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Purple Phoenix Games (2266 KP) rated Belfort in Tabletop Games
Jun 10, 2021
I don’t know if I have ever just come out and said it before, but I love worker placement games. I just adore the mechanic and if a game includes it, the chances of me liking it are quite good. Belfort is an older game now (almost 10 years old!) so does it still excite and deliver the goods when so many other great worker placement games have been produced since it debuted?
The winner of Belfort is the player who, at the end of seven rounds of play, earns the most Victory Points (VP). Players will earn victory points by having majority of buildings claimed within the five districts of Belfort. To claim a building, players will be shrewdly sending workers to mines, the forest, and various buildings and guilds of Belfort to recruit more workers and earn the ever-important buck to finance these buildings.
Setup is kind of a beast, so I won’t detail everything here. Similarly, I will not be detailing every rule in the book, as there are just too many. But, I will give a general flow of the game so readers may be able to decide if this is a game they must add to their collections.
Once the game is setup and player order is established, each player will complete their entire turn in player order. Players will have many choices available to them on their turn: place workers on various buildings they had previously built, place workers on guild tiles to access powerful abilities, recruit more workers, hire gnomes to unlock certain portions of buildings, gaining more building plans, visiting the trading post to exchange resources, transform normal workers into master workers, and lastly assign workers to gather resources (wood, stone, metal, and gold) in the forests and mines surrounding Belfort.
At certain times during the game players will score their efforts to move up (and down) the VP track. It is at the end of the third and final scoring that the game ends and a victor is crowned.
While this is a very broad and general description of the rules of Belfort, each option listed contains layers of strategic depth that, like all good worker placement games, limits the players’ abilities to go everywhere they like as workers are in limited supply. For those gamers who have never played a worker placement game, this is both excruciating and delicious.
Components. This game boasts way too many components for the box in which is barely contained. I say this with one complete expansion and the promo set of guild tiles included, and the latest expansion on the way. All of the components in this game are stellar. The cards are great. All the cardboard play mats and tiles are great. The worker components and all the wooden bits are super great, AND I didn’t even mind having to sticker my own workers. The best part about the components in Belfort is definitely the art. The team designed an excellent art style for this one, and seeing little hidden jokes within the art makes it all that more interesting to me.
So DOES it hold up after all these years? I think it does. Though I would not consider Belfort an “easy” game to learn, teach, or play at first, after a few rounds players generally catch on and begin to really weigh all their options. This is a great game for think-hungry gamers. This game is conversely a bane for all AP-prone players. I fall right in the middle, but lean towards faster play at the expense of my final score. But that’s the beauty of Belfort and of all worker placement games: there are so many choices that one could easily just try to play so that they visit every location at least once. Now, by doing this the players are also ignoring the true goal of the game: area majority within the districts of Belfort, but if a player isn’t as aggressive or victory-crazed, that’s not a bad thing.
For me, I love Belfort. A lot. Unfortunately for me, during this crazy COVID time, I will not be able to play it much, and was lucky to be able to pull it out recently again after not playing it for several years. But, I always look upon the box fondly and wish I could just bust it out any time I want. Maybe someday someone will create solo rules for it and I can enjoy it that way. My wife is not a fan, but also she’s not really a fan of games that are longer than an hour generally. I cherish this game, and am quite happy to have it in my collection.
The winner of Belfort is the player who, at the end of seven rounds of play, earns the most Victory Points (VP). Players will earn victory points by having majority of buildings claimed within the five districts of Belfort. To claim a building, players will be shrewdly sending workers to mines, the forest, and various buildings and guilds of Belfort to recruit more workers and earn the ever-important buck to finance these buildings.
Setup is kind of a beast, so I won’t detail everything here. Similarly, I will not be detailing every rule in the book, as there are just too many. But, I will give a general flow of the game so readers may be able to decide if this is a game they must add to their collections.
Once the game is setup and player order is established, each player will complete their entire turn in player order. Players will have many choices available to them on their turn: place workers on various buildings they had previously built, place workers on guild tiles to access powerful abilities, recruit more workers, hire gnomes to unlock certain portions of buildings, gaining more building plans, visiting the trading post to exchange resources, transform normal workers into master workers, and lastly assign workers to gather resources (wood, stone, metal, and gold) in the forests and mines surrounding Belfort.
At certain times during the game players will score their efforts to move up (and down) the VP track. It is at the end of the third and final scoring that the game ends and a victor is crowned.
While this is a very broad and general description of the rules of Belfort, each option listed contains layers of strategic depth that, like all good worker placement games, limits the players’ abilities to go everywhere they like as workers are in limited supply. For those gamers who have never played a worker placement game, this is both excruciating and delicious.
Components. This game boasts way too many components for the box in which is barely contained. I say this with one complete expansion and the promo set of guild tiles included, and the latest expansion on the way. All of the components in this game are stellar. The cards are great. All the cardboard play mats and tiles are great. The worker components and all the wooden bits are super great, AND I didn’t even mind having to sticker my own workers. The best part about the components in Belfort is definitely the art. The team designed an excellent art style for this one, and seeing little hidden jokes within the art makes it all that more interesting to me.
So DOES it hold up after all these years? I think it does. Though I would not consider Belfort an “easy” game to learn, teach, or play at first, after a few rounds players generally catch on and begin to really weigh all their options. This is a great game for think-hungry gamers. This game is conversely a bane for all AP-prone players. I fall right in the middle, but lean towards faster play at the expense of my final score. But that’s the beauty of Belfort and of all worker placement games: there are so many choices that one could easily just try to play so that they visit every location at least once. Now, by doing this the players are also ignoring the true goal of the game: area majority within the districts of Belfort, but if a player isn’t as aggressive or victory-crazed, that’s not a bad thing.
For me, I love Belfort. A lot. Unfortunately for me, during this crazy COVID time, I will not be able to play it much, and was lucky to be able to pull it out recently again after not playing it for several years. But, I always look upon the box fondly and wish I could just bust it out any time I want. Maybe someday someone will create solo rules for it and I can enjoy it that way. My wife is not a fan, but also she’s not really a fan of games that are longer than an hour generally. I cherish this game, and am quite happy to have it in my collection.
Twisted Cysts (13 KP) rated Terminator: Dark Fate (2019) in Movies
Oct 24, 2019
Action (2 more)
Performances
VFX
Terminator 3?
I need your clothes, your Re-boot and your motorcycle.
That’s the second l pun I’ve made out of that infamous terminator 2 line this week and I feel dirty because of it;
Dirty, much like how I imagine the Terminator franchise feels after Genisys (or however they spelt it)
Terminator:Dark Fate however is billed as a follow up to Terminator & T2;
The former an 80’s classic that sparked a franchise & its sequel that has easily landed itself as one of the best sequels of all time.
So you probably know that this one is ditching all those other terminator films that came in the couple of decades that came between & aims to be the definitive third instalment of franchise (for the third time after Rise Against The Machines & Gen-I-size also promised to do the same) and it’s actually succeeds somewhat, but maybe not in the way a lot of die-hards will want it to.
It’s the “Day After Judgement Day” and Dark Fate opens strong; using footage of Sarah Connor’s crazed speech of Judgement day & machines whilst being interviewed by doctors from T2.
you’ll immediately appreciate Linda Hamilton’s presence one again & from the first scene that follows it’s immediately clear that the previous sequels were missing her presence on screen.
We get a very brief tease of that 80’s style future of skulls on beaches and red & blue lasers that you’ve now seen in 6 films before it but This film doesn’t mess about, Judgement Day didn’t Happen, Sarah, John & The T-800 stopped it in terminator 2 and this film wants you to know that.
You see this film takes a huge risk that may divide fans, but imo it’s a risk that needed to be taken;
it’s no longer about John Connor, not anymore.
We’re introduced to Dani Ramos (Natalia Reyes) & her brother Diego (Diego Boneta) as factory workers facing replacement my machines (see what they did there, I’ll forgive it though as it gets good).
Next up is the rather brutal and badass introduction to the new Kyle Reese in the form of McKenzie Davis’s Grace & then a similar although ironically more Graceful introduction to the new Terminator (Gabriel Luna) both coming back in time via the iconic time bubble effect of series has had since 1984.
And he’s The most polite & possibly menacing Terminator since the T-1000…
Yes I said polite but I’ll get back to that later.
This new ‘black metal’ terminator or “Rev-9” as its referred to is a sort of 2 for 1 deal Terminator, like a T-800 and a T-1000 at the same time, able to split up and act independently as liquid and skeleton simultaneously.
Unlike previous attempts though this terminator is genuinely threatening, he isn’t messing around and finds his new target Dani within minutes.
He’s lightening fast, intelligent and creepy.
The VFX on him thankfully holds up as well and look fantastic other than a few shoddy cgi jumps that can be forgiven.
Within minutes we’re into an explosive highway car chase and the action rarely lets up after.
Genuinely… theres a Mexican border assault, a US detention pen riot, a fight on fucking C5-M plane (it’s big) and then some.
The action in this film Is relentless, gripping and satisfying as fuck.
But story itself, is Terminator 1984, again…
New familiar threat from the future under a different name and that’s all that’s really new at its core.
That’s because Terminator Dark Fate actually serves as a Star Wars: The Force Awakens style Reboot.
T2’s Judgement Day didn’t happen, Skynet didn’t happen, Terminators as we know and love didn’t happen…
But eventually another A.I does and forces our incredibly toned soldier & the black-metal Rev-9 to Time Travel back to our present day.
