SweetPaul Entertainment » The Hobbit http://www.sweetpaul.com Movies, Video Games, Music and More Tue, 24 Jan 2012 05:36:23 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 On the Etiquette of Movie Spoilers http://www.sweetpaul.com/on-the-etiquette-of-movie-spoilers/ http://www.sweetpaul.com/on-the-etiquette-of-movie-spoilers/#comments Thu, 28 Apr 2011 02:03:33 +0000 Paul Martin http://www.sweetpaul.com/?p=1287 I just read a blog on Cape Town Community called Please Don’t Spoil My Movies! which I found to be something that I agreed with wholly.  When it comes to movies that I want to see, I don’t want to know what is going to happen.  If I see a trailer, that’s fine, but knowing anything beyond what the studio wants to show is a rarity for me.

It’s also for this reason that I don’t read reviews.  I think most critics are ridiculous, and I have yet to find a single one that I agree with all the time (based on looking at scores after I’ve seen a movie).  As I haven’t found a critic whose reviews match my own point of view 100% of the time, or even 50% of the time, how can I trust any critic to really get how I’ll feel about any movie.  They might hate a movie that I’ll love, or love a movie that I’ll hate.  Critics hold no sway over my perspective, for this reason, and I’ve found that I love some movies that even the critical mass has hated.  If I had listened to them, I wouldn’t have found the movie.

What does that have to do with movie spoilers?  Well, when I later go back and read a review, I note that they make mention of some pretty big plot points, or twists in the story that I would have been angry to know about before I saw the movie for myself.  This is another valid reason to avoid reviews.

When I make a list of movies to see, I generally know what the content of the movie is going to be, because I carefully pick out the movies that are of the subject matter that I am interested in.  I rarely see any R rated movies, and I try not to see very many movies that I’ll forget in a week, let alone a year.  I know what I’ll like, in general, and for this reason I am rarely disappointed with a movie that I see.  This has lead to some of my friends wondering if I’ve seen anything that I have hated or been disappointed with (as I liked the Matrix sequels and the Star Wars prequels).  I have: Land of the Lost, for example, took what should have been a family movie, and made it into something vulgar, and alienated the fans of the show and families at the same time.  What seemed to me to be a known quantity turned out not to be so.

Such things do happen, though they can be rare.

Cape Town also wrote something I agree with almost entirely, which reminded me of a conversation I had about Shutter Island, which I still have not seen:

Generally I do not mind reading spoilers as long as they are on my terms—and it can never be about a movie that I plan to see. If I’m not planning to see a movie I’ll ask you to spoil everything—partly because I’m curious and partly because I love the trepidation on the person’s face. “Are you sure?” the person asks, certain they’re breaking some unwritten celluloid law.

[...]

There’s something about having a movie spoiled for you that can ruin the entire experience. I want to be surprised. I don’t want to know before I sit down in the theater how the story is all going to unfurl.  A movie only has on chance at telling a story, while a television series gets a new opportunity each week. Spoiling the ending of Smallville would not be as devastating as spoiling the end of Thor.

I don’t like television shows spoiled almost as much as movies.  Having Lost spoiled would have been really horrible.

The article at Cape Town came from the fact that the writer watched a scene that I have not: the after credits scene that appears at the end of Thor.  He thought it might be something simple like the one at the end of Iron Man 2, but apparently it wasn’t.  When I saw that the scene was available, I also thought that I’d take a look, but something told me that I shouldn’t.  So I didn’t look at it, and am saving it for the big screen.

As a matter of fact, on my list of movies to see this year, there are a load of trailers that have released in the last few weeks, and I haven’t watched one.  The only trailers that I have seen are ones I’ve seen attached to movies that I was seeing theatrically.  When it comes to The Hobbit, however, I plan on watching every behind the scenes video and every trailer that comes out.  I can count on Peter Jackson to give just enough, and know that it’ll be all of that and more when it hits the big screen.

