Scrivener

Well, Cannae was covered on Decisive Battles, so maybe that's why it's not in there. Another reason might be that most people will have 0 chance of survival playing as Hannibal. Not everyone is well enough versed in history or tactics to trap the Romans like Hannibal did. Zama, on the other hand, would have made a wonderful battle. The only problem I see there, is that Scipio used trumpets to defeat Hannibals War Elephants (the noise frightened them, sending them running in every which way, while Scipio had his troops positioned to allow the elephants to escape with minimum casualties). As interesting as that kind of thinking is in battle, the game dosn't really allow for that vital strategy - and vital it is, since Hannibal might have otherwise crushed the Romans at Zama despite his other shortcomings.

Wow, I thought Allegiance died years ago. The susbscription model didn't work so great for non RPGs (Planetside is the only example of a game defying this rule). I was actually a QA tester on that. I'm really glad to see it still has some life, it's a great game.

Congratualtions, Kung Fu. Been in that rut recently myself and I know it isn't fun. School bills get bigger every day, but the pay stays the same. Bloody economy 's what it is.

Starting a new trend, here... the Netflix rental week in review. It dosn't have to be Netflix per se, include store rentals *gasp* too if you'd like. 1) Zardoz - Old low-budget scifi B flick with Sean Connery. It sort of plays out like an episode of classic Star Trek... but with breasts. Basically there is this big floating stone head, a race of super-psychic immortal people, and a bunch of neanderthalls who kill people because the stone head tells them too. It all makes sense eventually... in a very Star Trek time-warp sort of way. 7/10 2) Phantasm - Never saw the original... until now. I like Don Coscarelli's style... but the movie was pretty meh. I'm sure it was much better to it's original mid-70s audiences. Basically aliens are turning people into dwarves and shipping them off to hell... or something. Meh. 4/10 3) Angels in America - So this wins a crapload of awards the other night. Furthermore, I wasn't able to dig up any kind of plot synopsis other than it was based on a broadway play. Between the awards, the lack of plot synopsis, and broadway play clues, I deduce that it's probably a big 'ol gay show. I rent it anyway... just in case it's not. But I'm rarely wrong - and I hit this nail right on the head. The story really centers around 3 or 4 different groups of people, but 3/4 of the show concentrates around gay guys dealing with AIDs (as if we havn't heard that story enough). It's an expertly shot show, but the content really got on my nerves. Apparently anyone can get funding, fame, and awards for making films about homosexuality or conservative-bashing. How lame. Be warned - this is not as much 'Angels in America' as 'Queers in America.' I guess thats the way liberal propaganda works these days - they just use deceptive advertisement and awards ceremonies. 3/10 4) Man on Fire - Better than Punisher, but the music-video stylization got old about 10mins into the film. Unfortunately, the whole thing is shot like that. The flickering, compositing, and shaking... ugh, I had to watch it in 3 sittings because of the headaches it would give me. Too bad, because there's a really good movie under all that poor excuse for stylization. That stuff works for a title sequence, not for a 2.5hr flick. 6/10 [ 09-24-2004, 03:19 AM: Message edited by: Scrivener ]

I am hoping hoping hoping that it turns out to be some invisible evil demonic manace. Then they never have to spoil it by showing you some crappy made-for-TV monster thing. They seem to be playing up the idea that it's obviously 'giant' but noone has seen it yet. *sigh* Whatever they do, please don't let it be cheesy...

So I watched LOST tonight... and I thought it was pretty damn great. Don't know how long they can sustain the series, maybe 2 seasons (30 episodes) max... but if they play their cards right, and don't camp it up, they have a real winner. So far, it's very believable, and the acting talents of the cast are very strong. Can't wait till next week. Touching Evil: So I don't know if you've heard, but USA Network officially cancelled the "Best Show Ever" (Excepting 'The Prisoner')... but it's being shopped to other networks including FX, thank God! This show deserves better. It was FAN-FREAKING-TASTIC and it breaks my heart to think that we wont get another season... there's so much left to discover about the characters... oh how it eats me up inside! But who didn't see it coming? USA Network has a nasty habit of birthing wonderful shows only to murder them after 1 season. *cough* Peacemakers *cough* Heres hoping FX does the smart thing and resurrects this exemplary series. P.S. Inside info: Monk was just about on the chopping block when it won a slew of major awards. [ 05-11-2005, 08:51 AM: Message edited by: Supreme Cmdr ]

I hold little hope for this project. I just don't see how they can't screw it up. ;(

But... but what is to happen to Goldenland? There are already so few RPGs... so few...

