The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

"He drew a deep breath. 'Well, I’m back,’ he said." It has been a long journey through Middle Earth, and through six long, sometimes very long films. It was one thing to turn a trilogy like LOTR into three films, but to take one small book, and then make three films from that is insane. It has involved, not just adding material from Appendix B of LOTR, but adding many characters and plot lines that don't exist anywhere in Tolkien. The original little story of The Hobbit is almost lost in the film version.

I know I am considered a Tolkien purist, but I can accept some things like the presence of Legolas (Orlando Bloom) since he must have been there somewhere. Even, the addition of the female elf, Tauriel, for love interest (Evangeline Lily) I can accept. But I can't accept a love triangle with Kili (Aidan Turner) at the third vertex. And I can't accept the great abomination that is Radagast the Brown (Sylvester McCoy). This is a character, who is mentioned in only one sentence in the book, and has become the Jar Jar Binks of Middle Earth. Luckily, we see Radagast only briefly in the third installment of The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies. Unfortunately, the love triangle is front and center.

The Battle of the Five Armies covers roughly the last third of the book. It begins with the destruction of Lake-town by Smaug, and his death at the hands of Bard. Even this iconic moment is not anything like the book. There is no thrush to tell Bard of Smaug's weakness, and we have to have a conversation between Smaug and Bard before the arrow flies. This is followed by some Appendix B stuff, where the White Council drive Sauron out of Mirkwood. It is definitely nice to see Galadriel (Cate Blanchette), Elrond (Hugo Weaving), and Saruman (Christopher Lee). Galadriel, in particular, rocks the ring of power.

Then, it's back to the Lonely Mountain where everybody and his brother shows up. First, the lake-men looking for their gold, then the elves looking for their gold, then dwarves looking for their gold, then the Orcs, well you get the idea. This part of the movie including Bilbo's theft of the Arkenstone bears some resemblance to the book. Huge amounts of screen time are devoted to another non-character who is the assistant to the Master of Lake-town. He is a Wormtongue ripoff and serves no useful purpose at all to the plot.

It is the actual Battle of the Five Armies which departs completely from the book. First of all, one of the armies is missing. There is only one Warg in evidence. Once Thorin and the other dwarves join the fight, it looks like we just have to wait for the arrival of the Eagles and Beorn but no. The actual description of the battle in the book doesn't take up very many pages, but we do know that even after the Eagles arrive, it still looked bad for the good guys until Beorn arrived and "broke like a clap of thunder" on the Orc army. Then, "Beorn stooped and lifted Thorin, who had fallen pierced with spears, and bore him out of the fray...Fili and Kili had fallen defending him with shield and body, for he was their mother's elder brother." None of this happens in the movie. Beorn appears on screen for about one second. We don't see him again. Instead, Thorin, Fili, and Kili jump onto large mountain goats and ride up a mountain to battle Azog, the leader of the Orcs (and another character mentioned in only one sentence in the book), and a whole orc army singlehandedly. Luckily, Legolas and Tauriel, who had disappeared for most of the movie, show up to help out. But this is also bad because Kili dies defending Tauriel, not Thorin. Thorin is fatally wounded in ridiculous single combat with Azog on an ice floe. He does have his death scene with Bilbo, which is sort of out of the book, but this is superseded by a long more important scene of Tauriel's grief over the death of Kili and Legolas deciding that this isn't the woman for him.

There are a few nice scenes in the movie. Smaug is still great, but he is gone after 15 minutes. We have the classic Peter Jackson moments that we have seen in all the movies where he makes characters do things that they would never do. First, the King of the Elves decides he's going to quit and go home during the battle, and Thorin decides he doesn't want to fight to save Dain and the other dwarves. And, then there is the stuff that is just bizarre. What's wrong with riding horses? Why does Radagast have a rabbit chariot, why is Dain riding a pig, and why is Thorin riding a mountain goat?

The best thing about these movies and about this last installment is still Martin Freeman, who is inspired casting for Bilbo, and also Ian McKellen as Gandalf. Luke Evans is very good as Bard, and the dwarves are good although most of them are off camera throughout most of this movie. When Bilbo is on camera, the movie rights itself briefly and The Hobbit returns, but then it veers off again.