Despite the opening chase echoing T2 this film matches Terminator 1 in tone entirely,
Everything is very desperate and our character are almost constantly on the run. If anything this is a beat for beat remake that also happens to be a sequel by bringing along the old cast (No J.J Abrams was not involved.
The cast are fantastic, every single member, this film is stollen by McKenzie Davis and Natalia Reyes, they own their roles.
Gabriel Luna as mentioned before is fantastically creepy, this terminator has one mission and won’t waste time killing innocent bystanders, he’s even well mannered! Which just adds to the creep factor.
And don’t worry, his eye-rolling one liner of “my whole body is a weapon” from the trailer is thankfully immediately shut down by an extra in the full scene.
As a re-boot these cast need to be the ones you care about. Wether you like it or not this is a passing of the torch from old to new and luckily They deliver.
I cared about them more than I did about Sarah Connor!
Who Now bitter as fuck, as ruthless as ever and making it known that she had nothing in life other than a vengeance for Terminators and a fear of a Judgement Day she’s actually prevented.
Linda Hamilton is also great as expected. Her character being even more cold, cynical and sarcastic than ever and if you think about that’s how it should be. Her presence is essential though and makes it feel like a sequel to terminator 2.
The comedy of T2 is missing until we’re eventually re-introduced to Arnie’s Terminator.
I genuinely found him hilarious, and his humour it not forced, he’s the most dead-Pan he’s ever been and of course you know that Sarah Connor isn’t going to trust this weirdly humorous rust-bucket.
But his story is quite a hard one to swallow, without spoiling we get an evolution of his character, one that’s definitely an interesting take, one that also create its own Jokes out it. But it’s doesn’t quite land. It’s too much.
That having been said Arnie is also absolutely fantastic with what he’s been given but unfortunately I didn’t care for him as much as I wanted to.
You’ll have questions multiple times throughout this film but thankfully our characters are intelligent enough to ask them before too long whilst the action is unfolding.
The film never hangs around too much and suffers a little for it, the story comes off as very little more than a remake and passing of the torch.
We get the sorry of this new threatening 2042 future via flashbacks (or is it flash forwards? time travel) and it’s grittier than we’re used to.
More in vein of Salvations dusty, military future than the synth wave metal and blue lasers, which is a shame but ultimately makes sense and enforces the idea that the future we saw in T1 & T2 was actually prevented by John & Sarah back in T2.
It’s risky but it’s the deviation from the formulae of the past attempts at a new Terminator that the franchise needs.
Luckily the risks set up also give us an appropriately emotional if predictable ending. There’s just not enough of the touching character development the the first two films had.
The film succeeded in making me care about the new characters but I left feeling like I didn’t get enough despite a bit of fleshing out via flashbacks that unfold as the film progressed.
Tim Miller (Deadpool) has directed one hell of an action film, Dark Fate is a sequel that wipes the slate clean for a future of new terminator films and just about succeeds buy the skin of it’s endo-skeleton teeth.
It’s not the best, it’s essentially the first film again with new and old cast but it’s good enough for a new series to blossom off it and thrill ride for the most part.
There are few questions left for the sequel and three-quel that I know are already planned (what the fuck does Rev-9 actually stand for anyway?) but that’s understandable, I just hope we get that sequel and that it’s as good or even better because this is the only terminator film I cared about since terminator 2.
The box office will ultimately be the decider and I can already hear the keyboard warriors that haven’t even seen the movie panning it on twitter but I for one, really enjoyed Terminator: Dark Fate.
Photo courtesy of Skydance & Paramount VIa talent house media.
7/10
That’s the second l pun I’ve made out of that infamous terminator 2 line this week and I feel dirty because of it;
Dirty, much like how I imagine the Terminator franchise feels after Genisys (or however they spelt it)
Terminator:Dark Fate however is billed as a follow up to Terminator & T2;
The former an 80’s classic that sparked a franchise & its sequel that has easily landed itself as one of the best sequels of all time.
So you probably know that this one is ditching all those other terminator films that came in the couple of decades that came between & aims to be the definitive third instalment of franchise (for the third time after Rise Against The Machines & Gen-I-size also promised to do the same) and it’s actually succeeds somewhat, but maybe not in the way a lot of die-hards will want it to.
It’s the “Day After Judgement Day” and Dark Fate opens strong; using footage of Sarah Connor’s crazed speech of Judgement day & machines whilst being interviewed by doctors from T2.
you’ll immediately appreciate Linda Hamilton’s presence one again & from the first scene that follows it’s immediately clear that the previous sequels were missing her presence on screen.
We get a very brief tease of that 80’s style future of skulls on beaches and red & blue lasers that you’ve now seen in 6 films before it but This film doesn’t mess about, Judgement Day didn’t Happen, Sarah, John & The T-800 stopped it in terminator 2 and this film wants you to know that.
You see this film takes a huge risk that may divide fans, but imo it’s a risk that needed to be taken;
it’s no longer about John Connor, not anymore.
We’re introduced to Dani Ramos (Natalia Reyes) & her brother Diego (Diego Boneta) as factory workers facing replacement my machines (see what they did there, I’ll forgive it though as it gets good).
Next up is the rather brutal and badass introduction to the new Kyle Reese in the form of McKenzie Davis’s Grace & then a similar although ironically more Graceful introduction to the new Terminator (Gabriel Luna) both coming back in time via the iconic time bubble effect of series has had since 1984.
And he’s The most polite & possibly menacing Terminator since the T-1000…
Yes I said polite but I’ll get back to that later.
This new ‘black metal’ terminator or “Rev-9” as its referred to is a sort of 2 for 1 deal Terminator, like a T-800 and a T-1000 at the same time, able to split up and act independently as liquid and skeleton simultaneously.
Unlike previous attempts though this terminator is genuinely threatening, he isn’t messing around and finds his new target Dani within minutes.
He’s lightening fast, intelligent and creepy.
The VFX on him thankfully holds up as well and look fantastic other than a few shoddy cgi jumps that can be forgiven.
Within minutes we’re into an explosive highway car chase and the action rarely lets up after.
Genuinely… theres a Mexican border assault, a US detention pen riot, a fight on fucking C5-M plane (it’s big) and then some.
The action in this film Is relentless, gripping and satisfying as fuck.
But story itself, is Terminator 1984, again…
New familiar threat from the future under a different name and that’s all that’s really new at its core.
That’s because Terminator Dark Fate actually serves as a Star Wars: The Force Awakens style Reboot.
T2’s Judgement Day didn’t happen, Skynet didn’t happen, Terminators as we know and love didn’t happen…
But eventually another A.I does and forces our incredibly toned soldier & the black-metal Rev-9 to Time Travel back to our present day.
Despite the opening chase echoing T2 this film matches Terminator 1 in tone entirely,
Everything is very desperate and our character are almost constantly on the run. If anything this is a beat for beat remake that also happens to be a sequel by bringing along the old cast (No J.J Abrams was not involved.
The cast are fantastic, every single member, this film is stollen by McKenzie Davis and Natalia Reyes, they own their roles.
Gabriel Luna as mentioned before is fantastically creepy, this terminator has one mission and won’t waste time killing innocent bystanders, he’s even well mannered! Which just adds to the creep factor.
And don’t worry, his eye-rolling one liner of “my whole body is a weapon” from the trailer is thankfully immediately shut down by an extra in the full scene.
As a re-boot these cast need to be the ones you care about. Wether you like it or not this is a passing of the torch from old to new and luckily They deliver.
I cared about them more than I did about Sarah Connor!
Who Now bitter as fuck, as ruthless as ever and making it known that she had nothing in life other than a vengeance for Terminators and a fear of a Judgement Day she’s actually prevented.
Linda Hamilton is also great as expected. Her character being even more cold, cynical and sarcastic than ever and if you think about that’s how it should be. Her presence is essential though and makes it feel like a sequel to terminator 2.
The comedy of T2 is missing until we’re eventually re-introduced to Arnie’s Terminator.
I genuinely found him hilarious, and his humour it not forced, he’s the most dead-Pan he’s ever been and of course you know that Sarah Connor isn’t going to trust this weirdly humorous rust-bucket.
But his story is quite a hard one to swallow, without spoiling we get an evolution of his character, one that’s definitely an interesting take, one that also create its own Jokes out it. But it’s doesn’t quite land. It’s too much.
That having been said Arnie is also absolutely fantastic with what he’s been given but unfortunately I didn’t care for him as much as I wanted to.
You’ll have questions multiple times throughout this film but thankfully our characters are intelligent enough to ask them before too long whilst the action is unfolding.
The film never hangs around too much and suffers a little for it, the story comes off as very little more than a remake and passing of the torch.
We get the sorry of this new threatening 2042 future via flashbacks (or is it flash forwards? time travel) and it’s grittier than we’re used to.
More in vein of Salvations dusty, military future than the synth wave metal and blue lasers, which is a shame but ultimately makes sense and enforces the idea that the future we saw in T1 & T2 was actually prevented by John & Sarah back in T2.
It’s risky but it’s the deviation from the formulae of the past attempts at a new Terminator that the franchise needs.
Luckily the risks set up also give us an appropriately emotional if predictable ending. There’s just not enough of the touching character development the the first two films had.
The film succeeded in making me care about the new characters but I left feeling like I didn’t get enough despite a bit of fleshing out via flashbacks that unfold as the film progressed.
Tim Miller (Deadpool) has directed one hell of an action film, Dark Fate is a sequel that wipes the slate clean for a future of new terminator films and just about succeeds buy the skin of it’s endo-skeleton teeth.
It’s not the best, it’s essentially the first film again with new and old cast but it’s good enough for a new series to blossom off it and thrill ride for the most part.
