willpell
Hennepin County Library
willpell's Completed Shelf
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The HobbitThe Hobbit, DVDThe Desolation of Smaug
DVD - 2014DVD, 2014
willpell's rating:
Added Sep 22, 2022
The Suicide SquadThe Suicide Squad, DVD
DVD - 2021DVD, 2021
willpell's rating:
Added Sep 22, 2022
The HobbitThe Hobbit, DVDThe Battle of the Five Armies
DVD - 2015DVD, 2015
willpell's rating:
Added Sep 22, 2022
Under the SkinUnder the Skin, DVD
DVD - 2014DVD, 2014
willpell's rating:
Added Sep 22, 2022
American GodsAmerican Gods, Graphic Novel3, The Moment of the Storm
by Gaiman, NeilGraphic Novel - 2020Graphic Novel, 2020
willpell's rating:
Added Sep 22, 2022
Justice League of AmericaJustice League of America, Graphic NovelThe Nail, the Complete Collection
by Davis, Alan, 1956-Graphic Novel - 2017Graphic Novel, 2017
willpell's rating:
Added Sep 22, 2022
Star Trek the Next GenerationStar Trek the Next Generation, DVDSeason 6, Discs 1-4
DVD - 2013DVD, 2013
willpell's rating:
Added Jul 16, 2022
Star Trek the Next GenerationStar Trek the Next Generation, DVDSeason 6, Discs 5-7
DVD - 2013DVD, 2013
willpell's rating:
Added Jul 16, 2022
Star Trek, the Next GenerationStar Trek, the Next Generation, DVDSeason 2, Discs 1-3
DVD - 2002DVD, 2002
willpell's rating:
Added Jun 12, 2022
The Hobbit, An Unexpected JourneyThe Hobbit, An Unexpected Journey, DVD
DVD - 2013DVD, 2013
willpell's rating:
Added Apr 18, 2022
Monkey KingMonkey King, Graphic Novel[Vol. 01], Birth of the Stone Monkey
by Chen, Weidong, 1969-Graphic Novel - 2011Graphic Novel, 2011
willpell's rating:
Added Mar 29, 2022
Comment:
This madcap retelling of the Sun Wukong legend's beginning is attractively illustrated, but doesn't even begin to make sense; in one case, Wukong rages against a bad guy who's killed his entire tribe of monkeys, and then two pages later they're alive again with no explanation. The art style is extremely reminiscent of an anime such as Bleach, so if you like mindless over-the-top action in bright colorful comic form, you'll get a decent hour of entertainment from this booklet. I can't imagine wanting to read the entire twenty volume series, however.This madcap retelling of the Sun Wukong legend's beginning is attractively illustrated, but doesn't even begin to make sense; in one case, Wukong rages against a bad guy who's killed his entire tribe of monkeys, and then two pages later they're…
Van Richten's Guide to RavenloftVan Richten's Guide to Ravenloft, Book
Book - 2021Book, 2021
willpell's rating:
Added Mar 29, 2022
Comment:
This is a 5E update of the wider Ravenloft setting, giving fairly thorough details on the other major Domains from the Demiplane of Dread. It's not as good as Curse of Strahd, but makes a decent follow-up to groups who have enjoyed that adventure. The changes to the 3E Ravenloft setting are significant but mostly positive; instead of a dry travelogue detailing the appearance, fashions, and economy of the Domains, we get much more story-focused and imaginative info to help a DM brainstorm adventures. The "woke" influence on the book is annoyingly noticeable, but not overwhelming; several classic characters like Harkon Lukas and Victor Mordenheim have been race-swapped or gender-flipped, several pointless references to gay marriage are made, and the book sternly warns the GM to avoid horror tropes that stigmatize mental illness, physical deformity, or foreign cultures. But mostly, the book's flaws are emblematic of 5E's generally permissive nature; the use of "mist talismans" or helpful NPCs to navigate the Domains is likely to dilute the tense atmosphere, and the book's exquisite care to avoid offending players will likely make it difficult to truly scare them. Overall, this volume is a good source of inspiration, but wastes a lot of pages and leaves the DM still needing to do a lot of work to flesh everything out.This is a 5E update of the wider Ravenloft setting, giving fairly thorough details on the other major Domains from the Demiplane of Dread. It's not as good as Curse of Strahd, but makes a decent follow-up to groups who have enjoyed that adventure. …
Spider-manSpider-man, DVDHomecoming
DVD - 2017DVD, 2017
willpell's rating:
Added Mar 15, 2022
Comment:
