Author Archives: Henry

Megamind (2010)

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I’ve now seen this movie a second time. I liked it the first time I saw it, and had fond memories of the movie. I don’t remember where I was the first time I watched it, though I don’t think I saw it in theaters. Regardless, it was years ago.

I just watched it again this last week with my niblings. I’m unsettled.

Megamind is a good, fun movie. Mostly. It’s so painfully close to just being a good fun movie, and it still can be if I only empathize with the main character Megamind. That’s probably what I did the first time I watched this.

This time around, I saw things from Roxanne Ritchi’s perspective. In so doing, I realized that Megamind is a horror movie. Now I can’t un-see it.

Is that a bad thing? Well…

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Deadpool & Wolverine (2024)

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It’s not a good sign for a movie’s longevity when my biggest takeaway from a film is that I really enjoyed some of the other films that it referenced.

After watching Deadpool, I was tempted to watch it again. Watching this movie, all I could think of was how I might want to go back and watch Logan, or maybe X-Men: First Class. I would even enjoy watching some of the other X-Men movies.

Previous Deadpool movies have managed to simultaneously deliver snarky commentary, cheeky references, large quantities of superhero movie violence, and plots that feel emotionally grounded enough and central enough to give me a sense of continuity and investment. This movie…

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At camp, 8/8/24

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I’m away at camp! No big post from me today. I hope you’re all doing well, and I’ll be back next week.

Road House (2024)

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Road House was… fine. Is that underselling it? I’m not sure, the context in which I saw it makes it hard to judge. It did some things really well, but felt extremely predictable. Maybe my viewing experience was skewed: I watched this on the same flight where I saw Madame Web, and I watched the two movies back to back. Thus, I can’t talk about this movie without talking about Madame Web again.

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Madame Web (2024)

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Madame Web held so much promise. Instead, it felt… uneven.

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Spectaculars, lightweight superhero fun

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Spectaculars is a superhero RPG with a simple roll-under percentile die system. There are no cumbersome lists of modifiers, and the math required at the table should be accessible to precocious eight or nine year-olds. The game is clearly a love-letter to superhero comics, right down to players’ ability to invent backstory and create connections at the drop of a hat by spending “Continuity Tokens” to make up past issues with a relevant story detail. The game could also easily mimic the feel of superhero cartoons like Batman: The Animated Series, or any other episodic story where inventing background is expected or would be useful. Whatever your inspirations are, Spectaculars shines brightest when you’re playing episodic adventures in the context of a larger narrative arc. This is especially true if you’re more excited about your game’s larger story than you are about the gritty details of how a specific power works, or quantifying whose ”Mega Power Blast” is bigger.

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A travel day, 07/11/24

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I’m traveling today, so please enjoy this picture of Alex in all her majesty.

Underdog Sports Movie Showdown, The Boys in the Boat vs The Long Game

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I flew this week. On my flight, I watched The Boys in the Boat and The Long Game.

Each movie is a triumphalist underdog sports movie. Each movie is dedicated to a sport that I know little about. I think I’m marginally more fond of or impressed by crew (specifically, eight-person rowing teams) than golf. I like the drama of team sports, and appreciate the skill required to work that smoothly together, even if I have little interest in crew in general. I admire the skill and tenacity of golfers, certainly, but if I had to pick between a movie about golf and a movie about crew, well…

I’d pick the boat.

I’ve heard that you’re supposed to be more prone to enjoying movies that you watch on an airplane. Perhaps that’s because they pull you out of the noisy, cramped tin can soaring through the air at uncomfortable speeds and deposit you (for a limited time) in some other world of dramatic and emotional experience. Regardless of whether what I’ve heard is true, it can’t rescue a movie from simply being worse than its competition.

And “worse than the competition” is a galling and ironic position for a triumphant underdog sports movie to be in, don’t you think?

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Immersion & Worldbuilding in Co-op Video Games

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Void Crew, Deep Rock Galactic, and Helldivers 2: three co-op games, three “shooters” (kind of, more on that later), and three games that build on their own self-contained fiction. I’ve played all three. I’ve enjoyed all three. So why do I only admire two of them?

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Away in the woods, 6/20/24

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I don’t expect to have anything else for you today. I’m currently away in the woods. I hope you enjoy yourselves, and aren’t too overheated.