The Fellowship of the Ring (LotR #1)

Title: The Fellowship of the Ring (The Lord of the Rings #1)

Author: J.R.R. Tolkien

Year: 1954

Synopsis: In a sleepy village in the Shire, young Frodo Baggins finds himself faced with an immense task, as his elderly cousin Bilbo entrusts the Ring to his care. Frodo must leave his home and make a perilous journey across Middle-earth to the Cracks of Doom, there to destroy the Ring and foil the Dark Lord in his evil purpose.

STEPH SAID

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This book is a piece of art; the landscapes and visuals presented by the author are magnificent, vibrant, vivid and breathtaking. The delicacy with which he painted such detailed portraits left me in awe. I felt like I was in Middle Earth journeying with the Fellowship.

I also admire the hard work Tolkien put into developing such a story. Every race and people have a complete, detailed history. Everything fits perfectly; there are no loose ends or incongruencies in a story that spawns thousands of years. The actual plot of this book is also perfectly constructed. Whatever hapened had to happened, there was no other way. People can't say "if this person had done that, then things would have been different" because Tolkien thought about those possibilities and explored them, and explained in the book why it had to be a certain way.

The Fellowship of the Ring is mostly an introduction to the story of The Lord of the Rings (it being the first volume of a continuous story). The story of The Ring and the reasons for its compulsory destruction were presented. The members of The Fellowship were chosen and from that moment on ties began to form and alligaces began to develop. The bigger part of this book consisted in journeys, most of them on foot. Another big part is about the traps and stops the enemies of the Fellowship planted to either stop, delay or thwart their journeys.

However, to me the story of The Ring and Sauron's rise to power weren't clearly explained. I couldn't understand how a ring could bring such malice and could give someone such power. Just because it is a Ring of Power? What power; from where? I found it unbelievable. If it was just a Ring of Power it could be used for good. I was as skeptic as Boromir. Thus, at first, I wasn't engaged with the story. It wasn't until I watched the 2001 movie adaptation that I understood. In this adaptation it's said that Sauron poured his soul and malice into The Ring. When I heard that I felt like I'd just had an epiphany; I understood the power of the ring, why it was a necessity to destroy it and why people would even die in the process.

I know this book is actually a sequel to The Hobbit. Hence, after I finish reading The Hobbit I will read The Lord of the Rings again and will update this review if necessary.

Doctor Who Christmas Special - The Runaway Bride

Title: The Runaway Bride

Broadcasting Station: BBC One

Original Air Date: 25 December 2006

Synopsis: Killer Santas, exploding baubles, an alien spaceship shaped like a giant star - Christmas with the Doctor is anything but a silent night...

ELL SAID

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This episode revolves around a bride that suddenly appeared inside the TARDIS. The instant she appeared, I thought she wasn’t very nice and very mean, but as the episode progressed, I began to really like her. By the end of the episode, the interactions between Donna and The Doctor became my favorite ever, and I was sad to see her go. David Tennant was epic, as usual, so there’s no doubt this is one of the best episodes so far.

STEPH SAID

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The first part of the episode was utterly annoying. Donna kept yelling every word and all i could think was: "could someone please shut her up?" Then again, she was "kidnapped" from her own wedding, I would probably yell too. Still, she was annoying. 

As the story progressed my opinion of her started to shift. It was really sad to see that nobody cared about her being missing, but it was heartbreaking to find about the real reason she was getting married. In that moment we got to see Donna's vulnerable side and I found myself defending her from the verbal attacks of a certain man.

Villain-wise not much happened. This story wasn't focused on Christmas or aliens invading Earth; it was mostly Donna's story. Still, David Tennant managed to shine on his own, as always. His performance as a pre- Time Lord Victorious was scary, chilling and impecable, and the ending just gave viewers a taste of what to expect from him in the future.

Doctor Who (2005) - Series 2

Title: Doctor Who

Year: 2005

Broadcasting Station: BBC One

Synopsis: David Tennant begins his run as the tenth Doctor as Rose (Billie Piper) continues her adventures through space and time.

Official Trailer

ELL SAID

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This series is the one I like the least. Not because of Tennant, but because the episodes are actually not very good. David Tennant’s the reason this series is getting three stars, because his acting was amazingly emotional and, well, just perfect. The finale, though, was without a doubt, the biggest disappointment of the whole series. Traveling through dimensions was to be impossible, so of course, everyone suddenly was able to do so. I didn't like the fact that the Daleks were ‘destroyed’ in the Time War, then once more when the Vortex took over Rose, yet, they’re back once more. Rose’s final farewell was heartbreaking, but, as usual, it was Tennant who made it that way.

STEPH SAID

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Series Two left much to be desired. Almost every episode lacked intensity and an engaging story. What kept Series Two going, was David Tennant's acting. Even though he wasn't given good stories to interpret, he managed to make the most of them.

The story arc for this series was really weak. It wasn't an life-changing situation or an unavoidable epic confrontation; it was an organization, its and its efforts to save humanity. The organization will continue in further series, however, it wasn't a strong topic to develop a whole series around.

The best episode of the Series - or in this case the only one that stands out - was, yet again, Steven Moffat's. "The Girl in the Fireplace" has the series worth of drama, comedy (banana jokes included), romance and intrigue.

The ending was bittersweet. To fans of the classic series of Doctor Who the finale was probably epic, having Cybermen and Daleks together for the first time ever. Nevertheless, the episode focused more on the Cybermen vs. Daleks showdown and not too much on The Doctor saving the Earth. The literal ending was, in fact, heartbreaking, but it was heartbreaking mostly because of the actors' performances. The fact that Rose stayed traped in a parallel universe is sad, but not heartbreaking. At least she has her whole family and Mickey to support her. I mean, if she had to leave, that is a decent way to do so.

