Nerd Rating

Tag: The Hobbit

  • The Movies Of 2013

    This article was going to have some kind of catchy title like “13 movies to see in 2013” but truth be told there are way more films that I (and you) should be excited about next year. We get to return to Oz, Metropolis, and Middle-Earth. The Wolfpack as well as The Wolverine are back. M Night Shyamalan will try and make us interested in his movies again (with Will Smith no less) and Bruce Willis is in three, count em three, franchise movies this year.

    So let’s take a look into the future and check out the movies of 2013.

    Warm Bodies (February 1)

    Wait what? Yeah I know you may be surprised this is on here. I am too because I actually want to see it. Warm Bodies was already on my radar with my girlfriend being a fan of the book so I had an idea of what to expect. Don’t lump this into the Twilight group without taking a look at the trailer which is pretty funny.

    A Good Day To Die Hard (February 14)

    OK, so Live Free or Die Hard was the least of the the John McClane shoot-em ups but even a sub-par Die Hard gets me in the theater and this one has me more interested with McClane yippee ki-yaying his way to mother Russia to get some quality shooting practice with his son.

    Oz: The Great and Powerful (March 8)

    Sam Raimi directs this “prequel” that has James Franco playing the future wizard as he finds his way to the land of  Oz. It is produced by the same people who had a hand in Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland which should be obvious by the look of the preview.

    Carrie (March 15)

    Yes it is another remake of a great book and classic movie but this one I am not writing off because of the cast. Hit Girl herself , Chloe Grace Moretz, takes over the role from Sissy Spacek and Julianne Moore will get all religious as Carrie’s mother.

    G.I. Joe: Retaliation (March 29)

    This sequel was originally supposed to be released last June but was pulled a mere month before its release. Paramount said they wanted to convert the movie to 3D while some stories had the actors re-shooting scenes to have more Channing Tatum in it since he is the new Hollywood “it” guy. Supposedly he bit it early in the flick and they had a change of heart.
    http://youtu.be/mwtH2CBeZ5M

    The Evil Dead (April 12)

    How many years have we Evil Dead fans read rumor after rumor of Evil Dead 4 or a remake? I honestly never thought we would get a proper sequel so I will gladly settle for this, especially since it apparently carries the Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell seal of approval.
    http://youtu.be/ceBXUyuv4Q0

    Iron Man 3 (May 3)

    Now that The Avengers has come and gone it is time for Marvel to get started on Phase 2 and that begins next year with Iron Man 3. Shane Black is the new director and is bringing shellheads greatest enemy to the screen with The Mandarin played by Oscar winner Ben Kingsley.

    Star Trek Into Darkness (May 17)

    JJ Abrams followup to his 2009 reboot sees Kirk and the Enterprise going up against Benedict Cumberbatch’s villain. I say villain because as of right now it is still unknown who exactly he is playing. Gary Mitchell? Khan? Someone new? Either way he looks to be plenty menacing. Remind me not to piss Sherlock off.

    The Hangover Part 3 (May 24)

    The Wolfpack is back and this time they are taking a road trip. It looks like there won’t be a wedding this go round and that the gang will be getting into more messed up adventures in more than one locale.

    Fast & Furious 6 (May 24)
    I was never a fan of the F&F series so I was more than surprised when I actually had fun with Fast Five which was the highest grossing of the franchise. Now Vin Diesel, Paul Walker and Dwayne Johnson are back for more. Yeah I think it is odd that this series has six installments too.

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    After Earth (June 7)

    M. Night Shyamalan returns after pissing off a whole lot of people with The Last Airbender. This time he has Will Smith and son Jaden playing (spoiler) father and son in the future who crash land on Earth that has adapted to kill all humans. The preview is interesting enough but will it be enough to make Shyamalan a premier director again?
    http://youtu.be/qaRigzlDUi4

    Man of Steel (June 14)

    Hard to believe it has been almost seven years since Superman last flew across a movie screen. After Superman Returns tripped up Warner turned to Christopher Nolan to fix the world’s most recognizable superhero. Nolan hand-picked Zack Snyder (300, Watchmen) and has his friend and Batman Begins co-writer David S. Goyer write the script that hopes to make the man of tomorrow relevant to today’s movie audiences.

