Jason Watches THE HOBBIT: BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES

And this is finally the hobbit movie I was hoping for. The previous two were fun enough, and it was nice to be back in Peter Jackson's version of Middle Earth, but they weren't about much more than taking a journey and having adventure-rides along the way. This time it's finally about something. In a way, it felt a little too quick when Bard slayed Smaug, but that's just when the story starts. When suddenly all the armies (and no, I'm not sure exactly which count as the "five"--dwarves, men, elves, orcs, and...the other orcs? The animals? I'm not sure, and I don't care.) For as much as Peter Jackson excels at action scenes, his trilogy never grabbed my attention more than in the series of negotiations desperately trying to avoid a war between men, elves, and dwarves. And then the orcs show up and allegiances turn right away. And I've already given too much away. Point is, I liked this movie.

More to the point, I've finally--only halfway through January--finished my blogging of 2014. Now to catch up on the handful of films I've seen in the first two weeks of January.

Running Time: 144 minutes
My Total Minutes: 378,422