A new banner for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey has been released that features all the main characters from the trilogy, with specific focus on the large cast of dwarves. The image (click it for larger size), is a useful way to get familiar with the names of the characters as it can get confusing. If like the images, WB has created an app to create wallpaper, covers and profile images using the various posters and banners they have released over the last few months. That can be found here. 
If you have at least $500 and know the right people, you could one of the few to see The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey before anyone else in the United States. The American Film Institute (AFI) and WB are doing the US premiere of the movie on December 6th at 7PM EST at the Ziegfeld Theatre for $500 per ticket. The Hobbit's world premiere is set for November 28th in Wellington, New Zealand with the UK premiere on December 12th.
Sir Billy Connolly, while at a movie premiere, spoke with Vulture about The Hobbit trilogy. The actor plays Dain Ironfoot who will be a major character in the third film, The Hobbit: There and Back Again as part of the Battle of Five Armies and could appear towards the end of the second film depending on how director Peter Jackson breaks up the story. It is possible he will appear in the first film but just going by the novel, he had no role in the story events until after the confrontation with Smaug the Dragon. Any case, he spoke with the website about how little he knows about JRR Tolkien's books and how he "always found him unreadable."
The One Ring spotted on a Warner Bros Facebook page a poster that sets the start date for advanced ticket sales for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey for Wednesday, November 7th at Noon EST. More of an FYI since that is a while off. Also I would hold off on buying any advance tickets. The reason is the variety of format choices the film will be released in with regular format, 3D, IMAX, and IMAX 3D along with 24FPS and 48 FPS varieties. Depending on your location, you might have 8 different format choices to choose from. For most it will be the typical 3 of regular, 3D, and IMAX 3D at 24fps. Regardless, until those details are worked out, no point in locking yourself in until can make the informed decision. Personally I plan on sticking with good old fashion regular 24fps format simply to keep my experience consistent with The Lord of the Rings trilogy.
leak of action figures from The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey toy line has provided the first look at Tauriel as played by Evangeline Lilly (left). The below image is probably her stunt double I think taken from one of the production videos. The character is Mirkwood Elf that is likely involved in the capture of Bilbo and the dwarves and may play a part in The Battle of Five Armies in the last film. What other part she may play remains unknown as she was created by Peter Jackson and company for the trilogy and not based on a specific The Hobbit or Lord of the Rings character. 
In time for the 75th Anniversary of The Hobbit, a new Lego creation from Middle-Earth by Legopard. Click here to view a gallery of images that shows cases the Hobbiton diarama complete with a Lego map of The Shire, Gandalf's arrival (with fireworks), the big tree and Bag End with removable roof to show off the interior. Video slideshow below. (via Brothers Brick) 
Yesterday trailer #2 for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey was released. As part of that the official site TheHobbit.com has released four additional clips to "create your own version of the trailer". Fortuntely, if like me, you just want to see them, below is the clips edited together by Bleeding Cool. For me the trailer is actually enough but if interested in trying to gleam every bit of information from them, The One Ring has compiled a huge gallery of screenshots from the trailer that can be found here. In addition the second video below is their 85 minute video analyzing the trailer frame by frame.
Depending on how count these things this might be trailer three, two, or one. Technically there were two previous trailer before this one with trailer #1 and trailer #1.1. Due to the two trailers only having a few seconds difference and not getting any official announcement or release, I consider this to be trailer #2. Or if you prefer you could call this trailer #1 to reflect the fact this is the first trailer after the film was edited to account for the decision to make The Hobbit a trilogy of films. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey will hit theaters worldwide on December 14, 2012.
MGM and WB have issue a press release making it official from studio standpoint (just in case Peter Jackson's video wasn't enough) of tomorrow's release of the debut of the next theatrical trailer for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. According to the official Hobbit twitter account, the trailer will debut at 10AM EST, 2PM GMT on Apple Trailers. Since it is a worldwide debut there will be likely multiple sources to view the trailer. As the press release below indicates, it will not just appear online but air on TV and in theaters also.
Press Release:Read more »
It used to be that the only natural environment I was truly scared of was the jungle. Animals and bugs and heat and humidity... there's things in the jungle that you've never even heard of that can kill you. Now after watching The Grey, I'm adding the Alaskan wilderness to the list of places you'll never get me anywhere near. Anyway, The Grey was all kinds of awesome and fantastic, a big highlight for 2012, and one of the best movies I have watched recently.
A plane carrying a group of oil workers crashes in the middle of nowhere during a horrific blizzard in Alaska. Only seven men survive the crash, but though they are alive, they soon find out that being lost and dealing with the extreme weather is probably the least of their worries. A pack of ferocious grey wolves lurk nearby, thwarting the men at almost every turn and picking them off one by one.
So the weird thing is that I didn't really know much about what this movie was about before I saw it. Liam Neeson... snow... wolves... That was kinda all I got. But the not knowing made the experience of watching the movie so much better, as I was wholly unprepared for what was revealed to me on screen. And it wasn't just the scary element of the film that was so surprising, either. The heavy emotional side was also unexpected, and is what helped save the movie from being just a movie about some guys getting eaten by wolves.
Do I even need to write anything about how awesome Liam Neeson is? Well, he is. You know it, everyone knows it. He's not his new "bad ass" self so much in The Grey, although there is a touch of that in the way his character, John Ottway, takes charge of the situation with his wolf knowledge - his job with the oil company was to watch out for and kill wolves so that they did not attack the workers. Ottway is a smart, sincere man with fierce loyalty and morals, things that he seems to pass on to the other men during their ordeal. At the same time, Ottway is also a troubled man whose lost his wife in some way (it is subtly revealed later on just how) and who actually attempts suicide in one of the first scenes, which is in contrast to how hard he fights to survive through the rest of the film. I got the impression that his survival instincts in the beginning of the film were more for the other people's benefit than his own, that he had the knowledge to help them and it was his obligation. That changes as the movie goes on, and Ottway does not want to punk out and kill himself anymore, but rather wants to make a stand and accept his death, however it may come.
In some specific scenes, The Grey was actually a lot scarier to me than some horror films. Like, I was completely stressed out and terrified the whole time I was watching it, not knowing when a wolf was going to attack or when something else might happen to hinder the men's chance of survival. Mostly though - yeah, it was the wolves that were the scariest bits. Still at the site of the plane crash, Ottway is attacked by two of them, and because you know that Neeson is not going to bite it this early, your only thought is how fucking huge these wolves are, and it makes them that much more scary whenever they appear. And there are a surprising number of scenes that almost make you jump out of your skin - the glowing sets of eyes that appear in the dark, the wolf that suddenly appears behind Diaz, the many times that a wolf will jump out of nowhere to attack somebody - all of these scenes are done in an incredibly effective way. The howling of the wolves is also used to create tension and fear in the scenes where the men are around their fire, listening to them in the distance.