    This Is The End (June 14)
    It’s the end of the world as we know it and Seth Rogen, James Franco, Jonah Hill, Jay Baruschel, Danny McBride and Craig Robinson are just the people to follow and see how our society falls.

    World War Z (June 21)

    Brad Pitt stars in this very loose adaptation of the novel which sees the zombie apocalypse in its beginning days. This production has been the definition of the world “troubled” having gone way over budget, massive script rewrites and even having to go back and film a huge section of the movie over again.

    Kick-Ass 2 (June 28)

    Kick-Ass didn’t exactly light the box office on fire in 2010 so the fact we are getting a sequel to the awesome adaptation of Mark Millar’s comic is something of a miracle. Kick-Ass and Hit Girl are back and this time they have Jim Carrey as Colonel Stars and Stripes and Donald Faison as Doctor Gravity joining forces to take down Red Mist now know affectionately as Mother Fu**er.

    The Lone Ranger (July 3)

    Disney is taking a big gamble with Gore Verbinski’s The Lone Ranger. After John Carter’s 200 million dollar budget blew up in their face they have this 250 million dollar western coming this summer. One good thing is that Johnny Depp is normally easy money in big summer movies. Only time will tell.

    Despicable Me 2 (July 3)
    Gru, girls and minions return for more fun. I am assuming fun since I know nothing of the plot.
    http://youtu.be/q6uoyPTcfic

    Pacific Rim (July 11)

    Director Guillermo del Toro brings this giant sized sci-fi epic to reality. In a future where creatures have invaded Earth we build giant mechs to deal with the attacks. Like Power Rangers and Voltron had a really violent American baby.

    The Wolverine (July 26)

    Hopes have to be higher for this sequel. It can’t possibly go any lower than X-Men: Origins Wolverine can it? Wait…can it?

    RED 2 (August 2)

    What did I tell you earlier? Here is Bruce Willis again revisiting his role of Frank Moses and his merry band of ex-operatives including Helen Mirren and John Malkovich. Anthony Hopkins gets in on the adventure this time too.

    Elysium (August 19)

    Neil Blomkamp follows up his Oscar nominated debut (District 9) with this sci-fi movie about a ravaged over-populated Earth and the struggle of its citizens as the rich live in splendor aboard a space station called Elysium. Matt Damon, Jodie Foster and Sharlto Copley star.

     

    Riddick (September 6)

    When we last left Riddick he had taken over the Necromonger army as their new leader. This third movie seems to be going back to the Riddick we saw in Pitch Black with a scaled down action flick and not so much wannabe sci-fi epic.

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    Sin City: A Dame To Kill For (October 4)

    Taking their good sweet time, Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez finally return to Sin City with a film version of Miller’s second story A Dame To Kill For. Mickey Rourke, Jessica Alba and Rosario Dawson return to the sequel of the 2005 noir hit.

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    The World’s End (October 25)

    Simon Pegg and Nick Frost re-team with director Edgar Wright to complete their “Blood and Ice Cream Trilogy”. They have a lot to live up to with Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz becoming certifiable cult hit movies. This movie sees five friends reunite to attempt a pub crawl from their youth only to find out there are bigger things at work.

    Ender’s Game (November 1)

    Orson Scott Card’s classic sci-fi book gets the big screen treatment from director Gavin Hood. The story of Andrew “Ender” Wiggun who is sent off to a military academy to be taught how to defend the Earth from a coming alien attack. The cast assembled for this is impressive with Ben Kingsley, Harrison Ford, Abagail Breslin and Viola Davis among the players.

    Thor: The Dark World (November 8)

    The God of Thunder returns to fight a race of Dark Elves led by Malekith the Accursed played by Christopher Eccleston. Natalie Portman, Stellan Skarsgard and Anthony Hopkins return in the second movie on Marvel’s Phase 2.

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    The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (November 22)

    Katniss and Peeta are forced back into the 75th Hunger Games with previous winners as rebellion begins to break out across the districts.

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    The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (December 13)

    Bilbo, Gandalf and the company of dwarves continue their journey towards The Lonely Mountain and the dragon Smaug.

