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Fred (860 KP) rated Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018) in Movies
Mar 15, 2019
Spider-Ham (3 more)
Fantastic design
Good music
Good voice acting
The choppy animation is headache inducing (2 more)
Story is bland
Some of the characters are wasted
Good. Not great.
Here we go again. Another over-rated superhero movie. Yes, it's good, but it's not great. Basically, what we got here is Miles Morales' origin story. I do love the characters & they are all acted well. I love the new Doc Oc & all of the Spider-people. The design of the characters & settings are a sight to see. The main problem is the movement of them. Every other frame is cut out, so the characters have a jerky movement to them. Supposedly, this is meant to encapsulate a comic book. Since a comic book does not move, this is a stupid reason given for lack-luster animation. There are quite a few anime out there today that use CGI-drawn animation. It looks choppy, cheap & crappy. And that's what we got here. Instead of smooth, graceful, Spider-Man like movement, we got what looks like low bitrate video. I truly feel this is why the movie, although it did well, did not do stupendous numbers at the box office compared to other recent animated movies.
Anyway, tossing that aside & taking account the design of the movie, I also found that the story was lackluster. I didn't find it too interesting or original. It just didn't grab me. I felt myself many times saying to myself that nothing special was going on. When they introduced the others from the Spider-Verse, I felt that some of them were a waste of space. Spider-Man Noir, played by Nicholas Cage, was funny but didn't do anything special. The Japanese girl with the robot, was utterly useless. If she wasn't in the film, it would be no different, except maybe to sell some toys. Now, I will say, I loved Spider-Ham, but I've been a fan of his since the 80s & still have all the original comic books. So, I am biased towards him. I would love to see him get his own movie, but I doubt he will.
Anyway, here's my bottom line. The movie was good. The style was great. Music was great. Characters were great. Story was meh. Animation was bad. After I watched the movie, I said, well that was pretty much a waste of time, but I'm not mad I watched. I just probably would never watch it again.
Anyway, tossing that aside & taking account the design of the movie, I also found that the story was lackluster. I didn't find it too interesting or original. It just didn't grab me. I felt myself many times saying to myself that nothing special was going on. When they introduced the others from the Spider-Verse, I felt that some of them were a waste of space. Spider-Man Noir, played by Nicholas Cage, was funny but didn't do anything special. The Japanese girl with the robot, was utterly useless. If she wasn't in the film, it would be no different, except maybe to sell some toys. Now, I will say, I loved Spider-Ham, but I've been a fan of his since the 80s & still have all the original comic books. So, I am biased towards him. I would love to see him get his own movie, but I doubt he will.
Anyway, here's my bottom line. The movie was good. The style was great. Music was great. Characters were great. Story was meh. Animation was bad. After I watched the movie, I said, well that was pretty much a waste of time, but I'm not mad I watched. I just probably would never watch it again.
Solar System for iPad
Book and Education
App
A breakthrough electronic book about our Solar System, offering hours of interactive exploration and...
Daddy's Little Helper
Games and Entertainment
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~~> Silly Daddy can't get anything right! Help Daddy clean up & organize the house! ~~> Be the best...
Emma @ The Movies (1786 KP) rated Mega Shark vs Kolossus (2015) in Movies
Aug 16, 2020
Amendment to the shark rules, having "mega" in the title... *chef's kiss*
When the hunt for the power source known as Red Mercury takes a team to an underground bunker they accidentally awaken the giant doomsday machine that's been idle since the Cold War. While the Kolossus runs rampage a new megalodon is terrorising the coast... what will happen when the two inexplicably meet?
I will say that of the Mega-Shark "franchise" the best is Mega Shark Vs. Mecha Shark. It is obviously much more sensible having two things that are designed to be in the same environment battling together, a robot fighting a shark is epic... but a stretch. This duo does mean that it feels very much like two films, but honestly, the ridiculousness of this makes up a bit for that.
