Movie Time!

 

I finally plonked my butt down and watched The Irishman (2019).

Made for Netflix by Martin Scorsese and starring Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci and Al Pacino together with a large cast that includes Anna Paquin, Harvey Keitel and Ray Romano, this is the story about the Mob and Jimmy Hoffa.

The Irishman is based on a book by the real Frank Sheeran (De Niro) and shows his life from being a meat delivery driver to working for the Philadelphia Mob to his work for Jimmy Hoffa and the Teamsters Union. I'm no authority on the subject but in general terms one can say this is probably how it happened. I really can't say much else about the plot without dragging this out too far and spoiling the plot.

Let me warn you. This movie is 209 minutes long, or over three and a half hours! This is a mini-series of 4.6 episodes with 45 minutes per episode. By the time it finished, I had a hard time remembering what happened in the beginning. That said, I had a good time all the way through. The Irishman doesn't drag, which is in itself an accomplishment considering that for its length, very little happens. Everything is important, but it isn't an action movie by any means. Sure, people get shot and cars blow up now and then, but most of the film is talking and arguing. Oh, and shouting when Pacino is involved.

This is unmistakeably a Scorsese movie. But it isn't Goodfellas 2 or Casino 2. It is its own thing and must be seen as such.

Style wise, it is excellent. It all takes place before my time but everything seems authentic. The production staff had to recreate a huge number of suits since the style changed drastically between the 50's, 60's and 70's, but they did the work and the movie is better for it.

What else can I say? The cast can't get more veteran than this. Everyone is amazing, and it was a real treat to finally see De Niro and Pacino share proper screen time together. What little we got in Heat (1995) wasn't enough, this is where it's at.

The Irishman felt to me like a last hurrah. One last chance to get the gang together and make an epic movie before everyone gets too old. After all, Scorsese is 79, Pacino is 81, De Niro and Pesci are 78. No one lives forever and I'm glad they got to do this movie. It's not a masterpiece, and I'm probably not going to re-watch it like I have with Goodfellas, but it is absolutely worth watching if you like what these men I mentioned do.

I also sat down and watched Once Upon A Time... In Hollywood (2019).

This is the ninth movie by Quentin Tarantino and stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie and many more. It is in fact a bit of a who's who of actors who have worked for Tarantino.

This is a wonderful movie, but a weird Tarantino film. I'd say out of all his previous works it reminded me most of Jackie Brown. The incredible over the top action you get in Kill Bill, Inglourious Basterds and The Hateful Eight is missing apart from in once scene, and ...In Hollywood is 161 minutes long.

What we have here are some of the events surrounding the Manson Family Murders back in the late 60's. DiCaprio plays the actor Rick Dalton, a famous TV cowboy from the 50's who's career is in danger of sliding down the drain. Pitt plays Cliff Booth, Dalton's stunt double and general gofer. They fill most of the screen time, with the rest being Robbie as Sharon Tate. If you know about the Manson Murders that should tell you enough, if not I wont spoil anything.

...In Hollywood is in every way an amazing movie. Tarantino plays with the suspense so well I wish he would do a Hitchcock style thriller. The humor is there, and the dialog is as always top notch. The two things that really stood out though are the acting and the props. They actually convinced shops on Hollywood Boulevard to accept changes to their storefronts to appear more period, and many decided to keep the new look afterwards. They also somehow got permission to shut down a large part of the Hollywood Freeway between 12 pm and 2 pm, in order to fill it with period cars. This has never happened before.

While I'm on the props, I ran into a slight dilemma while watching. I noticed that everything is squeaky clean. All the cars are shining, the sidewalks are spotless etc. I remember the 70's-80's when all cars spewed black smoke everywhere. There was a dark gray film of grime on everything back then and the 60's were no better. Now this is either an oversight by Tarantino or then it is deliberate. The title of Once Upon A Time, indicates a fairy tale, not reality which could mean it is a golden memory of a time past with all the grime edited out. I don't know what the truth is, you'll have to make up your own mind.

The acting is a joy to watch. DiCaprio hits it out of the park again, and Pitt isn't far behind. During filming they became real friends and it shows. Everyone else does a great job, but it's the Pitt/DiCaprio part that is worth pure gold.

I definitely recommend Once Upon A Time... In Hollywood. I had a blast from beginning to end and I am going to re-watch it at a later date.

 

Well, I've rambled on almost as long as the movies I mentioned. I hope you'll join me again next time, and have yourself a great week! Stay safe.

