Today I found a three part video essay review and documentary piece by Lindsay Ellis and needed to share it. I found the Hobbit trilogy to be interesting yet had a rough time with aspects of it and Lindsay's review does a good job covering it and she does an epic deep dive on how it was made and it's complicated path to theaters. I don't want to spoil her review videos but I will say her series blurs the lines between review and documentary in a very unique way that elevates video reviews to new heights. For instance she travels to New Zealand to interview people involved in local cinema and were involved in the production of The Hobbit. One part I appreciate in Ellis's review is how she deals with duality and specifically how things can be both good and bad at the same time.

The first part of her series is embedded above and you can watch part two and three by hitting those links below.

The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Studios (Part 2 / 2) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElPJr_tKkO4

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Warners (Part 3/2) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qi7t_g5QObs

Timogorgon   Member wrote on 09/28/2018 at 02:09am

This was a great series! It was very interesting (and also a little sad) seeing the interviews with the people from New Zealand.

jdodson   Admin   Post Author wrote on 09/28/2018 at 02:28am

Agreed. I also heard through this video and from the behind the scenes docs that Avatar was filmed in New Zealand and many of the folks on The Hobbit and LoTR worked on Avatar. I've also read that James Cameron and crew are down in New Zealand now filming the 4 new Avatar movies. Hopefully they are getting a good deal out of all that.

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