Despite a bunch of new releases, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug remains on top of the box office for the third week in a row. Practically unheard of nowadays. The movie has benefited from the good reviews and word of mouth. Probably didn't hurt that all the other films released in December has been more for Oscar bait then big budget action fair as the studios released all those during the crowded summer. Since they are using the same game plan in 2014, the final Hobbit film will likely enjoy the same lack of meaningful competition.
Any case for this final weekend of 2013, The Hobbit took in $29.8 million for a US total of $190.3 million. Add in the foreign gross of $614 million for a worldwide total of $614.1 million. It is assumed the movie will just barely cross the $1 billion threshold joining its brother The Unexpected Journey in that rare list of movies.
How strange that I should watch this movie in such close succession to watching Lucio Fulci's The Black Cat because both films claim to be based on the Edgar Allan Poe short story "The Black Cat." Of course they changed the title a bit for today's film, obviously because Your Vice is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key is much more simplistic, easier-to-understand title. I seriously have no idea what that title means. How can somebody's vice be a locked room? Am I misunderstanding the definition of "vice"?
In a palatial but dilapidated villa, failed writer Oliviero Rouvigny lives with his wife Irina where he throws decadent parties every night with a local hippie commune. He drinks heavily and humiliates and abuses Irina whenever he can, and obsesses about his dead mother. When a local girl Oliviero had relations with is found murdered, he becomes the prime suspect, making him more paranoid and letting loose his sadism against his wife, who herself is falling deeper into depression and madness as well. There is also Oliviero's black cat, Satan, who used to belong to his mother and who Irina fears.
Sergio Martino was not before on my list of giallo directors to look out for, but after Your Vice, he definitely will be. This film is tightly shot and paced, with hardly any lulls in the story and almost every scene has importance to either the plot or the arc of the characters. There is murder, of course, and free-flowing and sometimes perverse sex, but that never detracts from the core story around Oliviero and Irina. Oliviero's niece Floriana comes into the story later, manipulating both of them to her own gains. Complex characters, a tight plot, and a murder mystery - the perfect recipe for a truly engaging and entertaining movie.
I'd be remiss not to comment on each of the three lead actors. Luigi Pistilli as Oliviero is almost terrifying in the emotionless way he carries out his various atrocities. He has such a calm demeanor throughout most of the movie that it is hard to watch him abuse his wife, molest his black maid Brenda in the middle of the party at the beginning, and, most of all, take up a sexual relationship with his own niece while he plots to murder his wife. Anita Strindberg's best asset as Irina is her face, full of sharp angles, a tight mouth, and wide, expressive eyes. You absolutely believe every emotion that she portrays with that face. Edwige Fenech (whom you might recognize as the art class teacher from Hostel: Part II) is the seductive and intriguing Floriana. Her role is an interesting one with the way she wedges herself in between Irina and Oliviero, actually having sex with both of them. We find out that the only reason she is there is to get her late aunt's expensive jewelry, but you can tell that she almost enjoys the sick things she chooses to do in order to possess them.
As a giallo film, I was expecting lots of lavish and beautiful death scenes. I was a tad disappointed in that regard, with only a few neck and chest slashings, but they were still filmed to look very pretty. Fausta's throat being cut was probably the most well done out of all of them, while the long gash from Brenda's chest to her stomach was too obviously a prosthetic. The bright red paint serving as blood, a giallo staple, is a great image and helps to overlook the fact that the other special effects are sometimes not up to par with the rest of the film. After Satan the cat kills some of Irina's beloved pet doves, she goes a little crazy and stabs out one of the animal's eyes. Subsequent scenes of Irina's obsession with the cat wanting revenge on her show a ghastly bloody hole where his eye used to be. It doesn't look all that real, but it's certainly memorable and gets the job done.
Poe's "The Black Cat" is a story about obsession, fixation, and paranoia, and cleverly crafted right up until the gleefully fitting end. Given the fact that in the story is was the husband who murdered his wife, and it was her cat that he was afraid of and tried to kill, I should have known right away that Irina was actually behind everything that happened. Bah, what's wrong with me? The film ends the same way that he story does - with Satan the cat revealing Oliviero's dead body behind the cellar wall - but it's hard to feel as satisfied about this conclusion because of the sympathy the audience probably has for Irina. Though she has planned and carried out several murders of innocents in order to get to her husband, she suffered under him, and there is no reason to have any sympathy for Oliviero. Eh, I guess justice was served on both sides.
Your Vice is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key was more than a welcome surprise. I never know what I'm going to get with some of these giallos, but several times I have been happy that I gave them a chance. This was a great find, and I hope that there are many others like it out there.
Andrew Baker, one of the concept artists for The Hobbit trilogy, has posted some of his creature concepts on his blog. These include a look at Smaug, Bolg, Beorn and more. Click here to view them all.
Carrie (2013)
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1958)
There have been several adaptations of The Body Snatchers novel since 1955, and the only one I had seen was 2007's The Invasion which I don't even remember at all. Part of this 1958 version is very cool even by today's standards but I admit to getting a little bored toward the conclusion. I like how the film was introduced as a frame story; it gave good reason for the voice over and gave the audience some insights that they might not have had just from the plot itself. The effects work on the blanks and the pods was impressive, even that bubbly, sudsy effect, and a bit more gross than I was expecting. As for another effect - the cheese effect that is possible in any kind of B horror movie - I was happy to see that it was quite minimal. The movie has a very serious, creepy undertone stemming from the fact the more pods and replicas that are created, and the longer they go without sleep, the more likely it is that our main characters will fall victim to it as well. Very excited to see the Donald Sutherland version now, because, well, Donald Sutherland.
The Black Cat (1981)
Definitely NOT Edgar Allen Poe's Black Cat, that's for sure. Shame, because that's one of my favorite short stories. Anywho, this Black Cat is of the Lucio Fulci variety, that mad genius who entertained the hell out of me with The House by the Cemetery. Sadly, he couldn't do the same with The Black Cat. I was beyond happy to find out that Patrick Magee, my favorite bushy eyebrowed actor, was in this one, and I love cats so I love seeing them even when they're all evil and scratching and killing people. The problem though is that the movie lacks Fulci's famous gore and is mostly a bore. Fulci does once again show his love for doing lots of close-ups on people's eyes but nothing about this movie is up to snuff with other movies in the same genre. I'm bored now.
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The cast continues to make the talk show rounds (next 2 videos below). Evangeline Lilly appeared on The Daily Show to discuss the movie with Jon Stewart, teasing him about his complete lack of knowledge of the film while Benedict Cumberbatch popped up on Conan O'Brien. The interview itself was ok but the main but was the first real clip with Smaug. Its very brief as a portion of it was padded with stuff already shown in the trailers.
Over at THR, Weta's Joe Letteri discussed the challenges they faced creating the scenes with Smaug. Part of the problem was the impressive size as Smaug ("twice as big as a 747") with unique antomy that had to be taken in account when creating him in the computer. While you don't see it, they actually create a digital being complete with skeletal structure and muscles to help create a look of realistic movement. Since he has wings and other fantasy elements, that required often hand done animation to achieve the final effects. As to that the gold pile, "We had to simulate all the gold coins, every time he moved. Sometimes it was a little, sometimes it was a lot, but it ended up being over a billion gold coins. During some of the action sequences, threre were hundreds of millions of coins moving at once." Another difficulty was the barrel scene that often had to be completely re-created in the computer from the water, to the actors or replacing them digitally. More details here.
The reviews are already in for most of main media for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. Over all most seem to enjoy the movie, grading it around a B+ saying it moves at a much more exciting pace compared to An Unexpected Journey. Another common note is the action scenes are very well done and exciting but frequently compared to video games. As for the new characters Evangeline Lilly's Tauriel was complemented as a great addition to the cast and the story, Legolas is a shot of fun to the movie, while Bard the Bowman landed with a mild thud. Smaug himself was more on fence with many critics thinking he was visually stunning but a bit one note as a villain. A few highlights below.
Entertainment Weekly (A+)
What could be more satisfying on a winter's night than curling up on my comfy couch and watching a movie about hilarious drunken Irish men and women fighting a giant alien squid? Nothing, I tell you. NOTHING. There are some movies that you just know you're going to love, you know? I first read about Grabbers quite a while ago, saved it in my Netflix queue and eagerly awaited the day that they would add it. They finally did (weeks ago, actually, but I'm a well-known procrastinator) and tonight I had the pleasure of viewing it.
Special effects-wise, Grabbers delivers. There's the usual fair at the beginning of the film where the monster is only heard and not seen, and we only see the little grabbers first before seeing the big daddy grabber at the end, but what they give us is quite wonderful. There's nothing particularly ingenious about the design of the creature; really, it's just an octopus with a lot more legs and without the creepy bulbous head. There's a circular mouth in the middle where a smaller tentacle shoots out and attacks. With the well-rendered CGI, the way the creature moves and reacts with its environment, the movie is given just the right amount of semi-realism to be both believable and funny at the same time, which is something a movie in this genre needs. How the grabbers "walk" was probably my favorite part, as they had all of the, oh about 30 legs or so making it roll around like a ball.
Links: Armitage | Boyens | Turner and O'Gorman
Just a few more days until The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug premieres worldwide. Peter Jackson spoke with Collider about making the movie. Highlights below, full interview here. In addition the site has posted 60 stills from the movie, some of which are new but many previously released. But if to review them, can find them here. Last, the Berlin, Germany premiere of the movie was held last night. Below is WB's highlight reel from the event.
Highlights
- "Do we take a children’s book, a very simplistic children’s book, and faithfully adapt it? Or do we make a film that will live alongside the other three movies that we made? We are the same storytellers, Philippa, Fran and I, we’re the same people working on it. We’re trying to be faithful to the style and the tone."
- Why add Tauriel? "For some reason that I don’t quite understand, a lot of women love these stories more than other types of fantasy,” Jackson said. “We just felt it was a bit male-heavy and we could do something about it."
- “The great thing about the movies is that they have increased the book sales enormously,” Jackson said. “Huge numbers of people are reading Tolkien now, and I’m happy to claim some credit for that. Any of the liberties that we take in adapting, any of the changes we make, any of the things that might have upset Professor Tolkien … it’s not all take. We do give something back.”
In a fitting tribute to the upcoming release of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug is a massive 80,000 piece Lego recreation of Erebor as designed and built by Blake Baer and Jack Bittner. The 56" tall diorama is more or less depicts the Dwarf stronghold from before Smaug taking it away and took over 400 hours to complete from concept to final result. Below is a video of the creation, interview with the two master builders is here and full gallery is here.
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A few new collectibles are currently available for pre-order that focuses on the new character Tauriel. The character, as played by Evangeline Lilly, will first appear in next week's The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. Weta has created a 1/6 scale statue of the character that will ship by the end of the month for the cost of $275 and limited to a run of 1000. While expensive, it is a pretty piece. The One Ring has a large gallery of the piece here while you can go ahead and pre-order it here.
Besides the statue, New Zealand has also chosen to honor the new character. Much like last year, the NZ Post Office is releasing official coins and stamps depicting Tauriel, Legolas and Bard the Bowman. The items are technically legal tender in New Zealand but no outside the country. Not like it matters as they are meant to be collectibles anyway. You can find all that is available here.
Monday night was the world premiere of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug in Los Angeles, California. The video has various hosts interviewing pretty most of the cast of the movie including new additions like Luke Evans along with Peter Jackson, Philippa Boyens, and more. Usually these things are rather dry as the purpose of the red carpet is mostly designed to pitch the movie to the media. Still nice to star gaze, especially when some of the gazing includes the incredible eye candy that is Evangeline Lilly.
Update: If, like me, you really don't have time to watch an hour and half long video, then check out the second video below which is WB's highlight reel from the premiere.
Edgar Wright. Simon Pegg. Nick Frost. No joke, three of the greatest things to happen to movies in the last decade. Shaun of the Dead is beyond words brilliant as a rom-zom-com with blood, guts, belly laughs, and a lot of heart. Hot Fuzz was an immensely successful follow-up that ventured into the buddy-cop action movie genre, but still had the blood, guts, belly laughs, and possibly even more heart. And now the fan-coined "Cornetto Trilogy" concludes with the appropriately titled The World's End. The blood and guts are blue this time, but they're there, and so are the belly laughs and never-ending heart.
Five childhood friends return to their hometown to attempt to complete an epic pub crawl they began over 20 years ago - 12 pubs in one night, concluding at The World's End. As the boys rehash old times and deal with their issues, they realize that the town is not the same as they remember, and for good reason, too - most of the townspeople have been replaced by robots.
The boys surely haven't lost their touch in creating something that audiences will love, both newcomers and those already familiar with their work. Once again I was impressed by the writing and the delivery of the writing by all the actors. The jokes come at rapid-fire pace (and people make fun of me for always using subtitles) and the humor is smart, sometimes dirty, but always cleverly laid out in relation to what the movie is about and situations that come later. Watching the movie again lets you catch on to some references you missed before, the double meaning behind some of the lines ("We're here to get annihilated!" "It must be the network"). They did similar things in their previous two films, but it still works and it's still brilliant how they're able to pull it all together.
Pegg and Frost are of course great in their roles, especially since here they are sort of playing a reversal of their previous roles in both Shaun and Hot Fuzz. Pegg is the wild and goofy Gary King, spouting out more one-liners than I could keep up with, while Frost is the more professional, subdued Andy Knightley. Nobody plays best buddies better than dudes who are actually best buddies in real life. Truth be told, though, I kind of loved the actors playing the other three friends in the group - Paddy Considine, Martin Freeman, and Eddie Marsan - a bit more, as they were all completely adorable and hilarious. It was good to see all of them have their chance to shine, instead of the movie being all about Pegg and Frost (not that they would intentionally do that, but they are the stars of the show to the fans).
Looking at the movie for what it is on the surface, it works as a weird hybrid action-scifi-comedy-bromance thing but there is a message and a reasoning for what they did. I liked the whole thing at the end about how human beings have every right to be fuck-ups because I get it. Conformity makes you normal and safe, but making mistakes lets you learn, become wiser, and help others. There's also something there about conforming and making uniform all the charming small town pubs and stores and whatnot (as two of the pubs in the movie look exactly the same) which is also somewhat bothersome. How long until real mom-and-pop places just cease to exist? However you choose to look at it, The World's End is a very charming movie about the simple things in life - friendship, a good night out at the pub - and how important they are to people.
It almost feels wrong to heap so much praise on pretty much everything these guys do, but I really can't help it. I fucking love Shaun of the Dead, I really super-duper like Hot Fuzz, and now I'm all kinds of giddy over The World's End. Wright and Pegg probably aren't completely done making movies but I do wonder about what they are going to do next. Something totally different? More of the same but different actors or something? I don't know, but I do know that I will be right there to experience whatever they come up with.
So far the various TV spots and trailers for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug has only revealed small portions of the full CGI creature. For the first time, thanks to a time lapse video from Air New Zealand (below), we now have a look at the complete dragon as he was installed on one of their Boeing 777-300ER. The 177 feet long image, according to Weta Digital Visual Effects Eric Saindon, "Capturing Smaug’s presence and the amazing detail in his design while accommodating the windows, doors and wing shape was quite a different experience for us. It was great to see Smaug brought to life, and he appears even larger in the film!"
Any case for this final weekend of 2013, The Hobbit took in $29.8 million for a US total of $190.3 million. Add in the foreign gross of $614 million for a worldwide total of $614.1 million. It is assumed the movie will just barely cross the $1 billion threshold joining its brother The Unexpected Journey in that rare list of movies.
The Hobbit Box Office Update. There are any The Hobbit Box Office Update in here.
Sergio Martino was not before on my list of giallo directors to look out for, but after Your Vice, he definitely will be. This film is tightly shot and paced, with hardly any lulls in the story and almost every scene has importance to either the plot or the arc of the characters. There is murder, of course, and free-flowing and sometimes perverse sex, but that never detracts from the core story around Oliviero and Irina. Oliviero's niece Floriana comes into the story later, manipulating both of them to her own gains. Complex characters, a tight plot, and a murder mystery - the perfect recipe for a truly engaging and entertaining movie.
As a giallo film, I was expecting lots of lavish and beautiful death scenes. I was a tad disappointed in that regard, with only a few neck and chest slashings, but they were still filmed to look very pretty. Fausta's throat being cut was probably the most well done out of all of them, while the long gash from Brenda's chest to her stomach was too obviously a prosthetic. The bright red paint serving as blood, a giallo staple, is a great image and helps to overlook the fact that the other special effects are sometimes not up to par with the rest of the film. After Satan the cat kills some of Irina's beloved pet doves, she goes a little crazy and stabs out one of the animal's eyes. Subsequent scenes of Irina's obsession with the cat wanting revenge on her show a ghastly bloody hole where his eye used to be. It doesn't look all that real, but it's certainly memorable and gets the job done.Your Vice is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key was more than a welcome surprise. I never know what I'm going to get with some of these giallos, but several times I have been happy that I gave them a chance. This was a great find, and I hope that there are many others like it out there.
Movie Review: Your Vice is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key (1972). There are any Movie Review: Your Vice is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key (1972) in here.
The Hobbit Concept Art. There are any The Hobbit Concept Art in here.
So despite my lack of posting lately, I have actually watched a bunch of movies, just never obviously got around to writing about them. I shall now do so in my Movie Roundup, Random Stuff edition!
I was nervous as hell about what they would do to one of my favorite horror flicks, but as with all the remakes, I gave Carrie the benefit of the doubt. But... I fucking hated Carrie. There were some things that I was okay with - they changed the gym teacher's name back to Desjardin like in the book, added in Sue Snell's pregnancy, and did a nice job updating the flick to the modern day with the Internet video of Carrie's locker room humiliation. However, I was not sold on any of the performances. Though Chloe Moretz did her best, she just did not have the same feeling about her to make her as sympathetic or vulnerable as she should have been. I hated the scenes where Carrie was practicing her telekinesis because that totally went against who Carrie is supposed to be and the shock and redemption you're supposed to feel during the prom massacre. Moretz played Carrie too confident and rebellious against her mother. Julianne Moore was actually good casting, but I just could not get Piper Laurie out of my mind. That is one of my favorite performances ever, and I don't think anyone could have topped her. Sue and the rest of the girls were your basic stick-thin, pretty, popular bitches and they weren't memorable at all. The prom sequence was okay enough, but damn did I hate the deaths of Billy and Chris. The way her face was sticking out of the windshield? Ridiculous.
One of the worst things about Carrie was that I went to see the movie with someone who had not seen the original before, and the remake was so bad that he said that he had no desire to see the original! I tried to tell him otherwise, and I only hope he listened. I tried not to compare the movie too much with the original while I was watching it, but with a film as big as Carrie and one that I admire so much, it was really hard not to be critical.
Curse of Chucky (2013)
I wrote a short post about how stoked I was for Curse of Chucky after seeing his new look for this sixth installment. For the most part, Don Mancini and crew did manage to take Chucky back to his scarier roots, however, I'm still not a big fan of the story they came up with. So Chucky is mad because a woman he kidnapped and whose husband he murdered called the police on him? Really? That's shocking! And it didn't really match up for me that this was the same night he transferred himself into the doll because where was his partner Eddie who left him? Not explained. As for the rest of the movie, I kinda dug it. It had a very old-school, old-dark-house feel to it with the location, and Chucky freaked me out just as much as he ever did in some specific scenes. Though his hair was a little too long, I was happy that they went back to Chucky's non-scarred look, and really disappointed when they brought the scars back again toward the end. Brad Dourif is fantastic as ever, and even gets some screen time himself during flashbacks. His daughter Fiona carries the film well as paraplegic Nica, and the other characters are fun and refreshing for the series. There's even some surprises that I never saw coming, and actually the whole plot was constructed in such a way that I never knew what direction they were going to go in. A very good installment for the series, and loads better than the atrocity that was Seed of Chucky. Here's hoping for more Child's Play fun in the future - and hopefully they'll actually put "Child's Play" in the title this time. I'm getting a little sick of this "of Chucky" crap.
