Lord of the Rings (2001-2003)

Few trilogies can hold a candle to Lord of the Rings and even fewer hold up as well over time.  Whether you’re a die hard fan of the books and the world J.R.R. Tolkien created or just a casual movie goer (such as myself), there is plenty for everyone to enjoy in this trilogy. Let’s discuss each movie in depth……

The Fellowship of the Ring

It’s plain to see that these movies were extensively planned out and executed to perfection. I say this because the first movie is not in any hurry to advance the plot as much as it is introducing characters and backstory. It may start off slow and with narration, but the next two movies benefit tremendously from all the backstory we’re given. This is why the first movie in a trilogy, or origin story if you will, tend to be better than their successors. Because, like the characters, the audience is learning the rules of the universe and the movie can take it’s time setting up those rules. For instance “the one ring to rule them all”.  We learn right away about this powerful evil ring, but only gradually throughout the movie do we see the extent of it’s powers. Invisibility seems to be a side effect from putting on the ring, but what I found particularly interesting on my latest viewing is how the ring affects EVERYONE that comes into contact with it. It brings out the worst in people, sometimes even without their knowledge. This of course takes it’s toll on Frodo the ringbearer, but it makes it easy to understand his broken spirit in Return of the King.

The Two Towers

The second and possibly best of all three movies, The Two Towers gives us a sense of just how vast Middle Earth is. While it may seem that The Fellowship of the Ring ended rather abruptly, The Two Towers picks up the pieces and does not slow down! With the Fellowship broken up, it’s up to our heroes to overcome even greater challenges than they imagined. Not just to “win” but for survival. This movie is responsible for one of the greatest battle segments in film, The Battle of Helm’s Deep. Not only packed with action, but realistic effects and moment of greatness. This is by no means a rushed battle scene and it’s a stark reminder of what’s at stake in this world. Relative to The Battle of Helm’s Deep, Frodo’s story line may seem a bit “filler”, but we continue to see his journey and the ill effects of the ring on his judgement. It is also in The Two Towers that we see Frodo sympathize and even defend Gollum to others.

Return of the King

The final installment or climax gives us several battles, as well as a much needed resolution for the story and our beloved characters. The first two movies do an excellent job of setting up the characters and story, and Return of the King delivers the cinematic finale that this epic journey deserves! Aragorn accepts his fate as Isildur’s heir and summons an army of the dead to save Gondor from Sauron’s forces. The hobbits are all split up for a time, but each gets their moment to shine, especially Samwise Gamgee. After my latest viewing of these movies, Sam quickly turned into one of my favorite characters. No nonsense, honest and loyal. And without Sam, you could argue, Frodo doesn’t make it nearly as far and the ring survives. Loved the hobbits in Return of the King and how Aragorn, King of Gondor, kneels to them at the end. Goosebumps every time! Part of me wishes the movie ended right there, but it’s kind of nice to see the hobbits come home and resume their peaceful life in the Shire.

Love, love, love these movies! I have to watch the trilogy at least once a year. Happy Watching.

“One does not simply walk into Mordor”

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Happy New Year! 2018

I have a feeling that 2018 will be a most productive year! I haven’t seriously considered any resolutions, but I would like to read at least 5 books this year. It’s not much, but I’d actually like to achieve my goals. I’d also like to watch more movies in 2018 than in 2017. I found a new passion in movies last year and would like to continue down that path. So far I’m averaging 1 movie per day of this new year! Whether each movie gets it’s own post is another story. I will keep up with my blog as often as possible, but I’m not going to let life pass me by! New years bring new challenges, but also new opportunities. I’m blessed to have left 2017 on a high note, so I may continue that positive momentum into the new year. I wish you all the best in 2018 and hope you are looking forward to it as much as I am! Happy New Year! 

Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017)

The Last Jedi has undoubtedly polarized the Star Wars fan base. After only one week, it’s apparent that people either have to love or hate this movie. There is no in between and yet, like the Force, there is balance. Two passionate groups of people, that are trying to sum up a movie that has hardly been out long enough to truly digest. It won’t be for several years, perhaps until Episode IX, before we understand the significance of The Last Jedi, but I’ll do my best to share my experience with the latest Star Wars.

