Movie: 3D The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

First up, I want to say that I haven't read any of the books, Hobbit or Lord Of The Rings, and I really have no interest in the whole Lord of the Rings universe. I did enjoy the extended versions of the Rings movies though, and I saw the first Hobbit, which I found tried to include a little too much story.

I wasn't a big fan of the first Hobbit movie, but that being part one of a trilogy, I suppose they needed to introduce all the characters, and set up the plot for the second movie. Therefore the second movie hits the ground running, and doesn't really stop for nearly three hours. As Laurence Kasdan says in the Star Wars documentary, part two of a trilogy is the most interesting part, because that's where everything goes to hell. And this movie is a roller coaster ride all the way through. Like I said, I have no idea how the movie is different from the book, and I don't really care. I just care about how this movie stands up as a movie, and I found it pretty good fun all the way through. I've read some reviews on IMDB, and there's a lot of criticism going on. I thought some of them were quite harsh, considering it's basically a Saturday morning cartoon action movie, although a couple of story things seemed strange (Why were the Elves protecting the dwarves from the Orcs, after the Dwarves had escaped from the Elves dungeons?...) It appears that Peter Jackson has taken great liberties with the basic story in the book. I don't have a problem with that. A book does not work as a film. The best you can hope for is that the film is a decent summary of the book.

One thing I did like with this film that I didn't like in the first one was the look of it. When I saw the first one, the image was extremely sharp, and reminded me of one of those old seventies video taped TV shows. I found it quite hard to watch (And it was my first 3D movie, so maybe my brain wasn't trained for it yet). Fortunately, this second movie is a lot softer. It's still sharp video, but it now looks closer to regular film. The screening I went to was supposedly in HFR (High Frame Rate), but what exactly is that meant to give you? I honestly didn't notice any difference to a regular 3D movie.

The ending was quite abrupt and unexpected. It would have been nice to have a bit better lead in to the next movie.

Movie: The Railway Man

Boy, how lucky can you get? The two most recent movies I've seen are probably the best two I've seen all year.

I saw Philomena on Sunday, and today I got to see The Railway Man.

I went to the 9.30AM screening of Railway Man (awfully early to see a movie I know) and there was still a healthy crowd. I have to say it was not what I was expecting. I thought it was about a guy on a train who runs into an old enemy, but it couldn't be any further away from that scenario.

The story concerns Eric Lomax, played by Colin Firth, and his treatment at the hands of the Japanese during the construction of the Burma Railway. It is quite brutal in a couple of places. but nowhere near as graphic as the book that the film is based on, which does not spare any detail. That's a good thing, because portraying the violence would have distracted from the core of the story, which is about Eric dealing with his demons.

This film is a joint Australian/British production, and I believe the film was made possible with some Australian tax concessions, so as an Australian taxpayer, I'm claiming part ownership of this film, and expect a cheque soon for my share of the profits....

I believe Nicole Kidman was not the first choice to play the part of Patty Lomax, but now I'm convinced she was perfect for the role. I fell in love with her for the time the movie was on. Colin Firth was excellent as the older Lomax. There was one scene near the start of the film where he awakens from a nightmare, and lets out the most harrowing scream I think I've ever heard in movie. It was chilling.

There's an actor in this movie called Sam Reid, and I was convinced I was watching the comedian Robert Webb. They are absolutely identical, and was cheering on Robert Webb for taking the chance on a dramtaic role. Alas, as I found out later, it was not him.

The only part of the movie I didn't really like was the very rushed meeting and marriage of Eric and Patty. It seemed to all happen in about 10 minutes. It probably would have been better if the movie started off with them already married, skipped the whole rushed romance thing and jumped straight into the core of the story. Other than that, the film is brilliant.