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The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, a review by Antares

The Lord of the Rings Trilogy   



PrefaceThe Lord of the Rings to be the greatest piece of literary fiction ever penned by an author. The intricacies and detail that went into the development of this grand saga are as wondrous as the story itself. Not only did Tolkien create a mystical landscape upon which to set his tale, but he also created full-scale languages for the different races of beings that inhabited his Middle Earth. Co-existing in a world akin to our middle ages, elves, dwarves, hobbits and men live peaceably side-by-side and in times of strife, unite to battle the destructive forces of the bastion of pure evil in their world, Lord Sauron.

       I was first indoctrinated into this magical world, by a friend in high school who let me borrow the pre-cursor to this epic, The HobbitThe Fellowship of the Ring



Year: 2001
Film Studio: New Line Cinema, WingNut Films
Genre: Fantasy, Action, Adventure
Length: 208 Min.

Director
Peter Jackson (1961)

Writing
J. R. R. Tolkien (1892)...Novel "The Fellowship Of The Ring"
Fran Walsh (1959)...Screenplay
Philippa Boyens...Screenplay
Peter Jackson (1961)...Screenplay

Producer
Peter Jackson (1961)
Michael Lynne (1941)
Mark Ordesky (1963)
Barrie M. Osborne (1944)
Rick Porras
Tim Sanders
Jamie Selkirk
Robert Shaye (1939)
Ellen Somers
Fran Walsh (1959)
Bob Weinstein (1954)
Harvey Weinstein (1952)

Cinematographer
Andrew Lesnie (1956)

Music
Howard Shore (1946)...Composer

Review
       In 1999, director Peter Jackson was relatively unknown to mainstream American film audiences, but was famous in his homeland of New Zealand for making stylish and creative horror films. Being adept with the criteria needed for making successful special effects laden films would help him to overcome many obstacles associated with a production of this magnitude. Not only would he be directing this epic, but he would also be one of three authors co-writing the screenplay. This The Two Towers



Year: 2002
Film Studio: New Line Cinema, WingNut Films
Genre: Fantasy, Action, Adventure
Length: 222 Min.

Director
Peter Jackson (1961)

Writing
J. R. R. Tolkien (1892)...Novel "The Two Towers"
Fran Walsh (1959)...Screenplay
Philippa Boyens...Screenplay
Stephen Sinclair...Screenplay
Peter Jackson (1961)...Screenplay

Producer
Peter Jackson (1961)
Michael Lynne (1941)
Mark Ordesky (1963)
Barrie M. Osborne (1944)
Rick Porras
Jamie Selkirk
Robert Shaye (1939)
Fran Walsh (1959)
Bob Weinstein (1954)
Harvey Weinstein (1952)

Cinematographer
Andrew Lesnie (1956)

Music
Howard Shore (1946)...Composer

Review
   With the incredible success of The Fellowship of the Ring in 2001, would director Peter Jackson be able to duplicate the excitement and entertainment in his second outing, or succumb to the dreaded ? The task ahead was daunting; in the his group of characters had moved unilaterally to achieve their goal, but now they have splintered and have gone in separate directions. Simultaneous storylines in a film have always been a problem for directors, but Jackson was working with great material and benefited from the fact, that a high percentage of his audience had already read the book. This would give him the freedom to move back and forth between the concurrent plots and still keep hold of the viewer. I have spoken to many people who found the second film to be a little lethargic in its pace and not quite as exciting as The Fellowship of the RingThe Two TowersSpartacusThe Two Towers is an incredible transitional piece of filmmaking between the first and last films of this series.

The Return of the King



Year: 2003
Film Studio: New Line Cinema, WingNut Films
Genre: Fantasy, Action, Adventure
Length: 263 Min.

Director
Peter Jackson (1961)

Writing
J. R. R. Tolkien (1892)...Novel: The Return of the King
Philippa Boyens...Screenwriter
Peter Jackson (1961)...Screenwriter
Fran Walsh (1959)...Screenwriter

Producer
Peter Jackson (1961)
Michael Lynne (1941)
Mark Ordesky (1963)
Barrie M. Osborne (1944)
Rick Porras
Jamie Selkirk
Robert Shaye (1939)
Fran Walsh (1959)
Bob Weinstein (1954)
Harvey Weinstein (1952)

Cinematographer
Andrew Lesnie (1956)

Music
Howard Shore (1946)...Composer

Review
       As that old saying goes, , and with the release of the final film in the LOTR trilogy, Peter Jackson was hoping to go out with a bang in the The Return of the KingThe Return of the KingSummaryGettysburgRatings Criterion4 Stars - Historically important film, considered a classic.

(From The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (2001, 2002, 2003) on December 21st, 2009)

The Day Mars Invaded Earth, a review by GSyren

The Day Mars Invaded Earth (024543-104995)

United States 1963 | Released 2015-03-17 on DVD from 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment

70 minutes | Aspect ratio Anamorphic 2.20:1 | Audio: English Dolby Digital Mono

Directed by Maury Dexter and starring Kent Taylor, Marie Windsor, William Mims, Betty Beall, Lowell Brown

Martian invaders are in the process of making exact doubles of an entire town and then killing the original models. The terrifying facts are discovered by a scientist working at Cape Canaveral who is trying to figure out why a recent Martian probe simply exploded after landing on the Red Planet. He has been in Florida working on the project for so long that his wife in California is about to divorce him. Wanting to save his marriage and see his family, he goes home and suddenly ends up fighting for not only his own life, but for all humanity.

My thoughts about The Day Mars Invaded Earth:

I am a big fan of fifties and sixties science fiction and horror movies, so I was very surprised to find one that had gone totally below my radar. It's Invasion of the Body Snatchers without any pods, or Invaders from Mars without any martians. In fact, no real monster at all. It's a really low budget movie , so it's a bit surprising that it was filmed in CinemaScope. The movie is slow but creepy, and it has a twist ending that I did not see coming. The thing that bothered me most about the script is that the characters seem to accept a totally unbelievable situation without any questioning whatever. That's more unbelievable than the the unbelievable situation itself. The contrived story and the slow pacing drags the movie down, but the surprise ending makes up for it to some extent.

I rate this title

(From Reviews and ramblings by Gunnar on June 3rd, 2015)

"Due South" marathon, a review by Tom

1.20 Victoria's Secret - Part 1 (1995-05-11)
Writer: Paul Haggis (Created By), Paul Haggis (Writer), David Shore (Writer)
Director: Paul Haggis
Cast: Paul Gross (Constable Benton Fraser), David Marciano (Detective Ray Vecchio), Beau Starr (Lt. Harding Welsh), Daniel Kash (Detective Louis Gardino), Tony Craig (Detective Jack Huey), Catherine Bruhier (Elaine), Ramona Milano (Francesca), Melina Kanakaredes (Victoria Metcalf), Denis Forest (Jolly Hughes), Shay Duffin (Father Behan), Gordon Pinsent (Fraser Sr.), Paulina Gillis (Maria), David Calderisi (Mr. Vecchio), Vito Rezza (Tony), Sam Moses (Mr. Mustafi), Bruce McFee (Moran), Victor Ertmanis (Staff Sgt. Meers), Kim Ange (Boswell), Sam Malkin (Brown), Arthi Sambasivan (Jasmine), Craig Eldridge (Criminalist), Reiner Schwarz (Peddlar), Bob Fisher (Bonilla)

This two-parter picks up on the story of Fraser's ladyfriend whom he mentioned earlier in the season. This is a more dramatic episode. The only real comic relief here is Fraser's dad ("What happened to your hat?" )

Rating:

(From "Due South" marathon on July 26th, 2009)