Hello everyone! 🙂

Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!

I believe it’s fair to say that there’s no fantasy film trilogy that has impressed me more than ‘The Lord of the Rings’ film trilogy, directed by Peter Jackson and made from 2001 to 2003. This is a film trilogy that I find myself watching every year. I never get tired of it. 🙂

Every year, my parents and I would watch ‘The Hobbit’ film trilogy and ‘The Lord of the Rings’ film trilogy within six weeks and regularly via the extended editions. Peter Jackson’s vision of Middle-Earth in the films has made a huge impact on me. One I’m pleased with.

It’s ironic because, initially, I didn’t like ‘The Lord of the Rings’ when I first saw ‘The Fellowship of the Ring’ in its theatrical cut back in 2001 when we were lent the DVD of it from friends. Nowadays, we can’t stop watching it again and again, which is astounding.

In 2003, I reignited my interest in ‘The Lord of the Rings’ by purchasing ‘The Fellowship of the Ring’ on DVD and later enjoyed its Special Extended DVD Edition. I later saw ‘The Two Towers’ on DVD in August. I then saw ‘The Return of the King’ on the big screen in December.

Seeing ‘The Return of the King’ at the cinema was a truly memorable experience and I saw the film more than once that Christmas. I later saw the extended editions of ‘The Two Towers’ and ‘The Return of the King’ on DVD. I found them equally worthwhile experiences.

When it came to doing my blog in 2015 and sharing my thoughts on ‘The Lord of the Rings’ films, I began sharing my thoughts on them in Day 22 of my ‘Bradley’s Basement’s Advent Calendar in December of that year. It’s amazing how much I’ve done on my blog since then.

I recall sharing my reviews on ‘The Lord of the Rings’ films in 2015 and I later shared my reviews on ‘The Hobbit’ films in 2016, after the extended DVD edition of ‘The Battle of the Five Armies’ was released. Sadly, my posts announcing those reviews have been deleted. 😦

I later updated my reviews on ‘The Hobbit’ and ‘The Lord of the Rings’ films from February to April 2018. On reflection, my original reviews were rather untidy in presentation, so it was time to do a makeover on the reviews with new images as well as updated thoughts.

I reshared my reviews on ‘The Hobbit’ and ‘The Lord of the Rings’ films in October 2019 and again in October 2021. This was due to my Dad having purchased the 6-film Blu-ray box set of the two trilogies back in 2019. I updated my reviews to reflect the Blu-ray editions.

I’ve had opportunities to revisit ‘The Lord of the Rings’ films on the big screen and this was in their extended forms, not their theatrical cuts. The first time it happened was when I revisited ‘The Fellowship of the Ring’ on the big screen in April 2018, which was superb.

In 2024, my parents and I revisited the entire trilogy from beginning to end in January of that year. 🙂 We were pretty lucky to see ‘The Lord of the Rings’ films on the big screen and in their extended forms, especially as we love them so much and can’t stop enjoying them.

I’ve seen the 2019 film ‘Tolkien’, starring Nicholas Hoult, which is a very enjoyable biographical film about the original author of ‘The Hobbit’ and ‘The Lord of the Rings’ books – J.R.R. Tolkien. I’m pleased that I’ve seen the film on the big screen as well as on DVD.

I’ve had a chance to check out and review ‘The Hobbit’ book by J.R.R. Tolkien with an audiobook reading by Rob Inglis. I found time to put together ‘The Lord of the Rings: Comedy Version’, which I shared as my 2021 Advent Calendar in December of that year. Fantastic!

And I’ve shared and updated my reviews on ‘The Lord of the Rings’ BBC radio series, which I love as much as I love ‘The Lord of the Rings’ film trilogy. No doubt, I’ll be revisiting ‘The Lord of the Rings’ again very soon, especially with ‘The Hunt for Gollum’ films on their way.

Thanks for reading!

Bye for now!

Tim 🙂