For a while, I considered this film to be the poster child for "so good it's bad"; it was almost TOO perfect, and I couldn't quite fully enjoy it because of that. Eventually that feeling faded and I was left with a full appreciation of its excellence; it's an incredibly well-crafted film with virtually no flaws. But it lacks the certain extra little "spark" that would make it one of my personal favorites; I've enjoyed much more obviously crappy movies more, the same way I often enjoy greasy burgers and sugary snacks more than I do food that's probably much better for me. The film-makers should feel proud of their accomplishments, but I'll be spending more of my entertainment time watching the "candy-coated" films that really do it for me specifically, and this one isn't at the top of that particular list.For a while, I considered this film to be the poster child for "so good it's bad"; it was almost TOO perfect, and I couldn't quite fully enjoy it because of that. Eventually that feeling faded and I was left with a full appreciation of its…
Spider-ManSpider-Man, DVDFar From Home
DVD - 2019DVD, 2019
willpell's rating:
Added Mar 15, 2022
Comment:
The first half of this movie is AWFUL in my opinion, as its efforts at portraying a bunch of teenagers enjoying their Europe vacation comes across as a very "hello, fellow kids" failure of authenticity. Once we move past that, the film improves; Mysterio and the Elementals look really cool and spectacular, and the twist is genuinely surprising even when you already know it's coming (whether from reading spoilers or just from knowing who Mysterio is as a character). Like Homecoming, this one is a follow-up to the Avengers rather than a solo Spider-Man story (Marvel Studios probably figured that Sony's five films had adequately covered the subject of a universe totally centering on Spidey, so both of these newer films revolve heavily around his connection to Tony Stark pre- and post-Endgame). Though the "psychological torture" section Spidey is subjected to really strains my suspension of disbelief, knowing how much effort we saw Mysterio put into crafting his illusions earlier and now having them be so instantaneously perfect and adaptive to Spidey's actions, I can't really argue with the result; this 50-90% stretch of the movie is quite entertaining. But then, after the credits roll, a last-second twist ending takes my already-strained SOD and completely snaps it in half; I call absolute BS on the villain having had any possible opportunity to orchestrate this beyond-the-grave revenge (sorry for spoilers, but like I said, the film is still enjoyable even when you know there is a twist, since you don't know what the twist is). As long as you're willing to just accept that Mysterio's "movie magic" powers border on actual magic, despite supposedly being technologically-based, then he makes for a pretty epic villain; we all know that Spidey is at his best as a superhero when he's utterly miserable, and Mysterio makes him suffer quite spectacularly. This is one of those films where you should busy yourself making popcorn and half-watching for much of the first half, and then sit down to enjoy the eye-popping climax while not taking the ridiculous comic-book action too seriously. As an MCU film, it's well below average, but still has a kernel of the "good stuff" at its heart.The first half of this movie is AWFUL in my opinion, as its efforts at portraying a bunch of teenagers enjoying their Europe vacation comes across as a very "hello, fellow kids" failure of authenticity. Once we move past that, the film improves;…
The Amazing Spider-man 2The Amazing Spider-man 2, DVD
DVD - 2014DVD, 2014
willpell's rating:
Added Mar 15, 2022
Comment:
This film is a bit of a confused mess, but it's really rather good with only a few glaring flaws. Many people think it's one bad movie, but I would characterize it as two good movies awkwardly stitched together into a bit of a Frankenstein's Monster. The best part of the film is definitely the character of Electro, who starts out as a slightly unbelievable audience-insert kind of character, but turns into a magnificent monster of rage and obsession, whose incredibly high-end electricity powers are beautifully visualized and represented by an awesome techno soundtrack. Music in general is this film's strength, and the actors mostly do a good job; every guy watching should fall in love with Emma Stone's Gwen, every girl should be charmed by the woundedly adorkable Peter, and Jaime Foxx and Dane Dehaan do a good job of playing the antagonists Max Dillon and Harry Osborne, although the former is vastly improved by his supervillain transformation, and the latter is pretty much ruined. The inclusion of Hobgoblin is definitely the film's weakest aspect; Harry is played quite ably by Dehaan