THE HOBBIT: THE BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES

The last of "The Hobbit" series, this movie directed by Peter Jackson stars Martin Freeman as Bilbo the Hobbit, Ian McKellen as Gandalf the Grey, Richard Armitage as King Thorin Oakenshield, Luke Evans as Bard the Bowman, Cate Blanchett as Galadriel the royal elf, Christopher Lee as Saruman the White, Orlando Bloom as Legolas Greenleaf, Evangeline Lilly as Tauriel, Dean O' Gorman as Fili, Aidan Turner as Kili and many others.

It took off where it ended last December with Smaug the dragon which was awoken from his slumber and wreaked havoc on Laketown. Bard, who eventually killed Smaug with the black arrow, led the survivors to the Lonely Mountain, as news of the death of Smaug spread to the rest of Middle Earth. Meanwhile at Dol Guldur, an imprisoned Gandalf was rescued by Galadriel, which brought on a brief battle between Sauron aided by his Ringwraiths and Galadriel, Elrond and Saruman. A corrupted Galadriel managed to cast Sauron and the Ringwraiths from the fortress before collapsing.

Back at Erebor, tension mounted among Thorin and his dwarves as he was afflicted by Smaug's dragon sickness to find the Arkenstone. He ended up distrusting Bilbo and his dwarves and refused Bard's negotiation for peace. A battle was ensuing between Thorin and his dwarves, Thranduil and his army of Elves and Bard and the townsfolk before two other armies comprising Thorin's cousin Dain who led another dwarf army and Azog the defiler and his Orc army all converged together to fight the titular battle. The dwarf brothers Fili and Kili were unfortunately killed by Azog's son and Orc chieftain Bolg during battle. Legolas slayed Bolg to rescue a grieving Tauriel who had a relationship with Kili just as Azog and Thorin killed each other, but not before Thorin mended his relationship with Bilbo before his death.

Peace was restored after the Orc army was defeated and Bilbo, still in possession of the ring, left the dwarves to return home and Legolas took Thranduil's advice and departed in search of the Dunedain Ranger. The movie ended with a 111 years old Bilbo sixty years later, who was reminiscing his past adventures in his abode, receiving a visit from his old friend Gandalf. That marked the start of the other movie series "The Lord of the Rings" that preceded "The Hobbit".

I read that some audiences were disappointed with this movie but I wasn't. I did find it kind of entertaining, I must admit.

Smaug destroying Laketown

the menacing Smaug

Galadriel after rescuing Gandalf

Gandalf and Bard the Bowman

Bard face-to-face with the Elven army

the ensuing battle of the dwarfs, elves and Laketown's folks

Kili

the dwarf contingent

Bilbo and Thorin

Legolas and Tauriel

Azog, leader of the Orcs

PLANT LOVER

I came across this roadside planting and I'm pretty sure the owner loves colourful flowering plants, as evident by the array of shrubs. There is also an orange double-petaled Hibiscus too. I am impressed.

The owner also has a number of figurines, such as dwarfs and a rabbit, which were displayed prominently on her garden's window.

Salvia splendens, Aster cultivars

Hibiscus

Dwarfs and a rabbit

THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG

The story continues where it left off a year ago in the "An Unexpected Journey". Directed by Peter Jackson, the ending to the trilogy should be shown by end of 2014 to complete J.R.R. Tolkien's novel on the adventures of the hobbit Bilbo Baggins as a prelude to "The Lord of the Rings" novels.

Starring Ian McKellen as the white wizard Gandalf, Martin Freeman as Bilbo, Richard Armitage as the dwarf King Thorin, Orlando Bloom as the Woodland elf Prince Legolas, Evangeline Lilly as the female Woodland elf warrior Tauriel, Luke Evans as Bard the Bowman, Aidan Turner as the dwarf Kili and so on, this is one movie not to be missed if you caught the first installment and crave some a continuation of adventures through the enchanted forests.

There is also the English-speaking dragon Smaug which seemed kind of strange and out of place to me. Well, the story is long so I won't attempt to write about it. One thing to note though was Tauriel's character and the budding romance between her and the elf Kili were never in the books and were created in this story to introduce a female character to the male dominated story.

Bilbo

Thorin

Bard and Legolas

Tauriel

King of wood elves Thranduil

Kili

Smaug the fire breathing dragon

THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY

This is another trilogy that precedes "The Lord of the Rings". Starring Martin Freeman, Ian McKellen, Richard Armitage, Cate Blanchett, Andy Serkis etc, it tells the story of the hobbit Bilbo Baggins, at a time before chaos and darkness set upon the Middle Earth.

