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The Tecarta Bible is a beautiful, easy to use, full featured Bible app designed for quick...
Bob Mann (459 KP) rated Zack Snyder's Justice League (2021) in Movies
Apr 5, 2021
At over 4 hours it's still bloated and sprawling (1 more)
4:3 ratio is a needless gimmick
Does Lipstick on the Pig work?
In Zack Snyder’s much-discussed director’s cut of “Justice League”, Superman (Henry Cavill) is dead (post the events of “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice“) and a grieving Lois Lane (Amy Adams) can’t move on. Even Martha Kent (Diane Lane) has had the family farm repossessed. But the world is in deadly danger due to the work of Steppenwolf and his army of parademons. They are trying to reunite three ‘Mother Boxes’, previously hidden on earth. If joined and synchronized they will form ‘The Unity’, creating a gateway for Steppenwolf’s boss – Darkseid – to arrive and control the universe by invoking the “anti-life equation” (basically lockdown 3!).
Only the Justice League’s combined talents might be enough to stop them – but Batman (Ben Affleck) is having trouble in getting Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot), Aquaman (Jason Momoa), Cyborg (Ray Fisher) and The Flash (Ezra Miller) to work together. And even then, they reckon they might be a man short!
Positives:
- Well - it's so much better than the original 2017 version of "Justice League", but then that's not saying much! (I realise that I never did a review for that movie, which I saw on a transatlantic flight - - I put the whole incoherent mess down to my jetlag. But no.... it really was an incoherent mess!).
In the Snyder cut, we gain a much broader introduction to all of the main characters, especially to Barry Allen (the Flash) - in a very entertaining pet shop interview scene - and Victor Stone (Cyborg). And Steppenwolf gets more air time to flesh out his character.
- The story I find very similar to the Marvel equivalent: with Darkseid = Thanos; boxes = stones; Avengers = Justice League! But the story is at least now coherent and flows well. Its action set pieces, especially the ultimate defeat of Steppenwolf (nice decap!), are exciting.
- Some of the distracting scenes (the trapped family in the Russian ruins is a key example) have been excised from this version, making for a significant improvement.
Negatives:
- I'm with Mark Kermode in being a little bit mystified by all of the rave 5* reviews for this one. By anyone's imagination, a run time of 242 minutes is over-indulgent.
- Although the epilogue scene, featuring Jared Leto's Joker and a Batman f-bomb, is entertaining, it actually adds nothing to the exposition and could have been dropped to reduce the bladder-testing run time.
- That 4:3 screen ratio! JUST WHY SNYDER, WHY? There's one scene in particular, where all six members of the Justice League line up in the sunset to dramatic swelling music. The screen ratio forces Snyder to film it at a 60 degree angle to get them all in! "Galaxy Quest" intelligently used three different screen ratios, to great visual effect. So I could perhaps understand it if the 'flashback' scenes had been 4:3 and the rest in 16:9. But as it is, the usage is gimmicky, making (imho) no sense for a big fantasy spectacle like this.
- The Junkie XL (as Thomas Holkenborg) soundtrack I'm afraid did nothing for me.
Summary thoughts:
It's a film, for sure. Is it a watchable film now... hmm, yes just about. And it has scenes which indeed are highly entertaining. But if you follow my One Mann's Movies blog you should know by now my view on movies that extend beyond 90 minutes... they need to justify that delta running time. And by outstaying this target by another 90 minutes... and then by ANOTHER 62 minutes borders on taking the <proverbial>. It's not Shakespeare!
(For the full graphical review, check out the One Mann's Movies review here - https://bob-the-movie-man.com/2021/04/04/zack-snyders-justice-league-does-lipstick-on-the-pig-work/).
Only the Justice League’s combined talents might be enough to stop them – but Batman (Ben Affleck) is having trouble in getting Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot), Aquaman (Jason Momoa), Cyborg (Ray Fisher) and The Flash (Ezra Miller) to work together. And even then, they reckon they might be a man short!
Positives:
- Well - it's so much better than the original 2017 version of "Justice League", but then that's not saying much! (I realise that I never did a review for that movie, which I saw on a transatlantic flight - - I put the whole incoherent mess down to my jetlag. But no.... it really was an incoherent mess!).
In the Snyder cut, we gain a much broader introduction to all of the main characters, especially to Barry Allen (the Flash) - in a very entertaining pet shop interview scene - and Victor Stone (Cyborg). And Steppenwolf gets more air time to flesh out his character.
- The story I find very similar to the Marvel equivalent: with Darkseid = Thanos; boxes = stones; Avengers = Justice League! But the story is at least now coherent and flows well. Its action set pieces, especially the ultimate defeat of Steppenwolf (nice decap!), are exciting.
- Some of the distracting scenes (the trapped family in the Russian ruins is a key example) have been excised from this version, making for a significant improvement.
Negatives:
- I'm with Mark Kermode in being a little bit mystified by all of the rave 5* reviews for this one. By anyone's imagination, a run time of 242 minutes is over-indulgent.
- Although the epilogue scene, featuring Jared Leto's Joker and a Batman f-bomb, is entertaining, it actually adds nothing to the exposition and could have been dropped to reduce the bladder-testing run time.
- That 4:3 screen ratio! JUST WHY SNYDER, WHY? There's one scene in particular, where all six members of the Justice League line up in the sunset to dramatic swelling music. The screen ratio forces Snyder to film it at a 60 degree angle to get them all in! "Galaxy Quest" intelligently used three different screen ratios, to great visual effect. So I could perhaps understand it if the 'flashback' scenes had been 4:3 and the rest in 16:9. But as it is, the usage is gimmicky, making (imho) no sense for a big fantasy spectacle like this.
- The Junkie XL (as Thomas Holkenborg) soundtrack I'm afraid did nothing for me.
Summary thoughts:
It's a film, for sure. Is it a watchable film now... hmm, yes just about. And it has scenes which indeed are highly entertaining. But if you follow my One Mann's Movies blog you should know by now my view on movies that extend beyond 90 minutes... they need to justify that delta running time. And by outstaying this target by another 90 minutes... and then by ANOTHER 62 minutes borders on taking the <proverbial>. It's not Shakespeare!
(For the full graphical review, check out the One Mann's Movies review here - https://bob-the-movie-man.com/2021/04/04/zack-snyders-justice-league-does-lipstick-on-the-pig-work/).
Purple Phoenix Games (2266 KP) rated Slide Quest in Tabletop Games
Jun 8, 2021
“Slippery When Wet.” What does that mean to you? What about, “Slippery When Dry, But Also Just Very Slippery Because There’s A Ball-Bearing On The Bottom Of This Little Knighteeple… Kneeple?” That’s more descriptive of what we have here in Slide Quest, and oh boy is it a doozy!
Ok so I originally heard about this game from watching one of Marco Arnaudo’s GENCON videos (he’s amazing btw and you should watch every video) and immediately falling in love with the premise. In this game it is your charge as a player to help the little blue knight guy, I’ll call him Sir Rolli, travel from Point A to Point B. That’s it! That’s all you have to do! However, there are obstacles in your path – fences, rocks, archways, dynamite, and even nefarious foes – foeeples. You do this by pressing down yellow levers that flip up one of the four sides of the game board. This then send Sir Rolli along the opposite direction, and depending on the pressure used, possibly right into a fence, or worse – a hole in the ground!
There are several modes of play and ways you can play. With different numbers of players you will have varied experiences. For instance, the first time I played this was with my son, 3, and my father-in-law, 60+. Now, my son obviously is in it to inadvertently sow mayhem, so my F-I-L and I had to compensate as much as possible. Even then, I loved playing it. The next time I played this was with three other players of adulthood status. Our experience was more focused, and we just tore through the different level with a surprising amount of success. We did not complete all 20 included levels, but we got close! Everyone who played had a great time, and we were all smiles the entire time.
