“Even longer,” Pooh answered.

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Here’s the press release:

Warner Bros. Consumer Products and The LEGO Group announced today a partnership that awards the world’s leading construction toy brand exclusive rights to develop build-and-play construction sets based on THE LORD OF THE RINGS™ trilogy and the two films based on THE HOBBIT™.  The multi-year licensing agreement grants access to the library of characters, settings, and stories for THE LORD OF THE RINGS property, as well as films The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and The Hobbit: There and Back Again.  LEGO® THE LORD OF THE RINGS construction sets are slated for a rolling global launch beginning in June 2012 in the United States, with LEGO THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY scheduled for later in the year.

“Only LEGO, with their expertise in the construction category, is capable of doing justice to the incredibly imaginative environments depicted in the world of THE LORD OF THE RINGS and the two films based on THE HOBBIT,” said Karen McTier, executive vice president, domestic licensing and worldwide marketing, Warner Bros. Consumer Products. “These films give life to amazing worlds and characters and we are thrilled to bring fans these products that deliver an imaginative play experience befitting of these beloved properties.”

The LEGO THE LORD OF THE RINGS collection will translate into LEGO form the epic locations, scenes and characters of Middle-earth as depicted in all three films, including The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.

In late 2012, LEGO THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY will give fans of all ages a chance to build and play out the fantastical story and new characters of the legendary Middle-earth adventures depicted in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journeyfrom Academy Award®-winning filmmaker Peter Jackson, slated to premiere December 14, 2012.

“Our collaboration with Warner Bros. Consumer Products has delivered numerous worldwide successes in the construction toy aisle with lines like LEGO HARRY POTTER and LEGO BATMAN, introducing us to loyal audiences who love great stories, strong characters and the toys that they inspire,” said Jill Wilfert, vice president, licensing and entertainment for The LEGO Group. “It’s particularly exciting to now be able to create sets based on the fantasy worlds and characters from THE LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy and the two films based on THE HOBBIT, not only because we know they will foster collectability and creative play, but also because these are two properties that our fans have been asking us to create for years.”

Information about the sets and collectible minifigures from both collections will be unveiled at a later date at TheLordoftheRings.LEGO.com.

About The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and The Hobbit: There and Back Again
From Academy Award^®-winning filmmaker Peter Jackson comes The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, the first of two films adapting the enduringly popular masterpiece The Hobbit.  The second film will be The Hobbit: There and Back Again.  Both films are set in Middle-earth 60 years before The Lord of the Rings, which Jackson and his filmmaking team brought to the big screen in the blockbuster trilogy that culminated with the Oscar^®-winning The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey will be released beginning December 14, 2012.  The second film, The Hobbit: There and Back Again, is slated for release the following year, beginning December 13, 2013.

Ian McKellen returns as Gandalf the Grey, the character he played in “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy, and Martin Freeman in the central role of Bilbo Baggins.  Also reprising their roles from “The Lord of the Rings” movies are: Cate Blanchett as Galadriel; Ian Holm as the elder Bilbo; Christopher Lee as Saruman; Hugo Weaving as Elrond; Elijah Wood as Frodo; Orlando Bloom as Legolas; and Andy Serkis as Gollum.  The ensemble cast also includes (in alphabetical order) Richard Armitage, John Bell, Jed Brophy, Adam Brown, John Callen, Luke Evans, Stephen Fry, Ryan Gage, Mark Hadlow, Peter Hambleton, Barry Humphries,Stephen Hunter, William Kircher, Evangeline Lilly, Sylvester McCoy, Bret McKenzie, Graham McTavish, Mike Mizrahi, James Nesbitt, Dean O’Gorman, Lee Pace, Mikael Persbrandt, Conan Stevens, Ken Stott, Jeffrey Thomas, and Aidan Turner.

The screenplays for both The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and The Hobbit: There and Back Again are by Fran Walsh,Philippa Boyens, Guillermo del Toro and Peter Jackson.  Jackson is also producing the films, together with Fran Walsh andCarolynne Cunningham.  The executive producers are Alan Horn, Ken Kamins, Toby Emmerich and Zane Weiner, with Boyens serving as co-producer.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and The Hobbit: There and Back Again are being co-produced by New Line Cinema and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. with New Line managing production.

