#2,364: The Verdict

Diani and Devine Meet the Apocalypse - ★★★★★
I've been to a couple of festival screenings of the movie.  We had one at the San Diego Comic Fest and another at a festival here in LA that doubled as a cast and crew screening.  I still like seeing what parts audiences enjoy.  The LA screening was unusual because there was so many cast and crew in attendance that the audience was a little too hot; their laughs stepped all over jokes the regular audiences enjoy.

Alien - ★★★★★
Watched alongside reading the book of production designer Roger Christian, Cinema Alchemist. The movie remains a classic. The book was badly in need of an editor.

Doctor Strange - ★★★½☆
On a rewatch, I was really pleased with how much more filmic, more cinematic, Dr. Strange is than other, similar movies.

I was wrong when I originally guessed that it would be set in the recent past (in order to make it make sense when he's name dropped in Winter Solider), but I'm going to try again by predicting Strange gets into it with Star Lord about when some song from the 70s charted.

The Verdict - ★★★½☆
Man, Lumet, Mamet, Newman.
You know that ridiculous trailer for House of Games, where "David Mamet writes the way people speak" (even though nobody in that movie sounds anything like a human)? It's movies like this one that got all that praise. Plus, I like the way they slow play a reveal so long that you might start to think it's not coming. I feel like the pacing is more a product of its time, but if you did it today it would seem deft.

Set List: Run the show Sweepstakes!

You know, a big part of what makes Set List at the Pack work so well is... me.  I push buttons, slide sliders, and even make these graphics for when Jason wants to talk to me about something. 

However! In about a month, I will be going on a planned and expected vacation that has nothing to do with my untimely and insensitive remarks, and when I do, someone else is going to have to steer the ship. It could be you! Find out by purchasing specially-marked packages of Hubba Bubba gum, or, like, talking to me or Jason after the show!

Set List at the Pack is a completely improvised stand-up show that happens every Thursday night at 10:30, at the Pack Theater in Los Angeles, CA.

Escape Room Reviews: The Crime Scene

Company: Enigma Escape
Room: The Crime Scene
Date Played: 5/14/17
Player Count: 2, which was enough
Success:  Success!  We not only escaped, we solved the murder!

Premise: My Uncle, the one who died a little while ago and we attended the reading of his Will? It’s time to discover what exactly happened to him, in this probably-flashback mystery.

Immersion: Enigma Escape has a particular level of quality and design that isn’t precisely matched by many other companies out there. Things feel solid, and old, not made of pressboard. What it may lack in the sense that an object or puzzle might not 'really be there,' Enigma makes up for in craftsmanship in their build-outs. 

Highlights: Some of the reveals are pretty fun in this room. Our typical opening sweep of the environment paid off. I'd love to be able to see heat maps, or some kind of time graph, of various escape rooms to see how much time the average group spends on various points of the puzzle flow. We did get stuck at one point, but according to our GM, not where people usually do, and we supposedly breezed right through some interactions that are usually sticking points. (This could be a specialized case of the rule where the GM has to tell you how smart and wonderful you are, but without a chart, I can't tell!)

Lowlights: We smashed against our most frequent, most dreaded hint: "keep going!" One box was open to us as soon as we saw it, and I was never clear on whether or not it was a mistake.

And Finally:   In our visit to The Will, we got the sense that this company's rooms would be playable as a duo, and we were right. Enigma's rooms are typically a mix of locks and interesting (sometimes mechanical) tech, and I think this is the first time I've played a room that made a bonus goal of actually comprehending the story. Out of 24 rooms played, I'm ranking this one #12. Because trying to rank all of the rooms numerically is a little bit absurd, I'm pretty sure that this reflects that this room is among the finest of what escape rooms were capable of a year or two or three ago.

How to book this room yourself: Visit http://www.enigmaescaperooms.com/room/info/4

Gangbusters! What's Happening Here?

Look, of course Gangbusters! is going to be a good one this week. It's always a good one. It's our special Completely Normal Show, and when you get right down to it, sometimes I just like making posters. 

#2,362: Avalanche! (And the start of MST3K s11)

MST 1101: Reptilicus
MST 1102: Cry Wilderness
MST 1103: The Time Travelers
MST 1104: Avalanche

I was worried that I was going to be completely weirded out by the new season of MST3K. I've met most of the previous casts of the show, but I knew Jonah and the new bots long before they got this gig. I was worried it was just going to seem like some dudes I know doing a podcast. And while it is a little weird to me to hear these guys making callbacks to jokes made by their predecessors 20 years ago, I think I've been pleasantly surprised by the quality. 

I've also been very surprised to see this incarnation turn everything I know about MST on its head. I used to watch this show for the host segments above all else. And while I appreciate the effort to check the boxes of the original series, so far they're mostly... not good. I can't believe that I like the theater part more, and I can't believe that Crow / Hampton is my favorite. I'm so glad he's doing a character voice. Baron is a terrific comic, but has enormous shoes– or, an enormous hoverskirt to fill. 

Technical production on the show, from what I've heard about it, seems just plain weird. I think part of what made the original, or the early era of Adult Swim so great, was that it was made by creative people with a lot more time than money. While this season is probably constrained by budget as much as anything, it still seems like the mass-produced version of the show. The timing feels weird, and it's because they're not actually in the room together recording the riffs. The characters don't necessarily match what they're saying because they're shot separately. The host segments don't have time for another take. The whole thing feels way more digital. 

In high school, it was my dream job to work on MST3K, and between how many other odd opportunities I've had to work with my heroes of that era, and how many people I knew that were involved in this version, I'm almost surprised I didn't have any involvement aside from donating $1. But at the same time, I'm not sure if this is the version I would have wanted to be a part of.  (Oh, I talk a good game, but I'm sure I'd've jumped at the gig!)

As for the episodes themselves: some of the movies aren't that bad. I'm intrigued by the weird little hints of continuity between them and hope that pays off somehow. The guest stars have been really disappointing. The set is weird in a new aspect ratio (and yet no hexfield!). And I hate TV's Son of TV's Frank. Sure, the name is dumb, but something about casting 'names' into MST3K, no matter how much they may have loved the old show, makes the new one feel like fanfic.