Reviews

Episode 2.01 "Rhaenyra the Cruel" was written by Sara Hess who's an executive producer along with being the writer for episodes 1.06 and 1.09. The episode is directed by Clare Kilner who served as director for a couple of episodes in the first season, along with episode 1.09. The cinematography is perfect as always, so is the direction in this episode, Kilner's mise-en-scene is absolutely brilliant and carefully constructs each shot to perfection. Every shot is centered and the aesthetics are truly magnificent. The set design, lighting and composition is for example some truly great parts of the mise-en-scene.

The episode's premise: Both Alicent and Rhaenyra are facing the consequences of the murder of King Aegon II's heir.

The scenes of the small council are among my favorites, they're slow in pace and are mostly just a lot of dialogue but there's such strong acting and drama in those scenes. The Council meeting in the beginning of the episode is full of that, subtle and overall great ones. Rhys Ifans' performance in that scene and throughout the episode was great, Tom Glynn-Carney was good but a bit over the top yet for the rest of the episode he's brilliant. There are so many great performances in this episode, the themes of loss are still present now with Luke and Jaehaerys. We see the brilliant acting in Olivia Cooke and Phia Saban's performances from the aftermath of Jaehaerys's death. Later in the episode we have one memorable and realistic written scene with Rhaenyra and Daemon, what a spectacular scene which brings so much to the episode and character drama of the show. Matt Smith and Emma D'Arcy have some of the best performances in the episode, but honestly Fabien Frankel deserves praise for his role as Ser Criston Cole, he's such a great actor and this character is truly one I despise after loving him in the first half of S1. He's such a manipulator and sociopath, perhaps even a narcissist. Frankel might have the episode's best performance. Back to Rhys Ifans, his performance in one of the last scenes is truly award worthy, I'll say nothing more. Tom Glynn-Carney is also incredible in the scene. Top notch drama from start to finish.

Erik Kain wrote, "Arryk (Luke Tittensor) and Erryk (Elliot Tittensor) Cargyll's fight to the death worked shockingly well, largely thanks to the excellent-nay, perfect-casting of these two knights, twins in real life and on the show." and I agree fully. This scene works so well and sets up the upcoming war and the battle/fight sequences we'll see, the choreography for the scene wasn't anything fancy, it was simply a realistic portrayal of a fight between two Knights in armor, of two brothers/twins.

House of the Dragon's second season continues to offer some incredible drama, with actors doing truly phenomenal work. Scenes that have such emotional depth and impact, there's one thing that the writer is doing extremely well and it's the character drama and the unpredictable story. Scenes like when Otto Hightower loses the hand of the King and the duel at the end. The filmmaking and screenwriting behind the show, behind this episode, are truly magnificent. This episode was great and more enjoyable than the premiere, still the same quality though which is great.

Four hours of Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, the extended cut, and by many the definitive edition. For a long time, it has been my favorite of the trilogy, has that changed during my rewatch of these films? The 4k blu-ray is once again perfect in every aspect, from the Dolby Atmos which makes every sound effect and musical cue from the great Howard Shore sound excellent and loud, then to the crisp picture quality along with HDR and Dolby Vision. Truly incredible. Peter Jackson begins the film by showing us the backstory of Smeagol and how he acquired the ring, a heartbreaking scene with him killing his cousin to grab the ring from him, then his evolution to Gollum. Afterwards, we get a scene where Aragorn and his companions come to Isengard and reunite with Merry and Pippin, before meeting Saruman where we see his demise which unfortunately wasn't in the theatrical cut. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film three and a half stars out of four, saying that it is "such a crowning achievement, such a visionary use of all the tools of special effects, such a pure spectacle, that it can be enjoyed even by those who have not seen the first two films." Talking about the whole trilogy, Ebert said that he admired it "more as a whole than in its parts", and that The Return of the King certified The Lord of the Rings as "a work of bold ambition in a time of cinematic timidity".

Gandalf and Aragorn lead the World of Men against Sauron's army to draw his gaze from Frodo and Sam as they approach Mount Doom with the One Ring.

Like the preceding films in the trilogy, The Return of the King has an ensemble cast, and some of the cast and their respective characters include: Elijah Wood as Frodo Baggins, Ian McKellen as Gandalf the White, Viggo Mortensen as Aragorn, Sean Astin as Samwise Gamgee, Andy Serkis as Sméagol / Gollum, Billy Boyd as Peregrin Took, Dominic Monaghan as Meriadoc Brandybuck, John Rhys-Davies as Gimli, Orlando Bloom as Legolas, Bernard Hill as Théoden, Miranda Otto as Éowyn, David Wenham as Faramir, Karl Urban as Éomer, Hugo Weaving as Elrond, Liv Tyler as Arwen, Cate Blanchett as Galadriel and John Noble as Denethor.

