Spot Reviews 02/02/24
Feb 02 2024
The Family Plan (2023) [+] Apple TV+ movie. Dan Morgan (Mark Wahlberg) is a car salesman who likes his boring life with loving wife Jessica (Michelle Monaghan) and kids. A life which is upended because he used to be an assassin and his old organization has found him. Dan takes his family on a surprise road trip vacation from the East Coast to Las Vegas all the while fending off assassins without alerting his family who wonder what's gotten into him... The action is quite well done and there are good funny bits. Besides having good actors the story is well written and the cinematography is good; certainly a better than I expected based on having seen this concept executed less well before.
Blue Beetle (2023) [/] In this DCU film Jaime Reyes (Xolo Maridueña) becomes bonded with an alien scarab that manifests as an eco-skeleton suit with morphing appendages. Unfortunately Victoria Kord (Susan Sarandon) wants that scarab back so she can create super soldiers, though niece Jenny Kord (Bruna Marquezine), daughter of Ted Kord the first Blue Beetle, aims to stop auntie from corrupting Kord Industries… Perfectly fine super-hero movie. I do miss the 1990’s Blue Beetle, who was a lot more like Batman detective/gadgets with Spider-Man’s humor. Special effects are good.
Arcane (2021) [-] This is an animated series based on League of Legends video game lore. Set in a steampunk-ish city with the rich living on the upper stories of a very tall city while the poor live in the gloomy lower levels. Vi (Hailee Steinfeld) and her crew of thieves accidentally set off a power struggle and have to survive or maybe even stop it... I watched three episodes and it's not interesting. Perhaps if I was familiar with LoL lore.
Porridge & Things, Millbrae [+] Same owners as Noodles & Things. Had Hong Kong style porridge with minced beef. The porridge itself was quite good ($6) but the minced beef wasn’t that much for the +$6. And then adding green onions would have been another +$6. But if you just want plain but delicious porridge it’s a good price. We also got (something) fried rice, beef chow fun, fried chicken wings and potstickers an they were all good.
Let's Roll - Fire and Water's Role-Playing Podcast (2013) [+] When it first started out it covered DC Heroes RPG as the Hero Points Podcast. Then in late 2020 it renamed and now covers RPG games in general though emphasizing the hosts long-running GURPS multi-dimensional campaign and older RPGs. It comes out once every month or two and is reasonably interesting and nice that it covers smaller RPGs for the most part.
Blue Beetle (2023) [/] In this DCU film Jaime Reyes (Xolo Maridueña) becomes bonded with an alien scarab that manifests as an eco-skeleton suit with morphing appendages. Unfortunately Victoria Kord (Susan Sarandon) wants that scarab back so she can create super soldiers, though niece Jenny Kord (Bruna Marquezine), daughter of Ted Kord the first Blue Beetle, aims to stop auntie from corrupting Kord Industries… Perfectly fine super-hero movie. I do miss the 1990’s Blue Beetle, who was a lot more like Batman detective/gadgets with Spider-Man’s humor. Special effects are good.
Arcane (2021) [-] This is an animated series based on League of Legends video game lore. Set in a steampunk-ish city with the rich living on the upper stories of a very tall city while the poor live in the gloomy lower levels. Vi (Hailee Steinfeld) and her crew of thieves accidentally set off a power struggle and have to survive or maybe even stop it... I watched three episodes and it's not interesting. Perhaps if I was familiar with LoL lore.
Porridge & Things, Millbrae [+] Same owners as Noodles & Things. Had Hong Kong style porridge with minced beef. The porridge itself was quite good ($6) but the minced beef wasn’t that much for the +$6. And then adding green onions would have been another +$6. But if you just want plain but delicious porridge it’s a good price. We also got (something) fried rice, beef chow fun, fried chicken wings and potstickers an they were all good.
Let's Roll - Fire and Water's Role-Playing Podcast (2013) [+] When it first started out it covered DC Heroes RPG as the Hero Points Podcast. Then in late 2020 it renamed and now covers RPG games in general though emphasizing the hosts long-running GURPS multi-dimensional campaign and older RPGs. It comes out once every month or two and is reasonably interesting and nice that it covers smaller RPGs for the most part.