“We’ll be friends forever won’t we, Pooh?” asked Piglet.
“Even longer,” Pooh answered.
Great Quotes – Winnie the Pooh
By December 31st, 2011, underLego The Lord of the Rings is coming! (Lego The Hobbit, too!)
By December 16th, 2011, under
Looks like the article I wrote a while ago about the potential for a Lego Lord of the Rings was right on the money. Back in February of 2010, I wrote that the LEGO company could create products based on the Lord of the Rings. My article was more about video games than anything else, but this is a good start. I suspect that video games are only a matter of time, now.
Here’s the press release:
Warner Bros. Consumer Products and The LEGO Group announced today a partnership that awards the world’s leading construction toy brand exclusive rights to develop build-and-play construction sets based on THE LORD OF THE RINGS™ trilogy and the two films based on THE HOBBIT™. The multi-year licensing agreement grants access to the library of characters, settings, and stories for THE LORD OF THE RINGS property, as well as films The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and The Hobbit: There and Back Again. LEGO® THE LORD OF THE RINGS construction sets are slated for a rolling global launch beginning in June 2012 in the United States, with LEGO THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY scheduled for later in the year.
“Only LEGO, with their expertise in the construction category, is capable of doing justice to the incredibly imaginative environments depicted in the world of THE LORD OF THE RINGS and the two films based on THE HOBBIT,” said Karen McTier, executive vice president, domestic licensing and worldwide marketing, Warner Bros. Consumer Products. “These films give life to amazing worlds and characters and we are thrilled to bring fans these products that deliver an imaginative play experience befitting of these beloved properties.”
The LEGO THE LORD OF THE RINGS collection will translate into LEGO form the epic locations, scenes and characters of Middle-earth as depicted in all three films, including The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.
In late 2012, LEGO THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY will give fans of all ages a chance to build and play out the fantastical story and new characters of the legendary Middle-earth adventures depicted in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journeyfrom Academy Award®-winning filmmaker Peter Jackson, slated to premiere December 14, 2012.
“Our collaboration with Warner Bros. Consumer Products has delivered numerous worldwide successes in the construction toy aisle with lines like LEGO HARRY POTTER and LEGO BATMAN, introducing us to loyal audiences who love great stories, strong characters and the toys that they inspire,” said Jill Wilfert, vice president, licensing and entertainment for The LEGO Group. “It’s particularly exciting to now be able to create sets based on the fantasy worlds and characters from THE LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy and the two films based on THE HOBBIT, not only because we know they will foster collectability and creative play, but also because these are two properties that our fans have been asking us to create for years.”
Information about the sets and collectible minifigures from both collections will be unveiled at a later date at TheLordoftheRings.LEGO.com.
About The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and The Hobbit: There and Back Again
From Academy Award®-winning filmmaker Peter Jackson comes The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, the first of two films adapting the enduringly popular masterpiece The Hobbit. The second film will be The Hobbit: There and Back Again. Both films are set in Middle-earth 60 years before The Lord of the Rings, which Jackson and his filmmaking team brought to the big screen in the blockbuster trilogy that culminated with the Oscar®-winning The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey will be released beginning December 14, 2012. The second film, The Hobbit: There and Back Again, is slated for release the following year, beginning December 13, 2013.
Ian McKellen returns as Gandalf the Grey, the character he played in “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy, and Martin Freeman in the central role of Bilbo Baggins. Also reprising their roles from “The Lord of the Rings” movies are: Cate Blanchett as Galadriel; Ian Holm as the elder Bilbo; Christopher Lee as Saruman; Hugo Weaving as Elrond; Elijah Wood as Frodo; Orlando Bloom as Legolas; and Andy Serkis as Gollum. The ensemble cast also includes (in alphabetical order) Richard Armitage, John Bell, Jed Brophy, Adam Brown, John Callen, Luke Evans, Stephen Fry, Ryan Gage, Mark Hadlow, Peter Hambleton, Barry Humphries,Stephen Hunter, William Kircher, Evangeline Lilly, Sylvester McCoy, Bret McKenzie, Graham McTavish, Mike Mizrahi, James Nesbitt, Dean O’Gorman, Lee Pace, Mikael Persbrandt, Conan Stevens, Ken Stott, Jeffrey Thomas, and Aidan Turner.