Finally, is it really over? This movie ends with Legolas heading off to look for the Dunedain and a young ranger named Strider. Can they fit in another movie or maybe a trilogy between the end of The Hobbit and the beginning of LOTR? And then there is The Silmarillion. No, please, no.

Interstellar

(Spoiler Alert) The new film, Interstellar, combines a strong “Save the world” message with an epic theme of exploration of the universe. It is directed by Christopher Nolan, who previously directed several very interesting films including Memento, The Prestige, Inception, and the Batman Begins trilogy. The cast is nothing short of amazing, probably because everyone wants to make a film with Nolan. The cast includes Oscar winners, Michael Caine, Ellen Burstyn, Anne Hathaway, Matt Damon, and Matthew McConaughey, as well as previous Oscar nominees Jessica Chastain, Casey Affleck, and John Lithgow. The inception and creation of this film is very unusual in that it was conceived by the theoretical Physicist Kip Thorne, who also oversaw the special effects to ensure they are as realistic as possible.

The film begins on Earth in the near future where Global warming is causing a planet-wide catastrophe. A farmer and ex-test pilot (McConaughey) and his 10 year old daughter (Foy) decipher a mysterious message from a “ghost” that leads them to a secret NASA facility lead by a theoretical physicist who is basically Kip Thorne (Caine) and his daughter (Hathaway). McConaughey is soon convinced to lead a mission to find a new home for humanity on another planet by flying through a wormhole that has appeared near Saturn. The effects of general relativity on time provide a nice plot device whereby McConaughey and Hathaway can explore the universe, while at the same time his now grownup daughter (Chastain) can try to save the Earth.

There has been lots of discussion of Interstellar in the scientific community, even including a movie review that appeared in the professional journal, “Classical and Quantum Gravity.” This discussion has been pretty similar to the reaction to last year’s Gravity, except more intense. This is because Gravity is more of a science-fact movie than science fiction. It portrays events that are well understood and could happen today. The science in Interstellar, on the other hand, is very speculative. It includes Wormholes, Rotating Blackholes, and Quantum Gravity, which are of great interest, but are also not well understood even by theoretical physicists. But, as in in Gravity, great efforts have been made for realism. In particular, I loved the mile-high waves on the water planet caused by the tidal forces from the black hole, and the explosion that kills Dr. Mann has much more impact because it is silent. But, as with most films, a little suspension of disbelief is also necessary.

With Michael Caine and Matthew McConaughey at the start of the movie, the message seems to be that the credo, “to go where no man has gone before” has returned, and that only men can push the envelope, and go exploring, both physically and mentally. But, as the film progresses, the two daughters grow up to be every bit the explorers that their fathers were and maybe a little bit more. The balance tips even more when we meet the so-called “best of them all,” who is named Dr. Mann (Damon) just in case we don’t get it, and he is in fact the worst of them all.

The performances are very strong. Matthew McConaughey continues the reinvention of himself as a serious actor, and the rest of the cast is great. Three remarkable actresses play Murphy, Mackenzie Foy, Jessica Chastain, and Ellen Burstyn. The choice of Foy as the young Murphy is particularly nice as she looks so much like Chastain, but also gives a very good performance. I also need to mention TARS, the robot, voiced by Bill Irwin. TARS is a very enjoyable antithesis of HAL, the cold, murderous computer in 2001, A Space Odyssey. TARS made me laugh out loud several times.

I have seen Interstellar twice, and it held up very well the second time. You could certainly argue that the running time of almost three hours is too long, but the movie does not drag and feels much shorter. I found Interstellar inspirational in the way that 2001, A Space Odyssey was. I feel that consciously or subconsciously, Interstellar is Nolan’s Paean to 2001. I also love that the poignant scenes showing what is happening to the Earth could have been taken right out of The Grapes of Wrath. Interstellar definitely has a Hollywood ending, but that isn’t always a bad thing. I was a bit teary-eyed at the end of the movie. If you haven't seen it yet, you should.
It is a great movie to see on the big screen.

