The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

There's definite value to making a series of films at the same time: the quality and the "look and feel" is consistent, and the passion of the people involved, if present in the first film, is present in all of them. Most important of all (unlike in The Matrix or even the Star Wars series), it shows that the creators have thought through the implications of their story arc, rather than just generating sequels due to public pressure. In the case of The Lord of the Rings, it probably didn't hurt that the plot was based on a famous well-established book.

And this is how it ends. In The Return of the King, the filmmakers tell a fairly simple story: how the two Hobbits, Frodo Baggins (Elijah Wood) and Samwise Gamgee (Sean Astin) finally return the powerful ring to the fires of Mount Doom. They take a well-paced 200 minutes to do so and every minute is worth watching.

The best character throughout the whole series of films for me was Smeagol (voiced Andy Serkis) whose history as he becomes the Gollum is showcased here, as is the corrupting nature of power. This is how the movie starts, and as everyone knows, it ends with his death. Perhaps the best lesson from this film is that Frodo is a potential Gollum, and Gollum is a potential Frodo.

The graphics were absolutely perfect. The final epic battle is a visual spectacle. And as has been the trademark in this movie series, the are interspersed with poignant scenes that are irrelevant to time and place, when viewed from an anthropomorphic perspective. Further, the visual scenes themselves a great mix of live action with computer-generated images which blend together seamlessly. The most anticlimactic moment had to do with the defeat of Sauron, which in the end I thought happened a little too easily. I would've liked to see him go head to head a little more with Frodo's friends.

No set of words in a review can do justice to The Lord of the Rings movies, save to say that it's best watched on a large screen with great surround sound so you can see for yourself why.

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The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. This is an old adage that has been the basis for many a story. It is the primary plot device behind John Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings classic. Written in 1954-55, with origins dating back to 1937, the first of the three movie installments, which have already been filmed, tries to stay true to the mystical world present in the book. The resulting effort is a definite success.

The star of the story, and the film, is not a person, but an object, a ring. The ring allows one to control a host of other rings handed down to the different peoples of Middle Earth: three rings belong to the immortal elves; seven to the dwarfs; and nine rings to mortal humans. The ring that rules all the others, forged using the fires of Mount Doom by the evil Wizard Sauron (Sala Baker), gives its holder so much power that it corrupts all those who seek to wear it, even the purest.

Of course, there are some peoples that are more pure than others. Humans generally seem incapable of wearing it without being corrupted by its influence (no surprise there). But there exists a diminutive people, the Hobbits, who do seem at least capable of carrying it without being polluted too much. It falls upon one Hobbit, Frodo Baggins (Elijah Wood), to take the ring to Mt. Doom, which is the only place where it can be destroyed.

Frodo is aided in his quest by the wizard Gandalf (Ian McKellen), the elf Legolas Greenleaf (Armando Bloom), the dwarf Gimli (John Rhys-Davies), two humans Strider aka Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen) and Boromir (Sean Bean), and three other Hobbits including Frodo's friend Samwise Gamgee (Sean Astin). The story chronicles how Frodo, being a reluctant hero, travels through mysterious and dangerous lands of breathtaking beauty, and fights terrific monsters in the context of awesome towers and citadels, to achieve his goal.

Perhaps one of the most visionary aspects about Tolkien's work is how he set the stage for a Dungeons and Dragons style video-game. Director Peter Jackson imbibes to the film the same feel present the book, in terms of traversing a diverse variety of landscapes, while encountering a diverse variety of creatures, friend and foe alike. Watching the film, it's easy to become mesmerised by the fantasy that is unfolding purely based on the cinematography.

Like with Joanne Rowling's Harry Potter (or for that matter, Stephen King's It), this film does not live up what I imagined, but it does a great job of presenting what Jackson and his co-workers imagined. The special effects are spectacular and meticulously done, perhaps even better than those observed in Harry Potter. There are no cop-outs here and every place that it matters, the effort and the expense have been evidently put in. The soundtrack sometimes overwhelms the dialogue, of which there is a lot, interspersed between the action sequences. Do not miss seeing this on the big screen. This is how movies should be made.

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The LORD OF THE RINGS (the two towers)

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers is better than its predecessor, and that's a rare occurrence when it comes to Hollywood films.

