The first thing you notice about Greg Page’s “The Locals” is this: cinematographer Bret Nichols has no idea how to light a movie, much less a horror film. Our New Zealand film opens with urbanites Grant (John Barker) and Paul (Dwayne Cameron) on their way to the coast for some surfing,...

While Peter Jackson’s “The Return of the King” is certainly a marvel of moviemaking, it lacks the newness of “The Fellowship of the Rings” and the proper narrative structure (and flow) of “The Two Towers”. I suppose it was too much to hope that “ROTK”,...

The New Zealand movie “Scarfies” is a good movie only if you can forgive its farcical and truly terrible ending. The film, about 5 college students who discover an elaborate marijuana stash growing in the basement of their rundown house, requires you to take one big leap of faith. It’s...

“Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers” (aka “LOTR 2″) is an astounding film. I am utterly amazed that director Peter Jackson could have constructed such a film at all, but taking into account that the movie was shot back-to-back-to-back with two other parts, and it’s quite...

Peter Jackson’s “The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring” is an amazing film to behold. Consider that the movie, the first in a trilogy based on the J.R.R. Tolkien books, is probably the most ambitious filmmaking project in the history of film, and that it took 2 years and $300...