Chronicle (Movie Review)
by Paeter Frandsen on February 4th, 2012
Reviewing movies is usually fun, but sometimes when I go to review a movie, I have a strong suspicion that I won't enjoy it that much. Ordinarily, I wouldn't spend money to see it, but because I've built my podcast largely on sci-fi, fantasy and horror movie reviews, I feel an obligation to see and review every flick in those genres that I can as they come out. This means that it's very common for me to walk into a theater suspecting I won't have a good time and walking away feeling like my time and money were wasted. But there are those other times, when a movie could have turned out terrible, that I breathe a sigh of relief when it turns out to be a solid flick.
This was not my experience with "Chronicle". I suspected it might be an annoyingly shallow film, but hoped for at least a decent sci-fi movie, based on the trailer. Instead, what I got was a fantastic sci-fi film that fans of the genre will kick themselves for not seeing as soon as possible.
"Chronicle" is about three high school seniors who discover a mysterious, presumably alien substance underground. Their exposure to the object grants them all telekinetic powers which they learn to control more and more as the story progresses. At first, their abilities are merely sources of entertainment, as they play practical jokes on others, or in some way use their abilities to gain attention and favor with others. But Andrew, who is constantly mistreated and misunderstood, begins to lash out with his powers, bringing severe harm to others.
If at some point you begin to feel like you may have seen this movie before, you've probably watched the classic anime "Akira" at least once. It seems clear the writers took inspiration from Akira at several points, both visually and in terms of the story itself. Although "Chronicle" has far more sympathetic characters, and also a plot that makes sense.
The movie is shot in the increasingly popular documentary style, similar in some ways to films like The Blair Witch Project or Paranormal Activity. I've seen several movies that use the same shooting style as this one, but I've never been more impressed with the variety of ways in which the camera was used while still limiting every shot we see to what an "in story" camera could potentially record.
We start the film limited to only what Andrew captures with his video camera. But as the film progresses, we begin to see events through multiple camera sources including a blogger's video camera, news footage, in-store security cameras and similar sources. And in the second half of the film, telekinesis is also applied to control of the cameras, allowing for some angles never seen before in a "doc" style movie, but that are still consistent with the limitations of using only "in-story" cameras.
This may give you the impression that the shooting style will be used to cover up a low budget and keep the movie grounded. But by halfway through this movie, things are anything but "grounded", as the boys learn what a simple ability like telekinesis really makes possible. By the end, the scale on which their powers are used is nothing short of epic, and I was thrilled and thankful that many of the most jaw-dropping moments were not spoiled in the trailer.
Not to say that this is just an effects film, either. Andrew is the character through whom we experience most of the story, and despite the dark turn he eventually takes, it's hard not to be sympathetic with him. He is picked on mercilessly by other kids, abused by his step father and only develops friendships with the two other boys because of a shared common experience. Relative unknown Dane DeHaan plays the troubled, socially awkward Andrew with great sincerity, and may even remind you of a real kid you know or knew in high school.
My complaints about the movie are few. I would have loved to see actual high school age actors playing these parts. Seeing twenty-somethings in these roles has become common in Hollywood, but the film could have had added realism and intensity if they had cast more age appropriate actors, or changed the plot to be about college students.
Although most of the effects are wonderful, I felt that a few of the visual effects shots could have been better. A floating baseball comes to mind. (Why not just use fishing line, guys?)
Throughout the movie I ran into numerous themes worthy of discussion on the ride home from the theater. Andrew's cousin, Matt, who also gains super powers, has been reading a bit of philosophy for one of his classes and often has little nuggets to spout about human nature. He contends that we are "creatures of will" and can never have our desires satisfied. And biblical anthropology would agree with this, I think.
We are free creatures gifted with free wills, and yet because of sin we are separated from God, who is the ultimate source of fulfillment. Until the day when he removes our ability to sin and gives us new and perfect bodies, all of our attempts at self-fulfillment will fall short. It's possible the theme of "failing to fulfill our own desires" was an intended parallel to Andrew's story, who seems to believe that he can use his powers to get the things he wants from life.
Andrew himself also shares a personal philosophy that is intriguing. At one point he tells his camera that he has been thinking about evolution. Specifically natural selection and "survival of the fittest". He reasons that because a lion does not feel guilty when it kills a gazelle, that there would be nothing wrong with him harming or even killing a weaker human being.
