ADVANCE MOVIE REVIEW: The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

With the arrival of "The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies," we have made it to the payoff. This big story gets its ending, its tidy bow, and its cherry-on-top. Even if you think the movie studio was milking you for three movie tickets over three years out of a book that probably could have fit into a single film, you now get to see your patience rewarded and your virtue justified. You will realize it was worth it. You will feel like you stuck around to see "Superman" save the world, you survived the walk down those basement stairs in "Psycho," and you partied with the Ewoks and spirit Jedis in "Star Wars."

2014, ADVANCE MOVIE REVIEW, MOVIE REVIEW, 4 STARSDon ShanahanDecember 8, 2014The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, The Hobbit, The Hobbit: There and Back Again, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Peter Jackson, Martin Freeman, Richard Armitage, Evangeline Lilly, Orlando Bloom, Movie trilogies, Guillermo del Toro, Smaug, Benedict Cumberbatch, J.R.R. Tolkien, Luke Evans, Gandalf the Grey, Ian McKellan, Lee Pace, Cate Blanchett, Christopher Lee, Hugo Weaving, Manu Bennett, WETA Digital, WETA Workshop, Performance capture, Oscar hopefuls, Oscar nominations, Oscar winners, Howard Shore, io9, Fantasy films, Fantasy genre, Every Movie Has a Lesson, Don Shanahan, Donald Shanahan, movie commentary, Movie review, film commentary, film review, film music, life lessons from films, life lessons from movies, life lessons from film, Film music, Cinematography, movie reviewComment

EDITORIAL: My picks for the greatest movie scores

Here's my official list of my top 10 movie scores with three unbreakable ties. I can't call them the "greatest," but I'll put my list next to anyone's and defend my choices. My friends and followers kind of poked the bear and encouraged me to make and rank my own list. Well, I love a good challenge and I knew this one would be easy. Movie scores and I get along.

SPECIAL, Editorial, 2014, ColumnDon ShanahanNovember 14, 2014Editorial, The Shawshank Redemption, Jaws, Hans Zimmer, The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Batman, Interstellar, Ennio Morricone, Gladiator, film music, Dr. Zhivago, Star Wars trilogy, Column, Nino Rota, Elmer Bernstein, Star Wars, The Good Bad and the Ugly, Out of Africa, John Barry, James Bond theme, Rudy, James Horner, Howard Shore, The Dark Knight, Up, Legends of the Fall, John Williams, Superman, Movie music, Michael Giacchino, Gone With the Wind, Vertigo, Bill Conti, Danny Elfman, E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, The Good, Titanic, Braveheart, Bernard Herrmann, The Magnificent Seven, Dances With Wolves, Indiana Jones, Psycho, Schindler's List, Jerry Goldsmith, The Godfather, The Mission, Rocky, Lawrence of Arabia, Itzhak Perlman, Thomas Newman, film scores, The Lord of the Rings Comment

COLUMN: The Ultimate Playlist of Movie Music Lullabies

I hope this big post and 200-song playlist finds you and serves you well. It's been quite the passion project for me to build, on and off, over the last year and a half. Thanks for letting me merge sounding like a parenting blogger and a movie in one post. Please share this column with your friends with kids. It's all not just for babies either. If you like this kind of music, it works great in the car or at the office as well. As a school teacher, I used to play this in my elementary school classes all the time. It's excellent music for creativity and focus for all ages. Enjoy!