Quick cuts give the illusion of action, but modern directors and cinematographers dont seem to have figured out that you can take this idea way too far. So many movies these days jump past the boundry of good action editing into the land of chaotic "wtf is going on" land. *sigh* Still need to see Supremecy. Maybe when it hits cable.

Ah, this harkens back to our Hero-LotR discussion. He has a point, SC... but it didn't really bother me on the basis that those kinds of things appeared regularly in the serial comics of the 30s and 40s. The movie is, after all, based on those comics. Still, I would have enjoyed the movie more in B&W. Add some old film grain or something and it would have REALLY felt like a classic film. But that's just me.

In an interview with Molyneux some time ago when this was still called Project EGO, the plan was to do a simultaneous PC/XBox release. That plan obviously went out the window. After the official title was announced, Molyneux said that a PC port was possible if the Xbox version sold well enough to warrant it. I don't need to tell you again how incredibly absurd I find that concept. PC games used to pave the way to innovation. Now console trash gets the good ideas, which often fail, and never make it to PC. The majority of PC gamers admire innovation - the majority of console gamers shun it. This is irrefutable, I've seen it every day at my job for the last 5 years. Consoles are like a bicycle with training wheels, where a PC is like a dirt bike. Too many people are too happy with their bicycle that they never know the happiness that is dirt biking. It's just plain more exciting and rewarding an experience. *sigh* I can give consoles this - Ninja Gaiden rocked... and I can't think of a single console game that absorbed me like that since Super Mario Bros 3. But that is a very rare exception to the rule.

quote:Originally posted by Supreme Cmdr: I took off one point because the Polly character should have been killed in the first five minutes. Now you see that not all of my comments are baseless. So did I call that or what?

Sin City Comicon Trailer Now see - THAT'S how you do a comic book movie. It's what I've been saying for YEARS - you need no more script or storyboard than the comic itself (After some strategic trimming, that is). Let's hope they're following the same doctrine with WATCHMEN.

If it comes out on PC I'll try it out. Single player console games just dont do it for me, no matter how ingenious they are.

quote:Originally posted by Supreme Cmdr: I guess they don't screen the people they give those passes to, huh? ouch

I attended free invitation-only preview screening at my local AMC30.

7/10 Boy am I glad this didn't stink. I've had enough bad movies this week to last me through Christmas. So here's the rundown: It takes a little bit from every adventure movie you've ever seen, throws in a dash in some art nouveau and 40's serial sci-fi, and lots and lots of CG (For the uninitiated - everything but the actors is CG). What do you get? A good, if not particularly classic, adventure flick fit for folks of all ages. There are tons (I mean TONS) of nod-nod wink-wink references to popular scifi/fantasy/adventures. We've got Star Wars a plenty, a not-so-subtle homage to The Wizard of Oz, Jurassic Park, Terminator, Flash Gordon, Island of Dr. Moreau, Indiana Jones in spades, and so many more that this review could easily look my five-star-movies post. Some might call this a ripoff movie (as some did with Kill Bill) but it's really more of an homage movie. I had quite a lot of fun identifying all the things that were pulled from other movies... the elusive but not-so-subtle Kong references especially had me tickled. My biggest gripe with the film is Paltrow's Polly character. Ribisi's performance as Dex also rubbed me the wrong way, but Polly is different... and it wasn't the acting... but the character herself. Polly is one of those archetypical 'stupid woman' characters - the kind that just cause nonstop trouble for no real reason. From start to finish I just wanted to slap her. I know that's exactly what they were going for - but then Jar Jar and Donkey were in the same boat - so "we meant to do that" isn't a completely adequate excuse. Anyhoo, SC is going to give this a 10/10, just you wait and see. It's a very fun movie with all kinds of Where's Waldo games for film buffs like myself - and it's safe for the whole family without being stupid. It's definately absolute positively worth seeing at least once - but I'm not sure its something I would be terribly excited to have in my DVD collection. The special features could make up for it, I think. One last thing - throughout the whole movie - I couldn't shake the feeling that somehow it would look better in black and white. Like it was meant to be. Dunno, but that creeping suspicion sort of irked me the whole time.

