The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug Movie Review

Peter Jackson reclaims my faith in him in this fun, well-paced film far superior to the original. 

Peter Jackson is back! You have no idea how great it is to say that. After failures like The Lovely Bones and The Hobbit: An Unexpected Disappoint-sorry, "Journey", one of my favorite directors is back at the top of his game. Jackson takes us back to Middle Earth in this exciting adventure. Martin Freeman reprises his role as the Hobbit Bilbo Baggins and Sir Ian McKellen returns as Gandalf the Grey, both characters continue their quest to reclaim Erebor. I won't sugar-coat it, the first Hobbit movie was not what I expected. Seeing as how the Lord of the Rings trilogy remains to be some of my favorite movies ever, I had high hopes for my return to Middle Earth. I hadn't read the Hobbit book, and I was, and still am, a bit concerned about the fact that they extended it into a trilogy. Lord of the Rings is a 3-book series at 400 pages a piece, and the Hobbit is one book with 300 pages. You don't make that book into a trilogy. Because of this, the first movie is incredible boring. It took a very long time for the plot to kick in, the effects were embarrassingly bad on occasion, and it made me worry Peter Jackson has lost his touch. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug is what I really wanted An Unexpected Journey to be. It was really well written, well paced, and I've come to the conclusion that Martin Freeman is the perfect actor to play Bilbo. However, the effect were still a bit disappointing. There is one scene in particular involving the Necromancer and Gandalf that would make one shake one's head in disbelief. However, such a disappointment in effects can be easily forgiven by the inclusion of the dragon towards the end, Smaug. Voiced by the talented Benedict Cumberbatch, the dragon Smaug is what really makes this movie great. The effects were outstanding and the dragon himself was well-written. He was frightening, menacing, smart, and extremely intimidating. Overall, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug improves upon all the things that were disappointing about the first Hobbit film. The writing and pacing was better, the acting was good, and the dragon was perfectly done. There were a few scenes that included some truly terrible special effects, but the scenes of great fun and action make up for it and

then some. Final Rating: B+

American Hustle Movie Review

Complex, Silly, and very, very 70's. 

From director David O'Russell, the mind behind Silver Linings Playbook and The Fighter, comes perhaps his greatest achievement yet. American Hustle brings together the main cast of O'Russell's last two films, including Christian Bale and Amy Adams (The Fighter), and Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence (Silver Linings Playbook). The film revolves around con man Irving Rosenfeld (Bale) and his partner in crime Sydney Porter (Adams) as they are forced into working with deranged FBI agent Richie DiMaso (Cooper). DiMaso's main intention in assembling this con team is to take down corrupt politicians and powerbrokers, starting with passionate and honorable New Jersey Mayor Carmine Polito. The casting for this movie is brilliant, all of these excellent actors are at the top of their game. Bale has once again disappeared into his character and delivered a completely convincing performance. Amy Adams once again convinces me of her incredible talent, and Bradley Cooper really sells it as the unhinged FBI agent. Not only were the extremely talented leads brilliant, but even the supporting cast. For instance, Academy Award Winner Jennifer Lawrence as Rosenfeld's insane wife, Rosalyn. She and director David O'Russell have proven to be a very talented movie duo, and Lawrence gives a performance almost as awe-inspiring as her Oscar-Winning performance in Silver Linings Playbook. While Lawrence's performance was definitely a scene-stealing one, I feel like it was the cameo performance of legend Robert De Niro that was really show-stopping. De Niro hasn't had the best cinematic luck lately, so I'm glad to see him work with O'Russell after working on Silver Linings Playbook. Hustle definitely had a Scorsese-esque/Goodfellas feeling to it, and his appearance only elevates that. While the acting was top-notch from every single cast member, I think the direction and writing are what really make this film. I read that O'Russell let the actors have a lot of room to improvise, and you can really feel it through the realistic, but unbalanced, tone the film expresses. 

That writing/directing decision is what made the movie what it is. Now, that's not necessarily a good thing. While the improvisation did make the feature feel more realistic, it also made it, like I just stated, very unbalanced. The plot slows down, speeds up, and then slows down again seemingly at random. Plot and structure are very important to a movie, while I do appreciate a good character-driven film, consistency is very important. It's hard for a movie which has such inconsistent characters to be character-driven. The story behind this movie is a fascinating one, and perhaps deserved to be told in a more procedural, structured fashion. But to David O'Russell, plot doesn't matter, characters are what matter. Once one understands that is the film's real intention, the final product can be appreciated more. Overall, American Hustle's tone is a bit unstable and deranged, but so are the characters O'Russell has created. All the actors do a great job in their roles, and keep you entertained for most of the two hour run time.. Final Rating: B