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Gareth von Kallenbach (980 KP) rated The Croods (2013) in Movies
Aug 7, 2019
When seeing the trailers for this film it seemed like so many other stories that have come before (Ice Age: Continental Drift for example). I figured that this was just the next shameless animated money grab by studios attempting to cash in on those parents who take their young children to each new animated film no matter what it is. That being said, the trailer for this film does not do it justice. Seriously, 20th Century Fox is doing Dreamworks Animation a disservice by not providing better trailers and promotion for The Croods. While the complete package of this film is not the best animated film, it is more than just a mere money grab.
The film opens with Eep, voiced by Emma Stone who introduces us to her cave family led by her overly protective father Grug (Nicolas Cage) and shares her rebellious desire to follow her curiosity and see more of the world. The scene quickly shifts to the family’s quest to find some food that plays like a fast paced prehistoric game of football that clues us in on each of the characters’ strengths and weaknesses. From this point forward the film does a fantastic job of keeping a steady pace that will keep both parents and young children’s interest. As I am sure most parents know, you can always tell how good a children’s movie is based on how fast the young ones lose interest and start to become fidgety. Right from the start, my girlfriend’s three year-old son was attentively glued to his seat. Also I did not notice any of the other children in the theater talking or making noise which is usually a sign of a good children’s film.
Keeping with the fast paced action we are introduced to Guy voiced by Ryan Reynolds. Guy is traveling to high ground in an effort to escape the end of the world caused by earthquakes and lava. Unlike The Croods who are simple minded cavemen, Guy has a brain and is constantly introducing the family to new ideas like fire, shoes and umbrellas. His adventurous spirit is a foil to Grug’s living in constant fear of the unknown in order to stay alive. And while the family starts to fall for Guy’s spirit, they go on an adventure not only to find safety but to finally live.
The voice acting is solid across the board. Emma Stone really shines as the rebellious teenager and Nicolas Cage gives one of his better performances in years. Ryan Reynolds is accompanied with his sloth sidekick “Belt” who provides some of the most memorable comedic moments in the film. Together, along with the other supporting actors in this film, you have several inspired performances. It is these performances that appeal to the adults in the audience and make the film memorable and fun for all ages.
The film opens with Eep, voiced by Emma Stone who introduces us to her cave family led by her overly protective father Grug (Nicolas Cage) and shares her rebellious desire to follow her curiosity and see more of the world. The scene quickly shifts to the family’s quest to find some food that plays like a fast paced prehistoric game of football that clues us in on each of the characters’ strengths and weaknesses. From this point forward the film does a fantastic job of keeping a steady pace that will keep both parents and young children’s interest. As I am sure most parents know, you can always tell how good a children’s movie is based on how fast the young ones lose interest and start to become fidgety. Right from the start, my girlfriend’s three year-old son was attentively glued to his seat. Also I did not notice any of the other children in the theater talking or making noise which is usually a sign of a good children’s film.
Keeping with the fast paced action we are introduced to Guy voiced by Ryan Reynolds. Guy is traveling to high ground in an effort to escape the end of the world caused by earthquakes and lava. Unlike The Croods who are simple minded cavemen, Guy has a brain and is constantly introducing the family to new ideas like fire, shoes and umbrellas. His adventurous spirit is a foil to Grug’s living in constant fear of the unknown in order to stay alive. And while the family starts to fall for Guy’s spirit, they go on an adventure not only to find safety but to finally live.
The voice acting is solid across the board. Emma Stone really shines as the rebellious teenager and Nicolas Cage gives one of his better performances in years. Ryan Reynolds is accompanied with his sloth sidekick “Belt” who provides some of the most memorable comedic moments in the film. Together, along with the other supporting actors in this film, you have several inspired performances. It is these performances that appeal to the adults in the audience and make the film memorable and fun for all ages.
Purple Phoenix Games (2266 KP) rated Hamsters vs. Hippos in Tabletop Games
Oct 1, 2021
Deeply consider this question: what is your natural predator? We are the top of the food chain, right? Right? And what we all learned in school is that some animals are herbivores, some are carnivores, and some are omnivores. At least in the Midwest, that’s what we were taught. Now, I don’t remember ever being taught that hippopotamuses (hippopotami?) eat anything other than grass. However, I have been wrong so many times in my life that I am interested to find out why they would snack on fleeing hamsters. Perhaps a board game can help me!
Hamsters vs. Hippos is a press-your-luck tile flipping game where players are cute little hamsterinos escaping the zoo and nearing freedom. However, along the way they must traverse the hippo enclosure. Typically hippos only eat grass, but in this game universe they are attracted to the delectable little rodents and are as hangry as my kids after a day at the playground. The hamster who can collect the most lotus flowers from the hippo lily pads at the end of the game will be the winner and be able to escape the zoo in peace. All other players will be snacked.
