Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupart Grint, Emma Watson
Director: Alfonso Cuarón
Country: UK, USA
Genre: Fantasy
Even a man who is pure in heart and says his prayers by night, may become a wolf when the wolfbane blooms and the autumn moon is bright.
After two films that followed the same formula, a new director stepped in to helm the third installment of the series. Alfonso Curaón, probably best known for Children of Men, turns the frothiness of the previous two films and shrouds it in the dark of night. Where the first two films left audiences with a resonating feeling of sitting by the firelight, Azkaban leaves the audience with the feeling of being lost in the woods at midnight. Gary Oldman steps in, in the perfect way that only Oldman can to any role he’s given, to the notorious role of Sirius Black. The mystique of the Harry Potter series takes a turn for the better here, foreshadowing the long journey to come.
Starring: Viggo Mortensen, Elija Wood, Ian McKellen
Director: Peter Jackson
Country: New Zealand, USA
Genre: Fantasy, Adventure
All good things must come to an end. All great things get a four and a half hour extended edition.
Farewells are always difficult, which might be why there are twenty-five minutes of them at the close of this trilogy. Peter Jackson sealed the deal on his legacy with the release of the final chapter of the beloved Lord of the Rings films, and with much legitimacy. To see the characters at the end of Return of the King compared to the beginning of Fellowship of the Ring, it’s hard to believe that they came from such humble beginnings. It’s impossible not to be bombarded with the word “epic” while watching RotK as everything is bigger and grander than anything I’ve ever seen on screen before. Good luck to all of the sci-fi fantasy films of the next twenty years living in its shadow.
Starring: Elija Wood, Viggo Mortensen, Ian McKellen
Director: Peter Jackson
Country: New Zealand, USA
Genre: Fantasy
The Ringwraiths ride dragons. What more do you need?
The Lord of the Rings trilogy pushed the boundaries of what could be achieved with CGI in films, and is especially true with the entirety of this film. There are entire characters that are computer generated, there are magnificent cities created artificially (at least for some shots,) and it all culminates in one of the greatest battles ever put on screen, the Battle for Helm’s Deep. The film lacks the whimsical flow that Fellowship had, but brings to the table a new level of drama with more characters (with impossible to remember names,) and their ultimate quest to save humanity. It’ll be curious to see if the effects in this film hold up over time, but it will always be in the pages of history for using CGI for storytelling instead of spectacle, (though it acts as both.)
Starring: Elija Wood, Ian McKellen, Viggo Mortensen
Director: Peter Jackson
Country: USA, New Zealand
Genre: Fantasy, Adventure
It’s funny how confusing a story about getting from point A to point B can get.
To say that Lord of the Rings was a cinematic achievement is grossly underestimating the effect this series had on the film world. No summer blockbuster has been the same since, and certainly no trilogy hasn’t stepped in its shadow. Fellowship of the Ring, Jackson’s overture, kick starts the massive adventure off perfectly with a story of mystery, intrigue, but mostly discovery. It can almost be seen as a commentary on human unity. There’s nothing more exciting than seeing a group of characters from different backgrounds work together, especially when they are working toward cracking Orc skulls and eluding Ringwraiths.
Starring: Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Scarlett Johansson
Director: Christopher Nolan
Country: USA
Genre: Mystery
Nolan will forever go down as one of the most infamous directors of the 2000s, as he’s brought us such films as Memento, Batman Begins, and The Dark Knight. And while his Batman saga is a benchmark that most directors and studios will strive to achieve, his in between projects are just as dark and entertaining. The Prestige weaves together a dark fantasy tale of obsession between two rival magicians striving to outdo each other, and it’s told with such intrigue that it’s hard not to get caught up in its mysticism. It came out around the same time as The Illusionist, which unfortunately had a negative effect on both films, but this is one of Nolan’s better tricks that surely isn’t to be missed.
Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupart Grint, Emma Watson
2004 Films | this guy over here March 8, 2010 | 
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