Revisiting Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings

Capsule Reviews

Hamnet
This is a (presumably) fictionalized dramatization of William Shakespeare’s romance, marriage and relationship with his wife, Anne Hathaway, and the loss of their son, Hamnet. The film dramatizes how Shakespeare, in dealing with the family’s grief, may have partly inspired him to write “Hamlet.”

I found the film unengaging—while the film opens with Shakespeare at odds with his father about becoming a playwright, we see none of his journey to success. While this may partly be because the film is primarily focused on Hathaway, it nevertheless creates a hole in the film. Indeed, while it’s clear Shakespeare and Hathaway genuinely love each other, due to his focus on his career, in the film, Shakespeare nevertheless is an absentee father whose live in London we never see.

Marty Supreme

While I thought Marthy Supreme was a tour de force, I’m not sure I thoroughly “liked” it, but it did stay with me. The initial trailers misleadingly made it look like a feel-good underdog story—I’m glad I was disabused of that in advance, based on (non-spoilery) reviews I read in advance and someone reminding me the film was from Josh Safdie, of the Safdie Brothers.

In truth, it’s about a somewhat unlikable but laser-focused Marty Mauser (Timothy Chalomet), who’ll do whatever it takes to achieve his dream of competing in the table tennis British Open championship for personal glory and to bring American attention to the sport. And this often includes crossing moral (and legal) boundaries. The film’s saving grace is Marty occasionally showing some humanity and, at the end, once he’s achieved his goal, seemingly ready to get on with life.

One Battle After Another
I saw this film at its release, at Quentin Tarantino’s Vista Theatre in the L.A. neighborhood of Los Feliz, partly because it was one of two theaters in the country showing it in VistaVision.

While the film seems to have been roundly praised, I frankly didn’t know what to make of it. It seemed tonally all over the place and I was not sure whether it was intended to be taken seriously or not, and whether or not it’s a drama or a Roadrunner and Wylie Coyote cartoon. It made a little more sense after I learned that the film is based on a Thomas Pynchon novel which made the film’s reception even more surprising since I doubt most moviegoers aren’t familiar with the book.

Fackham Hall
Fackham Hall is a parody of British period shows of the Masterpiece Theatre variety, particularly Downton Abbey, in the same way Airplane was of disaster films. It definitely was a “throw everything against the wall and see what sticks” sort of a comedy. That said, while I chuckled a few times, and the name cast was generally game for anything, I thought there were more misses than hits. The best running gag for me was that J.R.R. Tolkien was one of the guests at the manor where a murder occurs (while still in the process of writing The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings), resulting in several amusing references and shout outs to the books.

Nouvelle Vague
Directed by Richard Linklater, Nouvelle Vague is a charming French language dramatization of the making of Jean-Luc Godard’s groundbreaking French new wave film, Breathless. Filmed in black and white, and told in a cinema verité style that mimics the original film, it takes you behind the scenes as Godard directs his film with no script and in guerrilla style, sometimes to the consternation of his actors and crew. Actress Zoey Deutsch is particularly luminous as American actress Jean Seberg.

Blue Moon
Also directed by Richard Linklater, Blue Moon was released just a few weeks after Nouvelle Vague. Set in a single night at a bar, it stars Ethan Hawke in a rare bit of character transformation as musical lyricist Lorenz Hart, as he reflects on his life and career during the opening night party of the musical Oklahoma!, written by his former colleague Richard Rodgers with his new partner, Oscar Hammerstein (a terrific Andrew Scott in an otherwise small role). Like a play, the evening unfolds as Rodgers struggles with the state of his life (obsessing over a young ingenue he has befriended played by Margaret Qualley), fearing that Rodgers and musical theater is moving on without him (as it did). While the film was a little talky at the beginning, the film hits its stride as it marches to a sad and tragic conclusion.

Remembering the 1994 Northridge Earthquake

I was reminded that yesterday, January 17, was the anniversary of the 1994 Northridge earthquake—which that year, like today, was Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Though I lived “over the hill” from the epicenter in the San Fernando Valley 25 miles away, we nevertheless felt much of its force, being suddenly shaken awake at 4:30 in the morning. I vividly remember sitting up in bed as the house violently swayed back and forth, like an old 1930s cartoon. Fortunately, the rented house we were living in at the time didn’t experience any serious damage other than a partial collapse of a cinder block retaining wall in the back of the property. 

