Tag Archives: Ian McKellen

Top 5: Scenes from The Lord of the Rings The Two Towers (IMDB Top 250 #15)

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

Every other month, we take a look at a movie from the Internet Movie Database’s List of the TOP 250 FILMS OF ALL-TIME.  These are movies that transcend a simple “My Favorite Scene” column.  These are movies that are hard to just pry five gems from, but we do and examine the film overall.  We’re on our fifteenth installment in this series.  Click on the link here to check out previous installments from #1 The Shawshank Redemption to #14 Inception.

In planned trilogies, middle chapters are the trickiest.  They don’t have a beginning or an end.  They tend to be the darkest night before the dawn of the finale, but it’s possible to go too dark.  You can lose the momentum of your opening and set up narrative hurdles for the finale that are impossible to overcome.  A perfect bridge movie is rare, and with the possible exception of The Empire Strikes Back, the best one ever made is The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. Continue reading Top 5: Scenes from The Lord of the Rings The Two Towers (IMDB Top 250 #15)

Movie Review: Beauty and the Beast (2017) “Tale Told Nearly As Well As Last Time”

Beauty and the Beast

Beauty and the Beast was the most critically acclaimed animated Disney feature since Snow White, so the live-action turn was going to get incredible scrutiny even before Jon Favreau made a better Jungle Book than either the Disney animated film or the Kipling books.  So whomever followed that was going to have a high bar to clear or even match, and when it was followed by Beauty and the Beast, the early praise and jaw-dropping trailers we’d been seeing for nearly a year have experienced a load of critical backlash in the last month.  It IS a very difficult movie to review and compare to the original, but this is not the 70% film Rotten Tomatoes currently rates it at.  While this live action version of Beauty and the Beast does not reach the perfection of the 1991 film, it is the second fantastic musical we’ve had released for the screen in three months (at some point I may have to stop saying I hate musicals).  While comparisons can’t be avoided, and there are some pitfalls, Beauty and the Beast continues a stream of quality re-imaginings of Disney’s animated works, presenting an absolutely gorgeous, moving, film. Continue reading Movie Review: Beauty and the Beast (2017) “Tale Told Nearly As Well As Last Time”

In Theaters This Week (3/17/2017): Beauty and the Beast, The Belko Experiment, Trainspotting 2

Ewan McGregor, Trainspotting 2

Each Thursday we look at what is going to be coming out in theaters this weekend, show you the trailers for the big releases, predict the box office winner and just generally give you enough of a carrot to pull you through the rest of the work week.  Week 3 of MARCH MADNESS has the biggest film of the month and two EXTREMELY polar opposite bits of counter programming for those of you who aren’t staying home to watch the actual March Madness. Continue reading In Theaters This Week (3/17/2017): Beauty and the Beast, The Belko Experiment, Trainspotting 2

The Hobbit The Desolation of Smaug Final Poster and Gallery of Stills from Trailer #3

The Hobbit The Desolation of Smaug, Final Poster, Gandalf, Thorin, Bilbo, Thranduil, Legolas, Bard the Bowman, Tauriel, Smaug

Earlier today, we showed you the final trailer for The Hobbit The Desolation of Smaug. Here now, is the final poster as well as a gallery of stills from the third trailer. I’m so excited for this. Thank goodness the extended edition of the first movie came today so I can have something to tide my Hobbity geekiness over until the film opens on December 13th.
The Hobbit The Desolation of Smaug, Martin Freeman, Bilbo Baggins The Hobbit The Desolation of Smaug The Hobbit The Desolation of Smaug, Benedict Cumberbatch, Smaug The Hobbit The Desolation of Smaug, The Desolation of Smaug The Hobbit The Desolation of Smaug, Thorin Oakenshield, Richard Armitage, Dwarves of Erebor The Hobbit The Desolation of Smaug, Orc, Legolas, Orlando Bloom The Hobbit The Desolation of Smaug, Legolas, Orlando Bloom The Hobbit The Desolation of Smaug, Thranduil, Lee Pace The Hobbit The Desolation of Smaug, Tauriel, Evangeline Lilly The Hobbit The Desolation of Smaug, Martin Freeman, Bilbo Baggins The Hobbit The Desolation of Smaug, Gandalf, Ian McKellan The Hobbit The Desolation of Smaug, Martin Freeman, Bilbo Baggins, Spiders of Mirkwood

 

 

Trailer Time: The Hobbit The Desolation of Smaug TV Spots #4 & #5 (2013)


Ah Tolkienites…steel yourselves…tis over a month to go.  Let these snippets of the fourth and fifth TV spots for The Desolation of Smaug give you strength.  December 13th shall come soon enough!

Gandalf, Ian McKellan, The Hobbit The Desolation of Smaug