The screenplays for both The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and The Hobbit: There and Back Again are by Fran Walsh,Philippa Boyens, Guillermo del Toro and Peter Jackson. Jackson is also producing the films, together with Fran Walsh andCarolynne Cunningham. The executive producers are Alan Horn, Ken Kamins, Toby Emmerich and Zane Weiner, with Boyens serving as co-producer.
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and The Hobbit: There and Back Again are being co-produced by New Line Cinema and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. with New Line managing production.
Warner Bros Pictures will be handling theatrical distribution for most of the world and MGM will handle all international television licensing and theatrical distribution for certain international territories for the films.
Super 8 – A Film about Letting Go, Forgiveness, Childhood and Film Making
By August 4th, 2011, under
Super 8 is a film that is rich with many layers of depth. It is a love-letter to the inspiration of making movies and provides a lot of heart to match. After seeing the film, I ordered the score, composed by Michael Giacchino. Giacchino has worked with Super 8 director J.J. Abrams on every project since Alias.
Having seen the film three times, each time getting something new out of the movie, I found the music and characters began to resonate with me more and more. Perhaps it’s because my childhood was somewhat similar, but for whatever reason, the themes that the film contained touched me.
The music, masterfully composed by Giacchino, is both reminiscent of the music of John Williams and entirely original. The first time you hear the music in the film is with the studio logos, before the movie even begins, and I can remember feeling that music already transporting me back to my childhood.
It is then that the film begins, with a loss that hangs over the whole film: an accident at a plant that takes the life of Joe Lamb’s mother. It is this beat that sets up the emotional journey of Joe, as he sets off through the summer, trying to be a kid while also trying to deal with the loss of his mother and a father that doesn’t know how to be there for him. Joe holds tightly to a locket that had belonged to his mother and finds it difficult to move on. He finds himself on a journey of discovery as an alien is loose in his small town. The culmination of his journey is in the moment that he confronts the alien face to face.
“Bad things happen,” he says, “but you can still live.”
DC Comics 52 Title Reboot – Team Titles
By June 22nd, 2011, underThese are the team comics that I’m the most interested in, which haven’t been listed in any of the other articles I wrote prior to this. There are two Justice League teams, a very Young Justice like Teen Titans and a pair of Legion of Superheroes titles. I’m most excited for Justice League and Teen Titans, out of the lot of them, as they appear to have the characters that I know and like.
Justice League #1
Featuring the major characters of the DC universe: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Green Lantern, Aquaman and Cyborg (?), this is the title that starts it all. I really enjoy seeing multiple heroes working together.
DC Comics 52 Title Reboot – Wonder Woman and Green Lantern
By June 21st, 2011, underWith the reboot comes the relaunch of two characters that have been spoken about in mass media within the last year. Both were being filmed in live action productions, but only one of those is being released at this time. Green Lantern is in theaters, and the reboot is likely to follow in the footsteps of the film. Wonder Woman was filmed as a pilot for a potential tv series that didn’t get picked up to series.
Green Lantern #1
Green Lantern has very little details about it, but it is only one of a number of new Green Lantern related titles that are being released this September. All DC says about it is: “Change is coming. But set aside your fear. It’ll be worth the wait.” (more)
DC Comics 52 Title Reboot – Batman Family Titles
By June 20th, 2011, underAs promised, here are the new titles in the Batman family of comics. I didn’t include them with the other Batman comics as there are so many. These comics are all spin-offs of the Batman line, or feature characters that came from the Batman comics. Some of them look more interesting to me than others, but we’ll see. As a reminder, these aren’t all of the Batman family titles, only the ones that I plan on picking up the first issues or so.
