#RPGaDay2015 Days 6-9 catching up

Time to play catch up on this blog project. I was travelling for work last week and unable to keep up. 

Day 6:  Most Recent RPG Played
I had the opportunity to play in a Delta Green one-shot prior to GenCon. It was a playtest for a scenario at GenCon. We over-thought the first portion of the game, forgetting the prime rule of a one-shot. You are in an one-shot, you are the stars of the show, go do something or force something to happen. If you don't, the scenario never ends. All three Delta Green agents survived and we completely burned the friendly who was assisting us. He likely ended up in Gitmo or some other black hole in ground. 

Day 7:  Favorite Free RPG
In the early days of the game, Eclipse Phase was available for free to download. The product was so good that many people went on to purchase the game. Enough sales of that core book have occurred to drive it to a fourth printing, 7 published adventures, and another 5-10 other source books. I think I own a digital copy of most of their products, even if I haven't read them all. I backed the most recent Kickstarter project:  Transhuman. It's awesome. The books are layed out well, have beautiful interiors, and the setting can do anything you want. The two detractions I hear the most about this game are the rules system (percentile based) and how large the space is in which to play. The game is set up to let you do anything you want with it and you can. If you want a hard sci-fi game with aliens, you can. If you want dimension hopping through portals, it's available. If you want to go on antique hunting adventures to Earth, you can - but I wouldn't. Body morphs and lasers and space ships and sentient AIs and Things Man was Not Meant to Know are all in there. 

To the best of my knowledge, it is no longer a free game. Look around the Internet, I may be wrong.

Day 8:  Favorite Appearance of RPG in Media
I can't say that I have a favorite. I watched and loved the Dungeons & Dragons cartoon as a kid. I own the episodes on dvd. I enjoyed the quick snippets of roleplaying games that show up in TV shows, like season nine of Buffy. GG appeared in an episode of Futurama. I guess the old cartoon is my favorite, but this isn't a topic I think long and hard on. 



Day 9:  Favorite Media You Wished Was an RPG
I was going to say Flash Gordon, but GORDON'S ALIVE! So, I'll go with something more up to date, with just as much silliness, but not quite the amount of glam or camp:  Jupiter Ascending. This movie has so much going on in the background, that it almost feels as if it were designed to be a tv series and then someone kicked it to the movie production business. The mainline is girl who doesn't know she's super awesome important, finds out, finds friends that will help here, and then wins the day. Or, you can go to IMDB or Wikipedia and get a real description. Whatever.

Jupiter Ascending brings elements of Flash Gordon, Dune, Highlander II (come on, I'm not the only one that thought of that with the rocket booster roller skate things), and everything else they could throw into it. There is a big, all powerful family who is fighting in and among themselves to control the universe. As it turns out, Jupiter, a young adult with horrible parental units, can save the day. She can't do it alone and needs help from others, including a human with wolf's blood or genes or something. 

The movie is painful at times. You don't know whether to watch the background images or pay attention to the characters. If you pay attention to the characters, you get some stilted dialogue, over acting, and a sense of, "what were they thinking?" At the same time, the amount of CGI or paintings used to fill the blank space around the characters is amazing. There are worlds to be explored in this setting. Worlds, we'll never see, because the movie really wasn't that good. 

Also:  Sean Bean does not die in this film, even though he is in it.
Also Also:  No soundtrack by Queen.
Also Also Also:  There was a Flash Gordon and the Warriors of Mongo rpg by Lin Carter and Scott Bizar that I didn't know about until I went looking for a link to Pinnacle Entertainment Group's upcoming game based upon the movie Flash!.

Past entries in the #RPGaDay2015 project

Day One

Day Two

Day Three

Day Four

Day Five

The November Man (review)

 An ex-CIA operative is brought back in on a very personal mission and finds himself pitted against his former pupil in a deadly game involving high level CIA officials and the Russian president-elect. (from IMDB.com)

The November Man stars Pierce Brosnan (Remington and Mrs. Steele), Luke Bracey (G.I.Joe:  Retaliation), Olga Kurylenko (Quantum of Solace), and Bill Smitrovich (Millenium). You will likely recognize several of the other actors playing second string characters.

The movie is based on the book There are No Spies by Bill Granger. I have not read the book. If anyone has, please speak up as to whether or not it's worth picking up.

Pierce Brosnan makes his return to the world of the spy/thriller genre with a solid movie.

An ex-CIA operative is brought back in on a very personal mission and finds himself pitted against his former pupil in a deadly game involving high level CIA officials and the Russian president-elect.

It stars Pierce Brosnan (Remington and Mrs. Steele), Luke Bracey (G.I.Joe:  Retaliation), Olga Kurylenko (Quantum of Solace), and a bald Bill Smitrovich (Millenium). You will likely recognize several of the other actors playing second string characters.

The movie is based on the book There are No Spies, by Bill Granger. I have not read the book. If anyone has, please speak up as to whether or not it's worth picking up. The book and movie are likely very divergent, that does not matter to me.

There was much speculation over the ending of Pierce Brosnan's run as Ian Fleming's James Bond. A role he strove for during and following his run on Remington and Mrs. Steele. A role I felt he was destined to play and a role I feel was destroyed by the end of his run. His third and fourth were the first Bond films I remember never seeing in the theatre. (But Goldeneye, oh Goldeneye, you were a thing of beauty.) He has repeatedly held the line that the end of his run was a decision of the production company deciding to move in a different direction. Seven years after The World is Not Enough, Casino Royale hit the big screen and proved they went in a new direction like they said they would. Post The World is Not Enough, Pierce Brosnan has stayed away from action roles. Pierce Brosnan makes his return to the world of the spy/thriller genre with a solid movie. 

