Showing posts with label movies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label movies. Show all posts

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

I am not afraid: Disney's Maleficent Official Teaser Trailer

The new Teaser Trailer for Maleficent is now up.


Many thanks to +Joseph Bloch for getting this link to me!  We both will need to stat her up with our respective witch classes.

It looks fantastic.

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

You know I am going to see this...



It's been a good time for witches on TV lately, movies look like they are not too far behind.

Friday, November 8, 2013

Non-Gaming: So Long Blockbuster

A non gaming post this morning (plus I still have a bad migraine that I can't shake).

Blockbuster has announced it is closing the last of it's 300 stores and it's mail-in Netflix-like service.



While I am sad at the passing of an era and I feel bad bad about those loosing their jobs, I do not mourn the passing of Blockbuster.

Once Blockbuster could be found in every strip mall in suburbia and a store in every town.  That was it's appeal to so many.  Not to me.  I disliked that Blockbuster came in and more or less destroyed the Mom and Pop video stores that had sprung up in the 80s.  I remember renting many old horror movies on Laser Disk (yeah I had one of those) and VHS.  When Blockbuster came to town with their far cheaper rental prices I wasn't a fan.  I had rented Hellraiser once to show a girlfriend at the time and noticed how much of it was cut out.  Yeah they had either edited it themselves (not likely, but that is what I thought at the time) or only stocked edited versions.  No thanks.

While I marked the passing of Borders with sadness of something I had lost, I have not been in a Blockbuster in I don't know how long.  Between Netflix, OnDemand and Amazon Prime streaming services I have unprecedented access to viewing options.

So goodnight Blockbuster. Be kind, please rewind.

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

October Movie: Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995)

Halloween just isn't complete without a Godzilla movie. Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995) was on recently. I had been thinking about it, so I popped the DVD in.
Watched this one, but have seen it many times before.  Typical Godzilla logic at play here.
Godzilla goes critical, hit him with a big weapon, side effect that some new scary monster comes up.

There is no plot, but then again why should there be.  This is about monsters beating the crap out of each other.

Destoroyah might actually be one of the scarier Godzilla monsters too. Very demonic looking.  So much so that I have used a Destoroyah toy in my own games.


Works great!

In fact here is Destoroyah's demonic type as an Eldritch Witchery Calabim demon.

Gargantua (Calabim demon)
#App: 1
AL: E
SZ: I (50+ feet)
AC: 8 -4
Move: 180' / Fly: 240'
HD: 30 (125)
Attacks: Claw/Claw/ (2 two-handed sword), tail-swipe, breath weapon (6d6 lightning bolt)
Special: Fly 240', Magic Resistance (fire) 90%, Immune to mundane weapons
Treasure: Nil
XP: 20,000

These horrors are destruction incarnate. These demons stand over 50 feet tall and are vaguely humanoid.  Each one is unique, but all have characteristics in common.  They are typically humanoid in shape, but could be covered in scales, leathery skin, fur, chitin, or any combination of these. Their intellect is below that of animals and they exist only to destroy.  Powerful Balor or even Arch Fiends can control them, but it is difficult to do.  Mostly they are sent somewhere where everything must be destroyed or eaten.  Gargantua will even fight and kill other demons.  All gargantua have massive claw and bite attacks.  Any roll of box cars (double sixes) on a bite indicates the victim has been swallowed whole.  Every gargantuan also has a breath weapon attack. Typically fire, but lighting and wind are also common.
Human wizards have been known to try to summon these creatures but the destruction they cause usually outweigh any perceived benefits they may offer.  The spells to do so are carefully guarded.



Tally: Watched 35,  New 30

What are you watching?


hosted by Krell Laboratories

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

October Movie: All the Boys Love Mandy Lane (2006, 2013)

Another one on my list to watch, this was the newest one to make the list.
I'll admit. I like watching Amber Heard.  She is not a terrible actress and maybe one day she will even be good.  But until then there are films like this.

Ok so what is this movie?  Er well. it's Friday the 13th with a twist.  No seriously.
We have been over this ground many times. I suppose there is the twist of Mandy herself, but I was spoiled early on and did not see it as big surprise.

