Seth Harris

Origins 2017: Urban Shadows

Origins 2017 has come and gone. My time at the convention is spent mainly in the Games on Demand space, a venue where around eight GMs offer a menu of tabletop RPGs. For the cost of two generic con tokens, you get a space at a table and a one-shot game of approximately four hours. This was my third year to attend Origins and it felt very different from the previous years. I’ll get into more of that in my wrap up post on Saturday.

One great addition to Games on Demand was a Boarding Pass system. In years past, the line for GoD at Origins has been an unwieldy beast, requiring players to stake out a spot an hour or more in advance or risk losing their chance at a game they wanted. There was some discontent between GoD and con-goers who thought their pre-purchased tickets applied in this venue the same as their spot at a Shadowrun or Pathfinder table. The compromise of the Boarding Pass was beautiful in my opinion. Onto my first game of the con:

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Twin Peaks: The Return – Episode 7 Breakdown, Thoughts, and Analysis

Part 7
Written by Mark Frost & David Lynch
Directed by David Lynch

David Patrick Kelly in a still from Twin Peaks. Photo: Suzanne Tenner/SHOWTIME

We begin with Jerry Horne standing in the middle of the woods distraught and confused. He calls his brother Ben who picks up and Jerry slowly, but panicked explains his car has been stolen. Throughout the conversation, Jerry doesn’t seem to know exactly when and where he is, finally shouting “I think I’m high!”. The incident is never resolved later, but I assume Ben sent someone to look for Jerry or Jerry came to his senses. While positively dripping with that dry humor of Lynch, I was reminded of the Secret History book and how it cataloged many incidents of Twin Peaks residents wandering into the woods only to encounter entities from the Lodge. I wonder if Jerry met something while he was out there.

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The Revisit – Dirty Rotten Scoundrels

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988)
Written by Dale Launer and Stanley Shapiro & Paul Henning
Directed by Frank Oz

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Lawrence Jamieson (Michael Caine) has a good thing going. He lives in a beautiful mansion in Beaumont Sur Mer, on the French Riviera. He makes his money bilking foolish wealthy American women by convincing them he is exiled royalty from a fictional Eastern European country. Everything starts to fall apart when Freddy Benson (Steve Martin) comes to town. Freddy is a rude, loud, obnoxious con man who thinks he’s impressive getting a woman to buy him a dinner. Lawrence and Freddy face off to determine who is the better criminal and end up crossing paths with Janet Colgate, an unassuming American beauty (Glenne Headly).

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Twin Peaks: The Return – Episode 6 Breakdown, Thoughts, and Analysis

Part 6
Written by David Lynch & Mark Frost
Directed by David Lynch

We find Cooper in the same spot from the last episode, spending the night standing next to the statue of the lawman. A security guard approaches him and seems to sense something is off. Cooper is trying to get the green blazer off during this conversation and eventually divulges enough info to be taken back to Dougie’s house. Janey meets them at the door and brings Cooper inside. One of the guards points out a larger envelope on the floor. Janey decides to take Coop to the doctor the next day because of his behavior.

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Movie Review – It Comes At Night

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It Comes At Night (2017)
Written & Directed by Trey Edward Shults

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Something terrible is happening. A virus is killing people, and no one seems to know quite where it comes from how exactly how you contract it. Travis (Kelvin Harrison, Jr.) is living under the strict rules of his father, Paul (Joel Edgerton) and mother, Sarah (Carmen Ejogo). Doors are kept locked up and tight and venturing outside is planned for only short bursts. Into their life comes another group of survivors and out of this develops the central conflict of the film. Told from the perspective of Travis we get overhear conversations muffled by floorboards and see the horrific nightmares that keep the young man awake at night.

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Movie Review – The Red Turtle

The Red Turtle (2017)
Written Michaël Dudok de Wit & Pascale Ferran
Directed by Michaël Dudok de Wit

red turtle

An unnamed man is struggling to stay afloat during a violent storm on the ocean. He wakes up on the shores of a deserted island. After finding a source of fresh water and fruit, the man decides to use the bamboo that grows on the island to build a raft. His first attempt fails when an unseen force from beneath breaks the raft apart. After two more attempts, he finally spots the culprit, a giant red sea turtle. From there the relationship between the man and this turtle takes some unexpected turns and becomes a film about the stages of human life.

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Movie Review – Hello, My Name is Doris

Hello, My Name is Doris (2016)
Written by Laura Terruso & Michael Showalter
Directed by Michael Showalter

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Doris Miller (Sally Field) has just lost her mother. She’s lived all her sixty-something years on Staten Island with her mom, and now she isn’t quite sure what to do with her life. She does data entry for an apparel company in the city and finds herself becoming infatuated with John (Max Greenfield), the new art director. Doris begins to challenge her own routines and expand her horizons in a film that seeks to play with our expectations of romantic comedies.

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Movie Review – Masterminds (2016)

Masterminds (2016)
Written by Chris Bowman & Hubbel Palmer, and Emily Spivey
Directed by Jared Hess

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It’s 1997 in North Carolina, and Loomis Fargo armored truck driver David Ghant (Zach Galifianakis) is about to be married but developing a crush on his fellow driver Kelly (Kristen Wiig). Kelly’s friend and ex-con Steve Chambers (Owen Wilson) convinces her to use this infatuation as a means to have David rob Loomis Fargo for them. David goes along and ends up absconding with $17 million dollars in cash, the largest robbery in American history. They dupe dumb David into hiding out in Mexico with plans to turn him in a while blowing as much money as they can. But through a series of coincidence and dumb luck, David ends up with the upper hand.

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TV Review – The Leftovers Season 3

The Leftovers Season 3 (2017)
Written by Damon Lindelof, Patrick Somerville, Tom Perrotta, Tom Spezialy, Tamara Carter, Lila Byock, Carly Wray
Directed by Mimi Leder, Keith Gordon, Daniel Sackheim, Nicole Kassell, Carl Franklin, Craig Zobel

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Seven years ago while people were going about their day to day lives, the Sudden Departure occurred. 140 million people, 2% of the population, vanished. No trace of them could be found, and the rest of humanity was left wondered what happened, why did it happen, and where did they go? For three seasons, The Leftovers followed Sheriff Kevin Garvey, Jr., Nora Durst, and the extended families that surrounded them. The series began in New York state, wandered to just outside of Austin, Texas, and concluded its run in Australia. With the eighth episode of season 3 the series ended and assured its place as one of the greatest television series of this current golden age.

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Movie Review – Rupture

Rupture (2017)
Written by Brian Nelson & Steven Shainberg
Directed by Steven Shainberg

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Renee (Noomi Rapace) is a single mother in Kansas going about her life when a flat tire leads to her abduction by a mysterious cabal of scientists. She’s put through a series of torturous experiments, gets loose and goes climbing through the vents, only to discover she’s a part of the dumbest conspiracy ever, which you can likely guess in the first 20 minutes of the film. My mind is still boggling at how these actors, who are pretty good, could be in a movie like this.

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