BOARD GAME REVIEW: CODENAMES DISNEY

Codenames is a game I really enjoy. It is a nice filler party game where perhaps it greatest strength can also be its greatest weakness (people trying to bend to rules or it overstaying it's welcome), but it is great as a starting or ending game on a game night. I'm not the only one who has enjoyed it, with the games getting a bunch of spin-off variants.

Disney is one of these variants. In this game, you are doing the normal Codenames thing of giving clues to guess the right stuff on a grid. But what you are trying to guess now is not words, but Disney pictures. This means you have pictures from Disney films such as Hercules, etc. and your clues have to relate to them.

My most glaring problem with this is that the pictures just aren't really that good. Most the pictures are really close-ups of a specific character or the like. I would have liked if the pictures were allot broader so you could relate more things together (i.e. taking objects from the background). It would've been really good if the cards were a bit bigger to accomodate this, but this is where being stuck to the Codenames card size is a detriment. 

The card issue is compounded by the fact it loses allot of its accessibility. Now, you need to know obscure characters from movies in order to compete with those more knowledgable about Disney films. This issue is compounded by the previous issue of the extreme close-ups limiting the scope of the clues you can give, thus eliminating the clever word plays originally used. 

That isn't to say this game doesn't do some good things. The intro/kid variant is a neat idea and the Disney background gave a wealth of iconic moments to draw from. Unfortunately, the price it pays in order to slap the Disney tag on this makes it feel like a cash-in on the Codenames and Disney brands.

2 out of 5 Frozen Waffles.

MOVIE REVIEW: ANTMAN AND THE WASP (2018)

Antman and the Wasp is a sequel to the superhero-heist movie that was Antman. Antman originally caught some lightning in a bottle (essentially), being a pretty good movie despite the constant chopping and changing behind the scenes.

That may actually be the main problem with Antman and the Wasp. It is essentially trying to feel like the original movie. It constantly seems to be trying a little bit too hard in landing its jokes or getting to its set pieces to feel like its own thing. There are also some puzzling story choices made throughout the movie. 

The plot is pretty easy. After Civil War, Dr Pym and his daughter Janet/Wasp are on the run while Scott is under house arrest. However, a few days before his 2 year house arrest ends, he has a dream of Janets mum. This leads them to trying to go to the quantum realm to free her while evading the police, some mobsters, and a mysterious ghost.

The movie is serviceable. However, it is also dissapointing. Any semblance of pseudo-science is lost as Quantum becomes synomonous with magic. Several promising plot threads are also resolved quietly without any sort of repercussions. For example, Antman being tricked into helping Captain America, Ghost's background and reasons for revenge, etc. are all dropped. Similar, the mobsters aren't there to be threatening, and should've been replaced by just the cops. Except that having an action scene involving cop cars getting totalled and the occupants killed would've involved real consequences.

This is a serviceable Disney/Marvel movie. Underneath the surface I could feel hints of a slightly darker story akin to Winter Soldier that didn't make it through the cutting room. However, most the jokes hit and the action scenes are nice. An average Marvel movie (at this point) is still a good movie. It just should've been better.

3 out of 5 shrunken waffles.

MOVIE REVIEW: INFINITY WAR

Infinity War is the latest Marvel movie in their cinematic universe. It was also the most secretive, with very late review embargoes on everything. Luckily, it might also be their best movie. 

The movie is an ensemble. Everyone is in it as they face off against Thanos and his chosen warriors. Inspired by the comics, Thanos is trying to complete his goal of killing half the universe. His tools- 6 infinity stones. 

This movie is very well done. It never feels jarring or too spread thin. All major characters get good chances to shine. All the characters are given a spot or two to show why the marvel cinematic universe is so loved. This is definitely a movie that you need to be at least familiar with the characters, though.

There are very few downpoints. There are a couple of jarring moments. One is when Black Panthers talks to another character, as if the filmmakers were trying to prove she is smarter than the resident named brains of the universe. This felt jarring instead of just getting the job done. Other characters are also required to take some small steps backward to get everyone back on the same page, but nothing that breaks the movie flow as bad as this. 

The other weaker point is Thanos himself. In he comics, he is a very cerebral villain (when done well), using brains over brawn. Here, he is much more a bruiser. Also, his power, despite seeming vast, seems to be inconsistent. He seems to struggle in some situations, which is a head scratcher considering how he is introduced. This is similar for Thanos’ chosen guard, Thor, Doctor Strange, Spider-Man, and others. The power scaling is a bit off. 

Thanos is still one of the better villains. He has depth similar to Killmonger or Loki (although not quite as strong or compelling as them), and is given time to be fleshed out. Considering that the two pillars this movie was resting on were Thanos and the balance of having so many characters, I think Marvel can hang their hats up on this as a success and how the cinematic universe is letting them push forward more and more. 

