Movies of the Year

So everyone needs a movies of the year post.    So here's mine in no particular order, other than just as they came into my head (so best/most memorable first?). Includes not just the films but movie going experiences, where being in the theater really enhance the movie (or perhaps ruined it).

And yes I'm doing this before seeing the big marketing event of the year, Star Wars The Force Awakens. That one may poison the well and end up on nearly everyone's top list.   Will most likely do another one on that later.   May also look at the Hateful Eight in the New Year once the crazy holidays are done as well.

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Mr X.   Randomly went to this and we had no idea what we were getting into.  This is a Bollywood movie about a cop who somehow gets the ability to become invisible (but only in the dark and in shadows), his clothes fuse to his body (but somehow he can still make love and they never stay dirty for long) and his ex (a cop who is trying to capture him because he turn vigilante) at one point surrounds a house with mirrors to reflect the sun through clearly open windows to counter his invisibility.  Plus its surprisingly sexy and sweet despite being aware of just how silly it is.  Oh, and best made for movie title track in decades.... Puff puff puff.   Sorry out of breath and still missed tons of stuff.   We laughed sooo hard after we got out, I thought we might break something.  Perhaps we were just in the right mood at the right time, but have very found memories of seeing this.  Video link to Mr X song (hope it stays there); be aware sexy enough to be NSFW?  No nudity, but wow!

Mad Max: Fury Road  So why  didn't this enter my mind first?  Because it was so big and being first is pretty much expected.   However, this was honestly the movie which all others where measured against for the year.  Who would have thought that the apocalypse could be so pretty,  a few sparse pages of spoken dialog (if that), and not going with the direct remake route would work so well.  Oh and don't forget center frame steady cam throughout the movie.  Please, please all directors quit using shaky closeup cam and copy this movie.  Add in some subtle feminism, shout outs to previous movies, Charlize Theron being beyond awesome, flaming guitars on cars...well you get this.   The Theater was packed and had an electric vibe to it. All the OSCARS NOW. 

Back to the Future (anniversary viewing)  Do you really need a link for this?   Due to some scheduling conflicts we didn't get a chance to see all three in theaters, but we did catch the original trope maker.  I was just slightly, slightly to young to see it in theaters when it first came out all those years ago...though I might go back in time and tell my parents to take me causing a temporal flux...  Anyhow this was great to see on the big screen.   The theater was filled to the brim with generations of fans, a few with the Marty vest on.  The random person sitting beside me may have been celebrating their birthday on that day, I think, as I overheard them say "been waiting our entire lives for this."  If not B-day, its still a perfect quote.  We laughed a lot and quit a few people mimicked lines as they came up, as if we were singing along at concert or something.   

Turbo Kid  We had to go to a small art house movie theater (one of the last in the city), look for

Apple on her Unicorn BMX

parking in one worse places in the city, if we had missed it would have disappeared, and we stayed for a somewhat terrible unrelated animated short afterwards.  But it was more than worth it.   Turbo Kid is a must see for all 80's fans out there, especially if you like over the top gore and silliness.  Unlike Mad Max where we pretend everyone drives super cars in the post-oil world, in Turbo Kid they drive BMXs!   One of the many twists and homages in the movie.  Laurence Leboeuf as Apple straddles on the edge of falling into annoyance but stays cute and likable.  It also has Michael Ironside (yes that one), playing our main villain and chews scenery with the best of them.   Oh oh..and 80's synth rock and tunes from what seems to be from 8 track converted in midi files....YES!

Ex Machina  In in era where my DVD collection is getting so big that I'm waiting for Netflix releases to rewatch my favorites, Ex Machina found its way into my collection day of release.   It has a few flaws, including some wooden acting from D. Gleeson on occasion.  But  I can love things for their flaws.    I know that the IMDB list the actors in order of appearance, but Alicia Vikander needs first billing and is captivating..    Only issue for movie going experience is that there was only five of us in the theater (boo, it was pretty enough for the big screen) and one guy fell asleep and started to snore....sigh.    So better at home for sure.  

