i think I read that Jackson said one thing that concerned him was that the motion capture CGI had gotten so much better that Gollum was going to blow the old one off the screen.

I didn't have any 2 image issues either.

Sean - what an excellent present.

I'd wager it's just my own enhanced optical system isn't backward compatible, with, you know, reality or anyone else. I don't remember having noticed that many shadows in any other movie, but this was clearly working the shit out of dimensions.

Good lord, everything else aside for a moment--that is one motherfucking beautiful piece of movie those guys put onscreen. I saw a review complaining that the orcs were not as all that as the Uruk Hai because they were CGI, but I still felt they had heft. I don't love Azog like I did Lurtz, but it's clear that my brain sees them as the biker boys of Middle Earth, the guys your mother warns you against, but still...there's just something, you know?

Maybe not.

Gollum was going to blow the old one off the screen.

Absolutely. Some of the internal conversation expressions were so fluid and muscular (he was kinda hamming it up, and by "he" I mean Serkis and Jacskon). I realise I can see more of Serkis in him than before, but it's impossible to tell if that's enhanced familiarity with the actor, changes in acting, or what.

Crushes also present for the expected--Thorin, Kili, Fili, Bofur (GOOD LORD THAT MAN IS SEX ON STICKS LOTS OF STICKS), Bilbo in an asexual way.

Heh--I thought I was going to be less emotional about this, since it's not got the grand scale "it's all in the balance" vibe of the trilogy, but given that "heroic hobbits" is my cry point, I have no fucking idea what I was thinking. I HAVE READ THE BOOK. I know he's not dead weight. And then we have PJ, so extra not.

Trying to work out if I think PJ inserted this well into the established universe or leant too heavily on things he'd already set up. I'm gonna go with the former. I actually started avoiding coverage halfway through the dwarf casting, so I wasn't sure who I'd see in this.

Everyone looks amazing. Everything looks amazing. Even the nasty stuff (Radagast, any given warg) looks amazing. Oh, and the scrotum chin. THE FUCK???

Okay, time to go back and read what I missed--and I also thought "too long, don't remove anything." In that sense it felt like an extended version.

OMG THE CHIN! I had already blocked that out of my memory.

Yeah, the chin was revolting.

He's never not the guy who made Meet The Feebles. He's just got a bigger budget.

He's never not the guy who made Meet The Feebles. He's just got a bigger budget.

Yep. And now he's contrasting things like the Goblin King against Elves and New Zealand scenery, which makes the ugly look even worse.

Gollum was going to blow the old one off the screen.

Either PJ or Andy Serkis said on Colbert that Hobbit!Gollum has about twice the facial muscles that LotR!Gollum did, and you can really see the difference.

I would say PJ should pull a Lucas Special Edition and re-CG the original movies, but I kinda don't want to have to buy them again.

I figure I've got one more purchase of LotR in me, so he better make it worth it when I move to Blu Ray.

But he did Lucas Fellowship, right? I'm not imagining that?

I do think Jackson should have gone ahead and used "Yakety Sax" to score the scene of everyone escaping Goblintown. I mean, it was already essentially a Benny Hill sketch.