The HOBBIT AN UNEXPECTED DELIGHT!

It's been a while. . . . .. but sometimes you see a film that spurs you into writing again.

The Hobbit did just that for our man in the balcony Mark Tygart. What follows is his review of the The Hobbit.

Enjoy -

I wobbled into the theater secretly expecting the worst, nursing a head cold with the voice of Jar Jar Binks echoing in my head “Meeso happy to have a hobbit film that will make my trilogy look good’”. I had heard all about the labor disputes, animal deaths, slow first act and the sudden expansion to a trilogy designed simply to boost Warner Brothers stock. I had heard all about Jackson’s ugly new 3d process. I sat down sick with despair, hoping against hope, but expecting a turgid mess. I heard the cheers of that those who would force my beloved genre films off the screen and return us stories about lovelorn accountants dating badly in Buffalo.

To my surprise this didn’t happen.

I found myself back in Middle earth again. I found a my first real novel bought to stunning life as dwarves, dragons, wizards and warriors confronted each other across the stunning New Zealand landscape and gave me a dollop of Jackson’s Tolkien magic.

Yes the small faults that some critics harp so endlessly about are there if you look hard enough. The biggest fault for many is that isn’t a film trilogy based on the Lord of the Rings but a film trilogy based on The Hobbit. The Hobbit has great stuff in it, it is an adventure family classic, but it is not the epic fantasy Lord of the Rings. One reviewer complained about a bunch of stone giants that show up at one point, without explanation, to bash each other to death.  He assumed this was a pointless Jackson addition.

The reviewer had obviously never the book. The stone giants are in there, I promise. In the Lord of the Rings they would have had an appendix chapter and footnotes.

This story has Tolkien is trying out themes and ideas that would flower in the Rings trilogy. Still who wouldn’t want to see Gollum’s riddle game with Bilbo or Bilbo’s riddle game with Smug? This story has its own charms and deserves to seen on its own Harry Potter terms. So go see it.

Any trip back to Middle Earth is a trip worth making. It may not be the Rings trilogy but it isn’t the letdown that was Star Wars prequels either. It is, like its hero Bilbo Baggins, an unexpected holiday treat. I look forward to further adventures. 

Go see it !

Mark Tygart  

Contagion - One word Review - David Schniepp

I was lucky enough to see an early screening of this film via the Orange County film Society , http://www.orangecountyfilmsociety.com/ Thanks again to them !

One word best describes this film - BORING!

There are just too many subplots and big stars vying for their screen time, non of which are paid off. Disaster films follow a certain formula. This one tried to follow the "formula" but somewhere along the way someone took out, put in, rearranged the ingredients to come up with this slug. Yeah, I thought it stunk. I started goofing off on Facebook one hour in. I could swear the guy in front of me was asleep!

Spoiler Alert:

Cheating wives, (Gweneth Paltrow), die first and get scalped in a ho hum shock value autopsy scene. Take that ! You cheater! You have super hot loving father Matt Damon at home! . .. . .. . . For the record they do kill off her kid too, his stepson. Miracle upon miracles Matt is immune , sweet, but nothing is done with it, you could care less about the characters. There are a bunch of other big name stars, Morpheus, Dr Watson, the fat chick from Titanic etc. . . . .

Review by the our man on an island David Schniepp