5 out of 5 infinite waffles. 

MOVIE REVIEW: BLACK PANTHER (2017)

Black Panther is the latest Marvel blockbuster in the Disney Avengers universe. Here, it is a movie that has been getting allot of buzz for being the first black superhero-led movie in this universe. It runs a bit over 2 hours and, when it is done, it is up there near the top of the food chain for superhero movies alongside the likes of Winter Soldier and Avengers.

Black Panther follows the story of the Black Panther character following Civil War. Now that the excitement is over, he goes back to his people to be crowned king and also get his special panther powers. However, powerful threats to his isolationist kingdom of Wakanda are rearing their heads. A meta-criticism of the movie is that the results of the movie have been spoiled by the Avengers: Infinity War trailer.

As tends to be the case with the latest Phase 3 Marvel movies, the real issues in the movie tend to be from the past. Such as in Thor, the end of Dr Strange, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, etc. the conflict is in people dealing with the mistakes and ambitions of their ancestors. Black Panther here tends to use Wakanda and the king as surrogates for dealing with poverty and suppresion. 

Where it succeeds the most is it puts the plight of African people as the centre-piece of the story. However, as opposed to things such as Last Jedi's near constant passive-aggressive take on social justice issues, it manages to craft a blockbuster movie out of them. No-one is pushed as constantly incompetent or even wrong. Instead it treats the problems (racial impovershivement, sexism, etc.) as real grown-up issues with believable takes on them as opposed to cartoonish supervillains. The world it builds up, the backstory of the characters, etc. are all in the background but hint at greater mysteries that can be speculated or revisited.

My only criticism is the action scenes. They tend to follow the Hollywood trend of extreme close-ups too much, meaning that you lose your sense of place and time in a scene too easily. Leaving the camera a bit further away isn't a huge crime, but this movie doesn't let you appreciate the scope and agility of the Black Panther and the fights enough. In my mind, the action scenes should have been extended a little bit more to give them this time to breathe. 

However, this is a minor complaint. This is perhaps a genre-defining film, proving that you can tackly heavy issues without resorting to putting the audience or history in a constant guilt-trip. In some ways, this a Social Justice Warrior movie done right.

5 out of 5 pantherific waffles.

MOVIE REVIEW: STAR WARS EPISODE 8- THE LAST JEDI (2017)

The second of the big movie releases for the end of the year that seems to have scared all the other movies away (with the other being Justice League), The Last Jedi had allot to live up to. With the criticisms of the Force Awakens being fresh in the minds of the new makers of Star Wars, this is a movie where it definitely feels like they jettisoned everything from Episode 7. This scorched earth approach unfortunately means that the bad bits go away, but so do all the good. 

* Spoilers Follow *

The story starts off following the magnificent trio of Poe, Finn and Rey as they continue on their side plots. Against them is the ever incompetent First Order headed by Snoke and Kylo Ren and an admiral that I didn't bother to learn the name of. Each of these goes through a plot where their plkot armour is in full effect and they never have to struggle for that much.

By the end of the movie, the only interesting villains (Snoke and his Red Guard) are dead. The only interesting plot development (Luke turned Dark and tried to kill Kylo Ren) is resolved in a way that says that Luke never did anything wrong because he never succumbed. ANd the Millenium Falcon can outgun a squadron of X-Wings. And First Order captial ships drop easily to a couple of fighters and bombers (and suiciding light-speed ships, which of course leaves everyone but the main characters unaffected).

And that is really the crux of the problem. The villains continuosly fail. The heroes never feel like they are in peril. And the characters and side plot are all boring. The special effects are okay (with some really weird parts that look awful), but there is nothing special about the movie or the performances in it. While Force Awakens may have been a little too much like the original, this throws away everything Star Wars for a bunch of generic perfect action heroes outgunning the foe. This is highlighted best by Carrie Fisher surviving being in a vacuum because of the force, which had me face palming. Doubly so because this was the only part of the movie where the villain nearly completes his goal.

At the end of the day, these are all nitpicks. The biggest sin of this movie is that I looked at my watch thinking the movie was nearly ending (because it felt like a slog) and it was only 30 minutes in. 

1.5 out of 5 force-awakened waffles.

MOVIE REVIEW: DR STRANGE (2016)

As (I believe) the last major sueprhero movie release of 2016 and touted Marvel's most ambitious project to date (although I think that is arguable at best), Dr Strange ends up being a pretty good way to finish the superhero year. However, the movie is marred by some of the imperfections which have started to become common in the Disney Marvel cinematic stable.

Dr Strange follows the story of, well, Dr Strange. This feels like a step back in the Marvel universe, but a good one at that. This feels more like an Iron Man origin story than a galaxy-threatening story. Dr Strange is an arrogant surgeon, he can't do surgery anymore and instead becomes a sorcerer after learning some lessons which lead to him stopping the bad guy. Al

In fact, the story is very simple. However, it seems to be in such a rush to get to the big set-piece battles that Dr Strange's education and character development seem a little rushed. I am not sure if they cut some scenes out but I could have done with less big battles and more introspective moments of him learning magic and humility.

