TOP 5 TV CHARACTERS

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I have watched a lot of TV shows...
Probably too many lol.
And Netflix is no help haha!! :D

Anyway, it is hard to exactly narrow down my favorite characters because there are so many.  So I'm gonna list the first five TV characters that I really like from the TV shows that I've seen:




5.  Leroy Jethro Gibbs 

If you don't know who Gibbs is then you need to start watching this criminal investigation show called NCIS, portrayed by the awesome Mark Hamill.  Gibbs is the team leader of the NCIS Major Case Responsive Team (MCRT), which is stationed at the Washington Navy Yard in Washington D.C.

 "He is a former U.S Marine Corps Scout Sniper turned special agent who commands a team for the Naval Criminal Investigative Service. Gibbs is the most accomplished marksman on the team and the most skilled at handling violent standoffs; he depends on his other agents heavily for technical forensics and background checks. He is patient but firm with his team and has little patience for bureaucracy; he commands most other main characters — including Caitlin Todd, Anthony DiNozzo, Timothy McGee, Ziva David, Eleanor Bishop, Tess Monroe, and Clayton Reeves — and is the backbone of the cast." - Wikipedia

 If you haven't seen NCIS, you gotta go watch it.  At least till Season 11 when one of the best actors that held the show together left.  You should still watch it though :)

4.  Rumplestiltskin

Rumplestiltskin is the main villain - or is a hero - you know it's hard to tell at times...
Anyway, Rumplestiltskin is a major character in the TV show Once Upon a Time.

"Rumplestiltskin, also known as Rumple, the Dark One, and the Crocodile, is a character on ABC's Once Upon a Time. He debuts in the first episode of the first season. He is portrayed by starring cast member Robert Carlyle and guest star Wyatt Oleff, and is the Enchanted Forest counterpart of Mr. Gold." - Wikipedia

Granted this show has some serious bad acting during the first couple seasons.  But I assure you if you stick with the show you won't be able to stop.  I love this shows interesting twists to the traditional Disney fairy tales, making a lot of the characters far more complex - though you'd never know it unless you continued to watch the show.

I give props to the writers, cause just as soon as you think the show can't go any further, they pull an entirely new thing out.

But Rumplestiltskin is probably the best complex villain in a live-action TV show I've seen in a while.  He has a reason why he craves power, though it isn't a good one; and he has an amazing ability to always get what he wants.  I love his character because just when you think he is about to redeem himself, he always goes backwards - which is great because it shows that you can't change over night.

3. Commander Charles Tucker

Yes, I'm speaking of the Engineer aboard the NX-01 Star ship Enterprise, from the TV show Star Trek: Enterprise.  I think it would be cliche to say my favorite character was Captain Jonathan Archer - though he probably has the best character development.  The second character who has the best character development is Commander Tucker or Trip.

"Commander Charles Tucker III, known affectionately as "Trip", was a 22nd century Starfleet officer. He served for ten years as chief engineer of Earth's first warp 5-capable starship, Enterprise NX-01, under the command of his best friend, Captain Jonathan Archer." - Wikipedia

Where a lot of characters are very dull and unimportant, I feel like Tucker was one of best.  He was a caring member of the crew but wasn't afraid to get the job done.  I guess that's why Archer trusts him so much.  Then of course there was the horrible ending to the series that I despised.  Of course, that is one way to see if people really liked the character.  If there is a lot of backlash then you must have been doing something right. 

2. Sheriff Longmire

Yeah, so I've only started to watch this one, but... I CAN'T STOP.  lol

Longmire was introduced to me over Fall Break this year - a couple weeks ago.  And lordy, it is amazing.  In case you didn't know I love Crime Drama shows - NCIS, Criminal Minds, Longmire, Person of Interest, and so on...

"Absaroka County native Walt Longmire is the well-respected sheriff that resides there. When the series begins, it is believed by most his wife, Martha Longmire, died of cancer." - Wikipedia

This show is truly addicting and amazing.  I recommend it to everyone that likes Crime Dramas.

1. Ezra Bridger

Was there any doubt that I'd make a Star Wars reference lol :)

Ezra Bridger is a character from the new TV series director by the awesome Dave Filoni.  Ezra was born the day that the Republic was reorganized into the Galactic Empire, and had to grow up in fallout that happened afterwards.  Ezra is introduced to the early beginnings of the Rebel Alliance.  He also has a high affinity to the force - something that drives him in the first season.  He is trained by a former Jedi Padawan, who survived the execution of Order 66, Kanan Jarrus.

"Ezra Bridger was a human male Jedi Padawan who, as an orphan on the Outer Rim planet of Lothal, became a rebel fighter and revolutionary leader in the early rebellion against the Galactic Empire. He was born to Ephraim and Mira Bridger, two outspoken opponents of the Imperial regime on Lothal. As a boy, his parents were taken prisoner by the Empire, leaving Bridger to fend for himself on the streets of Lothal. He joined the rebel crew of the Ghost five years before the Battle of Yavin and, with his Force-sensitivity having been discovered, became the apprentice of Kanan Jarrus, a Jedi who survived Order 66. Bridger's abilities with the Force grew quickly, which aided in many of the crew's efforts against the Empire." - Wikipedia 

 
Yes, Star Wars Rebels takes place five years before the events of Episode 4.  Which makes me hope, that (knowing that Season 3 is probably the last one) season 3 ends where Star Wars Rogue One Begins!!  That would be epically awesome!!  A beautiful way to make these animated TV shows feel more like Canon as they are tied into the movies!! :)

Can you just imagine....

Yep that's pretty much it!! :D

Have an awesome day!! :D :D

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Popcorn List

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Sorry for not posting for the past couple days.  I've been on Fall Break and my internet back at home is not exactly the best.

ANYWAY :D

Here is a list of five really good movies I've watched recently that I believe everyone should watch (: Take note that this is not a ranking list; it's just some good movies that I recommend you go out and watch :)

5.
The Legend of Tarzan

The IMDb website gives this description:
Tarzan, having acclimated to life in London, is called back to his former home in the jungle to investigate the activities at a mining encampment.

The movie was awesome.  I actually had very low standards for this movie, but it far surpassed my expectations.  This movie occurs many years after Tarzan leaves the Congo.  It then goes a little bit in depth with how the Belgian King had been mistreating the people in the Congo - enslaving them being the worst of his crimes.  I thought that was a cool part to this movie - that it actually played off of some historical facts.

I was happy to see Christoph Waltz star in this movie, as well as Samuel L. Jackson.  Anything these two actors are in is generally a good movie.

Here is the trailer:

More information on IMDb's website here

4.
Independence Day: Resurgence

IMDb says:
Two decades after the first Independence Day invasion, Earth is faced with a new extra-Solar threat. But will mankind's new space defenses be enough?

So this was another movie that I believed would be a serious disappointment - especially because I loved the 1996 Independence Day movie.  This movie however far exceeded my expectations.  I loved how they brought back many of the actors from the first movie to play a role in this one - and of course, Jeff Goldblum is in it (I love the characters he plays - his witty and sarcastic responses are great).

Here is the trailer:

More information here.

3.
The Jungle Book

 IMDb says:
After a threat from the tiger Shere Khan forces him to flee the jungle, a man-cub named Mowgli embarks on a journey of self discovery with the help of panther, Bagheera, and free spirited bear, Baloo.

Again this was one of those movies that I thought would be awful.  At of all the previous movies, this was the one that I thought would be the worst.  Nope.  This actually is probably the best one that I watched out of these films in my opinion.

This movie works as if it has been taken from the Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling itself.  This movie has an amazing story to tell.  It also has an unexpected death around the middle of the movie, to which I am both surprised and happy that Disney allowed it to happen.  (: Surprised because Disney has a bad habit of killing characters and bringing them magically back to life; but happy because in order for a plot to fully progress, I believe there needs to be some sort of tragedy that spurs the protagonist onward - this movie does that beautifully :)

Another awesome thing about this movie is how it brings multiple well known actors into this movie to voice the different animals in it.  I loved that Bill Murray voiced Baloo and Ben Kingsley voiced Bagheera.  I also think that Christopher Walken's portrayal of King Louis was perfect.   

Overall, I believe this was a great movie, and I think that Disney has a good chance at making their future live action movies really good.  I can't wait until the Lion King live action movie comes out!! 

2.
God's Not Dead 2


Now I know what you are thinking.  Why would I put this movie on my list of must sees?  As a Christian I feel like I should put this one on here.  But also as someone who loves plots and stories, I also feel like this one should be on here.  More importantly as a future history teacher, the subject of this story hits home for me more so than other things.

IMDb says this:
When a high school teacher is asked a question in class about Jesus, her response lands her in deep trouble.

Now granted, most Christian movies - for whatever reason - are normally very cheesy and even I disagree with a lot of them - especially on a realistic story/plot.  However there are a few exceptions that pop out every once and a while.  Like this one.

I loved this movie far more than I liked the first one.  This movie really dug deep into First Amendment - and you can just imagine me cringing as the prosecutor, who was against Christianity, twisted the United States Constitution - the Living and Breathing Document of our Land - to achieve his own ends.  IT DISGUSTS me when people do that.  If I lived back in the early years of US History, I would probably be a Federalist - someone who believes the Constitution should be followed to the letter, without a loose interpretation.

Overall I thought this was a good movie and recommend it to anyone who would be interested.

