you too man (from one Aussie to another, via London and Down in Front)

Thanks for the thoughts - some great observations there.

Yes, the actual finding of the ring scene is totally different, and I'm surprised they didn't attempt to match it. There's no reason why Bilbo could not have crawled out of where he was hiding and found it on all fours like he did at he beginning of Fellowship. And not only was the scene different, it was played very casually in a long shot. I was expecting an overcranked close-up, with foreboding music - signifying 'THIS IS A BIG DEAL!'

The stone trolls seemed to match their position between the two movies.

But another continuity error that's now arisen is that Gandalf says to Bilbo at the beginning of Fellowship that he hasn't aged a day (the ring keeps him young) when there's a 40+ year difference between Ian Holm and Martin Freeman.

Yes, the rotunda gazebo was beautiful. How much?

And yes, the cave scenes were way overlit. We've established the moon isn't full. Nor is there any fluorescence. You would have only needed a 3 second insert to establish that. Is the bright lighting to  counter the 3D glasses... for those cinemas that can't calibrate their projectors properly?

Another question (spoilers):

Why do both Thorin and Gandalf agree that the Rivendell elves will try to stop the quest (and so they must lie about it e.g. academic interest only) and then when Elrond finds out, he's not that bothered.

Why does Balin attempt to stop Thorin handing the map to Elrond, and then as soon as the runes are deciphered he blurts out the actual mission objective  right in front of Elrond?

It was when they were separated by the stone giant fight that there was brief moment that Kili and Fili were separated. Yes, I thought allocating each of the dwarves special abilities would have been a no-brainer. Like the old A-Team or Blakes 7 e.g. one's a projectile weapons specialist, one's a bomb-disposal expert, one's good mechanical engineer, one's a computer hacker, one's a lock-picker, one's a strong-man, one's a good sneak, one's a charmer, one's a climber, one's a master of disguise, etc. 13 dwarves, 13 skills. Shouldn't be too hard.

Yeah, lots of the people are having these conflicted thoughts. It is a letdown after LOTR were so perfect.

Hopefully Radagast will pay off.

As for the long action fight scenes, they could definitely be trimmed, but they did look smoother in the 48fps version. T

Positives: score, Wargs, landscape porn, Thorin, Rivendell, Goblin King, Trolls, Riddles scene, lucious production design, finale was okay, second song
Negatives: almost none of the humour worked, excessive CG, childish tone, cockney villains, bland Martin Freeman performance, Pale Orc too cartoonish, contrived emotional arc, unrealistic action, dwarves indistinguishable, first song

These clowns have a go...

http://redlettermedia.com/half-in-the-b … d-journey/

Good post, thanks. Interesting read and some thought-provoking theories about learned response, idealized motion, etc.

So the jury is still out on whether this is the future. If it is learned response, then young kids who grow up on 3D OLED screens should perceive The Hobbit as natural/normal and 24P as old fashioned (like we look back at old blurry old black & white movies from the 1930s).

It is weird - every other advance in cinema over the last century gives you more: more colour, more contrast, more audio channels (& with 3D two separate visual 'channels'), more screen size, more resolution,... and yet this one thing, HFR, is perceived as a backwards step. More is suddenly less.

So far we've seen Gandalf call the Eagles three times (from Orthanc, outside the Black Gate, and at the end of the Hobbit) and three times they've come. Talk about air-support. I love the smell of pipe-weed in the morning.

You could have a scene where Gandalf calls and the Eagles don't come. Or they take a high altitude dump on the dwarves to shown their disdain. That would send the message they're no-one's bitches.

But at the end of The Hobbit, the Lonely Mountain is right there - it's just ahead. Not here, just a bit further while you're at it. We'll even throw in the fat dwarf as a tasty reward.

The Radagast smoking gag wasn't funny, nor was the stick insect in the mouth. Nor was how Radagast was going around in circles stupidly leading the orcs back to the dwarf party. Does anyone know why the giant spiders aborted their attack on his rat-infested hovel? Is it because even they have standards?

Did anyone find Thorin's rejection of Bilbo a little abrupt after the Stone Giants scene? I know it was set up at the beginning but he seemed like he was coming around after the Trolls and then all of a sudden Thorin loses his nut when Bilbo slips on the rock.

Also how was Bilbo expecting to get back from the mountains on his own when the path was just destroyed?

How did Gollum not hear Bilbo when he was invisible? We could clearly hear him moving around in the sound mix, so it's not like Sting masks the sound as well.

Why did Azog announce that 'Thorin is mine' and then order one of his underlings to kill him?

How many wargs were there in the final attack? The party knocked off a few in the initial charge. Even Bilbo killed one. Then the Eagles really cleared them out, two or three at a time. Then we see the final 'I will get you' scene on the promontory and it's still covered in wargs. Do they respawn?

Gandalf is the Necromancer - as he just resurrected Thorin with a spell at the end.

Why did the Eagles drop off everyone short of the destination (and in line of sight of the destination) when time is pressing? Surely Gandalf could have put another few coins in the meter, and the Eagles seem to be under his command.

It's funny how Australians get cast as all the leaders in each realm. Goblin King = Aussie. Leader of Rivendell = Aussie. Leader of Lothlorien = Aussie. Leader of Gondor = Aussie.

I disagree - the action scenes were better in the HFR. The dialogue & landscape scenes were probably better in the IMAX 24fps.

Just came back from IMAX 24fps (after first seeing it elsewhere at 48fps) and there's a world of difference with the panning shots. The sequences where (1) Randagast leads the orcs away, and (2) the breaking out of the mines escape action sequence are MUCH clearer at 48fps. Frenetic action in 24fps 3D is blurry.

Spoilers:
The humour is just as flat in both. The combination of Martin Freeman's understated (even bland) performance combined with the camera lingering on him doesn't work. Four examples: (1) the fainting scene needs to shortened - it's not funny, (2) the scene where Bilbo changes his mind in the morning about joining the adventure is done without any emotion,  (3) the reaction to 'if we win we eats it?' is too long (3) and the scene where Bilbo pulls the sword out of the dead warg and stares expressionless (forever) at the charging wargs. All four scenes need a trim or better take. They could have almost cast Sam Worthington. Perhaps blandness works better for international box office - as its not culturally specific.

Also, I'm not sure if I want a sword that glows blue in the presence of Orcs when it's going to give my location away in the dark. I'd be asking the Elvish Appstore for a refund on that spell.