Ethan Parke Author Blog

 Sorry, I haven't blogged in a while, I was having trouble with my laptop, but it's functioning now. I don't have much time tonight, but it is clear, Lord of the Rings is my favorite story ever written. That said, one of the things that makes it awesome for me is, it is great on any holiday. It's great on Easter and Christmas because of the religious elements. It is great at Halloween because of the scary scenes. It is great on the Fourth of July because of Gandalf's fireworks. It can be great on your birthday because it begins on Bilbo and Frodo's. That's just a short thought. 

 I have said ever since I started these blogs, that Lord of the Rings is my favorite story ever written. My favorite battle in the Middle-Earth saga, was always the one that is often called the Battle of Helm's Deep. The more correct name for it, however, is the Battle of the Hornburg, because that is the name of the fortress. Helm's Deep was just the ravine where it was located.  The only thing I would have preferred in the movie was to have Eomer be there the whole battle, and aside from the Uruk-hai, have the wildmen of Dunland be there, like in the book. That problem is likely to be remedied in the upcoming anime film, Lord of the Rings: War of the Rohirrim. That battle has inspired battles in my books, but like I always say, first you should read them. 

The reason Sauron did not immediately send his minions to The Shire, was he didn't know anything about it. That is the simplest explanation. But to make it longer, was because Hobbits and the people that lived in the nearby towns like Bree, were not much involved in the world, at least by that point in MIddle-Earth history. If it was somewhere more involved in the world, he would have sent orcs after it. That was how he found out about Isildur possessing it. Gollum spent all those years, hiding in the Misty Mountains, keeping to himself. The Hobbits seemed of little importance, so it was Gollum telling him it was there, that finally made him aware of it. It was just then when he was able to gather the Ringwraiths, and then send them to The Shire, which was why Frodo had to leave. It was why he is quest should not be generally known, because if he was Sauron would have found out. He never knew about the Fellowship, and when it scattered, Aragorn came out of the shadows, scaring him ...

When I saw the first John Wick movies coming out, I wasn't too excited about it. I thought it would just be an average crime thriller, but seeing Keanu Reeves fight in those movies was superb. Every time, they try doing something creative with the action sequences, or play with the cliches that work, by not letting you think when something will happen.  In Chapter 4, they did just what I described. There was a cool scene where John was fighting from a topographical shot, which is something you don't often see. One of my favorite cliches in fight sequences is stairs, and there was a really fun fight on them. There is a dual near the end, when you don't notice John violated one of the rules.  Case in point, the John Wick movies, do not have much in the way of story, but he is a likable, relatable character, and the action scenes are always outstanding. That is just like I try doing in my books, and if you are eager to read them, you know what to do.   

 I have already said this, but I will respect anything that shows deference to the world J.R.R. Tolkien created. I have not got around to watching The Rings of Power, and whatever they have planned for future movies and shows, I doubt anything will top the original books or Peter Jackson's films. I have written several blogs defending The Hobbit trilogy, and the last thing is this. The Battle of the Five Armies did not need an R-Rated Extended Cut. It was based on a children's book, even if it is a sophisticated one, and if Jackson wants to make R-Rated movies again, he should look beyond Tolkien. There was barely any gore, nobody swore, and there were no sex scenes, in that cut. The only thing they added was about ten more minutes to an intense battle that lasted forty-five minutes in the theatrical cut. But that's just my opinion. 

In addition to the dinosaurs, I was always determined to include dragons in my books. You have probably already, guessed that Smaug in The Hobbit, is my personal favorite. His armor is iron like tenfold shields, his teeth were like swords, his claws spear, his tail a thunderbolt, his wings were hurricane, and his breath was death. I used those terms in how I created the dragon, Diablo, in my first book, The Amulet War, aside from several species of dinosaurs.  Even if you didn't like The Hobbit movie trilogy, you can at least agree the build-up to Smaug's appearance was well made. Seeing him in the teaser trailer, I knew there was no way that would be the finished design. Bennedict Cumberbatch gave a chilling performance providing his voice, and motion-capture. The only issue is, though I did not have a problem with the Dwarves fighting with him, inside Erebor, I also think his attack on Laketown might have been a better climax, but I digress.  Lindsey Buroker, who is giving m...

