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The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug (review)
Aug. 2nd, 2014 07:21 pmMost people have probably seen this already...I waited to view on DVD, which was a good thing, since my attention kept wandering during it. I made muffins. I drifted off to sleep. I surfed the net. Not the most gripping or compelling film I've seen. Actually, I recommend watching the first three films instead or better yet, the Ralph Bakshi animated version from the 1970s, which was hugely entertaining and surprise, surprise, actually followed the book pretty closely. Also John Huston was the voice of Gandalf.
( not the most flattering review on the planet of The Hobbit - Desolaution of Smaug )
Overall rating? D (I went to sleep during it - it never bodes well when I go to sleep during an action movie. We'll see if I bother with the next one. Most productions of the Hobbit tend to leave the last portion of the book out - which is the fight with the five armies. Ralph Bakhsi version does contain it - but a rough sketch, with no color and only on some video cassettes - I found one in the 1990s and watched it. I love that version.)
On the tv front - saw the pilot of the critically acclaimed series The Divide on WE. This is the legal thriller written and directed by Tony Goldwyn and Richard Lagrevese. It's actually pretty good. Takes place in Philadelphia and features a death row appeal of two convicted killers responsible for butchering a black family approximately 10 years ago. The daughter witnessed it and fingered one of the men. But here's the thing - she was 8 at the time. And did she really see who did it? The main characters are: an intern with the Innocence Initiative, who is in law school, and whose father is on death row awaiting his last appeal. She's dating a cop. Both are working class, white, Philly. They got the accents down by the way. Then there's the prosecutor, an up and coming black district attorney, whose father played by Lester Freeman from The Wire, is the police chief and who both built their careers on this case. Along with the district attorney's family, and his wife who works with the young girl whose family was butchered. It has some interesting twists and turns, and the characters so far are realistic and gripping. It also has some interesting things to say about the divide between race, gender and class and which has the most privilege (I think it's a draw).
Anyhow, I'd recommend checking it out if you like these sort of things. I think it is better written and filmed than The Bridge or The Killing - at least so far. And has better pacing.
( not the most flattering review on the planet of The Hobbit - Desolaution of Smaug )
Overall rating? D (I went to sleep during it - it never bodes well when I go to sleep during an action movie. We'll see if I bother with the next one. Most productions of the Hobbit tend to leave the last portion of the book out - which is the fight with the five armies. Ralph Bakhsi version does contain it - but a rough sketch, with no color and only on some video cassettes - I found one in the 1990s and watched it. I love that version.)
On the tv front - saw the pilot of the critically acclaimed series The Divide on WE. This is the legal thriller written and directed by Tony Goldwyn and Richard Lagrevese. It's actually pretty good. Takes place in Philadelphia and features a death row appeal of two convicted killers responsible for butchering a black family approximately 10 years ago. The daughter witnessed it and fingered one of the men. But here's the thing - she was 8 at the time. And did she really see who did it? The main characters are: an intern with the Innocence Initiative, who is in law school, and whose father is on death row awaiting his last appeal. She's dating a cop. Both are working class, white, Philly. They got the accents down by the way. Then there's the prosecutor, an up and coming black district attorney, whose father played by Lester Freeman from The Wire, is the police chief and who both built their careers on this case. Along with the district attorney's family, and his wife who works with the young girl whose family was butchered. It has some interesting twists and turns, and the characters so far are realistic and gripping. It also has some interesting things to say about the divide between race, gender and class and which has the most privilege (I think it's a draw).
Anyhow, I'd recommend checking it out if you like these sort of things. I think it is better written and filmed than The Bridge or The Killing - at least so far. And has better pacing.