Warner Bros Pictures will be handling theatrical distribution for most of the world and MGM will handle all international television licensing and theatrical distribution for certain international territories for the films.

Related Posts

• April 15, 2011 -- The Hobbit – Start of Production Video Blog
• February 23, 2010 -- Is Lego Lord of the Rings possible?
• April 27, 2011 -- On the Etiquette of Movie Spoilers
• April 17, 2009 -- The Hobbit to be Two Films

Having seen the film three times, each time getting something new out of the movie, I found the music and characters began to resonate with me more and more.  Perhaps it’s because my childhood was somewhat similar, but for whatever reason, the themes that the film contained touched me.

The music, masterfully composed by Giacchino, is both reminiscent of the music of John Williams and entirely original.  The first time you hear the music in the film is with the studio logos, before the movie even begins, and I can remember feeling that music already transporting me back to my childhood.

It is then that the film begins, with a loss that hangs over the whole film: an accident at a plant that takes the life of Joe Lamb’s mother.  It is this beat that sets up the emotional journey of Joe, as he sets off through the summer, trying to be a kid while also trying to deal with the loss of his mother and a father that doesn’t know how to be there for him.  Joe holds tightly to a locket that had belonged to his mother and finds it difficult to move on.  He finds himself on a journey of discovery as an alien is loose in his small town.  The culmination of his journey is in the moment that he confronts the alien face to face.

“Bad things happen,” he says, “but you can still live.”

He is speaking to himself just as much as to the alien.  He’s lost his mother, and has had this amazing adventure while helping his friend to work on a movie.  It is this moment that he knows that life can still move on after you’ve lost someone.  When you lose someone, sometimes it seems like it isn’t fair to still be alive without them, to live your life.  This leads to the final letting go, as Joe knows his mother will always be with him, but he is able to let go of her locket, letting her move on.  He then takes the hand of Alice Dainard, a simple gesture that tells us a couple of things.  He’s ready to really live and his life has a direction after the credits roll.

The film also brings about the innocence of childhood in the way that the children interact with their parents and with one another.  The kids in the film are all very real personalities and were perfectly cast.  While each one may display one stereotype or another, that really reflects real life for a lot of us.  The kids each display distinct personalities and traits and these are definitely kids that would have hung out with each other.  They definitely swore more than my friends and I did (rarely, if ever), but they were also dealing with their lives being turned upside down.

While all of this was happening, one of the characters was working very hard on a short film, speaking highly of production values.  These are kids that are making a movie for the shear love of creating something for yourself and others to enjoy.  Writer / director J.J. Abrams, producer Steven Spielberg and composer Michael Giacchino all created films when they were children, and this film was a way for them to celebrate that childhood hobby.

The film also features the journey of Joe’s father Jackson, as he deals with the loss of his wife and the need to be a father on his own while also taking care of the town as the Deputy during this crisis.  In the end, when he says the line “I got you” he isn’t saying it because he feels that he’s rescued his son.  He hasn’t done that, so that would be illogical.  He says it because he finally gets his son.  He doesn’t yet know the extent of the adventure that his son has been on, but that doesn’t matter now.  He knows that his son had been at the school, he knows that Alice Dainard had been taken by the alien, and he saw them both together.  It is obvious to him that his son had something to do with her rescue.  But now he understands his son’s need for him to be there for him.  He understands and has also learned something from his son – that bad things happen, but you can still live.

In Super 8, J.J. Abrams has captured the footprints of real characters dealing with supernatural situations, and has managed to give the audience stories to focus on that keep the film grounded in ways that we may not perceive at first, but bring more depth the more that you look.

Abrams actually mentioned something during a talk he gave at TED back in 2007, that the film E.T. was actually about a family that was going through the loss of their father, in much the same way that Super 8 touches on the similar theme, with the loss of a mother.

I highly recommend Super 8, and I wonder what you will learn from it.  I hope that it effects you in the same way that it effected me.  I also hope that this film isn’t just a final farewell to films like this, but the beginning of another renaissance of films shot in the old Amblin style.  But if it is, there could be no better sendoff than to end where it really seemed to begin – a hopeful look upward, toward the open sky.