Hellbinder, one of my quirks is that I am offended/shocked by absolutely nothing... and I praise movies that get close for the incredible achievement. *Man in suit! Totally agree. Great stuff. -Origional Godzilla from 1957 *Was always kind of 'eh' on this one. Good. Not great. - The Last Starfighter *DEFINATELY! How'd I forget that? -The last of the Mohicans *Eh. - Once Upon a Time in the West *Upper rung of 'pretty good.' New DVD has bad packaging. - Legend *Pretty good. Like most 80s films, hasn't aged well qualitatively. - Some Kind of Wonderful As for Alien 3, I agree that the theatrical version is garbage - but David Fincher's assembly cut is actually quite good. While still the weakest of the series, Fincher's cut is MUCH better than the studios theatrical version. Prisoner - I know, but the show is just so damn good I had to mention it. Fortunately they never got around to filming the 2000 theatrical remake. Would've been a bloody disaster. *Good movie - A ClockWork Orange *How I miss Stanley Kubrick. Great mainstream quirky film died with him. - 2001:A space Odyssey * Pink Floyd the Wall *Love love love love love this film. This is how a stage play ought to be adapted to screen! - Amadeus *One of my top 5 favorite movies - Brazil *Great film, even if stolen straight from the pages of a Douglas Adams novel - Dark Star *Mostly unchanged in the special edition, the best of the Star Wars films - Star Wars: Empire Strikes Back *OMG YES! Hands down the best of the Star Trek films - Star Trek: Wrath of Khan *Pretty good - Heavy Metal *Like most Anime, totally incoherent without the entire series. A very badly done stand-alone film - Ghost in the Shell *Unrated directors cut only:Great. - Leon the Professional *Seen it so many times I have forgotten about it - Monty Python and the Holy Grail *Old and new versions, 'meh' - Odd Couple *Meh. But I'm not fond of old military comedies - Mr. Roberts *Why did they even make 'Pearl Harbor'? Should have had a theatrical release of this movie instead - Torra, Torra, Torra. *TOTALLY AGREE. Have the collection on DVD. Great stuff - The Pink Panther (any of them) *YESS! Another great film adaptation of a play. The french and subtitles help significantly - Cyrano De begerac (Jose Ferrer) *Meh - Roxanne *Pretty good for an old war movie - Dirty Dozen *Yes! Good stuff. - Patton *One of those indellible classics from the age of "really really big historical movies." Love it. - Ben-Hur *Old horror movies make me sad. They always spoil the remakes with lame over-the-top special effects. Still, a good movie. - Uninvited *Havn't seen it... yet. It's now added to my Netflix queue - Altered States BTW - if you want to see a good horror movie that was made within that last 50 years, go rent Devils Backbone. Written and directed by Guillermo del Toro, Devils Backbone is a Spanish film but IMO easily del Toro's best.

