INSIDE OUT

One of the questions we all seem to ask at times is: What's going on inside a person's head?  Pixar attempts to tackle this with Inside Out, their latest animated movie that personifies emotions and their interactions with the world.

Riley (Kaitlyn Dias) is a happy young kid.  She lives in the midwest, enjoys playing hockey on a frozen lake, has lots of friends, and goofs around with her (unnamed) mom and dad (Diane Lane, Kyle MacLackhan).

We also get to see what's inside Riley's head as well.  Her brain is run by five emotions: Joy (Amy Poehler), the de facto leader and perpetually optimistic and chatty; Sadness (Phyllis Smith), a sad sack who sees the negative in everything; Anger (Lewis Black) a literal hothead whose easily riled up; Fear (Bill Hader), a perpetual worrier; and Disgust (Mildy Kaling), the part of her mind who dislikes things and also critiques fashion.  They take turns operating a control panel that determines Riley's actions, create memories (glasslike orbs the color of the dominant emotion at the time), and at the end of the day the memories get dumped into long-term memory.  There are also core memories: a few special memories that power Riley's "Islands of Personality," such as Goofball Island and Family Island.  Everything seems perfect and, as Joy cluelessly wonders, "What could possibly go wrong?

 A move.  The family moves to San Francisco, and everything that could go wrong does.  The new house is dreary and in the middle of a crowded street.  Dad is too busy doing business on the phone to play with Riley.  And the moving van keeps getting delayed, leaving Riley with none of her stuff and sleeping on the floor.  This situation is matched with chaos inside Riley's head: They discover that Sadness can turn memories sad/blue bu touching them, and when Joy tries to keep the core memories from being infected, Joy, Sadness, and the core memories all get sucked out of the control panel and into the distant memories.  Now Joy and Sadness have to try and get back to the control room, along with Riley's imaginary friend Bing Bong (Richard Kind), to make things right again.

There's a lot to enjoy in Inside Out.  This movie has a terrific visual imagination (from the glowing emotions to the nightmares and abstract parts of the mind) and lots of great voice talent.  (Lewis Black was born to play Anger.)  There's plenty of humor for both kids and adults through the movie (love the unforgettable chewing gum jingle!) and some heavy emotional hits near the film's end.  Inside Out is another hit for Pixar -- and an example of a summer movie that's smart and funny as well as visually stunning.

Overall grade: A-
Reviewed by James Lynch

Agnes Obel, Aventine (Play It Again Sam, 2013)

Originally from Copenhagen but based in Berlin, Agnes Obel has a style that is more distinctive than most. Her sound focuses around her piano work, which is heavily influenced by classical music in general and the Impressionistic era in particular, and most of her songs also include some accompaniment on strings. Obel’s second album Aventine came out in 2013. Written, produced, and mostly arranged by Obel herself, the album’s ostensibly conventional reliance on artistry and performance is both striking and refreshing. The album opens with a dark, minor-key instrumental that segues into “Fuel to Fire.” The lyrics reflect doubts in a romantic relationship — it could be really good, or it could go up in flames — but the ominous tone of the music really brings out the tension. Another strong tracks is the title song. The word “Aventine” comes from a mountain range in Italy; like Enya, Obel picks words that fit the mood of the music. This fairly upbeat waltz features a lot of pizzicato strings and that give the song a distinctive rhythm. My favorite track is another waltz, called “The Curse.” The “curse” is a metaphor for living safely within the confines of what’s expected of you.

Aventine is an exceptional work from a rare talent. Agnes Obel’s embrace of classical music in an era of increasingly electronic (and increasingly disposable) pop comes across as a stubborn act of defiance. But when you can let your skills as a creator and performer speak for themselves as well as she can, there’s really no good reason not to.

Overall grade: A

"Fuel to Fire"

A live performance of "The Curse"

JUST DESSERTS

For those of us with a sweet tooth, dessert can be better than the main meal.  But someone has to serve those sweet treats to people, and that's where waiters come in.  Just Desserts from Looney Labs is a card game about giving customers all the desserts that they want.

There are two types of cards -- Dessert and Guests -- and the former are used to satisfy the latter.  Dessert cards have a few types of tastes (such as pie, veggies, cookies) on them.  Guests have one of six suits/colors, two or three favorite tastes, a favorite dessert (some have two favorites, some have none), and sometimes a taste they won't eat.  To win, a player has to serve three guests of the same suit, or five guests of all different suits.