Pierce Brosnan plays Devereaux, a man who retired from the spy business, lives in Europe where he runs a cafe, and has a deeply burried secret that even his old friends know nothing about. The movie starts by setting up the primary male leads of Peirce Brosnan, Luke Bracey, and Bill Smitrovich's character. An Op goes down, tradecraft saves the life of the bad guy's target, but there is blowback due to a mistake. You find out later how much blowback likely occurred. We aren't told, we're just shown what paperwork was filled out. Flash forward a few years and Devereaux is a retired man when Hanley (Bill Smitrovich), his former handler, walks back into his life. Hanley shows some evidence of bad things happening and who he thinks is next, an old acquaintance of Deveraeux's.

This is a basic set up. As we move through the story, we discover that opposing players (from the same team) are working to exfil the next target, a bad ass Russian assassin (played by Amila Terzimehic), and several different reversal reveals. We learn the truth from the bad guys (of course) and it's a truth we can't handle (but we will). We learn what buried secret exists about our hero, and there are at least three reversals of who is a good guy, who is a bad guy, and who is just a selfish bastard. The movie does not confirm the death of all the characters, which could leave it open to more movies. However, I don't think another movie is needed. Everything is wrapped up in a mostly neat bow by the time credits roll.

There are elements of other spy/thriller movies at play. At times I was reminded of Bond, Bourne, and even Sam. Throughout it all, Pierce Brosnan plays it to the hilt. He is conflicted over his secret, conflicted over who is burning who, conflicted over he should let others get their revenge their way or his own, and uses whisky as necessary. In a way, this is James Bond five years later. He's done, retired, making a living outside the Agency, the Company, or in Bond's case, MI6. When completely stressed, he turns to alcohol, a feature of the Bond films I find is not as solid in movies as it is in the books. All Devereaux wants to do is the right thing to help the people that need the help.

This movie is not for people who do not like the spy genre. This movie is not for people who like big, over the top, spy movies such as Bourne or Bond. There are big scenes, but it is not a movie filled with big explosions and over the top chase scenes. It is more realistic (as much as movies can be) than that. It is a movie where the characters try to do smart things to outwit the others, before shooting each other. If this movie does not do well at the box office, it is because it does not pander to the stereotypical movie goers who just want to sit and watch a screen.

This movie is for people who like the genre. There is action, there is very little blood, and enough thinking for people who want a little brain candy. Do not think too hard throughout the movie, as there are a couple of things that occur which made me do a double take. There was nothing in the movie that made me feel like I had to see it on the big screen. It would be just as good on the television via your video provider of choice. The movie was fun to watch and is not overly bloody. In face, in most scenes involving blood, they are reaction scenes - as they should be. Showing blood after the fact reinforces the point someone was just injured. Showing blood during the fact is a way to show off the action and does nothing to move the story forward.

Moving the story forward is something done very well in this film. The writing is tight and the editing follows right along. There are not a lot of extra story bits included in the movie. The movie is stripped down to what is needed and stays focused on just that. At the same time, nothing feels left out. We need to know Devereaux is a former spy, who is a bad ass, and is thrust back into his old life. That is what we get. I find we get more than that in movie's today. I don't want exposition. I want a tight story that moves along and gets me to the end. Exposition will show itself in the actions of the characters and the actors portraying them.

For those of you playing Night's Black Agents or other spy games (Spycraft, Top Secret, or even James Bond), this is a good movie for you. The activities are present for you to see and count the spends. When Bill Smitrovich's character is being questioned, he spends the points to resist interrogation, playing the situation back on the interrogator. They then spend more points to bad ass the situation up. When Luke Bracey is racing to save the day at the end of the film, he burns through at least six points in Athletics and likely another 10 in Firearms, looking like the pro he is throughout the entire sequence. When Devereaux needs money or to move between locations, it stays in the background like it should with an NBA game. "I spend Preparedness and hand a wad of money to the girl" and then we see the money exchange hands. There is no, "Let's go show where all of this money is hidden" business you see in many movies. We already know Devereaux is a bad ass, so why would we need to watch him go get his money? On the technology side, there is a hand held cell phone tracker that I do not recall seeing in a film, before. We see the use of an aerial, unarmed drone. They even track cell phones that are not being used to locate someone.

Film Friday

I was cruising through movie trailers today and came across these three. All three have elements that can be stolen for roleplaying games. All three videos are via YouTube, in case anyone doesn't have Flash loaded.

First up is "Hammer of the Gods." There's nothing new here. It's a classic vikings invade Britain during the Middle Ages, the king's son must be brought home to save the people, and lots of fighting. I fear this trailer shows us everything worth seeing the film.

The next one is "The Prototype" and is about a land based military drone that gets out. I think there is more to the movie than that, as it hints that we may have a case of sentience transfer, as well. This has elements that could be utilized in a Cyberpunk, Shadowrun, or even Conspiracy X game.

I think this final film is the one that looks the best. If you are looking for South Korean action in espionage filled Berlin, "The Berlin File" may be for you. I doubt it's a Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, but I think it'll do just fine.It's already out and showing in some theatres, but no where near me.

Judgement is Here

The new Judge Dredd movie, Dredd 3D, stars Karl Urban as a law provider in Mega City One and Olivia Thirlby as rookie Judge Anderson. Yes, that Judge Anderson. This movie claims nothing to do with the Stallone-Assante-Schneider-Prochnow-von Sydow-Lane movie from 1995.

Judge Dredd is a British comic book first published in 1977 (making it the same age as my little brother).

The movie opens up with a brief voice-over by Urban slightly explaining the world. For those not familiar with Judge Dredd, it is a bad time to be alive. One megacity runs along the east coast from around Boston to south of the District of Columbia. Mortality rates are high, unemployment rates are high, and crime is so bad the “Judges” are created. In this dystopian future, the judicial system became so back logged that police officers were given the right to become judge, jury, and (when necessary) executioner. These are the Judges. The Judges are armed with special weapons (“lawgivers”), wear good equipment, and ride rad motorcycles (“lawmasters”). The movie does not spend much time going into the inner workings of the Judges, the hall of justice, and other background information such as those. It provides us with touch pieces we can relate to, twists them enough for us to realize they are different, and then shows them to us in this new world.

