[vids] Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade

Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade is a 1999 anime set in an alternate history. It weaves in the story of Little Red Riding Hood, terrorism, group dynamics, politics and a love story.

I really enjoyed this vid and suggest it for any anime fan.

[vids] Road Number One

I've been watching Road Number One on Netflix instant watch. It's a Korean love-triangle war drama set during the Korean War. The filming is very good and the vids have subtitles. So far it's pretty good.

[Vids] Legend of the Seeker

I started Legend of the Seeker a short while ago (love Netflix instant watch) and am slowly working my way through the two seasons, all 44 episodes. At first, I thought it was an OK fantasy series but as I watch each episode, I find myself really enjoying the story and most of the characters.

My favorite of the three main characters are (in order): Bruce Spence plays the wizard Zeddicus Zu'l Zorander. I'm a big Bruce Spence fan from way back when I saw the Road Warrior. Bridget Regan plays the Confessor Kahlan Amnell  and I think she does a very good job. My least favorite is the title character, The Seeker Richard Cypher (played by Craig Horner). Though I'll admit Craig's acting has improved since the first episode (and despite the fact that the Significant Associate keeps pointing out that the word "Seeker" is religiously spoken within the first 5 minutes of every show - she's wrong, it's within 2 minutes).

I haven't read the books the show is based on, but considering my position on the Dresden Files TV show (and my overall approval of it) and "canon purity," if I ever do, it won't ruin it for me.

[Characters] The Great Race

When I was a kid, The Great Race (1965), with Tony Curtis, Natalie Wood, Jack Lemmon and Peter Falk, was a favorite. A dashing daredevil, a plucky woman reporter, an evil mastermind and his trusty sidekick, in a car race from New York to Paris, mixed together in a series of car chases, barroom brawls, explosions, icebergs, prisons, swordfights, pie fights, and a mad-dash to the finish line  - what kid wouldn't love that?

I'm planning on writing up the characters from the films in a new Character series for the blog. Watch the movie and see what I'm going on about.

[Vids] Stargate: Universe

Stargate: Universe was cancelled last December after two seasons and 40 episodes. I don't have SyFy but the whole shebang recently appeared on Netflix.

I haven't finished SG-1 or Atlantis, nor have I seen any of the movies (though I've got them in the queue), so why start here? Well, I like Robert Carlyle. He's one of my favorite actors.

So I've watched the first five episodes and it's actually pretty good. I plan on watching the rest, as time permits.

[Vids] Odyssey 5

The world is destroyed. The only witnesses are the astronauts on the Space Shuttle Odyssey. These five survivors are near death when they encounter an alien who saves them, lets them know that he has visited over 50 worlds like theirs that has been destroyed, and gives them the opportunity to maybe change the future by going 5 years into the past.

With little choice, they accept. And find themselves in the past, in their past bodies, with all the problems and situations to repeat over, in addition to saving the world.

That's the start of the short-lived Canadian sci-fi series, Odyssey 5, that ran for 20 episodes in 2002. Peter Weller plays astronaut Chuck Taggart, a brash-and-aging pilot, Sebastian Roche plays scientist and slut Kurt Mendel. Christopher Gorham is Chuck's son, Neil, who starts as a 22 year old and is dropped back into a 17 year old body. TV reporter Sarah Forbes (played by Leslie Silva) finds herself having to deal with her son's cancer all over again (in the future, he had died). And astronaut Angela Perry is played by Tamara Thomas, a young woman with a politically connected father.

The episodes that I've watched so far (~6) are pretty good but they haven't yet hit their stride. I look forward to seeing how the characters develop more and seeing whether it will reach a good stopping point (due to cancellation) or if it's going to be an overall disappointment (loss of potential). We'll see.

[Vids] Keen Eddie

"Hi, I'm Eddie...how do you like me so far?"

Only 13 original episodes of Keen Eddie were aired in 2003 on Fox. I remember watching the first few but then missed the rest. To my loss. So I picked up the beginning/ending season from Netflix to see them all.

It's not bad - typical fish out of water, brash police show, with that London fun. The beautiful (and pre-famous I believe) Sienna Miller was the lust interest Fiona Bickerton while NYPD Detective Eddie Arlette was played by Mark Valley. The cast was rounded out with New Scotland Yard Inspector Monty Pippin (Julian Rhind-Tutt) and Superintendent Nathanial Johnson (Colin Salmon). Humor came in the form of the angry Bull Terrier named Pete and Rudy Alexander, a failed actor (Alexei Sayle).

I really enjoyed this short-lived series and can see many things about it that would be really good for a modern London campaign. Or even just a cop-show game. I'll see what I can do about that, then.

[Vids] T is for The Secret of Kells

Netflix is a wonderful thing and Netflix Instant Play is even better. I have The Secret of Kells on my queue and I watched it recently.

A combined effort of Belgium, Irish and French animation industries, the film is wonderful. The art, the story, and the tone of the piece is excellent - no wonder it got nominated for an Academy Award.

The Secret of Kells tells the story of a young boy, Brendan, who is in Kells, Ireland, during the Middle Ages. Kells and all of Europe are just one boat ride away from being raided by Vikings.

The monks of Kells are split, one group wanting to finish a holy book and the abbot, Brendan's uncle, who wants to build a wall to protect the town and abbey.

The Vikings are going to come, but Brendan has is a forest to explore, an immortal faerie to befriend and an evil force (besides the Vikings) to confront, in addition to making ink, feeding a white cat and outrunning a pack of ravenous wolves.

I highly suggest watching this vid - it's well worth it.

[Vids] The Unusuals

The Unusuals was a short-lived cop show that originally aired in 2009. Only 10 episodes were made before it was cancelled by ABC.

It's a combined comedy-drama, with some pretty funny and at the same time heavy stuff: one of the minor characters has a brain tumor and another wears body armor because he thinks he's going to get shot. Since these two are partners, it is both tragic and comic.

The main characters are played by Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Locker) and Amber Tamblyn (The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants). Jeremy's Detective Walsh is by far the better watch, playing a cool cop surrounded by oddballs, while Amber's Detective Shraeger doesn't quite hit all the cylinders (at least in the first few episodes I've seen) but I'm hopeful.

I'm liking the show so far. With only 10 episodes, it may not build up steam enough to have some good development, character and overall story arc-wise, but it's given me some ideas for a cop-inspired modern game.

Maybe I'll write up my thoughts on this and post them sometime.

[Vids] The Thin Man

The Thin Man is a classic 1934 black and white movie based on Dashiell Hammett's novel. Starring the suave William Powell as Nick Charles and the beautiful Myrna Loy as Nora Charles, it recounts the screwball adventures of the wealthy couple as they solve a mystery with the help of their wire-haired fox terrier Asta.

Nick is a former police detective and Nora is a rich debutante who wants her currently-retired detective husband to solve mysteries while he's just fine spending her money and drinking. The dialog is snappy and the style is perfect for anyone interested in the era. The movie has a nightclub scene (a prerequisite for movies made in this era) as well as a dinner party at the end where the villain is exposed.

I'm a big fan of the Thin Man series (an additional 5 movies were made with Powell and Loy in the title roles and I own them all) and recommend these movies for the screwball comedy and sophisticated feel of the 1930s and 40s.

[Vids] Kill Bill, Vol. 1 and 2

Over the top, bloodily cartoonish at times but still very fun, Kill Bill: Volume 1 and 2 are excellent vid resources for gamers.

Heck, the Crazy 88s and O-Ren Ishii scenes are worth the time to watch Volume 1. The storyline of "what the Hell happens next" is worth watching Volume 2.

All in all, a great pair of movies of fun revenge.

[Vids] Sherlock on PBS

If you missed the October 24th premier of the three episode season of Sherlock on PBS Masterpiece Mysteries, you missed the great start to a promising short series. I'm glad I read my local paper on Sunday, otherwise it would have passed by without my noticing (as I rarely watch T.V. live).

The premier episode is a re-imaging of the classic Sherlock Holmes Study in Scarlet novel, set in modern London, with an honest-to-goodness Afghanistan veteran Dr. Watson and a tech-minded but still eccentric Holmes.

Cleverly written and an excellent cast (including Rupert Graves as DI Lestrade and Martin Freeman as Dr. Watson, and not to forget Benedict Cumberbatch as Holmes), I look forward to the remaining two episodes (and will probably buy the DVD shortly thereafter).

[Vids] Tales of the Gold Monkey

Tales of the Gold Monkey was a 1982 action/adventure show starring Stephen Collins (as pilot Jake Cutter) and Caitlin O'Heaney (as spy Sarah Stickney White and Jake's love interest) set in the Pacific during the late 1930s, right before the start of World War II. It was created by Donald Bellisario (of Magnum, P.I. fame) in response to Raiders of the Lost Ark. It had a one-eyed Jack Russell Terrier named Jack who, when asked a question, barked once for No and twice for Yes. I loved this show as a kid and was excited when it was released on DVD this year.

