The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

So where were we?  Oh yes, just coming out on the other side of the forest and flying off a cliff, naturally.  The mountain home of the dwarves looms in the distance, Gandalf the Grey is leading everyone in the direction of safety(?) and Bilbo Baggins (our hero) is discovering that he’s not as much of a homebody as he thought.   Large nasty looking bear/wolf/hog riding Orcs are chasing them and nobody’s sure that they’re going to make it to the next leg of their journey, much less find the big white stone they need to reclaim their home.  Meanwhile, back at the mountain, a large fire-breathing  gold-hoarding, razor-toothed, talking dragon is waiting.  As in the Lord Of The Rings trilogy, we’re hanging on to the edge of our seats to see if the band of 14 makes it to their destination.  It’s a roller coaster ride with a lot of surprises around the corners (note to my friend Lisa, close your eyes after they enter the forest…you won’t like this).  There are a lot of dead-ends and a truly spectacular finale to this installment.  I’m so looking forward to the conclusion.  For those of you who missed Orlando Bloom as Legolas, he’s back and there’s a new character I think you’re really going to cotton to, Evangeline Lilly as Tauril.  Martin Freeman is Bilbo Baggins…just that simple.  Rating:  One ring to unite them all, 13 dwarves, one wiz of wizard, and a very brave hobbit.

The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty (2013)

After watching the original 1947 film starring Danny Kaye, I would have to say this is about as far away as you can get, but apparently fairly close to the story by James Thurber that both films are based on.  Walter works for Life Magazine as an asset negative manager (or is that negative asset manager?).  He’s played here by Ben Stiller, who delivers the goods with just the right amount of hesitation, hands thrown up in the air, and head smacking realization.  Kristen Wiig, Patton Oswald, Shirley MacLaine, Sean Penn, and a truly nasty Adam Scott are the people in Walter’s life that spur him on to give his life a real purpose.  This is a very funny, quirky, beautifully filmed and awe-inspiring movie.  You'll definitely want to watch it more than once.  Rating:  tapockata, tapockata, tapockata, tapockata

Thor: The Dark World

I loved the first episode of this series and I loved this turn to the “dark” side.  It’s been awhile and you’d think that Jane had moved on, what with her first superhero boyfriend going back to his planet on the other side of a big ass wormhole.  You know what they say, though.  True love is true love and ain’t no way that doom and destruction can stop that.  Incredible fun, exciting, lots of hammer time with the big guy.  Brotherly love and sleight of hand play is key to the way things work out.  Please people, wait until the end of the film to get up and leave.  I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again, it’s not over until the fat lady sings.  Brunhilde doesn’t even hum here, but yours truly was the only one who stayed and found out how the film ends.  And yes, Loki (Tom Hiddleston) still reminds me of Jonny Weir’s evil alien twin.  Rating:  4 moons over Asgard