Still though. Good fun teenage slasher flick.




Tally: Watched 34,  New 30

What are you watching?


hosted by Krell Laboratories

Monday, October 28, 2013

October Movie Challenge: Weekend round up

Bunch of movies under my belt this weekend.  Though all disappointed me or fell short.

The Witching (1993)
This one gets my vote as the worst movie I have seen this entire challenge.  And I was on a Jean Rollin kick.
Awful.  Going after the acting in this one is a cheap shot...but I am doing it anyway. The actors where not just terrible I have seen better work from High School plays.
The plot such as it is concerns a 300 year old witch locked away in Limbo with demons and her pet demon dog-rat "Scully".  The gate to Limbo opens up in this guy's refrigerator.   Some one really liked Ghostbusters.  It is listed as Comedy/Horror. It's neither.



R.I.P.D. (2013)
Another gate opening and dead things coming back.  This time it's sorta-cooked, but all dead cop played by Ryan Reynolds and even more dead "law man" played by Jeff Bridges.  Cliches all over the place. Kevin Bacon (who should know better).   The only performance I liked was from Mary Louise Parker.
If you have seen Men in Black then you have seen this one.



The Countess (2009)
This on the other hand was a very good film. Julie Delpy wrote, directed, starred and produced this bio-drama about Countess Erzsébet Báthory.  Everything about this movie was good, save for my expectations of it.  There was little to no blood, and no horror save for the psychological kind. The film even makes a credible case that all the stories of the "Blood Countess" were nothing more than rumor and political power plays.  Which could be true.  Or not.  The film still retains the infamous scene where a maid pulls Erzsébet's hair and the Countess strikes her so hard that she is covered in blood.  The countess proceeds to bleed her for her precious virgin blood.
There is no vampirism. No allusions to Dracula. This is a historical piece and frankly a nice change of pace.

Interestingly enough Julie Delpy was 39 when she made this movie.  Delphine Seyrig was also 39 when she played Báthory in Daughters of Darkness (Ingrid Pitt was 34 when she was in Countess Dracula).

I kind of hoped to finish up this weekend, but I feel I need to see a few more, just to make sure I saw enough real horror.



Tally: Watched 32,  New 28

What are you watching?


hosted by Krell Laboratories

Saturday, October 26, 2013

October Movie: The Coven (2002)

So I watched The Craft...er no wait. I watched a crappy little ripoff called The Coven last night.
Like The Craft it has four witches, one good, one bad and one shy and the other scarred.
The good witch is also the new girl and her arrival finishes the coven.

I could go on from there, but the movie was largely derivative, even more so than Little Witches.


Also not The Craft
Even bits taken from Charmed.  But to be fair Charmed was on for 8 years and they did a little bit of everything.

There are some interesting scenes (no not the extended sex scenes), and liked the character of Spence. She was one of the more interesting characters even if she didn't really contribute much to the plot other than to die. Spoilers? yeah not like you were going to watch this one.

The whole Christians vs. Witches thing was more funny than anything.  Imagine every stereotype and it is there somewhere.  So much so I almost have believe that that the writers knew what they were doing.

The special effects, such as they are, are terrible.  I could write it off as a student film and get some enjoyment there, but it was filmed in 3D, so there is some money in this just not in the right places.

The outtakes at the end were funny.

Still though. Bad movie.



Tally: Watched 29,  New 25

What are you watching?


hosted by Krell Laboratories

Friday, October 25, 2013

October Movie: Black Sunday (1960)

This is another one has been on my list to see for years.  Love Amazon Prime!

I first learned of this movie from scenes in the Queen video for "Under Pressure" which used a ton of old movie clips.  Some that they didn't have permission to use and had to redo it.

The movie is so iconic I wonder how I was able to go this long without seeing it.  Barbara Steele plays the witch Asa Vajda who is found cavorting with the Devil and in particular a vampire named Javuto.  She is sentenced to death by her own brother.  Before she is burned at the stake she curses her brother's family.  However before she is burned to ash a storm is raised and puts out the fires.  She dies, but is buried in unhallowed ground.

