The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

[KitFisto]

I'm right, you're wrong. Nu uh....uh huh.

For crying out loud, people's opinions are going to be different so no one is "right or wrong". They simply like what they like and hate what they hate. No one is going to change anyone's mind.

 

[Khev]

No one is going to change anyone's mind.

No, but sometimes it's fun to poke fun at silly selective logic. But yeah, if someone who's a diehard Jar Jar Binks fan wants to hate on Azog, meh, to each his own.

 

[RIDDICK]

What's the opposite of a fanboy called? I see lots of people on this board that dislike something, yet they constantly post about how much they dislike it.

Nope. Because even fanboy would agree that he likes something of a bad taste while being able to tell why adequately, without going all "I know the source matherial bettah, I'm a fanboy and proud, go hate on someone else's franchise you filthy joy thief!"

 

[jye4ever]

Yeah he looked fine once he got off his pig and took his helmet off.

Oh man.

 

[Khev]

Did the orcs have no mounted cavalry in the movie? I think I saw someone on another board mention that there were no warg riders in the final battle which is surprising given how cool they are and how prominently they factored into the battle in the book.

 

[DiFabio]

Oh man.

While I'm not too fond of the Binks, I can honestly say that he looked better and served the story more appropriately than Dain w/ pig and Azog.

Did the orcs have no mounted cavalry in the movie? I think I saw someone on another board mention that there were no warg riders in the final battle which is surprising given how cool they are and how prominently they factored into the battle in the book.

They had worms.

 

[jye4ever]

Last few pages have been as close to perfection that a forum can achieve, so much to mine from, where to start.

Love these movies all you want, I certainly do, but man if that wasn't one hell of a read from DiFabio, that was one of your best comparison thesis.

Oh, and JAWS is right, insert the Beavis and Butthead laugh on the shark and that movie still makes most other movies its *****.

Jaws, my best friend actually helps organize the Martha's Vineyards events, he was on Greg Nicotero's team last time out. He's a huge JAWS collector.

Anakin-Padme jokes never get old.

Down a a path I can't follow....

 

[Khev]

Good thing I don't have to wait for an EE of Jaws to get a great film.

You know you do have a point there, especially with AUJ and DOS EE's being better in every way compared to their theatrical counterparts (compared to the LOTR EE's which added both good and bad scenes to the mix.) On the DOS commentary PJ even said to watch the theatrical cut in the theater and then save your money for the EE on blu. It certainly seems that for this trilogy he's releasing what he thinks will be the most successful on the big screen but saving the "better" movie for the EE.

 

[DiFabio]

Oh, and JAWS is right, insert the Beavis and Butthead laugh on the shark and that movie still makes most other movies its *****.

That would actually be scary as ****, especially in the beginning with the skinny dipper!

 

[jye4ever]

I know in my head that DiFabio is 101% right, he just is, deal with it.

Yet in my heart I'm siding with team Khev/Josh/Ween, I just simply enjoyed the heck out of them.

The PT were so much easier to hate.

 

[Khev]

While I'm not too fond of the Binks, I can honestly say that he looked better and served the story more appropriately than Dain w/ pig and Azog.

It's cool man. You're a Jar Jar guy and are secure enough with yourself to openly admit that. I applaud your courage.

 

[jye4ever]

The Binks.

Neesons.

It never gets old.

 

[DiFabio]

I know in my head that DiFabio is 101% right, he just is, deal with it.

Yet in my heart I'm siding with team Khev/Josh/Ween, I just simply enjoyed the heck out of them.

The PT were so much easier to hate.

Who said there's anything "wrong" with enjoying "bad" or flawed things Jye?

I listed all those scenes I liked/enjoyed from the Hobbit movies. Even if the Hobbit movies are thin, sort of stretched, like poop scraped over too much bread, they still have those quality scenes going for them that I can't deny. Nobody is really wrong here. Ya like what you like and don't what you don't. I've had to defend Lord of the Rings plenty of times in the past. There are some people that don't even like those like Evilface for instance, and his reasonings are sound.

You're the same dude that unabashedly enjoyed Amazing Spider-Man 2 and saw Transformers multiple times and you're still fine in my book!

 

[Khev]

I know in my head that DiFabio is 101% right, he just is, deal with it.

Yet in my heart I'm siding with team Khev/Josh/Ween, I just simply enjoyed the heck out of them.

Watching movies with an intellectual checklist of things you check off to nitpick is dumb.

A great movie = subject matter + emotional impact. That's it. Which is why Citizen Kane will never be my favorite movie. I can intellectualize it's greatness until I'm blue in the face but at the end of the day I just don't really care about newspaper tycoons with fond memories of sleds.

 

[jye4ever]

Who said there's anything "wrong" with enjoying "bad" or flawed things Jye?

I listed all those scenes I liked/enjoyed from the Hobbit movies. Even if the Hobbit movies are thin, sort of stretched, like poop scraped over too much bread, they still have those quality scenes going for them that I can't deny. Nobody is really wrong here. Ya like what you like and don't what you don't. I've had to defend Lord of the Rings plenty of times in the past. There are some people that don't even like those like Evilface for instance, and his reasonings are sound.

