Here’s our first look at Amazon Prime’s upcoming series set in Middle Earth, but centuries before the events of The Hobbit or The Lord of the Rings. The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is scheduled to be released on the streaming service on September 2nd.
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First Look – The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of PowerRead More »
First Look – The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Read More »
Peter Jackson returns to give us the third (and thankfully final) installment of his bloated adaptation of a 300-page children’s book. As with The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, the best things about the final entry to the franchise are Evangeline Lilly as Tauriel and Benedict Cumberbatch providing the voice of Smaug. However, Smaug’s story ends fairly quickly (despite what the movie posters would have you believe he’s on-screen for all of 20 minutes) and the series by this point is so packed with characters (five separate armies worth) Lilly gets far-less screentime than you’d want from the movie’s most interesting character.
Since the Battle of Helm’s Deep in The Two Towers Jackson’s adaptations of the works of J. R. R. Tolkien have been a series of diminishing returns with a few bright spots (such as Smaug) that are increasingly obscured by the same CGI ogre action scenes and small character moments all of which have been done better in the previous films. And the stories aren’t easily wrapped up as Jackson continues his plodding pacing to fill yet another two-and-a-half-hour film. I enjoyed The Lord of the Rings trilogy, and I’ve liked moments from the three separate Hobbit films, but oh my God am I thankful it’s finally over.
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The Hobbit: Thank God It’s Finally Over Read More »
The final chapter of Peter Jackson‘s epic extended-beyond-endurance series now has an official trailer. The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies returns the characters from the previous two Hobbit films featuring for the final confrontation with Smaug (Benedict Cumberbatch), the Battle of Dol Guldur, and the Battle of Five Armies. The film will open in theaters on December 17th.
The quest of Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman), Gandalf (Ian McKellen), Thorin Oakenshield (Richard Armitage) and his dwarves to reclaim the lost kingdom of Erebor under the Lonely Mountain continues in The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. Captured by elves, attacked by orcs, and journeying into the depths of the lost kingdom, the sequel is more successful than The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey but still suffers from director Peter Jackson taking his damn sweet time with unnecessary subplots and a host of new characters to introduce.
Of all the new faces in the second of three films needed to adapt a 300-page children’s book, Evangeline Lilly stands out. In Tauriel we finally get a prominent female elf who is more warrior than ethereal plot device (Cate Blanchett, Liv Tyler). The plot thread of Tauriel forced to balance here duty to her king (Lee Pace) and Legolas (Orlando Bloom) against her unexpected feelings for a dwarf (Aidan Turner) is one of the film’s most-successful storylines.
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The Desolation of Smaug Read More »
We now have our first full-length trailer for the second part of director Peter Jackson‘s retelling of J.R.R. Tolkein‘s The Hobbit which promises two things we didn’t get in the first film – barrels and Smaug (Benedict Cumberbatch). Martin Freeman, Ian McKellen, Richard Armitage, Graham McTavish, Ken Stott, Aidan Turner, Dean O’Gorman, Mark Hadlow, Adam Brown, John Callen, William Kircher, Peter Hambleton, James Nesbitt, and Stephen Hunter all return. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug opens in theaters on December 13th.