The Martian  We immediately called it MacGyver in space as soon as we walked out.  And that was just fine with us.  Infinitely better than Interstellar which kind of went off the rails trying way to hard to be the next 2001.  A yes the Martian had some sci-fi short cuts, but it didn't break my suspension of disbelief as much as Interstellar's lets solve anti-gravity with math through morse code through dropping books through reality strings driven by love.....I'll take growing a potentially irradiated potato growing in poo on mars tyvm.   Theater experience was terrible because of some awful pre-teens behind us...totally know what its like now. Sorry to all people when we're too noisy in the past and future.   Sadly never got a chance to review it on the big screen again.  

Ant-Man  This is guilty pleasure movie for sure, and I loved it so much more than Age of Ultron.   Perhaps because I thought Ant-Man was going to suck and was surprised by it.   What I got was fun almost early 80's, late 70's tongue in cheek heist movie.  It didn't challenge any tropes or do anything new for an origin story, but it was light hearted and fun ride.  Totally love it and quite a nice lift after the darker trend many superhero movies have been taking.

The Man from U.N.C.L.E.   Okay I blame Ant-Man for this...or its that vice versa?   After one heist movie, wanting to see another one really found its way into my blood.  And UNCLE certainly filled that gap.   A little goofy, high energy, a period piece (as we imagine the early Red Scare era), and once again a movie with Vikander.  Yeah totally sold.   Oh did I say compact car chase...  

Felicity Smoak in a fridge?

First lets say this

LIKE EVERYWHERE

I haven't done much  blogging or comments on the shows I watch, since in reality there's tons of conjecture from many other sites.  One of the shows I have been watching is Arrow.  You can find a full spoiler filled review for Arrow's season finale on IGN HERE.    The IGN assessment is fine and accurate, but Arrow has been bugging me something crazy for a while despite my enjoyment of it.   Now before I start, I like the cast of arrow and love the fact that they have gotten away from strictly adhering to the lone wolf or Five Man Band model.  Having a number of female characters is great, though a little more diversity would be okay.  

Orcale's Smoak Yes Agree

I accept the silly suspension of disbelief for super science in our comic books and shows, and Felicity as Arrow's Oracle was good idea.   And I certainly have no problem with their choice or Emily Rickards for the role, she has been a trooper with it thus far.  However,  I think since about season 2, I been feeling sorry for Felicity Smoak.     Her character has had a lot of strange rebounds and mixes of awful tropes:  

She's been the occasional Damsel in Distress, though they have tried to balance this out by showing her skills, really limiting it, and saving Ollie's butt numerous time, even if its just remotely.  So we'll give it a pass on this.  

The terrible "will they or won't" writing has demonstrated fear of Moonlighting Syndrome (aka Shipping Bed Death) that the creator's clearly have.  While relationships do have their ups and downs, the clear use of sudden emotional swings and distrust scenarios throughout the series to prevent them truly getting together was getting a little much.   When Ollie and Felicity finally got together and drove off into the sunset, I almost wanted the series to end.  

Now when the 2015 season restarted with the two returning to Star City to fight crime once again, they were the cute couple in love.  And though I hoped they would find some new writing tropes to avoid yhe aforementioned Moonlighting Syndrome, honestly you could sense they wouldn't.   

GROWL
Stop Rubberbanding the Relationship
We need a new trope for this!

Issue one was actually from the Flash crossover, when Flash warps time again.  Flash's time jump resets a big fight between Ollie and Felicity after she finds out he tried to keep the existence of his son from a fling a decade ago from her.   The continual trust issues between the two characters borders on purposeful derailment.  I understand Felicity being angry with Ollie for not telling her, but to walk away and end the relationship  right there after all the lies she's seen him do is ridiculous.  As was his reaction of her being so surprised.  After seeing them as a couple finally, this sudden stop was jarring and under developed.  The reveal of Wally West in Flash was much more natural, heart felt, and resolved in a manner that made sense for the characters.   Worse, if they have gone with the time line, the writer's would have solved in an episode or two anyhow to get them back into the "will they/won't they" stage once again.   And even worse in our new established time line Ollie won't tell Felicity about it...again...knowing full well what happen's if she finds out on her own.   Seriously, if he tells the woman who he loves, who is use to keeping secrets, how exactly is the mother of child going to find out, unless he walk's up and tells her.

