Under the direction of award-winning filmmaker Kenji Kamiyama (the “Blade Runner: Black Lotus” and “Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex” TV series), the talented voice cast is led by Brian Cox (“Succession”) as Helm Hammerhand, the mighty King of Rohan; Gaia Wise (“A Walk in the Woods”) as his daughter Héra; and Luke Pasqualino (“Snowpiercer”) as Wulf. Miranda Otto, who delivered an unforgettable, award-winning performance in “The Lord of the Rings” Trilogy, reprises her role as Éowyn, Shieldmaiden of Rohan, who serves as the tale’s narrator. The voice ensemble also includes Lorraine Ashbourne (Netflix’s “Bridgerton”), Yazdan Qafouri (“I Came By”), Benjamin Wainwright (“World on Fire”), Laurence Ubong Williams (“Gateway”), Shaun Dooley (“The Witcher”), Michael Wildman (“Fast and Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw”), Jude Akuwudike (“Beasts of No Nation”), Bilal Hasna (“Sparks”) and Janine Duvitski (“Benidorm”).

Set 183 years before the events chronicled in the original trilogy of films, “The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim” tells the fate of the House of Helm Hammerhand, the legendary King of Rohan. A sudden attack by Wulf, a clever and ruthless Dunlending lord seeking vengeance for the death of his father, forces Helm and his people to make a daring last stand in the ancient stronghold of the Hornburg—a mighty fortress that will later come to be known as Helm’s Deep. Finding herself in an increasingly desperate situation, Héra, the daughter of Helm, must summon the will to lead the resistance against a deadly enemy intent on their total destruction.

With Kamiyama at the helm, the original feature is being produced by Oscar winner Philippa Boyens, from the screenwriting team behind “The Lord of the Rings” and “The Hobbit” Trilogies, alongside Jason DeMarco and Joseph Chou, who, in addition to their many separate animation projects, collaborated on the “Blade Runner: Black Lotus” series. The executive producers are Fran Walsh, Peter Jackson, Sam Register, Carolyn Blackwood and Toby Emmerich. The screenplay is by Jeffrey Addiss & Will Matthews and Phoebe Gittins & Arty Papageorgiou, story by Addiss & Matthews and Boyens, based on characters created by J.R.R. Tolkien. The team of creative collaborators returning from “The Lord of the Rings” Trilogy also includes Oscar winners Alan Lee and Richard Taylor, along with esteemed Tolkien illustrator John Howe.

A New Line Cinema Presentation, a Warner Bros. Animation / Sola Entertainment Production, “The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim”, will be distributed theatrically worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures, released in cinemas nationwide on December 12, 2024.
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Pixels follows on from the likes of Wreck It Ralph and TRON, mashing up the real world with that of the video game. This time around it turns out that a videotape of classic arcade games was sent into space in the early eighties and discovered by aliens who used its contents to model weapons with which to attack us. It all makes perfect sense really. Naturally the best hope for Earth’s defence are former classic gamer champions who suitably proceed to kick all kinds of pixelated ass. Yes, it’s silly. Yes, it’s fun.

There’s enough pop culture references from the eighties to the tweenies to poke fun at both gens X and Y whilst remaining supremely entertaining for gen Z. There’s plenty of visual gags, generation specific quips and some outstanding CGI to tie it all together and only the hardest of sardonic hearts could fail to be entertained, even if it were only the slightest bit.

Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Michelle Monaghan, Peter Dinklage and Josh Gad are joined by some remarkable star power that includes Brian Cox, Sean Bean and Dan Aykroyd among a slew of other cameos wanting to get their face into a big budget movie. Most of the performers deliver their expected shtick and in a movie of this nature, there’s nothing wrong with that.

The film’s climax is a fantastic exercise in classic game character spotting, incumbent with the obligatory in-game sound signatures that accompany each of them.

Pixels is a mindless, fun blockbuster. Will history hold it in the same esteem as TRON or Wreck It Ralph? No, it’s much more disposable than that. But it delivers more than you’d expect from a film that is clearly derived from a popular trend set by better predecessors.

Stuart Jamieson
www.pixels-movie.com

Helen Mirren, John Malkovich, Brian Cox, Mary-Louise Parker and Bruce Willis reprise their roles from the previous film and this time they’re joined by Anthony Hopkins, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Asian action star, Byung-hun Lee. As the central and most-grounded character, Willis is almost boring; instead the flash and colour is supplied by the peripheral characters and, as before, Mary-Louise Parker remains the heart and soul of the film

The plot? It has something to do with a weapon of mass destruction but really who cares about the plot! We just want to see Ms Mirren with a sniper rifle and a sly smile, a crazy-eyed Malkovich wielding explosives and unique hats and Parker’s crooked smile. On this score, Galaxy Quest director, Dean Parisot, delivers just about what is expected.

If you’ve seen and enjoyed the original Red then strap in as you’ll have fun with this one as well. It does follow the same tried and true formula as before and while there’s few surprises, it is still is a big bag of rollicking fun.

Stuart Jamieson
www.hopscotchfilms.com.au