But would it survive the Nostalgia Train?

I got the first disk from Netflix which included the two-part Pilot (with John Hillerman from Magnum, P.I. as the baddie), Shanghaied and Black Pearl. All of these episodes were excellent and had tons of good for ideas for my Distinguished Flying Cross Savage Worlds setting. I plan on getting the other five DVDs (18 episodes) from Netflix soon.

I also found a website dedicated to the show at Goldmonkey.com, with pictures, information and an episode guide. And you can find information on Leo the Dog, who played Jack, at TV Acres. He sadly passed away at age 21 on April 6, 1989.

[Vids] Sleepers

I've been watching the BBC program Sleepers. It's about two deep-cover Soviet KGB agents who realize they don't want to return to Russia after 25 years in England.

With only 4 episodes, it's pretty short but it packs the British-style humor as well as some drama into it fairly well. We got our copies from Netflix and have enjoyed watching it.

It's got me thinking of running a sleeper cell style modern espionage game. Yes, yet another short campaign to figure out. For the comedy, should I use Toon or Teenagers from Outerspace?

[Vids] Azumi

I got Azumi from Netflix and it was pretty good. While the actress, Aya Ueto, playing the lead was cute, she was kind of wooden when speaking and the other kid assassins were equally unmentionable.

The best characters in the film, IMNSHO, were the assassins' master, Gessai, as well as a whole group of the enemies: the three Sajiki brothers (one of whom had a huge grip on a regular katana); forehead- scarred General Kanbei; Saru, a monkey-like Ninja; and Bijomaru Mogami, a mercenary all in white.

I can see using these characters in a game at some point in the future, especially the mercenary all in white.

[Vids] Strange Days and Demolition Man

In the 1990s, there were two dystopian action flicks, Strange Days and Demolition Man, each with different tones and situations that resonated deeply with me when I saw them in the theatre. Recently, I got both from my local library.

Each film posited a future where society was on the brink. In the case of Demolition Man, a society, that had taken all the undesirable elements and shoved them underground to maintain the appearance of a gentler, more civilized society, suddenly needed those same undesirable elements to solve their problems. In Strange Days, during a countdown to the year 2000, society is wracked by police violence and social unrest, murder and obsession.

I really enjoyed watching both, seeing how they've held up to time in the intervening years. The last scene in Strange Days with Vincent D'onofrio, covered with blood and handcuffed to the corpse of his partner (who just committed suicide to avoid jail), dragging the dead body towards Angela Basset and Ralph Fiennes, with a gun ready and intent on killing them both, while surrounded by police and rioting crowds, was excellent. Kathryn Bigelow later on went to direct the Hurt Locker (currently on my Netflix list).

These films got my imagination working on a near-future dystopian-style, maybe cyber-punk, game. Watch them and let me know what you think.

[Vids] Harsh Realm

I bought the Harsh Realm DVD set a few weeks ago, when I got The Dresden Files DVDs. I watched the first episode of this when it was on TV, but never saw much about it afterward. I read the comics and when I went to GenCon So-Cal, my friend PP had the DVDs and we watched the first two episodes. I thought they were pretty good so that's why I picked them up.

[Vids] Dresden Files

The Dresden Files TV show was on the SciFi Channel (now SyFy) in 2007 and was canceled after one season. Based on the Dresden series by Jim Butcher, Amazon had a sale so I picked it up.

I heard lots of bad things about the show but I've been enjoying it. Probably because I've only read a few of the books and don't hold to the "canon purity" that seems to follow books that become TV shows.

It's pretty cheap at Amazon these days, so check it out yourself. Me, I'll be mining it a bit for my upcoming Dresden Files RPG campaign.

[Vids] Foyle's War

I picked up the box set of Set 1-5 of Foyle's War at Costco a couple of weeks ago and managed to get the gf to join me in watching them. The show is a cop drama set during World War II, in Hastings, England. So far, we're on Set 1 and really enjoying it. If you are running any type of WWII game set in England, it's a good show to watch for adventure ideas.

[Vids] Sharpe's

After running Duty and Honour, I got the first Sharpe's TV episode, Sharpe's Rifles, from my local library. Me and the gf watched it and plan on getting the rest from the library. If you have the opportunity, watch them, they are very good.