in the early part of the film, when he's a neglected 20-year-old inheriting his father's multi-billion dollar company and immediately being attacked by the board of directors to try and prevent him from rocking their boat. The spycraft aspects of Oscorp and their connection to Peter through his father could all have been more comfortably moved back into the first Amazing movie, which is godawful and can afford to be almost entirely overwritten by the better parts of this one; that would leave the Electro story and Peter's romantic struggles with Gwen as the core of this film, which also thematically centers around Spidey as a very experienced and capable hero whom the entire city loves and looks up to. If everything involving Harry and Peter's friendship had been in the first film, then this one could begin with the two being forced apart by the plot involving Spider-Man's blood; Hobgoblin would be created in the beginning and then not appear until his surprise attack at the end, right after Peter's triumph over Electro. Redistributing the scenes in this way would fix the immense pacing problems that this film has, in which Harry believes he's dying almost immediately for no terribly clear reason; that and a few awkward dialogue lines constitute the weak points of the narrative, but in spite of its flaws, it still works, largely thanks to the strength of the music, special effects, and the charismatic performance of the actors.This film is a bit of a confused mess, but it's really rather good with only a few glaring flaws. Many people think it's one bad movie, but I would characterize it as two good movies awkwardly stitched together into a bit of a Frankenstein's…
Godzilla Vs. KongGodzilla Vs. Kong, DVD
DVD - 2021DVD, 2021
willpell's rating:
Added Mar 11, 2022
Comment:
Watching this film right after re-watching "Godzilla: King of the Monsters" has given me a new appreciation for the latter. Everything which is bad about GKIM is worse about GVK: a nonsensical plot, completely uninteresting characters, and clumsy attempts at humor that largely fall flat. And what's good about GKIM is not quite as good here; there are good visual effects and a couple interesting dramatic reveals, but the previous film had more of both. Comparing the two is a lot like comparing Dark Phoenix to X-Men Apocalypse; the newer film carries forward some of the same characters and has a direct plot relationship, but is smaller in scale and generally less interesting, with a lot of the attempts at continuity being constraints on the latter work's ability to be good on its own merits.
My suggestion is that fans of the giant monster genre should watch this film while having something to do for most of the first hour; when the movie transitions from setup to payoff, you can start paying attention, but rather than trying to figure out who the human characters are because you missed the film introducing them, just ignore them as the nobodies that they are, and watch Kong and Godzilla going three rounds before the third monster of the film appears to challenge them both.
I think the flick would have been significantly improved if it had never even tried to maintain a human's-eye view of events, and instead had been told entirely from Kong's and occasionally Godzilla's perspective (without the clumsy musical soundtrack that tries to humanize the giant ape). That way, the human characters would have been the nameless, faceless ants that they pretty much are anyway; the most interesting part of GKIM to me was the handful of other monsters besides the Big Four which are glimpsed only in the margins, given only brief references that set me to wondering about them. And without those other monsters being present in this film, the humans could have taken their place, being observable only from such a distance that they become enigmatic and therefore interesting; a brief intro paragraph of text could inform the audience that it's 3 years after the earlier film, and Godzilla has reappeared after this period of peace, attacking the Apex Cybernetics facility in Florida, after which we'd see that attack actually happen from Godzilla's viewpoint. That brief explanation would be the only human perspective we'd see, and the rest of the film would just follow Kong's adventure into the Hollow Earth (which, along with the mystery monster, are really the only good things in the movie, as both titular Titans are better shown in their earlier films), and then back to the surface to face off against Godzilla and #3.
