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LoganCrews (2861 KP) rated This Is Spinal Tap (1984) in Movies
Sep 19, 2020
Funnier than hell, even the DVD menu is hysterical. Still insane how simultaneously convincing and silly this is while also being a dead-on accurate diagnosis of the mundanities and pretentious simplicity of rock/metal culture at the time behind the more complex but similarly demonized and opportunistic shield of the media. Goes from one ingeniously uproarious yet deceptively simple bit to the next while weaving rock-solid characters and a compelling band story out of not much more than nuts and bolts. All the songs slap, and tbh this is actually *more* quotable than people say imo - the improvisation should be but in the history books as some of cinema's most God-tier. Since everyone has their own, my favorite part? The scene where they get lost backstage at their Cleveland gig - priceless comedic perfection. Also RIP - Fred Willard, the man who could say literally anything and make it funny. Though yes... even though this pretty much launched the mockumentary as we know it today and is utterly worth the hype, I must still report that 𝘗𝘰𝘱𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳: 𝘕𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘚𝘵𝘰𝘱 𝘕𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘚𝘵𝘰𝘱𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 did it better.
JT (287 KP) rated Real Steel (2011) in Movies
Mar 10, 2020
Michael Bay, take note, this is how to make a proper film about robots beating the living shit out of each other. Based on the Richard Matheson short story Steel, this follows the journey of former professional boxer Charlie Kenton (Jackman) who now spends his time in debt, as a promoter for the new sport of robot boxing.
When Charlie meets his 11-year old son Max (Goyo) the two must rediscover themselves and build a relationship strong enough to get them through any of life’s toughest challenges. Let’s get one thing clear right away, this is Levy’s best film to date. Which is not hard when past titles include, both Night at the Museum’s, Date Night and The Pink Panther.
Jackman is strong enough in a role which let’s him flex his muscles from time to time, he’s a rough and rugged character anyway which is why he fits the Charlie Kenton mould so well. Partnered opposite young Max, who has enough cheeky charm and wide eyed looks to seduce any adult in to letting things go his way. But its not just about the Charlie and Max relationship, there is of course ‘Atom’, the sparing robot they discover in a junkyard.
Despite being all metal and wires, there is a strong feeling that Atom has a personality of his own even if it is mirrored by the person standing in front of him. But the scenes that Atom and Max share on screen together are genuine heart felt moments.
There is enough robot smashing mayhem going on through the drama, as Atom beings the road to underdog glory moving from one metal crunching bout to the next. The fights are very well choreographed from no holes barred scrap fights to the glitz and glamour of the Robot Boxing League where the stakes and money are high.
It’s hard not to see the underlying homage to the Rocky franchise, even the final fight which pairs Atom against the mighty Zeus is a robotic version of Balboa Vs Drago, right down to the female Russian, Olga, who sits in his corner. The supporting cast are in effect just that, the chemistry between Kenton and Bailey (Lily) is good, but she’s not really given enough in the script to make her stand out, so sparks are few and far between.
Jackman is likeable and the kid less annoying than others before him, its flashy and packs a punch that produces some great action sequences throughout.
When Charlie meets his 11-year old son Max (Goyo) the two must rediscover themselves and build a relationship strong enough to get them through any of life’s toughest challenges. Let’s get one thing clear right away, this is Levy’s best film to date. Which is not hard when past titles include, both Night at the Museum’s, Date Night and The Pink Panther.
Jackman is strong enough in a role which let’s him flex his muscles from time to time, he’s a rough and rugged character anyway which is why he fits the Charlie Kenton mould so well. Partnered opposite young Max, who has enough cheeky charm and wide eyed looks to seduce any adult in to letting things go his way. But its not just about the Charlie and Max relationship, there is of course ‘Atom’, the sparing robot they discover in a junkyard.
Despite being all metal and wires, there is a strong feeling that Atom has a personality of his own even if it is mirrored by the person standing in front of him. But the scenes that Atom and Max share on screen together are genuine heart felt moments.
There is enough robot smashing mayhem going on through the drama, as Atom beings the road to underdog glory moving from one metal crunching bout to the next. The fights are very well choreographed from no holes barred scrap fights to the glitz and glamour of the Robot Boxing League where the stakes and money are high.
It’s hard not to see the underlying homage to the Rocky franchise, even the final fight which pairs Atom against the mighty Zeus is a robotic version of Balboa Vs Drago, right down to the female Russian, Olga, who sits in his corner. The supporting cast are in effect just that, the chemistry between Kenton and Bailey (Lily) is good, but she’s not really given enough in the script to make her stand out, so sparks are few and far between.
