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zwolanerd

“I guess I just like liking things”

August 4, 2014 Monday Links

Happy new week to you, folks! I have a couple of things I wanted to share with you that didn’t warrant a whole post just on their own, so here you go:

  • Finally (after three long days of waiting!) the voice actor for the after-credits scene in Guardians of the Galaxy was revealed (spoilers, obvs)
  • I have often thought about doing a list of Weird Al’s polka medleys but couldn’t ever figure out the right angle on it. Sam over at 11points ranked them all, though, so he’s saved us all a lot of trouble.
  • The latest rumor about Ghostbusters 3 is that it’s going to be an all-female team and will be directed by Paul Feig (the Bridesmaids guy). I’m inclined to agree with my friend Brandon, who says “At this point, I will believe absolutely nothing about GHOSTBUSTERS 3 until I’m sitting in the theater after having watched the entire film.” I will also say that for me, the Ghostbusters videogame served as a very good Ghostbusters 3 – actual cast, plot points from both movies affecting it, and humorous to boot.

There you go!

 

Wait – only three links? Even the post about there not being enough for a post isn’t enough for a post! What’s this guy trying to pull?!

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August 1, 2014 Guardians of the Galaxy

rocketandgroot

 

My wife and I went to see Guardians of the Galaxy last night. I knew before going in that I would most likely enjoy it, and, hey, I did! A bunch! I knew almost nothing about the movie going into it, other than the official synopsis that had been floating around and the trailers.  (Turns out these trailers didn’t lie, so good on ’em.)

I’m not going to spoil the movie for you, but let me just say a few things:

  • It was a lot of fun. I like both Fun Marvel and Serious(ish) Marvel myself, so either one is fine, but there a plenty of people saying things like “Serious Marvel is bleah” which I don’t get, but whatever.
  • Groot was my favorite character by far. His expressions were pretty much perfect, and there was one particular glee-filled one that just made me happy to see.
  • Rocket was great, too. In fact, Groot & Rocket’s friendship was my favorite thing about the movie. It very much had a “Han & Chewbacca” vibe to me, though more chaotic.
  • Every member of the team was important and they all had their own deal going on. Nobody was reduced to “just a love interest” or anything, and it was refreshing.
  • They could have had more Nebula and I would have been okay with that.
  • Very definite sequel potential, and good potential (and, of course, the sequel has already been announced)
  • I couldn’t say exactly why I enjoyed the after-credits scene, but I did. Makes me wonder what (if any) future plans there are for [REDACTED]

All in all, a lot of fun. And my wife enjoyed it, too, which was surprising because it’s very much a comic book-y comic book movie, getting into aliens and Infinity Gauntlets and the like.

Good times.

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July 31, 2014 Lies Lies Lies

If I knew how to Photoshop things you would be looking at a "HercuLucy" poster right now

If I knew how to Photoshop things you would be looking at a “HercuLucy” poster right now

Last week I saw both Lucy and Hercules. I went to see the first one despite it’s “10% of the brain” nonsense because the trailer made it look like a superhero movie of sorts – woman gets dosed with an experimental drug and gains powers – okay, cool. Sorta Black Widow-y without actually being Black Widow (despite Black Widow not having any actual superpowers). Neat!

I went to see Hercules because The Rock was in it, but also because the trailer made it look like it was going to tell the story of Hercules’ 12 Labors – there was the giant lion, the Hydra, all the cool stuff. “Man!” I thought, “When he diverts that river to clean out the Augean stables, that is going to be super awesome!”

I am sad to report that neither movie lived up to the promises put forth by their trailers. “The trailer was better than the movie,” I told at least one friend about Lucy. The action seen in the trailer was pretty much the extent of the action in the movie. The movie was more of a consideration of what might happen if a person were able to realize more than their current potential. That’s fine, but it isn’t what got me into the theater.

The next paragraph contains spoilers for Hercules – drag and select to read.

Hercules used the 12 Labors as a jumping off point… sort of. The stories of his exploits were told in flashback, but the movie goes on to basically say “these are lies we tell so Hercules’ fame will grow so he’ll be able to get more mercenary jobs that will pay better. Oh, and by the way, it wasn’t just him doing all these things, there’s a team of us. We just put him front and center as the selling point.” Again, that’s fine if you want that to be your movie, but the trailer sold me a different thing. But at least Hercules throws a horse in the movie (no kidding!) so it wasn’t a total loss.

I understand that trailers are trying to sell the movie. That’s the whole point of a trailer. They include a great shot, a memorable line or two, and give you an idea of what’s going on — mostly. Sometimes when you go back and watch the trailer after seeing the movie you can’t help but shake your head at how they cobbled it together, lines all out of order and misleading. And I get that you need to do that if your movie has unexpected twists and all that. But misrepresenting the whole story? I don’t get that at all. Sure, it got a lot of people in the theater for Lucy this last weekend, but I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if that movie sees a huge drop-off in sales this weekend. Part of that will be Guardians of the Galaxy, but a bigger part will be word of mouth.

