The Hobbit Review

We've got ourselves an early Christmas treat with the live-action movie debut movie J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit finally coming to theatres and bringing a movie that will likely be winning the Academy's favour in a few months time.

For those who passed up the Lord of the Rings film series (shame on you!) the story takes place in Middle-earth where a Hobbit named Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman) is swept up from his comfortable day-to-day ordinary life into a world of adventure by a group of dwarves and the wizard Gandalf the Grey (Sir Ian McKellen). Their mission? To take back the dwarf homeland of Erebor, built in the heart of the Lonely Mountain, which was conquered by the terrible dragon Smaug. The road is a long one, full of terrible foes and magical forces of both dark and light winding up on their journey. But its also a discovery of the hero inside, as Bilbo comes to understand a life beyond his own home and learns of the bigger world he lives in. 

Peter Jackson returns as director of this prequel franchise, showing a new visual side to the Middle-Earth we remember while still bringing in familiar characters in the actors who portrayed them. But this also proves to be his Achilles heel. 

Fan service to the audience is very over-indulgent at times during the plot, leading us to many flashbacks to backstory that really could have been summed up fairly quickly. It detracts the main events too often and therefore becomes no wonder that this has turned into a three-part series, based off one single book. 

The atmosphere well known from the Lord of the Rings movies has also changed visually. Its more colourful and fantastic as opposed to the more natural and subtle world we were used to. This makes the movie much more of a fairy tale dragon-killer story then your epic war series that the fans will remember. Its also going to divide the fan base who will be walking out of the movie with their expectations either satisfied or unfulfilled. 

But all is not in vain if you're willing to take the movie for what it is. If you can stomach some padded story pacing, then you'll love the new creatures which have a welcomed Guillermo del Toro touch to them. Our fearless dwarf leader Thorin Oakenshield (Richard Armitage) is also a pleasure to follow, seeing how far he's willing to go for his vengeance. But don't bother trying to keep track of his dwarf brothers. Barely one of them has much character and you'll be lucky if you can remember a single name. Thankfully Jackson was merciful in making many of them look as different as possible. You'll just have to settle for differentiating between beards as oppose to faces. 

Will the Hobbit Film Trilogy just be the Star Wars Prequels all over again?

Let me line up how my personal hype for the Hobbit movie being thrown into production went down...

1) They announce the movie is actually going to be made. YES! 

2) They announce Peter Jackson is returning and he's going to flesh the story out by dividing it into two parts. BOO-YAH! 

3) Jackson tells the world that he will be turning the Lord of the Rings prequel into a three-part movie series. (Shiver in a familiar fear) 

Alright, letting the exaggerations drop for a moment, the hatred for the Star Wars Episodes I through III are not that loathed, but they do still leave quite the aggravating tingle through the souls of fans. So to hear that Jackson is taking a leaf out of George Lucas' directorial choice leaves me just a tad nervous. But are these warranted fears? Are the stars aligning to box office doomsday once more? Will the Hobbit blow harder than a Mustafar volcano? Well first off, let's look at the fact that the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit franchises are from the mind of J.R.R. Tolkien, author of the beloved books. Jackson helmed the first three movie adaptations and is now coming back for a second round. He had a great understanding of the material and made a visual masterpiece of how to bring it to life. Same vision, same passion, but a representation of another artist's work. I for one would have loved to see Guillermo del Toro's take on the origin story, but knowing the world's he creates, it just wouldn't be the Middle Earth you remember. Of course, everybody thought before 1999 that Lucas could do no wrong when he decided to tell the story of how his own story came into being of space rebels and Jedi knights.

How very wrong "wesa" were! 

Though I do have respect for Lucas' early directorial style and his fatherhood of the Star Wars universe, here's what I am convinced happened. Modern movie effects and the achievements of his legendary series led to him climbing up on a high horse. That's why he's so obsessive with visually updating his movies to the point of awkwardness and his stories went in weird directions. Nobody wanted to question his style. It's not that uncommon in the industry. In fact it happens to plenty of Hollywood's best; i.e. Cameron, Kubrick, Scott. 

But here's the game changer: Lucas didn't revisit Star Wars until about sixteen years had past. Jackson is doing it with plenty of pre-production under his belt and only a nine year time gap. He's also bringing back many of the same actors from the original trilogy, revisiting old locations (Shire, anyone?) and bringing back many of the crew who brought the Lord of the Rings to life. 

