Ganache Mish-Mosh
Here we go again, my weekly adventures in what I consumed in entertainment.
Halloween- No, not the 1978 classic, but the 2007…not classic. I had seen this in theaters and had apparently liked it enough to buy the DVD at some point, yet had never watched it. This is something I did heavily in my 20’s, I should probably start a column of DVDs I purchased and never watched. Anyways, I decided to watch the Director’s Cut, which 11 years later I could not discern what was different from the theatrical version at all. Rob Zombie seems like a cool guy, a true genre mega fan, probably a guy I could talk movies and music and comics with for hours. That said, he has only done one film that I really thought was excellent, and this was not it. His Halloween makes the central mistake of trying to explain that Michael Myers is a soulless killer because of a shitty childhood, including a loving mother who strips for a living, her abusive boyfriend and a slutty teenage sister who dislikes him. In the original Michael is credited as The Shape, as in shape of evil, pure malevolence, no backstory required. This film spends the first 45 minutes showing us too much origin to end up where we eventually do in the second half, which becomes a fairly faithful redo of the latter portion of the original. In either case, it isn’t scary, and relies on brutality and gore more often than anything else. Tyler Mane adds an impressive physicality as a nearly 7 foot tall Myers, but it is also unnecessary, as the character doesn’t need to be large in size to be a force of nature, as seen in the original. Despite this, I am going to watch the sequel later in the week, which I remember from my one viewing in the theaters as being batshit crazy. More in an upcoming segment.
Star Trek- So I couldn’t sleep one night and picked a random episode of the original series to watch while still awake. Season One provided Court Martial, a fairly static episode featuring our beloved Captain Kirk being put up on tribunal for accidentally giving an order that led to a crewman’s death. I had seen this, but not in many years, so I enjoyed it almost like new again. Almost all the action takes place on a Starbase where Enterprise is being repaired, and it features some really good moments between Kirk and his peers in Starfleet, something you didn’t always get to see often in the show. The end result of watching this classic is I have been interested in doing a possible complete rewatch of TOS, so keep an eye on the column for more of that.
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom- Summer blockbusters are really hit or miss for me. I love a big, dumb popcorn film as much as the next guy, but there still has to be that hook. Whether it be great action set pieces, or a character I really like, something has to grab me. The original Jurassic Park is an all time classic, mixing great story telling with a sense of wonder and incredible adventure. The immediate sequels failed to recapture that magic and the series seemed to die off. Until 2015 and Jurassic World that is, while in no way as good as the original, still provided some really great popcorn film moments. I rewatched it about a year ago and was happy to find I still liked it quite a bit. This one, not so much. Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard come back as Owen and Claire, survivors of the disaster that took place in the last film and are called upon to return to the island to help save the remaining dinosaurs. If you saw the second Jurassic Park film, The Lost World, you can immediately see where this is going and it does. The first half takes place on the island and has some really good moments, both in character interaction and action. The film becomes pretty forgettable once the action moves to a second locale, which would give away too much of the plot if I were to say where. Think The Lost World again, and you can surmise what happens. The actual ending sets up future films with a new status quo which may open up a fresh take on this series. I am honestly interested in where the story can go from this point, but also not in a rush to see any more films in this franchise.
Rotten Plots- I played a game! Dead Ends Entertainment provided us with a copy of their card game, Rotten Plots, and we took it for a test whirl. This is a party game, quick and easy to learn and a lot of fun. This is also the type of game best played by extroverts, and enhanced greatly by having a beer or nine in you too. The rules are simple, there are multiple types of cards that all players are dealt 3 of each. The cards are prepopulated storytelling tools, and you are to pick one of each type of card to create a bumper sticker pitch for a movie plot. Protagonist, antagonist and first action are some of the cards that you choose to make your funniest and most ridiculous plot. Once everyone has narrowed down and assembled their pitch from the cards, it is now time to get that script approved!. One player, as in many of today’s party style games is the judge, and all players read their plots off to that player. This is a game where the enhancement in play value comes from not only the hilarious and wildly inappropriate stuff on the cards, but in how each player delivers their story. We had a great time playing and look forward to breaking out during game nights often, this is a perfect game to get a bunch of friends warmed up for a long night of playing or to end the night on a bunch of laughs. You want a copy? Go to their site and get a copy!
Anyways, that’s what was what in the last few days for me, see you again with my further adventures in pop culture soon!
©2018 Pint O’ Comics | About Us | Contact Us | Site created by One Flight Up Design