Mazes and Monsters

Mazes and Monsters sound like a knock off Dungeons and Dragons doesn't it?  I mean there are always copycats of new innovations.  I mean Dungeons and Dragons (the game) was pretty revolutionary in tabletop gaming.  Basically no game pieces and a bunch of guidelines for the dungeon master(referee as they were called then) it was different and , to quote Cool Runnings, people are always afraid of what's different.  

Mazes and Monsters is a TV movie based on the book by Rona Jaffe about a bunch of college students who play a D&D style game.  The book had home clout back in the day because of the Satanic Panic surrounding Dungeons and Dragons. What is the “Satanic Panic” I hear you say?  Well according to the fountain of internet information, Wikipedia  “The Satanic panic is a moral panic consisting of over 12,000 unsubstantiated cases of Satanic ritual abuse (SRA, sometimes known as ritual abuse, ritualistic abuse, organized abuse, or sadistic ritual abuse) starting in the United States in the 1980s”    A bunch got attributed to a fantasy RPG.  I mean think about it… Geek culture was held in basements and behind closed doors by the social outcasts, the nerds, the geeks.  It was uncool and people were suspicious of a bunch of kids playing a game where you roll dice, cast spells and fight demons.  The USA has always had an unusual relationship with religion so hearing the kids downstairs summoning a lich priest demi-demon would raise a few eyebrows.  So of course D&D got a target on its back, so much so that game co-creator, Gary Gyax, went on TV to tell people it's just a game of make-believe.

Anyway… This movie takes that idea and runs with it.  I mean there are real cases regarding suicide and disappearances, and this movies says what if a player lost their mind to the game and started to believe that they are the character they are playing.  In this case, a fresh faced Tom Hanks is that player.  Yep, in what may be his first starring role, two time Academy Award winner Tom Hanks plays Mazes and Monster and starts to believe he is his character. 

See… Hanks has changed college to finally graduate but has got sucked back into the world of Mazes and Monsters (M&M? No, that's the chocolate).  So he plays and one of the other players decides to go further with it.  

Seemingly out of nowhere Jay-Jay, who wears an assortment of different hats (i was actually disappointed when he wore the same hat twice or didn’t wear one at all), decides he is going to attempt suicide in the local caves.  However, on a reconnoitre of the caves he realises it is the perfect place to host a game of Mazes and Monsters.  So he does and every one dresses up as their character for a real life game.  It's more LARP (Live Action Role Playing than Role Playing Game).  But this triggers something for Hanks who sees a rubber suited minotaur.  Hanks officially loses his mind to his character and goes on a mission to complete the game, ending up on top of the World Trade Centre New York.

Look, the movie is not a good movie.  I switched off a bit here and there.  It becomes a hunt for a missing person and not a very good one at that.  Hanks isn't the powerhouse he would later become and it is a TV movie after all.

So, Mazes and Monsters… it has an interesting idea attached but didn't have the execution to be a good movie (TV in the 80s people).  Not great like.

Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves

 Roll for initiative…

Dungeons & Dragons is so hot right now.  I mean it's cool to be a nerd now.  Or maybe I should say cool people are coming out of the nerd closet.  It’s finally happened people, all the social walls are falling.  I think it must have started with the Berlin Wall coming down.

I mean they tried it to make DnD cool before, but the last time I watched a Dungeons and Dragons movie in the cinema it was not good.  But the year 2000 was an awkward time and we are 23 years removed.  Empires have risen and fallen in this time and Stranger Things made the Dungeons and the Dragons popular.  I am even in a group with work colleagues.  

So they decided to have another go at it.  Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves came out and, well it's fun.  It's a classic popcorn movie.  It's silly at times and has lots going on.  I reckon that when I rewatch it it will probably suffer here and there but for the most part, it's good.  Movie on, brain out job done.

Now the movie has a plot.  Chris Pine is a bard who is looking to reclaim his daughter and to do so he gets a rag tag group of DnD PCs (that player characters) together for this quest.  There are your generic fantasy classes, although no dwarf, and they get involved in a bunch of different set pieces along their way.  Some are actually really cool, like the heist on the road to Neverwinter.  And this is my biggest compliment of the movie… It feels like a game of Dungeons and Dragons.  There are parts when I thunk, oh, he rolled low there, and big set ups that get ruined by one of the characters being stupid.  Very DnD.

It is legit enjoyable.  There’s never enough time for logical thinking to come into play, which is good because there is plenty of Dungeons and Dragons universe lore I know nothing about, like; What are those cat people, why can she turn into a bear that has the face of an owl, what is an owlbear?  It doesn't matter because there is a fat dragon, a fun heist, a hilarious Bradley Cooper cameo (that just hit me in the right place) and really, who cares?

Now then, I am from sunny Northern Ireland which just happens to be the place where they filmed a lot of the movie.  This may have won me over a bit more.  Seeing places I’ve been in a Hollywood blockbuster (probably right?) was cool.  Oh look there Carrick Castle!  I mentioned in the podcast episode a story of some of my family bumping into one of the stars, check that out.