There are few questions left for the sequel and three-quel that I know are already planned (what the fuck does Rev-9 actually stand for anyway?) but that’s understandable, I just hope we get that sequel and that it’s as good or even better because this is the only terminator film I cared about since terminator 2.
The box office will ultimately be the decider and I can already hear the keyboard warriors that haven’t even seen the movie panning it on twitter but I for one, really enjoyed Terminator: Dark Fate.
Photo courtesy of Skydance & Paramount VIa talent house media.
7/10
Purple Phoenix Games (2266 KP) rated Steam Park in Tabletop Games
Aug 15, 2019 (Updated Aug 19, 2021)
Who couldn’t go for a nice week or weekend at a fancy theme park these days? I think even our Alexas and Googles would like to catch some rays in their robot bodies, if they had them. Welcome to Steam Park, where all your robots can enjoy themselves on roller coasters, visit vendor stands, and also create metric tons of dirt. You ready?
Steam Park is a real-time dice rolling, theme park building, negative VP mitigating game for two to four players. In it players are theme park owners who are attempting to build the greatest park in the land hoping to attract many robots and keep their parks squeaky clean. The game spans six rounds of four phases and the player with the most VP at the game end will be the winner!
To setup, separate all the different components by type and color and shuffle the cards into a face-down deck. Deal each player six dice, one large starting tile to build upon, six cards from which they will choose to keep three, and one pig board. The game may now begin!
The four phases of each round are Roll, Dirt, Actions, and Income. During the Roll phase players will simultaneously be rolling their dice until they get a result they like. The first player to finish will quickly grab the First Player token in the middle of the table. Each other player may continue rolling as much as they like, but the turn order tokens will be taken one by one until they are all gone. Bonuses exist for the First and Second Player tokens and a negative bonus for the last player (more Dirt).
The Dirt phase causes each player to add Dirt tokens to their park according to the number of Dirt symbols rolled on their dice as well as the number of visitors currently in their park. The player who nabbed the First Player token can now discard four Dirt tokens from the bonus while the last player will add two more Dirt tokens to their park.
Actions that can be taken during the next phase include: Building Rides, Building Vendor Stands, Attracting Visitors, Cleaning Dirt, Playing Bonus Cards, and Expanding the Park. Each of these actions cost symbols rolled on the dice. To build a ride of capacity three, then three Build symbols would need to be spent from those rolled, et al. The only Action that requires no specific symbol is the Expand the Park. Use any symbol to add on a small square tile to the existing park layout.
Players will collect $3 (not USD, just the game money) for every visitor enjoying their park amenities during this Income phase. If a player has less than three Bonus Cards they may draw two from the deck and choose one to take in hand.
The game continues in this fashion over the course of six rounds total and once the final Income phase has been completed players will consult the Final Dirt Track to see how much will need to be paid in Dirt fees. Whomever ends the game with the most money wins!
Components. This game has a LOT of cardboard components. Nearly everything in the box is medium-quality cardboard and generally fine. The art is quirky, whimsical, and endearing. The insert leaves much to be desired so I made my own out of foam board. I have no complaints about the components except that I wish I could visit some of the rides, and I am still not super sure why the dice locking area is a metal pig token.
I originally played Josh’s copy he brought over to my house. I fell in love with it right away, and I still very much enjoy it. It will never make my Top 10 Games of All Time, but I will cherish my copy. I have yet to add in the Play Dirty expansion for it, as I like the base game so well, but I plan to sometime soon.
What I like most about it is the real-time rolling of the dice coupled with the grabbing of the turn order tokens when satisfied. This means that I could just go with what I roll after one roll, or I can take my time and just accept the Dirt coming my way. Sometimes being last and taking that extra Dirt is worth having all the dice read what you really want.
I also like having a lot of vendor stands in my park. Finding room for them is a different story, but I end up usually having just a few rides and mostly stands. They each provide some different benefit or way to change up the game a little that I just love to take advantage of them.
I adore games with real-time dice rolling, so I was predisposed to being attracted to Steam Park. Coupled with the great overall theme, this is an easy win for me, and a prized entry in my collection. In fact, I’m not the only one of us who thinks this as Purple Phoenix Games gives Steam Park a monotone-robot-thrill-seeker-scream 14 / 18. If you are tiring of Escape: The Curse of the Temple (which is possible), then pick up a copy of Steam Park. It will spark your joy of frantic dice rolling once more!
Steam Park is a real-time dice rolling, theme park building, negative VP mitigating game for two to four players. In it players are theme park owners who are attempting to build the greatest park in the land hoping to attract many robots and keep their parks squeaky clean. The game spans six rounds of four phases and the player with the most VP at the game end will be the winner!
To setup, separate all the different components by type and color and shuffle the cards into a face-down deck. Deal each player six dice, one large starting tile to build upon, six cards from which they will choose to keep three, and one pig board. The game may now begin!
The four phases of each round are Roll, Dirt, Actions, and Income. During the Roll phase players will simultaneously be rolling their dice until they get a result they like. The first player to finish will quickly grab the First Player token in the middle of the table. Each other player may continue rolling as much as they like, but the turn order tokens will be taken one by one until they are all gone. Bonuses exist for the First and Second Player tokens and a negative bonus for the last player (more Dirt).
The Dirt phase causes each player to add Dirt tokens to their park according to the number of Dirt symbols rolled on their dice as well as the number of visitors currently in their park. The player who nabbed the First Player token can now discard four Dirt tokens from the bonus while the last player will add two more Dirt tokens to their park.
Actions that can be taken during the next phase include: Building Rides, Building Vendor Stands, Attracting Visitors, Cleaning Dirt, Playing Bonus Cards, and Expanding the Park. Each of these actions cost symbols rolled on the dice. To build a ride of capacity three, then three Build symbols would need to be spent from those rolled, et al. The only Action that requires no specific symbol is the Expand the Park. Use any symbol to add on a small square tile to the existing park layout.
Players will collect $3 (not USD, just the game money) for every visitor enjoying their park amenities during this Income phase. If a player has less than three Bonus Cards they may draw two from the deck and choose one to take in hand.
The game continues in this fashion over the course of six rounds total and once the final Income phase has been completed players will consult the Final Dirt Track to see how much will need to be paid in Dirt fees. Whomever ends the game with the most money wins!
Components. This game has a LOT of cardboard components. Nearly everything in the box is medium-quality cardboard and generally fine. The art is quirky, whimsical, and endearing. The insert leaves much to be desired so I made my own out of foam board. I have no complaints about the components except that I wish I could visit some of the rides, and I am still not super sure why the dice locking area is a metal pig token.
I originally played Josh’s copy he brought over to my house. I fell in love with it right away, and I still very much enjoy it. It will never make my Top 10 Games of All Time, but I will cherish my copy. I have yet to add in the Play Dirty expansion for it, as I like the base game so well, but I plan to sometime soon.
What I like most about it is the real-time rolling of the dice coupled with the grabbing of the turn order tokens when satisfied. This means that I could just go with what I roll after one roll, or I can take my time and just accept the Dirt coming my way. Sometimes being last and taking that extra Dirt is worth having all the dice read what you really want.
I also like having a lot of vendor stands in my park. Finding room for them is a different story, but I end up usually having just a few rides and mostly stands. They each provide some different benefit or way to change up the game a little that I just love to take advantage of them.
I adore games with real-time dice rolling, so I was predisposed to being attracted to Steam Park. Coupled with the great overall theme, this is an easy win for me, and a prized entry in my collection. In fact, I’m not the only one of us who thinks this as Purple Phoenix Games gives Steam Park a monotone-robot-thrill-seeker-scream 14 / 18. If you are tiring of Escape: The Curse of the Temple (which is possible), then pick up a copy of Steam Park. It will spark your joy of frantic dice rolling once more!
Bob Mann (459 KP) rated Love, Simon (2018) in Movies
Sep 29, 2021
Time to Exhale.
I saw this as a Cineworld “Secret Unlimited Screening” event (for non-UK readers, Cineworld is one of the main movie-theater chains), so went in – like the majority of the audience I suspect – predicting early sight of Lara Croft in skin tight shorts! This was a bit different! A secret screening is an interesting concept, and really tests the metal of a film in engaging its audience early. This one failed to some degree, with seven people (I was counting) walking out in the first 10 minutes. (To be fair on those seven, the film’s first 20 minutes are rather laborious; and to be fair on the film, this was a pretty full auditorium so as a percentage drop out it was low).
Teen heartthrob Nick Robinson (the older brother from “Jurassic World“) plays the eponymous hero who has a well-buried secret: he’s gay. Growing up in Pleasantville (I almost expected someone to yell “Cat!” and the fire brigade turn up) he feels unable to come out to either his high-school friends or his loving family (“Apple pie cooling on the window-sill anyone?”). But striking up an email relationship with another closeted male from the same high school – nicknamed “Blue” – allows him to explore his feelings about his sexuality and fall in love all at the same time. But neither coming out or love run terribly smoothly for Simon…
Happy families. From left, Nick Robinson, Talitha Bateman, Jennifer Garner and Josh Duhamel.
I am forty years adrift from being able to directly relate to the stresses and strains of modern high-school life (though I AM still 17 on the inside people!) But even to me, this film doesn’t feel like it should be set in the present day. While it needs to be for its tweeting and blogging story-line, surely there are few backwaters in either America or Western Europe where gay people have to stay so silent? An 80’s or early 90’s setting would, I think, have worked so much better. (Ironically, its not his gay-ness or otherwise that his friends get upset by, but something far more fundamental in the human condition).
