The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (December 2014)

Official Australian release date: 26/12/14. Viewed: 26/12/14.

Director: Peter Jackson

Actors: Ian McKellen, Richard Armitage, Martin Freeman, Luke Evans

Genre: Adventure / Fantasy

Rating: M

The third – and final – Hobbit film is a valiant attempt to recapture the ‘Lord of the Rings’ magic of Middle Earth, but too often feels tired and repetitive, especially in the sixth film in the franchise. It’s by no means bad, it’s just – as with the first two Hobbit films – unnecessarily padded, with lots of flashbacks and scenes of staring into the distance. I’m still not convinced the three Hobbit films couldn’t have worked as one cohesive 3 & a bit hour film…

Even though the second film featured his name in the title, Smaug (Cumberbatch) is quickly dealt with and the plot hastily progresses to be about the humans – led by Bard (Evans) – tying to move into the Mountain with the Dwarves – led by Thorin (Armitage) & a mostly redundant cameo from Dain (Connolly). To complicate things, the Elves – led by Legolas (Bloom)’s dad – show up too and then the Orcs arrive. By my count, that’s four armies. The fifth army never really eventuates… Gandalf (McKellen) & Bilbo (Freeman) are left stuck in the middle of all this.

There’s some quick appearances from Elrond (Weaving), Galadriel (Blanchett) & Saruman (Lee), which are unnecessary and don’t add to the plot. There’s some good battle scenes, but nothing to top ‘The Two Towers’ or ‘The Return of the King’. Some mild humour thrown in, but a lot of the film feels bogged down and aware it’s “the defining chapter” or “the final farewell” as it’s been billed.

Plenty of frustrating moments – Tauriel (Lilly)’s “romance” with Kili (Turner), Thorin’s “dragon sickness”, the get-out-of-jail-card that the Eagles pose. Despite these, the score is still great, with the use of the familiar motifs still effective and the cinematography beautiful.

Overall: Too much going on, but an adequate resolution to this trilogy.

Gav's Rating: 3.5 stars. 

Nightcrawler (December 2014)

Official Australian release date: 27/11/14. Viewed: 23/12/14.

Director: Dan Gilroy

Actors: Jake Gyllenhaal, Riz Ahmed, Rene Russo, Bill Paxton

Genre: Drama

Rating: MA

‘Nightcrawler’ is unfortunately not a standalone film of the X-Men’s cheeky elf character, but rather a dark exposition of modern news and the public’s (apparent) bloodlust. The film has a simple premise – Bloom (Gyllenhaal) and his partner, Rick (Ahmed) listen to the police scanner and try to show up at accidents to film the gory aftermath before the cops can stop them or before they’re beaten to the scene by other competitors. They’re literally trawling the night for news-worthy footage. That this ‘needs’ to be “bloody”, as Bloom clarifies with Nina (Russo) at the news station is either an indictment on TV news stations/shows, or the public in general – or possibly a bit of both.

Gyllenhaal is very captivating as the main star, being in basically every scene and using his huge eyes – and gross mini-ponytail – to creep you out. You don’t hate him, but start to fully comprehend what a psychopath he is as the film progresses. Sure, he doesn’t kill anyone himself, but he certainly does some despicable things and has no remorse and you start to truly despise him – which proves how good he’s acting!

Ahmed, Russo & Paxton are good in small, but significant roles. The soundtrack is solid and the cinematography of Los Angeles make sit actually look hospitable and attractive for a change – not as gritty as I would’ve expected in a movie of this tone. Good ending to the film, if a disappointing one to watch.

Overall: A good, dramatic film, even if not entirely enjoyable to watch.

Gav's Rating: 3.5 stars.