The Hobbit; Hurrah!

Oh sorry bags my mind was running along the lines of - only men do stuff like have adventures. and in the "workplace" there is no romance. (at least between the sexes!)
Boys school, WW1 army, academic life - Pemroke College Oxford

It's such a long time since I read the book. Was a lot of the film created just to fill 3 films because I wasn't familiar with a lot of what I saw today?

Yes, I know, but family life does count, even in Oxford. I'm suggesting that the 'lack of love' in the Hobbit may be because it was written for children.

I was thinking of his working environment bags rather than his family life.

haven't seen the film by the way, and it's yonks since I read the book. I liked it, sort of. Not a huge fan though.

Tolkein had children (including girls) and wrote The Hobbit for them.

Why don't we leave novels to be novels and let filmmakers be filmamakers?

ignore my previous post completely

I wish there was a delete button - I was getting James Nesbitt mixed up with James McAvoy. And I get your point about James Nesbitt entirely and of course he isn't Scottish. I do apologise!

James Nesbitt has, naturally, a Scottish accent but managed acceptable RP in Atonement and Mr Tumnus in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe didn't seem to be a Scottish faun.

no love in hobbit. Tolkein lived in all male Oxbridge bubble?

Oh; falls to earth with a bump; was bored right from the start . Felt it was just made for the 3D effects. Agree about the NZ scenery [wow]. Kept wondering why one minute they're having to fight to defend themselves but the next minute Gandalf is doing some wizady stuff that saves them [why doesn't he just do it all the time]. Reminded me of when I saw the first of the new Star Wars films and got sick of the battles. Actually thought Bilbo was ok [and James Nesbitt shone even though he's always James Nesbitt..can he not do accents at all? maybe it's a case of 'we're paying for James Nesbitt so we want everyone to know it's him']. Yes; Thorin was good also. [I think I miss Strider ]. I can't believe I'm saying this as I always think it's unnecessary in a film, but I also missed any sort of 'love story' going on. DVD next time I think. And, when Bilbo's coat got covered in Troll snot how did he manage to clean it, or was it covered in snot for the duration? [yucky yuck ]

After much deliberation my casting shortlist for actors who could play Bilbo now has 2 actors. Rob Bryden and Lenny Henry

I'd heard it gets better towards the end. Too many orcs; y'can't have too many orcs. Now elves, that's a different matter...

Sigh. Big disappointment. Too much CG fighting with orcs etc (deja vue)
No charm whatsoever. Poor casting of Bilbo. Too dragged out to make it last 3 films.
The sheriff of nottingham was great as Thorin (now there's an actor!) and NZ scenery made me sigh.
But I did doze off at one point.
My mind is now off on a quest for a better casting of Bilbo. Martin whatsit is always the same and not a good enough actor for such a huge part.
A younger David Jason would have made a much better one. David Tennant - too thin by far. .... hum.... something to mull over while doing my first roast dinner of the xmas season.
Help!!!!

Yup NZ good on braided rivers. And many other things. Yearn yearn.
And I hope NZ gets a few tourist dollars out of it because the NZ taxpayer shelled out a crazy amount of money to keep the filming there.
The Hobbit always was a much tighter yarn that L of the R's. I went for a little walk outside in the middle of one of those. One can only take so many battles with orcs.

I can't repeat what he said about the books without using the 'f' word. [they were at uni together...]

Not discovered any links no! Unless he or a close relative was my unamed paternal grandfather! Did C S Lewis have reservations about Tolkiens work? I think I have heard of some rivalry, somewhere over the years.

I don't like fantasy novels, but I watched it for the New Zealand scenery!

I do hope the GC will want to see it at Christmas time or do I need an excuse?

It's not supposed to be interesting. It's exciting pretend!

.. too many elves?......[you're not related to C S Lewis are you, Nellie?]

I was not a fan of any of the Lord of Rings trilogy. Unbelievable CGI landscapes, mock archaic language, too many elves, monsters and interminable battles. Just not my scene. The best bit was a lovely shot of a braided river system in a glaciated valley. Such wonderful examples of natural landforms are much more interesting.

It looks great doesn't it? I can't wait either

Used the wrong thingy there didn't I!

Yippee! smile