Movie Reviews 2.0

Exactly. Tolkien himself knew that some things didn't match or had a proper connection between the two books. Heck, how can you even imagine that a cheap wizard only able to perform a few tricks in The Hobbit was nothing less than a powerful Maiar in LOTR? :LOL:

According to those who've read all of Tolkien's books, the wizards were only "allowed" to use their power under certain circumstances, so I guess that could excuse that.
Their mission was mainly to support the free peoples against Sauron, not fight the war directly themselves with their supernatural power, and I don't think Gandalf showed his power except from the Nazgul and Balrog encounters.

Talking Jackson's work, I do like the first film most. Despite the changes, it felt like it didn't deviate from the book too much. The changes in TT and Rotk annoyed me more and they also felt drawn out sometimes.

In terms of atmosphere, I do like the 1978 film the most. It greatly catches that sense of doom, which I think wasn't there at all in Jackson's films.
Though both The Hobbit 1977 and Rotk 1980 settled for the more childish look.
 
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According to those who've read all of Tolkien's books, the wizards were only "allowed" to use their power under certain circumstances, so I guess that could excuse that.
Their mission was mainly to support the free peoples against Sauron, not fight the war directly themselves with their supernatural power, and I don't think Gandalf showed his power except from the Nazgul and Balrog encounters.
That's the point. The author gave those explanations after The Hobbit to explain some facts that didn't make sense according to the original story, because things took a different turn since then and some plot holes or incongruities had to be rationalised in some way.
 
I think Tom Bombadill is the most pointless and boring character I have ever read in a book. I think people should just skip the parts he's in.
o_O

Well, nobody's required to like anything, including fictional characters, of course. I like him because of the mystery of his origins and his power. I think Goldberry is a peculiar character, as well.
 
I think Tom Bombadill is the most pointless and boring character I have ever read in a book. I think people should just skip the parts he's in.

I agree. I find him to be a can-I-have-some-of-whatever-you-were-smoking-when-you-wrote-that character.
 
Bombadil was a character in stories Tolkein told to his son when he was young, got wedged into Middle Earth in a way thats odd to outsiders but meaningful between them & it needs to be remembered that even LotR was first an extension of their shared fantasy, a book for outsiders 2nd.
 
The Gentleman was a great one imo. One of the most enjoyable movies in a long time. Little confusing in the beginning, but was just a high quality blast all the way through.

1917. I liked it, but imo tries a bit too hard... The one shot method makes it feel like it happens in an area sized of a football field, creating a few dream like logical inconsistencies. It's solid, but I think Dunkirk was clearly better.

Bad Boys for Life was entertaining, but could have used one or two more "quiet moments" to take some time with the characters, but enjoyable...

Ford vs Ferrari. A great one, almost as good as Rush in the greatest racing movies category. Great performance from the actors as expected.
 
I’m not sure that I have mentioned (and raved about) Parasite on here before, but after it won the Best director AND best picture oscars last night - unbelievable achievement for an foreign film - I felt that I should mention it again.

WATCH THIS FILM. NOW.

The end.
 
Ford vs Ferrari was good indeed. Liked it better than Rush to be honest. If not because it doesn't have the Vin Diesel esque unlimited up shifting that Rush suffers from a little bit.

@London-boy watched is yesterday and though it was pretty good, definitely recommend watching it. Though to be honest I think Korean cinema is underrated, they actually make a lot of good stuff. Fun thing is a lot of it would even do well in the west. Korean movies are like the Asian Hollywood to me. They have their own twist but in feel and culture it is not that far removed from stuff that comes out of Hollywood, unlike for example Japanese movies that are pretty much always geared to the Japanese market and hardly ever work for the average western viewer.

Names in Korean movies are an absolute PITA though.

Some other Korean movies I recommend watching:
Sunny
Assassination
Gangam blues
Memories of murder
Miracle in cell number 7
My Sassy Girl (not the shit American remake, this movie is great and the behavior of the girl isn't actually that far off from some of the Korean girls I met lol)

There are a whole bunch of other but especially the action/thriller stuff they make is pretty good IMHO.
 
I’m not sure that I have mentioned (and raved about) Parasite on here before, but after it won the Best director AND best picture oscars last night - unbelievable achievement for an foreign film - I felt that I should mention it again.
It was a fantastic movie, I'm not sure it was worth Best Picture though.
 
There are a whole bunch of other but especially the action/thriller stuff they make is pretty good IMHO.

Ye I watched quite alot of korean films back in the day. Though the only ones I remember the names of right now are Masquerade, War of the arrows, and The divine weapon.



A love it or hate it film I always recommend is The 13th warrior.
 
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It was a fantastic movie, I'm not sure it was worth Best Picture though.

I haven’t seen most of the other nominees - except Tarantino’s, during which I fell asleep so not great - so can’t comment on that.

Actually, I just had a look at the full list and I only saw that one and Marriage Story. I heard 1917 is amazing.

Either way EVERYONE! WATCH PARASITE NOW THANKS.
 
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