There are a lot of great dramatic scenes in this film which are full of emotional depth, but there are also numerous great action sequences. I think this whole movie is edited perfectly, a specific scene of both action and dramatic with focus on the editing is when Faramir is riding out to charge the orcs who took his previous defending position. This was a suicide charge edited in a way which placed focus on the drama and heartbreaking moment as Faramir have truly lost hope, but manages to survive. The scene consists of the charge, Pippin singing a sad song which fits the scene perfectly, but also of Denethor eating. It shows how Denethor doesn't care and the vicious style of him eating resembles the murder taking place simultaneously. As King Théoden gathers his army for the upcoming battle against Sauron, Elrond tells Aragorn that Arwen is dying, having refused to leave Middle-earth. Elrond gives Aragorn Andúril, reforged from the shards of King Elendil's sword Narsil, and urges him to commit to claiming Gondor's throne, to which he is heir. I think this is a big reason why this film was my favorite back in the day, Aragorn is like King Arthur in a way (a story I absolutely adored as a child-teen) and during this scene, he gets the sword which is reminiscent of Excalibur. He's then joined by Legolas and Gimli, and travels to Paths of the Dead. There's a bunch of lore about this place, something I never truly understood and I always found this big sequence to be quite lackluster. But now, my mind has changed slightly. The ghost army and the cursed King remains not my cup of tea and I would have seen something else happen than the place crumble down on them which felt anti-climactic, but for Aragorn's arc it's excellent. The battle and siege on Minas Tirith is big and epic in scale, as well as its long and tense. Gandalf acting as a general never gets old and most likely saved the entire kingdom, I've never noticed it before but the Gondorian knights and soldiers had no morale nor strategic thinking of what they were doing, which was quite realistic because of their acting King is losing his mind and thinking everything is lost. Makes for what's to come so much better, first with Gandalf leading the men and then Théoden who later arrives with his army. This big battle is concurrent with Frodo and Sam getting the ring to Mount Doom, prior to them reaching it, the confrontation between Frodo and Gollum takes place with Gollum executing his plan which he made at the end of 'The Two Towers'. Gollum is such a brilliant character, how long gone and corrupted he is, yet you can sympathize with him. He's a brilliant morally grey villain. When the army of Rohan arrives on the battlefield, their theme is played as all the riders ride into battle, that's an epic scene. For now, it's solely the orc army, and then the Haradrim arrives. This whole action sequence is truly mesmerizing and full of entertainment, masterly directed by Peter Jackson and choreographed brilliantly by whoever's responsible. The Witch-king mortally wounds Théoden in the battle, then comes Éowyn and slays the Witch-king with Merry's help, in one epic and dramatic scene full of emotional depth. Then comes Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli with their ghost army to the rescue, and the kill count game returns. It was Frodo who carried the ring, went through all the horrible things related to it. But don't ever forget it was Sam who carried him and served as the good. Inside Mount Doom has one of the most iconic shots in cinema, Frodo holding the ring out with light coming out from the lava onto his face. Gollum grabs the ring and after a struggle falls down into the lava with the ring, a fitting ending for his character, a fitting end for the trilogy. Then the Fellowship reunites, everyone except for Boromir who have lived on throughout the trilogy, mostly with the extended cuts. Thereafter Aragorn's character arc fulfills and he remains my favorite character throughout the trilogy with perhaps Sam being second. The acting in the farewell scene is excellent, I feel for Sam there, how emotional he got when Frodo tells his Hobbit friends he's leaving with Gandalf and his uncle. There are so many great performances in this film, but Sean Astin, Elijah Wood and Andy Serkis were the best in my opinion.

Jackson's Middle-earth was primarily designed by Alan Lee and John Howe, who had earlier illustrated editions of Tolkien's books. It was created by Weta Workshop, who handled all the trilogy's weapons, armour, miniatures, prosthetics, and creatures; the Art Department built the sets. The city of Minas Tirith was built from parts of the set of Helm's Deep, while the wide shots were from miniatures. Without Weta Workshop, I'm sure this film and the trilogy as a whole wouldn't have been as great, their work is felt in every scene, in every frame. For the cinematography, what Andrew Lesnie did was truly breathtaking, superb cinematography throughout the film. Like the previous films in the trilogy, The Return of the King is widely recognised as one of the greatest and most influential films ever made. The film received numerous accolades; it won all eleven awards for which it was nominated, including Best Picture, during the Oscars.

Does it remain my favorite? In one way, yes. But I think I actually prefer 'The Two Towers' more now than I used to. Is Return of the King worthy of all the eleven Oscars it got? Indeed it was, the film is a landmark in cinema and one of the best films I've seen. The performances, direction, writing, production design, visual effects, costume design and the grand scope of the story and emotional depth it has. The film is incredible and a brilliant conclusion to a trilogy that has aged like fine wine.

The story is a semi-autobiographical take on Chung's upbringing. Lee Isaac Chung directed and wrote the film, you see the passion he poured into every scene. It's such a realistic portrayal of a family of four, of diaspora, of human beings. Humans are flawed and you see it in every character except for Anne, Jacob and Monica's daughter. The cast is small but great, with Will Patton portraying an old Korean vet who's helping out on the farm, his character is in other's eyes a bit crazy, but his heart is in the right place and acts as one of the film's kindest characters. Every interaction and every performance, there's so many scenes which justifies awards for the actors especially for Steven Yeun and Youn Yuh-jung with the latter actually winning an Oscar for Best supporting Actress, Youn is actually big over in South Korea so it was nice for the rest of the world to notice her strength as an actress. I still think Steven Yeun should have won for best actor but it was a hard year and Anthony Hopkins' performance in The Father was spectacular, Yeun's was just more subtle and had many more layers in my opinion. Steven Yeun served as an executive producer for the film, perhaps a reason why his performance is so great, as he most likely had more freedom with the performance. The reason he speaks Korean too? That surprised me when I first saw the trailer and the film, how different the role is than anything else. In The Walking Dead, Steven Yeun portrays my favorite character and when I saw him in this film, I just knew how great of an actor he truly is, you see this role is completely the opposite of Glenn.

A Korean American family moves to an Arkansas farm in search of its own American dream. Amidst the challenges of new life in the strange and rugged Ozarks, they discover the undeniable resilience of family and what really makes a home.

