THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING (Theatrical Release USA 2001)

Ben Meyers’ rating: 4.9|5.0 Starsìììì

The Lord of The Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring—the first film in The Lord of the Rings trilogy—stands as one of the best movies ever made. Not many movies can exceed the story telling quality of this film. The movie, so richly written and portrayed, requires a keen eye, full knowledge, and understanding of content to even begin scratching the surface of its many levels. Hidden secrets are too numerous to catch in one viewing. Director Peter Jackson does something that few directors would attempt and masterfully pulls it to complete success. He dares to enter the world of the epic story and elevates it to its proper status. ENCORE! Thank you to Peter Jackson for his more than adequate rendering of J.R.R. Tolkien’s worlds on the big screen.

Film Poster Courtesy of Wikipedia

Storyline

Hobbit Frodo Baggins (Elijah Wood) comes into possession of the One Ring capable of ruling all things and takes a journey to Mount Doom, the one place where it can be destroyed.

Additional Thanks

Thank You to Director Peter Jackson for directing effort. Thank you to Executive Producers Michael Lynne, Mark Ordesky, Robert Shaye, Bob Weinstein, and Harvey Weinstein for making the film possible. Additional characters/cast include: The Ring (voice of Alan Howard), Everard Proudfoot (voice of Noel Appleby), Sam (Sean Astin), Sauron (Sala Baker), Boromir (Sean Bean), Galadriel (Cate Blanchett), Legolas (Orlando Bloom), Pippin (Billy Boyd), Celeborn (Marton Csokas), Mrs. Proudfoot (Megan Edwards), Gondorian Archivist (Michael Elsworth), and Gil-galad (Mark Ferguson).

Buy a ticket? Yes? No? Maybe?

Yes. This film is to the movie industry what Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo are to the world of art.

Video Critique Available Here:

Ben Meyers

THE LOVELY BONES (Theatrical Release USA 2009)

Ben Meyers’ rating: 4.8|5.0 Starsìììì

The Lovely Bones—another Peter Jackson-directed classic—deals with the serial killer persona and how that can be enabled. The story runs with a strong spiritual background that helps relieve its gruesome reality. A Bravo! Bravo! film that needs to be watched if for nothing else than education concerning this personality type and as a precautionary tale.

Film Poster Courtesy of Google Images

Storyline

Fourteen-year-old Susie Salmon (Saoirse Ronan) makes a deadly mistake and ends up a victim of serial killer George Harvey (Stanley Tucci).

Additional Thanks

Thank You to Director Peter Jackson for directing effort. Thank you to Executive Producers Ken Kamins, Tessa Ross, Steven Spielberg, and James Wilson for making the film possible. Additional characters/cast include: Jack Salmon (Mark Wahlberg), Abigail Salmon (Rachel Weisz), Grandma Lynn (Susan Sarandon), Len Fenerman (Michael Imperioli), Lindsey Salmon (Rose McIver), Buckley Salmon (Christian Ashdale), Ray Singh (Reece Ritchie), Ruth Connors (Carolyn Dando), Holly (Nikki SooHoo), Samuel Heckler (Andrew James Allen), and Brian Nelson (Jake Abel).

Buy a ticket? Yes? No? Maybe?

Yes. Hard-to-get-through, unpalatable, but must be told, subject matter serves the late teen/adult audience. It takes an outstanding set of producers and directors to balance earthly savageness with the kindness of heaven, but the right people were involved to perfectly balance this hard-to-be-told story. Kudos to Director Peter Jackson, Steven Spielberg, DreamWorks Pictures, WingNut Films, and Film4 Productions.

Video Critique Available Here:

Ben Meyers

KING KONG (Theatrical Release USA 2005)

Ben Meyers’ rating: 4.7|5.0 Starsìììì

King Kong—second live action remake of the story since 1976 with a third upcoming 2017 remake: Kong: Skull Island—this 2005 film has Director Peter Jackson interpreting Kong through the efforts of Jack Black, Adrien Brody, and Naomi Watts. Combining terrific footage of natives dressed in outstandingly realistic costuming and makeup artistry with very good background scenery set this movie up to far surpass audience expectations for a King Kong movie. The only small criticism that can be made concerns the special effects of the brontosauruses and their pileup scene. There needs to be a tad more work put into the special effects to push those scenes over the top, but the creativity of the dinosaur pileup pushes that concern to the sidelines. Kudos to Peter Jackson for producing a good Kong movie.

Film Poster Courtesy of Wikipedia

Storyline

King Kong (Andy Serkis) falls in love with the girl, Ann Darrow (Naomi Watts), and makes his journey to the United States to terrorize an entire city.

Additional Thanks

Thank You to Director Peter Jackson for directing efforts. Thank you to Producers Jan Blenkin, Carolynne Cunningham, Peter Jackson, and Fran Walsh for making the film possible. Additional characters/cast include: Carl Denham (Jack Black), Jack Driscoll (Adrien Brody), Captain Englehorn (Thomas Kretschmann), Preston (Colin Hanks), Lumpy (Andy Serkis), Hayes (Evan Parke), Jimmy (Jamie Bell), Choy (Lobo Chan), Herb (John Sumner), and Mike (Craig Hall).

Buy a ticket? Yes? No? Maybe?

  

Yes. The story’s well done and makes one highly anticipate what Peter Jackson has in store for audiences with his 2006 production of Lovely Bones. Special thanks to Peter Jackson for all his effort and hard work in productions like Lord of the Rings and the vast improvement on the Kong stories.

Video Critique Available Here:

Ben Meyers