This is a very striking statement, as it clearly demonstrates the inevitable, horrifying result of consistently applying a belief in naturalistic evolution to the way we live and think of others. Taken out of the realm of academic theory and applied to life, naturalistic evolution will lead to terrible harm inflicted on one human by another. This movie is far from an argument for theism, but it stands out among sci-fi films as being willing to shed light on the "dark side" of a worldview taken for granted by millions.
Near the end of the film, Matt comments that even after all Andrew has done, he is still not a "bad person". I have to say, after seeing all that Andrew had done to that point(watch the movie and see for yourself!), I'd love to ask Matt for his description of what a "bad person" WOULD have to do to earn the title! Does a poor upbringing or being mistreated by others give us license to lash out and harm or kill people? When DOES a person go from good, to neutral, to bad, and how does Matt know what this objective standard is?
Sure, it's being a bit nit-picky, but beneath the surface of small comments like Matt's are unstated yet deeply held philosophies about who we are and what right and wrong is that can be harmful if not examined and picked apart now and then.
Chronicle is a fantastic, dark-toned sci-fi flick that could have been revolutionary but settles for being a fantastic must-see film. It is also likely to give you some things to ponder about who we really are as humans when the curtain of idealism no longer hides our innermost desires.
Rated PG-13 for for intense action and violence, thematic material, some language, sexual content and teen drinking.
Quality: 9.0/10
Relevance: 8.0/10
Somebody Turned One!
by Mandy2qt on February 3rd, 2012
Blink.... And you might miss it..... What blessings God has bestowed upon this grateful woman... <3 Thank you, Jesus... For each child of wonder....
Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Oops!
by Paeter Frandsen on February 3rd, 2012
For those who were confused about me talking about my production company on this blog, I apologize. That post was meant for The Spirit Blade Underground Weblog and I accidentally posted it here. (I've since deleted it and re-posted it correctly.)
No wonder I'm looking to restructure my blogs! I can't keep track of the way I'm doing things now!
Script Polishing and Card Game Updates
by Paeter Frandsen on February 3rd, 2012
This week I've begun what I hope is my final complete pass through the Spirit Blade 3 script to edit and polish it to prepare for recording.
At this point, most changes are cosmetic and don't change the plot, but rather aim to reinforce the story and characters. I'm also doing the best I can to look for any remaining loopholes in the story. I've had my eye out for them since day one, but it's been good to look at the script again with fresh eyes after completing the last draft in October/November of last year.
I've also decided on a slight change in my script polishing plans for the second episode of "Pilgrim's Progress". Rather than worry about getting the entire script into "recording shape" in the coming weeks, I'm going to just do enough polishing to figure out what roles I might like Michael Tully (Raan) and Sean Anthony Roberts (Saolos) to consider recording for if we have the extra time when they each come into town to record this spring/summer.
The remaining polishing for Pilgrim's Progress Ep.2 will now probably wait until after production on Spirit Blade 3 (man, I STILL need to finalize a subtitle for that) is finished. The reason for this is that in the coming months, as I prepare to release the Spirit Blade card game, I will want to ramp up my development schedule and bring work on the card game into my normal work hours in order to make consistent progress with it. (To this point it has been a "spare time only" project to avoid slowing down SB3 development.) As time progresses toward the card game's release, I'll be offering you guys more sneak peaks and updates, and I'd hate to whet your appetite only to continually have to delay the release because of my unpredictable "free time development schedule".
That's it for now! Have a great weekend!
-Paeter Frandsen
Additional Blog Options
by Paeter Frandsen on February 2nd, 2012
(Copied from a post I wrote on the SBU Forums)
Okay, so my thoughts are still bubbling in a pot of ideas regarding the new direction of the blog(s).
What would you guys think of me moving the reviews to the SBU blog and changing the tone of that blog to be more about geek culture from a biblical perspective? I'd still keep in search of truth and one post per week about company/project updates, but the third post, and any additional posts, would be focused on Geek culture.
I haven't looked into all of bloggers options yet, but I'm hoping that if I go this route I could set up multiple feeds so that those who are only interested in one category of posts could just follow those (In Search Of Truth, Company Updates or Reviews/Geek Culture).
I feel like my personal/random thoughts find a better home on the forums, and I think something like this scenario would help centralize the presence of SBP and also bring more focus to what I'm doing on the web.
