Trailer is Here for ‘The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey’

After hearing all of the worrying issues that caused Guillermo del Toro to leave the director’s chair in pursuit of other projects, and the long period of relative silence from production, it’s a relief to find some footage of Peter Jackson’s upcoming adaptation of The Hobbit today, in the form of a gorgeous trailer courtesy Collider.

Kind of nostalgic, isn’t it? It’s really nice to see that budget problems and creative changes don’t appear to have affected Peter Jackson’s interpretation of Middle Earth at all, and it’s a little embarrassing to admit how happy I am to be back in Bag End, and to see some old faces once again.

In addition to the trailer above, Collider also included a beautiful poster, along with the movie’s official synopsis:

“The Hobbit” follows the journey of title character Bilbo Baggins, who is swept into an epic quest to reclaim the lost Dwarf Kingdom of Erebor, which was long ago conquered by the dragon Smaug. Approached out of the blue by the wizard Gandalf the Grey, Bilbo finds himself joining a company of thirteen dwarves led by the legendary warrior, Thorin Oakensheild. Their journey will take them into the Wild; through treacherous lands swarming with Goblins and Orcs, deadly Wargs and Giant Spiders, Shapeshifters and Sorcerers.

Although their goal lies to the East and the wastelands of the Lonely Mountain first they must escape the goblin tunnels, where Bilbo meets the creature that will change his life forever … Gollum.

Here, alone with Gollum, on the shores of an underground lake, the unassuming Bilbo Baggins not only discovers depths of guile and courage that surprise even him, he also gains possession of Gollum’s “precious” ring that holds unexpected and useful qualities … A simple, gold ring that is tied to the fate of all Middle-earth in ways Bilbo cannot begin to know.

The trailer is vague, but if you’ve read the book you’ll know that things look as dedicated and faithful to the source material as all of the Lord of the Rings films before it. Of course, they’ve kept Smaug and the other creatures out of sight for the time being, which is a maddening tease, particularly after reading the massive feature on del Toro that was written in the New Yorker back in February. The interview, in addition to delving into the filmmaker’s fascinating story and older work, eventually went on to describe in detail some of the amazing designs del Toro has come up with for his fantastical creatures, including The Hobbit‘s iconic dragon:

“Smaug’s body, as del Toro had imagined it, was unusually long and thin. The bones of its wings were articulated on the dorsal side, giving the creature a slithery softness across its belly. “It’s a little bit more like a snake,” he said.

Smaug’s front legs looked disproportionately small, like those of a T. Rex. This would allow the dragon to assume a different aspect in closeup; the camera could capture ‘hand’ gestures and facial expressions in one tight frame, avoiding the quivery distractions of wins and tail […] Smaug’s eyes, del Toro added, were “going to be sculpturally very hidden.” This would create a sense of drama when the thieving Bilbo stirs the beast from slumber.”

There’s a lot more about Smaug’s description and concept in the full article, and all of it sounds awesome (The article is a must-read). Obviously the dragon might not feature at all in the upcoming movie, as An Unexpected Journey is only the first half of the story, but it’s a safe bet that del Toro would pour that same dedication and creativity into all of Middle Earth’s inhabitants, and I desperately hope that Peter Jackson is incorporating as much of his designs as possible into the final film.

I’m really excited for The Hobbit films, if you can’t tell. The trilogy is arguably the largest cinematic event of our generation, but even on top of that, I always felt the Hobbit was the best of the novels. The potential for these final Tolkien adaptations is paralleled only by our expectations of them – it’s a lot to overcome, but Jackson has proved before he doesn’t shy away from huge undertakings. 2012 can’t come fast enough.

Review: HBO’s ‘True Blood’ Season 4, Episode 11 – “Soul of Fire”

I wasn’t even sure if this review was going to happen at all this week.  I spent the holiday with my parents, who still watch things on VHS, and do not subscribe to HBO.  I don’t know if the rest of you had problems with HBO Go not letting you log in to the site, but after 45 minutes of trying usernames and passwords not only for myself, but a good chunk of other writers for the site, I gave up.  I will have all of you know that the s’mores I made instead were delicious.

A day late, but I’m still here, providing you my sarcastic diatribe and serving up another helping of True Blood commentary.

Let the spoilers begin…..

I felt like this episode was mostly filler.  At the end of last week’s episode, I was pumped!  Vampires dressed all in black, carrying badass weapons, walking in slow-mo to a guitar riff – I was expecting action, explosions, and swear words.  And though all of these things found their way into this week’s episode, I still felt oddly unsatisfied.  More screen time was spent chanting in a wind machine and trying to fight an invisible force field – I felt like I was watching a high school media project.

The plot line was predictable.  Shit’s about to go down, and there’s F–KIN’ SOOKIE, right there in the middle of everything.  Again.  This girl is such a glutton for thrills.  She gets off on being in the wrong place at the wrong time.  And still, Bill and Eric are willing to die for her, over and over again.  With a damsel in this much distress, these two must start to feel less like knights in shining armor and more like fanged babysitters.

 It also turns out that Marnie is the crazy one, not Antonia.  After Marnie stabs a girl in the heart with a dagger, she casts a binding spell so Antonia can’t leave her, as she desperately wants to do.  The spell she casts is broken by Jesus, voiced by Dr. Claw from Inspector Gadget, cutting himself in the bathroom.

Then the vamps are free to break in and shoot her down; which is a real shame, because they had just gotten the hang of the Thriller dance outside.

 Predictably, Lafayette’s medium abilities come full circle, and he is possessed by Marnie.  Nothing like a crazy witch before bed, it really does the trick.  Like warm milk.  I get that this was an attempt at a twist ending, but did anyone else see this coming about ten minutes into the episode?  The writers have been trying to hint to this for ages and ages, without realizing that their hints are elephant-sized.

While this whole witch business has been a giant WTF, there are a few other notables going on in Bon Temps.

The fairies are back, and apparently so desperate to reproduce that they’ll do it with a sweaty, dirty Andy having drug withdrawals and talking to himself like Gollum.  I was really hoping they were gone for good, Shoot!

Alcide and Debbie are ancient history.  She was pretty close to running away with Marcus, which I totally get.  Why take decent, caring, muscular Alcide, when you can have gangly hate-sex with a man who apparently doesn’t own a shower?  Somehow, she finds the willpower to say no to his advances, and after Alcide kills Marcus, he gives Debbie the boot.  I was assuming their relationship would die of boredom sooner or later, anyway.

 Also, I’m anxiously awaiting the massive breakdown that Hoyt will have when he finds out that his best friend is kanoodling his ex.  It will be classic; funnier than the ‘Monster Box’.

And, as usual, I really don’t care what Sam’s doing at all.

 I give this episode 2/5 Bears because nothing happened.  Nothing.

 [Editor’s Note – While it may not have been as appealing to the female audience, I have to say my favorite stuff this week was actually the Sam/Alcide storyline. Sam proves himself a man, Alcide proved himself deadly, and Debbie, well, she at least looked good in her underwear. But seriously, this was the first real touch of masculinity the show has exhibited in a while. Kudos.]