Iron Man is the first movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, starring Robert Downey Jr., Jeff Bridges, Gwyneth Paltrow, Paul Bettany, and Terence Howard, getting the role warmed up for Don Cheadle.
Tony Stark (Downey Jr.) is a billionaire weapons designer, playboy, and engineer/scientist. He's pretty much completely self-absorbed and largely alone, except for his AI butler JARVIS (Bettany) and his assistant Pepper Potts (Paltrow). While in the Middle East shilling his new Jericho missile, he's kidnapped and injured. Shrapnel digging its way into his heart is kept in place with a magnet and a car battery (courtesy of his newfound mentor figure Yinsen, played by Shaun Toub). He rigs up a new power source, builds a suit of armor, and escapes.
Back in the US, acting on the knowledge that his weapons are being sold with impunity to terrorists, he builds a new suit and goes on the warpath, trying to destroy his weapons in criminal hands. He runs afoul of the Air Force (and his friend and fellow designer Rhodes, played by Howard), and reveals his new power source to his lifelong friend and partner Obadiah Stane (Bridges). Of course, Stane was the one behind his kidnapping (it was supposed to be a hit, not a kidnapping), and rigs up a suit of his own - bigger and better armed, but ultimately not as advanced as Stark's, and he blows up.
Watching this movie in theaters at the time was a trip. People cheered when the Mark I armor took off and flew, and the whole theater was pumped. We hadn't seen a superhero movie this good in a while, and while the Raimi Spider-Man films were good, they weren't fun like this. Marvel apparently really caught lightning in a bottle, because much of this movie was ad-libbed. They didn't know it was going to be the thing it became.
Watching it now, it's neat to see the Marvel Universe take shape, and see Clark Gregg as Phil Coulson before that became a household name. It's interesting to imagine this assignment in the context of his later work, especially as he hands Stark a cover alibi and says "this isn't my first rodeo." And we wonder, what was?
But why did said universe take shape? The effects are awesome and they hold up just fine six years later. The supporting cast is good; Howard was fine in the role but apparently creative differences got him ousted and Cheadle took over in the sequel, which is fine. But I think the important thing was Downey Jr. He was perfect to play Stark - he knows how substance abuse works, he knows what it's like to be famous and maligned and under a microscope and perhaps a little weird. And meanwhile, Bridges brought a callous life to Stane that I thought was pretty compelling.
If I have a complaint, it's that Stane's plan doesn't make a lot of sense. I mean, killing Stark does, but after he's found out, why jump in the suit and start wrecking shit? He's made at that point; he'd have to kill a bunch of SHIELD agents and flee, and either way he's screwed. Potts mentions he's gone insane, but that's thin. It doesn't matter in the moment, because you get swept along, but in hindsight it'd have been nice to have some better context for the final fight.
But really, that's minor. And it's a lot of fun watching the stinger and seeing Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury for the first time.
My Grade: A
Rewatch Value: High
Next up: Iron Man 2
Wednesday, December 31, 2014
Tuesday, December 30, 2014
Character Creation: Blue Rose
Baby, it's cold outside. Before we hare off to go Lazer-tagging, Michelle and I are making Blue Rose characters. Her son Al is tagging along.
The Game: Blue Rose
The Publisher: Green Ronin
Degree of Familiarity: None. I think I may have played it once at a con, but I honestly don't remember.
Books Required: Just the one, though I have a Companion book that I may open, too.
Blue Rose bills itself as "romantic fantasy," taking inspiration from Duane, Lackey, Pierce, and other fantasy authors I've not read (seriously, though, you could put the fantasy fiction I've read in a matchbook and still have room to do jumping jacks). But the book states that while high-fantasy tends to focus on loners and single heroes, romantic fantasy focuses more on groups and community. That right there is appealing to me. This game is also True20, so while it's not as good as some systems, it's a sight better than others.
First we get explanation of how the game works, and then a history complete with gods and creation and so forth. After you've read a couple of these, you start to know the lyrics. Exarchs, Primordials, and Shadow Wars. But lo! Some interesting stuff.
