Damsel and Society of the Snow

Movies that like punishing their protagonists.

Damsel

Princess Elodie (played Millie Bobby Brown) accepts an arranged marriage to a wealthy kingdom only to find that it is a most cruel double cross. Can she survive and get some payback? Well, it wouldn't be much of a movie if not so while you never actually fear for her life this very physical fantasy movie certainly puts her through the ringer with damage and feats that I don't think many non-plot armored characters could pull off. Other than the obviously fake horse riding, a predictable plot and sometimes just "ok" special FX, this was actually a decent watch for us as it was well paced and almost always exciting. Surprisingly good! Recommended and one I wouldn't mind watching again.

Society of the Snow

In 1972 a plane crashed in the Andes, and this movie depicts the true story of what happened to the survivors who lasted 72 days with limited resources in terrible conditions. While my wife had to "nope" out early due to the food issue (mmm cannibalism), I kept on with this pretty long film which keeps the roller coaster of hope and despair going with almost every scene. Alas, some other scenes are just too long for their own good even when sped up by 1.5x. While this means its not as attention gluing as Damsel, I felt it was still a pretty decent flick all up and especially cool with the ending credits. Worth a watch, but I'm probably not going to watch it again due to its length. 

The Diplomat and Berlin

First season TV shows that feel like other TV shows.

The Diplomat (Season 1)

On the verge of an international crisis Kate Wyler (played by Keri Russell) is assigned as US ambassador to the UK and manage the politics going on there. A sharp script and good acting makes this very entertaining, and it has a bit of the Madam Secretary feeling to it - except for the big difference where here our protagonist is not in a happy marriage and a bit unhinged thanks to the gifts/curses her husband (excellently played by Rufus Sewell) gives her. A season two for this one has been confirmed, and we're definitely going to be watching it!

Berlin (Season 1)

This currently one season prequel to Money Heist sees fan favorite Berlin (Pedro Alonso) assemble his own heist team to rob an auction house in Paris, and while the heist part is really nifty the crew are a bunch of real amateurs! You thought the Money Heist crew was bad? Wait till you see what shenanigans this lot gets up to. Even Berlin himself isn't immune to holding the idiot stick, but if you liked Money Heist - odds are you'll probably enjoy this. Of course the opposite is true as well.

Kaleidoscope and The Black Demon

Shows where people screw themselves? Lol.

Kaleidoscope

In this one season heist series stars Giancarlo Esposito as the mastermind who needs to assemble a team of crooks to rob a vault for a massive payday. Nice sets, good acting and interesting characters make this an interesting watch but then someone decided to make a gimmick where the episodes are all out of order, with some taking place after the heist despite the last episode being the heist. While we enjoyed it, we probably would have enjoyed it more if it was simply put in chronological order.

The Black Demon

In this horror(? more like unintentional comedy) movie, a magical megalodon terrorizes an offshore oil platform and all the fools silly enough to go near it. Yes, this is not your usual big CGI shark movie. For one it can make you trip balls with psychic attacks before eating you and two the kill count is pretty low as the movie tries its best to -not- use the shark as much as possible. Instead we have our protagonists, who are a handful of annoying characters, and the extras who all speak Spanish. This is fine if you speak Spanish but if you don't then don't count on this movie having any translation services for you (at least if you watch it on Amazon Prime).

I turned on the English subtitles (the only option) and got [speaks Spanish], [asks question in Spanish], [answers in Spanish], [laughs in Spanish]. Yeah, I made the last one up but there's a LOT of untranslated Spanish here. Anyway, this is a very silly movie and one I don't recommend.

Chupa (Movie) and Organ Attack (Card Game)

Made for kids!?

Chupa

A young boy visits his family in Mexico where they befriend a friendly baby Chupacabra and must hide it from the evil foreign researchers. Despite not being the highest budget film the CGI of the critter is rather nice and the child actors do an OK job. Obviously the entire plot is tailored for a young latino audience so expect to read subtitles if you aren't fluent in Spanish and don't expect high levels of viole... well, anything really. Don't expect high levels of anything. Unless you are this target audience, I suspect you can find better things to watch.

Organ Attack

After distributing organ cards, which are all face up so everyone can see them, each player gets five attack cards which can damage a particular organ (making it hard to target specific people), block damage, return damage or cause necrosis to instakill an organ. The objective is to destroy the organs of your competitors while protecting your own, so you'll be doing cruel things like giving your buddies strokes, multiple sclerosis, rupturing their appendix and other horrible diseases like that.

