18. The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy
Okay, so arguably I’m cheating here, but I’m pretty sure they count as one big movie anyway, or at least you can’t watch one without watching them all. The Lord Of The Rings trilogy stands at over 9 hours long, going up and beyond 11 hours if you do it right and watch the extended editions, but every minute feels even more epic than the last. Peter Jackson somehow managed to sap everything he could from JRR Tolkien’s staggeringly big world of Middle-earth, which, when taking into account how much detail Tolkien put into the beloved place, can only be considered as one of the greatest feats in cinema history.
Granted, it is possible to watch just one – they are all brilliant in their own right – but it never feels like a justifiable action. It is a story made to be told from beginning to end, to take you on a true fantasy journey of good and evil, and to give you a lasting relationship with the growing characters, played by a faultless cast that includes Sir Ian Mckellan and the late Sir Christopher Lee. The books make you feel every kind of emotion so many times, and Jackson does a well to capture this on screen and make the films so much more than a few good battle scenes (okay, a few incredible battle scenes). Really, I honestly believe that a Lord Of The Rings marathon is the only way to watch the three films, and with all the free time that the summer brings, you may find just enough room to fit one in. Or maybe two. Or three…
Words by Ashley Moss