The Man with No Time

I've been getting a bit behind on new film releases in recent months. First I missed Elysium. Then I missed Gravity, which by all accounts was amazing and something that, as an astronomer, I really should see. Then I managed to avoid seeing Ender's Game, which I was also looking forward to. Finally, there's the second part of the Hobbit trilogy (don't get me started...). I really enjoyed the first one, and was looking forward to part 2, but I missed the work trip to go and see it at the IMAX. So I thought I'd wait to go with my family over the Christmas holidays. Circumstances contrived to make this difficult, but we did eventually manage to get to see it (in 2D of course) last night. Promotional poster for ' the Desolation of Smaug ', showing Bilbo in front of the Lonely Mountain. (Credit: fansided.com)

After "The Dark Knight Rises” , I think that “the Hobbit” was the film that I was looking forward to the most this year. I loved the book as a child the first time I read it, and have a beautifully illustrated version, as well as the Radio 4 audio play from many years ago that I’ve listened too many times. I also really enjoyed Peter Jackson’s “Lord of the Rings” trilogy (LotR), and was when I found out that he was directing the Hobbit I was very excited. Sadly, my excitement was tempered this year when I  found out that, rather than the two films that were planned (already a stretch), it would be a trilogy. The book is only 300 pages long, around 20% of the length of the Lord of the Rings, so how on middle Earth was he going to get 9 hours of film out of it? Even with the fleshing out of the side-stories that was going to happen? Martin Freeman is  Bilbo Baggins. (Credit: theweek.com)