At the start of the game, every player gets three Dessert cards and three Guests go face up in the center of the play area.  On a player's turn, they first draw a Dessert card and add a Guest card to the play area,  Next, they can either satisfy up to two Guests (by playing Dessert cards that match their tastes (and don't have any tastes they don't eat); playing a Guest's favorite gets you a tip of an extra Dessert card), draw an extra Dessert, card, or discard their Dessert cards and draw the same number of cards.

After a player does one of those three actions, the player discards any guests with duplicate suits until there's only one customer with one suit in the play area.  But the next player can serve whatever Guest is on top of the discard pile, so choosing the order of discards is important.

Just Desserts is a simple and fun little game.  There's a bit of strategy involved, but the gameplay is pretty straightforward.  The game is easy to learn, and it plays very quickly.  Just Desserts is a game that you'll play for something fast and easy before a longer, more complex game -- but it's still fun.

Overall grade: B
Reviewed by James Lynch

Russell James, ANGELS

Once again, I find myself in jealous awe of Russell James.  The professional photographer not only takes pictures of supermodels for a living, but he gets them to pose casually (and often naked) for him as well.  His book Angels is a collection of these photographs -- and it is stunning.

Unlike James' last book, V2, Angels is less focused on the settings and backgrounds and more about the models.  There's a wide number of subjects here; almost all are some of the biggest names in Victoria's Secret, plus singer Rihanna.  The photographs have a diverse feel to them, whether narrowing in closely on one body part, or celebrating the look one a model's face, or even bringing in the background of reflective glass or an exotic lake.  And the pictures are both single-and two-page works.

Once again, the combination of James' talent and the models' beauty results in some truly spectacular photographs.  These aren't cheesecake pictures or rejected catalog shots, but rather varied and breathtaking images of beauty, cloaked in shadow or luxuriating in the light.  And the large number of models and substantial page count of this coffee table book (304!) provides much to enjoy.

Alas, Angels is not perfect.   When a photographs is a single page, the page to its left is completely black; this may be artistically pleasing, but it also means a lot of the book is, essentially, blank pages.  (In this 304 page book, there are 171 photographs.)  There's also a problem with organization: The photos aren't arranged by model or chronology -- and there are no page numbers.  While there is an index in the back with thumbnails of each photo, its model and age, and the "page number" for the photo, it's a bit of a task flipping back and forth from book to index trying to learn or find a specific photo.  But the latter issue is like complaining about the music in a porno: It's not why you're there, and it's a very small issue in light of what you're getting overall.

Angels is a hefty and wonderful collection of beautiful photography of beautiful women.  For those who enjoy the visual celebration of the female form, this is a worthy addition to your library, and certainly worth having on display on the proverbial coffee table.

Overall grade: A
Reviewed by James Lynch

SPY

Most of us know the elements/cliches of the James Bond-type spy: expensive clothing, beautiful women, international travel, elaborate fights, rogue agents, complex villainous plots.  But what happens when someone who's not quite ready gets put into that world?  That's the beginnings of Spy, a comedy from writer-director Paul Feig that has a lot of fun and laughs skewering these familiar espionage trappings.

Susan Cooper (Melissa McCarthy) trained to be a field agent for the CIA, but she wound up sitting at a computer in a vermin-infested basement, giving information to super-suave field agent Bradley Fine (Jude Law).  Susan has a huge crush on him, while he takes her for granted: having her take care of his personal tasks, giving her a tacky cupcake necklace instead of jewelry, etc.  His current mission is tracking Rayna Boyanov (Rose Bryne), who has a portable nuclear bomb for sale, and Sergio De Luca (Bobby Cannavale), who's brokering the sale.  But it's not long before Rayna kills Bradley and reveals that she knows the identity of all the CIA's biggest field agents.  So Susan has an idea: Send her into the field, where she can follow and track Rayan and hopefully find the nuke.

At first Susan's assignment is a huge letdown -- she has a series of frumpy cover identities and embarrassing special gear -- but soon she's kicking ass, cursing up a storm, and getting in deeper and deeper with killers.  Complicating her assignment is big-talking CIA agent Rick Ford (Jason Statham), who's somewhat inept and prone to rambling about the horrors he's endured as a spy.  And she's "helped" by her nervous friend Nancy (Miranda Hall) and randy agent Aldo (Peter Serafinowicz) who never stops groping or hitting on Susan.

