Review: MainStreet Music Magic by Ragtime Robert Glenn ~ Geeks Corner ~ DAPs Magic

Every so often a movie (or trilogy) comes along that absolutely captivates an audience. It takes them completely away from sitting in a theater and carries them somewhere else. I think in the last decade that The Lord of the Rings trilogy was one of the most effective demonstrations of just that. I absolutely LOVED The Lord of the Rings! I think that Peter Jackson did a phenomenal job at recreating J.R.R. Tolkien's world known as Middle Earth and recreating the characters and stories that inhabit it. For me, it was probably one of the most imagination inspiring movies since the original Star Wars trilogy. I intentional did not include that second set of Star Wars

movie that they called a trilogy.

The Lord of the Rings has been released for home viewership several times now. If memory serves, it was released first individually as it was seen in theaters. Then they released it as a box set. Then there was extended release box set with all those amazing extras. That, for me, set the bar VERY high for extras on a DVD. I think that I still haven't found a better set of extras on a DVD or BluRay release to date. They shared everything you could ever want to know about the movies but at the same time made it interesting, if not entertaining!

On April 6, The Lord of the Rings was released on BluRay. I can't wait to see how Middle Earth looks in HD. From the reviews I've been reading, the difference between the DVD and BluRay is absolutely phenomenal. My own personal experience reviewing the technology has definitely confirmed this to be true as well. Here is where the real quandary begins. Is it worth the money to buy The Lord of the Rings in BluRay just to see it in HD? There aren't any new features which is a bit of a disappointment. They also probably will be releasing the extended versions on BluRay in the next year or so. And there my friends is where I stand stuck. Has anyone purchased this yet? What did you think? Worth it? If I find an amazing deal on Amazon or something, I most likely will get it. For now, I'll sit here stuck on the fence.

LABELS: THE LORD OF THE RINGS, BLURAY, STAR WARS, MIDDLE EARTH, MR. DAPS, DVD, HD, J.R.R. TOLKIEN, PETER JACKSON

Post a Comment

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 17, 2009

Lord of the Rings on BluRay

POSTED BY MRDAPS AT 11:33 AM

The Lord of the Rings Triology on BluRay The world has changed and some things that should not have been forgotten were lost…thankfully The Lord of the Rings is not one of these things. Instead, it is being remembered even better…in high definition on BluRay disc! The Fellowship of the Rings, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King will be available to watch on your own HD TV with matching sound system on April 6, 2010. To say I’m excited about this would be an understatement. These movies are made to be watched in high def and they are going to blow away my living room! It will also mean there will be a full length movie nights with all three movies played back to back just as they were originally meant to be.

For those of you who aren’t The Lord of the Rings fans, The Lord of the Rings was originally intended by Tolkien to be a single volume. This would be half of a two volume set that would also include The Silmarillion. Publishers had different ideas however and The Lord of the Rings was split into three books, skipping The Silmarillion at the time all together. The Lord of the Rings took J.R.R. Tolkien 12 years to write and was finished in 1949. Tolkien began writing when he was 45. Part of the reason for it taking so long was that Tolkien was a full time professor at Oxford. It wasn’t fully published until 1955 when Tolkien was 63. Since then, it has been translated into over 38 languages and has become one of the most popular works of literature.

Personally, I think this was probably the greatest trilogy to be made in the last decade, if not longer. While I grew up with Star Wars and consider myself a fan in that world, The Lord of the Rings definitely gives Star Wars a run for its money. I would have a very hard time choosing which one is better or a favorite between the two, so I won’t. I will say that I’m incredibly excited about being able to watch The Lord of the Rings in HD whenever I want. It will also help move time along before the release of The Hobbit. Ironic that The Lord of the Rings was written as The Hobbit’s sequel but that’s ok because we will be getting both! Oh, and here is the trailer for The Lord of the Rings on BluRay. What do you think?

LABELS: THE LORD OF THE RINGS NEWS, THE LORD OF THE RINGS ON BLURAY, J.R.R. TOLKIEN, TOLKIEN, MR. DAPS, THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING, THE TWO TOWERS, THE RETURN OF THE KING, THE HOBBIT, THE SILMARILLION, PETER JACKSON, HD, BLURAY

Post a Comment

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2009

The Hobbit Has a Script

POSTED BY MRDAPS AT 11:46 AM

Peter Jackson, Guillermo del Toro - The Hobbit

Peter Jackson, the Oscar award winning director of The Lord of the Rings trilogy has confirmed that the first of two scripts for The Hobbit is finished. Jackson, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens are collaborating to write the script and produce The Hobbit with Guillermo del Toro directing. “The Hobbit will be two movies and we’ve written the first script and delivered it to the studio who seem to be happy with it,” Jackson says. “We’re now halfway through the second script and Philippa, Fran, Guillermo and myself are doing the scripts and having great fun.”

Gandalf the Grey - Ian McKellen Details about how The Hobbit will be told are being shrouded in secrecy. It seems that the only person even admitting publicly to having read it besides the aforementioned people is Ian McKellen. While he really hasn’t said anything about details in the script he has said a few interesting thing. One of them being that: "They have added material to 'The Hobbit' from other Tolkein sources."

Of course Tolkien fans want more than that. As far as I’m aware, there isn’t even a production schedule that has been released yet. For me personally, I’m not terribly worried. I trust Peter Jackson will do Tolkien justice and McKellen seems to confirm this. "It will satisfy people that have already seen 'Lord of the Rings' and people that don't know it, they'll be fine too," he said regarding The Hobbit. He also added more weight to the rumors of The Hobbit’s release date saying, "I don't know when it will happen. I don't have a contract. But I think they're intending to release it on Christmas 2011. If they're going to do that, they're going to have to get moving on shooting it." I’m sure once the second script has been finished and the polishing is done, we’ll see contracts being made, the cast being firmed up, and hopefully many more details being leaked out.

LABELS: THE HOBBIT, SCRIPT, PETER JACKSON, FRAN WALSH, PHILIPPA BOYENS, GUILLERMO DEL TORO, MR. DAPS, IAN MCKELLEN, TOLKIEN, THE LORD OF THE RINGS

Post a Comment

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2009

The Hobbit Marches On

POSTED BY MRDAPS AT 12:18 PM

Peter Jackson and Geuillermo Del Toro - The Hobbit

For those of us that are fans of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, we have been anxiously waiting to see what will happen when the world of Tolkien returns in a two movie rendition of The Ganfalf the Grey - Ian McKellan - The Hobbit Hobbit. If things go as planned, we should see the first movie in December 2011 and the second in December 2012. As of last week, theonering.net is reporting that Ian McKellan (Gandalf) had received copies of the script for both movies. Director Guillermo Del Toro is also quoted as telling McKellen that, “We're going to film for 383 days.”

It is assumed that this will be a marathon filming much like was done with The Lord of the Rings, most likely in New Zealand again. It is known that Ian McKellan will reprise his role as Gandalf the Grey. Andy Serkis will return as Gollum and Hugo Weaving will return as Lord Elrond.

The Hobbit tells the story of Bilbo Baggins and how he and 13 dwarves go on an adventure to reclaim treasure in the Lonely Mountain that is being guarded by the dragon Smaug. It also tells how Bilbo gained possession of the one ring thereby setting the stage for The Lord of the Rings. The Hobbit takes place 60 years before The Lord of the Rings.

A big difference between The Lord of the Rings trilogy and The Hobbit two-parter will be that Peter Jackson will not be directing this time. He has worked with Fran Walsh (who he worked with on The Lord of the Rings), Del Toro, and Philippa Boyens as co-writer. He also is the executive producer. Guillermo Del Toro will be the director but Peter Jackson has offered to be a 2^nd Unit Director if needed. It is unknown who will be playing Bilbo at this point, although it will probably be someone who is British. Although in a perfect world, Del Toro has said it would be Ian Holm as he would love all the original The Lord of the Rings actors to reprise their roles.

Del Toro has said The Hobbit will be set in a "world that is slightly more golden at the beginning, a very innocent environment" and the film would need to "[take] you from a time of more purity to a darker reality throughout the film, but [in a manner] in the spirit of the book" The Hobbit really is about the loss of innocence of Middle Earth, greed, and personal morality.

Gollum - Andy Serkis - The Hobbit Concept artists Alan Lee & John Howe will be returning and are already helping with the development of The Hobbit. Richard Taylor and his WETA Workshop are also on board. While Del Toro has said The Hobbit will use a lot of influences from The Lord of the Rings, some things will change. A quick example will be the Wargs as "the classical incarnation of the demonic wolf in Nordic mythology is not a hyena-shaped creature." I find it personally exciting that Del Toro has said he will be using lots of scale models as was done in The Lord of the Rings. Even more exciting is that he wants to use more animatronics to bring to life even more characters and add a more realistic dimension to them. Although, I will admit that it will be very hard to beat The Lord of the Rings in terms of creating a realistic world. There has been an advance in technology though so I would assume he will be showcasing that. Gollum will continue to be entirely digital.

As things move forward it will be very exciting to see how The Hobbit develops. I am very curious to see how they divide the book into two movies and see exactly how the second leads into The Lord of the Rings. I do know that they do not have rights to The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales so they can only use elements of the story from The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings to bring everything together. The more I find out about this project though the more excited I get about it! It should really be an exciting thing to watch, especially if they allow as much access to the fans as they did in The Lord of the Rings!

Post a Comment