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Phillip McSween (751 KP) rated Office Christmas Party (2016) in Movies

Oct 13, 2018

Fun Holiday Film

A Branch Manager of a struggling tech company looks to throw the mother of all parties to help recruit a major client. He has to do it under the nose of his jerk sister who is the CEO of the company.

Acting: 10
Stellar cast all around, each of them bringing a different type of hilarity to the film. Kate McKinnon is my personal favorite, playing the role of Office Manager Mary Winetoss. Her against-the-grain role makes you cringe and laugh at the same time.

Jennifer Aniston plays Carol Vanstone, the CEO you love to hate. Aniston, typically an innocent good girl, is actually quite good at being bad. One scene in particular has her squaring up with a little girl in a lounge and it’s easily one of the best parts of the film.

Beginning: 7
Pretty plain lift-off as you are introduced to the majority of the players in the film. It’s not the greatest start, but it still has its moments. Ten minutes was enough to make me want to see more.

Characters: 10
Office Christmas Party would fall short without hilarious characters like Vanstone and Winetoss. They keep the narrative interesting and the party entertaining. There’s random cameos, a crazy black DJ, and a nutty pimp. This film has it all!

Cinematography/Visuals: 10

Conflict: 4
Easily one of the film’s weak spots. The film’s goal is to throw a huge party for a potential client and hope the CEO doesn’t find out. When you think about it, there’s not too much room for conflict here, at least not enough to raise concern. If you go into the film with that in mind, you’ll have a much better time.

Genre: 8

Memorability: 6
There are quite a few fun moments that ultimately save the film. They don’t hit you like machine gun fire, rather they are more sporadic hence the lower score. I did walk away with some good quotable lines that cracked me up (“Something’s happening in my diaper"!).

Pace: 5

Plot: 8

Resolution: 6

Overall: 74
As I’m sitting here watching Olivia Munn and Jason Bateman do their dance routine in giant snowman costumes, I can’t help but think that a few tweaks here and there could have really made this film a classic. I enjoyed Office Christmas Party and have no problem adding it to my holiday rotation. If you’re looking to expand out of the feel good, innocent Christmas films of the year, this definitely one to check out.

Kudos

Math App - Times Table

Education and Reference

(0 Ratings) Rate It

App

Memorizing Times Tables (multiplications tables) is important for children to advance in their math...

Amelia - Story Book for Kids

Book and Games

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App

One of the most interactive story books for iPad, iPhone and iPod touch. Discover unique adventure...

Get Backed: Craft Your Story, Build the Perfect Pitch Deck, and Launch the Venture of Your Dreams

Evan Baehr and Evan Loomis

(0 Ratings) Rate It

Book

"Anyone who comes to pitch on Shark Tank should read this book first!" --Barbara Corcoran, ABC's...

Peter Shephard (2822 KP) rated Star Saga in Tabletop Games

Feb 22, 2021

Star Saga

2017 | Miniatures, Science Fiction

9.0

(1 Ratings)

Tabletop Game Rating

Dozens of miniatures (3 more)

Great detail

Great looking system

Customisable and adaptable

A couple of miniatures are slightly too flexible (minor damage) (1 more)

Limited replayability without going "alone"

Initial impressions and first play

I managed to pick up a copy of Star Saga by Mantic, initially because I wanted the accessories more than the game.

I opened the box and was blown away by the quality and quantity of the miniatures as well as the accessories. We are talking dozens of characters with great sculpts, as well as the doors and consoles etc which look fantastic (and to get these alone is a significant cost). Additionally, you get a couple of dozen deck tiles, which are perfect for many sci fi miniatures games, and can be used separately to the in-box missions, if you wanted to go it alone/freestyle for other players.

I watched one of the Play Through videos on YouTube, and decided to try it myself. The rules are pretty clear and easy to follow, and it does help that the first 2-3 suggested moves are spelled out in the rulebook.

The first mission is a 1-2 player mission; you can literally play the game on your own, and there is enough flex in the Nexus (read- GM) cards to give an unknown quality to the game. Controlling one Character only, it is fully meant to get you used to the game.

First time I played, I rolled poorly (with 4 dice, usually failing to hit, or having my hits blocked by armour/scenery) and eventually got swamped by lesser minions. The second time I tried it, I managed to get through to the objective and complete it; having said that, the first loss was still useful as it meant I could see what impact damage and wounds had on the character.

The second mission is a larger mission, controlling several characters with different rules, with locked doors and more enemies - the rulebook also suggest if you have 2 copies of the game, to play the 1st and 2nd missions at the same time - although I actually think there is enough pieces to play the 2 together from the one box with minimal adjustment (maybe a slightly shorter corridor, for example).

In short, although it doesn't have the same "freeflow" as something like the old gem Warhammer Quest, it is close, and is a great sci fi dungeon crawler. There are also lots of expansions, but I need to defeat these bad guys first...