Hobbit premiere , artisan market, and Gandalf at the Embassy

Well today Sunday 25th of November was spent with my family in Central Wellington. I had but two goals. To view the Embassy canopy with its new Gandalf installation.

Then with a sharp turn left we were met by our local councils tribute to Middle Earth. It shows Wellington city rising up in the heart of Middle Earth. Now imagine this scene on the day of the Premiere this street will be closed off to traffic and filled with fans hoping for a site of the stars and the films director.

But the main purpose of our being in Wellington CBD was the Artisan Fayre which I referred to in  my last post. So what follows is just a flavour of Sunday at the Fayre. Various craftsmen and women, plus larger companies such as NZ Post and Air New Zealand advertised their links with the new film and various practical demonstrations of makeup, clothing and weapons were taking place on a small stage with large screen pumping out images to the gathering crowd. It was a family day out and there was a great atmosphere. I have a feeling that getting anywhere near the Embassy theatre on Premiere day will be optomistic. But I will be taking my camera.

So here are a few images as promised  to give you and idea at the interest approaching the Premiere.

Bag end arrives in Wellington.

Well by next weekend my mission will be to photograph the new Bag End sculpture that today arrived on the canopy of the Embassy cinema in Wellington. The home of the Hobbit premiere on November 28th. Traffic was being diverted today as the artwork was being put in place.




Also this week the Waitangi Park Artisan fare at will open which in the lead up to the Hobbit premiere will be showing the Lord of the Rings trilogy on giant screens. It will also be televising Premiere highlights as they take place. Again due to its close proximity to the Embassy I will be out with my camera to try and capture some of the things going on and sharing on my blog. More importantly the Artisan fare will give those artists and craftsman a place to showcase their skills and work to the public.

The lull before the Storm, Skyfall, Hobbits and Blu rays

Well things have been sort of quiet, most of the movies recently released in NZ have held very little appeal to me. Its sort of like having gorged myself and over indulged over the last three months of blockbuster season and having a mild case of cinematic indigestion.
I guess with the likes of the Avengers I had been spoiled. But recently I managed to catch and enjoy Karl Urban as the Icon Judge Dredd in Dredd.  A great adaptation of one of my favourite 2000AD characters that had the bad luck of having an almost identical plot to the Brilliant Raid. This film buried the memories of Stallone s take of the character and the film gets a lot more right than it gets wrong. A pity that financially it didn't break the US market. I sort of feel sick for making that comment. There seems to be something perverse about judging a films success based on its ability to make moolar at the US box office. It seems almost like I should be on the Deadline website passing judgement based on stats and box office breakdowns.


     Madagascar 3 was a bright, brilliant hilarious improvement on its two predecessors'  my son loved it and despite my lukewarm appreciation of parts 1 and 2 this for me delivered the goods and put a great big perma smile on my face.
     Frankenweenie  however was a disappointment  I appreciated it, but I didn't love it. It was retro Burton, well it is a remake of his live action Disney original.  Burton has a unique style maybe its time that tonally he revamped it and explored new visual stylings.

    Blu rays have been my viewing method of choice, with the Jaws release providing the most pleasure along with the comprehensive Prometheous blu ray. The film still doesn't work for me but Ridley Scott still delivers a great sci fi experience even when not firing at full capacity. The transfers are just breath taking and reinforce exactly why Blur ray is  the true cinephiles format of choice.

But Skyfall is a week away, and I have booked the afternoon off for the Hobbit premiere which is on the 28th November  and over the next week or so I will be roaming with my camera in the hope that I can get some great piccies to share on this blog. To give those of you who can't make it down here some sense of the occasion. Also I might publish some proper Blu ray reviews and share some of my collection. So hopefully things will pick up again as more exciting films head this way.
Catch you on my next post.

Back

Well after a lacklustre month of film things are looking more exciting. The view from my office window has this week become more interesting. The Hobbit premiere is two weeks away and Wellington is gradually transforming into middle earth. So as the first blog in a while I will share my new view.