The direction by Joe Carnahan is wonderful and beautiful throughout - with such a stunning location, I would have expected nothing less. His style is very arty and he shoots some scenes very differently than you would expect. I loved the scene on the plane right before the crash where the camera moves backward down the aisle and you can see the breaths coming out of each of the men's mouths, which is a very clever and chilling (haha, pun) way of letting the audience know that something bad is about to happen (because it shouldn't be that cold on an airplane). The crash itself is shot in a very realistic and believable way, and all the flashback-daydreamy scenes with Ottway and his wife (and Ottway as a boy with his father) blend seamlessly with the other scenes and don't take you out of the central story like many flashbacks tend to do. The wolves at times looked a little unrealistic but I wasn't exactly expecting to see real wolves in the same shot with an actor anyway, so that can be forgiven.
As a thrilling tale of emotion and survival, The Grey succeeds beautifully. Liam Neeson and the rest of the cast all portray very likable guys in the most horrible of situations, each fighting like hell to not only survive but to hang on to that which was most important in their lives during their ordeal. Many people will probably watch the movie just for Neeson (in a way, I kinda did) but they will get so much more than they thought - a truly beautiful and engaging movie that holds your heart and your breath right until the very end.
Also, speaking of the end, a word of advice - stay tuned after the credits.
Thanks to many years of mostly crappy English teachers, one the activities I hated most about taking English classes what the long drawn out process of picking a book apart to finding hidden meanings, themes and author intentions that seem only to exist in the teacher's mind. The discussions by themselves were often enjoyable, it was all that followed that sucked the joy out of reading with the reports that exist to simply regurgitate the teacher's opinion back at them, followed by some project around the book that ends with a test where you write another essay and answer various multiple choice questions to prove you read the book and note the cliff notes. Going through that process year after year is almost the reason I stopped reading for pleasure and likely didn't encourage it in many others.
Thankfully that kind of deep analysis doesn't always have to be a painful process and can actually help you get more from a book then you would expect. Exploring J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit by Corey Olsen is an excellent "reader's companion to The Hobbit" for those that love the book and want to try to get everything they can from Tolkien's work as it celebrates its 75th Anniversary. Exploring the Hobbit examines the book as it was first published on September 21, 1937 that tries to avoid taking liberties with author intent to show you every nugget of information from the novel. This book is not designed to try to help you interpret the upcoming Hobbit Trilogy or try to figure out how The Lord of the Rings Appendixes may be incorporated into the movies.
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Tolkien Week has more or less officially kicked off in celebration of the 75th Anniversary of The Hobbit which was published on September 21, 1927. The week ends with Hobbit Day on September 22 to mark the birthdays of Bilbo and Frodo. This Wednesday the next trailer for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey will debut so it seems like a good time for new stills from the movie. USA Today has published eight new stills from the movie with comments from trilogy writer Philippa Boyens. All 8 can be viewed here. The one comment that provided new insight into the movie is for Radagast the Brown (Sylvester McCoy), a character that is not in The Hobbit book but appeared in the Lord of the Rings novel.
Freedom Writers (2007)
Yeah, I liked this movie. When it was called Dangerous Minds.
Okay, not really. The two movies are pretty similar - white female teacher gets a class of rowdy inner-city kids and changes their lives - but I still dug this one. Hilary Swank is my woman and she's kind of great in every role she's ever done (yeah, even The Next Karate Kid - you loved it, you know you do) so she helps sell the movie. It's basically one of those feel-good, do-gooder movies that you know is going to have a happy ending, but sometimes you need a movie like that. Kinda makes you a little more motivated to do something better with your own life.
Slums of Beverly Hills (1998)
Slums of Beverly Hills has always been a favorite little cult classic of mine. A comedy and sometimes-drama set in the 1970s about dysfunctional nomadic family in Beverly Hills, this is a movie that to me gets just about everything right. Natasha Lyonne is fantastic in the lead role of teenage Vivian, a girl coming into her own and wanting to get away from her crazy family and their lifestyle. All the other supporting characters are equally well played by people like Marisa Tomei, Alan Arkin, and David Krumholtz. The comedy is spot-on all the way through, and it's not exactly peeing your pants funny, it's just hilarious because of the crazy situations that the family finds themselves in and the completely non-incredulous way they react to it. Weird is normal for them and weird is always funny.
Elevator (2011)
I felt compelled to put this movie in my queue because this particular scenario is one of my favorites to watch on screen. I love movies with a minimal cast and only one setting. Oftentimes, these movies tend to hold my interest much more than any kind of big action, blow-em-up movie because you have concentrate on the characters and what is being said. Having said all that, however, Elevator is not my favorite of these movies. It starts out really good and in fact stays really good through most of the run time - it's just the ending that brings the whole thing down. Basically it doesn't have one, the movie just ends and doesn't leave you anything to ponder when it's over. The acting is very believable and there are some recognizable faces here for you to enjoy. There's also some bloody good parts, if you know what I mean, but only if you have some imagination because nothing is really seen. Give it a go if you're like me and dig these movies, but otherwise I think most people will be a little disappointed.
The official Hobbit Blog has posted 15 character gallery from The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. The pics are from the same photo shoot that was used to introduce the company of dwarves last year. The pics are more or less waist up shots of all 13 dwarves, Bilbo and Gandalf that will be the main characters for the entire Hobbit trilogy. The pic to the left is a character grid that The One Ring tweeted. The individual pics can be found here.
In an interview with Spanish website Milenio (translation) commented on returning to play Galadriel in The Hobbit trilogy. Translation from The One Ring.
If you have an iPhone or iPad you might be interested in the free Hobbit Movies app. No android version (yet I assume). From the description:
Spoiler warning! Warner Bros has released a new updated version of their The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey scroll (below) to reflect the story pacing chances that have been made now that The Hobbit has been expanded to a trilogy. In the previous scroll (second image below) the order of events was Bilbo meets Gollum > everyone treed by goblins and wargs > meet Beorn the Skin-Changer (bear with Gandalf) > attacked by giant spiders in Mirkwood Forest > escape from Mirkwood elves by barrel.
