Good Thing, Small Package - “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey”

Movie Review by Jack Silbert
And so we return to Middle Earth, back to an ancient time when Liv Tyler was still famous. I had been genuinely looking forward to The Hobbit until about two and a half weeks ago. That’s when my friend Alex explained that this was not only an approximately three-hour film, but just the first installment in another trilogy. Wait wait wait, wasn’t The Hobbit always Tolkien for beginners? A simpler tale? Was I ready to devote another sizeable chunk of my life to these small people with swords in a magical land?

You Had Me At Arrrr: “The Pirates! Band of Misfits”

There’s an innocent, wonderfully unawares brand of daftness that operates throughout The Pirates! Band of Misfits. The British do silly very well. And this is a very silly (insane) film. It’s directed by Aardman Animation’s own Peter Lord, who directed Chicken Run and the short Wat’s Pig (a particular favorite of mine).