These comments about THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG (2013) were originally posted on Google plus.

I keep reading reviews like this ("It is no longer Tolkien's Middle-earth") about THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG (2013), and they bug me. This is a good one to pick on, because it's a well-written review by Emil Johansson from The LOTR ( Read more... )

According to The New York Times, Utah has just executed Ronnie Lee Gardner, convicted of murder, by firing squad. Firing squad executions in the U.S. are rare; this was the first such execution since 1996. Mr. Gardner had his last meal on Tuesday, and had been fasting since then. These details of his last days caught my attention:The meal ( Read more... )

Just finished watching part two of THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING (2003) (extended edition, naturally). The first disc can be a little slow, but boy is there a lot packed into the last two hours. The tunnels, Shelob, the Tower of Cirith Ungol--and most of all the Battle of the Pelennor Fields, that huge endless battle outside ( Read more... )

J.R.R. Tolkien's writing about Middle-earth has been criticized at times for containing explicit racial hierarchies, and reflecting, I will euphemistically say, traditional views about women and racial minorities. Perhaps, you might say, but what about Éowyn the Shieldmaiden? I don't want to get into it ( Read more... )

SIGNS (2002) 4/5 stars ( Read more... )

This livejournal is fun, but I need some readers. So, I'm going to announce it to Northwesternesse, the Lord of the Rings fan club/yahoo group where I first met my wife. I'm posting this for them. This review of Ralph Bakshi's animated THE LORD OF THE RINGS is taken from my reviews on Netflix, in which I gave it 4/5 stars (of course, I'm a ( Read more... )