The Force was strong this time

 

This week saw some absolutely huge news for the world of gaming!

Lucasarts, i.e. Disney released a statement that they are not renewing their Star Wars exclusivity license with EA in 2023!

This means that in two years time, anyone can make a Star Wars game. Well, technically anyone. It is also a good idea to point out that this doesn't mean EA won't be making any Star Wars games in the future. They can if they want to, just like the other studios.

This piece of news was met with joy from all corners of the internet, as fans have been disappointed with EA to say the least. In all the years they have held the license, EA has released only four Star Wars games; Battlefront, Battlefront 2, Jedi Fallen Order and Squadrons.

The first two games do have their fans, but it was Battlefront 2 that almost made Star Wars synonymous with gambling for children, prompting Disney to call EA and ask what the hell they were doing. It was also Battlefront 2 that really kicked off governments across the world taking a look at lootboxes and micro-transactions. So, not exactly beloved titles.

Jedi Fallen Order is by most accounts a really good game, holding a Very Positive ranking on Steam.

Likewise, Squadrons has a Very Positive rating, but it sort of flew under the radar, and I haven't heard very many people talking about it. Maybe that's on me though.

That's it. That is all EA has done with one of the biggest, if not the biggest IP in the world. Four measly games, and nothing more. This is in large part due to EA not really even wanting the license as they can't control it.

When you make a Star Wars game, you follow the rules and lore set down by Lucasarts, or you are in a world of hurt. The House of Mouse has some very mean lawyers. This will hold true going forward as they are keen to make sure all future games stick to the canon.

So what does this mean going forward? As always time will tell, but two games have already been announced.

Massive, the studio behind The Division 2 has announced an open world Star Wars game to be published under Ubisoft, and Machinehead the people behind the new Wolfenstein games is making an Indiana Jones game under Bethesda Game Studios.

Considering how long it takes to make games, they should be good to go just as the timer ticks down on the license going free.

Ultimately this has to be a good thing. There are so many cool things that can be made within Star Wars and now they can finally be made. RPG's, racing games, strategy games, action games, you name it.

Maybe we can finally get a new Jedi Knight game after seventeen years! Maybe some bounty hunting or smuggling games. Who knows?

I'm not the biggest Star Wars fan out there, but this announcement really made me happy. As always I maintain that cautious optimism is the way to go, but I look forward to seeing what is going to happen.

That's that and all that. Join me again next time and until then, be safe and have a great week!

The Death of Stalin

 

I finally got around to watching a film I've been meaning to watch since 2017: The Death of Stalin.

Directed by Armando Iannucci, The Death of Stalin is a comedy (yes you read that right) depicting the death of the Soviet dictator and the struggle for power amongst the Soviet power elite in the following days.

The cast is damn good with amongst others, Steve Buscemi as Khrushchev, Michael Palin as Molotov and Jason Isaacs as Field Marshal Zhukov. Everyone is amazing here, there are no bad actors. No one stands out as a failure.

The sets are gorgeous. From Stalin's dacha to the Kremlin to well everything, it looks gorgeous. Nothing to complain about, nothing.

The dialog? Amazing. The best part of a good movie. You'll notice that all the actors are speaking in their native accents, there are no fake Russian accents to be seen anywhere, and this is deliberate. Partially because the Soviet Union was a huge place comprising of many different nations and dialects, but also to help the actors improvise without worrying about dialect. The end result is that everyone comes across as people not characters. I think it may have been a risky choice by Iannucci, but it really paid off.

The dialog is also the most important part of the movie since most of the film is the characters talking, well yelling really, at each other. This is also where the comedy comes in. The actions taken are actually really brutal and sometimes quite bloody.

A legit question is why is this a comedy? I have no hard answers, but when you discuss something like this, with the executions, the terror, the suffering, and the paranoia you have to either go super serious or then you laugh. Basically you can cry or laugh and laughing works. The other part is the sheer absurdity involved in a pompous dictatorship and that is pretty funny. Besides, there are already several good movies about the subject matter that aren't comedies.

As to accuracy, the film takes many liberties. In broad strokes it follows history, but most details are made up. It's a comedy not a documentary.

The Death of Stalin is utterly absurd, and I loved every minute. When it ended, I was surprised that 107 minutes had passed so quickly. I definitely recommend it, do watch it.

