Blog where we review MOVIES, VIDEO GAMES, and AWESOME things like that. In our realm, it's all a PIECE OF CAKE.
"For me, the cinema is not a slice of life, but a piece of cake." -Alfred Hitchcock.
My name is Emmaus Nakagawa. Nice to meet you.
All good things must come to an end. And sadly, this is the end of the Middle Earth Saga that so many have followed and stayed true to. As it says in the trailer, The Hobbit: The Battle of The Five Armies is the defining chapter to everything concerning the One Ring of Power. Now as viewers, we are able to literally see how this all intertwines with the Lord of the Rings Trilogy that came out almost fourteen years ago. We get to see it Peter Jackson style.
THE HOBBIT:
THE BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES
The final chapter in the Hobbit trilogy begins just where it left off, so you'll want to see The Desolation of Smaug so that you know exactly what's going on. Maybe if you can, you should see An Unexpected Journey as well.
Smaug swoops over Laketown and begins laying waste to it. He burns building after building, killing people in the process. Tauriel is still with the dwarves after reviving Kili, and they begin to make their escape from Laketown.
At the same time, the Master of Laketown is evacuating himself, trying to save all of his treasure and his skin. For the most part, he packs a whole bunch of wine. But, just like any old ruler that nobody likes, the Master is killed by Smaug, after Smaug himself is killed by Bard.
Bard has escaped from his cell prior to the Master's self-evacuation. Actually, in the process of his trying to escape, the Master unknowingly assists Bard. So Bard gathers a bow and a quiver of arrows to smite down the beast that his ancestor could not. He climbs to a high tower, coincidentally an archer tower that is in the very heart of Laketown.
It is here that Bard attempts to kill the dragon. He uses all of his arrows and is down to his last one. He once again fails to pierce the dragon's hide, and fails to pierce the one place his hide was pierced before. As his children are escaping from their burning home, Bard's son sees his father firing wildly at the dragon and they just happen to pass the place where he hid the Black Arrow.
The son then gets up from the boat and runs to grab the Black Arrow. He then runs up and meets his father in the archer tower. Bard tells his son, "You should not be here! Go! Leave!" His son replies that he wanted to help. The tower is swept over by Smaug, and it is all but destroyed. The tower is in terrible condition, and Bard's bow is demolished. He uses his son as a makeshift cross-bow to finally hit Smaug where his hide was weak, therefore killing the dragon.
And that's when Smaug falls on top of the Master of Laketown, inevitably killing him.
The dwarves and Bilbo watch from the Lonely Mountain and see Smaug fall. They happily say to each other, "Smaug is dead." Hooray, right? Nope. Thorin keeps his dwarf brothers inside the treasure hoard and makes them search for the Arkenstone.
The remaining company of dwarves that escaped Laketown make their way to the Lonely Mountain. Tauriel travels with them until Legolas catches up with her. Tauriel and Kili say farewell to each other, and Kili gives Tauriel his lucky rock to remember him by.
Tauriel and Legolas go to an ancient fortress where the Uruk-hai and Orcs are gathering to march on the Lonely Mountain. And it does not look good.
Gandalf, let's focus on our good ol' Gandalf. He is still stuck in Dol Guldur when Galadriel decides to lend a hand. Alongside her comes Elrond of Rivendell (LOTR!!!) and Saruman, at the time, a good white wizard. The three of them fight the Necromancer and his nine wraiths in an epic clashing of good and evil. Gandalf is saved and Sauron is thrust back to Mordor by Galadriel. This is where the videogame, Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor would take place.
Then the movie jumps straight into the Battle of the Five Armies; Orcs, Dwarves, Elves, Men, and goblins. It is a gruesome and violent battle, one that I will elaborate in my parent edition of this movie. Until then, here is my overall rating. Rating: 4.5 out of 5 Armies (9 out of 10) Accuracy to the book overall very good. Some things such as Azog the Defiler and Tauriel the She-Elf are inaccurate to the original text. The battle portrayed very well.
Family Friendliness: 3 out of 10 Very violent, much beheading. Some images may not be appropriate for the young child's eye. Suggested age to see- 13+. If you're a little bit more leniant, 12+. But I would not recommend showing to 10 or 11 year olds. It is very violent, there is a lot of stabbing.
Yes, it's that time of year again. We're already going to be diving into 2015!!! I dunno about you, but I think that's pretty darn crazy. But hey! With every new year, there is always more MOVIES!!! Which means that you will see plenty of movie reviews from me! So, as a Piece of Cake (PoC) tradition, I am here to tell you the names of some upcoming movies that you might want to look into.