Jacob and Monica Yi will be the characters I'll be focusing on, how it's him that made the family move to Arkansas and thus move into this trailer home which his wife Monica and their children despise. Yet, he became depressed over working the same job and not being able to provide for his family. This is in the 80's after all in America where men provide for their family and the women stay at home, his masculinity too is a major reason for this. I'll go deeper into it with this article from The Korean Times, Jacob declines to hire a white male water douser - because Jacob finds it ridiculous that Arkansians pay big money for something one could figure out for free. He teaches David that "Koreans use their minds," not the white man's gadgets that verge on mystical garbage, and hugs David for figuring out that water is always where the trees are (notice that he never teaches his daughter Anne any such lessons). Of course, it's also Jacob's male and ethnic pride that lands him in trouble, as the water he sought to find with his mind was, in fact, nowhere to be found in the ground. And later, when he might lose everything in his life, he still refuses to accept prayers for God's help from his eccentric hired hand, Paul. That was tantamount to admitting failure as a man and having to do so in front of a white man. Perhaps he even extricated himself from California's Korean immigrant community because he did not want to fail in front of them either. Failure was not an option. It is precisely this quixotic obsession with a pressurized ideal of manhood that emboldens Monica to stand her ground. Although she resents the farm, the house on wheels, the tornados and a lost Korean community, these were just byproducts of the ultimate truth, that Jacob placed the farm's success above the success of his marriage and family. To be fair, Jacob's refusal to return to California with them was also his need to model to the children that fathers make something of themselves. Yet, she refuses to accept this prioritization of male productivity above loving each other as an intact family. Jacob even hints that she and the kids are less important than the farm and grants her permission to leave him (and, of course, be responsible for David and Anne). Most women in Monica's position, with enduring love for her partner, few economic prospects, non-English fluency, little family in the country and an early 1980s culture less accepting of Korean American divorce, likely would have relented. Yet, Monica's feminist/womanist strength in the face of incredible heartbreak is a leitmotif of the film, one that should be discussed and celebrated more.

Why I felt the need to quote that is because of how well written it is and how well Nadia Kim knows the story. At first glance you might think the film is solely about the husband, but it's about both, the entire family and I think Han Ye-ri deserves more praise as her acting is top notch but it's mostly subtle and in the background, a great performance nonetheless. "Monica's feminist/womanist strength in the face of incredible heartbreak is a leitmotif of the film, one that should be discussed and celebrated more." rightfully said. For me, I'm rooting for Jacob whilst being fully on Monica's side. Lachlan Milne served as the cinematographer for the film and his work is excellent, the film is stunning from start to finish and he and the director used the on-location shoot (Tulsa, Oklahoma) to their advantage. The musical score is spectacular, giving each scene that little extra, like the emotional scenes hit harder.

I watched Minari directly when it came out on blu-ray back in 2020 and revisiting it now four years later was amazing, I still find it incredible and like many critics, one of the best films of the 2020s and the 21st century. Nicholas Barber at the BBC rated the film 5/5, writing, "Sensitively written and acted, beautifully shot, and with a charming, sparingly used score, Minari is so engaging that it's easy to forget how radical it is." Minari was nominated for numerous Oscars, like for Best Picture and Best Musical Score, but also Best Screenplay and Best Achievement in Directing (both for Lee Isaac Chung), and when you watch the film, you quickly understand why. It also won the Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film and earned six nominations at the 74th British Academy Film Awards, including Best Film Not in the English Language. Rightfully among the best dramas I've ever seen, a film more people should see, because of the writing and direction but also the performances. Steven Yeun, Han Ye-ri, Youn Yuh-jung and Will Patton, to the child actors Alan Kim and Noel Kate Cho. These people did a phenomenal job.

One year later, Peter Jackson returned triumphantly to the trilogy with The Two Towers. My friend's favorite film in the trilogy and I might agree with that. There's so many incredible scenes in this film, brilliantly shot and directed perfectly, also a spectacular script. With the battle at Helms Deep being one of the most beloved action sequences in cinema. If you didn't like the previous film, I'm sure this film isn't for you as it goes deeper into the lore which J. R. R Tolkien wrote. The extended edition goes even deeper and honestly it's the version you need to watch. The imagery in these films are truly mesmerizing, they linger on your mind for years and even decades, Peter Jackson succeeded with crafting a film that does this, a trilogy that does this. The direction, screenplay and visual storytelling is truly perfect.

While Frodo and Sam edge closer to Mordor with the help of the shifty Gollum, the divided fellowship makes a stand against Sauron's new ally, Saruman, and his hordes of Isengard.

The Two Towers has an ensemble cast like its predecessor, and the cast and their respective characters include: Elijah Wood as Frodo Baggins. Ian McKellen as Gandalf the White. Viggo Mortensen as Aragorn. Sean Astin as Samwise Gamgee. Andy Serkis as Gollum (voice/motion capture). Billy Boyd as Peregrin Took. Dominic Monaghan as Meriadoc Brandybuck. John Rhys-Davies as Gimli (who also voices Treebeard. Orlando Bloom as Legolas. Bernard Hill as Théoden. Christopher Lee as Saruman the White. Hugo Weaving as Elrond. Miranda Otto as Éowyn. David Wenham as Faramir. Brad Dourif as Gríma Wormtongue. Karl Urban as Éomer. Liv Tyler as Arwen. Cate Blanchett as Galadriel. Sean Bean as Boromir.

The Two Towers is bigger in scale and intercuts between three perspectives, the actors hold their own. Elijah Wood gets more scenes to show what he's capable of, Frodo has been important since he first got the ring but in this film he truly becomes one of the most important characters, him and Aragorn who have an incredible arc. Sam is as important as Frodo because of how he serves as the good in the story, Sam is the person that turns you away from the dark side, to the light. Gandalf becomes 'the White' in this film after his fight with the Balrog, and the film opens with the showdown between the two. There's a specific shot, a mesmerizing still photo, with them falling down into the water. The scene truly shows Gandalf's capabilities, his strength and wisdom. The scene is quick but absolutely perfect. The musical theme for Edoras and Rohan is absolutely one of the film's best music themes, sounding medieval yet fantastical. Howard Shore is a genius. At first glance Éowyn might seem like a normal noble woman but there's more to her, she's a strong capable woman who takes the role of a shieldmaiden seriously. The plot has her and Aragorn become friends and perhaps something else, her feelings become stronger and it feels natural. Aragorn's true love is Arwen. The storyline with Frodo, Sam and Gollum have been mostly character driven but their run in with Faramir (the brother of Boromir) marks a change in their journey, a character I like and a performance I like even more. David Wenham is truly fantastic as Faramir. Through the flashback sequence, with Denethor neglecting Faramir in favour of Boromir when sending him to Rivendell, so that Faramir wanted to please his father by bringing him the Ring. Reviewers have opined that the extended edition presents Faramir in a more favourable light. This scene makes him a lot better character as it goes deeper into his psyche and makes him more sympathetic. Although I personally love the flashbacks and the extended screentime Faramir gets along with a return of Boromir, the pacing sadly hurts from it, something the extended edition of Fellowship of the Ring never did. But the scenes help fill out the character of Boromir from the previous film but also build up Faramir for this and his upcoming appearance in Return of the King. It also shows John Noble as Denethor, who plays a larger part in the next movie.

