Bella Sara Charter Superscriber
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Hey there were elements of the Fifth Element that were good.30 days of night is okay as a sleep aid, I suppose. I couldn't watch it without frequent resort to the fast forward button, and even then I suffered 4d10 points of intelligence drain and got a bad case of the runs.
Well, it could have been worse, it could have been The 5th Element.
The fact that it wasn't 30 Days of Night?
Change 'goats' to 'horses' and you just described goblins.
I think it's time we give the Chupacabra his chance at fame.It's small, it threatens goats, and it's ugly.
Face it: It just doesn't have what it takes.
Another loser race :P
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And yeah, less swords, more maces and spears! (Axes and hammers tend to get overused as well, particularly for dwarves, who never seem to have anything else.)Dwarven monk or rogue with Weapon Finesse. Yes, you are fighting a flexible dwarf!I still like my idea for a gnome monk with a meteor hammer (literally...flaming burst weapon ability).
"Oh look. The cute little gnome has a ball on a rope. He's adorable....HOLY HELL! He just bashed that orc's face into a smoking ruin!"
-Weylin
+1
And I'm stealing this idea
Now if I can get it to look like a yo-yo...
LOL! (And I don't very often.)
Talk about awful books ....
Perhapes if you'd actually watched the film. You know, rather than skipping it. You might have actually gotten it.It isn't even really about vampires, so much as isolation and the cold.
Patience, it helps when watching a film :P
Was the message that isolation and cold are boring? Because I totally got that.
I can't imagine Twighlight is any worse. It's probably a lot better given that there are some attractive young women to alleviate the boredom.
If you think that a slow pace, used to build tension is boring, god help you watching alien. The walk of the stranger across the ice to barrow at the start of the film is text book use of an establishing shot being used to set the mood of a film. The characters are systematicially cut off, isolated and killed.
The director actually does some really clever stuff in that he holds of showing you the monsters. Even once the attack starts, only shows you the brief glimps of the vampires. The design of the vampires is really nice too. I love the jagged maw thing, very cool image. The characters time in the attic has some fairly good acting for an action film and the tension and eventual reconsiliation between Stella and Eben is both fairly believable and has a touch of pathos to it. While Josh Hartnett's performance is not upto some of his other, for instance, Sleven Kelevra in lucky number sleven, it is still reasonable.
Twilights by contrast is a lesson in how not to make a film.
Its only saving grace, is not its 'attractive cast' who all look plastic and like they are an inch from being violently sick, but rather the location chosen to shot the film. It is stunning. The only reasonably convincing acting comes from the extras, while the principle actors simple fail for the most part, with Billy Burke and Kristen Stewart failing least. There is literally one well acted scene in the entire film, and it is between Billy Burke and Kristen Stewart in the diner. You can actually believe they are reunited father and daughter. The principle character, however, despite kristens efforts is an entirely unlikable, stupid and selfish child. Which strips away even the small show of effort that Miss Stewart puts into the part.
The story lacks any sense of narrative, the cinematography is second rate and the director has no idea how to frame anything but a shot of the landscape.
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Bella Sara Charter Superscriber
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If you think that a slow pace, used to build tension is boring, god help you watching alien.
I don't recall saying that a slow pace and building tension are boring in general. Alien does it well.
30 Days of Night does not.
If we want to make overly broad statements about each other's opinions, I would suggest that your inability to differentiate a competently directed film (like Alien) or the use of slow pace and tension to create a sense of isolation (like Eraserhead) from generic b-movie shlock (like 30 Days of Night) invalidates all opinions you may have on movies, now or in the future. 30 Days of Night is no Alien, it's not even a halfway decent b-movie, and to compare the two is to demonstrate a woefully underdeveloped sense of what makes a movie good.
But, I think it's a lot easier to say that, admirable as those techniques are, 30 Days of Night is not in any way, shape, or form a good example of them. It's a very poor attempt to copy similar shots by better directors/cinematographers in better movies.
As for Twighlight, I think you're just bitter because you liked it before it was cool and are bummed out that everyone's jumping on the bandwagon. Just like white necromancers.
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If you think that a slow pace, used to build tension is boring, god help you watching alien.I don't recall saying that a slow pace and building tension are boring in general. Alien does it well.