The story begins where the first film left off: Frodo Baggins (Elijah Wood) continues on his quest to Mordor to destroy the powerful ring in the same fires of Mount Doom from which it was created. Aiding him, directly and indirectly are, fellow Hobbits Samwise Gamjee (Sean Astin), Meriadoc Brandybuck (Dominic Monaghan) and Peregrin Took (Billy Boyd); Gandalf (now) the White (Ian McKellen); Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen); Legolas Greenleaf the elf (Orlando Bloom); Gimli the Dwarf (John Rhys-Davies); and Treebeard the Ent (voice of John Rhys-Davies). Against him are Saruman the White (Christopher Lee) and Sauron the Dark Lord, whose spirit is intertwined with the ring. And a creature whose intentions are ambiguous (quite literally) is Smeagol/Gollum (voiced by Andy Serkis).

The main goal of this episode is to showcase the unleashing of the Saruman's forces to conquer middle earth. The movie actually ends on a positive note, with our friends having the upper hand in the two epic battles--between Saruman's 10,000 strong army and the inhabitants of the Kingdom of Rohan at their Helm's Deep fortress; and between the Ents and Sarmuan's war machine in Isengard--as well as several minor ones.

The cinematography, along with the computer graphics, is awe-inspiring. Gollum is animated brilliantly, so much that I thought he was more convincing than any of the real actors. The CGI in general is state-of-the-art; the only time I could clearly discern the computer generated images was when they had the battle with the Wargs, There is a lot of humour in the film, which shows that nothing in life is worth taking too seriously. The soundtrack, which is reminiscent of old Westerns, is excellent.

It's hard to fault a film that is as well-made as this one. In my view, The Two Towers is best judged on its own merits. While it would help to be familiar with Tolkien's works (including The Hobbit, which really fills in a great deal of the background material), this tale can stand on its own if you use your imagination.

The reason Harry Potter, Star Wars, Star Trek, are such big successes is because of the mythology they create. The Lord of the Rings, which predates these works, is no exception and is one of the richest. The film itself can be described only in superlatives. Go see it.

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JURASSIC PARK (the lost world)

Jurassic Park 2: The Lost World is essentially a rehash of the original. Man messes with nature. Things go wrong. People get eaten. The major difference is in the last part which is quite sophomoric and not at all fitting of Steven Spielberg.

It is four years after the horrific disaster that happened at Jurassic Park. Again, we meet the good doctor, John Hammond (Richard Attenborough), no longer at the head of his company but still pulling a few strings behind the back of his son, Peter (Arliss Howard). The original base camp of operations set up by Hammond on Isla Sorna, Site B, still exists and there are living colonies of dinosaurs there. Hammond, who has gone from capitalist to naturalist, wants to observe the creatures in their natural habitat and put to rest years of speculation about the lives of the great animals.

Dr. Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) is asked to come on board the team sent to scout the island where the dinosaurs live. He refuses until he learns that his girlfriend, paleontologist Dr. Sarah Harding (Julianne Moore) is already alone on the island. He then becomes part of a rescue mission including himself, photographer Nick Van Owen (Vince Vaughn), equipment specialist Eddie Carr (Richard Schiff), and his daughter Kelly Curtis (Vanessa Lee Chester) who stowed away in the back of the van.

Besides the animals who would like to have humans for din-din, Malcolm's team has to cope with Peter Hammond and Roland Tembo (Pete Postlethwaite). Tembo's goal is to kill a Tyrannosaurus Rex to prove man is the greatest hunter. Peter wants to capture the animals and bring them to the mainland to create "Jurassic Park, San Diego". Bad idea.

Spielberg and company, clearly realising they had a winning formula the last time around, don't deviate very much from it. By the time the Tyrannosaurus Rex gets to San Diego, I couldn't help but thinking I had just seen Jurassic Park again.

What is missing in this movie compared to the original is the intellectual aspect. There's no talk of chaos, no background about how the animals were bred and raised, no delving into evolution about how the animals could overcome their lysine deficiency, and no "this is Unix, I know this stuff!" Viewers are simply expected to have this knowledge, and this means more time for bone crunching effects. As a result, we have a movie that is darker and gorier than the original.

The movie is entertaining and has some interesting messages about cruelty to animals and leaving nature alone to do as it will. See it for the matinee price but don't spend the big bucks on this one.

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PIRATES of the CARIBBEAN (the curse of the black pearl)

There are few roles in which I like Johnny Depp, but every time he plays an off-beat character, I really enjoy his performance. The Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl is one such occasion.

Here Depp stars as Jack Sparrow, the famous pirate captain of the Black Pearl who was abandoned on an island by his first mate Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush). Through luck, Jack manages to survive and ends up on Port Royal in the Caribbean where he encounters an ongoing soap opera featuring Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightly) the governor's daughter; Will Turner (Orlando Bloom), the son of a former pirate but taken in by the governor, and Norrington (Jack Davenport), the commander in charge of the armed forces on the island who is set to marry the governor's daughter. Jack not only has to deal with the governor and the commander who consider him a thieving pirate, but also with Barbossa and his crew who have now acquired the infamous curse of the Black Pearl.

One of the best aspects of the film is Depp's walk, which people say I mimicked when I was in Thailand and handed a drink which I just took a sip from but made me feel really woozy (there are stories of people drugging foreigners to take their money but fortunately I was with friends). It completely dominates the film. There's also a clever, but predictable, way out of the situation that Jack ends up being thrust in (namely, how does one kill things that can't die). In general the movie is characterised by situations where at first Jack appears to be doing something stupid but in reality is doing something very smart. This leads to some comic relief.

The Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl was a surprisingly good movie, much better than I expected. I highly recommend checking it out on the big screen.

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urban legend FINAL CUT

The first Urban Legend film ended with the death of the serial killer shrouded in mystery clearly pointing at a sequel. Urban Legends: Final Cut completely ignores that scenario (except until the very end) and comes up with a new one that is a rehash of the original film, but arguably executed slightly better.

In this film, Amy Mayfield (Jennifer Morrison) is a film student at Alpine University trying to come up with a thesis project. Given that her father is a famous director, there are heavy expectations placed on her. She finally decides on a project featuring a serial killer whose modus operandi is based on urban legends, myths where young college students are killed in hideous and gruesome ways.

Needless to say, this idea takes on a life of its own as people around Amy start dying. As in the Scream films, there are a lot of red herrings as to the identity of the real killer. In this film, the ending was one of the more surprising ones for me (though not completely a shock).

The suspense level in the film is fairly high (thanks in part of the surreal visual effects) and perhaps the cleverest aspect of the movie is that it dismisses the events in the first one as an urban legend (also the multiple choice involving guns at the end is amusing). The acting is passable. Urban Legends: Final Cut is a decent time killer and worth the matinee fare on the big screen. I don't recommend renting it though, unless you're a fan of the self-referential slash/gore horror genre.

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annabelle

Annabelle is a 2014 American supernatural horror film directed by John R. Leonetti, produced by James Wan, and written by Gary Dauberman. It is both a prequel to and spin-off of The Conjuring.^[3]The film stars Annabelle Wallis, Ward Horton, and Alfre Woodard. The film was released worldwide on October 3, 2014.

synopsis :
The film starts with the same opening scene from The Conjuring, in 1968, in which two young women and a young man are telling Ed and Lorraine Warren about their experiences with a doll called Annabelle which, they believe, is haunted.
In 1969, John and Mia Form live in Santa Monica and are expecting their first child. John gives her a doll that she has been trying to find. Mia loves it and puts it with the rest of her doll collection, saying that she "fits right in". At night, Mia hears a murder occurring at their neighbors, the Higgins'. When Mia returns home and call the police as her husband told her to do, she is attacked by a woman holding the doll and a male accomplice. John and the police arrive and kill the man while the woman kills herself. She leaves a bloody symbol drawn on the wall and a drop of her blood falls on the face of the doll in her arms. A news report shows that the assailants were Annabelle Higgins and her boyfriend. They had murdered her parents and are said to have been part of a satanic cult.
Since Annabelle was holding the doll while dying, Mia asks John to throw it away. Later, after a fire caused by the doll, Mia trips over escaping from the fire and goes into labor, Mia gives birth to a healthy baby girl named Leah. The family moves into a new apartment, in Pasadena. Mia unpacks her dolls and finds the one which they had thought discarded. More strange activity plagues Mia and her new baby. She contacts the detective, who informs her of Annabelle and her boyfriend's history in a cult that seeks to summon a demon by claiming a soul. Mia goes to a bookstore run by a woman named Evelyn and determines from a book that the presence haunting her wants Leah's soul. The couple contacts their church's priest, Father Perez, who tries to take the doll with him to church. The ghost of Annabelle attacks him with a demonic-looking creature, and the doll disappears. Evelyn tells Mia that she had a daughter named Ruby that was around Mia's age when she died in a car accident caused by Evelyn. She was so distraught and guilt-ridden that she attempted suicide. However, she claims to have heard Ruby's voice telling her it wasn't her time.
Perez warns John that it was indeed Annabelle's spirit that caused his injuries, and that he felt how much the demon wanted Mia's soul. John rushes to warn Mia. During another attack, Annabelle appears to levitate but, Mia sees the demon holding Annabelle in the air, implying that the doll itself has no power but is being exclusively manipulated and moved by the demon. Meanwhile, the demonic presence pushes Evelyn out of the apartment and taunts Mia while taking her baby. Mia attempts to kill Annabelle and asks him if there is another way, and it says that she can offer him her soul. John and Evelyn break open the door to find Mia ready to jump out the window with Annabelle in her hands. John saves Mia; Evelyn takes hold of Annabelle and decides to make the sacrifice, knowing this is the way she can atone for Ruby's death. She jumps out of the window and is shown at the bottom of the apartment building, dead next to Annabelle. Leah is then found safe and sound in her crib.
Six months later, the Forms have moved on and have not seen Annabelle since then. Elsewhere, the mother of one of the girls in the opening scene purchases Annabelle as a gift for her child. The ending text states that the real Annabelle doll resides in a case in Ed and Lorraine Warren's museum and that it is blessed by a priest twice a month to keep the public safe from the evil that still resides in the doll.
The final shot shows the camera linger on Annabelle, as if she'll make a move before the screen cuts out into black.

