Extended cut
The ride of the Rohirrim and the lighting of the beacons on a cinema screen. And the whole battle of the Pelennor Fields. Entered the building just before 9pm and left at 9:30am. Thank you to everything sugar-related which I consumed for not letting me miss any of this. And thank you to the WSC audience for making it so special. They couldn’t carry it for me, but they could carry me. Dreamed of white shores and a…
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The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King 2003
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The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers 2002
Extended cut
This one absolutely flew by. And I think it’s the strongest one in terms of consistency throughout its runtime. Its commentary on war and heroism and myth-making, particularly in the last act, is LotR at its most powerful. “It’s like in the great stories, Mr Frodo. The ones that really mattered.”Helm’s Deep is the best battle committed to cinema, but when you remember that these were shot simultaneously across a mammoth (oliphaunt??) shooting schedule, Peter Jackson’s directorial…
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Conclave 2024
It was marketed as a “papal thriller”, and that’s exactly what it was. Fiennes, Tucci, Lithgow, and the scene-stealing Rossellini are all charismatic stars. The sequestered Vatican becomes a claustrophobic lockdown environment which amplifies the significance of this appointment at such a contentious time. The shot composition is magnificent throughout, with the depth of field working to obscure information from the viewer and illuminate the character’s unsaid thoughts as they lock eyes in a menacingly red chapel. The sea of…
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Top Gun: Maverick 2022
This film beating the worldwide box office gross of Doctor Strange 2 and passing $1 billion is the best thing that has happened to cinema in recent years. As we go into yet another day of directors and writers revealing MCU spin-offs (and spin-offs of spin-offs), this whole film is a ray of sunshine in that desaturated monotonous shambles that Phase 4 has become. A sequel after 36 years is not easy to pull off of course, let alone bettering the…
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