Lord of the Rings

You shall not pass!!! They were the very words blasted by the world iconic character known as Gandalf the Grey (Ian Mckellen) and written by the very late John Ronal Reuel Tolkien. Lord of the Rings is one film that took the earth by storm not only with its trilogy, but also by means which inspired the film, which is the books. Along side both of these aspects there was also the huge amount of merchandise. But the biggest impact was made by the film. On rare occasion films can be made to be better than its book and in my opinion, the films have achieved this. The films were created over the space of four years back to back by New Zealand's Peter Jackson. Whilst Peter was in deep trouble as no production studio would help to financially support him with his project, he was on the brink of giving up. But then a silver lining appeared. New Line Cinema offered themselves, but the book had to be split down into three films instead of one. Peter set up a studio in New Zealand where the film was based and was also supported by New Zealand's Weta Workshop. He found a cast and crew and started his project.


Now the films story itself was truly incredible, only created so that Tolkien could use his created language, embarrassing fantasy writers around the world. The films creatures and settings were created by artist Alan Lee representing not only quality and the story itself but true beauty and symmetry. Although his work was amazing, they were based off Tolkiens original drawings, just that there were some aspects of middle earth that Tolkien didn't have time to create physically, so Alan had to improvise. 


The original scores were created by Howard Shore. Such scores each represented certain elements and locations and situations such as 'Concerning Hobbits' represented the the much relaxed shire and its simple care-free life. Whilst 'The Prophecy' represents the back story, the story itself, mystery and suspense. And others like 'Pelennor Fields and 'The Bridge or Kazad-Dum' represent adventure, war and its location. The scores all represented a perfect atmosphere in front of the big screen and made you feel you were right there with them in Middle-Earth. Orchestra's give more of a sense of creation and serenity, which takes great amounts of effort and dedication. Without the orchestra, the film would not be the same.

Now the costume and make up were astonishing. As whilst you watch the film you think all of the bad guys (orcs) nearly, are in SFX and CGI but no, they are all made up of costumes and make up. The detail that was put into such masks, costumes and make up were exquisite and fascinating making these creatures seem lifelike as if they actually do exist. But the creatures are actually terrifying with make up that represented blood, sweat and other gore and their costumes which resembled the true terror that was the orc and troll and uruk-hai etc. Now when it comes to the good side, the costumes and make up represented elegance, strength, dexterity and authority. Igniting the pragmatical feeling within. 


On that note, the SFX and CGI was sensational. Whether it was the simulation of thousands of horses at once and the mumikil or the army of the dead to Gollum. Gollum is the biggest cinematic achievement in CGI in history, inspiring those all over the world. The detail of Gollum was overwhelming, with such detail, it would have seemed that Peter Jackson and his team actually created a real life human from nothing (which is why Peter is God). The factor of war came to life and lit up the room with such amazing special effects.




Now concluding this article I must say the Lord of the Rings is one film that will live in the heart of cinema forever, being the trilogy that achieved in total 17 oscars, with the third installment winning every award it was nominated for, winning 11 (which is the largest amount of winning in history joint with Titanic and Ben-Hur) and also bring the genre Fantasy back to life, filling not only kids hearts but adults hearts with goblins and elves once again. It is olso one book in the libary that will never get old.

Truly Magestic (In certain aspects...)

In childhood (and in some ways still.. now) my movie hero and one of my very few inspirations was a guy who loved to make people laugh (he’s also Canadian) and in the 90s he could very well have been the best comedian, this world has ever seen. But within the 20th and 21st century, he merely reached the expectations of the smallest of views, within the film industry. Although he has failed to reach my most recent expectations, he most definitely has reached my overall expectations, as I still see him as the greatest cinematic comedian, this world has seen in a long time. Jim Carrey. Ace Ventura: Pet Detective was his first official cinematic showing and it lit up the room. I mean Jim has an in particular technique when it comes to acting and that is stupidity and immaturity. In all honesty, not a lot of comedians try to pull this technique off nowadays and those who try, fail to reach Jims expectations. Most comedies nowadays rely almost entirely on story and not personal quality. Oh and I’m not trying to say that all comedians are awful, as there are definitely some with their own techniques, such as Robert Downy Jr and Adam Sandler. There are just some that make me think "I could act like that" well anyone could i suppose. And from then on he created pieces that dazzled the entire world again. Dumb and Dumber was truly amazing and also my personal favourite of his pieces, Liar Liar. Liar Liar is fantastic (note that Jim writes his material), I mean who comes up with attacking himself with a pen to tell himself that the pen is red? Even in the bloopers, he accidentally messed up and made up for it by making a goose out of paper in 5 seconds? Pure genius, if you ask me :P. Then there’s also Jim serious films :O. He’s almost as good in a serious role as he is comedian and that’s saying something. In the majestic and the Truman Show, his performance was absolutely superb, they definitely touched me. The stories were amazing and Jims acting made it better. But in the cinema, if you start great, it doesn’t mean you'll end great. His reign of fame, in my opinion plummeted after 'Bruce Almighty' and 'Fun with Dick and Jane'. Even since films like 'No 23', 'Yes Man' and 'Mr Poppers Penguins' all very much disappointed me :/. Jim is running out of ideas and as I said, Jim was 90s news but it doesn’t mean he is atrocious; he is still one of the greatest comedians to ever live. There is also hope to come, Jim Carrey starts in 'Dumb and Dumber 2' in the very near future with Jeff Daniels and I think that if it reaches the standards of the first, it will set Jims career back up again.

Origins

Being my first ever blog, I thougt i'd open it up with a little history on my passion of Film.

The cinema is my church, only that i dont go there every Sunday. I normally had gone to the cinema at least once every month, may not seem like much, but trust me, if I could I would go every few days.

It all really started as a kid as i watched Disney, cartoons and even anime (weired i know at a young age :O). But i always use to watch DragonBall Z (which they created the prequel into a feature length film, which was a catastrophy, upsetting millions of japanese people and nerds, including myself :/) with Goku, who can magically grow and turn his hair blonde, gain a six pack in seconds, fly and even turn into a monkey.... messed up but awesome.

Anyway, my life went on and started to watch real feature length films. And I watched many years worth of films and then 2001 came, Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (LOTR) was brought out to the cinema and it was amazing. I watched it and I came running out of the cinema asking my Dad loads of questions like "Where did that big fire monster come from?" and "Why did that troll take so long to die?" etc. The final film came and i was actually touched me. It is the only film I actually got really upset with, not because of the story but because the story ended, I watched the whole credits just so I could look at all the pictures and listen to 'Into the West'.

Ever since, my passion for film went through the roof and Peter Jackson became my inspiration. I basically know everything there is to know about LOTR, through research and its books. I also research alot of other films i have watched. I love to reveiw films and am members of many sites like IMDB, Flixter and Rotten Tomatoes. I am taking film Studies, Drama and Media in school and i have my future career mapped out as  want to start a film career in the USA. I just think more people nowadays should give films a chance, instead of their music and stop downloading films illegally as it ruins the whole effect. Film is my religion and the cinema is my church.