Star Trek Into Darkness 9 minute prolougue review

     This was the other main benefit for going to see The Hobbit in Imax 3D, not only was the 3D really cool, also there was an Imax 3D exclusive that we got to see the first 9 minutes of Star Trek Into Darkness.
     For those of you who don't know me very well, I'm not a huge Star Trek fan. I do enjoy the movie that came out in 2009 directed by J.J Abrams. which this is obviously the sequel to that. So this starts out in London and there's a girl who apparantly is very ill. Her father steps outside and he's staring out into the city and a voice comes from behind him that says "I can save her." the voice belongs to Benedict Cumberbatch. I don't know too much about him. I know he was Sherlock Holmes in the BBC series called Sherlock, and he's going to be the voice of Smaug in the next Hobbit movie. The next shots you get are Kirk and Bones are on a diffrent planet and there being chased by its inhabitants. They get back to the enterprise and apparantly there's a volcano that's going to destroy the planet. Spock is in the volcano with a device that's going to render the volcano harmless. They're trying to beam him out but they can't get a good read on him. And he says "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few." Some Star Trek fans will get that refrence, Although I know that refrence from The Big Bang Theory. Then Kirk asks someone "What would he do if he was here and I was down there?" and someone responds, "He'd probably let you die." this was a very intense scene. This movie is due out in May of 2013 I can't wait to see it I think it's going to be a very action packed movie which is always a good thing.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Review

     Before The Black Gate, before Pelannor Fields, Before Helms Deep there was the tale of Bilbo Baggins' adventures with a band of dwarves and Gandalf.
  The Hobbit was directed by Peter Jackson who's the perfect choice for this movie because he directed the Lord of the Rings trilogy so he clearly has a great vision for Middle Earth. So The Hobbit starts out with an old Bilbo Baggins and he's writing something for Frodo he's going to tell him a more in depth story about his adventures. Then you meet a younger Bilbo. Bilbo was played by Martin Freeman and he was fantastic in this movie. There was not one line he gave that I thought was forced. Ian McKellen returns as Gandalf the Gray. He was Gandalf the White in the last two movies but this takes place before the Fellowship of the Ring so he's Gandalf the Gray. Ian McKellen hasn't lost it he still kills it as Gandalf. So the plot to this movie is that this band of dwarves had this kingdom and treasure and then a dragon called Smaug stole it and Bilbo is helping the dwarves reclaim it.
    The one gripe a lot of people have about this movie is that the pacing is a little slow. Watching the movie I will agree that it takes awhile for the plot to move along. 40 minutes into the movie it's still in The Shire. but once the movie gets going it's awesome. 
     The main things I loved about the movie is you see a struggle with Bilbo. Thorin Oakenshield who's dwarves leader he tells Bilbo you have no place among us. You really see both Bilbo and Thorin deal with that and it's interesting to see that relationship develop. The other thing I loved about the movie is the soundtrack. I will have the Song of the Lonely Mountain stuck in my head for weeks.  
     Overall this was a very enjoyable film. It was not a perfect movie. But the acting was good, there was some very good fight scenes, and the riddle scene with Bilbo and Gollum I could be entertained by that for 2 hours maybe more. I will give this movie 4.5 out of 5 stars. I can't wait for the Desolation of Smaug to come out. I believe it's due out next December. Also I should mention that I saw this movie in 3D Imax and I was pleasantly suprised by it. There were some images that really popped out which was very cool. So I would recommend to anyone who hasn't seen it to see it in 3D Imax you won't be disappointed.
    