It might not be the best written piece I’ve done, but in trying to capture my thoughts for this movie, words escaped me. There are so many themes to talk about, and so many thoughts, that to capture them all, I would need to write a short novel.

Related Posts

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Justice League #1

Featuring the major characters of the DC universe: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Green Lantern, Aquaman and Cyborg (?), this is the title that starts it all.  I really enjoy seeing multiple heroes working together.

Justice League International #1

This team also features Batman, lending more credibility to my theory that Batman has likely become the most popular character in the DC universe.  It also features a Green Lantern from the looks of things.  It appears that they don’t get along very well, based on this summary from DC: “A team of internationally-drafted superheroes fight each other and their bureaucratic supervisors as much as they do global crime.”

Legion Lost #1

I’ve always been intrigued by the team of heroes from the 31st century, and this is as good a time as any to see if I’ve been missing something that I might really enjoy.  The DC comics summary reads: “Seven heroes from the 31st century have traveled back to the present day. Their mission: Save their future from total annihilation. When the future tech they brought with them fails, they find themselves trapped in a nightmarish world and an ultimate struggle to survive.”

Legion of Superheroes #1

This appears to be the rest of the team that had traveled back in time.  At first I was put off by the artistic style of the cover art shown here, but then I read the summary, which seems to place it hand-in-hand with the Legion Lost series: “In the 31st century, the Legion of Superheroes is reeling from the loss of seven of their finest — and trying desperately to keep their youngest recruits alive against a series of terrible new threats.”

Teen Titans #1

This is a title that I am very excited about.  Not only is it reminiscent of Young Justice in the line-up which features Superboy, Wonder Girl, Kid Flash and Red Robin among others.  It is also written by Scott Lobdell, who wrote a favorite X-Men comic of mine: Generation X.  I think that, of the titles above, I may be more likely to continue reading this one, if not Justice League as well.

-via DC part 1 and part 2

Related Posts

• July 3, 2010 -- Wonder Woman’s New Look: More Modesty is a Good Thing
• April 29, 2010 -- Young Justice: Animated Series on Cartoon Network – Fall 2010

Green Lantern #1

Green Lantern has very little details about it, but it is only one of a number of new Green Lantern related titles that are being released this September.  All DC says about it is: “Change is coming. But set aside your fear. It’ll be worth the wait.” (more)

Wonder Woman #1

I was happy to see Wonder Woman appears to be keeping her new costume.  It’s good to see they’re sticking with the look.  The old one was definitely not practical, and while this one isn’t much more, it’s a much better costume to me.  Besides, Wonder Woman’s costume has changed so many times over the years that adding pants to it is relatively minor.  It still has the overall look, and no one will question whether or not this is her.

-via DC

Related Posts

• March 30, 2011 -- Wonder Woman’s New Look – More Changes
• July 3, 2010 -- Wonder Woman’s New Look: More Modesty is a Good Thing

Batgirl #1

I used to watch the Adam West Batman tv show, and that was where I was first introduced to the Batgirl character.  Later on, she reappeared  in Batman: The Animated Series and Barbara Gordan was again in the role.  In the comics, DC had her paralyzed at some point and she went under the name Oracle in the series Birds of Prey. That series is also being rebooted, and it appears that Oracle is no longer going to be part of that team as Barbara Gordon is re-taking the Batgirl mantle.  I had read a Batgirl series that featured one who was mute, and have been following the latest Batgirl, but this puts a monkeywrench into all of that.  In the new series, she’s “going to have to face the city’s most horrifying new villains as well as dark secrets from her past.”

Batwing #1

This character is a complete unknown to me, and for this reason is very intriguing to me.  Batwing is “the first black character to wear the Batman mantle and will be the first to star in his own ongoing series.”

Catwoman #1

Now that we know she’s going to appear in Chris Nolan’s next Batman film, The Dark Knight Rises, it makes me wonder if they’re basing any of this character’s reboot on that, or the look of Anne Hathaway in the film.  We’ve not yet seen her in the film, though, so that remains to be seen.  This is a title that I’ve never read, so it is a complete unknown to me, apart from what I know of the character from animation.

