Relatively Non-Spoilery DoS Impressions

1. Bombur is all sorts of awesome, even if he never says a word. The barrel sequence should put that beyond all doubt. Also, he proves Gimli correct when he says in The Two Towers: "We Dwarves are natural sprinters... very dangerous over short distances."

2. I am officially in love with Erebor's technology. What we see of it can't be in prime condition but it's still capable of working. Take that, Smaug.

3. Smaug is the best cinematic dragon of all time, hands down. THAT VOICE. And a good percentage of it isn't even effects - it's just what Benedict Cumberbatch was able to do with a microphone. He poured everything he had into bringing this dragon to life, and it shows. Let's give him all the credit not just for the voice acting but for the motion-capture as well.

4. Martin Freeman is Bilbo. 100% of the time I forget that it's acting. He's just that believable as Mr. Baggins. It's amazing to watch him play Bilbo as the Ring begins to affect him and Smaug toys with his mind. Utterly amazing.

5. The same thing goes for Richard Armitage as Thorin. Watching Thorin begin to be affected by the gold fever/dragon sickness is heart-breakingly painful. There And Back Again is only going to be worse in this regard. Gah.

6. If you don't love Bard and his family to bits, I'm not sure what's wrong with you. For a character who gets introduced at the last minute in the book and gets very little characterization, they've done excellently with him. He rungs rings around the Master of Laketown's spy network and helps the Dwarves even after he's argued with Thorin (and made some pretty valid points, at that).

7. Legolas was awesome. He's also strangely hilarious. The absurd look of mixed jealousy and big brother overprotectiveness as he watches Tauriel speak to Kili in the dungeons sealed it. Also, his fight with Bolg. For the first time in five movies, Legolas is injured. It's just a bit of dizziness and a nosebleed, but it's still the first time he's been injured. All he ever got in LOTR was a bit of dirt on his face. And his reaction was priceless, too: he stared at his own blood and you could just see that everything became personal for him with Bolg, like, "You do NOT make me bleed my own blood."

8. I was pleasantly surprised at how much I liked Tauriel. She was very much what I would picture a Sylvan Elf to be like. In fact, if they had cut out Thranduil's suggestion that Legolas likes her, made the healing scene with Kili a bit shorter, and possibly removed Kili's feverish, "Would she ever love me?" I would have absolutely no problem with her and probably would praise her despite her non-canonical status.

If you're gonna give us girls a role model character, at least don't bog her down with romantic subplots. Sheesh.

Even so, the threatened Kili-Tauriel love story wasn't really what we all feared it to be. It was actually really sweet and platonic. They expressed curiosity in each other and each other's races. She sympathized with his promise to return home safely to his mother because she has lost her own parents (not stated directly in the movie, but mentioned in various interviews).

9. NEEDS MORE FILI. I've been saying that since AUJ and I'll continue to say it. Must Kili forever overshadow his awesome older brother. (C'mon, Kili, quit hogging the spotlight...) However, Fili's endless arsenal of knives was hilarious to watch. The Elves couldn't find them all, hahaha.

And Fili finally did it. When Thorin tells the injured Kili to remain behind in Laketown, Fili protests, arguing that he'd carry Kili up the mountain himself if he had to, but that they wanted to see the halls of their fathers. Thorin tells Fili, "When you are king, then you will understand," and Fili is just like, "No, sorry, uncle. My place is with my brother," and says behind in Laketown with Kili.

*cries pathetically over Durin family feels*

Also, Bofur waking up after being drunk under the table at about that point was hilarious. XD Gotta love Bofur. Hope we get to see one of Jimmy Nesbitt's daughters splash water on him in the Extended Edition...

10. I don't have any pictures of Beorn, but he was a real One-Scene Wonder. His roar is enough to scare off Azog and his hunters. Some serious awesomeness going on there.

Also, the Necromancer vs. Gandalf. That and Smaug are worth the price of admission alone.

Gah, I wanna go see it again so badly!!!

In Pace Christi,

Elyse

Hobbit Group Shots!

First up, the Durins smiling (yep, all three of 'em!):

And now for some others:

Okay, oops, more Durins.

Can we take a moment to appreciate just how much Fili looks like Thorin here?

And everyone is happy. :)

Thanks for posting it, Luke Evans (Bard). I just love how messy Martin and Benedict both look.

I've run out of group shots, but here's an awesome gif of Thranduil cutting down orcs:

He uses double swords like his son uses double daggers. I seriously love whoever came up with that idea.

And, as a parting note, here is a gif of Thorin laughing:

I can't even bring myself to commentate on this one.

