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Kevin Klemme
March 09, 2020
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Kevin Klemme
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Kevin Klemme
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Mycelia Board Game Review

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December 12, 2023
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December 07, 2023
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River Wild Board Game Review

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December 05, 2023
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November 30, 2023
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Outback Crossing Review

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What MOVIE(s) have you been....seeing? watching?

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29 Feb 2016 13:07 #223529 by Joebot

hotseatgames wrote: Just watched Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Green Destiny on Netflix. I loved the original film, and this is about as proper a sequel as you could ask for. Very classy, very beautiful. Fans of the first film should not hesitate. Newcomers, watch the first film... first.


It had some very striking images, and a couple of great action scenes (namely, the one on the frozen lake), but I thought it tried too hard to replicate the relationships of the original. You had the "unrequited love" between the two older characters, and then you had the 'forbidden" romance of the two younger characters. And all four characters fell into exactly the same basic character tropes! They tried to make the story more epic, with an evil warlord and a bunch of Jedi Knights Followers of the Iron Way, but most of that fell flat for me. I also wish they'd stuck with Mandarin language dialogue, and English sub-titles. Seeing these character speak English was jarring.

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29 Feb 2016 13:15 #223530 by hotseatgames
Not sure how you have your settings, but when I watched it, it was all sub-titled.

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29 Feb 2016 14:19 - 29 Feb 2016 14:22 #223533 by Shellhead

Shellhead wrote: Back when it first came out, Time Bandits failed to capture my interest, so I skipped it and have never seen it until now. Either it's an overwhelming confirmation bias or I have keen instincts about trailers, but I am rarely wrong when I avoid something for this long. Sorry if I am taking a big steaming piss on somebody's nostalgia, but Time Bandits is a poor movie. The flimsy plot is little more than an excuse for a series of frantic randomfests of activity by the principal actors, who do little more than shout out lines at assigned intervals. Maybe it got really good in the final 30 minutes, after I dozed off, but when a movie has run on that long without capturing my slightest interest, I doubt it.

I don't hate Terry Gilliam. I liked his work with Monty Python, I really enjoyed Brazil, and I loved 12 Monkeys. But Time Bandits was only his second movie, and his first after Monty Python, so perhaps he merely struggled with overall process. Whatever the reason, Time Bandits wasn't funny, and it wasn't much of anything else either. Frankly, Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure covered similar territory with considerably more wit and talent.


I still had a couple of days before it was due back at the library, so I put Time Bandits on again and re-watched the part that I slept through. I did find some enjoyment in watching the big battle with the bad guy, though the ending with the parents still sucked. That ending felt like Gilliam just thinking dismissively that he was tired of movies with happy endings, so he just arbitrarily selected a mean ending to the movie.

Since this was the Criterion Collection edition, there was a whole disc of extras. I skipped the commentary track on the main disc, but I did give the extras a shot.

First, there was a feature on the costume and set design work, and it made me realize that those aspects of the movie were fairly good, especially given the relatively low budget of the movie.

Another feature was about 90 minutes long, with Terry Gilliam at some kind of Q&A session at an event in Finland in 1998. There weren't many questions, but Gilliam gave long answers that often featured interesting anecdotes. It ran that long because it covered his whole career, as well enough information about his childhood to help understand how this guy ended up as the American in Monty Python. I really enjoyed this feature. Gilliam is a self-aware guy with a knack for story-telling.

There was also a short interview of Shelly Duvall, by Tom Snyder. The questions weren't particularly good, but Duvall did a decent job of conveying the experience of working on this movie.

Reconsidering my previous comments, I still think that Time Bandits was not a good movie. I think that Gilliam had a lot of interesting ideas, but by making a kid and several dwarves the focus of the movie, he was practically doomed to get lousy performances. I have nothing against either kids or dwarves, but both present potential challenges, and Gilliam was not experienced or skilled enough at that time overcome the challenges. A child actor can be very, very good, but it probably takes superior communication by a director to get a strong performance. And there just aren't a lot of actor/dwarves to start with, so the odds of getting one who can also act well is probably unlikely. Aside from Peter Dinklage and that guy from Willow, I can't even think of any good actors who are also dwarves. So Time Bandits had an ambitious story with neat costumes and sets, but faltered due to weak performances.
Last edit: 29 Feb 2016 14:22 by Shellhead.
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29 Feb 2016 15:30 #223538 by Columbob

Shellhead wrote: Aside from Peter Dinklage and that guy from Willow, I can't even think of any good actors who are also dwarves.


And you can enjoy them together in Prince Caspian!

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29 Feb 2016 18:17 #223543 by Grudunza
Watched Trumbo a few days ago. I really liked it. Very witty, and I tend to like those kind of behind-the-scenes Hollywood stories. One thing I found weird, though, was Brian Cranston’s accent. The thing is, it was fine, but it was practically his own voice, anyway. So it ended up sounding like him just exaggerating everything he was saying. I think he should have just stuck with his own voice. But otherwise, it was quite good.