I have not streamed the Disney Plus series, based on the 1988 underrated classic, Willow, but I will eventually. I heard a lot of people didn't like it, but I have liked movies and shows a lot of others dismissed. I am curious about how they will depict my favorite character in the movie, Madmartigan, with Val Kilmer's declining health. I will now talk about the influence it had on me.  The secondary villain, in the movie, General Kael, gave me an idea for a secret society of knights. They are called the Black Skulls, because they attach human skulls, painted black, to their helmets. The leader of the society's name will be a homage to the actor who played the character in Willow, the late Pat Roach. Like Kael he will ride a great black horse, with horns on his chanfron, wield a cool looking laser sword. I already introduced the mini men, the Seredy brothers, Max and Fritz in my last book. Scientists who developed serum that makes people small. They are now stuck that size ...

I have always liked knights and sword fighting. There was always something about being on horseback that automatically makes you look impressive, no matter who you are. I was about twelve when I saw my mom watching the opening credits to the movie Ladyhawke, and I was confused at first, because it's a dark medieval fantasy, but the opening credits and soundtrack by the Alan Parsons Project, were the most 80s thing you can get.  The story takes place, in Medieval Italy, where a pickpocket, played by Matthew Broderick, escapes an evil bishop's dungeon, the only person to do so. He then meets a mysterious black knight, accompanied by a hawk. While the knight is later nowhere to be seen a mysterious women appears with a wolf. In time, the thief learns that the knight, who was once captain of the bishop's guards, and the lady, were once lovers, and the bishop, who was furious with their love, made a deal with the devil to curse them for life, so they were always together and for...

Two years ago, Shazam got positive reviews, with praise for the action and its sense of fun. I have a feeling, in time, people will start seeing it as one of their favorite Christmas movies, because like Die Hard, it has fun with the holiday, but is not restricted to it. A movie with a title like that, would need a sense of fun, and I had a feeling the sequel would be like that.  It was very much like the first one. I enjoyed the fight scenes, and feeding unicorns, skittles was pretty funny. It was nice to Wonder Woman's cameo. They teased at the next one like they always do with comic book movies, but it was still funny. Whatever, their plans are, I look forward to it.                                                                                          ...

 They say heroes are only as strong as the villains they fight. A lot of times, the villains are the best things in James Bond movies. Sometimes, they are the movie's only merit. One of the most famous villains 007 engaged and few recurring ones, is not commonly known by casual audiences, and that is his nemesis, Ernst Stavro Blofeld.  Introduced in the novel, Thunderball, as head of the SPECTRE organization, Blofeld appeared in two more books, one where he murdered Bond's only wife, Tracy. He was built up in the movies, starting with From Russia with Love, and finally appeared in You Only Live Twice. After Diamonds Are Forever, Blofeld was retired from the franchise, except for at the beginning of For Your Eyes Only where he was not mentioned by name. It was only implied the wheelchair assassin was Blofeld, due to the cat he was stroking, and the indication that he knew Bond.  Blofeld was then retired again for copywrite issues. When I fist saw Casino Royale, my personal...

James Bond fought a variety of villains in the sixty years he's been a movie character. Some of them stick out and are well remembered. Some are quickly forgotten. And some are the only good thing in the movie. A lot of them did give me ideas for villains in future books, if they did not already appear in them.  One of the most unique of them, was Raoul Silva in Skyfall. Javier Bardem said throughout production, that Silva was more than a villain. What he means by that is hard to explain. Silva may not have appeared until almost an hour into the movie but was still fantastic. We can sympathize with him because of how M left Silva to die. The thing about that is in short, there were political reasons she could not rescue him, and there would have been a war if she did. There was no way she could have known his cyanide capsule did not work. That led to his somewhat suicidal side, as he almost got M to shoot them both, even though she was already dying. What makes Silva unique is that...