*flees*

In Pace Christi,

Elyse

Let's Not Forget The Other Dwarves, Now

Because I think everyone needs to see dancing Nori.

With bonus Peter Jackson apparently thinking, "I don't want to know what they're doing behind my back, do I?"

More Nori dancing:

Also, dancing with Nori and Bifur:

And now, for Bombur dancing (sort of):

And now for Dean O'Gorman and someone who I presume is Stephen Hunter (Bombur)... sitting in an airplane or a bus, I'm not sure which. Probably a bus. Airplanes do not have windows that big, generally.

Also, Dwarves having too much fun in the Pelorus River filming the barrel sequence:

Bofur seems to have liked it:

Bofur in Laketown (I'm betting you anything they stay with Bard's family, and that will be hilarious since Bard's daughters are played by James Nesbitt's daughters... the potential!):

Bofur's ability to hang on to his hat and scarf is truly phenomenal. I'm wondering if he uses superglue... Nope, wait a moment. I think when Bilbo opens the door to the group of Dwarves at Bag End Bofur is in the front and falls flat at Bilbo's feet. I think his hat might actually come off there. Must check for it the next time I watch AUJ.

In Pace Christi,

Elyse

Okay, I Have Lots of Funny Things to Share

A post title like that is always encouraging, I think.

No, I didn't post over the Memorial Day weekend. I was too busy! We had family over and things. I love my family, so out-of-towners staying with us is a joy, not a chore. They are always fun to be around. We had more of a get-together on Sunday, but Memorial Day itself was spent doing work and cleaning and various other things.

Plus, haying season has started. The bales are beginning to pile up in the barn. It's amazing how much warmer it is in the barn once only two layers of bales have been laid down in one half of the barn. If the bales were still a little wet when they were put in, the tight atmosphere makes them continue to decompose a little and possibly burn. Yes, bad things can happen. Also, bales must be stacked on their thin sides, not the wide sides. It makes for stabler rows of bales.

Yeah, yeah, so I obviously live on a farm and am proud of it...

I am also proud of all past and present members of our armed forces!

And now on to the fun stuff (i.e., what everyone comes here for anyways, because it certainly isn't my inane commentary).



Bag End door cookies! I want some!

So I've decided to start putting the less necessary bits of my commentary as captions. Will it work? Dunno. But it's something new and different - anathema, I know. But I want to play around with captions for today, so bear with me... There may be a lot of captions...

The resemblance is undeniable.

Where else?

I just find that one genuinely funny for some reason. ...And for those of us who live under rocks, the guy's name is Nicholas Cage. The National Treasure guy. Because, seriously, that's all I know him from. And I liked Riley Poole better.

I have a gif of Riley, too.

My brother imitates it randomly.

Sometime I should post it.

But I already have about 30 more pictures to post... Obviously they will not all be done today... And I keep finding more... Help, I'm back on Pinterest and obviously today is not the day I close it and do something productive...

Okay, I might go shopping if Gandalf showed up to take me. That would be fun. Perhaps I could buy a pointy hat (so I could do a pointy hat trick) and also long robes, because I think those would be fun (for a while) and I have always wanted a cape. Cloak. Whatever. Capes are brightly colored and belong to superheroes; cloaks are for warmth and protection (and occasionally camoflauge) and are useful.

Plus, I could buy a big stick, and use it to whack people when appropriate.

Shopping with Gandalf it is!

Ironically, I hate shopping in real life, and I only like places like Books-a-Million and Tractor Supply Co.

Yep.

I love these things that appear on FailBlog's School of Fail. Can you see why?

So true.

If Bilbo had tried to explain how he got past the goblins.

Because Thorin is just that awesome.

Now, I wonder which of these Nazgul is Jed Brophy?

This should be self-explanatory.

Success Gandalf

Who thought giving Sam a gun was a smart idea?

I also want to know who thought putting Theoden in charge of a boat was smart.

Fili & Kili are some of the best reasons why Tolkien is better than Twilight.

Just sayin'.

Dwarves make for a better party. Always.

Oh, Martin...

Phew! That's a lot of pictures. And I have a lot more to post... Yippee!

I should probably also warn you that there is another Richard Armitage appreciation post in the works.

Not that I should have to warn anyone by this point.

What's that? You're asking me to do a Dean or Aidan appreciation post? Well... I would. If I didn't feel so embarrassed about it. RA is safely out of my age range. Posting pictures of Dean and Aidan seems more like stalky fangirlism to me... so I try to avoid it.

That being said, I did find some nice pictures of them, and of the cast in general...

Should I share? ;)

In Pace Christi,

Elyse