If they cut out one or two battles (no spoilers but I have two definitely in mind) for some more learning time, I think this would have been one of the best movies Marvel has produced. As it stands, it is just really good and I am looking forward to exploring the Sorcerer's universe more.

4 out of 5 Strange Looking Waffles

Movie Review: Frozen

Frozen is the latest animated musical movie from Disney which takes the traditional Disney plot points and twists them around into something fresh and new. This movie introduces us to the two  adorable princesses and sisters, Anna and Elsa, as children, just before their parents die. It then jumps ahead to when Elsa comes of age to be Queen. The only catch is that Elsa was born with ice powers She is allot like Iceman, but cooler than the one from the movies. However, her parents died when she was young, her powers are a secret and Professor X didn’t come to her rescue.

At Elsa’s coronation, her powers are revealed to the world after Anna asks to marry her “Prince Charming”, Hans, whom she only just met. This leads to everyone wanting to hurt her. Scared, Elsa proceeds to go off and make a cage of emotions in the mountains, and finally unleashes her power. Anna then goes on a quest to bring Elsa back while Hans looks after the kingdom.

This movie was paced very well. The songs were all upbeat and never felt like they outstayed their welcome (unlike Les Miserables). The story never felt like it dragged out with the plot continuously moving forward. It isn’t often that I sit through a movie that is longer than 2 hours, especially a musical, where I don’t look at my watch at all.

The movie’s story really rests on the sisters, and it is here that Disney really nailed the characters. Elsa is the epitome of coldness and wanting to be left alone, while Anna is warmth and the sort of person that believes in love-at-first-sight. This makes the two sisters polar opposites in the extreme in their view of the world. The supporting cast also plays a memorable role, from the iceman Kristoff who criticizes love-at-first-sight, to the final twist on the traditional Disney formula with Prince Charming Hans.

However, at the conclusion, I did feel that Frozen let itself down. After the twist, this could’ve been set-up to be a classic take on the animated Disney formula. However, the final scene felt like they looked over the edge at what could’ve been, then got scared and wrapped everything up with a standard love-conquers-all, no-lasting-consequences Disney ending. Despite everything I liked about the movie, this ending did feel a bit like a cheat.

But at the end of the day, at least this wasn’t a story about two hopelessly-romantic princesses needing men to save them. In fact, at the conclusion, the main male hero in the story doesn’t play a part as it is up to the sisters to save themselves. And hopefully they won’t make a sequel.

4 out of 5 snap-frozen waffles.

Movie Review: The Lone Ranger (2013)

The Lone Ranger movie that was released earlier this year is a re-imagining of the old Lone Ranger mythos. It garnered quite allot of attention for casting Johnny Depp as a Native American and received quite a critical backlash on release. Although I can see why this movie was critically panned, I still found it to be entertaining while it lasted.

The storyline of the Lone Ranger is a bit of a schizophrenic mess. The story is effectively Tonto telling of his adventures to a young boy in a museum, so some of this can come off as an unreliable or biased narrator. The story begins with The Lone Ranger arriving into town as an attorney and an inept action hero who doesn't believe in guns. No real reason is established for his extreme dislike of guns. He is also in the shadows of his heroic ranger brother which is built up to be a big thing, but is then forgotten about except as a running gag with Tonto. When he is killed but brought back, it might have been because of a mystical, intelligent horse, or just because of luck. When he comes back, he is a “spirit walker” and therefore can’t die in battle, except it might just be random luck saving his life. Without any sort of consistent theme, the story struggled to get out of first gear as it kept jumping between what was central to the plot.

The movie also struggled to find a consistent tone. It often alternated between trying to be a serious action movie and then have elements of slapstick comedy. This is no more apparent than in a sequence where you witness a massacre, and the next scene appears to be a somber reflection by Tonto until he makes a joke about the horse. This was also a problem with the characters, as the big events that you would think would lead to character development (such as the aforementioned massacre) don’t really affect the characters too much. Even finding out more about their history and the mistakes in their lives doesn't the characters anymore interesting. Instead, it feels like it was only put in there because the writers needed to actually give the characters some development, although it never seems to affect any of their actions.

Despite this, it was refreshing that the movie didn't make the mistake of taking itself too seriously for the most part. It did realise that its main appeal is as slapstick comedy with some out-there action scenes. In fact, it is only when the movie does try to become dark and broody that it really starts to drag out. I can see why the critics would savage the movie due to the mess of a storyline, inconsistent tone and complete lack of character development, but it did keep me entertained for its running length.

2 out of 5 Wendingo-killing waffles.