UPCOMING MOVIES IN 2015
TERMINATOR: GENISYS
July 1, 2015
THE AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON
May 1, 2015
CHAPPIE
March 6, 2015
FIFTY SHADES OF GREY
February 13, 2015
TAKEN 3
January 9, 2015
THE SPONGEBOB MOVIE: SPONGE OUT OF WATER
February 6, 2015
JUPITER ASCENDING
February 6, 2015
KINGSMAN: THE SECRET SERVICE
February 13, 2015
CINDERELLA
March 13, 2015
INSURGENT
March 20, 2015
FAST AND FURIOUS 7
April 3, 2015
If any of the release dates are inaccurate, I sincerely apologize. You can tell me in the comments and I will update this post.
Okay, now that the Parent Edition is out of the way, I can give you guys the review that is pretty straight-forward. So here we go with
THE HUNGER GAMES
MOCKINGJAY
PART 1
If you enjoyed all of the other Hunger Games movies, you're in for a real treat. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 is exactly like the book, from Chapters 1 to I believe Chapter 11 or 12. I'm sorry if I'm wrong hardcore readers.
Katniss is in District 13, and as usual, is in total shock. She still suffers from PTSD and has terrible nightmares about the games, Peeta, and District 12's destruction. Only, she has never seen District 12 in the rubble. So to be convinced to be the Mockingjay that the Rebellion wants, President Coin, president of District 13, authorizes Katniss's journey to District 12. She sees the mass destruction, and she is devastated. To add to that, Peeta is in the Capitol being held. And, he's brainwashed. Yea, not fun. I'm sure that you can read my other review that basically tells you the entire movie, so here, I'm going to give you my personal rating of the film. RATING: Overall- 9/10 Arrows
Action-wise- 4/10 Arrows- It's more political than action-based, so... you can understand the low rating.
Story Plot- 9.5/10 VERY close to the book. You could almost take the book with you and read it while the film is going on. That gives you an idea of how accurate it is.
If you loved the other two Hunger Games movies, oh baby, you're in a treat. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 is definitely a movie to see. One of my friends suggested to me that I give an entire movie overlook and rating. So that's what I've decided to do. So...
SPOILERS AHEAD, but for those parents out there that want to know if this film, or any other film I review, is appropriate for their children, I'm doing this for you. Okay, here we go:
THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY
PART 1
The movie begins with Katniss Everdeen hiding in a small shaft, shaking in fear. A flashlight illuminates the background, and a voice says, "Miss Everdeen? Miss Everdeen, you can't be here."
"I just had a nightmare, just five more minutes."
"We can help you sleep."
"Please, just five more minutes."
Katniss Everdeen: The Mockingjay
After some more dialogue is exchanged, three men come and grab Katniss, and she begins fighting back. She angrily screams, "Get off of me! Get your hands off of me!" The screen goes black and then fades in to her in a hospital bed. She hears somebody crying, and she goes to see who is shedding the tears.
"Finnick," she sternly says. Some dialogue between the two characters takes place, and we learn from Finnick that Joanna, Annie, and Peeta are all being held in the Capitol. The screen goes to a face shot of Katniss with a face that is somewhat shocked. It slightly zooms in before snapping to a black screen view, and reading in white, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1.
Katniss is having her hair done by Prim in a room when a black man by the name of Boggs (no racism intended) comes in to escort Katniss to President Coin, the president of District 13. In the meeting room is Coin and Plutarch Heavensbee.
They ask that Katniss be the face of the rebellion as the Mockingjay. Katniss does not agree, and angrily decines saying, "You should have saved Peeta." She gets up and storms out. Coin turns to Plutarch and says, "That's not the girl that you talked about."
Plutarch and Coin discuss what they should do about Katniss's uncooperativeness, and they conclude that they should allow her to go and see the remains of District 12.
Now Katniss goes to District 12 and is utterly shocked.
WARNING: Here, Katniss sees heaps of dead bodies that are charred and show disturbing images of skulls and ribs jutting out from still lightly attached pieces of grey skin. Some even look like gray people that are screaming out in pain, clutching their stomachs and ribs, that are greatly exposed.
This may not be the best image to show children. It appears shorty after Katniss steps on a skull, and don't worry, you'll hear it. Katniss will slowly look down, and the skull image will take maybe a second or three to show. This would be the time to shield any eyes.