Jackman is likeable and the kid less annoying than others before him, its flashy and packs a punch that produces some great action sequences throughout.
Peter Russell (61 KP) rated Scythe in Tabletop Games
Mar 13, 2019
The best mix of many board games
This game has so much going for it and by far is my favorite game on my shelf right now. First off, just looking at and opening the box, the artwork is fantastic. I bought the artbook for the game just because I wanted more of the art. Next, mechanics of the game. Each player has a choice of what unique pair of actions they will take in a turn. A turn consists of:
1) Choosing a block of actions that said player had not chosen last turn
2) Choosing a top level action from chosen block
3) choosing a bottom level action of chosen block.
These action range from creating and placing workers, mechs or buildings, resource generation, or doing something that would initiate combat (usually moving). There are many different strategies to win, whether through ecnomics or military domination. Each play through is unique.
I highly recommend getting all expansions for uncreased play variety as well as the Broken Token organizer, which reduces setup time for 30 minutes to 5 minutes. Other items that really enhance the gameplay are metal coins as well as realistic resources from stonemaier games
1) Choosing a block of actions that said player had not chosen last turn
2) Choosing a top level action from chosen block
3) choosing a bottom level action of chosen block.
These action range from creating and placing workers, mechs or buildings, resource generation, or doing something that would initiate combat (usually moving). There are many different strategies to win, whether through ecnomics or military domination. Each play through is unique.
I highly recommend getting all expansions for uncreased play variety as well as the Broken Token organizer, which reduces setup time for 30 minutes to 5 minutes. Other items that really enhance the gameplay are metal coins as well as realistic resources from stonemaier games
Lumos (380 KP) rated Suspend in Tabletop Games
Mar 21, 2018 (Updated Apr 5, 2018)
This game is so easy to learn and to play! Like the name suggests, the game is all about balancing. It is a little like Jenga or Topple in that you add pieces to a growing tower. The pieces are metal poles that are all of varying lengths. To play, you roll a die and add the color pole that matches the color you roll to the tower being careful to place it in such a way that doesn’t cause the whole thing to collapse. When I played this with my family, we decided that there really aren't enough pieces in one set to keep the game going for very long so we put two sets together. It is a little bit of a tight squeeze to get both sets into one tube (the game comes in a clear tube), but we were able to fit both sets into one container for easy storage. This is a quick game to learn, and is good for the whole family.
We don’t normally tend to go for these type of games, but every once in a while, it is nice to break away from the longer, more intense games we typically choose.
We don’t normally tend to go for these type of games, but every once in a while, it is nice to break away from the longer, more intense games we typically choose.
Steve Vai recommended Alien by Strapping Young Lad in Music (curated)
Jesters_folly (230 KP) rated Mandy (2018) in Movies
Sep 25, 2019
Contains spoilers, click to show
Red Miller (Nicholas Cage) is sent on a rampaging quest for vengeance when an evil cult abducts and kill his partner, Mandy Bloom.
The story is simple, Mandy and Red live alone in a forest. By chance Mandy is spotted by a cult leader who decided that he wants her to join him. Things don’t go to plan and Mandy ends up dead and Red starts on a quest for revenge. Simple and familiar, it’s not an uncommon plot, however Mandy is part film, part drug filled dream with snippets of animation thrown in, overlaid with a psychedelic, prog rock soundtrack. It has drugs, cults, demonic, slipknot esc bikers, (male) nudity, chainsaws and crossbows, religious parables and Jesus parallels. There is a metaphorical decent to hell and there is Nicholas Cage. All this is shot with constantly changing, coloured filters and distorted voices.
You can probably tell that Mandy isn’t for everyone, at times the film feels like an Italian horror, something like Suspiria or Deep Red and other time it seems like someone has brought a 70’s or 80’s rock/metal album cover to life. Throw in some animation that would be at home in ‘Heavy Metal’ Magazine, turn the crazy dial up to 11 and let Nicolas Cage (slowly) off the sanity leash and you have Mandy.
There are plot point that are not explained, for example Red suddenly has a friend who has a cross bow stored away for him and Red suddenly has a forge and knows how to use it. Is Mandy some kind of witch and, of course, is Red dead at the end.
I would say that there are some crazy scenes but the whole film is crazy but it does lead to some great scene’s like a chainsaw duel.
As I said, Mandy isn’t for everyone, it has a simple plot that has been turned in to a surreal nightmare so if you don’t like weird don’t watch this.
Mandy is also slow to get started as it builds up the atmosphere. I think that, if the film kept the atmosphere it starts with it could have been a similar tone to something like Midsommar however by the halfway point it has past that and, by the end the film just takes a head dive down the rabbit hole (almost literally).
