The Desolation of Smaug

I saw the Desolation of Smaug last night with the wife, we had seen the prior hobbit movie last year in a second-run theater and thoroughly enjoyed it. Needless to say if you enjoyed the first movie or the lord of the rings this movie is a must-see.
I don't agree with the often espoused view that splitting "The Hobbit" into 3 films is just Peter Jackson trying to cash-in on the series as this fim is packed full of things happening and easily fills its running time without feeling dragged out. I was a little disappointed they dropped the goofy songs I remember from the book out of the film when a couple had made it into the final cut of the first film but I can see how the tone of the book and the tone of the film are different. While the book version may be a childrens story and a fairy-tale, this is definitely geared for adults, complete with decapitations and some very intense if bloodless violence.
As far as continuity goes the movie stays close to the story of the book (as well as drawing from the footnotes in LOTR as well as "The Quest for Erebor" from "Unfinished Tales") but with some embellishments, for example Legolas plays a major role which I don't remember from the source material. I could have done without the elvish side-story to tell the truth but it didn't ruin the film and I'm sure Orlando Bloom fans will be excited to see him reprise his role from LOTR.
The barrel-riding escape from the Silvan elves was given the action-movie treatment as well and ends up being so much fun to watch, it ended up being my favorite scene in the film. Finally the interactions between the dragon with Bilbo and co. are drawn out and greatly embellished this works out well because the dragon is really the biggest highlight of this film.

Smaug the Dragon looks frightening in the film and the voice acting by Benedict Cumberbatch is great, while Peter Jackson and his co-writers haven't re-invented the wheel at all in their depiction of the dragon it is still be best dragon I have ever seen depicted in film. It has a menace and really feels like the epic obstacle it is meant to be.
Another thing that Peter Jackson and co. got right was Bilbo and his character development, and Martin Freeman plays him perfectly. Not to say any of the acting is bad, everyone turns in a solid performance. Overall I would say the standout performances were Martin Freeman as Bilbo, Cumberbatch as Smaug, Ken Stott as Balin, and Luke Evans as Bard and his ancestor Girion.
As far as the technical aspects go, the film is beautiful and the 3D is implemented flawlessly even after its very long run time my eyes were not bothering me at all which is more than I can say for most films shown in 3D. There are however some cheap 3D gimmicks thrown in which I didn't appreciate. Overall I give the movie an 8/10 and encourage anyone looking for a fun fantasy movie and visual spectacle to go check it out. 

Ender's Game

I was recently able to go out to the movies and see something relatively new, being a huge fan of Orson Scott Card's sci-fi classic Ender's Game of course I knew which movie I had to see.

Where do I start with Ender's Game? It's beautifully shot for one. The art direction and prop guys who worked on this movie should really be proud because they brought much of the book's technology to life convincingly despite the fact the book was written in 1985 and the author had no idea what LCD screens, Ipad's or cellphones would do to the technological landscape. The tech in the movie looks like something that could have naturally progressed from where we are now in 2013 and that is quite an accomplishment. The room where Ender' training takes place is beautiful, I never pictured it as having transparent walls when I was reading the book but the idea sure makes for some beautiful scenery. The acting is solid and the casting was great as well. The main antagonists of the film the Formics are really cool looking to top it all off.

Its not all roses however, despite all the good things about this movie it just was not gripping. While the plot stays mostly the same, important dialogue and character development from the book were cut with impunity. In the book we find out how empathetic and great Ender is through all of his interpersonal relationships with the members of his "Army" in battle school, a training camp for child military recruits in the future war against the alien race known as the Formics. Ender proves he is the next brilliant commander on par with a Ghengis Khan or Napoleon by commanding his fellow recruits in mock space battles in zero gravity. The vast majority of the book details his exploits at the battle school and how he gains the trust of his subordinates  through dozens if not hundreds of these battles, the movie shows us 2 of them. The book also makes clear the extreme psychological duress that the commanders of the battle school place Ender under, trying to break his spirit and see if he will ever fail or if he is indeed the best hope for the human race. In the film this is hinted at in some ham fisted exposition instead of shown, and the story suffers for it, instead of seeing a brilliant child transform into an empathetic and yet somehow ruthless leader, we instead see Ender breeze along through the story with only a couple hiccups along the way. On top of cutting out Ender's own character growth many of his squadmates are completely cut from the movie leaving just 4 major ones and a score of unnamed extras. Of the 4  supporting characters in Ender's army that the filmmakers bothered to give names to only 3 have only a handful of meaningful exchanges with Ender and as a result the emotional connection in the viewer never really hits home. I was also a little frustrated with how the film excised some of the hard science fiction, for example the details of faster than light travel and relativity play a major role in the book, but this is just glossed over and unaddressed in the film and it creates some plot holes towards the end as a result.

This movie is a good but not great film, but as a retelling of one of the best science fiction books in print it completely fails, I suggest you rent it when it comes out on video but there is no reason to pay 9.50 to see it on the big screen, in the mean time go to the library and read it instead.