Rian Johnson

The film picks up almost immediately after predecessor The Force Awakens, with the Rebels being forced to flee yet another base (thankfully, Johnson quickly cuts loose, and fears of another quasi-remake like The Force Awakens are dispatched). At the same time, Rey (Daisy Ridley) gets an unexpected reception from Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) at watery Ahch-To. As The Last Jedi has more than its share of twists and surprises, I will say no more, aside from commending the film for a nice build from a meandering first half to a wild second, where danger seems real, and Star Wars tropes take a back seat to real characters.

Of course, a writer/director this daring is bound to make some missteps, and there are some surprisingly bad ones in The Last Jedi, particularly in a first half that struggles to maintain a consistent level of excitement across the typically bouncing-all-over-the-place narrative. One major subplot in particular involving new character Rose (Kelly Marie Tran) just does not get there, despite the best efforts of the cast. Another quibble is some laughable space science, even by Star Wars standards, starting in the opening battle and continuing throughout. Most in the theater on opening night probably could not have cared less.

What is exciting about The Last Jedi is how much Johnson gets right. The better second half of the film leans on the cast, and they do not disappoint. Ridley is more polished as Rey, and provides a nice counterpoint to Hamill in the extended sequence on the Jedi island. John Boyega as Finn and particularly Oscar Isaac as Poe are given quite a bit more to do than in The Force Awakens, with Isaac evoking some Han Solo – esque swagger. The star of the film, though, is Adam Driver as Kylo Ren. Ren did not seem to have much depth in the first film, nor did being defeated by a fledgling especially help his villainous menace. This time around, Johnson’s script does the character justice, and we see perhaps our first convincing turn to the infamous Dark Side of the Force. I do not put The Last Jedi in the same class as the original trilogy, but, by the end of this film, Kylo Ren is the most compelling Star Wars character since Darth Vader, and that is saying something.

UGeek Rating: (4.0 / 5).

The post Star Wars: The Last Jedi [Movie Review] appeared first on .

In the film, actress Amanda (Paola Bontempi) is headed to a ceremony where she is to receive an award for an illustrious career. As her husband is delayed returning from a trip, she boards the limousine arriving at her house alone. She is unable to make any contact with the driver, then she slowly realizes that the drive is taking too long. It is perhaps not that surprising when a filtered voice comes over a speaker telling her there is no escape from the vehicle, and she must comply with whatever the voice asks.

The Glass Coffin is almost entirely confined to the limousine, and this setup is both strength and weakness, as the single, small location concept is more than a little familiar. The demands over the speaker lead Amanda where one might expect, but Zubillaga does show some admirable restraint in depicting the more unpleasant happenings inside the limo, and they are unpleasant indeed. The antagonist is also fairly easy to unmask, although the bizarre showdown in the third act defies convention. Writer Aitor Eneriz and Zubillaga mostly work around the inherent limitations of their scenario, and the director especially is up to the challenge. The limo feels appropriately small, but Zubillaga finds enough interesting places for his camera to keep things moving.

The real star here is Bontempi, and not just because she plays a dual role in a film with a cast that can be counted with a few fingers. Bontempi keeps the film on the rails, even during the out-of-control ending, and alternates between strength and vulnerability both believably and heartbreakingly. Zubillaga marches her into a real war, and she does not hesitate. Her performance as Amanda is key in sharpening the film’s question of how far we would go for personal gain, or revenge.

UGeek Rating: 7/10

The post The Glass Coffin [Movie Review] appeared first on .

Linguistics professor Louise Banks (Amy Adams) is recruited by U.S. Army Colonel Weber (Forest Whitaker) to join a science team attempting to communicate with one of twelve alien spacecraft that have descended on points around the globe. While much of the rest of the team, including physicist Ian Donnelly (Jeremy Renner), is stumped or even repulsed by the sheer alienness of the visitors, Banks begins to make progress on their written language, realizing that its structure may reveal something about how they think.

Amy Adams is great as usual, believable as both the scientist explaining theory to the conveniently clueless Colonel Weber and as a human facing the truly alien. The strength of her work helps the film paper over some difficulty with what seems like magical abilities acquired by learning the aliens’ language (or, insert adage about advanced technology vs magic here). Renner is also likable as the quick-witted physicist, helping to lighten things up a bit. Unfortunately, the story does give up much of its hard-earned credibility with a late plot twist involving a phone call that a friend quite accurately described as straight out of Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure.