The land of Aldis (the country in which a young girl has just ascended to the throne, being chosen by a magic stag) has intelligent magical animals called Rhydan, also sea-folk and vata (which are kind of like elves). I wonder if these are playable? Ooh, they are!
The World of Aldis chapter is actually pretty readable, which makes sense, considering the people writing the book (some of whom have actually worked on books I've developed - oh, and vice versa, since John Snead developed Intruders). I don't have time to read it all right now.
Well, skipping ahead to character creation, we're told to start with abilities (the standard d20 spread, only like Mutants and Masterminds we only concern ourselves with bonuses, not scores). But we also need to consider Background (which includes race). Al is going to play a sea-folk. Michelle is going to play a human (islander). Well, heck, I'll be a frickin' dolphin, then.
No, really. One of the types of Rhydan you can play is a dolphin. Eek-eek!
I'll take a -1 in Strength, but I'll put +1 into Dexterity and Constitution, +1 into Intelligence and Wisdom, and +0 in Charisma. I may rejigger that if I need to. I only get 4 points, not 6 like humans, but I get a bunch of other things to make up. To wit: I get low-light vision, Psychic Talent, and I have a bunch limitations related to the fact that I haven't got hands or human speech. I get +3 Dexterity and +1 Constitution, +8 to Swim, +4 to Notice, and I have Dance as a favored Skill. OK, then.
Moving on, I pick a Role. Animist appeals, but my mental abilities are kind of weak. I think I'll go with Expert. I note my saves and bonuses and numbers of skills I get, and move along.
Now, before I go doing Skills, I need to do alignment. Far from the annoying "Lawful Good" shit that classic D&D does, Blue Rose has Light and Shadow natures (not too far off from the Virtue and Vice of later WoD games, really) and a Twilight for the characters that shift between them. Calling, your character's overarching, long-term goal, is based on a Major Arcanum, and the Natures are based on the minors. I pick Star as my Calling (artistic mastery - not sure how that works for a dolphin, but I'll figure it out). We all choose to be Light-aligned. For the Natures, we grab a Tarot deck and draw for some Minor Arcana. I draw the Knight of Swords for Light, which makes me Bold, and the Seven of Rods, which makes me Reckless. Well, that dovetails nicely, don't it?
Now Skills. As an Expert, I get 12 freaking Favored Skills, and 7 Known skills. I won't bother taking Swim as a Known Skill because I get a freaking +8 anyway, but I will take Notice (which gives me +9; I am one perceptive dolphin). I'll take Survival and Perform (Dance) as Known Skills, but I'll skip Craft because it's hard to imagine what I'd be crafting that wouldn't fall foul of the -20 that I'd take. I'll take Acrobatics and Jump for all that leaping out of the water stuff I'll need to do, Concentration since I'm sure it'll help, and Knowledge (Sea Lore). And that's my Skills.
Now Feats, I suppose. I have Psychic Talent for free, but here's a thing. I get Armor Training from my role, but because I'm a freaking dolphin, I don't get armor. Do I consider Psychic Talent to have replaced that? Or do I have dolphin armor? Hrm. I guess I'll just take Feat and not worry about it. I get 3 more, in any case. I'll take Canny Defense (I add to my dodge when I'm not wearing armor, and since I can't wear armor that makes sense), Fascinate (I dance, you stare. Flippers don't lie), and Improved Initiative (I'm bold!).
I don't get points to put into my Arcana, because I'm not an Adept, so I think that's me done. Apart from a name, anyway. I'll call my dolphin Aminipha.
So, our little trio, here: Gaian, the sea-folk warrior; Ceta, the islander shaper; and me, the dolphin dancer, we live in the southern isles, grew up together, and go on adventures! Our Light/Shadow Natures actually work pretty nicely together.
Movie #291: The Iron Giant
The Iron Giant is an animated movie based on a novel by Ted Hughes and directed by Brad Bird, starring Eli Marienthal, Harry Connick Jr., Jennifer Aniston, Christopher McDonald, and Vin Diesel. It's also one of those "you don't have a soul if you don't cry" movies.
