“I don’t wanna survive…i wanna live”

12 Years A Slave

TRAILER – For those who for some reason haven’t heard of this

***Spoilers likely but i won’t be going into much detail***

So, you’ve probably at least heard of this film. It seems to be a front runner for a lot of big awards and i don’t think i’ve seen a bad word against it. Directed by Steve McQueen and with an absolutely fantastic cast…I saw this film yesterday.

Well…gosh. It’s quite hard to talk about this film as i would normally because it feels utterly wrong to use phrases like “well that bit was really good” or “i really enjoyed that bit” because that really wouldn’t sit well.

The film is a good film! It really is…if you re-evaluate the term “good” in your head to fit the situation. It’s not nice and entertaining i wouldn’t say you sit through it and enjoy it…but i can certainly appreciate that as a film it is fantastic. It’s certainly a heavy watch…as you would expect with this subject, it’s a brutal and honest account and at between 2 and 2 and a half hours there really isn’t much relief from the mood. I mean…as scenarios you can think of for the end of this film goes…we probably get the best one. But i certainly found myself thinking, “well..that’s a…happy? ending…but i can’t appreciate it at all”.

There were points where i physically had to turn away and it had me crying by the end.

I’ve not really painted a nice picture of this film have i? haha! It is..as you expect, a horrific subject and difficult to watch…but you should..it is an experience!

As i mentioned earlier..what a cast! Really really brilliant all round!

Chiwetel Ejiofor…WOW! He plays Solomon Northup who’s story we follow and he is in pretty much every scene i think, but boy he certainly carries this film and carries it brilliantly! I think this film will do wonderful things for him. He’s been in quite a few films/tv shows if you check out his IMDB page ….but i must admit the only thing i’d really known him for was “that guy who Keira Knightley gets married to in Love Actually but no one pays that much attention to him because that other guy’s in love with her” haha!!

Michael Fassbender and Lupita Nyong’o especially (who it seems is very new to the acting scene! I hope she gets a lot of work in the future she is truly fantastic!) are amazing.

One thing i will touch on is the fact it is based on a true story. Personally, i tend to struggle to truly see the reality of huge terrible events..whether they be part of history or even now. I have small moments of realisation when the horror truly hits me but i’ve noticed this as i’ve learnt more about myself growing up i find it hard to hold onto that. The film draws to a conclusion by bringing up some small facts about Solomon’s future…how he took those responsible for his treatment to trial..even his kidnappers. Cases which he lost. These facts appearing at the end was something that really drilled it home for me. It’s almost easier to disassociate yourself from the reality of these things when you’re watching a film but you suddenly think “wow..what i just witnessed actually happened” and that’s quite a thought.

I’ll wrap it up by mentioning the score for the film. I’m going to have to look into it more but i saw in the credits it was by Hans Zimmer. No wonder it was beautiful. The music was a part of the film i really noticed and thought i will have to listen to separately…even despite everything else that was going on!

So, as i say….see the film! You should! It’s a marvelous piece! It really does stay with you..i’ve thought about it a lot today!

I promised i would do this…and i think i must try…

Okay! So here we go! Desolation of Smaug time!! I saw it on Friday and gosh…yes i very much enjoyed it!!

I apologise for the length of this in advance but this film is a massive deal for me!

Happy to share any opinions on things i miss out! Would love to know what you all thought too!

**I VERY much recommend not reading this unless you have seen the film, it’s NOT spoiler free!!**

Right, i suppose the best way to go about this is to sort of..make my way through the film or i’ll lose track (as much as i can remember anyway..it turned into one big excited blur hahaha)

Very much enjoyed the sort of…prologue not prologue thing, it was a good way to start the film without diving into the action, just reminds everybody what’s happening and lets us know a bit more about how they got to be on the journey. Gandalf you bloody well don’t mind sending people off into trouble eh!

Peter Jackson cameo..very clever! Those who have seen him in the Fellowship will be extra pleased! Plus i think i spotted his daughter Katie as the bar maid! (Speaking of cameos i didn’t recognise Stephen Colbert but i remembered the character…eye-patch in Laketown!)

Beorn’s House – now i’ve been trying not to compare this film to the book too much..mostly because..i’ve never enjoyed a book more and whilst i knew it wouldn’t be the same there are some moments i think “aw..wish we’d seen a bit more of that” but…hey ho what can you do. Beorn’s house was one of them, i’m holding out hope for the extended edition here…the clever way Gandalf gets them into his house in the book is non-existent…but seeing his bear form was certainly exciting…as was the scene! 