Definitely set in the present day.
That aside, this is a sweet and ultimately quite engaging film that I’m sure will be a big hit with a teenage audience. While for me it didn’t come close to ticking all of the coming-of-age boxes that the inestimable “Lady Bird” did, it does cover old ground in a new and refreshing way, and I’m sure it WILL be very helpful for many gay people in getting the courage to come out. Times are different today, but I still can imagine few things requiring more bravery than declaring you are gay to your parents and closest friends (even though, deep down, they surely already suspect).
So, it’s sweet, but also for me (although far from its target audience) rather flat. As a comedy drama, the moments of comedy are few and far between, with only one or two of the lines making me chuckle rather than smile. A quiet auditorium is not a good sign for a film with “Comedy” in its imdb description. It does however occasionally break through with something memorable: a full on college “La La Land” scene (“Not that gay” – LoL) is a case in point. And all of the scenes featuring comedy actress Natasha Rothwell as drama teacher Ms Allbright add much needed energy and humour to the film.
Someone should tell him… regardless of gender preference, sex is never going to work like this.
Of the teen actors, Robinson is fine but it is Katherine Langford as Simon’s friend Leah who stood out for me. Talitha Eliana Bateman (“The 5th Wave“; looking a whole lot younger than her 16 years!) is also impressive as Simon’s culinary sister Nora. Simon’s parents are played by Jennifer Garner (“Dallas Buyers Club“) and Josh Duhamel (a new one on me… he’s been in the “Transformers” films apparently).
Simon says walk this way. From left, Jorge Lendeborg Jr., Nich Robinson, Alexandra Shipp and Katherine Langford.
The screenplay is by movie virgins Elizabeth Berger and Isaac Aptaker, and is a slightly patchy affair. There are scenes that worked well (a cringe inducing sports stadium scene for example) but other times where it seems to be trying too hard for T-shirt captions…. a line from Ethan (Clark Moore) about hate crime was a “Ye-what?” moment.
Some of the characters really don’t quite work either: Tony Hale (so memorable as the useless PA in “Veep”) plays almost a school-ified version of Stephen Stucker’s Johnny from “Airplane”. Perhaps that would work as some sort of whacky hall monitor guy… but it transpires that he is the headmaster. No, I don’t think so.
A bit OTT. Veep’s Tony Hale as the principal with a surfeit of bonhomie.
So, in summary, after a bit of a bumpy start, its a pleasant watch that culminates in a feel-good ending. Feel good, that is, providing you have liberal views: I can’t see it pleasing many Trump supporters. I also can’t see it getting a cinema release in Gambia or Nigeria, though God only knows they could use one. If I could give half stars I would give this one an extra half as I applaud both the theme its trying to promote and for bringing something fresh to the screen…
Teen heartthrob Nick Robinson (the older brother from “Jurassic World“) plays the eponymous hero who has a well-buried secret: he’s gay. Growing up in Pleasantville (I almost expected someone to yell “Cat!” and the fire brigade turn up) he feels unable to come out to either his high-school friends or his loving family (“Apple pie cooling on the window-sill anyone?”). But striking up an email relationship with another closeted male from the same high school – nicknamed “Blue” – allows him to explore his feelings about his sexuality and fall in love all at the same time. But neither coming out or love run terribly smoothly for Simon…
Happy families. From left, Nick Robinson, Talitha Bateman, Jennifer Garner and Josh Duhamel.
I am forty years adrift from being able to directly relate to the stresses and strains of modern high-school life (though I AM still 17 on the inside people!) But even to me, this film doesn’t feel like it should be set in the present day. While it needs to be for its tweeting and blogging story-line, surely there are few backwaters in either America or Western Europe where gay people have to stay so silent? An 80’s or early 90’s setting would, I think, have worked so much better. (Ironically, its not his gay-ness or otherwise that his friends get upset by, but something far more fundamental in the human condition).
Definitely set in the present day.
That aside, this is a sweet and ultimately quite engaging film that I’m sure will be a big hit with a teenage audience. While for me it didn’t come close to ticking all of the coming-of-age boxes that the inestimable “Lady Bird” did, it does cover old ground in a new and refreshing way, and I’m sure it WILL be very helpful for many gay people in getting the courage to come out. Times are different today, but I still can imagine few things requiring more bravery than declaring you are gay to your parents and closest friends (even though, deep down, they surely already suspect).
So, it’s sweet, but also for me (although far from its target audience) rather flat. As a comedy drama, the moments of comedy are few and far between, with only one or two of the lines making me chuckle rather than smile. A quiet auditorium is not a good sign for a film with “Comedy” in its imdb description. It does however occasionally break through with something memorable: a full on college “La La Land” scene (“Not that gay” – LoL) is a case in point. And all of the scenes featuring comedy actress Natasha Rothwell as drama teacher Ms Allbright add much needed energy and humour to the film.
Someone should tell him… regardless of gender preference, sex is never going to work like this.
Of the teen actors, Robinson is fine but it is Katherine Langford as Simon’s friend Leah who stood out for me. Talitha Eliana Bateman (“The 5th Wave“; looking a whole lot younger than her 16 years!) is also impressive as Simon’s culinary sister Nora. Simon’s parents are played by Jennifer Garner (“Dallas Buyers Club“) and Josh Duhamel (a new one on me… he’s been in the “Transformers” films apparently).
Simon says walk this way. From left, Jorge Lendeborg Jr., Nich Robinson, Alexandra Shipp and Katherine Langford.
The screenplay is by movie virgins Elizabeth Berger and Isaac Aptaker, and is a slightly patchy affair. There are scenes that worked well (a cringe inducing sports stadium scene for example) but other times where it seems to be trying too hard for T-shirt captions…. a line from Ethan (Clark Moore) about hate crime was a “Ye-what?” moment.
Some of the characters really don’t quite work either: Tony Hale (so memorable as the useless PA in “Veep”) plays almost a school-ified version of Stephen Stucker’s Johnny from “Airplane”. Perhaps that would work as some sort of whacky hall monitor guy… but it transpires that he is the headmaster. No, I don’t think so.
A bit OTT. Veep’s Tony Hale as the principal with a surfeit of bonhomie.
So, in summary, after a bit of a bumpy start, its a pleasant watch that culminates in a feel-good ending. Feel good, that is, providing you have liberal views: I can’t see it pleasing many Trump supporters. I also can’t see it getting a cinema release in Gambia or Nigeria, though God only knows they could use one. If I could give half stars I would give this one an extra half as I applaud both the theme its trying to promote and for bringing something fresh to the screen…
Purple Phoenix Games (2266 KP) rated Bellum Magica in Tabletop Games
Jan 1, 2022
One of the many recent trends in board games has been that of playing as the villains in the game’s lore. One of the bigger games that I remember employing this little shift is Legendary: Marvel Villains, and another that I truly enjoy is Disney Villainous. There is just something about playing as the bad guys in a game that is designed for the bad guys to finally win. Enter Bellum Magica, a game that I didn’t even realize existed until it arrived on my door step from Blue Orange Games. I wonder, will this one find its way into my collection permanently?
Bellum Magica is a medieval fantasy engine building game for two to five players. In it, players are evil lords waging war on a local village and each other in an attempt to becoming the richest lord of all. The winner is the player who earns the most VP from treasure chests looted during the game.
DISCLAIMER: We were provided a copy of this game for the purposes of this review. This is a retail copy of the game, so what you see in these photos is exactly what would be received in your box. I do not intend to cover every single rule included in the rulebook, but will describe the overall game flow and major rule set so that our readers may get a sense of how the game plays. For more in depth rules, you may purchase a copy online or from your FLGS. -T
To setup, each player chooses a castle board and is randomly dealt two goblin cards to be added to the castle. These goblin cards have icons on the left and the right of the main character art, and will slide beneath the main castle board on either side to activate their icons for the duration. Next, the human kingdom (that will inevitably be attacked by players) is setup per number of players and placed on the table. The two different creature decks are shuffled and two cards from each pile are revealed. The other tokens are placed in the insert “token reserves” and are available to all. The first player takes the die and is known as the Captain. The game is now setup and ready to begin!
Each turn consists of six phases and, luckily, the game comes with a couple player aids to remind players of the order. First, the Captain rolls the die to Choose an active horde. Whichever result is rolled will then activate the corresponding line on the castle board, with all icons activating during the turn. If a player is unsatisfied with the rolled result, they may discard a barrel token in order to buy a round of drinks for the Captain, forcing them to re-roll the die. The Captain may also discard a Confusion Spell token in order to re-roll the die as well. These items are earned later in the game from different actions. Next, all players Gather resources (collect items) shown on the line that is activated on their castle board and any cards that have been added to alter these items (see photo below). Players will compare treasure map icons shown on the active line, and Call back their scouts who have gone in search of treasure chests. The player with the most icons will collect a metal chest, and if players are tied for the most, they each instead collect a wooden chest.
Once all items have been collected, players may enact the Attack action in turn order. Depending on the number and types of sword icons showing on the right side of players’ castle boards, they may choose to attack one of the face-up kingdom cards in the offer OR may choose to instead attack another player. In order to attack, the player will need to possess at least as many normal swords and/or magic swords as are showing on the kingdom card or on an opponent’s castle board. By successfully attacking, the player will collect spoils shown on the kingdom card, or may steal a treasure from an opponent, provided the attacker also possesses a thief icon on the active line.
When attacks are all resolved, players may next Recruit creatures from the setup creature decks by paying the recruitment costs (in food and glyph tokens). Players then decide under which side of their castle board they will slide the newly-acquired creature to aid in their efforts on future turns. These creatures can provide more resources or more attacking icons, depending on the side added.