Given all that I found it hard to rate, it has the feel of a 70’s horror and an 80’s grindhouse, some of the filters make it hard to understand some of the lines and the colour filters were disturbing and distracting although most of this was on purpose but over all I did enjoy it.
The story is simple, Mandy and Red live alone in a forest. By chance Mandy is spotted by a cult leader who decided that he wants her to join him. Things don’t go to plan and Mandy ends up dead and Red starts on a quest for revenge. Simple and familiar, it’s not an uncommon plot, however Mandy is part film, part drug filled dream with snippets of animation thrown in, overlaid with a psychedelic, prog rock soundtrack. It has drugs, cults, demonic, slipknot esc bikers, (male) nudity, chainsaws and crossbows, religious parables and Jesus parallels. There is a metaphorical decent to hell and there is Nicholas Cage. All this is shot with constantly changing, coloured filters and distorted voices.
You can probably tell that Mandy isn’t for everyone, at times the film feels like an Italian horror, something like Suspiria or Deep Red and other time it seems like someone has brought a 70’s or 80’s rock/metal album cover to life. Throw in some animation that would be at home in ‘Heavy Metal’ Magazine, turn the crazy dial up to 11 and let Nicolas Cage (slowly) off the sanity leash and you have Mandy.
There are plot point that are not explained, for example Red suddenly has a friend who has a cross bow stored away for him and Red suddenly has a forge and knows how to use it. Is Mandy some kind of witch and, of course, is Red dead at the end.
I would say that there are some crazy scenes but the whole film is crazy but it does lead to some great scene’s like a chainsaw duel.
As I said, Mandy isn’t for everyone, it has a simple plot that has been turned in to a surreal nightmare so if you don’t like weird don’t watch this.
Mandy is also slow to get started as it builds up the atmosphere. I think that, if the film kept the atmosphere it starts with it could have been a similar tone to something like Midsommar however by the halfway point it has past that and, by the end the film just takes a head dive down the rabbit hole (almost literally).
Given all that I found it hard to rate, it has the feel of a 70’s horror and an 80’s grindhouse, some of the filters make it hard to understand some of the lines and the colour filters were disturbing and distracting although most of this was on purpose but over all I did enjoy it.
Good dark fantasy in an interesting setting
Faithless takes place in a world where blacksmithing is a big deal. Those who master the arts of smithing are priests in the religion of the Forgefather. The lowest class of people are those spending their lives down mines, struggling to find anything more valuable than coal in order to meet their tally and avoid a whipping. This is the essence of the world we are in, with an established class system and clear economy, based on metal ores.
There is a hint of magic here, with chanting at the forge, but until the final few chapters it is unclear whether this is magic or simply a way to mark time and ensure the metal is at the right temperature and worked at the right pace. Not overly labouring the magic here was an excellent choice by the author, as it keeps the attention on the mundane aspects of life, which is excellently told.
The story follows two main characters, firstly Wynn, a young lad sold (or mis-sold in his mind) by his father, a struggling farmer, into the mines for a life of back-breaking work down cramped, dangerous caves, endlessly trying to find enough ore to avoid a beating. His only chance of escaping the mines is to pass the tests and have a chance of ascending to the temple and possibly priesthood. Some way through the book we then meet Kharios, a young adult who appears to have somewhat failed in his first attempts at entering the priesthood (smithing) and is trying to get back to the forge.
The characters' stories are very similar, with hard, thankless, dangerous labour and periods of learning. For some time I struggled to tell the difference between them, thinking they seemed like very similar characters, but I have since re-thought that for reasons.
I found the pacing a little off. There were times I felt like I was reading a biography of a miner, rather than a fantasy novel, as long chapters are essentially that. And then these develop into long chapters learning smithing, was again a bit of a slog. And then all of a sudden we have periods of conflict down the mines, accidents, cave-ins, and the eventual calamity that leads to the second half of the book. The changes in pace were sudden and exciting, but the change was a little extreme at times.
I loved the way the two stories seemed at times independent yet similar, but eventually start to overlap. Though again, we have a change in pace where exciting, cataclysmic events are put aside for another chapter of walloping hot iron.
These pacing issues aside, this was an interesting and well written book with an unusual setting and a good message on belief systems.
There is a hint of magic here, with chanting at the forge, but until the final few chapters it is unclear whether this is magic or simply a way to mark time and ensure the metal is at the right temperature and worked at the right pace. Not overly labouring the magic here was an excellent choice by the author, as it keeps the attention on the mundane aspects of life, which is excellently told.
