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Muppets Most Wanted (2014)
Muppets Most Wanted (2014)
2014 | Comedy, Family
7
8.0 (7 Ratings)
Movie Rating
It was nostalgia and curiousity that made the Muppets successful return to the big screen in 2011 such a hit. Parents wanted to introduce their kids to the dysfunctional entertainers of their childhood, and the adults who grew up on the Muppets wanted to see if the crazy bunch could still make them laugh. With the help of celebrity cameos and catchy parodies of popular songs, I remember thoroughly enjoying the Muppets’ comeback.

Three years in real time means just a few seconds in Muppet-land. Muppets Most Wanted begins where the last movie ended. Riding high on their successful return to stage, the Muppets are approached by a promoter named Dominic Badguy. played by Ricky Gervais, who convinces the Muppets to take their show on a worldwide tour. Despite his misgivings, Kermit agrees and soon the gang is traveling across the Atlantic.
Of course, no surprise Badguy has ulterior motives, which involve switching Kermit with an imprisoned doppelganger named Constantine, the word’s most dangerous frog. He and Kermit are identical, except for a mole Constantine must hide to trick Kermit’s friends into believing he’s Kermit, because his awkward American accent isn’t a dead giveaway at all. With awful accents themselves, Ty Burrell and Tina Fey play a French detective and a Russian prison warden who provide some of the human comic relief.
Riddled with funny moments and entertaining musical numbers, this sequel meets the expectations of most sequels. Even the Muppets know sequels are rarely as good as the original – they even sing about it. The movie has the silly capers and signature acts the Muppets know how to deliver, which will keep the kids entertained. The curiousity factor may not motivate, and nostalgic feelings may have waned a bit, but like its predecessor, the revolving door of celebrity cameos is what will keep the adults interested.
3 out of 5
Review by Barnetty Kushner
Muppets Most Wanted is the eighth big screen Muppets adventure, which carries the warmth and charm that we come to find with the Jim Henson created lovable characters. What sets this film apart from the 2011 reboot “Muppet Movie,” is that the characters are the forefront of the entire story and their human counterparts serve as secondary.

This time they are no longer worried about reuniting or trying to reintroduce themselves, the Muppets are on a world tour with their new Tour Manager, Dominic Badguy (Ricky Gervais). Dominic arranges a European tour for the Muppets with the ulterior motive of trying to replace Kermit with a look-a-like frog named Constantine, a wanted criminal who escapes prison and uses the Muppet tour as a cover to stage a multi-national heist ultimately ending with stealing the crown jewels. While Constantine attempts to play the role of ‘head muppet ‘, poor Kermit gets whisked away to the gulag, a maximum security prison located in Siberia, Russia where he has to contend with the warden, Nadya (Tina Fey). Due to Kermit’s good hearted nature and excellent stage show management skills, the prisoners and Nadya quickly realize that Kermit is not Constantine and forces him to direct the prison’s annual “Gulag Review.”

Even though the storyline is a bit drab, the production numbers are epic-from the “everybody knows a sequel is never quite as good” opener, the Miss Piggy/Celion Dion duet number, to the Siberian prisoners 1980’s Chorus Line show stopping dance sequence. In true Muppets tradition, this movie is peppered with dozens of amusing celebrity cameos along with a spirited stew of wordplay, slapstick comedic jokes. You can’t help but feel a sense of nostalgia back the days from your childhood of waking up Saturday mornings and watching “The Muppet Show.” Kids will enjoy the movie, adults will laugh out loud at all the bad puns, and hopefully in the end they will have succeeded in connecting the new generation to the charm of the Muppets, in a world more that is more familiar with CGI and 3-D animation.
  
Veronica Mars (2014)
Veronica Mars (2014)
2014 | Comedy, Drama, Mystery
The incomparable Rob Thomas has delivered a masterpiece of dramatic film that all Veronica Mars fans will thoroughly enjoy.

(Note: I am a rabid fan of the Veronica Mars TV series. Much of the review will be clearly colored by this.)

10 years after the debut of an exceptional TV show, and eight years after it was unceremoniously pulled from the airwaves, Rob Thomas put up a Kickstarter campaign to fund a movie. It had a goal of $2 million, which would get the movie made — but it wouldn’t get us much.

As it turned out, 91,585 people liked his plan to create a film that would wrap up storylines from the series. They liked it enough that rather than pledging just $2 million, the backers generated over $5.7 million.

In the process of doing so, they achieved a number of amazing Kickstarter awards:

Fastest project to reach $1 million.

Fastest project to reach $2 million.

All-time highest-funded project in the FILM category.

Third-highest-funded project in Kickstarter history.

Most project backers of any project in Kickstarter history.

On to the movie itself.

The movies share its title with the TV show: Veronica Mars. It opens with a quick recap of the show’s two-season run before launching forward to a time 10 years after the series ended (intelligently appropriate, Rob).

Veronica (Kristen Bell) is primed to take the bar exam and become a lawyer. For a reason I can’t explain, she is interviewing with a very prestigious law firm in New York City. It’s a firm which, I have to imagine, doesn’t hire people fresh out of school, especially those who haven’t even passed the bar yet.

In the midst of her interviews, she gets a call from an old high school love interest, Logan Echolls (Jason Dohring). He has been accused of murder (again).

Naturally, Veronica decides to pack up, say goodbye to her boyfriend, Stosh “piz” Piznarski (Chris Lowell), and head back to her sunny home town of Neptune, California.

Logan, an Air Force pilot, is relieved to see his friend. He starts bringing her up to speed, and shortly thereafter, the rest of the familiar faces join in: Gia Goodman (Krysten Ritter), Mac (Cindy Majorino), Dick Casablancas (Ryan Hansen), Weevil (Francis Copa), Keith Mars (Enrico Colantoni), Wallace Fennel (Percy Daggs III), and many more that will delight returning viewers.

As you might imagine, a complex series of issues comes to light, creating a symphony of drama, and, in typical Rob-Thomas fashion, some true laugh-out-loud moments.

While this is a great standalone film, it is peppered with many humorous references and nods to the movie’s predecessor. If you are a fan of the series, you won’t be disappointed. There are many giggle-worthy moments: from the guy on the street singing, “we used to be friends,” to Dax Shepard’s appearance, to the mention of Veronica supposedly going to work for the FBI (referring to a potential third season).

My only real note of contention is, admittedly, somewhat petty. Kristen Bell was just recovering from having her child with husband Dax Shepard. The unfortunate (and expected) weight gain from that wonderful life event left her looking very unlike the character we all fell in love with, and distracted from the film. I’m curious to know why they couldn’t have waited a few more months to start filming, to allow Bell to get back into shape for the movie.

Aside from that one tiny note, the film was fantastic. The script was masterfully written, the acting superb, the humor gut-heaving, and the drama well done.

Cinematography for the film was indistinguishable from other high-quality films, and it’s easy to see that a lot of time, effort, and care went into it. Its creators ensured that the $5.7 million of pledges went into a work of art that does not disappoint.

As one of the 91,000+ backers, I am proud to be a part of this community effort. As a huge fan of Thomas, the series, and the mythos, I am ecstatic to report that this is an excellent film.
  
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These Nameless Things
These Nameless Things
Shawn Smucker | 2020 | Contemporary, Mystery
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
When I read the synopsis for These Nameless Things by Shawn Smucker, I knew it was a book I had to read. It ticked all the right boxes for me. Luckily, this book did not disappoint!

The plot was very interesting. Dan lives in an idyllic small village. Everyone is happy and friendly until a beautiful woman arrives at Dan's door on the verge of death. Dan doesn't tell anyone about her as he nurses her back to health. However, strange things start happening. The crops don't grow right, and people are regaining painful memories they had long forgotten. When the mysterious woman convinces Dan to go back through the mountain, a place he had been tormented at and had escaped, to fetch his brother who is stuck there, Dan is torn. He misses his brother like crazy. All the while Dan is left wondering who this strange woman is who has a strong pull over him, and why does she want him to go back to the horrible place he came from to save his brother so badly.

How amazing does that plot sound!?! The plot for These Nameless Things was solid, and it helps very much that Shawn Smucker is a very talented writer. Smucker has a way with words. The way he wrote and described everything really helped make it easy to envision everything that was unfolding second by second. He was able to put so much description into everything, but Smucker doesn't overdo it to the point where it becomes boring to read. He creates a very nice balance. I will say that the first third of the book is fairly slow pacing, but I kept reading because I did want to know more about Dan's brother and how the mysterious woman was connected to everything. For my perseverance, I was richly rewarded. The last two thirds of the book really took off! I found myself hooked on every single word, hungry for as much as I could get. I did not want to put this book down at all. I had to know what was going to happen to everyone. Yes, some of it was predictable, but it was a fantastic read nonetheless. While I would have liked to read some sort of epilogue or had more knowledge in what happened to everyone some time later, I think These Nameless Things ends well enough, and everything is explained leading up to the ending.

I felt that every character in These Nameless Things was fleshed out very well. By the middle of the book (perhaps even sooner than that), I felt like I had become friends with everyone mentioned in the book. It was easy to picture each and every character as a real life person (mostly thanks to Shawn Smucker's excellent writing again). I did feel that although the character of Dan was written superbly, he came across as a bit selfish for the most part. I felt like he put people in so much danger by keeping secrets. I did love Miho and Lucia very much. Miho seemed to be the biggest voice of reason throughout the book. I just loved Lucia because she made me feel hopeful and happy. Abe was my favorite character though. I loved how optimistic he could become and how much he cared for everyone. He was the leader of the village, and I admired how seriously he took this title. It was obvious how much love he had for all of his village. I would love an Abe in my life. He had such a soothing presence.

Trigger warnings for These Nameless Things include minor violence, death, a mention of rape, and alcoholism.

Overall, These Nameless Things is a highly interesting read that makes you reflect on your own feelings and how you react to them. With Shawn Smucker's fantastic prose, this book makes it easy to get hooked. I would definitely recommend These Nameless Things by Shawn Smucker to those aged 17+ who are after well written novels with a touch of philosophy.
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(A special thank you to the publisher for sending me a paperback of These Nameless Things by Shawn Smucker in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.)
  
Draftosaurus
Draftosaurus
2019 | Animals
YESSSSS Let’s build a dinopark! I have been waiting for this for years! Yes, I know that Dinosaur Island exists. It’s a good game. In fact, I think it’s a great game. But I have been waiting for a quick game of building a dinopark that I can also share with my young kids. Have I found it with Draftosaurus, or is this just another in a long line of drafting games?

Draftosaurus is so appropriately named due to being a drafting game with a dinosaur theme. Instead of typically drafting cards, however, players are drafting adorable little dinomeeples to populate their theme park attractions. Each attraction, or pen in the game, offers different points for having different dinos in each, or the same, or just one, or exactly three, et al. The player with the most points from these pens at the end of the game is the winner!


To setup, every player receives a park board. Populate the draw bag with dinomeeples based on the number of players using the table in the rulebook. Give the wooden placement die to the youngest player and play can begin!
A game of Draftosaurus spans exactly two rounds. Each round is exactly the same: each player grabs six dinomeeples from the bag, active player rolls the die, players draft dinos, players pass the remaining dinos. Repeat these steps starting at die rolling, but the die is passed along with the dinos from the active player. This is repeated until all dinos have been drafted and placed in pens. Easy right?


The true nature of the game and the most fun part is in the placement die and placement of the dinos in the pens. When the die is rolled, this signifies specific placement rules for all players except the active player. So perhaps the die shows that dinos must be placed in the Grasslands, which are the pens on the bottom portion of the boards. Or maybe the die shows that new dinos may only be added to pens that currently have no dinos in them. Again, these rules do not apply to they that rolled the die, but rather every other player. Herein lies the scrumptious struggle: where does one place the dinos they currently possess in their hand from their neighbor? What pens will score the most points at endgame? Can a T.Rex really be appropriate in this pen? The choices can be maddening, or one can play the game with complete laissez-faire and still have a great time. After two rounds the game ends and players look upon their parks with pride as they count up their final scores.
Components. I really only know Ankama from the Krosmaster games, which though I am not really a fan of, the components are great. I believe Ankama has provided excellent components for Draftosaurus. The dinomeeples are all excellently colored and designed. The boards are good quality, though I question the “Grasslands” being brown and kinda devoid of grass. All in all, the components are great and I love handling them and playing with them.

Yes, we always include our scores at the beginning of each review. So you all already know what I’m about to say here. I love this game! I love having so many options available to me, only to have the die roll tell me I can’t do exactly what I want, so I have to alter my strategy on a dime. I love being able to see my dinos filling up the park (or swimming in the River if there are no places for them) and watching them frolic… well, okay not frolic in tight spaced pens. No wonder they all went crazy and escaped in those movies. In any case, if you or your family/friends/playdates enjoy drafting games, but want something a little different, while respecting your playtime (something that many drafting games extend) take a look at Draftosaurus. Even children can get in on the action, as there is no need to be able to read, necessarily. I haven’t yet tried it with my 3-year-old, but I think I will this weekend now. That all said, Purple Phoenix Games gives this one an enthusiastically Triassic 19 / 24. Just keep Newman and Nick Fury away from your game table.