1. The Lord of the Rings
Despite my grumbling, The Lord of the Rings was an incredible movie series. Peter Jackson did about as good of a job as anyone could in bringing Tolkiens vision to the screen. And given that its movie epic contemporariesthe Star Wars prequels and the Matrix trilogyturned out to be pretty horrible, the Lord of the Rings will likely hold a special place in early 21st century pop culture. This is all good, but the bad part is that they are a tough act to follow. I whine about some of the parts I didnt like, but overall I am excited to see what Jackson does with The Hobbit. So excited that Iand many other fanswill inevitably be disappointed. More importantly, Jackson will face pressure to create an epic similar to The Lord of the Rings. As you probably know, however, The Hobbit was a very different story: relatively light-hearted and at times fun, albeit with the grim undercurrent of those terrifying fairy tales we were told as children. It is not a sprawling epic filled with incredible battles. Indeed, theres really only one battlethe Battle of the Five Armiesand only a few real fight scenes. So I worry that Jackson might try to make it into another Lord of the Rings by dragging out the fight scenes or giving it a solemnity out of character with the source material. Just look at what they did with the movie version of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. The combination of high expectations following from The Lord of the Rings, and a desire to make an epic on a LOTR scale, might undermine the brilliance that is The Hobbit. So again, enjoy The Hobbit films, be excited for them. But Tolkien fans, be prepared for a little irritation. And for those of you who haven't read The Hobbit, don't blame Tolkien for the poorly-acted female elf characters...