 That said, my job at the time was in the very epicenter of the earthquake in Northridge. I was asked to report into work three days later. The building where my office was in had been deemed unsafe to occupy and for the first few months we worked in an open field in what looked like a MASH unit. We eventually worked out of new temporary trailers for the next several years as the office building was retrofitted and eventually re-opened. A parking structure at the site had completely collapsed. It was fortunate that it not only occurred in the early morning hours, but also on a holiday. 

Though freeway collapses had occurred, they did not fortunately affect my commute directly—in fact, two of the freeway collapses occurred a few exits outside of my commute on both sides, one just about a mile from me. (An on-duty highway patrolman on his motorcycle lost his life in the other collapse since he did not see the missing section in time.) A year later, President Clinton visited our site to mark the recovery.

(These are all my personal photos.)

Entertainment Roundup for 2025

2025 was another memorable year in entertainment for me. It's the most films I've seen in a theater since prior to the COVID pandemic. In addition, it was a banner year for theater-going, advanced in large part by our trip to New York City in April, where we saw four plays, three of which were terrific. Another highlight was the new year's concert bashes of the Middle Aged Dad Jam Band.

And now without further ado...

Films

Marty Supreme – Culver Theatres (12/28/25)
Hamnet – Grove (12/14/25)
Fackham Hall - Cinelux Morgan Hill (12/5/25)
Now You See Me, Now You Don’t - Cinelux Monterey12/3/25)
Blue Moon – Landmark Theatre (11/10/25)*
Nouvelle Vague – Landmark Theatre (11/2/25)
One Battle After Another – Vista Theatre (10/16/25)
Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale — Gilroy Cinelux (9/23/25)
Linda Linda Linda – Alamo Drafthouse (9/19/25)* – rewatch
Spinal Tap II – Culver Theater (9/13/25)
Honey Don’t! – Culver Theater (8/31/25)
Shin Godzilla – Howard Hughes Cinemark (8/26/25)
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang – Culver Theater (7/12/25) – rewatch
Fantastic Four: First Steps – Howard Hughes Cinemark (8/2/25)
The Naked Gun – Paramount Studios (7/14/25)*
Superman –  Culver Theater (7/12/25)*
F1: The Movie – Howard HughesCinemarkCtr (6/29/25)
The Phoenician Scheme  – Culver Theater (6/8/25)*
Mission Impossible: Final Reckoning  – Culver Theater (5/26/25)*
Thunderbolts*  – Culver Theater (5/3/25)*
Monty Python’s Life of Brian – Culver Theater (4/21/25)
Top Secret – Culver Theater (4/14/25)
Captain America: Brave New World – Howard Hughes Cinemark (2/15/25)
A Complete Unknown – Howard Hughes Cinemark (1/9/25)*

Streaming Films/DVD/BluRay

All the President’s Men - DVD (12/30/25) - rewatch
The Man Who Invented Christmas – Max (12/26/25) – rewatch
Wake Up Dead Man – Netflix (12/22/25)*
A Christmas Carol (1939 version) –Max (12/25/25)
Die Hard – Prime (12/25/25) – rewatch

