Peter Jackson

Five Nerdy, Inspiring Documentaries You Should Watch Right Now

See also: *Dragon*Con vs. San Diego Comic-Con: Which Convention Should You Attend? *Stan Lee Has His Own Convention Now: Stan Lee's Comikaze A good documentary can do more than entertain or educate the audience. These non-fiction films can be a wealth of inspiration too. They can lend insight into ... More >>

Eight Great Shows You Haven't Binge-Watched on Netflix Yet

Lord of the Rings Fans Hold Their Own Oscar Party, With Elves, Hobbits and Middle Earth Drinking Songs

If you're going to go to an Oscar party, make sure it's one involving J.R.R. Tolkien fans. On Sunday afternoon, the One Expected Party took over American Legion Post 43 for a Hobbit-centric event that lasted late into the night. We were only a couple blocks away from the Dolby Theater, but the vibe ... More >>

Our 2012 Film Poll: Movie Critics Nationwide Pick the Year's Best

Cinefamily's Telethon Will Include Robert Downey, Jr. Digging Up a Time Capsule, and More

USC Professor Uses Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit to Teach Students About War

When Professor Patrick James was 13, he picked up The Lord of the Rings. It took him less than three days to finish reading the trilogy. Years passed and James entered academia. Although his discipline is international relations, he wanted to bring the books that captured his attention to the class ... More >>

The Hobbit Review: Why Peter Jackson's Prequel Is for Tolkien Obsessives Only

Lord of the Rings Fans Celebrate The Hobbit's 75th Anniversary at TheOneRing.net's Annual Picnic

"We were the number one place to be in Hollywood on Oscar night!" Josh Rubinstein gushes, reminiscing about the three celeb-laden Academy Awards parties he helped plan as one of the L.A. events supervisors for Lord of the Rings superfan site TheOneRing.net (TORn). Elijah Wood, Peter Jackson and most ... More >>

Damien Echols

Nathan Barnatt Never Grew Up

Check out our entire YouTube issue here. Nathan Barnatt wakes up each morning in Star Wars bedsheets. If the trap door in his bunk bed isn't buried under toys, he pops through that to greet the day. For breakfast, he'll have some candy, then go play video games. Or jump on a trampoline. Or crawl th ... More >>

Lord of the Rings Parody Musical Fellowship! Returns to L.A., With Superfans

You might say that Fellowship! The Musical Parody of The Fellowship of the Ring has gone there and back again. After originating at NoHo's El Portal Theatre in 2004 and winning L.A. Weekly Theater Awards for Best Comedy Ensemble and Best Musical of 2005, Fellowship! played to great acclaim in San D ... More >>

7 Bizarro Life Lessons from Kevin Smith's New Book Tough Sh*t

Southwest Airlines may agree with the "fat" part of Kevin Smith's new book Tough Sh*t: Life Advice from a Fat, Lazy Slob Who Did Good from Gotham Books, but Silent Bob is far from lazy. He's an author, comic book store owner, professional stage farceur and podcaster who runs a network of podcasts fo ... More >>

Jeffrey Wisniewski's Battle of the Buddha: Is Motion Capture the Next New Thing in Video Art?

Jeffrey WisniewskiWisniewski's battling Buddhas: Hollywood high tech with art world cred​ Sculptor Jeffrey Wisniewski, known for dismantling an American colonial home and feeding it into a woodchipper, piece by piece, somewhat in the spirit of celebrated house-cutting artist Gordon Matta-Clar ... More >>

Five Artsy Things to Do This Week, From Battling Buddhas to a Dinner Party at MOCA

If you have family in town for the holiday this weekend, try dashing over to Patrick Painter gallery in Santa Monica to a film of battling Buddhas or to Chinatown's The Company for an overly enthusiastic paintings show. You don't have to know art to enjoy, either. 5. A New Album Release, 40 Years ... More >>

10 2011 Films We're Psyched About

Terrence Malick, Tintin and a killer psychokinetic tire

Sex, Death and Pragmatism

Bill Plympton's DIY cartoon cottage industry

King Kong 360 Ride In 3-D Unveiled At Universal Studios

​Universal Studios Hollywood will open "King Kong 360 3-D" to the public on Thursday. The new attraction replaces the original tram tour that was destroyed in a June 2008 fire. Universal hired award winning director Peter Jackson to bring the gorilla back to life. According to the Daily News ... More >>

Brian Eno Has Plenty of Time for Coldplay But No Time for Oscar Paperwork

"Hey Oscar! Take your paperwork and shove it up your gold-plated arse!" screams Brian Eno​We fess up to not having paid much attention to the current film The Lovely Bones, a remake of 1990's Ghost with the Patrick Swayze part played by a prepubescent girl and the Demi Moore part played by Mar ... More >>

Hollywood's Labor Pains or, Why the Numbers Still Matter

​Although the official start of Fall is still a couple of weeks away, Hollywood's Autumnal Equinox is already upon us, as the books are closed on the 2009 summer movie season and the curtain goes up on the Toronto International Film Festival, the still-humid summer air starting to hum with the fir ... More >>

A History of Violence Screenwriter Josh Olson Does NOT Want to Read Your Script

We know you've been working very hard on your screenplay, but before you go looking for some professional feedback, you might keep in mind the following piece by A History of Violence screenwriter Josh Olson. I will not read your fucking script. That's simple enough, isn't it? "I will not read yo ... More >>

A Tale of Two Movies

When things go miraculously right — or horribly wrong

District 9: Divide and Conquer

Alien invasion as apartheid metaphor

For Your Reconsideration: The Reader’s Kate Winslet

Heavenly creature

The Curious Case of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Old Man Pitt

Mogwai's Hollyweird Sonics Are Ready for Their Close-Up

Is Scottish rock quintet the "perfect soundtrack for murder"?

Hellboy II: The Golden Army, Devil May Care

Big Red returns in Guillermo Del Toro's mindless, revved-up offering

Daughters of Heaven

Theater Reviews: Jesus Christ Superstar, Don Juan

Also, Daughters of Heaven, The Smartest Man in the World

Daughters of Heaven

Will Smith: The Stuff of Legend

Infectious

Film Reviews: Black Sheep, 1408, You Kill Me

Also Yellow and Broken English

Film Reviews

Including Jesus Camp and American Hardcore

Yo Ho-Hum

Pirates of the Caribbean is one hell of a ride... now, about the movie

The Sci-Fi Boys

Hollywood’s Newest Age of Liberal Cinema

The Return of the Kong

Bigger isn’t always better in Jackson’s remake

King Kong's Monkey Love

Intimacy on the primate family tree

The Gorilla Inside Me

Preparations for the return to Skull Island

Black Girl, Night Scene

Chang, Grass, King Kong: Special Edition

Seems Like Old Times

Lucas’ Star Wars III, Schrader’s Exorcist prequel

Big Oscar Cover-up!

Less controversy, more fabric

The Dwarf Got Dissed

Why this year’s Oscars suck more than usual

Best in Film: Scott Foundas

All’s Well in the Shire

Lord of the Rings’ happy ending

Stuck in the middle with Neo

The Matrix Reloaded, sorta

Playing Favorites

Queer and/or peculiar films that have mattered

No Crystal Method

Edited by Kateri Butler

Worlds of Wonder

The Lord of the Rings and Monster's Ball; plus, The Majestic

Fantasylands

J.R.R. Tolkien and the power of myth