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Kevin Klemme
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Mycelia Board Game Review

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River Wild Board Game Review

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Outback Crossing Review

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

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04 May 2016 18:47 #226983 by Grudunza

Michael Barnes wrote: Yeah, every time I watch The Wizard of Oz, I'm like "wow, they really made this movie". It's like something from another world. It's one of those rare works where everything about it- even minor details, flaws and inconsistencies- are so perfectly placed that it almost feels like the creators were divining the will of God to make it. The movie is a miracle, absolutely.

It's all so deeply, culturally resonant...more so than a story from the bible even.

I can't even imagine what it must have been like to see that when it first was shown in theaters.


In 1939!! It was probably hard to even think at the time of what an achievement it really was. The first time I saw Star Wars, sure, it was incredibly awesome, but I didn't have any sense of the place it would have in history. I wonder if people took it for granted. They loved it, sure, but maybe it was like, oh what a nice piece of entertainment that Hollywood made for us... wasn't that nice? And then kind of forgot about it (well, with WWII and all, duh). It's astonishing to think that because of theater booking limitations, it didn't have a long run and lost money, initially, and only became really popular through the annual television performances several years later.

Before watching the "making of" doc, I didn't realize to what extent those Frank Baum books were beloved in society. Someone compared it to what we would think of Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings today. And then to have that movie come out??! Eh, there were probably some jerks who went to see that and complained about the scarecrow not looking quite right compared to Denslow's pictures.
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05 May 2016 11:28 #227030 by Varys
1939 was probably the most amazing year for motion pictures. Just look at the list of films nominated for awards that year and it's crazy. Victor Fleming was the director of both The Wizard of Oz and Gone With the Wind. There's a pretty interesting article about it here:

articles.latimes.com/1989-01-01/entertai...-223_1_greatest-year
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05 May 2016 20:54 #227062 by Grudunza
So it turns out that Yakima, an hour away, has a theater showing Green Room. This is further proof that my area (about 3 times bigger than Yakima) needs an indie theater. Anyway, I'm going tomorrow. I could have driven two hours to Spokane and also seen Sing Street, but that's one I'll want to watch with my girls, so I'll wait for that on video, or maybe eventually it will come here.

Watched A Clockwork Orange yesterday. I hadn't seen it in probably 20 years. That might be one of the more straightforward and stark Kubrick films. It's pretty simple, structurally, and though the message and idea is portrayed very well, there's not a whole lot to grab onto or think about. Which is fine. It's more of a visceral punch in the face in between the headier 2001 and the more symbolic Shining. McDowell's Alex is legendary, and some of the shots are so iconic and wonderful. I don't know if I'd care to watch it again for another 20 years (it beautifully demonstrates its message by testing your limits for violent imagery), but it still has a great impact each time.

One thing that I noticed yesterday is that unlike some other Kubrick films like 2001 where the slow pacing seems impactful, that's not always the case here. For example, the extended scene of Alex being processed into prison gives you a sense of what he's in for now, and the different world he has entered than his milk bar horrorshow days. So that's okay, if a bit long. But then when he's being transferred to the facility where he gets the treatment, there's a scene showing one of the guys there signing a form a few different times, and I'm thinking, really? This part couldn't have been cut? And there were a few other parts like that. It's not that the whole film felt long, or dragged, but it's that kind of thing that I think modern filmmakers like Nolan and the Coens have improved upon; knowing better when to slow things down to create an impact and develop character and setting, but also not farting around, either. And I suppose that's also impatient audiences nowadays needing to get back out of the theater so they can resume playing on their phones.

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05 May 2016 21:24 #227067 by repoman
I am still working through my Kubrick Studies program.

What stands out is how much I love Paths of Glory, Spartacus, and Dr. Strangelove while I loathed Lolita, A Clockwork Orange and Barry Lyndon.

I don't say that the latter three are bad movies. They aren't. I despised the story in Lolita and also in Clockwork Orange. I just don't think I'm hip enough to appreciate the social satire and irony of three hours of watching the life of a horrible pedophile or the ultra violence and rape-a-palooza that is Clockwork Orange.

Barry Lyndon was beautiful but god damn was it boring. Reading Roger Ebert's review of it I am informed that I'm an idiot because that's what Kubrick was going for. Uh, alright if he says so I guess it must be true. Still don't know why I'd want to ever sit through three hours of on purpose boredom again.

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05 May 2016 21:37 #227068 by Michael Barnes
Oh, I can't wait for your take on Eyes Wide Shut...

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05 May 2016 23:29 - 05 May 2016 23:33 #227071 by Grudunza
In Clockwork Orange, though, sure it may be off-putting, but that's the point. I have to give it credit for showing, not telling. If we find the ultra violence and rape upsetting, that's good. We should. But it also parallels the nature of Alex getting to that point, himself, but only by an artificial means. It's not his true nature (though there is a point when he returns to his family where you get a sense that maybe he's actually feeling a small sense of actual remorse for the first time). I think it's brilliant how the music is juxtaposed, again first to us as we hear beautiful Rossini combined with terrible violence, and then later to Alex as he hears Beethoven combined with Nazi propaganda. He's getting what we already knew, that these things don't belong together. The later part of that film only works as well as it does (well, IMO) because we have had the perspective we did from the off-putting super violent earlier part. Eh, I'm not saying you need to like it... in a way, it's hard to like an experience like that... but I think it is a great work for the way it depicts its central idea and makes us part of its experiment.