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29 Feb 2016 21:31 #223555 by Sevej
Finally watched Mad Max: Fury Road. Actually had to watch it in two separate times since I don't want it played while my daughter is around.

In short, it's fucking great .

I haven't seen such a great action movie since... forever. Clear crisp pictures, amazing action... I mean, they live in a such a dirty and dusty world, but everything looks fabulous. Then there are things that I can only see in a Mad Max movie, such as the pole guys on the last action scene. And, what a great scene!

There's an amazing world building here, but in this regard, I still like John Wick better.

The thing is, I'm not sure what's keeping me from loving the movie. Is it the narrow scope? But I loved Dredd for it. May be it's my expectation for a grander scheme. Also the characters are a bit... one-dimensional? The action is much more interesting than the characters.
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01 Mar 2016 09:28 #223566 by Columbob

Sevej wrote: Then there are things that I can only see in a Mad Max movie, such as the pole guys on the last action scene. And, what a great scene!

Those pole dippers reminded me of something you might see at a Cirque du soleil show, I wouldn't be surprised if the performers came from that background.

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01 Mar 2016 10:26 #223567 by Legomancer
I really wish they would have just called it "Fury Road"

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01 Mar 2016 13:36 #223575 by Black Barney
They're filming John Wick II now. I saw Keanu running beside another dog.

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01 Mar 2016 20:42 #223598 by Pat II
Speaking of child actors, all of the children in The Witch were great. The movie was great.

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02 Mar 2016 08:52 #223623 by Shellhead

Pat II wrote: Speaking of child actors, all of the children in The Witch were great. The movie was great.


I agree. I think that's one reason why I was so harsh on Time Bandits. The kids in The Witch were all fine actors, even while speaking in Olde English or chanting gibberish. The kid in Time Bandits seemed like he was practically sleepwalking through his scenes.

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02 Mar 2016 08:55 #223625 by charlest
Really enjoyed Spotlight. Closest thing to All The President's Men I've seen, which is one of my favorite films.

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02 Mar 2016 10:29 - 02 Mar 2016 10:31 #223631 by Mr. White
Two netflix sci-fi movies down.

Equilibrium - Not a bad little little b-flick. It's got Sean Bean, Christian Bale, Tye Diggs and Robert the Bruce as some father of society. I like the concept of this religious order taken hold and the enforcers being 'clerics'. Gun-kata seems like a quick way to lose your hearing...not sure blasting away with firearms that close to your ear is a good idea, but i like that they're attempting something different. Reminds me of the gun-fu schticks in the Feng Shui rpg. Overall, not very memorable, but I'm guessing this was a Matrix knock-off of some sort.

Escape From LA - Man, I don't think I've seen this since my one viewing back in the theater 20 years (!) ago. As a huge EfNY (top 3 film) and Snake Plissken fan I was very disappointed that this seemed to be a cheaply made remake of EfNY. This viewing... wasn't so bad. I actually found myself enjoying it quite a bit. Maybe I've changed, maybe it isn't as bad as my initial disappointment led me to believe, but most likely I just miss this sort of middle of the road/budget film that used to come out in the theaters. The CGI hasn't held up well at all, but I'm not sure any CGI from the 90s (outside of the Jurassic Park and the Matrix) is going to hold up. Overall, this film reminds me of how Evil Dead II is a campy sequel/reboot of Evil Dead. I get the same vibe here and after a little digging around it seems as if a reboot of EfNY was going to be done, but with Carpenter brought on to direct he made it a reboot/sequel hybrid. One thing that's noticeably different. EfNY really could have been any big city as a penal colony. EfLA is definitely set in LA as most of the film lampoons and skewers the culture and lifestyle of LA. I'm guessing this is due to Carpenter's continued frustration with Hollywood.

Anyway, this was put out sometime last year. Worth a brief watch if you like these flicks.



Next film to watch....Automata.
Last edit: 02 Mar 2016 10:31 by Mr. White.
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02 Mar 2016 10:54 #223633 by Gregarius
Speaking of reboot/remakes, I saw Creed the other day. I liked it quite a bit. It's an interesting mash-up of different and same when compared to the original Rocky. It's very well done, and a solid feel-good kind of movie. The long, seemingly-unbroken take of his first real fight was incredible.

One thing that bugged me, and this is just a standard Hollywood trope and not really the movie's fault, had to do with his girlfriend. Of course they have a meet-cute, and of course she's beautiful, and of course she's also a talented musician. Just once, I'd like for a movie to have a character like her just be a terrible singer. Or even just the bassist in a mediocre band, instead of the lead singer/songwriter. They could even make that a hurdle to their relationship, when he has to be supportive even when she doesn't deserve it. But that's not why people escape to the movies I guess.
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02 Mar 2016 11:03 #223634 by Black Barney
"you wanna come out and see me sing tonite, Rocky?''

"uh....i'm busy...''
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