When I saw there was going to be a movie based on one of the most famous Disney rides, I was one of the few people who was not skeptical. Seeing the trailer, I was intrigued at seeing a PG-13 Disney film. At the time, I was excited about seeing the Lord of the Rings finally made into a movie and anticipated each movie at the end of the year. Because Orlando Bloom was in it, I had a feeling I would see an early trailer, because at the time I had recently started going to movies, mainly to see those. I had a great time seeing it when it was released, at a time when pirates were people downloading movies illegally. I always envisioned pirates in the Covert Militia Campaigns and that gave me ideas for how to portray them. It also gave me a brief crush on Keira Knightly but that came to an end when my former boss made an unfunny sexist joke about it, that I will not talk about now. The story was nothing spectacular, but everyone remembers how Johnny Depp stole the show as Captain Jack Sparr...

  Today marks the sixty-sixth anniversary of the release of The Searchers. I first saw it when I was ten, and it immediately became my favorite Western film. I have always enjoyed that genre, but that gets better every time I see it. I like the name of the protagonist, Ethan Edwards, for obvious reasons, but even if that was not his name, I would still love the movie.   I am surprised The Searchers was not nominated for any Oscars, at least from what I heard. It was a hit when it was released, but it seemed like at first, most people saw it as just a fun Western. In the decades that followed, people started seeing how it was ahead of its time in some way. The main reason, being the racism in the story. Ethan's disdain for them, was clear from the beginning of the movie, with the way he ridiculed his brother's adopted son, who became his sidekick. Martin Pawley may have been inexperienced but was aware something bad would happen if Ethan found his niece the Comanche abduct...

  I have been a dinosaur fan as long as I can remember, and always like seeing them in action/adventure movies. Even if the movie I see advertised, doesn't have top-quality, I still often see such movies. When I saw the trailers for 65, I was pretty sure it would not be great, but because I always liked dinosaurs, I was sure it would have merit, and it did.  There was very little dialogue, and the story was very simple. A space pirate falls through a time slip, and crash lands on Earth during the Mesozoic era. He has to protect his only surviving passenger, from flesh-eating dinosaurs, and that's it. That said, the action scenes were entertaining, which was likely the only reason people saw it.  Because I'm a dinosaur fan, I always envisioned them being in my books. When I told the movie's plot to my mom, she said it sounded like the story I am working on as I am writing this blog. I said, sort of. In my story, the Covert Militia goes to a parallel dimension where every...

 Though I like a fair share of black and white movies, the only one I have in my collection is the original 1933 King Kong. I first saw the colorized version at my grandmother's house when I was almost eight, but that is not what I am writing about. I am writing about the comparison to the original and Peter Jackson's 2005 remake.  I was never sure which one I like more, so for now I call it a tie. There were parts of the original that clearly did not age well, regarding race and gender. The things that were good in the original, however, are still entertaining today. I am mainly talking about the scenes with the dinosaurs and the famous scene on the Empire State Building. I like how in Jackon's they comment on what did not age well, both in the movie they were making and when they present Kong in New York. A critic said, Jackson's was about movie making, and I can see what he meant. It only would have been better if they made the main characters more interesting. They ...

 I already wrote about how I thought the last Star Wars trilogy was good sci-fi, fantasy, action/adventure movies, but not good Star Wars movies. I wrote a little about what would have made them better, but here are some things that I may have left out. I know I can't do anything about it, but maybe they can in the future.  I wrote about how I didn't mind Rey going on the same basic adventure as Luke Skywalker in the original trilogy. The problem was they didn't do anything different with the other characters. I said, it might have been better if Kylo Ren didn't repent and stayed evil. They were clearly trying to give Finn a story arc, but they couldn't decide on the right one. They could have explored what made him renounce the First Order and meet more stormtroopers who did the same. But that only happened briefly near the end of the trilogy. I didn't mind the part on the casino so much, but they could have made it shorter. What they could have done was loose ...

