Timewaster's Guide Archive

I'm glad they changed the headline to say the review was by Skar rather than the Gibbs' brothers. We love Skar like a brother, but he should get credit for his own work.

I once gm'd a Paranoia game where one player ran completely out of clones during the pre-mission briefing. Admittedly, I'm relatively harsh durign briefing, and tend to be nicer afterward, but this guy was pretty stupid about how he played.

You, sir, are my new hero.

It was actually the NPC's who got the worst of it in my campaign. I was very good at Conning or Fast Talking them into revealing their Secret Societies or Mutant Powers, and you'd be surprised how easily Blue Level cops fall for the phrase "You don't have the guts to shoot him." Of course, this would occasionally backfire and get me killed, but my characters always had very high Chutzpah ratings and got away with a lot.

Name: Paul Gibbs
Nickname: Paul Gibbs

Paul is a film student (currently in production on a student film entitled "Dungeons & Daydreams" which celebrates the RPG experience) and semi-professional actor/writer/director. He works at the Clark Planetarium in SLC, Utah, as Lead Show Presenter, which means he is in charge of writing, developing and performing live astronomy shows. He is a member of "Laughing Stock", Utah's longest running improv comedy troupe, and is a rabid Steven Spielberg fan.

Favorite movies:
(In no particular order)
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Schindler's List
Lawrence of Arabia
Saving Private Ryan
Casablanca
Munich
Amistad
Glory
Apollo 13
King Kong (Peter Jackson version)
The Shawshank Redemption
The Green Mile
Dead Man Walking
The Passion of the Christ
The Lord of the Rings Trilogy
The Star Wars Trilogy
To Be or Not To Be (Jack Benny version)
Forrest Gump
Cast Away
Jurassic Park
Minority Report
Catch Me If You Can
The Terminal
Back to the Future
Quiz Show
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
Dead Poets Society
Duck Soup
Moulin Rouge!
Silverado
Dances With Wolves
. . . . Just to name a few. I could go on and on.


Favorite Books:

"Farenheit 451" by Ray Bradbury

"The Pleasure of My Company" by Steve Martin

"Lord of the Rings Trilogy" by J.R.R. Tolkien

J.K. Rowling's "Harry Potter" series

"The Hunt For Red October" and "The Cardinal of the Kremlin" by Tom Clancy

Patrick O'Brien's Aubrey/Maturin series.  

Favorite Band:

U2

Favorite Muppet:

Kermit the Frog


http://www.timewastersguide.com/view.php?id=1222&dep=4

3.5 is bad because of the movies reviewed recently, most have been 5+ clocks.

There are two factors to consider here: First, it took us a long time to get any kind of handle on the clock system, so some of our ratings were off. Second, those recent 5+ clock rating were for films like "Munich". Oscar caliber films that rank among the greats. "Firewall" is a fun little movie, but it's nowhere near as good as as "Munich" or "Good Night, and Good Luck".  The 5+ clock movies we've reviewed recently mostly made out top 10 of 2005. As much as I enjoyed "Firewall", I doubt it will make my top 10 for 2006.

Remember, this is how I defined the star system:

1 = Poor

2= fair

3 = Good

4 = Excellent

There's a pretty big jump from a three star movie to a four star, and I think Skar's clock rating translation reflected that accurately.

reference: http://www.timewastersguide.com/view.php?id=1252

I do have to add this comment, though: anyone who thinks this is ridiculous
clearly doesn't have children of his own.

Well, you're right, neither of us have kids - but we have considerably more experience caring for children than many we know who do. But we do understand the notion of trying to keep children calm in a tough situation - you'd be surprised at the extent to which we've been through something like this in real life - but it has been played more believably in films like "Patriot Games" and "Panic Room." The idea was not at all ridiculous, it was completely valid. Certainly, in  The excecution seemed forced and silly. Madsen seemed vaugely embarrased, like she was about to start singing about "Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens."

Valid comment. Thanks for giving me the chance to clarify what we meant.

And yes, for now, we will stop calling him the late Harrison Ford. But if he teams up with Josh  Hartnett again . . .

I agree, if you want to appreciate Malick's cinematography, the big screen is the best way. And there is no denying that "The New World" includes moments of superb visual poetry - it's simply prententious and lacks narrative cohesion.

This is really what we meant we called Malick more of a film school professor than a director. If you want to study the visual techniques of filmmaking, Malick's among the best. He can paint with all the colors of the wind: he just can't tell a story.

Cheapo, indeed. I find myself grimacing or smirking rather than laughing at the trailer every time I see it. blech. Same thing goes for the Shaggy Dog remake. It looks so incredibly lame gag-happy and boring. Too bad. I remember liking the early ones--of course, I was a youngster at the time...

I wonder what everyone thinks or knows of "The Fountain" with Hugh Jackman? I'm quite intrigued by the trailer, esp. because it looks like the film has a distinctly fantastic air to it. I just happened upon it while I was at Apple's Quicktime site. Looks quite visually seductive anyway.  

I have not seen the trailer, but "The Fountain" was an oversite. I misundertsood and thought it was  platformed 2005 release. it is not. Had I known that, it would been included in the article. My mistake.