Hogarth Hughes (Marienthal) is a smart, kind of nerdy kid with an active imagination. His mom (Aniston) works at a diner, and tries to cope with the loss of her husband (he was a pilot in WWII, though this isn't ever stated directly; it's called out with some nicely subtle details) and her hyper young son. And the one day, a huge robot crash-lands in the ocean near their coastal Maine town, stomps up on land, and nearly electrocutes itself trying to eat the power station. Hogarth saves it, and later befriends it and teaches it to talk (and it's voiced by Vin Diesel, so).
Of course, this being the paranoid-ass 50s, the government sends an agent to check this out. Said agent, Kent (McDonald) is looking to make his bones and justify his job, and chases after Hogarth and his beatnik buddy who owns a scrap yard (Connick Jr.). The Giant finally exposes itself (not like that) when it tromps into town and saves a couple of young boys, and the army rolls in to destroy it.
Trouble is, the robot is a weapon of war, and it responds to threat. It manages to keep its impulses mostly under control until Hogarth is injured. Thinking him dead, it flips out and starts laying waste, and the army calls in a nuclear strike (well, really, Kent does because he's an idiot). The Giant, realizing that it can stop the bomb, flies off to do that, Hogarth's and Dean's lesson about humanity ("You are who you choose to be") echoing in his head. His final word before hitting the bomb, and, presumably, being blown to hell, is his choice: "Superman."
I literally get teary during that part of the movie (and writing about it GODDAMMIT) because for the Giant, he is making a choice (one that Superman doesn't actually have to make because a nuke for him would be "yah whatever yawn LOL"). The Giant might be able to reform after the blast, but he has no way to know that. He chooses, after things like "good guys" and "bad guys" and "guns" and "souls" are explained to him, in beautifully childlike language (from Hogarth), to be the good guy, regardless of what it will cost him.
I love that the Giant's origins are never explained in the movie. He doesn't remember them. There was a dream sequence (cut for funding, sadly) that hinted at his origins more directly, but even then no one ever comes out and says "he was sent here to conquer!" It doesn't matter why (or if) he was sent here; he wakes up with no understanding of who or what he is, only basic urges, but also a yearning to belong and understand.
I also like that, with the exception of Kent (who is an idiot, not a patriot), the adults in the movie are willing to learn and listen. Yeah, the army's first response is to shoot, but given the paranoia of the time (space race, Red Scare) it's understandable. But when Hogarth and Dean talk to them, they listen like educated, empathetic human beings, rather than goons, and that just serves to highlight the Giant's sacrifice (and Kent's stupidity).
All in all, this is a really wonderful movie and perfect Promethean inspiration in a lot of ways.
My Grade: A
Rewatch value: High
Next up: Iron Man
Hogarth Hughes (Marienthal) is a smart, kind of nerdy kid with an active imagination. His mom (Aniston) works at a diner, and tries to cope with the loss of her husband (he was a pilot in WWII, though this isn't ever stated directly; it's called out with some nicely subtle details) and her hyper young son. And the one day, a huge robot crash-lands in the ocean near their coastal Maine town, stomps up on land, and nearly electrocutes itself trying to eat the power station. Hogarth saves it, and later befriends it and teaches it to talk (and it's voiced by Vin Diesel, so).
Of course, this being the paranoid-ass 50s, the government sends an agent to check this out. Said agent, Kent (McDonald) is looking to make his bones and justify his job, and chases after Hogarth and his beatnik buddy who owns a scrap yard (Connick Jr.). The Giant finally exposes itself (not like that) when it tromps into town and saves a couple of young boys, and the army rolls in to destroy it.
Trouble is, the robot is a weapon of war, and it responds to threat. It manages to keep its impulses mostly under control until Hogarth is injured. Thinking him dead, it flips out and starts laying waste, and the army calls in a nuclear strike (well, really, Kent does because he's an idiot). The Giant, realizing that it can stop the bomb, flies off to do that, Hogarth's and Dean's lesson about humanity ("You are who you choose to be") echoing in his head. His final word before hitting the bomb, and, presumably, being blown to hell, is his choice: "Superman."