 More here

1.
The Magnificent Seven

Now in case you didn't know, I am a big fan of the Western Genre.  I love those old Clint Eastwood's and John Wayne movies.  So I don't exactly have the good, the bad, and the ugly with this movie.  This movie has a great cast - Chris Pratt is awesome like normal :).  It has an awesome story line with actually deep characters that you can get attached to.  The Magnificent Seven was awesome.

IMDb says this:
Director Antoine Fuqua brings his modern vision to a classic story in The Magnificent Seven. With the town of Rose Creek under the deadly control of industrialist Bartholomew Bogue, the desperate townspeople employ protection from seven outlaws, bounty hunters, gamblers and hired guns. As they prepare the town for the violent showdown that they know is coming, these seven mercenaries find themselves fighting for more than money.

But yes to top this list off, I recommend popping some popcorn and watching this movie!! :)

More here


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Top 5 Historical Fiction Movies

I figured that I would do a top five list of some of my favorite historical fiction movies

5:
The Last of the Mohicans

The back of the case blurb says:
An epic adventure and passionate romance unfold against the panorama of a frontier wilderness ravaged by war.  Academy Award winner Daniel Day-Lewis stars as Hawkeye, rugged frontiersman and adopted son of the Mohicans, and Madeleine Stowe is Cora Munro, aristocratic daughter of a proud British Colonel.  Their love, tested by fate, blazes amidst a brutal conflict between the British, the French and Native American allies that engulfs the majestic mountains and cathedral-like forests of colonial America.  Based on the American literary classic by James Fenimore Cooper, The Last of the Mohicans is a "spellbindinlgy beautiful old-fashioned epic." (Joel Siegel, Good Morning America).

I know... that description is awesome :)

The movie is awesome, and it really has more to it than just the romantic - because unfortunately, you can't make an American made movie that involves war without using a love story as a crutch.  The story adds so much information about the French and Indian (Seven Years) War, and they do it in such a way that it makes you feel like you are a part of the actual world of the 1700s.  It also throws in historical characters - such as General Webb and Colonel Munro (how could I forget the great French General Montcalm) - and historical events - such as the Battle of Fort William Henry and the following massacre.  It is a really good history movie that got most of its facts straight.

A slight warning however - this movie is a war movie, and is not for those that don't like blood torn movies.

4.
Valkyrie

The back of the case blurb:
"Tom Cruise gives one of the best performances of his career" (Jeffrey Lyons, NBC/Reel Talk) in this action-packed film from the director of The Usual Suspects and X-Men.  Based on the incredible true story of Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg (Cruise) and his ingenious assassination plot targeting Adolph Hitler, this engrossing thriller reenacts the daring operation to eliminate one of the most evil tyrants the world has ever known.  Co-starring Kenneth Branagh, Bill Nighy, Tom Wilkinson, Terence Stamp and Eddie Izzard, Valkyrie delivers gripping suspense and pulse-pounding excitement from start to finish!

 Whelp, this is quite the time jump...haha!  This movie takes place during World War II, smack dab in the heart of Nazi Germany.  The first time I watched this movie I couldn't believe this actually happened, so naturally I watched a documentary on it...  Turns it out it really happened, and that there really was a German resistance movement against Nazi Germany.  Apparently not everyone was either brainwashed or too scared to stand up for what was right.

This is an amazing specifically about the German resistances attempt at Hitler's life...and almost complete success.  If you watch the movie, there is a scene at the very end where Stauffenberg screams out, "Long live sacred Germany."  That quote is one of the most powerful lines in that entire movie.  If you watch it, pay close attention to the soldiers that are surrounding him after he says these words...their expressions.  This movie does a good job of reminding the viewers, "that not everyone was like him (Hitler)."

This one has less blood-shed, and very little to no blood.  It is more about the conspiracy and resistance against Hitler's control of Germany.  You should go and watch this one.

3.
The Flowers of War

This is a little known movie - but should be watched by all because this is about an event that no one seems to remember or purposely forgets.

Here's the blurb:
The film, set during the Japanese invasion of China, is told from a young girl's point of view, not as a history lesson, but as an intimate, elemental and paradoxically universal celebration of the human spirit. Christian Bale stars as a dissolute Westerner who seeks refuge in a Catholic Church. There he meets a beautiful Chinese courtesan who helps him rescue a group of schoolgirls from a terrible fate at the hands of the Japanese.

The movie centers around the terrible event called the "Rape of Nanjing" or the Nanjing Massacre.  Needless to say, this movie is incredibly descriptive - and heartbreaking.  Anyone who watches this movie, brace yourselves.  After I finished watching it, I had to know if this was true.  I found a very long documentary on it, and watched every second of it.  I was deeply saddened to realize that I had never even known a single thing about this.  We talk about Massacre's - Boston Massacre - but those are normally drawn out.  In the Boston Massacre only five people died.  The Nanjing Massacre - 300,000.  Now you tell me why no one talks about this in a history class!  Yes the Holocaust was horrible and should not be pushed aside; but the Japanese were just as vial as the Nazis.