After all these phases have been completed, the End of the Turn phase aptly finishes the turn. Cards are replenished and the new Captain is passed the die. Play continues in this fashion until one player has ten treasure chests at the end of an Attack phase. The player with the most VP from collected treasure chests is the winner!
Components. This game boasts some excellent artwork and some of the cutest little tokens I’ve seen. Firstly, the art is simply amazing. I love the looks of it, and the game is beautiful on the table once setup and playing. There are three types of wooden tokens that just make me smile while playing with them: little chicken legs, beer barrels, and cool little purple glyphs. I honestly wish they were bigger, but I understand cost of manufacturing places limitations when trying to keep products within a certain price point. All said, though, the components are great with this one!
I have one super tiny rule shrug: the addition of the Confuse Spell token and its rules. Now, I think I understand WHY it exists – these can be used every turn a player is Captain. So, it acts like a beer barrel, but is useful on future turns when you are Captain. If players are good at the game, and if you play with the full complement of players, you may not have many turns as Captain before someone wins, so I guess I don’t fully agree with the necessity of the Confusion Spells… except to further instill the fantasy theme.
That said, I still really enjoy Bellum Magica as a gateway-level engine builder. The more cards you add to your castle board, the better opportunities you give yourself to gain more and more resources throughout each turn. I have found that getting yourself a magic sword icon or more as soon as possible helps setup bigger turns and can be the difference between victory and embarrassment. As the kingdom cards start running out, their difficulty level increases, so having those extra magic swords come in handy big time. Also, investing in thief icons to be able to control other players’ treasure chest hoards may be invaluable. There are many ways to craft each turn to maximize effectiveness, and that helps keep Bellum Magica relevant and exciting to play.
It is probably no surprise by now, but I do enjoy playing Bellum Magica. When I first tried reading the rules I was a bit confused and wasn’t quite sure what the point was, but as I started playing more and more, the rules are really just pared down, almost like an outline or first draft. If you can stick with it and get it to the table, I believe you will find a very capable gateway engine building game with an accessible theme and great art and components. Purple Phoenix Games gives this one metal treasure chested 4 / 6. I do believe I will continue to love it more and more as I play it more and more. If you align with my board game tastes, this is an easy one to recommend. If you and I normally align somewhat, then I might suggest playing someone else’s copy before grabbing one of your own right away. I am more into gateway-weighted games than most reviewers, I’m sure, so this might be a bit lighter than your normal fare. In any case, I think this one needs to be played. A lot. If you ever see me out and about, or at a convention, let me know that you want to play this with me and I will not turn down the opportunity.
Bellum Magica is a medieval fantasy engine building game for two to five players. In it, players are evil lords waging war on a local village and each other in an attempt to becoming the richest lord of all. The winner is the player who earns the most VP from treasure chests looted during the game.
DISCLAIMER: We were provided a copy of this game for the purposes of this review. This is a retail copy of the game, so what you see in these photos is exactly what would be received in your box. I do not intend to cover every single rule included in the rulebook, but will describe the overall game flow and major rule set so that our readers may get a sense of how the game plays. For more in depth rules, you may purchase a copy online or from your FLGS. -T
To setup, each player chooses a castle board and is randomly dealt two goblin cards to be added to the castle. These goblin cards have icons on the left and the right of the main character art, and will slide beneath the main castle board on either side to activate their icons for the duration. Next, the human kingdom (that will inevitably be attacked by players) is setup per number of players and placed on the table. The two different creature decks are shuffled and two cards from each pile are revealed. The other tokens are placed in the insert “token reserves” and are available to all. The first player takes the die and is known as the Captain. The game is now setup and ready to begin!
Each turn consists of six phases and, luckily, the game comes with a couple player aids to remind players of the order. First, the Captain rolls the die to Choose an active horde. Whichever result is rolled will then activate the corresponding line on the castle board, with all icons activating during the turn. If a player is unsatisfied with the rolled result, they may discard a barrel token in order to buy a round of drinks for the Captain, forcing them to re-roll the die. The Captain may also discard a Confusion Spell token in order to re-roll the die as well. These items are earned later in the game from different actions. Next, all players Gather resources (collect items) shown on the line that is activated on their castle board and any cards that have been added to alter these items (see photo below). Players will compare treasure map icons shown on the active line, and Call back their scouts who have gone in search of treasure chests. The player with the most icons will collect a metal chest, and if players are tied for the most, they each instead collect a wooden chest.
Once all items have been collected, players may enact the Attack action in turn order. Depending on the number and types of sword icons showing on the right side of players’ castle boards, they may choose to attack one of the face-up kingdom cards in the offer OR may choose to instead attack another player. In order to attack, the player will need to possess at least as many normal swords and/or magic swords as are showing on the kingdom card or on an opponent’s castle board. By successfully attacking, the player will collect spoils shown on the kingdom card, or may steal a treasure from an opponent, provided the attacker also possesses a thief icon on the active line.
When attacks are all resolved, players may next Recruit creatures from the setup creature decks by paying the recruitment costs (in food and glyph tokens). Players then decide under which side of their castle board they will slide the newly-acquired creature to aid in their efforts on future turns. These creatures can provide more resources or more attacking icons, depending on the side added.
After all these phases have been completed, the End of the Turn phase aptly finishes the turn. Cards are replenished and the new Captain is passed the die. Play continues in this fashion until one player has ten treasure chests at the end of an Attack phase. The player with the most VP from collected treasure chests is the winner!
Components. This game boasts some excellent artwork and some of the cutest little tokens I’ve seen. Firstly, the art is simply amazing. I love the looks of it, and the game is beautiful on the table once setup and playing. There are three types of wooden tokens that just make me smile while playing with them: little chicken legs, beer barrels, and cool little purple glyphs. I honestly wish they were bigger, but I understand cost of manufacturing places limitations when trying to keep products within a certain price point. All said, though, the components are great with this one!
I have one super tiny rule shrug: the addition of the Confuse Spell token and its rules. Now, I think I understand WHY it exists – these can be used every turn a player is Captain. So, it acts like a beer barrel, but is useful on future turns when you are Captain. If players are good at the game, and if you play with the full complement of players, you may not have many turns as Captain before someone wins, so I guess I don’t fully agree with the necessity of the Confusion Spells… except to further instill the fantasy theme.
That said, I still really enjoy Bellum Magica as a gateway-level engine builder. The more cards you add to your castle board, the better opportunities you give yourself to gain more and more resources throughout each turn. I have found that getting yourself a magic sword icon or more as soon as possible helps setup bigger turns and can be the difference between victory and embarrassment. As the kingdom cards start running out, their difficulty level increases, so having those extra magic swords come in handy big time. Also, investing in thief icons to be able to control other players’ treasure chest hoards may be invaluable. There are many ways to craft each turn to maximize effectiveness, and that helps keep Bellum Magica relevant and exciting to play.
It is probably no surprise by now, but I do enjoy playing Bellum Magica. When I first tried reading the rules I was a bit confused and wasn’t quite sure what the point was, but as I started playing more and more, the rules are really just pared down, almost like an outline or first draft. If you can stick with it and get it to the table, I believe you will find a very capable gateway engine building game with an accessible theme and great art and components. Purple Phoenix Games gives this one metal treasure chested 4 / 6. I do believe I will continue to love it more and more as I play it more and more. If you align with my board game tastes, this is an easy one to recommend. If you and I normally align somewhat, then I might suggest playing someone else’s copy before grabbing one of your own right away. I am more into gateway-weighted games than most reviewers, I’m sure, so this might be a bit lighter than your normal fare. In any case, I think this one needs to be played. A lot. If you ever see me out and about, or at a convention, let me know that you want to play this with me and I will not turn down the opportunity.
Hadley (567 KP) rated Handbook of Paranormal Powers in Books
Jun 2, 2019
I have always believed in the paranormal, but I am careful not to take everything at face value. When I picked up this book, I unfortunately took it at its face value, thinking that it was about how people developed these paranormal abilities and the things that they achieved with them.
But this book seems to have been written by a skeptic that disguised it as a book from a believer in the paranormal, which to say is a pretty clever way to sell a book when the belief in the paranormal is at an all time high. The author spends much of the book detailing people who have exhibited paranormal abilities just to quickly tear them down. I will say that Brian Haughton did a wonderful job on researching for this book, bringing up not only the history of paranormal abilities, but also self proclaimed psychics that readers may not have even heard of, such as Florence Cook, who had her abilities tested by none other than William Crookes( the discoverer of the element thallium).
Haughton's 'Handbook of Paranormal Powers' should have been titled something else, mostly because it's a history lesson in ESP and also, obviously, from the point-of-view of a skeptic. Yet, it doesn't lack for reading by believers; one such part I found interesting was a part on dowsing- the supernatural ability to find hidden objects, substances, geographic features, or sometimes even people- which you may have seen someone doing by holding two rods to find underground water. This part was about when dowsing became popular in the seventeenth-century France, and was being considered 'evil': ". . .with the dowser Baroness de Beausoleil and her husband, a mining expert, journeying across Europe and allegedly locating ore deposits of iron, gold, and silver. The couple established a thriving mineral company, but when their methods of locating metal ores became known they were accused of practicing the 'black arts' and imprisoned for the rest of their lives. " Readers learn that it wasn't until the nineteenth century, with the rise of spiritualism, that dowsing was no longer considered 'evil.'
