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auntynationalsblog · 4 years

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5 Netflix Films for the Week, set before the 21st c.

How’s quarantine going? Yeah, same here. But it’s Monday after all, and you still have over 150 hours to kill if you’re dealing with this quarantine via a week-by-week approach. I can help you kill around 8%, 12 of those hours. Here are five must-watch films set before the twenty-first century. Don’t watch them all at once, that’s lame.

No spoilers.

5. The Revenant (1823)

Main Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hardy

“Revenge is in the Creator's hands.”

Many of you will know of this film as the one which finally gave LDC his first Oscar, for Best Actor, at the 88th Academy Awards. Unfortunately, you would have stopped at that information and not bothered to watch the film. Released in 2015, the film is based on a novel of the same name. The definition of ‘Revenant’ is “a person who has returned, especially supposedly from the dead.” The story-line does not deviate from the title, as an American frontiersman named Hugh Glass is engulfed in a bear attack and is left for dead by his hunting crew. But he survives. And he’s fucking pissed. The novel is called The Revenant: A Novel of Revenge, and yeah, the film is pretty vengeful too. Interestingly, even though Hugh Glass was indeed a real person, and it is mostly believed that the film and novel are based on a story, there exist no writings from the man himself to verify the description of his story. His story was first published in a Philadelphia literary journal known as The Port Folio. Some say that it is no more than a legendary tale. Nevertheless, a brilliant film, don’t miss out.

4. Before Sunrise (1994)

Only Cast (LOL): Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy

“If there's any kind of magic in this world…it must be in the attempt of understanding someone.”

If you’re a fan of love stories/romantic films, and if you haven’t come across the Before Trilogy, I don’t know what kind of love stories you watch. Why is this film unique? In technical terms, it’s minimalist. In simple words, there’s no real plot. There’s no action or drama or horror. These two just walk and talk. Then they talk some more while walking, and when they’ve nothing to talk about, they just walk quietly. So why watch the film? For starters, it’s very peaceful and relaxing, unlike The Revenant, which is fucking intense. Secondly, the conversations in the film constitute some of the best dialogue-exchanges in the history of cinema. Their characters are very carefully crafted, as their varying perspectives on living and loving bring out some deep AF points throughout the film. It is a slow film no doubt, but I promise you that the blandness is worth it, and the ending is too nice. Don’t get bored, give the film some time and thank me later.

3. Django Unchained (1858)

Main Cast: Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz, and Leonardo DiCaprio

“Sold! To the man with the exceptional beard and his unexceptional nigga!”

Django Unchained is Tarantino’s highest-grossing film ever, for good reason. Although it has been criticized for historical inaccuracies, violence, and unprecedented high use of the N-word, Tarantino delivered one of the most dramatic and entertaining films from the era of plantation slavery. While the image above portrays Foxx, a slave, and LDC, a rich plantation owner, the highlight of the film was the German dentist-turned-bounty hunter, Dr. King Schultz, played by Christoph Waltz. Waltz’s performance is impeccable, only matched by his portrayal of Standartenführer Hans Landa in Inglourious Basterds (also directed by Tarantino). While the film starts off with Dr. Schultz hunting for his bounties, it eventually goes on to become a rescue mission, where Django and Schultz look for the former’s estranged wife, Broomhilda von Shaft. TW; extreme cursing and racism. But the film is a work of art. In fact, Jamie Foxx has revealed that LDC was pretty uncomfortable on the set, as his character had to use extremely racial slurs. But boy, he pulled off that role brilliantly.

2. Zodiac (1969 - 1980s)

Main Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Mark Ruffalo, and Robert Downey Jr.

“I wanna report a double murder. If you go one mile east on Columbus Parkway, to a public park, you'll find kids in a brown car. They were shot with a 9mm Luger. I also killed those kids last year. Goodbye.”

What happens when Iron Man, Hulk and Mysterio gang-up against one of America’s most notorious serial-killers? For now, I can only tell you that it was a pretty uneven contest. Based on a true story, this film depicts the useless San Francisco Police Department’s hunt for the Zodiac Killer, led by Dave Toschi (Ruffalo), and aided by political cartoonist Robert Graysmith (Gyllenhaal) and crime reporter Paul Avery (Downey). In case you’re wondering if they’re fictional characters, they’re not. They became pretty famous while the Zodiac Killer was running havoc, and have multiple articles and Wikipedia pages dedicated to all three of them. The Zodiac Killer remains unidentified by the way, and the cases are still officially open. Why watch the film then? Because the mysteriousness of it will blow your mind. Note that the film is directed by David Fincher, the same guy who directed Seven, Fight Club, Gone Girl and Mindhunter, among many other murder mysteries and thrillers. Don’t be surprised if you spend the rest of the day investigating the case yourself, happens to the best of us.

Consolation Prize: The Irishman (1950s - 1970s)

Main (legendary) Cast: Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, and Joe Pesci

“I work hard for them when I ain't stealing from them.”

I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking how can a film with a cast of three actors who redefined cinema in the late twentieth century earn only a consolation prize on this list? The truth is, that such crime/mafia/gangster films, no matter how legendary the cast is, only appeal to a particular audience. A lot of film buffs who truly appreciate cinema and actors are simply not enticed by this genre, which is okay. Nevertheless, this film, which spans over 200 minutes, is one of Martin Scorsese’s best works, along with other mob movies like Goodfellas and The Departed. Based on a true story, it follows the adventures of ordinary truck driver-turned-assassin Frank ‘Irishman’ Sheeran (De Niro), who gets mixed up in some extraordinary business with mobster Russell Bufalino (Pesci), his Pennsylvania crime family and American labor union leader Jimmy Hoffa (Pacino). The punchline of the film is “I heard you paint houses” - a mob code implying: I heard you murder people for money, the paint being the symbol of the blood that splatters when bullets are riddled into the target. Typical Scorsese, mesmerizing direction. The punchline is also the name of the novel the film is based on, in case you love reading about organized crime.

1. Dallas Buyers Club (1985)

Main Cast: Matthew McConaughey, Jennifer Garner and Jared Leto

“Sometimes, I feel I'm fighting for a life that I just ain't got the time to live. I want it all to mean something.”

On the day of the 86th Academy Awards, Facebook and Twitter erupted in outrage. LDC had not been awarded the Oscar for Best Actor for his portrayal of Jordan Belfort in The Wolf of Wall Street, also known as The Film You Must Never Watch With Your Family. I merely asked every hot-tempered schmucks who posted that LDC had been snubbed, “Have you watched Dallas Buyers Club?” Either the answer was no, or the answer never came. The point being, Dallas Buyers Club is one of the best films ever made. Based on the true story of Ron Woodroof, a once homophobic, junkie cowboy diagnosed with AIDS, co-starring Jared Leto (who won best supporting actor) as Rayon, a fictional trans-woman with HIV, this film tells us an extraordinary tale of friendship, hope and empathy. When Ron discovers that the Federal Drug Administration has been systematically banning cheap drugs that can improve the condition of existing HIV-AIDS patients, he opens a ‘buyers club’, that enabled sick people to make drug purchases at lower prices. Things get more interesting with the role of Dr. Eve Saks, an AIDS doctor, who recognizes the villainous role of the state, but wants to remain within the ambit of the law. Ron’s character development might be the highlight of the film, as he transforms from a selfish, homophobic asshole to a dying man waging war against the American government, fighting for the healthcare of the underprivileged. Very few equally magnificent films have come out post Dallas Buyers Club. Don’t miss out.

So that’s it folks. Make good use of your quarantine by immersing yourself in good quality cinema. I’ll come up with some more suggestions on films and TV shows soon enough. Till then, Netflix and Don’t Chill.

#netflix

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grigori77 · 5 years

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2018 in Movies - My Top 30 Fave Movies (Part 1)

30. MANDY – easily the weirdest shit I saw in 2018, this 2-hour-plus fever dream fantasy horror is essentially an extended prog-rock video with added “plot” from Beyond the Black Rainbow director Panos Cosmatos. Saying that by the end of it I was left feeling exhausted, brain-fried and more than a little weirded-out might not seem like much of a recommendation, but this is, in fact, a truly transformative viewing experience, a film destined for MASSIVE future cult status. Playing like the twisted love-child of David Lynch and Don Coscarelli, it (sort of) tells the story of lumberjack Red Miller (Nicolas Cage) and his illustrator girlfriend Mandy Bloom (Andrea Riseborough), who have an idyllic life in the fantastically fictional Shadow Mountains circa 1983 … at least until Mandy catches the eye of Jeremiah Sand (Linus Roache), the thoroughly insane leader of twisted doomsday cult the Children of the New Dawn, who employs nefarious, supernatural means to acquire her. But Mandy spurns his advances, leading to a horrific retribution that spurs Red, a traumatised war veteran, to embark on a genuine roaring rampage of revenge. Largely abandoning plot and motivation for mood, emotion and some seriously trippy visuals, this is an elemental, transcendental film, a series of deeply weird encounters and nightmarish set-pieces that fuel a harrowing descent into a particularly alien, Lovecraftian kind of hell, Cosmatos shepherding in one breathtaking sequence after another with the aid of skilled cinematographer Benjamin Loeb, a deeply inventive design team (clearly drawing inspiration from the artwork of late-70s/early 80s heavy metal albums) and a thoroughly tricked-out epic tone-poem of a score from the late Jôhan Jôhannsson (Sicario, Arrival, Mother!), as well as one seriously game cast. Cage is definitely on crazy-mode here, initially playing things cool and internalised until the savage beast within is set loose by tragedy, chewing scenery to shreds like there’s no tomorrow, while Riseborough is sweet, gentle and inescapably DOOMED; Roach, meanwhile, is a thoroughly nasty piece of work, an entitled, delusional narcissist thoroughly convinced of his own massive cosmic importance, and there’s interesting support from a raft of talented character actors such as Richard Brake, Ned Dennehy and Bill Duke. This is some brave, ambitious filmmaking, and a stunning breakthrough for one of the weirdest and most unique talents I’ve stumbled across a good while. Cosmatos is definitely one to watch.