Nightwing #1

Dick Grayson, the first Robin, returns to the role of Nightwing after a brief stint as the caped crusader himself.  Here is DC’s summary of the starting point for the new series: “As Dick embraces his identity, Haley’s Circus, the big top where he once performed with his family, returns to Gotham – bringing with it a history of murder, mystery and superhuman evil. Nightwing must confront friends and enemies from his past as he searches for the source of an even greater evil.”  This is one that, like Catwoman, I’m not terribly excited about.

The Red Hood and the Outlaws #1

Here’s another former Robin, one that in recent years made a return to the DC comics world: Jason Todd.  He will be The Red Hood as he had been in the past.  He will be joined by Arsenal and Starfire on this team of anti-heroes.  This is another title written by Scott Lobdell.

Suicide Squad #1

The title of this, I do not like, but in my research I found that it is actually a much older title that I had never heard of.  Harley Quinn appears to be the leading character in the series, and is a character that I really liked in Batman: The Animated Series.  I just don’t like where her costume has gone since then.  Ah well, such is the audience that they’re catering to, unfortunately.  Here’s the summary from DC: “Harley Quinn! Deadshot! King Shark! They’re a team of death-row super villains recruited by the government to take on missions so dangerous – they’re sheer suicide! Who will be the first to crack under the pressure?”

-via DC part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, and part 5

Random Posts

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• January 11, 2010 -- Raimi’s Spider-Man 4 Cancelled, Sony to Reboot Franchise: Boo!
• October 1, 2009 -- My Most Anticipated Movies of October 2009: Toy Story (3D), Where the Wild Things Are

In this entry I’m going to only feature the primary Batman titles.  The next post will be about the Batman family titles, featuring characters that are spinoffs of the Batman universe.

Batman #1

As with Action Comics #1 being the first restart since 1938, this is the first Batman #1 since 1930. In the series, Bruce Wayne once again becomes the only character taking on the Batman name.

Detective Comics #1

This is the title that DC took its’ name from.  This is also the first restart of the Detective Comics line since it first started. Not only that, but it’s the first time that Batman will appear in a debut issue of Detective Comics.  The series will find Bruce Wayne on the trail of a dangerous serial killer known only as the Gotham Ripper.

Batman and Robin #1

Batman and Robin is a series that I had collected most of, and this reboot takes things back to square one.  It teams up Bruce Wayne’s Batman with the latest Robin – Damien.  This series will follow the family dynamic of the superhero duo, as Damien is Bruce’s son.

Batman: The Dark Knight #1

This series appears to be the darkest of the Batman titles, which DC says is “a twisted adventure that pulls Bruce Wayne deep into the halls of the famed Arkham Asylum, a jail for Gotham City’s most dangerous and criminally deranged.”  It reminds me a bit of the Arkham Asylum video game.

-via DC part 1 and part 2

Related Posts

• July 3, 2010 -- Wonder Woman’s New Look: More Modesty is a Good Thing
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Action Comics #1

This is the first Action Comics #1 since the title first released in 1938 and features Superman defending a world that doesn’t trust their first Super Hero.  I’m interested in seeing the direction that this goes, as it seems to imply that Superman is, at least in this comic, the lone hero in the world.

Superman: The Man of Tomorrow #1

It’s hard to figure out what they’re actually going to title this comic.  It’s possible that it’ll just be called “Superman,” but writer George Perez himself called it “Superman: The Man of Tomorrow” on his blog.  Of this title, DC comics poses the following questions: What is Superman’s startling new status quo? How does it affect his friends, loved ones and his job at The Daily Planet?

Supergirl #1

Supergirl is a title that I read way back when they rebooted it in the mid-1990s.  It’s a character that has gone though many changes and many personas.  This time it looks like she may be some kind of anti-hero, or at least apathetic toward humanity.  Supergirl’s got the unpredictable behavior of a teenager, the same powers as Superman and none of his affection for the people of Earth.