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    Anchorman: The Legend Continues (December 20)

    After a long nine year wait Ron Burgandy, Brian Fantana, Brick Tamland and Champ Kind are back. Does it really matter what the plot is? News team assemble!!

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    Jack Ryan (December 25)

    Chris Pine takes over the role made famous by Harrison Ford (Ben Affleck played the role in The Sum of All Fears) as he takes on a Russian plot to bring down America’s economy. Kenneth Branaugh pulls double duty as the villain and film director.

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  • New Star Trek Into Darkness Trailer (Yes, Another One)

    If you didn’t get a chance to see the nine minute preview of Star Trek Into Darkness over the weekend before viewings of The Hobbit (one word: amazeballs) then here is the brand spanking new trailer for the followup to the 2009 reboot.

    Not to be confused with the trailer shown a couple of weeks back this trailer begins with Bruce Greenwood’s Christopher Pike giving Kirk some harsh advice which then segues into the Benedict Cumberbatch voiceover from the previous trailer. The preview ends with the scene from the Japanese trailer that looks to have a bit of foreshadowing or it could just be JJ Abrams keeping us on the hook.

    Star Trek Into Darkness releases on May 17, 2013.

  • Review: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

    The Dwarves Get A Chance To Shine.

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    *This review is based off of the 24fps IMAX 3D viewing of The Hobbit*

    J.R.R. Tolkien’s classic tale The Hobbit has had a more than difficult road getting to the big screen. I’m sure Peter Jackson never envisioned that making this would possibly be a more difficult task than making his The Lord of the Rings trilogy. The movie was originally planned to be released in two parts but was split into three either by Jackson’s doing or the studio is not known. Jackson also chose to shoot the film in 48fps which is dividing moviegoers from “it’s the future of cinema” all the way to “the most expensive looking home movie ever made”.

    But for right now let’s wade through all the minutia and get down to what ultimately matters. Is The Hobbit a great movie? No, it is not. But it is a very good movie that could be the beginning of something great.

    The Hobbit is probably the greatest fantasy book ever written. For 75 years it has enchanted readers of all ages but let’s face it, the book is only 300 pages so stretching it into three movies is going to take a little bit of Hollywood magic as well as taking what Gandalf says in the movie to heart.

    “All good stories deserve embellishment.”

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    The plot for The Hobbit is not exactly deep. Gandalf the Grey shows up on an unsuspecting hobbit’s doorstep one morning asking if he would like to partake in an adventure. The hobbit in question, Bilbo Baggins, declines but is nevertheless visited by thirteen dwarves that night who kindly eat him out of house and home while discussing how to take back their lost gold (for the film it is changed to the dwarves wanting their homeland back, not just a greedy attempt at gold) from Smaug the dragon. All the while Bilbo is wondering why has his house been invaded by these dwarves and a wizard. He finds out that Gandalf has elected him to be the burglar of the group that is heading for The Lonely Mountain. After sleeping on it he joins the group and is on his first adventure.

    Now one of the more difficult things for Jackson to try and accomplish is having thirteen dwarves each with their own unique personality. Everyone ready? OK, here’s the rundown: Fili, Kili, Oin, Gloin, Dwalin, Balin, Bifur, Bofur, Bombur, Dori, Nori, Ori and Thorin Oakenshield, who is the leader of the group. Luckily readers of the book will connect easily with the characters right off the bat but where the film really helps matters is that even moviegoers who are going into the movie as Hobbit virgins will not be lost in the shuffle because every dwarf character really does come across as their own not just a xerox copy of other party members.

    As far as character performances are concerned I really saw no weak points. Ian McKellan could play Gandalf in his sleep and everyone should be glad that he came back to play the role because anyone else would be a pale comparison to the wizard we know on film. Martin Freeman (who is in a race with his Sherlock co-star Benedict Cumberbatch to see who can be the bigger star of the show) plays Bilbo with affable whimsy and while he may not be pudgy in belly as Tolkien had described Bilbo and most hobbits to be, Freeman latches onto the role and make it wholly his own. With that said, the real star of this first film has to be Richard Armitage as Thorin Oakenshield. In the Tolkien book Thorin was more of a greedy hoarder that wanted lost gold but in Jackson’s movie he is transformed into the heir to the lost dwarven throne who is seeking to reclaim the home that was stolen from his people. And with this (welcome) change in character, Thorin has to be played in a different way and Armitage breathes an indomitable spirit into the role.

