The Hobbit Part 2 picks up with a cantina scene right out of Star Wars. Thorin (Richard Armitage), the Dwarf King, sits down for some grog, fully aware that he is being watched. But before you can say, “Greedo shot first!”, Gandalf swoops in to break the tension and introduce himself. Ah, yes, this is …
My favorite thing about Lord of the Rings: Return of the King is that I finally figured out that R. Wynn and A.O. Wynn are not related. During the first two movies, I kept thinking they must both be members of the legendary House of Wynn—though for the life of me I couldn’t figure out …
Just when you think director Peter Jackson is in over his head with the extravagant special effects, numerous characters, and the large scope of J.R.R. Tolkein’s book, he proves you wrong. Every moment is more fantastic than the next, culminating to a point near the end of the film where I actually stopped breathing. Always …
I’ve been reminded of Titanic several times over the last few years while picking up stories here and there about the production of The Lord of the Rings trilogy. One factoid in particular gave me a lot of hope that The Fellowship of the Ring was going to kick butt. At first I was frightened …
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It is with much sadness and regret that I bestow a mere four slices on this latest installment of the X-Men franchise. After the stellar X2: X-Men United, I was so looking forward to another round of action and misadventure from my favorite mutants but, instead, wound up sitting through a flashy, sloppy, hollow spectacle …
I’ll admit that I walked into the press screening—an experience that was complete with a bag search and metal detectors!—a little skeptical. I’d seen the original X-Men movie and was impressed but not blown away, so I wondered if this sequel would live up to the first film, surpass it or leave me mightily disappointed. …
I grew up stealing peeks at my dad’s old X-Men comics, those glory-days of the 1960’s, long before Wolverine came on the scene. In high school, I suppose I became too “grown-up” for comics anymore, and stopped reading X-Men. This may have been a mistake, but at least it allowed me to come into the …
Unlike Peter Jackson’s original Lord of the Rings Trilogy, a trio of movies based on a trio of dense books, the Hobbit trilogy is based on… a single book. Not only that, but it is a single book that had kids as the intended audience. It’s as though Jackson took any and all criticism about …