Violent Night – Peacock (12/21/25)*
Happiest Season – Hulu (12/20/25)
Towering Inferno – Prime (11/9/25)
AKA Charlie Sheen Pt 1 – Netflix (11/17/25)
Three Kings – DVD (11/15/25) – rewatch
Bullets Over Broadway – Prime (11/15/2025) – rewatc
Being Eddie Murphy – Netflix (11/12/25)*
Shattered Glass – Prime (11/9/25) – rewatch
Spotlight – Prime (11/9/25) – rewatch
Six Scenes in a Crisis Eps 1–6 – Prime (11/8/25)
Small Time Crooks – Prime (11/7/25) – rewatch
The Fall of Lehman Brothers – Prime (11/4/2025)
Manhattan – YouTubeTV (10/27/25) – rewatch
Steve! (Martin): A Documentary in 2 Pieces (Part II) – YouTube (10/25/25)*
Black Hawk Down Behind the Scenes – YouTube (10/25/25)*
Steve! (Martin): A Documentary in 2 Pieces – YouTube (10/24/25)*
Black Hawk Down Extended Edition – YouTube (10/24/25)*
Downey Wrote That – Peacock (10/19/25)
The Boston Strangler – Hulu (10/16/25)
John Candy: I Like Me – Prime (10/12/25)
Force 10 From Navarone  – YouTube (10/8/25) – rewatch
Where Eagles Dare – YouTube (10/8/25) – rewatch
1941 – DVD (Gilroy) (9/24/25) – rewatch
Nonnas – Netflix (9/17/25)*
Teacher’s Pet – YouTube (9/13/25) – rewatch
Friendship – Max (9/12/25)
That Thing You Do (plus extras) – DVD (9/9/25) – rewatch
Cradle WIll Rock – Prime Purchased (9/4/25) – rewatch
Breakfast at Tiffany’s – Max (8/27/25) – rewatch
Fly Me To the Moon – Apple+ (8/23/25) – rewatch
The Producers – YouTube (8/21/25) - rewatch
Star Wars VI: Return of the Jedi – Disney+ (8/20/25) - rewatch
Star Wars V: The Empire Strikes Back – Disney+ (8/19/25) - rewatch
Star Wars IV: A New Hope – Disney+ (8/20/25) - rewatch
Some Like It Hot – Prime (8/15/25) - rewatch
The Pickup – Prime (8/10/25)
Clueless – Netflix (8/1/25)
Sunday Best – Netflix (8/8/25)*
Operation Mincemeat – Netflix (8/8/25)
Burn Without Reading – Netflix (7/20/25) – rewatch
Hitchcock – Netflix (7/20/25) – rewatch
Rear WIndow – Netflix (7/19/25) – rewatch
Bullet Train Explosion – Netflix (7/10/25)
My Mom Jayne: A Film by Mariska Hargitay – Max (7/6/25)
The Ballad of Wallis Island – Peacock (6/30/25)
Dept. Q Eps 1–9 finale – Netflix (6/27/25)*
Deep Cover – Prime (6/24/25)
Titan: The Oceangate Submersable Disaster – Netflix (6/23/25)
Jaws – Peacock (6/20/25)
Pee-wee As Himself – Max (6/19/25)
Pride and Prejudice – Max (6/10/25) – rewatch
The Imposters – Prime (5/30/25) – rewatch
The Lord of the Rings: DVD Extras (5/15/25)  – rewatch
The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring Extended Version – Max (5/10/25)  – rewatch
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers Extended Version – Max (5/8/25)  – rewatch
The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring Extended Version – Max (5/6/25)  – rewatch
Please Don't Destroy: The Treasure of Foggy Mountain – Peacock (5/5/25)
Flight of the Conchords Live in London – Max (5/2/25)*
Story of Pixar – Disney+ (4/30/25)
Shanghai Calling – YouTube (4/29/25) – rewatch
Corner Gas: The Movie – YouTube (4/24/25)
Saturday Night – Prime (4/13/25)
A Real Pain – Hulu (4/6/25)*
The Guard – Roku (2/28/25)*
For Your Consideration – Prime (2/17/25)
Choke – Prime (2/12/25)
The ExTerminators – Prime (2/12/25)
Noises Off – Prime (2/10/25) - rewatch
Drive Away Dolls – Prime (2/10/25)
To Be Or Not To Be – YouTubeTV (2/8/25) – rewatch
Next Goal Wins – Hulu (2/4/25)
Sabotage – TCM (2/2/25)
SIlk Stockings – TCM (2/2/25)
Cry Wolf – TCM (2/1/25)
Nazi Agent – TCM (2/1/25)
Young Woman and the Sea – DIsney+ (1/31/25)
I Am Woman – Netflix (1/29/25)
Stalag Luft – Prime (1/28/25)
The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry – Netflix (1/27/25)
Stranger Than Fiction – Roku (1/12/25)
Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl – Netflix (1/11/25)

