Sucker Punch: Initial Impressions

It has been quite a while since I have seen a movie that left me feeling so conflicted afterwards. Some arts of Sucker Punch I absolutely loved, other parts I thought were awful. In brief the movie had great cinematography, wonderful acting, great sound & special effects and so forth. As with all things my opinions and this little review of Sucker Punch will be horribly biased. Spoilers also may roam freely, you have been warned.

One of the things I really despised about the movie was Babydoll as portrayed by Emily Browning. No problem with the actress herself, but this was a character I could not like. As would be revealed later int he movie, Babydoll was not really meant to be the 'main character' per se, but rather a vehicle to help move the plot along. It may have been intentional thus that her character was so flat and lifeless in the movie; such that she could serve as a form of living furniture in essence for the other characters to be developed around.

I am certainly very fond of the two layers of pseudo-reality that existed within the movie. My only complaint here is that we do not know how certain actions (like the girls getting shot & killed) would be translated to in the outer layer. Perhaps they did die, perhaps some of them just got put in something akin to solitary... we don't really know for certain.

Absolutely loved the Rifts (not the MMO, the Paladium Games RPG) feel I got from the 2nd layer of pseudo-reality in the film. Also gave me a very strong 40k vibe as well. Good stuff that. Makes me hopeful that someone will eventually make a big budget 40k movie at some point. Perhaps something centered around the Imperial Guard or based on a novel series like Guant's Ghosts.

This is a hard movie to try and recommend to anyone. I still don't know myself whether I like it or hate it... all I know is that I will be thinking about it for a month perhaps. While a very well-made movie, it is hard to know if it will have lasting appeal or not. At least for the moment, I do not feel it was quite as good as either 300 or Watchmen.

Still more than willing to see other movies made by Zack Snyder. Hopefully he handles Superman well.

The Lincoln Lawyer: A Biased Review

As should be expected, my little review here of The Lincoln Lawyer will be horribly and terribly biased. Also, beware of spoilers. If you are looking for the short and sweet review, it is: It's awesome, go see it.

Now then, the trailers for this movie really did a poor job of showing how well put together the story was. Sure one went into the theater expecting a drama with some suspense, but I was greatly surprised at the quality of the story and the method of delivery. Alas the trailers also had some of the usual wonderful lie-factor in them, showing off scenes that would never make the actual cut of the movie.

Personally I think that should be a crime. You show off segments of a movie to draw folk in and then those scenes never manifest in the final product. Frustrating.

There are a few good twists in the movie, such as when the involvement of the antagonists mother starts to become apparent. A really twisted family, it makes me wonder how long folk have been covering up for the kid. To be blunt: The guy is guilty as hell and deserves whatever horrible things happen to him. Remember that bit about being biased? I love to see a really evil sicko villain get what's coming to them.

Sure in some movies I cheer for the villain, but some things just don't fit between the pages of my "acceptable evils" book. Murder? Fine and dandy for a villain, as long as there is a point to it. Not fond of serial killer characters who don't have any real good motive behind their crimes beyond the driving urge to do them. Dull. This guy is certainly no Hannibal Lecter of course.

As a rule it is never wise to pick a fight with someone who can bring more pain to the yard than you could ever hope to achieve. I sure as heck would love to be able to call in a biker gang to wail on some freak if there was a pressing need.

Good story. Good plot. Wonderful pacing. The main character is one of those sleazeballs you just have to love. Special effects? Heh, not sure there were many beyond the FX for gunshots, makeup and such. Didn't need much sprucing up. Good cinematography of course (and sound/music selection for the scenes as well). Pay attention to the lyrics of the songs that play in the movie, it is often very appropriate... a nice feature there IMO.

If the Academy and other critics can remember this move come the end of the year, it should definitely get some nominations.

Account Asshattery at EA: Part Two (The Seconding)

Well it seems you cannot merge existing EA accounts. I think that sucks. Thankfully I had a secondary, backup, unused email acccount I could transfer my old account information to so I would not loose anything important.

I really think EA needs to change their policy here. It is very annoying, to say the least, that account mergers are not permitted. I find it hard to think of any industry (outside of the game industry of course) where customers cannot merge their accounts.

Hopefully this doesn't bite me in the ass, again, at some future time and date.

Account Asshattery at EA

Trying to change one of my EA accounts to use my new email address. Running into typical problems dealing with the first tier of technical support. Wheee.

[ENGRAVERY:MISGUIDED] Creepy Forest

Quite a while back, someone created a DF->Minecraft utility. A shame something similar to work the other way would not really be practical. That said, creepers in DF would be very Fun.