The art tries to inject humor into this but my gaming group just found it to be horrible theme, especially as we know people who were affected / died to many of the said cards. Not recommended. Exploding Kittens is a better alternative if you are in the market for something similar.

El Cid and World Without End

Two series set in medieval times.

El Cid

This Spanish series follows Ruy (Jaime Lorente, who you might better know as Denver on La Casa de Papel/Money Heist), who despite losing his father to King Ferdinand, works to become the very skilled squire of Prince Sanchio, Ferdinand's son. Mixed with sword fighting, back stabbing and politics is a healthy dose of drama where Ruy must often chose between what he wants and what is right. Good and entertaining story. There are two seasons of this thus far and I'm hoping there are more to come.

Just because he talks to birds doesn't make him crazy.

World Without End

This mini series is the sequel to The Pillars of the Earth and is set mostly in Kingsbridge once more, but don't worry if you haven't seen Pillars yet (though you should, it's very good) because this takes place 157 years later. In it the town is made to suffer by royalty and resident scum bags who are happy to be irredeemable "black hat" wearing villains and make the good characters, the people you root for, suffer ever episode. Excellent story telling, though my the same "people don't age" criticism I leveled at Pillars is the same here as principal characters don't change much appearance wise despite this story spanning several years. Still worth a watch though!

La Casa de Papel (Money Heist)

So much money. So many bullets.

This amazing 41 episode heist series from Spain focuses on a group of robbers and their complicated plans to escape with the loot - peacefully! While there are painful parts as characters do incredibly selfish things, it's actually still "in" their character which gets a pass from me.

"Bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao ciao ciao..."

It also helps that the cinematography and production values are excellent too. If anything, I'm surprised that for a show with this much gunfire not many people actually get shot. It is excellent at subverting expectations. Definitely one of my favorites and highly recommended, I give this a perfect five out of five and would watch it all again.

The Purge (five movies)

Release the beast!

In the America of this universe, one night every year is a twelve hour window where any and all crime, including murder, is legal. This night is called "The Purge".

The Purge (2013)

James (Ethan Hawke) is a security specialist who sells high quality home barricades, specifically designed for Purge night. Alas for him, his kids are absolute morons when it comes to security which makes for a somewhat exciting evening with one good action sequence towards the end. Setting up the foundations of what "the purge" is, makes for an interesting story but I have to wonder just how big their house is that they can lose people in it. Also, way too many walking in the dark scenes with nothing happening. I'd still watch it again though. Two and a half robot dolls out of five.

The Purge: Anarchy (2014)

Instead of being stuck in a house the entire movie, this one mainly follows Leo (Frank Grillo) as a man on a mission during purge night but can't help himself in getting the side quests of helping people he runs into. A much bloodier and way more fun film that the first that shows just how depraved some of these participants are, how desperate others are to sell their lives to the purgers, and how the government likes to participate too. Definitely a step up from the first movie, I score it three and a half out of five. Definitely would watch this one again.

The best purger.

The Purge: Election Year (2016)

Leo (Frank Grillo) is back as the bodyguard to a senator who is trying to abolish the purge, and given her rising popularity she soon becomes the target of mercenaries during purge night. Somehow, they manage to make purgers even more demented this time around and having shop keepers who happen to be ace shots also seems plot devicey but hey - maybe they really just practice all day when not tending the store? Still a decent flick and I'd probably watch it again. Three Christmas lit cars out of five.

The First Purge (2018)

Exploring the first "experiment" that would later turn into the Purge, this prequel's protagonist is Dmitri (Y'lan Noel) - the top drug lord on Staten Island, which is the isolated area for this test run. People are actually paid to stay there, or more to participate for the duration and surprisingly there are very few murder-psychos running around. An ok movie, it suffers from a long lead up before the purge night begins, and again more idleness while people commit only minor offenses. Unlikely I'd watch this one again, I give it two sewer pervs out of five.

The Forever Purge (2021)

Mexican immigrants (played by Ana de la Reguera and Tenoch Huerta) are the main protagonists of this movie (so expect a fair bit of Spanish), as crazed Americans extend the purge beyond the time limit to cleanse the country of people who don't belong. Surprisingly, while there is a lot of gunfire in this movie, it seems much more tame this time around (except for one part with an obvious trap). That doesn't mean its not entertaining, but it does make the purge seem less dangerous than it should be. I give it two and a half archers out of five.

Aztez

Can you change the fate of the Aztecs?