It does at last start with a super realistic submarine that's manned by a lot of women in tight pleather that doesn't look like it would offer any kind of protection against water or action. This is why we come for these films... the accuracy.
The acting is exactly what you'd expect from a shark film, probably something you'd rather wasn't on your resume. You've got all the stereotypes with all the cringeable moments and the actors don't do a bad job with what they're given.
There's a little issue right at the beginning of the film. When the team meet up outside the bunker there's an obviously pointless exchange to explain what's going on, two of the actors have subtitles. I don't have an issue with subtitles when they're needed, but while both the actors have accents in the scene they're actually speaking perfectly understandable English. It might have been a glitch on the copy I watched, I'd like to give them the benefit of the doubt, but if it wasn't then I don't know what they were thinking.
When it comes to the shark scale this film is good because it has the requisite bag CGI, stupid storyline and classic quotes... the famous last words "No sign of the mega shark" and my personal favourite "...or you can die hiding under your desk searching for your balls." Glorious. Despite the amazing lines and the fact it's got a shark in it, the sheer impossibility of the pairing and the fact it feels like two films forced together makes it fall short of high marks.
Originally posted on: https://emmaatthemovies.blogspot.com/2020/08/mega-shark-vs-kolossus-movie-review.html
When the hunt for the power source known as Red Mercury takes a team to an underground bunker they accidentally awaken the giant doomsday machine that's been idle since the Cold War. While the Kolossus runs rampage a new megalodon is terrorising the coast... what will happen when the two inexplicably meet?
I will say that of the Mega-Shark "franchise" the best is Mega Shark Vs. Mecha Shark. It is obviously much more sensible having two things that are designed to be in the same environment battling together, a robot fighting a shark is epic... but a stretch. This duo does mean that it feels very much like two films, but honestly, the ridiculousness of this makes up a bit for that.
It does at last start with a super realistic submarine that's manned by a lot of women in tight pleather that doesn't look like it would offer any kind of protection against water or action. This is why we come for these films... the accuracy.
The acting is exactly what you'd expect from a shark film, probably something you'd rather wasn't on your resume. You've got all the stereotypes with all the cringeable moments and the actors don't do a bad job with what they're given.
There's a little issue right at the beginning of the film. When the team meet up outside the bunker there's an obviously pointless exchange to explain what's going on, two of the actors have subtitles. I don't have an issue with subtitles when they're needed, but while both the actors have accents in the scene they're actually speaking perfectly understandable English. It might have been a glitch on the copy I watched, I'd like to give them the benefit of the doubt, but if it wasn't then I don't know what they were thinking.
When it comes to the shark scale this film is good because it has the requisite bag CGI, stupid storyline and classic quotes... the famous last words "No sign of the mega shark" and my personal favourite "...or you can die hiding under your desk searching for your balls." Glorious. Despite the amazing lines and the fact it's got a shark in it, the sheer impossibility of the pairing and the fact it feels like two films forced together makes it fall short of high marks.
Originally posted on: https://emmaatthemovies.blogspot.com/2020/08/mega-shark-vs-kolossus-movie-review.html
Halloween Supermarket Store
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Hey Kids! Are you crazy about Costume Parties, haunted house, trick-or-treat, or some other...
MEGA MAN MOBILE
Games and Entertainment
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Play a piece of gaming history with the original Mega Man, the action-packed classic platformer! In...
Hamsters vs. Hippos
6.0
Rate It
Tabletop Game
The hamsters have escaped their enclosure at the zoo and are making a run for it! Suddenly they come...
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!
Lee (2222 KP) rated Colossal (2016) in Movies
Jul 26, 2017
Colossal is written and directed by Nacho Vigalondo, who also wrote and directed 2007’s Timecrimes. One of my favourite movies and probably the best movie about time travel that isn’t Back to the Future! So, I’d been looking forward to catching this, his latest movie, for a while now. Luckily, it didn’t disappoint.
