BotFA professional reviews

[Voronwë the Faithful]

But at least it is a good review (by that I don't mean positive, by any stretch of the imagination), but reasonably well-written and well-reasoned, even if I (hopefully) won't agree with his conclusions.

[Necromancer Rising]

Little White Lies.A positive soon to be added in RT

http://www.littlewhitelies.co.uk/theatr ... mies-28732

[Necromancer Rising]

That is true. This is a negative review with very good arguments. Although i should mention that the particular reviewer of Slash Films had also given a negative(rotten) review to AUJ and DOS as well.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

That's good to recall, since it isn't clear from this review (since he says that he thinks BotFA is the worst of the three).

[Necromancer Rising]

James Berardinelli,a top critic, tweeted that BOFA is much much better than the previous two Hobbit movies.He had given DOS a rotten review and AUJ a fresh one.

https://twitter.com/Reelviews/status/540158278404431872

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Good to know.

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[Necromancer Rising]

A rave from Examiner.com 5/5

http://www.examiner.com/review/advance- ... ses-an-era

Lesson #1: Fulfilling one's destiny-- As aforementioned, many tangents and storylines started two films ago that thread this world's centuries of history come to fulfillment. Chief among them are the place of Dwarves in Middle Earth. Thorin's destiny was to take back his homeland and that conquest is at his fingertips, but not without fending off the next wave of challenges. As "unexpected" as Bilbo's journey gets labeled, the feeling of destiny is still present. He was meant to be here and meant to help. We, of course, know how his future reverberates to Frodo and "The Lord of the Rings." Sauron looms large, but not before the heavy-hitters of Galadriel (Cate Blanchett), Elrond (Hugo Weaving), and Saruman (Christopher Lee) help Gandalf set a new destiny in motion.

Lesson #2: The character flaw present when greed replaces honor-- The leaders at the forefront of these colliding forces all fall on different sides between greed and honor. The sickening lust for gold and the Arkenstone has corrupted Thorin and replaced the honor of his word and dedication that brought him this far. The selfish Elven king Thranduil only wants the mountain for its jewels and not as an opportunity to bridge the feuding alliances between man, elf, and dwarf. Gandalf, Bard and Bilbo represent the unselfish opposite end of that spectrum. They give away their riches and value willingly to help others and those in their charge. All three grow their honor rather than cast it aside for their own best interests.

Lesson #3: Friendship and brotherhood as forms of love-- Bilbo has always been our emotional guide through this adventure. In the first film, one of the highlighted life lessons was "the values of loyalty, honor, and a willing heart." This evolved into "committing to a promise" in the second film. Each lesson spoke of Bilbo's growth as not only a willing participant, but a worthy companion to his peers. In this penultimate final film, those bonds of friendship and brotherhood are now deeply forged between Bilbo and Thorin's company of dwarves. Good friendships such as these reach a form of love. Each member, top to bottom, carry unbreakable emotional connections of dedication, belonging, and sacrifice that unite them forever going forward.

[Telemachos]

"...In this penultimate final film..."

[Voronwë the Faithful]

I had the same reaction. Talk about a contradiction in terms!

[Dave_LF]

My thought was: isn't Return of the King the penultimate final film? I guess it depends whether you treat the Middle-Earth or Chronos chronology as primary.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

James Berardinelli,a top critic, tweeted that BOFA is much much better than the previous two Hobbit movies.He had given DOS a rotten review and AUJ a fresh one.

Even his rotten one for DoS was 2.5 stars out of 4, and wasn't all that negative. AUJ was 3 stars, and overall wasn't that much more positive than the one for DoS, which highlights the problem with RT's Fresh v. Rotten system. Presumably, if he thinks this one is better than either of the other two, he would give it 3.5 stars, but I bet it will be 3.

[Telemachos]

My thought was: isn't Return of the King the penultimate final film? I guess it depends whether you treat the Middle-Earth or Chronos chronology as primary.

"Penultimate" means second to last. "Penultimate final film" is an oxymoron.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

I think Dave's point is that technically Return of the King is now the first of two (and thus the second to last) "final film" of the Middle-earth saga.

[Dave_LF]

Yup; that's exactly right.

[Telemachos]

Ah, well, yes, if you look at it that way.

[Necromancer Rising]

James Berardinelli,a top critic, tweeted that BOFA is much much better than the previous two Hobbit movies.He had given DOS a rotten review and AUJ a fresh one.

Even his rotten one for DoS was 2.5 stars out of 4, and wasn't all that negative. AUJ was 3 stars, and overall wasn't that much more positive than the one for DoS, which highlights the problem with RT's Fresh v. Rotten system. Presumably, if he thinks this one is better than either of the other two, he would give it 3.5 stars, but I bet it will be 3.

I reread his review for DOS and wasn't so negative indeed. Considering that he tweeted it is much much better than the previous two installments i have high hopes that he might give it a 3.5/4

[Necromancer Rising]

A new fresh review which was published today was added in RT by The Skinny 3/5

Current RT score 80%

http://www.theskinny.co.uk/film/reviews ... ive_armies

GetReading UK 5/5

http://www.getreading.co.uk/whats-on/fi ... le-8262365

[Voronwë the Faithful]

That review from The Skinny is one of the most negative "fresh" reviews I have ever seen!

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Current RT score 80%

For what it is worth (not very much, really), both DoS and AUJ were at 73% at this point (after 30 reviews). DoS, of course, actually ended up a little bit higher than that, but AUJ dropped precipitously.

[Necromancer Rising]

Good to know that. As for the Skinny's review,it did not seem like a review at all. I am not sure why he even bothered to write such a lifeless text without further argumentation or even a slight analysis.