In this mostly black an white game with stylized art, you play as the Aztecs who are trying to change their fate against the Spanish invaders. Interestingly, there are two parts to the game.

The overland map plays much like a board game, where you are trying to strategically expand the empire to earn more resources that provide boons that can nullify negative events that pop up. Lose the capital and it's game over.

You can trap the conquistadors forever with some luck and some ruins!

The second part is a side scrolling brawler where you can send your chosen warrior(s) - the titular Aztez - to sort stuff out; Violently. This part is much harder and losing all your Aztez also results in a game over.

This makes for an interesting blend of strategy and action, and thankfully the game provides a training arena where you can practice your brawling skills against any enemy you've encountered. Some are really tough and none of them ever come alone.

It took a bit for me to get into this, and I did need to practice a bit in the arena but it is a pretty fun little game to occupy a day or afternoon. Just want to point out it's also rogue like, so don't think you can load a save game when things don't go your way. I give Aztez 3 festivals out of 5.

Insight: Always check the price of losing  a mission as warriors are not very easy to replenish.

The Fast and the Furious: 3 & 4

The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift

This movie actually happens somewhere during the credits of Furious 6. :P

There's an all new cast this time around, mainly focusing on an adrenaline and car-racing junkie (Lucas Black) and due to getting into trouble early on is sent to live with his dad in Tokyo. He quickly gets into old habits and gets himself into trouble with yakuza because... Japan! And ultimately learns to take responsibility for his actions. It's a pretty basic plot, but at least the different setting is refreshing. Don't expect to have escaped the "gansta" music though - now you just get it in Japanese. Obviously there's some Japanese spoken too.

Positives: It looks like they learned their lesson from last time and have less "talking while racing" as well as less "special FX while racing" with pretty intense and impressive stunt work happening - mostly focused on drifting as the title might give away. Also, despite being pretty "late" in the chronological order of things because it was made earlier than the in between movies it offers almost no spoilers. What I like most about it is they aren't shy about showing what happens to cars when you crash. There is a -lot- of automotive damage in this movie. I also quite liked the Initial D feel of the mountain race. Han is very cool.

You might not know it yet, but I'm actually the main character.

Negatives: There are also -lots- of party scenes. I mean LOTS (possibly more than the last two movie combined), most of which could have been cut out since they serve just as background while main characters walk from point A to B. This is probably to get the most out of all the scantily clad extras everywhere. Think Miku from the last movie x50. Also, while there is less "talking while driving dangerously", they didn't get rid of it altogether. One of the silliest scenes for me is two characters having a heart to heart while drifting down a mountain at speed, and the "driver" is obviously not driving thanks to her poor position.

All up I think those two sections balance each other out so I'm forced to just give this film two tires out of five. I also have no intention of watching it again.

~~~

Los Bandoleros

Takes the gear to the next level... down. Possibly two levels down.

I'm not sure what the point of this 20 minute little film is as the plot basically focuses on Vin Diesel recruiting people for the next movie below. It also does a pretty poor job of explaining why he is targeting oil - because the price is going up so he's going to give it away ala Robin Hood to the poor.

Logically, if you do that the oil companies would just increase the price even more? Moron. Anyway, there's no racing to be had here and most of the average camera work film is in Spanish. I don't know why, but despite all that I kinda enjoyed the slower pace of it. I guess I've taken a liking to his crew! Still, I can only give this one tire out of five, and don't really have a need to watch it again. You won't miss much for skipping it.

~~~

Fast and Furious

Welcome back Vin. We missed you!

In this fourth film, Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) is up to his old tricks again with a few familiar faces in the Caribbean. Unfortunately, his decision to try protect his girl friend by leaving her (really, that's a stupid move) goes incredibly bad and leads to him on a vengeance quest again an unknown cartel boss. Cop guy from the first movie is also back and happens to be hunting the same guy so a team up sounds pretty logical, but only after they get their machisimo out of the way.

Sports cars vs 4 Wheel Drives?

Like movie number two, this movie has the bad guy hiring drivers to deliver stuff which happens to be their "in" to the organization - pretty damn convenient if you ask me. Also, you are now treated to Mexican "Gangsta" music. Admittedly I'm getting used to hearing this genre now, which quite made the more regular acoustic songs of Los Bandoleros a refreshing change.

They also learned from the overuse of party scenes from Tokyo Drift and made an interesting, compressed one where you actually are still interested in what's going on. At the same time they kept the car destruction high which is awesome. Anyway I think this one is back on the same level as the first movie so I give it three tires out of five but again, have no interest in giving it a second watch through.