Lord of the Rings Return of the King Review

     Dear Readers, if you are tired of me using the word epic in these Lord of the Rings reviews, I have two things to say. First of all, stop reading here because it will be used a lot more, second of all what other word is there to use? I can't think of another word to describe it. I will now plow right into this review of the epic conclusion to the Lord of the Rings trilogy. 
    Once again this review contains spoilers so if you havn't seen Return of the King, go watch it and then read this review. The movie starts out with a great back story on Smeagol (a.k.a Gollum) he's fishing with his friend Deagol and Deagol finds the Ring. Smeagol wants it and he kills Deagol and takes it. Then you really see Smeagol deterriorate he becomes Gollum that scene is so dark and disturbing. It sets the tone for the film so well. Then you see Aragorn, Gimli, Gandalf, and Legolas celebrating their victory at Helms Deep. Due to the curiosity of Pippin, they find out about Sauron's plan to attack Minas Trith, which is basically the capitol of the free people of Middle Earth. In Minas Trith you meet Danonther who's the steward of the throne of Gondor. He was Boromir's father and he's still dealing with his death. Gandalf is telling him about Sauron's plan to attack and he dosn't listen. He just sends Faromir out to attack Osigilliath. Basically he's sending his other son to his death. I couldn't stand Danonther he was such a terrible father and i hated it when he said "I've heard of this Aragorn son of Arathorn I will never bow to this ranger from the North." You can tell he just wants to be king. He wants the reign of Gondor. 
     Meanwhile back in Rohan, King Theodin and Aragorn are rounding up men to come to Gondor's aid. Only they don't have enough men. Aragorn goes into the mountains to summon this ghost army who broke an oath to Iseldor and they now live in the mountains until they've fufulled they're oath. This all leads up to the battle of Pelanor Fields which is probably my favorate battle scene in a movie. That battle was so epic. 
     Throughout the movie you see Gollum trying to get Frodo killed so he can take the Ring for himself. The evil in him has won over he just wants the Ring. Sam and Gollum are like the angel and demon on his shoulders. Sam sees it the entire time. I hated the scene when Gollum manipulates Frodo so much he sends Sam away. That scene was also very dark. But Sam comes back to save the day. He takes on a big disgusting spider and wins, he kills some oarks who took Frodo, and they make it to Mordor. Now Aragorn and the others have a decision to make. They decide to ride out to the Black Gate and draw Sauron's eye out. Because 10,000 oarks stand between Frodo and Mount Doom. They're out fighting and Frodo and Sam make it to Mount Doom. The Ring takes Frodo just as it did Iseldor thousands of years earlier. I honestly didn't expect that. But Gollum shows up and they fight for it. They both go over the edge, but Frodo holds on and Gollum falls into the lava with the Ring. The Ring finally gets destroyed and all evil just crumbles.  
    The ending is very long. It takes awhile for the movie to wrap up. Aragorn takes the throne of Gondor, and the hobbits return to the Shire. Frodo is struggling to return to normal life, and finally you see Bilbo get afforded the right of the elves to leave Middle Earth. Basically Bilbo is going to elf heaven. Then you see Frodo going with them which was so sad. Everytime I watch this always get the urge to cry. It was so sad but it was a necessary end. 
     This is an epic conclusion to an epic trilogy. There's alot of action, a lot of heart felt drama, a lot of great diologue. Lord of the Rings definatley are three of my favorate movies of all time it may even be number one. Of course Return of the King gets 5 stars. There's so much more I want to say but this review is long enough. My next review will be a reivew of the hobbit.

Lord of the Rings The Two Towers Review

     The journey continues in this epic sequal to the Fellowship of the Ring. The fellowship has broken but the quest to destroy the One Ring continues. Frodo and Sam entrust their lives to the mysterious creature Gollum who promises to guide them to Mordor. Was The Two Towers a great follow up to The Fellowship, or was it a big disappointment? 
     This review will have spoilers so any viewers who havm't seen The Two Towers go watch it and then come back and read this review. So as I stated above the fellowship has broken, but Frodo and Sam continue on in their quest to destroy the One Ring. They entrust their lives to Gollum who promises to guide them to Mordor. Meanwhile Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli are on the trail of the oarks who took Merry and Pippin. They end up in the Fangorn Forrest where they reunite with Gandalf who they believed was killed in the Mines of Moria. They go to Rohan and meet King Theodin who is under a spell from Saruman. Gandalf withdraws Saruman and they discover that Saruman plans to attack Rohan. He created an army in his caverns in Isengard for one purpose, to destroy the race of men. So they flee to the refuge of Helms Deep to fight off Saruman's forces. The only problem is that the defenders of Helms Deep are supremely outnumbered. The defeneses at Helms Deep must hold if the race of man is to survive. Meanwhile Frodo and Sam are kidnapped to Gondor where the Ring seduces Faromir who was Boromir's brother. He thinks the Ring could be a weapon for Gondor. Frodo and Sam must explain in some way that the Ring must be destroyed. 
     Overall I loved this movie. I loved that there were more scenes with Aragorn because he's my favorate character. You see him struggle as he begins to accept his fate. He believes he is going to die in the fight for Middle Earth. However the scenes with Frodo, Sam, and Gollum were also very good. You see them develop a lot in this movie. The character development was very good in this movie, team that up with an epic battle scene and you've got an awesome movie. The Two Towers gets five stars.