Any thoughts, questions or alternative suggestions?
Upcoming Changes For This Blog
by Paeter Frandsen on January 26th, 2012
Recently it's become necessary to adjust my work schedule significantly to better serve my wife and two boys. The amount of time I spend working will change very little, although my day to day routine is being put on its head.
Because of this, blog posts are now much more likely to go up in the evenings and I'm also planning a change in the regular content of both the Spirit Blade Underground Weblog and Paeter's Brain.
My plan is to temporarily switch to a twice weekly posting schedule on Paeter's Brain (instead of three times) while retaining the regular schedule and content for the SBU Weblog. However once I have my ducks in a row, I plan to stop posting to Paeter's Brain and instead place the posts that would normally appear here elsewhere.
When I started "Paeter's Brain", I saw it as a way for listeners of SBP to see a little more of me as a person, and share in some of my random or not so random thoughts. But I believe the forums we launched in 2010 now serve that purpose much more effectively.
The movie reviews, my odd game reviews and philosophical musings about Geekdom from a biblical perspective will soon be posted on a new blog designed specifically for that purpose. I will also include an archive page that contains all of my past reviews and some other posts from Paeter's Brain. This will serve as a growing resource for Christian Geeks who are interested in engaging in their faith more as they enjoy the crazy fun that sci-fi, fantasy, horror and comic books offer.
In the end, I'm hoping this will allow me to leverage my time a little better and bring more focus (and more readers!) to the content I put online to represent Spirit Blade Productions.
If you have any questions, thoughts or suggestions as I prepare to move into this new territory, I'd love to get your feedback!
Underworld: Awakening (Movie Review)
by Paeter Frandsen on January 24th, 2012
I'm a big fan of the "Underworld" movies. It's hard to beat vampires in leather and trench-coats leaping from tall buildings and blowing away werewolves with handguns. But this cool concoction gets even better when you add a dash of character and story worth caring about.
Star-crossed love has been a consistent theme in all three of the previous films, and two of those featured a pivotal romance between Selene, the ultimate werewolf killer among vampires, and Michael, the first vampire/werewolf hybrid in history.
Underworld: Awakening opens a few months after the events of Underworld: Evolution. The existence of vampires and lycans (werewolves) has now been made public, resulting in a worldwide attempt to exterminate both species. Michael and Selene make hasty plans to escape and live in secret far away, but are captured in the attempt. Selene is frozen by scientists for experimentation and is freed 12 years later. She immediately begins looking for Michael, but instead finds her 12 year old daughter, removed from her womb and allowed to grow up in the confines of a laboratory. Together they hope to escape and find Michael.
First off, I should say that if you haven't seen the previous films in the series, don't bother with this one. Although they briefly try to "catch you up" in the beginning, you really have no reason to invest in Selene if you haven't watched her story from the beginning. This, in itself is not a mark against the movie, just something viewers should be aware of.
The action in this flick is some of the best yet, especially where Selene is concerned. She has tons of cool drops, jumps, flips and fight choreography that make the first 30 minutes possibly the best action in the series so far. If you were hoping to have that itch scratched, you're in for a treat.
The visual look of the series is also intact, with washed out, cold color schemes even during the daytime. Costumes and props all look great. It's the signature look of Underworld from start to finish, gory action and all.
What seems to be missing is the movie's heart. As I mentioned, the previous films all had a romance at their core. Two people in love that the people around them viciously aimed to tear apart. This movie was completely missing that element, and the absence was obvious through most of the movie, which often seemed like a horror/action flick on auto-pilot rather than the emotionally driven pattern (or attempted pattern) of the rest of the movies.
Scott Speedman, who played Michael in the previous films, was not involved in Awakening, and as of yet I've been unable to hunt down a reason why. The Hollywood politics of this remain a mystery for now. Instead, in the brief moments Michael is seen, he is represented by a stand-in (human or digital, I'm not sure) always partially obscured by an object or special effect.
The script feels like the result of trying to scrape together a replacement for Michael, the result being his role clumsily divided among multiple characters. Selene's daughter is a hybrid like her father, and so brings the special abilities that he had to the movie in his absence, and two male characters serve as "stand-in male support characters", though without any romantic connections to Selene. (Though I often thought things like, "I'll bet that was Michael sitting next to her in the first draft.")
Many other elements also feel like uninspired repetition of earlier characters and story elements.
Selene encounters a vampire coven leader who stands in opposition to her agenda, with age, hair and wardrobe almost identical to the Victor character in the first three films.
As each film progresses and Selene becomes stronger, the final threat she faces must increase as well. First it was an ancient and powerful vampire. Then it was the first and very oldest vampire. But in this flick, her final foe is just a really big lycan who heals extra fast. Honestly, I was never concerned for her safety for even a moment.
The fact that the existence of vampires and lycans is now public knowledge is an interesting new twist, and I don't think it hurts the movie. In fact, it may just be the game-changing breath of fresh air the franchise needs. On the other hand, this is the "Underworld" series, taking its name from the HIDDEN war between vampires and lycans. So this change seems to go against the original premise of the movies.
Bringing a daughter into Selene's life is another big game-changer. Even if Michael were present for most of this story, a child usually changes the core story from a romance to a story about family. I'm not against this idea, but it seems like the writers aren't willingly invested in it so much as they've been forced into it.
Selene really could have carried one entire movie by herself, dealing with the tragic loss of Michael as it rips her part. After building up this romance for two movies, we should have spent one entire movie mourning its loss with Selene. Instead, Michael is quickly yanked out of the picture and Selene is forced to give lip service to her grief while also dealing with the sudden existence of a daughter. Bringing her daughter into the story before we could see Selene fully deal with the loss of Michael cheats those of us who have invested in the romantic side of these films, and I believe it was a big mistake.
Of course you might say, "they had to cram a lot into this movie since they never know if they'll be making another one later". But the writers seem very confident that they'll be making at least one more, as this movie virtually ends on a cliffhanger. (A poor choice, given our reduced lack of investment in these characters.) With a run time of only 88 minutes, a disappointing final fight and the ending they chose to go with, this feels like only the first half of a complete movie. If that's the case, and they can manage to get Scott Speedman back next time, there is still plenty of opportunity to restore this series and end it very well, placing this movie in the role of "set-up" for the grand finale. And I'd be cool with that. But this is a hard one to recommend to anyone but big fans of the previous films.
I'm scanning my brain for something I might remember in this flick that might lead to worthwhile discussion afterward, but I'm coming up with nothing. In many respects this feels like your average "Resident Evil" movie: Cool gory action with zero substance. Pure, mindless escapism, if that's what you're in the mood for.
For fans of the genre, it's not bad. A cool flick that even has moments of visual greatness worth a ticket or rental. But it's definitely missing something substantial.
Rated R for strong violence and gore, and for some language.
Quality: 8.0/10
Relevance: 5.5/10
For info on my review score system, visit spiritblade.net/reviewscores
And to listen to this review this weekend, visit spiritblade.net/podcast
Productivity Posts, Introduction and First Installment: Game Programming Night
by sean on January 24th, 2012
This post is the first in a series of “quick blogs” I’m going to write, in an attempt to document progress I’m making in various areas (to try to keep myself accountable for being productive). I’ve decided that on any night that I don’t have anything planned, I’m going to set up a “fallback activity” to, well, fall back on… one activity for each night of the week. Here’s my tentative plan:
- Sunday: Visit family, relax, read, play games
- Monday: Game Programming
- Tuesday: Write music
- Wednesday: Wire the studio, other electronics (non-computer) projects
- Thursday: Work on web sites (Ragtrader, KBMOD, etc.)
- Friday: PC Building / set up workshop
- Saturday: Housework, brew beer, play games, go to Pittsburgh
Of course any sort of scheduled activity with friends/family/band/etc. will override this list, and I can swap out activities as the need arises. It’s just a set of guidelines really, to keep me from sitting around watching Netflix when I could be doing something real.
First installment: Game Programming Night, turned OS Reinstall Night
Writing a decent game is still on my list of life-long goals, so I decided to start working on it little by little. Game programming night actually started early in the day when I found a tutorial on programming with Allegro, a C++ library for game making. Really useful stuff there. I skimmed the first few tutorials while at work, then once I got home (after making camp-style bacon, hardboiled eggs and a huge salad for dinner) I started watching the videos.