This doesn’t mean that it is a perfect game. Nay. For this game can suffer an extreme quarterbacking issue. You know the type – (s)he who believes they know best in every situation and therefore feels compelled to tell everyone else what to do or how to do it correctly? Yes, even I succumb to this affliction at times, but I believe I have a great handle on it, personally. In any case, quarterbackers can also be shut down very quickly when they neglect to operate their paddle correctly and thus allow the team to suffer a lost health. It can happen, and that’s why I am placing that caveat here and now. Luckily, I have not experienced that in any of our games, so I hope that continues.
Components. I don’t know what happened over at Blue Orange Games over the last several years, but for the company that was known (at least in my world) as the “Spot It” company, and nothing more, they sure have upped their game (har har) significantly. These components are FANTASTIC and they really complement a fun and engaging game experience. Everything has a place, and the quality and art style are just through the roof. To me, well worth the price tag for the components alone.
So all in all, I absolutely adore this one. It is cute, fast, an easy teach, and can be a great equalizer as you can play with an array of different teammates. Josh has waffled on his rating for this one, but we all very much love this little gem. For the reasons mentioned and the fact that Josh added this to his cart and checked out before I was even done setting up the first map, Purple Phoenix Games give this one a slip-slidey 22 / 24. Go get this now!
Ok so I originally heard about this game from watching one of Marco Arnaudo’s GENCON videos (he’s amazing btw and you should watch every video) and immediately falling in love with the premise. In this game it is your charge as a player to help the little blue knight guy, I’ll call him Sir Rolli, travel from Point A to Point B. That’s it! That’s all you have to do! However, there are obstacles in your path – fences, rocks, archways, dynamite, and even nefarious foes – foeeples. You do this by pressing down yellow levers that flip up one of the four sides of the game board. This then send Sir Rolli along the opposite direction, and depending on the pressure used, possibly right into a fence, or worse – a hole in the ground!
There are several modes of play and ways you can play. With different numbers of players you will have varied experiences. For instance, the first time I played this was with my son, 3, and my father-in-law, 60+. Now, my son obviously is in it to inadvertently sow mayhem, so my F-I-L and I had to compensate as much as possible. Even then, I loved playing it. The next time I played this was with three other players of adulthood status. Our experience was more focused, and we just tore through the different level with a surprising amount of success. We did not complete all 20 included levels, but we got close! Everyone who played had a great time, and we were all smiles the entire time.
This doesn’t mean that it is a perfect game. Nay. For this game can suffer an extreme quarterbacking issue. You know the type – (s)he who believes they know best in every situation and therefore feels compelled to tell everyone else what to do or how to do it correctly? Yes, even I succumb to this affliction at times, but I believe I have a great handle on it, personally. In any case, quarterbackers can also be shut down very quickly when they neglect to operate their paddle correctly and thus allow the team to suffer a lost health. It can happen, and that’s why I am placing that caveat here and now. Luckily, I have not experienced that in any of our games, so I hope that continues.
Components. I don’t know what happened over at Blue Orange Games over the last several years, but for the company that was known (at least in my world) as the “Spot It” company, and nothing more, they sure have upped their game (har har) significantly. These components are FANTASTIC and they really complement a fun and engaging game experience. Everything has a place, and the quality and art style are just through the roof. To me, well worth the price tag for the components alone.
So all in all, I absolutely adore this one. It is cute, fast, an easy teach, and can be a great equalizer as you can play with an array of different teammates. Josh has waffled on his rating for this one, but we all very much love this little gem. For the reasons mentioned and the fact that Josh added this to his cart and checked out before I was even done setting up the first map, Purple Phoenix Games give this one a slip-slidey 22 / 24. Go get this now!
