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The Two Towers - Book Review

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 Here is book two of Lord Of The Rings. Without any Adieu, let's get into it.  We pick up with the rest of the fellowship, starting with Aragorn finding Boromir. Peter Jackson put some of this in the first movie and not the second. Knowing that, you have to read The Fellowship Of The Ring before you read The Two Towers.  The Overview We turn the camera back to the rest of the fellowship. After focusing on Frodo, we now know Boromir died to protect the last two hobbits (Merry and Pippin). You have to read the previous book to understand what is going on. They don't know where Frodo and Sam are until they see the boats. The remaining fellowship go after Merry and Pippin. The fellowship all end up at Rohan. From here, we take down Saruman and the trees go to battle (The Ents, you'll understand when you read it). Close to the end we tune back in to see where Sam and Frodo are. They tame Gollum/Smeagol to get a guide across the swamp. That lasts only so long before Gollum/Smea...
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Movie Vs Book - The Fellowship of the Ring

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 I just read the book The Fellowship Of The Ring. Today we compare it to the Peter Jackson film - the extended edition. Let's go! Today I'm highlighting the differences between the movie and the book. This is because books don't directly translate to film. You have to convert the dialogue into a script, film stuff (not as easy as they make it look), and edit the result. Some scenes didn't work, or some set piece doesn't work (like Jaws), and you get a different result than the book. It is never exact.  With all that in mind, we dive into the film itself. The main plot is intact, minus Tom Bombadil's role. He was cut from the film.  The  comparison The shire and the birthday party are pretty close. The only real differences between the book and movie in the first part are these: you are missing the other black rider encounters between the first and last one before Buckleberry Ferry. Oh, and Tom Bombadil. It skipped the months of planning that went along with Frod...
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Dungeon Crawler Carl - Book Review

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 One of my college friends loves this series and I am just getting into it. This is book 1 of the series. Let's talk about alien politics and video game dungeons.  If you liked Hunger Games, imagine adding video game rules to the story and having alien planets run the whole thing. Oh, and some crude humor to keep us from focusing solely on the darkness. You are looking at a video game dungeon version of Hunger Games, where the longer you survive the more likely you are to work for the alien planets instead of dying. No one has survived past level 13 of 18 levels. Remember - "kill, kill,kill!" The review This is a story about Carl, a man stuck in a dungeon with his ex's talking show cat (Princess Donut). Again, take video game rules and imagine yourself trapped in a dungeon for real - where there is no respawning. We start with 13 million people in the dungeons and make it down to less than 1 million by the end of the book (floor 3). This is also survival horror. For e...
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The Fellowship Of The Ring - a book review

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 I'm finally reading the books I stare at in the living room. Let's dive into The Lord of the Rings trilogy. These are my husband's books. Because of that, I acquired see-through sticky notes to annotate the book. I'm not allowed to write directly on the page. I highly reccommend using these sticky notes, as they make the book look nice, but allow annotation to happen.  This is the first book of the trilogy, where Frodo acquires the ring from Bilbo and they find out it's the One Ring. It begins in the shire and is a lot of travel - and running from dark riders.  Thoughts The dark riders are a big problem. They can smell the ring on Frodo. The ring also wants to be found, so when they come around the urge to put on the ring is amped to 11 out of 10. The second time we see one, it is crawling towards Frodo and the hobbits (while they are hiding in the woods). It was almost game over and we haven't reached Rivendell. Frodo was lucky the elves were traveling that pa...
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The Odyssey Book 1 Review

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 I'm taking on reading the Odyssey, with help from a YouTuber who has summaries of each book. I'm starting with Book 1 and slowly working through it. I was inspired by Epic the Musical. Let's get into it.  Courtesy of lookandlearn.com Telemachus and Mentes The first thing I did was listen to a summary of book 1. I'd suggest doing the same. It helps you know what's going on in plain English. I put the video I watched here. In case it doesn't actually let you watch it from here, look up "MoAn Inc. The Odyssey" and find her playlist for the summaries. Then, I dove into the poetry. Once you know the summary, it is easier than you think. I would highly suggest watching the video above before reading it. I did get lost at a few spots. If I hadn't known the summary, I'd be confused.  My Review I'm reviewing this on two things: readability and the story. Just like any older text, you do have to get used to the poetry. It was meant to be performed. ...
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Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931) - A Film Review

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 I read the book that inspired this film. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde from 1931 is a black-and-white silent film. The movie isn't all that far off from the book. Aside from adding a love interest (like they do in lots of films), the plot is close enough once you get to Jekyll actually getting the idea for the potion.  Courtesy of Alamy.com I give this film an 8 out of 10. It was entertaining, but the music was situation-deaf. The organ music during Hyde beating a man to death with a cane was...a choice. Cheerful music for being attacked by Hyde, beating a man to death, and someone dying of poison were all tone-deaf choices for tense moments. Any other filmmaker would have used more tense pieces for such scenes.  The acting itself was good, minus those melodramatic transformations. The women in this film knocked it out of the park. You could tell the prostitutes and women around Hyde hated him - but the prostitutes couldn't say no to money and feared him. They effectively told...
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Brats (1930) - a Laurel and Hardy Review

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 The cartoon research has ended. Now we get back to films. I started with Laurel and Hardy (something I grew up with because my Dad loves this comedy duo). I did a blog on those two actors ( click here for that blog ) and now I'm reviewing more of their films. This one is called Brats from 1930.  Fineartamerica.com This one started slow, but got funnier the longer I watched it. I was also struck by the practical special effects in this short. They would achieve being the size of children by acting a huge set. Not to mention the water effect at the end and the mouse that shows up. You can also spot a stuntman rather easily (falling down stairs). The mouse looked like early CGI.  I loved the physical comedy, as usual. The joke set-ups were great. For example, the billiards joke with the marshmallow and the chalk, the skate on the stairs, and the running water. I give this 10 stars (rounded up because I'm somewhere in between 9.5 and 10). It started slow, but definitely got ...
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