In this film the mystery around Aragorn slowly gets uncovered and we learn more of who he is, other than a descendant of Isildur and heir of Gondor's throne. We learn how he's a half-elf and gets more details about the Dúnedain, also how he has the blood of Númenor in his veins. With him being a half-elf, his relationship with Legolas becomes so much better and in the previous film I thought Legolas was quite a bland character but that's mostly fixed in this film with him playing off with Gimli as well as Aragorn. His character arc is actually quite good and seeing someone experiencing other cultures and understanding them without being arrogant, I appreciate his arc more this time around than before. Commentators have proposed historical figures such as King Oswald of Northumbria and King Alfred the Great as sources of inspiration for Aragorn, noting parallels such as spending time in exile and raising armies to retake their kingdoms. Gimli and Legolas have become friends during their travels, scenes of banter and their chemistry makes their friendship real, character development. Andy Serkis, you are a genius and so are the ones who made Gollum work. This was groundbreaking visual effects at the time, visuals which still hold up today. Andy Serkis deserves awards for his performance as Gollum / Smeagol, all the facial expressions and that voice. The scenes with him acting alone, as both sides of Gollum photographed with shot-reverse shot, Gollum and Smeagol which resemble the bad and good in him.

The action sequences are truly perfect in this film, focusing more on story than cool set pieces, yet they're epic and simply perfect. The Battle at Helm's Deep is the best action sequence in The Two Towers and in my opinion the best in the entire trilogy. How would they beat the previous film's final fight which was smaller in scale but perfect in every way? Well you show the biggest battle the War of the Ring have had up to this point, where Saruman's army of 10000 sieges the Rohan castle against defended by around 300 Rohirrim and a large group of the Elves of Lothlórien who were sent by Elrond, at Galadriel's prompting. You could say with Gandalf coming to save them at the last minute to be a cliche, but what Peter Jackson did and surely Tolkien in his book, there was foreshadowing to it earlier in the movie which Aragorn quotes when it's dawn. The battle begins outside as the siege begins and moves deeper into the fortress the longer it takes, showing everything, and deaths on both sides. The kill count which is a running gag throughout the battle where Legolas and Gimli are lightheartedly competing with each other, those scenes make the tone lighter as otherwise it would be very dark. The Elves' commander, Haldir, meets his demise early and that's where you know how dark the battle will be. This action sequence is reminiscent of Game of Thrones' battles like The Battle of the Bastards and The Battle Of Castle Black, more reminiscent of the latter. It feels like Peter Jackson set the bar with battles in the fantasy genre, how it should be done and you can clearly see the inspiration The Battle Of Castle Black took on the iconic Battle at Helm's Deep. Charles Oughton likens the Battle of Helm's Deep to Livy's account of Horatius Cocles's heroic defence of Rome's Pons Sublicius bridge. The heroes Aragorn, Éomer, and Gimli hold off the army of Orcs; Horatius holds off the army of Etruscans at the bridge. Oughton finds multiple matches between the two accounts. Several of these are not present in Thomas Babington Macaulay's poem "Horatius" which retells Livy's tale, though Oughton suggests that Tolkien did make additional use of Macaulay for some details. In The Two Towers, it's Aragorn who's the hero and him along with Legolas and Gimli are the ones who made the moral go up and lead the Rohans to victory. I would say Aragorn is Horatius in the film/book, I just love when authors take inspiration from real life like that, something I do too in my writing, something George RR Martin is too well known for doing. The battle has been described as one of the greatest battle scenes in film, combining "technical mastery, sweeping spectacle and tonal balance". I agree fully with this.

Once again, the cinematography is truly mesmerizing, photographed by the great Andrew Lesnie once again. It's edited by Michael J. Horton who was nominated for an Oscar for his work. Something I didn't go into detail about in the previous review was the makeup and prosthetics department, the orcs and goblins are featured even more in this film, and Peter Jackson fleshes them out and makes them feel more alive and it's needed to make them less one-dimensional. The visual effects still hold up and has aged like a fine wine. Like the other films in the trilogy, The Two Towers is widely recognised as one of the greatest and most influential films ever made as well as one of the greatest sequels in cinema history. It was nominated for six Oscars, including Best Picture, winning for Best Sound Editing and Best Visual Effects. Philip French described The Two Towers as a "stunning visual epic", relating the visual style to the paintings of "Caspar David Friedrich, the Pre-Raphaelites, Art Nouveau illustrations for children's books, and the apocalyptic biblical landscapes ... of the Victorian visionary John Martin". This goes back to the imagery I wrote about before. The Two Towers truly is one incredible movie, a superb sequel, and a memorable one.

