Rise of the Fellowship (2013)

Rise of the Fellowship: Directed by Ron Newcomb. With Justin Moe, Jayme Andrews, Cole Matson, Emma Earnest. Randall Dooley is a geek. His three best friends are geeks too. He works in a game shop, he spends all his free time playing online games, his older brother bullies him unmercifully, his widowed mom doesn’t understand him, and he’s hopelessly in love with the prettiest cheerleader in high school. In short, he’s a loser. All of that changes when he hears of the Lord of the Rings gaming competition in Orlando, Florida. Finally! Meaning in life! The FellowsHip is a buddy-comedy written in honor of online gamers and The Lord of the Rings. Full of Tolkien-references and good-hearted parody, The FellowsHip will appeal to Tolkien-fans and gamers alike, as well as anyone who’s never been part of the in-crowd.

“Sharing some cinematic DNA with 2002u0026#39;s u0026quot;Max Magician and the Legend of the Ringsu0026quot;, u0026quot;Rise of the Fellowshipu0026quot; is another Mid-Atlantic lensed, low-budget fantasy epic that lucked into a wide release by being marketed as a quickie u0026quot;Lord of the Ringsu0026quot; cash-in. u0026quot;Fellowshipu0026quot; can at least boast the nice professional look of a Syfy or Lifetime original, but past that, u0026quot;Max Magicianu0026quot; wins out in this dubious race to the top of the Walmart cut-out bin since it actually has some plot and structure– cliché, simple- minded and predictable though it may be.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eu0026quot;Fellowshipu0026quot;, on the other hand, is just a clumsy stringing together of imagery from the u0026quot;Lord of the Ringsu0026quot; without regard to coherence or meaning; itu0026#39;s like being trapped in an elevator with a foaming-at-the-mouth Peter Jackson ultra-nerd ranting along the lines of u0026quot;Remember that scene where that thing happened? Wasnu0026#39;t that great? And that other scene where that other thing happened? So awesome! And then that….u0026quot; Within five minutes of watching this film, youu0026#39;ll seriously consider taking your own life; after ten minutes, your loved ones will be making funeral arrangements. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eNormal folks with critical thinking facilities intact will want to steer clear of this but if youu0026#39;re an undiscriminating dork whou0026#39;s a sucker for shameless fan boy pandering, bring a large spoon because youu0026#39;ll want to savor every delicious drop. Bon Appétit!”