TV/Streaming Series

A Man on the Inside S2 Eps 5–8 – (12/21/25)*
Bored to Death S1 Eps 1–4 (12/19/25)
A Man on the Inside S2 Eps 1–4 (12/14/25)*
New Yorker at 100 – Netflix (12/11/25)*
Ken Burns: The American Revolution Eps 3–6 – PBS (12/10/25)*
Beatles Anthology (re-mastered) Eps 1–4 – Disney+ (12/9/25)*
Down Cemetery Road S1 Eps 1–4 – AppleTV+ (11/21/25)
Ken Burns: The American Revolution Eps 1–2 – PBS (11/20/25)*
Bodkin Eps 1–3 – Netflix (11/17/25)
Murdaugh: Death in the Family Ep 8 finale – Hulu (11/19/25)
Bodkin Eps 1–3 – Netflix (11/17/25)
Hogan’s Heroes S1 Eps 4–12 – Max (11/11/25)
Death by Lightning – Netflix (11/6/25)
The Good Wife S1 Eps 1–5 – Paramount+ (11/5/25)
I Love L.A. – Prime (11/4/25)
Normal People – Hulu S1 (11/3/25)*
The Diplomat S3 Eps 4-8 – Netflix (10/31/25)
Murdaugh: Death in the Family – Hulu (10/30/25)
Ghosts S3 E1 – CBS (10/23/25)
The Diplomat S3 Eps 1–2 – Netflix (10/22/25)
The Diplomat S3 Eps 1–2 – Netflix (10/22/25)
Law & Order – S26 Eps 1-3 – NBC (10/18/25)
Elspeth – S2 Eps 1-2 – CBS (10/18/25)
Teenage Bounty Hunters S1 Eps 1–10 – Netflix (10/15/25)*
Only Murders in the Building S5 Eps 1–7 – Hulu (10/15/25)
Boots Eps 1–8 – Netflix (10/9/25)*
Dickensian Eps 8–10 – Peacock (10/6/25)*
Wednesday S2 – Netflix (10/5/25)*
Dickensian Eps 5–7 – Peacock (10/5/25)*
Dickensian Eps 1–4 – Peacock (10/2/25)*
The Four Seasons S1 E1–10 – Netflix (9/30/25)*
Drops of God S1E2-8 – AppleTV+ (9/29/25)*
Drops of God S1E1 – AppleTV+ (9/20/25)*
Art Spiegelman: Disaster is My Muse (American Masters) – YouTube – rewatch
The Paper S1E1–3 – Peacock (9/4/25)
The Diplomat S2 – Netflix (8/26/25)*
American Murder: Gabby Petito – Netflix (8/25/25)
The Movies That Made Us S3 E4 – Netflix (8/24/25)
Bosom Buddies S1–Eps 1–3 – DVD (8/16/25)
Good Cop Bad Cop S1 – Prime (8/7/25)*
Good Cop Bad Cop S1 Eps 1 – Prime (8/5/25)*
The Fabulous Allan Carr – Prime (8/4/25)*
Billy Joel: And So It Goes Ep 2 – HBOMax (7/29/25)*
Billy Joel: And So It Goes Ep 1 – HBOMax (7/22/25)*
Murderbot S Eps 9-10 finale – Apple+ (7/12/25)*
Thin Blue Line S2 – Prime (7/9/25)
Sherlock and Daughter Eps Finale – Max (7/8/25)
Thin Blue Line S1 – Prime (7/5/25)
Sherlock and Daughter Eps 1–4 – Max (7/1/25)
Murderbot S Eps 5-7 – Apple+ (5/23/25)*
Doctor Who S2 Finale Episodes – Disney+ (6/1/25)*
Doctor Who S2 Xmas Episode – Disney+ (6/1/25)*
Murderbot S Eps 1–4 – Apple+ (5/30/25)*
The Studio S1 Eps 7–10 – Apple+ (5/22/25)*
Doctor Who S2 Eps 1–6 – Disney+ (5/25/25)*
Doctor Who S1 Eps 7–8 – Disney+ (5/19/25)*
Flight of the Conchords S2 – Max (5/2/25) – rewatch
Flight of the Conchords S1 – Max (4/29/25) – rewatch
The Residence Finale – Netflix (4/26/25)*
The Residence Eps 4-5 – Netflix (4/23/25)*
Corner Gas S6 Finale – FreeVee (4/23/25)
The Residence Eps 1–2 – Netflix (4/21/25)*
Icons Unearthed: Lord of the Rings – Prime (4/22/25)
Ghosts – CBS (4/19/25)*
The Studio S1 Eps 3–6 – Apple+ (4/18/25)
The Studio S1 Eps 1–2 – Apple+ (4/10/25)*
MythicQuest S4 Eps 1–8 – Apple+ (3/25/25)*
Reacher S4 Eps 5-7  – Prime (3/24/25)
Elspeth S2 – YouTUb
Corner Gas S3 Eps 1–7 – FreeVee (3/23/25)
Reacher S3 Eps 1–4  – Prime (3/1/25)
Corner Gas S1–S2 Eps 1–7 – FreeVee (3/1/25)
SNL 50: Beyond Saturday Night (Auditions) – Peacock (2/17/25)*
Con Man finale – Prime (2/17/25)
Con Man – Prime (2/12/25)
Corner Gas S1 Eps 1–8 – FreeVee (2/11/25)
Vietnam: The War the Changed America S1 Eps 4–6 – Apple+ (2/10/25)
Vietnam: The War the Changed America S1 Eps 1-3 – Apple+ (2/9/25)
MythicQuest S1-2 Eps 1–3 – Apple+ (2/6/25) – rewatch
MythicQuest S1 Eps 1–8 – Apple+ (2/4/25) – rewatch
MythicQuest S1 Eps 1–8 – Apple+ (2/4/25) – rewatch
Grammys (3/3/25)
Superstore S5 Eps 10-16 – Hulu (1/31/25)
Ladies & Gentlemen... 50 Years of SNL Music – YouTubeTV (1/30/25)*
Icons Unearthed: James Bond Eps 1–6 – Prime (1/24/25)
Law and Order S22 Ep 9 (1/24/25)
Elspeth Eps 8–9 (1/24/25)
Disappearance of Shere Hite – Hulu (1/18/25)
Outlaws S3 – Prime (1/16/25)
Outlaws S3 E1 – Prime (1/13/25)
Abbott Elementary S1E8 (Always Sunny Crossover) – Hulu (1/9/25)
Brooklyn 99 S3 – Netflix (1/3/25)