Anne Hathaway is Gloria, a 30-something party girl whose life is in a serious downward spiral. Her boyfriend (an underused Dan Stevens) decides that enough is enough and kicks her out of his New York apartment. So, Gloria moves back to the quiet little town where she grew up and moves into her parents empty house in an attempt to try and rebuild her life. After a bad nights sleep on the bare floor (a nice running joke throughout the movie), she heads out to buy an inflatable mattress and on the way back is passed by Oscar (Jason Sudeikis) in his pickup truck, who pulls up and offers her a ride. It turns out that Oscar and Grace are old school friends and as they get talking about old times it transpires that things aren’t so great for Oscar these days either. He takes her to the bar he inherited from his father, only half renovated due to a lack of money, and later on offers Gloria a waitress job. Most of their time in the bar though seems to be spent after hours, drinking away the stock with a couple of other friends/barflies. Gloria is soon back to blacking out from drink and then waking up at some point the next day with vague memories of the night before.
And then one morning Gloria wakes to images on TV of a giant Godzilla-like creature which suddenly materialised and started rampaging through Seoul in South Korea. Furthermore, after a few more appearances by this creature, Gloria comes to the realisation that this creature somehow appears to be copying her movements! And a bit later on, a giant robot appears too!!
It’s difficult to elaborate on this part of the movie much further without going into serious spoiler territory. The whole idea sounds crazy, but it’s surprising just how quickly the whole concept just settles in and this remains primarily a movie about humans, our relationships and our inner demons. Hathaway and Sudeikis are at their best here, with Sudeikis progressing from his usual likeable slacker role into something much more darker and complex. Things become increasingly tense, culminating in a highly original and hugely satisfying final act which I absolutely loved. It’s truly amazing what’s been achieved here with such a low budget too, with only a few occasions where the effects appear a little shaky. Overall though, this is a smart must-see movie. Brilliant.
Anne Hathaway is Gloria, a 30-something party girl whose life is in a serious downward spiral. Her boyfriend (an underused Dan Stevens) decides that enough is enough and kicks her out of his New York apartment. So, Gloria moves back to the quiet little town where she grew up and moves into her parents empty house in an attempt to try and rebuild her life. After a bad nights sleep on the bare floor (a nice running joke throughout the movie), she heads out to buy an inflatable mattress and on the way back is passed by Oscar (Jason Sudeikis) in his pickup truck, who pulls up and offers her a ride. It turns out that Oscar and Grace are old school friends and as they get talking about old times it transpires that things aren’t so great for Oscar these days either. He takes her to the bar he inherited from his father, only half renovated due to a lack of money, and later on offers Gloria a waitress job. Most of their time in the bar though seems to be spent after hours, drinking away the stock with a couple of other friends/barflies. Gloria is soon back to blacking out from drink and then waking up at some point the next day with vague memories of the night before.
And then one morning Gloria wakes to images on TV of a giant Godzilla-like creature which suddenly materialised and started rampaging through Seoul in South Korea. Furthermore, after a few more appearances by this creature, Gloria comes to the realisation that this creature somehow appears to be copying her movements! And a bit later on, a giant robot appears too!!
It’s difficult to elaborate on this part of the movie much further without going into serious spoiler territory. The whole idea sounds crazy, but it’s surprising just how quickly the whole concept just settles in and this remains primarily a movie about humans, our relationships and our inner demons. Hathaway and Sudeikis are at their best here, with Sudeikis progressing from his usual likeable slacker role into something much more darker and complex. Things become increasingly tense, culminating in a highly original and hugely satisfying final act which I absolutely loved. It’s truly amazing what’s been achieved here with such a low budget too, with only a few occasions where the effects appear a little shaky. Overall though, this is a smart must-see movie. Brilliant.
graveyardgremlin (7194 KP) rated Sleeping Giants (Themis Files #1) in Books
Feb 15, 2019
Sleeping Giants is the first book in a new sci-fi series that is told epistolary-style, mostly in interviews and journal entries, with various other reports and articles thrown in for good measure. The basic synopsis is giant alien body parts were strewn across the globe millennia ago and (supposed to be) discreet teams go look for them while our "A-Team" -- as it were -- figures out how it works.