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, determine the appropriate grid size for the number of players per the rulebook. Shuffle all the lily pad tiles face-down, place them in the grid, then place upon them nine lotus flower tokens. Each player will select their hamsteeple and mat and the game may now begin!
Hamsters vs. Hippos is played over four rounds and each turn players will have two actions they must complete. For the first action, each hamster must move onto the grid to explore a face-down tile, or explore another face-down tile if already on the grid. For the second action the hamster may continue exploring new tiles or be taken off the grid to score their collected lotus flowers. Movement can be orthogonally or diagonally, but every time they move, the hamsters must move to an unexplored tile. Flipping these tiles will reveal empty lily pads, some special actions to be taken, lotus flowers to be collected, or hippos that end the hamster’s round and makes the hamster forfeit their collected lotus flowers this round.
The game continues in this fashion over four rounds where hamsters are moving onto and off the grid, moving around the grid, collecting flowers, and possibly being eaten. At the end of the fourth round players total their lotus flowers they were able to keep and the hamster with the most lotus flowers wins!
Components. This one is easy. This game is a bunch of lily pad tiles, some cardstock player mats, wooden lotus flower tokens, and cute little hamsteeples. The tiles are good quality, the player mats are big and nice, and the hamsteeples are precious. I enjoy the lighthearted art style quite a bit – even the angry-looking hippo tiles. My only issue lies with the lotus flower tokens. They are very thin painted wooden tokens in two colors – pastel pink (worth 1 VP)and slightly darker pastel purple (worth 3 VP). I am not colorblind, but I like to make mention of items I would think are not colorblind friendly. The difference in color is not great enough, even for me of acceptable color differentiation. Another thing about these is they are very thin and delicate. Normally this isn’t an issue for me, but this is clearly a game my children want to play. When they play this with me I am always holding my breath just waiting for them to break a lotus flower. It hasn’t happened yet, but I might see about adding sturdier components to my copy when I play with little ones.
Game play is very very light. This is purely a press-your-luck game of deciding to move to a tile, flipping it over, and hoping for the best. There are a few special action tiles that can help mitigate the luck factor a little, but most of the time it’s a leap before you look scenario. That may turn off a large faction of gamers, but I will be playing this primarily with my children (who are nowhere near the suggested age of 8+). I could have reviewed this under our Kids Table series, but it doesn’t seem to be marketed specifically to children. As a game for adults, this is novelty at best, but for children it’s a decent press-your-luck style game. Purple Phoenix Games gives this one a 4 / 6, but only because it works so well with kids. If I didn’t have children I couldn’t see myself playing it a whole lot at all. Consider this when you look at the amazing cover art and intriguing theme. It’s good for what it is, but will not be for all collections and play groups.
Hamsters vs. Hippos is a press-your-luck tile flipping game where players are cute little hamsterinos escaping the zoo and nearing freedom. However, along the way they must traverse the hippo enclosure. Typically hippos only eat grass, but in this game universe they are attracted to the delectable little rodents and are as hangry as my kids after a day at the playground. The hamster who can collect the most lotus flowers from the hippo lily pads at the end of the game will be the winner and be able to escape the zoo in peace. All other players will be snacked.
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, determine the appropriate grid size for the number of players per the rulebook. Shuffle all the lily pad tiles face-down, place them in the grid, then place upon them nine lotus flower tokens. Each player will select their hamsteeple and mat and the game may now begin!
Hamsters vs. Hippos is played over four rounds and each turn players will have two actions they must complete. For the first action, each hamster must move onto the grid to explore a face-down tile, or explore another face-down tile if already on the grid. For the second action the hamster may continue exploring new tiles or be taken off the grid to score their collected lotus flowers. Movement can be orthogonally or diagonally, but every time they move, the hamsters must move to an unexplored tile. Flipping these tiles will reveal empty lily pads, some special actions to be taken, lotus flowers to be collected, or hippos that end the hamster’s round and makes the hamster forfeit their collected lotus flowers this round.
The game continues in this fashion over four rounds where hamsters are moving onto and off the grid, moving around the grid, collecting flowers, and possibly being eaten. At the end of the fourth round players total their lotus flowers they were able to keep and the hamster with the most lotus flowers wins!
