COHERENCE dvd

In physics, Schrodinger's Cat is used to explain quantum physics as a cat, in a sealed box with a vial of poison that could open at any time and kill the cat, being simultaneously being alive and dead until the box is opened and one possibility becomes reality.  But what if that duality broke down -- and was more than one?  This is the sort of mind game as the center of Coherence, a low-key, special effects-free science fiction movie,

Mike (Nicholas Brendon) and Lee (Lorene Scarafia) are having a dinner party for some couples they know: Emily (Emily Baldoni) and Kevin (Maury Sterling) , Hugh (Hugh Armstrong) and Beth (Elizabeth Gracen), and Amir (Alex Manugian) and Laurie (Lauren Maher).  It's also a special night -- a comet is passing by overhead -- and strange things are happening: Some people's cell phone screen shatter and there's no phone or Internet reception.  Emily has stories about strange happenings when comets have been seen, and Hugh's physicist brother asked him to phone if anything unusual occurs.  The greater tension seems to be Emily's upset that her former boyfriend Amir showed up with Laurie as his date.

When the power goes out in the town (except for one house, two houses down) and there's a knock at the door, everyone gets jumpy.   Then things get really weird.  Hugh and Amir go to the only house with power, to use their phone, but come back saying it was exactly like Mike and Lee's house.  Amir also found a metal box with a ping pong paddle and photos of everyone at the dinner party, with a number written on the back of each photo -- in Emily's handwriting.

 Pretty soon people keep experiencing changes in time (Hugh writes a note to leave on the door of the other house, only to immediately find a copy of the note on their door) and duplicates of themselves with slight differences (like when the originals use blue glowsticks to see in the dark -- and running into other versions of themselves with red glowsticks).  It all comes down to a theory in Hugh's brother's physics book explaining that decoherence keeps different outcomes from interacting with each other.  But the friends start getting stressed and turning on each other, as well as figuring out what to do: Stay holed up in the house until everything passes?  Wander in the dark?  Kill their duplicates?

Coherence reminds me a lot of the movie Triangle, in that both are mind games that don't have much supporting an intellectual mind-blowing concept.  The acting is okay, but the characters are far too ready to accept converging alternate realities as explaining some weird stuff happening during a blackout.  Most of the characters are also paper thin, and the camerawork is jumpy with far too many blackout cuts between scenes.  Coherence has an interesting basic concept, but not enough behind it to involve the audience.  (DVD extras are basic behind-the-scenes features and commentaries.)

Overall grade: C
Reviewed by James Lynch

DOUBLE FEATURE

Everybody sing!  Let's all shout some mo-vies/ let's all shout out some mo-vies/let's all shout out some mo-vies/ and win ourselves a game!  Ahem.  Double Feature, from Renegade Studios, is a party game for 4-10 players who, ideally, know a lot of movies.

Double Feature has six decks -- Prop, Scene, Character, Theme & Genre, Setting, and Production -- that are all laid out face-down in front of everyone.  Each turn, one player is the Director.  At the start of the game they draw and read two cards from different decks, and the first player (not the Director) who can name a movie matching the two cards gets a point (and the card that's been on the table the longest to represent the point).  The newer card remains, the next player clockwise becomes the next Director, they choose a card from a different deck than the card on the table, the other players shout out a movie matching the two cards, and so on.  (If no one can name a movie matching the two cards, a third card is added and players have to name a movie matching two of the three cards.)  Whoever gets enough points (based on the number of players) wins!

Double Feature is a fun, simple, and straightforward game.  It plays pretty quickly, and I recommend someone have their smart phone or laptop ready to check on any disputed movies.  There's not a lot of depth to the game, and it definitely favors those who see a lot of films.  Double Feature is another "fun little game" that's good for some light entertainment before a more strategic game starts.

