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

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY

I must admit I had negative expectations of this Marvel Comics movie before I watched it and hence was pleasantly surprised to enjoy it.

In fact, I read that this movie took the box office by surprise too. I attribute it to the charismatic and humorous Chris Pratt, who lit up the screen with his presence in every scene he was in. Everyone suddenly sat up and took notice of the versatile Chris Pratt, who by far didn't seem to be in the league of big boys. I read that in US the women made up the majority of movie-goers for this movie and swooned all over him. They must all be so jealous of his wife Anna Faris, another comedian whom I like. With this movie, I am sure a lot of meaty roles will come his way.

Interestingly, Vin Diesel was the voice for Groot while Bradley Cooper was the voice for Rocket the genetically engineered raccoon. Who could recognize them and Lee Pace, behind the face of Ronan the Accuser, whom was the Elven King Thranduill in 'The Hobbit" series as well as the nomadic vampire Garrett in 'Breaking Dawn - Part 2'?

The easter egg segment though was really meaningless.

Gamora, Peter Quill / Star Lord, Groot and Drax

Do we see Rocket or Bradley?

Guest star Glenn Close as Nova Prime Irani Rael

Lee Pace as Ronan the Accuser

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.