Those movies are weirdly fascinating, and the animated Hobbit remains the definitive film version of The Hobbit.

The 1970 BBC adaptation of E. Nesbit's The Railway Children is actually quite wonderful, and has shown up on lists of the best British films ever made.

That sounds like Lev Grossman's Magicians trilogy, which is actually pretty amazing.

or the Great Wall of China is long.

The opening, Galadriel-style voiceover exposition about magic dust felt so lame and uninspired by comparison.

I love Nostalgia Chick's fake voiceover for the Narnia movie trailers: "Is this epic enough for you?!!! Yeah, wars and battles and shit!!!"

Percy Jackson and the Lemony Snicket novels failed because so much of the charm of those books lies in the tone of the narration. Short of having a constant voiceover narration ala Babe, there was no way they were ever going to work as movies.

I can forgive Denethor any sins for being played by John Noble. Also glad not to see Walter White on this list, as he wasn't *that* bad.

Of COURSE Back to the Future 2 is the best movie in the franchise. Also, John Noble's rant about off-brand pop-tarts scared me away from those forever. "Delicious strawberry-flavored DEATH!"

Watching the show was the first time I ever thought of Jonathan Strange as a sort of Mozart of magic, and in interviews the creators have actually said they envision the series as Amadeus plus Lord of the Rings.

He owned three kingdoms: one in England, one in Faerie, and a third on the far side of hell.

This is my only real problem with the show. In the novel the Gentleman was somehow even more terrifying because of how cheerful he was.

I love the first appearance of the Gentleman in the first episode, when the camera simply pans back to show him standing behind Mr Norrell. Great use of magic without special effects.

I also recommend The Magicians trilogy, which is currently being made into a TV show. Fun fact: Lev Grossman started writing The Magicians as soon as he finished reading Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell.

The first episode suffered from having to establish the story, and at times it felt like a series of disconnected story beats without any unifying theme. The story has gotten progressively better with each of the four episodes I've seen so far.

It's spelled "Raymond Luxury Yacht," but pronounced "Throatwarbler Mangrove."

It's uncanny how much the two leads look and act like how I pictured them in the book. In terms of casting my only real complaint is the Gentleman, who in the book was much jollier and more cheerful. Mark Warren is wonderfully creepy, though.

Goblet of Fire is not only my favorite HP movie but one of my favorite movies of all time.

Ben shoots first.

The Hobbit movies (especially the second one) retroactively diminished my enjoyment of Return of the King by exposing how much Peter Jackson was already seriously going off the rails at that point.