Everyone should watch this movie, to be reminded of what happens when someone takes a stand against the evil of the world.  

Fair warning though... This movie is incredibly dark.  If you thought Schindler's List was hard to watch, this one will be as well.  But I still encourage all of you to watch it.  If there is one thing I have learned from studying history - there are just somethings that should never be forgotten, no matter how bad they are - the worse thing is to deny that none of these horrendous acts ever happened.

2.
Gettysburg

Oh Gettysburg; one of my favorites - guess that's why it is #2 :)

This is the case blurb:
Summer 1863.  The Confederacy pushes north into Pennsylvania.  Union divisions converge to face them.  Two great armies will clash at Gettysburg, site of a theology school.  For three days, through such legendary actions as Little Round Top and Pickett's Charge, the fate of "One nation, indivisible" hangs in the balance.

The bloodiest battle fought on American soil comes to the screen in a powerful production "about the strategies, calculations, mistakes and heroism that turned the tide of the Civil War...a film Civil War buffs will find indispensable" (Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times).  Tom Berenger, Jeff Daniels, Martin Sheen, Richard Jordan and more play key roles in this magnificent epic based on Michael Shaara's Pulitzer Prize-winning The Killer Angels, filmed at actual battle locations and rigorously authenticated down to the boots.

Yes, this movie is awesome - and guess what; no love story...alas the exception is found haha :)

Gettysburg is great because it doesn't just focus on the Union side of the war.  It also sheds light onto the Confederate side as well.  Which is awesome because when it comes to history, nothing, I REPEAT, NOTHING is black and white.  There is so much more to the stories that we are told in an average high school classroom.  And Gettysburg, though it is long, is an amazing story that shares the stories of multiple historical figures.  One of my favorites, and most heartbreaking, is the character depth between Union General Winfield Hancock (a hero by the way :) and Confederate General
Lewis Armistead.  Oh, the feels - Hancock and Armistead were best friends before the war; were still best friends...and then by fate they met each other on opposing sides on the battlefield.  One unfortunately killing the other, much to his broken heart.  

That's why I love this movie.  Though it is long, it has amazing character depth; and the best part, the movie's characters are only Historical Figures - not added on fictional characters.  All of these historical characters are played as though they had come to life from their own personal diaries!

Yes, watch this movie!!  It's a must see!

1.
The Patriot 

Was there any doubt that The Patriot would be on this list? :)

The case blurb says:
In the emotionally-charged adventure The Patriot, academy award winner Mel Gibson stars as Benjamin Martin, a reluctant hero who is swept into the American Revolution when the war reaches his home and threatens his family.

A hero of the fierce French and Indian conflict, Martin had renounced fighting forever to raise his family in peace.  But when the British arrive at his South Carolina home and endanger what he holds most dear, Martin takes up arms alongside his idealistic patriot son, Gabriel (Heath Ledger), and leads a brave rebel Militia into battle against a relentless and overwhelming English army.  In the process, he discovers the only way to protect his family is to fight for a young nation's freedom.

Oh the Patriot :)  This is one of my favorite historical fiction movies for many reasons.  The number reason is because the American Revolution is the focus in my history major.  I love the American Revolution.  In fact, I could probably sit down for hours just talking about any thing that happened during the war...oh yes, don't get me started :)  Got keep reviewing!

(Did you know that Logan Lerman was in this movie?  He's the young kid on left side!)

The movie is awesome in itself.  It's mostly historically accurate.  The character of General Cornwallis is kind of spot on.  He was a brilliant tactician.  What they failed to put in this movie, that would have given Lord Cornwallis more character depth was the fact that at this point in the war, was that his wife had passed away in 1779, which greatly affected him.  His heart wasn't really in the American War for Independence.

And Jason Isaac's Colonel Tavington... Jason Isaac's is a great actor in anything he is a part of haha.  He made a great Captain Hook and who could forget Lucius Malfoy.  Colonel Tavington is based off of an even more brash version of British Colonel Banastre Tarleton.  Of course, Tarleton didn't die in the Revolution.

The Story of the Patriot in general is a beautiful one.  It is the American Revolution wrapped up with historical characters, with an awesome plot line tied to the top like a ribbon.

If you haven't seen this movie, stop what you are doing and go watch it! :D

That's it for now!!  OH, yes there are many more historical (fiction) movies out there that are awesome.  But these were just the first five that came to mind.  So yes go out there and watch them:

The Last of the Mohicans
Valkyrie
The Flowers of War
Gettysburg
The Patriot 

HAVE AN AWESOME DAY!!!!

 

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