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So, Unicorn City, yeah, it kind of sucks.
This post is really more about warning people ahead of time.
Caught this on Netflix the other night. Between the title and the blurb about the story, I was really hoping to enjoy this. Unfortunately, it makes gamers look like a bunch of buffoons and kind of makes gaming publishers look like their companies are run by morons.
Think about the worst gamers you've ever met; the players who freak out and break things with cheap swords they bought out of a catalog when their PCs die and adversarial, drama queen GMs, unhealthy, smelly slobs and guys who drag their girlfriends along to the game and then spend the whole session making out at the table. Unicorn City seems to take place in a world where those are the only kinds of gamers that exist. The idea might have been funny if any of the characters had any redeeming character qualities, but they're all just cardboard cutouts of stereotypes thrown into a preposterous plot looted from a terrible ABC Family sitcom or a cartoon for 5-year-olds.
The jokes aren't funny and the characters act in ways no rational, intelligent adult would or should act. It's almost as if the movie was written by someone who's experience with geeks is limited to episodes of Big Bang Theory and administering swirlies in high school. It's just bad.
If you're looking for a good comedy about gamers, watch Astropia. The writers of that movie seemed to know something about subtlety and tonge-in-cheek comedy the people who made Unicorn City never figured out.
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How? ^_-
I'm sure some will disagree with me, but I thought the movie's representation of gamers was wildly off-base and I never got the impression they were going for slapstick. Having one character who didn't come across as an asperger's sufferer might have helped, but it's like the writer'd never heard of a gamer who wasn't a cellar dweller or uncomfortable to be around. Even the cute female lead came across as codependent and naive.
Also, the "sexy succubus" girl kind of made me throw up a little. I'm saying she was gross.
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If you're looking for a good comedy about gamers, watch Astropia. The writers of that movie seemed to know something about subtlety and tonge-in-cheek comedy the people who made Unicorn City never figured out.
Just watched this last night - truly entertaining! A great take on the culture and hobby, and funny to boot.
So did you like it better than the Scottish release "Gamerz"?
...which had so much potential.
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I'd never even heard of Gamerz, but I just watched the trailer, and, as I was watching it, I kept thinking, "the narrator is reading the wrong script, this looks like a suspense thriller about a crazed GM who murders all of his players after tricking them into the basement of an abandoned keep."
Am I wrong? Because that's totally the vibe I was getting.
Sadly, Velcro, thats about the sum of it.
Coulda been good... ended up just... meh. Watched it for completionist sake anyhow.
There are a few good movies out there though, and some great docos.
We need to make a new list!
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I'd never even heard of Gamerz, but I just watched the trailer, and, as I was watching it, I kept thinking, "the narrator is reading the wrong script, this looks like a suspense thriller about a crazed GM who murders all of his players after tricking them into the basement of an abandoned keep."
Am I wrong? Because that's totally the vibe I was getting.
How come no one made that kind of suspense movie before? that's a take on the "mad scientist trapping innocents in crazy laboratory" that I'd love to see.
no, seriously. It sounds awesome.
Its like they never played D&D before deciding to make a movie about it.