Components. This one is easy. This game is a bunch of lily pad tiles, some cardstock player mats, wooden lotus flower tokens, and cute little hamsteeples. The tiles are good quality, the player mats are big and nice, and the hamsteeples are precious. I enjoy the lighthearted art style quite a bit – even the angry-looking hippo tiles. My only issue lies with the lotus flower tokens. They are very thin painted wooden tokens in two colors – pastel pink (worth 1 VP)and slightly darker pastel purple (worth 3 VP). I am not colorblind, but I like to make mention of items I would think are not colorblind friendly. The difference in color is not great enough, even for me of acceptable color differentiation. Another thing about these is they are very thin and delicate. Normally this isn’t an issue for me, but this is clearly a game my children want to play. When they play this with me I am always holding my breath just waiting for them to break a lotus flower. It hasn’t happened yet, but I might see about adding sturdier components to my copy when I play with little ones.
Game play is very very light. This is purely a press-your-luck game of deciding to move to a tile, flipping it over, and hoping for the best. There are a few special action tiles that can help mitigate the luck factor a little, but most of the time it’s a leap before you look scenario. That may turn off a large faction of gamers, but I will be playing this primarily with my children (who are nowhere near the suggested age of 8+). I could have reviewed this under our Kids Table series, but it doesn’t seem to be marketed specifically to children. As a game for adults, this is novelty at best, but for children it’s a decent press-your-luck style game. Purple Phoenix Games gives this one a 4 / 6, but only because it works so well with kids. If I didn’t have children I couldn’t see myself playing it a whole lot at all. Consider this when you look at the amazing cover art and intriguing theme. It’s good for what it is, but will not be for all collections and play groups.
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Dana (24 KP) rated Gabriel: A Poem in Books
Mar 23, 2018
This poem was extremely sad to read. It is about a boy who died and the father who is mourning over the loss.
The boy, Gabriel, had many illnesses and was often overlooked in society. Since they were not illnesses one could see, he was not treated the way another ill person may be: in a way to help them rather than just write them off.
I enjoyed this poem, for the most part. It was heartbreaking to see the decline in the relationship between the father and son.
This is definitely a poem about mourning, but more than that, it shows the helplessness of beign trapped in that mourning. There is a sense of immortality for a parent when a child dies. It is not something that, naturally, should happen, yet it does. Hirsch brings in allusions to other famous people who have lost their children, and attempts to deal with the grief by looking to an example.
In the last few stanzas, there is the disbelief that comes with the loss of your child. It is as if you will see them in just a few moments. Like they will walk through the door and not actually be gone. Hirsch does an excellent job capturing this grief in the little moments. Like when the speaker is driving down the street and expects to see Gabriel reading a menu at some restaurant. Or at the funeral itself, where there should be a note of finality, it is left open because of the expected return.
I really enjoyed this book. I think if you, or someone you know, has been going through mourning, it may help to pick up this poem to know that you are not alone in your grief. That other people are going through the same thing.
The boy, Gabriel, had many illnesses and was often overlooked in society. Since they were not illnesses one could see, he was not treated the way another ill person may be: in a way to help them rather than just write them off.
I enjoyed this poem, for the most part. It was heartbreaking to see the decline in the relationship between the father and son.
This is definitely a poem about mourning, but more than that, it shows the helplessness of beign trapped in that mourning. There is a sense of immortality for a parent when a child dies. It is not something that, naturally, should happen, yet it does. Hirsch brings in allusions to other famous people who have lost their children, and attempts to deal with the grief by looking to an example.
In the last few stanzas, there is the disbelief that comes with the loss of your child. It is as if you will see them in just a few moments. Like they will walk through the door and not actually be gone. Hirsch does an excellent job capturing this grief in the little moments. Like when the speaker is driving down the street and expects to see Gabriel reading a menu at some restaurant. Or at the funeral itself, where there should be a note of finality, it is left open because of the expected return.
I really enjoyed this book. I think if you, or someone you know, has been going through mourning, it may help to pick up this poem to know that you are not alone in your grief. That other people are going through the same thing.
Lindsay (1760 KP) rated One Boy's War in Books
Aug 24, 2020
One Boy's War is a bit of a continuation of Boy from Berlin. It is all based on a ship and in London, England during 1940 in the summer. It tells the tale of a boy named Kafer who is on a ship to Canada. He ends up returning to London, England.
Kafer and his mother and sibling are on the ship to Cannada. Something happens to make them return to London. There is an adventure for Kafer on the return. The adventures are enjoyable to read. There seems to be a mystery man that Kafer spots at the hotel while he and his family are waiting in Scotland.
There seems to be an adventure that Kafer and friend named Freddy that get Kafer into so trouble. Though I do not want to spoil that goes. This book is a good read. Children will enjoy it. If you want to find out if Kafer and his family make it safe and sound to Canada or not. I would suggest picking this book up.