Another one that interested me concerned the comedian Andy Kaufman, and his pursuit to rid himself of a rare lung cancer with psychic healing: "In March 1984, US comedian Andy Kaufman traveled to the Philippines for a six- week course of psychic surgery after being diagnosed with a rare lung cancer. The surgeon, Jun Labo, performed the operation, and claimed that he had removed large cancerous tumors from Kaufman's body. On May 16, 1984, Kaufman died from renal failure as a consequence of a metastatic lung cancer. "
I hate, but also love this book, not because Haughton backs up all of the skeptic claims with scientific research and tests, but because he claimed this to be a handbook or paranormal powers. If you glance at the cover, just below the title is: 'discover the secrets of mind readers, mediums, and more' - this can be taken that it's written by someone who believes in the paranormal, as well as someone who may have had personal experiences with the unknown, but with that said, I did learn a lot about the history of paranormal powers as well as people I had never heard of.
To prove the skepticism in Haughton's writing, we can turn to page 173, where he writes about how to test whether or not a self-proclaimed psychic surgeon is real. But even before this page and throughout this book, Haughton explains someone doing an extraordinary thing only to quickly explain away why it was fake to begin with. The 'Handbook of Paranormal Powers' reads a lot like a college thesis, that I found myself getting bored with the matter-of-fact tone. Some readers may enjoy reading essay-type books, but for me, it becomes repetitive enough that I don't remember much of the information I had just read.
Also, readers may come away with the feeling that Haughton doesn't care about the slight chance that some paranormal powers may be real, but instead he'd rather read about the scientific facts. I would only recommend this book to people who want to do a light reading on paranormal history, meaning mostly what made headlines in the news. For believers, I would suggest you go elsewhere.
But this book seems to have been written by a skeptic that disguised it as a book from a believer in the paranormal, which to say is a pretty clever way to sell a book when the belief in the paranormal is at an all time high. The author spends much of the book detailing people who have exhibited paranormal abilities just to quickly tear them down. I will say that Brian Haughton did a wonderful job on researching for this book, bringing up not only the history of paranormal abilities, but also self proclaimed psychics that readers may not have even heard of, such as Florence Cook, who had her abilities tested by none other than William Crookes( the discoverer of the element thallium).
Haughton's 'Handbook of Paranormal Powers' should have been titled something else, mostly because it's a history lesson in ESP and also, obviously, from the point-of-view of a skeptic. Yet, it doesn't lack for reading by believers; one such part I found interesting was a part on dowsing- the supernatural ability to find hidden objects, substances, geographic features, or sometimes even people- which you may have seen someone doing by holding two rods to find underground water. This part was about when dowsing became popular in the seventeenth-century France, and was being considered 'evil': ". . .with the dowser Baroness de Beausoleil and her husband, a mining expert, journeying across Europe and allegedly locating ore deposits of iron, gold, and silver. The couple established a thriving mineral company, but when their methods of locating metal ores became known they were accused of practicing the 'black arts' and imprisoned for the rest of their lives. " Readers learn that it wasn't until the nineteenth century, with the rise of spiritualism, that dowsing was no longer considered 'evil.'
Another one that interested me concerned the comedian Andy Kaufman, and his pursuit to rid himself of a rare lung cancer with psychic healing: "In March 1984, US comedian Andy Kaufman traveled to the Philippines for a six- week course of psychic surgery after being diagnosed with a rare lung cancer. The surgeon, Jun Labo, performed the operation, and claimed that he had removed large cancerous tumors from Kaufman's body. On May 16, 1984, Kaufman died from renal failure as a consequence of a metastatic lung cancer. "
I hate, but also love this book, not because Haughton backs up all of the skeptic claims with scientific research and tests, but because he claimed this to be a handbook or paranormal powers. If you glance at the cover, just below the title is: 'discover the secrets of mind readers, mediums, and more' - this can be taken that it's written by someone who believes in the paranormal, as well as someone who may have had personal experiences with the unknown, but with that said, I did learn a lot about the history of paranormal powers as well as people I had never heard of.
To prove the skepticism in Haughton's writing, we can turn to page 173, where he writes about how to test whether or not a self-proclaimed psychic surgeon is real. But even before this page and throughout this book, Haughton explains someone doing an extraordinary thing only to quickly explain away why it was fake to begin with. The 'Handbook of Paranormal Powers' reads a lot like a college thesis, that I found myself getting bored with the matter-of-fact tone. Some readers may enjoy reading essay-type books, but for me, it becomes repetitive enough that I don't remember much of the information I had just read.
Also, readers may come away with the feeling that Haughton doesn't care about the slight chance that some paranormal powers may be real, but instead he'd rather read about the scientific facts. I would only recommend this book to people who want to do a light reading on paranormal history, meaning mostly what made headlines in the news. For believers, I would suggest you go elsewhere.
Emma @ The Movies (1786 KP) rated Lords of Chaos (2018) in Movies
Jun 22, 2019 (Updated Sep 25, 2019)
I saw one trailer for this and at that point I instantly assumed that it wouldn't show at my local Cineworld, but it did, with a surprising amount of showings. The gentleman and I who attended this particular screening really did not look like your typical black metal fans, but then it's always the quiet ones...
In my non-fan status I can't say anything to its accuracy. From what I understand there are disagreements over some of it, the trailer does state "based on truth and lies" so somewhere along the line they know they've taken some necessary artistic license.
Lords Of Chaos is a pretty honest movie, and by that I mean it doesn't sugarcoat anything. There are violent and horrific scenes that any movie looking for a 15 certificate would have looked away at the last minute or done something artistic with the camera angle, but LOC just went "F*** it, zoom in." and I think that was a great benefit to it. I actually found it less shocking for that exact reason. If you can stomach it then seeing what actually happens is a lot less affecting than being left to imagine it. I'm aware that that probably says something horrific about me personally.
I was... put off? by the casting of Rory Culkin as the lead in this. I couldn't honestly tell you why, I've only really seen him in Scream 4 and I love that. His performance from start to finish was incredible, including the voiceovers which were placed in exactly the right places throughout. I was blown away by him when I'd expected to dislike his character. Culkin seems to know exactly where Euronymous is going, he adapts to the changes in him and you see the schemer, the worrier and all the associated emotions that go with them.
Emory Cohen gave an interesting performance as Varg, but I wasn't particularly fond of the character. To see his transformation from almost puppy dog longing to connect before he spirals into paranoia and his ever-expanding need to be the best was intriguing, it ultimately left me with an awkward feeling that I wasn't particularly fond of.
The two of them together made for a good contrast with both characters progressing in opposite directions yet never meeting and being able to connect in the middle. I liked that they both seemed to underestimate the other and that impact brought out very different characteristics in them both. That ultimately led to a strong conclusion to the film and allowed Culkin to really end it with a bang.
The film itself was beautifully shot and many of the shots seemed frivolous at the time but actually allowed for some respite from the carnage and allowed you to take in the gravity of some of the actions.
While Lords Of Chaos is probably not a film I would have ever seen in the past I was actually pleased that I saw it. This regime of seeing (almost) everything that comes out at my cinema has its ups and downs but this was a pretty interesting watch. Culkin performed his socks off and it was a very entertaining surprise. This is a topic that will definitely need some further reading beyond what is portrayed here as I'm certain that to make a film of this suitable for a movie-going audience it would have needed a lot of tweaking from the truth.
What you should do
This is definitely not for the faint hearted, I would absolutely not recommend it to you if you don't like blood, violence or are susceptible to self-harm on screen. If you can stomach all of those things and have an interest in music then I'd say it's worth giving a go.
Movie thing you wish you could take home
Running my own record store looks like it migt be fun, but I don't think that my music taste would make it a very popular shop.
In my non-fan status I can't say anything to its accuracy. From what I understand there are disagreements over some of it, the trailer does state "based on truth and lies" so somewhere along the line they know they've taken some necessary artistic license.
Lords Of Chaos is a pretty honest movie, and by that I mean it doesn't sugarcoat anything. There are violent and horrific scenes that any movie looking for a 15 certificate would have looked away at the last minute or done something artistic with the camera angle, but LOC just went "F*** it, zoom in." and I think that was a great benefit to it. I actually found it less shocking for that exact reason. If you can stomach it then seeing what actually happens is a lot less affecting than being left to imagine it. I'm aware that that probably says something horrific about me personally.
I was... put off? by the casting of Rory Culkin as the lead in this. I couldn't honestly tell you why, I've only really seen him in Scream 4 and I love that. His performance from start to finish was incredible, including the voiceovers which were placed in exactly the right places throughout. I was blown away by him when I'd expected to dislike his character. Culkin seems to know exactly where Euronymous is going, he adapts to the changes in him and you see the schemer, the worrier and all the associated emotions that go with them.
Emory Cohen gave an interesting performance as Varg, but I wasn't particularly fond of the character. To see his transformation from almost puppy dog longing to connect before he spirals into paranoia and his ever-expanding need to be the best was intriguing, it ultimately left me with an awkward feeling that I wasn't particularly fond of.
The two of them together made for a good contrast with both characters progressing in opposite directions yet never meeting and being able to connect in the middle. I liked that they both seemed to underestimate the other and that impact brought out very different characteristics in them both. That ultimately led to a strong conclusion to the film and allowed Culkin to really end it with a bang.
The film itself was beautifully shot and many of the shots seemed frivolous at the time but actually allowed for some respite from the carnage and allowed you to take in the gravity of some of the actions.
While Lords Of Chaos is probably not a film I would have ever seen in the past I was actually pleased that I saw it. This regime of seeing (almost) everything that comes out at my cinema has its ups and downs but this was a pretty interesting watch. Culkin performed his socks off and it was a very entertaining surprise. This is a topic that will definitely need some further reading beyond what is portrayed here as I'm certain that to make a film of this suitable for a movie-going audience it would have needed a lot of tweaking from the truth.