30 Days of Night does not.
If we want to make overly broad statements about each other's opinions, I would suggest that your inability to differentiate a competently directed film (like Alien) or the use of slow pace and tension to create a sense of isolation (like Eraserhead) from generic b-movie shlock (like 30 Days of Night) invalidates all opinions you may have on movies, now or in the future. 30 Days of Night is no Alien, it's not even a halfway decent b-movie, and to compare the two is to demonstrate a woefully underdeveloped sense of what makes a movie good.
But, I think it's a lot easier to say that, admirable as those techniques are, 30 Days of Night is not in any way, shape, or form a good example of them. It's a very poor attempt to copy similar shots by better directors/cinematographers in better movies.
As for Twighlight, I think you're just bitter because you liked it before it was cool and are bummed out that everyone's jumping on the bandwagon. Just like white necromancers.
You're like Leonard Maltin and Roger Ebert rolled into one!
Ewwww...
If you think that a slow pace, used to build tension is boring, god help you watching alien.I don't recall saying that a slow pace and building tension are boring in general. Alien does it well.
30 Days of Night does not.
If we want to make overly broad statements about each other's opinions, I would suggest that your inability to differentiate a competently directed film (like Alien) or the use of slow pace and tension to create a sense of isolation (like Eraserhead) from generic b-movie shlock (like 30 Days of Night) invalidates all opinions you may have on movies, now or in the future. 30 Days of Night is no Alien, it's not even a halfway decent b-movie, and to compare the two is to demonstrate a woefully underdeveloped sense of what makes a movie good.
But, I think it's a lot easier to say that, admirable as those techniques are, 30 Days of Night is not in any way, shape, or form a good example of them. It's a very poor attempt to copy similar shots by better directors/cinematographers in better movies.
As for Twighlight, I think you're just bitter because you liked it before it was cool and are bummed out that everyone's jumping on the bandwagon. Just like white necromancers.
No, Alien and 30 days of night are not the same film.
Yes Alien uses the technique far better. It is after all a true classic. However, when you describe yourself as having fast forwarded through vast tracks of the film and described it as boring, you paint your self as someone who doesn't understand that the concept. I was giving an example, from a film which is nearly universally accepted as good. Until now i didn't really have any reason to know with certainty you understood the idea at all.
At the end of the day, like a behaviourist, i can't go inside the black box. I can only respond to that which you present. Your slatting the film, but never really backed your view up with any reasoned argument or explination. So any responce i can actually make is going to be broad, and based on what i can infer from what little you have said on the matter.
Yes 30 days of night is a B-movie. I haven't said it was anything more. I specifically said it was never going to be one of the great movies of our time. I'll agree that it copies shots, not even successfully in many cases, but the vast majority of cinema has been derivative for longer than either of us has been alive. Does that make all those films worthless in some way? The openning shot is still a nice shot, the use of the sound track with it is still good. Is it as good as the best in cinema? No ofcause not? Does it knock the socks of most films that are in its sub-Genre? Sure it does.
Think what you like about my opinions on Twilight, but if your fishing for insults, you'd be closer to the mark saying that 'intense snobbery is the root of my dislike and that i never really gave it a fair chance' would be far closer to the truth than your comments. You know, given that i haven't read any twilight and new moon was nearly in the cinema before i watched twilight.
As for the necromancer comment, what on earth makes you think that i am bitter that people play good necromancers?
Did i run over your cat or something? Because the levels of hostility seem disproportionately high for a discussion of film. Especially when all i did was say 'I prefer Monsterous jagged mawed vampires who tear peoples heads of with bear hands' to 'happy shinie sparkly vampires, who seem a little emo and dangerous but are really very safe and cuddly.'
Is that such a crime?
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Bella Sara Charter Superscriber
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Yes Alien uses the technique far better. It is after all a true classic. However, when you describe yourself as having fast forwarded through vast tracks of the film and described it as boring, you paint your self as someone who doesn't understand that the concept. I was giving an example, from a film which is nearly universally accepted as good. Until now i didn't really have any reason to know with certainty you understood the idea at all.
I'm not sure that finding a bad film to be so boring that I couldn't watch it except by fastforwarding through it to see if it ever got good (spoiler: it didn't) implies that I'm incapable of enjoying good films or that I'm unfamiliar with the concepts of suspense or tension. If I said I can't watch Baywatch except when it's muted, does that mean I don't appreciate dialogue in general?
Sometimes a cigar is a cigar. And a bad movie is a bad movie.
At the end of the day, like a behaviourist, i can't go inside the black box. I can only respond to that which you present. Your slatting the film, but never really backed your view up with any reasoned argument or explination. So any responce i can actually make is going to be broad, and based on what i can infer from what little you have said on the matter.