Gandalf/Necromancer – Well i’ll pop this in here…well…oohoo! Gandalf is so COOL man. And i’m really happy we got to see where he went when he left them. I know a lot of this was setting up for the next film and indeed for Lord of the Rings…it got me super excited though! Especially the soundtrack as there was so much similar to the evil and Sauron themes from LOTR. Necromancer was super awesome! Scary!

Mirkwood – Now i’ve the same feelings here mostly…i will say though i understand that the idea of the film is that they’re very much in a rush to get to Erebor before Durin’s day, so i have no problem with the idea that they passed through places fairly quickly..these start scenes did feel rather short and rushed at times though, however..it didn’t take away from the enjoyment of what we saw!!!

I think the whole…hallucinations in Mirkwood thing was great! Nice amount of humour mixed with downright weirdness but considering it had the potential to be really cheesy it wasn’t at all!! Loved Bilbo going up into the trees!!

Speaking of Bilbo, i understand the comments that there wasn’t enough of him, i agree but i do understand…it’s hard to establish all the new characters and things if you’re always focusing on him.Though i wish we’d seen a little more of some of his big moments (i.e. spiders, freeing the dwarves) apart from his Smaug face-off of course…that was epic! His scenes..however many…were positively GOLDEN. He was brilliant.

Spiders – As much as i HATE spiders i was looking forward to this scene so much because i enjoyed it immensely in the book!! Little Bilbo being badass!! And we certainly got some of that!! And Sting! Yey! The spiders were suitably disgusting and again it was quite a short scene…..however….i think it got the ideas of the scene across well and gave Bilbo a very lovely moment with the ring. (I say lovely….lovely from a Martin-Freeman-you’re-so-brilliant point of view..not lovely for Bilbo) And i’m happy we got to see Bilbo having his hero moments before the elves showed up.

I’m sure i’ve said this before in a LOTR post but aw..ring-happy Bilbo really upsets me..he’s so innocent and lovely and i hate seeing it have an effect on him..but it’s very well done!

Elves – Hello! I confess…a highlight for me was seeing beautiful Legolas back in action…he was brilliant! Also, that moment where he’s talking to Gloin and take his little locket thing with pictures in it of his wife and son.. “that’s my wee lad Gimli” AHHH! such a moment. Thranduil and his eyebrows were awesome. I had a really scary dream about him last night he was so angry with me and i don’t know why….

As i say i sort of wish we’d seen more of Bilbo sort of making his way around Mirkwood/the elf halls and learning about how he could get the dwarves out..it just sort of happened and made it look easy. I shall hold out for the extended edition but as i say i understand the sense of urgency to the film so.

Tauriel and Kili – Now i have to admit before the film i was a little worried about this. Mostly because of the whole elf/dwarf thing, i didn’t want it to ruin the special relationship between Legolas and Gimli in LOTR. I was always totally fine with having Tauriel in the film, i’m all for more ladies and badass ones at that woo! And i know Evangeline is also a massive Tolkien fan so i trusted her with it!

I think Tauriel and Kili was actually handled brilliantly. For the most part it just seemed like they were a bit more empathetic towards one another regardless of race, which was nice. I feel maybe it stretched out throughout the film a little much and the whole healing thing was…maybe a tad odd personally but it was nothing i couldn’t cope with!

Barrels – Woohoo! I loved the addition to this, i mean yeah it’s obviously different to the book but in the end..dwarves in closed barrels with a hobbit on top for 2 days doesn’t translate too well into film…i mean it could but..it’s not very exciting visually!

Laketown– Laketown..what a gorgeous set! Super lovely..plus i LOVE the soundtrack for Laketown..some brilliant themes! Stephen Fry was very good and his little servant dude Alfrid…very suitable annoying and slimy. I saw the actor (Ryan…Gage i think?) asked to compare his character to Grima Wormtounge…said he wasn’t anywhere near as smart and wasn’t serving a super powerful wizard! True.

Bard – LOVED Bard. Yeah! Really giving the humans a good light in this film. Didn’t expect to like him as much as i did but i very much sympathised with him. I was even routing for him over the dwarves at points! Also those playing his children (including James Nesbitt’s 2 daughters..who are absolutely gorgeous) did very well!

