It’s amazing sometimes how joyous bits of info can still have that teensy negative effect of making you feel older than you’d like to.

As I was reminded while combing through the pages of the most recent issue of a well-known movie mag, 2026 marks 25 years since the first installment of Peter Jackson’s epic The Lord of the Rings film trilogy hit our screens.

Back in 2001, as a bright-eyed 14-year-old nerd, I eagerly stomped into my local multiplex to get comfy with The Fellowship of the Ring.

It is no exaggeration to say that watching this incredible flick changed my life, and represented the moment when I first became inspired to become a film critic.

Jackson et al had done the impossible, and finally an adaptation that actually did justice to J.R.R Tolkien’s magnum opus was before us.

Using state-of-the-art SFX technology combined with the utilisation of one of the most talented ensemble casts ever brought together, the New Zealand director brought Tolkien’s Middle-Earth to life in a manner the great author himself could never have imagined. And, in doing so, he instantly put his homeland/the........

© Shropshire Star