You need to bone up on your deductive abilities. It doesn't take Sherlock Holmes to deduce that not liking a particular movie doesn't imply that a person doesn't like all movies of that type.
Does it knock the socks of most films that are in its sub-Genre? Sure it does.
If the sub-genre is vampire movies based on comics that are terrible, then, yes, I suppose it does knock the socks off the other films in its sub-genre. If I were to make a list of vampire movies that are worth watching, 30 Days of Night would not even be in consideration for inclusion in such a list.
Think what you like about my opinions on Twilight, but if your fishing for insults, you'd be closer to the mark saying that 'intense snobbery is the root of my dislike and that i never really gave it a fair chance' would be far closer to the truth than your comments. You know, given that i haven't read any twilight and new moon was nearly in the cinema before i watched twilight.
I think you doth protest too much...
As for the necromancer comment, what on earth makes you think that i am bitter that people play good necromancers?
I don't think you're bitter. I think good necromancers are cliche and overdone. You may be the only person in your neighborhood to have tried the concept, but I've seen it done to death, both at my table and here on the boards. White necromancers are the two-weapon drow of the day. I'm sure the first person who built a drow like that thought they were doing something original and novel. They weren't, but, hey, that's okay. It's not particularly original to play a dwarven fighter, but some people like that too. And lord knows I'm a big fan of the badass kobold PCs cliche. I just don't bother trying to deny it's a cliche.
Did i run over your cat or something?
Now that you mention it, he has been missing. Do you have a guilty conscience?
Because the levels of hostility seem disproportionately high for a discussion of film. Especially when all i did was say 'I prefer Monsterous jagged mawed vampires who tear peoples heads of with bear hands' to 'happy shinie sparkly vampires, who seem a little emo and dangerous but are really very safe and cuddly.'
These are my normal levels of hostility. You said a bad movie was good. I corrected you. You tried to equate my statement that a particular bad movie is bad into a statement that I don't like suspense or tension. I corrected you again. And then you killed my cat.
Is that such a crime?
In North Dakota, it is.
Creative Director
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Wow. That was close. I thought for a terrible second that someone was badmouthing Alien. If that were the case, I'm afraid I would have had to lock down this thread and ban a lot of people. And then I'd burn down all of the copies of Pathfinder #28 in punishment and protest and move to Alaska to live life as a misanthropic hermit.
Close call, is all I'm saying. Whew.
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Wow. That was close. I thought for a terrible second that someone was badmouthing Alien. If that were the case, I'm afraid I would have had to lock down this thread and ban a lot of people. And then I'd burn down all of the copies of Pathfinder #28 in punishment and protest and move to Alaska to live life as a misanthropic hermit.
Close call, is all I'm saying. Whew.
Leave my pony alone!
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Bella Sara Charter Superscriber
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Wow. That was close. I thought for a terrible second that someone was badmouthing Alien. If that were the case, I'm afraid I would have had to lock down this thread and ban a lot of people. And then I'd burn down all of the copies of Pathfinder #28 in punishment and protest and move to Alaska to live life as a misanthropic hermit.
Close call, is all I'm saying. Whew.
No one would say that.
Now Aliens, that's another story. I think we can all agree that movie is terrible and completely ruined the Alien mythos.
Edit: Why are the words "BANNED FOR LIFE" suddenly on my screen with a timer counting down?
I only kept watching the Chronicles of Riddick because my friends said it as the greatest movie ever. So as I as sitting through it I kept thinking "I wonder when it gets good." It never did.
I had the same experience with my brother when I sat down to watch it with him.
Wow. That was close. I thought for a terrible second that someone was badmouthing Alien. If that were the case, I'm afraid I would have had to lock down this thread and ban a lot of people. And then I'd burn down all of the copies of Pathfinder #28 in punishment and protest and move to Alaska to live life as a misanthropic hermit.
Close call, is all I'm saying. Whew.
And this is James on a GOOD day!
Now Aliens, that's another story. I think we can all agree that movie is terrible and completely ruined the Alien mythos
Awww! I like that movie! :(
Me sad."Game over, man!"
Some other cliche I'm really getting tired of :
- Elemental dungeons - Yes, with elementals, elemental traps, elemental puzzles and elemental water closets.
- The sole survivor of the devastated country village with a vendeta against the BBEG. We all saw Conan, thank you!