In the new scroll the order of events remain the same but split between the first film and The Desolation of Smaug. In Journey it will be Bilbo meets Gollum > treed by goblins and wargs > escape with help of Eagles. Meeting Beorn may end the film or open Smaug and then things pick up again with Mirkwood events. This amounts to around 30 or so minutes cut from the film. This difference could just mean the film was already too long anyway (basically anything over 2.5 hours) or Jahttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifckson added in additional scenes to expand on the story.
Besides the scrolls below, WB also released 14 new stills from the film which you can find here and here.
New Scroll
Original Scroll
Entertainment Weekly has posted a new image from The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey as part of its fall movies story. The image probably doesn't seem remarkable at first except look at the scale. It shows Bilbo (Martin Freeman) running past a pig that fits the hobbit race scale. Even something as minor as running in a field of grass required more than a little Hollywood magic to pull off.
I'm slowly becoming familiar with the Italian filmmakers. Aldo Lado is not as prolific as a director as some of the others like Argento and Fulci, but even though I've only seen two of his movies, I really enjoy his style and approach to different stories. I loved his earlier 1972 film Who Saw Her Die? and this one, Night Train Murders (a.k.a. Last Stop on the Night Train, The New House on the Left, Last House on the Left 2, Don't Ride on Late Night Trains...) was much better than anticipated.
Friends Margaret and Lisa are taking a train from Germany to Italy to visit Lisa's parents for Christmas. A delay and a run-in with two thugs makes them change trains in the middle of their trip. The second train is far less crowded - but the thugs are still there and they've brought with them an equally sadistic woman who talks the boys into humiliating the girls. But the situation doesn't turn out like any of them imagined.
Yes, this movie has similarities to Wes Craven's The Last House on the Left. Don't think I wasn't mentally taking note of all the parallels: two pretty girls, a couple of aggressors including another woman, rape and humiliation, murder, attackers end up with one of the girl's parents, father is a doctor, mother notices one man wearing an item belonging to her daughter, father gets revenge on attackers for daughter's murder. And just as Last House had its share of ups and downs, so does this movie - although I would say that it has a few more ups than Last House did.
One thing I like that Lado did with Night Train Murders was the controversial slow build of tension. Half of an audience will say this makes the movie too boring and the other half will appreciate the time the director took to really tell the story. The opening scene is a long 4 minutes of an outdoor Christmas celebration where we are introduced to both the two main girls and the two criminals (they even jump and rob a man dressed as Santa Claus). It's enough to get the basic idea of who these characters are.
Then when we finally get on the train, there are some seemingly unimportant short scenes of different passengers on the train, including the woman known only as the "Lady on the Train." I didn't find any of these points slow at all but was rather more intrigued at how this whole scenario was going to play out. The attackers' motives for tormenting and killing the girls seem to be nonexistent - like they are just doing it for fun - and that should be enough to make the audience think they deserve the harshest punishment for it, but these earlier scenes of the three of them leave a bad taste in your mouth from the beginning. These people are immoral and frankly, they suck as human beings. And apparently, so do some other people on that train...
Remember during the rape scene in Irreversible where there's a shot of a person approaching the end of the tunnel, stopping, witnessing what's happening, and then walking away again? Didn't that piss you off?! Well, it sure pissed me off, but oh boy, does Night Train Murders have a scene to top that. After making Lisa jack off one of the guys, they strip Margaret. A well-dressed older man is standing outside the compartment watching all this and when the woman discovers him and invites him in, he gladly and immediately starts raping Margaret. Then when he's done, he just leaves and jumps off the train at the next stop. Shocked face! Oh my gracious, what kind of people exist in this world?
The violence, including the rape scene, is mostly subdued. There is no nudity and all the slapping and hitting is not as bad as it could have been. Even the most brutal act in the movie - i.e. stabbing a girl in the freaking vagina - is done in a way where the focus is on the victim's pain and the horrific look on her face during her eventual death, giving you more reason to hate these loonies. The revenge that the father takes on the harmonica-playing baddy is actually rather silly and not that satisfying, though. Nor is his chasing the other guy around with a gun for a while before finally fatally shooting him off-camera. NOR is the fact that the most vile one of the group, the woman, gets away with it all in the end. That probably pisses off everybody who watches this movie.
Harping on a few bad things, though, won't really make me reconsider my initial reaction to Night Train Murders. I like it. It is well shot and directed, and does not show anything all that explicit to titillate any viewers who may just root for the bad guys as I know some of them do. The acting is pretty good, I guess, but it's always hard for me to judge somebody's acting when they're being dubbed over so horribly.
The One Ring has put together what appears to be convincing proof of the designed look (left) for the animitronic and CGI character The Great Goblin from The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. The info is a combined from a leak card from a French Tolkien site and an action figure leak. The Great Goblin is ruler of the Misty Mountains goblins that Bilbo and the Dwarves meet after being captured and before the fateful meeting between Bilbo and Gollum. As the image shows, the character will be quite unpleasant to look at once post-production does their magic.
For you Tolkien fans with an artist streak, you might be interested in this new contest to promote The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. Called Treasures of Middle-Earth Design Contest, it is a chance to submit your artwork that was inspired by The Hobbit story.
The official contest website, TheHobbitDesignContest.com is where you submit your own art. Whether submit art or don't have an artistic touch (like me) you can still rate other people's work and share with friends. The contest and art is divided into four categories - Characters, Creatures, Weapons, and Locations. Long time Lord of the Rings (stuff saw at end of Return of the King) and Hobbit artists John Howe, Alan Lee, and special effects wizard Richard Taylor will help choose a grand prize winner and four runners-up from each category to win collectibles. The prizes are based on the category so character winners get loot from Sideshow Collectibles, Creatures from Weta Workshop, Weapons from United Cutlery, and Locations from Vanderstelt Studio.
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Though this movie has been sitting unwatched in my instant queue for so long, it often seemed to beckon to me whenever I was scrolling along, looking for something to enjoy for the evening. "Hit play, already! You know you're going to like me!", it would call to me. A comedy about the infamous 18th century grave robbers who used to steal corpses and sell them to doctors? Heck yes, I should freaking LOVE that. And you know what? I did.
With his fellow grave robber Willy Grimes having already been executed, Arthur Blake is about to meet the same fate for murder. A few hours before his own date with the guillotine, Arthur confesses to Father Duffy, telling the fantastical story of how he got into the grave robbing business - and the strange things he encountered along the way.
I Sell the Dead is at first a cheeky little black comedy about the wacky antics two funny dudes who dig up dead bodies, and I was totally cool with that and enjoying it a lot. As the story progresses though, they introduce a few different horror-related elements that could make the story go off in a totally different direction than audiences are not expecting. What are these two bumbling fortune hunters going to have to deal with next? Vampires? Aliens? Zombies? Turns out its a form of the latter, although no other information is given about them other than the fact that they are basically zombies and getting bitten will turn you into one. Not that zombie lore was really important to the story or anything. Just sayin'. This turn of events makes the movie all the more fun to watch
Dominic Monaghan is quite cute and adorable as Arthur Blake, and Ron Perlman seems to have fun with his small role as the priest, but I loved this Larry Fessenden guy as Willy Grimes. He's the perfect cheeky drunkard with unbelievable comedic timing and wonderful physical comedy. His look is great and his actions are spot on, but Fessenden is really a job to watch in the final scene of the movie, where he completely steals the show. Did I mention that Angus Scrimm is also in the flick? Yup, he totally is. A bit of a small role, like Ron Perlman's, but genre fans will get a kick out seeing him.
The style of the movie also makes it quite interesting and adds to the comedic element. There are lots of CG backgrounds under the live actors and comic book-like sketches in specific scenes, plus a few awesome transitions like push wipes (ala Star Wars) which is something that is hardly ever used. Call it cheesy or amateur, but I love these kinds of transitions, especially in comedy movies because it obviously adds to the comedy. And I gotta say that I love an Irish accent, which is just funny on its own. So I Sell the Dead definitely does a good job with the comedy part of the film - but what about the horror part?
The scenes that stand out the most for me are when Arthur is telling the story of two "very unusual" grave robbing jobs that he and Willy were involved in. In one hilariously tongue-in-cheek scene, they start digging into a grave that is frozen solid, with the coffin almost frozen too. Though they of course don't know what it is, inside the coffin is small alien. The scene seems so out of place and yet so perfectly in place at the same time. The other part I like is when the men find one of their corpses with a string of garlic around her neck and a wooden stake through her heart. I won't describe this brilliant scene in too much detail because it's best to just watch it for yourself, but I will say that it is a sort of old school vampire attack scene with a gothic feel - plus, of course, a bit of light comedy. It's great. I loved it.
I'm probably gushing over this movie a bit too much, but I Sell the Dead seemed to have the power to bring a little joy into my day with its wonderfully candid and tongue-in-cheek attitude toward a fairly gruesome and disturbing idea. The movie sometimes feels like it moves too quick, and that's more of a sad thing than a bad thing. I wanted more fun but I was really happy with what I got.
I am currently reading one Houghton Mifflin Harcourt called "Exploring J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit" that analyzes the book itself rather then the movie's take on it. Hopefully will have the review before its September 18th release date. My point being is if you want to explore The Hobbit through the novel or the movies, you will have plenty of opportunities. To find out more about the Harper Collins books, click here.
The Hobbit Dwarf Banner. There are any The Hobbit Dwarf Banner in here.
If you have at least $500 and know the right people, you could one of the few to see The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey before anyone else in the United States. The American Film Institute (AFI) and WB are doing the US premiere of the movie on December 6th at 7PM EST at the Ziegfeld Theatre for $500 per ticket. The Hobbit's world premiere is set for November 28th in Wellington, New Zealand with the UK premiere on December 12th.
The Hobbit US Premiere Set for December 6th. There are any The Hobbit US Premiere Set for December 6th in here.
Another new poster has been released for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey to join the Bilbo poster that was released last week. This one focuses on the entire troupe of dwarves that are in the film. Make me wonder if the next poster will focus on The White Council.The Hobbit's Dwarves Poster. There are any The Hobbit's Dwarves Poster in here.
Lego has released two new posters for Lego The Lord of the Rings that is coming out on October 30th. One poster depicts the Legoized villains while the other is for heroes.
Two New Lego Lord of the Rings Posters. There are any Two New Lego Lord of the Rings Posters in here.
Sir Billy Connolly, while at a movie premiere, spoke with Vulture about The Hobbit trilogy. The actor plays Dain Ironfoot who will be a major character in the third film, The Hobbit: There and Back Again as part of the Battle of Five Armies and could appear towards the end of the second film depending on how director Peter Jackson breaks up the story. It is possible he will appear in the first film but just going by the novel, he had no role in the story events until after the confrontation with Smaug the Dragon. Any case, he spoke with the website about how little he knows about JRR Tolkien's books and how he "always found him unreadable.""Oh yes!" he confirmed. "I have to go back for that. I haven't done [the battle scenes] yet. I have to get battle-ready! I ride into war on a wild pig!" So, how many times has Connolly read The Hobbit? "I've never read The Hobbit. Never." What about Lord of the Rings? "Never read Lord of the Rings," replied the 69-year-old Scottish actor. "I could never read Tolkien. I always found him unreadable … I didn't read [the books], and I normally don't like people who have! The people who love it, they're kind of scary. They talk all this gobbledygook and they think of it as the Holy Grail."Read more »
Billy Connolly Comments on "Unreadable" The Hobbit. There are any Billy Connolly Comments on "Unreadable" The Hobbit in here.
The world premiere for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is still set for November 28th in Wellington, New Zealand but that is no longer the only location that will get an early peak at the film before its official December 14th release date. THR is reporting that the movie will get its London premiere on December 12th at the 65th Royal Film Performance in London where it will be screened by members of the Royal Family (possible the Queen to but that can be hit or miss at best). The screening is for the Cinema and Television Benevolent Fund that to assist in the family's of the UK film and TV industry that are having financial problems. Not other details yet, most of the cast main cast including Martin Freeman (Bilbo), Ian McKellan (Gandalf), Andy Serkis (Gollum) and Benedict Cumberbatch (Smaug, Necromancer) are from Great British so suspect many will show up to the event.The Hobbit Getting a Royal Screening. There are any The Hobbit Getting a Royal Screening in here.
For the upcoming release of Lego Lord of the Rings video game, below is a video from the Traveler's Tales team that created the game as they discussed how they recreated Middle-Earth lego style while remaining faithful to the movies. The game will be out on all gaming consoles and PC on October 30th.Recreating Middle-Earth for Lego Lord of the Rings. There are any Recreating Middle-Earth for Lego Lord of the Rings in here.
Below is a video from Fulham Palace Gardens in London where Andy Serkis read passages from The Hobbit in the voice of Gollum to a group of children. He was there as part of the 75th Anniversary of The Hobbit novel. He also told ITN, "Part of the difficulty of doing the Hobbit 12 years later was kind of reclaiming him. I have heard that many impersonations and people ask me to do that many telephone messages for them...so the first days of doing the character again I really had to...it all sounded right it's just really connecting with him again." We will get to here more when the movie is released on December 14th.Andy Serkis Reads The Hobbit. There are any Andy Serkis Reads The Hobbit in here.
