fantasy – Page 9 – PopCult Reviews

PopCult Podcast – Joyland/Barbie

This episode features two films that explore ideas of gender & society but in wildly different ways and styles. For our first film, we journey to Lahore, Pakistan where we enter the world of erotic theater where transgender women perform on stage. Then it’s over to a land of make believe where toys come to life and face the complex problems of the real world.

Solo Tabletop RPG Review – Be Like a Crow

Be Like a Crow (Critical Kit)
Designed & Written by Tim Roberts

You can purchase this game here.

This was the first tabletop rpg I have been approached to review by the company that publishes it. That made me feel quite good, and I hope I do justice for every game I review here. If you’re a regular reader of these solo TTRPG reviews, you know I was a newcomer to these games circa 2011. After being very enthused by the gaming scene for a few years, I fell out of love with it due to the reasons many hobbies go sour for people these days. However, this year’s discovery of the plethora of solo games and gaming tools has reinvigorated my joy. One thing to note is that my preference as I perused the ttrpgs back during my first round with them was that I just really wasn’t an Old School Renaissance guy and, in fact, preferred what was sometimes referred to as “story games,” i.e., games that are fiction first rather than crunchy with stats or heavily dependent on mapping and measurement. As a result, I wasn’t exposed to certain kinds of games, and I especially have never played a hex crawl before.

Patron Pick – Oz the Great and Powerful

This special reward is available to Patreon patrons who pledge at the $10 or $20 monthly levels. Each month those patrons will pick a film for me to review. If they choose, they also get to include some of their thoughts about the movie. This Pick comes from Matt Harris.

Oz the Great and Powerful (2013)
Written by Sam Raimi, Mitchell Kapner, and David Lindsay-Abaire
Directed by Sam Raimi

The Wizard of Oz is the most significant notable American fairy tale. The others we typically think of are imports from Europe and folktales translated from their African roots into a new land in the case of the American South. It began in 1900 as the work of writer and theatrical producer L. Frank Baum. Combining fragments of his life experiences, Baum constructed a story about a little girl from Kansas and her adventures in the strange land of Oz. Two years after the book publication, Baum staged a live theatrical performance, so it is clear his intent was that this would always be a living story, not simply a book to be read but to be performed.

Movie Review – My Own Private Idaho

My Own Private Idaho (1991)
Written & Directed by Gus Van Sant

A person’s inner life can be such a vast, complex landscape. The way we process experiences & emotions may have some universality, but ultimately, the way you feel inside going through these things is something no one else can ever truly know. For the character of Mikey in My Own Private Idaho, almost his whole life is made up of this intimate inner world due to his chronic narcolepsy. He can never quite get anywhere or finish a conversation before passing out. Gus Van Sant tells his story from this character’s perspective, which means the audience sees the narrative in fragments. We’re in one place, then another, only to return to where we started. Did we really go anywhere at all? Or was this just the lovely dream of a lonely person with a very uncertain future ahead of them? Maybe it’s all these things. Perhaps the dream world is just as real as the tangible one for someone like Mikey.

PopCult Podcast – Puss in Boots: The Last Wish/Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves

It’s attack of the IPs in this cineplex double feature. One movie is a spin-off of a trilogy of animated films which themselves have become an ongoing meme. The other is an adaptation of a beloved tabletop game using Marvel flavoring for every element in the movie.

Movie Review – The Super Mario Bros. Movie

The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023)
Written by Matthew Fogel
Directed by Aaron Horvath & Michael Jelenic

Despite numerous adaptations to film & television, live-action & animated, Mario remains one of the most nebulous pop culture characters regarding his narrative arc. Most cartoon shows begin in media res; Mario is already the hero and, accompanied by his friends Luigi, Toad, and Peach, fights the good fight against Bowser & his Koopa Troopas. The hybrid Super Mario Bros. Super Show television series exists as this strange liminal object, with the framing device of Captain Lou Albano & Danny Wells, as Mario & Luigi, respectively, introducing audiences to cartoon stories about them. Yet, there is never an apparent effort made to establish the timeline of events. The 1993 live-action movie starring Bob Hoskins & John Leguizamo veers off into its own unique & bizarre direction, positing a parallel dinosaur-dominated timeline. As much presence as Mario has in American & Japanese culture since the 1980s, no one seems very concerned about the story behind the plumber. In this way, The Super Mario Bros. Movie exists as the first origin story that adheres closely to the designs & relationship dynamics of the video games.

Solo Tabletop RPG Review – Ironsworn Part Two

Ironsworn (Tomkin Press) Part Two
Designed & Written by Sean Tomkins
You can download Ironsworn for FREE here.

Read Part One for a brief overview of the rules for Ironsworn.

To play Ironsworn, I used a remarkable and free online play resource called Iron Journal. First, I chose the Truths for my version of the Ironlands default setting. These are as follows in a more summarized version than the game presents them:

The Old World: There was a pandemic that ravaged our homelands, and people fled in droves; many were tossed overboard when they were found to be sick, and those who survived have carved out a home in this new, rough land.

Iron: The weather here is brutal, and the sun rarely breaks through the clouds. Those who make it here that can survive the long winters are said to be made of iron.

Solo Tabletop RPG Review – Ironsworn Part One

Ironsworn (Tomkin Press) Part One
Designed & Written by Sean Tomkins
You can download Ironsworn for FREE here.

I’ve written previously about the types of games that fall under the solo banner. However, when most people think of tabletop roleplaying, they immediately think of Dungeons & Dragons. It makes sense due to the Satanic Panic of the 1980s acting as some of the best marketing the game could ask for. So, when most people imagine RPGs, they think of people sitting around a table rolling dice to do skill checks and fight monsters in a dungeon. That can be tricky with solo tabletop because of the crucial role a Dungeon Master or Game Master plays in that scenario. However, designer Sean Tomkins has cracked that code with his incredible Ironsworn system. To accomplish this feat, he borrowed heavily from a game system not as many people are familiar with.

Solo Tabletop RPG Review – Artefact

Artefact (Mousehole Press)
Created and Designed by Jack Harrison

The world of solo tabletop roleplaying is made up of a lot (but not entirely) of what you could classify as world-building exercises. These are some extremely fun games that could be easily used to spark ideas for a campaign in another, more complex system. I saw someone refer to these types of games as toys for the GM, something the person planning sessions can play that also helps build the background of stories. One of the best options in this subcategory is Artefact, a brilliant game where you play a magical item, telling your story over the course of anywhere from a decade to millennia. Your life is framed through the Keepers who wielded you over time.

Movie Review – The Fisher King

The Fisher King (1991)
Written by Richard LaGravenese
Directed by Terry Gilliam

Terry Gilliam is a director I can’t quite decide on. There are movies of his I think are brilliant (Brazil, 12 Monkeys), but so much of his work, even the stuff I like, feels messy & cluttered. That’s the charm of Gilliam, though. He’s a filmmaker whose personality is imbued into his work, much like David Lynch. This means his movies are polarizing. People love or hate most of them, with a few managing to find that middle ground of neutrality. The Fisher King seems to be one of the more universally liked Gilliam pictures, and I can see why. The story is grounded for the most part, the fantasies are never presented as potentially real, and the characters experience a pretty traditional arc where they get to live happily ever after.