29. THE GIRL IN THE SPIDER’S WEB – back in 2011, David Fincher’s adaptation of Stieg Larsson’s runaway bestseller The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo became one of my very favourite screen thrillers EVER, a stone-cold masterpiece and, in my opinion, the superior version of the story even though a very impression Swedish version had broken out in a major way the year before. My love for the film was coloured, however, by frustration at its cinematic underperformance, which meant that Fincher’s planned continuation of the series with Millennium Trilogy sequels The Girl Who Played With Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest would likely never see the light of day. Even so, the fan in me held out hope, however fragile, that we might just get lucky. Seven years later, we have FINALLY been rewarded for our patience, but not exactly in the fashion we’ve been hoping for … Fincher’s out, Evil Dead-remake and Don’t Breathe writer-director Fede Alvarez is in, and instead of continuing the saga in the logical place the makers of this new film chose the baffling route of a “soft reboot” via adapting the FOURTH Millennium book, notable for being the one released AFTER Larsson’s death, penned by David Lagercrantz, which is set AFTER the original Trilogy. Thing is, the actually end result, contrary to many opinions, is actually pretty impressive – this is a leaner, more fast-paced affair than its predecessor, a breathless suspense thriller that rattles along at quite a clip as we’re drawn deeper into Larsson’s dark, dangerous and deeply duplicitous world and treating fans to some top-notch action sequences, from a knuckle-whitening tech-savvy car chase to a desperate, bone-crunching fight in a gas-filled room. Frustratingly, the “original” Lisbeth Salander, Rooney Mara, is absent (despite remaining VERY enthusiastic about returning to the role), but The Crown’s Claire Foy is almost as good – the spiky, acerbic and FIERCELY independent prodigious super-hacker remains as brooding, socially-awkward, emotionally complex and undeniably compelling as ever, the same queen of screen badasses I fell in love with nearly a decade ago. Her investigative journalist friend/occasional lover Mikael Blomkvist is, annoyingly, less well served – Borg Vs McEnroe star Sverrir Gudnasson is charismatic and certainly easy on the eyes, but he’s FAR too young for the role (seriously, he’s only a week older than I am) and at times winds up getting relegated to passive observer status when he’s not there simply to guide the plot forward; we’re better served by the supporting cast, from Lakeith Stanfield (Get Out, Sorry to Bother You) as a mysterious NSA security expert (I know!) to another surprisingly serious turn (after Logan) from The Office’s Stephen Merchant as the reclusive software designer who created the world-changing computer program that spearheads the film’s convoluted plot, and there’s a fantastically icy performance from Blade Runner 2049’s Sylvia Hoeks as Camilla Salander, Lisbeth’s estranged twin sister and psychopathic head of the Spiders, the powerful criminal network once controlled by their monstrous father (The Hobbit’s Mikael Persbrandt). The film is far from perfect – the plot kind runs away with the story at times, while several supposedly key characters are given frustratingly little development or screen-time – but Alvarez keeps things moving along with typical skill and precision and maintains a tense, unsettling atmosphere throughout, while there are frequently moments of pure genius on display in the script by Alvarez, his regular collaborator Jay Basu and acclaimed screenwriter Steven Knight (Dirty Pretty Things, Locke) – the original novel wasn’t really all that great, but by just taking the bare bones of the plot and crafting something new and original they’ve improved things considerably. The finished product thrills and rewards far more than it frustrates, and leaves the series in good shape for continuation. With a bit of luck this time it might do well enough that we’ll finally get those other two movies to plug the gap between this and Fincher’s “original” …

28. ISLE OF DOGS – I am a MASSIVE fan of the films of Wes Anderson. Three share placement in my all-time favourite screen comedies list – Grand Budapest Hotel, The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou and, of course, The Royal Tenebaums (which perches high up in my TOP TEN) – and it’s always a pleasure when a new one comes out. 2009’s singular stop-motion gem Fantastic Mr Fox showed just how much fun his uniquely quirky sense of humour and pleasingly skewed world-view could be when transferred into an animated family film setting, so it’s interesting that it took him nearly a decade to repeat the exercise, but the labour of love is writ large upon this dark and delicious fable of dystopian future Japanese city Megasaki, where an epidemic of “dog flu” prompts totalitarian Mayor Kobayashi (voiced by Kunichi Nomura) to issue an edict banishing all of the city’s canine residents to nearby Trash Island. Six months later, Kobayashi’s nephew Atari (newcomer Koyu Rankin) steals a ridiculously tiny plane and crash-lands on Trash Island, intent on rescuing his exiled bodyguard-dog Spots (Liev Schreiber); needless to say this is easier said than done, unforeseen circumstances leading a wounded Atari to enlist the help of a pack of badass “alpha dogs” voiced by Anderson regulars – Rex (Edward Norton), King (Bob Balaban), Boss (Bill Murray) and Duke (Jeff Goldblum) – and nominally led by crabby, unrepentantly bitey stray Chief (Bryan Cranston), to help him find his lost dog in the dangerous wilds of the island. Needless to say this is as brilliantly odd as we’ve come to expect from Anderson, a perfectly pitched, richly flavoured concoction of razor sharp wit, meticulously crafted characters and immersive beauty. The cast are, as always, excellent, from additional regulars such as Frances McDormand, Harvey Keitel and F. Murray Abraham to new voices like Greta Gerwig, Scarlett Johansson, Ken Watanabe and Courtney B. Vance, but the film’s true driving force is Cranston and Rankin, the reluctant but honest relationship that forms between Chief and Atari providing the story with a deep, resonant emotional core. The first rate animation really helps – the exemplary stop-motion makes the already impressive art of Mr Fox seem clunky and rudimentary (think the first Wallace & Gromit short A Grand Day Out compared to their movie Curse of the Were-Rabbit), each character rendered with such skill they seem to be breathing on their own, and Anderson’s characteristic visual flair is on full display, the Japanese setting lending a rich, exotic tang to the compositions, especially in the deeply inventive environs of Trash Island. Funny, evocative, heartfelt and fiendishly clever, this is one of those rare screen gems that deserves to be returned to again and again, and it’s definitely another masterpiece from one of the most unique filmmakers working today.

27. VENOM – when Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man saga came to a rather clunky end back in 2007, it felt like a case of too many villains spoiling the rumble, and it was pretty clear that the inclusion of bad-boy reporter Eddie Brock and his dark alter ego was the straw that broke that particular camel’s back. Venom didn’t even show up proper until almost three quarters of the way through the movie, by which time it was very much a case of too-little-too-late, and many fans (myself included) resented the decidedly Darth Maul-esque treatment of one of the most iconic members of Marvel’s rogues’ gallery. It’s taken more than a decade for Marvel to redress the balance, even longer than with Deadpool, and, like with the Merc With a Mouth, they decided the only way was a no-holds-barred, R-rated take that could really let the beast loose. Has it worked? Well … SORT OF. In truth, the finished article feels like a bit of a throwback, recalling the pre-MCU days when superhero movies were more about pure entertainment without making us think too much, just good old-fashioned popcorn fodder, but in this case that’s not a bad thing. It’s big, loud, dumb fun, hardly a masterpiece but it does its job admirably well, and it has one hell of a secret weapon at its disposal – Tom Hardy. PERFECTLY cast as morally ambiguous underdog investigative journalist Eddie Brock, he deploys the kind of endearingly sleazy, shit-eating charm that makes you root for him even when he acts like a monumental prick, while really letting rip with some seriously twitchy, sometimes downright FEROCIOUS unhinged craziness once he becomes the unwilling host for a sentient parasitic alien symbiote with a hunger for living flesh and a seriously bad attitude. This is EASILY one of the best performances Hardy’s ever delivered, and he entrances us in every scene, whether understated or explosive, making even the most outlandish moments of Brock’s unconventional relationship with Venom seem, if not perfectly acceptable, then at least believable. He’s ably supported by Michelle Williams as San Francisco district attorney Anne Weying, his increasingly exasperated ex-fiancée, Rogue One’s Riz Ahmed as Carlton Drake, the seemingly idealistic space-exploration-funding philanthropist whose darker ambitions have brought a lethal alien threat to Earth, and Parks & Recreation’s Jenny Slate as Drake’s conflicted head scientist Nora Skirth, while there’s a very fun cameo from a particularly famous face in the now ubiquitous mid-credits sting that promises great things in the future. Director Ruben Fleischer brought us Zombieland and 30 Minutes Or Less, so he certainly knows how to deliver plenty of blackly comic belly laughs, and he brings plenty of seriously dark humour to the fore, the rating meaning the comedy can get particularly edgy once Venom starts to tear up the town; it also fulfils the Marvel prerequisite of taking its action quota seriously, delivering a series of robust set-pieces (the standout being a spectacular bike chase through the streets of San Fran, made even more memorable by the symbiote’s handy powers). Best of all, the film isn’t afraid to get genuinely scary with some seriously nasty alien-induced moments of icky body horror, captured by some strangely beautiful effects works that brings Venom and his ilk to vivid, terrifying life. Flawed as it is, this is still HUGE fun, definitely one of the year’s biggest cinematic guilty pleasures, and I for one can’t wait to see more from the character in the near future, which, given what a massive success the film has already proven at the box office, seems an ironclad certainty.

26. SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY – the second of Disney’s new phase of Star Wars movies to feature in the non-trilogy-based spinoff series had a rough time after its release – despite easily recouping its production budget, it still lost the $100-million+ it spent on advertising, while it was met with extremely mixed reviews and shunned by many hardcore fans. I’ll admit that I too was initially disappointed with this second quasi prequel to A New Hope (after the MUCH more impressive Rogue One), but a second, more open-minded viewing after a few months to ruminate mellowed my experience considerably, the film significantly growing on me. An origin story for the Galaxy’s most lovable rogue was always going to be a hard sell – Han Solo is an enjoyable enigma in The Original Trilogy, someone who lives very much in the present, his origins best revealed in the little details we glean about him in passing – but while it’s a flawed creation, this interstellar heist adventure mostly pulls off what was intended. Like many fans of The Lego Movie, I remain deeply curious about what original director duo Phil Lord and Chris Miller could have achieved with the material, but I wholeheartedly approved Disney’s replacement choice when he was announced – Ron Howard is one of my favourite “hit-and-miss” directors, someone who’s made some clunkers in his time (The Da Vinci Code, we’re looking at you) but can, on a good day, be relied on to deliver something truly special (Willow is one of my VERY FAVOURITE movies from my childhood, one that’s stood up well to the test of time, and a strong comparison point for this; Apollo 13 and Rush, meanwhile, are undeniable MASTERPIECES), and in spite of its shortcomings I’m ultimately willing to consider this one of his successes. Another big step in the right direction was casting Hail, Caesar! star Alden Ehrenreich in the title role – Harrison Ford’s are seriously huge shoes to fill, but this talented young man has largely succeeded. He may not quite capture that wonderful growling drawl but he definitely got Han’s cocky go-getter swagger right, he’s particularly strong in the film’s more humorous moments, and he has charisma to burn, so he sure makes entertaining viewing. It also helps that the film has such a strong supporting cast – with original Chewbacca Peter Mayhew getting too old for all this derring-do nonsense, former pro basketball-player Joonas Suotamo gets a little more comfortable in his second gig (after The Last Jedi) in the “walking carpet” suit, while Woody Harrelson adds major star power as Tobias Beckett, Han’s likeably slippery mentor in all things criminal in the Star Wars Universe, and Game of Thrones’ Emilia Clarke is typically excellent as Han’s first love Qi’ra, a fellow Corellian street orphan who’s grown up into a sophisticated thief of MUCH higher calibre than her compatriots. The film is dominated, however, by two particularly potent scene-stealing turns which make you wonder if it’s really focused on the right rogue’s story – Community star Donald Glover exceeds all expectations as Han’s old “friend” Lando Calrissian, every bit the laconic smoothie he was when he was played by Billy Dee Williams back in the day, while his droid companion L3-37 (voiced with flawless comic skill by British stage and sitcom actress Phoebe Waller-Bridge) frequently walks away with the film entirely, a weirdly flirty and lovably militant campaigner for droid rights whose antics cause a whole heap of trouble. The main thing the film REALLY lacks is a decent villain – Paul Bettany’s oily kingpin Dryden Voss is distinctive enough to linger in the memory, but has criminally short screen-time and adds little real impact or threat to the main story, only emphasising the film’s gaping, Empire-shaped hole. Even so, it’s still a ripping yarn, a breathlessly exciting and frequently VERY funny space-hopping crime caper that relishes that wonderful gritty, battered old tech vibe we’ve come to love throughout the series as a whole and certainly delivers on the action stakes – the vertigo-inducing train heist sequence is easily the film’s standout set-piece, but the opening chase and the long-touted Kessel Run impress too – it only flags in the frustrating and surprisingly sombre final act. The end result still has the MAKINGS of a classic, and there’s no denying it’s also more enjoyable and deep-down SATISFYING than the first two films in George Lucas’ far more clunky Prequel Trilogy. Rogue One remains the best of the new Star Wars movies so far, but this is nothing like the disappointment it’s been made out to be.

25. AQUAMAN – the fortunes of the DC Extended Universe cinematic franchise continue to fluctuate – these films may be consistently successful at the box office, but they’re a decidedly mixed bag when it comes to their quality and critical opinion, and the misses still outweigh the hits. Still, you can’t deny that when they DO do things right, they do them VERY right – 2017’s acclaimed Wonder Woman was a long-overdue validation for the studio, and they’ve got another winner on their hands with this bold, brash, VERY ballsy solo vehicle for one of the things that genuinely WORKED in the so-so Justice League movie. Jason Momoa isn’t just muscular in the physical sense, once again proving seriously ripped in the performance capacity as he delivers rough, grizzled charm and earthy charisma as half-Atlantean Arthur Curry, called upon to try and win back the royal birthright he once gave up when his half-brother Prince Orm (Watchmen’s Patrick Wilson), ruler of Atlantis, embarks on a brutal quest to unite the seven underwater kingdoms under his command in order to wage war on the surface world. Aquaman has long been something of an embarrassment for DC Comics, an unintentional “gay joke” endlessly derided by geeks (particularly cuttingly in the likes of The Big Bang Theory), but in Momoa’s capable hands that opinion has already started to shift, and the transition should be complete after this – Arthur Curry is now a swarthy, hard-drinking alpha male tempered with a compellingly relatable edge of deep-seeded vulnerability derived from the inherent tragedy of his origins and separation from the source of his immense superhuman strength, and he’s the perfect flawed action hero for this most epic of superhero blockbusters. Amber Heard is frequently as domineering a presence as Atlantean princess Mera, a powerful warrior in her own right and fully capable of heading her own standalone adventure someday, and Wilson makes for a very solid and decidedly sympathetic villain whose own motivations can frequently be surprisingly seductive, even if his methods are a good deal more nefarious, while The Get Down’s Yahya Abdul-Mateen II is more down-and-dirty BAD as David Kane, aka the Black Manta, a lethally tech-savvy pirate who has a major score to settle with the Aquaman; there’s also strong support from the likes of Willem Dafoe as Curry’s sage-like mentor Vulko, Dolph Lundgren as Mera’s father, King Nereus, the ever-reliable Temuera Morrison as Arthur’s father Thomas, and Nicole Kidman as his ill-fated mother Atlanna. Director James Wan is best known for establishing horror franchises (Saw, Insidious, The Conjuring), but he showed he could do blockbuster action cinema with Fast & Furious 7, and he’s improved significantly with this, delivering one gigantic action sequence after another with consummate skill and flair as well as performing some magnificent and extremely elegant world-building, unveiling dazzling, opulent and exotic undersea civilizations that are the equal to the forests of Pandora in Avatar, but he also gets to let some of his darker impulses show here and there, particularly in a genuinely scary visit to the hellish world of the Trench and its monstrous denizens. It may not be QUITE as impressive as Wonder Woman, and it still suffers (albeit only a little bit) from the seemingly inherent flaws of the DCEU franchise as a whole (particularly in yet another overblown CGI-cluttered climax), but this is still another big step back in the right direction, one which, once again, we can only hope they’ll continue to repeat. I’ll admit that the next offering, Shazam, doesn’t fill me with much confidence, but you never know, it could surprise us. And there’s still Flashpoint, The Batman and Birds of Prey to come …

24. THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI – filmmaker brothers Martin and John Michael McDonagh have carved an impressive niche in cinematic comedy this past decade, from decidedly Irish breakout early works (In Bruges from Martin and The Guard and Calvary from John) to enjoyable outsider-looking-in American crim-coms (Martin’s Seven Psychopaths and John’s War On Everyone), and so far they’ve all had one thing in common – they’re all BRILLIANT. But Martin looks set to be the first brother to be truly accepted into Hollywood Proper, with his latest feature garnering universal acclaim, massive box office and heavyweight Awards recognition, snagging an impressive SEVEN Oscar nominations and taking home two, as well as landing a Golden Globe and BAFTA for Best Picture. It’s also the most thoroughly AMERICAN McDonagh film to date, and this is no bad thing, Martin shedding his decidedly Celtic flavours for an edgier Redneck charm that perfectly suits the material … but most important of all, from a purely critical point of view this could be the very BEST film either of the brothers has made to date. It’s as blackly comic and dark-of-soul as we’d expect from the creator of In Bruges, but there’s real heart and tenderness hidden amongst the expletive-riddled, barbed razor wit and mercilessly observed, frequently lamentable character beats. Frances McDormand thoroughly deserved her Oscar win for her magnificent performance as Mildred Hayes, a take-no-shit shopkeeper in the titular town whose unbridled grief over the brutal rape and murder of her daughter Angela (Kathryn Newton) has been exacerbated by the seeming inability of the local police force to solve the crime, leading her to hire the ongoing use of a trio of billboards laying the blame squarely at the feet of popular, long-standing local police Chief Bill Willoughby (Woody Harrelson). Needless to say this kicks up quite the shitstorm in the town, but Mildred stands resolute in the face of seemingly overwhelming odds, refusing to back down. McDormand has never been better – Mildred is a foul-mouthed, opinionated harpy who tells it like it is, no matter who she’s talking to, but there’s understandable pain driving her actions, and a surprisingly tender heart beating under all that thorniness; Harrelson, meanwhile, is by turns a gruff shit-kicker and a gentle, doting family man, silently suffering over his own helplessness with the dead end the case seems to have turned into. The film’s other Oscar-winner, Sam Rockwell, also delivers his finest performance to date as Officer Jason Dixon, a true disgrace of a cop whose permanent drunkenness has marred a career which, it turns out, began with some promise; he’s a thuggish force-of-nature, Mildred’s decidedly ineffectual nemesis whose own equally foul-mouthed honesty is set to dump him in trouble big time, but again there’s a deeply buried vein of well-meaning ambition under all the bigotry and pigheadedness we can’t help rooting for once it reveals itself. There’s strong support from some serious heavyweights, particularly John Hawkes, Caleb Landry Jones, Peter Dinklage, Abbie Cornish and Manchester By the Sea’s breakout star Lucas Hedges, while McDonagh deserves every lick of acclaim and recognition he’s received for his precision-engineered screenplay, peerless direction and crisp, biting dialogue, crafting a jet black comedy nonetheless packed with so much emotional heft that it’ll have you laughing your arse off but crying your eyes out just as hard. An honest, unapologetic winner, then.

23. RED SPARROW – just when you thought we’d seen the last of the powerhouse blockbuster team of director Francis Lawrence and star Jennifer Lawrence with the end of The Hunger Games, they reunite for this far more adult literary feature, bringing Jason Matthews’ labyrinthine spy novel to bloody life. Adapted by Revolutionary Road screenwriter Justin Haythe, it follows the journey of Russian star ballerina Dominika Egorova (Lawrence) into the shadowy world of post-Glasnost Russian Intelligence after an on-stage accident ruins her career. Trained to use her body and mind to seduce her targets, Dominika becomes a “Sparrow”, dispatched to Budapest to entrap disgraced CIA operative Nate Nash (Joel Edgerton) and discover the identity of the deep cover double agent in Moscow he was forced to burn his own cover to protect. But Dominika never wanted any of this, and she begins to plot her escape, no matter the risks … as we’ve come to expect, Jennifer Lawrence is magnificent, her glacial beauty concealing a fierce intelligence and deeply guarded desperation to get out, her innate sensuality rendered clinical by the raw, unflinching gratuity of her training and seduction scenes – this is a woman who uses ALL the weapons at her disposal to get what she needs, and it’s an icy professionalism that informs and somewhat forgives Lawrence’s relative lack of chemistry with Edgerton. Not that it’s his fault – Nate is nearly as compelling a protagonist as Dominika, a roguish chancer whose impulsiveness could prove his undoing, but also makes him likeable and charming enough for us to root for him too. Bullhead’s Matthias Schoenarts is on top form as the film’s nominal villain, Dominika’s uncle Ivan, the man who trapped her in this hell in the first place, Charlotte Rampling is beyond cold as the “Matron”, the cruel headmistress of the Sparrow School, Joely Richardson is probably the gentlest, purest ray of light in the film as Dominika’s ailing mother Nina, and Jeremy Irons radiates stately gravitas as high-ranking intelligence officer General Vladimir Andreievich Korchnoi. This is a tightly-paced, piano wire-taut thriller with a suitably twisty plot that constantly wrong-foots the viewer, Lawrence the director again showing consummate skill at weaving flawlessly effective narrative with scenes of such unbearable tension you’ll find yourself perched on the edge of your seat throughout. It’s a much less explosive film than we’re used to from him – most of the fireworks are of the acting variety – but there are moments when the tension snaps, always with bloody consequences, especially in the film’s standout sequence featuring a garrotte-driven interrogation that turns particularly messy. The end result is a dark thriller of almost unbearable potency that you can’t take your eyes off. Here’s hoping this isn’t the last time Lawrence & Lawrence work together …

22. WIDOWS – Steve McQueen is one of the most challenging writer-directors working in Hollywood today, having exploded onto the scene with hard-hitting IRA-prison-biopic Hunger and subsequently adding to his solid cache of acclaimed works with Shame and 12 Years a Slave, but there’s a strong argument to be made that THIS is his best film to date. Co-adapted from a cult TV-series from British thriller queen Lynda La Plante by Gone Girl and Sharp Objects-author Gillian Flynn, it follows a group of women forced to band together to plan and execute a robbery in order to pay off the perceived debt incurred by their late husbands, who died trying to steal $2 million from Jamal Manning (If Beale Street Could Talk’s Brian Tyree Henry), a Chicago crime boss with ambitions to go legit as alderman of the city’s South Side Precinct. Viola Davis dominates the film as Veronica Rawlings, the educated and fiercely independent wife of accomplished professional thief Harry (a small but potent turn from Liam Neeson), setting the screen alight with a barely restrained and searing portrayal of devastating grief and righteous anger, and is ably supported by a trio of equally overwhelming performances from Michelle Rodriguez as hard-pressed mother and small-businesswoman Linda Perelli, The Man From UNCLE’s Elizabeth Debicki as Alice Gunner, an abused widow struggling to find her place in the world now she’s been cut off from her only support-mechanism, and Bad Times At the El Royale’s Cynthia Eriyo as Belle, the tough, gutsy beautician/babysitter the trio enlist to help them once they realise they need a fourth member. Henry is a deceptively subtle, thoroughly threatening presence throughout the film as Manning, as is Get Out’s Daniel Kaluuya as his thuggish brother/lieutenant Jatemme, and Colin Farrell is seemingly decent but ultimately fatally flawed as his direct political rival, reigning alderman Jack Mulligan, while there are uniformly excellent supporting turns from the likes of Robert Duvall, Carrie Coon, Lukas Haas, Jon Bernthal and Kevin J. O’Connor. McQueen once again delivers an emotionally exhausting and effortlessly powerful tour-de-force, wringing out the maximum amount of feels from the loaded and deeply personal human interactions on display throughout, and once again proves just as effective at delivering on the emotional fireworks as he is in stirring our blood in some brutal set-pieces, while Flynn help to deliver another perfectly pitched, intricately crafted script packed with exquisite dialogue and shrewdly observed character work which is sure to net her some major wins come Awards season. Unflinching and devastating but thoroughly exhilarating, this is an extraordinary film (and if this was a purely critical list it would surely have placed A LOT higher), thoroughly deserving of every bit of praise, attention and success it has and will go on to garner. An absolute must-see.

21. JURASSIC WORLD: FALLEN KINGDOM – Colin Trevorrow’s long-awaited 2015 Jurassic Park sequel was a major shot in the arm for a killer blockbuster franchise that had been somewhat flagging since Steven Spielberg brought dinosaurs back to life for the second time, but (edgier tone aside) it was not quite the full-on game-changer some thought it would be. The fifth film, directed by J.A. Bayona (The Impossible, A Monster Calls) and written by Trevorrow and his regular script-partner Derek Connolly (Safety Not Guaranteed and JW, as well as Warner Bros’ recent “Monsterverse” landmark Kong: Skull Island), redresses the balance – while the first act of the film once again returns to the Costa Rican island of Isla Nublar, it’s become a very different environment from the one we’ve so far experienced, and a fiendish plot-twist means the film then takes a major swerve into MUCH darker territory than we’ve seen so far. Giving away anything more does a disservice to the series’ most interesting story to date, needless to say this is EASILY the franchise’s strongest feature since the first, and definitely the scariest. Hollywood’s most unusual everyman action hero, Chris Pratt, returns as raptor wrangler Owen Brady, enlisted to help rescue as many dinosaurs as possible from an impending, cataclysmic volcanic eruption, but in particular his deeply impressive trained raptor Blue, now the last of her kind; Bryce Dallas Howard is also back as former Jurassic World operations manager turned eco-campaigner Claire Dearing, and her His Girl Friday-style dynamic with Pratt’s Brady is brought to life with far greater success here, their chemistry far more convincing because Claire has become a much more well-rounded and believably tough lady, now pretty much his respective equal. There are also strong supporting turns from the likes of Rafe Spall, The Get Down’s Justice Smith, The Vampire Diaries/The Originals’ breakout star Daniella Pineda, the incomparable Ted Levine (particularly memorable as scummy mercenary Ken Wheatley) and genuine screen legend James Cromwell, but as usual the film’s true stars are the dinosaurs themselves – it’s a real pleasure seeing Blue return because the last velociraptor was an absolute treat in Jurassic World, but she’s clearly met her match in this film’s new Big Bad, the Indoraptor, a lethally monstrous hybrid cooked up in Ingen’s labs as a living weapon. Bayona cut his teeth on breakout feature The Orphanage, so he’s got major cred as an accomplished horror director, and he uses that impressive talent to great effect here, weaving an increasingly potent atmosphere of wire-taut dread and delivering some nerve-shredding set-pieces, particularly the intense and moody extended stalk-and-kill stretch that brings the final act to its knuckle-whitening climax. It’s not just scary, though – there’s still plenty of that good old fashioned wonder and savage beauty we’ve come to expect from the series, and another hefty dose of that characteristic Spielbergian humour (Pratt in particular shines in another goofy, self-deprecating turn, while Smith steals many of the film’s biggest laughs as twitchy, out-of-his-comfort-zone tech wizard Franklin). Throw in another stirring and epic John Williams-channelling score from Michael Giacchino and this is an all-round treat for the franchise faithful and blockbuster fans in general – EASILY the best shape the series has been in for some time, it shows HUGE promise for the future.