I saw Eyes Wide Shut when it came out and liked it. I don't remember much about it, but I thought it had some poignant things to say about fidelity and marriage. Ironically, it wasn't a movie I could see again during my marriage... not exactly the kind of film your Mormon wife is likely to want to watch with you. :oP

Barry Lyndon... yawn. Never again. But I do need to watch those early Kubrick movies again.
Last edit: 05 May 2016 23:33 by Grudunza.
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06 May 2016 11:51 #227104 by SebastianBludd
My sons and I saw Captain America: Civil War last night and it was the perfect palate cleanser after the Batman vs. Superman atrocity. The debates and disagreements between the two sides regarding "enhanced human" regulation were well done and the action scenes - despite being framed a little too close in shaky cam - showed more creativity in each individual setpiece than the entirety of BvS (yes, I will continue to kick that film while it's down).

You will not leave this film saying, "If Bucky has a metal arm, why didn't he do X or Y?," because he does everything you can think of, plus a few more you didn't consider. I can't decide if my favorite action scene is Captain America and Bucky vs. the German special forces team or the fight at the airport, but both are insanely creative where each character plays to their strengths and uses their powers in interesting and creative ways. Not content with already having made a B-lister like Captain America seem cool, this film ups the ante and does the same thing with Scarlet Witch and Ant Man. And the new Spider Man is great. Also, there are two post-credit scenes, as usual.
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06 May 2016 13:34 - 06 May 2016 13:42 #227120 by Mr. White

SebastianBludd wrote: Not content with already having made a B-lister like Captain America seem cool...


In what world is Captain America a B-lister?

If he's not _the_ center, he's going to be near the center of anything representing the marvel universe.





My son and I haven't seen Winter Soldier (despite a deal with Netflix for Marvel tv shows...Netflix fails to stream any Marvel movies...) but have seen Age of Ultron. Is there anything we should know from WS going into this?
Last edit: 06 May 2016 13:42 by Mr. White.
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06 May 2016 13:59 - 06 May 2016 14:00 #227121 by Brewmiester
I can't think of anything vital from Winter Soldier as far as back ground information but some of the dialog won't make as much sense if you can't manage WS before seeing Civil War. AoU has more direct bearing.

A buddy from work and I went last night to Civil War. I agree with SB about the action scenes. Part of what I liked the best were the small rivalries between Falcon and Bucky.
Last edit: 06 May 2016 14:00 by Brewmiester.

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06 May 2016 14:00 #227122 by metalface13

Mr. White wrote: My son and I haven't seen Winter Soldier (despite a deal with Netflix for Marvel tv shows...Netflix fails to stream any Marvel movies...) but have seen Age of Ultron. Is there anything we should know from WS going into this?


Did you check Redbox for Winter Soldier? They usually restock older movies when a sequel hits theaters.

If you've read the Winter Soldier comics you should have a pretty good idea about this. Didn't Winter Soldier come out before Age of Ultron?

Spoiler:
Warning: Spoiler!

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06 May 2016 14:36 #227130 by boothwah

Mr. White wrote:

SebastianBludd wrote: Not content with already having made a B-lister like Captain America seem cool...


In what world is Captain America a B-lister?

If he's not _the_ center, he's going to be near the center of anything representing the marvel universe.





My son and I haven't seen Winter Soldier (despite a deal with Netflix for Marvel tv shows...Netflix fails to stream any Marvel movies...) but have seen Age of Ultron. Is there anything we should know from WS going into this?


I think WS would be helpful to establish Bucky's bg and Cap's mindset about not trusting the government. But not critical. It's a superhero movie - I'm sure there's lots of expository dialogue in the first 15 minutes to get you up and running.

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06 May 2016 14:47 #227132 by Shellhead

Mr. White wrote: In what world is Captain America a B-lister?


Ten years ago, it made sense from a mainstream culture standpoint to consider Cap a B-lister, and that was being very generous. From a comic book standpoint, Cap has long been an A-list guy. He was a big deal in comics going back to the early '40s. During Marvel's modern era, there have been nine (or ten, if you count Wolverine) Marvel titles that have always been in print, and Cap starred in at least one of them. He was also often the team leader in the Avengers, another one of those top-selling Marvel titles.

Right now, Captain America is definitely an A-list character even by mainstream standards. He has now starred in five movies within the last five years, with a total box office of nearly $3 billion dollars.
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06 May 2016 15:16 #227139 by ThirstyMan
Errr...I just watched Winter Soldier on Netflix

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06 May 2016 15:22 #227140 by SebastianBludd

Shellhead wrote:

Mr. White wrote: In what world is Captain America a B-lister?


Ten years ago, it made sense from a mainstream culture standpoint to consider Cap a B-lister, and that was being very generous.


This is what I was getting at: I was comparing Cap's pop culture standing before the first Captain America movie - and you could make the same comparison with Iron Man before his first film - to Scarlet Witch and Ant-Man's status before this movie (yes, I know Ant-Man had his own film but it was on a much smaller scale [ha!] than what happens in this movie). I'm not bagging on Cap at all, he has become my favorite hero out of all the current Marvel movies.

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06 May 2016 17:09 #227156 by Gregarius
I saw it this afternoon and can confirm it's pretty great. The action scenes are very well done, Spider-Man is perfect, and amazingly, the trailers did a pretty good job of *not* giving things away. So many characters, and yet I still felt like I got a big enough dose of all of them.

I saw it in 3D IMAX (not by choice) and I wouldn't recommend that. There were many times when I didn't want to be forced where to look on the screen.
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