I literally get teary during that part of the movie (and writing about it GODDAMMIT) because for the Giant, he is making a choice (one that Superman doesn't actually have to make because a nuke for him would be "yah whatever yawn LOL"). The Giant might be able to reform after the blast, but he has no way to know that. He chooses, after things like "good guys" and "bad guys" and "guns" and "souls" are explained to him, in beautifully childlike language (from Hogarth), to be the good guy, regardless of what it will cost him.
I love that the Giant's origins are never explained in the movie. He doesn't remember them. There was a dream sequence (cut for funding, sadly) that hinted at his origins more directly, but even then no one ever comes out and says "he was sent here to conquer!" It doesn't matter why (or if) he was sent here; he wakes up with no understanding of who or what he is, only basic urges, but also a yearning to belong and understand.
I also like that, with the exception of Kent (who is an idiot, not a patriot), the adults in the movie are willing to learn and listen. Yeah, the army's first response is to shoot, but given the paranoia of the time (space race, Red Scare) it's understandable. But when Hogarth and Dean talk to them, they listen like educated, empathetic human beings, rather than goons, and that just serves to highlight the Giant's sacrifice (and Kent's stupidity).
All in all, this is a really wonderful movie and perfect Promethean inspiration in a lot of ways.
My Grade: A
Rewatch value: High
Next up: Iron Man
Sunday, December 28, 2014
Movie #290: Invasion of the Body Snatchers
Invasion of the Body Snatchers is a 1978 horror film starring Donald Sutherland, Veronica Cartwright, Brooke Adams, Jeff Goldblum, and Leonard Nimoy.
Plant-spore, blown on the "solar wind," lands on Earth and attaches to plants. Those then infect people, duplicating them while they sleep. The story follows Elizabeth (Adams) and Matthew (Sutherland), two health department employees, as they come into contact with the aliens. Elizabeth, first, realizes that her husband (Art Hindle) has been duplicated, but of course no one believes her because it's ludicrous. Matthew takes her to see his famous shrink friend (Nimoy) and they run across their hippie mud-bath owning buddies (Goldblum and Cartwright), and they all figure it out. But by the time they start calling people and calling attention to the problem, it's too late; the aliens have duplicated enough people that there's nothing they can do but run. The movie ends with Cartwright's character approaching Sutherlands, and that famous scene of him pointing and giving the alarm scream.
Invasion jumps right in; Hindle's character is duplicated right away and most of the meat of the movie makes it clear (to the audience) what's happening. The conflict comes down to making other characters understand what's happening, and then the creeping horror as more and more people become "snatched." Also creepy is how benign the duplicates are; they aren't hateful or violent, and they don't want to eat people. They just want to survive, and this is how they do it.
The background business is also amazing; garbage bins are full up with gray gunk - which is the remains of people. Plants are everywhere in shots, and if you watch you can see people glance at each other, knowingly, getting less subtle as the movie goes on.
Invasion is a good exercise in paranoia and the fear of one's neighbors; the novel it's based on has a happier ending, in which the aliens leave. I kind of like the creepy, almost silent (except for that god-awful scream) ending in this film. I haven't seen the other adaptations, though.
My Grade: A-
Rewatch value: Low
Next up: The Iron Giant
Plant-spore, blown on the "solar wind," lands on Earth and attaches to plants. Those then infect people, duplicating them while they sleep. The story follows Elizabeth (Adams) and Matthew (Sutherland), two health department employees, as they come into contact with the aliens. Elizabeth, first, realizes that her husband (Art Hindle) has been duplicated, but of course no one believes her because it's ludicrous. Matthew takes her to see his famous shrink friend (Nimoy) and they run across their hippie mud-bath owning buddies (Goldblum and Cartwright), and they all figure it out. But by the time they start calling people and calling attention to the problem, it's too late; the aliens have duplicated enough people that there's nothing they can do but run. The movie ends with Cartwright's character approaching Sutherlands, and that famous scene of him pointing and giving the alarm scream.
Invasion jumps right in; Hindle's character is duplicated right away and most of the meat of the movie makes it clear (to the audience) what's happening. The conflict comes down to making other characters understand what's happening, and then the creeping horror as more and more people become "snatched." Also creepy is how benign the duplicates are; they aren't hateful or violent, and they don't want to eat people. They just want to survive, and this is how they do it.