For me, that is exactly where this movie fails. The first Dredd movie made sure we understood the world. We knew what the judicial system was about. We understood what Judges were up against on a day to day basis. Here, we just know that Judges are similar to our police. We know the world is a gritty, ugly place. We do not know that the Judges are the ruling body of law in Mega City One. We do not know that Judges like Joe Dredd and his brother Rico were genetically created.

If you do not know the setting going into the movie, you will not know the setting leaving the movie.

That said, as a fan of Judge Dredd via the British comics and not the horrible DC comics, I thought the producers did several things correct. First, this movie is a “day in the life” look at what Judges go through. The movie opens with a chase sequence that ends poorly for the perp. By shooting the movie in South Africa, Americans will likely not recognize the scenery, lending it an otherworldly presence. The movie furthers the “day in the life” feel by only dealing with one real scenario – the investigation of three deaths in a “block.” There is no big, overarching metaplot about Judges losing control, ABC Warriors being used by an evil twin, or a big, dumb, resident of the Big Stinkie being reduced to a comedic sidekick whose best line is a “Cursed Earth Pizza” joke. Instead we receive a less than thirty minute intro to the movie with voice over, chase sequence, and introduction of the rookie Judge that Dredd must take out on the street and judge her performance.

That is what the comic did, issue after issue. It kept the main storyline in your face and focused. If there was a metaplot, it had to stay in the background. As a serial comic book series, it could not sit out front and hog the limelight. Yes, there were strips where the metaplot was in your face, but that was all that was in focus. It allows for the forest versus trees versus forest view.

The 3D special effects are put to great use in the movie. The bad guys control a city block, which in this case is a 200-story tall apartment complex, complete with shops and a medical center. Within this block, they produce a drug they call, “Slo-Mo.” The affects of Slo-Mo is that your brain processes everything in slow motion. The movie often switches view from our perception to that of the drug users, utilizing the 3D technology to give us insight into their world. Colors are more vibrant, streams of water can be seen instead of gouts of water, falling water droplets can be seen at different depths on screen, and the facial expressions of the users are slowed down to exaggerate the effect. There are not many combat 3D special effects in the movie. They are not needed.

Speaking of combat and violence, there is more in this movie than you might expect. If you find yourself thinking, “Oh, they won’t show that perp falling 200 stories and splatting on the deck,” you would be wrong. They do show it. They show bullets entering and exiting bodies. They show glimpses of skinning bodies. They show the remnants of those bodies that feel 200 stories and went splat. I would put the amount of violence and gore in this movie on par with Punisher:  War Zone. In fact, there is quite a resemblance between the two movies. Both are about ultra-violent ant-heroes going through a building killing bad guys. In fact, PWZ may have more plot to it than Dredd 3D.

The look and feel of the movie is dark and gritty. I have seen it referred to as “neo-noir” and it does appear to fit that moniker. We see the tall blocks, we see waste and trash, the hall of justice stands out in cleanliness and sterility. Judge Dredd has the look of a mean Dirty Harry* combined with Mad Max's leather, while rookie Judge Anderson is cleaner, more innocent looking. Shadows abound in this movie, providing depth and potential for meaning. Judge Anderson also provides subjectivity against Judge Dredd’s more black and white world-view. She has a life background that provides her the ability to see more possibilities while on the job than review, arrest, judge. The action is hard boiled with the Judges and perps playing for keeps in this non-stop action flick. You want machine guns? You get them. You want gas grenades? You get those, too. You want lawgivers that don’t like incorrectly DNA-coded hands trying to use them? Yes, you will see what happens to those perps, as well.

At the end of the day, this is a movie for fans of the Judge Dredd comic book series who want an over the top, action packed, helmet never being removed, gore fest where at the end of the day, perps are adjudicated.

*Has anyone else noticed that Arnie appears to be doing an impression of Clint Eastwood in the trailers for The Last Stand?

What I'm not reading

Not too much, actually. I started The Black Lizard Big Book of Pulps, but it's painful. I mentioned it here. I'm done with trying to read it. I don't know how far I made it into the book, but it's just too dreadful to continue reading. Less than 100 pages, I know that much.

No rpg books lately. My rpg world is in a standstill. This idea looks odd, could be good could be bad, but I'd have to read it first.

I'm in the mood for some horror. I hear The Thing "prequel" is pants. That's too bad, the trailers looked nice. I will have to catch it on Redbox. Zombies sound tasty. Maybe I'll Redbox The Walking Dead this weekend. 6 episodes should be easy to fit in on a weekend afternoon. Or, I could introduce PJ to Millenium. The weather today reminded me of season one.

A zombie rpg sounds like fun, too. Maybe I should look into running a miniseries? I have plenty of rpg systems to choose from: AFMBE, Storyteller, Pathfinder, Cadillacs and Dinosaurs, Dark Heresy, Obsidian, or even Human Occupied Landfill. I've contemplated running something set in the world of Left 4 Dead. Word on the interwebs is they are working on a 3rd game. I heard Dead Island was crap. (Guess I'll pick up Batman once we bore of Gears of War 3). Maybe I'll just outline it and post it here.

That and all the other zombie stuff I've written, but not published.

In past years, I've spent time reading Lovecraft around this time of year. Before him, it was Bradbury. I find myself not all that interested in reading them this year. I don't know why. The taste is there at the back of my tongue, waiting.

What I am reading is two things. The first is Lowell Francis' Robot Zero. Everyone who knows me knows that I am not a huge fan of classic, 4 color, super hero stuff. I like darker comics, more sarcastic comics, or just not super hero comics. Lowell fills two of those voids for me with this series.

The thing I'm reading is Glen Cook's Chronicles of the Black Company. I have less than 200 pages left in the third book, The White Rose. I'm not sure if I will continue on after this one. I need some pick up and go with this story. It is slowing down too much for me. The first book was slow, but gave me a solid feeling about the setting and the characters. I don't need that now, I need action. I'm getting setting history. I've heard the rpg for this series was good. I may pick it up one of these years if I see it in the 2nd hand pile for sale.

The Black Company series is not horror, but it has some horrible characters in it. It is a gritty look at a fantasy campaign at the trench level. Where I loved George RR Martin's A Game of Thrones for being a great top-down approach to storytelling great characters, this series is more of a bottom-up approach.

Hey look, I finally posted something in October.

Hard Boiled - men and women

I've been reading detective yarns as of late. I just finished the third volume of The Mike Hammer Collection.

I liked this one more than the second volume. The writing in the second volume's collection felt forced. Too much hard sex, too much brutal violence, as if it was there just to have it there. I know sex and violence belong in the genre, but it has to have meaning or it loses its place.

Like Robert E. Howard's work, not all of Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer stories were published in the order he wrote them. Yet, this book series (the collections I've read) are set up as published in history. I think I would have rather read the stories in the order Spillane originally intended.

Whatever way you cut it, though, I've enjoyed reading all three volumes in this collection and wouldn't mind rereading the first two volumes, again.

I picked up The Black Lizard Big Book of Pulps as something to read in order to tide me over for the time being. I've been shopping in book stores and that normally does nothing o depress me. Barnes and Noble may be good enough for the commoner, but for someone who wants more than what the current distributors are pushing hot and heavy, it ain't the place for me. I've just started the book, so no opinions on it, yet.

In the mean time, I'm thinking on new to me hard boiled fiction to read. While cruising the 'net, I came across a quick, nice article on Modesty Blaise, Ms. Tree, and Tara Chace. The article is by a feminist and actually spans three posts. I'm linking to the second post, which begins discussing the characters. The first post discusses the pedigree of the blogger and another that gave a presentation on (strong character) detective females. I've heard of all three of these characters before. I am probably the most familiar with Modesty, but not that much. I do know to skip the 1966 movie, unless I'm watching Our Man Flint and In Like Flint in the same sitting. I'm intrigued by the 2004 release My Name is Modesty: A Modesty Blaise Adventure that was produced overseas. There's also a TV series that I know nothing about.

The article gives me enough info to tease me into wanting to know more about these characters. I've been tempted to pick up something with Modesty in it. I think I will keep an eye out for novels or trades of the original comic series. I much prefer the source material than I do the continuation of the stories following the authors retiring the characters (often the authors' deaths). I am curious to see these depictions of women as hard boiled characters, ready to strike out with guns and quick with the dialogue. If they are half as fun as the characters of Spillane, Chander, or Hammett, the books will be worth the price of admission.

And if all of this has bored you, go check out Inspector Tequila in Hard Boiled

Give 'Em Hell, Malone

From The Online World of Tim Bradstreet Tim Bradstreet:



"Give 'Em Hell Malone is a new film from Director Russell Mulcahy (Highlander), and stars Thomas Jane, Ving Rhames, and rising Spanish star Elsa Pataky. It's a somewhat low budget crime/noir action thriller that will be making the rounds this month at the Cannes Film Festival in search of a distributor. I had the pleasure of creating a series of movie posters for the film and designed the opening title sequence. The new Cannes trailer was just released as well. Take a look right here -> Give 'Em Hell Malone - Red Band Cannes Trailer

Stay tuned for more information and release dates. Should be out this fall. If you are on Facebook, we have a fan page, please come join us - Give 'Em Hell Malone on Facebook."

Count me in!

Back to the movies

It's been some time since I've posted. I haven't had a lot to talk about. I seem to be in a funk lately. It happens and eventually I'll break out of it.

I thought I'd go back to an old stand-by topic today - movies. We'll start with recent purchases and then move on to script-writing.

This week I picked up two copies of Quantum of Solace and one of Punisher: War Zone. Yes, I liked them both when I saw them in the theatre.

The two copies of QoS are for different media. The first that I purchased was via iTunes. I picked this up for three reasons. The first is to support this type of digital media. The more people spend on movie downloads, the quicker that technology will be more readily available. Let's face it, outside of HD/Blue Ray, video watching technology for the masses is not moving. It's starting to pick up, though. Netflix with it's download technology and more websites like Hulu coming about will push this closer to the forefront.

The second reason is that I wanted a copy with the extras on it as a dvd. That's my main source of movie watching. I don't care for going to the movie theatre, I haven't for years. I don't find the dollar to fun value all that high up there.

The third reason is that I wanted the iTunes copy for my movie making self. I find it much easier to watch movies for specific details on the smaller screen size of both my laptop and my iPod. Yes, my iPod! Camera angles and moves are easier to watch. Actions outside of the 4:3 ratio are easier to catch. Set-ups for Violence (stage combat) or stunts can be seen. I've also seen some interesting special effects when waching the outside portion of 16:9 ratio movies. All of this and more gives me information on how other people work their magic.

Punisher: War Zone worked for me. I'm interested to see it on the small screen to see how it comes across. Don't bother flaming me for liking this ultra-violent, over the top, movie. I like it and that's that. (It has the Brad Street Hotel for crying out loud!)

I also picked up the Punisher: War Zone soundtrack. It works for me, but I'm sure it won't be a go-to album for anything, besides maybe writing background music.

I've been asked by a friend to help with two school projects. One of them will simply have me overacting and hamming it up for the camera. I haven't seen the script, but I know the topic at hand and that we'll be shooting most of it in my living room.

The other project is much more intersting to me and has me excited. He wants to do a 2-3 minute short peice of people fighting with lightsabres. His project is to add the special effects to the video and then explain how the special effects work (or something like that). I've signed on to write, choreograph, and direct this no budget thriller.

I've put together 2 scripts thus far. He hasn't seen them and has final right as producer (and director of photographer and editor and whatever else he needs to do to pass the class) to toss them out the window. I wrote the first script after he and I spoke over the phone about what he was looking for in the short short film. After I had that banged out and rewritten, I headed out to one of the places I'm thinking of using for the film.

I walked through some of the blocking I would need to use to film the script. In doing so, I discovered several challenges with the location. There are many modern day items in the area that could cause problems such as signs, posts, street lights, and buildings off in the distance that may be seen depending on how much more plant growth we get in the next week or so.

In doing this, the script began to rewrite itself in my mind. Not only does the landscape lend itself to this new script direction, I like the new script direction. The first script has two people meeting, a transfer of the MacGuffin, those two people departing, the bad guy shows up and kills the person who originally had the MacGuffin, later the receiver of the MacGuffin meets the bad guy, and then they fight.

The second script actually slims down the story and tightens it up a bit. The same idea is present. The two people meet, but this time, the good guy who fights the bad guy is the one that hands over the MacGuffin. When the second good guy leaves, we never see him again. The fight starts (script-wise) within 45 seconds (movie time) after that. This version also leaves us with the open ending bit about the second good guy getting away with the MacGuffin.

After the producer makes his changes, I'll sit down and storyboard the script up until the fight. I have a 50 page book bound and waiting for the storyboarding process. I shouldn't need that many! I've already storyboarded most of these scenes in my head. The last time I storyboarded a movie must have been nearly 25 or 26 years ago.

I'm waiting on choreographing the fight sequence. I need to know which script we'll be using and where we will be filming. The producer is looking into a couple of locations and I have a backup location idea. My storyboarding technique for fights is a bit different. I'm horrible at art work, so it turns into StickFight theatre. It's actually kind of comical to look at, but it's better than nothing.

Writing for this project has me stoked. It's been some time since I put anything real down on paper. While this is all of two or three pages of manuscript, I still had to think about what the actors would be saying and doing physically during the scenes. I really like the process of only putting down words and some direction notes. I am not a big fan of reading screenplays. I do it, but it's not on the top of my list of "Fun Things to do in South Bend When You're Bored or Dead." I may try more of this style of writing in the near future!

I already have three people lined up to do the acting and two alternates. If anyone out there is interested in being another alternate, let me know. We'll be shooting April 4th or 5th, most likely morning and early afternoon. I'm hoping the shoot will take less than 6 hours. No pay is involved and this is not an union shoot.

Hancock

Hancock is a movie about a lone superhero. As a lone man, he's become very lonely, despondant, and a drunk. Will Smith does a great job playing the part of an asshole. Throughout the first third of the story, I grew to love to hate his character.

Along the way, he saves Jason Bateman's character. Yet, Bateman is the only one on the scene that is happy Hancock showed up. Thus is born the beginning of a friendship. Bateman is convinced that he can make Hancock into a good guy. Thus we enter the second third of this story.

Hancock is actually wanted by the law, due to his activities. Bateman's character convinces him to turn himself in and due some time. After all, if he's not out in the real world, the bad guys will become more active, and then the world will want Hancock back. We see some change in Hancock here. Not a lot, but some. We see him resisting change and then start to give in to the change.

Suddenly, he's wanted outside the jail to help with a situation. It's at this point, that I became irritated. We didn't see a completion of the change into a good person, before he left jail. Okay, I'm good with that. We'll see more change and development later in the movie.

Except we don't.

He's out, he's free, and he's saving the world. He needs to adjust to it and we see he recognizes that. This part of the movie is way too short. It is at this point that the third part of the story begins. This is the part of the movie that pisses off most people.

We now discover that he's not the only person like him. There is one other. There is some really cool story background here. It's nothing that us geeks haven't thought before. However, the execution here is awesome. Yet, it's a second movie. It has nothing to do with Hancock the asshole.

This part of the movie is Hancock discovering who he is, a little of the why he has his powers, and how his kryptonite works. I like, I think they used a great idea, and I would have loved to see a movie that was about that. However, as this script was written to be an anti-hero movie, we won't get that.

My only other real objection to this movie was all of the European Americans. The Chief of Police is African American, as is Hancock, and one of the three main bad guys in jail. For some reason, I wanted more African American actors. I'm not sure why, but the movie just felt so "white."

Overall, if you want a not-superhero movie that starts out with a little bit Tony Stark and ends with a little bit Clark Kent, you will most likely enjoy this film.

Review: Force Unleashed & The Dark Knight

Force Unleashed (somewhere else) the book

During the annual video game get together, Saturday after Thanksgiving, I watched some of this video game being played. The graphics are awesome and it looked like you could do a decent amount of stuff as the character. While at the library a few weeks ago, I picked up this book, plus Revenge of the Sith, to read. Force Unleashed takes place between RofT and A New Hope.

I read through Revenge first. Vey had suggested giving it a look, so when I saw it on the shelf, I picked it up. I honestly didn't expect it to be much. The "new" trilogy comes across as very stiff and plot point driven. I didn't feel compelled to like any of the characters, even though I enjoy watching several of the actors. What I discovered about Revenge is that if I tune out the stiff acting and horrible dialogue from the movie, it's a really good story. The author wove in more than the movie did and I actually began to pity Anakin. I felt sorry for Padme, being pregnant and married to a guy who can't seem to really grow up. By the end of the movie, I finally understood what the story should have been, a classic tragedy with Anakin at the heart of it.

With that, I picked up Force Unleashed and dove in head first. Sadly, this book is nowhere near as good as Revenge. Granted, it's based on a video game. I was willing to look beyond that and try to enjoy it, nonetheless. Unfortunately, I couldn't finish this one fast enough. The action sequences from the video game read horribly. The character development is as shallow and stinted as it would be in a video game. There's no real big payoff feeling like there would be from beating a video game. And the video game's story and how it plays into the Star Wars metaplot? meh. Interesting idea, but meh. If you want to experience Force Unleashed, play the video game and skip this book.

Anyone wanting the plot elements that fit into the mythos, let me know and I'll post spoilers.



The Dark Knight
potential for spoilers ahead

I got this one as a Christmas gift. I've only watched it once, so I'm sure I've missed things. It's a very good follow up to Batman Begins. The development of Gordan and Batman's relationship is good. The inclusion of Dent was nice. I would have liked a full movie of him as Dent before the creation of Two Face. Ledger was good as the Joker.

I was surprised at the direction they went with the Joker's personality. He came across as the quiet guy, who finally snaps, instead of the cRAzY mAn I often expect him to be. You know, closer to the '60s tv show version. The portrayal as a quiet, more subdued personality, perhaps more unsecure?, was a great turn and for some reason, a little easier to relate to. This is not to say there was no over the top insanity from Joker, there was. However, there was not a lot of cackling "ha-ha-ha-ha"s. I could have used a few more. Joker definetly upped the ante on what he was willing to do for his cause. That was nice. It wasn't just some random kill people here, blow that building up there. The character was well thought out. There was still some comic book pastiche, but that's to be expected.

I didn't care for the ending with Batman and Gordan's interactions and Batman taking the heat. It felt very forced and just didn't jive with the rest of the movie. I felt it could have been left out. I understand the need to have him outside the law and on the run. After all, we can't have people rooting for a vigilante, now can we?

I wouldn't be surprised in the next movie if they include Gordan's wife moving back to Chicago as part of the plot. They set it up this time, with Two Face's actions.

If you liked Batman Begins, you'll like most of this movie.

War Zone - Spoilers ahead

I went to Punisher War Zone this evening. They got a lot right in this movie, but I also feel there was enough bad to go around. I want to make one statement before I throw in the cut. The cut, because I'm bound to spoil. The statement,

This movie is rated R for strong violence, gore, horrific visuals, swearing (not a lot, really), and an over the top amount of anger (hey, it is Frank. I cannot recommend kids seeing this movie. Nor can I recommend it to people who have trouble with the latest round of Batman movies, Blackhawk Down, or Event Horizon.



What they got right:
Atmosphere of Garth Ennis era, MAX Punisher
Ray did a great job as Frank
Scenery
Camera work
Violence

What they got wrong:
Horrid script
Someone couldn't decide if this was a Marvel Knights movie or Marvel MAX movie
Let's kill a whole bunch of characters from the comic book, thereby making it impossible to include them in the future
Silly comic book bad guy's brother
No Frank Castle War Journal voice over

Discuss:
Right now, an hour after seeing Punisher War Zone, I feel like I enjoyed the movie. Frank's base of operations looked good, I enjoyed the actors that portrayed the mainline characters from the MAX comic. I'll refrain from spoiling all your fun by mentioning who they are. I will say they kill all nearly all of them. The amount of violence, level of violence, the same topics with blood, Frank's seriousness while in combat were all good. Blood is seen, innards are seen, bodies are broken, heads blown off.

Jigsaw's brother was atrocious as a character. His lines were iffy. His actions were often stupid and stank of "supervillainy."

The script sucked. It really was horrible. I think one of the problems was they couldn't decide if it was a MAX or Marvel Knights movie. During the fight sequences, it was a MAX movie. When it wasn't a fight sequence, it was "a softer side of Sears." I'm all about showing Frank's weaknesses. They didn't do that. Instead, they wrote two scripts, one for The Punisher and one for my mom.

I can now understand why Tom didn't want to do this movie. He may not have liked the ultra-violence or he may not have liked the shitty script. Either way, he made a good decision, as he doesn't fit this Punisher. I'm not putting him down for this, but Tom played a different character.

The first and second movie are ignored.

There is no extra ending after the credits.

I think I was one of the few people in the theatre that laughed as Frank wove his revenge against the bad guys. I'm sure that doesn't say much for my psyche, but The Punisher is my favourite superhero, even if he is an anti-hero. People like will enjoy this movie for what it is - Garth's Punisher if Garth didn't write it.

Quantum of Solace and War Zone

First off, the trailer for Watchmen is showing before QoS in England - but not in my neck of the woods, here across the pond. I'm jealous, but still love my island friends. No really, it's okay. ;)

Anyways, for those of you heading to see Quantum, I have some advice for you. (No worries, no spoilers here.) First of all, it's still the new Bond. No crazy gimmick devices. Sure, I miss Q Division, but not that much. Second, this is a continuation of the story begun in Casino Royale (the movie, not the original story by Ian Fleming). Third, there is a tonne of action in this film. Lots and lots and lots of action. Fourth, the theme song is alright by me.

I enjoyed it. It was, in my mind, not better than Casino Royale. That doesn't bother me. There were some weak points, but I'll not point them out. If you don't notice them, all the better for you, I say.

* * *

Punisher War Zone can come out anyday, now. While I wish TJ was again portraying Frank Castle, I'll settle for a new actor. Can he really be as bad as Lundgren? No, really. The movie looks darker, more nasty in its adjudication of the bad guys. Now, I've honestly not read up on this movie after hearing TJ wouldn't be in it. However, while researching Marvel Comics today, I came across something that made me take note. War Zone is being released by Marvel Knights Pictures. MKP will function the same way that the Marvel Knights comics function. MKP will make movies for mature audiences.

I just hope the movie doesn't tank, as it's been plagued by production delays.

A Real Update

It's a long one folks. Grab a brew (alcoholic or not), kick back, and read on. The quick table of contents would be something like:

Fall Guy
Movies
Weddings
King's Island
4th of July
RPGs
GH: Aerosmith
House


So, where to start, neh? How about Saturday?

I spent a great day on-set of Harvey Putter as a Fall Guy. Tim invited me out to play the part of a Death Editor. I hear that the equivelent in the Harry Potter films is a Death Eater. No clue. Anyways, I'm now in plenty of pain. No, there was no full contact, mano-a-mano fight work for me to do. Oh, no, my gentle reader-folk. We were slinging spells across the warehouse of doom, fighting it out via special effects yet to be witnessed by mortal eyes.

Somewhere during the start I got the crazy idea that I needed to do some wacked out, crazy thing, to upstage all other folk on-set with my crazy skills. Yep, 3 crazies, 1 sentence, it's crA-Azy. And this idea of mine was to introduce a tumble roll through my fellow bad-guys avoiding spell-blasts and hiding behind gaylords.

Now, for those of you not into film-making, let me explain something to you. When you shoot an action sequence, you shoot every single second of it from 4+ angles - warm up-walk throughs, show it to the director of the photography live shot, shot it to the movie director live shot, show it to the producer live shot, several master shots (2+), shots from each point of the fight's angles (7+), several wide angle shots of portions of the fight (4+), action shots (2+ this weekend), and we didn't even get to the, "Hey, this would look bad ass, let's figure out how to shoot it," shots.

Yeah, I did that tumble through the magic wand fight bunches of times.

...in a suit and tie...

...under a trench coat...

...with a latex mask on...

...and make-up...

...on a concrete floor.

And I loved it. Unfortunately, I managed to irritate my old work injury. You know, the one where I was t-boned at 50mph. Don't remember that story? I can find it for you and link it - or you can go back a few years and ready it. It's probably titled Too Stupid to Die, or something like that. I've also got a pinched nerve in my left upper arm, right forearm, back, and a few other places.

The fight scenes went well. The crew was plentiful and helpful and willing to work with us! Tim and Jed were more organized than I expected them to be, neither one moreso than the other. We just weren't as organized as we wanted to be on Dork of the Rings.


Edige's Mutant & Masterminds game is over. We had a great time. We may get back together in the fall for more, but no guarantees. He's sent over a set of rules he wants several of us to read through and potentially test for the True20 rules set.

Kaiju's True20 pirate game continues on. We've had some more combat and gathered more guns and items of mystery. It's a great game and gives me a chance to chat with Kaiju's wife. Always great to see these two.


The day before July 4th, I picked up Guitar Hero: Aerosmith. This same very day was a game of Kaiju's pirate game. So, I had to leave it, unplayed, at home, while I was at Kaiju's. But after that I came home and beat it on medium level in about 4 hours. =D Since then, I've also beat it on easy.

I enjoyed the fact that the game got progressively harder as it went along. The other GHs felt as if they didn't get harder or they would jump in difficulty for no apparent reason. This one was much better scaled. The notes to be played also made more sense than any other version. The down for me was that I don't like Aerosmith that much. They're okay, but not all that. And video game Steven Tyler is much, much more frightening than real life Tyler. Really, he is.

However, Mott the Hoople's All the Young Dudes made up for everything else I didn't like on the album.


The house is falling apart. I have a gutter falling away from the top of my house (above the second floor), a window that has completely cracked through, and a screen door that has ripped off the hinges. *sigh*


All in all, things are good and I'm looking forward to some things in life.

Movie updates

I know, I know, I haven't posted anywhere in awhile. Life's been busy. I'll give ou an update later, maybe. Until then, here are some movie updates for those of you behind the ball like I usually am.

Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor trailer is up. Sadly, no Rachel Weiss.

I know Jim is having problems with the previews for The Dark Knight, but so far I like what I see.

twilight appears to be the latest teenie bopper vampire movie. Thankfully, it's not due out until December.

I Want to Believe only has two trailers out, thus far. I've seen no coverage on local television for this one. The trailer is dark and goes for the spooky vein, reminding me of the first season X-Files tv show.

Out of context with the rest of these comments is Religulous. While I probably won't see it in theatres, it def. looks to be a good one. Somebody better tell Skippy to not see this one - oh wait, O'Reilly will bash it and that will be enough for Skippy, I'm sure.

A second Madagascar movie is coming.

Speaking of animations, Star Wars: The Clone Wars is up to two trailers and continues to garner my interest. Now, if I could only gather enough interest in local gamers for a d6SW game! This second trailer is much more somber.

Punisher: War Zone looks like it may make the movie viable with standard movie fans. For those fans of the comics, it looks to combine the number of deaths per comic book page with really bad acting coupled with Hollywood action. Thomas Jane isn't in this movie and it looks like I'll be glad of that.

GI Joe: Rise of Cobra has a ton of people in it! Including Gerald Okamura!, Brendan Fraiser, Christopher Eccleston, Rachel Nichols, and Arnold Vosloo. I don't see a trailer available for it, yet, but the production pics are awesome. Sorry, I don't mind the leather, especially on Rachel Nichols.

Babylon A.D. and Death Race could be good, especially as the former has Vin Diesel and Michelle Yeoh in it. Stone is taking a stab at sending up W. Yes, that dubyuh.

That's all for now!

Six Demon Bag, Ivy, and GenCon Indy update

So, the original script for Big Trouble in Little China was a western. Anyone have a copy? This was before Richter was brought on to rewrite it, which was before John Carpenter was brought in.

Speaking of Carpenter, he has three movies in the works. Psychopath. may be the first to see the light of day, even if IMDB doesn't have a listing for it.


In other news, I have discovered the joy of poison ivy. Damn this shit itches. I think I had a very small case of it last year. Otherwise, this would be my first experience with it. I've got some good meds (least I think so) and they are helping a lot.


And finally, for those not weak of heart, I bring you the latest from GenCon Indy...pole dancing as a class. I kid you not. Yes, it's already sold out. Yes, they list a weight limit for participants.

Magnificent Sound

I'm watching The Magnificent Sevent on AMC. Sure, it's got commercials, but it's a great classic.

When I was a kid, my little brother bought the soundtrack for the movie on tape. I listened to it all the time. That faded in a couple of months and then it was my "go to" album when I needed it. I don't remember the emotion associated with it, but there was one. Anyways.

I remember more of the music than I do of the film. Sure, I remember the film, what it was about, and who died/didn't die in the final fight sequence. But I remember the chord structures, when the gunshots sound during the soundtrack, and which theme is associated with which situations.

Yet, I don't remember the kid infiltrating Eli Wallach's bandito camp. I don't remember the gunslinger having nightmares. I don't remember there being two gunfights with the banditos.

I guess this is just further proof I should have stuck with music as a career, or further proof that I associate most everything with music. Either way, I find it an interesting bit of psychological nonsense.

Dnevnoy Dozor

Picked up 3 movies over the weekend. Nochnoi Dozor, which I've already watched and enjoyed aspects of; Dnevnoy Dozor which I watched today and liked; and License to Wed.

License to Wed is a chick flick, but mostly safe for males. Robin Williams and John Krasinski do an okay job. Mandy Moore is so out of her league, it's not funny. The movie is nothing to write home about and I've seen both Robin and John do much better. Still, if the SO wants you to watch it with her, the pain should be somewhat minimal.

