The rest of the world is perfectly free to walk (or run) to the cinema and watch The Adventures of Tintin directed by the legendary Steven Spielberg. But for once, the tables are turned on movie lovers in the U.S. and we must wait until December to see the motion capture film of the beloved comic strip character produced by Peter Jackson.

However, those who are anticipating Belgian writer and cartoonist Hergé’s collection of grand adventure stories put on screen can content themselves with The Art of The Adventures of Tintin book from special effects studio Weta and HarperCollins. Continue reading “Review: The Art of the Adventures of Tintin”

Warner’s has announced numerous new video games they’ve got planned for the end of this year and well into next year. Their Interactive Entertainment unit is one of the few tied to a Film Studio that has proven profitable in recent years, and this new lineup promises to be equally successful. On the horizon are two games based on Tolkien’s work, you can read the rest of the article here:

LA Times – Warner Interactive

The key quote for Tolkien fans is:

Warner will launch a new Lord of the Rings game in November and a Hobbit title in 2012 before Peter Jackson‘s movie “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” comes out that December. The game is one of the studio’s top releases for next year, along with a Lego Batman sequel and a game featuring a superhero from Warner’s DC Comics unit that Tremblay wouldn’t name.

Parting is such sweet sorrow (there will be spoilers for the last few Harry Potter films)

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was a wonderfully creative film with a more unique look due to a new director. But the film franchise always had the same set of Producers, and thank goodness for that. They were the real shepherds to make sure Rowling’s story stayed the course. After all, this series of stories was turning into an epic tale of good versus evil, and there were character arcs to maintain, bits that had to be dropped in to earlier films so that they could pay off in later films. When Dobby first showed up, didn’t you wonder if he was just going to be another Jar Jar Binks? Who knew that he’d be so important to the story later on, or that you’d cry at the end of Deathly Hallows part 1 when he dies? But we also had to have knowledge of the basis of the Horcruxes and the qualities of the Sword of Gryffindor and learn about Polyjuice potion and dueling and the Room of Requirement too. So Prisoner of Azkaban was followed by the Goblet of Fire, and we get our first death and our first indication of the seriousness of this epic battle in the making. We were now getting the type of high drama we’d gotten in the Lord of the Rings. This was followed by Order of the Phoenix, and another high profile death, coupled with a really spectacular duel between Dumbledore and Voldemort.

Continue reading “When Harry Met Frodo, a Final Farewell (part 3 – the finale)”

Symbiosis

This symbiosis actually began before either film debuted. Kids were reading the existing Harry Potter books in droves, and had created quite a buzz about the books, which is what lead to it being optioned for a film in the first place. But since the series was still being written, when the kids were done with the existing books, they began looking at other books in the same section at the bookstore, and they found there were shelves and shelves of stories to explore. They could read other books on magic, or meet dragons and unicorns, discover time travel and go on as many adventures as they wanted. But there was always the series of books that started it all, the series that was also being turned into a film. So thank you to J.K. Rowling for enticing more and more children to read, because it helped so many other authors, including Tolkien, to increase their readership as well.

Continue reading “When Harry Met Frodo, a Final Farewell (part 2)”

Book to Film 

LOTR Trilogy

Once Upon a Time, in a Galaxy Far Far Away, there were two book-to-film adaptations based on two massively popular Fantasy literature series. The year was 2001, and at the time, only Fantasy fans were excited by the proposition of either film coming out and doing well, no one else really took them very seriously. A decade later, both of these film franchises have changed the face of the Fantasy film genre and its place in Hollywood. This is a little bit history, but mostly a very fond farewell to our constant companion at Hogwarts.

Continue reading “When Harry Met Frodo, a Final Farewell (part 1)”