Theatre/Live Performance

No Kings Day – Culver City and DTLA (10/18/25)
Venice Beach (10/12/25)
Oedipus the King Mama! (Troubadour Theater Company) – Getty Villa (9/11/25)
Roswell That Ends Well – Actors’ Gang (8/24/25)
Jack Kirby: Heroes and Humanity Exhibition – Skirball Cultural Center (8/14/25)
Some Like It Hot – Pantages Theatre (8/13/25)
Jesus Christ: Superstar – Hollywood Bowl (Syd) (8/2/25)
Something Rotten – Rose Center Theater, Westminster (7/19/25)
No Kings Day - DTLA (6/14/25)
Bright Half Life (6/6/25) – UCLA MacGowan Hall
NYC:
Maybe Happy Ending – Belasco Theatre (4/2/25)*
Glengarry Glen Ross – The Palace (4/3/25)*
Good Night and Good Luck – Winter Garden Theatre (4/4/25)*
Boop – Broadhurst Theatre (4/5/25)
Staten Island Ferry; 9/11 Memorial; Wall St.; Society of Illustrators; Strawberry Fields;
    Central Park (4/2/25)
Penn Station; Empire State
Radio City Music Hall (4/4/25)
Metropolitan Museum of Art (4/4/25)
The Ripped Bodice (4/5/25)
Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812 – Freud Playhouse (3/8/25)*
Huntington Library (2/23/25)
Noises Off – Geffen Playhouse (2/5/25)
Middle Aged Dad Jam Band – The LodgeRoom (12/31/24 – 1/1/25)*

YouTube (of note)
The Beast Within - Making of Alien (1979) (10/11/25)
How one artist invented modern pop culture (Moebius documentary) – matttt - comic & manga history (9/13/25)
Immersive Battle of the Bulge Reenactment POV: War and Wisdom (5/2/25)
Fly on the Wall Podcast (Dana Carvey and David Spade): Jimmy Kimmel (4/14/25)
Fly on the Wall Podcast (Dana Carvey and David Spade): Lorne Michaels (2/25/25)
Fly on the Wall Podcast (Dana Carvey and David Spade): Dennis Miller (2/22/25)
Rutles: The Making Of [Fan-made Documentary] – @reign256 (1/3/25)