The background business is also amazing; garbage bins are full up with gray gunk - which is the remains of people. Plants are everywhere in shots, and if you watch you can see people glance at each other, knowingly, getting less subtle as the movie goes on.
Invasion is a good exercise in paranoia and the fear of one's neighbors; the novel it's based on has a happier ending, in which the aliens leave. I kind of like the creepy, almost silent (except for that god-awful scream) ending in this film. I haven't seen the other adaptations, though.
My Grade: A-
Rewatch value: Low
Next up: The Iron Giant
Saturday, December 27, 2014
Movie #289: Interview with the Vampire
Interview with the Vampire is a horror movie based on the boring-ass book by Anne Rice (yeah, I said it, what) starring Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise, Kirsten Dunst, Antonio Banderas, and Christian Slater.
The movie is framed by the titular interview, in which a young man named Malloy (Slater, though he took over the role after River Phoenix died) interviews a 200-year-old vampire named Louis (Pitt). Louis tells us how he was "born to darkness" in the late 18th century, courtesy of another vampire named Lestat (Cruise).
The central issue of the movie is Louis' refusal to let go of humanity...kind of. That sounds kind of noble, but the truth of the matter is that humanity had, for him, becoming suffering - he'd lost his family and was just wallowing in grief when Lestat found him. Post-Embrace born-to-darkness, he continues doing that, stopping only briefly when Lestat talks him into vampirizing a young girl dying of plague (Dunst, in her film debut). Eventually they attempt to kill Lestat because he's a manipulative fucker, and flee to Europe, where they meet more vampires, all of whom are stuck wallowing the decadence they've known for years.
Their leader, Armand (Banderas at his yummiest) wants to connect to the modern era using Louis as a bridge, but to do that he has his vampires kill Claudia, knowing Louis will kill them in turn. Louis, of course, leaves Armand behind, returns to the US, and continues wallowing.
The movie takes me back, let me tell ya. It came out in 1994, when I was in college, and I had a serious vampire thing going on. It was right when Wraith came out, I was playing a lot of horror games, and I was totally into the whole "shadowy predator of the night" thing.
And I'm finding now, as I'm running Vampire: The Requiem, that I got something out of the genre then that I don't now. I think it might be that I've grown up, and I don't groove on the "oh fuck it, kill them and drink their blood, woe is me I'm a tortured" thing like I used to. But I do enjoy the movie, because I can see those themes in it, and I still like them. There's a freedom from morality and life that Lestat enjoys and Louis can't quite bring himself to experience and Claudia never really understands because she never had a chance to be an adult for real.
I read the book some years after I saw the movie, and it bored the hell out of me. I'm told the books improve with The Vampire Lestat, but I never really had the patience. I will say that I enjoyed this movie, casting including; people flipped out about Cruise being cast as Lestat, but I think he pulled it off nicely. Dunst is really the standout, managing to portray a much older character than she has any right to. And, of course, this was the movie that put Antonio Banderas on my radar, so that alone is worth the price of admission.
My Grade: A-
Rewatch Value: Medium
Next up: Invasion of the Body Snatchers
The movie is framed by the titular interview, in which a young man named Malloy (Slater, though he took over the role after River Phoenix died) interviews a 200-year-old vampire named Louis (Pitt). Louis tells us how he was "born to darkness" in the late 18th century, courtesy of another vampire named Lestat (Cruise).
The central issue of the movie is Louis' refusal to let go of humanity...kind of. That sounds kind of noble, but the truth of the matter is that humanity had, for him, becoming suffering - he'd lost his family and was just wallowing in grief when Lestat found him. Post-
Their leader, Armand (Banderas at his yummiest) wants to connect to the modern era using Louis as a bridge, but to do that he has his vampires kill Claudia, knowing Louis will kill them in turn. Louis, of course, leaves Armand behind, returns to the US, and continues wallowing.
The movie takes me back, let me tell ya. It came out in 1994, when I was in college, and I had a serious vampire thing going on. It was right when Wraith came out, I was playing a lot of horror games, and I was totally into the whole "shadowy predator of the night" thing.
