The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

Peter Jackson nailed it. Full stop. Nobody else was going to pull this off, and we all should be grateful he was the guy holding the reins.

The opening chapter of the best trilogy ever made, and you can feel it from frame one. The cast just clicks. There's no weak link, no one you're waiting to get off screen. Everyone belongs in the world.

Some movies were built for a theater, and this is one of them.

The plot is incredible. The action sequences land every single time. And the suspense is what keeps the whole thing moving; there's always something pulling you to the next scene.

I caught this with friends and seeing it on the big screen absolutely made it better. Some movies were built for a theater, and this is one of them.

What didn't work? Genuinely nothing. I sat there trying to find a nit to pick and came up empty.

It stuck with me. It's still sticking with me. That's how you start a trilogy.