Dneevnoy Dozor is the movie adaptation of the book of the same name, Day Watch. It's the follow up storyline to Nochnoi Dozor, or Night Watch. Night Watch gained fame for being a Russian film that made it to the outside world, with special effects equal to the BBC in the 1990s, and having some very cool visuals. The movie lacks the depth of the book in many ways, including the cut down storyline resulting in some Whiskey Tango Foxtrot moments.

I haven't read Day Watch, yet. It's still sitting here waiting to be read. I hope to get to it by summertime. However, I found the movie to be far and away better made than Night Watch. The special effects were good and modern. The story made sense. They introduced the concept of the Inquisition, which is the third book/movie. The actors did a good job.

The focus was more on the Day Watch than the Night Watch. However, they stayed focused on Anton and Svetlana. The movie opened with another great battle scene, this time with horses riding through walls and oriental warriors shapeshifting from raven form in mid-flight.

It's a good follow up to the original movie and sets up a "what are they going to do in the third movie?" atmosphere.

On the down side, I picked up the nWoD books and I'm not sure I made good purchases.

Westerns!

Been in a Western mood lately. Read 3:10 to Yuma, then picked up Elmore Leonard's complete Westerns collection, Larry McMurtry's Dead Man's Walk (the first of the Lonesome Dove series), and Robert Parker's Apaloosa (yes, that's Robert Parker of Spenser: for Hire fame).

I read through Apaloosa first. I know Parker and his style. Knowing that, I knew I could kill it in a few days. Well, two to be exact. It's a good read. Nothing overly fancy. An ending I didn't expect, but did enjoy. About 1/3 of the way into the book, it started to feel a little close to Spenser as a Western. I was afraid of that, but I didn't mind. The characters were definately not Spenser characters, but some of the dialogue was close.

I'm about 90 pages into Dead Man's Walk. It's nothing special thus far. I've a feeling though, that it's about to get good. For those that have read it, I'm at the part of the story where the characters are leaving for to join the army.

Having already read 3:10 to Yuma, I'm saving Leonard for last. He was first, I'll get to him later.

And eventually, I do plan to read Louis Lamour, I'm just not in a hurry.

So, with that in mind, I went trolling through Youtube and found some interesting indie Western flicks. I'll stick them behind a cut to save on your load time.

In addition to that, my on again off again Western script idea is back on and I'm slowly plugging away at it. Expect nothing soon!

The Hayfield Movie


Six Reasons Why This is the one I'm most interested in.


The Spaghetti Western style trailer.


Six Bullets


Dodge City: A Spaghetto Western (with Isaac Hayes



And if you’ve never seen it, here’s the opening gunfight from Once Upon a Time in the West.


Sergio would follow this up with A Fistful o’ Dynamite (aka Duck, You Sucker!) and Once Upon a Time in America.

Ultimate Versus

Tonight, the temps are dropping to the zeds. The streets are sheets of black ice. I almost fishtailed across a few lanes of traffic on the way home. ugh

Looks like the rest of tonight will be either Svenguli with The Creature Walks Among Us or slapping in Ultimate Versus (the ultimate version of the movie Versus).

Speaking of Ulimate Versus! It claims to be an "independent film." Can anyone out there tell me what the difference between Japanese indie movies and USA indie movies are?

While we're at it, does anyone have a copy of Down 2 Hell? As it turns out, Versus is what happens when indie film makers get real ambitious with sequels. It started out as The Return: Down 2 Hell. Believe it or not, they had 150 people in/on staff of that movie! I think Dork of the Rings had about 120. Anyways, Versus came out of the creation process with R:D2H.

I'm still interested in doing more indie film work. I may be helping a friend out on March 1st.

Wanted

For those that didn't see or research the commercials on the Superbowl and for those that saw the Superbowl and don't realize it, Wanted the comic is being made into a movie. The first commercial I know of for this movie was on during the superbowl. The comic isn't some great peice of work, but I enjoyed most of it.

I finished up The Long Halloween. I also enjoyed this one. Lots of movement in and out of characters. One thing that ate at me, was The Batman making leaps of logic without us seeing his logic. Or at least, leaps of logic I didn't see.

I also read the Fafhrd and Gray Mouser graphic novel put out by Dark Horse. I'm not impressed. Mignola's artwork is okay, but nothing special here. I've not read Hellboy, so I can't compare the two. The storyline leaves much to be desired. However, I think that's a problem with the source material being converted to graphic novel format. I've seen the problem crop up with other short stories and novels being converted into comic book format. Still, I can't recommend it.

My friends Nik Havert from Pickle Press and Jim from Of Masks and Men both questioned my thoughts on Identity Crisis. And on further thought, they were right - there are parts of that storyline that are bad. First off, the running around Superman and The Batman's back? WTF? Superman not carting Lois off to someplace remote where she'd be safe, or at least to the farm with his parents so he could watch over all of them at the same time?

It hit hard at first - which I liked - and then it lost steam over time. It also reduced supers to real people with real concerns. I tend to like that at times, too. The twist at the end was okay, but not great.

However, after letting the material sit, there are two big problems I have with the story. The first is that The Batman was brainwashed once in this storyline and it's hinted at that it's been done at least one time before. Yet, at the same time, there's hints that he knows what really happened and that he knows he was brainwashed to cover it up. Again, wtf?

Now the other item is why The Batman was brainwashed. It crosses every line of good standing and when I read the story the first time, I wondered why they showed the details. There's a rape scene in the story. I was taught long ago, and I forget by who, that there is never, ever a reason for a rape scene in any story. If you want to severely hurt a character, do something else. But rape? Completely unacceptable.

So, for now, even though I want to go back and reread Kingdom Come, I think I'm swearing off superhero team up comics for a bit.

Mind you, I just started reading Fable after several recommendations and that's kind of got an all-star line up. We'll see. I don't think I'll read all of them, but maybe one or two. I'm already tired of the gratuitous, totally unnecessary swearing. Passe'.