Hosted by Andrew Quinn and Darren Mooney, this week joined by special guest Deirdre Molumby, The 250 is a (mostly) weekly trip through some of the best (and worst) movies ever made, as voted for by Internet Movie Database Users. New episodes are released every second Saturday at 6pm GMT, with the occasional bonus episode between them.
This time, to mark the 20th anniversary of its release, Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.
After the Battle of Helm’s Deep, the forces of men rally at Minas Tirith for one final confrontation against Sauron. At the same time, Frodo and Sam press deeper into Mordor, guided by the mysterious Gollum. However, with the fate of Middle Earth hanging in the balance, this epic struggle may yet come down to the most unlikely of figures.
At time of recording, it was ranked 7th on the list of the best movies of all time on the Internet Movie Database.
Show Notes:
- Recorded 30th October 2023.
- Note: Due to the COVID-19 situation, this episode was recorded remotely. We suspect, going forward that a lot of our episodes will be until the crisis resolves.
- The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King at The Internet Movie Database.
- The IMDB 250 as it appeared at time of recording.
- Follow Dee on Twitter.
- Read Dee’s reviews at entertainment.ie.
- Lorenza Munoz at The Los Angeles Times discusses the box office performance of The Return of the King, December 2003.
- The Los Angeles Times reports of the second box office weekend of The Return of the King, December 2003.
- Xan Brooks at The Guardian reflects on the Oscar race between Avatar and The Hurt Locker, February 2010.
- Michael Medved at CNN contemplates the chances of Avatar winning the Best Picture Oscar, February 2010.
- Susan King at The Los Angeles Times considers the home media release of The Return of the King, December 2004.
- Chris Feil at Polygon considers how The Return of the King changed the Academy Awards forever, April 2021.
- Alex Suskind at Vanity Fair writes about the Oscar campaign that landed The Return of the King its Best Picture Oscar, February 2014.
- Mary McNamara at The Los Angeles Times reports about the superfans sweeping into Los Angeles to see The Return of the King win Best Picture, March 2004.
- Ray Buffer considers The Return of the King for The Los Angeles Times in the context of the Kill Bill and Matrix movies, January 2004.
- Peter Jackson talks to The BBC about the production and development of The Return of the King, December 2003.
- Peter Jackson talks to Ain’t It Cool News about his early plans for the Lord of the Rings duology, 2001.
- Peter Jackson talks to The New York Times about the pressure of ending The Return of the King, December 2003.
- Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh talk to The Los Angeles Times about how much of their lives they have given to the Lord of the Rings trilogy, February 2004.
- Viggo Mortensen talks to Entertainment Weekly about the importance of the reshoots to shaping the Lord of the Rings sequels, June 2014.
- Ned Martel, May-Ying Lam, Grace Koerber and Kat Downs at The Washington Post consider how much the presidency aged Barack Obama, December 2012.
- Eleanor Ross at The Independent considers how Barack Obama aged over his eight years in office, January 2016.
- John Walsh at The Independent considers Peter Jackson’s weight loss in the wake of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, December 2005.
- Liv Tyler performs her twenty-five-step skin care routine for Vogue, July 2019.
- Ray Lilley at The Los Angeles Times considers the impact of The Lord of the Rings on the New Zealand economy, November 2003.
- P.J. Huffstutter at The Los Angeles Times wonders whether New Zealand can sustain the economic boom that began with The Lord of the Rings, November 2003.
- Brad Weiners at Slate writes about Wellington hosting the premiere of The Return of the King, December 2003.
- Patrick Day at The Los Angeles Times writers about how the Lord of the Rings trilogy managed to attract a large female audience, February 2004.
- Mary McNamara at The Los Angeles Times reports on an explosion of fantasy cinema at the turn of the millennium, November 2001.
- Elijah Wood talks to Vulture about his life and career, June 2013.
- Timothy Donohoo at Comic Book Resources looks at how The Golden Compass killed New Line Cinema, February 2021.
- Ed Power at The Irish Times reflects on the debate over The Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones, April 2016.
- Juliette Harrison at Den of Geek reflects on the similarities between The Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones, July 2023.
- Miles Surrey at The Ringer reflects on the shows that were supposed to be “the next Game of Thrones”, May 2020.
- Matt Aiken talks to CinemaBlend about the influence of The Lord of the Rings on Avengers: Endgame, May 2019.
- Scott Eric Kaufman at Salon reports on Donald Trump’s promises of “so much winning”, September 2015.
- Jeff Vice at The Deseret News considers the petitions to change the name of The Two Towers in the aftermath of 9/11, June 2002.
- Geoffrey Wheatcroft at The Guardian explores the myth of the Second World War as “the good war”, December 2014.
- Darren Mooney at The Escapist looks at how the cinematic release of The Lord of the Rings resonated with audiences looking for an epic narrative in the wake of 9/11, November 2021.
- Adam Gopnik at The New Yorker discusses the moral simplicity of The Lord of the Rings, December 2011.
- The production team on the Lord of the Rings trilogy talk to The Seattle Pacific University Response, Winter 2004.
- Karen Durbin at The New York Times reports on the debates over the political readings of Jackson’s Lord of the Rings in the midst of the War on Terror, December 2002.
- The One Ring provides a transcript of John Rhys-Davies’ discussion about what he sees as the battle for western civilisation, July 2003.
- John Rhys-Davies talks to Promontory Artists about he interprets Tolkien’s battle for civilisation, December 2003.
- Steven Hart at Salon considers how The Lord of the Rings got drawn into the American culture war, February 2004.
- Ben Terris at The Independent discusses the popular rehabilitation of George W. Bush, September 2021.
- David W. Moore Gallup reports on the record-breaking approval ratings for George W. Bush in the wake of the attacks on the World Trade Centre, September 2001.
- Roger Ebert reviews The Return of the King for The Chicago-Sun Times, December 2003.
- Manohla Dargis at The Los Angeles Times reflects on the retreat into fantasy in twenty-first century American cinema, December 2003.
- Stephanie Zacharek at Salon reflects on the return of good-old-fashioned heroism to popular cinema, February 2004.
- George R.R. Martin talks to Observer about the influence of “the Scouring of the Shire” on Game of Thrones, August 2015.
- Cooper Hood at ScreenRant considers Bernard Hill’s work in Titanic and The Return of the King, December 2023.
- Peter Jackson talks to The Guardian about having to restructure key elements of the Lord of the Rings narrative across The Return of the King, November 2003.
- Christopher Lee talks to The Guardian about his late career resurgence, May 2003.
- The Guardian reports on Christopher Lee’s reaction to being cut out of The Return of the King, November 2003.
- Peter Jackson talks to Ain’t It Cool News about the challenges in adapting The Return of the King, September 2008.
- Juliette Harrison at Den of Geek considers J.R.R. Tolkien’s concept of “eucatastrophe”, August 2022.
- Richard Fisher at The BBC reflects on J.R.R. Tolkien’s use of “eucatastrophe”, October 2022.
- Peter Jackson talks to Entertainment Weekly about Shelob, December 2019.
- Ryan Menezes at Cracked considers the possibility that The Return of the King could have had more endings, September 2022.
- Brett White at Decider wonders how many endings The Return of the King actually has, December 2018.
- Darren Mooney at The Escapist considers the mournful nostalgia of The Lord of the Rings, December 2021.
- Elijah Wood and Robin Williams trade Jack Nicholson anecdotes on The Graham Norton show, April 2015.
- Kyle Wilson at Polygon ranks “the orc daddies of Middle Earth”, February 2021.
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Filed under: The 250 | Tagged: aragorn, awards, box office, culture, deirdre molumby, fantasy, frodo, J. R. R. Tolkien, legolis, meaning, orcs, Oscars, peter jackson, the lord of the rings, the lord of the rings: the return of the king, the return of the king, viggo mortensen |
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