[ENGRAVERY:MISGUIDED] Send in the Clowns

[ENGRAVERY:MISGUIDED] Artifact Rope

Artifacts in Dwarf Fortress can range from rather mundane, to hilarious to totally absurd. Planepacked comes to mind for the latter category. Personally I am always highly amused when some dwarf is taken by a mood and makes an artifact... rope. Horray.

[ENGRAVERY:MISGUIDED] Selecting a Site

Ever wonder what our dwarves would think of the sites we pick for them? I tend to prefer evil (and often Terrifying) biomes because of all the Fun one can have there. Mineral poor site? No problem! Time to live like a stone-age civilization.

[ENGRAVERY:MISGUIDED] Noble Mandates

Nobles? I just love Nobles in Dwarf Fortress. They add a lot of Fun to the game. Alas, most of the time the dwarves don't seem to know the proper response to insane mandates from their nobles. If they get too pushy... well everyone can admire Legendary bone and leather-crafts, right?

[ENGRAVERY:MISGUIDED] and Dwarf Road Song

DWARF ROAD (Sung to the tune of Dragon Road)

T'was on the first of Granite, out at Tonguewaggled Fort,
Several dozen dwarves, and not a single report,
There had been a party, job cancellations galore,
Our doctors were all unconscious, and our nobles drowned or sore,

CHORUS : And there were vultures, vultures, flying o'er the walls,
Gorlaks all around us and behind us trolls with mauls.
And there were Carp, Carp flopping across the floor,
They all snuck up upon us because a corpse was blocking the door.

We were not discouraged, we were set to fight,
But our militia captains had drunk ten gallons of the finest wine that night,
Urist McSpeardwarf was disheveled Momuz McHammerer much the same,
And the militia commander was stuck behind a wall and didn't hear us call his name.

CHORUS : And there were vultures, vultures, flying o'er the walls,
Gorlaks all around us and behind us trolls with mauls.
And there were Carp, Carp flopping across the floor,
They all snuck up upon us because a corpse was blocking the door.

The vultures got our plump helmets, The Carp seemed to be undead,
And chasing all our Miners was some rotting severed head,
We finally woke a solider, he would make them pay,
But he really pulled a boner when he dodged into a pit that day,

CHORUS : And there were vultures, vultures, flying o'er the walls,
Gorlaks all around us and behind us trolls with mauls.
And there were Carp, Carp flopping across the floor,
They all snuck up upon us because a corpse was blocking the door.

All the crossbow bolts misfired, the axes missed their mark,
And then we heard a growl, from deeper in the dark.
A forgotten beast came upon us, everyone feared its name,
We didn't think it funny when it ripped off our Metalsmiths leg.

CHORUS : And there were vultures, vultures, flying o'er the walls,
Gorlaks all around us and behind us trolls with mauls.
And there were Carp, Carp flopping across the floor,
They all snuck up upon us because a corpse was blocking the door.

Our soldiers bravely battled, but it was all for naught,
For we had not the measure of the monsters that we fought,
T'was a Noble finally saved us, the gods blessed us that day,
The single pull of a level, dropped 7/7 magma into the fray.

CHORUS : And there were vultures, vultures, flying o'er the walls,
Gorlaks all around us and behind us trolls with mauls.
And there were Carp, Carp flopping across the floor,
They all snuck up upon us because a corpse was blocking the door.

Dawn of War 2: Retribution & Dwarf Fortress 0.31.21

Received my copy of Retribution a few days back, finally had some good time (and the inclination) to give the campaign mode a whirl last night. I was actually surprised to see that the tutorial for Retribution had a plot. Nice feature that.

For my first campaign playthrough, I decided to give the Tyranids a whirl. As I expected their campaign mode is  a bit light on story, but very very fun. Interesting to only deal with a single hero character thus far. It will definitely be interesting to play the other campaigns that are more 'normal' to see, after the fact, just how different this one is by comparison.

Even though DF .20 released a few days back, I didn't get a chance to download it and give it a try till I saw that a .21 version was released later the same day. Going to be giving that a shot soon. Not sure I will keep a log of my playthrough like I attempted last time, mostly concerned (at first) with seeing how stable it is, trying to see if there are any bugs I can find to report and such.

In terms of actually playing DF, I have been having some fun with modding in v.18. Not much to write a out really, just tinkering with custom workshops and reactions. I wonder what big bugs will be tackled next? It would be very cool IMO if the problem with stacks of bone, shell and the like could get addressed. After all, would it not be fun to build a fortress out of the bones (and skulls) of ones enemies? Khorne would be proud.