You could probably edit down the film as we have it to create a rough-cut version of the film I'd rather have seen, and I'd get back 45 minutes or so of my time, which the movie as it currently exists pretty much wasted. Of all the actors present in the film, while Demian Bichir is vaguely interesting as a typical mad corporate tycoon who is atypically Hispanic, and the podcast host played by Bryan Tyree Henry is somewhat likeable when he isn't being a painfully obvious audience stand-in, the only one who's really good is Millie Bobbie Brown; it's kinda neat to compare the roughly 10-year-old version in GVKIM with the venturesome adolescent we see here. Eiza Gonzales plays a secondary villain, and Kyle Chandler briefly reprises his rather bland and hammy role from the earlier film, but all the other human characters are barely noticeable, apart from the mute child whose Mary Sue-esque power to communicate with Kong significantly weakens the big ape's awe-inspiring presence. Skarsgard's attempted hero character is totally dull, and the worst injustice in the casting is the minor role (& unjust end) given to a relative of Sarazawa from the two prior Godzilla films, as Ken Watanabe was far and away the best actor in GKIM.Watching this film right after re-watching "Godzilla: King of the Monsters" has given me a new appreciation for the latter. Everything which is bad about GKIM is worse about GVK: a nonsensical plot, completely uninteresting characters, and clumsy…
Godzilla 2000Godzilla 2000, DVD
DVD - 2000DVD, 2000
willpell's rating:
Added Mar 09, 2022
Comment:
A pretty solid effort to modernize the franchise. Human characters that are reasonably well developed, good quality special effects, and a very overpowered new monster to challenge Big G, who is still very much the star of the show, and still comes across as a terrifying monster, even when fighting against something worse. On the relatively minor downside, there are some pretty over-the-top antagonist characters, very dated plot points involving computers, and a bit of a Deus Ex Machina ending, where Godzilla wins because it's his movie more than because he's actually stronger than his opponent. Still, these flaws in no way prevent the movie from being quite entertaining.A pretty solid effort to modernize the franchise. Human characters that are reasonably well developed, good quality special effects, and a very overpowered new monster to challenge Big G, who is still very much the star of the show, and still comes…
Sword Coast Adventurer's GuideSword Coast Adventurer's Guide, Book
Book - 2015Book, 2015
willpell's rating:
Added Jan 20, 2022
Comment:
Thinner and cheaper than most 5E books, but also probably less worth owning even at its lower price. Very little substantive content is offered; it's good for fleshing out canonical Forgotten Realms lore and offers a few player options, but overall it's probably the most skippable of all the line's major releases.Thinner and cheaper than most 5E books, but also probably less worth owning even at its lower price. Very little substantive content is offered; it's good for fleshing out canonical Forgotten Realms lore and offers a few player options, but overall…
Storm King's ThunderStorm King's Thunder, Book
Book - 2016Book, 2016
willpell's rating:
Added Jan 20, 2022
Comment:
It's tough to judge the quality of an RPG campaign without having played through it, but based on my reading of this supplement, I'd have to say that it feels like one of the best books ever produced for 5E. Instead of just a dungeon crawl, you get a very sweeping series of interconnected plots that allows characters to be immersed in a very epic adventure without immediately getting trodden flat by the giants you're fighting. Quite a lot of lateral thinking will be more useful than raw power in dealing with the wide variety of challenges operating in this scenario. I very much hope I'll get to play this one someday, and not just because the pandemic has left me desperate to sit down at any gaming table anywhere in the physical world.It's tough to judge the quality of an RPG campaign without having played through it, but based on my reading of this supplement, I'd have to say that it feels like one of the best books ever produced for 5E. Instead of just a dungeon crawl, you get…
willpell's rating:
Added Jul 20, 2021
willpell's rating:
Added May 03, 2021
willpell's rating:
Added May 03, 2021
willpell's rating:
Added May 03, 2021
They LiveThey Live, DVD
DVD - 2012DVD, 2012
willpell's rating:
Added May 03, 2021
Comment:
Watched it once years ago, thought it was pretty decent and understood why it was well beloved from back in the day, but wasn't blown away. Watched again during the pandemic, and found it an absolutely amazing work; though my politics are more nearly conservative than anything else, this scathing portrayal of the stupidity of Reaganomics certainly makes me understand why the last several generations have clung to a primarily liberal worldview. Plus the film is just plain fun; I'd have to say that Roddy Piper is underrated as an actor, and we wouldn't have Dwayne Johnson today if old "Rowdy" hadn't proven that a wrestler can shine on the big screen.Watched it once years ago, thought it was pretty decent and understood why it was well beloved from back in the day, but wasn't blown away. Watched again during the pandemic, and found it an absolutely amazing work; though my politics are more…
Waterdeep Dragon HeistWaterdeep Dragon Heist, Book
Book - 2018Book, 2018
willpell's rating:
Added May 03, 2021
Comment: