Watch 'The Hobbit' Online!

That's right Tolkien fans, it's true.  It's now possible to go to youtube to check out and early version of The Hobbit, right away and free of charge!  I am, of course, referring to the 1967 animated short from Tom and Jerry animator Gene Deitch.  What, did you think I was talking about something else?  Alright, I was being pretty shameless there, but this is something worth taking the time to watch.  It may not have the best animation, but it's interesting to see Tolkien's world projected through an artistic lens that isn't taken from medieval Europe.

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Jackson Talks "Fairy-Tail" Tone in 'The Hobbit'

Back when I wrote about the new much-loved The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey trailer, one of my main worries was the the tone of the film.  I pointed out that The Hobbit is less epic and much more light-hearted than Lord of the Rings trilogy, and hoped that director Peter Jackson would understand that.  Well, my hopes  seem to have been answered, according to an interview with Jackson and producer/wife Fran Walsh had with Total Film, discussing the tone they are aiming for with the two Hobbit films.

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'The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey' Trailer Proves Peter Jackson Still Has It

To be honest, I wasn't as exited about the upcoming Hobbit movies as others were.  The Lord of the Rings trilogy was a masterful fantasy epic, but something didn't feel right about giving The Hobbit the same treatment.  It takes place in the same world, but has a wildly different style than the beloved trilogy, and I was worried that Peter Jackson would try to make it more epic then it should be.  Does the newly released trailer end my skepticism?  No, but it does a very good job of lowering it.

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Check Out a Pic of Three Dwarves from Peter Jackson's 'The Hobbit'

Today we have our first look at three dwarf characters from Peter Jackson's The Hobbit: There and Back Again, courtesy of the film's Facebook page (thanks again Mark Zuckerberg).  In this pic, from left to right are Nori, Ori and Dori, played by actors Jed Brophy, Adam Brown and Mark Hadlow respectively.

Here's the description of the image from the fan page.

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A Hot Elf?! Evangeline Lilly the Latest Star to Join Peter Jackson's 'The Hobbit'

Looks like director Peter Jackson was a fan of Lost tough girl, Kate Austen too, so much that he's reportedly created an elf character just for her in film adaptation of J.R.R Tolkein's The Hobbit.  Jackson relayed the news himself via his own Facebook page (The One Ring) last night that he's cast Evageline Lilly as a woodland elf named Tauriel, a new character created specifically for the film.

Jackson says the name Tauriel even comes with a translation, meaning "daughter of Mirkwood".  So there's a little backstory on where Lilly's character lives in the world of Jackson/Tolkein.

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