Posts Tagged ‘movies’

Last weekend I finally signed up for Netflix. Soon after, a friend suggested I watch a movie on their instant queue called ‘The Gamers: Dorkness Rising’. The premise sounded good, so I gave it 105 minutes of my time.

Now, this was a 2008 straight to video movie, but I feel compelled to give you my review of it.

First, the premise- Kevin Lodge wants his gaming group to finish their D&D adventure, but they’re more interested in seducing barmaids, mooning their enemies, and setting random villagers on fire. Desperate to rein in his players, Lodge adds two characters into the mix: a non-player character controlled by Lodge, and a newbie, and, as the press reads, ‘the rarest gamer of all — a girl!’

The movie itself was pretty clunky. It missed on the opportunity to have the newbie girl bring order to the chaos. The DM tries to micromanage his world, and despite advice to let it unfold naturally, he adds a character of his own, to try and guide his players. The girl, Joanna, is the ex-girlfriend of Cass, a rulebook know-it-all who is determined to beat this quest, despite being horribly inept. The seeds are sewn for her to usurp Cass, as she comes to the table with a character she created. Much to the surprise of the other gamers, her fighter is successful. However, her character never seems to deliver. Eventually the crew does finish the quest, but the ending is quite unsatisfying.

There are some good bits to this movie though, especially for gamers. One is where the character of the bard keeps getting killed, and replaced by a stack of replacement bards his gamer created. For this, it gives one a good aspect of how surreal the playing of D&D is.

A good editor could easily have made this a more flowing adventure, albeit a much shorter movie. If you have a Netflix account, or can find this for rent somewhere, it has it’s moments.

Technically, it’s about 3 minutes and 30 seconds. If you don’t go see a lot of movies, then this one is for you. Two guys spoiling 100 movies – old and new. I say it’s better than Cliff notes. No pricey movie tix – no popcorn in the teeth. Well, I suppose if you want to eat popcorn during that time, you can.

Even Kids need a place to go on the internet. So why not Kidsland? Thinkout Solution LLC, released their first official KidsLand service. With games, movies and activities, this site is set to teach youngsters while keeping them entertained.

It looks like a great site. Unfortunately, it does come with a price. $6.95 a month or $62.95 a year, which is a $20 savings. Then again if it helps your kid become more successful in class, then it would be worth it, right? At least the BLOG is free.

So your question might be: Is this really a dorky thing? YES! It’s about kids and it’s about learning. That’s cool-dorky stuff. Edumatcate!

Kidsland is in Beta right now.

It’s a sad day as Roger Ebert, 66, decided to leave the long time running Siskel and Ebert and Roeper. In a statement from Roger on rogerebert.com, he states:

After 33 years on the air, 23 of them with Disney, the studio has decided to take the program named “Siskel & Ebert” and then “Ebert & Roeper” in a new direction. I will no longer be associated with it. -Roger Ebert

Roger really hasn’t been on the show since 2004 when he underwent cancer treatment. He started his TV career with Gene Siskel when they reviewed movies on PBS for “Sneak Previews”. They then made the jump to syndication with “Siskel and Ebert & the Movies” which later just became “Siskel and Ebert”.

When Siskel passed in 1999, Ebert saught another guest. In September of 2000, Richard Roeper took the reigns where he has held down the fort since.

The format has changed immensely since the switch to Disney. I don’t even know if they do the “Thumbs up/down” anymore.

By the Way – Richard Roeper also put in his resignation, which means the show is without hosts (that we know of). Good op for any Movie Dorks out there…

We found an old episode of At the Movies on YouTube, so grab some popcorn and enjoy!