Author: mfordfeeney

Zero Charisma (2013)

Dungeons & Dragons turned 40 years old in January of this year (2014). In recognition, we are rebranding our site for one week to Now Very Beholder… and focusing just on the films that star or in some way revolve around D&D.

140 Character Movie Review – #140RVW

2013 indie may hit a little close to home for gamers, but that’s a sign of how well the filmmakers portray genuine human foibles & passion.

Spoiler-free Movie Review of Zero Charisma:

Of all the human traits, possibly the hardest to portray on-screen is earnestness. Being sincere and passionate about something is nearly guaranteed to invite ridicule, both on screen and in life. It takes a combination of courage, confidence and thick skin to really put yourself out there and go for it. Film portrayals of such people generally show one of two tones, both of which reflect our own preconceived views: this genuineness is corny and trite (with an option on refreshing, depending on the film and the likability of the actor), or this intensity is disturbing and laughable. I have little time for the former and none for the latter.

It may come as a surprise to regular readers to hear that I value earnestness above almost all other traits in film. The ability to overcome the inherent limitations I mentioned mean that when you succeed you often end up with something truly special.

I love snarkiness – I got my Boy Scout badge for snark, I wrote my thesis on snark. But while well-cultivated and practiced sarcasm is indeed an art, it’s often easy. Anyone can sit on the sidelines and take cheap shots – and no one enjoys it more than I – but eschewing the low-hanging fruit and going for satire beyond spoof is much more difficult and requires real skill. The rewards are worth it.

Such is the challenge with Zero Charisma or indeed any movie that handles a subject matter or interest that is frequently treated with derisive mockery. As with any movie about geek culture, you worry that the film is just going to make fun of the characters. When I settle in to one of these my radar is up from the start, looking for trouble – you have to stay frosty.

Zero Charisma doesn’t shy away from the jokes or the obvious stereotypes, but it succeeds in doing so in an inclusive manner that feels more like self-deprecation than insult.

The main character of the story, Scott Weidemeyer (brilliantly played by Sam Eidson – I’m sure we’ll be seeing more of him) certainly checks off all of the predictable boxes: obsessive, overweight, under-sexed, leather wearing, dead-end job having, heavy metal listening, loser living at home while planning masterful campaigns of his own design for a small group of “friends” that he doesn’t respect and barely tolerates. Dungeon Master is an extremely accurate title for reasons that Gygax & Arneson probably couldn’t have anticipated.

On top of that, he’s unbelievably rigid and arrogant in every facet of his life, severely stunting his ability to have success outside of the game. He’s pretty hard to like. But when one of his players quits the game in an effort to keep his marriage from falling apart and Scott finds that the only possible replacement player in town that he hasn’t alienated is a hipster whose presence disrupts the perfectly ordered group Scott has developed, even his game life begins to fall apart.

It’s interesting, but a number of the comments I read online about the film were very much pro-Scott and overwhelmingly negative to Miles, the too-cool-for-school hipster ably played by Garrett Graham. People went off on the “fake geeks” who are now into gaming because it’s cool. Clearly the filmmakers have hit a nerve. These same people acknowledged that Scott maybe took things a bit too far. He didn’t take things a bit too far – he’s over the edge and down the lane.

But I completely understand the impulse to defend the intense Dungeon Master. We’ve all known a Scott. Truth be told, we’ve all probably been him to a greater or lesser degree at some point. Everyone knows what it’s like to care passionately for something that others are indifferent towards. Everyone knows the dreadful feeling when something you’ve always been in control of begins to slip from your grasp. No matter how wonderful your life is, we’ve all had moments when situations have changed for us and our sense of security or peace feels under siege. And that’s surely what is happening here. This isn’t a story solely about one man’s game being turned upside down. His world is being turned upside down, with his job & home life, and so when his one refuge, the one successful part of his existence is under threat from his own attitude as much as from the hipster interloper, it’s too much.

Zero Charisma is really cringe-worthy at times – it shows genuine human emotions in all of their ugliness. But it’s very funny and also enjoyable to watch. Along with Scott’s intensity there is also an accompanying trait of sincerity that endears him to you, for all of his behavior. Matters are helped remarkably by the performance of Eidson, who I hope to see a lot more of. Highly recommended.

Poster:

Trailer:

Bechdel Test:

Pass

The Representation Test Score: C (5 pts)

(http://therepresentationproject.org/grading-hollywood-the-representation-test/)

[schema type=”movie” url=”http://tribecafilm.com/tribecafilm/filmguide/zerocharisma” name=”Zero Charisma” description=”As the strict Game Master of a fantasy role-playing game, Scott (Sam Eidson) leads his friends in a weekly quest through mysterious lands from the safety of his grandmother’s kitchen. But his mastery of his own domain starts to slip — along with everything else in his life — when neo-nerd hipster Miles (Garrett Graham) joins the game, winning over the group with his confident charm and dethroning Scott with an unexpected coup. Caught in delusions of grandeur, Scott must roll the dice and risk everything to expose Miles as the fraud he believes him to be. A darkly comedic fable of epic proportions, Zero Charisma is an ode to nerds from every realm.” director_1=”Katie Graham” director_2=”Andrew Matthews” actor_1=”Sam Eidson” actor_2=”Brock England” actor_3=”Garrett Graham”]

Main Cast	Sam Eidson Scott, Brock England Wayne, Garrett Graham Miles, Anne Gee Byrd Wanda
Rating	Not Rated
Release Date	Fri 11 Oct 2013 UTC
Director	Katie Graham, Andrew Matthews
Genres	Comedy
Plot	An overgrown nerd who serves as Game Master of a fantasy board game finds his role as leader of the misfits put into jeopardy when a new initiate enters the group.
Poster
Runtime	86
Tagline
Writers	Andrew Matthews (written by)
Year	2013

December 12, 2014

Mazes and Monsters (1982)

140 Character Movie Review – #140RVW

Yikes! Hunting down obscure things you thought were rumors seldom ends well. Barely watchable – for historical interest only… #FarOutGame

Spoiler-free Movie Review of Mazes and Monsters:

In yesterday’s Now Very Beholder review of Dark Dungeons, I advised you to go watch this movie instead if you wanted a humorous look at the Dungeons & Dragons paranoia. While I stand by my assertion that this tv movie is a more interesting time capsule, I want to make it very clear that I am not suggesting that you watch this movie. I don’t want that on my conscience…

It certainly is true, however that Mazes and Monsters is an entertaining diversion when you want to laugh openly at the foolishness of fundamentally scared and ignorant people. If you lived through this time and know better, it’s terribly amusing – unintentionally of course. Sort of like watching Reefer Madness or old government “duck and cover” educational films. It probably makes for a fantastic drinking game, too…

Possibly the only reason non-gamers would have sought this out is its unfortunate inclusion at the top of Tom Hanks’ filmography. The man has produced a great body of work and has nothing to feel bad about, but it must be a little bit galling to have this on his record. Maybe he could apply to have it removed?

What’s interesting, actually, is that he is definitely Tom Hanks in this one. Often when you see a now famous actor in an early role they are barely recognizable. Visually you see it, but they don’t have any real presence. But this really is a starring role and you can definitely see the outline of what he’s going to become.

The story of Mazes and Monsters is as absurd as its premise deserves. Back in 1979 a young student named James Dallas Egbert III disappeared from Michigan State University. He went into the steam tunnels that ran under the school and didn’t return. His parents hired a private investigator, William Dear, who didn’t let the fact that he had never heard of D&D before, nor the fact that Egbert’s friends had no knowledge of Egbert playing the game, prevent him from speculating to the press that Egbert had become obsessed with the game and went into the tunnels to play a live-action version of the game. While LARPing did exist in the late 70’s, coming up with this theory requires quite a LARP of faith (ar, ar, ar…)

Nevertheless, the press ate it up and reported it as fact. Never mind the fact that the boy was isolated, depressed and left a suicide note, Dungeons & Dragons must be the cause. Egbert had indeed gone to the steam tunnels to commit suicide, but was unsuccessful. He hid afterwards for weeks at friends’ houses before heading to Louisiana for a second failed suicide attempt. The youth did reach out to the PI while down there and asked Dear not to reveal the story, before a final suicide attempt in 1980 succeeded. Dear kept his promise to keep Egbert’s true story secret until 1984 when he published his account of the incident in the book The Dungeon Master.

Despite not being true, the idea that D&D and RPGs could cause a person to lose their identity and be unable to distinguish fantasy and reality was simply too good to pass up, and author Rona Jaffe didn’t, publishing the 1981 novel Mazes and Monsters, a barely fictionalized account of the apocryphal Egbert story. The made-for-tv movie that I’m only now getting around to talk about is similarly uninspired drivel.

Hanks plays the youth (Robbie) who goes off the reservation. He’s new to the college, having been booted out of his last school for playing too much Mazes and Monsters. All four players in the campaign are troubled, of course, providing some backstory but mainly just padding the runtime. One of the players, Jay Jay (Chris Makepeace) discovers the off-limits steam tunnels and rigs them with theater props to create a live-action campaign for the others. While in there, Robbie freaks out during a trippy sequence where he believes he slays a mighty monster and becomes his character, Pardieu the cleric. After that he’s no fun at all, breaking up with the only girl who plays the game in order to maintain a cleric’s vow of celibacy and obsessing about jumping off the Two Towers (being New York’s WTC).

Being able to laugh at how nutty a movie is only takes you so far in my experience. Your mileage may vary. If you like watching movies “so bad they’re good” you might have more stamina than I. My mistake may have been watching it by myself and/or not turning it into a drinking game. I’d recommend this game only to serious RPG fans and even then only to watch it with a group of same, preferably while partaking of mead…

The reviews for these two paranoia films may seem a bit unfair to the filmmakers and fans of Dark Dungeons as it appears I’m applauding in this film what I disliked about the other. The difference is entirely in the context; this movie is a relic of a time when this was a serious concern. The only thing at all wrong with Dark Dungeons (to me) is that throwback never plays like the original…

Check out these guys who have actually created an RPG called Mazes and Monsters: http://blogofholding.com/?page_id=370