In London, there are more adventures that Kafer goes on and he brings his brother along for one of them. Will they escape the Nazi's ore will they not. Will Kafer save his family or will he be stopped. The twist and turns of this book make you want to read to find out.
I was turning the pages of this book. I could not put it down. This book is mostly fiction with historical events that take place and with a real family. Any historical fiction fan from middle grade and up will enjoy this. I also enjoy the fact that this book and Boy from Berlin are pretty clean in language. I did not find one bad word in either book.
Kafer and his mother and sibling are on the ship to Cannada. Something happens to make them return to London. There is an adventure for Kafer on the return. The adventures are enjoyable to read. There seems to be a mystery man that Kafer spots at the hotel while he and his family are waiting in Scotland.
There seems to be an adventure that Kafer and friend named Freddy that get Kafer into so trouble. Though I do not want to spoil that goes. This book is a good read. Children will enjoy it. If you want to find out if Kafer and his family make it safe and sound to Canada or not. I would suggest picking this book up.
In London, there are more adventures that Kafer goes on and he brings his brother along for one of them. Will they escape the Nazi's ore will they not. Will Kafer save his family or will he be stopped. The twist and turns of this book make you want to read to find out.
I was turning the pages of this book. I could not put it down. This book is mostly fiction with historical events that take place and with a real family. Any historical fiction fan from middle grade and up will enjoy this. I also enjoy the fact that this book and Boy from Berlin are pretty clean in language. I did not find one bad word in either book.
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Darren (1599 KP) rated The Curse of La Llorona (2019) in Movies
Sep 14, 2019
Verdict: Jump Scare 101
Characters – Anna is the widowed social worker and mother who while doing her job, checking up on children that might be suffering abuse, trying to keep them with their parents, get involved in a curse, which puts her own children in danger. Baring in mind, she is a social work and was married to a cop, she doesn’t make the best decisions, we see how she struggles to communicate with her children, often leaves them alone and when they get injuries, she doesn’t demand answers, which remaining unanswered would mean she could be considered abusive. Chris and Samantha are the children, they are both dealing with the loss of their father, which would be difficult for any child, they become cursed by La Llorona who wants to take them, meaning they must first learn to communicate with their own mother, when the events start to happen. Rafael Olvera is one man that turned his back on the church in order to fight the evil in the world, he is the last resort for Anna, where he knows how to stop La Llorona from causing more pain in the lives of family.
Performances – Linda Cardellini in the leading role does well through the film without doing anything you wouldn’t expect for a horror film. The child actors both do a solid job through the film too.
Story – The story here follows a widowed mother that ends up getting a cursed by an evil spirit that wants to take her children and she must figure out how to stop her before it is too late. This is a horror story that does do everything it needs to, to put a character in a position where everything they do know, can be turned on its head, when it comes to child protection. The story does however fall into the position of the start of the La Llorona appearance seeming quite random to the first victim, with not enough investigation into that side of the story, while the battle to protect is pretty much every sort of possession based film we have seen before.
Horror/Mystery – The horror in the film does work if you want jump scares, it does build some up very well, with an umbrella sequences which is the standout for me. The mystery behind the film comes from just why La Llorona has appeared in the first place, which never seems to get answered, only how to beat her.
Settings – The film keeps most of the scares in and around the family home, it does make a point that it is the family that is haunted not the house, which is key to how the ghostly figure appears. Being haunted in your own home is always going to be a scary idea.
Special Effects – The effects are used to make the figure of La Llorona look frightening, it will give the scary figure a look which would get a scream too.
Scene of the Movie – Umbrella.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – It is pretty routine for a horror film.
Final Thoughts – This is a routine horror that does have a couple of good scares without hitting the heights of the rest of the universe it has come from.
Overall: Easy to watch horror.
Rating
Performances – Linda Cardellini in the leading role does well through the film without doing anything you wouldn’t expect for a horror film. The child actors both do a solid job through the film too.
Story – The story here follows a widowed mother that ends up getting a cursed by an evil spirit that wants to take her children and she must figure out how to stop her before it is too late. This is a horror story that does do everything it needs to, to put a character in a position where everything they do know, can be turned on its head, when it comes to child protection. The story does however fall into the position of the start of the La Llorona appearance seeming quite random to the first victim, with not enough investigation into that side of the story, while the battle to protect is pretty much every sort of possession based film we have seen before.
Horror/Mystery – The horror in the film does work if you want jump scares, it does build some up very well, with an umbrella sequences which is the standout for me. The mystery behind the film comes from just why La Llorona has appeared in the first place, which never seems to get answered, only how to beat her.
