#2,311: Arrival

To Be - ★★½☆☆
I was talking with a friend who remembered this existentially terrifying (and of course Canadian) cartoon he'd seen as a kid, and tracked it down for myself. It's a little bit long.

Special Delivery - ★★½☆☆
Another from the same animator as To Be, John Weldon. This one won the Oscar™ for best animated short. I don't love it, but it does seem like a more interesting time for the short film Oscars™. It's on YouTube.com here. 

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy - ★★★½☆
I'm pretty sure this was a rewatch, but I had no memory of what actually happens in this movie. It's like a puzzle box I can enjoy anew from start to finish each time I come back to it.

Arrival - ★★★★★
Great! I know we're just getting into the season*, but I wonder if this isn't my best picture pick. It's a nominee, at least, since sci-fi won't win it. As a generalization, I love it when a movie that is not a romance doesn't have a romance, and it's kind of clever how they get to have it both ways here. All the linguistic stuff really (ahem) speaks to me too. Fake etymology is one of my favorites of the fake sciences. Or, the fake humanities, I guess. I'm looking forward to having had seen it again some time. 

*Sorry, that must seem a little bit insane. The capsule reviews are usually done sort of close to when I saw the movie, but they print each week here four at a time. If I get too far ahead you end up seeing me speculate about awards season after it's over.  I can see how it would make more sense to publish in a timely fashion, or to post a new blog every time I rack up four movies, but... that's not what this is right now.

Also, like all movie reviewers, my star ratings are arbitrary and meaningless, and totally bendable by payola, if anyone's got some to spare.

Set List: Silent Edition!

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Escape Room Reviews: Murder in the Old Manor House

Company: Escape Hunt Experience Cleveland
Room: Murder in the Old Manor House
Date Played: 12/27/16
Player Count: 3. One or two more would have been okay. 
Success:  Success!

Premise: There had been, at a stately manor home, what law enforcement professionals might refer to as "A Murder," and as those professionals, it is incumbent upon you to crack the case!

Immersion: Escape Hunt is a franchise, in this case built into a former big box appliance and electronics store, and as such their lobby and rooms feel very professional, but more in the 'game show' side of production design than 'actual spooky manor.' There is a scene that takes place 'outside,' which we don't see too often. Some of the puzzles are beyond belief as things that might 'really be there,' but don't feel out of place or wrong for a nice game.

Highlights: There is a lot to do in this game, and a variety of puzzles. A few clichés, (black light: ✓) but also some mechanisms I'd never seen before. As an introduction to this kind of puzzle gaming experience, it went over great with the first-timer in our group, who put together a bunch of solves. I don't recall ever being at a loss for what to work on next.

Lowlights: Because of a lousy previous experience where I refused to work a cypher, I put extra effort into taking one for the team and puzzling one out in this game. This wasn't super fun or super helpful. I don't have any particular complaints about the game itself.

And Finally:  I think a room like this one is a very solid baseline for what an escape game should be. I would recommend it to anyone looking to try this sort of thing out, or more experienced players looking for a solid fix of puzzling. The only reason I don't rate it higher is that while this game checks all the boxes, newer and fancier games are inventing new boxes and checking them. That is, innovating and elevating the form on the shoulders of games like this one. Out of 15 games played, I'm ranking this one #7.

Also, I'm not sure we really did much in the way of catching the killer... 

How to book this room yourself: Visit http://cleveland.escapehunt.com

#2,308: Dr. Strange

Hush - ★★★★☆
Solid! The characters make mistakes you can criticize them for, but let's see you do better. It's really fun that Maddy's deafness is always a kind of weapon against her tormentor - she can always ignore him.

The backstory of a ma-and-pop indie production is neat too.

Piper - ★★★☆☆
Of course it's pretty. 

Denial - ★★★★☆
I liked this a lot. All that high flying lawyering! There's just something great about watching people who are excellent at their jobs using their skills effectively in a struggle, instead of the skills themselves being the subject of the struggle. I guess I'm advocating for 'Man v. Man' over 'Man v. Self,' but it's why I like this movie better than last year's version, Woman in Gold.

Doctor Strange - ★★★½☆
Certainly a movie that deserves to be seen on the big screen. Really terrific VFX work in this. I'm also happy with how this movie both advanced the plot of the overarching MCU and stood almost entirely alone from the other films. It's an origin story, fine, whatever, but it's not about a man bumbling, because this Strange's real power isn't magic, it's his ambition to learn. Being good at learning, optimizing, is a terrific skill all on its own. Here's hoping the sequel isn't just going to be about losing all of that to a well-placed punch.

Set List: Brought to you by Rob!

Sure, I do a lot of things to make the big Set List show happen, but that's why they pay me the 30-seconds-per-week-of-nonsense!