Now here's where I'm starting to see similarities in terms of prequel ideas that can be looked upon as both good or bad. Jackson's creature designs, even the orcs, have a lot more CGI than practical make-up this time around. We all saw the prosthetics he used for the bad guys. They were gritty, well-detailed and Oscar worthy! Why go digital when you can get away with something more tangible? Another possible cause for worry is that many of the returning characters will not have as much attention as you think they will. At least, according to the book. Again, this is an adaptation, not a cut and paste script. But here are some minor spoilers to keep in mind. Gandalf will be disappearing in and out of the main events to go on a pilgrimage to stop an ancient evil, Legolas wasn't even in the novel so it's unlikely he'll be stepping on stage any further than Mirkwood and the Battle of Five Armies. And Gollum only appears in one scene!

And this is all without mentioning the fact that this story is going to have a WIDE cast of characters. You thought this was just the story of Bilbo Baggins? This movie is carried around by thirteen protagonists! Many of the characters are related by previous encounters or blood, some are even parents to future characters (insert Gimli reference) a whole lot of names sound near identical. Or didn't you memorize Gandalf's list of names in the first trailer? 

"Allow me to introduce, Oin, Gloin, Dwalin, Balin, Sleepy, Sneezy, Prancer, Dancer, Mickey, Minnie..."  

But I've stirred too much paranoia in your hearts, haven't I? Here's the truth I think you need to walk away with before you sit down and watch the Hobbit. This ain't your "Let's save the world" fantasy. This is a "let's kill a dragon and get rich" mission. Lord of the Rings was about war, sacrifice and fellowship. The Hobbit is about stepping out of your comfort zone and discovering your inner courage. 

Will it be a good movie? I'm willing to bet so. I just think it's worth taking a step back before you grab the midnight screening ticket, sit on the edge of your seat only to learn that Sauron's shoved into the background, Minas Tirith isn't even on the map and Aragorn is a face full of acne. Watch the movie, enjoy it, but don't expect it to be on the same pedestal as the original trilogy. The movie has got plenty of potential in terms of production to make it to the Oscars, and already the cast members have shown their potential in other movies. Luke Evans may be already getting attention, but Richard Armitage and Benedict Cumberbatch are guaranteed to make the movie a roller coaster of personas. Why the Great Goblin looks like Kronos from God of War III is a complete mystery, and I think I'll hurl if I see that mass of blubbery flesh in 3D. I'm going to be interested in how Jackson gets around trolls, eagles and spiders suddenly having the ability to speak English, but that's just nitpicking. We're talking about a series comprised of wizards, elves and orcs. I think we can handle Lord of the Rings borrowing an idea from the Chronicles of Narnia. 

Hey, if it's even half as good as any of the Lord of the Rings movies, I will be buying every one of the three parts on DVD. Bold decisions I'm already applauding are the edgier take on Thorin Oakenshield, the inclusion of Radaghast the Brown (think Yoda if he lived with the Ewoks) and a new look for the Wargs. 

That's a hyena, Peter. Not a wolf. And it never will be one.

Goodfellas Review

If the Godfather was what kickstarted the gangster movie genre, then Goodfellas is what peaked the scale. Director Martin Scorsese has spent a lifetime developing into the stories of organized crime’s biggest names, but the man can go to the grave happy knowing he has such an achievement on his credentials. 

Goodfellas is a bio-pic regarding the Lucchese crime family run by Paulie Cicero (Paul Sorvino) looking to make a living outside a system of law and order. Henry Hill (Ray Liotta) has been under Paulie’s wing since he was a teenager and by the 1960s, he’s already up in the leagues doing the heavy duty crimes; murder, theft, extortion, you name it. But that’s where the story arc really begins. 

See, Goodfellas is all about the pride before the fall, and Henry is proud of everything he’s earned and gotten out of his life’s work. He’s forged a family of cohorts who watch his back, he knows the system thoroughly about how to keep his dirty secrets under the carpet and from a young age he’s had the world handed to him by men he’s always looked up to. Goodfellas is a story about a man spending the majority of his adulthood in pure fantasy, and falling deeper into sin until that inevitable rude awakening. 

Where this movie becomes really magnificent is the threads that pull the world together. The cast is chopped full of actors who would make the roles of mobsters some of the highlights of their career. Robert DeNiro, Joe Pesci, Frank Vincent; you name him, he’s in there. And they’re all right at home in their scenes, chopped full of dialogue you swear was ad-libbed with all the corrupted souls you can expect. 

Plenty can be taken away from a movie like this on an artistic level, not just by seeing how to breakdown a mob movie or how a criminal operates. You might even find yourself sympathizing with people of a certain profession you might otherwise not have. Schnooks and wise guys can both find a common ground in liking Goodfellas.