 This takes us into the 2015 season finale, where after Ollie and Felicity finally agreeing to get married in a very sweet moment...can you guess what happens.   Felicity gets shot.  WOW surprise...not.   Called it right from the escape from the gas chamber scene.   So what now, is she dead?  Don't know.  Honestly seeing that Rickards is going to go shoot some real movies, maybe its a temporary or  permanent contract thing.  Its comics, so we have established at least a half dozen ways to make her live again, so its an easy out they could take...making her death/near death pointless.   The question is:  Fridge Moment or not.   Women in Fridges is now a pretty classic trope identified by smarter folks than me, and maybe as guy I'm ill equipped to really pass judgement.   Felicity has had character development (despite the rubberbanding) so kind of ruins the trope in its purest sense.  But is her death just to give Olly motivation to act....which honestly he doesn't need?    If the character is truly being written out, would it be better for her to die as hero on her own terms? (And not mess it up like Doctor Who's 2015 season finale...totally different rant).    The new season will tell.  I'm not making any predictions other than that there is most likely some contract talks going on behind the scenes.  Here's hoping they bring her back, and give her a chance for some of her own pay back.

If there is no chance of her being written out, more shocking would to have Olly getting shot and dying in her hands (after her dramatic rescue of him perhaps, or too OCC?).  That would be a huge curve ball.  We know he'd be back of course, but would have been kind of nice change of pace.  

  Frankly with poor Simmons getting tortured in Agents of SHIELD (which was shocking in the Whedonverse), and the extremely telegraphed  possible death/endangerment of Patty in Flash after the holidays (thanks trailers..oay), I'm starting to wonder if things are going a bit wrong in my beloved comic TV universe.  Perhaps its just dark reflection of the comic industry (and much of TV) still suffering from old tropes they or we as consumers can't seem to disconnect from.    

Scrivener

Well I forgot I had a separate blog whoops.  This isn't gaming related, so doing it here.  May migrate Reviews for Noob back to wrestling with rpgs if people don't seem to care to come here or I forget about it again.


So in my adventure with NaNoWrMo, got some coupons for a few things, one being Scrivener.   You can find it on numerous aggregates;  my "coupon" provided me with a copy that wasn't all that discounted compared to many sites, but I will be getting a physical copy so there's that.    My purchase was frankly a spontaneous one.   So honestly it was probably a stupid purchase for me.  

Hey I can make flashcards and drag them around right?
WRONG

So I thought it was going to be some sort publishing program with easier layout for column/pic/table shuffling.  Maybe a mind-mapping function and the like.   Even some of the online pics for it look really cool.   

Sadly  the interface is something from 10 years ago, and not overly intuitive.  Had to alter my computer's Resolution just to barely see some of the icons at all.  On normal hi res on my full size monitor some buttons are virtually invisible.   Hi Res font sizes is a different rant for different day...maybe... NOT: I hate tiny type like this, stupid hi-res; why is this a thing.  Not everyone is going to have 50+ inches or feet of screen.  if I need a magnifier and put my face on the screen to see something, its too small.  Command tools and text for game and programs is NOT legal text for drug, car or banking  commercials.  

I kind of wanted this if I'm doing organization for a story

My first instinct was to just play with it, which is more or less the way I learned to use PowerPoint.   That was a mistake.  The learning curve on this program is high in my opinion.  It has a lot of little parts you can spend hours customizing, which could be great, but much too busy for my liking.   This is definitely designed for fine tuning masters of control, and not a "write by the seat of your pants" guy like me.   When I was writing my novel, the most planning I did was to do a mind map on sheet of paper that took me a few minutes to talk out with my pal and long time collaborator (psst he's from HERE of course).    

No actually, this is what I wanted!
Oh to be old and missing things that
would no longer measure up.

Looking at  Scrivener and going through its pretty terrible tutorial, that few minutes writing out a mind map on paper would become hours of fin tuning.  Wasted time that could be used to write.  so for a novel I don't think its a good choice.  Though I could seeing it side by side word tracking a super complex plot I guess.   I could see Scrivener could be used by folks with a mind for micro minutia, or even for a game system.  Keeping track of rules would actually work pretty good with it.    I plan to watch some training vids from my YOUTUBE search  in hopes of softening the impact of it.    

Value $$
>_<    Not liking it all that much.