Superboy #1

Superboy is one of the characters to come from the death of Superman.  I read a lot of the series that spun out of that, as well as Young Justice.  I lost track of the character and found out later that there were some legal issues with the name, so for a while he went by Superman Prime.  Now those issues are over and there’s a currently running Superboy title which is going to be quickly replaced with this new starting point.  One of my favorite writers, Scott Lobdell, is writing the series and this is the premise: They thought he was just a failed experiment, grown from a combination of Kryptonian and human DNA. But when the scope of his stunning powers was revealed, he became a deadly weapon.

-via DC

Related Posts

• April 29, 2010 -- Young Justice: Animated Series on Cartoon Network – Fall 2010
• September 15, 2006 -- Narnia, More to Release on Blu-ray Disc
• September 11, 2004 -- God Bless the Heroes.

Arrival at the Theater

When you arrive at the theater, make sure you plan your time dependent on what movie you’re going to see and when you’re going to see it.  I don’t understand it myself, but every time I go see a film at midnight for the first screening, someone always walks in at 12:01 am and looks up for any open seats.  Seriously?  Couldn’t you have gotten there earlier?

And if you get there late, and you notice a couple of seats that are in a prime spot, don’t just sit there until you know if those seats are available.

Being in line for a movie on opening weekend can be just as fun as the movie.  Get to know the people around you.  You’re all going to the same film, so clearly you have that in common.  Plus, if you frequent the opening night screenings all summer, you’re likely to run into the same people again and again.  It makes seeing new movies that much more fun the next time.  But don’t cut.  If you have a big group of people meeting for a movie, and there are two of you in line, the rest of your group does not have the right to join you when they arrive.  This especially applies when the number joining is greater than the number that was there.  If you wish to hang out with your friends, join them.  If they have to cut to join you in line, remember that everyone else that is in line behind you was there before they were, and not one of them appreciates that you have ten friends joining you toward the front of the line at any time.  There are consequences for when you arrive to line up.

When they finally open the doors to let you in, walk in and don’t stop at the door to look for seats.  All the seats should be fairly empty if you’re at the front of the line, and there’s another door that people are using to go in.  If you need to stop, let others pass so they can choose the seats that they got to the cinema early for.

The Previews

I love movie previews.  I enjoy being surprised by a trailer for a film that I didn’t know was coming, or that I didn’t know existed.  Getting to the cinema prior to the previews is a must for me.  I know I’ll get a good seat, and I know that if the movie isn’t any good, that I’ll see a trailer for one that might be.

Talking During the Film

Talking during a new release is strictly prohibited.  I don’t care for nonsensical comments during the film, regardless of how long the movie is, your comments can wait until the lights go up at the end of the movie.  You’re not going to get my attention, and you’re distracting me from what the cast and crew of the film felt was important enough to spend time on including in the movie.  It’s new, so you don’t know if your comment is going to overlap some important dialogue, and we both might miss something important that changes the tone of the rest of the film.  It’s happened to me before.  The movie theater is a place to view a film socially, sure, but remember: we all paid the same amount for our tickets, and we all deserve to watch the movie untainted by your comments.

When it comes to a cult classic, a film that is being played again because of audience demand, it is really up to the audience.  Sometimes it’s fun to mock the movie the entire time, other times it’s just fun to enjoy the movie on the big screen.  Over the past year I’ve finally seen two of my all-time favorite movies on the big screen: Ghostbusters and The Karate Kid (1984).  Talking over those movies was a no for me.  Cheering during those movies was really fun.  Making fun of an old favorite can make for an evening of great entertainment, however.  It’s a tough call, though, because I don’t want to mess with someone else’s experience of the movie.  It could be someone’s first time seeing the movie, and I don’t want to spoil that experience for them.  So tread lightly, and be sure to ask if someone just wants to enjoy the movie.

Also, if you plan on talking at all, whisper.  A whisper isn’t just a quieter form of your normal voice, it’s talking without use of your voice box.  You’re using the air to form the words.

Teach your kids, too.

Using your Phone During the Film

No, a thousand times no.  I don’t care if it is a new or old movie.  The light from any phone may not be distracting you when it is right in front of you, but it is to everyone else in the cinema.  It’s selfish and rude to do that, because you’ve now taken everyone out of the movie by your actions.