And I'm finding now, as I'm running Vampire: The Requiem, that I got something out of the genre then that I don't now. I think it might be that I've grown up, and I don't groove on the "oh fuck it, kill them and drink their blood, woe is me I'm a tortured" thing like I used to. But I do enjoy the movie, because I can see those themes in it, and I still like them. There's a freedom from morality and life that Lestat enjoys and Louis can't quite bring himself to experience and Claudia never really understands because she never had a chance to be an adult for real.
I read the book some years after I saw the movie, and it bored the hell out of me. I'm told the books improve with The Vampire Lestat, but I never really had the patience. I will say that I enjoyed this movie, casting including; people flipped out about Cruise being cast as Lestat, but I think he pulled it off nicely. Dunst is really the standout, managing to portray a much older character than she has any right to. And, of course, this was the movie that put Antonio Banderas on my radar, so that alone is worth the price of admission.
My Grade: A-
Rewatch Value: Medium
Next up: Invasion of the Body Snatchers
Movie #288: Innocent Blood
Innocent Blood is a horror/crime/comedy, and with that lineup of genres, it shouldn't be any surprise to learn it's a John Landis film. It stars Anthony Lapaglia, Anne Parillaud, Robert Loggia, David Proval, Chazz Palminteri, Don Rickles, and a whole bunch of horror movie directors in cameos.
Marie (Parillaud) is a vampire who feeds on criminals; it's her little attempt to stay on the right side of moral. One night she takes out Tony (Palminteri), soldata in the Macelli crime family, run by the vicious Sal "The Shark" Macelli (Loggia). He also happened to be a buddy of Joey Gennaro (Lapaglia), a cop infiltrating said crime family. Marie feeds on Sal himself the next night, but he proves a little too much for her, and she is forced to flee before "finishing the food" by taking his head off with a shotgun. He rises as a vampire, and wacky hijinx ensue as he tries to turn the rest of his crew as Marie and Joey race to take them out (taking some time to bang in a hotel, because it ain't like you can vampire-hunt during the day if you're a vampire).
The vampires here are fragile as hell. Sure, they're strong and fast, but one bullet to the head finishes them off (some mumbo-jumbo about the central nervous system), and they feed rather messily. No gentle bites to the neck; these fuckers rip you open and smear blood everywhere, all with eyes glowing various colors.
Gennaro and Marie manage to track down Macelli and finish him off - one shot to the head after he monologues a bit. Not entirely unlike An American Werewolf in London, which has a similarly anticlimactic ending, this movie alternates between gore (not really horror) and slapstick.
Loggia looks like he's having fun as the ruthless-mob-boss-turned-vampire, and Parillaud is nicely tortured as a vampire just trying to get by (in Pittsburgh; filmed on location). I enjoy Anthony Lapaglia anyway, and this is one of his few starring roles. I have to wonder if the movie wouldn't be improved by taking a longer view; Macelli is obviously able to act decisively and patiently, so watching him start to build up an empire of vampires (a vempire?) might have been more interesting than the frantic chase with a kind of tepid action sequence, but it's also possible I've played too much Vampire: The Masquerade over the years.
As with many Landis movies, the cameos are fun; Dario Argento, Sam Raimi, Frank Oz, and Tom Savini all stop by, and Don Rickles plays the crooked mob lawyer turned (briefly) into a vampire to fry in the sun.
All in all, it's very watchable, if not amazing.
My Grade: B
Rewatch value: Medium-High
Next up: Interview with the Vampire
Marie (Parillaud) is a vampire who feeds on criminals; it's her little attempt to stay on the right side of moral. One night she takes out Tony (Palminteri), soldata in the Macelli crime family, run by the vicious Sal "The Shark" Macelli (Loggia). He also happened to be a buddy of Joey Gennaro (Lapaglia), a cop infiltrating said crime family. Marie feeds on Sal himself the next night, but he proves a little too much for her, and she is forced to flee before "finishing the food" by taking his head off with a shotgun. He rises as a vampire, and wacky hijinx ensue as he tries to turn the rest of his crew as Marie and Joey race to take them out (taking some time to bang in a hotel, because it ain't like you can vampire-hunt during the day if you're a vampire).