#mandy #the girl in the spider's web #isle of dogs #venom #solo a star wars story #aquaman #three billboards movie #red sparrow #widows #jurassic world fallen kingdom #2018 in movies

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thehouseofjohndeaf · 7 years

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How to Unwind During the Neo-Nazi Takeover

Normally, this blog is about sobriety; how addiction and recovery are intertwined with our political venue, that the environment in which we are nurtured directly relates to how we treat ourselves. I doubt sobriety will come up at all in this post, but the focus of this list is on finding brief means of escape without diving into oblivion. Finding some humor in the devastation and hysteria, and making connections between art, cinema, and the world we live in without downing a fifth of Jack and numbing out the fear.

This past week has been a horror show. In fact, these past few months I’ve been convinced I’m trapped in BTTF’s alternate 1985 where Biff Tannen is not only rich and married to Marty’s mom, but now he’s a few mail-order wives down the line and he’s the fucking president.

It’s uncanny, and again, horrifying.

So if you haven’t seen the BTTF Trilogy maybe start there. But you won’t find any Nazis in the films, just a womanizing bully who, in an alternate timeline, cheats his way to riches and power, corrupting the city.

Nazis have been a cinematic trope for villainy since WWII. There are many great films and novels that are masterfully crafted to push the audience to take a good look at themselves. They won’t be mentioned here. We’re trying to unwind so...

Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

Who knows how long it took to teach monkey to give the Nazi salute? Probably shorter than the two days it took our president to decide whether ethnic cleansing was a terrorist threat or a nationalistic opinion.

One of the great family films for the Post-WWII generations, with an enemy we could all agree on as evil: Nazis! Led by Arnold Ernst Toht who has one of the most famous deaths in cinematic history. Let us take a moment and imagine his is the face of Christopher Cantwell.

The Great Dictator (1940)

Chaplin’s commentary on the Nazi rise in Germany, unfortunately still resonates with the United States today:

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Of course, the more memorable scene of The Great Dictator is the final speech, which is when Chaplin’s character, The Tramp, finally speaks. The speech is extremely heartfelt and inspirational, something a true leader would speak to the people which have entrusted the greatest power and authority of their society into the humble hands of a deserving equal. Unfortunately, the political leaders of 2017 are not so heartfelt or inspiring, unless you’re a fumbling oaf reaching for the nearest discount tiki torch, so we’re not going to bother with anything of the sort here.

Wolfenstein (1992 - 2017)

Gaming on PCs in the early 90s for myself mostly consisted of Roller Coaster Tycoon and Sim City 2000, but whenever I got a chance to sneak it I’d borrow my brother’s copies of Doom and Wolfenstein. I remember feeling uneasy as I watched the hero in the bottom center slowly die, one shot at a time. So I never really had a chance to fight Hitler.

In 2014, MachineGames and Bethesda Softworks released the seventh installment to the Wolfenstein franchise: The New Order. If you have a platform gaming system this may be the quickest, cheapest, safest way to start killing Nazis and let out some mental frustration.

Marvel’s Secret Empire (2017 - )

The most current installment to the Marvel Universe has Captain America gone Nazi. Steve Rogers is now Hydra Supreme and an American fascist dictator; he has sent all mutants and in-humans to internment camps (there is a scene where Spider-Man Mile Morales saves a young Muslim girl from just such a camp); Rogers is a science denier and doling out propaganda while claiming all journalists to be fake news:

There are just enough parallels to keep us disengaged with the stressors and anxieties of the real Nazis while keeping us engaged with the fictional storyline of the Marvel Universe Superheroes and Villains.

However, these comics are pretty expensive at $3.99-$4.99 a pop, and Marvel is currently owned by the multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate, the Walt Disney Company. So if you have all this extra money just lying around and can keep the nagging at bay that tells you you’re feeding an evil entertainment monopoly, which was founded by an anti-semite/Nazi sympathizer, then go on out and catch up on the single issue reading list. Otherwise, you might want to wait until a used TP shows up in your local comic shop.

It seems we can no longer see the villains in our real life.

Art tends to mimic life. Whether we’re into classic films; adventure movies from our childhood; video games; or comic books, we all know what a villain looks like. We all know their traits, their morals, their schemes, their cadences, and nuances. We know how a villain acts and how to impersonate one. Sometimes we even root for them, for the rush, knowing that the outcome is fictitious and will have no real impact on our lives. Somewhere along the way we became too disengaged between the screens and pages and our reality.

Disengaging is important, but we must remember to take something away from the arts and entertainment we consume. Maybe after an episode or chapter we should take a moment and ask ourselves, “What did I take away from this?” If the answer is nothing then you aren’t paying attention, or you’re too embarrassed to admit to yourself what you’ve taken away: “Buybuybuy” or “Eat eateat” or you realize you’re slowly being diluted by the token minority in the regurgitated sit-com you’ve been zoning out on for hours.

There is a way to disengage and keep it timely and within the context of your current crisis. If you need something deeper and darker, check out American History X or Schindler’s List or Inglorious Basterds (though you should have already).

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kayawagner · 6 years

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[WOIN] The EONS Collection

Publisher: EN Publishing

94 EONS supplements gathered in one place! The ultimate collection of supplementary WOIN material. Ths epic collection contains rules, races, gear, adventures, careers, and more for fantasy, modern, and sci-fi games. Here's what you get. Note that some of these articles were later incorporated into core rulebooks. This collection includes over a dozen adventures!

#94. Four N.E.W. Alien Races III. Welcome to another four alien PC races for your sci-fi WOIN games! As before, you can easily use these in fantasy games, too! This time, you’ll meet: Clockmen, clockwork mechanoids who repair themselves with spare parts; Drahzik, a hunter culture of trophy seekers and bounty hunters; Fornians, a fungal race with the ability to emit hallucinogenic spores; Garga, a race of amphibious frog like beings.

#93. The Power of Christ Compels You! WOIN takes a darker turn as it adopts some themes from horror movies such as The Omen or The Exorcist. This article deals with demonic possession, and the exorcism thereof. Learn how to prepare for an exorcism, and how to connect the ritual itself. Also includes the new Exorcist career.

#92. Four N.E.W. Alien Races II. Following last week’s four new alien races, we have another four for your campaigns! This time, we introduce the Bragi, a cephalopod race, experts at piloting and astro-navigation; Changelings, naturally amorphous, creatures which have evolved to be able to mimick the shapes of others; Charons, a humanoid race mutated by radiation; and Chorax, eight-legged cannibalistic spider-people who experiment on others.

#91. Four N.E.W. Alien Races. This article, the first in a series, introduces four new alien races suitable for player characters. Acorax, humanoid bird-men; Adraxi, winged, featherless humanoid aliens who resemble pterodactyls; Argons, tall, fur-covered humanoids who live in tune with nature; and Betrux, stocky, beetle-like aliens with thick shells and waving antennae.

#90. Encounters in the Frigid Wastes. As the cold weather in the real world continues, we add some frigid encounters into your fantasy WOIN games. Avalanches, frozen bridges, mammoth warriors, winter riders, and wolves in the storm await in this article by James J. Haeck; illustrated by Ellis Goodson.

#89. The Trade War. The second adventure in the Code of Honor trilogy by Jacob Rodgers (a trilogy which started with The Palermo Gambit last month). In the Galileo Sector, settled by the ne-er do wells and "Businesses" of the Union, a trade war erupts between The YOEN Conglomerate and and Capitolia Business ... and when a trade war begins the Galileo Sector, the laser pistols follow quickly after. Illustrated by Ellis Goodson, Victoria Oliveira, Phil Stone, and Indi Martin.

#88. SolSpace: A Brief Timeline. Welcome to the first overview of SolSpace, the "core" setting for science-fiction What's OLD is NEW games. This document contains a short introduction to the setting, a timeline of the setting's history so far, and maps of known space. The maps are also included separately as image files for convenience. Note that all of our settings, including this one, are available for use by creators selling content in the WOIN Community Publishing Syndicate.

