In which I come out as a lover of Dwarves - my hobbit review

So I went to see the Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey last night and it was for the most part awesome.  I went with my chap and some friends, we also went to see it in 3D and HFR because it kind of was how Peter Jackson wanted us to see it and I wanted to see what he did with the technology.

So this is your warning, this post may contain spoilers, now I have tried not to spoiler but if you are sensitive about some things then you might want to bookmark this for later when you have seen it.

I went to see this film with a couple of reservations, firstly The Hobbit isn't the biggest book in the world, I was wondering how on earth it could be stretched out to two films let alone three.  Having said that it part one felt action packed and was enjoyable.

Things that worked for me: Peter Jackson and his team clearly have crafted at making it fit in with the LoTR trilogy, so we get glimpses of Frodo and Ian Holm as older Bilbo lots of nods to Fellowship and it felt like part of the furniture.

Martin Freeman is his own Bilbo, I'm glad he didn't do a Ewan Macgregor in Star Wars and try to emulate Ian Holmes, he brought his own thing to the part and he is a perfect home-loving hobbit.  The relationship between him and Thorin and him and Gandalf was excellent.

The company of Dwarves, there are so many of them, that I cannot even begin to get my head around all of them.  They felt like part rugby team on tour, part questing company so that rang true for me too.  I adored James Nesbitt as Bofur a lovable rogue of a dwarf. Ken Stott was fab as Balin.  The downside with the dwarves is that there are just too many of them to keep them straight in my head.  I was reduced to making up names for a lot of them just to keep them straight in my head. Though Fili and Kili are easy to remember especially as they are rather easy on the eye...

One unexpected thing that Jackson did was that he made Thorin Sexy. How much that is down to the yummy Richard Armitage being deeply attractive I'm not sure, but even in the chunky dwarf boots and swinging an axe I was more than a little bit attracted to Thorin.  Dwarfs are not supposed to be sexy, they fight, fart and sing about gold right? Well Thorin would not be kicked out of bed for any of those things. Also Aiden Turner who I normally think looks like he needs a good wash was cute as a dwarf, I clearly like dwellers from under mountains.

I think Andy Serkis is a genius, Gollum as ever was pitched perfectly and the scene between Gollum and Bilbo was the highlight of the film for me.

The Goblin King was utterly revolting and I felt a bit sick watching him on the screen.

Benedict Cumberbatch made the briefest of appearances in a blink-and-you-miss-him kind of way.

Sylvester McCoy was amazing, Radaghast was wonderful, with his rabbits and his hedgehogs and the birdnesst, utterly marvellous.

There were songs.  I hate the songs in the books, they make me curl up in acute embarrassment, however, the songs that are used in the film work as far as they go, so much so I'm kind of desperate to go and pick up the CD and listen to Dwarves singing...

So what did I think of HFR? I think it's interesting, I think there were moments in the film where the CGI stuck out like a sore thumb in ways that it didn't in the the LoTR trilogy and there were moments where things felt too sharp and that my eyes couldn't quite keep up with everything going on in a scene, too much data.  Having said that I loved the swoopy shots of the Goblin King's domain whereas some of the other scenes felt a bit much. Smaug's destruction of Dale was just too much for me to cope with.  We felt that at times some of these effects looked like ones that you see in an expensive BBC adaptation but looked cheap in a film.  I don't want to be horrid about any of the film, I'm just not sure that the technology is ready yet.  Most of the time it looked amazing, just occasionally and I don't want to bitch about it anymore.

That said, awesome and enjoyable.

Go see, ASAP!

The Woman and me

It is been a long wait, it has been a very long wait for the return of Sherlock to the BBC. August 2010 until January 2012 but the fast has been broken with something so amazing I could scarcely believe it.

A Scandal in Belgravia was an incredible tour de force and I am a little bit more in awe of Steven Moffat and just how he writes.

At the end of the first series we were left with snipers and bombs and swimming pools and me in a weeping pile of goo on the floor wondering how and why they were going to resolve it? Resolve it they did, in a way I'm  sure took big brass cahonies to pull off so nonchalantly.  I was impressed, then hints at Irene Adler and I was hooked and sat mouth open like a slack jawed yokel as the story unfurled before me in ninety glorious minutes of television…

… I know, I'm being hyperbolic, but that's how Sherlock makes me feel.  It is just that good….

… As you know I'm not into spoilers and have lived more or less like a hermit studiously avoiding anything that could be a spoiler as I wanted to see this with new eyes.  I loved every moment, the art direction is exquisite and the way scenes changed and the way that bodies were used as a wipe and as a storytelling device was just awesome, and again I loved the way that Sherlock's thoughts were displayed on screen, likewise the blogs and text messages.  The relationship between Sherlock and John is fantastic I love the characters so much.

Lara Pulver was immense, I loved the character and her interaction with Sherlock, there was lots to think about and lots to enjoy.

Course my love of Sherlock is generated purely from the new series, I've never read any of the books so I can't get precious about canon,  but I'm going to read them have downloaded to the kindle.

There's been an article in the Guardian which gave me rage, again people seem to think that Steven Moffat is misogynistic. Excuse me while I headdesk.  Steven Moffat has been writing awesome female characters since Linda Day in Press Gang.  I'm not sure those who have that opinion are even watching the show that I was watching.  However, this thing seems to persist. But really Linda Day kicked ass, Sally Sparrow awesome, River Song incredible and Amy Pond fantastic.  

 

Waxing lyrical

I've been one of the many enrapt by Sherlock. It's a frighteningly good television show and last night was the climax of three ninety minute dramas and it blew me away. Well done Mr Mark Gatiss, you slugged it for six.

What can I say it ticked all my boxes for a good night's entertainment.  There was banter, there was guy love of the most epic variety, there was puzzles and action and 'splosions and and and a nemesis. I'm not the only one who saw shades of John Simm as the master am I? Surely not.

The relationship between Sherlock and John (I still kind of want to call them Holmes and Watson) is what makes this show for me. Benedict Cumberbatch is slightly unhinged as Sherlock and reminiscent of Richard E Grant in Withnail and I. Actually the relationship between S and J has echoes of the classic film without the demands for booze.  Cumberbatch is tall and elegant and dare I say it dashing but also wonderfully lacking in some basic social skills which again makes him not unlike Sheldon from the Big Bang theory. There are the inevitable comparisons to the Doctor and yes I agree with that too only Sherlock could be living in our universe though could you imagine the crossover potential...

I have to make a confession, I've got a soft spot for Martin Freeman. Ever since he played Tim in the Office. He get's a lot of goodwill from me in anything he's in, purely because it's him. I think he makes an awesome John Watson, but there's a small irk somewhere in the back of my brain.  He's supposed to have been an army doctor and that doesn't ring true for me so I push it to the back of my brain and enjoy the cantankerous sparkage between the two of them.

Inspector Lestrade is also a poppet I missed him in the second episode, he and his team adds a nice new dimension and relationship between the dynamic duo.  Also Una Stubbs as Mrs Hudson the housekeeper is sheer joy and ruthlessly steals every scene she's in.

Then there are the other characters and if you've seen the eps, you'll know who i mean, if you haven't you might have a good idea. I adore them too so very much.

I love the audacity of the writing team to give us blue balls at the climax of the three episodes.

Dear BBC,

Please recommission a new series of Sherlock ASAP.

Yours J

In which I get a little over excited.

I've been a big fan of Sherlock these last couple of weeks. Benedict Cumberbatch and Marin Freeman are making me squee with the banter as they investigate and deduce things.

The things that made me most excited though was the fact that Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss were writing it. I've been looking forward to this show ever since I heard it was being made about eighteen months ago.

The squeeful stuff is that there's going to be a conference in the beginning of of september where Steven Moffat and Sue Vertue (his Co-Executive Producer and wife) are doing a Q&A session on Sherlock.

Sherlock Q & A details.

So the question is: are you coming?