Fast forward to 200 years later and two doctors arrive in the village and find the grave. They remove the coffin lid They proceed to the nearest inn to stay the night.  With the spirit of Asa now free she begins to get revenge on her brother's family which is now a man and his two children, including a daughter that looks just like Asa.

For 1960 it is a fairly violent movie. And like I mentioned there are few very iconic scenes that I have seen in later movies.  Heck, the entire music video (not movie) of "Lords of Salem" and even to an extent "The American Witch" by Rob Zombie are homages to this movie.  I am kicking myself for not seeing this one sooner.

I like the idea of the witch coming back every 100 years.  We saw something similar in the Robert E. Howard tale "A Witch Shall be Born".

Here is Asa Vajda as an Eldritch Witchery witch.

Asa Vajda, 10th Level Witch (Demonic)
Strength: 9
Dexterity: 11
Constitution: 13
Intelligence: 14
Wisdom: 16
Charisma: 18

Hit Points:  25
Alignment: Evil
AC: 6 (talisman of protection)

Occult Powers
Familiar: Imp
7th level: Witches Curse

Spells 
First: Black Flames, Bewitch I, Direct Gaze, Shattering the Hourglass, Sleep
Second: Burning Gaze, Discord, Fever, Youthful
Third: Bestow Curse, Cause Fear, Life Bond, Toad Mind
Fourth: Mind over Body, Withering Touch
Fifth: Control Weather




Tally: Watched 28,  New 24

What are you watching?


hosted by Krell Laboratories

Thursday, October 24, 2013

October Movie: The Asphyx (1973)

This one has been on my list to see for years. With the Redemption Blu-Ray out now (they really should be paying me at this point!) I finally got to see it.

Worth the wait!

Great Victorian setting and like any good Victorian tale it mixes science with the supernatural.  In fact see if you can spot the portrait of Mary Shelly.
The story deals with a scientist that finds a way to photograph the moment of death.  On his plates he sees a shadow and believes he has captured the soul leaving the body.  On a happenstance he is filming his son and wife to be with his new moving pictures camera. His son loose control of his boat and dies.  On developing the film he sees the dark smudge rushing towards his son, not away.
Some experiments with a man being publicly executed our scientist, Hugo Cunningham, concludes he has found the fabled Asphyx or spirit of death.  Each living thing has it's own Asphyx so Cunningham devises a way to capture an asphyx and thus render someone immortal.  The try it on a Guinea Pig and it works.  Later Cunningham tries it on himself it works as well.

I don't want to give away more than that to be honest. The movie is a touch slow to get going, but you can tell it must have scared the crap out of people in the theatres back then.

I am glad I finally got to see this one.




Tally: Watched 27,  New 23

What are you watching?


hosted by Krell Laboratories

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

October Movie: Little Witches (1996)

Another one on my list of movies to see.

I think I expected this one to be a little bit like The Craft. Yeah...not so much.
It is fairly derivative of other movies I have seen.  Though one is tempted to compare this to the TV version of Buffy, it did come out before Buffy hit the airwaves.
School girls, underground temple, ancient evil cult.  Though there are a couple of highlights.
First it is the acting debut of Clea Duvall.  Zelda Rubinstein is in it.  Sheeri Rappaport is not bad in it. And it was only filmed in two weeks.

There is a kernel of a good movie here, buried under cliches and mediocre acting, again Clea Duvall and Sheeri Rappaport are the exception here.   The demon at the end was neat, kinda like a poor man's Demogorgon.

Not much I could find in this to extract for a game that I haven't seen elsewhere.  Even though, a good take on this kind of story would be nice.  Though it would make for a rather thin plot for a Hellcats and Hockeysticks.

I was hoping for something more to be honest.


(not Fairuza Balk)


Tally: Watched 26,  New 22

What are you watching?


hosted by Krell Laboratories

Thursday, October 17, 2013

October Movie: La Vampire Nue (1969)

An odd French movie.  Men is weird masks hunt down a nearly naked girl and shoot her.
We see another girl kill herself in front of the supposed dead girl who now gets up to drink her blood.

