#michael daley

[thysia]

They Kill With Their Feet - Michael Daley

[loudlylovingreview]

Michael Daley: Ground Work

The Earth will be saved when our breed is extinguished, goes the thinking of some who have ceased consuming its fossilized strata,depleting the soil, the breathable air, ensnaring the wild flow of rivers and denying that icebergs sink in the rising seas.Who’ve reckoned it worth denying themselves the gift of one more child, abandoned electronic cities, decamped to far islands where omnivorous…

[movies-to-add-to-your-tbw]

Title: Purl

Rating: PG

Director: Kristen Lester

Cast: Bret Parker, Emily Davis, Michael Daley, Michael Frederickson, Erik Langley, Jimmy Lillard, Austin Madison, Kelsey Mann, Kyle McDaniel, Victor Navone, Michael Yates, Aphton Corbin, Mitra Shahidi, Domee Shi

Release year: 2018

Genres: comedy

Blurb: Purl, an earnest ball of yarn, gets a job at a fast-paced, male-centred startup company. Things start to unravel as Purl tries to fit in with this tight-knit group, but she must ask herself how far she is willing to go to get the acceptance she yearns for...and if, in the end, it is worth it.

[kora-kat]

From a scale of Larry Daley from Night at the Museum and Michael Afton from five nights at Freddie's, how well are you handling your night guard job?

[adamwatchesmovies]

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (2023)

We’ve come a long way from 2000’s Dungeons & Dragons. Not only in terms of special effects but also in terms of performances, storytelling and most importantly, fun. Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves is a blast. There’s humor, memorable characters brought to life by a great cast and an energy that makes you feel like the people on-screen are part of your circle of friends. It truly captures the feeling of a session played with your buddies.

After escaping from prison, bard Edgin Darvis (Chris Pine) and barbarian Holga Kilgore (Michelle Rodriguez) set out to find Edgin’s daughter, Kira (Chloe Coleman). She’s been deceived into believing her father has abandoned her. To prove he was imprisoned for “the right reasons”, Edgin has to retrieve a Tablet of Reawakening - trying and failing to steal one is what landed him in prison. With the tablet, he can bring his late wife back to life and his family will truly be whole. The nearest tablet is in a vault in Neverwinter. To get it, Edgin and Holga need to assemble a team.

This film’s got a great cast. Some names, you’ll recognize. Some, you won’t. Hugh Grant plays Forge Fitzwilliam, an ambitious con artist/rogue, Bradley Cooper has a small role as Holga’s ex-husband and Justice Smith is Simon Aumar, a half-elf sorcerer whose magical skills… are hit-and-miss. You probably won't be familiar with Sophia Lillis, who plays Doric, a tiefling shapeshifter, but she'll have your attention after this. It’s a pretty steep competition for who wears this campaign the best but I’m going to hand the award not to the ever charismatic Chris Pine or to Hugh Grant (equally charming) but to Michelle Rodriguez. Most recently, we've been seeing her in the “Fast & Furious” films, where the theme of "family" is emphasized endlessly. What that franchise built over 10 films, “Honor Among Thieves” manages to do in one. Holga and Edgin are not romantically involved but she’s basically Kira’s surrogate mother. Although she never says how much the little girl means to her (that would be very un-barbarian-like), you feel it, particularly during the film’s conclusion. This movie makes you care about its characters effortlessly. Think about that. This movie has all sorts of races and half-races, wild monsters, crazy locations, spells and other things that make it as different from our world as possible. Yet, the characters feel like real people, the kind you’d be delighted to follow on another adventure once this one wraps up.

The screenplay by Jonathan Goldstein, John Francis Daley and Michael Gilio (the first two also serve as the picture’s directors) has an episodic feel. I mean that in a good way. For our heroes to accomplish their main quest, they have to complete a bunch of smaller side quests, each leading into the next while revealing a conspiracy brewing in Neverwinter. The stakes build atop each other as the team learns to work as a unit and their tactics become increasingly inventive. There are plenty of jokes along the way but the film still takes itself seriously. By this, I mean that “Dungeons & Dragons” doesn’t make fun of itself or its audience. The humor comes from the world and its citizens. To them, all of this is normal. A magical spell allowing you to talk to the dead is neat but not mind-blowing, so it’s easy to take for granted. If you or I got a hand on that spell, we’d be super careful not to waste it. Them? Nah.

We’ve seen many movies over the years that have felt like a long campaign someone played and thought was so great it deserved to be turned into a movie. Rarely have any of them felt like an adventure you wanted to be involved with. This quest? by the time it’s over, you’ll feel like you were part of the ride all along. As a heist movie, it’s great. As a comedy, it has laughs to spare. As a fantasy film, it's got cool creatures, engaging lore and a smart take on its mythology. At the box office, Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves" didn’t make nearly enough money to earn itself a sequel, which is a real shame. For now, I guess I’ll settle for the after-credit scene. (August 19, 2023)

[courseyoulovemeyoudontknowme]

Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017, Jon Watts)

02/08/2024

[wornoutspines]

Didn't expect to like this movie as much as I did, nor did I expect to want to watch it more than once, yet here I am. my review here.

[mikesfilmtalk]

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves is Surprisingly Good

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves is surprisingly good. I say surprisingly because I missed the D&D boat. That ship set sail before I could get to the dock. It is safe to say I am not a huge fan. Mainly because I do not understand it. *Another admission of mine is that I do not understand “larping” either or other active RPG activities.* My son assured me that having an intricate knowledge…

[movie-titlecards]

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (2023)

My rating: 7/10

Very true to the actual TTRPG experience, while also being extremely entertaining to watch. Docking it half a star for the whole "walking fat joke dragon" thing, though, that was just... not great.

