My Top Ten Films of 2017

Here is my top ~~ten~~… top ~~eleven~~… top ~~twelve~~ … wait… top ~~THIRTEEN~~… no, no…Top FOURTEEN films of 2017. Before anyone asks? I have not seen Ladybird, Blade Runner 2049, Call Me By Your Name, Dunkirk, Murder on the Orient Express, Wind River, Hostiles, the Shape of Water or Mother!

1. Logan
Logan is the swan song for both Hugh Jackman and Patrick Stewart in their memorable runs as Wolverine and Professor X. Set in a time where most of the X-Men are gone and Wolverine’s health is failing, Logan was a gutsy move. It earns it’s ‘R’ rating in the first five minutes, but what really makes it stand out is the emotion that is packed into it. Stewart gives a wonderful performance here.

2. Land of Mine
I know this was released in Denmark in 2015, but technically, it is a 2017 film for the U.S. So I am calling it as “this year”. After all, the director’s next film is due out in 2018.

3. War For the Planet of the Apes
Matt Reeves managed to make the most consistent trilogy of films. All three of his Apes movies have been top notch. Emotional and exciting, Reeve shows a real understanding of the balance of action and drama.

4. Wonder Woman
Wonder Woman was everything I wanted to see from the DC film universe. Wonder Woman is hopeful and filled with excitement. It was a bright spot for Super-Hero films in general, the DC Cinematic Universe quite specifically.

5. Get Out
Jordan Peele, best known as part of the comedy duo Key and Peele, wrote and directed this smart dark social satire thriller that skewers liberal attitudes towards black Americans. It has great writing and some really good performances.

6. The Big Sick
A wonderful and personal story from husband and wife creative team Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon, the Big Sick mines humor and heartbreak from their real life experience. In what seems like the ultimate Rom Com movie plot, Emily had fallen into a coma early in their relationship. The Big Sick does not approach this from a glossy sense of “isn’t it romantic”. It is messy and gut wrenching at times. It is also endearing and joyful. They explore the issues of cultural differences, the pressures those can bring on relationships. Really, the Big Sick is a wonderful little movie.

7. Star Wars: The Last Jedi
Unexpectedly one of the most controversial films of the year… and one of the rare reversals for Star Wars where the critics largely love it, while the general audience is more sharply divided…The Last Jedi is kind of the Unforgiven of Star Wars. It also has one of Mark Hamill’s best live action performances ever.

8. Atomic Blonde
This film was not what was advertised. This is not a James Bond Spy Action flick. This is an Espionage Thriller, and a very, very good one at that.

9. Edge of Seventeen
I thought this was a real good “coming of age” film, full of wit and heart.

10. It
It (Chapter One) is a pretty solid fright film. Dramatic with some of the strongest kid actor performances I have seen in a long time, this was a real intense scare film and one of the best adaptions of King to date.

11. Logan Lucky
I suppose this is really just “White Trash Ocean’s Eleven”…but it is full of great performances, and held together emotionally by Channing Tatum and young Farrah Mackenzie. Really, this was a lot of fun.

12. Baby Driver
Baby Driver is not a deep film. It is not even all that emotionally engaging. It is the simple story of a getaway driver trying to get out of his job for the girl he loves. But Edgar Wright does not give the film any such pretense of being more than just a really good noir action flick with a killer soundtrack.

13. Thor: Ragnarok
Ragnarok is a lot of fun. I simply had a terrific amount of fun. The Hulk has evolved, Cate Blanchett’s Hela is a good villain and Taika Waititi managed what seemed to be looking impossible…a Thor film that rose above, “I guess it was okay.”

14. Spider-Man: Homecoming
Sam Raimi had a decent run with Spider-Man, but ended on a flawed note. Marc Webb made Spider-Man films with some good points, but still did not quite connect for audiences. Sony’s deal with Marvel to bring Spider-Man into the Marvel Cinematic Universe paid off. Skipping over the origin story, we get a Spider-Man months into his role. Peter Parker wants to be an A-List Super-Hero badly, but he is stuck on a neighborhood level, and his connections to Tony Stark are not boosting him forward like he hoped. Between good arcs for both Spider-Man and his nemesis the Vulture, I am excited to see where Peter goes next.

Honorable Mentions:

John Wick 2. Somehow, these John Wick movies have me wanting to see more. I mean, they are really enjoyable. Kong: Skull Island was fun, much in the same way as Baby Driver. A Cure For Wellness was just such a weird film, but I really liked it. Also really enjoyed Guardians of the Galaxy 2. While not perfect, it is a lot of fun.

January 2, 2018 1

It’s Still A Jungle Out There (Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, 2017)

Every so often, someone decides it is time to start up a franchise. Rather than a reboot or a remake, when they announced Jumanji (starring that Robin Willims-esque Dwayne the Rock Johnson) it was decided that they would make a sequel. The film clearly establishes itself as set in the same universe as the Robin Williams movie late in the film.

The film opens with a jogger finding the board game on a beach. He gives it to his teenage son Alex. The young man sets it aside. That night he is awoken by beating drums. He opens up the box to find, instead of a board-game, a video game cartridge. He puts it in and disappears. The film picks up 22 years later. Alex is the town legend, his father and house the stuff of scary stories.

Spencer is a nerd who gets in trouble for doing football player classmate Fridge’s homework. Their teacher recognizes that Spencer has plagiarized themselves. At the same time, popular and pretty Bethany is in trouble for talking on her cell phone during a test and Martha is in trouble for talking back to her gym teacher. The four get assigned to detention, which will involve them cleaning up a mess in the school basement.

The kids stumble upon an old video game system and decide to give the game Jumanji a try. They find themselves transported into the game, which they then find out that they must play to the end if they want to get out. This is a reversal of the first film, where the game broke out into the real world. Here not only are they in the video game world, they are video game avatars. Spencer finds himself as the muscular and heroic Smolder Bravestone. Fridge is the diminutive zoologist Mouse Finbar. Martha is shocked to find herself looking a bit like Laura Croft fighter Ruby Roundhouse. And Bethany gets the huge shock of being the middle aged Dr. Shelly Oberon (which she assumed a woman, only to find she is a man).

The film has a lot of fun with the new video game approach. Everybody has three bars on their arms representing lives, resulting in some amusing moments when they end up regenerating. There is also the sendups of video game tropes. Most notably, one people have somehow been missing because they have been reacting to single still photos and ignoring the context. Karen Gillan’s Ruby Roundhouse is a sendup of the hot female fighter video game characters. She questions very quickly what is up with such a ridiculous outfit. Admittedly, they could have had her change, as at least one scene shows her putting a shirt on to cover herself. But the film is on the side of the folks who jumped on how she is dressed.

The plot is thin…they literally are just trying to get a jewel to a statue to lift the curse of Jumanji. Which puts the focus squarely on the characters. And thankfully, Johnson, Gillan, Black and Hart are all entertaining in their roles. Fridge is frustrated by the reversal to a character who is not very athletic and has the weakness of cake.

Bethany, of course, is pained both by her appearance and lack of access to a phone. All four have lessons to learn, but it is mostly the spectacle of events and jokes that makes this film fun.

I admit, I was not expecting a lot out of this one, but I really had a good time. This is a bit more aimed at older audiences with some juvenile humor. But it still works pretty well to be amusing and exciting.

December 31, 2017 0

It’s a Jungle Out There (Jumanji, 1995)

A tale of standing up to your fears via games, Jumanji tells the adventurous tale of Alan Parrish, a bullied young man with a domineering father, who finds the magical game. He starts a game with his friend Sarah, but before she can role the dice, he disappears into the game and the room fills with bats. Sarah runs away and the film leaps ahead twenty six years.

Judy and Peter Shepherd move into the Parrish house with their aunt. They discover the game and free Alan. But the game is not over, as the house and soon the neighborhood start to fill with jungle creatures. And to top it off, there is the hunter Van Pelt, who is chasing after Alan.

They track down the grown up Sarah and coerce her into helping finish the game, all while their world gets turned more and more upside down. Their only hope to set things back to normal is to finish the game.

Williams is fun as the grown Alan Parrish, and the film sets him up as a kid in need of a reality check. David Alan Grier plays an employee of Alan’s father who is fired because he covers for a screwup of Alan’s at his father’s factory. It is not that Alan lacks reasons to be a bit selfish and bitter. But the film shows he needs to grow. In an interesting choice, the villain Van Pelt (an evil big game hunter within the Jumanji game) is played by Jonathan Hyde, who also plays Alan’s father. He actually brings warmth to Alan’s stern father towards the end, allowing the viewer to see why Alan still loves him. Part of that is played out when the adult Alan learns his father actually pretty much gave up on everything else in the effort to find his son.

Jumanji is dragged down a bit by it’s dated 1990’s digital effects, most distracting in the digital monkeys. However, this is still a pretty enjoyable and light film.

December 30, 2017 0

Nothing But Star Wars Episode Three and a Quarter (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, 2016)

The Force Awakens, in spite of conflicting reviews had made Disney enough money to feel confident in going forward with their game plan. Disney had set a goal of a Star Wars movie every Christmas.

Since films of the blockbuster nature often can take at least two years of time to assemble, the answer Disney had was to alternate our visits. Star Wars Episodes Seven, Eight and Nine would continue the adventures of the rebels. In the alternating years would be a stand alone story within the Star Wars Universe.

Many ideas were bandied about, from Han Solo to Ben Kenobi to Boba Fett. I suspect that, in part, this is one of the reasons the Extended Universe was declared not canon. They wanted that freedom to play around without any of the constraints of the extended universe material.

The first film announced was Rogue One, the story of how the rebels got the plans for the Death Star that allowed them to destroy it in A New Hope. And so let us take a look…a spoiler filled look…like, do not go any farther if you have not seen the movie and don’t want to have it spoiled.

The film opens on a remote planet as a farmer watches the arrival of Empire ships. He hurries his family away, wanting his wife and daughter to flee. We soon find that the farmer is Galen Erso, an ex-imperial architect to left their employ when he realized what he was building. But he is needed to finish the work, and his former boss is insistent that he and his family return with them. Young Jade Erso witnesses her mother being killed from a distance, She runs to a hidden safe zone. Hours later, left all alone, Jade is found by Saw Gerrera, a friend of her father’s and a well known leader in the growing rebellion.

The film then jumps ahead to a now grown Jade who appears to a regular trouble maker, currently in the custody of the Empire. She is being transported when the transport vehicle is attacked. She is grabbed by a large robot called K 2SO. A droll reprogrammed droid, he is working with Cassian Andor. They are on a covert mission, trying to reach a an imperial pilot named Bodhi who is in the hands of Gerrera. Believing Jade is their ticket to getting Bodhi, they have broken her out.

Rogue_One_Rebels — Rogue One: A Star Wars Story L to R: Cassian Andor (Diego Luna), Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones) and K-2SO (Alan Tudyk) Ph: Jonathan Olley © 2016 Lucasfilm Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

They arrive on the planet where Gerrera is holed up. Cassian and Jade find themselves in a fire fight between dissidents and Storm Troopers. They are joined by a blind monk Chirrut Îmwe and his protector/companion Baze Malbus. The monk is not a Jedi, but enters fights chanting “The Force is with me and I am with the Force”. Baze on the other hand puts more trust in guns. They are taken to Gerrera by the dissidents.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story Chirrut (Donnie Yen) Photo credit: Lucasfilm/ILM ©2016 Lucasfilm Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

Gerrera provides information to Jade and allows everyone to leave. They rush from the planet s the Death Star fires on the planet. They have learned where to find Galen, but unbeknownst to Jade, the plan is simply to kill him. Jade learns the truth and unsuccessfully tries to save her father, though he does at the hands of the Empire, rather than Cassian.

Things are looking bleak, but Erso is determined to see that her father’s death is not in vein. While the leadership of the rebellion refuses to back an attack on the planet with the Death Star, Jade convinces Cassian, Chirrut, Baze, Bodhi and several pilots it is a needed mission.

While fighters take to the air, Cassian and Jade lead a team with the goal of stealing the Death Star plans that reveal the flaw her father built directly into the Death Star. We know, of course, that they succeed, because A New Hope already told us that they did.

The first thing one notices in the film is that, unlike previous Star Wars entries, there is no opening scrawl. And the film is simply titled Rogue One on screen, no “A Star Wars Story”. This seems to be an intentional signal regarding a way for the non-episodic stories to be set further apart.

Of course, they do not take a real risk of going to far afield, afterall, Rogue One takes place literally moments right before A New Hope. And truth be told? This was the part that kind of annoyed me. I did not need the film to end at that spot. It was purely the silliest of fan services.

The biggest controversy I heard on this one was how much of a problem people had with the digital Tarkin. I mean, it is an actor playing the role, but like Gollum, there is a digital actor laid over that actor. And, there is a certain…hard to pin unnaturalness to how he looks.

Yet, for my money, the one that just creeped me out was only on screen for a few seconds. Far more awkward to my eyes was the wax museum look of…

I do not get how people were excited by this sequence rather than unnerved by it. There are other little annoying bits of fan service, for instance, Jade and Cassian bump into the aliens that threatened in Luke Episode four in Mos Eisley. It just feels kind of silly, especially when you consider the planet is about to be blasted by the Death Star.

Speaking of which, I notice they do pay a close enough attention to detail to have both times the Death Star is used in the film in a fashion where the planets are devastated, but not obliterated. I note this because Alderaan certainly seems to be implied as the first full on destruction from the Death Star. Though I could be wrong.

For the most part, though, I really do enjoy the film. I mean, they basically decided to make a heist sci-fi film, and it is a pretty tight one. The cast of characters are pretty interesting, though admittedly the standouts are Donnie Yen and Chirrut and Wen Jiang as Baze, along with Alan Tudyk’s K-2SO. Chirrut and Baze have one of those solid movie friendships where they seem somewhat adversarial, but you know there is something stronger and deeper below the surface.

Baze blow’s off Chirrut’s mysticism, crediting himself as the true protector of Chirrut, not the Force (the film features no Jedi or hardcore Force Users). Chirrut is also quite funny in his own right. As the group is captured by Gerrera’s people, bags are being put over their heads and Chirrut incredulously states “Really? I’m BLIND.”

And then there is the droid. K-2SO is kind of an anti- C-3PO. Sarcastic and cynical he lacks 3PO’s refinement, but shares his tendency to appealing to the negative odds. When Cassian gives Jade a gun, he starts to ask if Cassian knows the odds she will not use the gun against the,. “Not very good” he says dryly.

Yet, just as pretty much everyone in Rogue Squadron, K2 gets his moment of glory. But I definitely felt a twinge of disappointment that some of these characters would never make a return. I could totally sit through, say, a TV series about Chirrut and Baze on adventures.

If Rogue One is a sing of things to come for the Star Wars stories, I remain hopeful for that Young Han Solo film.

December 27, 2017 0

Narnia Quest Part 3 (Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, 2010)

Picking back up World War 2, Peter and Susan are with their father in America. Lucy and Edmund, on the other hand, are stuck with their unpleasant cousin Eustace. He is a remarkably anti-social kid. One afternoon he breaks in on a conversation between Lucy and Edmund. Lucy notices that a painting on the wall of a ship at sea seems to be moving. As Eustace berates them, water starts to poor from the frame of the painting, filling the room. Suddenly, the children are afloat in the ocean and picked up by a passing ship.

The ship is the Dawn Treader, captained by Prince Caspian. On the ship, Lucy and Edmund are thrilled to see Caspian, Reepicheep and other Narnians. Eustice is more…stupefied. Especially by things like a giant talking mouse. Who has a sword. Caspian explains that they are on a mission to find the missing seven Lords that were driven into exile by Lord Protector Miraz. Reepicheep has a separate mission to reach the end of the world and enter Aslan’s land.

The journey brings them to various islands with a variety of obstacles. Eventually, they find the dark island in their hopes to vanquish a dark force that is attacking Narnians.

This last part is a bit more confusing. There is the addition of a Green Mist that is not in the books. It appears to steal Narnian citizens and taken them from beyond the reach of Caspian. The film departs a lot from the book, changing character motivations and emphasizing others.

Disney was not involved in this film, instead, Walden Media teamed with 20th Century Fox for this installment. The Narnia films have struggled, in part, from inconsistent releasing. The first film came out in 2005, the second in 2008 and then this film in 2010. Compare this to the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit films, which were consistently a year apart. Or the Harry Potter films, which had a fairly consistent schedule of every two years. We are seeing Star Wars films already on a regular yearly schedule. Three films in five years easily disrupts momentum that trying to pull off an adaption like this needs. Especially when Narnia does not have a variety of other outlets to be kept in the front of people’s minds.

And if the films had been ridiculously high quality, one might forgive the inconsistencies. But there is the problem.

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is easily the best of the three films. Will Pouter is exceptional as Eustace and takes him from being an insufferable brat to a good kid convincingly. Simon Pegg’s Reepicheep (taking over for Eddie Izzard from the previous film) gives a likable performance.

The film’s visual effects are strong, and the Eustace Dragon looks great. And yet, the film never really manages to feel…urgent. Edmund envies Peter, Lucy envies Susan…the temptation of the White Witch (again!). It all feels like we have been there before, even though the setting is new.

While better than the prior films, it still never gets to be what it wants, because what it wants is to be something other than the story C.S. Lewis told.

December 18, 2017 0

Narnia Quest Part 2 (The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, 2008)

Coming out three years after the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Prince Caspian picks up in Narnia, decades after the rule of the Pevensie family. The children had lived and ruled into adulthood, but returned to our world as children, with almost no time having passed. But in Narnia, mankind has overrun Narnia. The mythical creatures seem all but gone.

Lady Protectress Prunaprismia gives birth to a son, delighting her husband Lord Protector Miraz. He calls to have the rightful heir to the throne, Prince Caspian, killed. Caspian’s tutor Professor Cornelius helps him escape. Cornelius has tried to teach Caspian in the forgotten ways of Narnia and Aslan. He gives him an ancient battle horn.

In his escape, Caspian runs into the original citizens of Narnia, whom he had believed to be myth. In a fit of panic, he blows the horn, but the horn is not an ordinary artifact. It actually calls the Pevensie children back to Narnia. They discover the ruins of their old castle, and come across their old weapons. The children then discover Telmarine (the ruling class of Narnia) soldiers about to kill the dwarf Trumkin. After saving him, they start to make their way back to the other hiding creatures of Narnia. Throughout the story, Lucy is certain she sees Aslan, but nobody else seems to see him.

Eventually, they reach and meet Caspian. Caspian has cast in his lots with the citizens of Narnia against their Telmarine oppressors. With the help of the Pevensies, they go on a mission to overthrow the Telmarines.

This is an okay follow up, though it pretty much has all the same positives and negatives of the previous film. It is trying hard to be an epic, instead of trusting the story laid out before it. The film invents a temptation to bring back the White Witch for the Pevensie kids that is entirely pointless and unneeded.

Prince Caspian is not terrible…but it really is just an average film adaption. Not great. But decent enough.

December 17, 2017 0

Narnia Quest Part 1 (The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, 2005)

During World War 2, the four Pevensie children are sent to stay in the remote countryside with Professor Kirke. A somewhat distant man, the kids try and pass the time by exploring his large home and playing games. One day, during a game of hide and seek, youngest Lucy hides in a large wardrobe. She discovers that there is something different with the Wardrobe. As she pushes through coats, she suddenly finds herself in a snowy forest.

She runs into a Faun (half man and half goat) who timidly introduces himself as Mr. Tumnus. When he discovers that Lucy is a “daughter of Eve”, he becomes worried and tries to hurry Lucy back to where she came. He explains there world (where there is no Christmas, but a seemingly endless winter) is ruled by a tyrant queen, the White Witch, who demands any member of the line of Adam and Eve should be brought to her. Upon her return, her siblings do not believe Lucy. And why would they?

That night, Lucy tries to return, and is unknowingly followed by Edmund. Edmund meets the White Witch who wants him to bring his sibling to her. She plays to his ego and desire for fanciful Turkish Delights candy.

Eventually, all the kids enter the wardrobe and find Mr. Tumnus is missing. They are greeted by Mr. and Mrs. Beaver who are…well, talking Beavers. The kids learn more of the curse upon Narnia, but that many believe the world will be released by the return of King Aslan and the children of Adam and Eve. And so the children become drawn into a battle to save the world of Narnia from the cruel White Queen.

The Chronicles of Narnia are the beloved children’s books by noted popular Christian apologist C.S. Lewis. The series has been adapted in the past. There was a cartoon of the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe from the BBC in 1979. And four of the books* were adapted for a live action series (also from the BBC) in the late eighties. But the twin successes of the Lord of the Rings films and the Harry Potter series made things look viable for more fantasy.

And so, Disney and Walden Media combined forces to bring us the Chronicles of Narnia. They brought in Andrew Adamson, who was known for Shrek and Shrek 2 before this.

Visually, the effects in the film are quite good. Aslan looks like a real lion, not just a digital cartoon. The makeup is effect for the creatures of Narnia. The cast is good. And yet…the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe feels a bit…flat. It follows the main beats of the story, but it is clear that, rather than looking to the novels for guidance? They were looking at the success of the Lord of the Rings. Overwhelmingly so. The emphasis is on “epic”. And this is not really something at the heart of the Narnia books. The books are short, in fact, much shorter than the Tolkien’s books. I almost wonder if the seven books total more than the three Rings books.

A certain amount of comparison would be inevitable. Lewis and Tolkien were close friends. When it came to their work though, they had very different attitudes. Tolkien had no real use for allegory. But that is what drives the heart of the Narnia Books. The allegory is as important as the story.

And the film does not really water down the allegory. Aslan is still clearly a stand in for Jesus. Though, some might feel that Aslan seems to have less bite. He seems a bit warm and fuzzy and a little less…threatening…even for the minions of evil.

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe very much wants to be the Lord of the Rings, and this causes the film to not carve out it’s own identity against the Lord of the Rings films. Instead, it feels like a pale comparison.

*Prince Caspian and the Voyage of the Dawn Treader were combined.

December 16, 2017 0

A Battling We Will Go (The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, 2014)

The Battle of the Five Armies is a very long and busy film. From it’s opening moments, it is all about trying to out do Return of the king. Dragon fights! Giant battles against orcs! Wizard Battles!

Bilbo and the Dwarves had failed to stop Smaug who attacks Lake Town. As the citizens try and escape his wrath, the Bard seeks to fulfill his family’s promise and slay Smaug. After ending Smaug, the citizens make their way to the ruins outside the the mountain fortress of the Dwarves.

Thranduil arrives with an elven army to reclaim what he feels the elves are owed by the dwarves. However, Thorin becomes obsessed with finding the Arkenstone. To make matters worse, he seems to be falling pray to paranoia. Unknown to the dwarves, Bilbo has found the stone. Concerned that Thorin is being spiritually poisoned by his obsession, he slips out to give the stone to the Bard as a bargaining chip. This only makes matters worse.

Eventually, the armies must unite against the armies of orcs and other evil that sets upon the mountain. This culminates in a battle royale between Oakenshield and Azog.

The Battle of the Five Armies is really a culmination of the desire to recreate the Lord of the Rings. The changes of the first Hobbit were not really needed, but mostly harmless. But the snowball started in the Desolation of Smaug. And here, the battle is the focus. And everything is gigantic. It consumes a large part of the time, and it gets kind of confusing. And everybody starts to blur together.

So many things feel like calls back to the Lord of the Rings. And granted, this is a prequel to those films. The book the Hobbit came before the Lord of the Rings books. But the films are a prequel. And it is expected to see some loose connections. But here, it feels like nothing can stand as it’s own.

This all makes for a rather disappointing final. I did not hate the movie, but I don’t think it comes close to, say, Jackson’s very flawed but still well done King King. The flaws make the good stuff harder to enjoy here.

I don’t hate these movies quite as much as some. This may in part be due to the fact that I don’t have a real tight connection to the series. I did not read the Lord of the Rings books until after I saw the films, as I was nearing thirty. I did not read the Hobbit until after I started watching the films in 2012. So, I never entered the films with presumptions of what I would see, beyond vague memories of the Rankin Bass cartoon from the late 1970’s.

But unlike the Lord of the Rings films, I do not feel the strengths overcome the flaws. And so the Hobbit trilogy is nowhere near as satisfying a watch as the Lord of the Rings films.

December 15, 2017 0

A Desolationing We Will Go (The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, 2013)

The film picks up with Bilbo, Thorin and their band of Dwarves on the run from Azog’s orcs. They find themselves appearing to be hunted by a very large bear. Gandalf promises they are near the home of a man who might help them with safety. They rush, chased by the bear until they reach a remote home.

Once inside, Gandalf explains that the bear is actually the man they are trying to reach. Beorn is a shapeshifter who is also mistrustful of dwarves, so Gandalf cooks up a plan to slowly reveal them to Beorn.

Once on their way, they find themselves facing giant spiders and elves, eventually reaching Laketown, near the mountain fortress they seek. Initially, Laketown presents an obstacle, but Thorin promises to share the riches of the mountain if they allow them passage and provide some weapons. Of course, most of the citizens being poor and desperate, it is not a hard sell. And the mayor is a greedy man who figures if they succeed he reaps the reward and if they get eaten by Smaug they are out of his hair.

Meanwhile, Gandalf has gone to find and confront the Necromancer, a dark being that is an impending threat to Middle Earth.

Once they reach the mountain and find the secret entrance, it falls to Bilbo to slip inside and see if he can locate the Arkenstone. This turns out to be like looking for a needle in a haystack, as there are jewels and gold coins everywhere. Bilbo must outwit Smaug, who is wakened by the presence of Bilbo.

The Desolation of Smaug is the first of the three films to start really padding on story. And this drags the film as a whole down. There are some great sequences, and the Smaug sequence itself is pretty nicely done. But the film also adds in completely unnecessary subplots like a love triangle. The film includes Legolas, whose father is the Elvenking Thranduil, as a link to the Lord of the Rings films. Legolas did not appear in the book, though as he is the son of Thranduil, it is not an unreasonable addition.

The filmmakers felt it would be good to add a female cast member in some of the action scenes. They created Tauriel, a young and skilled elven warrior. Portrayed by Evangeline Lilly, she is a tough adventurer. Even as additions go, the character herself is not a problem. I like Tauriel. However, Lilly agreed to take the role as long as her character was not in a love triangle. She was assured this was not going to be the case. So the film has her being sought by both Legolas and the dwarf Kili. It feels like they really wanted the Kili and Tauriel aspect be a callback to Aragorn and Arwen. And while they introduce it as a love triangle, it is entirely pointless. It is not a source of real conflict. Legolas could have gone to her side simply as a friend, not out of romantic desire. It is clear the film wants to focus on her and Kili. And that is perfectly fine, and would have improved the sub-plot had they dumped the “triangle” part.

Honestly, the inclusion of the Necromancer stuff (none of which comes from the Hobbit, it is referenced in the Lord of the Rings appendices) is more to make the audience get those “Lord of the Rings” vibes. It does not enhance the story or threat…and it feels wholly unconnected to the main story.

Smaug looks great, and Cumberbacht’s voice performance is good stuff. The visuals are great. I still enjoy the performances, I actually like a lot of the charcters…and yet?

Story suffers from bloat. When it drags along? It reaaaaally drags.

December 14, 2017 0

A Traveling We Will Go (The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, 2012)

While the Hobbit was released first, it’s road to the big screen was a bit rougher. There had been a couple prior attempts, most notably the Rankin Bass animated film.

After the success of the Lord or the Rings, the Hobbit was a no-brainer to the Studio. At the time, Peter Jackson was suffering burnout on the series. He was set on producing, but giving the director reigns to someone else. At first, Guillermo Del Toro was connected, but eventually he stepped down.

Eventually, it fell back to Peter Jackson. And so, nine years later, we received this prequel trilogy.

The Hobbit is a pretty short book. it is probably just long enough to be more than a single movie../but it is short enough to make a two parter troubling. So, of course, they landed on making a trilogy, so as to match up with the Lord of the Rings.

As the film opens, Ian Holm and Elijah Wood return as Bolbo and Frodo. They are prepping for the party from the open of the Fellowship of the Ring. Bilbo starts to recount the story of the dwarven kingdom of Erebor. There, King Thror becomes enthralled by the Arkenstone his dwarves discovered deep in the mines of their mountain. His relationships with the Dwarves and men of the region become poisoned. When the dragon Smaug arrives and drives all from the mountain (as dragons have a lust for gold), the Dwarves of Erebor were forced into a nomadic life.

Now, Thror’s grandson Thorin Okenshield is leading a group of dwarves to trying and take the mountain back. Gandalf has come to the Shire to recruit Bilbo Baggins as their thief. And after some hesitating, Bilbo agrees and joins the mission.

On their way, they run into trolls, Radagast the Brown (a wizard same as Gandalf of the region with a rabbit (?!) drawn sleigh(?!)), stone giants and goblins. And of course, Bilbo meets Gollum.

While this covers a large portion of the book, it still is set as only the beginning of a trilogy of films. As noted, the original book is not that long.

Which means…well… a lot would have to be done to stretch the story. An Unexpected Journey primarily does this by giving Thorin Oakenshield a primary Orc Nemesis named Azog. Short on personality, long on artistic design, Azog is big with a hook in place of one of his arms. He desires to kill Thorin. Now, Azog is not a complete invention. He is referenced in the book, but it was assumed he was dead.

They also use characters the books only reference. We never meet Radagast the Brown in the Hobbit. He is really built wholly fresh by the film-makers to rather mixed results for the film.

One of the problems the film had in theaters was a higher frame rate. The higher the frame rate, the less your movie looks like it was shot on film. In spite of being a crisper picture, it creates an off-putting effect, almost like watching a home movie. They appear to have fixed that for the blu-rays.

Visually, it is pretty neat to return to the environment of Middle Earth. The New Zealand landscape was a huge part of the character of the Lord of the Rings films, and they are a welcome sight here.

The dedication to costumes and set design and the CGI effects are certainly on point. And the casting is great. Martin Freeman is a terrific young Bilbo Baggins. For the most part, while it is not nearly as strong as the Fellowship of the Ring, I did enjoy the An Unexpected Journey.

December 13, 2017 0