District 12 in ashes
Katniss goes to her home in the Victor's Village and recovers her sister's cat, Buttercup, and goes into the same room where she met President Snow in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. Present in the room is also a white rose. It's one of Snow's. She gags and quickly leaves the house.
Katniss then returns to District 13 agrees to be the Mockingjay in another meeting with Coin and Plutarch. However, she has some conditions: That the captured tributes, at any window of opportunity, will be saved from the Capitol. And when they are all liberated, they are all granted immunity. And that Prim will be able to keep her cat.
In the lunch room previously, there had been an interview on the T.V. between Caesar Flickerman and Peeta, and Peeta called for a cease-fire, saying that the war on the Capitol would kill everybody. "Everybody has to lay down their weapons now. No one can survive this." This is the reason that Katniss requests immunity to Peeta.
Coin publicly announces to all of District 13 Katniss's conditions so that she will be the Mockingjay. After that, Katniss is immediately put to work. She is put into a room where she is to recite a few lines for propaganda videos to bring people to the rebellion. "Ah, you look marvelous darling. They'll either want to kiss you, kill you, or be you," says Effie Trinkett on the set of the propaganda video.
Plutarch Heavensbee, Left, and Coin, Right
The few lines that Katniss must recite are, "People of Panem, we fight, we dare, we end our hunger for justice!" Katniss repeats the lines a few times, and the staff aren't very satisfied. Haymitch Abernathy walks in and says, "And that, my friends, is how a revolution dies."
Haymitch calls for a meeting with Plutarch, Coin, Katniss, Effie, Boggs, Gale, and Beetee,where he asks, "I want everyone to think of one incident where Katniss Everdeen genuinely moved you. Not where you were jealous of her hairstyle, or her dress went up in flames or she made a halfway decent shot with an arrow. Not when Peeta was making you like her. I want to hear one moment where she made you feel something real."
There is silence for a little bit, and then Effie speaks up and says, "When she volunteered to take Prim's place at the reaping." She also says, "When she sang the song, when Rue died."
"Who didn't get choked up at that, right?" Haymitch says as he writes down both on the touch board. The ideas start rolling and then Haymitch says, "So, the question is, what do all of these have in common?"
"They were Katniss's," says Gale. "No one told her what to do."
"Unscripted, yes!" agrees Beetee. Then Haymitch proposes that they throw Katniss into actual battle, in order to give her the motivation to do good propaganda videos for 13. And that is what happens.
Katniss is taken to District 8 and we meet new people, Cressida, Pollux, and Castor. She goes to a hospital and meets the rebel leader, Paylor. Katniss is then taken to the hospital, and just seeing her face is enough for everybody to have hope again.
"Katniss? Are you here to fight with us?" a boy asks the Mockingjay.
"I am. I will." The boy places his three fingers on his left hand to his lips, and raises them towards Katniss. Katniss looks around the room and sees that every man, woman, and child is saluting her in the way of District 12, first introduced in The Hunger Games.
WARNING: Here, there are many injured people. When the company enters the room, many are in extreme pain and many are crying out. There are some who are bloody and have scars across their faces. I don't know how sensitive you are to blood, but I thought that this should be thrown out there, since there is a good deal of it in this scene.
The Hospital Bombing in District 8
Next thing we know, District 8's rebel hospital is bombed, and Katniss shoots down the two hovercraft that come to bomb the hospital. Outraged at the murder of hundreds of innocent people, Katniss says to the camera recording the entire thing,
"I want to tell the rebels that I am alive. That I'm right here in District Eight, where the Capitol has just bombed a hospital full of unarmed men, women, and children. There will be no survivors. I want to tell people that if you think for one second the Capitol will treat us fairly if there's a cease-fire, you're deluding yourself.
"Because you know who they are and what they do. This is what they do! And we must fight back! President Snow says he's sending us a message? Well, I have one for him. You can torture us and bomb us and burn our districts to the ground, but do you see that?
"Fire is catching. And if we burn... YOU BURN WITH US!!!"
Katniss is then taken back to District 13, and a new propaganda video is made, which is shown to District 13. Katniss is truly making a change.
And it shows when the view shifts to District 7, where lumberjacks are being taken to fill that day's quota. As the men are walking, the camera shifts behind a black man, and there is the symbol of the mockingjay carved into a tree.
