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Thor: Ragnarok was a lot of fun. Overall, I would described it as 10% iffy, 60% good, and 30% awesome. The first twenty minutes or so were highly entertaining and very funny, after which it balanced out to generally enjoyable and intermittently hilarious, with one or two bits that fell flat. Everyone seemed like they were having a good time, and it rollicked along at a good pace. Tom Hiddleston stood out to me as putting in by far the most effort, and Cate Blanchett was slightly disappointing only because I've seen her do a lot more with a lot less. I must have liked the film quite a bit, though, as I'm going again tomorrow!
School of Rock turned out to be as entertaining as I'd hoped. It followed the film very faithfully, but with extra songs and a few minor changes to some of the character arcs. The music was toe-tapping, the performances were energetic, and the kids in particular were amazing. Lots of fun, very funny in places (particularly the performances by the main character's old band) and everyone was clearly committed to the show. And excellent afternoon's enjoyment!
Venus in Fur was also excellent all round, but in a very different way. It's a two-hander, and both Natalie Dormer and David Oakes turned in a nuanced and varied performance. It was both visually and intellectually stimulating, with tons of layers relating to the significance of the various roles taken on by both characters. The script was clever, funny and affecting, and there was a lot of power on display. This is something I am also hoping to see again - ninety minutes of gripping drama with a lot to get your teeth into.
Yesterday, I played two new games:
Karmaka is a card game about trying to progress up the reincarnation ladder to enlightenment. You play cards to build enough points to progress, but you can also attack other players, or put cards into your hand for a future life, in an attempt to improve your chances of progressing next time around. For a game about buddhist reincarnation and karma, it was rather more cut-throat that I was expecting, but it was fun and strategically interesting, and also gorgeously designed.
Ticket to Ride: Germany is a variation of the classic game that I hadn't played before. The basic game is the same across all versions, but each has its own particular rules. Here, we had to think about the best places to position our passengers and then take advantage of opportunities to gain points by sending them along established train routes. I failed utterly to do anything useful with my passengers, and therefore missed out on quite a lot of points, but I did manage to complete three long routes (laying the joining piece of track on the very last turn) so I was satisfied with that, even though I came quite far down in the rankings.
School of Rock turned out to be as entertaining as I'd hoped. It followed the film very faithfully, but with extra songs and a few minor changes to some of the character arcs. The music was toe-tapping, the performances were energetic, and the kids in particular were amazing. Lots of fun, very funny in places (particularly the performances by the main character's old band) and everyone was clearly committed to the show. And excellent afternoon's enjoyment!
Venus in Fur was also excellent all round, but in a very different way. It's a two-hander, and both Natalie Dormer and David Oakes turned in a nuanced and varied performance. It was both visually and intellectually stimulating, with tons of layers relating to the significance of the various roles taken on by both characters. The script was clever, funny and affecting, and there was a lot of power on display. This is something I am also hoping to see again - ninety minutes of gripping drama with a lot to get your teeth into.
Yesterday, I played two new games:
Karmaka is a card game about trying to progress up the reincarnation ladder to enlightenment. You play cards to build enough points to progress, but you can also attack other players, or put cards into your hand for a future life, in an attempt to improve your chances of progressing next time around. For a game about buddhist reincarnation and karma, it was rather more cut-throat that I was expecting, but it was fun and strategically interesting, and also gorgeously designed.
Ticket to Ride: Germany is a variation of the classic game that I hadn't played before. The basic game is the same across all versions, but each has its own particular rules. Here, we had to think about the best places to position our passengers and then take advantage of opportunities to gain points by sending them along established train routes. I failed utterly to do anything useful with my passengers, and therefore missed out on quite a lot of points, but I did manage to complete three long routes (laying the joining piece of track on the very last turn) so I was satisfied with that, even though I came quite far down in the rankings.
