The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Trailer #2

“Loyalty, Honor, a willing Heart. I can ask no more than that.”

“Home is now behind you- the world is ahead.”

In theaters December 14, 2012.

The Hobbit from Hall H at San Diego Comic Con

In case you missed The Hobbit in Hall H this year, Peter Jackson’s VLOG takes you behind the stage. I can say that after seeing 12 minutes from the movie, I was speechless!

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Trailer

Labor issues on ‘The Hobbit’

“I’m trying to save my movie. She’s behaving like somebody who thinks she knows about filmmaking, she really hasn’t got a god damned clue…How dare you. You are choosing an Australian union over the workers of our country. Stuff her. I don’t care what the hell she says.” – Peter Jackson

Helen Kelly

Gerry Brownlee

District 9 a great place to visit but wouldn’t want to live there.

Besides some viral campaign videos, my first real exposure to District 9 was at Comic Con. Seeing the initial previews with a highly amp’d up audience and with Producer Peter Jackson, definitely made for a positive experience. Jackson, Director Blomkamp, and the cast were able to share the vision for this tale of extraterrestrials now inhabiting South Africa. However, I did feel I found out too much about the movie which I would have preferred to be surprised but it didn’t diminish from my overall appreciation of the movie. But it does raise the question, how much do you have to know about a movie to get you interested? That’s a different blog post. For now, let’s go visit District 9…

*Spoiler alert*
Overall, I was very pleased with this movie. It’s a relatively small movie with a small budget ($30 Million), and unknown cast but tells an original story that immediately draws you in. As presented by the documentary style introduction, 28 years earlier, aliens arrived from an unknown place for an unknown purpose. The space refugees (1.7 million) settle in a region near Johannesburg now titled District 9.

A Spoiler Free District 9.

So this weekend I saw District 9 with the rest of the Five. I have a feeling there will be a lot of reviews on this movie seeing as how we all saw it, so I will keep my critique fairly brief.

Simply put, this is a good movie. Simpler then that, this is a really good movie, go see it. Turn off your computer and go see it. Now. I could end my review here but I won’t.

I have to admit that I knew little about this movie before going in. I had seen a couple of trailers but avoided most the in depth stuff so I was a little unsure what to expect. Basically the story is about an alien refugee camp outside of Johannesburg, South Africa, and the attempts of the humans to move them to what is essentially a concentration camp. In particular the story follows one Vicus Van De Merwe, the man in charge of the relocation, and his crazy misadventures along the way. Now some bad things happen to poor Vicus and throughout the film he must rely on at least one alien to give him a helping hand.

Perhaps what most impressed me about this movie was the fact that it was made for roughly 30 Million dollars, which is pocket change for a movie nowadays. I mean G.I. Joe was over 100 million and not even close to being as good. Not only that, but outside of Peter Jackson producing, this movie had absolutely no star power at all. District 9 just goes to show that once again it isn’t special effects, big budgets or even movie stars that makes movie great. It all comes down to the story.

I proudly give this movie 4 out of 5 Babbles.

Now turn off your computer and go see it.

The Lovely Bones

“The Lovely Bones” centers on a young girl who has been murdered and watches over her family – and her killer – from heaven. She must weigh her desire for vengeance against her desire for her family to heal.

Based on the best selling book by Alice Sebold, The Lovely Bones is the story of a 14-year-old girl from suburban Pennsylvania who is murdered by her neighbor. She tells the story from Heaven, showing the lives of the people around her and how they have changed all while attempting to get someone to find her lost body.

Written by Anonymous

Link to full trailer below:

The Lovely Bones

The Lords of the Titanic

On my recent trip to the San Diego Comic Con, one of my favorite panels was called “Visionary Directors with Peter Jackson and James Cameron“. The purpose of the panel was the discuss their current views on filmaking and the future direction of their craft. It was an awesome experience to hear from two of the greatest directors in history. Peter Jackson did the impossible by bringing Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy to life. James Cameron set new standards in filmmaking with Aliens, Terminator 2, and Titanic. Both directors have numerous awards including many Oscars.