Gareth von Kallenbach (980 KP) rated Bleed For This (2016) in Movies
Jul 12, 2019
Bleed for This is the true story of boxer Vinny Pazienza (Miles Teller). Vinny is the type of person that in and out of the ring goes all out to the point he can go no further. This mindset puts him on the verge of being out of boxing after losing three straight fights, which he drastically cuts weight to fight. As he searches for one last chance, he is paired with a new trainer, Kevin Rooney (Aaron Eckhart), who is also seemingly given his last chance to revive his career. Rooney sets out to change the way Vinny trains and convinces him that fighting at a heavier weight will help his body, he previously was taking drastic measures to cut weight for fights. The pair are committed to success even with Vinny’s head strong father’s (Angelo Pazienza played by Ciarán Hinds) disapproving of the change, his mother (Louise Pazienza played by Katey Sagal) not wanting Vinny to get hurt, and his own Manager (Lou Duva played by Ted Levine) saying he should quit boxing all together. After some convincing and a lot of hard work Vinny gets his chance at one last fight. But he is moving up two weight classes and is put into a title fight against a seasoned opponent. Vinny shocks seemingly everyone by overcoming these obstacles and knocking out his favored opponent to become a World Champion.
After the biggest win of his career when everything appears to be going Vinny, his families and Rooney’s way, there is a terrible car accident and Vinny suffers a broken neck. The doctor tells him that he may never walk again, let alone box. With everyone telling him that his boxing career is over, Vinny is single-mindedly determined to do everything he can to get back into the ring. He opts to not have surgery in hopes that his neck can heal on its own and he can return to champion ship form. He has to convince Rooney to train him, find someone willing to fight him, and has to overcome his once over bearing father being unwilling be in his corner for the first time in his life. Even with a mountain of obstacles in his way, he begins his quest to get back into the ring and show everyone that he can do the impossible and regain his past form.
Writer and Director Ben Younger (Prime and Boiler Room) does an excellent job with this inspirational true story. The supporting cast provide solid performances, especial Eckhart and Hinds, but Miles Teller’s performance is what really makes this a fun film to watch. He really seemed to fit into this role really well. His performance was both compelling and fun. There were several times that the film showed actual old footage and footage just made to look old and you really couldn’t tell if it was Teller or the real Vinny Pazienza on the screen. I liked how the boxing sequences were not over dramatized, no mouth pieces flying across the ring, it looked like there was an effort to just keep them as true to the actual fights as possible. I also enjoyed the moments of comedy. For a story full of drama there was a good amount of well-timed comedy, mostly provided by Teller. Visually they did a good job of making the film feel like you were in late 80s and early 90s. There were a couple of slow scenes but overall the film flowed really well.
Overall this was a well done boxing genre movie. Good story, great acting performances and solid directing.
After the biggest win of his career when everything appears to be going Vinny, his families and Rooney’s way, there is a terrible car accident and Vinny suffers a broken neck. The doctor tells him that he may never walk again, let alone box. With everyone telling him that his boxing career is over, Vinny is single-mindedly determined to do everything he can to get back into the ring. He opts to not have surgery in hopes that his neck can heal on its own and he can return to champion ship form. He has to convince Rooney to train him, find someone willing to fight him, and has to overcome his once over bearing father being unwilling be in his corner for the first time in his life. Even with a mountain of obstacles in his way, he begins his quest to get back into the ring and show everyone that he can do the impossible and regain his past form.
Writer and Director Ben Younger (Prime and Boiler Room) does an excellent job with this inspirational true story. The supporting cast provide solid performances, especial Eckhart and Hinds, but Miles Teller’s performance is what really makes this a fun film to watch. He really seemed to fit into this role really well. His performance was both compelling and fun. There were several times that the film showed actual old footage and footage just made to look old and you really couldn’t tell if it was Teller or the real Vinny Pazienza on the screen. I liked how the boxing sequences were not over dramatized, no mouth pieces flying across the ring, it looked like there was an effort to just keep them as true to the actual fights as possible. I also enjoyed the moments of comedy. For a story full of drama there was a good amount of well-timed comedy, mostly provided by Teller. Visually they did a good job of making the film feel like you were in late 80s and early 90s. There were a couple of slow scenes but overall the film flowed really well.
Overall this was a well done boxing genre movie. Good story, great acting performances and solid directing.
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