What you should do
This is definitely not for the faint hearted, I would absolutely not recommend it to you if you don't like blood, violence or are susceptible to self-harm on screen. If you can stomach all of those things and have an interest in music then I'd say it's worth giving a go.
Movie thing you wish you could take home
Running my own record store looks like it migt be fun, but I don't think that my music taste would make it a very popular shop.
Curiosity Quills: Chronology
Richard Roberts, Tony Healey, Piers Anthony, J.R. Rain, Jordan Elizabeth Mierek, James Wymore, Stan Swanson, Darin Kennedy , Julie Frost , Andrew Buckley , J.P. Moynahan, B. C. Johnson, J. P. Sloan, Andrew J. Rausch, Katie Young , Scott Nicholson, Wilbert Stanton, Tara Tyler, Mark W. Woodring, J. E. Anckorn, Nathan L. Yocum, G. Miki Hayden, Matthew S. Cox and Matthew Graybosch
6.0
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Lee (2222 KP) rated Terminator: Dark Fate (2019) in Movies
Oct 25, 2019 (Updated Oct 27, 2019)
A worthy successor to Judgement Day
Terminator: Dark Fate is the sixth movie in a franchise which has now been around for 35 years. The first sequel, Judgement Day back in 1991, is widely regarded by many as one of the greatest movie sequels of all time and for me it still holds up as an incredible piece of movie entertainment to this day. Since then, the following sequels have all failed to live up to that high standard in my opinion and, despite some interesting ideas and execution, have been largely forgettable. For one thing, I don’t even remember if I’ve actually seen 2015 movie Genisys or not! Now though, with James Cameron back onboard with writing/producing duties and directed by Deadpool director Tim Miller, Dark Fate has been pitched as the natural successor to Judgement Day that we never got. The trailer certainly gave off that impression and, for the first time in years, I was actually excited about seeing a Terminator movie again.
Dark Fate gets its shock twist out of the way right off the bat, before launching into approximately 20 minutes of non-stop, heart pounding action as we are introduced to both the new Terminator and the protector sent from the future to try and prevent him. Straight away, Dark Fate certainly feels like the kind of Terminator movie we love, playing more like an homage at times in a similar way to how Star Wars: The Force Awakens felt like A New Hope. Wow, it's a promising start!
Our protector this time round is Grace (Mackenzie Davis), a human soldier who has received some cybernetic enhancements to her body. She has been sent back from an alternate future to the one portrayed in Judgement Day - that future is now dead, thanks to the efforts of Sarah and John Connor in that movie, along with Arnold Schwarzenegger's T-800. However, humans clearly can't stop meddling with AI technology and the result, some 40 years from now, is the birth of 'Legion'. Our world has subsequently been destroyed, humans are being hunted and killed, but the remaining survivors are fighting back hard.
Those survivors have sent Grace back to protect a young, unsuspecting Mexican woman named Dani (Natalia Reyes), a factory worker whose job is becoming redundant thanks to the introduction of robot automation(!). Her importance to the future of humanity isn't immediately made clear, but the fact that war is currently raging around her while she is both hunted and protected, is good enough reason for now. The Terminator hunter Dani is being chased by is a Rev 9 (played by Gabriel Luna), similar to the T1000 of Judgement Day in that it has a liquid skin, able to replicate any human it comes into contact with or transform its body into various sharp weapons. But also, with the added bonus of being able to separate that liquid skin from its metal endoskeleton, doubling down on the threat level and providing two very different Terminators to fight off at the same time.
But when all seems lost, a guardian angel in the form of Sarah Connors arrives on the scene, packing guns, rocket launchers and grenades and generally being a real badass. Turns out Sarah has spent the last twenty years or so hunting down any cyborgs that decide to venture into our time from the future and she joins forces with Grace in order to protect Dani at all costs. It's great to have Linda Hamilton back as Sarah Connor, and she is once again a strong and effective presence in the movie. Grace and Dani prove to be just as tough as Sarah though, both mentally and physically, but it's Mackenzie Davis that stands out for me as being particularly impressive. All 3 of them form a pretty formidable, badass trio as they go on the run to get as far away from the Terminator as possible.
It's no secret if you've seen the trailers that Arnie is back, and his arrival later in the movie introduces yet more nostalgia and a good injection of humour. His presence and purpose is explained well, feeling believable, not like a cheap cash-in, and it's great to have Arnie and Linda Hamilton back together as a team, even if it feel like a handing over of the baton to a new bunch of heroes.
The action builds to an impressive finale, continuing the homage to the original movies, but still managing to feel fresh and original, and for me Dark Fate definitely feels a worthy successor to Judgement Day. There's certainly a possibility of further sequels following this and while I had an absolute blast with this movie, part of me hopes that they'll leave well alone now and just end the series on a real high.
Dark Fate gets its shock twist out of the way right off the bat, before launching into approximately 20 minutes of non-stop, heart pounding action as we are introduced to both the new Terminator and the protector sent from the future to try and prevent him. Straight away, Dark Fate certainly feels like the kind of Terminator movie we love, playing more like an homage at times in a similar way to how Star Wars: The Force Awakens felt like A New Hope. Wow, it's a promising start!
Our protector this time round is Grace (Mackenzie Davis), a human soldier who has received some cybernetic enhancements to her body. She has been sent back from an alternate future to the one portrayed in Judgement Day - that future is now dead, thanks to the efforts of Sarah and John Connor in that movie, along with Arnold Schwarzenegger's T-800. However, humans clearly can't stop meddling with AI technology and the result, some 40 years from now, is the birth of 'Legion'. Our world has subsequently been destroyed, humans are being hunted and killed, but the remaining survivors are fighting back hard.
Those survivors have sent Grace back to protect a young, unsuspecting Mexican woman named Dani (Natalia Reyes), a factory worker whose job is becoming redundant thanks to the introduction of robot automation(!). Her importance to the future of humanity isn't immediately made clear, but the fact that war is currently raging around her while she is both hunted and protected, is good enough reason for now. The Terminator hunter Dani is being chased by is a Rev 9 (played by Gabriel Luna), similar to the T1000 of Judgement Day in that it has a liquid skin, able to replicate any human it comes into contact with or transform its body into various sharp weapons. But also, with the added bonus of being able to separate that liquid skin from its metal endoskeleton, doubling down on the threat level and providing two very different Terminators to fight off at the same time.
But when all seems lost, a guardian angel in the form of Sarah Connors arrives on the scene, packing guns, rocket launchers and grenades and generally being a real badass. Turns out Sarah has spent the last twenty years or so hunting down any cyborgs that decide to venture into our time from the future and she joins forces with Grace in order to protect Dani at all costs. It's great to have Linda Hamilton back as Sarah Connor, and she is once again a strong and effective presence in the movie. Grace and Dani prove to be just as tough as Sarah though, both mentally and physically, but it's Mackenzie Davis that stands out for me as being particularly impressive. All 3 of them form a pretty formidable, badass trio as they go on the run to get as far away from the Terminator as possible.
It's no secret if you've seen the trailers that Arnie is back, and his arrival later in the movie introduces yet more nostalgia and a good injection of humour. His presence and purpose is explained well, feeling believable, not like a cheap cash-in, and it's great to have Arnie and Linda Hamilton back together as a team, even if it feel like a handing over of the baton to a new bunch of heroes.
The action builds to an impressive finale, continuing the homage to the original movies, but still managing to feel fresh and original, and for me Dark Fate definitely feels a worthy successor to Judgement Day. There's certainly a possibility of further sequels following this and while I had an absolute blast with this movie, part of me hopes that they'll leave well alone now and just end the series on a real high.
Bob Mann (459 KP) rated Ad Astra (2019) in Movies
Sep 28, 2021
Impressive visuals, but rather disappointing as an overall package.
Like father, like son?
I really love sci-fi films with high ambitions. “Psychological” sci-fi like “Solaris” for example. And “Arrival” topped my movie list for 2016. In similar vein, “Ad Astra” is also a movie concerning attempted contact with alien life. So I had high hopes for it. But would this Sci-fi epic ultimately challenge my brain again, or end up in the “Crystal Skull” sin bin with a dodgy alien meeting?
The Plot
Set a few years into the future, Roy McBride (Brad Pitt) is the son of a legend. H. Clifford McBride (Tommy Lee Jones) was a space exploration pioneer. His picture hangs in the NASA hall of fame next to Buzz Aldrin’s. McBride senior went missing presumed dead near Neptune during a mission. The mission was to get outside the Sun’s heliosphere to scan for potential alien transmissions from nearby solar systems.
But something went badly wrong, and now the earth (and potentially all human life migrating into the solar system) is at risk from massive electromagnetic bursts arising from Neptune. Is Clifford alive and involved in the emerging crisis? The authorities send Roy on a secret mission to Mars to try to communicate with his father.
Majestic cinematography
Let’s start with a real positive. The cinematography here is first rate. Hoyte Van-Hoytema – well known for “Interstellar“, “Spectre” and “Dunkirk” – knocks this out of the park. In the same manner as “Blade Runner 2049“, many of the frames of this film could be blown up and placed on art gallery walls around the world.
Add to that some cracking film editing from John Axelrad and Lee Haugen, and some beautiful sound design and I predict the movie should feature strongly in the technical awards at the Oscars.
But “science fiction” has the word “science” in it….
