....)