How do you feel about movie spoilers?  Are you someone that doesn’t care?  Have you ever cared?  Do you feel that your entire movie going experience is enhanced or reduced by how spoiled you are?

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]]> http://www.sweetpaul.com/on-the-etiquette-of-movie-spoilers/feed/ 0 Is Lego Lord of the Rings possible? http://www.sweetpaul.com/is-lego-lord-of-the-rings-possible/ http://www.sweetpaul.com/is-lego-lord-of-the-rings-possible/#comments Wed, 24 Feb 2010 03:19:31 +0000 Paul Martin http://www.sweetpaul.com/?p=1037 Warner Brothers announced the purchase of a controlling share in Rocksteady Studios, who are the creators of the excellent Batman: Arkham Asylum video game.  It’s almost as if they allowed Rocksteady to use the Batman license as a trial run, in anticipation of a purchase later on.  Rocksteady certainly proved themselves, and I hope that they also give Superman a shot, once they’ve finished Arkham Asylum 2.

Over the course of the press release, it was revealed that Warner Brothers had purchased Traveller’s Tales back in 2005.  A fact that I had forgotten, if I ever knew it, because they keep releasing Lego Star Wars and Lego Indiana Jones games, with the second Indy recently released, and Lego Star Wars III: The Clone Wars coming out later this year.  Back in 2009, they purchased Snowblind Studios to develop their Lord of the Rings game franchise.  But is there room for a Lego Lord of the Rings?

I’m going to say an emphatic yes!  Afterall, with what they’re doing with Batman, there is clearly room in the marketplace: Lego Batman and Batman: Arkham Asylum are currently available, with both Batman: Arkham Asylum 2 and Batman: The Brave and the Bold in the works for later this year.  There are also many Harry Potter games based on each of the movies, and Lego Harry Potter is coming out very soon.

There is certainly room for Lego Lord of the Rings among all of the other Lord of the Rings video games that are in the works.  Heck, if they do that one now, they can also begin work on a sequel to coincide with the Hobbit films in 2011/12 (or 2012/13 if they are delayed).  I don’t see them making Lego Silmarillion any time soon, however.  Either way, this is something that I would love to play, as the Lego games tend to be a comedic look at the films, while also keeping with the spirit of the story.  And The Lord of the Rings fits the mold of all of the other Lego games: it has a LOT of great characters that people could use.

With that, I say: Lego Lord of the Rings – make it happen, WB!

-via Deadline Hollywood

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]]> http://www.sweetpaul.com/is-lego-lord-of-the-rings-possible/feed/ 2 The Hobbit to be Two Films http://www.sweetpaul.com/the-hobbit-to-be-two-films/ http://www.sweetpaul.com/the-hobbit-to-be-two-films/#comments Fri, 17 Apr 2009 20:14:09 +0000 Paul Martin http://www.sweetpaul.com/?p=648 The HobbitAfter much talk about the Hobbit film being shot as one film, with a second film to bridge The Hobbit to The Lord of the Rings, a final decision has been made. Peter Jackson and Guillermo del Toro have made an announcement about the make-up of the Hobbit films to be made:

‘We’ve decided to have The Hobbit span the two movies, including the White Council and the comings and goings of Gandalf to Dol Guldur,’ says Del Toro.

‘We decided it would be a mistake to try to cram everything into one movie,’ adds Jackson. ‘The essential brief was to do The Hobbit, and it allows us to make The Hobbit in a little more style, if you like, of the [Lord of the Rings] trilogy.’

This is a sensible decision and I’m glad that they went this route, rather than attempting to craft a second film that might have largely been their own invention for a bridge film. This is excellent news.

As far as future films in the saga, The Children of Hurin and The Silmarillion are both ripe for the picking!

The Hobbit release dates are as follows:

The Hobbit – Part 1: December 2011
The Hobbit – Part 2: December 2012

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