Finally a couple of facts. This movie got banned in Russia, to no ones surprise. Also, Zhukov's uniform is covered in medals, but not as many as he had for real. The film makers removed a lot of them to make it seem more realistic. I also loved seeing Jason Isaacs in a movie where I could like him. He is perhaps most known for playing Lucius Malfoy in the Harry Potter movies, and I don't like Malfoy.

That's that. Join me again next time and until then have a great week and stay safe! 

 

 

 

Are you Pulling my leg?

 

Hello and welcome to the first Eccentric Sphere of 2021!

I was thinking about what to talk about today and finally came to the conclusion that the best way to go forward is to take a peak backwards. At least this sounds like a plausible excuse, right?

I was over on TV Tropes when I ran across an entry that lead me to the Pulling Report, which is sort of the topic for today.

Backstory: back in the 1980's different groups from fundamentalists to law enforcement to conservative politicians enjoyed whipping each other into a frenzy over Satanic Ritual Abuse. Multiple investigations were launched which found no evidence whatsoever that there were any Satanic groups operating anywhere in the U.S. or that there was any such abuse going on. This lack of evidence didn't bother the above mentioned groups in the slightest, and they wasted no time trying to get rid of things they thought were unpleasant and morally wrong. Things like metal music, horror movies and Dungeons & Dragons.

Eventually this panic died down, although it rears it's head every now and then. Back when Harry Potter was the hottest IP, lots of conservatives and fundamentalists refused to let their children read it from fear that they would learn witchcraft and become tools of Satan...

So onto Pat Pulling. Back in 1982, her son Irving suddenly committed suicide. He had previously been playing D&D at school and searching for some kind of explanation for the tragedy, Mrs. Pulling blamed D&D.

Now, it is worth pointing out that in an early interview, Pat Pulling expressed sadness that she hadn't seen the signs coming and that she had been unable to help her son. No joke, I absolutely respect that.

Then, for some reason she turned around and sued the principal of Irving's school for failing to stop the suicide and allowing D&D to be played at school. The suit was tossed out of court for obvious reasons. Now my sympathy for Mrs. Pulling is starting to wobble.

Later on, when she and her organization Bothered About D&D (B.A.D.D.) got famous and she started getting paid, she appeared on the talk show Geraldo where she claimed that her dead son used to behave like a lycanthrope and that he killed lots of small animals. Now I have no choice but to put her in the loony bin. All sympathy is gone.

Despite this, she became one of the top Cult Crime Investigators in the U.S. and traveled the nation giving talks and distributing guidebooks to law enforcement on how to recognize, interrogate and catch satanists, a.k.a. D&D players. This included instructions to ask if the suspect had played D&D, what level he was and so on. She also claimed that all satanists lie to cover up their crimes and to protect their coven members, so if the suspects claims not to be satanists or D&D players, they are lying. In other words, lack of evidence is evidence.

In 1990, author and game designer Michael A. Stackpole published The Pulling Report in which he completely tore apart Pulling and her cronies in a methodical and systematic way. It is an amazing read and I truly recommend you read it, despite its length. If you are interested in gaming or indeed just a look at how people like Mrs. Pulling operate, this report shines a bright spotlight straight at it. Shortly after the Pulling Report was distributed, most of the Satanic Panic died down. I'm certain that Mr. Stackpole's excellent report played a large part of it, but also that times had changed.

The Pulling Report: http://www.rpgstudies.net/stackpole/pulling_report.html

That is that and all that. Join me again next time and until then, stay safe and have an excellent week!

The end of 2020

 

The last post for 2020. Some good things, lots of bad things and a whole barrel full of seriously annoying things. I don't think anyone is sad to see 2020 go away. Here's hoping '21 is going to be better.

The world has seen mass protests against corrupt governments, and of course Covid-19 dominated everything everyone did and although vaccines are slowly being distributed we're not out of the woods yet, so keep using masks and washing your hands. One day it'll be over.

But that's enough real world stuff. The world of gaming has had it's share of Whiskey Tango Foxtrot moments as well.

Looking back in this blog I was surprised to see that the failed launch of Warcraft III Refunded Reforged, was in February, this year. I could have sworn that it was last year, but no. Time has managed to both rush and crawl by at the same time.

Loot-boxes spent a lot of time in the news this year, culminating in both The Netherlands and The UK declaring them as gambling. I still maintain that it is perfectly possible to make games that are fun, fair and capable of generating extra income for the developers/publishers without resorting to garbage gambling mechanics.

