2013 and back in action

Well happy belated 2013, apologies for the silence but the year for our household started off with a few hiccups which saw us without wheels and having missed out on my planned trip to Hobbiton. But February has taken on a much more positive sheen and finances are being adjusted to accommodate the high cost of repairs. So normal movie going service will resume.
    Unfortunately for me this has meant missing about three movies I was looking forward to seeing on the big screen, But the beauty of blu ray  is that it no longer feels like I'm making a compromise. In fact on more than one occasion revisiting films on the format has proven to be a superior experience to having viewed the content on the big screen.
    So normal service is about to resume, with a few blu ray reviews of some classic films that were given to me as presents over the Christmas Period.
    So happy new year and catch you soon.

The Hobbit & Skyfall

Well I can truly say if these are the last two films of the year for me, what a way to end. Firstly Skyfall, a film that promised so much and actually delivered. This film has Craig being allowed to truly embody Bond and at the same time having fun. The welcome return of humour, and recognisable characters being reintroduced into their rebooted persona's is welcome. The feels like a new revitalised Bond, if Casino Royale was a wake up call, then this is the full stop and next sentence.
  As a Bond fan I loved the new Q, I loved the fact that for the first time in the last four films there was a memorable villain portrayed with show stopping vigour by Jarvier Bardem. This film hit every mark well and in Bond parley it hit the Bullseye and left its mark. I eagerly await the next film and I hope its not too long a wait this time.
 Yesterday I visited my favourite local cinema to capture the Hobbit in all its full 48 fps glory. I was sort of edgy about this choice, early press reviews were mixed claiming a video like sheen to preceding and that the highly detailed image exposed flaws in make-up and environments.
Now I'm not a Tolkien fan, I love the Lord of the Rings trilogy as a cinematic work, as a piece of drama and as a bravo piece of film making. The Hobbit is a lighter tale that the Rings trilogy, it takes place in a happier period of middle earth history and is very much a children's tale told to entertain and excite.
Jackson is  a director that excites ever since Bad Taste I have sought out each of his films. There is only one of his films that I find hard to be entertained by, and that is Meet the Feebles.  Even when flawed his work still delivers. Kong is too long, but so many scenes post arrival to Skull Island hit the mark, I still love the film. Lovely Bones is another work that for me is a perfect adaption of the book but Its hard to say I could watch it again. Because you still have to get past the initial act that deprives the heroine of her life and that is I think the one element of the film that audiences find hard to get past. But moments, beats work powerfully for me having read the book well before it became a film I knew what to expect, and felt it was a brave choice for Peter Jackson to make after Kong.
Its a sign of our times that success in film seems now to be based on box office performance and not on how good the film is, or how on a story telling level it succeeds.
The Hobbit is good, no hell its great. Yes it is a good hour too long, yes out of 13 dwarves only three really stick out in the memory but with another two films yet to come there is time for them to shine. As the opening part it works on all levels and with a welcome dose of humour. Martin Freeman delivers a great Bilbo and not to many liberties are taken with the story. This is recognisably the Hobbit  with a few minor tweaks which suggest big pay-offs further down the line. Nobody does Fantasy like Jackson and I came away from the film excited and with the damn Misty Mountains song cycling through my brain. The High frame rate issue I will tackle separately it deserves it. But I will be seeing this film again, it will be High Frame Rate and hopefully Dolby Atmos. I loved it and this is the perfect Christmas  Present on which to end the yearn.
So now I shall ponder my views on the High frame rate and post within the next day or so when I have let it all sink in.

The Hobbit Wellington Premiere

Well a great time was had by all, and as promised here are few pictures from the Wellington Premiere. It was a blazing hot Wednesday afternoon and there was a lot to see, and the air was buzzing with excitement  I've posted some of the clearer pictures I took , a lot of them involved avoiding heads, and other photographers didn't come out so great.

It was a long wait, the cavalcade of stars not arriving until about 4.30 pm at which time I had been waiting for two hours and was about ready to drop. But we were all in good spirits even if some of us were moaning about not getting a Gandalf style promotional Hobbit hat.  I had bought a Hobbit premiere t-shirt so looked the part, but as you will see from my pictures there were a lot of cosplay characters dotted around. I counted quite a few Hobbit s, 1 Gandalf and one Wring Wraith. Fortunately there were no Gollums present.

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.