The One Ring spotted on a Warner Bros Facebook page a poster that sets the start date for advanced ticket sales for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey for Wednesday, November 7th at Noon EST. More of an FYI since that is a while off. Also I would hold off on buying any advance tickets. The reason is the variety of format choices the film will be released in with regular format, 3D, IMAX, and IMAX 3D along with 24FPS and 48 FPS varieties. Depending on your location, you might have 8 different format choices to choose from. For most it will be the typical 3 of regular, 3D, and IMAX 3D at 24fps. Regardless, until those details are worked out, no point in locking yourself in until can make the informed decision. Personally I plan on sticking with good old fashion regular 24fps format simply to keep my experience consistent with The Lord of the Rings trilogy.
The Hobbit Tickets Go on Sale November 7th. There are any The Hobbit Tickets Go on Sale November 7th in here.
leak of action figures from The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey toy line has provided the first look at Tauriel as played by Evangeline Lilly (left). The below image is probably her stunt double I think taken from one of the production videos. The character is Mirkwood Elf that is likely involved in the capture of Bilbo and the dwarves and may play a part in The Battle of Five Armies in the last film. What other part she may play remains unknown as she was created by Peter Jackson and company for the trilogy and not based on a specific The Hobbit or Lord of the Rings character. 
First Look at Tauriel. There are any First Look at Tauriel in here.
For Hobbit Day today to celebrate the "birthday" of Bilbo and Frodo Baggins (and the 75th Anniversary of The Hobbit), Peter Jackson has posted a new The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey poster featuring Bilbo Baggins.New Poster for Hobbit Day. There are any New Poster for Hobbit Day in here.
In time for the 75th Anniversary of The Hobbit, a new Lego creation from Middle-Earth by Legopard. Click here to view a gallery of images that shows cases the Hobbiton diarama complete with a Lego map of The Shire, Gandalf's arrival (with fireworks), the big tree and Bag End with removable roof to show off the interior. Video slideshow below. (via Brothers Brick) Lego Hobbiton with Map. There are any Lego Hobbiton with Map in here.
Yesterday trailer #2 for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey was released. As part of that the official site TheHobbit.com has released four additional clips to "create your own version of the trailer". Fortuntely, if like me, you just want to see them, below is the clips edited together by Bleeding Cool. For me the trailer is actually enough but if interested in trying to gleam every bit of information from them, The One Ring has compiled a huge gallery of screenshots from the trailer that can be found here. In addition the second video below is their 85 minute video analyzing the trailer frame by frame. Four The Hobbit Clips, Trailer Screenshots, and Analysis. There are any Four The Hobbit Clips, Trailer Screenshots, and Analysis in here.
The next trailer and poster for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey has officially been released. Click here to view trailer #2.Depending on how count these things this might be trailer three, two, or one. Technically there were two previous trailer before this one with trailer #1 and trailer #1.1. Due to the two trailers only having a few seconds difference and not getting any official announcement or release, I consider this to be trailer #2. Or if you prefer you could call this trailer #1 to reflect the fact this is the first trailer after the film was edited to account for the decision to make The Hobbit a trilogy of films. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey will hit theaters worldwide on December 14, 2012.
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Trailer 2. There are any The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Trailer 2 in here.
MGM and WB have issue a press release making it official from studio standpoint (just in case Peter Jackson's video wasn't enough) of tomorrow's release of the debut of the next theatrical trailer for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. According to the official Hobbit twitter account, the trailer will debut at 10AM EST, 2PM GMT on Apple Trailers. Since it is a worldwide debut there will be likely multiple sources to view the trailer. As the press release below indicates, it will not just appear online but air on TV and in theaters also.Press Release:Read more »
Hobbit Trailer Hitting Online, TV, Theaters. There are any Hobbit Trailer Hitting Online, TV, Theaters in here.
So the weird thing is that I didn't really know much about what this movie was about before I saw it. Liam Neeson... snow... wolves... That was kinda all I got. But the not knowing made the experience of watching the movie so much better, as I was wholly unprepared for what was revealed to me on screen. And it wasn't just the scary element of the film that was so surprising, either. The heavy emotional side was also unexpected, and is what helped save the movie from being just a movie about some guys getting eaten by wolves.
As a thrilling tale of emotion and survival, The Grey succeeds beautifully. Liam Neeson and the rest of the cast all portray very likable guys in the most horrible of situations, each fighting like hell to not only survive but to hang on to that which was most important in their lives during their ordeal. Many people will probably watch the movie just for Neeson (in a way, I kinda did) but they will get so much more than they thought - a truly beautiful and engaging movie that holds your heart and your breath right until the very end.
Also, speaking of the end, a word of advice - stay tuned after the credits.
Movie Review: The Grey (2012). There are any Movie Review: The Grey (2012) in here.
Thanks to many years of mostly crappy English teachers, one the activities I hated most about taking English classes what the long drawn out process of picking a book apart to finding hidden meanings, themes and author intentions that seem only to exist in the teacher's mind. The discussions by themselves were often enjoyable, it was all that followed that sucked the joy out of reading with the reports that exist to simply regurgitate the teacher's opinion back at them, followed by some project around the book that ends with a test where you write another essay and answer various multiple choice questions to prove you read the book and note the cliff notes. Going through that process year after year is almost the reason I stopped reading for pleasure and likely didn't encourage it in many others.Thankfully that kind of deep analysis doesn't always have to be a painful process and can actually help you get more from a book then you would expect. Exploring J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit by Corey Olsen is an excellent "reader's companion to The Hobbit" for those that love the book and want to try to get everything they can from Tolkien's work as it celebrates its 75th Anniversary. Exploring the Hobbit examines the book as it was first published on September 21, 1937 that tries to avoid taking liberties with author intent to show you every nugget of information from the novel. This book is not designed to try to help you interpret the upcoming Hobbit Trilogy or try to figure out how The Lord of the Rings Appendixes may be incorporated into the movies.
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Exploring J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit Book Review. There are any Exploring J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit Book Review in here.
Tolkien Week has more or less officially kicked off in celebration of the 75th Anniversary of The Hobbit which was published on September 21, 1927. The week ends with Hobbit Day on September 22 to mark the birthdays of Bilbo and Frodo. This Wednesday the next trailer for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey will debut so it seems like a good time for new stills from the movie. USA Today has published eight new stills from the movie with comments from trilogy writer Philippa Boyens. All 8 can be viewed here. The one comment that provided new insight into the movie is for Radagast the Brown (Sylvester McCoy), a character that is not in The Hobbit book but appeared in the Lord of the Rings novel.