Texting, tweeting, talking, all of that can wait until you’re outside of the cinema.  You’re not going to change the world with your comments.

Snacks and Popcorn during the movie

I don’t mind a good snack during a movie, but there are some things that really bother me.  If you have a bag of something or a box of something, a good time to make some noise with it is not during a scene where dialog is happening.  It’s not a good time when there’s a quiet moment.  In fact, if you could just be quiet with your food for the whole film, that would be appreciated.  We’re not in your home, we’re in a public and expensive place.  We can’t rewind the movie to see what we missed.

The same goes for your popcorn.  So you put salt on it, or butter, or whatever.  You do not need to shake the popcorn.  Not ever.  I don’t care what you think it is doing for the flavor or the toppings or whatever.  Shaking the bag or box or tub of popcorn isn’t making it any easier to eat.  In fact, it is covering up the sound of the movie.

And please please please chew with your mouth closed.  Hearing every single time you eat a single kernel of popcorn is like water torture.

If you’re Sick or have a Sick Child

A cough or a sniffling nose is death to any movie.  Not a single time from various people, rather a lot of them from a single person.  It’s best that you have a movie night in, for something like this.  That way, you’re not spreading the germs to everyone else, and the sick can get rest and recover sooner.  Having someone coughing in your ear every 20 seconds during a movie really kills the experience.  I once sat through a movie like that, expecting the girl’s mother to wise up and leave.  I left the movie not remembering what I saw.  And that’s bad: it was Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium.  I went back the next day to an earlier screening in the day, and thoroughly enjoyed the movie.

Please Try and Sit Still

To the person sitting behind me: Yes, I can tell when your foot hits my seat-back.  Yes, I can tell when you’re resting your feet on the top of my seat-back.  Keep your feet to yourself.  Along the same lines, all the seats in a single row are connected with each other.  Please do your best to try and sit still.  When you move around a lot, it’s not just you that is moving, it’s effecting the entire row, and that’s distracting.

When the Movie is Over

There are a number of things to mention here.  First, there are people that try to leave early to beat the crowd.  Where do you think you’re going?  Not only are you missing the entire point of the movie, you’re not going to really beat anyone.  The movies tend to be timed to let people out at varying times so there’s always going to be a whole screening emptying.

Second, the credits feature all of the people that put a lot of work into the movie.  Sometimes there are also extra scenes during the credits or after them.  I like to stick around for these.  If we’re the last two people in the cinema, sometimes they come in and start cleaning up while we’re in there, and that’s okay.  They schedule the movies far enough apart that they should be able to clean up the theater and get the entire next screening seated a good 20 minutes before the previews start.  We’re allowed to stay, and it isn’t rude to do so.

Third, if you didn’t like the movie, don’t feel like you’re doing anyone else a favor by announcing it to the world.  Your opinion is yours, it’s not everyones, so keep it to yourself.

Finally, on the same note, do not talk about the movie at the entrance / exit to the screen.  This goes double when there’s a line for the next show time.  You’re spoiling the movie for everyone that has been waiting for the screening.

Closing Thoughts

Remember, while the movie theater is a social place, it’s not your home.  What you paid for your tickets and concessions doesn’t make you any better than anyone else, we all paid the same amount.  Follow the above and we’ll all have a great time at the cinema.

Related Posts

• April 14, 2004 -- The Karate Kid
• April 27, 2011 -- On the Etiquette of Movie Spoilers
• April 10, 2010 -- New Denver the Last Dinosaur TV Series and Movie in the works
• December 1, 2009 -- My Most Anticipated Movies of December 2009: Avatar, Alvin and the Chipmunks 2, The Princess and the Frog, Sherlock Holmes
• November 1, 2009 -- My Most Anticipated Movie of November 2009: A Christmas Carol

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?

Related Posts

• May 9, 2010 -- Iron Man 2 – Another Marvel Comics Movie better than the First
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• December 31, 2004 -- The Best of 2004
• December 16, 2011 -- Lego The Lord of the Rings is coming! (Lego The Hobbit, too!)
• April 30, 2011 -- On Movie Theater Etiquette – How to be a Good Cinema Citizen