There is a lot to enjoy in Spy.  Feig has worked with McCarthy and Byrne before, and her gets terrific comic performances out of both of them: McCarthy is terrific as she transitions from a fish out of water to her own super-agent, while Byrne gets plenty of laughs as the delicate, spoiled, arrogant slightly European villainess.  Statham is especially great as self-proclaimed rogue agent who never stops spouting exaggerations about his work; and Allison Janney has a brief-but-funny turn as the head of the CIA.  The writing treats the spy movie elements with both affection and awareness of its silliness; and while there are a few lulls, the humor is pretty consistent throughout the movie.  Spy is a nice bit of comedy fun for the summer.

Overall grade: A-
Reviewed by James Lynch

LITTLEST LOVECRAFT: THE CALL OF CTHULHU

H.P. Lovecraft's story "The Call of Cthulhu" is a classic of horror fiction, and his monstrous Cthulhu has appeared everywhere from comic books and video games -- not to mention innumerable cute plush figures.  But how would this horrific tale of death, madness, and monstrosity fare as a children's book?  Littlest Lovecraft: The Call of Cthulhu by Tro Rex and Eyona Bella gives us this tale as an illustrated work -- one that's definitely not for children.

 Littlest Lovecraft: The Call of Cthulhu is extremely faithful to the source material, providing the reader with all the characters and action of the original story, from the sculptor Henry A. Wilcox and his nightmare-inspired sculpture, to Inspector Legrasse's raid on a backwoods cult, to the frightful events that befell the ship the Alert.  What's new is the fact that the story is told in four-line stanzas with alternating rhymes ('Odd hieroglyphs clearly showed some sort of phrase,/but Wilcox had no clue just what they could mean./The Professor then asked him from where it had come,/and Wilcox just said, "I made it last night in a dream.")

Littlest Lovecraft: The Call of Cthulhu  is an interesting take on one of my favorite stories.  The rhymes work well in giving this scary story an almost sing-song element, and the artwork is good.  The fidelity to the original story is almost too great, though, as instead of creating additional humor or mixing things up for comedic purposes, this book sticks to the narrative of the original story.  The tag "littlest" implies that this is in a style for kids, but this book could have easily been a faithful adaption featured in a comic book.

 Littlest Lovecraft: The Call of Cthulhu may have benefitted if it had taken some more liberties with the story or gone further with its artwork, but it's still a solid, enjoyable re-telling of this classic tale.  I'll certainly be keeping my eyes open for more "Littlest Lovecraft" adaptions.

Overall grade: B+
Reviewed by James Lynch

MAD MAX: FURY ROAD

I do not believe any movie has featured as much driving and vehicular action as Mad Max: Fury Road -- and that includes movies about racing!  This reboot/continuation of the Road Warrior franchise is concerned almost solely with driving action, and it certainly delivers.

The movie opens in an all-desert post-apocalyptic world with Max (Tom Hardy) alone, haunted by memories/visions of a little girl he couldn't save -- and captured by a bunch of bald albinos.  They obey Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne), a warlord with a skull mouthpiece who rules a small kingdom by sparsely doling out water to the people there.  He's created a green oasis in the desert - but up on a mountain, and only for him.  Max is kept as a living blood bag.

Joe's trusted servant Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron) is supposed to take the heavily-armored War Rig out on a munitions run, but she changes course without telling anyone.  When Joe finds out she's freed and is transporting his five wives/breeders (one of whom is about to give birth), he sends his whole army out to retrieve his "property," no matter the cost.  And young driver Nux (Nicholas Hoult) straps Max to the front of his vehicle, still drawing blood from him while in the chase.

Through a series of events, Max winds up freed and helping Furiosa and the five wives travel to "the Green Place" Furiosa promised them.  Meanwhile the group is relentlessly pursued by Joe and his army, assorted bandits and groups, and even Nux hangs around.

While the leads are good (and Theron is the real star of the movie), the real key to Mad Max: Fury Road is the action and the spectacle.  Director and co-writer George Miller loves pushing things far pat the normal, whether it's cars covered in spikes, a vehicle covered with speakers while a blindfolded musician plays a guitar that shoots flames, Furiosa's bare-bones but functional prosthetic arm.  The action almost never stops (there is a brief lull about two-thirds into the movie) and the audience is treated to innumerable explosions, car crashes, and flying bodies.  A lot of the movie's feminist elements get lots on the cacophany of the chaos -- but Mad Max: Fury Road is undeniably one of the most exciting movies to hit the theaters in a very long time.

