Guy Who Played Gollum Will Help Direct Hobbit

The guy who played the tragic, hideous creature Gollum in Peter Jackson's "Lord of the Rings" trilogy is not only coming back to play the same role, but he'll help direct the Hobbit.

The movie is currently in production in New Zealand and the Actor Andy Serkis tells the Hollywood Reporter Jackson wants people around him who understand both the work ethic and the material.

A lot of the crew members who worked on the "Lord of the Rings" movies will return for the Hobbit.

Serkis describes his role in the upcoming film as a Gollum that people will recognize, adding the character will be portrayed in his truest form. Serkis also stars in a "Planet of the Apes" prequel called "Rise of the Apes," which is due out in August.

The Hobbit, is being shot in 3D. Check out the Jason Hope Hollywood blog to stay on top of developments with this film.

Epically Bad Movie Plot Twists

Nowadays, moviegoers have seen just about all that there is to see in a film. It’s hard not to find a movie that isn’t running on recycled plots, rehashed jokes, and rewritten tag lines. Unfortunately, this has led to Hollywood trying to come out with films that will surprise audiences with original, out-of-nowhere, outrageous endings. Here are a few movies with the worst plot twists ever to be released.

Signs

M. Night Shyamalan was praised for The Sixth Sense’s spooky ending. Sadly, this has not been the case for his subsequent movies. Signs was marketed as an alien horror film, but it turns out it’s really about an ex-priest’s journey to regaining spirituality. Not exactly a thriller. Furthermore, the ending revealed that that the evil aliens, which weren’t that scary to begin with, die when exposed to water. It is absurd to think that all the characters had to do was throw a cup of water at them.

Perfect Stranger

The twist of this movie was that the murderer Halle Berry was trying to find was not evil Bruce Willis or creepy Giovanni Gibisi. It was Berry herself! Looking back, it should be obvious to the viewer that Berry’s character, Rowena, was the killer. However, throughout the film Rowena acts just as perplexed as the audience, even when she is completely alone in Willis’ apartment and later in Gibisi’s house. It also felt like the filmmakers added the childhood flashback scene to give a deep emotional and psychological reason as to why Rowena is now a murderer. However, it just felt very last minute and cheap.

The Life of David Gale

Kevin Spacey’s character, David Gale, is convicted of rape and murder and is dealt the death sentence. However, the twist of the movie is that Gale did not rape or murder anyone. He just made it look like he did in order to prove his point that the death penalty is wrong. The problem with this is that it made absolutely no sense. Gale’s point that the death penalty is inhumane only led to another death penalty induced death.

If you liked this post, you may be interested in reading about the dumbest romantic comedies of all time on the Jason Hope blog.    

Why do people HATE The Phantom Menace?

All right, I'm going to make this fair and leave Jar Jar Binks off the table for this one. So besides Jar Jar, why the hell do so many people hate the Phantom Menace?

This 1999 film was the first of three prequels leading up to the classic Star Wars trilogy. Now I don't think anyone though these films would live up to the predecessors, but there are plenty of people out there who believe the Phantom Menace is all around horrible.

George Lucas got back into the movie directing game after 22 years because he felt special effects had advanced to the point he felt he could work with for the fourth Star Wars film. This movie introduces Anakin Skywalker, who will one day become Darth Vader.

People had high hopes and plenty were bitterly disappointed with the Phantom Menace. Rotton Tomatoes ripped the film with a 62 percent rating and Comcast called it the worst movie sequel of all time. Entertainment Weekly voted it in the top 25 worst sequels ever. I'm not sure what kind of review this movie got on the Jason Hope Hollywood blog.

Needless to say, most people do not think any of the three prequels lived up to the original trilogy, which will be remembered for some time to come.

Sabers At The Ready

I found myself embroiled in the un winnable argument yesterday over which movie is actually the best in the Star Wars trilogy. I think the problem here is that I simply can't pick one. Every film is necessary in the context of a trilogy. But each one has it's reasons to be considered the best.

A New Hope

This movie is hands down the most important science fiction movie of all times, but is it the BEST. Well, it is the only one of the trilogy written and directed by George Lucas. My only complaint here is that Luke Skywalker was more of a strong female lead than hero archetype in this film. There are a few moments that make him absolutely slapable in this movie: "But I was going to Toshi Station to pick up some power converters."

But all in all it has more than enough moments to make the argument that this indeed is the best Star Wars movie of all time. There are the Jawas, those little creatures that sell C-3PO and R2-D2 to Luke and his uncle Owen.  (On a side note, Jason Hope is a CEO in Arizona who named his company Jawa, kinda cool.)

Maybe my next post will be about companies with Star Wars-inspired names.

Anyway, back to the topic at hand: Star Wars movies. A New Hope is epic in more ways than you can count.

Empire Strikes Back

I'm not sure if you noticed this, but Darth Vader is shinier in this one. His helmet is buffed to nice gloss and you could probably see yourself in those leather pants. In my book, that ups the bad assitude up a bit. And I like the fact that the whole premise of this movie is Luke and company getting worked by Vader after the whole blowing up the Death Star Thing. Skywalker may have whined more in the first movie, but he had more reason to in Empire.

I like the breaks in the battle scenes here too. During the historic light saber battle when Vader reveals he is indeed Luke's father, the scene cuts to the exploits of Han Solo and Lando Calrissian. It was a different time then and filmmakers didn't feel the need to bombard us with characters flipping through through the air and  slicing up robots. The real tension was where it should have been, the STORY. It is really cool when Luke gets his hand whacked off though.

All in all, Empire is dark and there's not much to celebrate when it's all said and done. Solo is on his way back to Tatooine and Jaba it's square one for Luke, Chewy, Princess Lea and the droids.

Return of the Jedi

Somehow, the Death Star looks much more sinister than it did as a whole in A New Hope. The way the dark unfinished pieces jet out to form an evil face like Jack from a Nightmare Before Christmas. The Death Star in this movie absolutely rules.

The battle scenes are amazing in this one and take place in the sky, on the ground and of course there's more saber-on-saber between father and son.

My complaint here is that those damn Ewoks tend to get a little cutesy. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad they're in the movie, and aren't nearly as nauseating as Jar Jar Binks from those other three movies.