All this being said, more of Arrival works than does not. The design of the aliens and their spacecraft is perhaps a bit understated (although both are oddly, and intriguingly, Lovecraftian), but Villeneuve’s restraint does manage to restore some class to alien invasions. One might wish for a few more fireworks as the pressure mounts to figure out the aliens’ motivation, especially with a panic-stricken global populace kept mostly on the back burner. Ultimately, though, the film stays commendably committed both to its exploration of linguistics, and the emotional story at its core. Villeneuve appears comfortable in, and in control of, the genre, perhaps a taste of things to come from his much-hyped next project, Blade Runner 2049.

UGeek Rating: 7/10

The post Arrival [Movie Review] appeared first on .

J.J. Abrams

The film opens with (you guessed it) an action scene, Kirk (Chris Pine) keeping on his diplomatic toes. However, we quickly learn that the good captain is struggling at more than diplomacy, and is even contemplating leaving the ship due to the ennui of a long space mission. Spock (Zachary Quinto) is going through his own struggles in his relationship with Uhura (Zoe Saldana), deepened when he hears of the death of his alternate-timeline self, Ambassador Spock. The film returns to lighter territory (which predominates, very much welcome after the overdone doom and gloom of Into Darkness) when the crew sets out on a rescue mission for another starship. The villainous Krall (a heavily made-up Idris Elba) enters the picture, and the stage is set for the Enterprise crew to face yet another threat to the Federation.

The announcement that geek favorite Simon Pegg (Scotty) would write an original script with Doug Jung calmed some fan angst, and the final story does have some nice touches. The central crisis of the plot results in the crew of the Enterprise being split up, and the bouncing between the different teams works at times, particularly in the classic pairing of Spock and Dr. McCoy (Karl Urban). The cast has started to make the roles their own, meshing together in the best Trek tradition. Sofia Boutella as damsel-not-in-distress Jaylah is a nice addition, as well. Sadly, though, the script fails in its attempts at deeper characterization, most notably with its villain. There is no shortage of dull, muddled villains in Hollywood these days, and Krall joins them, even with a hurried attempt at explaining everything in the third act.

Lin and Pegg are both avowed Trek fans, but their film ultimately comes off as slight, an intermittently fun action episode that does not linger in the mind like the best of the series. Given fan reaction to the reboots, and the checkered past of both the original cast and Next Generation films, those who believe Trek works best, first, and foremost, on television may have a point. There are certainly enjoyable moments to be had in the Trek movies, and at least one minor classic, but the poignancy of the one-hour television format seems to rarely translate to the big screen.

UGeek Rating: 6/10

The post Star Trek Beyond [Movie Review] appeared first on .

The post FilmQuest 2016 Shorts [Movie Review] appeared first on .

Savage Worlds generic role-playing system provides a means for creating characters faster than many generic systems I have seen. Of course, having rules which allow for easier creation, and less specifics, means you are dealing with a number of areas in a general manner. If you like solid guides, and specific application of skills, etc. in your gaming system, you will probably find Savage Worlds too generic. On the other-hand, if you are looking for a system with a lot of leeway to how it is played, this is a system you will want to check out more thoroughly. It is this second aspect of gaming they were going after, and they did it well.

Skill checks are based on the attributes, as expected, and I like the system they use. Instead of providing a conversion system or charts to get attributes into the same system of making checks, like in a d20 system, the attributes are based on the dice, and a roll of four or better means success. Major characters, heroes and villains, are considered wild cards, which get an additional advantage when making attribute checks, including skill checks since they are based off the character’s attributes.

Along with the attribute die wild card characters receive a wild card die (d6). Both dice are rolled and the better result can be used. There is a risk attached to this—which the authors point out are the fates playing with the characters. Any time both dice roll ones, a critical failure takes place. The specifics of the failure are determined by the GM. There are also some other dice rules that apply to every character.

