Fran Walsh

To fully appreciate Peter Jackson’s last foray into Middle-Earth, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, one must understand it’s actually two separate movies. The first movie is a sour, pseudo-Shakespearean morality play that has nothing to do with Hobbits. The second movie is a heartfelt rumination about friendship and self-sacrifice. For those willing to overlook the sour for the sweet, there are great treasures to be found, as Jackson brings his trilogy to a suitably-epic conclusion.

In Heavenly Creatures, Peter Jackson establishes the societal isolation of his protagonists right from the beginning. The movie opens with a 1950s documentary concerning the story’s setting, Christchurch, New Zealand. The area is wholesome and idyllic. People ride their bikes down busy streets. Children play in the local park. Vibrant flowers bloom in the springtime sun. Then, just as the documentary’s narrator begins to proclaim that Christchurch is New Zealand’s finest town, the distant sound of screaming is heard. It swells to a terrifying volume.

#1: West of Memphis Directed by Amy Berg Written by Billy McMillin and Amy Berg 2012, USA Following from the original Paradise Lost film and its two sequels, West of Memphis follows the events of one of the most media-covered American crime stories of the last two decades: The West Memphis Three, a case in which three teenagers (Jessie …