12. returning to middle earth

The Hobbit, for those of you who don't know, is the prequel to the Lord of the Rings Trilogy by J.R.Tolkien. Unfortunately, I've not read any of the books (when I get home for Christmas, I plan on reading the Hobbit) but I've seen all of the LOTR films, and today I went to see The Hobbit.

The film, directed by Peter Jackson, sees the return to Middle Earth, in a story about Bilbo Baggins, Frodo's (from LOTR) uncle, who goes on an unexpected adventure. It stars Martin Freeman (who plays John Watson in BBC's Sherlock) as Bilbo Baggins and Richard Armitage (he's Guy of Gisbourne in BBC's Robin Hood) as Thorin (a dwarf) who is one of the key characters. It also sees the return of some characters that we've seen before in LOTR, such as Gandalf, Galadriel and Lord Elrond. Unfortunately Legolas doesn't make an appearance until the last installment (according to IMDB), which is a shame, cos Orlando Bloom is pretty nice ;) Luckily, I think Aidan Turner who plays Kili is gorgeous, so I'll have to make do with him for now. Especially as there's no Aragorn (Viggo Mortenson). Anyway, this isn't supposed to be a post about the good-looking actors in the film, but I'm not sure what the point is... probably just to go on about the amazingness of the film! (I love it, in case you couldn't tell).

I genuinely think it was brilliant though, and I really want to see it again - hopefully, I'll get to if I meet up with my friends Natalie and Steph (we all LOVE Lord of the Rings - when we were all at band together, we kept asking if we could play LOTR music... it never happened *sadface*). I actually want to go and see it again now! I don't know how I'm going to be able to cope for the next week or however long (unfortunately, I can't compare it to the book - but it was an amazing film even without the prior knowledge of the plot!) I can't wait until next December, and then the following July when the 2nd and 3rd parts come out! I want to watch all of them now! And then have a LOTR marathon... and then possibly watch The Hobbit trilogy again... I know I'm babbling... but it's AWESOME!

I don't want to say too much about it, as I don't want to spoil it for those who haven't seen it yet (crazy people - you should go and see it IMMEDIATELY... and I mean it even more than when I told people to go and watch Skyfall)! 

PICTURE TIME NOW... (these screenshots were up on digitalspy, so I don't think they count as spoilers - well, too much anyway :P)

MARTIN FREEMAN as BILBO BAGGINS - he's excellent as Bilbo!!! 

DEAN O'GORMAN as FILI and AIDAN TURNER as KILI... Aidan Turner is gorgeous!! Even as a dwarf!!  I'm going all fangirlish (something I haven't done in ages... well, not for a while anyway :L) over him! When I was watching the premiere at Leicester Square, I saw him with Prince William and was like, 'nice ;)'

ANDY SERKIS returns as GOLLUM - which means there are loads more phrases that Steph can now imitate. The Gollum moment in The Hobbit was great! Loved it :D

Some dwarves at Bilbo's hobbit-hole... I chose the picture with Aidan Turner in to put on here (who wouldn't?!?!)

Anyway, apologies for this post being very random, and fangirlish. But.. it is THE HOBBIT! I think Natalie will understand... :)

Tara

09. skyfall

This post is a bit late, but better late than never in my opinion :)

Skyfall, the 3rd James bond film with Daniel Craig in, came out in cinemas on 26th October, and me and Rob were hoping to go and see it that night. However, due to Aberystwyth's cinema only having 1 screen, and our lectures finishing at 6, we were unable to make it in (especially as we didn't book tickets, mainly due to the fact it didn't specify that seats would be reserved - we're freshers, we didn't know what to expect! :L). 
However, we immediately booked tickets for the afternoon showing the next day, and I have to admit, it was amazing! I'm not a huge fan of Bond films usually, (until Skyfall I'd only seen The Man With The Golden Gun and Casino Royale and that was for my GCSE courseowrk, so our English class had to watch each film about 5 times - not my idea of fun!) but Skyfall was really good! Rob (a HUGE Bond fan) wants to see it again, and I think I'd be willing to go with him. They're were some unexpected twists, and I just found it different from the other Bond films - I think they kept it more intense, which was good! I'd definitely recommend it to EVERYONE! Even those people who don't claim to be Bond fans, because it was better than I expected. :D

Think the fact that part of Skyfall was set in Glencoe (hopefully this won't be a spoiler as it's shown in the trailer) where I've been helped, as I could actually relate to the place! It makes it more interesting. According to Rob, they were filming some of Skyfall, when I was there in the October of 2011 - I'm quite annoyed I didn't get to see Daniel Craig or Judi Dench!

At the actual cinema, it was really cool, and kind of like, old-movie style. We got our popcorn (and snuck two cans of pepsi in!) and went to our seats, and between the adverts/trailers and the film there was an intermission, so people who hadn't managed to get food could still go! It originally confused me, but I have to admit it was rather stylish. Plus, there was nobody talking/whispering loudly, or throwing popcorn, which made the whole experience way more enjoyable! So, even if Aber's cinema only has one screen, which does mean, there's usually only one film every two weeks, I really enjoyed going :)

So, go see Skyfall if you haven't already... and if you have, go see it again :)

Tara