We went to Ipswich the other day to see The Hobbit part two which is subtitled The Desolation Of Smaug although I think 1000 Ways To Kill An Orc might have been a better name - I don't think it would be possible to slaughter any more of the poor creatures in a couple of hours.
We went to an IMAX screening and it really does make a massive difference for movies of this size. The sound is immense and you leave the screening literally exhausted and with your ears ringing from the effects of the ceaseless crashing and banging.
I like Martin Freeman but I loved reading The Hobbit and I don't think Freeman looks anything at all like the jovial little burglar that Tolkein left in my imagination. I'm not sure that anyone who has read the book could picture Bilbo as he is portrayed here. That apart, the film is fairly faithful to the plot (sadly for Marion who hates spiders and sat for over ten minutes with eyes firmly shut and asking me if the giant arachnids had gone yet).
Despite the multi million pound CGI I found some parts of the action scenes jerky but there is so much action in the film I won't complain. There's not a great deal to the story - Bilbo is the burglar who has been picked by Gandalf and the dwarves to steal the Arkenstone from under the mountain where it is guarded by the dragon Smaug. En route they come across plenty of danger resulting in spectacular fights and flights and, as it is part two of three, we end, as expected, with a cliffhanger and have to wait until next Christmas to see what happens next.
Director Peter Jackson has thrown in a dwarf/elf/elf love triangle that would probably have JR Tolkien turning in his grave but there's nothing wrong with a bit of romance and it was a welcome distraction from the incessant fighting. The critics have been fairly harsh on the film but if you want a couple of hours of action I think you'll enjoy it.
The movie ends with local boy Ed Sheeran's excellent I See Fire. I can see a future trivia quiz question asking what links Framlingham to The Hobbit.
We're back in Suffolk in our regular Premier Inn as I write. We've had a wonderful Christmas. Sarah and Duncan treated us to an excellent Xmas dinner and it was lovely to see granddaughter Rose enjoying her big day and opening her presents. It was equally fabulous a couple of days later when we drove down to Rochester to spend three nights with Paul and Josephine and had the chance get to know our other fantastic little grandchild Catherine a bit better. We even had the chance to babysit for a few hours and can't wait for the chance to do it again. The festive season was tinged with sadness as we recalled 2012 and missed Marion's mum Flo who didn't make it to her eighty-eighth Xmas.
From Rochester we headed up to Wales to visit old friends David and Janet Wareing in Llangollen. The River Dee was a torrent after days of rain but their cottage on the hillside was dry and warm and we enjoyed an amazing New Year's Eve dinner with copious (rather too copious) amounts of wine and champagne leaving us dancing into the early hours. As we were driving to Newmarket on New Year's Day, Marion managed to keep her wine intake to a sensible level (unlike her not very sensible husband). I travelled south miraculously avoiding a hangover but feeling decidedly green around the gills.
We had a stopover at The Bedford Lodge Hotel in Newmarket before heading to Framlingham this morning. It was well deserving of its number one hotel in Newmarket position on TripAdvisor with a comfortable well equipped and well lit room, a decent restaurant and a fabulous waitress served breakfast.
After dropping a few bits and pieces off at the house, we had a bit of a break today with a trip to Cineworld in Ipswich to see The Hobbit on their IMAX screen (courtesy of Paul and Josephine who treated us to a generous Cineworld voucher for Christmas). The IMAX screening was a tremendous visual and audio experience and, despite being almost three hours long, the film flew by. It may be just a group of dwarves journeying through a variety of hostile terrains being pursued by a variety of equally hostile creatures and fighting them in a variety of exciting ways but it is exciting and beautifully done. I said last week that the CGI in Life Of Pi was stunning. I didn't expect to see it's like again so quickly but The Hobbit is another visual masterpiece and I imagine that the Oscar judges will be struggling which to choose when they hand out the technical awards.
But enough relaxing, the countdown is now beginning with a race against time to get everything finished at the house before we move in. We're aiming to move in on 21st but there's still a lot to be done. We've got decorators working flat out but being held up by repairs to the leak, kitchen fitters waiting for the corian work-top, bi-folding doors waiting for some aluminium cladding, carpets to come,wardrobes to be fitted,a shower screen to be fitted, curtains to be hung, a sound system to go in, an office that's just a concrete base and seven light fittings plus all the broadband wiring to be completed. Oh well there are twelve working days to do it all in. We're seeing Roger the builder at the house tomorrow. Let's hope that he's got absolutely everything in hand.
