A disjointed and muddled action film that’s somewhat entertaining, if not logical. Dolph Lundgren and Gina Bellman are good together, and the film has a quiet build. Sadly, the payoff is hurt by clichés and jumps in plot logic. Silent Trigger is enhanced by Russell Mulcahy’s (Highlander, The Shadow) visual eye. He sprinkles the movie […]
Flawed Fun Written and directed by Michael Crichton (The Andromeda Strain, Jurassic Park, Westworld), Runaway was overshadowed at the box office in 1984 by megahits like The Terminator. It earned $6,770,587 against an estimated eight-million-dollar budget. The film also suffers from police procedural clichés and offscreen plot hand-waving. Unrealistic situations tend to pull the viewer
I finally sat down and watched Robinson Crusoe on Mars. I had seen clips and read about it while studying film special effects, but I don’t think I had ever seen the entire film before. It was fun and enjoyable, though clearly made in a different era. The pacing is quite slow, and the main
Another Dose of ’90s Cyberpunk This time from one of the genre’s founding authors, William Gibson. If you like your cyberpunk with calling cards, pay phones, and Concorde jets, this is for you. It also features a cybernetic dolphin, a cybernetic Dolph Lundgren, the beautiful Dina Meyer, Ice-T, and of course, a pre-Matrix Keanu Reeves.
A fascinating snapshot of late ’80s and early ’90s sci-fi cyberpunk multimedia—brought to you by none other than William Shatner (well, kind of). He once said he wanted to combine elements of Star Trek and T.J. Hooker. The early ’90s, for me, were all about Star Trek, Babylon 5, and TekWar. I was obsessed with
The 1983 film Krull features quite possibly the coolest movie weapon ever—it’s called The Glaive. Important note: the weapon in the film is not a glaive. It’s super cool, yes, but not an actual glaive. Its name is the Glaive. Why? We’d have to ask the Old One. Sadly, Krull is mostly a broken mess
Dragonslayer (1981) Possibly the greatest cinematic dragon, Vermithrax Pejorative, leapt off the screen and set fire to my imagination in this 1981 dark Disney film. It’s ripe with material for dungeon masters and D&D players alike. Ideas Watch Dragonslayer for free on Hoopla. See the trailer below. Books About Dragons Articles About Dragons Podcasts About Dragons A conversation
Ladyhawke is a 1985 fantasy film directed by Richard Donner (Superman, The Goonies, Lethal Weapon). The screenplay was written by Edward Khmara, Michael Thomas, and Tom Mankiewicz, with an uncredited polish by David Webb Peoples. It stars Matthew Broderick, Rutger Hauer, and Michelle Pfeiffer. Lovers are cursed to be “always together, eternally apart”—one a hawk by day, the
I just learned of the passing of actor Ron Ely. He was my childhood Tarzan. Even though the show was 20 years old, it was a staple of 80s TV on Saturday and Sunday mornings. I watched it all the time and loved it. Then, around the mid-80s, I discovered Doc Savage: Man of Bronze.
The Mummy (1932) Dungeon masters need to immerse themselves in stories and knowledge. We can’t be flipping through books at the gaming table or spending hours prepping before a session. We need to create a catalog of stories in our minds that we can draw from while running D&D. Let’s consider The Mummy from 1932.
My Friend Ran A Session Based on a Movie and I Loved It This Reddit post Do the GMs/GMs out there ever steal story elements from things you know your players don’t watch/read for homebrew campaigns? reminded me of a story. The Mid-90’s About 20 years ago, I was trying to create a post-apocalyptic RPG.