A die roll of the maximum number is an ace (i.e., 4 on a d4, 8 on a d8). On an ace the die is rolled again, adding the results of the additional roll(s). You can keep acing on a die, which means you keep adding an additional die. With a success being a 4 or greater, it seemed a little odd to me at first that you would need a system of increasing the numbers, however, there are several solid reason within the system for it.

A score of 4 higher than the needed result to succeed is a rise. With some checks a rise indicates additional benefits to the use of the skill. Some skills provide a specified result for success, another benefit for having a rise, and something else for a second rise. These can be accomplished with a single die roll or with the multiple rolls from achieving an ace.

Some checks are challenges between characters. The use of aces allow for a weaker character (weaker in any trait) to have a chance of doing something better than a character of greater ability. It also allows for a way of comparing how the competing characters perform. This is a good way of handling those situations where you want to add in more of the storytelling aspects of role-playing like when a characters performs a feat with extraordinary success.

Combat has a different means of calculating what is needed for a success. Instead of a 4 being a success, defenses are included to determine a target number. The target number then becomes the number needed for a success. At times a successful roll may only be reached by the player acing their die roll.

Since combat initiative was covered in the print article, let’s jump into some of the other aspects of how characters fight and survive. The basic system of fighting uses the same check of rolling your skill die and, if appropriate, your wild die. Weapon damage for hand-held weapons uses the characters strength die as the base and are listed as STR+3 for example. This provides the ability to handle damage without having to work through any conversions before playing or during combat.

To maintain the quick pace of the game, which Great White Games is striving for, character damage is a limited range. Characters can become shaken, physically and mentally. This is the first state. When damaged while shaken your character can become injured. Many times the injuries are being bumped and bruised. I like to think about this along the lines of the Indiana Jones affect (this came to mind from the reading with their example scenario running through the book). You can suffer 3 injuries and still stay in the combat. If you inflict a wound that would cause you to go beyond the third injury, you check against a chart to see what happens. This can range from more bumps and bruises to bleeding out and death within a certain number of rounds. This injury system has a couple of aspects that could be considered advantages or disadvantages depending on how you like to play your game.

You can continue fighting while on the verge of death. Of course, with three damage points, you are always close enough that a serious wound can immediately take you out of play, but you can also take a lot more when you are into brawling instead of guns. If you are not always relying on the big weapons, or big magic, you could continue fighting for some time (think of the brawls with Indiana Jones). Within this type of system I have seen players become more creative in how they handle the fights they get into.

There are also rules for handling large scale combat. Savage Worlds provides for playing scenarios where you would be a part of a larger group, like in major war campaigns. The rules are modified for doing these battles with miniatures and allows the players, as a group or individuals, to control their supporting cast. Large scale combats can be taking place while the individual lead characters (the wild cards) are duking it out. The rules read well, but I will admit I have not played out a larger scale scenario (yet). So, if you have, please let us know what you think.

After reading through the main book I was pleased with the concepts and felt comfortable in being able to explain and play the system. I then came across another nice addition. Not everyone needs the full book, and they don’t have to have it. There is the Explorer’s Handbook. This softcover book covers the information needed, focusing on the areas needed by a player running a character. It makes for an easy book to have at the table, or a supplement that can be passed around the table for multiple player use.

My gaming group decided to give Savage Worlds a try. Instead of playing in a standard scenario that we have been using other systems for we decided to try something new.

We decided to build characters in one session and we had them ready for play in about a half an hour. This was impressive since it was a new system for everyone else, based on my explanation from reading the rules. They were able to grasp the concepts with only a little explanation and then worked on building their characters on their own. The game setting we are working with is allowing players to not have to worry about equipment and supplies, which of course makes a difference in the amount of time needed.

All of us are looking forward to playing the system to see how it works for us.

Savage Worlds products can be found at Pinnacle Entertainment Group’s website (https://www.peginc.com/product-category/savage-worlds/).

The post Reviewing More of the RPG Savage Worlds by PEG appeared first on .

Burgle Bros. is a cooperative heist game for 1–4 players. The game starts with the first player entering the building. Then, you have to find the safes, crack them, gain the loot, and escape to the roof. The premise is simple enough, which makes the game entertaining to play.

A friend and I sat down with Burgle Bros. and jumped right into the basic game. We decided to skip over the introduction scenario. The rules were easy to understand and we were able to set the game up quickly.

The basic scenario is 16 randomly placed room tiles making up each of the three floors. Each floor has a safe and stairs. Other rooms contain obstacles and hazards you have to overcome, but you don’t know what the room is until you peek into it, or move into it. Once you find the safe you have to crack the combination. The combination for each safe are the numbers located on the cards in the same row and column of the safe. This means you have to explore the floor to uncover the combination before you can crack the safe and gain the loot. And, in the base scenario there are three floors you need to cover, then find the stairs to the roof and escape. Besides the obstacles in the rooms, you also need to watch out for the guards.

Each floor has a guard on patrol. After each player takes their action the guard on the floor they finish on moves. This led to some strategy (suggested in the rules) to dividing up a little so one guard wasn’t moving too fast in making their rounds. But running into a guard doesn’t mean the end of the game.

Every player has three stealth tokens allowing them to hide and not get caught. But if a player gets caught, the entire crew gets caught. This isn’t one of the games that has an element of sacrificing someone for your own win. You win or lose as a team.

The team is drawn from nine character cards, determined randomly. Each player can chose one of the two skills the character has for the game. It’s good to know who else is on your team for the job and what skill they have. When you chose your actions for your turn other people’s skills can be as important as your own.

On your turn you have several actions to choose from. I’ve already mentioned Peek and Move, You can also Hack (an alarm system), Crack (a safe), make it easier to crack a safe, or, save a couple of actions to draw an event card.

Hacking an alarm allows you to move through the building easier by not setting off a particular type of alarm. There are five different types, each requiring you to do something different to not set it off.

Safe cracking allows you to gain the loot and a tool. The loot you have to get out of the building, and a tool is just that, something that will help you get the job done.

Event cards are unforeseen events that change the play of the game, either at that moment or later. Some of the events are beneficial, while others may cause some serious reworking of your plans.

As you progress through the game, going up in levels of the building and cracking open the safes, the game becomes harder, making teamwork even more important.

Our game lasted about an hour. Adding a couple of more players probably wouldn’t have extended the game much longer. The play was well balanced and turns moved quickly.

Replay-ability for Burgle Bros. is high. The unknown layout of the rooms, the characters in play, the location of the guards and their patrol routes, are all determined randomly. It would be hard to come across a game layout that duplicated an earlier one you play. The loot, tools, and events add another level of the unknown. There are also suggested advanced rules and other scenarios.

The components of the game should stand up to the challenge of being played multiple times.

We both enjoyed the game and want to play it again with a team of four. My friend even talked over the game we played with his daughter who came up with a house rule she thought would be fun. The rules use the concept of action taking place like in a movie, when the camera is on you. Her suggestion is when you are taking your turn you have to narrate the action, like it was a movie.

Burgle Bros. is designed by Tim Fowers (and self-published) with art by Ryan Goldsberry. The game is for 1–4 players and should last 45–90 minutes. There isn’t a suggested age listed, but based on the cooperative nature and unexpected turns I would suggest 12+.

Thanks to Tim Fowers for a review copy of the game.

The post Burgle Bros. [Game Review] appeared first on .

Les (actor and co-writer Brant McCrea), aka legendary Chicagoland vigilante/anti-hero “The Ghoul”, is released from Joliet prison, immediately resuming his mission to take vengeance on the man who killed his mother and also apparently stole his soul (we don’t really get any details on the soul stealing, one of many plot points we have to roll with). Les is pursued by no small number of adversaries, including police detective Dave Simmons (Dave Cartwright) and Tammy the Berserker (Peter Renaud). Fortunately, he’s pretty resilient to bullet holes, as we learn when girlfriend Alex (Shira Barber) enters the picture to put her man back together, literally. The weirdness increases from here.

Aside from a pretty mondo script, Chicago Rot delivers no small amount of the expected horror goods in the FX department. Ryan Oliver overcomes his budget and produces some pretty imaginative, over-the-top stuff. The acting is uneven, as might be expected, although McCrea does some solid work grounding Les as a character, helping us stay involved even as we dive deeper and deeper into the bizarre. Director Dorian Weinzimmer imbues his film with a great local feel, invoking the grit and grime of Chicago while also creating a supernatural underworld that somehow fits.

If Chicago Rot does manage to find some distribution, it will make for a fine midnight movie at the local art house. The whole thing never really ties together, and it is definitely not going to be for everybody. The final confrontation alone could generate reactions ranging from a trance-like state to profound irritation, but the film never bores, and it is pretty far from predictable. Little films that could like this remind that there is a lot more out there (way out there in this case) than the constant flow of sequels, reboots, and rip-offs at the multiplex, and they are quite often worth seeking out.

UGeek Rating: 4/10

The post Chicago Rot [Movie Review] appeared first on .

Young couple Isabel (Juanita Ringeling) and Josh (Cristobal Tapia Montt), still struggling after the mysterious loss of their only child, are relocated to a remote mansion in the woods by Josh’s employer, a company named for radio pioneer Guglielmo Marconi. Josh and his coworker Thomas (Kyle Davis) are close to a breakthrough in their shortwave research project, but they soon discover that their work is causing Isabel to experience disturbing hallucinations. Or, of course, are they hallucinations?

Ringeling and Montt have chemistry as the tragic couple, and Davis is believably slimy as Josh’s work-first research partner. The film also gets a lot of mileage out of its chief location, the mansion, although its presumably smallish budget is betrayed by the fact that nearly all of the action takes place inside. The forested hills surrounding the house are intriguing, but the camera never really makes its way out there. Additionally, while Phillips makes the probably wise decision to only show the film’s antagonists in glimpses, they do not make much of an impression. The movie may have atmosphere in spades, but creature design also matters.

Shortwave has much to recommend, including an intriguing concept and good craft, but it is ultimately let down by a plot that becomes harder and harder to follow. The film’s writer-director may be able to explain what is going on at the house, but not enough clues make it to the screen. Instead, violence and gore are gradually substituted for sense, particularly in the third act. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but mayhem is less compelling when it is not grounded. Isabel’s actions are increasingly hard to fathom, as are the machinations of Josh’s employer. Some of this mystery is likely intentional, but the ending may be a bit too mysterious for most. And why do events never tie back to the opening scene? Regardless, Shortwave is a solid calling card for Phillips, cast, and crew, and one can hope that the talent on display here will move on to more complete projects.

UGeek Rating: 5/10

PS: This film played at Salt Lake City’s own genre film festival, FilmQuest, June 17-25. Check out FilmQuest 4 in 2017!

The post Shortwave [Movie Review] appeared first on .

The story opens with the public divided on Superman (Henry Cavill) after the aforementioned battle in Metropolis. In one of the script’s many, many time jumps, billionaire Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck), a.k.a. Batman, watches a Wayne skyscraper added to the fight’s tally. Along with another flashback of what feels like the 52nd film adaptation of the deaths of Bat-parents Thomas and Martha Wayne, Batman comes down on the side of those opposed to Superman and the potential danger he poses to humanity. (As a complete aside, no one associated with this movie must have seen the The Trip to Italy bit on The Dark Knight Rises, which should have closed the door on further Wayne death filmings.) Add a young Lex Luthor (Jesse Eisenberg, basically reprising Mark Zuckerberg from The Social Network) manipulating events, and the stage is set for, um, more mayhem.

Hollywood’s cynical calculus has strict rules, and a studio movie with a budget north of $250M intended to launch a double-digit entry franchise will not be allowed to take any risks, least of all the kind that result in art or even simple commentary. As a direct result, Batman v Superman is the kind of atrocious blockbuster we get far too often, an incoherent jumble of clumsy exposition, silly dialogue, and dream sequences. It is worse than the pre-release buzz, a film that bounces about randomly, its only interesting bits stolen from superior comic tales. The aforementioned Frank Miller vibe is a bad tonal decision for a movie supposedly about heroes coming together. There is no justice dawning here, only a bleak, endless night.

Ultimately, these kind of films get made because the genre fans (of which I am a card-carrying member) reliably buy tickets. The writing was on the wall here given the creative team, including both crew and cast. No one involved comes out looking very good, nor arguably should they. The ongoing attempt by more than one studio to launch a combined Marvel-like “universe” is sure to result in more Batman v Superman‘s. Ticket buyer beware.

UGeek Rating: 2/10

The post Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice [Movie Review] appeared first on .