How much did I love seeing the stuff with Andy at the end? A LOT, I tell you. A LOT.
There have been several adaptations of The Body Snatchers novel since 1955, and the only one I had seen was 2007's The Invasion which I don't even remember at all. Part of this 1958 version is very cool even by today's standards but I admit to getting a little bored toward the conclusion. I like how the film was introduced as a frame story; it gave good reason for the voice over and gave the audience some insights that they might not have had just from the plot itself. The effects work on the blanks and the pods was impressive, even that bubbly, sudsy effect, and a bit more gross than I was expecting. As for another effect - the cheese effect that is possible in any kind of B horror movie - I was happy to see that it was quite minimal. The movie has a very serious, creepy undertone stemming from the fact the more pods and replicas that are created, and the longer they go without sleep, the more likely it is that our main characters will fall victim to it as well. Very excited to see the Donald Sutherland version now, because, well, Donald Sutherland.
The Return of the Living Dead (1985)
Holy goddamn, you guys. I don't really have much to say about this movie other than that it was FUCKING AWESOME. Why, oh WHY, have I never seen this before? I loved every second of it and actually haven't had that much fun watching a movie in a long time. I'd really like to do a proper review of it soon, but I'll have to see it again in order to catch me up on the specifics. For now, just know that I am in love with this movie and want to have its baby.
Definitely NOT Edgar Allen Poe's Black Cat, that's for sure. Shame, because that's one of my favorite short stories. Anywho, this Black Cat is of the Lucio Fulci variety, that mad genius who entertained the hell out of me with The House by the Cemetery. Sadly, he couldn't do the same with The Black Cat. I was beyond happy to find out that Patrick Magee, my favorite bushy eyebrowed actor, was in this one, and I love cats so I love seeing them even when they're all evil and scratching and killing people. The problem though is that the movie lacks Fulci's famous gore and is mostly a bore. Fulci does once again show his love for doing lots of close-ups on people's eyes but nothing about this movie is up to snuff with other movies in the same genre. I'm bored now.
Bruiser (2000)
Well, hm. This was interesting. Actually on second thought, no it wasn't. This wasn't a good movie and it hurts me to admit that about something my beloved George Romero did, but this was just... weird. I mean, was there supposed to be some metaphor here about standing up for yourself when you lose your old identity and have the freedom to do what you want? Or something? Because this sure was an odd way to do it. The premise of the story is really just kind of stupid, with a guy waking up one day to find out that his face is nothing but a blank white mask. How or why this happened is never questioned by anyone, and main character Henry Creedlow runs with it too easily, immediately taking out anybody who makes him feel like the doormat he used to be. Boring, silly, unbelievable. Didn't like it.Movie Roundup: Just Some Random Stuff.... There are any Movie Roundup: Just Some Random Stuff... in here.
In time for Christmas, Peter Jackson has posted the 14th production video for The Hobbit trilogy and last for this year. The remainder will start sometime in the new year with the focus being on filming The Hobbit: There and Back Again. In the video below, it focuses entirely on creating the beautiful soundtrack for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug as composed by Howard Shore.Video #7 | Video #8 | Video #9 | Video #10 | Video #11 | Video #12 | Video #13
The Hobbit Production Video #14 - The Music. There are any The Hobbit Production Video #14 - The Music in here.
In the spirit of the holidays, here is a short video from Local Empire, a sketch comedy group, about SantaCon 2013 in New York City - with a small zombie twist. Enjoy, and happy holidays from The Girl Who Loves Horror!A Zombie SantaCon. There are any A Zombie SantaCon in here.
To mark the release of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, Cinema Sins has released their take on The Lord of the Rings trilogy as part of their "Everything Wrong with..." series. As usual it is an amusing take on a movie's flaws, which all will have no matter how carefully try to avoid them.Everything Wrong with The Lord of the Rings Trilogy. There are any Everything Wrong with The Lord of the Rings Trilogy in here.
The Hobbit fans in New York got a little extra treat when Ian McKellen (Gandalf) showed up to speak briefly with all the midnight movie goers who were about to see the film. At point this week I need to write a formal review but basically the movie was superior to the first and highly recommend seeing it. (via io9)McKellen Greets Hobbit Fans for Midnight Showing. There are any McKellen Greets Hobbit Fans for Midnight Showing in here.
Just cause The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug is out doesn't mean the posters stop. The latest features the massive Dwarf treasure as Smaug does his Scrooge McDuck impression. In addition below is a brief behind the scenes featurette with the cast and Peter Jackson as they discuss the 3D quality of the film.New Poster, 3D Featurette for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. There are any New Poster, 3D Featurette for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug in here.
The Desolation of Smaug's opening weekend US take of $73.65 million fell short of landing the December opening record set by The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey ($84.6M) but I doubt Jackson and company care considering the film took in $205M worldwide essentially paying for itself in the first three days of release. The assumption is the movie will cross the $1 billion threshold and considering the overall good reviews, I see little reason to doubt it. More details on the breakdown here but basically the movie did as well as it was expected to do.Smaug Opens Strong in First Weekend of Release. There are any Smaug Opens Strong in First Weekend of Release in here.
After the (probable) success of Lego The Lord of the Rings video game, the one for The Hobbit is prepping for release. Below is the first trailer for the upcoming game. Most of the footage focuses on events from the first movie with a second tease of Lego Tauriel. Currently there is no release date but the title suggests that it covers the entire The Hobbit trilogy so probably around Christmas 2014 so as to avoid spoiling The Hobbit: There and Back Again.Lego The Hobbit Video Game Trailer. There are any Lego The Hobbit Video Game Trailer in here.
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug is out now (as TV spot below reminds us) and already it has enjoyed a great first day with $8.8 million take for the midnight shows in the US. The current estimate is the movie is on track for a record $80 million weekend but no idea what the worldwide take will be.The cast continues to make the talk show rounds (next 2 videos below). Evangeline Lilly appeared on The Daily Show to discuss the movie with Jon Stewart, teasing him about his complete lack of knowledge of the film while Benedict Cumberbatch popped up on Conan O'Brien. The interview itself was ok but the main but was the first real clip with Smaug. Its very brief as a portion of it was padded with stuff already shown in the trailers.
Over at THR, Weta's Joe Letteri discussed the challenges they faced creating the scenes with Smaug. Part of the problem was the impressive size as Smaug ("twice as big as a 747") with unique antomy that had to be taken in account when creating him in the computer. While you don't see it, they actually create a digital being complete with skeletal structure and muscles to help create a look of realistic movement. Since he has wings and other fantasy elements, that required often hand done animation to achieve the final effects. As to that the gold pile, "We had to simulate all the gold coins, every time he moved. Sometimes it was a little, sometimes it was a lot, but it ended up being over a billion gold coins. During some of the action sequences, threre were hundreds of millions of coins moving at once." Another difficulty was the barrel scene that often had to be completely re-created in the computer from the water, to the actors or replacing them digitally. More details here.
New Desolation of Smaug TV Spot, Evangeline Lilly Interview, Smaug Clip and VFX Challenges. There are any New Desolation of Smaug TV Spot, Evangeline Lilly Interview, Smaug Clip and VFX Challenges in here.
Entertainment Weekly (A+)
The Desolation of Smaug is a more grandly somber movie, and also a much better one, with forces of boldly intense and unified malevolence. ...This time Jackson nails that tone: the feeling that Bilbo, who's been recruited to steal back a wondrous gem called the Arkenstone from the dragon Smaug, is up against a cosmic storm of black forces. The dragon has ravaged the land, the angry, hulking orcs are on a power trip, and the elves — led by the imperious Thranduil (Lee Pace) — are isolationists who trap the dwarves in a dungeon, setting up a great escape via wine barrels on white rapids. ...Yet Jackson's direction is spiky and majestic, and the risky move of inventing his own Tolkien character — the elf guard Tauriel (Evangeline Lilly) — as a love interest for Legolas (Orlando Bloom) pays off. These two bring some badly needed heat to the woodlands. Speaking of heat, the dragon is, quite simply, a marvel: gargantuan yet balletic, hoarding his mountain of gold with a razor-toothed smile, breathing not just flame but an inferno, and voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch with the most delicious, insidious knowledge.Read more »
Media Review of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. There are any Media Review of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug in here.
Today is the official release date of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. To mark the day, yet a new poster. Feel free to post what you thought of the movie in the comments.
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug Released. There are any The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug Released in here.
On a small Irish island, two police officers lead the town in a fight against a huge blood-sucking, squid-like alien creature. After figuring out that the creatures don't like the toxic level of alcohol in their victim's blood, the entire town proceeds to get drunk while still trying to kill the creature.
Despite heavy influences, or at least close reminders, of other horror comedy creature features like Tremors, Grabbers is a movie that really seemed to find its niche and roll with it. Though the film is specific to its location, the jokes can easily be enjoyed by people of any country. Is it racist to say that Irish people are funny just because they're Irish? I love the accents, and they way they call people things like "gobshite" and use "feck" to replace "fuck." The humor is not dirty, but rather the quick-witted commonplace humor from everyday situations, and that is something that I can always appreciate.
Special effects-wise, Grabbers delivers. There's the usual fair at the beginning of the film where the monster is only heard and not seen, and we only see the little grabbers first before seeing the big daddy grabber at the end, but what they give us is quite wonderful. There's nothing particularly ingenious about the design of the creature; really, it's just an octopus with a lot more legs and without the creepy bulbous head. There's a circular mouth in the middle where a smaller tentacle shoots out and attacks. With the well-rendered CGI, the way the creature moves and reacts with its environment, the movie is given just the right amount of semi-realism to be both believable and funny at the same time, which is something a movie in this genre needs. How the grabbers "walk" was probably my favorite part, as they had all of the, oh about 30 legs or so making it roll around like a ball. 
The only real flaw in the movie is the lack of explanation for the creature. It is, in fact, an alien, which we get from the requisite flaming-ball-of-rock-hurtling-toward-Earth scene at the beginning. At the risk of thinking too much into the situation, I don't really see how this thing could be from another planet. They figure out that the creature needs only blood and water to survive, two things that I'm pretty sure still don't exist on other planets yet. I digress. I really don't care that much about the non-explanation, but it did need to be pointed out. The alcohol thing, while probably mostly done for hilarity's sake, is a simplistic yet workable solution for the situation, so I'm cool with that, too.
You'll love all the characters here. There's the curly-haired, lovable Garda (police officer) O'Shea and his new partner, the adorably eager Lisa Nolan, as our two main characters, and they're both a joy to watch throughout the film. When the drinking starts in the last act, Lisa (actress Ruth Bradley) proves herself to be the cutest drunk ever. Seriously, she's adorable. There are many yucks to be had from the rest of the townspeople as well, like the dorky marine ecologist Smith, the town crazy Paddy, and the dirty-minded pub owner's wife Una. All their little actions and quirks were wonderfully timed and executed, even though some of them could have a used a bit more character development so they that they didn't seem as much like the usual Hollywood stereotypes of what Irish people are like.
Grabbers is one of those movies that there should be a lot more of. On the surface it seems like a silly, light-hearted comedy with a crazy monster in it, but the film is really very smart and uses good thought to get our characters out of this insane situation. Some movies just have that cute factor about them. Grabbers is a cute movie and I'm sure you'll love it. You also might need the subtitles like I did to catch all that Irish humor, though!
Movie Review: Grabbers (2012). There are any Movie Review: Grabbers (2012) in here.
The large example of awesome below is The Lord of the Ring's Rivendell built from 200,000 Lego as created by Alice Finch and David Frank. The duo is familiar with epic from last year's 400,000 Lego Harry Potter Hogwarts creation. The creation was made by screenshots from TLOTR trilogy, making of books and sketches of the model built for the film including a Weta model that provided the overall layout. The large diorama re-creates various moments from the movie such as the river washing away the Ringwraiths, Fellowship meeting, and more. It even has its own lighting effects. An interview with the creators along with more pictures can be found at Brothers-Brick.
Awesome 200,000 Lego Rivendell Diorama. There are any Awesome 200,000 Lego Rivendell Diorama in here.
The credit song for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug is the great single "I See Fire" performed by Ed Sheeran. The song is used in the latest UK TV spot for movie. In addition Peter Hollens does creative editing to create a capella cover of the track using himself times 1 to 13 depending on section."I See Fire" TV Spot and Capella Clone Cover. There are any "I See Fire" TV Spot and Capella Clone Cover in here.
Tonight The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug premieres with midnight showings in the US (and assume elsewhere). The interviews continue, this time with Richard Armitage who discusses the "Shakesperean" path Thorin Oakenshield takes. Trilogy writer Philippa Boyens talks about the inclusion of the new female character Tauriel and casting of Evangeline Lilly for the role. Finally Aiden Turner (Kili) and Dean O'Gorman (Fili) discuss filming the movie via a video interview. Hit the links for the details.Links: Armitage | Boyens | Turner and O'Gorman
Interviews with Armitage, Boyens, Turner and O'Gorman. There are any Interviews with Armitage, Boyens, Turner and O'Gorman in here.
Highlights
- "Do we take a children’s book, a very simplistic children’s book, and faithfully adapt it? Or do we make a film that will live alongside the other three movies that we made? We are the same storytellers, Philippa, Fran and I, we’re the same people working on it. We’re trying to be faithful to the style and the tone."
- Why add Tauriel? "For some reason that I don’t quite understand, a lot of women love these stories more than other types of fantasy,” Jackson said. “We just felt it was a bit male-heavy and we could do something about it."
- “The great thing about the movies is that they have increased the book sales enormously,” Jackson said. “Huge numbers of people are reading Tolkien now, and I’m happy to claim some credit for that. Any of the liberties that we take in adapting, any of the changes we make, any of the things that might have upset Professor Tolkien … it’s not all take. We do give something back.”
Jackson Interview, 60 Movie Images and Berlin Smaug Premiere Video. There are any Jackson Interview, 60 Movie Images and Berlin Smaug Premiere Video in here.
We are just days away from the release of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug to theaters. Here is the next TV spot for the movie.The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug TV Spot #10. There are any The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug TV Spot #10 in here.
The main bad guy of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug is the dragan itself as played by Benedict Cumberbatch. However, he also has another role in the movie, as the Necromancer, who is kind of a pre-formed version of Sauron. In the interview below with HitFix, the actor discusses the challenge of mo-capping and voicing the two roles.Cumberbatch Discusses Doing Smaug and the Necromancer. There are any Cumberbatch Discusses Doing Smaug and the Necromancer in here.
Lego Erebor from The Hobbit. There are any Lego Erebor from The Hobbit in here.
The talk show circuit continues for the cast of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. Currently the most ethusisatic and entertaining of the bunch has been Evangeline Lilly (Tauriel). Lilly stopped by Conan and the two main topics was Elvish (1st video below) and her butt which includes a new clip (2nd video). As for Benedict, the third video below is a straight forward edit of an interview with the actor as he discusses his role as Smaug the Dragon.Lilly Discusses Elvish (and Her Butt) While Cumberbatch Talks Smaug. There are any Lilly Discusses Elvish (and Her Butt) While Cumberbatch Talks Smaug in here.
The clips from The Hobbit continue as this next one features a scene that shows a little on how the Dwarves ended up in a bunch of barrels as seen in the various trailers.Clip #5 From The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. There are any Clip #5 From The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug in here.
The latest production video for The Hobbit Trilogy has been posted. This edition focuses mostly on post-production for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. That includes CGI, sound effects, editing, and using combining a virtual world with filming so that Jackson can "film" a scene in an empty room that mimics his camera movements for the actual home of Smaug. He then teased the next production video that looks into recording the score for the movie.Video #7 | Video #8 | Video #9 | Video #10 | Video #11 | Video #12
The Hobbit Production Video #13. There are any The Hobbit Production Video #13 in here.
A new clip from The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug joins the previous 3 that have been released to help promote the movie. Considering the movie is still a week out, I imagine this is just the beginning of more clips and TV spots. This one is a confrontation between Bard the Bowman and Thorin as he tries to drum up support to lay seige on Erebus and drive out Smaug.Clip #4 From The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. There are any Clip #4 From The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug in here.
The marketing campaign for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug is officially in full swing as the cast starts making the talk show runs around the world. Already in the states Ian McKellen appeared on The Colbert Report while Evangeline Lilly visited Craig Ferguson. Between those visits, EW and IGN, we now have three clips from the movie. The first two will seem familiar as bits were used in the movie's trailers. The first is a scene between Gandalf and Bilbo, the second between Tauriel and Legolas while the last is truly new as an Orc shrugs off the threats from Legolas and Thranduil.Three Clips from The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. There are any Three Clips from The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug in here.
Besides the statue, New Zealand has also chosen to honor the new character. Much like last year, the NZ Post Office is releasing official coins and stamps depicting Tauriel, Legolas and Bard the Bowman. The items are technically legal tender in New Zealand but no outside the country. Not like it matters as they are meant to be collectibles anyway. You can find all that is available here.
The Hobbit's Tauriel Gets Statue, Stamp and Coin Collectibles. There are any The Hobbit's Tauriel Gets Statue, Stamp and Coin Collectibles in here.
Update: If, like me, you really don't have time to watch an hour and half long video, then check out the second video below which is WB's highlight reel from the premiere.
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug Premiere Video (Updated). There are any The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug Premiere Video (Updated) in here.
Ay yi yi. Are the holidays over yet? I need my regular boring life back.
Edgar Wright. Simon Pegg. Nick Frost. No joke, three of the greatest things to happen to movies in the last decade. Shaun of the Dead is beyond words brilliant as a rom-zom-com with blood, guts, belly laughs, and a lot of heart. Hot Fuzz was an immensely successful follow-up that ventured into the buddy-cop action movie genre, but still had the blood, guts, belly laughs, and possibly even more heart. And now the fan-coined "Cornetto Trilogy" concludes with the appropriately titled The World's End. The blood and guts are blue this time, but they're there, and so are the belly laughs and never-ending heart.
The boys surely haven't lost their touch in creating something that audiences will love, both newcomers and those already familiar with their work. Once again I was impressed by the writing and the delivery of the writing by all the actors. The jokes come at rapid-fire pace (and people make fun of me for always using subtitles) and the humor is smart, sometimes dirty, but always cleverly laid out in relation to what the movie is about and situations that come later. Watching the movie again lets you catch on to some references you missed before, the double meaning behind some of the lines ("We're here to get annihilated!" "It must be the network"). They did similar things in their previous two films, but it still works and it's still brilliant how they're able to pull it all together.
It almost feels wrong to heap so much praise on pretty much everything these guys do, but I really can't help it. I fucking love Shaun of the Dead, I really super-duper like Hot Fuzz, and now I'm all kinds of giddy over The World's End. Wright and Pegg probably aren't completely done making movies but I do wonder about what they are going to do next. Something totally different? More of the same but different actors or something? I don't know, but I do know that I will be right there to experience whatever they come up with.
Movie Review: The World's End (2013). There are any Movie Review: The World's End (2013) in here.
Complete Smaug the Dragon Revealed by Air New Zealand. There are any Complete Smaug the Dragon Revealed by Air New Zealand in here.
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