Peter Jackson and Company Do A Remarkable Job Restoring World War I Footage In They Shall Not Grow Old

I've been saying for a while now that it would be a dream come true to have director Peter Jackson's first post-Hobbit directorial gig be a motion picture in the vein of his earliest grindhouse works, most notably Meet the Feebles, something demented, warped and low-budget. Wouldn't it be great to see that side of Jackson again after so many years of only seeing him use his filmmaking skills on big-budget productions? Well, it turns out his actual first directorial effort after those Hobbit movies is something far removed from the likes of Meet the Feebles but that's not at all a bad thing. On the contrary, They Shall Not Grow Old feels like a return to form for Jackson as he uses groundbreaking VFX in the service of human beings and not the other way around for the first time in ages.

Mortal Engines Is Nonsense But More Often Than Not, It's Enjoyable Nonsense

Mortal Engines is as imaginative as it is messy. Based on a series of books by Phillip Reeves, this story goes for broke in all the weirdness it can imagine occuring in a post-apocalyptic fantasy landscape where cities move around on wheels. You've got a giant vehicle that looks and moves like centipedes, the wardrobe's visual aesthetic seems like a collision of all kinds of different time-periods and an undead robot warrior all inhabiting the same story, which makes for a plot that doesn't hold together at all but at least it's usually different enough to be passably entertaining while it's unfolding in front of your eyes.

American Sniper Review

Appreciate The Sniper Things In Life

Chris Kyle is a figure well known across America, a man whose life is brought to life in Clint Eastwoods newest feature American Sniper. Here was a fellow who, as a soldier, did so much in his life, which interestingly contrasts with this film that winds up doing very little of actual worth.

The Hobbit: The Battle Of The Five Armies Review

Big Battle Brings Brilliance Only Briefly

So now it ends, at least until Peter Jackson manages to convince the Tolkien estate to give him the rights to make a trilogy of movies focusing on Smaug as a student in college. With The Hobbit: The Battle Of The Five Armies, Jackson concludes his trilogy of movies based on The Hobbit, and I must say I've found both of the previous films enjoyable, particularly The Desolation of Smaug. Alas, this one is easily the weakest Hobbit film, a middling affair spiced up by one or two good performances and some nice action moments.