Emily9802:

Just as a small FYI, I don't think del Toro directed the first Hellboy, so its shortcomings shoudn't be held against him. I have not seen the new Hellboy yet, but it looks strikingly different from the first.

I do share your concerns about the Hobbit, though. I loved much of Jackson's trilogy, with several serious reservations (Arwen, a lack of understanding of who Aragaon is and his motivations, etc.), but the Hobbit is such a wonderful, slim volume that the decision to film in two parts makes me very aprehensive, because it'll have to be crammed with unnecessary scenes to fill two whole movies and will very likely suffer greatly.

Actually, I believe the plan (for now) is to film The Hobbit in one film and make the second film about what happened between The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. There is possibly enough info in the appendices of LOTR to provide a skeleton for such a movie but it will mostly be conjured out of thin air by Jackson, Boyens, et al.

Now, I was quite impressed with the job Jackson did with LOTR but, as a purist, of course there were some things I would have done differently;-)