Without The Lord of the Rings, there’d be no The Witcher, no Game of Thrones, and certainly no The Rings of Power, which will forever be judged against what Jackson achieved two decades ago. Jackson also found the right performers for every iconic role, from Gandalf to Gollum, Elrond to Eowyn. Tolkien’s sprawling novels to the screen, while the visual effects geniuses at Weta discovered many groundbreaking ways to make a magical world feel real. In Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens, Jackson found the ideal co-writers to translate J.R.R. How different history could have been had New Line not trusted director Peter Jackson’s vision, and allowed him to film all three movies back-to-back in his native New Zealand – the perfect real-world stand-in for J.R.R. The Lord of the Rings trilogy is one of those rare movie series where everything – and everyone – came together in the right place at the right time. Rotten Tomatoes score: 91% ( The Fellowship of the Ring), 95% ( The Two Towers), 94% ( The Return of the King) Indeed, at a time when Pixar and DreamWorks had started to turn CG into the dominant form of animation in Hollywood, this cartoon classic proved there’s still a place for beautiful hand-drawn artistry. With a wicked witch, plenty of magic and a population of bizarre characters, the film’s constructed from familiar fairytale building blocks, but Miyazaki’s elegant storytelling lifts Spirited Away to another level. The work of the legendary Hayao Miyazaki (who came out of retirement for last year's The Boy and the Heron), Spirited Away tells the story of a 10-year-old girl forced to work in a magical bath house after her parents are turned into pigs. This Oscar-winning 2001 classic is arguably the best of the bunch. One of the best things about subscribing to Max is that you have access to the peerless Studio Ghibli back catalogue, meaning the wonders of My Neighbor Totoro, Princess Mononoke and Howl’s Moving Castle are never further away than the push of a button. Find out more in our guide to how to watch Star Trek in order. Period.Īll 10 Trek movies featuring the original and Next Generation casts are available on Max. More than a great Star Trek movie, The Wrath of Khan is simply a great movie.

Between the memorable space battles, director Nicholas Meyer relishes the opportunity to explore themes of ageing, death and the no-win scenario, giving Kirk (William Shatner) and Spock (Leonard Nimoy) their finest moments in the process.

All those problems were remedied three years later with the arrival of The Wrath of Khan, the high watermark against which all subsequent Trek is judged.īringing back original series bad guy Khan Noonien Singh (a scenery-chewing Ricardo Montalban) proves a masterstroke, but this revenge-driven story is also a thrilling game of cat-and-mouse among the stars. Star Trek's big-screen debut, The Motion Picture, may have looked spectacular, but its ponderous plotting and over-serious tone made it difficult to love.

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