I hope Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves does spin off into other things, a TV show is the perfect format for DnD.  It would give it the feel of a game session and this could actually bring more people to the game (Wizards of the Coast/Warner Bros. Discover call me or email the podcast dyespodcast@gmail.com).  Or they could just get Joe Manganellio on it.

Stalker

Seventies Soviet era science fiction.  It sounds amazing.  What sci-fi movies did the Russians make during the Cold War when the Americans are pumping out Star Wars?  I mean it is either going to be incredible or terrible.  I’m sure there are some real stinkers but this is not one of them.

I came across Stalker when Cursed Movies did an episode surrounding it.  By the way, Cursed Movies is an excellent documentary series that is very interesting and well worth checking out.  But Stalker… the episode covers how the production was riddled with difficulties.  The film did not develop correctly, the locations had to change and years later every one but one crew member died early.  According to the documentary the new locations were ripping in industrial waste.  Look check out the episode, it's great, and it exposes you to new movies you may never have seen or even heard of.

So Stalker is directed by Andrei Tarkovsky.  He was being compared to Denis Villeneuve, so you know I had to check out his stuff.  I started with Stalker and The Mirror and was not disappointed.  His movies are more thought pieces.  It asks you questions and does not provide the answers, just like all good science fiction (although The Mirror isn’t really sci-fi, or is it?).  

So the movie revolves around two characters, the Writer and the Professor, who are looking to go into the Zone.  To get to the Zone they hire a Stalker, a professional guide for the Zone.  See the Zone is a prohibited area.  Something happened there that has caused the area to be abandoned, maybe it was aliens, or a nuclear disaster (like Chernobyl, which happened a few years later).  But rumour has there is a room in a house within the Zone that can grant you your heart's desires.  One wish.  And here is one of the questions Stalker asks, what would your one wish be?  The Professor wants to win a Nobel Prize, but the Room grants you what is your core desire and not what you want or even think you want.  

The movie follows the dilemma of the characters.  Should they go in and get what they truly desire even if it's not what they want or should they continue on without that.  What if it backfires?  The Stalker has never been in because he knows this has happened.  This inner look on human nature is excellent to see in a movie.  I love it when a movie goes beyond itself.  Makes you feel and think.  

Now, Stalker is a long movie with not a lot happening.  After the party sneaks by the guards entering the zone the rest of the film is slow.  Really slow.  I like movies that are slow for a purpose.  I think because it is subtitled it grabs your focus more because you can’t glance away when there is character dialogue because you can't understand what they say.  It builds an atmosphere with long shots and prolonged science, only hearing the elements of the surroundings.  More “Art House” movies do this and when you get bombarded with Disney/Marvel/Star Wars mediocrity the change of scenery is welcome.

Draft Day

Cleveland is now on the clock.

The NFL Draft has the potential to be a life changing day for a number of young men leaving college hoping to make it in professional sport.  The movie, I don't think, is life changing.  Maybe it did change someone's life.  It didn't change mine, although I do enjoy this movie.

Look, this movie is a middle of the road, good time film.  It’s not special, but it has things I like.  I like the NFL, I like the Cleveland Browns, I like the behind the scenes process of selecting players.  The first movie I ever gave 10/10 or 5 stars was a documentary about motorcycle racing so if it's a movie about something I like it will always do well.

The movie follows Kevin Costner as the General Manager of the Cleveland Browns and the twists and turns of the NFL Draft.  Now the time line is condensed massively for the movie (understandable).  He is offered trades to move up the draft to select a highly touted Quarterback that could change the team.  The only thing is Costner isn’t sure about his character.  Now this is something that teams would have nailed down weeks in advance.  Condensed timeline sure.  Okay.  So Sonny Weaver Jr (Costner) makes a big trade that he does but doesn't really want to do.

Anyway, we meet the players, agents, coaches and other draft prospects along the way.  Oh, and we also meet Jennifer Garner’s character, Allie.  She is the romantic interest of the movie.  She just so happens to be pregnant with Kevin Costner’s baby and is the salary cap manager.  Hilariously, her managing the salary cap is not her primary characteristic.  There is only one or two lines where she is questioned regarding this.  In fact she says that moving from the 7th pick to the first could work but would need a bit of juggling to sort.  However at the end of the movie the team now has the 1st overall pick and the 7th, so how does your salary cap look now?

That's the thing about this movie.  Don’t think too hard about it.  It is simplified to be more accessible to a general audience, which kind of works.  Of the handful of people I know, the ones that have seen this  movie and don’t know much of the NFL (especially the behind the scenes stuff) actually enjoy the movie.  I think it all comes down to the final scene, the actual draft.  The NFL draft can be wildly unpredictable at times and this movie banks on it.  The moving of picks, the urgency of the ticking clock and the pressure make really enjoyable viewing. 

I like this movie.  There are plenty of fun cameos and loads of ‘that-guys’ (you know there's that guy from that thing).  There are some ridiculous things going on, I didn't even mention the wacky scene transitions, but it all gets a pass because the payoff is earned.  It might have taken the scenic route to get there but it got there nonetheless.