Peter Jackson brings us all back to Middle Earth on December 14th, 2012. At that time it will be 11 years since the release date of The Fellowship of the Ring.  In fact, two days ago (December 19th) was the 10 year anniversary of the Fellowship’s release and when Peter Jackson put Middle Earth on the big screen. Check out the trailer below to get a glimpse of the anticipated return to Tolkien’s world in THE HOBBIT.

The Hobbit is in fact a prequel to the Lord of the Rings trilogy and will be broken up into two films.

Click here to view the embedded video.

I recently saw a giant image of his face at Uniqlo and was reminded of the actor’s existence, or I guess “non-existence” could be a more appropriate term. It wasn’t until this that I started thinking about the roles he’s played, and finally caught on with what everyone was saying back in ’03, while I was busy obsessing over his beauteous face: he can’t act. I am ashamed to admit just how obsessed I was back in the day, although I do recall falling out of love after seeing him in Elizabethtown—completely unrelated to the terrible job he did trying to speak with an American accent. But surely there are still millions of women who will go to a movie just to see him—why hasn’t he been so mainstream after the last installment of the Pirates of the Caribbean films?

Last I heard of him, he and Victoria’s Secret model Miranda Kerr got engaged. There was an interview he did with MTV back in 2007, where he claimed he would be turning to theater in London. He also claimed that he wouldn’t return as Legolas if The Hobbit were to be made, although maybe that’s because he knew Legolas shouldn’t be in The Hobbit according to the book. And let’s be honest, we haven’t seen much of him since. He is in fact in talks to star in Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit now, though. And we will see him as the Duke of Buckingham in 2011’s The Three Musketeers. So why the sudden resurgence, having his face plastered on store windows, trying to sign for mainstream roles, etc?

Do you think he got tired of being out of the spotlight? Or is he trying to provide for the newest member of the family, whom the couple is expecting in the next couple of weeks? Congrats guys! Damn, that kid’s going to be a stunner…

For those who didn’t hear the news, production on The Hobbit was green lit and shooting starts in February.  Even better, Middle Earth protector, Peter Jackson, will be behind the camera directing this film.  After Guillermo Del Toro wimped out, Jackson was the by the far the best solution.  In my eyes, he was the only solution and should have been the guy from the start.

Anyways, production of the 2-part film has been slowed by various protests and blacklists from several acting guilds and in turn has caused another traffic jam on getting things moving.  Well, New Zealand doesn’t seem to be taking this quietly.  A video has surfaced that has been designed to unite New Zealanders in efforts to keeping the production of The Hobbit from leaving the island.  Check it out below

Click here to view the embedded video.

What do you think?

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Our ‘Top 10 Films of the Decade’ column continues this week with each of our top 5 favorite movies of the decade (2000-2009). Without further or do, here is my Top 5 films of the decade

5. Batman Begins (2005)

Years after the Batman franchise was embarrassed with Mr. Freeze and Poison Ivy, Chris Nolan, the magician behind Memento, brought back the franchise. Batman Begins was the first comic movie to feel real. No longer did Batman live in a fake comic book world with tacky one-liners and goofy gadgets. Nolan created a realistic world where we could honestly believe Batman could exist. Christian Bale was a perfect Bruce Wayne. Taking us back to the roots was the perfect way to bring Batman back. This is the best comic-book genre movie ever made. For those who think the Dark Knight was better than this, well you are wrong. Compared to the Dark Knight, Batman Begins is a step-ahead in a every category possible (except maybe hype).

4. The Departed (2006)

The Departed, or should I say “The De-paht-ed,” is one of the best gangster movies of all-time. The movie had an A+ cast (DiCaprio, Damon, Wahlberg, Nicholson, and Baldwin) and was directed by Martin Scorcese, who was finally given an overdue Academy Award for best director.  The film won Best Picture at the 2007 Oscars and whole-heartedly deserved it. This movie had it all.  The Departed was a true 10 out of 10. All I ask is when is Leonardo DiCaprio going to get an Oscar for himself?

3. Gran Torino (2008)

Believe it or not, this movie was not nominated for Best Picture. That was a bigger robbery than Bernie Madoff’s fraud scheme. Honestly, that was a joke. We put this on par with how did Mel Gibson not get nominated for Best Actor for Braveheart. Was the voting done in Florida? Gran Torino was a Clint Eastwood masterpiece, telling the story of a dying bigoted man (Eastwood) and his relationship with this new Asian neighbors.  I cannot recall a movie in which I felt more concerned for the characters. This movie also has some true relevancy to current America, as we have seen a sharp increase in Asian immigrants coming to the USA in the past 15 years.  I walked out of this movie ready to give it the Best Picture trophy.  This movie was as powerful a movie I have ever seen, and deserves to be on this list. 

2. Gladiator (2000)

Gladiator is the ultimate achievement in epic/war/period  film making. It is also the platform to which all other period-pieces are measured against; well Gladiator and Braveheart -  the 2 are in a class of their own.  Russell Crowe’s Maximus is one of the all-time great characters ever put on screen.  However, it wasn’t even his performance that made the movie what it was.  Jacquin Pheonix played Commodus, the dispicable, jealous, conniving, treachorous f*ck wad, that killed his father to become King.  Was there ever a character on screen you hated more than this guy? I once read that Pheonix was so good in this role that he did a disservice to his career as he will always be looked at as the bad guy in any role he does. Somehow he lost Best Supporting Actor at the 2001 Oscars to Benecio Del Toro in Traffic. Hahaha. Another joke.  I will watch Gladiator whenever it is on TV.  “The general who became a slave. The slave who became a gladiator. The gladiator who defied an emperor.” – a truly incredible movie.

1. Lord of the Rings (2001-2003)

For those that know me, and not even that well, Lord of the Rings being number 1 is no suprise. FYI – I am treating this as one movie for sake of the list but my personal order for LOTR is 1) ROTK, 2) FOTR, 3) TTT  

I am going to say this, just for the record, The Lord of the Rings is the greatest movie that has ever been made; and specifically the Return of the King. That’s right, numero uno; better than the Godfather, better than Shawshank, better than One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, better than anything. What Peter Jackson accomplished is nothing short of historic. He had the cast in New Zealand for 12 months shooting all 3 movies simultaneously.  He brilliantly shot 2 of the most intense battle scenes (Helm’s Deep and Pelennor Fields) ever put on the big-screen. He managed a cast of hundreds and wrote (along with 2 others) the entire script. Lord of the Rings launched the career of Orlando Bloom, put Viggo Mortensen on the A-List, revitalized Elijah Wood’s dying career, and launched the design workship WETA, which is now responsible for the digital effects, make-up, and design of some of the biggest film’s in Hollywood.

It’s tough to single out any individual performances, other than Jackson, because the film was completley emsemble based. No one person stood out from the next.  Originally LOTR was supposed to be 1 movie, then Jackson consulted New Line and they said fine, lets do it in 2 movies, and then he went back saying they needed to do it 3. $300 million dollars in costs later, the actual life of New Line Cinema was on the line. $3 billion in box office success, not to mention DVD’s, video games etc, LOTR saved New Line.

At the 2004 Oscars, after 2 years of disappointing nights, the Academy finally got it right - 11 for 11, the single most successful night at the Oscars.

Lord of the Rings is best film of the decade, and yes, the greatest film of all-time.

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