The wizard Radagast the Brown (Sylvester McCoy) is only mentioned in J.R.R. Tolkien’s Hobbit book once, but Boyens had enough to go on to boost his role in the new movie series, and she feels he’s going to become a well-loved character. “He’s not at all like Gandalf,” Boyens says. “There’s a power and danger and sharpness and wits and cunning even about Gandalf that you sense immediately, whereas Radagast is much quieter and gentler. You could mistakenly think he’s not even a wizard or that he might not have any powers of his own, and then you discover that he does.”
New The Hobbit Pics for Tolkien Week. There are any New The Hobbit Pics for Tolkien Week in here.
Peter Jackson has posted a brief video for "Tolkien Week" informing fans that trailer #3 for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey will premiere on Wednesday, September 19th. As previously reported the trailer will be 2 minutes 25 seconds long while also completely wrong on prediction that WB marketing could care less about Tolkien week and wait until the first week of October. Guessing we can thank Peter Jackson for that. The reason this is considered Tolkien week is because The Hobbit was published on 9/21/1937 and the next day, 9/22, is World Hobbit Day for the birthday of Frodo and Bilbo."An Interesting Week" as New Hobbit Trailer Will Debut. There are any "An Interesting Week" as New Hobbit Trailer Will Debut in here.
Hey! It's been a while since I did a roundup, yeah? Did you miss it? No? I don't blame you. Anyway, here are some movies I watched this week.Yeah, I liked this movie. When it was called Dangerous Minds.
Okay, not really. The two movies are pretty similar - white female teacher gets a class of rowdy inner-city kids and changes their lives - but I still dug this one. Hilary Swank is my woman and she's kind of great in every role she's ever done (yeah, even The Next Karate Kid - you loved it, you know you do) so she helps sell the movie. It's basically one of those feel-good, do-gooder movies that you know is going to have a happy ending, but sometimes you need a movie like that. Kinda makes you a little more motivated to do something better with your own life.
Slums of Beverly Hills has always been a favorite little cult classic of mine. A comedy and sometimes-drama set in the 1970s about dysfunctional nomadic family in Beverly Hills, this is a movie that to me gets just about everything right. Natasha Lyonne is fantastic in the lead role of teenage Vivian, a girl coming into her own and wanting to get away from her crazy family and their lifestyle. All the other supporting characters are equally well played by people like Marisa Tomei, Alan Arkin, and David Krumholtz. The comedy is spot-on all the way through, and it's not exactly peeing your pants funny, it's just hilarious because of the crazy situations that the family finds themselves in and the completely non-incredulous way they react to it. Weird is normal for them and weird is always funny.
I felt compelled to put this movie in my queue because this particular scenario is one of my favorites to watch on screen. I love movies with a minimal cast and only one setting. Oftentimes, these movies tend to hold my interest much more than any kind of big action, blow-em-up movie because you have concentrate on the characters and what is being said. Having said all that, however, Elevator is not my favorite of these movies. It starts out really good and in fact stays really good through most of the run time - it's just the ending that brings the whole thing down. Basically it doesn't have one, the movie just ends and doesn't leave you anything to ponder when it's over. The acting is very believable and there are some recognizable faces here for you to enjoy. There's also some bloody good parts, if you know what I mean, but only if you have some imagination because nothing is really seen. Give it a go if you're like me and dig these movies, but otherwise I think most people will be a little disappointed.
Weekly Movie Roundup: 9-9-12 to 9-15-12. There are any Weekly Movie Roundup: 9-9-12 to 9-15-12 in here.
The official Hobbit Blog has posted 15 character gallery from The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. The pics are from the same photo shoot that was used to introduce the company of dwarves last year. The pics are more or less waist up shots of all 13 dwarves, Bilbo and Gandalf that will be the main characters for the entire Hobbit trilogy. The pic to the left is a character grid that The One Ring tweeted. The individual pics can be found here.
The Hobbit Character Gallery. There are any The Hobbit Character Gallery in here.
Carnival of Souls is one of those movies that I've been looking forward to seeing for a long time. It is constantly being regarded as one of the best movies you've never seen, and a classic among black-and-white horror, despite its low budget and limited release. Already knowing the famous shock or twist ending to the movie, though, I wondered if this would hurt my first-viewing experience. And sadly, it kind of did.
After Mary is the lone survivor of a car accident that killed all her friends, she goes on with her life and moves to Utah where she has taken a job as a church organist. But strange happenings follow Mary wherever she goes, like seeing a ghostly man around corners and in mirrors. Mary also seems to be inexplicably drawn to an old pavilion in her new town: Does this place hold the answers to what's been going on with her?
Candace Hilligoss is surprisingly quite perfect in the lead role of Mary Henry. That still frame of her up there is one that I've been seeing around for years, and I have always just loved it - even though I hadn't seen the movie at the time. The look on her face and her body positioning almost looks like a painting to me, like an artist that captured a perfect moment in time, of confusion and fear. And now that I've seen the movie, I love that image even more.
Anyway. Hilligoss does wonderful through the whole movie with a role that is never clearly defined. Sure, Mary seems somewhat confident and clear in her ideals and what she wants, but she's also very much a mystery. She doesn't much like the company of other people, and though she plays the organ for a living, she is not a church-goer herself and instead seems to see religion as a little silly and unimportant. But has she always been like this or is the result of her experience in the car crash? Mary is indeed a mystery and remains so until the end, and Hilligoss's mannerisms and facial expressions clearly convey all the conflicting personality traits of the character.
The only thing that bothered me about Hilligoss, and which in turn hurt some of the more possibly effective scenes, was that she did the "old movie scream." I hate the old movie scream. Do you know what that is? It's the really, really annoying way that women used to scream in old movies - hands flying up to the face or into the hair, screaming in a way that is far too dramatic for the situation. Hilligoss does this a couple of times here and it definitely annoyed the heck out of me.
Sound becomes a important element in this film at times, or rather the lack of it in certain scenes. These are perhaps the best parts of the movie - the two scenes where Mary realizes that she has become invisible to those around her and that she cannot hear any noises in her environment. The sound of the pipe organ that Mary plays, a monstrous instrument that sounds incredibly creepy, is also important as it adds to overall eerie feeling of the movie.
But the movie goes a little off from this feeling in the scenes with Mary's pervy neighbor, John Linden, which I frankly did not get the importance of. I get that she doesn't want to be alone because she fears that the ghoulish man she has been seeing will come after her if she is, but what of the rest of the scenes with this guy? Subtlety is not Linden's forte. In so many words, he quite boldly lets her know that he wants to get into her pants even though he doesn't know her at all, and that is the only purpose that this character serves - to be pervy and annoying. He is not needed and all his disgusting innuendoes take away from the main point of the story and Mary's character.
