Watch The Trailer For Peter Jackson’s ‘They Shall Not Grow Old’ WWI Documentary

You probably know Peter Jackson’s name from The Lord of the Rings/Hobbit franchise. He directed all the movies in the incredibly successful series.

He hasn’t directed a movie since the last Hobbit film in 2014, but he’s making his return with a documentary about World War I. The feature doc will premiere at the London Film Festival next month, and then will hit theaters in 2D and 3D.

“Reaching into the mists of time, Jackson aims to give these men voices, investigate the hopes and fears of the veterans, the humility and humanity that represented a generation changed forever by a global war.” 

It’s an interesting career move for Jackson. This was clearly a passion project for him. For what it’s worth, he is expected to make a return to fictional filmmaking with the announced film, ‘The Adventures of Tintin: Prisoners of the Sun.

Check out the trailer for ‘They Shall Not Grow Old‘ below…

The First Trailer For Peter Jackson’s Fantasy Epic ‘Mortal Engines’ Has Been Released, Watch It Inside!

When a film is written by the Oscar-winning Lord of the Rings team of Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens, you have to take notice. Universal Pictures has released the first trailer for the fantasy epic Mortal Engines.

Christian Rivers is the director behind the project, which stars Robert Sheehan, Hera Hilmar, Lelia George and Colin Salmon. If you haven’t heard much about this movie, don’t worry…we got you covered.

Check out the official synopsis below:

“Thousands of years after civilization was destroyed by a cataclysmic event, humankind has adapted and a new way of living has evolved.  Gigantic moving cities now roam the Earth, ruthlessly preying upon smaller traction towns.  Tom Natsworthy (Robert Sheehan)—who hails from a Lower Tier of the great traction city of London—finds himself fighting for his own survival after he encounters the dangerous fugitive Hester Shaw (Hera Hilmar).  Two opposites, whose paths should never have crossed, forge an unlikely alliance that is destined to change the course of the future.

Mortal Engines is the startling, new epic adventure directed by Oscar®-winning visual-effects artist Christian Rivers (King Kong).  Joining Rivers are The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogies three-time Academy Award®-winning filmmakers Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens, who have penned the screenplay.  The Universal and MRC adaptation is from the award-winning book series by Philip Reeve, published in 2001 by Scholastic.”

It’s set to hit theaters December 14, 2018.

Movie Review: The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies – An excellent end to the Series

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As a massive nerd, I’ve been waiting for this movie to come out for years. I literally have been in line, dressed as a hobbit, since 2011. Ok, well that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but I wanted to see if the final installment of the Hobbit trilogy was as good as the first.

In this final installment, we meet up with Bilbo Baggins, Thorin Oakenshield and the Company of Dwarves shortly after they reclaimed their land from the Dragon Smaug. Of course, as it’s never a good idea to peeve off a fire breathing dragon, this has had some totally foreseen consequences. Smaug is taking his anger out on the innocent villagers of Laketown. On top of that, Thorin is going just a bit nutty and obsessed with his treasure, which drives a wedge between Bilbo and him. Toss in some Gandalf, a whole bunch of Orcs and Elves, and you get to end with a bang.

The movie was extremely well done and an excellent end to the series. They lost none of the power of the original. In fact, I think this might be the best installment yet. CGI, good makeup and fantastic settings created a mystical, beautiful world with heart pounding action and breathtaking scenery.

Martin Freeman plays Bilbo Baggins with the same humor and honor, creating a multifaceted conflicted character that we want to see win. His Everyman character is one that most people can relate to, even though they know hobbits don’t exist.

The battle scenes are impressive and well choreographed, and director Peter Jackson clearly found his forte in filming battles. The scenes are convincing without being overtly gory and the strategies involved are a bit more realistic than in the first two films.

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What this movie could have used was a bit of comic relief. Compare the Hobbit to The Lord of the Rings, and you’ll always find the Hobbit lacking. That’s probably because in this installment, we don’t really get to know the characters as well. The scenes are a bit more battle heavy and there is less humor or emotional connection to the characters.

Not to say that it’s bad. In fact, it might be one of the best fantasies I’ve seen, aside from Lord of the Rings. I think that’s the problem with this franchise entirely. The Hobbit would have been groundbreaking if they hadn’t already raised the bar with The Lord of the Rings. It kind of makes me wonder what would have happened if they’d started with the Hobbit and done Lord of the Rings afterwards. Would the franchise have gotten the same momentum?

Of course, as with the Lord of the Rings, I did have some problems with the under-representation of female characters. Yes, I know Tolkien didn’t write it like that, but he also didn’t write much about the Battle of Five Armies in the books either, and they’ve turned that into the focal point of this entire movie. Would it have hurt to throw in a decent Liv Tyler elf or something like that?

Again, I have to say, this is worth the watch. Heck, I might even watch it twice. I’ve barely gotten any wear out of my hobbit costume.

WE GIVE IT: 4.5 STARS!  Official Movie Trailer and Movie Poster Below.

four and a half stars

 

 

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Watch The Final Trailer For ‘The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies’

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With just six weeks left until the final film in The Hobbit trilogy hits theaters worldwide, Warner Bros. decided now was the perfect time to release the final trailer for the film. Before this trailer was released yesterday, fans of the trilogy only had a short teaser trailer to discuss.

If you remember back to last year when The Desolation of Smaug came out, there were several trailers promoting the film. Multiple interviews with cast members, and even a number of behind-the-scenes vlogs. They are definitely taking a different approach with the final film and it seems to be working.

A lot of the excitement comes from director Peter Jackson’s recent comments on the sixth and final Middle-earth film. He told USA Today that The Battle of the Five Armies is his favorite because there is no traveling.

“Everybody’s where they need to be, there’s no new characters, all cards are on the table.” He said during the interview. “I haven’t made a film quite like this. It’s my All the President’s Men — or the closest I’m ever going to get.” He added.

The final Hobbit film will open in theaters December 17, 2014.

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