lord of the rings | the m0vie blog

370. Dune: Part Two (#12)

Posted on March 17, 2024 by Darren

Hosted by Andrew Quinn and Darren Mooney, and this week with special guest Brian Lloyd, The 250 is a weekly trip through some of the best (and worst) movies ever made, as voted for by Internet Movie Database Users. New episodes are released Saturdays at 6pm GMT.

So this week, Denis Villeneuve’s Dune: Part Two.

House Atreides has fallen to an ambush by their old rivals, House Harkonnen. Rumous swirl of the Emperor’s involvement in this scheme. However, as the Baron Vladimir Harkonnen schemes to get spice production back up to targets, not all members of House Atreides lie buried in the desert sand. Paul Atreides unites with the Fremen, and charts a course towards revenge.

At time of recording, it was ranked 12th on the list of the best movies of all time on the Internet Movie Database.

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Filed under: This Just In | Tagged: antihero, austin butler, brian lloyd, deconstuction, dune, dune: messiah, dune: part two, epic, fantasy, florence pugh, Frank Herbert, gen z, Hero, imdb, lord of the rings, podcast, sci-fi, science fiction, star wars, the lord of the rings, timothée chalamet, zendaya, zendaya coleman | 1 Comment »

New Irish Independent Column! On “Willow” and Disney’s Fantasy Pitch…

Posted on November 30, 2022 by Darren

I published a new piece at The Irish Independent this evening. With the release of Willow on Disney+ this week, it seemed like a good opportunity to take a look at what the show means for the Disney brand, and why it is so important to the company going forward.

The past couple of decades have seen an explosion in fantasy film and television: Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones. However, studios have quickly discovered that audiences aren’t necessarily enthusiastically engaged with fantasy, struggling to connect with the genres. Studios like Disney have invested millions trying to tap into that audience, with numerous high-profile failures. Willow represents the latest attempt by Disney to craft a live action fantasy universe with a built-in fanbase, and the company is using the same playbook that it did with Star Wars.

You can read the piece here, or click the picture below.

Filed under: Movies, Television | Tagged: audiences, disney, fantasy, films, george lucas, harry potter, independent, irish independent, lord of the rings, Movies, streaming, willow | Leave a comment »

New Escapist Column! On How “The Rings of Power” Balances Itself Between “The Lord of the Rings” and “Game of Thrones”…

Posted on September 2, 2022 by Darren

I am doing weekly reviews of The Rings of Power at The Escapist. They’ll be dropping every Friday morning while the show is on, looking at the Lord of the Rings prequel as it progresses from one episode to the next.

The Rings of Power is very obviously a prequel to the events of The Lord of the Rings, and so exists in the shadow of Peter Jackson’s earlier cinematic adaptation. However, it emerges into a very different landscape, twenty years later. Audience expectations have shifted, along with their relationship to the larger fantasy genre. The Rings of Power asks what it means to be a Lord of the Rings prequel in a post-Game of Thrones world, and finds itself navigating the boundaries that have been reset.

You can read the piece here, or click the picture below.

Filed under: Television | Tagged: Amazon, audiences, elves, fantasy, Game of Thrones, lord of the rings, prime video, rings of power, the lord of the rings, the rings of power | Leave a comment »

265. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (#10)

Posted on December 18, 2021 by Darren

Hosted by Andrew Quinn and Darren Mooney, this week joined by special guests Andy Melhuish, Deirdre Molumby and Grace Duffy, 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 Fellowship of the Ring.

“The world is changed. I feel it in the water. I feel it in the earth. I smell it in the air. Much that once was is lost, for none now live who remember it. It began with the forging of the Great Rings.”

At time of recording, it was ranked 10th on the list of the best movies of all time on the Internet Movie Database.

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Filed under: The 250 | Tagged: adventure, andy melhuish, dee molumby, deirdre molumby, epic, fantasy, grace duffy, high fantasy, ian mckellen, J. R. R. Tolkien, lord of the rings, lotr, peter jackson, podcast, The 250, the lord of the rings | Leave a comment »

New Escapist Column! On the Whole “Lord of the Rings” as an Extended Ending…

Posted on December 16, 2021 by Darren

I published a new column at The Escapist today. This week, to mark the twentieth anniversary of the release of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings, we’re taking a look back at the trilogy as a whole. We’ll be publishing three articles looking at the films, one each day. This is the third and final of the pieces.

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King is typically criticised for having too many endings. However, that is oddly appropriate. The entire trilogy is an extended ending. It’s a story about the end of a magical age, about how nothing lasts forever and how everything eventually fades into history. Frodo and his allies are fighting to save Middle-Earth from Sauron, but the films make it very clear that the world’s days are numbered.

You can read the piece here, or click the picture below.

Filed under: On Second Thought | Tagged: escapist, lord of the rings, return of the king, the escapist, the lord of the rings, the lord of the rings: the return of the king, the return of the king | Leave a comment »

New Escapist Column! On How Only Peter Jackson Could Have Made the “Lord of the Rings” Trilogy…

Posted on December 15, 2021 by Darren

I published a new column at The Escapist yesterday. This week, to mark the twentieth anniversary of the release of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings, we’re taking a look back at the trilogy as a whole. We’ll be publishing three articles looking at the films, one each day. This is the first.

Most films are minor miracles. It is remarkable that films get made at all, let alone that many of them turn out to be good. This is particularly true of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, which seemed like an impossible assignment. At the time, Peter Jackson seemed like the most unlikely of directors to successfully adapt J.R.R. Tolkien’s unfilmable epic. However, in hindsight, it seems impossible to imagine that anybody except Jackson could have brought the film to life.

You can read the piece here, or click the picture below.

Filed under: On Second Thought | Tagged: director, epic, escapist, fantasy, films, lord of the rings, movie-making, Movies, New Zealand, peter jackson, the escapist, the lord of the rings | Leave a comment »

Non-Review Review: The Hobbit – The Desolation of Smaug

Posted on December 11, 2013 by Darren

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug represents a considerable improvement on The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. Some of the same problems still lurk at the edge of the frame: the pacing needs a bit of work; the movie is about half-an-hour too long; it feels a little too consciously like one extended prelude to The Lord of the Rings. And yet, despite all these flaws, The Desolation of Smaug accomplishes a lot of what it sets out to do.

This is very clearly the same Middle Earth that viewers remember from The Lord of the Rings. Even the least obsessive viewer will still recognise the occasional familiar landmark or setting from the early film. It’s not just the New Zealand locations that shine through; great care has been taken to establish a geography of this fictional landscape. Viewers who have yet to memorise the names and routes on Tolkien’s meticulously-prepared maps can see that this is the same world.

It’s just being seen from a different perspective. The Hobbit isn’t really an adaptation of that much-loved adventure tale, at least not exclusively. It is instead being crafted as a companion piece, with the heroes’ quest providing a handy travelogue of a world in turmoil.

The gold standard?

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Bilbo Baggins, Desolation of Smaug, Gandalf, Hobbit, Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, J. R. R. Tolkien, lord of the rings, Luke Evans, Middle-earth, New Zealand, Smaug, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Thorin, Thorin Oakenshield | 15 Comments »

Non-Review Review: The Hobbit – An Unexpected Journey

Posted on December 11, 2012 by Darren

I always feel a little embarrassed to admit that I prefer The Hobbit to The Lord of the Rings. Don’t worry, I know that by any objective measure of craft The Lord of the Rings is a far more impressive literary accomplishment, but I never really connected with the characters at the heart of that sprawling epic in the way that I empathised with Bilbo Baggins. As such, it’s a massive relief to me that Peter Jackson turns in an endearing and enjoyable, if padded and indulgent, first instalment in his Hobbit trilogy. The technical advances and the somewhat cynical structuring of the film tend to garner a great deal of discussion and debate, but the heart of Tolkien’s introduction to Middle Earth is still here. The only problem is that absolutely everything else is as well.

And that’s just the script to Part I…

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Bilbo, Bilbo Baggins, film, Gandalf, Hobbit, ian mckellen, J. R. R. Tolkien, Jackson, lord of the rings, Martin Freeman, Middle-earth, Movie, non-review review, peter jackson, review, Sylvester McCoy | 8 Comments »

Whatever Will Happen to the Caped Crusader? Thoughts on Batman After Nolan…

Posted on July 31, 2012 by Darren

To celebrate the release of The Dark Knight Rises, July is “Batman month” here at the m0vie blog. Check back daily for comics, movies and television reviews and discussion of the Caped Crusader.

So, what now?

Christopher Nolan has rounded out his Batman trilogy with The Dark Knight Rises, tying up and resolving the arc he set up for Bruce Wayne in Batman Begins almost a decade ago. It has been a long and rewarding journey. I certainly think that Nolan’s accomplishments here deserve to be compared to other truly exceptional pop culture trilogies like The Lord of the Rings or even Star Wars. He told a complete story for the character, from the beginning through to the end. So, a week after he released the final part of his trilogy, people are wondering: what now? How do you follow a series of Batman movies like that? What next for the Dark Knight and Warner Brothers?

Speaking for myself, I can only hope that it’s something completely different.

Out of Nolan’s land…

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: adam west, batman, batman begins, Christopher Nolan, dark knight, Dark Knight Rise, Dark Knight Rises, DarkKnight Rises, gary oldman, justice league, lord of the rings, nolan, star wars, tim burton, Warner Bros | 12 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part I

Posted on July 11, 2011 by Darren

Even in this era of franchises and spin-offs and sequels and remakes to see a movie treated as a form of serialised fiction. I’m not even talking about a sequel hook inserted just before (or even during) the trailers, but I’m talking about literally taking one whole movie and dividing it and then releasing separately. It’s an approach that worked for The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, and for The Lord of the Rings, but each Harry Potter film until now has felt like its own story, containing threads building towards a larger finale. Each instalment has been structured with a beginning, middle and end. With Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part I, we simply get a first act and what feels like the majority of the second. As such, it feels almost strange to review it without the companion film.