From there I tried to get Allegro installed, but the version in the Ubuntu repositories is old (go figure) so I decided I would use this as an excuse to stop putting off an Arch Linux reinstall. About an hour later, I was back in a comfortable, minimalist Openbox environment (with Xsnow thrown in for good measure). I got Allegro installed, got some of the tutorial code to compile, and then I installed and tinkerd around a bit with Aseprite, a sprite editor meant for use with Allegro. Maybe next week I’ll make and post a few sprites on here. I’ve already got a couple game ideas in mind.
Next up: music writing night. (The rest of these posts will be shorter.)
(originally posted here: Productivity Posts, Introduction and First Installment: Game Programming Night)
Forced Agnosticism In Skyrim
by Paeter Frandsen on January 23rd, 2012
Last time I brought up anything philosophical regarding "Skyrim", I was talking about the choice of religious views one can take in the Elder Scrolls world, and what my choice is as I play.
This time, I have a political decision in front of me. There is a war going on between the emperial forces and those of a rebellion known as the "Stormcloaks", and in order to see one of the major plot-lines of the game I have to choose a side to join.
The Stormcloaks are fed up with the how things have been in Skyrim for hundreds of years. They believe Skyrim's High Kings have been nothing but puppet tools of the empire, and believe the status quo should be forcefully overthrown. (Of course, they have a High King of their choosing ready to fill the empty seat as soon as the war is over.)
On the other hand, you have the empire, the legal, rightful ruler of all kingdoms, who reigns from a far off land, removed from the struggles of Skyrim and taking them for granted, except when they need men from Skyrim to fight their wars.
The status quo clearly has some shortcomings that may even be responsible for the loss of many lives in Skyrim. But the Stormcloaks are all reckless passion and little reason as they aim to make things better.
The problem is that, much like I feel in American politics, all I'm getting are opinions. No matter who I talk to, I'm getting editorial rather than straight up news. Fox and CNN talk shows instead of C-SPAN coverage of the legislative meetings. So I'm forced into a kind of political agnosticism.
Now, there are two main forms of agnosticism. The pop-culture form, when someone says "I don't know" and the more formal philosophical definition, which says something "CAN'T be known".
Far too often in our search for the truth about God, we claim to take the former definition while living like we believe the latter. We say "I don't know if God exists, or if such and such is true about God" and leave it at that, as though the answers are not available no matter how hard we search for the truth of the matter. We assume that truth really can't be found and begin to value the search for it less and less in our lives, whether the search is related to God, our next President, or the best dentist to go to.
As I read fiction and enjoy the new wave of RPGs boasting complex moral choices, it sometimes seems as though the choices aren't all that complex, they just don't provide the necessary information to make an educated decision.
True, if we go back to real-world agnosticism, we can't know with the certainty of proof that God exists or that "so and so" would be the best choice for president. But there are many things in life we choose without proof that they are the best choice. Our family doctor, our brand of toothpaste, our next car, etc. In all of these cases we examine the available evidence and make the choice that we think is most likely to be the best one. The same is true (or should be) regarding our position on God's existence or attributes, or our position on who should be governor or president.
Maybe the lack of useful decision-making information in video game RPGs like Skyrim and Mass Effect is simply because it would make the writer's job far more difficult than it's worth. Or maybe it's because there is a tendency in our popular artists to believe that truth really cannot be found.
Whichever the case, it's an interesting phenomenon I've run into in books and movies for a number of years now.
Hmm... books. Maybe the College of Magic at Winterhold has some books about the political history of Skyrim that would help me make my decision...
Movie News And Trailers!
by Paeter Frandsen on January 20th, 2012
It's been awhile, so I thought I'd share some tidbits about some upcoming movies and my projections on whether they'll sink or soar. (Thanks to David Arington for tipping me off to a few of these bits!)
The Avengers movie is coming May 4th, but if you just can't wait that long (and Marvel is banking that many of you can't) there is a four-issue comic mini-series that takes place in the Marvel Movie Universe and leads up to The Avengers. The mini is called "Road To The Avengers" and will come out in March, giving more details about Nick Fury and what the "Avengers Initiative" is for.
The next DC Universe animated movie is coming out February 28th. Justice League: Doom will be an adaptation of the Mark Waid "Tower Of Babel" JLA story, in which the JLA's villains use Batman's secret files on each JLA member's weaknesses to take them all down! This story was a significant shake-up in the DCU when it came out, since it severely strained JLA team members' relationships with Batman. It will be interesting to see how it plays out next month!