#87. Deep Space Encounters. Spice up your space travel with these encounters in deep space! escape pods, space restaurants, debris fields, and rogue shots all present intergalactic challenges, and each has a handful of variations so that you can use them again! By Michael McCarthy; illustrated by Sade, Giacomo Marchesi, and James Gary.

#86. Urban Noir. WOIN covers a wide range of genres. Space opera, dark fantasy, modern action, spy thriller, and more. This article takes a look at the noir genre, offering game and setting advice as well as four new exploits suited to such settings. By Charlie Brooks; illustrated by Indi Martin.

#85. Behold My True Form! It can be hard to make solo "boss" monsters which are interesting enough to stand up to an entire party, while not making them a big bag of endless HEALTH which requires tedious chipping away. This article gives you some options for traits acquired when the monster hits half HEALTH, and when it hits zero HEALTH. By James Haeck; illustrated by Ellis Goodson.

#84. The Last Star Knight. The Star Knight career is expanded with a plethora of new powers, some inspired by a recent sci-fi movie which recently appears in cinemas! Learn how to call lightning, project your consciousness, or turn off your targeting computer....

#83. The Palermo Gambit. From writer Jacob Rodgers comes the start of a new trilogy! Set in the Galileo Sector, an area of space settled by criminals and ne'er-do-wells, the PCs will play scoundrels working for the gangster Boss Nadir. Can they locate Danos Petrar, and then infiltrate the warehouse in Palermo City? And how will they fare at the firefight at the Bull's Eye club? And finally, can they protect the freighter Gentileschi during the New Venice Run? Illustrated by Phil Stone, Indi Martin; cartography by Derek Ruiz.

#82. Faces of the Grotesque. This collection of five magical masks, fashioned out of a monstrous creature's visage, imbue your characters with the powers of the monsters they depict. Each mask has a history, powers, plot hooks, and curses and drawbacks -- the Goblin Mask, Mask of the Dragon, Dire Bear Mask, Hill Giant Mask, and Octopoid Mask.

#81. The Judicial Legion of Adventurers: Swift. Part of the Judicial Legion of Adventurers, Swift is the fastest person alive! Imbued with superhuman speed, he can run faster than the blink of an eye; so fast, in fact, that he can even walk on water or run up walls!

#80. The Judicial Legion of Adventurers: The Dark Avenger. The Judicial Legion of Adventurers is a group of powerful heroes dedicated to fighting evil and injustice. Their epic abilities, global renown, and awe-inspiring reputations are enough to make even the most depraved arch-villain think twice, and give alien invaders pause to reconsider the wisdom of going up against them.

#79. Faces of Hallow's Eve. These five dark artifacts are suitable for fantasy or sci-fi campaigns. Each is a grisly mask with evil powers and dangerous drawbacks - the Ghost Hood, the Hag Mask, the Mask of the Shamed Royal, the Visage of the Vampire, and the Slashed Faces. By Kiel Chenier; illustrated by Kim Van Deun.

#78. ZEITGEIST #: Island at the Axis of the World (Part 3). The ZEITGEIST adventure path continues! Can the party infiltrate Axis Island, and open the way for Risur's navy to take down the treasonous duchess?

#77. Psionic Gear. Twenty new psionic items, including grenades, companion stones, crystal masks, mainlines, psionic detonators, perception torcs, psi crowns, psychic cuffs, and much more.

#76. ZEITGEIST #1: Island at the Axis of the World (Part 2). The critically acclaimed adventure path continues! In this Act, the heroes will open the way for Risur's navy to take down the treacherous duchess by infiltrating Axis Island. Espionage and skullduggery abound!

#75. Life Events. These rules add to the career lifepath character creation system, adding personal, social, and extra-curricular events to your character's history, increasing the depth and richness of your character's backstory. Simply roll one life event for each career grade when first creating your character. You might get married, have an accident, win the lottery, or take up a new hobby.

#74. Rank & File. If your character belongs to an organisation, it's likely that they'll have a rank of some kind. Whether a fantasy pirate captain, or a veteran star knight, a grizzled watch commander, or a modern marine, a character's rank adds an extra level of immersion into the setting. These rules tie rank to REP for a wide variety of fantasy, modern, and sci-fi organisations.

#73. You're All Doomed! An abandoned wizard's tower resting atop a hill. A peaceful village threatened by the undead. Rumors of vast treasure buried in forgotten crypts. Sounds like the perfect start to an adventure! A little too perfect...

#72. Give Chase! Chases can be hard to run! In you're mind, they're an exciting cinematic adventure; in reality, they can end up being a tedious, plodding plotting of minis on a grid. The core rules explain how to run a chase; this article goes into a little more depth, describing how to make sure your chase scenes run smoothly!

#71. Danuki: Mischievous Shapeshifters. This new race for both OLD and NEW games introduces a diminutive race of mischievous changelings. These prank-loving beings are not known for their bravery, nut they love to take down the pompous and the aloft. By Carl Cramér; illustrated by Ellis Goodson.

#70. Racebuilding Engine. Are you players bored with the core races? Here's their chance to design their own unique alien or fantasy race using a point-based system. They'll choose its type, size, attributes, skill choices, and exploits and create something exotic and personal to them!

#69. Summoners. A brand new magical career, along with a new magical enhancement and a range of summonable fey spirits form this article by Nathan Thurston!

#68. Monster Design. Struggling with creating WOIN monsters and NPCs? This system takes you through the steps by choosing a template and power level and going from there.

#67. ZEITGEIST #1: Island at the Axis of the World (Part 1). The first part of the critically acclaimed adventure path is here! In factories throughout the city of Flint, months of ceasless toil by mages, engineers, and shipbuilders have finally concluded. Now well-wishers from across the nation of Risur have come to witness the launch of the world’s mightiest vessel of war: the R.N.S. Coaltongue, impervious to spell and cannon and armed with fire that could slay even a dragon. On the docks, constables keep a close eye on celebrants and troublemakers; in the shadows, conspiracy and betrayal threaten this technological titan on its maiden voyage.Meanwhile, on an island in the lush Yerasol Achipelago, enemy spies put their plans into motion, clouded with secrecy...

#66. Deadly Traps. From acid pools to trash compactors to cursed glyphs to poison needles, traps are a staple ingredient in any adventurer's diet. This article tells you how to create a trap for your WOIN game, and includes 15 example traps ready to use, along with a (simple) trap generator.

#65. The Goddess Within: Playing Nymphs. These three new fey races for fantasy settings allow you to play an immortal forest, earth, or water nymph. These magical creatures are physical spirits of nature, with natural magical abilities. By Josh Gentry; illustrated by Tamara Cvetkovic.

#64. Black Powder Conjurer. This new magical career for fantasy games combines the arts of evocation with the explosive potential of gunpowder. The Black Powder Conjurer can use her guns to throw fire, as her weapons crash like rolling thunder.

#63. Trappist. Trappist-1 is a real star system about 30 light years from Earth, believed by astronomers today to have seven rocky planets in the star's habitable zone. Little do they know that in the future, humans will discover the crowded and vibrant system that is Trappist, with its seven populated planets. This 15-page article details the Tarppist system, its seven worlds, and the races who live on them.

#62. Conditions & Critical Hits. Some people like their critical hits to be a bit more "in your face". This alternate system of critical hits (and status tracks in general) makes them a little more dangerous, as well as a little quicker to use.

#61. Ten Magical Careers. WOIN fans have been asking for new magical careers for a while now, and so we present you with TEN of them! The Archmage, Battlemage, Enchanter, Healer, Icemage, Illusionist, Magician, Shaman, Soothsayer, and Witch/Warlock add to the seven magical careers in the core rules, taking you up to 17.

#60. Union Space Force. This short PDF contains the overall career structure diagram of the USF (Union Space Force). While the WOIN career structure is very freeform, specific organisations may have their own prerequisites. The diagram in this PDF indicates the order in which USF officers may take careers.

#59. Catalogus Naeniam. Got your copy of OLD and eagerly devouring the Elements of Magic spell building system? This article by Nathan Thurston contains 21 new spells all created using the WOIN rules! Ranging from the 3 MP Strike Through Stone to the mighty 37 MP Curse of the Beast, these spells cover a wide variety of magical skills and secrets.

#58. The Virosa Accord. The third and final adventure in the Nereid Trilogy, which began with The Last Survivor, and continued in Harvester Moon. The Virosa were first encountered in The Last Survivor; now the PCs are invited to join a First Contact mission to their homeworld. But can they deal with radical factions, assassins, and more? By Jacob Rodgers; illustrated by Indi Martin, Ellis Goodson, Giacomo Marchesi, Phil Stone, and Kier Lyles.

#57. Laser Swords. Laser swords in the N.E.W. core rulebook are a fairly basic affair. For those who enjoy their science fantasy, this article provides upgraded rules for laser swords -- six distinct sword colours, four weapon traits, and information on the Star Knight tradition of building and upgrading their own swords

#56. Incident at ICEREACH-1. In this adventure by Rob Nuttman, the PCs will find themselves investigating events at a lunar mining outpost. Can the heroes discover what happened at ICEREACH-1? What did North Atlantic Heavy Industries find below the ice of the Atinken Basin? Illustrated by Peter Woods, Xanditz, and Huy Man Van.