Directed by	John R. Leonetti
Produced by	Peter Safran James Wan
Written by	Gary Dauberman
Starring	Annabelle Wallis Ward Horton Alfre Woodard
Music by	Joseph Bishara
Cinematography	James Kniest
Edited by	Tom Elkins
Production company	New Line Cinema RatPac Entertainment Atomic Monster The Safran Company
Distributed by	Warner Bros. Pictures

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X-MEN first class

X-Men: First Class Movie is a series of the 5th of the movie X-Men after the X-Men trilogy and X-Men Origins: Wolverine. X-Men: First Class is the prequel of the X-Men trilogy set in the 60s when Charles Xavier and Eric Lehnsherr / Magneto is still young.

Movie Details

Director: Matthew Vaughn

Cast: James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Rose Byrne, Jennifer Lawrence, January Jones

Running Time: 131 Minutes

Like the four previous series, the film adaptation of the Marvel comic is also predicted to be as successful as the previous films. Film-film adaptation of the Marvel comic is much demand and has proved more successful even in the year 2011 alone 4 movie Marvel is ready to call it aired Thor (already aired last May and had topped the box office), X-Men: First Class (aired June 3 of this), Captain America: First Avenger (aired in July), and Spider-Man 4 (TBA).

X-Men: First Class Movie Synopsis :

X-Men: First Class Movie tells of the friendship of Charles Xavier (played by James McAvoy) and Eric Lehnserr (played by Michael Fassbender). Their friendship eventually dropped out due to disagreements. Charles then formed the group X-Men while Erick formed Brotherhood of mutants. In addition to Professor X and Magneto, another character known in previous X-Men series is Dr. Henry "Hank" McCoy, aka Beast (played by Nicholas Hoult) and Mystique (played by Jennifer Lawrence). Antagonist character in this film are a group of Hellfire Club, chaired by Sebastian Shaw (played by Kevin Bacon) who has the power to absorb the kinetic energy weapon fire and then use it to increase strength and speed.

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season of the witch

 

Season of the Witch is a 2011 American period action film with supernatural elements and directed by Dominic Sena. The film stars Nicolas Cage and Ron Perlman as knights who return from the Crusades to find their homeland ruined by the Black Plague. A girl is accused of being a witch and causing the devastation. The film will be released on January 7, 2011.

Season of The Witch 2011 Synopsis :

Many years have Behmen (Nicolas Cage) and Felson (Ron Perlman) lives in battle. Sharply honed instinct they have their instincts as a fighter while also not be underestimated. Unfortunately, the two soldiers of the Crusades was not aware that they face a task that would have proved far more terrible than a battle they've ever experienced.

How disappointed Behmen and Felson when returned to their hometown and found their shattered homeland ravaged, not by enemy but because of an outbreak that has swept the land. Rarely can survive the deadly plague and the only hope left is Behmen and Felson. Church and Felson Behmen ordered to arrest and bring a young girl named Anna (Claire Foy), who was accused as the cause of the horrible plague to a monastery for this plague to an end.

Anna should follow a cleansing ritual that will end the storm that has engulfed the death of the entire European continent. Behmen and Felson not alone. There was a priest named Debelzaq (Stephen Campbell Moore), a soldier named Eckhardt (Ulrich Thomsen, a con man named Hagamar (Stephen Graham), and a young man named Kay (Robert Sheehan). None of them are aware of how much danger would they face in bringing Anna's journey into the remote monastery. And no one knows who the real Anna.

Season of the Witch
Genre : Thriller
Release Date : January 7, 2011
Director : Dominic Sena
Script : Bragi F. Schut
Producer : Alex Gartner, Charles Roven
Distributor : Relativity Media
Duration : 92 minutes
Budget : -
Official Site : seasonofthewitchthemovie.com


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