Movie "The Hunt for Gollum" May 3 2009

[Olmer]

This news will be of interest for many Tolkien's fans who would like to see more expanded Tolkien's trilogy.
The "Hunt for Gollum" (http://community.livejournal.com/lordoftherings/3007745.html)
This is a free online movie made by fans and for fans.
Hope, their interpretation of the story won't be too dissapointing.:evil:

[Acalewia]

Looks like it might be good

[Gordis]

I hope it will be good. Tolkien Fans can't molest the story as badly as PJ did.

[Coffeehouse]

Peter Jackson is a Tolkien fan.. as were the thousands of volunteers who made the motion-picture possible, making Middle-Earth and all of Tolkien's genious known to possibly every single living soul on the face of the planet..;) I wouldn't be surprised if some of those movie-goers possibly also the bought the books.. :)

[Gordis]

Peter Jackson is a Tolkien fan..

Er... no, he isn't. He is only fan of big money.

[Coffeehouse]

Er... no, he isn't. He is only fan of big money.

Right.. because you asked him right?:p

[Gordis]

No use to ask him - one only has to see his trilogy. It is all there.;)

[Coffeehouse]

Lol that's low, c'mon he tried his best, as a fan (I believe him when he says it)

I understand that some don't like (verging on hate:rolleyes:) the movies, but admit it:
Some of the scenery in that movie invokes certain memories that you had when you read the books, irrelevant as to whether you dislike PJ, the movie, the actors, the script, etc.. I refuse to believe that any one of these did not inkle the memory back to reading the book in your favorite sofa;) f.ex. Gollum, or the Shire, or Mt. Doom, or Minas Tirith, or Lothlorien:)

[Gordis]

Lol that's low, c'mon he tried his best, as a fan (I believe him when he says it)

I understand that some don't like (verging on hate:rolleyes:) the movies, but admit it:
Some of the scenery in that movie invokes certain memories that you had when you read the books, irrelevant as to whether you dislike PJ, the movie, the actors, the script, etc.. I refuse to believe that any one of these did not inkle the memory back to reading the book in your favorite sofa;) f.ex. Gollum, or the Shire, or Mt. Doom, or Minas Tirith, or Lothlorien:)

One really has to try hard to get even the scenery wrong - after all how hard it could be to follow the depictions in the book? Yet Rohan was all wrong...

A real fan would have never TWISTED the characters and plotlines in such a way as PJ did.
Anyway, I will stop this pointless talk. It is your right to like the movies.

[Coffeehouse]

A real fan

Lol, well, that's a slippery slope. Pointless discussion though I know. We all know PJ is a fan right!:p

[Varnafindë]

Some of the scenery in that movie invokes certain memories that you had when you read the books

Especially if you read them with illustrations by John Howe or Alan Lee, who were hired in to work for the movies, and had a great input on some of the exteriors and interiors.

Those two at least were Tolkien fans :)

Edit:
To go closer to the topic:
I like the idea of fan films. I'll watch the trailer when I'm on a faster connection :cool:

[Acalewia]

To go closer to the topic:
I like the idea of fan films. I'll watch the trailer when I'm on a faster connection :cool:

Judging by the trailer, it looks like it was well made, but one really can't judge a movie by its trailer. I think It'll be pretty close to the appendix the story of the hunt for Gollum is based on. Of course, I expect them to add their own twist to the story

[The Dread Pirate Roberts]

Anyone else think the "trailer" was more of a long-version of a "teaser" than an actual trailer?

[Acalewia]

You know, Robby's got a point. I guess they're assuming you know the story already or don't want to give away too much in a two minute trailer

[The Dread Pirate Roberts]

Feel free to call me DPR. ;)

[Acalewia]

Alrighty

[Rosie Gamgee]

Fascinating!! That looks so interesting: a film by fans for fans. I can't wait for it to come out.

[Acalewia]

Me either

[FoolOfATook13]

Hey, I stand by Jackson's movies. Every fan has his or her own interpretations, and his team of special effects experts and art directors did an amazing job. His art directors worked with Alan Lee, who has illustrated LOTR as approved by the Tolkien estate. Plus, I didn't see anyone else volunteering for such a monumental task.

The trailer for the gollum movie looks interesting!

[Olmer]

For anyone who'll be in the London area on that day, the world premiere will be at the SCI-FI LONDON Convention and FREE TICKETS TO BE DRAWN are available for the public screening at 4pm.

http://www.sci-fi-london.com/festival/2009/programme/feature/the-hunt-for-gollum.php

[Lefty Scaevola]

A trailer at the BBC
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/8022623.stm

another at The Register (an online IT Newspaper)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/04/30/hunt_for_gollum/

[Earniel]

I have to say, the trailer looks most impressive for the budget they had. (Although I don't remember the actual hunt involved that many characters and was that exciting. Interesting.) I'm curious to see what they've made of it. Looks like they went out of their way to get characters to look and sound like those from the New Line movies. Impressive.

[Varnafindë]

I'm curious, too - I've just downloaded something that at 49.3 KB just isn't a working movie. :eek:
And everything else seems to be gone from the site ...

[Gordis]

Here is the film:

The Hunt for Gollum-High resolution (http://www.thehuntforgollum.com/player_film-hd.htm)

The Hunt - Low res (http://d2xm3akt98wlh.cloudfront.net/player_film-low.htm)

[Tinman]

It wasn't bad. I really wish the director would have had his own vision though, instead of peter jacksons. Not that I didnt enjoy peter jacksons take on the world... but it was just that, Peter Jacksons'. I think part of film is having your own ideas. I would like to see more original work... not more knock offs.

[Varnafindë]

For some reason I couldn't take the fighting seriously. It didn't help that I could only see it in one small window on the screen, and that I couldn't get enough light on it - but there was something about "he's alone against the enemy - I suppose he's meant to do it all alone, then - yes, he's taking the enemy out all alone. Yawn." Too predictable?

I guess I would also have preferred something that didn't try to look - and sound - like Peter Jackson had made it. They even used parts of Howard Shores themes in their original music.

[The Dread Pirate Roberts]

The fighting seemed to be in slow motion to me, even when it was supposed to be at full speed.

[Gordis]

"he's alone against the enemy - I suppose he's meant to do it all alone, then - yes, he's taking the enemy out all alone. Yawn."
Yes, exactly. How trite...

And note the orcs are running towards Aragorn in a pack, then stop, assemble, growl - but attack him one at a time, like noble knights they are....:rolleyes:

And it seems that's exactly what Aragorn expects them to do, as he doesn't even try to protect his back, putting a tree-trunk behind him.

Anyway they are the same problems that PJ constantly had. Unrealistic fights with loud music.:(

[mithrand1r]

For some reason I couldn't take the fighting seriously. It didn't help that I could only see it in one small window on the screen, and that I couldn't get enough light on it - but there was something about "he's alone against the enemy - I suppose he's meant to do it all alone, then - yes, he's taking the enemy out all alone. Yawn." Too predictable?

I guess I would also have preferred something that didn't try to look - and sound - like Peter Jackson had made it. They even used parts of Howard Shores themes in their original music.

True it did seem very similar to PJ in feel. The actors even resembled their movie counterparts.

I think it was a decent effort though. (especially for under $5000)

The time frame of events was difficult for me to judge. The scene at the 13:00 mark (Where he silently removes one of 2 orcs was incredible to me.) was an amazing act that I find difficult to accomplish.

The orc fight was unrealistic. With the orc superiority of numbers, they should have been able to overwhem the ranger. (but it would not be fun ifthe hero lost ;))

[Gordis]

A good ranger is not the one who can single-handedly win a fight against 30 uruks. A good ranger is the one who can avoid the situation when he would be forced to do it.:rolleyes:
How silly you must be to let 30 orcs surround you on open ground in plain daylight?:eek:

[mithrand1r]

A good ranger is not the one who can single-handedly win a fight against 30 uruks. A good ranger is the one who can avoid the situation when he would be forced to do it.:rolleyes:
How silly you must be to let 30 orcs surround you on open ground in plain daylight?:eek:

Of course this is assuming that there he would be able to find a better place to face the orcs by nightfall. Again assuming that he is unable to avoid the orcs in the first place.

I think it would have been funny if he tied gollum up in a tree. ;)

[Mark of Cenla]

I like it, and ... considering the price ... I choose to leave it at that. Peace and goodwill.

[The Dread Pirate Roberts]

Hurin killed so many orcs single-handedly that his movement was hampered and he was then captured by balrogs, who apparently had been sitting back watching the carnage and LOLing.

[Gordis]

I suppose that the number of orcs slain by a Great Hero (like Hurin) constantly grows in the telling. And as it was a fairly ancient tale...:p:D

[hectorberlioz]

I've just watched the film, and really it's pretty good. It isn't "for the fans" of the books, though. Blatant imitation of PJ's vision: from the soft-voiced Aragorn to the typeface used in the credits. Nevertheless, it was a very very GOOD imitation of PJ's vision. There were a few conspicuous things they could have toned down: 1) what's with all the pipes, all the time? 2) Arwen? 3) the sack Aragorn carries Gollum in changes size, and furthermore Aragorn seems to think it's no heavier than a sack full of freshly-picked pipeweed.

For me the biggest weakness was the Aragorn/Arwen scene, which was basically a recreation of what we've seen in RotK. It just didn't need to be in there, except variety. And if you ask me, the film was doing fine without it.

But, all round a nice, lovely, and mostly well-done film. I enjoyed it, and I appreciate the labor of love that went into making it...even if it was love of the movies, not the books ;)

PS: If you haven't seen a good version of the film due to the screen and sound quality, let me just point you to YouTube, which now has the definitive version of it there posted. Just type in "the hunt for gollum," and you'll find the desired result :)