The new, big game debacle has of course been the dramatic launch of Cyberpunk 2077. From working okay-ish on PC to bad on console to not at all on last gen consoles, few have been entirely happy. CD Project Red are naturally working hard to fix the issues, like a bug where if you looted too much stuff, it corrupted your save file. It wasn't the triumphant launch CDPR and everyone else wanted, but I don't think it's a disaster either. From what I've seen it is going to become a fantastic game. One day.

In the mean time, there are multiple lawsuits flying around, the CDPR devs are claiming the company leaders are lying, Sony removed the game from the PS Store and... well it seems almost appropriate that the original pen-and-paper rpg was called Cyberpunk 2020, and seeing as how 2020 has treated everyone, well, I don't know. There is a sarcastic joke in there somewhere, find it if you want to.

If this year has taught me anything else gaming wise, it is don't pre-order, do your own research instead of relying on biased media, don't give in to FOMO (fear of missing out), don't buy unfinished games, and have patience.

It's going to be interesting to see what the new year brings and despite the previous one, and the perhaps somewhat bleak tone of this post, I am optimistic. So I hope you will continue to visit me here on Eccentric Spheres and share in what's to come.

That's that. Join me again next year, until then have a great week, stay safe and don't blow yourself up with fireworks! See you in 2021!

The Jewel of Seven Stars

 

It's time to get literary since just last night I finished The Jewel of Seven Stars by Bram Stoker, who is of course most famous for his 1897 novel Dracula. The Jewel of Seven Stars, was written in 1903 with a revised edition published in 1912.

The version I found free and legal on Project Gutenberg is the 1912 edition, which apparently is missing a pointless chapter and has a happier ending than the 1903 version. Otherwise the editions are the same.

Mild Spoilers ahead.

In a nutshell the hero, Malcolm Ross is summoned by a young woman, Margaret, who he is sweet on as her father Abel Trelawney, a famous Egyptologist has been attacked by a mysterious assailant in the middle of the night. Mr. Trelawney is in a trance and has left very strange instructions for what to do in just such a case.

Other characters like the young Doctor Winchester are pulled in to the mystery as they try to understand what has happened while struggling with unseen forces. This is the first part of the book.

In the second part, Mr. Trelawney and his associate Eugene Corbeck explain how they found the tomb of the sorcerer queen Tera and how the whole sequence of events came to be.

In the third, the small group of main characters go to a small house in Cornwall to investigate whether Queen Tera's knowledge of mystic powers are truly real.

Mild Spoilers end.

The whole novel was a bit tough to read, as the language and grammar is very old school. A modern editor would probably have a fit trying to get the sentence structure to make sense. Quote; No one, not accustomed to packing, could have the slightest idea of the amount of the amount of work involved in such a task”. I did get used to it after a while, but it is a bit rough.

That said, part one is in my opinion very good. The mystery is interesting and is what I'd say the only part of the book that could be classified as horror. The story moved along at a good pace.

Part two is interesting but a bit slow. A lot of talking, exposition and flashbacks with nothing really happening. Still captivating enough, especially if you have an interest in Egyptology. Since Howard Carter, the man who found the tomb of Tutankhamen also discovered the tomb of Queen Hatshepsut in 1903, it is likely that Stoker was inspired by these events. I myself have a love for the subject matter, which helped me with part two of the book.

It is however in part three that the book falls apart. Once the group gets to the house in Cornwall, I had a devil of a time following the narrative. Again we get a lot of talking, arguing and explanations of things we already know. I also had a hard time with locations. Mr. Trelawney shows the group a cave under the house and I got the impression they want to hold a ceremony there, but then all of a sudden they hold the ceremony in a room in the house. The actual ending was anti-climactic and felt incredibly rushed, as if Stoker had half an hour to finish the story and simply ended it.

The Jewel of Seven Stars is a gothic novel with its supernatural elements coupled with romance and mystery. I liked it, and would recommend it to fans of such literature. I wouldn't necessarily recommend it to a casual reader just looking for something to read. It's good but not great.

That's that and all that. Join me again next time and until then, have a great week. Stay safe!

Time to learn

 Hello and welcome back to Eccentric Spheres!

This week we're once again putting on our learning hats, and watching some documentaries. I have found one about some of Egypt's lost wonders, one about Tsunamis and one about how the Soviet Union lost the war in Afghanistan. I hope you find them interesting and entertaining. 

Beyond that, I don't really have anything else to say, so please enjoy and join me again next week for more eccentricity. Until then, have a great week and stay safe!

Egypt: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRfJykypi7o

Tsunami: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Ci0q-r7RHw

Afghanistan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1joxBmBYZw0