Del Toro Quits 'The Hobbit'

[Mister Underhill]

Yes, Heavenly Creatures was nominated for an Oscar for the screenplay, and got some other awards attention.

More importantly, though, Tolkien wasn't a multi-billion dollar franchise when New Line decided to take a big gamble on Jackson. As Bob Dylan once said, things have changed.

Jackson has his virtues. I mean he's not soulless like Bay, or clueless like Boll. I heartily agree that the original Kong is awesome, a landmark film of its time, like Star Wars, that fired the imaginations of a generation of filmmakers and still holds up today. Still and all, I thought there was some nice work in Kong. I agree overall though that he's not the "New Spielberg" he was hailed as when the LotR was breaking the bank.