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring is a film very dear to me, I've seen this film and the whole trilogy multiple times, from VHS to blu-ray and now for the first time 4k blu-ray. This paragraph will serve as an introduction to the film. The Fellowship of the Ring is the first part of this trilogy and it's where the world is introduced, its characters and the many places we'll get to explore. The characters are well written, complex and overall three dimensional. Both the heroes and villains. What this film does so well is how it's the beginning of an adventure, from a writer's perspective, it's brilliantly executed. I watched the extended edition so the film is 30 minutes longer, but the pacing wasn't hurt, the pacing is one of the strongest aspects in the film as it never ends being interesting or entertaining. Peter Jackson directed the film and co-wrote the screenplay with Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens. Jackson's direction and visual storytelling is fantastic, truly spectacular. The mise-en-scene is superb, every preparation like the scenography, costume & makeup work and lighting, everything makes for a perfect shot scene. There's not a single bad scene in the film, everything is handled perfectly and the actors do a terrific job. This is an epic, it never feels long because of how brilliant the editing is. Whilst the tone can be dark at times, the film is also quite lighthearted and especially in the sequence in the beginning at The Shire. Immediately, in this sequence, you get a sense of a larger world and universe. The Lord of the Rings is based upon J. R. R. Tolkien's trilogy of the same name, an author who wrote The Hobbit before LOTR, and his vast universe is all him. He was a genius, a true genius when it comes to fantasy.

A meek Hobbit from the Shire and eight companions set out on a journey to destroy the powerful One Ring and save Middle-earth from the Dark Lord Sauron.

The Fellowship of the Ring is what these nine companions call each other and they're from different backgrounds, all memorable in their own right. The cast consists of: Elijah Wood as Frodo Baggins: A young hobbit who inherits the One Ring from his uncle Bilbo. Ian McKellen as Gandalf the Grey: An Istari wizard and mentor to Frodo. Viggo Mortensen as Aragorn: A Dúnedain ranger and heir to Gondor's throne. Sean Astin as Samwise Gamgee: Better known as Sam, a hobbit gardener and Frodo's best friend. Sean Bean as Boromir: A son of the Stewards of Gondor who journeys with the Fellowship towards Mordor. Billy Boyd as Peregrin Took: Better known as Pippin, an extremely foolish hobbit who is a distant cousin of Frodo and travels with the Fellowship on their journey to Mordor. Dominic Monaghan as Meriadoc Brandybuck: Better known as Merry, a distant cousin of Frodo. John Rhys-Davies as Gimli: A dwarf warrior who accompanies the Fellowship to Mordor after they set out from Rivendell. Orlando Bloom as Legolas: A prince of the elves' Woodland Realm and a skilled archer. Liv Tyler as Arwen: An elf of Rivendell and Aragorn's lover. Cate Blanchett as Galadriel: The elven co-ruler of Lothlórien alongside her husband Celeborn. Christopher Lee as Saruman the White: The fallen head of the Istari Order who succumbs to Sauron's will through his use of the palantír. Hugo Weaving as Elrond: The Elven-Lord of Rivendell who leads the Council of Elrond, which ultimately decides to destroy the Ring. Ian Holm as Bilbo Baggins: Frodo's uncle who gives him the Ring after he decides to retire to Rivendell. Andy Serkis as Gollum (voice/motion-capture): A wretched hobbit-like creature whose mind was poisoned by the Ring after bearing it for 500 years.

The plot is quite simple as it has Frodo on a mission, but changes the hero's journey in one way, having the wizard and teacher there from the start and instead exchanging the person the hero meets in the second act to be the ranger we learn is Aragorn. With the film's long length, almost 4 hours long, you could easily say the first half of that is all build up for what's to come. The second half has the Fellowship of the Ring, newly formed, starting their journey and this is where most of the action happens. Spectacle after spectacle, with these nine companions each getting their time to shine and individual arcs except for Legolas who gets more of an arc in the next films. When the Fellowship is in Moria, it's clear that this film and the story it tells highlights the wizard. Gandalf the Grey meets his demise at the bridge by his confrontation with the 'Balrog Durin's Bane'. Another point I want to make is how the scenes in Moria shows the film's major theme in a more fleshed out way, about greed and how the Dwarves mined too deep for Mithril which unleashed the Balrog monster which we know is a reason why Gandalf never wanted to take this route. Saruman the White, the big villain other than Sauron, the former of them is all about greed too as he was once with the good guys and the leader of the wizards which Gandalf is part of. Through the extended edition we learn that Gandalf has known about his upcoming fate, his demise by the hands of the Balrog, which makes his sacrifice about fate. The emotional impact of his death is felt throughout the rest of the movie, that's how you write a death, that's how you write a climax and raise stakes. Afterwards, the Fellowship meets Galadriel and the world grows larger by Lothlórien after the visit at the first elf city Rivendell earlier in the film.

One of my closest friends who loves LOTR, he told me once again his favorite character is Samwise Gamgee and watching this film again I understand why. He's not as cool or adventurous as the other characters like Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli or Boromir, but simply what he represents. Sam is a character who represents the goodness in the world and honestly when I look back at his character and personality, he's the most like myself. His protective nature of Frodo comes across as a friendship which is hard to find, the actor had recently become a father during filming and thus bonded with the 18-year-old Wood in a protective manner, which mirrored Sam's relationship with Frodo. Their chemistry is amazing and so is everyones, but they are the most special. Boromir might be one of the most complex characters, a hero who would do anything to save his family and country which ends with one of the most iconic portrayals in film history, along with a sacrifice which is even more iconic. Boromir is one of those morally grey characters whose actions make him one of the most human. To understand his reasoning some more, we need to go into who he is. He's portrayed as a noble character who believed passionately in the greatness of his kingdom and fought indomitably for it. His great stamina and physical strength, together with a forceful and commanding personality, made him a widely admired commander in Gondor's army and the favourite of his father Denethor. I think his morality is one of the strongest aspects of his character, brilliantly acted out by Sean Bean. Boromir's hubris makes him prey to the malign power of the Ring, and he seals his own doom when he attacks Frodo to seize it. He speaks of using the Ring in the service of Gondor, but his talk of "strength in a just cause" indicates, writes the Tolkien critic Tom Shippey, only how matters would begin. He comments that Boromir never quite says "the end justifies the means", though the thought makes his corrupted behaviour entirely believable. Boromir atones for his assault on Frodo by single-handedly but vainly defending Merry and Pippin from orcs, which illustrates the Catholic theme of the importance of good intention, especially at the point of death. This is clear from Gandalf's statement: "But he (Boromir) escaped in the end.... It was not in vain that the young hobbits came with us, if only for Boromir's sake." Boromir was never my favorite character as a child-teenager-young adult, yet now as an adult, I've grown more respect for him in terms of the morality which he offers the film. Something which is needed in a story like in The Lord of the Rings, thus he became a standout character which might be hard to like, but in terms of writing he's one of the best characters in The Fellowship. These two gave terrific and memorable performances, I won't go deeper into any other character. But I do want to say how much I love Aragorn, Gandalf and of course Frodo's character arcs in the film. Their performances are spectacular, especially Ian McKellen and Viggo Mortensen.