The vampires here are fragile as hell. Sure, they're strong and fast, but one bullet to the head finishes them off (some mumbo-jumbo about the central nervous system), and they feed rather messily. No gentle bites to the neck; these fuckers rip you open and smear blood everywhere, all with eyes glowing various colors.
Gennaro and Marie manage to track down Macelli and finish him off - one shot to the head after he monologues a bit. Not entirely unlike An American Werewolf in London, which has a similarly anticlimactic ending, this movie alternates between gore (not really horror) and slapstick.
Loggia looks like he's having fun as the ruthless-mob-boss-turned-vampire, and Parillaud is nicely tortured as a vampire just trying to get by (in Pittsburgh; filmed on location). I enjoy Anthony Lapaglia anyway, and this is one of his few starring roles. I have to wonder if the movie wouldn't be improved by taking a longer view; Macelli is obviously able to act decisively and patiently, so watching him start to build up an empire of vampires (a vempire?) might have been more interesting than the frantic chase with a kind of tepid action sequence, but it's also possible I've played too much Vampire: The Masquerade over the years.
As with many Landis movies, the cameos are fun; Dario Argento, Sam Raimi, Frank Oz, and Tom Savini all stop by, and Don Rickles plays the crooked mob lawyer turned (briefly) into a vampire to fry in the sun.
All in all, it's very watchable, if not amazing.
My Grade: B
Rewatch value: Medium-High
Next up: Interview with the Vampire
Thursday, December 25, 2014
Board Game: Nanobots
And here's the other game from the list we played at the party!
The Game: Nanobot Battle Arena
The Publisher: Derpy Games
Time: Depends how many players, but 15 minutes or so.
Players: Me, Michelle, Fredrick, John, Misha, and a couple of other players
You can play this with up to 8 players. Everyone gets a set of tiles; a different "strain" of nanobots, if you will. On your turn, you place one, trying to build the longest unbroken chain. But it's never that simple.
But then you get to play cards, which do things like move nanobots around the board, change their facing (which screws up the chains), "petrifies" them (making them immune to further fuckery), infects other people's bots (turning them into yours), and just blowing them up entirely.
The game ends when one player runs out of bots, but that ends the game right there. You don't get to play a card on the turn you place your last bot, so it's possible for someone with the right cards to play a bunch of bots quickly and end the game. It is likewise possible for someone to Burn or Infect a bunch of someone else's bots.
Opinions: I backed this game's initial Kickstarter, which they cancelled due to some numbers concerns (good on 'em), and then couldn't back the second KS because I didn't have the money at the time. So I was happy to see them at Con on the Cob this year and purchase this game. And they backed Chill, so that was groovy. :)
But, the game itself. I really enjoy it. It's fast and simple, and the different combination of cards are interesting enjoy to make me want to play multiple times.
Keep? Definitely.
The Game: Nanobot Battle Arena
The Publisher: Derpy Games
Time: Depends how many players, but 15 minutes or so.
Players: Me, Michelle, Fredrick, John, Misha, and a couple of other players
You can play this with up to 8 players. Everyone gets a set of tiles; a different "strain" of nanobots, if you will. On your turn, you place one, trying to build the longest unbroken chain. But it's never that simple.
But then you get to play cards, which do things like move nanobots around the board, change their facing (which screws up the chains), "petrifies" them (making them immune to further fuckery), infects other people's bots (turning them into yours), and just blowing them up entirely.
 |
| I'm...not entirely sure what card just got played on Fredrick's bots. |
The game ends when one player runs out of bots, but that ends the game right there. You don't get to play a card on the turn you place your last bot, so it's possible for someone with the right cards to play a bunch of bots quickly and end the game. It is likewise possible for someone to Burn or Infect a bunch of someone else's bots.
 |
| BOT MADNESS. |
But, the game itself. I really enjoy it. It's fast and simple, and the different combination of cards are interesting enjoy to make me want to play multiple times.
Keep? Definitely.
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