General Film News

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Wrathbone
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Re: General Film News

Post by Wrathbone » Fri Jul 22, 2022 5:53 am

Trailer for the new D&D movie:



Okay… so history suggests this will be terrible, but I’m excited all the same. It looks like they’re making it more of a comedy than the embarrassingly stern efforts of the previous films (yes that’s plural - they made two more after the infamous Jeremy Irons film, and they’re so much worse :lol: ), so hopefully that will work in its favour. It’s got Hugh Grant as the villain, for crying out loud!

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Re: General Film News

Post by Raid » Fri Jul 22, 2022 7:12 am

Yeah, I'd be going into that assuming it'll be awful, but I do want to see it (although definitely waiting until it's free on a streaming service I have access to). I think what they need to do is reference things without feeling the need to point them out. I know films have to appeal to an audience outside of current players, but it's going to be cringeworthy to existing fans if they name check everything. Do they really need to have "what's that?", "oh, it's an owlbear" in the script when the creature looks like a combination of an owl and a bear? There's a shot of two characters diving into a gelatinous cube - I don't want them to spend 20 seconds explaining a frankly ludicrous creature, although I do have to say that the 'cube being in there is actually the bit of the trailer that won me over.

I *have* already seen someone commenting that the druid shouldn't be able to wildshape into an owlbear because it's a monstrosity and not a beast, so at least nerds are getting into the spirit of things.

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Re: General Film News

Post by Wrathbone » Fri Jul 22, 2022 7:20 am

I *have* already seen someone commenting that the druid shouldn't be able to wildshape into an owlbear because it's a monstrosity and not a beast, so at least nerds are getting into the spirit of things.
If we're going that route, strictly speaking the gelatinous cube should be invisible unless you've passed a perception check. ;)

Honestly, I can live with the film being littered with knowing nods to D&D stuff - I'm happy to take whatever we get, because I refuse to believe it can be worse than what's come before. That would be a real feat.

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Re: General Film News

Post by Raid » Fri Jul 22, 2022 7:22 am

I've not seen any of the previous D&D films. Are they genuinely awful or entertainingly awful?

I want knowing nods, I just don't want them all directly referenced. I want to see Chris Pine nearly being hit by a beam of purple crackling energy without someone saying that he's lucky to have avoided that eldritch blast.

It'd be nice to get a bunch of cameos from recogniseable D&D groups too. We know there's one in there, and yes it's probably the one you're thinking of, but just having a shot where the protagonists walk into a tavern, and the camera briefly pans to show the patrons looking up at the new group of strangers, and literally every table is filled with players from assorted web series - that's a nod that they wouldn't need to explain. Yes, I know the only groups I'm interested in probably aren't big enough to appear, but Jane Douglas *was* in the latest Jurassic Park, Rogue One, Solo and Ready Player One, so there is a chance.
Last edited by Raid on Fri Jul 22, 2022 7:31 am, edited 2 times in total.

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Re: General Film News

Post by Wrathbone » Fri Jul 22, 2022 7:25 am

The first two are comically bad, veering into tedium at times. Alcohol recommended, particularly for the CGI near the end of the second film. The third film is devoid of entertainment in any form - it's a miserable, dark trudge through banality and easily one of the worst films I've ever seen.

EDIT - I've just remembered that the first one has a Crystal Maze section, with none other than Richard O'Brien in charge. :lol:

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Re: General Film News

Post by Raid » Fri Jul 22, 2022 7:31 am

Ok, now I have to see that.

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Re: General Film News

Post by Mantis » Fri Jul 22, 2022 8:35 am

Wait, there's a crystal maze section in the Jeremy Irons DnD movie? I have no recollection of that scene whatsoever! But then I suppose I have made every effort to burn that movie from my memory.

May be due a rewatch soon. Let's face it though, they can name drop spells and abilities all they like but it'll never be a proper DnD movie until the heroes have tried to strongarm the local merchants into giving them things for free and accidentally escalated a simple encounter with a guardsman into an elaborate body disposal cover up.

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Re: General Film News

Post by Sly Boots » Fri Jul 22, 2022 8:49 am

Mantis wrote:
Fri Jul 22, 2022 8:35 am
Wait, there's a crystal maze section in the Jeremy Irons DnD movie? I have no recollection of that scene whatsoever! But then I suppose I have made every effort to burn that movie from my memory.

May be due a rewatch soon. Let's face it though, they can name drop spells and abilities all they like but it'll never be a proper DnD movie until the heroes have tried to strongarm the local merchants into giving them things for free and accidentally escalated a simple encounter with a guardsman into an elaborate body disposal cover up.
Or wandered into town to sell some loot and end up fixing an election and executing the outgoing mayor as an example to others.

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Re: General Film News

Post by Wrathbone » Fri Jul 22, 2022 8:54 am

I did think it was fitting that the party has apparently accidentally unleashed some world-ending terror, which gave me strong Unmentionables vibes.

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Re: General Film News

Post by arqueturus » Fri Jul 22, 2022 8:57 am

This actually looks quite entertaining and I have ahuge soft spot for Chris Pine too, ever since Smokin' Aces. I think I'd call this the Guardians of the Galaxy/Thor:Ragnarok effect where they deliberatly try to subvert the seriousness of something and it (hopefully) becomes the greater than the sum of it's parts.

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Re: General Film News

Post by Sly Boots » Fri Jul 22, 2022 8:58 am

Wrathbone wrote:
Fri Jul 22, 2022 8:54 am
I did think it was fitting that the party has apparently accidentally unleashed some world-ending terror, which gave me strong Unmentionables vibes.
:lol:

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Re: General Film News

Post by Solitaire » Fri Jul 22, 2022 9:50 am

Huh. Well, I don't know quite what to think. As a teen in the 80s who was totally enthralled by AD&D (1e of course) and played it with a dedicated party of high school misfits for years, and is in my third year of developing my homebrew campaign (over two dozen modules written at this point), I would say they had me at Led Zeppelin... Just need huge bags of Doritos and 2 liter bottles of Mountain Dew and it's like a time warp back to my childhood. Honestly, pretty cool to see a mage using Shield to stop some arrows, the kinda baby-sized Gelatinous Cube, [edit: just noticed that they're jumping into the Cube to get away from a Displacer Beast, so that's neat] and the medium-sized Mimic. The druid changing into an Owlbear is super annoying, for sure. And is that Black Dragon spewing heaps of acidy black goo? I would have preferred to see a more liquid version of their acid breath attack.

The huge caves of red and black aren't what I picture at all when playing. I'm much more of the "gray dungeon walls with torch sconces" type of player/DM. But maybe those are the set pieces, and they'll be some actual dungeon crawling? Okay, I suppose I'll go see it. Fine.
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Re: General Film News

Post by Hatredsheart » Sat Jul 23, 2022 10:13 am

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Re: General Film News

Post by Animalmother » Sat Jul 23, 2022 11:04 am

:P

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Re: General Film News

Post by Lenny Solidus » Tue Aug 02, 2022 7:52 pm

Building the future, and keeping the past alive - are one and the same thing.

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