Settings – The film keeps most of the scares in and around the family home, it does make a point that it is the family that is haunted not the house, which is key to how the ghostly figure appears. Being haunted in your own home is always going to be a scary idea.
Special Effects – The effects are used to make the figure of La Llorona look frightening, it will give the scary figure a look which would get a scream too.
Scene of the Movie – Umbrella.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – It is pretty routine for a horror film.
Final Thoughts – This is a routine horror that does have a couple of good scares without hitting the heights of the rest of the universe it has come from.
Overall: Easy to watch horror.
Rating
Darren (1599 KP) rated Citadel (2012) in Movies
Oct 14, 2019
Characters – Tommy is a father with agoraphobia after he saw his wife attacked by a group of children, he is trying to be the good father for his new born child, but his fears are controlling the situation, he sees children trying to take his child, he needs to face his fears to make it through this trauma he is going through. Priest is a renegade man that is aggressively searching for a way to bring down the feral children, he sees Tommy as a chance to get the job done, even if it is against what his religion states. Marie is one of the social workers that will help Tommy, she is trying to help him through the medical side even if she is the one that puts him in contact with the priest. The Feral Children are the highlight of the film because they are genuinely frightening when they attack.
Performances – Aneurin Barnard in the leading role does make us feel for his character, we believe he has been through the trauma and is the desperation to save his family. James Cosmo is fun to watch as anti-priest figure. Wunmi Mosaku doesn’t do anything wrong in the supporting role, if only we could have seen more from the character.
Story – The story here follows a new father that is dealing with his own trauma while raising his new born child, which will see him needing to face off against feral child that feed on people’s fears. The early thing that must be pointed out here, comes from the idea that we are not full convinced that we are seeing the fears of the character dealt with, for the most part we are seeing one man terrorised but even the people without the fear seem to be targets too, this mostly confuses the rule point in place. the idea that the feral child live in the abandoned flat complex doesn’t improve on things either because you would think more incidents would happen. The part of the story that does standout and is interesting to watch would be seeing how Tommy is dealing with his own traumas while remaining strong facing the possibility of not being able to raise his own child because of his problems, sadly we don’t see enough of this addressed with the horror side of the story taking over, which simply put, isn’t as interesting.
Horror – The horror starts of being home invasion like horror, which worked for the illness Tommy had, but when we enter the flats, it does become the highlight of the action in the film, feeling dark, scary with anything able to jump out to get them.
Settings – The settings show us the run down neighbourhood in which Tommy lives, the support groups around it and most importantly the empty flat block which has the feral children in it.
Special Effects – The effects are used mostly look practical, with the moments surrounding the feral child being the most notable and scary ones.
Scene of the Movie – Inside the flat block.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – It breaks the rules it sets up too easily.
Final Thoughts – This is a horror film that does take its time getting going, one the chaos is unleashed with get a highly intense final act which ramps the fear up to the max.
Overall: Slow Start, Strong Finish.
Performances – Aneurin Barnard in the leading role does make us feel for his character, we believe he has been through the trauma and is the desperation to save his family. James Cosmo is fun to watch as anti-priest figure. Wunmi Mosaku doesn’t do anything wrong in the supporting role, if only we could have seen more from the character.
Story – The story here follows a new father that is dealing with his own trauma while raising his new born child, which will see him needing to face off against feral child that feed on people’s fears. The early thing that must be pointed out here, comes from the idea that we are not full convinced that we are seeing the fears of the character dealt with, for the most part we are seeing one man terrorised but even the people without the fear seem to be targets too, this mostly confuses the rule point in place. the idea that the feral child live in the abandoned flat complex doesn’t improve on things either because you would think more incidents would happen. The part of the story that does standout and is interesting to watch would be seeing how Tommy is dealing with his own traumas while remaining strong facing the possibility of not being able to raise his own child because of his problems, sadly we don’t see enough of this addressed with the horror side of the story taking over, which simply put, isn’t as interesting.
Horror – The horror starts of being home invasion like horror, which worked for the illness Tommy had, but when we enter the flats, it does become the highlight of the action in the film, feeling dark, scary with anything able to jump out to get them.
Settings – The settings show us the run down neighbourhood in which Tommy lives, the support groups around it and most importantly the empty flat block which has the feral children in it.
Special Effects – The effects are used mostly look practical, with the moments surrounding the feral child being the most notable and scary ones.
Scene of the Movie – Inside the flat block.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – It breaks the rules it sets up too easily.
Final Thoughts – This is a horror film that does take its time getting going, one the chaos is unleashed with get a highly intense final act which ramps the fear up to the max.
Overall: Slow Start, Strong Finish.