- The bad-played Raistlin-type mysterious mage. Never saying a word IS NOT proper "mysterious" roleplay.
- The stupid barbarian, always bashing doors, always running for the kill. Come on, you can be born in a less civilized country and still THINK!
- The lame, oh so lame PC descriptions! The kind of sword you are wielding and armor you are wearing is NOT enough to depict your character properly.
- Paladins without personality. You could swap most paladin players with another one in the middle of the game and probably no one would notice.
Ah! Feels good!
Some other cliche I'm really getting tired of :
- Elemental dungeons - Yes, with elementals, elemental traps, elemental puzzles and elemental water closets.
This is the water level...
This is the fire level...This is the snow level...
This is the forest level..
And so on and so forth...
[/massive threadjack]
Did someone call for me?
No, they called for massive threadjack, not flamboyant and inadequate threadjack.[/massive threadjack]Did someone call for me?
*hangs head and exits stage right*
Yes Alien uses the technique far better. It is after all a true classic. However, when you describe yourself as having fast forwarded through vast tracks of the film and described it as boring, you paint your self as someone who doesn't understand that the concept. I was giving an example, from a film which is nearly universally accepted as good. Until now i didn't really have any reason to know with certainty you understood the idea at all.I'm not sure that finding a bad film to be so boring that I couldn't watch it except by fastforwarding through it to see if it ever got good (spoiler: it didn't) implies that I'm incapable of enjoying good films or that I'm unfamiliar with the concepts of suspense or tension. If I said I can't watch Baywatch except when it's muted, does that mean I don't appreciate dialogue in general?
Sometimes a cigar is a cigar. And a bad movie is a bad movie.
At the end of the day, like a behaviourist, i can't go inside the black box. I can only respond to that which you present. Your slatting the film, but never really backed your view up with any reasoned argument or explination. So any responce i can actually make is going to be broad, and based on what i can infer from what little you have said on the matter.You need to bone up on your deductive abilities. It doesn't take Sherlock Holmes to deduce that not liking a particular movie doesn't imply that a person doesn't like all movies of that type.
Does it knock the socks of most films that are in its sub-Genre? Sure it does.If the sub-genre is vampire movies based on comics that are terrible, then, yes, I suppose it does knock the socks off the other films in its sub-genre. If I were to make a list of vampire movies that are worth watching, 30 Days of Night would not even be in consideration for inclusion in such a list.
Think what you like about my opinions on Twilight,...
Ah...I get it now...Your a twilight fan...Why didn't you just say so. *Pats the pretty pony.*
Okay, slightly more seriously.
I have neither affermed or denighed the status 'white' necromancers as cliche. I frankly don't know or care if it is or isn't. If there are 101 'white' necromancers on the boards...well so be it, i suspect there are just as many white invokers, white illusionist and so on. All that i said with regards to them was A, i haven't knowingly meet anyone who plays a goodly necromancer, b, that when i did first play that character, i did not in anyway think i was playing an 'original' character concept. I was fully aware that i was calling on a very wide range of influence and insperations, from john constantine to spookie pete from the Penny Dreadful novel, a number of lovecraft prodagonists and many others. That isn't trying to 'pretend it is original'. The character may have had original touchs here and there, but sure the concept steals from a large number of sources, as i am sure all of yours do.
Wow. That was close. I thought for a terrible second that someone was badmouthing Alien. If that were the case, I'm afraid I would have had to lock down this thread and ban a lot of people. And then I'd burn down all of the copies of Pathfinder #28 in punishment and protest and move to Alaska to live life as a misanthropic hermit.
Close call, is all I'm saying. Whew.
No one would say that.
Now Aliens, that's another story. I think we can all agree that movie is terrible and completely ruined the Alien mythos.
Edit: Why are the words "BANNED FOR LIFE" suddenly on my screen with a timer counting down?
Sebastian, old buddy, old pal! Can I play a White Necromancer in YOUR game? Can I? Can I? I so want to control the vile, evil undead for the forces of Good! Can I? Can I? PLEEEAAAAASSSSSSSSSEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE?!?!?!?!?
P.S. - Will you be going to PaizoCon 2010? Come on! You know that you want to!
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Bella Sara Charter Superscriber
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Sebastian, old buddy, old pal! Can I play a White Necromancer in YOUR game? Can I? Can I? I so want to control the vile, evil undead for the forces of Good! Can I? Can I? PLEEEAAAAASSSSSSSSSEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE?!?!?!?!?
Sure, but you have to be a kender. They're the only white necromancers in my world.