The story follows two main characters, firstly Wynn, a young lad sold (or mis-sold in his mind) by his father, a struggling farmer, into the mines for a life of back-breaking work down cramped, dangerous caves, endlessly trying to find enough ore to avoid a beating. His only chance of escaping the mines is to pass the tests and have a chance of ascending to the temple and possibly priesthood. Some way through the book we then meet Kharios, a young adult who appears to have somewhat failed in his first attempts at entering the priesthood (smithing) and is trying to get back to the forge.
The characters' stories are very similar, with hard, thankless, dangerous labour and periods of learning. For some time I struggled to tell the difference between them, thinking they seemed like very similar characters, but I have since re-thought that for reasons.
I found the pacing a little off. There were times I felt like I was reading a biography of a miner, rather than a fantasy novel, as long chapters are essentially that. And then these develop into long chapters learning smithing, was again a bit of a slog. And then all of a sudden we have periods of conflict down the mines, accidents, cave-ins, and the eventual calamity that leads to the second half of the book. The changes in pace were sudden and exciting, but the change was a little extreme at times.
I loved the way the two stories seemed at times independent yet similar, but eventually start to overlap. Though again, we have a change in pace where exciting, cataclysmic events are put aside for another chapter of walloping hot iron.
These pacing issues aside, this was an interesting and well written book with an unusual setting and a good message on belief systems.
Caffeinated Fae (464 KP) rated The Long Hard Road Out of Hell in Books
Jul 12, 2018
I read this book for my 2014 Book Challenge. In this challenge I asked certain people to recommend books to me and I told them that I would read them sometime this year. This was my sister's recommendation.
First off, if you۪re going to read this book make sure that it is the actual book. The ebook does not compare to the actual book.
I have never been a huge fan of Marilyn Manson but I'm not a huge fan of metal music or shock-rock. I tend to stay on the pop-rock and alt-rock area so I was definitely apprehensive with this book. I have heard many rumors about Marilyn Manson but I never actually cared to learn whether they were the truth or not. This was very fascinating. I found myself intrigued while reading this book.
This book is disturbing, grotesque and honestly I was horrified for half of the book. This book definitely was shocking. The pictures in the middle were hard to look at without squirming and they definitely made me very uncomfortable when looking at them. The stories were also fascinating yet horrifying.
This book was also very introspective. I found myself fascinated by Marilyn Manson and it had me wanting to read more.
This book definitely wasn۪t my normal flavor but ultimately I am giving this book 4 stars because it fascinated me!
First off, if you۪re going to read this book make sure that it is the actual book. The ebook does not compare to the actual book.
I have never been a huge fan of Marilyn Manson but I'm not a huge fan of metal music or shock-rock. I tend to stay on the pop-rock and alt-rock area so I was definitely apprehensive with this book. I have heard many rumors about Marilyn Manson but I never actually cared to learn whether they were the truth or not. This was very fascinating. I found myself intrigued while reading this book.
This book is disturbing, grotesque and honestly I was horrified for half of the book. This book definitely was shocking. The pictures in the middle were hard to look at without squirming and they definitely made me very uncomfortable when looking at them. The stories were also fascinating yet horrifying.
This book was also very introspective. I found myself fascinated by Marilyn Manson and it had me wanting to read more.
This book definitely wasn۪t my normal flavor but ultimately I am giving this book 4 stars because it fascinated me!
Merissa (11805 KP) rated Silver (The Silver #1) in Books
Feb 11, 2020
This book is written from Jaze's perspective and it gives you a real insight into how he is feeling about losing his dad and moving to a new town. As soon as he moves there he realises that something is wrong - the amount of silver in the school metal detectors might have been a clue! He meets the pack that are already living there in an unforgettable manner. He finds a friend in Brock and 'the girl next door', Nikki, who just happens to have Hunters as parents. This all helps Jaze as he tries to look after his mom, tries to come to terms with his dad's death and the betrayal of who he knows was involved.
This story was extremely well written, the characters all had depth and there was a lot to the story itself. For once there was no Inst-Love but friendship actually came first. Yes Jaze was attracted to Nikki but proved that you don't always have to act on it straight away and it just might be a plan to get to know her first! The friendships that he makes with Brock and Mouse are quiet but loyal and an absolutely perfect foil for the action of the Packs. I loved the way the story unfolded and am definitely looking forward to the rest of the series.
This story was extremely well written, the characters all had depth and there was a lot to the story itself. For once there was no Inst-Love but friendship actually came first. Yes Jaze was attracted to Nikki but proved that you don't always have to act on it straight away and it just might be a plan to get to know her first! The friendships that he makes with Brock and Mouse are quiet but loyal and an absolutely perfect foil for the action of the Packs. I loved the way the story unfolded and am definitely looking forward to the rest of the series.