Oscars 2014 Part II: The Nominations

     Here are my "Oscar" nominations. I already posted my Top Ten, so my Oscar Best Picture nominations are just the top half of that list, with the exception of 20 Feet From Stardom which is in the Documentary category and should win. I also think that the director of the Best Picture should win Best Director, although tonight there might be a split. I pick Steve McQueen for Best Director.
     There has been lots of discussion about how Matthew McConaughey has turned his career around by becoming a character actor. He is also one of the hardest working people in Hollywood. He was in Dallas Buyers Club, Mud, and Wolf of Wall Street in 2013, as well as in the HBO series True Detective. His partner in True Detective, Woody Harrelson, is also doing similar things. He appeared in, Now you See Me, Out of the Furnace, and Catching Fire in 2013. Another great character actor is Paul Giamatti who was memorable in 12 Years a Slave and Saving Mr. Banks, and even made an appearance on Downton Abbey. Amy Adams had three nice roles in Man of Steel, Her, and American Hustle. But, Benedict Cumberbatch is the champ, appearing in August: Osage County, Star Trek II, The Hobbit 2, 12 Years a Slave, and The Fifth Estate, as well as Sherlock on TV.
     I give three of the four acting prizes to 12 Years a Slave, with the indomitable Meryl Streep winning the other. She has been nominated 18 times now for Oscars, but has won only three. She is nominated for August: Osage County which was a play and allows lots of eating of the scenery. It had a great cast including Julia Roberts who is nominated for an Oscar also, and the ever present Cumberbatch.
     In Best Supporting Actress, I nominate Carey Mulligan for Llewyn Davis. She always stands out and steals all of her few scenes here. She was also one of the good things in The Great Gatsby which is forgotten in the Oscar nominations, except for Production and Costume Design. I also include Melanie Laurent for Best Supporting Actress. She was very memorable in Inglorious Basterds, and she is a great foil for Mark Ruffalo in Now You See Me. You may have noticed that I am dissing American Hustle, which is one of the most nominated films. I really loved Silver Lining Playbook, and American Hustle has almost the same creative team. But the new movie just doesn't have the characters you care about or the clean storyline of Playbook. I do nominate Jennifer Lawrence because she just blows away everyone on the screen in her few scenes in American Hustle.
     In Best Supporting Actor, I nominate Chris Cooper, who is always a great character actor and stands out in August as the only sane person. I also include Daniel Bruhl for Ron Howard's Formula One film, Rush, which was very good, but didn't go anywhere at the box office. But Bruhl was amazing as as Niki Lauda. It is worth seeing just for his performance. The other new name in the Best Supporting Actor category is Barkhad Abdi as the leader of the pirates in Captain Phillips, another good film left out of the Oscar nominations. He is quite amazing especially since it is his first acting role.
     My nominations, with the winners in Red, are listed below. Enjoy the show tonight...

Best Picture
1. 12 Years a Slave
2. Her
3. Gravity
4. All is Lost
5. Now You See Me

Best Director
1. Steve McQueen (12 Years a Slave)
2. Spike Jonze (Her)
3. Alfonso Cuaron (Gravity)
4. J.C. Chandor (All is Lost)
5. Louis Leterrier (Now You See Me)

Best Actor
1. Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave)
2. Joaquin Phoenix (Her)
3. Robert Redford (All is Lost)
4. Daniel Brühl (Rush)
5. Matthew McConaughey (Dallas Buyers Club + Mud + Wolf of Wall Street)
Honorable Mention: Tom Hanks (Saving Mister Banks + Captain Phillips), Nicholas Hoult (Warm Bodies), Bruce Dern (Nebraska)

Best Actress
1. Meryl Streep (August: Osage County)
2. Judi Dench (Philomena)
3. Sandra Bullock (Gravity)
4. Brie Larson (Short Term 12)
5. Emma Thompson (Saving Mister Banks)
Honorable Mention: Greta Gerwig (Frances Ha), Amy Adams (American Hustle), Shailene Woodley (The Spectacular Now), Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine)

Best Supporting Actor
1. Michael Fassbender (12 Years a Slave)
2. George Clooney (Gravity)
3. Chris Cooper (August Osage County)
4. Barkhad Abdi (Captain Phillips)
5. Jared Leto (Dallas Buyers Club)
Honorable Mention: Paul Giamatti (Saving Mr. Banks + 12 Years a Slave), Jason Schwartzman (Saving Mr. Banks), Rob Corddry (Warm Bodies), Alan Rickman (The Butler), Benedict Cumberbatch (August Osage County + Hobbit 2 + 12 Years a Slave + Star Trek II + The Fifth Estate), Mark Ruffalo (Now You See Me), Will Forte (Nebraska)