I generally liked this move, and would rate it as a B. There are plenty of things to love about it, but it has some BIG flaws (emphasis on BIG). Let’s discuss the good, the bad, and the ugly…. 

GOOD

Our new Star Wars characters (Rey, Ren, Finn, Poe) are phenomenal in this movie! It feels like where The Force Awakens hesitates, The Last Jedi goes for it, and the result is engaging performances that put you right in their galaxy. The new cast is easily one of my favorite aspects about this movie, and I already can not wait to see their next adventure. Poe and BB-8 share a great moment in the opening space battle, and I can’t help but be giddy, because of how it reminds me of Luke and R2-D2 in the original trilogy. Poe isn’t a Jedi, of course, but Rey also has a moment, reminiscent of Luke’s training with Yoda on Dagobah. It’s at this moment she’s learning about her force abilities that I can’t help but like this movie. It’s as if she’s a superhero just discovering her powers, and we get a completely new perspective of the force, which is worth the price of admission alone, in my opinion.
This movie also challenges the way we view their space ships. Until now, it seems that the pattern has always been for a smaller ship to be fleeing or avoiding the Republic and then jumping to hyperspace to get away for good. Without getting into spoilers, let’s just say that hyperspace isn’t an option in this movie, so we essentially get a giant space chase! It’s definitely a new idea and worth recognizing. That, along with compelling space battles and well choreographed light saber fights, there are many more good things I can say about this movie. Good. Good. Good.

BAD

The original characters (Luke, Leia, C3-P0, R2-D2) need to not be in these movies anymore. I love the original cast and I understand the need to include them; to make a seamless transition from old to new, but the plot continues to focus on the Skywalker’s and the story suffers for it. The “reveal” of Rey’s parents is underwhelming and somewhat confusing, but it’s an small detail that can be addressed in the next movie. Porgs are harmless creatures that don’t necessarily offend me either, but every other new creature in this movie is uninteresting and uninspired.
Finn was a great character in The Force Awakens, but unfortunately is underutilized in this film. By the time he has something to do to propel the story forward, I was checking my watch to see how much time was left. That is another gripe I have with this movie. Scenes noticeably linger and the time adds up fast! The “space chase”, while fascinating to me, nearly last’s the entire length of the movie which causes the end to feel rushed. Bad. Bad. Bad.

UGLY (Spoilers)

Luke Skywalker milking a space cow and drinking said milk. It’s an image I never wanted to see, and even typing it just now fills me with disgust. It’s not that bad, but it’s definitely not pretty!
Supreme leader Snoke is made out to be a near omnipotent Sith villain, but meets a swift demise without us ever learning anything about him. I understand they can only spend so much time on each character, but this character deserved a backstory (and better CGI)… Or maybe he doesn’t, considering how easily Kylo Ren betrayed him. Either way, it’s ugly.
And last, and quite possibly least: Leia. Leia has a moment in The Last Jedi that is so unbelievable, that it’s almost unforgivable. After being blown up and sucked into space, Leia is not only impossibly alive, but able to fly back into the spaceship. This is the sole reason why this movie could never be above a B for me. This stunt, while amazing, isn’t explained (at least not in this movie). It might be the director Rian Johnson, showing us another new perspective of the Force, but it completely pulls me out of the movie and I don’t know how to get over it. Generally when I can’t stop thinking about a movie, it’s for a good reason, but this scene vexes me to no end. It helps me understand why people are so divided on this movie.

As atrocious as these moments are, they don’t completely ruin the movie for me. I believe that although there is resistance right now, The Last Jedi will hold up well in the next couple of years. And be made only stronger by the next movie, Episode IX. Love it or hate it, this is the newest Star Wars we have and I believe there is great potential with the new direction it’s heading. May the Force be with you.