A pair of new directors are in pre-production on Monsters 2, the sequel to the indie film about an alien invasion that focused more on human relationships under extreme circumstances than it did on aliens. This choice was carried out to great effect, which is why I'm nervous to hear the guys working on this film saying things like, "There will be more monsters, more tension, more action and more extraordinary effects. We will expand the world created in the original movie whilst upping the action ante. This is our Aliens to Alien!" Good luck guys. Sounds to me like you're doing all the wrong things.
The Resident Evil: Retribution movie trailer starts out looking like a Sony commercial (and in one sense it certainly is) but gets more interesting after 15 seconds or so. Still no indication that this series is wrapping up. I'll definitely see it. I've enjoyed all of the movies to some degree. I just have trouble getting too excited about a movie series that I suspect will die with a whimper, on a cliffhanger, killed by a poor box office before anyone gets a chance to actually finish this story. It's like investing yourself in a cool tv series that get's abruptly cancelled. (Oh, Sarah Connor Chronicles... I'll never forgive Fox.) Will this finally be the end? Doubt it, but we'll know for sure September 14th!
Mania.com reports that at a Tokyo press conference, Amazing Spider-man star Andrew Garfield talked about the new approach to the movie's action, describing how he collaborated with the stunt team to do as many in camera(as opposed to digital) stunts as possible.
"A lot of the stunts are practical and grounded in reality. That was something that Marc, the director, really wanted to make sure happened in this movie to set it apart from previous ones... I would exhaust myself every day and get into near-death experiences every hour on the hour..."
I'm ALWAYS up for practical over CGI, but in filming a live action version of Spider-man, it's always gonna be challenging to go practical, since the character moves in a very inhuman way. We'll see how it turns out when Amazing Spider-man hits US theaters on July 3rd!
The remake of Total Recall starring Colin Farrell, Kate Beckinsale and Jessica Biel comes out August 3rd of this year, but I'm less than thrilled to go see it at this point. I thought the original was a fantastic flick, and it feels a little too soon to be doing a remake. Mania.com posted a recent synopsis of the movie, and it sounds all but superficially identical to the original flick. I'd rather they went with different characters and a new story, if not a new concept. I have a feeling this movie will do well in the box office on the recognition factor of the original, but is also destined to be forgotten.
On Febuary 3rd, The Chronicle will arrive in theaters, and may be an interesting study on human nature in the vein of "Watchmen", though likely dumbed down a bit, given it's produced by MTV films. The concept is stated as: Three high school students make an incredible discovery, leading to them developing uncanny powers beyond their understanding. As they learn to control their abilities, and use them to their advantage, their lives start to spin out of control, and their darker sides begin to take over.
Personally, I'm hoping for a cool, emotionally intense "super-powers flick" and the trailer makes me think "The Chronicle" may just deliver.
Over the Christmas break when my wife and I went out to see the new Sherlock Holmes movie (which I LOVED by the way!) I saw a promo poster that I thought must be a joke. But Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter looks like an attempt to actually tell a serious vampire story. Well, mostly serious. Even after reading the article at mania.com I couldn't quite figure out how much intended humor will be in this flick. I haven't read the book it's based on by Seth Grahame-Smith, but I'll enjoy finding out on June 22nd!
All kinds of speculation surround Ridley Scott's Prometheus, coming to theaters June 8th. It started as a prequel to Alien, with the intent of answering the question "Who was the 'space jockey' and what was he doing on the planet they found the Alien on?" Scott has since revealed that the famous "Alien" will not even appear in any form in this movie, although it does take place in the same "universe" as the Alien movies. (Or at least the first one that Scott made.) One thing is for sure, millions of rabid fans will line up on June 8th to witness Ridley Scott's return to the sci-fi genre after a 25 year absence. Count me among them!
Principle photography on the new Star Trek flick has finally begun, and the release date set for May 17th, 2013. All the familiar stars and creative forces are returning, hopefully the disfunctional relationships will make a comeback as well and keep Roddenberry's once daring and now relatively boring execution of a utopian future far in the past.
If you haven't seen the trailer for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey yet, your hopes for the prequel to the epic "Lord Of The Rings" movies are about to be renewed. Though some familiar faces (like Galadriel for one) indicate the movie will be mining Tolkien source material outside of "The Hobbit", the look and feel of the everything in the trailer says that the property is in trustworthy hands once again. Can't wait for December 12th!