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    The first part of this trilogy covers roughly a little over the first third of the book and at a runtime of two hours and forty minutes there is a whole lot of scenes that have been stretched out from two pages into twenty minutes of film but to me this never seemed to drag as some have complained. Now if you are looking for an exact re-telling of the novel then you are going to be sorely disappointed. Peter Jackson made plenty of changes to his The Lord of the Rings trilogy (Tom Bombadil, MIA) and you are going to get plenty of them here. Radagast the Brown, who is only spoken of in The Hobbit, is a fully fleshed out character with his own scenes complete with mushroom trips and hair filled with bird crap. His scene where he leads orcs on a chase through the open fields is used as a segue in getting Bilbo and company to Rivendell.

    Moreover, the Necromancer appears to play an overall bigger role in Jackson’s trilogy. Mentioned in the book this Necromancer, a foretelling of Sauron’s return, looks to be a character of bigger import. Azog the Defiler has also been made into Thorin’s main antagonist. He was only a part of Thorin’s backstory who died long ago by another dwarf’s hand but in the film he is made into the face of the enemy that hunts the party along their travels. The addition of Azog certainly has me intrigued as to how he will be used in the follow up films. Like I said, don’t expect a book to film transfer but the additions made are forgivable and, in some cases, make the movie more interesting.

    If there is one thing no one can argue about it is that Peter Jackson has the look of Middle-Earth down to a science. A lot of cynical people have called the sweeping camera shots a tourism video for New Zealand and all I can say to that is “where do I sign up to go?”. The cinematography is second to none and is accompanied perfectly by Howard Shore returning to score and compose the music. You will get hints of music from LOTR like the music of The Shire along with a stirring rendition of Far Over the Misty Mountain Cold that becomes the theme of the dwarves in the film and is interwoven throughout the soundtrack. I dare anyone not to be humming this for days after seeing the movie.

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    As I said earlier, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is a very good movie. It goes without saying that there is slim chance that The Hobbit can recapture the magic of The Lord of the Rings trilogy but the source material should have already had you expecting that. I still have some worries about how this will be stretched into three full movies but I easily welcome the first part as a good setup for the journey into the Mirkwood and the fight with Smaug that is coming in the future.

    The movie moves at its own pace and is unapologetic about it. This is fine by me. With strong performances, beautiful set pieces and a new yet familiar soundtrack I enjoyed my time being taken back to Middle-Earth. The plot changes are major in places but serve their purpose well and don’t feel like fluff meant to extend the runtime. Let’s just all be glad Peter Jackson and company decided to come back and make this movie a reality instead of leaving all of us to wonder “what if?”.

    NERD RATING- 8.5 /10

     

     

     

     

  • Star Trek Into Darkness Teaser Trailer Is Here

    Get Ready To Boldly Go Again.

    The first teaser trailer for Star Trek Into Darkness has gone up and it does not disappoint even though it only runs a little over a minute.

    Villain Benedict Cumberbatch narrates over the trailer with malice and evil intent. I would like to go ahead and say that if he does not steal the movie I will be shocked. His identity is still a mystery with most leaning towards Gary Mitchell from the original series episode “Where No Man Has Gone Before” but there is still a small inkling that he could still be Khan.

    Don’t forget that the first nine minutes of Star Trek Into Darkness will be screened before IMAX showings of The Hobbit on about 500 screens next week.

    Check out the trailer below and let us know what you think.

  • Star Trek Into Darkness Poster Revealed

    Yes, We Know What It Looks Like.

    Let the excitement begin. Here is the first poster for J.J. Abrams Star Trek Into Darkness. The scene seems to be a decimated London as Benedict Cumberbatch’s character (Gary Mitchell?) looks out over the destruction which just so happened to fall in the shape of a Starfleet symbol. Funny how that happens.

    And yes we understand that this looks like last year’s poster for The Dark Knight Rises but is that really a bad thing?

    For those looking for more Star Trek Into Darkness it has already been announced that the first trailer will be shown in front of The Hobbit and that the first nine minutes of the movie will be shown on about 500 IMAX screens before The Hobbit also.