Batgirl #1
I used to watch the Adam West Batman tv show, and that was where I was first introduced to the Batgirl character. Later on, she reappeared in Batman: The Animated Series and Barbara Gordan was again in the role. In the comics, DC had her paralyzed at some point and she went under the name Oracle in the series Birds of Prey. That series is also being rebooted, and it appears that Oracle is no longer going to be part of that team as Barbara Gordon is re-taking the Batgirl mantle. I had read a Batgirl series that featured one who was mute, and have been following the latest Batgirl, but this puts a monkeywrench into all of that. In the new series, she’s “going to have to face the city’s most horrifying new villains as well as dark secrets from her past.”
DC Comics 52 Title Reboot – Batman Titles
By June 17th, 2011, underWith Batman there are a lot more titles than there are with Superman. Back around the time of the death of Superman storyline, there were four Superman titles each month, and they even added a fifth for the months when there would be a fifth Wednesday for a few years. Now it seems that Batman has become the most popular DC comics character, if I base that thought on the number of Batman titles alone.
In this entry I’m going to only feature the primary Batman titles. The next post will be about the Batman family titles, featuring characters that are spinoffs of the Batman universe.
Batman #1
As with Action Comics #1 being the first restart since 1938, this is the first Batman #1 since 1930. In the series, Bruce Wayne once again becomes the only character taking on the Batman name.
DC Comics 52 Title Reboot – Superman Titles
By June 15th, 2011, underIt’s no secret that, beginning in September with the end of Flashpoint, DC Comics is going to be starting a total of 52 comics over at #1 including many very iconic comics. Here, I’m going to list the ones that I find the most intriguing or that I’m going to continue to read. We’re going to start with the Superman titles that I plan on picking up (at least for the first issue).
Action Comics #1
This is the first Action Comics #1 since the title first released in 1938 and features Superman defending a world that doesn’t trust their first Super Hero. I’m interested in seeing the direction that this goes, as it seems to imply that Superman is, at least in this comic, the lone hero in the world.
On Movie Theater Etiquette – How to be a Good Cinema Citizen
By April 30th, 2011, under
After writing about the etiquette of movie spoilers, I was inspired to write a bit about movie theater etiquette. This is something that, unfortunately, a lot of people don’t have a good grasp on. There are a number of things to keep in mind when you’re going to the theater, and the rules do change based on the situation. I’ll try to be as clear as possible.
Arrival at the Theater
When you arrive at the theater, make sure you plan your time dependent on what movie you’re going to see and when you’re going to see it. I don’t understand it myself, but every time I go see a film at midnight for the first screening, someone always walks in at 12:01 am and looks up for any open seats. Seriously? Couldn’t you have gotten there earlier?
And if you get there late, and you notice a couple of seats that are in a prime spot, don’t just sit there until you know if those seats are available.
On the Etiquette of Movie Spoilers
By April 27th, 2011, under
I just read a blog on Cape Town Community called Please Don’t Spoil My Movies! which I found to be something that I agreed with wholly. When it comes to movies that I want to see, I don’t want to know what is going to happen. If I see a trailer, that’s fine, but knowing anything beyond what the studio wants to show is a rarity for me.
It’s also for this reason that I don’t read reviews. I think most critics are ridiculous, and I have yet to find a single one that I agree with all the time (based on looking at scores after I’ve seen a movie). As I haven’t found a critic whose reviews match my own point of view 100% of the time, or even 50% of the time, how can I trust any critic to really get how I’ll feel about any movie. They might hate a movie that I’ll love, or love a movie that I’ll hate. Critics hold no sway over my perspective, for this reason, and I’ve found that I love some movies that even the critical mass has hated. If I had listened to them, I wouldn’t have found the movie.
Loading ...