Some of the editing choices in Carnival of Souls were a bit hackneyed for my taste, as well. In the scenes with all the ghosts that Mary sees, whether real or when she goes into those weird trances, the editing and camera made things confusing at times. I hated the part where Mary jumps onto a bus and sees it full of the ghosts. There's an outside shot of her getting on the bus, then a POV of her seeing all the ghosts in the seats, and then a shot of her running away from the bus again. The lack of a reaction shot from Mary or something that established that she was on the bus with the ghosts made this part look very amateur, as if they forgot to get a shot during production but didn't really care during the editing process how it looked.
At the same time, many of these scenes have wonderful individual shots that were very creepy and effective. Loved the scene of the ghosts dancing around all fast, and the shots of the various ghosts coming up one by one out of the water. Very cool looking. There's also a great overhead shot at the beginning where Mary is sitting at the pipe organ and you just see how incredibly massive this thing is and how small and insignificant she looks next to it. The scene where the ghost turns around in the doctor's chair could have been a lot scarier if Hilligoss didn't do that stupid old movie scream. And of course, my favorite shot of all is when Mary is emerging from the water after the car crash onto the muddy bank. I still don't know what it is about that shot, but I love it, and it's iconic, so you should love it too.
Now, I said before that knowing the ending to Carnival of Souls - that Mary actually died in the opening car crash - almost ruined the experience of watching it. I was very confused and frustrated throughout because, knowing she was dead, I was expecting a movie of her wandering around trying to figure out what happened to her or something. Instead, Mary almost immediately goes about her normal life, remembering the crash but just not how she survived it. If, as the title suggests, the ghostly man and the people at the carnival were other souls trying to take hers, and it was just her soul that went on living, how is she able to interact with other people and touch things? Wouldn't she be more like a ghost than a corporeal being if her body was still in the car?
So while this cult classic didn't completely live up to my expectations, I can't deny that I still love the story, the main character, and some of the really great standout sequences that make Carnival of Souls a movie worth a look for anyone who studies or just loves film. Some kind of variation on the twist ending has been done to death by now but this is one of the originals, and you should definitely watch it.
Catching Up On The Classics: Carnival of Souls (1962). There are any Catching Up On The Classics: Carnival of Souls (1962) in here.
The Alberta Film Ratings has some info on The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey trailer #3. Its running time will be 2:25 minutes with a PG rating. Not exactly mind blowing but the main point is a new trailer is coming. The One Ring thinks the trailer will come out with the Friday September 21st movies since that day is the 75th anniversary of the publishing of The Hobbit (9/21/1937) and the next day is World Hobbit Day. While Peter Jackson might know things like that, I doubt Warner Bros. marketing team does and they usually decide these things. Of the upcoming slate of movies, I believe the October 5th weekend is the more likely target for the new trailer with the release of Taken 2 and Frankenweenie. We will find out soon one way or the other.The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Trailer Rating, Time. There are any The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Trailer Rating, Time in here.
In an interview with Spanish website Milenio (translation) commented on returning to play Galadriel in The Hobbit trilogy. Translation from The One Ring.Milenio: It’s been 12 years since you played Galadriel. How did it feel going back to that character and that universe?
Cate Blanchett: I’m more mature as an actress; that’s what made me want to play her again. Peter called me and thought I might not accept the role. I told him “Are you kidding me? Of course I will!”
Galadriel is a special character to me, mythic and fascinating. It was as enjoyable to shoot as Lord of the Rings. When I wore the elf ears again, I had this wonderful feeling of dejá vú. I couldn’t stop laughing.
I was very young when I played Galadriel. I hope to have evolved, to be a better actress, person and mother. Professionally I think I’m much more flexible now, and easier to work with. I know Peter thinks so! (laughs) Come Christmas the audience will be able to decide for themselves.
Blanchett on Returning to Play Galadriel. There are any Blanchett on Returning to Play Galadriel in here.
If you have an iPhone or iPad you might be interested in the free Hobbit Movies app. No android version (yet I assume). From the description:Explore Middle-Earth and experience the epic adventure of “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” with the official iOS app. Learn about Bilbo Baggins’ quest to reclaim the lost Dwarf Kingdom of Erebor and the band of thirteen dwarves that join him and Gandalf the Grey as they embark across the wastelands of the Lonely Mountain through exclusive artwork, interactive character galleries, and production videos presented by director Peter Jackson.
View a selection of animated character portraits, travel through a detailed map of Middle-earth and explore the stunning narrative imagery of “The Scroll” artwork to immerse yourself in the world of Hobbits, Dwarves, Elves, Orcs, deadly Wargs, giant Spiders and a fearsome Dragon.
Hobbit Movies features:
• Interactive Map of Middle-Earth
• 360º views of scenic locations and settings
• “The Scroll”, a narrative art piece
• Animated lenticular character portraits
• Peter Jackson’s Production Journals
• Character image galleries and bios
• Downloads for iPad, iPhone, and Facebook
• Social integration with Facebook and Twitter
The Hobbit Official App Now Available. There are any The Hobbit Official App Now Available in here.
Spoiler warning! Warner Bros has released a new updated version of their The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey scroll (below) to reflect the story pacing chances that have been made now that The Hobbit has been expanded to a trilogy. In the previous scroll (second image below) the order of events was Bilbo meets Gollum > everyone treed by goblins and wargs > meet Beorn the Skin-Changer (bear with Gandalf) > attacked by giant spiders in Mirkwood Forest > escape from Mirkwood elves by barrel. In the new scroll the order of events remain the same but split between the first film and The Desolation of Smaug. In Journey it will be Bilbo meets Gollum > treed by goblins and wargs > escape with help of Eagles. Meeting Beorn may end the film or open Smaug and then things pick up again with Mirkwood events. This amounts to around 30 or so minutes cut from the film. This difference could just mean the film was already too long anyway (basically anything over 2.5 hours) or Jahttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifckson added in additional scenes to expand on the story.
Besides the scrolls below, WB also released 14 new stills from the film which you can find here and here.
New Scroll
Original Scroll
Updated The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Scroll, New Stills. There are any Updated The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Scroll, New Stills in here.
Entertainment Weekly has posted a new image from The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey as part of its fall movies story. The image probably doesn't seem remarkable at first except look at the scale. It shows Bilbo (Martin Freeman) running past a pig that fits the hobbit race scale. Even something as minor as running in a field of grass required more than a little Hollywood magic to pull off.