[vintagewarhol]

[stuff-diary]

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves

Movies watched in 2023

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (2023, USA/Canada)

Directors: Jonathan Goldstein & John Francis Daley

Writers: Jonathan Goldstein, John Francis Daley & Michael Gilio (based on a story by Chris McKay & Michael Gilio)

Mini-review:

I hadn't seen such a fun, old-school fantasy adventure in a while. All the characters are charming and the story moves at brisk pace, so the viewer is never bored. Also, the cast has great chemistry and their rapport always feels natural. I love a good heist movie and, on top of that, if you add a complex, well-built fantasy world, it's even more enjoyable. To be honest, my knowledge of the D&D world is fairly limited, so I got a bit lost whenever they started mentioning races, classes, etc. Thankfully, there are not many moments like that, so everyone can enjoy the movie without worrying about not understanding what's going on.

On the technical side, the movie is very well-made. The costumes, the make-up, the sets and the CGI are all really good, and they help you immerse yourself in the movie's world and story. I think anyone who likes fantasy and adventure stories will enjoy this movie, so make sure to watch if you are that type person. Anyway, I would like to see more movies about these characters and their world, so I hope things turn out well in the box office.

[screenshothaven]

Bones (Season Four)

[loudlylovingreview]

Michael Daley: Upbeat Hardwired Blameless

Protect his house,His anxious house where days are countedFrom thunderbolt protect— W. H. Auden, “The Wanderer”~Let’s always come back to this room. For what it’s worth, as the place where windows open onto a world we think of as our own, the waves will continue to mutilate one another in wind stormsand calm one another in the easy frame of summer falsehoods.Let’s not talk about what was here—who…

[theuntitledblog]

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (2023) - REVIEW

SYNOPSIS

A Bard, a Barbarian, a Sorceror and a Druid must team up and find a way to break into a castle to save the Bard's daughter from a treacherous Rogue and a powerful Wizard.

It can be a great thing to be completely wrong about something and Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves is one of those very rare surprises that you just didn't expect at all. The first trailers did nothing to win me over; sure the visual effects looked impressive enough but everything else about it just screamed generic, throwaway fantasy of the likes of say Eragon. While Eragon remains a truly terrible cash-in, Dungeons & Dragons couldn't be far from that if it tried. Contrary to the special effects, huge Lord of the Rings-esque landscapes, magical creatures etc; Dungeons & Dragons greatest asset isn't the spectacle but rather its heart. This is a film that is very earnest and the writers (Jonathan Goldstein, John Francis Daley and Michael Gilio) have put a lot thought and effort into characters who you are more than happy to just hang around with while on this adventure.

It's an eclectic group of characters who all have different personalities and abilities that they bring to the table (much like in the game) but all are grounded by their respective personal and somewhat relatable demons. Justice Smith's Simon is a sorceror with self-esteem, confidence and performance issues, Michelle Rodriguez's Holga struggles with being outcast for marrying someone her family disapproved of while Chris Pine's Edgin grieves the loss of his wife and trying to manage with fatherhood. Yes there's a fantasy adventure for them all to go on and challenges for them to overcome but it is the amount of depth that they are given as characters that is the biggest surprise. A scene where Holga visits her ex-husband (Bradley Cooper) could've been played for just laughs but it's an incredibly tender scene and the subsequent exchange with Pine's Edgin afterwards that is memorable. Each character has a moment like that of sorts with perhaps Sophia Lillis's Doric receiving slightly less from a character perspective but even then she is no simply bystander. The main take away from this is that this is a film whose foundations are firmly rooted on characters that you are actually given a reason to care about and makes you invested.

But of course what also helps the film is that it is just incredibly good fun and you get that sense from the opening and hilarious escape attempt from a barren and icy prison. Effortlessly blending the standard exposition with the type of humour that Chris Pine does so well, you know very early on you're in for a fun ride. The humour is neither mean spirited or seeks to mock but is playful and endearing with respect to the source material and those who play it with a graveyard interrogation scene a particular stand out for me. Pine and Rodriguez enjoy great chemistry in a platonic relationship but perhaps no-one appears to be enjoying themselves more on screen than Hugh Grant's treacherous Rogue; Forge Fitzwilliam. But it's Regé-Jean Page's Paladin Xenk Yendar who gracefully wanders into the film and steals it from everyone in the roughly 20 minutes he's in the film for. I could go and say more but sufficed to say, the greatest compliment I can pay Dungeons & Dragons is that it is the type of film you could watch over and again no matter what mood you're in.

VERDICT

An unexpected triumph but a delightfully entertaining one at that. With a strong cast, likeable characters with plenty of depth and a genuine earnestness, Dungeons & Dragons is a blockbuster you will want to revisit again and again.

5/5

[legends-expo]

Panel Announcement: Authors Geeking Out

Hear your favorite creators talk about all things Star Wars... except for their own contributions to the galaxy far, far away! Join us on Saturday, September 9th at the Marriott Convention Center in Burbank, CA for a discussion with Michael Kogge, Jason Fry and Abel Peña on favorite stories in the Expanded Universe.

Get your tickets now at: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/legends-consortium-2023-tickets-541786186067

[cinesludge]

Movie #73 of 2023: Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves