Tag: 2013

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

Nothing O’Clock (2013)

Nothing O’Clock by Neil Gaiman

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Every tv or film series that is even moderately successful ends up having spin-off novels of varying quality. This is particularly true in the sci-fi genre. Doctor Who is somewhat more than moderately successful, so there are quite a lot of them. Because spin-off works in general have a reputation as being quickly produced extensions of the shows they represent, I’ve generally avoided them. But there are certainly stand out exceptions that make you sometimes rethink your preconception (and hopefully adjust your personal level of snobbery). Nothing O’Clock is most certainly one of these.

As part of the celebrations for the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who last year, Puffin released 11 short stories in e-book format; one for each Doctor and written by different children’s authors. (A twelfth story for the new Doctor will be released in November 2014. No word on whether the War Doctor will get one…)

For the eleventh story, they tapped Neil Gaiman, a phenomenal (and phenomenally successful) writer who has some experience both in the genre and in the series. Gaiman penned two episodes of the series in recent years during Matt Smith’s run as the Eleventh Doctor, and so he is very familiar with that iteration character and that of companion Amy Pond. In fact, it’s all too easy to imagine this story playing out on screen. In the audiobook version, which is how I partook of the story, this is aided in no small way by narrator Peter Kenny.

The story is a nice combination of familiarity and freshness. It feels like just another in a long line of adventures for these well-known characters, but everything else about the tale is brand new and very typically Gaiman.

The author introduces a new enemy, the Kin, an alien race determined to take over the Earth. (This is not a spoiler.) They are creepy as anything Gaiman has come up with before, and that’s not faint praise. The author has a real knack for spooky.

The dialogue and characterization of the Doctor & Amy Pond is so good that I found myself googling a few lines to see if they had already been on the show – that’s how authentic Nothing O’Clock feels. This story would make an excellent episode, and so the length of the story feels exactly right.

My only possible criticism of the story would be that it has probably unfairly raised my expectations for other Doctor Who stories. I’ll take that…

[schema type=”book” url=”http://www.neilgaiman.com/” name=”Nothing O’Clock” description=”Thousands of years ago, Time Lords built a Prison for the Kin. They made it utterly impregnable and unreachable. As long as Time Lords existed, the Kin would be trapped forever and the universe would be safe. They had planned for everything… everything, that is, other than the Time War and the fall of Gallifrey. Now the Kin are free again and there’s only one Time Lord left in the universe who can stop them!” author=”Neil Gaiman” publisher=”Puffin” pubdate=”2013-11-21″ ebook=”yes” ]

October 11, 2014
Brilliance (2013)

Brilliance by Marcus Sakey

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Less science fiction than a thriller with a “what if” premise, Marcus Sakey’s Brilliance is a well-written and engaging novel that nevertheless makes you eager to get on to the next book in the series.
The concept is as simple as it is good: since 1980 1% of new children are born “brilliant” or “abnorm” – they have unique talents and abilities, almost superhuman in nature. The story, set in an alternate history, picks up during the current time, when this first generation of abnorm children have grown up and are impacting daily life.

The book cover prominently features a quote from Lee Child that boasts, “The Kind of Story You’ve Never Read Before”. Nonsense. The story completely echoes the X-Men series of comics and novels. Even if you’re not a reader you can’t have failed to notice they’ve made like 10 movies about them. And there are plenty of other stories that have trod on this ground. The quote doesn’t do the novel any favors. But if you put aside this pre-conceived idea of the incredible originality that was thrust upon you, you can appreciate the book for what it is – a very solid thriller that examines the real-life issues that would necessarily arise from such a seismic shift in the makeup of the human race.

Despite the obvious parallels to X-Men and other superhuman fare, the brilliants of Sakey’s series don’t vary in appearance from the “norms”. Their gifts don’t allow them to fly or change the weather or shape-shift or anything like that. Many of them have natural abilities supernaturally enhanced: being able to “read” thoughts by body language; recognizing intent in other so as to see the areas where one can move undetected; accurately interpreting the patterns of the stock market to the extent that they have to shut it down.

A most common trait is pattern recognition and this is the one possessed by protagonist Nick Cooper, a brilliant who has chosen to become a federal agent uniquely skilled at finding the more dangerous abnorms. He has dedicated his life to hunting terrorists and his gift has helped him to become very good at it. But predictably the narrative will find him seeing things from the other side and question which side he’s on, yada yada…

As I said, it’s not groundbreaking stuff, but that doesn’t detract from the enjoyment of it. The quality of the book lies in the telling. Sakey does a great job positing the necessary changes that these gifted individuals have affected upon the world and placing realistic human characters (whether brilliant or norm) in believable situations. The political realities, the social and personal elements are all well represented and examined here and it makes for good storytelling.

I enjoyed the author’s style. It does read a bit like a movie – it comes as absolutely no surprise whatsoever that this story has already been optioned for film – but I accept that as a reality of thrillers, which often feel aimed for the screen. The adjective cinematic is not supposed to be a criticism – I want to feel swept away. Brilliance mostly achieves this.

The book suffers a touch from being the first in a series – just in that you’re sort of anxious to get on with it – but I think that speaks more to the quality of the overall story than it suggests dissatisfaction with the novel itself. I’m writing this review after reading the first two books, so my perspective is necessarily skewed; I enjoyed the second novel heaps more and so I may be downgrading my assessment of Brilliance accordingly. It was a great book and obviously made me snap up the second in the series, so mission accomplished.

[schema type=”book” url=”http://marcussakey.com/bk_brilliance.php” name=”Brilliance” description=”In Wyoming, a little girl reads people’s darkest secrets by the way they fold their arms. In New York, a man sensing patterns in the stock market racks up $300 billion. In Chicago, a woman can go invisible by being where no one is looking. They’re called “brilliants,” and since 1980, one percent of people have been born this way. Nick Cooper is among them; a federal agent, Cooper has gifts rendering him exceptional at hunting terrorists. His latest target may be the most dangerous man alive, a brilliant drenched in blood and intent on provoking civil war. But to catch him, Cooper will have to violate everything he believes in – and betray his own kind. From Marcus Sakey, “a modern master of suspense” (Chicago Sun-Times) and “one of our best storytellers” (Michael Connelly), comes an adventure that’s at once breakneck thriller and shrewd social commentary; a gripping tale of a world fundamentally different and yet horrifyingly similar to our own, where being born gifted can be a terrible curse.(” author=”Marcus Sakey” publisher=”Thomas & Mercer” pubdate=”2013-07-16″ isbn=”1611099692″ ebook=”yes” paperback=”yes” ]

September 24, 2014
Off to Be the Wizard – Magic 2.0 #1 (2013)

Off to Be the Wizard by Scott Meyer

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Grabbed this from the Kindle Lending Library and whipped through it quickly. It’s a very fun read.

The main character Martin Banks stumbles upon the truth that his (our) world is really nothing more than a complex and detailed computer simulation and he’s found the source file. Before you can say “there is no spoon”, he’s making edits to the source code to alter his height, enlarge bank account balance and try to teleport. In an alarmingly quick amount of time he has attracted the attention of the authorities, but he has wisely programmed an app that will let him escape from this reality into the past. His research has led him to believe that he can return to the Middle Ages and pretend to be a wizard with his new found “powers”. But it just may be that he’s not the first one to try that particular trick…

Off to Be the Wizard (Magic 2.0 #1) is a great read; funny, light and just the right length. First-time novelist Scott Meyer writes the online cartoon Basic Instructions (http://basicinstructions.net/) and has a great comic tone here. The characters are fun and interesting and the whole thing is just plain enjoyable. I’ll be reading the sequel, Spell or High Water (Magic 2.0, #2).

[schema type=”book” url=”http://basicinstructions.net” name=”Off to Be the Wizard (Magic 2.0 #1)” description=”Martin Banks is just a normal guy who has made an abnormal discovery: he can manipulate reality, thanks to reality being nothing more than a computer program. With every use of this ability, though, Martin finds his little “tweaks” have not escaped notice. Rather than face prosecution, he decides instead to travel back in time to the Middle Ages and pose as a wizard. What could possibly go wrong? An American hacker in King Arthur’s court, Martin must now train to become a full-fledged master of his powers, discover the truth behind the ancient wizard Merlin…and not, y’know, die or anything.” author=”Scott Meyer” publisher=”47North” pubdate=”2013-03-29″ isbn=”0615786596″ ebook=”yes” paperback=”yes” ]

August 7, 2014

After Earth (2013)

140 Character Movie Review – #140RVW

I don’t understand why this movie got lambasted with such bad reviews. It was good, with an original if simple story and some unique sci-fi.

Spoiler-free Movie Review of After Earth:

Some movies get a reputation pretty early on in the life cycle. Our critical nature as people and as a culture, coupled with the “me first” nature of the internet has definitely led to a tendency to jump all over a picture right away in order to be able to be the first snark on the scene. That’s fine, I guess, but it does grind up a lot of good stuff in the grist mill.

Occasionally this works to the project’s benefit with individual viewers – when your expectations have been significantly lowered, you are more easily impressed. But this doesn’t work on a large scale – the word has already gone out and perception is now reality when it convinces people not to give a picture a chance.

So it is with After Earth. I thought the trailers looked fantastic when they premiered. To my eyes, it looked like a good sci-fi picture, another entry in the series of modern films that envision a darker future for humans, due to our treatment of the environment. If you think you’ve seen a lot of these movies now, just wait – we’re only going to see more stories set in this environment. Why? For the same reason modern movies incorporate the internet – it’s our new reality.

After unsuccessfully convincing my daughter to go see it with me, I missed the chance at After Earth in theaters. I have to admit that all of the negative press was a factor in not trying harder to get out to see it; I’m as guilty as the next person at following the hype. The loss was mine – and yours – because it is a good picture.

After Earth, as the title implies, takes place in a future where we’ve had to abandon the planet after trashing the place and we settled on a new planet, Nova Prime. Unfortunately, there was some competition for the place (indigenous or other settlers is unclear and one of the early signs of sloppiness) and the “aliens” set loose creatures called Ursas, who are completely blind, sensing the pheromones humans give off when scared in order to hunt. (Not a bad idea, although again, I’d like to have heard more about this. Were they specifically bred for hunting humans? Do they sense fear in other creatures?)

Will Smith plays Cypher Raige (really), part of the United Ranger Corps who helped everyone evacuate Earth and are now tasked with saving the human race from extinction at the hands of the Ursas. He is able to completely suppress all fear and emotion, rendering himself invisible to the Ursas – “ghosting”. By teaching other Rangers, they turn the tables and are able to survive on Nova Prime. (Yet again, this exposition happens in a blur and you don’t really understand the current situation – have they succeeded? Are they still in danger? Where are the aliens that loosed the Ursas – do they do any of their own fighting?)

Meanwhile, between being physically distant off fighting and emotionally distant from ghosting, Cypher is a hero to all and a stranger to his family, particularly his son Kitai (Jaden Smith), whom Cypher unfairly blames for an Ursa killing his daughter Senshi (Zoë Kravitz). Kitai is training to become a Ranger but has yet to conquer his fears in the field and is denied advancement. Cypher takes his son along on the last trip before retirement, where of course things go pear-shaped. The ship crashes on Earth, now a dangerous and inhospitable place that Kitai must traverse on his own after his father is seriously wounded. The two survivors must trust in each other in order to get off the planet.

That’s a really good story. Will Smith came up with it based on a reality show with more or less the same father-son survival story and turned it into pretty solid sci-fi – once Gary Whitta and Shyamalan cleaned it up and wrote the screenplay. (It was further polished by Stephen Gaghan & Mark Boal.)

It’s really hard to do good science fiction and not have it be totally derivative or fundamentally unsound, and this avoids both, in my opinion. As I said, it’s not 100% fleshed out and while some audiences may have been itchy with a longer runtime, I would have enjoyed more depth. You definitely get the sense that some serious editing took place. As my wife pointed out, they didn’t do enough with the environment – “Earth was just an obstacle course”. I’m actually interested in reading some of the companion books they put out since I imagine there’s a lot more that was conceptualized than appeared in the film. This is always the case, particularly with sci-fi films, but since the movie was only 100 minutes, I’d guess there’s even more background than usual.

I found the movie entertaining and well-conceived. The sci-fi elements that you need to have (good tech, visuals, unique ideas, exotic creatures, realistic assumptions) are all there. A number of the devices and technologies are totally new to me and welcome – I love the suits, the cutlass, and the breathing capsules – all unique.

The film looks good – the production design is fairly standard, nothing terribly original but it’s not hugely derivative. The Ursas are very menacing, even if we don’t get enough time with them, and the ships are very cool. The effects are about what I expect them to be on a big 2013 movie. I thought they were mostly very good, some weak, some exemplary.

The acting seems to be another one of those divisive issues. I didn’t find anyone particularly impressive, but neither did I think it was poor. Both Smiths adopt this weird accent that I don’t totally get but I appreciate them trying to do something new. The best thing about the acting is that it is certainly the first film in which Will Smith doesn’t try at all to be charming and witty. He had an idea for a character and went with it. Kitai is probably over-whiny for most people, but I think that’s the point. I appreciate the father/son dynamic of the story as written and think the Smiths did an adequate job of expressing it. Maybe not the highest praise, but it’s certainly not criticism.

While I do a bit of research when writing these reviews, I generally try to avoid looking at what anyone else had to say about a movie, lest it inform my opinion, but I was terribly curious with this one. What was it about this movie that everyone hated so much?

Turns out that the movie was not so universally reviled as I thought. That impression was arrived at by how viciously it was treated by some. From some reviews you’d think that this was Plan 9 from Outer Space without a sense of humor. Some compare it to Battlefield Earth. (Note: I guess some people claim there are a lot of Scientology parallels in this movie. I don’t have any idea about that. The movie follows the Joseph Campbell model more than anything.) But it seems pretty divisive. For every review that calls the effects awful, another one calls them amazing. Some call it unoriginal, others call it unique. It’s really an oddly mixed bag. In my own house, I turned to my wife afterwards and said, “I don’t know what everyone was complaining about. I thought that was really good.” and was greeted with deafening silence and then something like “It wasn’t atrocious…”.

I find it interesting that while the movie bombed in the States, it was very successful overseas. Perhaps the press responded differently or maybe people simply aren’t as swayed by negative reviews?

After Earth was supposedly going to kick off a series of films, which is never going to happen based on its box office – at least in the US. Probably for the best, as while I like the setting, I’m unsure how you’d continue the story. The movie is unlikely to gain an audience at home that it missed in the theaters, but maybe it will gain some traction when it hits cable, which it is certain to do. I really did enjoy the movie – not in the “I can’t wait to watch that again” way, but I appreciated it and am glad I took the time to watch it. I recommend you do so as well, and make up your own mind.