Okay even i’m getting bored of my waffling now…let’s get to it!

Smaug – Well well bloody well. I always expected to be impressed by Smaug but i’d never really sat around and tried to imagine him. Boy was i impressed…SOO impressed. What a fantastic creation! He looked fantastic! Shoutout to Benedict Cumberbatch (did you know he did the voice..AND the motion capture…hahahah) well they certainly picked the right fellow for this! Fantastically terrifying voice. Though i must apologise to Benedict i honestly didn’t have time to consider the motion capture work he was doing most of the time…i was just staring in wonder and excitement throughout the scene! It will take more viewings to fully appreciate it for sure!

Of course the scene was a massive extension on the book..leading to later include the dwarves etc. But i honestly thought it was a brilliant idea…in the book of course it’s an excellent moment but yes if you’re bringing the film to it’s end (without actually getting Smaug to reach HIS end) you need more..and boy did we get it! Smaug being covered in gold was so beautiful.

Smaug vs Bilbo was a fantastic moment from both sides. Smaug had some brilliant lines. The fact he got to refer to Bilbo as carrying “something precioussssss” was just..SUPER!

Can’t wait for There and Back Again!

Well….thief….where are you? Come now..don’t be shy….step into the light!

And I see fire, inside the mountain…

So! In the anxious wait for Howard Shore’s soundtrack to The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug…we have a small treat to tide us over!

I was super excited to hear what we’d get for the credits song this time around because they’re always so brilliant! It has some mighty big shoes to fill though, after Song of the Lonely Mountain for An Unexpected Journey and of course those throughout the Lord of the Rings trilogy!

So!

I See Fire – Ed Sheeran

The video for the song can be found over at PETER JACKSON’S FACEBOOK PAGE along with the story of how they came to choose him to do the song. It’s actually a really lovely read, i wasn’t at all surprised to hear that Peter’s daughter Katie had been a big part in introducing them to his music so that’s lovely! Plus knowing that Ed was shown the film and then pretty much had the song done and dusted in a day really gives a really nice background to it!

I admit, i saw Ed Sheeran announce he’d done the song the day before i heard it…so as you can imagine there was a certain amount of uncertainty. I’m a big believer in not pre-judging things like this, plus we’ve had great things in the past – in Jackson we trust!

Having listened to it a number of times since yesterday…as a credits song it’s really growing on me!

Me original thoughts were “i really like it as a song..as a credits song i’m going to have to give it a few more listens” and hey, i may not be in the majority of Middle Earth fans here but i’m really liking it! I’ve seen nobody being overly negative, some seem to feel like the tone of the song doesn’t really fit a Middle Earth film, which i completely understand…but in fairness we’ve not seen the film yet! I think once we see the film and this pops up at the end, people may feel different..we’ll see!

And last year when i first heard SONG OF THE LONELY MOUNTAIN – BY NEIL FINN it took me a bit of getting used to but now i love it! Plus it’s ripe with memories of the first time i saw An Unexpected Journey. I’m loving the songs having a character point of view, Neil Finn’s song seemed to be from the dwarves, talking about the quest in general..off to get their home back etc. I see Fire seems to be from Thorin’s view. I’m mostly assuming this because of the lyrics and the use of a Thorin quote which Richard Artmitage mentioned in the Fan Event on Monday night, plus it can be heard in the NEW TRAILER FOR THE FILM which we also saw on Monday.

I shall leave you with the credits songs of the LOTR trilogy! (If you have the extended DVDs of Return of the King ..or it might be on youtube..be sure to check out the story of Cameron Duncan – the inspiration behind into the west. It’s a sad story but he was a lovely young man)

The Fellowship of the Ring: May It Be – Enya

The Two Towers: Gollum’s Song – Emiliana Torrini

The Return of the King: Into The West – Annie Lennox

Also! A little extra for you!

Use Well The Days – Annie Lennox

I believe this was an original thought for the credits of Return of the King but they went with Into The West!

“You want the truth you should seek it out for yourself. That’s what they’re afraid of. You.”

Finally getting around to talking about “The Fifth Estate”…memory isn’t as fresh as it was a week ago when i saw it but University took over a bit this week!

I made THIS post back in July about the film as promotional trailers and pictures etc. started being released in anticipation for October if you want to see the trailer/find out more about it.

