Peter-Jackson-Doctor-Who Here’s a confirmation that a lot of folks have been been waiting to hear: Peter Jackson will be presenting on The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies at San Diego Comic-con.

On Saturday, July 26th, beginning at 10 a.m., Warner Bros. Pictures brings three of its most hotly anticipated films to this year’s Con: Peter Jackson will be on the main stage with “The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies,” from New Line Cinema and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, and George Miller will be on hand to present a first look at “Mad Max: Fury Road,” from Warner Bros. Pictures and Village Roadshow Pictures. Continue reading “Peter Jackson Hobbit 3 presentation confirmed for San Diego Comic-Con”

Lord of the Ring Hobbit collageWelcome to our collection of TORn’s hottest topics for the past week.  If you’ve fallen behind on what’s happening on the Discussion Boards, here’s a great way to catch the highlights.  Or if you’re new to TORn and what to enjoy some great conversations, just follow the links to some of our most popular discussions.   Watch this space as every weekend we will spotlight the most popular buzz on TORn’s Discussion Boards.  Everyone is welcome, so come on in and join the fun!

Continue reading “TORn Message Boards Weekly Roundup — June 22, 2014”

Peter-Jackson4Sir Peter Jackson is amongst the 30 honorees selected to receive a star on Hollywood’s the Walk of Fame in 2015, that the Walk of Fame Selection Committee announced on Thursday morning.

Sir Peter is said to be “chuffed” at this latest accolade.

The full list of honorees for 2015 are:

Motion pictures – Raymond Chandler (posthumous), Eugenio Derbez, Will Ferrell, Jennifer Garner, Peter Jackson, Bob Kane (posthumous), Daniel Radcliffe, Paul Rudd, Snoopy, Melissa McCarthy and Christoph Waltz

Television – James L Brooks, Ken Ehrlich, Bobby Flay, Seth MacFarlane, Julianna Margulies, Chris O’Donnell, Jim Parsons, Amy Poehler, Kelly Ripa and Sofia Vergara.

Recording – Lukasz ‘Dr Luke’ Gottwald, Kool & The Gang, Pitbull, Al Schmitt and Pharrell Williams.

Radio – Larry Elder.

Live theatre-live performance – Kristin Chenoweth, Dick Gregory and Ennio Morricone.

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heavenly-creatures-movie-poster-1994-1020258148 Beginning this Friday, The American Cinematheque is screening a mini-festival of dark coming-of-age stories — including Peter Jackson’s Heavenly Creatures.

Entertainment Weekly writer Anthony Breznican is curating the film fest, and Jackson’s 1994 tale of friendship gone bad screens at the Aero Theater in Santa Monica this Friday. Star Melanie Lynskey will join a guest.

Breznican says he chose the film because Jackson created an haunting tale of friendship that simultaneously saves and then destroys two young girls.

While this is a true story, it’s an extreme one — but we can all relate to those friends we had who brought out both our strong side and our bad side. The kind of friend your mother doesn’t like you hanging out with. Doesn’t that make you want to see that friend even more?

Heavenly Creatures is remarkable for how much ground it covers. It has dark humor, deep love, tragedy, resistance, defiance, and gritty realism — but it also ventures off into the realm of fantasy and imagination. This movie was made long before Jackson ventured into the world of J.R.R. Tolkien, but it illustrates the power that fantasy can provide when we are feeling weak or lost.

I remember being stunned by the clay kingdom of the Fourth World, where Kate Winslet and Melanie Lynskey’s characters make their escape. To me, storytelling and fantasy are such potent forces because in a life where we often feel helpless or unseen, our imaginations can help us rediscover what heroism and courage really mean. Sometimes those stories — be it Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, the Marvel universe, or Star Wars — help us find those qualities in ourselves.

Other times, there’s the danger that escapism might take us too far. We can become closed off and lose ourselves in other worlds, then find ourselves crushed by the disappointments of reality. That’s what happens in Heavenly Creatures, and it is mesmerizing, terrifying, and stunning to behold.

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Thorin_Oakenshield Many people have written to us over the last five or so days about a story that has begun circulating around the internet concerning Thorin Oakenshield and the final Hobbit film, The Battle of the Five Armies.

Frankly, we hoped this story would die a quiet death because it is simply not credible. However, a couple of web media outlets have picked it up so somewhat reluctantly here we are quashing a rumour that simply has no credence at all.

Seeing as this is obviously leading us into spoiler territory, if you are avoiding them or have not read the book (I know there are a few of you out there), then look away now. Continue reading “Debunking that Hobbit movie rumour about Thorin Oakenshield”

viggomortenson.jpgRinger Emma has sent us this interview by The Telegraph newspaper with Viggo Mortensen, where he talks about his latest movie The Two Faces of January. He also talks about filming The Lord of the Rings films saying that he felt that Fellowship of the Rings script was the “better organised” of the three films and discusses the use of CGI in the Middle-earth blockbusters.

Continue reading “Viggo Mortensen interview in The Telegraph”