By now, you know that the blogosphere and the internet in general is all abuzz with the first trailer for Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. Combined with the weekend release of the trailer for The Dark Knight Rises, and you see why movie fans are celebrating … it is like we have had our holiday prezzies come a few days early 🙂

The Dark Knight Rises: For whatever reason I delayed seeing the preview for the final installment of Nolan’s Batman trilogy until this evening. And having just watched it, I must admit that while I am overall thrilled and intrigued by it, for some reason, I was not as excited as I had anticipated. For one, I think I experienced a syndrome that I have just decided to dub ‘recognizable actor overload,’ or RAO for short. In addition, there seemed to be a whole lot of stuff going on – too much for me to keep up with; in other words, Which of his foes will threaten our favorite caped crusader and cause him the greatest degree of peril? Guess we will find out in a few short months.

Trailer reservations aside, when it comes time for the actual movie, I am certain that the finished Christopher Nolan product will please.

I do not know much about the plot, all I can say is what the above poster indicates: The Legend Ends. Intense.

 

The Hobbit, on the other hand, was a bit more satisfying. And this reaction REALLY surprises me. To be clear, I am not a devotee of Tolkien and have only just managed to get through the novel, The Hobbit, and have not considered the remaining books in the LOTR saga for any future reading lists. But as far as this movie teaser goes, I found it really charming. It has been said many times before, but Martin Freeman was born to be Bilbo!

You may gather some of this from the trailer but for the truly uninitiated, here is a little synopsis (courtesy of Warner Bros.):

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey follows title character Bilbo Baggins, who is swept into an epic quest to reclaim the lost Dwarf Kingdom of Erebor, which was long ago conquered by the dragon Smaug. Approached out of the blue by the wizard Gandalf the Grey, Bilbo finds himself joining a company of thirteen dwarves led by the legendary warrior, Thorin Oakensheild. Their journey will take them into the Wild; through treacherous lands swarming with Goblins and Orcs, deadly Wargs and Giant Spiders, Shapeshifters and Sorcerers. Although their goal lies to the East and the wastelands of the Lonely Mountain first they must escape the goblin tunnels, where Bilbo meets the creature that will change his life forever … Gollum. Here, alone with Gollum, on the shores of an underground lake, the unassuming Bilbo Baggins not only discovers depths ofguile and courage that surprise even him, he also gains possession of Gollum’s “precious” ring that holds unexpected and useful qualities … A simple, gold ring that is tied to the fate of all Middle-earth in ways Bilbo cannot begin to know.

2011 is not even done and I am eagerly anticipating the latter half of 2012!

What do you think? Please share your reactions below.