The Hobbit 2, The Desolation Of Smaug - a good reason to get a 3D TV...

"Welcome to the world of your childhood dreams!" This should be the greeting the agents/ushers in the movie saloons should say to all who go to see the 2nd part of one of the most famous fairy-tales...  And this greeting won’t be exaggerated as the movie is so magnificently well-made that one feels like a part of the fairy-tale itself...

Despite all the incredible, though extremely dangerous, adventures of the thirteen dwarves, the wise wizard and the young hobbit, the amazing special effects and the great costumes, the next part of the faity-tale would probably disappoint some of Tolkien’s fans when they find out it has little in common with the book. Yet, I guess when they see the amazing way the director and the other creators of the movie revived the story, they all would be in awe of all the dangers, well-developed dialogues, the incredible creatures, etc…

Contrary to the book, the new part of The Hobbit is not for kids again, even more than the 1^st An Unexpected Journey. It’s much darker and more serious than the fairy-tale written on paper, with some new characters that were not present in the book, with a lot of new scenes and events, which were just mentioned but not described in J. R. Tolkien masterpiece (like the meeting with Sauron’s spirit and his subordinates, the events that lead to Thorin’s nickname, etc). A lot of the well-known adventures are developed to such an extent that at moments one feels that it’s a totally new story. But all that is so well-combined with the rest of the movie it makes it worthy of more admiration.

The new characters (not mentioned in the book) are so well created that they all become an essential part of all the dangerous and incredible adventures. I bet even the author would like the excellent fighter, the she-elf Tauriel (the great-looking Evangelyn Lily, a star from Lost) and her impossible love with the dwarf Kily, the dreadful white orc Azog and his incredible strength and ability to endure the constant pain of the prosthesis stuck in his cut arm, etc... Not to mention the many battle scenes that are so well-created they are almost impossible to achive in real life.

When all these details are combined with the 3 D motion picture, the experience in the movie salons becomes a dream come true… After all those complains about 3 D effects that tire our eyes, I would say The Hobbit would be a good reason to buy a 3 D TV set. Watching such movies at home could be accompanied with some rests from time to time and we could enjoy all the magnificence of the genre without being afraid about our eyesight so much?

Finally, I would like to point out that both the parts of The Hobbit’s movies are not for kids. There are too many and too vicious battle scenes and merciless killings, so I guess a lot of the younger fans would have sleep trouble after 2,30 – 2,40 hours spent at the movie salon…   

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Jack The Giant Slayer – one of the ancient fairy-tales told in a better way.

  “As a king I could pay you a lot of gold, as a father I will never be able to pay you back…” This line from the movie Jack The Giant Slayer (I can’t remember the exact words, actually, but the meaning was the same) was one of the many things in this old-story-told-in-a-better-modern-way that would make any fan realize motion pictures could improve and develop the old fairy-tales and be much better, wiser or even funnier than the one-time adventures our parents used to put us to bed with.

I guess many fantasy fans and critics would say the movie is too naive and childish, yet everyone should agree it’s a fairy-tale and everything there should be much different than our everyday boring routine. That’s why any critic should admire the good job the movie crew have done creating the breath-taking plot, the amazing fairy-tale creatures, the brave deeds or some characters’ wise thoughts. Motion pictures like Jack The Giant Slayer could really inspire any fantasy fan to show some brave actions, to look not only for the amazing special effects in such movies but for wise thoughts and quotes too, and to have such fun in the movie hall as it could never happen with another story about our modern life…

Actually, if you’ve seen The Hobbit before Jack The Giant Slayer, you wouldn’t be so impressed by the special effects in the fairy-tale with the magical beans. At moments, the giants are as “good-looking” as some of the orcs, yet as a whole the costumes and the horrible creatures from Bilbo Baggins’ story were more impressive. It doesn’t mean, of course, that the other qualities of Jack’s story are not good enough. A friend of mine from UK said it was a typical English movie, showing some good sides of monarchy too (noble thoughts and actions of kings and princesses, their compassion and honorable behavior, etc). I guess this motion picture could become another reason for English people to love their queen?

Jack, The Giant Slayer includes some horrible scenes, I have to admit, and though we are accustomed to such violence in movies already (it couldn’t be put in a row with real horror motion pictures, of course, like Friday 13^th, A Nightmare On Elm Street, etc), some people with faint hearts should close their eyes at some of the dreadful moments… Anyway, the excellent crew is another plus for the movie: Nicholas Hoult as Jack is a typical hero from most fairy-tales we’ve read, Eleanor Tomlinson is amazing and not typical princess from most of the stories form our childhood, Ewan McGregor is a great guardian and soldier, Stanley Tucci is perfect as a traitor, Bill Nighy is one of the nastiest and most cunning giants you’d ever see, Ian McShane is a king many countries would be proud of, etc…

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Good and bad sides of torrent sites…

 I am pretty sure all the directors, screen-writers, actors, common writers, etc hate all those sites in the World Wide Web where one could find and download for freee (in other words steal) a lot of their works. There are a lot of such sites, available mostly in the countries with a lower standard of life, and the entertainment industry loses billions of dollars every year because of the shrewd movie, music, books’, etc thieves. I can’t remember the exact numbers, yet it’s not a secret they are enormous…

Of course, it’s well-known using such sites is equal to the same vile acts like stealing of goods In a supermarket, a shop for electronics, or in a book-store and kiosk for newspapers and magazines. Yet, as a famous Bulgarian proverb goes, every evil leads to something good. As strange as it may sound, torrent sites could help the film and publishing industries to sell better their products (and to produce better movies, books, etc.)

There are enormous quantities of motion pictures and written works that appear every year on the market and usually a short trailer is not enough for potential customers and fans to see whether a movie is worth watching or later on buying on DVD. Yet, if we use a torrent site and watch a copy to see all the qualities of a product of the entertainment industry (good dialogues, wise thoughts and quotes, incredible sights and special effects, etc), the chances for that movie (with a good quality, on an original DVD, blue-ray, etc) to become a significant part in our collection increase drastically. Before someone would say such thoughts are a sign of an insane mind, just remember that usually the motion pictures we could download from a torrent site are not good quality, compared to the copy we could buy on DVD. That’s why if a movie is really worth watching, i. e. contains a really good and intriguing plot, true and actual wisdom for any period of our history, sights we could see only in a good motion picture, or exchange of funny words and such conversations that we could remember them till the end of our days (or even after that too), etc, then everyone will be tempted to buy it the proper way and really enjoy all the qualities we could see there.

That’s why I guess torrent sites could be a good way to remind all the directors, screen-writers, actors and actresses how essential it is to create really good final products. To use sites for free downloading of movies, books, music, etc is still a theft, it is the only truth (and no one should deny they are right to ban them in many countries). Yet, it doesn’t mean such sites couldn’t help in many cases for the creation of masterpieces in the entertainment industry.

BTW, this post of mine is not concocted just like that in my spare time, it is based on personal experience. After stealing some movies from such “useful” sites, I bought a lot of them: Medicine Man, some versions of The Lord Of The Rings, even before Peter Jackson’s trilogy saw the light of day, Schindler’s List, some Star Trek episodes, Terminator 2, Chaplin, Star Gate, Kung Fu Panda, How To Train Your Dragon, Decisive Time (Време Разделно), one of the best Bulgarian movies, etc.  

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http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/4159102-ivan-stoikov-allan-bard, www.shelfari.com/allanbard,   

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yw3a5n00FI, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qUA8Avl7ew, http://pinterest.com/allanbard/

        

The future of the movies based on books.

Have you ever been frustrated by the way most of the good books are interpreted in the movies based on them? All of my friends all over the world share my opinion that most of the times they have little in common with the written stories. The reason for that is not only one usually (not good interpretation of the director, bad screenplay, poor cast, acting that’s not satisfactory enough, etc). However, I guess one of the most important problems is that movies are too short, compared to the books’ 200-300 pages. It seems it’s too hard to include all the important moments, wisdom, events, or even jokes in the usual 2 hours in a movie hall or TV broadcast.

