Simon's Movie Reviews

  Looking back on the first movie in Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings saga, my first thought is that people really need fantasy in their lives. The Fellowship of the Ring came out in 2001, a year when to say the least the news were pretty depressing. An escape to a fantasy land filled with wizards, hobbits, elves, and dwarves engaged in a fight of good versus of evil came at just the right time. You get a certain feeling when you sit in a theater, the lights dim, and you are swept away to the beauty of Middle Earth, via New Zealand. Given the length of Jackson’s movies, it is also a fairly long escape from reality. Prior to sitting down in that theater in 2001, my knowledge of J.R.R Tolkien’s fantasy work was fair at best. I believe I had read the books at least once before and has seen the animated movie from the 1980s, but I was no Stephen Colbert. Since watching that first movie my appreciation for Tolkien’s world has grown as I own the extended cuts of every one of the...

Here’s a fact that will make you feel older: it’s been 17 years since the release of the second chapter of the Lord of the Rings saga. Looking back it was one of those movies that signalled the permanent residence of fantasy blockbusters on the big screen. Whereas The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) was a bit of a road trip, The Two Towers (2002) becomes a war movie in the third act with armies fighting in the rain, exploding walls and the arrival of the cavalry at the last minute. However audiences had never seen before an army composed of an advanced breed of Orcs and the cavalry being led by a bearded wizard recently back from the dead. This is one of the rare movies that I have seen twice on the big screen and numerous times after on DVD, specifically the extended version. Director Kevin Smith may have a point by saying these movies are basically hours of people walking and that the one true trilogy is Star Wars , but I really enjoy watching those hours of footage directed b...