#55. Game Modes. Regular and Cinematic Mode are two ways to modify the tone of your WOIN game. This article offers two new ways to play substantially different styles of game - Grit Mode (suitable for survival horror, or hard sci-fi) and Cartoon Mode (suitable for light-hearted games with ridiculous action). Also presented is a new ammunition tracking rule using the countdown pool mechanic.

#54. Small Ships. One thing often requested for the WOIN system is support for vessels smaller than 1,000 tons. This article provides statistics for smaller vessels, along with select range of ship components from the Chen-Zua Corporation designed for ships of that size. Of course, those ships can use larger components, as long as they can fit them in, but these have been specifically engineered to accommodate smaller sized vessels. Also included are two sample ships, the Newton Class 0-I Shuttle and the Stingray Class 0-II Freighter.

#53. Size Matters! A shorter article this time, after the recent two adventures! This two-page article illustrates the different creature size categories in the WOIN system, from tiny housecoats to titanic monsters which crush entire buildings beneath their feet! Illustrated by Michael McCarthy.

#52. Harvester Moon. Harvester Moon, by Jacob Rodgers, is the second in the Nereid Trilogy which began with The Last Survivor. In this adventure, the PCs will track down the Ogron slaver Bauk and discover the ominous reason why ship crews have been captured in the region. New monsters, two new starships, and a brand new psionic-based starship weapon are included in this 15-page adventure. Can the heroes infiltrate the Harvester Moon, explore the slaver facility, survive the Reapers, and escape again? Illustrated by Victoria Oliveira, Ellis Goodson, James Gary; cartography by Meshon Cantrell.

#51. Into the Dreaming. A fey-themed fantasy adventure for starting PCs! The adventurers are trapped in a strange land - can they find their way home? And can they navigate the labyrinthine Hedgegrove, domain of Princess Daneliean Dandelion? By Kiel Chenier; illustrated by Egil Thompson.

#50. Ranged Brutes. Our 50th article! In settings which focus on ranged combat, especially sci-fi or modern settings, it can be hard to balance an encounter against melee opponents, especially those big brutes which make mincemeat out of sword-wielding PCs in fantasy RPGs. When you can perch at cover and snipe a T-Rex to death, it's not much of a threat. Of course, WOIN already addresses the encounter reward by basing it on how hard the encounter actually was, not on how hard some equation says it should be, but sometimes you just want your brutes to give your ranged PCs a hard time. This article will help you do that with advice on existing exploits and a range of new exploits like Come Here, Living Shield, Monstrous Leap, and more.

#49. Light & Dark. When Vader warned Luke that he underestimated the power of the Dark Side, he was not joking. As the Ring slowly corrupted Frodo, it had visible and mental effects on him. As clerics fail to uphold the ideals of their god, their patrons turn away.This short set of rules introduces the Shadow Track - a way of tracking Light and Dark points. As characters ascend into the light or descend into the darkness, they gain manifestations.

#48. Uplifted. Six new PC races for your WOIN games! These uplifted species are descended from dogs, crows, pigs, rats, chimpanzees, and elephants! They join the existing Felan in the ranks of WOIN uplifted races.

#47. Trader Captains. Taking up a career as a trader, merchant, smuggler, or pirate? Then this document is for you! Details on trading rules, cargo types, permits, fuel costs, and more enable you to begin trading right away!

#46. Cauldron Cant. Instead of an article, this week we're giving you a font file. Cauldron Cant is a futuristic font created by Darren Morrissey which you can use in your games for player handouts and the like. Simply install the font (that's the .ttf file attached) and use it as a letter/number substitution.

#45. Tartarus. Welcome to Tartarus, the greatest space station in the galaxy! Located in The Cauldron, Tartarus is home to 7-million people and aliens. This 12-page document gives an overview of the station, a handful of notable locations and NPCs of note, random encounter tables, and a sample starscraper floor, 323 Maple Grove, with details of the 40 business to be found there and plot hooks to bring it alive.

#44. Specialist Armor: 37 New Armor Types. Is the basic armor list in the NEW core rulebook not quite doing it for you? Would you rather be showing off the latest TD85 Scorpion Flexible Armor Suit, a Guardian A9 Energy Sheath, or prize of the rich socialite, the DE76 "Ninja Machine" Molecule Mai? Or perhaps some of the latest Price-Arakaki Rubber Armor or some Carapace Body Armor (don't run into any insectoids while wearing that....) 37 new armor types ranging from SOAK 3 all the way up to a mighty SOAK 26... if you can afford it!

#43. Damage Report! Want to add a little more detail to ship damage during starship combat or crash landings? These advanced rules enable PCs to track damage to their vessel on a system-by-system basis.

#42. Variant Humans. The universe is a large place, and humans spread everywhere. After a while, they adapt to their new environments - high gravity, low gravity, asteroids, planets orbiting black holes, even clones born in chemical tanks. This article introduced four variant human races for sci-fi games: the Belters, who come form low-g envirnments such as asteroids, starships, and small planets; the Jovians, who come from planets with crushing gravity; Clones, who are created in tanks and emerge fully formed into the world; and the Warped, crazed humans who live near black holes.

#41. Premum Non Nocere. This sci-fi adventure from writer Jason Watson deals with an abandoned medical freighter and its missing crew. What happened aboard the ship, and can the PCs locate and rescue the crew? Including full colour maps, and a tough new monster (the Kremlin Beast), this adventure is designed for advanced characters of grades 10+. Illustrated by Meshon Cantrill, Indi Martin, Phil Stone, and Egil Thompson.

#40. Reputation, Contacts, & Credit. Your REP score is more important than you realise. It's not just fame - it also controls your credit rating, and your access to aid in the form of contacts. Using these simple rules, your characters can obtain goods on credit, and request assistance from people they have known in their lives. Need that old college roomate to leave the door to the museum wher ehe now works unlocked? Want to call in the expertise of your old xenobiology professor? Can't quite afford that new laser gatling gun? If so, this article is for you!

#39. Minotaurs, Goblins, & Clockmen. Three new PC races for your games! These races fit in with any fantasy setting, and ar ealso suitable for sci-fi games. Minotaurs make great gladiators, sailors, pirates, and lair guardians; goblins are cunning, thieving little scrappers; and the mechanical clockmen believe in order and structure. Also included are two new careers and two new weapons.

#38. ZEITGEIST Player's Guide. There's quite the treat today for EONS patrons! A 67-page setting book, detailing the ZEITGEIST campaign setting for the WOIN rules. Those of you who know of ZEITGEIST may have noticed its influence in the OLD rules, and this book lays out the full world, details the principle city of Flint, and delves into the Royal Homeland Constabulary, an organization that PCs in ZEITGEIST might belong to. Also included are 3 new races and 9 new careers, such as the Docker, Gunsmith, Technologist, Eschatologist, Vekeshi Mystic, Skyseer, Yerasol Veteran, and Martial Scientist. ZEITGEIST is a world on the brink of an industrial revolution, with central themes of conflict between the old ways and the new, magic and burgeoning technology.

#37. What Does My LOGIC Score Mean? Wondering whether you can read or write? How many lnaguages you can speak? How best to roleplay your LOGIC attribute? This article is here to answer those questions, taking at look at what each LOGIC score means for your character.

#36. The Devil On Your Shoulder: Careers for Antiheroes. This article presents new criminal careers with potential for reputation and wealth, but accompanied by risk - the Anarchist, Criminal Informant, Forger, Money Launderer, Psionic Interrogator, and Vandal. By Anthony Jennings.

#35. Explosive Ordnance. Want some heavy weaponry in your sci-fi game? This selection of bazookoids, mortars, and rocket launchers will be sure to create a heck of a mess! Burst weapons come to WOIN with a bang - literally!

#34. Creatures of Nightmares. Horrific creatures suitable for fantasy or sci-fi settings, these nightmarish beings embody your darkest dreams and touch your deepest fears or shame. A deadly foe for any horror-themed scenario. By Simon "Skipp" Morin and Mike McCarthy; illustrated by Xanditz.

#33. Trailblazer 9 Heavy. The Trailblazer Heavy vessels are over a hundred years old and were designed to cut routes through the nightmarish hazards that fill the space of the Cauldron. When TB9H becomes a runaway train headed straight for the planet of Diana, can the PCs figure out what is going on and stop the ship before distaster strikes? By Alasdair Stuart; art by Sade, Ellis Goodson, and Indi Martin.

#32. Against the War Mind. This adventure by Mark Kernow puts the PCs on the trail of a renegade AI and a sinister corporation. Will they manage to stop the War Mind before it enacts its deadly plan of revenge? Illustrated by Phil Stone, Sade, and Egil Thompson. Cartography by Michael McCarthy.

#31. The Kryte. The Kryte are a psionic race of interplanetary raiders - Viking-esque creatures of floating crystal. This article contains a new PC race, a typical Kryte Raider starship, and a Kryte Marauder creature stat block.