My favorite trailer/teaser of all time is this one for Terminator 2:

“Skynet is always building more Terminators!” this says. “OH MAN” is your response. This doesn’t use any footage from the movie at all, but it serves the purpose of getting you fired up for the movie. And in this particular movie’s case, any indication of what’s going to happen kind of ruins the whole experience, in my opinion. Someone watching Terminator and then Terminator 2 without knowing anything about 2 is going to have a better experience. The first part of 2 mirrors the first one, so until Arnold is revealed as the hero robot, it looks like we’re in for the same kind of experience as the first movie. And I don’t even care that I didn’t warn you about that spoiler, because before the movie was even released every article  was about how “Arnold plays the good guy this time!” which completely yanks the rug out from under that first 20 minutes of the movie.

I’m a guy who generally doesn’t mind knowing a lot about a movie before I’ve seen it, but being told “this is what it’s about” when that isn’t what it’s actually about is irritating.

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July 30, 2014 Lyn Plays Velvet Sundown

Price: Basic game is free, premium membership is €4.99 a month.
Client: PC, Mac
Get it from: velvetsundown.com or via Steam

Velvet Sundown is a perfect example of optimism gone horribly wrong, although to be fair it’s possible the majority of players are not as inclined to… let’s say “derail” and leave it there. It’s been glommed on to by what are presumably 14 year olds. Given a short spell in a closed world, and possibly dealt a female character, it went downhill fast.

The “Velvet Sundown” of the title is actually a yacht, popping about in a tropical paradise. In a scenario lasting 30 minutes to one hour (depending on which one you play), you’re tasked with uncovering information about your fellow passengers. There’s no character choice, you’re handed a character and backstory. During the game session, you can share your information, keep it to yourself or try to uncover information about others.

I played the free scenario, which changes weekly apparently. There were stories about drug smuggling, terrible fathers and whales but we didn’t get any closer to finding out about any of these. I would say in a good group you’d be better off, but I don’t think there’s a way to actually choose your group so I would suggest if you’re really interested in the concept you splash out on a month premium – like most things I suspect a pay wall will keep the more, how shall I put this,  distracted players out.  It’s worth a wander anyway, the download is small and the graphics are lovely.

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July 29, 2014 Tuesday 10: Movies of 1984

My initial whittling of the “released in 1984” list got it down to 37. 1984 was a pretty good year for movies, as you’ll see. There are seven movies from the “highest grossing” that didn’t make it onto my list, but that doesn’t bother me much.

ghostbusters10. The Muppets Take Manhattan – Kermit & Miss Piggy finally get married! Sort of! Okay, not really! But maybe? That was the big selling point for the movie, regardless. It’s weird, but I can’t remember a single song from this movie.

9. A Nightmare on Elm Street – This was before Freddy got all wise-crackin’ and smart alecky. There are enough downright creepy moments in this movie that I’d probably have a hard time watching it these days.

8. All of Me – This was #4 on my Steve Martin list.

7. Gremlins – Did Billy’s dad being an inventor really add anything to this movie? I think he could have been pretty much anything else and we would have been fine.

6. This Is Spinal Tap – Have you ever watched this movie with the commentary on? The main actors do it in character. It’s genius and nuts at the same time.

5. The Last Starfighter – “Videogames are training you for great deeds” is the message of this movie and it still holds up today.

4. Star Trek III: The Search for Spock – The first VHS movie I ever bought. I might still have it somewhere, honestly. I don’t throw much away.

3. Top Secret! – Weird Al claims this is his favorite movie. It also means that Val Kilmer makes my lists two years running.

2. The Terminator – Yes, yes, the time travel stuff doesn’t make much sense if you think about it, nobody cares! This movie was awesome, Terminator 2 was awesome, 3 isn’t as bad as you think, and I like 4/Salvation just fine. Nertz to you!

1. Ghostbusters – This movie is being re-released in theaters in August, and I’m hoping to go see it even though I can watch it on DVD, Blu-Ray, or Netflix Streaming any time I want. If the people at the theater don’t yell “Ghostbusters!” during the song I may just cry.

Additional thoughts:

  • Breakin – If it weren’t for this movie, you’d never get the “___________ 2: Electric Boogaloo” jokes, so show some respect. (I have never seen this movie, nor its sequel.)
  • C.H.U.D. – Cannibalistic Humanoid Underground Dwellers. The movie isn’t as good as its title, but the title alone makes it okay. I have seen both this and its sequel (which wasn’t as good).
  • Conan the Destroyer – Even though this movie wasn’t very good, I’d still love to see Schwarzenegger play Conan again in “Conan the King” or whatever.
  • Dune – Weird movie. Sting’s underpants costume is one of the most upsetting things you’re ever likely to see. I actually much preferred the SciFi channel’s miniseries from 2000.
  • Rhinestone – I have never seen this Sylvester Stallone/Dolly Parton movie, but intend to some day because I feel I have to.
  • Supergirl – I don’t know much about the comicbook version of Supergirl, but I suspect this movie didn’t, either.
  • The NeverEnding Story – That poor horse :(
  • The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai – I don’t think I really got this movie.
  • Red Dawn – WOLVERINES!
  • Johnny Dangerously – This movie is quite enjoyable and Weird Al sang the theme song. Add in Michael Keaton in the lead role and you’ve got three reasons you should watch it.
  • Amadeus – The best thing about this movie is that it sets up the “Don’t trust him – he killed Mozart!” line from Last Action Hero nine years later.
  • Frankenweenie – Doesn’t really count as a movie since it’s only a half hour long, but the original short is good stuff.
  • Sixteen Candles – John Hughes movies don’t hold together well as complete movies for me, but there are generally scenes within the movie that I like.
  • The Karate Kid
  • Splash
  • Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

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