Best Supporting Actress
1. Lupita Nyong'o (12 Years a Slave)
2. Jennifer Lawrence (American Hustle)
3. Mélanie Laurent (Now You See Me)
4. June Squibb (Nebraska)
5. Carey Mulligan (Inside Llewyn Davis + Great Gatsby)
Honorable Mention: Amy Adams (Her + Man of Steel), Julianne Nicholson (August Osage County), Sally Hawkins (Blue Jasmine)

Oscars 2014 Part I: Geoff's Top Ten Movies of 2013

As usual, hundreds of movies were released in 2013. I've seen about 80 of them. It was quite a good year, so picking just 10 isn't easy. Only four of my Top Ten are also included in the

nine films nominated for the Oscar Best Picture. I did like eight of the nine Oscar Best Picture nominees, including American Hustle, Captain Phillips, Dallas Buyers Club, and Philomena which didn't make my list. However, The Wolf of Wall Street is an abomination. What was Scorsese thinking? But here are my picks for the Top Ten Films of 2013.

1. 12 Years a Slave
     Any of my top three films could, and perhaps should, be number one. 12 Years a Slave is not only great, but is very difficult to watch. It's also one of the most important films in a long time. Everyone should see it, particularly here in Louisiana, where most of the action is set, in New Orleans and on three plantations. The plot follows the true, tragic events in the life of Solomon Northrup (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a free black man living in New York state, who is kidnapped, sold as a slave, and is unable to contact his family and friends for 12 years. This film also has nominations for Best Director for Steve McQueen, and for the actors, Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender as his sociopathic slave owner, and Lupita Nyong'o as a fellow slave, whose suffering is beyond belief. It could have had more nominations for the rest of the amazing cast including Benedict Cumberbatch, Paul Giamatti, Alfre Woodard, Sarah Paulson, Paul Dano, and, of course, Brad Pitt.

2. Her
     This is in many ways the most interesting, and different film of the year. It also may win Best Screenplay for its great writing. Spike Jonze is only 44, but already has an amazing list of director credits for films that are not your typical mainstream films, such as Being John Malkovich, Adaptation, and Where the Wild Things Are. Jonze wrote and directed Her, which follows the life of a schlubby guy (Joaquin Phoenix), who gets a new phone with a Siri-like OS (voiced by Scarlet Johansson) which is also an A.I. That is to say, it is learning and may be sentient. Her is so well done that there is no problem believing that this guy is falling in love with his phone. And beside the fact that his ex-wife is Rooney Mara, his BFF is Amy Adams, and he doesn't want to go out with Olivia Wilde, Her is a very believable film!

3. Gravity
     I was a bit dubious when I saw the trailer for Gravity, with Sandra Bullock wildly spinning around in space. But the movie, directed by Alfonso Cuaron, won me over completely. It helps that I am a Sandra Bullock lover and not one of her many haters. I am also a George Clooney lover. That guy really makes good choices of films to make. Be sure to see his new movie, The Monuments Men. Ignore the reviews. It will make you cry. Ok, where was I? Oh ya, Gravity depicts, very realistically, a disaster where two astronauts are stranded alone in space after the Space Shuttle and the Hubble Space Telescope (sniff) are destroyed. This a two person movie and both actors do very well. Gravity is a film where IMAX 3D really makes sense. It is a joy to watch, at least, for geeks like me.

4. All is Lost
    This amazing film, directed by J.C. Chandor, does Gravity one better. It has only one actor, Robert Redford, as a sailor, alone in the middle of the ocean, fighting for his life after his boat is holed by a shipping container. All is Lost is gripping despite only having one septugenarian actor, who has a total of two lines of dialog in the whole film. It is one man against the sea, and it is really nice to see Robert Redford in a starring role. It is a long time since Barefoot in the Park, The Way We Were, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid etc., but Redford can still bring it. The Oscars has ignored All is Lost except for Best Sound Editing, but Redford was nominated for a Golden Globe. This film sank without a trace, but you should see it now that it is out on DVD.