Justice League 2017

In many ways, I’m here to set the record straight. As of right now, Justice League sits at just under 40% on the Tomatometer for critics. On the other hand, about 85% of audiences enjoyed this movie and I have to side with them on this one. This was by no means a bad movie. It’s far from perfect and the story jumps around A LOT, but I have to commend DC on Justice League. By the time Avengers came out, 3/4 of the heroes had solo movies (Thor, Iron Man, Captain America) and only had to worry about introducing the Hulk. This was absolutely to the benefit of Marvel, because instead of introducing characters, they could focus on story and the villain. With Justice League however, we’ve only seen Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman, which is only half of the League at this point. That leaves Aquaman, Cyborg and the Flash, which are by no means small characters in the DC universe. These characters deserved better back stories, and at the very least, they deserved their own solo movies before DC threw them together. I understand that Hollywood isn’t always pretty and DC needed to fast track this in order to compete with Marvel. I understand all of that, but the story suffers for it.
If you can get past the fact that the movie rushes to introduce the remaining heroes, there are some well choreographed scenes that deserve praise. The dialogue and emotional scenes fall pretty flat, but boy do some of the action scenes make up for them! There are also some humorous moments in this movie that give me hope for DC’s future. I like gritty super heroes as much as the next person, but I like to laugh too! And there are just enough laughs in Justice League to keep that balance. The main villain deserves a mention and is a force to be reckoned with, but unfortunately, he’s so one-note that it’s hard to care about anything he does.
With all that said, I did enjoy this movie. Better than 40% at least. I would put it at 70%, maybe a low B if you want a letter grade. DC did a great job, considering what they had to work with. I can’t wait to see what’s next for these heroes and their story. Happy Watching!

Thor: Ragnarok (2017)

It seems as though super hero movies have become their own genre this past decade, and I’m okay with that. It doesn’t mean they’ll all be box office hits or even that enjoyable to watch, but more often than not, they are a good time. However, not all comic book movies are created equal, it depends on personal preference. For instance, I enjoy most of Marvel’s comic book movies, but DC has fallen flat for me more than once. I have several theories as to why that is, but I’ll bring up the glaringly obvious reason: Humor. 
Marvel has never shied away from puns and one liners, it is expected at this point. Thor: Ragnarok is no exception. In fact, I would consider this Marvel’s funniest movie to date. Yes, even funnier than Guardians of the Galaxy. At the very least, they’re at the same level, which is saying a lot. 
This movie had me smiling and laughing throughout and that’s enough reason for me to wholeheartedly recommend it to everyone I know. Solid A! Happy Watching.

“The revolution has begun!”

 

Zodiac 2007

This mysterious drama is unlike any detective story I’ve ever seen, but it is undoubtedly compelling. When a serial killer taunts officers and leaves investigators stumped, a determined young cartoonist is left to pick up the pieces. Not because it’s his job, but because he’s the best person for the job. It may seem far fetched, but Jake Gyllenhaal plays the underdog protagonist, and learning about the Zodiac killer from his perspective is truly a spectacle. By the 2nd half of the film I was completely on board with this passionate cartoonist playing detective. 

There is a lot to chew on in this 2.5 hour movie, but I find the scenes from the Zodiac victim’s perspective to be truly haunting. Made only more haunting by the fact it’s based on true events! Stay safe out there people! Happy Watching.

Destiny 2

I don’t normally review video games, but after several late nights since it’s release date, it’s safe to say that this game has made an impression on me. If you played D1 then you’ll notice right away that you are able to use your old characters to play through the new story mode. A nice feature that is appreciated by many, myself included. Destiny 2, or Xbox I should say, has made LFG (looking for group) simple and easily accessible to everyone which opens up the multiplayer game in more ways than one! Find groups for PVP (player vs. player) and Strikes, and run through the opposition! If you’re more of a loner when it comes to your online gaming, Destiny 2 will put you into matchmaking and then find a group for you for the Crucible (PVP) and regular Strikes. However, Xbox’s LFG option is extremely helpful for players who want to get the most out of their gameplay. You can find dozens of folks on LFG all trying to accomplish the same events/missions as you. LFG is a must for players who wish to accomplish Nightfall (difficult strike), Leviathan (the raid), and Trials of the Nine (high intensity PVP). Once you have played around and found people you enjoy playing with, don’t be shy! Send them a friend request and keep playing! Chances are they’ll be back at it again the next day/week. 

All in all, this game is a blast. 9/10 stars from me. Now that Bungie has fixed some of the glitches in the raid and elsewhere, I would feel comfortable giving this game a perfect score. If you enjoy first person shooters and MMORPG’s, this game is for you! Did I mention that Destiny has the same creators as Halo? What are you waiting for? This game is an experience that begs to be experienced. Indulge it.