I found the book to be swift, fun, and easy to read, except for a couple of sections that made my eyes cross at trying to visualize the science and math. Readers who are more adept at math would most likely find it easier to grasp. There is also plenty of humor right up my alley, dry oftentimes, with a side of sarcasm. The first character we are introduced to is Rose Franklin, a physicist and the head of the project, who also was the first to stumble upon a body part, quite literally, as a child. I had a hard time getting a feel for her personality as she often is describing or explaining things about the alien robot. The others are Kara Resnik, a helicoptor pilot for the U.S. Army, Ryan Mitchell, also a pilot of the Army, Vincent Couture, a linguist of a sort, Alyssa Papantoniou, a geneticist, and an unnamed interviewer who I dubbed The Handler. Kara is one of the best characters as she really comes to life in the text. She provides most of the sarcasm and is prickly to boot. So I won't give anything away, I enjoyed the different personalities as they came together and interact, although it's not the usual sort of interactions since the story isn't traditionally told. However, by far, my favorite character is The Handler as he is dry and witty in a very subtle way. Nothing personal is mentioned about him, or at least not much, but his exchanges with everyone are highly enjoyable and amusing.
I don't have anything really bad to say about Sleeping Giants, but it did have a slightly slow start as it was more info-dumpy than I'd like, and I thought there was a little too much personal relationship issues brought into it. Those are only little nit-picky things, and on the whole, I don't mind them. During my reading I couldn't help but think numerous times that this would make an awesome tv series, it's just ripe with imagery that would totally work in that medium. In fact, it reminded me of Stargate SG-1 on occasion. I'm a bit put out that I want to read the next book immediately and the first hasn't even come out yet. If you're into sci-fi with a bit of a humor and mystery, I'd definitely recommend giving it a read.
I found the book to be swift, fun, and easy to read, except for a couple of sections that made my eyes cross at trying to visualize the science and math. Readers who are more adept at math would most likely find it easier to grasp. There is also plenty of humor right up my alley, dry oftentimes, with a side of sarcasm. The first character we are introduced to is Rose Franklin, a physicist and the head of the project, who also was the first to stumble upon a body part, quite literally, as a child. I had a hard time getting a feel for her personality as she often is describing or explaining things about the alien robot. The others are Kara Resnik, a helicoptor pilot for the U.S. Army, Ryan Mitchell, also a pilot of the Army, Vincent Couture, a linguist of a sort, Alyssa Papantoniou, a geneticist, and an unnamed interviewer who I dubbed The Handler. Kara is one of the best characters as she really comes to life in the text. She provides most of the sarcasm and is prickly to boot. So I won't give anything away, I enjoyed the different personalities as they came together and interact, although it's not the usual sort of interactions since the story isn't traditionally told. However, by far, my favorite character is The Handler as he is dry and witty in a very subtle way. Nothing personal is mentioned about him, or at least not much, but his exchanges with everyone are highly enjoyable and amusing.
I don't have anything really bad to say about Sleeping Giants, but it did have a slightly slow start as it was more info-dumpy than I'd like, and I thought there was a little too much personal relationship issues brought into it. Those are only little nit-picky things, and on the whole, I don't mind them. During my reading I couldn't help but think numerous times that this would make an awesome tv series, it's just ripe with imagery that would totally work in that medium. In fact, it reminded me of Stargate SG-1 on occasion. I'm a bit put out that I want to read the next book immediately and the first hasn't even come out yet. If you're into sci-fi with a bit of a humor and mystery, I'd definitely recommend giving it a read.