This movie has all the trappings of a horror film but I thin it might actually be more Sci-Fi.  The girl is believed to be a vampire (the "Nude Vampire" of the title) and is kept a prisoner by these scientists (the men in masks) who experiment on her and feed her blood from a suicide cult.

The lead scientist's son discovers all of this and falls in love with the girl.

For me the movie did not get interesting till the very end.  Turns out the girl, the son and some others (including Jean Rollin staples the Castel twins) are mutants and represent the next stage of human evolution.  They are immortal and time travelers it seems.   I liked the bit about the older couple sitting out in front welcoming Georges (the son), it was like they had seen this same exchange 1,000 of times.  Maybe the exact same exchange.

So as a vampire movie it was weak and I was ready to write it off.  It was slow, but the end redeemed it and made it far more enjoyable.




Tally: Watched 21,  New 17

What are you watching?


hosted by Krell Laboratories

October Movie: Feast of Satan (1971)

Feast of Satan or Las amantes del diablo.  Not a lot of feasting or Satan really in this one.
The story starts out interestingly enough, a woman comes to search for her younger sister.  There is a lot of talking, some time on the boat and an appropriately creepy bad guy in Dr. Nescue.

The nugget I am taking away from this is the idea that there is a female version of Satan; Sheba.
I think I would have enjoyed this more if it were more about say Lilith. But I can't be too choosy I guess.



Tally: Watched 20,  New 16

What are you watching?


hosted by Krell Laboratories

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

October Movie: Blood and Roses (1960)

One of my goals this October Horror Movie Challenge was to get to some of the movies I have been wanting to see for years.  Blood and Roses was one of the ones high on my list.

I have always been a fan of the Carmilla story from  Joseph Sheridan le Fanu and Vampire Lovers is one of my favorite movie remakes of his book. Naturally then I have heard about Blood and Roses.

This movie is not as faithful to the story as say Vampire Lovers, but certainly more so than Twins of Evil. The relationship between Carmilla and Georgia is less overt and less explicit than in either telling (short story or movies) but that could also be the time it was made.

As far as horror films go, there are movies with more blood and more outright horrors. But this is a beautifully crafted movie with great acting.  You could almost see it as a tamer sequel of The Vampire Lovers.




Tally: Watched 19,  New 15

What are you watching?


hosted by Krell Laboratories

Monday, October 7, 2013

I like my Latte with extra TK

New viral video out for Carrie.



If the new movie is half as fun as this then we could have a treat after all.


Friday, October 4, 2013

October Movie: Dark Angel: The Ascent (1994)

You have to love October!  Horror movies are everywhere.  I got this one cheap at Half-price books along with the all the Subspecies movies.  It was not on my list of movies to watch this October, but hey sometimes you have to strike when the iron is hot.

So. Dark Angel: The Ascent.  Well.  I have seen worse movies that is for sure.
It features Angela Featherstone, who is not the worst actress I have ever seen. Her only credits are Friends and the girl in the S-Mart at the end of Army of Darkness.
The movie isn't terrible.  Featherstone plays Veronica who plays a teenage (or so) demon that wants to know if there is more to life in Hell other than torture and damnation.  No she doesn't break into Up There, but she does leave hell and finds herself a new boyfriend (easy to do when you show up naked) and she starts killing evil doers.
There are some interesting bits. Hell looks pretty good. The demons are religious interestingly enough.
I didn't go into this one with any expectations and none were meant. Still it was sorta fun.




Tally: Watched 4,  New 4

What are you watching?


hosted by Krell Laboratories

Thursday, October 3, 2013

October Movie: Ginger Snaps 2 (2004)

Ginger Snaps 2 Unleashed (2004)

Watched the first one last year and wanted to check out the sequel.  I also wanted a real werewolf after yesterday's Jack and Diane.

This one is a bit slower and bit more crafted and lacking something the first one did.
Brigitte is now afraid she is going to turn into a werewolf herself and she is seeing all the signs.  She is also injecting small amounts of wolfsbane into her veins to keep the change at bay.  There are some interesting bits and Ghost is not who I expected her to be.  The end was a little bit of a let down to be honest.
The big shock to me was Ghost portrayed by future Orphan Black star Tatiana Maslany.