You're the same dude that unabashedly enjoyed Amazing Spider-Man 2 and saw Transformers multiple times and you're still fine in my book!

You didn't even leave me after you learned that I directed Cannibal Campout.

You know, I still enjoy ASM2 at home, ASM1 I threw in the garbage.

Regarding Transformers 4, do you know that double one day viewing actually traumatized me, but in a good way. I own the first 3 but never bought the 4th because of my wife making me go back that day.

Watching movies with an intellectual checklist of thinks you check off to nitpick is dumb.

A great movie = subject matter + emotional impact. That's it. Which is why Citizen Kane will never be my favorite movie. I can intellectualize it's greatness until I'm blue in the face but at the end of the day I just don't really care about newspaper tycoons with fond memories of sleds.

 

[DiFabio]

Watching movies with an intellectual checklist of thinks you check off to nitpick is dumb.

That's not fair. I didn't go in with a checklist. If the movie constantly takes you out with the BS it keeps flinging, it's easy to make a list of what you thought sucked after the fact.You know this better than most. While you were fist pumping the air while Legolas was dancing with Bolg 2.0, I was slouching in my seat, grumbling.

For 2014, I loved Guardians of the Galaxy, Birdman, Winter Soldier, Planet of the Apes, Nightcrawler, John Wick, etc. and didn't have a check list for those? No things to tick off. Why? Because I was engaged, I wasn't taken out by odd or silly things that made me scratch my head or make me feel like my intelligence was being insulted. It also makes sense to be more critical of the Hobbit considering Lord of the Rings and Fellowship specifically are some of my all time favorite films. Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and Phillipa Boyens made the mistakes and fell into the pit falls that they masterfully and cleverly avoided in The Lord of the Rings. It ain't like Lucas, you're right, and that makes it disappointing.

 

[jye4ever]

I still need to see JW.

 

[jye4ever]

That's not fair. I didn't go in with a checklist. If the movie constantly takes you out with the BS it keeps flinging, it's easy to make a list of what you thought sucked after the fact.You know this better than most. While you were fist pumping the air while Legolas was dancing with Bolg 2.0, I was slouching in my seat, grumbling.

For 2014, I loved Guardians of the Galaxy, Birdman, Winter Soldier, Planet of the Apes, Nightcrawler, John Wick, etc. and didn't have a check list for those? No things to tick off. Why? Because I was engaged, I wasn't taken out by odd or silly things that made me scratch my head or make me feel like my intelligence was being insulted. It also makes sense to be more critical of the Hobbit considering Lord of the Rings and Fellowship specifically are some of my all time favorite films.

 

[Khev]

I've never heard of anyone being emotionally impacted (in a good way) by TPM or AOTC other than DiFabio with his unabashed love of all things Anakin/Padme and Jar Jar. Those movies are pretty much a good baseline for big productions that fell flat. I kind of even got the impression that George Lucas himself didn't achieve what he wanted with them. Even the Darth Maul fight. It's got some cool moves and cool music, but even if you like that scene on a surface level do you really care what's happening? Are you hoping deep down that Obi-Wan and Qui Gon kick Maul's ass? Or worried or shocked about any of the goings on of the fight? The reason the prequels ARE easy to hate on is because no one has ever really defended them adequately. No one. Ever.

The best attempts I've seen from people have been along the lines of "the Jedi were SUPPOSED to be stupid, they were arrogant," and "the Anakin/Padme relationship was SUPPOSED to be excruciating to watch to show how wrong they were for each other." But none of that stuff really counts as a defense. It's just trying to rationalize why something is bad.

There's no "rationalizing" why things were done poorly in The Hobbit (for sane people anyway. ) Because things weren't done poorly. It was a kickass trilogy. Yeah they dropped the ball on a couple visuals but it was always peripheral crap like Dain or Radagast and his bunnies or something and not the stuff that really mattered. The stuff that really mattered; Gollum, Smaug, and yes, Azog, absolutely rocked.

The main characters were so likable, right up there with the Fellowship, the main bad guys were awesome and you just wanted them DEAD. The showdowns were totally satisfying climaxes, the big battles were epic, the duels were appropriately personal, the locations and sets were amazing, Howard Shore's score was perfect as always and some people want to write it all off as if it were as bad (or worse!) than the completely indefensible SW PT. That to me is the height of hyperbolic silliness. Just nonsense.

 

[Khev]

While you were fist pumping the air while Legolas was dancing with Bolg 2.0, I was slouching in my seat, grumbling.

Dude. Some things you've just got to fist pump. And Leggy vs. Bolg 2.0 is one of them.

And yes, I know you like a lot of great movies for reasons that I would agree with. But come on, none of those 2014 movies you listed had a laundry list of strikes against them before you saw them. Three movies instead of one, 48 fps, CG stuff, PJ taking over directing from the ridiculously overrated Del Toro. The impression I get is that with *The Hobbit* at least that people had their claws sharpened and minds made up long before the finished films graced the big screens.