firbolg's page

"This won't be the first time that thousands of Germans will have to lie low in Brazil for a while for their own safety".
Thank you, Ricky Gervais.

Been reading on various message boards today, and there's been a lot of pissing and moaning that any movie will suck, that the game is too generic to hang anything engaging off of.
In the light of yesterday's loss of Ray Harryhausen, I suggest this: the monsters need to be the stars. The human characters matter, sure, and a solid, straightforward script can deliver that, but it's the monsters that matter. Everyone remembers the skeletal children of the Hydra from JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS, everyone loved the Hulk in the AVENGERS and Darth Vader was the draw for STAR WARS. People liked Batman, but they leave the cinema talking about The Joker.

Wrath of the Titans and Red Riding Hood failed for precisely the same reasons- a lackluster, generic, overly fiddly script and rushed, ugly VFX. They both felt like half made movies that left 20 minutes on the floor- 20 minutes of unnecessary, fiddly exposition, but 20 minutes that were integral to prop up a poor script. Both also failed as monster movies because they were afraid to show off their monsters- they rushed about like blurry, shadowy messes of fur and teeth. Say what you like about Peter Jackson, but he's not afraid to show off his monsters and let the audience drink in the visuals, rather then rushing about in a CGI tornado.

Give us a Beholder or a Mindflayer villain to hang on to, or some terrifying Drow and we'll be set. No Orcs- don't try and compete with LotR- look at other Goblinoids or the Gith maybe. Give us stuff no audience has seen before, but is familiar to players- it's not like there's a shortage of ideas. Protagonists can be as broad as you like- Star Wars succeeded because of the archetypes they used- we don't need a whole lot of inner conflict and angst, but some sharp writing ala. The Princess Bride.

But like I said; nail the monsters in D&D: The Movie and it'll be a franchise that can run and run.

Just got word that Legendary stop-motion pioneer Ray Harryhausen has passed away at the age of 93.
We all owe a huge debt to him- he gave us the canvas upon which we painted our childhoods.

LilithsThrall wrote:

Snorter wrote:

You could sterilise them, so they don't breed.

I'd like to see a social service be created where the government offers $5,000 to men if they have a vasectomy and put their sperm on ice (so they can have kids later if they want). If they pay the $5,000 back, they get the sperm back.

You are advocating literally wiping out the poor and non-whites.

Congrats.

Agreed- that's just nutty.

Really? The messageboard's Culture Warriors are picking London as their new battlefield of choice?

Here's a view from the coalface that offers more then just simple soundbites.

The future of the American car :)

Meanwhile, In the land of the Little People...

Just got back from Walking with Dinosaurs- the Live experience.
Probably the biggest geekgasm of the past year- I highly recommend it for anyone looking to charge the braincells for STAP. Hey- it's Dinosaurs!