 Overall grade: A-

Reviewed by James Lynch

SMASH UP: PRETTY PRETTY

Since the game Smash Up started with popular battling factions and added everything from science fiction critters to geeks, where could they go next?  The answer: cute.  Smash Up: Pretty Pretty introduces four new adorable factions to the game -- and their cuteness doesn't detract in the slightest from their effectiveness.

So what (seemingly) sweet factions can go toe-to-toe with ninjas, dinosaurs armed with lasers, and Lovecraftian horrors?  Mythic Horses have a variety of horses -- including, naturally, My Little Pony-type colorful ones -- that gain benefits from being with their fellow minions.  Fairies have a wide and varied range of abilities that makes them very tough to anticipate.  Kitty Cats use their cuddly nature to control their opponents' minions.  And Princesses -- clearly inspired by Disney -- have a lot of power and powerful abilities, at the cost of having fewer minions than other factions.  Each action also has its own bases, matching their themes.

Pretty Pretty maintains the humor, usefulness, and balance of all the Smash Up factions (base set and expansions).  The Mythic Horses cards usually show the friendly, cavorting horses -- often destroying members of another faction in the background or somewhere else on the card.  The Princesses follow the sweet Disney theme -- along with the appropriate "Direct to DVD Sequel" card.  Kitty Cats are recognizable from motivational posters and internet memes, while Fairies are nicely unpredictable.  Each faction is extremely useful, but none are so powerful that they unbalance the game and give those playing them an unfair advantage.

I wouldn't have guessed that prettiness fit in so well with the battling factions of Smash Up, but Pretty Pretty works very well.  This expansion doesn't change or add to the rules, but it creates lots of new possibilities for victory.  (I won with the Mythic Horses - Geeks combination.)  Pretty Pretty is a (ahem) pretty good addition for Smash Up.

Overall grade: B+

Reviewed by James Lynch

TOMORROWLAND

Director Brad Bird loves retro themes and images, as shown in his movies such as The Iron Giant and The Incredibles.  So he would seem to be the perfect person to direct (and co-write) Tomorrowland, a movie based on the 1960s version of a science fiction future and a Disneyland feature.  The results, though, are less than one would hope for.

Tomorrowland opens with Frank Walker (George Clooney) and teenager Casey Newton (Britt Robertson) recording a video, while a countdown winds down on some glass tubes.  We then get their backstories.  At the 1964 World's Fair, a very young Frank brought his homemade jetpack to a science contest.  Nix (Hugh Laurie) dismisses him, but a young British girl named Athena (Raffey Cassidy) believes in him and slips him a pin, which leads him to a futuristic place called Tomorrowland.

The movie then jumps to the present -- and Casey's story.  She's a science genius who lived with her father and little brother; her biggest hobby seems to be sabotaging a demolition team that's taking down a rocketship launch setup.  After she's arrested, her personal items now include a Tomorrowland pin -- and when she touches it she's seemingly transported to a futuristic paradise.

When the pin runs out of energy, Casey goes searching for any clue to where it comes from.  This leads to killer robots with laser weapons -- and Athena, who turns out to be a martial arts-performing robot herself.  She leads Casey to Frank, who wants nothing more to do with Tomorrowland.  But the killer robots are in hot pursuit, the reasons behind Frank's leaving are revealed, and naturally there's something threatening the whole planet...

Tomorrowland is alright, but it could have used a lot more of its fantastical technology that opens the movie.  The main characters are pretty one-dimensional (He's grumpy!  she's optimistic!) and there aren't many surprises or variations through the movie.  There are story problems (like why the robots casually kill people who come close to learning the truth -- and try to kill Frank and Casey -- but their murder is hardly the endgoal of their creators) and as many lulls as moments of excitement.  (At least a half hour could have been successfully trimmed from the movie.)  It's nice to see a movie where the protagonist is a female who loves science, but Tomorrowland would have benefited more if Brad Bird had let his love of fantasy fly more here.

Overall grade : B-

Reviewed by James Lynch

UNEXPLODED COW

Cheapass Games always has creative premises for their games, whether it's zombie fast food workers (Give Me the Brain!), sous chefs trying to scale a skyscraper while a demonic rabbit tries to knock them down (Devil Bunny Needs a Ham), or faking stories about foreign travels (Captain Park's Imaginary Polar Expedition).  The company went to 1997 for Unexploded Cow, where players try to solve two problems with a common solution -- mad cows in England and unexploded cows in France -- and make some money in the process.

At the start of the game, a City card is flipped over, everyone gets 5000 francs, antes 500 francs to the pot,  and players draw three cards.  On a player's turn, that player draws two cards and can buy cows (for the price on the card) and add them to their own herd.  All cows have a value (if they explode), and some have special skills: stealing a bomb from another cow in the herd, passing a bomb to another cow in the herd, blowing up themselves and the cows on their left and right, or defusing a bomb for 200 francs.  A player can also play events (some of which have a cost) or play cows into other herds, forcing a player to pay that cow's cost and possibly suffering from a bad cow (which costs a player money when it exploded) or a spy (which "works for" the player who put it in another herd).

Once a player has played all the cards they want to play, it's time for the bomb roll!   The player rolls a six-sided die and goes clockwise from the right side of their herd, into other herds if the roll is high enough.  If one of the the current player's cows explodes, the player earns the money for the cow (or pays the cost for a bad cow) from the pot, scores the current City card, and gets the benefit from the city.  If a cow in another herd explodes, that player gets the money from the cow (again, from the pot), but not the City (unless it's a spy, in which case the spy's owner gets the money and, if the current player, the City as well).  If the roll is higher than the number of cows in play, or goes back around to the starting cow, no cow explodes and the turn ends.  If the player rolls a six, the die is passed to the next player clockwise, who makes the bomb roll.  And if the pot ever runs out, everyone antes 500 francs again on the next turn.

When the last City card is claimed, players start taking turns making bomb rolls, beginning with the player who has the most points in City cards.  The game ends when there's no money left in the pot, or when there's one cow left (who gets whatever's left in the pot).  Players than add up all their money, and whoever has the most money wins!

Unexploded Cow is silly fun.  While there's not a whole lot of strategy (buy good cows for yourself, send bad cows to other herds), event cards and the variety in the bomb rolls keep the game from being anywhere near predictable.  The deluxe edition has the colored cards that the original Cheapass Game eschewed, but the artwork is funny and every card has all the information about each cow readily available.  The game plays quickly, and everyone involved should have a good time (as long as they don't think about the fact that they're blowing up cows).  Here's to bovine madness and a quick buck, er, franc with Unexploded Cow!

Overall grade: B+
Reviewed by James Lynch

They Might Be Giants, GLEAN

They Might Be Giants began back in the 1980s with their Dial-a-Song promotion, where people could call a number and hear one of their songs on their answering machine.  TMBG started that up again (though with a far more sophisticated "answering machine") -- and 16 of those songs made it onto Glean, their new album.  Who'd  have guessed such a disjointed origin could result in a pretty consistent album?

As with most TBMG albums, Glean tends towards quirkiness, both lyrically and musically.  There are rock and pop songs ("Erase," "All the Lazy Boyfriends"), almost spoken word ("Madam, I Challenge You to a Duel"), jazz ("Let Me Tell You about My Operation"), and the instrumental title track.  The lyrics are usually strange, often clever (and sometimes too clever), and have both a sense of humor and an undertone of darkness to many of them, whether it's the worst-romantic-song "Answer" or the paranoid "aaa."

I enjoyed Glean.  While not all of the songs are good, there are far fewer terrible songs than on the past few TMBG albums, and quite a few catchy ones.  Glean is a pretty good return to form for They Might Be Giants, often capturing their strangeness, darkness, and funniness together.

Overall grade: B+
Reviewed by James Lynch

A LA CARTE

There are very few dishes that I can cook, and I don't watch cooking shows (except for Masterchef), but I can still enjoy a game about cooking -- especially when the chefs are psychotic and the dishes are disgusting.  A la Carte is that game, a virtual parody of cooking that is just as easy/challenging for little kids as for adults.

The players start A la Carte with a stove (set to zero), pan, a random cup of coffee, a crepe, and a tray for finishes dishes.  On the table are different dishes (in five colors), along with four containers filled with condiments -- lemon (yellow), pepper (black), paprika (red), herbs (green) -- and salt (clear).  There's also a trash can for spoiled dishes, two sinks for used condiments, and three spoons.

Each player chooses a dish and puts it in their pan; dishes have the required condiments, point value (more ingredients mean more points), and required heating level (and, if exceeded, burning level).  A player gets three actions (represented by the spoons).  A player can try to heat their stove, rolling a die; this can heat their stove by 1, by 1-3, heat everyone's stove by 1, or get them a new cup of coffee.  Players can also try to season their dish.  To do this, they tilt the container over their pan and hope the right condiments fall out; they can't shake the container once it's turned over!  If a dish has three or more of the same condiment (including salt) or the stove it too high for the dish, it's ruined: The dish goes in the trash, the ingredients go in the sink, and the player scores no points.  If the player did get all the ingredients in (as long as there aren't three of the same condiment they can have extra condiments) they score the points, choose a new dish (from a color dish they didn't make, unless no more are available), and continue with their turn, if they have any spoons left.  And if a player makes the dish perfectly (no extra ingredients), they get a star; if a player earns three stars, then win immediately!

Oh, coffee cups and crepes.  Coffee cups are one-use items that let a player do things like swap stoves and pans with another player, lower their stove's heating level, or even sabotage another player's dish by seasoning their dish.  And crepes are different (and fun).  First, a player uses all their spoons to put the crepe in their pan.  On the next turns, the player has to roll the die to heat their pan; they then use actions to flip the crepe.  If the crepe lands in the pan on its opposite side, the player scores the points for it; if not, the player keeps trying until they succeed or the stove reaches 7 and the crepe burns.

A la Carte ends when a player earns their third star (and they then win immediately), a player can't put a new dish in their pan, or a player has completed five dishes (not including crepes).  If no one earned a third start, the points for the dishes (and possibly the crepe) are added up, and whoever has the most points wins.

A la Carte is both simple and difficult.  The rules are pretty simple, so younger players will do just fine competing with adults here.  However, the condiments are almost as large as the container opening, so the biggest danger isn't pouring out too many ingredients, but rather them all getting stuck at the opening.  There's a nice sense of humor to the dishes, whether it's the Octopus a la Marseillaire (an octopus wearing a beret, holding a French flag, and smoking a cigarette), Cuban Breakfast (no condiments -- just a cigar and a cup of coffee on a plate), or Rabbit a la King (which looks like a whole rabbit wearing a fur-lined cape).  There's not a lot of strategy involved (except for using the coffee cups), but the physical activity of the game (trying to get the condiments out or flipping the crepe) is a lot of fun.  A la Carte won't be the main entree at a game session, but it's a very enjoyable appetizer.

Overall grade: B

Reviewed by James Lynch

RIFFTRAX LIVE: THE ROOM

Here's a sentence I never thought I'd write: The Crappening has begun and it's off to a great start.  The next four-movie set from the Rifftrax folks (Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy, and Bill Corbett) began last night with one of the most famously infamously bad movies of recent years: Tommy Wiseau's The Room.  This piece of cinematic dreck got the treatment it so richly deserves (no, nor ironic midnight screenings) at Rifftrax Live: The Room.

After riffing on the final "At Your Fingertips" short (best described as sad children making crappy toys that float out of garbage), the trio take on The Room.  That movie is a virtual parody of itself, from writer-director-star Tommy Wiseau's inability to write, direct, or even speak clearly with his incomprehensible European accent, to the terrible plot and acting, to an actor being replaced halfway through the movie.  The Room even has its own famously bad lines, such as "Oh hi Mark" and "You are tearing me apart, Lisa!!!" (both delivered by Wiseau).

This much self-parody is amusing in itself -- and it supplies the Nelson, Murphy, and Corbett plenty of material to work with.  There are numerous pop culture references, from the present (Bill Cosby, Obama and Biden) to the past (the Red Shoe Diaries show).  The trio have a lot of fun with Wiseau's accent ("I'm going back to BrazilaRomaniSlovakia!"), the numerous and terrible sex scenes (which lead to the creation of the sadly accurate phrase "hip-dick"), the people wearing tuxedos playing football, and lots, lots more.  When all is said and done, The Room is so terrible that comments like "And now, some cars" and "I have cancer!" seem perfectly reasonable.

Rifftrax Live: The Room was tremendous fun with a tremendously bad movie.  To conclude with another sentence I never thought I'd write: I can't wait for the rest of the Crappening.

Overall grade: A-
Reviewed by James Lynch

AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON

The Avengers may be Marvel's most powerful superhero series -- and with their movie, Marvel's biggest box-office hit and focal point for the plot threads begun in other Marvel movies.  Avengers: Age of Ultron brings the team back together for another round of saving the planet and battling their personal and team demons.

Age of Ultron starts with a bang, as the team -- Iron Man/Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), Captain America/Steve Rogers (Chris Evans), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Hawkeye/Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner), Black Widow/Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson), and Bruce Banner/Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) -- is attacking a Hydra base to obtain Loki's staff, and the Tesseract it contains,.  However, in addition to Hydra's weapons, they have a special project: the Maximoff twins.  Pietro Maximoff/Quicksilver (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) can move faster than the eye can see, while his sister Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) can throw energy bolts, read people's minds, and show them their worst fears.  The twins have a hatred of Tony Stark, and Wanda uses her power to show him the other Avengers all dead.

Thor wants to take the staff back, but Tony gets a few days to experiment on it.  He learns the Tesseract has a gem that has a sort of program, and he (with Bruce's help) wants to use it to make a program to protect the planet -- without telling his other teammates.  Unfortunately, it creates Ultron (voiced by James Spader), an artificial intelligence who wants to create "peace in our time" by driving the Avengers to extinction (and a lot more).

The rest of the movie is a combination of the Avengers fighting Ultron, his nigh-innumerable robot duplicates, and the twins -- as well as dealing with their fractured spirit after Wanda shows everyone but Hawkeye their fears.  There's also more fighting between Captain America and Iron Man, a possible romance between Bruce and Natasha, a lot mote character development for Hawkeye, and cameos from night-innumerable supporting characters from almost every other Marvel movie.  Oh, and Paul Bettany goes from being the voice of Jarvis to the character the Vision.

Avengers: Age of Ultron is both enjoyable and frustrating.  The regular cast is quite good as always, James Spader is suitably creepy as the evil robot, and the twins are decent (even if Olsen's character is almost all defined by her accent).  At the same time, the movie feels over-long at times, lots of characters "leave" when we know they'll be back for the sequel(s), and there's a bit too much slow-motion in the action sequences.  Avengers: Age of Ultron is entertaining, but it isn't as quotable, exciting, or fan-fantasy-fulfilling as, well, the last Avengers movie.

Overall grade: B
Reviewed by James Lynch

FREE COMIC BOOK DAY

Today was Free Comic Book Day, a day when comic book stores and publishers give out free comics to those who love both superheroes and comic books in general.  This unofficial geek holuday -- the first Saturday in May -- was an opportunity for comic book stores to draw the interest of both potential new readers and those who have collected comics for years or decades.  And several stores had additional ways to celebrate -- as did the fans!

I was able to get to two local comic book stores (Apocalypse Comics and Players Choice; both in South Carolina) before work.  Alas, getting to Apocalypse Comics 10 minutes after the store opened meant, today, a long wait on line.  Fortunately, it was worth the wait: The store had large stacks of different titles, and while I'm sure they didn't last the day, I was able to get one of every one I wanted -- or that looked interesting.

As with most years, there are a wide variety of genres and publishers.  Marvel Comics had a preview for its upcoming Secret Wars special, while lots of independent publishers used the day to roll out their titles.   There are also lots of books based on television shows (The Simpsons, Bob's Burgers), video games (Street Fighter), and even movies (Fight Club).   And in addition to new characters, old favorites like the Tick, Judge Dredd, and others appear in comics released during the day.

 Both stores and customers got into the spirit of the holiday.  Stores had different events and incentives to draw customers of all ages and get them to spend as well as load up on freebies.  Apocalypse Comics had lots of discounts on various books, games, and figures; they also had lots of other events through the day, from bouncy castles (below) to radio folks doing a live show to "pro" wrestling events.

 As for customers, there was lots of cosplay (glad to see Squirrel Girl [below] is growing in popularity) and discussions about everything from the comics there to the current and upcoming superhero movies.  The little kid behind me had a toy Wolverine claw, while folks dressed as various heroes, villains, and groups.

Free Comic Book Day was, as always, a lot of fun and left me with lots and lots of comic books to read over the next few days.  Now I just have to wait for the first Saturday in May, 2016...

Written by James Lynch