While not nearly as tedious and punishing as An Unexpected Journey, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug is still a bloated mess, but at least it’s a fun mess.

Return of the King with orchestra and City Choir of Washington, Wolf Trap. 2010 (photo by Andi Kling) The latest spin-off from Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy returned to the Filene Center at Wolf Trap last night. You may have already shelled out for the DVD boxsets, both the theatrical release and the extended versions, and role-played with dwarfs in the online game, but true LOTR fans surely will be happy to…

Charles Ross. Who needs hundreds of millions of dollars in special effects when you’ve got Charles Ross? Ross, as some may recall, introduced himself to the D.C. stage with his One Man Star Wars Trilogy, which made two stops at Woolly Mammoth theater in 2006 and 2007. Now he’s back at Woolly to woosh, leap, hum, charge, and imitate his way through an abbreviated version of another classic: the One Man Lord of The…

I amar prestar aen, han mathon ne nen, han mathon ne chae, a han noston ned ‘wilith. The power of the Smithsonian is growing. The Smithsonian will use his puppet southpaw20 to destroy the people of Rohan. Isengard has been unleashed. The eye of the Smithsonian now turns to Gondor, by way of the Natural History Museum rotunda. In the gathering dark, the will of the museum grows strong. For the Smithsonian will have…