Stacy's Blog Has Got It Going On

"Why aren't I looking for idols?" -Julie Rosenberg Well, it's been almost a week since this episode aired and I'm finally getting around to writing this breakdown.  I'm sorry!  I've been in the process of traveling across the country and am writing this from the middle of nowhere in a motel in Nebraska.  Anyway, I really enjoyed this episode and am excited to break down how everyone played in this episode. Who Played Well: Starting over on the Kama tribe, who we didn't see much of, Eric and Joe both did very well in the challenge.  We didn't see much of them otherwise, but they are the best challenge performers on the tribe and I don't imagine they will get voted out anytime soon. Julia and Victoria both handled the situation with Aubry very well.  They were both extremely aware of what Aubry was up to and pointing it out to the other players was a solid move.  They did a great job of throwing Aubry under the bus and ...

"I must break you." -Ivan Drago Ivan Drago (Dolph Lundgren), a Soviet boxer, comes to the United States and faces Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers) in an exhibition match, with Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) working as Creed's trainer.  The match goes horribly wrong and Creed is beaten to death by Drago.  Motivated by revenge, Rocky travels to Moscow to face off against Drago himself in the toughest match of his life. What Works: Ivan Drago is another fantastic villain to go up against Rocky.  He is the polar opposite of Clubber Land (Mr. T) from the previous film.  Clubber was loud, obnoxious, and in your face.  Drago is emotionless throughout the majority of the film, has very little dialogue, and just comes off as cold and brutal.  He's very different from anything Rocky has faced before.  He is also a massive guy and extremely intimidating.  He's a great foe for Rocky to face especially with the added personal conflict of...

"You do know that my leg isn't a chew toy, don't you?" -Hiccup It's been a year since the events of the second movie and Berk has become a sanctuary for dragons under the rule of Chief Hiccup (Jay Baruchel).  Meanwhile, the surviving members of Drago's army from the previous film hire the infamous dragon hunter, Grimmel (F. Murray Abraham), to put a stop to Hiccup's raids on their ships.  With Berk too difficult to defend, Hiccup leads the dragons and the vikings to find a legendary utopia where they will all be safe, but to further complicate matters, Toothless meets another Night Fury and quickly falls for her. What Works: How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World is a stunningly beautiful movie.  The animation looks fantastic, especially during the fiery action scenes.  The color of the Hidden World itself is gorgeous and there are some really amazing looking sequences of Toothless and the female Night Fury flying around.  This f...

"Theresa falls up the stairs.  Theresa falls down the stairs." -Boone Carlyle The 19th episode of Lost follows Locke (Terry O'Quinn) and Boone (Ian Somerhalder) as they continue to try (and fail) to open the hatch.  As Locke starts to lose feeling in his legs again, he has a dream about a small plane crashing on the island.  He convinces Boone to go with him to find the place convinced that whatever is inside will help them open the hatch.  On the way, they find the corpse of a man from Nigeria, dressed as a priest, and armed with a gun. Locke's legs give out and he tells Boone that he used to be paralyzed from the waist down until crashing on the island.  They eventually find the plane on the edge of a cliff.  Boone climbs insides and finds another dead man dressed as a priest, maps of Nigeria, and crates of Virgin Mary statues with heroin inside.  He also finds a radio and attempts to get it working as the plane's weight starts to shif...

"It takes more than a little fire to kill me!" -Stoick Five years after the events of the previous film, dragons and vikings now live in peace on Berk.  Cheif Stoick (Gerard Butler) is preparing to step down as chief and have his son, Hiccup (Jay Baruchel), take over.  Hiccup is reluctant to do so and spends his time with Toothless exploring uncharted lands.  He accidentally stumbles across a group of dragon trappers who work for a ruthless warlord, Drago (Djimon Hounson), who is building a dragon army to rule the world.  Now Hiccup, the vikings, and the dragons have to stand together to take on the mighty wrath of Drago and his secret weapon. What Works: How to Train Your Dragon 2 does what every sequel should do, continue to develop the characters, expand the story, and do something different.  This movie does all of this extremely well and is very reminiscent of The Empire Strikes Back .  Hiccup continues to grow as a character, we g...

"Sometimes, dead is better." -Jud Crandall Dr. Louis Creed (Dale Midkiff) and his family move to Ludlow, Maine, where they live next to a busy road.  Soon after, their pet cat, Church, is hit and killed by a truck.  Louis' neighbor, Jud Crandall (Fred Gwynne), takes Louis to an ancient Micmac burial ground to bury Church and, the next day, the cat is back, but different.  Soon, Louis learns the hard way that sometimes, dead is better... What Works: I have not read the Stephen King book this movie is based on, so I have no idea if this is a good adaptation or not.  But I do know that I really enjoyed this film.  It's rare for a horror movie to get to me, but this one did.  It's a spooky film and I was genuinely creeped out by some of the things that happen in this film.  Parts of Pet Sematary are absolute nightmare fuel.  It's not afraid to go to dark places and nobody is safe. Fred Gwynne is freakin' fantastic as Ju...

"Thanks for nothing, you useless reptile." -Hiccup Berk is village of vikings on a remote island that is frequently attacked by dragons.  Hiccup (Jay Baruchel) is the son of the chief and is a bit of a weakling that nobody respects.  In his attempts to prove his worth as a viking, Hiccup manages to capture and wound an extremely rare dragon known as a Night Fury, but he is unwilling to kill it.  Instead, he frees and befriends the dragon and names him Toothless.  Now Hiccup has to find a way to show the other vikings that they don't need to kill the dragons after all. What Works: Hiccup is an extremely likable protagonist.  We get to witness him go through dragon training with the other young vikings, but he simply doesn't have the physical abilities to do what the other vikings can, so he has to rely on his other skills.  Hiccup studies and learns about the dragons and uses that knowledge to find harmless ways to subdue dragons. ...