Many fans would say no movie should be longer than 120 minutes, the modern busy and tense life wouldn’t allow us too much free time for entertainment and fun. Yet, I guess where there’s a will, there’s a way. According to my humble opinion, the time we watch a movie should be as long as the time we read the book on which it is based on. I’m not a computer/software geek, but the fast development of computers and programs is a certain sign in the future it could be possible to watch an eight hour story while we sleep for example. Probably this will be the best way to include everything from a written story in its version of moving pictures? Then, we could see and experience every event and adventure, hear every word, feel every emotion of the characters, miss nothing of the wisdom, quotes, funny jokes, serious anecdotes, etc from a book. Actually, I guess this will be a perfect way to read and watch the story at the same time?

Ideas like that are not new, of course. We could read about them in some works of some famous sci-fi authors too (Diamond Era , Les pieds dans la tete). Though I haven’t met exactly the same idea yet, it seems I am not the only one who appreciates new, better ways for entertainment?

Of course, I don’t claim this should be the only solution for not only complete fun with a movie, but for a perfect combination with its written version? There are some other good ideas I came across: like the opportunity to become one of the heroes in the digitized/dream story, or one of the bad guys just to explore how the plot will change for better, if there are less or no killings, thefts, cheatings, etc?    

  

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Good, sad, or real ends of stories.

It’s a well-known fact that all the Hollywood movies have a happy end that makes them the most preferable all over the world. On the other hand, most of the movies Bollywood, India produces are so sad that usually at the end all the people in the movie hall are crying. Yet, these sad ends are not an obstacle at all for Bollywood to make more movies than the other countries in the world. And they are well-known and appreciated all over the world too. I guess many people would say such sad movies should be forbidden as they could provoke suicidal thoughts or at least make people so gloomy that they couldn’t do their obligations, tasks well enough, or ruin their education, better qualifications, or even destroy the ability to make the right choices in life…
Yet, I’m certain there would be many people who would be really frustrated if all the movies and books had happy ends. When something is repeated over and over again, finally it becomes so dull that it cannot do its real purpose… In the case with movies and books, entertain, show wisdom, make us become more responsible or change our attitude and frame of mind, etc. Many books and movies, even of the fantasy and sci-fi genres, should have to reveal such plots, events, adventures and ends that are as close to reality as possible. Then, I guess everyone would agree, they would be really useful for solving the problems in our every day life. Of course, it doesn’t mean all the books and movies have to follow only that pattern. There should be variety in plots, beginnings, events and ends of the stories. As to look more “real”, some of them have to have happy ends, as The Light Fantastic of Terry Pratchett, or his Carpe Jigulum, or J. R. Tolkien’s The Lord Of the Rings, Others, like A. Exupery’s Little Prince, M. Crithon’s Jurassic Park, some of Star Wars’ episodes, etc, probably wouldn’t be so good if they had a happy end. The list goes on I guess, that’s why I used all the variations in some of my books (Tale Of The Rock Pieces – happy end after a lot of horrible adventures, The Opposite Of Magic – happy end to some extent but actually a lot sadder, sad or actually real story and end in my The Lord Of Christ, and happiest end for my Kids’ Funny Business, etc). I guess every writer, reader, movie fan could continue the list with good, sad and real ends of books and movies?
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yw3a5n00FI, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ijJl-6Be88

about books and movies based on them

Do you like any movie better than the book it’s based on? I guess one could hardly find such a motion picture?
Probably the reason is that usually movies are much „shorter” than books, so oftentimes books’ most important ideas and thoughts could not be a part of the movies based on them. However, I remember a few motion pictures (only two actually) that are at least a few levels up their stories written on paper. Yet, both The Little Mermaid and The Little Prince are longer than (or equal to) their text versions... Probably most teenagers, or even a lot of adults too, prefer to watch the movies than to read the books they are based on. I don’t know whether they could change their opinion... But I’m certain that any writer could improve his/her writing, so that any potential reader could enjouy his/her works much more.
Being a writer, I could name a few ways I’ve heard for improvement of the written stories, like avoiding the dull, boring explanations, or the long, unnecessary sentences, etc. Though I’d love to know some other opinions of readers, writers, or movie fans, concerning what should be done so that movies could be more like the stories they are based on, or books could become more interesting for any reader. Actually, readers and movie fans’ opinions are what any writer should bear in mind, right?

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