Middle Manager of Justice (iPhone App)

Title: Middle Manager of Justice

Developers: Double Fine Productions, Inc.

Category: Games

Rating: 9+ for frequent/intense cartoon or fantasy violence 

To get this app you may go to its Official Website or to iTunes directly.

STEPH SAID

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Middle Manager of Justice is an entertaining, interesting and original game in which you are the Manager in charge of a superheroes' office. Your task, should you decide to accept it, is to train superheroes and keep the city free of trouble, while at the same time, gather information about the evil plans of the villiains. Every successful battle against evil gives you some money that you may use to buy power-ups or to upgrade your office. You can, also, buy and upgrade rooms for the heroes to train, recover their strengh, earn money or learn new abilities. 

You have to know that all this battling and heroing is in a very relaxed, silly and comedic way; this game is not an epic, action-packed RPG. You can decide to be just a clerical manager and send the heroes to battle on their own or, you may accompany and help them. The fights are kind of like turn-based, and heroes fight on their own. If you accompany the heroes your task, as the manager, is to tell them when to use special abilities or power ups, which are necessary in particularly difficult battles. Also, heroes have to save people from fires and stop busses about to crash. In these instances the Manager have to watch always, so, be sure to send the right guy for the job.

This game is both beautiful and entertaining: its visual are original and colorful, and the heroes are witty and silly at the same time. If there is something that I don't like about this game is that there is not enough. Once you have all ten heroes fully upgraded and your office is fully upgraded too, there is not much to do. Or at least there is no reason to keep playing: heroes don't have to train or to earn money to upgrade the office. The only thing you can do is keep the city happy, but, to what end? Hopefully, this will be fixed with future updates.

Warrior (2011)

Title: Warrior

Year: 2011

Director: Gavin O'Connor

Synopsis: The youngest son of an alcoholic former boxer returns home, where he's trained by his father for competition in a mixed martial arts tournament - a path that puts the fighter on a collision corner with his older brother.

IMDb Page

Official trailer



STEPH SAID

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I thought this movie was going to be five stars for sure. 

Warrior is a deep, thrilling, intense story that will keep you on the edge of your seat from beginningto end. The movie is a constant climax, a constant rush of adrenaline; you don't get ups and downs, you don't get moments to recover and take a breath. I was literally whispering "omygoshomygoshomygosh" like a mantra while trying to find something to do with my hands because I couldn't just rest them peacefully on my knees or at my side. 

This is a lot to say considering the movie is completely expected. It is a story of two brothers that enter a championship and have to battle each other for the title. Thus, it is obvious they will fight each other at the final, which means both had to win all their previous fights. Nevertheless, the movie was so engaging that even though I knew this, I was still suffering every second of every fight, hoping the Conlon brother would win. The ending was as heartbreaking as the previous scenes had been thrilling. It was dramatic and yet utterly realistic, which it’s why is so sad. I just wish I could have heard what people were saying, especially the Conlon brothers.

Every actor did an excellent job, they were all magnificent. However, Tom Hardy, who plays Tommy, impressed me the most. He was intense, dark and scary. He lived this role. His accent, his mannerisms, even the way he walks; it was all perfect. 

I didn't give Warrior five stars because it doesn't resolve the stories within it. The movie started to tell many stories and stopped halfway. At the end, viewers don't get a sense of closure and are left with many questions. What happened with the Conlon brothers? Did they forgive their dad? What happened in Tommy's trial? What happened to Pilar and her kids? What happened at the review of Brendan's case? Did he went back to teaching, fighting, neither or both? What happened to Pop? Did he went back to AA and the church, or did he become a drunk again?

Watching Warrior was definitely a wondrous experience. I would have given it five stars without hesitating if not for the aforementioned reason. It is a pity, really. The ending could have been an epilogue consisting of a collection of mini-clips that show what is going on in everybody's life. It could've taken about five minutes and would've made the movie perfect. If this movie had had a proper ending it would have definitely become one of my favorite movies of all time. 

New Girl - Season 2

Title: New Girl

Year: 2011

Broadcasting Station: Fox

Official Website

Official Synopsis: This season, after Jess gets laid off from her teaching job, she re-evaluates her life and career and immediately makes some dubious choices along the way.

STEPH SAID

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Jess is back! At last the dorky, awkward, singing Jess is back! The producers corrected everything I criticized about the first season: about how New Girl became just another sit-com, and how Jess wouldn’t even sing anymore. Apparently they noticed they were losing what made New Girl so different and fixed it in time. This season was ridiculously funny and utterly awkward. However, so many jokes and topics were presented in this season that I don’t know if the writers will have enough storylines to keep this series fresh for a couple more seasons.

This season brought two major developments: Schmidt and Jess’ love life overall. During this whole season Schmidt and Cece were apart. After a few episodes dating Roby, Cece decided to marry someone from her own culture, which let Schmidt heartbroken. The story carried on as expected and, even though it had an unanticipated twist, the ending was completely predictable.

The other development was bittersweet: Jess and Nick finally got together. This is what I was waiting for since the beginning of New Girl and I couldn’t have said it any better: “I’m happy to see this is finally happening.” The bitter part is that their first date left much to be desired. Many episodes were dedicated to changing opinions, indecisiveness and misunderstandings. It was all hot and cold, and then they kept asking themselves why things had to be so hard and complicated. It was irritating. Thankfully this was fixed after a few episodes and everything started to run smoothly-ish.

About Winston, I don’t even know why he is in this series. There were no developments in his life during this whole season. He is just there, filling space; his friends didn’t even remember his birthday. At best he is used as the comic relief sidekick. I really hope he either gets an interesting storyline, or moves out of the apartment and leaves his space to someone else.