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Tolkien Review: An Expected Bio

Jason Gorber — Fri, 10 May 2019 12:00:55 +0000

From his birth in Southern Africa, the loss of his mother, his academic rise, his service during the Great War, and his subsequent fame, the story of John Ronald Reuel Tolkien’s life is nearly as adventurous as the characters he invented. The bio-pic Tolkien merges all these aspects to show how they echo with the...

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Weekend Roundtable: Flatlining

Josh Zyber — Fri, 29 Sep 2017 19:00:51 +0000

This week, we use the excuse of the ‘Flatliners’ remake to give some thought to our favorite movie or TV death scenes. This may well be the only useful thing ‘Flatliners’ is ever good for. It should go without saying that this article contains some SPOILERS. Lest any of these famous scenes come as a...

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Weekend Roundtable: The Book Was Better

Josh Zyber — Fri, 11 Aug 2017 19:00:19 +0000

Hollywood often turns to adapting popular books as the basis for new movies. Occasionally this works out, but frequently the resulting films are pale shadows of their source material. For this week’s Roundtable, we look at movies that fail to capture the essence or particular brilliance of the books they were based on. Luke Hickman...

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Weekend Roundtable: Movie Royalty

Josh Zyber — Fri, 12 May 2017 19:00:40 +0000

The legend of King Arthur gets about its 850th movie reboot in theaters this week. For our Roundtable tie-in, let’s revisit some of our other favorite movie kings, queens and royal families. We’ll allow a really broad leeway with this topic, and will take modern, historical, fantasy, even sci-fi monarchies. They don’t even have to...

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Weekend Roundtable: Magical Thinking

Josh Zyber — Fri, 18 Nov 2016 20:00:15 +0000

Between ‘Doctor Strange’ and ‘Fantastic Beasts’, magic appears to be one of the dominant themes of the fall movie season this year. Excluding ‘Harry Potter’ (too easy), what are your favorite movies involving witches, wizards, sorcerers or warlocks? Shannon Nutt Although it may not immediately pop to mind when one thinks about movies with magic...

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Blu-ray Highlights: Week of October 9th, 2016 – Attention, Interest, Decision, Action

Josh Zyber — Mon, 10 Oct 2016 12:00:56 +0000

You know what it takes to release one of the most testosterone-fueled movies ever made on Blu-ray the same week a rival releases the controversial all-female ‘Ghostbusters’ reboot? It takes BRASS BALLS to do that. New Releases (Blu-ray) ‘Ghostbusters: Answer the Call‘ – From the moment Sony announced that the ‘Ghostbusters’ reboot would have an...

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Blu-ray Highlights: Week of October 2nd, 2016 – Now?

Josh Zyber — Mon, 03 Oct 2016 12:00:26 +0000

The massive deluge of Blu-rays this week brings us a mutant apocalypse, airborne sharks and a farting corpse, among other weirdness. October is off to a crazy start. New Releases (Blu-ray) ‘X-Men: Apocalypse‘ – I used to be a big fan of the ‘X-Men’ franchise, but I lost interest a couple movies ago. I think...

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Poll: Will You Buy the $800 ‘Middle-Earth Collection’ Blu-ray Box Set?

Josh Zyber — Tue, 23 Aug 2016 16:00:30 +0000

Late last week, Warner Bros. announced what may be the most ridiculously ostentatious Blu-ray collector’s edition ever conceived: a 30-disc box set called the ‘Middle-Earth 6-Film Collection’ containing all three ‘Lord of the Rings’ and all three ‘Hobbit’ movies housed on an elaborate bookshelf contraption. It can be yours for the low low price of...

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R.I.P. Christopher Lee

Josh Zyber — Fri, 12 Jun 2015 12:00:29 +0000

With the death of Sir Christopher Lee, cinema has lost not just one, but several icons. I refer, of course, to the numerous iconic characters he portrayed on screen, from Dracula to Frankenstein’s Creature, from Sherlock Holmes to Fu Manchu, and (more recently) from Saruman to the unfortunately-named Count Dooku. In his nearly 300 acting...

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‘The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies’ Review: Been There, But Back Again

Philip Brown — Wed, 17 Dec 2014 14:00:06 +0000

Peter Jackson’s ‘The Hobbit’ trilogy might not be as strong as his ‘Lord of the Rings’ trilogy, but at least it isn’t another ‘Star Wars’ prequel debacle. Now that all of the tedious set-up has finally passed, Jackson delivers a feature-length climax that is easily the best entry of this elongated ‘Hobbit’ trio. Everything that’s...

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Weekend Roundtable: Best & Worst Epic Movies

Josh Zyber — Fri, 12 Dec 2014 20:00:46 +0000

Hugely complicated, elaborate and above all expensive, Hollywood loves to make epic movies with lavish production values and a proverbial (sometimes literal) cast of thousands. As Ridley Scott brings ‘Exodus: Gods and Kings’ to screen, this week’s Roundtable will look at some of the best and worst epics of the past. Shannon Nutt Best: I...

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Contest: Win ‘The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug – Extended Edition’ on Blu-ray!

Josh Zyber — Tue, 04 Nov 2014 14:00:54 +0000

Sometimes small things come in big packages. Such was the case when Peter Jackson decided to adapt J.R.R. Tolkien’s slim novel ‘The Hobbit’ into a trilogy of three epic movies. As if that weren’t enough, each of them keeps getting longer. The new Extended Edition of the last installment, ‘The Desolation of Smaug’, hits Blu-ray...

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