The wizard Gandalf tricked Bilbo to go on an adventurous journey to help a remaining team of thirteen dwarves, who were from a prosperous kingdom of dwarves from the Lonely Mountain until Smaug the dragon stole their treasure and drove them out and indirectly caused the downfall of the kingdom of dwarves after a battle with the Orcs. Along the journey, they encountered stone giants, goblins, elves, Gollum and met the white council comprising Lord Elrond, Galadriel and Saruman.

As expected, Cate Blanchett was so mysteriously and charmingly beautiful as the mightiest and fairest royal elf from Middle Earth. Andy Serkis had a much larger part as the Gollum in this movie, compared to the earlier "Lord of the Rings". I don't know which part of Gollum's face is real and which is fake but I must say Andy Serkis was brilliant as before as the ghoulish and emaciated creature who was once a hobbit until he was corrupted by the infamous ring. In real life, Richard Armitage is not a dwarf but as the courageous King of the dwarves, he has a charismatic and commanding presence.

It was a long draggy movie but in order to watch the entire trilogy, I guess it is essential to endure this unexpectedly arduous journey of ups and downs.

SINGAPORE GARDEN FESTIVAL 12 PART 2

Today's weather - sunny

It's the fairy tales garden, a gold award winning display, created by Damian Tang. It got people curious to seek out the fairy tales and characters in the exhibit. I certainly was.

First, I was captivated by a huge but beautiful spider. Interestingly, I was told it is not part of any fairy tale and was there to create interest.

Alright, I saw the dwarfs from "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs". Why were they all facing inwards without revealing their faces, I wondered? Then there was Pinocchio but it wasn't just one or two puppets of him. There were quite a couple everywhere, including one in a bird cage, one lying back on a Bird's Nest Fern and I was amazed and intrigued by the Pinocchio shrine.

On the other side, there was the little red riding hood and the wolf, if only one can see it. Once again, the girl in the hood was hiding her face away from the masses. Around the turn was Tinkerbell, I think, sitting at the base of an Olive Tree.

So what's the reason for getting the characters not to face the crowd? Other than creating curiosity, was the designer's intention merely for us to imagine the characters' looks on our own? I don't know.

SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN

Today's weather - sunny

This movie was made for a mature audience compared to the recent one "Mirror Mirror" starring Julia Roberts and gave a different take on the same fairy tale. It was darker and more entertaining, by my standards.


This newer version stars Charlize Theron as Queen Ravenna, Kristen Stewart as Snow White, Chris Hemsworth as Eric the widowed Huntsman and Sam Claflin as Prince William. The movie drew flak in the US for getting normal height actors to portray the seven dwarfs and used CGI effects to superimpose their heads onto real life dwarf actors.


I know I am biased but I absolutely adore Charlize in her role as the cold, icy and evil queen who was driven to desperation by the circumstances surrounding her life. She was as excellent and splendid as I expected her to be and her name Ravenna was supposedly chosen to draw a parallel between her and the crows that gave her form. On the other hand, I felt Kristen was miscast as the pure, innocent and yet strong-minded Snow White. She definitely looked older than her character and at times, I thought she channeled Bella from the "Twilight" movie series with the same limited sad and longing expression. I think some other actress would have been more suitable than her to play Snow White. There was no breakthrough for Chris though and he was in his usual form. At certain angles, his entire face and facial hair reminded me of a half-man and half-ape. I would definitely suggest that he plays the role of an ape or ape-man in movies such as "Planet of the Apes". Sam played second fiddle as the Prince who surprisingly, wasn't the one who revived Snow White from death. In fact, unbeknownst to all, Eric was the one who broke the spell when he kissed Snow White on her death bed. From the Huntsman who was sent to hunt her down and kill her, he ended up protecting her until the very end.


The mystical dark forest and the sanctuary, where fairies live, were interesting and provided a stark contrast between the two. The latter was beautiful and was every bit like an enchanted forest with magical creatures and plants. Like the characters Snow White, Eric and the seven dwarfs, I was completely immersed in the fairy land until the magical white stag was suddenly shot by an arrow from the pursuing army and burst the bubble.


Finally, the ending showed Snow White being crowned as the Queen and with her were all her loyal subjects including Prince William, but she appeared distracted and looked around until her gaze fell on Eric. Only then did she finally relax and manage a smile. From this, it was evident that even Snow White could not resist Thor, I mean the widowed Huntsman. It is poignant because despite her power, she would not be able to get together with Eric given their different social status. The movie ended on that note, presumably to give viewers the room to decide for themselves how they want it to end.