Movie opinions vary wildly from person to person (especially in this forum). Therefore this will be the official thread for posting all your favorite films. To prove to you that I actually *do* like movies (just not Hollywood movies), I'll start. My five-star movies: 1) Brazil 2) Fight Club 3) 1984 4) Donnie Darko 5) Freaks! 6) Garden State 7) The Prisoner (TV Show) 8) Kill Bill 9) The Adventures of Baron Munchausen 10)Time Bandits 11)12 Monkeys 12)The Fisher King 13)Event Horizon 14)The Abyss 15)Alien Quadrilogy 16)Blair Witch Project 17)Dead Alive 18)Evil Dead 1/2/Army of Darkness 19)Quills 20)Delicatessen 21)Ever After 22)Amelie 23)Magnolia 24)Butterfly Effect 25)Meet the Feebles 26)Death to Smoochy 27)Amelie 28)Pulp Fiction 29)Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind 30)Requiem for a Dream (unrated) 31)Blade Runner (original version w/ voiceovers) 32)The Devils Backbone 33)City of Lost Children 34)The Seventh Seal 35)Clan of the Cave Bear 36)Moulin Rouge 37)That Touch of Mink 38)American History X 39)Snatch 40)Frailty 41)John Carpenter's The Thing 42)Dr. Strangelove 43)Planet of the Apes (original only) 44)Run Lola Run 45)American Beauty 56)Memento 47)Girl Interrupted 48)Flash Gordon (1980) 49)Solaris 50)Contact

Have had this one preordered for as long as its been in EBs computers. The Total War series is like a drug for me - if I start playing at 10am, the next time I check the clock will be at 9:45am. Dangerous on school days

Hmm, my offical review post dissapeared... I'm pretty sure I didn't post anything wrong. *shrugs* Well - the summary is this: It's boring. Don't see it. I went with two other friends, representing wildly different viewpoints on what makes a good movie (one of which actually enjoyed Resident Evil 2 *natch*), and all three of us agreed - THX 1138 is a terrible way to waste 2 hours of your life. SPOILER ALERT . . . . . . . . . . . So basically this guy gets thrown in jail for going off his meds and falling in love. With the help of this hologram guy, he escapes from the underground city to the surface. . . . . . . . . . . END SPOILER It's really 20mins of content stretched into 120 agonizing minutes of plodding pointless dialogue and people in white cloths walking through cooridoors with white walls. I can see why it was originally a short film. It should have stayed that way. 3/10 P.S. The CG changes are totally A-Ok. If Lucas made these types of adjustments to Star Wars - then the special edition would have been totally fine. For the most part, the CG is integrated into the film well enough that you wont notice it. The film itself is where is problem lies - the concept is inherently not interesting. Brazil and 1984 blow this one out of the water.

Same here - I only tip when I feel like I was given particularly good service (And in So Cal it's a rarity). It's a special thanks for a job well done - not some mandatory personal tax. Why should you get paid AGAIN for the job you're already being paid to do - especially if your not doing a very good job? I understand that the govt taxes the immaginary 15% gratuity - and IMO that needs to be challenged in court. I don't understand how the government can tax you based on an arbitrary idea when the assumed income may not even be present. Bah, the whole thing is ridiculous if you ask me.

BTW - no offense, SC. We just like different kinds of movies

I thought the first movie was actually half decent (not good, but not bad either). But Apocalypse is silly, over-the-top, and ridiculous. I think this officially heralds the beginning of horrible big-budget videogame-based Matrix-ripoffs. Having seen both THX 1138 and this on consecutive evenenings, I'm feeling pretty depressed. Costumes are laughable (I know they are adopted from the games, but they just dont work on real actors), the creatures are silly (get a load of Nemesis - lol)... *sigh* it's just-plain-poorly-done. But what can you expect out of a script penned by the inerudite W.S. Anderson - who should never again be allowed to write a word outside his own signature. If plenty of pointless stunts and explosions is your bag, or if you liked the Mario Bros or Tomb Raider films, you might be vaguely entertained. If your familiar with my reviews, you should know by now whether you'll like this movie or not. But IMHO, Resident Evil Apocalypse is the *worst* zombie movie ever made. EVER. 2/10 P.S. I sincerely hope Sky Captain pays off this week. I need a good movie, bad. I'm attending a free preview screening this wednesday - so at least I'm not out another $9 if it stinks. For now I hold out hope, but the Ebert & Roeper reviews have me worried. We'll see.

I told you so! "Guns don't kill people - puppies do."