Seven nabbed in bust - Recorder

Weekender
16 / The Recorder, Amsterdam, N.Y. Thursday, December 12, 2013 www.recordernews.com
The Calendar
Today
F-MCC Talent Show, 6:30-8:30 p.m., Fulton-Montgomery
Community College, Route 67, Johnstown.
Trailer Park Boys, 8 p.m., Palace Theatre, 19 Clinton
Ave., Albany.
Friday
Holly & Evan, 6:30 p.m., Cafe Nola, 617 Union St.,
Schenectady.
Brian Regan, 8 p.m., Palace Theatre, 19 Clinton Ave.,
Albany.
Saturday
Mountain Snow & Mistletoe, 8 p.m., The Egg, Lancaster
Street, Albany.
AT THE MOVIES
Sunday
Mountain Snow & Mistletoe, 2 p.m., The Egg, Lancaster
Street, Albany.
Donny and Marie: A Broadway Christmas, 6:30 p.m.,
Times Union Center, 51 S. Pearl St., Albany.
The Wooten Brothers, 7:30 p.m., The Egg, Lancaster
Street, Albany.
December 20
Christmas With the Rat Pack, 8 p.m., Proctors, 432
State St., Schenectady.
December 21
Christmas With the Rat Pack, 2 and 8 p.m., Proctors,
432 State St., Schenectady.
The Associated Press
This image released by Warner Bros. Pictures shows Martin Freeman, left, and John Callen in a
scene from “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.”
Waking the dragon
New ‘Hobbit’ breathes fire into trilogy
By JOCELYN NOVECK
The Associated Press
December 22
Christmas With the Rat Pack, 2 p.m., Proctors, 432
State St., Schenectady.
December 26
Badfish, 7 p.m., Upstate Concert Hall, 1208 Route 146,
Clifton Park.
Please see CALENDAR,
Page 18
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Celebrity birthdays
VAN DYKE
FRIDAY: Actor Dick Van Dyke is 88. Actor
Christopher Plummer is 84. Guitarist Jeff “Skunk”
Baxter (The Doobie Brothers, Steely Dan) is 65. Actor
Steve Buscemi is 56. Singer Amy Lee of
Evanescence is 32.
SATURDAY: Actress Patty Duke is 67. Actress Dee
Wallace is 65. Bassist Cliff Williams of AC/DC is 64.
Actress Cynthia Gibb (”Fame”) is 50. Actress
Vanessa Hudgens (“High School Musical”) is 25.
SUNDAY: Actor-comedian Tim Conway is 80. Actor
Don Johnson is 64. Actor Michael Shanks
(“Stargate SG-1”) is 43. Actor Stuart Townsend (“Queen of the
Damned”) is 41. Actor Adam Brody (“The O.C.”) is 34.
MONDAY: Singer Benny Anderson of ABBA is 67. Singer-guitarist
Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top is 64. Actor Sam Robards is 52. Actress
Amanda Setton (“The Mindy Project,” “Gossip Girl”) is 28. Actress
Anna Popplewell (“The Chronicles of Narnia” films) is 25.
TUESDAY: Actor Ernie Hudson is 68. Actor-comedian Eugene Levy
is 67. Actor Bill Pullman is 60. Director-producer Peter Farrelly
(“There’s Something About Mary,” “Dumb and
Dumber”) is 57. Actress Milla Jovovich is 38.
WEDNESDAY: Guitarist Keith Richards of The Rolling
Stones is 70. Director Steven Spielberg is 67. Actor
Ray Liotta is 58. Actress Katie Holmes is 35. Singer
Christina Aguilera is 33.
THURSDAY: Actress Cicely Tyson is 79. Actor Mike
Lookinland (“The Brady Bunch”) is 53. Actress
Jennifer Beals is 50. Actress Kristy Swanson is 44.
Actress Alyssa Milano is 41.
RICHARDS
Sleeping dragons, as we know
from our childhood literature,
eventually awaken. If they didn’t,
there wouldn’t be a story. So
it’s hardly news that in the second
installment of Peter
Jackson’s “Hobbit” trilogy, the
dragon rouses from his slumber.
What IS news: the franchise
wakes up, too.
Die-hard fans might disagree,
but to many, the first film, last
year’s “The Hobbit: An
Unexpected Journey,” took way
too long to get going and then
dragged for much of its 169
minutes. “I do believe the worst
is behind us,” noted Bilbo
Baggins at the end of that film,
to which some of us wanted to
reply: “Well, we hope so.”
“The Hobbit: The Desolation
of Smaug” is not much shorter
— 8 minutes, to be exact — but
it feels brisker, lighter, funnier.
The characters are more varied,
more interesting; We’ll take a
comic turn by the entertaining
Stephen Fry over another Orc
any day. There’s even an added
romantic subplot.
The whole enterprise, it must
be said, involves a huge dollop
of cinematic hubris. J.R.R.
Tolkien’s “The Hobbit,” after all,
is a book of some 300 pages.
With these three films, a prequel
to his “Lord of the Rings” trilogy,
Jackson devotes about two
film minutes to each page.
Imagine if they did that with
Tolstoy’s “War and Peace.” The
movie would have been 40 hours
long.
On the other hand, the first
“Hobbit” installment brought in
some $1 billion. So it’s rather
beside the point to argue with
Jackson’s approach.
Happily, “Smaug” is vastly
better from the get-go. Instead of
The Associated Press
This image released by Warner Bros. Pictures shows Evangeline
Lilly, left, and Orlando Bloom in a scene from “The Hobbit: The
Desolation of Smaug.”
a drawn-out intro, we get right
to the action, which is of course
the quest of Bilbo (Martin
Freeman, himself livelier and
funnier) and the band of
dwarves, led by Thorin
Oakenshield (a suitably noble
Richard Armitage) to reclaim the
kingdom of Erebor, under the
Lonely Mountain, from the
frightening dragon Smaug.
As always, trouble takes many
forms: not only the menacing
Orcs, but giant spiders with
sticky webs, too. Then there are
the elves, who come to the rescue
at an opportune time but
then imprison Bilbo and his
mates. (Gandalf — the always
grand Ian McKellen — has other
business, and leaves for long
stretches.)
Lee Pace is fun as the campy
and authoritarian Thranduil,
leader of the elves. His son
Legolas (Orlando Bloom, back
from “The Lord of the Rings”)
is talented as ever with a bow.
And he has a love interest:
Tauriel, a newly invented character,
played with spunky sweetness
by Evangeline Lilly.
Tauriel, it turns out, has a soft
spot for the dwarf Kili, a rather
hunky Aidan Turner. (”He’s
quite tall for a dwarf,” she says.
“But no less ugly,” retorts
Legolas.)
Bilbo, ever bolder, helps the
dwarves escape their jailers in a
terrific scene — involving barrels,
river rapids, and an endless
supply of Orcs — that rivals a
Busby Berkeley dance number.
(Side note: These dwarves are
Please see ‘HOBBIT,’
Page 17