'The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug' -- A Homecoming, Not Just for theDwarves

Written last month, I apologize for the late posting.

Spoilers beware!

(Also, please be aware that gender and race will be discussed, as per my usual shtick re: reviews.  Just because Tolkien is the father of my work doesn't mean I will suspend my expectations when it comes to storytelling.)

This film, I believe, outstrips its predecessor by a fair margin.

There, I said it.  Despite having been a fan of Tolkien's work since I was less an hobbit-sized myself, and despite having clear memories of being incredibly angry about the alterations made in the original movie trilogy (despite them being, over all, very minor), I think this movie is one of the best Tolkien adaptations made so far, falling only short to Return of the King.

Desolation gives us glimpses into the parts of Middle-Earth's history that The Hobbit in its novel form cannot, by virtue of the medium.  This is the reason that the Hobbit movies are to be a trilogy, and it is wonderful to see it at last brought to life on the silver screen.  As a fan of the story-behind-the-story, who knows going in that Sauron and the Necromancer are one and the same, and subscribes to the theory that the Arkenstone is the Silmaril cast with Maedhros into the earth, I got to see more of Middle-Earth than I could have ever dreamed.

'Elysium' -- Elegantly Done Class Warfare, but Not Enough Risks Taken

(This was also written in September, and also was never published.  I'm not sure why, so here it is now)

Spoilers Ahead!

Warnings also for: discussion of sexual harassment, gendered violence, the intersection between race and class

Last weekend I went to see Elysium, starring Matt Damon.  I was hooked on the trailer when I went to see Pacific Rim earlier this summer, and had been pretty excited -- a movie explicitly about class warfare and the proverbial 99% versus the 1%?  I was totally there for that.

And it does deliver -- I won't say that it doesn't; Elysium focuses on the differences between those who live on Earth and those who live on Elysium, specifically with regards to access to health care, with a nod also to the justice system.  It makes itself very clear on where it stands -- preventing the people from accessing basic care because of their poverty is wrong and shouldn't be tolerated.

'The Grandmaster' -- A Meditation on Turning Back

(This was written back in September, I apologize for having never posted it)

So, I'm currently sitting in a mall food court, fresh from seeing the movie The Grandmaster.  I went because I'm a martial artist myself and because Scorcese-connected films are always, always to my liking.  I was definitely not disappointed.

The Grandmaster follows the stories of Ip Man and Gong Er, martial artists who meet in 1936 when Gong's father gives up his position as the leader of a union of Northern-style martial artists and comes South to challenge whomever the southern martial artists decide to send.  Ip Man, a Wing Chun practitioner, is that man.  He defeats Gong's father in a battle of wits, after defeating several of his lieutenants in the bagua and xingyi styles.  Gong fights him afterward, feeling that her family's honor has been slighted by her father yielding to Ip, and defeats him.  He promises to challenge her to a rematch on her home soil some time in the future.  However, war and occupation by Japan makes this impossible, and thirteen years pass before they meet again, accidentally, in Hong Kong.