 I was only a baby when Star Wars: Episode VI: The Return of the Jedi was released in theaters. Unlike most Star Wars fans, I never had a problem with the Ewoks, but I see why a lot of people don't like them. That said, whatever Disney has planned for that galaxy in the future, at least in movies, I don't think any Star Wars movie will be as great as A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi. I will quickly mention the prequels, before I get to what I titled this blog. I did not think they were good movies, but they were movies with good things in them. It is obvious, a fair share of people enjoyed those, mostly people who were kids when they were released, which is why I never found the Ewoks annoying.  Now that I got my introduction out of the way, I will say, I thought the sequels were good, sci-fi, fantasy, action/adventure movies, but not good Star Wars movies. They had a lot of missed opportunities that would have made them feel like Star Wars movies. I...

 I never watched the Man From U.N.C.L.E TV series but had heard of it prior to seeing the movie poster in the summer of 2015. I have always enjoyed spy thrillers, and used them as inspiration, which was why I was one of the few people that was interested in seeing it. When I did, I enjoyed the action scenes, and laughed at its sense of humor. The battle at the weapons facility and laughed when the Russian agent tried to impress the girl they were protecting. They may not have been called U.N.C.L.E until the very end, but because my books are part of a series, I didn't mind sequel baiting at the end.  My mom told me about how she used to have a friend over every week to watch it when she was a kid. She laughed after I added it to my movie collection, and enjoyed the action scenes same as I did. I think the only reason it bombed at the box office was because they did not have a modern series based on it. I, however, liked the way it was sent in the 1960s, like the original James...

 Ever since the first Rocky movie, which will always be a masterpiece, every movie in the series has pretty much followed the same formula. It is never a bad thing, because I like those movies. They are always fun to watch in the theater, and if I am over at a friend's house and they want to watch one of them, I will not object.  That said, my thoughts on Creed III are the same as the last one, and it was fun to see. It was weird seeing a Rocky movie where he doesn't appear, but he was not ignored. I like the way they tried to give it depth by establishing Addonis's relationship with his deaf daughter. The boxing scenes, which is what those movies are best known for, were entertaining. It was nice seeing Addonis make peace with his rival at the end.  On an unrelated note, Smashwords is doing their Read an Ebook week. I am giving my latest book, The Penitent Warrior away for free at their website, if you are looking for something to read. 

 It is well established by now that Tolkien's Lord of the Rings is my favorite story ever written. When the movies were being released, I started going to the theater mainly to see the trailers for them. Though I like the theatrical cuts, I feel that there is at least one scene in each film's extended cut that should have been in the theatrical version.  In The Fellowship of the Ring, it is the gift giving in Lothlorien. It would explain why they were wearing different cloaks, and why Legolas was using a different bow. It was funny when Gimli asked for a strand of Galadriel's golden hair, and she gave him three. It gave Celeborn more dialogue, and explained where the lembas bread came from.  In The Two Towers, it is a scene Tolkien himself did not actually write. It was flashback scene where Boromir and Faramir were celebrating their victory in Osgiliath and were interrupted by Denethor. It showed that Boromir clearly loved his brother and gave more depth to why Faramir h...

 Peter Jackson said he made The Fellowship and The Two Towers to get to Return of the King. It was Jackson's favorite, and a lot of people say the same. Mine, however, is still The Two Towers, but I sight the whole trilogy as my favorite book, movie, and favorite story ever written.  The Return of the King finally won the Oscar for Best Picture, though I think they all should have. The Battle of Pelennor Fields was outstanding, even if it felt like an encore to Helm's Deep. There are only a few minor issues I take with it. Those are, I think the Haradrim archers should not have been the only humans fighting for Sauron. They showed Easterlings in the Two Towers, so they could have at least showed them running alongside the oliphants. They didn't have to have all the forces Tolkien mentioned in the book, as some of them were only mentioned and not described. I also think they should have kept the Army of the Dead vague like in the book, and also had the Dunedain fighting with...