The Hobbit: Bilbo and Pig Image Shows Scale. There are any The Hobbit: Bilbo and Pig Image Shows Scale in here.
Yes, this movie has similarities to Wes Craven's The Last House on the Left. Don't think I wasn't mentally taking note of all the parallels: two pretty girls, a couple of aggressors including another woman, rape and humiliation, murder, attackers end up with one of the girl's parents, father is a doctor, mother notices one man wearing an item belonging to her daughter, father gets revenge on attackers for daughter's murder. And just as Last House had its share of ups and downs, so does this movie - although I would say that it has a few more ups than Last House did.
Then when we finally get on the train, there are some seemingly unimportant short scenes of different passengers on the train, including the woman known only as the "Lady on the Train." I didn't find any of these points slow at all but was rather more intrigued at how this whole scenario was going to play out. The attackers' motives for tormenting and killing the girls seem to be nonexistent - like they are just doing it for fun - and that should be enough to make the audience think they deserve the harshest punishment for it, but these earlier scenes of the three of them leave a bad taste in your mouth from the beginning. These people are immoral and frankly, they suck as human beings. And apparently, so do some other people on that train...
The violence, including the rape scene, is mostly subdued. There is no nudity and all the slapping and hitting is not as bad as it could have been. Even the most brutal act in the movie - i.e. stabbing a girl in the freaking vagina - is done in a way where the focus is on the victim's pain and the horrific look on her face during her eventual death, giving you more reason to hate these loonies. The revenge that the father takes on the harmonica-playing baddy is actually rather silly and not that satisfying, though. Nor is his chasing the other guy around with a gun for a while before finally fatally shooting him off-camera. NOR is the fact that the most vile one of the group, the woman, gets away with it all in the end. That probably pisses off everybody who watches this movie.
Harping on a few bad things, though, won't really make me reconsider my initial reaction to Night Train Murders. I like it. It is well shot and directed, and does not show anything all that explicit to titillate any viewers who may just root for the bad guys as I know some of them do. The acting is pretty good, I guess, but it's always hard for me to judge somebody's acting when they're being dubbed over so horribly.
Movie Review: Night Train Murders (1975). There are any Movie Review: Night Train Murders (1975) in here.
The One Ring has put together what appears to be convincing proof of the designed look (left) for the animitronic and CGI character The Great Goblin from The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. The info is a combined from a leak card from a French Tolkien site and an action figure leak. The Great Goblin is ruler of the Misty Mountains goblins that Bilbo and the Dwarves meet after being captured and before the fateful meeting between Bilbo and Gollum. As the image shows, the character will be quite unpleasant to look at once post-production does their magic.
The Great Goblin Revealed?. There are any The Great Goblin Revealed? in here.
For you Tolkien fans with an artist streak, you might be interested in this new contest to promote The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. Called Treasures of Middle-Earth Design Contest, it is a chance to submit your artwork that was inspired by The Hobbit story.The official contest website, TheHobbitDesignContest.com is where you submit your own art. Whether submit art or don't have an artistic touch (like me) you can still rate other people's work and share with friends. The contest and art is divided into four categories - Characters, Creatures, Weapons, and Locations. Long time Lord of the Rings (stuff saw at end of Return of the King) and Hobbit artists John Howe, Alan Lee, and special effects wizard Richard Taylor will help choose a grand prize winner and four runners-up from each category to win collectibles. The prizes are based on the category so character winners get loot from Sideshow Collectibles, Creatures from Weta Workshop, Weapons from United Cutlery, and Locations from Vanderstelt Studio.
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The Hobbit Treasures of Middle-Earth Design Contest. There are any The Hobbit Treasures of Middle-Earth Design Contest in here.
I Sell the Dead is at first a cheeky little black comedy about the wacky antics two funny dudes who dig up dead bodies, and I was totally cool with that and enjoying it a lot. As the story progresses though, they introduce a few different horror-related elements that could make the story go off in a totally different direction than audiences are not expecting. What are these two bumbling fortune hunters going to have to deal with next? Vampires? Aliens? Zombies? Turns out its a form of the latter, although no other information is given about them other than the fact that they are basically zombies and getting bitten will turn you into one. Not that zombie lore was really important to the story or anything. Just sayin'. This turn of events makes the movie all the more fun to watch
Dominic Monaghan is quite cute and adorable as Arthur Blake, and Ron Perlman seems to have fun with his small role as the priest, but I loved this Larry Fessenden guy as Willy Grimes. He's the perfect cheeky drunkard with unbelievable comedic timing and wonderful physical comedy. His look is great and his actions are spot on, but Fessenden is really a job to watch in the final scene of the movie, where he completely steals the show. Did I mention that Angus Scrimm is also in the flick? Yup, he totally is. A bit of a small role, like Ron Perlman's, but genre fans will get a kick out seeing him.The style of the movie also makes it quite interesting and adds to the comedic element. There are lots of CG backgrounds under the live actors and comic book-like sketches in specific scenes, plus a few awesome transitions like push wipes (ala Star Wars) which is something that is hardly ever used. Call it cheesy or amateur, but I love these kinds of transitions, especially in comedy movies because it obviously adds to the comedy. And I gotta say that I love an Irish accent, which is just funny on its own. So I Sell the Dead definitely does a good job with the comedy part of the film - but what about the horror part?
I'm probably gushing over this movie a bit too much, but I Sell the Dead seemed to have the power to bring a little joy into my day with its wonderfully candid and tongue-in-cheek attitude toward a fairly gruesome and disturbing idea. The movie sometimes feels like it moves too quick, and that's more of a sad thing than a bad thing. I wanted more fun but I was really happy with what I got.
Movie Review: I Sell the Dead (2008). There are any Movie Review: I Sell the Dead (2008) in here.
If there is one thing you can count on with The Hobbit trilogy, it will be a whole lot of new merchandise. Way more then I will probably have time or interest to cover but for now the info is trickling in. Harper Collins has revealed four books they will be releasing on November 6th to tie into The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. The books are either kids books or production photobooks that help promote the movie. These are just a few of the books that will hitting shelves soon.I am currently reading one Houghton Mifflin Harcourt called "Exploring J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit" that analyzes the book itself rather then the movie's take on it. Hopefully will have the review before its September 18th release date. My point being is if you want to explore The Hobbit through the novel or the movies, you will have plenty of opportunities. To find out more about the Harper Collins books, click here.
Harper Collins Movie Tie-In Books. There are any Harper Collins Movie Tie-In Books in here.
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