So yes! I saw that the other night! And i emphasise night, i don’t think there were too many super packed out cinema screenings of this film..well not in my little corner of the woods anyway, maybe in bigger towns or cities, but the only time available for me was nearly 10pm! Was sat with about 6 other people in a screen that held nearly 300 haha it was fun! But i’ve got to say, this whole obsession with it being a ‘box office flop’ is a bit out of context. It’s an extremely sort of niche audience. It’s not your typical film to start attracting everybody! They probably released it a bit wider than necessary.

I think as well, it started getting some so-so reviews, which probably didn’t encourage lots of people (who may not have wanted to already) to go check it out the way it might have done if it had had amazing ones. (The slight negatives being on the film itself in general..the performances were always regarded as brilliant!)

I’m getting the negatives out the way first so please DO NOT BE PUT OFF BY WHAT I’VE SAID SO FAR, it’s getting better xD! Because well, here’s my thoughts anyway!

**Watch out for minor spoilers but i wont go into too much detail**

Okay, so i enjoyed it! I actually really did. I didn’t think it was boring or slow, alright i can admit there may have been a couple of odd moments or slightly cheesy bits…not really sure what was going on with the flashbacks at some points and the whole big computer room metaphor had it’s moments but i liked it!

And just so you know i’m not being biased as a fan of Benedict Cumberbatch (as i say, most reviews weren’t blown away by the film but commented that the performances, Benedict as Julian Assange in particular, were brilliant!) my dad very much enjoyed it too!

Also, i admit it is probably hard to get a film containing so many shots and plots (wayhey) of computer screens to look exciting, but they used a few different techniques from bringing the text up on screen, having the characters voicing their computer based conversations over the top or simply just showing the screen for us to read.

Let us remember that it was a dramatasation..the director and cast and crew etc. have always tried to make that fact clear, the film isn’t just showing us hardcore minute by minute facts. They use, if i remember correctly, a couple of completely fictional characters to show us, on a more personal level, some of the consequences of the actions shown throughout, which helps the audience feel more connected the story. They also added a bit of (not necessarily true i hear) drama in for Daniel Brühl’s character (Daniel Domsheit-Berg) to show the sacrifices he made in the rest of his life when committing to Wikileaks.

So i got about half way through this film and thought to myself “oh yeah..Benedict is in this isn’t he!” haha! That’s not to say i didn’t recognise him, of course i did, but he completely becomes Assange to the point where you forget you’re watching him acting on screen, there’s barely an inch of the real Benedict to be seen in him! Mannerisms, speech, accent everything – spot on! Many who know Assange (including the reports from the Guardian newspaper depicted in the film by…i think David Thewlis and Dan Stevens? Correct me if that’s not right) made a big point to mention how eerily accurate his portrayal was! Even David Cameron praised his portrayal (I can’t decide if that’s a thing to be proud of or not) ….once he was corrected on the pronunciation of ‘Cumberbatch’.

Honestly, i thought the performances in the film more than make up for any short-comings. Things like maybe gratuitous shots of the camera spinning around and around a character to portray his inner conflict (point well made but..yes) could be forgotten pretty much immediately because you were soon drawn back into the characters and their story.

I heard through the grape vine that Daniel Domsheit-Berg was overall pretty pleased with the film (his book was one of the accounts they film was based on) Julian Assange however (knowing what the film was based on and, given the nature of how things ended with them, pretty unsurprisingly ) was pretty convinced it was going to be darn awful and show himself everything he’s done in a terrible light. I don’t know if he’s properly seen it? But i don’t think he had as much to worry about as he first thought.

I do feel the film was very balanced in views. It doesn’t portray Assange as a huge hero but neither does it turn him into a villain by any means. Okay i think maybe he comes across as quite an odd (for severe lack of a better word…no disrespect meant!) character personality wise (i’m sure he doesn’t see it that way) but he’s not shown as a bad person! I personally thought the film ended on a positive note for him. They addressed the idea that anyone was harmed due to the actions of Wikileaks (Benedict as Julian saying there was never any evidence to suggest that) and a couple of other similar points that may have otherwise been taken the wrong way by an audience if the film had gone without the ending scene in the embassy.

Alright so the film doesn’t exactly tell us anything new about the story seeing as it was all over the news at the time, it doesn’t aim to sway your views in one direction or the other, it lets you see the story and decide for yourself..even if you have no strong opinions (like me..as i was pretty ignorant to this set of events before the run up to this film and i still can no where near say i’m any kind of expert) then i think it will at least spark some thought..which i believe is the point.

