Tag: adventure

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

I remember clearly when the first installment of the Lord of the Rings was released, as it was a really big event in cinema back then. A rock solid story, penned nearly half a century earlier, the cinematic possibilities of the new millennium, and a very talented group of people, made the Lord of the Rings trilogy into a huge critical and box office success. After its conclusion, and a shower of Oscars, rumors of plans to bring the short book that preceded The Lord of the Rings: The Hobbit, to the big screen started to spread. Unfortunately, the project would be long delayed over financial and legal disputes. Guillermo del Toro, of Hellboy and Pan’s Labyrinth fame, was attached to direct at some point, but eventually Peter Jackson, who originally directed the Lord of the Rings trilogy, took it upon him to direct this prequel as well, split not into two, but three separate films. The first installment of this new trilogy was recently released: An Unexpected Journey.

The Avengers

Marvel teased us with the release of this film near the end of various previously released super hero flicks like Captain America and Iron Man 2. This would be the movie that unites all the super heroes from the Marvel universe. Well actually, only those that had not been previously licensed to other studios. Hence, you will not find characters from X-Men, Spiderman, or the Fantastic Four in this movie. Director Joss Whedon brings back fond memories of creative television series like Firefly and Dollhouse, but what does he make of a 220 million blockbuster production?

Hugo

Hugo is based on a relatively recently released (2007) award winning book by Brian Selznick. It is not surprising that the film rights to the books were quickly sold, and certainly not by the least of directors either: Martin Scorsese. He has a career spanning decades and has directed a string of movies in recent years which I liked, among which are Shutter Island, The Departed and Gangs of New York. However, those were admittedly all in different, less family friendly, genres. So, I went to Hugo hoping to be pleasantly surprised.