    Check out the official synopsis for the movie below and let us know what you think of the poster.

    Star Trek Into Darkness releases on May 17, 2013.

    “In Summer 2013, pioneering director J.J. Abrams will deliver an explosive action thriller that takes “Star Trek Into Darkness.”

    When the crew of the Enterprise is called back home, they find an unstoppable force of terror from within their own organization has detonated the fleet and everything it stands for, leaving our world in a state of crisis.

    With a personal score to settle, Captain Kirk leads a manhunt to a war-zone world to capture a one man weapon of mass destruction.

    As our heroes are propelled into an epic chess game of life and death, love will be challenged, friendships will be torn apart, and sacrifices must be made for the only family Kirk has left: his crew.”

     

     

  • Listen To The Hobbit Soundtrack In Its Entirety

    Middle-Earth Music For Your Ear Holes.

    December 14th is quickly approaching which will see the release of Peter Jackson’s return to Middle-Earth in The Hobbit. Now you can listen to the entire soundtrack thanks to Rolling Stone.

    The soundtrack is composed by Howard Shore who did the music for Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings Trilogy as well. I have been listening to it all morning and have had a smile on my face the whole time. It is good to hear the music and remember back to how wonderful the LOTR trilogy was and it has me even more ready for The Hobbit.

    The Hobbit opens on December 14th and the soundtrack will release on December 21st.

    Listen to the soundtrack here

  • New Hobbit IMAX Posters Are Quite Beautiful

    Find Out How You Can Take One Home.

    Here are a new set of posters to celebrate the midnight release of The Hobbit in IMAX. The posters feature Bilbo, Gandalf, Thorin Oakenshield and Gollum and will be given away to people who attend the midnight showing at participating theaters.

    You can find a list of theaters here. The Hobbit releases on December 14th.



  • New Hobbit Posters Give Every Character A Chance To Shine

    Seventeen New Posters For Us To Enjoy.

    The Hobbit is fast approaching an we are now in the full fledged marketing blitz. Today has seen the release of character posters for every major player in Peter Jackson’s return to Middle Earth. Leave it to The Hobbit and go big over every other movie and release seventeen posters at once. It makes Harry Potter look like an indie film. Take a look below and let us know which are your favorites.

    I am personally going with Dwalin. And why does Thorin look like he has joined the Night’s Watch?

    The Hobbit releases on December 14th.

     

     

  • The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey’s Runtime Is…..Short

    In an interview with Empire Magazine, director Peter Jackson has said that the first film in The Hobbit trilogy will be the shortest of all of the Tolkien films so far.

    “It’s looking like it’s going to be about ten minutes shorter than Fellowship. So it’s going to be officially our shortest Middle-earth yet. I mean, Fellowship was just under three hours and this is about 2 hours 40 minutes at the moment.”

    This really shouldn’t surprise anyone with The Hobbit being split into three films that the runtimes would be shortened a bit. But with the length of movies these days 2:40 is about the norm. The Avengers ran 2:20 and The Dark Knight Rises was 2:45.

    The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey releases on December 14th.

     

  • Gears Of War Movie Not Dead Yet

    Could We See Delta Squad On The Big Screen After All?

    You would think that bringing Gears of War to theaters would be a no brainer but the movie has been in house at New Line since 2007 and has not moved past the development phase. Things looked bright in 2010 when director Len Wiseman was brought on to direct a feature film version of Marcus Fenix and Delta Squad’s fight against the Locust but again the movie was put aside for New Line to focus on production of The Hobbit (and who can really blame them for that since The Hobbit will be a cash printing machine).

    Now the folks over at Creative Artists Agency are shopping the property around to other studios in hope that fans can finally get a big screen version of the best-selling video game. With Gears of War: Judgement due out next March and the Gears trilogy grossing over 1 billion dollars they still see the potential for a movie but that has yet to help Halo get off the ground either.

    I would rather have no Gears movie at all than get a half-assed version just to take advantage of a property. Like with Halo there can be no “scaled down” budget for a movie this size especially if you are going to keep the look and feel of the movie true to the Gears universe.

    So let the speculation begin again!! Who would be the best choice to direct or star in a Gears of War movie? Let us know what you think.