Review: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

I wasn’t going to blog this week, but…well…then I saw The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. And I had to talk about it. So here you are. The blog will be on holiday for the rest of this week, returning next week. Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Yule, and happy holiday of choice!

I’m starting with an unspoilery review. Spoilers will be lower down and clearly marked.

(Disclaimer: I didn’t see the film in 3D or with the much-discussed higher frame rate, so I won’t be touching on those aspects.)

I’m a big Tolkien fan, and I felt that Peter Jackson did a spectacular (though certainly not perfect) job with the LOTR movies. So while I was not thrilled to hear that The Hobbit was being broken into three films, I went to the theater prepared to trust Jackson again.

And…wow, did he deliver.

Response: The Dark Knight Rises

I’m not a big comic-book reader, except for the occasional graphic novel. But I do like superhero movies, and all the hype around The Dark Knight Rises meant I couldn’t wait to see the conclusion to Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy.

(No spoilers, unless you’re unusually sensitive.)

There’s some really good stuff here. The villain, Bane, could hardly be more different from the Joker, which enables him to mostly escape the long shadow cast by Heath Ledger — his imposing physicality dominates whenever he’s onscreen. His plot starts with a spectacular action sequence (yes, Nolan manages to surprise — not an easy feat nowadays) before a bit of a lull, then a series of events that escalates the stakes for Gotham well beyond what I expected.

Response: The Avengers

I’m a lightweight fan when it comes to movies about comic-book characters. I usually enjoy superhero movies, but all the backstory and history and in-jokes go over my head because I’m not a comic-book reader. That goes double for The Avengers, because I managed to miss all the lead-in movies except for the first Iron Man. After The Avengers became the next must-see movie, I read enough online to pick up the gist of who most of the characters were, but for the most part I was flying blind.

So how well does The Avengers work for a complete and utter newbie?

Book vs. Movie: The Hunger Games

The book is always better than the movie, right? Usually there’s no contest, or else the movie is different enough that they can’t be compared. (See Michael Ondaatje’s The English Patient, which was a sweepingly romantic movie and a very literary, non-linear book. See also: Philip K. Dick.) But once in a while they’re close enough that you can look at them both side by side. The Harry Potter series is one. The Hunger Games is another. (Edit: For another take on the book vs. the movie, see the YouTube video by Anita Sarkeesian of Feminist Frequency (found via The Mary Sue).)

Let me start by saying that the movie version of The Hunger Games is a very good adaptation of Suzanne Collins’s book. If you’re a fan of the book, chances are you’ll like the movie. If you discovered the movie first, the book will give you added depth without making you wonder how the story managed to change so much between the two media. Most of the major plot points from the book are still there in the movie; most of the character portrayals matched what I imagined from the book, as does the visual style.

Having said that, here are some pros and cons to each version of the story. Spoilers ahoy!

Movie Nostalgia: Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

In this installment of the Nostalgia series, we’re looking at a classic science fiction movie — Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (or TWOK).

I will admit up front that I’m biased. Star Trek is not something I can be objective about — I have too long a history with Kirk, Spock, and McCoy, as well as the crew of Star Trek: The Next Generation. But hey, that’s why it made the Nostalgia list.

Still, it’s been a very long time since I saw TWOK. I’d been worried about whether it would hold up over time, but on watching it again this weekend, I was surprised. True, I got a certain amount of warm fuzzies from seeing the familiar characters and the Star Trek universe again. Okay, maybe a lot of warm fuzzies. But all that aside…turns out it’s an excellent movie. What exactly makes it good? Read on…

Weekly Roundup

Happy Easter long weekend to those of you who are lucky enough to have one! Here’s the best of what I found online this week…

Book News

Toronto writer Leah Bobet is celebrating the release of her debut novel, Above, featured as a Big Idea piece on John Scalzi’s blog.

General Geekery

The Mary Sue has found art of dapper dinosaurs in top hats.

For the aspiring Companions among us, Doctor Who sticky notes (also via The Mary Sue).

Inspiration

If Narnia is more your style, go forth and ogle this Dawn Treader concept art.

For Writers (and Interested Third Parties)

Adam Roberts has a fascinating post about the importance of monsters as myth and how bigger is not always better (via Juliette Wade).

John Scalzi points out that the identity of the bad guys in science fiction movies often depends on one’s point of view.

 

That’s all for this round. Have a wonderful long weekend!

Going Meta: The Hunger Games

The stunning book cover

As you have no doubt heard, the film version of The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins comes out this week. Even if you haven’t read it, you’ve likely seen the magazine covers or the ad campaign.

And that’s where things get weird. (Or more meta, as the case may be.)

Quick recap: the premise is that in a future version of the United States, teenagers are chosen to fight each other to the death in a televised reality show. Think Survivor, except more so.

Throughout the book, we’re continually reminded of the reality show aspect. (Minor spoilers follow.) Before the games start, Katniss gets dolled up to present the maximum possible spectacle. When she’s in the arena, her thoughts keep returning to the viewers who are watching this brutal show — what they must be thinking, how they’re reacting to events. And so on.

When the book was turned into a movie, we-the-readers suddenly became we-the-viewers. We’ve been placed into the position of the voyeuristic, bloodthirsty hedonists who are (metaphorically) munching popcorn as they watch teenagers thrown into an arena to die. Our gaze forcibly becomes their gaze.

Are we looking at Katniss or Jennifer Lawrence?

The moment when I knew I’d stepped through the looking glass was when I discovered the existence of Hunger Games nail polish.

There’s official merchandise from CafePress, including T-shirts, water bottles, and 50′s-style propaganda.

There’s unofficial merchandise from Etsy, including jewellery and other wearable stuff (WARNING: spoilers for later books in the trilogy).

There are self-referential animated advertising posters (get Cinna’s gold eyeliner!).

You get the idea. The more I discover, the weirder it feels.

On the other hand…a book is not just a book. It’s an action-adventure story with plenty of drama and heartache, but it’s also a critique of our reality-show culture. Survivor and Extreme Makeover: Home Edition were one thing, but now we’re watching Toddlers in Tiaras and Jon & Kate Plus 8 — freak shows, really — and tuning in to the lives of rich people who are famous for nothing more than being famous. When people are inventing things like soccer with tasers, suddenly the Hunger Games don’t seem so unlikely.

If you look at it that way, the fact that the Hunger Games nail polish makes me uncomfortable is actually a good thing. It reminds us that we’re viewers too. So when Katniss looks at the cameras and her face fills the screen, she really is looking at us.

Response: The Woman in Black

I will be the first to admit that I’m not a horror fan. But I am a fan of gothic stories, which is why I decided to see The Woman in Black (2012).

The Woman in Black (2012)

From a gothic perspective, this story has it all — a beautifully decayed manor house, a period setting, deadly supernatural occurrences, a skeptical outsider, a crazy woman, an isolated village full of people behaving strangely, a train, a harsh landscape (in this case a marsh). It also features some very creepy vintage children’s toys.