P.S. - Will you be going to PaizoCon 2010? Come on! You know that you want to!
I'm strongly considering it...
Sebastian, old buddy, old pal! Can I play a White Necromancer in YOUR game? Can I? Can I? I so want to control the vile, evil undead for the forces of Good! Can I? Can I? PLEEEAAAAASSSSSSSSSEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE?!?!?!?!?Sure, but you have to be a kender. They're the only white necromancers in my world.
P.S. - Will you be going to PaizoCon 2010? Come on! You know that you want to!I'm strongly considering it...
PLEEEAAAAASSSSSSSSSEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE?!?!?!?!?
~grins~ Would it help knowing that I will be there too?
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Sebastian, old buddy, old pal! Can I play a White Necromancer in YOUR game? Can I? Can I? I so want to control the vile, evil undead for the forces of Good! Can I? Can I? PLEEEAAAAASSSSSSSSSEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE?!?!?!?!?Sure, but you have to be a kender. They're the only white necromancers in my world.
P.S. - Will you be going to PaizoCon 2010? Come on! You know that you want to!I'm strongly considering it...PLEEEAAAAASSSSSSSSSEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE?!?!?!?!?
~grins~ Would it help knowing that I will be there too?
Sure it will! He will be glad to buy some tickets knowing that!
PLEEEAAAAASSSSSSSSSEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE?!?!?!?!?~grins~ Would it help knowing that I will be there too?
It would help me make a final decision, that's for sure.
Seriously though, will you be there? It would influence my travel plans in a positive way...
Yes. I have already bought my ticket and the banquet ticket. Come tax time I will be getting the hotel room and the plane ticket. I am going to try to get there early so I can also see the rest of the city.
~thinks and gives you a worried look~ You are not going to mail me a real Taco Bell taco are you? ~starts to get a paranoid look~ Uh oh! ~RUNS~
What does "white necromancer" mean?
I believe the politically correct term is "Caucasian Necromancer".
Okay, while the film isn't ever going to be one of the greatest peices of cinema, the comic is up there with hellblazer, global frequence, transmetropolitan, the invisible and Sandman on levels of awesome. Shame on you patrick
+1 WTF was the POINT of that whole movie? Or the comic?
*shrugs* I guess we'll have to agree to disagree ZN, not exactly a new thing :P
I'd say more about that movie, but I think the pony has pretty much neighed my point for me ...
I believe the politically correct term is "Caucasian Necromancer".
What does "white necromancer" mean?
I find that label offensive.
Contributor, RPG Superstar 2012
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PLEEEAAAAASSSSSSSSSEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE?!?!?!?!?~grins~ Would it help knowing that I will be there too?
It would help me make a final decision, that's for sure.
Seriously though, will you be there? It would influence my travel plans in a positive way...
I'll be there.
<Now that Sebastian is sure to avoid PaizoCon, step one in ruining Sharoth's life is complete. MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!>
(Good thing no one can read the stuff in the <>)
Oh, and 30 Days of Night was alright. Now, 30 Hard Days Night on the other hand...
I think the pony has pretty much neighed my point for me ...
Agreed. Anything more would just be riding your hobby-horse or beating a dead one. I appreciate that you can bridle yourself and know when to say whoa. The point is definitely saddled. Nothing left here to spur you on.
PLEEEAAAAASSSSSSSSSEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE?!?!?!?!?~grins~ Would it help knowing that I will be there too?
It would help me make a final decision, that's for sure.
Seriously though, will you be there? It would influence my travel plans in a positive way...
I'll be there.
<Now that Sebastian is sure to avoid PaizoCon, step one in ruining Sharoth's life is complete. MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!>
(Good thing no one can read the stuff in the <>)
WAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!! Thanks tiag! Now he will never go to PaizoCon 2010 !!!
~grins~
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PLEEEAAAAASSSSSSSSSEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE?!?!?!?!?~grins~ Would it help knowing that I will be there too?
It would help me make a final decision, that's for sure.
Seriously though, will you be there? It would influence my travel plans in a positive way...
I'll be there.
<Now that Sebastian is sure to avoid PaizoCon, step one in ruining Sharoth's life is complete. MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!>
(Good thing no one can read the stuff in the <>)
WAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!! Thanks tiag! Now he will never go to PaizoCon 2010 !!!
~grins~
Now I will have to make sure I actually save some money to go. If Sharoth can't play the Kender White Ncromancer ~ Can I?