P.S. Check out the soundtrack by Carter Burwell – really good!

“Where’s the light coming from?” … “Same place as the music”

The title is a conversation between Sean Astin (Samwise Gamgee in Lord of the Rings) and Andrew Lesnie (part of the crew..i think he’s director of photography or something similar but feel free to correct me my memory fails me!), during the cast commentary of Return of the King. It’s during the scene in Cirith Ungol where Sean was questioning the light source in the building….beautiful answer Andrew!

But back to the topic at hand! Today is the 67th birthday of the one and only…

HOWARD SHORE!

 

Source

All the awards indeed! I’m sure somewhere along the line in your movie watching careers you’ve heard a soundtrack composed by Howard Shore!

Here is his IMDB PAGE to see a list of them and lots of other goodies! There’s always more than i think he’s done. Things like Silence of the Lambs, Mrs Doubtfire, Eclipse (Twilight Saga) and of course Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies (among many many more!)

I’m sure i’ll mostly waffle about his work in Middle Earth here because i could go on for days…but i have seen the Twilight Saga (chuffed that he did the soundtrack for Eclipse as i spend most of the film turning to my friend discussing which bits of the soundtrack sounded familiar…there’s a scene where a heap of newborn vampires are walking out of some water…definitely reminded me of the scene in Shelob’s cave!!) and also I remember watching ‘Hugo’ (lovely film that..loved it!)…and half way through going “who does the music for this? It sounds like Howard Shore!” looked it up…it sure is!

That’s typical of me, couldn’t tell you who sings half the songs in the chart nowadays but recognise certain composers much easier!!

Honestly, this man…if i ever come face to face with him i think i might hug him forever and that’ll be him trapped for good. I think he’s bloody brilliant, I’ve seen a couple of videos of him being interviewed when composing Lord of the Rings, you see him really getting involved in the set up of the film and always going back to the books for inspiration, which i think certainly contributes to how perfectly he captures the feel and essence of the films and Middle Earth themselves.

He did get a cameo! (Sorry i couldn’t find a better picture right now) but in the extended edition of Return of the King, during Legolas and Gimli’s drinking game back in Edoras..he’s having a good ol’ laugh with the guys and you see him for a split second!

I’d say up there with Peter Jackson coming back to direct the Hobbit trilogy, i was completely chuffed to pieces that Howard Shore was coming back to do the music. The soundtrack is such an underrated part of a film..and when you think about it, it almost completes the film itself, there is 100% no way Lord of the Rings would be the same without the impact from the score!

An example for you here from Return of the King

THE LIGHTING OF THE BEACONS

This is one of my favourite, and most powerful scenes of the film. Breathtaking. Howard Shore completely owns this scene and man, i’m glad he got that Oscar!

As i was saying, thrilled he came back fro the Hobbit trilogy. He would have the most knowledge of the LOTR score (obviously) and we hear his recurring themes and how he molds and changes them throughout the films but adapts them to the scene or situation. In the first Hobbit film for example, we hear lots of themes again like themes from The Shire, Rivendell, Lothlorien..but there’s new features added and things on a slightly different level, to remind us we’re still in Middle Earth, but it’s not Lord of the Rings. Being (probably overly so) familiar with the LOTR soundtrack, i remember buying the score for An Unexpected Journey before the film came out and wow, did it really start things off for me.

I’m so beyond excited for the soundtrack to Desolation of Smaug, a lot of new themes on the horizon! Of course where i’ll always miss themes from Lord of the Rings such as Gondor, Rohan (especially!) and others, this film opens us up to Laketown, Mirkwood, Beorn’s House and Beorn himself, and more of Erebor and Smaug which we’ve heard hints too in the soundtrack of the first film!

I’ll leave you with a couple of my favourite tracks from Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit!

The Battle of Pelennor Fields

The Bridge of Khazad Dum

The Mouth of Sauron (You wont regret this one…from the Mouth of Sauron scene right up to “But i can carry you!” gorgeous!)

Concerning Hobbits

Elanor (I completely sob all the way through this….”The End”)

The Adventure Begins

My Dear Frodo

A Good Omen

Dreaming of Bag End (UGH…i love this..i LOVE it)

Okay..maybe more than i couple..i’ll stop now before you get the entire soundtrack!