the lord of the rings | the m0vie blog

317. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (#13)

Posted on December 17, 2022 by Darren

Hosted by Andrew Quinn and Darren Mooney, this week joined by special guests Grace Duffy and Charlene Lydon, 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 Two Towers.

The Fellowship of the Ring has been shattered. Its membership has fragmented into three smaller groups. Each of these parties – and many more beside – will find themselves playing a major role in the War of the Ring. The battle for Middle Earth has truly begun, and flames threaten to consume the continent, and any innocent caught in their path.

At time of recording, it was ranked 13th on the list of the best movies of all time on the Internet Movie Database.

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Filed under: The 250 | Tagged: aragorn, conflict, Darkness, elves, environmentalism, epic, frodo, Gandalf, gollum, horror, humanity, industry, jrr tolkien, legolis, orcs, podcast, ptsd, rohan, Sam, The 250, the lord of the rings, the lord of the rings: the tower towers, the two towers, tolkien, violence, war, wormtongue | Leave a comment »

New Escapist Video! On “Black Adam” and the Debate Over Superheroes Killing…

Posted on November 14, 2022 by Darren

We’re thrilled to be launching a fortnightly video companion piece to In the Frame at The Escapist. The video will typically launch every second Monday, and be released on the magazine’s YouTube channel. And the video will typically be separate from the written content. This is kinda cool, because we’re helping relaunch the magazine’s film content – so if you can throw a subscription our way, it would mean a lot.

This week, we took a look at the debate over superheroes killing, which is a major thematic point in the recent blockbuster Black Adam. It’s an interesting point of discussion, but one that often overlooks and misses the larger trend within the superhero genre. That sort of debate doesn’t happen over other pulp heroes, like cowboys or gangsters or pirates, so what is it that makes superheroes a special case?

Filed under: Movies | Tagged: Black Adam, films, in the frame, killing, man of steel, marvel, mcu, Movies, pulp heroes, soldiers, superheroes, superman, the lord of the rings, themes, video series, videos, violence, war movies | 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 »

New Escapist Column! “His Dark Materials” Could Only Exist in a Post-“Game of Thrones” World…

Posted on November 12, 2019 by Darren

I published a new In the Frame piece at Escapist Magazine yesterday evening. This one took a look at the new BBC/HBO co-production of His Dark Materials, adapting Phillip Pullman’s fantasy epic for a new generation.

It feels appropriate that somebody should take another crack at Pullman’s novels now. New Line Cinema attempted to adapt The Golden Compass back in 2007, using the same model that they applied to The Lord of the Rings. However, that was never going to work; Pullman’s work was too subversive and too radical to ever fit the traditional cinematic narrative template. In contrast, this feels like the perfect moment for another adaptation, as Game of Thrones has pushed the boundaries in terms of television fantasy, both in what is possible and what audiences will accept.

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

Filed under: Television | Tagged: Game of Thrones, his dark materials, james mcavoy, the golden compass, the lord of the rings | Leave a comment »

Why Del Toro Departing The Hobbit is a Good Thing…

Posted on June 22, 2010 by Darren

The Hobbit is dead. Long live The Hobbit. Look, we all know it’s going to happen. Like the next James Bond film, the economics of the situation dictate that it must happen – a spin-off from The Lord of the Rings is too lucrative an opportunity to pass up, it’s an excuse to print money. Think of all the simple/theatrical/standard/deluxe/super/extended versions of the films have been released on video/DVD/HD DVD/Blu Ray. Now double that. So now you know why The Hobbit is going to happen, eventually. Unfortunately, I think we all know it’s not going to happen soon. And I’m here to tell you why Del Toro departing the film is actually a good thing.

Down the hobbit hole...

Note: This is part of a two-part article. Andrew over at the always wonderful Andrew at the Cinema is offering this article a jolly good rebuttal. Pop over and give it a read. Just make sure to spend a few minutes appreciating my flim-flam arguments before he pretty much destroys them with his advanced reasoning.

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: andrew at the cinema, del toro, district 9, films, guillermo del toro, lord of the rings, mgm, Movies, neill blomkamp, prequels, the hobbit, the lord of the rings, trilogies | 6 Comments »

Waiting for Super Special Editions…

Posted on June 14, 2010 by Darren

I own DVDs. I own a lot of DVDs. However, I don’t have all the movies that I would like to have. Which seems odd, because I also own a lot of forgettable nonsense that was on special offer in some bargain basement somewhere – Kurt Russell’s Soldier, for example. So, how come I don’t own all those classic films I would love to get my grubby little hands all over? One reason: I know that there’s going to be a super-extra classy hyper deluxe edition coming at some point down the line. Am I the only person who does this?

Two years and counting on my Amazon wishlist...

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: blade runner, blu ray, deluxe edition, deluxe editions, dvd releases, dvds, home media, special edition, special editions, the final cut, the lord of the rings | 6 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Alice in Wonderland

Posted on March 1, 2010 by Darren

I imagine Lewis Carroll’s iconic fantasy story poses quite the problem for anybody looking to bring it to the screen. Both Alice in Wonderland and Alice’s Adventures Through The Looking Glass essentially consist of a collection of vignettes, very loosely linked to each other. One minute you’re translating The Jabberwockey and the next you’re hearing the story of The Walrus and the Carpenter. I can’t imagine it would be particularly easy to produce a film following that sort of almost random structure. Perhaps that’s why Tim Burton’s wonderfully visual fantasy seems to draw perhaps more heavily from The Lord of the Rings than its own source material, which is a shame, as the director fantastically brings the magic of Wonderland to life. If only there were more of it.