Tally: Watched 3,  New 3

What are you watching?


hosted by Krell Laboratories

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

October Movie: Jack & Diane (2012)

I didn't get to this one last year so it is one of the first up this year.  Of course the question here is whether or not this is a monster/horror movie.  Yeah there are a lot of horror elements to this story and there are even some horror like scenes.  The movie is a touch slow, but it kept my attention. Partly because Riley Keough and Juno Temple are both fantastic actors. Partly because I was expecting some sort of monster reveal at the end. And partly because I was also was hoping to hear the John Mellencamp song.  Didn't happen.

It was a fun movie and if you like a psychological type of horror where the monsters are mostly metaphorical.




Tally: Watched 2,  New 2

What are you watching?


hosted by Krell Laboratories

Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Pacific Rim True20

Ok I am totally getting geeked out over Pacific Rim.  I have loved giant monster movies since I was a little kid.  And unlike some movies, the more I hear about this one the more excited I am to see it.  So are my kids.  Let's be honest that scene in the trailer where the Jaeger beats the Kaiju over the head with a boat? Damn.


This got me thinking about the True20 campaign setting Mecha vs. Kaiju.

It's pretty much Pacific Rim, only done 5 years ago (5 years? holy crap).

Giant mechs aka Jaegers and the pilots vs. Kaiju in True20s simple system.
Anyone that has been a longtime reader here knows of my love of True20.  I would love to see True20 make a comeback, but I am not holding my breath on that one.

On the other hand there is nothing in MvK that could not be adapted for Mutants & Masterminds easily.


I might have to give it a go after this weekend.

Sunday, March 24, 2013

TBBYANR: Movie Blogs

I love horror movies of all sorts.  I have a special place in my heart for sexy, cheesy euro-sleaze horror from the 70s to the early 80s.  So for the first set of "The Best Blog You are Not Reading" I would like to pick two film review sites that feature a lot of the movies that would be in my personal Appendix N.

The first is The House of Self-Indulgence

http://houseofselfindulgence.blogspot.com/
Truthfully HoSI breaks a lot of the rules of TBBYANR. It's not new, not small and has over 300 followers.  But it is also not one I see listed in the blog rolls locally, so I am going to let it pass.  Also the film reviews are so in-depth that I imagine that the author, Yum-yum, sits there in a private viewing room, whisky in hand with a leather bound journal and an Aurora Diamante fountain pen writing notes and witty insights to later be given to a secretary (who looks like Lina Romay in her prime) to be put on the blog.  Or something like that.
The reviews are long, in-depth and contain a surprising breadth of knowledge.
So yeah HoSI doesn't really need me to sing their praises, but I am anyway.

Another movie review site is For It Is Man's Number.
http://foritismansnumber.blogspot.com/
Again the focus here is horror, but a lot of other types of movies are covered. Owner Kevin Mathews has some solid old-school tastes. What attracted me to this blog was his coverage of Dracula AD 1972. One of the weakest Hammer Dracula films to be certain, but one I have used in my own games over and over.
Honestly this is one of those blogs where you want to start at the beginning of his blogging and read all the way up to the present day.  The reviews though are also the right size for getting a good feel of the movie.  He provides some Amazon links (which is nice).  I particularly liked going over all his Dracula movies.
What I find odd is that Kevin has been posting quality reviews since 2011 and he still only has 30 followers.  I think that is a crime to be honest.

If you enjoy movies then these are both worth your time.


This week I am running my irregular feature "The Best Blog You Are Not Reading" every day.  If you can instead of replying here, go to the blogs I am featuring and reply there.  I think the owners would like that.

Friday, February 8, 2013

Maleficent

Why didn't you people tell me about this?


Staring Angelina Jolie, produced by Disney (they own everything we just need to get used to it) and written by Paul Dini???

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1587310/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maleficent_(film)

I swear it's like I don't know any of you anymore. Or you all me.

EDITED: Adding another image.