I’d like to park my physics brain sometimes when I go to the movies, but I just can’t. So I really need sci-fi films to live up to the science part of their name. There are a number of areas, particularly at the back end of the film, when credibility goes out the window.
I can’t really say more here without giving spoilers, so I will leave them to a “Spoiler section” below the trailer…. don’t read this if you haven’t seen the film!
What IS this movie trying to be?
In my view the film is pretty schizophrenic in nature. This is what confused me about the trailer, jumping from a cerebral sci-fi vibe to moon buggy shoot-outs.
On one hand, its the standard (but always interesting) tale of a child abandoned by a hero-father and his attempts to reconcile what that’s done to his life and relationships. How can he ever square that circle without contacting his dad? As the film’s tag-line goes “The answers we seek are just outside our reach”.
On the other there are episodes of action that would fit happily into an action scene from Star Trek.
The two elements never really gel, leading to the feeling of the film having been written as a set of disconnected pages and the writers then saying “Hey, Jimmy, once you’ve finished making us the tea, could you just write a few lines to join those pages up into a shooting script?”. Then later, “What do you mean Jimmy you used BOTH piles of paper?!”.
The greatest sin of all
Unfortunately, the film commits a cardinal sin in my book. Those of you who follow my blog regularly might know what I’m going to say….
Voiceovers! I BLOODY HATE THEM!! It’s at the very extreme of what the great Mark Kermode calls “show don’t tell”.
Here, we don’t just have a little Brad Pitt set-up intro and he then shuts up. He just drones on and on and on with his inner thoughts. At least Matt Damon in “The Martian” got away with it by cleverly filming his video blog. And it’s not as if there isn’t a prime opportunity to use that device here! He is constantly having to talk to a computer to do his regular psychological tests! But that option is not picked up.
BIG BLACK MARK!
But the film has its moments
Bubbling under all of this are some stand-out moments where, for me, the film soared. One of them (ultimately setting me up for as much of a disappointing fall as some of the characters!) is the stunning opening shots aboard the “Sky Antenna” structure. Impressive and exciting, with falling bits of metal playing Russian Roulette with Roy’s iife.
Another strength for me is Brad Pitt. I’ve seen wildly differing views on this, but for me its a quiet but strong acting performance. There are many scenes when he has no lines, his inner (and our outer) voice gives it a miss, and he acts the socks off his peers. What with “Once Upon A Time… In Hollywood” its been a really good year for Pitt. I suspect “Hollywood” might be the one though that gets him his fourth acting Oscar nomination.
For a 2019 film, it’s actually a very male-heavy film, made more so by Pitt’s love-interest (Liv Tyler) being given virtually nothing to do other that look a bit sulky from a distance. I’m not even sure she gets a single line in the whole film! (“Miss Tyler – please sign for your script”. “But, there’s nothing in the envelope?”. “Quite Miss Tyler, Quite”).
The only decent female role goes to Ruth Negga as the Mars colony leader. Even then, she only has limited screen time and although having the title “Mars CEO” really doesn’t seem to have much power.
Elsewhere, its great to see both Tommy Lee Jones and Donald Sutherland back on the big screen again.
Final Thoughts
As any veteran RAF person will know, “Ad Astra” is Latin for “To the stars”. In space terms this is less “to the stars” and more “just beyond your front door”.
James Gray‘s film undoubtedly has high ambitions but, through its spasmodic script, never really gets there. It has the beauty of “Gravity” but none of the refinement; there’s an essence of “Space Odyssey” in places, but it never goes for the mystical angle; it has the potential to reflect the near-insanity through loneliness of “Silent Running” but never commits fully to that storyline. But if its novelty you’re looking for, it ticks the “floating monkeys in space” box!
I think it’s worth seeing on the big screen just for its visual beauty and Pitt’s performance. And as a major block-buster sci-fi film I enjoyed it to a degree. But for me it had just so many irritations that it failed to live up to my high expectations. A great shame and a frustrating disappointment.
But at least it’s great news for Richard Branson and Virgin Atlantic shareholders. They can be assured that the future is bright for their “long distance” flights in the future!
I really love sci-fi films with high ambitions. “Psychological” sci-fi like “Solaris” for example. And “Arrival” topped my movie list for 2016. In similar vein, “Ad Astra” is also a movie concerning attempted contact with alien life. So I had high hopes for it. But would this Sci-fi epic ultimately challenge my brain again, or end up in the “Crystal Skull” sin bin with a dodgy alien meeting?
The Plot
Set a few years into the future, Roy McBride (Brad Pitt) is the son of a legend. H. Clifford McBride (Tommy Lee Jones) was a space exploration pioneer. His picture hangs in the NASA hall of fame next to Buzz Aldrin’s. McBride senior went missing presumed dead near Neptune during a mission. The mission was to get outside the Sun’s heliosphere to scan for potential alien transmissions from nearby solar systems.
But something went badly wrong, and now the earth (and potentially all human life migrating into the solar system) is at risk from massive electromagnetic bursts arising from Neptune. Is Clifford alive and involved in the emerging crisis? The authorities send Roy on a secret mission to Mars to try to communicate with his father.
Majestic cinematography
Let’s start with a real positive. The cinematography here is first rate. Hoyte Van-Hoytema – well known for “Interstellar“, “Spectre” and “Dunkirk” – knocks this out of the park. In the same manner as “Blade Runner 2049“, many of the frames of this film could be blown up and placed on art gallery walls around the world.
Add to that some cracking film editing from John Axelrad and Lee Haugen, and some beautiful sound design and I predict the movie should feature strongly in the technical awards at the Oscars.
But “science fiction” has the word “science” in it….
I’d like to park my physics brain sometimes when I go to the movies, but I just can’t. So I really need sci-fi films to live up to the science part of their name. There are a number of areas, particularly at the back end of the film, when credibility goes out the window.
I can’t really say more here without giving spoilers, so I will leave them to a “Spoiler section” below the trailer…. don’t read this if you haven’t seen the film!
What IS this movie trying to be?
In my view the film is pretty schizophrenic in nature. This is what confused me about the trailer, jumping from a cerebral sci-fi vibe to moon buggy shoot-outs.
On one hand, its the standard (but always interesting) tale of a child abandoned by a hero-father and his attempts to reconcile what that’s done to his life and relationships. How can he ever square that circle without contacting his dad? As the film’s tag-line goes “The answers we seek are just outside our reach”.
On the other there are episodes of action that would fit happily into an action scene from Star Trek.
The two elements never really gel, leading to the feeling of the film having been written as a set of disconnected pages and the writers then saying “Hey, Jimmy, once you’ve finished making us the tea, could you just write a few lines to join those pages up into a shooting script?”. Then later, “What do you mean Jimmy you used BOTH piles of paper?!”.
The greatest sin of all
Unfortunately, the film commits a cardinal sin in my book. Those of you who follow my blog regularly might know what I’m going to say….
Voiceovers! I BLOODY HATE THEM!! It’s at the very extreme of what the great Mark Kermode calls “show don’t tell”.
Here, we don’t just have a little Brad Pitt set-up intro and he then shuts up. He just drones on and on and on with his inner thoughts. At least Matt Damon in “The Martian” got away with it by cleverly filming his video blog. And it’s not as if there isn’t a prime opportunity to use that device here! He is constantly having to talk to a computer to do his regular psychological tests! But that option is not picked up.
BIG BLACK MARK!
But the film has its moments
Bubbling under all of this are some stand-out moments where, for me, the film soared. One of them (ultimately setting me up for as much of a disappointing fall as some of the characters!) is the stunning opening shots aboard the “Sky Antenna” structure. Impressive and exciting, with falling bits of metal playing Russian Roulette with Roy’s iife.
Another strength for me is Brad Pitt. I’ve seen wildly differing views on this, but for me its a quiet but strong acting performance. There are many scenes when he has no lines, his inner (and our outer) voice gives it a miss, and he acts the socks off his peers. What with “Once Upon A Time… In Hollywood” its been a really good year for Pitt. I suspect “Hollywood” might be the one though that gets him his fourth acting Oscar nomination.
For a 2019 film, it’s actually a very male-heavy film, made more so by Pitt’s love-interest (Liv Tyler) being given virtually nothing to do other that look a bit sulky from a distance. I’m not even sure she gets a single line in the whole film! (“Miss Tyler – please sign for your script”. “But, there’s nothing in the envelope?”. “Quite Miss Tyler, Quite”).
The only decent female role goes to Ruth Negga as the Mars colony leader. Even then, she only has limited screen time and although having the title “Mars CEO” really doesn’t seem to have much power.
Elsewhere, its great to see both Tommy Lee Jones and Donald Sutherland back on the big screen again.
Final Thoughts
As any veteran RAF person will know, “Ad Astra” is Latin for “To the stars”. In space terms this is less “to the stars” and more “just beyond your front door”.
James Gray‘s film undoubtedly has high ambitions but, through its spasmodic script, never really gets there. It has the beauty of “Gravity” but none of the refinement; there’s an essence of “Space Odyssey” in places, but it never goes for the mystical angle; it has the potential to reflect the near-insanity through loneliness of “Silent Running” but never commits fully to that storyline. But if its novelty you’re looking for, it ticks the “floating monkeys in space” box!
I think it’s worth seeing on the big screen just for its visual beauty and Pitt’s performance. And as a major block-buster sci-fi film I enjoyed it to a degree. But for me it had just so many irritations that it failed to live up to my high expectations. A great shame and a frustrating disappointment.
But at least it’s great news for Richard Branson and Virgin Atlantic shareholders. They can be assured that the future is bright for their “long distance” flights in the future!