In Defense of Radagast the Brown

What's up with all the hating on Radagast? I mean, I guess I can understand how he might not be some people's cup-o'-tea . . . but sheesh! Some people actually compared the poor dumpy wizard to Jar Jar Binks. That's right. Jar-freaking-Jar Binks. I don't get it. I went into the movie a little apprehensive about this new wizard on the block, but I was completely blown away. Jump past the break to read why:

Fridays at the Mathom-House: Devin Manning

Its Friday at the Mathom-House again, and we've got some awesome Thorin concept art for you, by Devin Manning . . . check out the rest of his great artwork over at his site, and jump past the break to see some sweet renditions of everyone's favorite (until the lust for gold consumes him, at least) King Under the Mountain!

Bilbo's Contract: Full Text PDF

Pipeweed and other such luxury items shall be provided by Burglar; indeed, not only for himself, but for the other members of the Company if such can be obtained along the way by means pertinent to his profession.

––Bilbo's Contract 

One of my favorite moments in the The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, is when Balin presents Bilbo with the Deed of Contract. Its a classic moment in the book, and although the movie puts its own spin on it, I think that Martin Freeman still carries it off wonderfully. Jump past the break to get access to the full text of the Contract.

Fridays at the Mathom-House: Liz O'Connor

The Mathom-house it was called; for anything that Hobbits had no immediate use for, but were unwilling to throw away, they called a ‘mathom’.

–The Fellowship of the Ring; Prologue 

Yes . . . it's true. It has been AGES since I've visited the Mathom-House. But I stumbled across some sketches of our favorite characters from the Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, and I could not resist posting them. The art is by Lisa O'Connor . . . and it is fantastic. Jump past the break to see more.

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug––What Do We Know So Far?

Well, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey has come and gone. It was awesome, and now we'll all have to wait a few more months until it comes out on Blu-Ray (or longer if you're like me, since I definitely fall under the 'strapped for cash' category and will by saving my pennies for the Extended Edition coming out towards the end of the year) before we'll be able to see it again. Luckily, there's another whole movie coming out in just ten short months! So there is plenty of speculating, theorizing and geeking out ahead of us.

So, I thought I'd round up all the hints of The Desolation of Smaug we've already been given, and remind myself of all of the awesomeness that the next installment of The Hobbit has in store for us. Jump past the break for a quick refresher of all that awaits our hero, Mr. Baggins:

An Unexpected Journey: WETA Digital Effects

Past the jump you'll find three incredibly interesting (and informative videos) about the techniques that WETA used to create the Great Goblin, Azog and Gollum. I was particularly interested to learn that switching Azog to an all-digital character was a very late-in-the-process move. Enjoy!

The Hobbit Review Redux: High Frame Right and other Sundry Thoughts

So . . . lucky me, after nearly two months and a trip down to South America, I finally managed to make it to the theater to see The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey a second (and most likely last) time before its gone from the big screen. What's more, I found a theater in my area that was still showing the movie in the much-talked-about High Frame Rate (HFR), so I was able to experience the show the way Mr. Jackson intended. Waiting two whole months and then seeing the movie in a new format gave me the chance to see the show with "fresh eyes" as it were. So, what did I think of HFR? What was my opinion of the movie going back and seeing it again? Read on, brave reader, past the break and you'll find out.

Incoming: The Desolation of Smaug

So . . . this has been floating around the interwebs for weeks now, but seeing as how I've been out o' the country for a while, I thought I'd better jump back into the whole blog thing ASAP. So . . . here goes.

BILBO IN THE FREAKING LONELY MOUNTAIN! SCRAMBLING THROUGH A PILE OF GOLD!

Awesome . . .

More posts coming soon . . . I promise.

Hobbit Concept Art

Here are some fantastic concept art images by John Howe and Alan Lee from the new book The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Chronicles that is now for sale. Jump past the break to see the rest.

A Review––The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

Wow. Just wow. That was quite the movie. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey was every bit the adventure it claimed to be. And like any adventure, it had its share of good parts, fantastic parts, not-so-good parts, and (in my opinion) some very-well timed funny parts as well. I thoroughly enjoyed it, despite being a bit apprehensive after having read a lot of mixed reviews over the past few days. How did it stack up against the LOTR trilogy? Difficult to say, really. It was a different story, with different goals and motivations. But, if forced to rank AUJ against the LOTR films, I'd have to say I thought it at least as good as ROTK, better than TT and nearly as good as FOTR. Of course, I've had a lot of time to think (and re-watch) the LOTR films, so my final opinion will undoubtedly change in the future. I'll dive into the details after the break . . . so read on, Tolkien fan, and see what An Unexpected Journey  has in store for you.