Lord of the Rings the Fellowship of the Ring Review

     With all the anticipation surrounding The Hobbit which is coming out in theatres on December 14th, I decided to do reviews of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Lord of the Rings is probably the most epic trilogy of my generation. I can't think of another word to describe it other than epic. I'm going to write about this assuming everyone who reads this has seen the movie. If you havn't seen this movie go watch it and then come back and read this review.
     The beginning of Fellowship of the Rings does a really good job giving an overview of the history of Middle-Earth. It goes into great detail about the One Ring of power. It was foraged by the Dark Lord Sauron in Mordor in the fires of Mount Doom. Then Iseldor cut the ring from Sauron's hand he had a chance to destroy it but the Ring corrupted him. Then the Ring came to Gollum, after it abandoned Gollum it was picked up by Bilbo Baggins, a hobbit from the Shire. He left it to his nephew Frodo. The wizard Gandalf told Frodo about the ring, one thing lead to another, and Frodo ended up on a mission to take the One Ring into Mordor to destroy it. One thing that the movie did a great job at was showing that the Ring had a will of its own. Gandalf told Frodo that the Ring wanted to be found. The Ring took Boromir when he tried to take the Ring from Frodo. He got his redemption in the end however when he died a hero trying to protect Merry and Pippen.
     The acting in this movie was phenomonal. The best performances were Ian Mckellen as Gandalf, and Viggo Mortenson as Aragorn. Aragorn was such a pivotal character if Mortenson didn't do a good job, the movie probably would've failed. Luckily, he did a fantastic job. Another thing I love about these movies is the soundtrack. The score done by Howard Shore is one of my all-time favorate soundtracks. It has its light hearted points, and it has its darker points when they're showing Sauroman building an army in Isengard.  
     Lord of the Rings is a great story about good versus evil. It's also a story about friendship and sacrifice. As I stated above I can't think of another word to describe the trilogy other than epic. There's a lot of good action in this movie, however there's also good scenes showing the relationships between the characters. This movie does a perfect job at setting everything up. It sets the scene perfectly for the next movies. Of couse The Fellowship of the Ring gets 5 stars.

Firefly series review

     "We might as well settle it now it'll be on for years." This is a quote from Sheldon Cooper from The Big Bang Theory. He was talking about the TV show Firefly. He was wrong however, the show lasted only one year. Was this a good show, or did FOX make the right choice in canceling it? 
     Firefly was created by Joss Whedon the king of the nerds as I like to call him. I first watched the show after I watched The Avengers and I was checking out some of Whedon's other works. The show is about the crew of a spaceship calles Serenity. They'll take any job legal or illegal as long as they get paid. They take on two passengers who are fugitives from The Alliance, a totalitarian regime. So the crew of Serenity finds themselves on the run from The Alliance and also from the flesh-eating Reavers that roam around space. I was very fascinated with Nathan Fillion's character in this show. He plays Malcolm Reynolds he's the captain of Serenity. He fought a war against The Alliance and they lost so now he spends his life as captain of the ship. The term I like to use to describe him is an honorable theif. He's a theif but he does what he does to provide for his crew and his passengers. Overall the acting was very good. 
     This show is more than just a science fiction. It's a science fiction, it's a drama, a comedy, and at some points a western. I didn't know what to expect when I first saw it. I was expecting a lot of space combat, and a lot of firefights. There's no space combat, there's some gun fights and some punches thrown but there's not as much action as I thought. However I was pleasently suprised by the drama. There are some very dramatic scenes which makes up for the lack of action. Overall I really enjoyed the series, I give it four stars.

Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Review

     I've put this off for too long, I'm finally writing my review of the fourth Indiana Jones Movie. I almost didn't want to review this, because I don't really coinsider this an Indiana Jones movie. I view this movie as an imitation of Indiana Jones.  
     The movie starts out in Area 51 where a band of soldiers from the Soviet Union capture Indy and they're looking for a mysterious package. One thing leads to another and Indy teams up with a young rebellous teenager named Mutt Williams. He tells Indy that his mother and one of Indy's old professors who was also Mutt's father figure have been captured by the Soviets and he needs Indy's help. Indy and Mutt travel down to South America to look for the Crystal Skull of Akator.  
      First of all, I couldn't stand Shia Lebouf I thought he was very annoying, as he is in most of his movies. The plot was not as strong as the other Indiana Jones movies. It was pretty cool to see Karen Allen back. She plays Marion once again. Also in the first three movies, Indiana Jones is a vulnerable hero. He gets beat in fights a lot. He almost always had a near death expirience in the first three movies. This movie didn't have a scene like that. It never had a scene where I was on the edge of my seat. Overall i think the first two acts of this movie are fine. The scene that ruined it for me was the scene where Shia Lebouf is swinging on the vines with the monkies. There was too much CGI in that scene which was not necessary.  
     While I believe this is a good movie by itself, it was very disappointing for an Indiana Jones film. I believe this is another reason why I'm happy with George Lucas selling LucasFilms to Disney. I feel that Lucas has been slipping over the past 12 years. It started with the Star Wars prequals, The DVD remasterd Star Wars release, Indiana Jones 4, and the blu-ray release of Star Wars. However as I said above, The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is a good movie by itself, I give it two and a half stars.