Review: The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

http://www.thehobbit.com/

I celebrated New Year’s Eve by going to the cinema with my two best friends this afternoon. We had been looking forward to seeing ‘The Desolation of Smaug’ since seeing the first Hobbit film last year.

The journey of Bilbo and his dwarven companions continues as they try to escape the orcs. They take refuge in the house is Beorn the skinshifter, who offers them limited assistance. He dislikes dwarves, but hates orcs more.

A journey through Mirkwood goes badly wrong but Bilbo, and a dozen barrels come to their rescue. Kili makes a conquest if a romantic nature. Later, they make their way to Laketown, and from there their ultimate goal, Erebor – The Lonely Mountain – is only a stones throw, or a dragon’s wingflap, away.

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Review: ‘Thor: The Dark World’ and ‘Frankenstein – National Theatre Live production 2011’

You may be wondering why I’m writing reviews at one in the morning on 1st November when I clearly should be having an early night so that I can be up good and early to get the first couple of thousand words written on my NaNo novel in the morning. I have a legitimate excuse: I went to see a film and then a recording of a play at the cinema this afternoon/evening. It’s been an exhausting day but before I go to sleep I’m going to write my reviews.

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Review: ‘The Fifth Estate’

Featuring Benedict Cumberbatch as Julian Assange in the film adaptation of Daniel Berg’s book ‘Inside WikiLeaks: My time with Julian Assange’, The Fifth Estate is a fascinating look at the website that exposed they secrets of governments and businesses the world over from someone on the inside.
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Review: ‘Star Trek: Into Darkness’

In the latest instalment of the ‘Star Trek’ franchise, ‘Into Darkness’,  Jim Kirk (Chris Pine) and his crew are sent to observe a planet but not interfere. There’s a volcano, Spock (Zachary Quinto) has a plan. It works, but Kirk loses his ship and Spock is reassigned.

A terrorist attack changes everything; reunited, the crew of the Enterprise are sent to catch the terrorist, Khan (Benedict Cumberbatch). It’s not going to be as easy as they think and the weapons they have been given to do the job hold a terrible secret; there are much deeper game in play. However it turns out none of the characters nor the Federation will be the same again.

The film explores what it means to be human, the moralities of war and peace.

It is a great film, the acting is superb and the story entertaining. I saw it in 2D and it was an incredible experience. Go see it!

Rose

[Edit: I found an interview with Benedict Cumberbatch about the film on youtube

http://youtu.be/_a1jsMga9fg ]

Review:Iron Man 3

Robert Downey Jr returns as Tony Stark in iron Man Three. Suffering from PTSD after the events of New York (The Avengers), Tony has hidden himself away in his basement working on the Iron Man suits, all 42 of them. Then a new threat arrives in the form of ‘The Mandarin’; bombs explode unexpectedly and leave no trace of their origin. Everyone is baffled. The past comes back to haunt Tony, and when his friend and former bodyguard, Happy, is injured in one of the explosions, Tony Stark issues a declaration of war.

This is a cracking film; funny, action packed and exciting.  I saw it in 3D, I’m not sure whether the 3D added anything to the film. This film is a great addition to the Marvel-verse family of films, and continues the story on from last year’s Avengers movie. I wait in anticipation for the release of Thor 2: The Dark World in November.

Bye,

Rose