Peter Jackson created something groundbreaking with his Lord of the Rings films, starting with this one. The on-location shooting in New Zealand helped make the film so iconic, a big reason for it. Andrew Lesnie received the Academy Award for Best Cinematography for his work on the film, his cinematography is truly mesmerizing, and his cooperation with Peter Jackson made for one truly beautiful looking film. The photography is some of the best with scenes that'll remain in your mind for decades to come. What else makes the film so iconic? So epic? Howard Shore's musical score. He's what Ramin Djawadi is to Game of Thrones. Shore created some truly spectacular musical cues and a score worthy of awards, similar to John Williams' Harry Potter score. Each theme song and each musical cue is truly incredible, adventurous as they're emotional, Shore brings everything to the film and created something truly special.

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring is considered to be a landmark in filmmaking and an achievement in the fantasy film genre. There's so many things that make it into the masterpiece it is, I've mentioned a couple of reasons here, but you need to witness them yourself to understand but I can say this, the sequels contain the same quality and even better. The visual effects were groundbreaking, truly fantastic work. I haven't read the source material but my friend has told m.

The only film I've seen of Gary Cooper's filmography is High Noon and in that film, he set down his boot and made it known to both fans and non fabs that he's a western star, with Man of the West (one of Cooper's final Westerns) I would say he has done it again. Although not as memorable as High Noon, Man of the West is a terrific western. It is directed by Anthony Mann who is known in the genre for directing James Stewart in Winchester '73 (1950), The Naked Spur (1953), and The Man from Laramie (1955). Anthony Mann was the right choice for Man of the West (1959). The screenplay was written by Reginald Rose and was based on the novel 'The Border Jumpers'. Along with Gary Cooper, his co-stars are Julie London, Lee J. Cobb, Jack Lord, and Arthur O'Connell co-star with John Dehner, Robert J. Wilke, and Royal Dano. Man of the West, like most Mann films, is a tale of redemption.

A reformed outlaw becomes stranded after an aborted train robbery with two other passengers and is forced to rejoin his old outlaw band.

Let me dive deeper into Gary Cooper's performance, but before that let me just praise the supporting cast, they were all brilliant. Lee J. Cobb gives an award-worthy performance as the uncle to Cooper's character, with the scene at the farmstead in particular being a great example. Cobb steals the show during those scenes and Gary Cooper is mostly in the shadow, his acting is still perfect as lots of things with it are subtle thanks to Lee J. Cobb gets most of the dialogue. His performance comes full circle during an intense scene with a knife by his throat whilst Julie London's character is forced to strip, a scene I would call a hard watch but a scene full of drama and top notch acting from every single actor in the room. The film is about moments like these, how the characters respond to it, Man of the West is a character study in a way. Like I wrote before, a story of redemption, and the farmstead sequence is also where we find out Link Jones (Gary Cooper) ran with Dock Tobin (Lee J. Cobb) before and was an outlaw. Anthony Mann directed the actors perfectly and made that scene incredible. In a way, this scene and the reason it exists in the story, shows how the film has aged like fine wine. It was panned by critics back when it was released, perhaps rightfully so because of the time it was released as it was too different from what was made back then. Having the 'hero' say openly how he wants to kill every single one of them in a way which sounds like a horrible person and also the body language. This film is far from black and white, it's morally grey and better for it. The train sequence was all about introducing the characters whilst the farmstead sequence was all about showing who they really are whilst introducing the antagonists. Brilliantly executed.

At the time of release, the film was largely panned by American critics, but it was praised by Jean-Luc Godard, who, before he became a director, was a film critic. Godard claimed that Man of the West was the best film of the year. Decades after the film's release, it has gained a cult following and greater acclaim, with film historian Philip French claiming the film to be Anthony Mann's masterpiece, containing Cooper's finest performance. Jonathan Rosenbaum of The Chicago Reader hailed it as a "masterpiece," comparing it to "the grimness of Greek tragedy, its mountains and rock formations often suggesting the silent witness of an ancient amphitheater...the penultimate shoot-out in the ghost town is an appropriately eerie split-level confrontation between two wounded, supine men-one stretched out on a porch at screen left, the other stretched out underneath the porch at screen right, as if he were already buried. It's a key example of the way that landscape and architecture, people and settings, painting and drama, image and idea, classicism and modernism all merge on Mann's monumental canvases."

The cinematography was done by academy winner-nominee Ernest Haller, truly spectacular work and one of the film's highlights. What a great cooperation between him and the director, creating stunning shots with the use of exquisite camera work. From longer takes to wide angle shots, letting the viewer get even more immersed. For example, there's such brilliance in the photography inside the train and outside in the town and at the farmstead or simply the landscape. The film shows the old west perfectly. The costume department and set design are two other things which makes the immersion so perfect. Man of the West is a perfect western, a film more people should watch and experience. There are so many compartments which make it so perfect, all the technical aspects but also the editing and direction. Man of the West has everything a western should have but most importantly, it's because of Anthony Mann's passionate drive. He along with the main star, Gary Cooper, pours their hearts into the film and it infects us. Man of the West is such a deep and brilliant western, a spectacular film in its own right.

Rebel Moon - Part Two: The Scargiver is the direct sequel to Rebel Moon - Part One: A Child of Fire, where Zack Snyder is back in the director chair with a screenplay penned by him, Kurt Johnstad and Shay Hatten. Zack Snyder is also the producer and cinematographer for the film, something he also was in the previous film and Army of the Dead. I criticized the cinematography in the previous film and I'll do the same here, the lenses used and flares, also the motion blur. I think he likes the sun and lens flares, it's a specific style, but his previous films (pre-Netflix) never had that which contributed to a more spectacular picture. There's nothing wrong with his camera work though, he's great at creating visually striking photos, painting like frames. Sofia Boutella, Djimon Hounsou, Ed Skrein, Michiel Huisman, Doona Bae, Ray Fisher, Staz Nair, Fra Fee, Elise Duffy, Charlotte Maggi, Stuart Martin, Cary Elwes, and Anthony Hopkins reprise their roles from the first film.

Kora and surviving warriors prepare to defend Veldt, their new home, alongside its people against the Realm. The warriors face their pasts, revealing their motivations before the Realm's forces arrive to crush the growing rebellion.

If you're going to make a two part movie or story in any medium, the first part would be where you introduce all characters and develop them, well Rebel Moon only gets the former right. With all the run time Rebel Moon Part 1: A Child of Fire had, it failed to do the story justice with Zack Snyder focusing solely on the visuals which there is nothing wrong with, back in that movie and with Part 2: The Scargiver. Some people go around saying how terrible storyteller Zack Snyder is and well it's kind of true with this duology. But the answer is more complicated than that, he's not the sole writer on this project (yes, he did come up with the story and did the world building) as there're also two others who co-wrote it with him: Kurt Johnstad and Shay Hatten with the latter of them having written John Wick 3 and 4, along with Army of the Dead and Army of Thieves. Kurt Johnstad wrote the two 300 films and Atomic Blonde. It was Snyder and Johnstad who started talking about creating the film in 1997, thus this is their vision and Hatten contributed possibly with the action sequences. I'm quite sure these two films, or film, were under cooked in the oven and could possibly have been a lot better if Rebel Moon would have been more fleshed out. There's an interesting world out there, yet extremely underused by Zack Snyder with every scene being rushed through to get to the next action set piece. Part 2: The Scargiver continues that trend, showing visuals before character development, although the film delves deeper into Sofia Boutella's Kora and Michiel Huisman's Gunnar, it just isn't enough to get invested. We also get scenes which explain the heroes backstories, which drags the pacing down and fails to make you take care of them. Having a scene before the big fight which solely offers exposition of their backstories and Snyder showing us everything in detail, should be interesting but comes across as boring. Perhaps a bit harsh but we don't know these characters and hearing them talk about their pasts makes no difference in making us like them more. There's no love poured into these characters, they're stale and it says something when a robot is more human than the other characters. Anthony Hopkins solely voices Jimmy, a mechanical knight, the extended screentime is appreciated as he is one of the film's few highlights. But where did Snyder spill his passion? The world and the attention to detail, it's quite unfortunate we get to spend so much time on Veldt as it's the most 'normal' location of them all. You could criticize Zack Snyder a lot for these two films, but the world building and his passion for the world he built is something you just have to praise.

Slow motion is a trademark for Zack Snyder and once again with this film like its predecessor, is using slow motion mostly in the wrong way, an example in this film is the slow motion used in some early scenes during farm work. An already boring sequence which would have been better in a montage, was made even worse by the slow motion. Whilst in the previous film during the meeting and epic moment of Staz Nair's character Tarak is the right moment for one of his iconic slow motion shots, an example to avoid spoilers for Part 2: The Scargiver. One of the few great slow motion shots of the duology comes when the big battle starts, that's how you use slow motion in film, to place emphasis on something that enhances the drama in the scene. One scene which consists of bad slow motion is unfortunately the action scene with Doona Bae as Nemesis, the choreography is out of the window and instead we get to see a cool moment destroyed by slow motion and poor choreography because of its use being to serve as imagery instead of choreography. Then again, the whole scene isn't like this, but it feels like we never get to see what kind of great fighter she truly is and deserves to be seen as. Like the character Lady Snowblood in the film with the same name, both characters are out for revenge and Lady Snowblood shows through choreography and action how great a swordswoman she is. Snyder focuses not on the show, but to tell how good a fighter Nemesis is. You see by her ending and lots of other characters, how they didn't have any true character arcs. Nemesis could have been a great character but like most of the characters, writing became an after thought.

Sofia Boutella portrays the main character, Kora / Arthelais and its a good performance, you see how she's actually giving everything she can with the script she's working with, something all the others did as well. But this paragraph will be about her and how she has carried this duology, I hope her career continues. In the previous paragraph I criticized the choreography, Boutella's action scenes are a lot better choreographed and I'm glad she got some good action scenes which showcases yet again how good of an action star she is. I'm of course thinking about the hallway fight at the end of the movie, where she uses her dancing career, it was a good scene except for the occasional enemies waiting until their friends get knocked down which is a flaw existing throughout the film. Then there's the rematch between her and Atticus Noble, a fight which begins with firearms and continues with the laser swords, something we got to see a lot more of in this film. The fight goes from good and entertaining to a CGI party. She nailed the character, both action and drama wise, more with this film as we got to see more emotions from the character and the death of Gunnar was the first emotional death in these two films. All the other deaths could have had the same emotional impact if the writing would have been better.

