The Fellowship of the Ring

CHICAGO – Sean Astin has distinguished himself through two memorable roles – that of the title character in the Notre Dame film “Rudy” and as Samwise Gamgee in “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy. But not many people know that he is a passionate civic supporter, once serving as campaign manager for his friend Dan Adler, who didn’t survive a congressional ballot runoff in 2011.

CHICAGO – Some Blu-ray re-releases are more essential than others. Often they add special features, remaster the video and/or audio, or offer previews of new films that might be related. There’s little of any of that with the new, repackaged, stand-alone Blu-ray versions of “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy, three releases that are simply must-own…unless you already own them.

CHICAGO – With the heralded release this week of Peter Jackson’s “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy on Blu-ray DVD, the opportunity to appreciate the epic scope of the visionary Middle Earth in the home theater has never been so highly rendered.

CHICAGO – The first words we hear are those of the beguiling elf Galadriel, whose ethereal voice haunts an empty screen while declaring, “The world is changed.” And so it had in December 2001, when Americans were reeling from 9/11, and more eager than ever to escape into a fantasy where moral certainty was never in doubt, and pure-hearted heroes clung to the belief that there was still good in the world, and it was worth fighting for.