#30. The Last Survivor. This 21-page adventure, by Jacob Rodgers, is designed to be dropped into any WOIN sci-fi game. The PCs will investigate a mysterious ship, battle an Ogron slaver, and rescue the ship's crew. Also includes a sector map, deck plans of the SS Selkirk, stats for the Selkirk and the Ogron All-Master Warship, and a new alien species, the Virosa. Illustrated by Michael McCarthy, Darren Morrissey, Gicaomi Machesi, Sade, and Indi Martin.

#29. Houseki, Pajak, Jamila, & Zetan: 4 NEW Alien Races. The Houseki are a race of good-natured, ponderous crystalline beings. The Pajak are greedy insectoids. The Jamila are beautiful humanoids who exude strong pheromones. And the Zetans are a race of phased beings who move with incredible speed. All of them are official new player-character races.

#28. Royal Blood: The Divine Right of Kings. This article introduces royalty into your WOIN games, whether it is a fantasy or far future setting. It contains the new Monarch career, and the Royal Birth origin, with information on legitimacy, featly, and an expansive section on royal titles and how to build your own like Her Revered Majesty, Agathe the Lawgiver, Queen of Andalor, Custodian of Heaven, Tribune of the West, or His Serene Excellency, Mandallan the Pious, Hammer of the Gods, Commander of the Nine Kingdoms, Heir of the First Men.

#27. Wild West Weapons. Take up your Colt Peacemaker, Winchester Rifle, or a stick of dynamite and bring a little of the Old West into your WOIN games! This article introduces a range of handguns, longarms, and explosives.

#26. Racial Paragons. This is a free article; you will not be charged for it (though you do need to be a patron to access it). It is being presented as a playtest concept, and may make it into a WOIN rulebook in the future. This simple one-page article presents a way of buying new grades in your race rather than your career. Please give it a try and let us know how it goes - your feedback will determine whether it makes it into a future book!

#25. Hobbies & Quirks: New Hooks. The hook part of a character's descriptor gets a boost in this article, which describe two types of hook - hobbies and quirks, along with new rules for the use of each. Also included are random tables to help players select each.

#24. Ageing With Grace. This article takes a look at playing older characters - along with a range of exploits only available to old characters, two new careers for old characters, and special XP-gaining Bucket List rules and Life Events to help flesh out your PC.

#23. Solspace: A Guide to our Stellar Neighborhood. This short document contains a hex map depicting the positions of the dozens of (real) star systems within 10 parsecs or so of our own Sol system, along with a list of each star's stellar classification. This is conceived of as a tool for those designing settings based on real astronomical data. The hex map is scaled at the standard 1 hex = 1 parsec size used for WOIN space travel. The document also contains a brief recap of the stellar classification found in N.E.W. The Science Fiction Roleplaying Game, and WOIN Space.

#22. People of the Fey Realms. This article for fantasy campaigns (or sci-fi campaigns with fantasy elements) introduces three new player races - the musical faun, the mischievous gremlin, and the plantlike spriggan. All three races are fey races.

#21. Drahzik. Another new alien species for N.E.W. games (or any sci-fi WOIN game), the Drahzik are a race of hunters. This article includes the Drahzik race, the Drahzik Hunter origin, and the Drahzik Manhunter career, along with a selection of Drahzik weapons and armor.

#20. Solurials. EONS' 20th article! This new alien species for futuristic campaigns is a plant-based race with thick bark for skin, lashing vines, and a healthy respect for fire. Here you'll find the Solurial race, the Solurial Sharmarin Class VI Scout (a organic starship), and the Solurial Shepherd origin career.

#19. Revenants: Death or Vengeance. This new race for fantasy, modern, or future campaigns allows you to play one of the living dead, a walking corpse driven by revenge, justice, or unrequited love.

#18. Tomb Worlds: Graveyards of the Elder Races. Designed to slot into the WOIN world creation rules found in Building A Universe and the N.E.W. roleplaying game core rulebook, this article by Anthony Jennings introduces the remnants of long-dead civilizations, with tables to determine how the civilisation fell, the current state of the ruins, and more. Also included is a sample world, Clarke VII.

#17. Flintlocks & Bayonets: New Archaic Pistols. For those who like a little archaic gunpowder in their WOIN games, or who enjoy the thought of Grand Elf Musketeers, this article introduces the axe-pistol, bayonet, blade pistol, duelling pistol, hold-out pistol, hilt pistol, ogre pistol, shield pistol, and the twin-barrel pistol, as well as four magical pistols.

#16. 3.x Spell Conversions: Level 1 Arcane. From writer John Lynch comes this collection of over 40 spells converted from the original 3E/Pathfinder/d20 rules to WOIN's Elements of Magic system. This collection contains all of the core 1st-level arcane spells from the aforementioned games.

#15. Knowledge Checks: What We Know. What do you do when your players ask "What do I know about that creature?" You ask them to make an attribute check, of course. The difficulty of that check is defined by two things: how common or rare the creature is; and how famous or infamous it is. A fire dragon is very rare, but it is very well-known.

#14. An Axe to Grind: New Archaic Axes. The core WOIN rules contain a small handful of axes. This article expands on the list, increasing the number of different axes to over 20. From boarding axes to Danish axes to Dwarven axes to the Amazonian Sagaris, these new axes are accompanied by the Woodcutter origin and two magical axes (the Executioner's Axe, and the Royal Dwarven Waraxe), along with a range of new weapon properties.

#13. RESOLVE: Horror, Sanity, & Social Combat. The RESOLVE score is a combination of sanity and social combat rules. These rules allow characters to charm, persuade, intimidate, and more, and also allows special magical effects (like a ghost's keen) directly attack RESOLVE rather than HEALTH.

#12. Heroes of the Far East: Ninja. The ninja is a favourite career for fans of Eastern settings or characters. This article presents two new careers: the ninja (a master of shadow) and the shinobi (a master of disguise). These two careers are adept at espionage and infiltration. Also included are details of the ninja's equipment, including smoke bombs and shuriken. This is the first article in an occasional series which will also include the samurai, wu-jen, and more.

#11. Elemental Magic: Transforming the Terrain. Use transformation spells to transform the very terrain around you! Whether turning the floor to lava, ice, or writhing plants, these uses for transformation magic are ideal for battlefield control. Also includes a selection of sample spells - entangling vines, greasepatch, lava field, vine chains, and watery grave.

#10. Emergency: Divert All Power! "Divert power to the engines and get us out of here!" - a command many have heard uttered on their favourite sci-fi TV show. These advanced rules for WOIN starship combat allow vessels to divert power to Engines, Shields, Weapons, or Point Defences, or to access emergency Auxiliary Power when in dire straits. Next time somebody tells you that the rear shields are down to 30%, you know what to do!

#9. Bastards & Apprentices: Six New Fantasy Origins. Adding to those in the core rules are the Apprentice, Bastard, Chosen One, Feral, Nomad, and Villager origins for fantasy/archaic characters.

#8. En Garde! Melee Combat Stances. This article adds an additional tactical element to melee combat. Different stances can not only grant warriors benefits, but they can also be used to negate the advantages gained by an opponent's choice of stance.

#7. Runewright. A brand new career for fantasy settings! The runewright uses runes and spells to set traps, enhance weapons and armor, and more, resulting in a spell caster who can stand toe-to-toe with more skilled martial opponents.

#6. Endeavour Class XI Cruiser. This item is a freebie to EONS patrons - you won't be charged for it, though you need to be a patron to access it. The Endeavour is the navy's flagship exploration class vessel; 12 of these ships were built, and the first - the FSS Endeavour itself - mysteriously vanished during its second multi-year mission. This article presents the Endeavour Mk I and Mk II cruisers, along with full stats, background information, speed trials, and a list of Endeavour class cruisers and their current status.

#5. Junker Class I Courier. The quintessential starting ship, the Junker Class I Courier is small, cheap, and commonplace. Originally designed mainly for inner-system travel, the Junker's operational range is limited. However, later models included FTL engines which extended its range and helped transform the little vessel into something more suited to intergalactic travel. If you are just starting up a WOIN sci-fi campaign, this little ship is an ideal starting vessel for your PCs.

#4. New Universal Exploits. Nearly 30 new universal exploits which allow you to fight blind, cleave, lunge, sunder, throw anything, and much more.

#3. The Face of Treachery: Night Elves. Evil has a face, and it is the night elf. Night elves - cousins of the wild sylvan elves and the stoic grand elves - are known for their lies, their treachery, and their poisons. Rarely venturing from their pale white citadels, these evil fey are sometimes encountered in small bands led by the feared magisters. This article introduces the night elf, both as a PC race and as an enemy or foe, with stat blocks for the night elf and the night elf magister, along with details of the famed night elf blinding poison.

#2. Children of the Earth. This free article is a taste of the sort of material you can expect from EONS magazine. Designed for fantasy campaigns, this article introduces three new dwarf races - the resolute flint dwarves, the exalted jade dwarves, and the dark, flesh-eating obsidian dwarves.

#1. New Upgrades for Androids. This free article is a taste of the sort of material you can expect from EONS magazine. Designed for sci-fi campaigns, this article contains over 30 new upgrades for android characters, along with guidelines on how to turn the numbers on an android's character sheet into technical specifications. The article also includes rules on designing and building robots - non free-willed mechanoids.

Price: $99.99 [WOIN] The EONS Collection published first on https://supergalaxyrom.tumblr.com

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