Frank Scheck from The Hollywood Reporter wrote this, "Snyder provides an ample display of the visual flair and skill for action that have endeared him to legions of fans who exhibit so much dedication that they're willing to sit through numerous versions of his films." I'm a big fan of Zack Snyder and after the first Rebel Moon, I really wanted to watch the R-Rated versions which felt more like his director's cuts but I don't know anymore, I'm a big fan of him but not of these movies. Erik Kain from Forbes, said this in his review, "Somehow, the second part of Zack Snyder's hopelessly derivative space opera manages to be even more tedious and less inventive than Rebel Moon Part 1: A Child Of Fire." and that's unfortunately quite true. Erik Kain goes to write, "Rebel Moon would have worked better as a series, with time to focus on each character and grow the relationships between them rather than Snyder's relentless overuse of exposition. The story of Kora on the run from her former adoptive father for an assassination she wasn't (only) responsible for is also a far more interesting story than this wannabee Seven Samurai nonsense." I couldn't agree more, why didn't he make a tv series where he could go deeper into the world he's so proud of? The characters he wrote which becomes nothing but fragments in the story where you wouldn't notice if anyone of them gets removed.

Rebel Moon - Part Two: The Scargiver and its first part, combined, is a film which I strongly believe had the potential to be great. The sad truth is how Zack Snyder has gained this huge hybris. Free rein to make exactly what he wanted by a company which is masters at shoving money into productions that often are undercooked. Zack Snyder is a visionary but Rebel Moon was not a good film, would I see the sequel? I think so, in hope of it being better than this.

Civil War was made and released at a time when something like it could turn into reality, that thought was with me the entire time. The film is intense, heartbreaking and emotional. Never shying away from showing the horrors of war and the documentary feeling in its cinematography only enhances the immersion. We never get thrown off the wagon, the tone is consistent. Alex Garland who directed and wrote the film is the one to thank, stellar filmmaking. The camera work is excellent and I simply loved how it goes quiet whenever they take a photo, the cinematography and direction were top notch, truly mesmerizing. The mise-en-scene is also something to praise, absolutely perfect. It has been a long time since I watched a movie which was this intense and gives a thrill down your spine. The sound design was top notch and so was the musical score along with the soundtrack used. I loved how he played with the sound, how simplistic the film would have been without this sound design. Alex Garland's "Civil War" is nothing but simplistic, it's a masterpiece both technically and storytelling wise, a great send off for his directional work as he had said how he's focusing more on writing.

A journey across a dystopian future America, following a team of military-embedded journalists as they race against time to reach DC before rebel factions descend upon the White House.

I thought the pacing was absolutely perfect, the world building we get to see and the character development that comes from the road trip kind of narrative as our journalists have to make it to Washington DC, getting into all kinds of events which often leans into life threatening territory. There's a scene when they meet Jesse Plemons' character, a scene with absolutely breathtaking acting performances by Kirsten Dunst, Wagner Moura, Cailee Spaeny, Stephen McKinley Henderson. The cast also includes Sonoya Mizuno, Nick Offerman, and Jefferson White. Chase Hutchinson from The Wrap said this about Kirsten Dunst's acting, "It is a film about journalistic ethics and, in its own way, the interpretation of images is grounded in [Dunst's] outstanding performance. It isn't an easy role to inhabit, but she does so perfectly." There are several great performances, I think Kirsten Dunst deserves all the praise and some awards for her performance, subtly showing what I'm quite sure is PTSD but also a memorable dramatic performance in its own right. The supporting cast alongside her never outshines her, but their presence is felt in every scene. Cailee Spaeny brings a great performance as Jessie Cullen, a breakthrough on the big screen.

About the scene with Jesse Plemons, Erik Kain with Forbes wrote, "But we don't know who the racist, murderous soldier Jesse Plemons' plays is, or which side he's fighting for, or whether he's even a soldier at all. All we know is that he's terrifying (something Plemons has mastered almost too perfectly). Maybe he's just using the fog of war to kill whoever he pleases with nobody to stop him. These things happen in war. That's what Civil War is trying to remind us. It doesn't matter who the good guys are, or what politics or social breakdown led to us to this place. Here be dragons." Whose side is something that often is brought up in various scenes, the film never strives to be black and white as anyone can be bad. Like in the attack on the white house we see (who're supposed to be the good guys) simply murdering people who are trying to surrender. You could call it just being war, but it's often this hatred deep inside and well, the film ends with hatred felt by every single individual inside the oval office.

The attack on the white house was absolutely fantastic, stunningly shot and really intense. The attack on DC prior to this was brilliantly executed and made for some great cinema with realism before entertainment, which made it so much better and entertaining in my opinion. The death of Kirsten Dunst's character Lee Smith at the end was something I found to be quite lackluster, but also necessary in a way for her character, but just the execution and how Jessie Cullen seemingly ignoring her death with what I found to be an abrupt ending afterwards, yet the story is finished. I think the issue lies in how it was shot, slow motion and with Jessie taking multiple photos which makes the scene have less emotional depth than what it could have been.

It seems like people found this film to be wrongfully marketed and advertised, for that I only have this to say, I found the trailer to be similar to the film we got and it is a Alex Garland, who had directed Ex Machina and Annihilation prior to this along with written screenplays of 28 Days Later and Never Let Me Go. What do I mean with this? His films are not action movies or fast paced, they're often philosophical and thematical. So what kind of film is Civil War? It's a dystopian thriller. I'll quote Sammie Purcell who reviewed the film for Roughdraft Atlanta, "with 'Civil War,' Garland doesn't appear to be interested in the socio-political landscape that would lead to a national conflict, but rather how far people will go to pretend everything is fine when everything is so painfully not." and honestly, as I wrote higher up on my review, this sits well at home with our own reality. Lots of people probably pretend or would not like to know of the monstrosity wars being fought right now.

To end my review I thought this paragraph would give a good conclusion, from Matt Zoller Seitz at RogerEbert.com, "Civil War is a furiously convincing and disturbing thing when you're watching it. It's a great movie that has its own life force. It's not like anything Garland has made. It's not like anything anyone has made, even though it contains echoes of dozens of other films (and novels) that appear to have fed the filmmaker's imagination." Civil War deserves to be seen on the big screen in a cinema with a great sound system and picture quality, the gunfire for example was enhanced with the surround sound. It was hard to watch but an unforgettable experience.