5. 20 Feet From Stardom
     I saw this documentary at the Nantucket Film Festival, and it blew me away. It is a fantastic history of the female backup singers in pop music, starting in the 1960's. 20 Feet From Stardom follows a group of backup singers, from the days of their enslavement by the infamous Phil Spector, to their emancipation by various British Rock bands who put these great singers up front, to the present day. Many of the singers are featured in interviews and performances, including Lisa Fischer, who has been on every Rolling Stones tour since 1989 singing duets with Mick Jagger. This is a fascinating documentary. An added bonus at the Nantucket Film Festival, was a performance live by Judith Hill, who was supposed to tour with Michael Jackson on his last tour but which never happened due to his sudden death. 

6. Now You See Me
     This film should have had some Oscar nominations just because it may be the most entertaining movie of the year, and definitely, it is the feel-good movie of the year. Now You See Me tells the story of four street magicians (Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Isla Fischer, Dave Franco) who are recruited to take part in a series of high profile magic shows that involve robbing banks. This gets the interest of the FBI (Mark Ruffalo) and Interpol (Melanie Laurent). Now You See Me is a very fun movie, and you don't know what is really going on until the very end. The cast is great, also including Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine. There is a nice chemistry between Ruffalo and Laurent, and I like any movie that has a scene in the men's room at Napoleon House!

7. Short Term 12
     I never would have seen this brilliant Indie movie except that it played at the Nantucket Film Festival. But I wasn't the only one who noticed this nice little film. It was nominated for Best Female Lead (Brie Larson) and Best Supporting male (Keith Stanfield) at the Independent Spirit Awards. Larson runs a group home for at-risk teenagers, and Short Term 12 intertwines her story with the kids that she is caring for. This film is a roller coaster of emotion as Larson's past, present, and future get in the way of doing her job. And, I love the exhilarating, recurring subplot where one of the kids keeps making a break for for freedom and everyone tries to catch him before he can escape out of the front gate to the outside world. Larson is an eye opener. She has suddenly exploded out of nowhere, appearing in three films this year, The Spectacular Now, Don Jon, and Short Term 12.

8. Nebraska
     What can I say? I do love quirky, and one of the best purveyors of quirky along with the Coen Brothers (see Inside Llewyn Davis below), and Wes Anderson (Moonrise Kingdom), is Alexander Payne (The Descendants, Sideways). Nebraska is a about a cranky, old guy (Bruce Dern) in a small midwestern town who gets one of those, "You may have already won..." letters and believes it. So he decides to walk to Nebraska to pick up his winnings. Along the way, he exposes the seams of his whole life so they can be seen by everyone. It's a joy to watch an old pro, and one of my favorite actors, Bruce Dern in action. The supporting cast is also great. June Squibb, playing Dern's long-suffering wife, is also nominated for an Oscar. Not much happens in Nebraska, but it is very fun to watch.

9. Saving Mr. Banks
     I wasn't sure that I was going to like or even buy into Saving Mr. Banks, but it won me over completely by the end of the movie, I loved it. I always have trouble with biopics about people, like Walt Disney, who were real people to me. When I was a kid, the whole family would watch The Wonderful World of Disney every Sunday night. Anyway, it took me a while, but Tom Hanks became Disney, and Emma Thompson gives a wonderful performance as P.L. Travers. This film slowly rises up and takes you over, but you don't really realize how amazing the story is until the ending credits, when they play one of the actual tapes of Travers working with the Disney people. The supporting cast is worth seeing on their own, including Jason Schwartzman, Bradley Whitford, Paul Giamatti, and Colin Farrell. The interweaving of Travers' backstory in the outback ,and how it all plays into the title of the film makes it all a Wonderful World of Disney.

10. Inside Llewyn Davis
     Sometimes I love movies by the Coen brothers and sometimes I don't. But I just want them to keep making more movies. Some of their films, like Raising Arizona or The Big Lebwoski, are set in a weird and bizarre version of the world. Others, like A Serious Man, are played straight and don't have the Coen brother wackiness. Inside Llewyn Davis is one of these. It is played straight, except maybe for the many important roles that cats play in this film. Anyway, Inside Llewyn Davis tells the story of a Bob Dylan-esque character, playing music in Greenwich Village in the 60's. He isn't very successful and he is his own worst enemy.  There are a lot of great small supporting parts including Carey Mulligan, Adam Driver, John Goodman, and Justin Timberlake. But this movie is all about Oscar Isaac in the title role. And the cats, of course.