As soon as the man sees it, he whistles the three note tune that Rue first introduced to Katniss in her very first games. The tune is heard by everyone, and all of a sudden, they all start making a run for the trees. Many are killed, but when most of the workers are in the trees, a loud shout is heard from a distance,
Haymitch Abernathy: Mentor to Katniss
"IF WE BURN, YOU BURN WITH US!" BOOM!!! BANG!!! Bombs begin going off, until the entire landscape has completely exploded, killing all the Peacekeepers. The camera looks to the trees, and the lumberjacks yell and shout in happiness and triumph. They've shown defiance.
The screen shifts back to District 13, where Katniss and Prim are in the lunch room, and another interview between Peeta and Caesar occurs live from the Capitol. Peeta again urges that Katniss call for a cease-fire.
"Don't be a fool, Katniss. Think for yourself. They've turned you into a weapon that could be instrumental in the destruction of humanity. If you've got any real influence, use it to put the brakes on this thing. Use it to stop the war before it's too late. Ask yourself, do you really trust the people you're working with?" Katniss realizes that Peeta doesn't know what happened to District 12. She needs to make a reply message showing him what truly happened. The next day, Katniss and her team return to District 12, this time, Gale sharing the tale of how 915 of 10,000 survived the bombing.
WARNING: The images of dead bodies return just as in the first warning. When Gale and the team disembark from the Hovercraft is probably a good time to shield eyes.
After Gale tells his story, the team goes by the lake in the woods of what was District 12. Pollux, an Avox, gestures to Katniss, requesting that she sing for him. This is the song titled, "The Hanging Tree." Are you, are you Coming to the tree Where they strung up a man they say murdered three. Strange things did happen here No stranger would it be If we met at midnight in the hanging tree. Are you, are you Coming to the tree Where the dead man called out for his love to flee. Strange things did happen here No stranger would it be If we met at midnight in the hanging tree. Are you, are you Coming to the tree Where I told you run, so we'd both be free. Strange things did happen here No stranger would it be If we met at midnight in the hanging tree. Are you, are you Coming to the tree Wear a necklace of rope, side by side with me. Strange things did happen here No stranger would it be
If we met at midnight in the hanging tree.
Peeta Mellark: Hijacked
This leads to another propaganda video. The video is televised to the districts, and it leads to another rebellion in District 5, the water plant district. The people sing "The Hanging Tree" as they march to blow the damn that provides hydro-electricity for all of Panem.
The electricity goes out while yet another interview between Peeta and Caesar is taking place. At this time, Katniss is hiding in the same place she hid in in the beginning of the movie. Haymitch comes and tells Katniss that Coin sent in an extraction team to go retrieve the captured tributes from the Capitol. At the same time that the extraction team is on their mission, Finnick is giving a live broadcast about what he has to say about the Capitol and President Snow. He shares that tributes could be sold. That is, their bodies would be sold for the pleasure of the citizens of the Capitol. The tributes could ask for payment. And Finnick found that secrets were a good form of payment. Most of the secrets he shares are about Snow himself. The extraction team is successful and brings Peeta, Joanna, and Annie back from the Capitol. Katniss goes to see Peeta in a hospital room. Haymitch goes with her. Katniss moves in front of Peeta, who looks terrible. He is badly starved, very scrawny, and very beat up. When Katniss moves in to embrace him, he flips out and grabs Katniss's neck, choking her and chucking her all over the darn room. Haymitch finally slams Peeta in the head with a large metal plate, and the screen goes black. Katniss wakes up in the hospital with a neck brace, and she cannot speak. Plutarch and Haymitch explain that Peeta's mind has been brainwashed through the usage of tracker-jacker venom. This is also known as "Hijacking." Afterwards, Katniss goes to see Peeta again, and he is seen struggling in a bed that has him strapped down. The camera zooms in slowly to enhance the terrifying experience of Peeta's struggling. Then the screen goes black and again shows the title.
Rating: Family friendliness- 6 out of 10 Arrows
Action- 5 out of 10 Arrows
Story Line- 9 out of 10: VERY close to the book.
Overall- 9 out of 10
The final chapter in the Hobbit trilogy begins just where it left off, so you'll want to see The Desolation of Smaug so that you know exactly what's going on. Maybe if you can, you should see An Unexpected Journey as well. 
It is here that Bard attempts to kill the dragon. He uses all of his arrows and is down to his last one. He once again fails to pierce the dragon's hide, and fails to pierce the one place his hide was pierced before. As his children are escaping from their burning home, Bard's son sees his father firing wildly at the dragon and they just happen to pass the place where he hid the Black Arrow. 