Overall grade: B-
Reviewed by James Lynch

WHAT YOU NEED by Rachel Wifall

A central theme of literature is what the character(s) need, whether it's survival, love, victory, wealth, knowledge, or something else.  Rachel Wifall looks at this search through three very different people, times, and places in her first novel What You Need.

This novel is divided into three separate stories.  "Haunted Heart," set in England 1949, revolves around former pilot Edward, his unspoken love for his friend Claire, and her wedding to his best friend Archie.  "Stairways" is set in NYC in 2013, where Fergus McNamara balances family, gambling, and working as household manager for the rich, impatient, and obnoxious Abe Goldman, his spoiled wife Julia, and their servants and high-society friends.  Finally, "What You Need (Ce dont vous avezbesion)"  brings us to Long Island in 2010 and Mary, whose balance of waitressing, education, dating, and friends is upset by the murder of her neighbor Mark.

What You Need is a satisfying, pleasant novel.  Rachel creates very distinct protagonists for each segment of the book, whether it's the almost antiquated feel of the post-war love triangle, the hectic life of a big job in Manhattan, or the uncertain stumbling to figure out what one wants and needs in their thirties.  The dialogue is nice, whether it's philosophical musings ("Time may not be an issue for those already departed, but life could seem so long to the living.")  The overall pace of What You Need is sometimes slow, but it's also an enjoyable slice of life from three distinct lives.

Overall grade: B
Reviewed by James Lynch

Yvonne Craig 1937-2015

Actress Yvonne Craig passed away two days ago.

While Craig took on numerous and varied roles, she became most famous as a "geek sex symbol" in the 1960s.  Her most famous role was that of Batgirl/Barbara Gordon in the third and final season of the 1966 television series Batman:

She achieved almost as much fame as the green-skinned Orion slave girl Marta in the Star Trek episode "Whom Gods Destroy:"

While she worked steadily after that, no other roles were quite as successful or memorable; and she eventually left acting to  work in real estate.  In 2000 she published her biography From Ballet to the Batcave and Beyond (and I hope to find a copy of it one of these days):

While I wasn't a fan of the Batman show, I really enjoyed Yvonne Craig on it: She was enthusiastic, kicked butt, and was amazingly sexy; she was also the first female comic book hero brought to life (followed in the 1970s by Linda Carter as Wonder Woman).  Yvonne Craig was an icon of women as superheroes, and she will be remembered fondly.

Written by James Lynch

THE GIFT

The past has a way of catching up with the present -- and sometimes it can be devastating.  This is the basis for The Gift, a psychological drama revolving around three people.

Simon (Jason Bateman) and Robyn (Rebecca Hall) are a seemingly idyllic married couple.  They just moved from California into a beautiful new home, Simon is advancing at his new job, Robyn is working from home at her old job, and they're hoping to have a baby.  While out shopping, they run into Gordon "Gordo" Moseley (Joel Edgerton, who wrote and directed The Gift), who went to school with Simon.  They exchange polite pleasantries, and arrange to meet up.

The dinner is nice, even if Gordo is socially awkward.  Afterwards, he keeps leaving small gifts at the couple's house.  Robyn likes him and feels a little sorry for him, while Simon -- who remembers him as "Gordo the Weirdo" from high school -- wants him out of their life.  Then Gordo's behavior seems to become more extreme, strange things begin happening around the house, and Robyn begins investigating what happened between Simon and Gordo back in high school -- and what her husband is really like.

The Gift is a more subtle and effective thriller-drama.  The tension and mystery comes not from violence and dead bodies, but rather from how the characters interact and reveal themselves.  Jason Bateman is terrific, gradually transforming the ambitious, determined husband to a domineering bully (in high school he was known as "Simon Says" because everyone did what he wanted) who tends to steamroll his wife as much as Gordo.  Joel Edgerton does well making Gordo somewhere between likable, creepy, and very possibly dangerous.  And Robyn Hall fills out the cast nicely, as her Rebecca begins as damaged and grows stronger as her sympathy for Gordo parallels her growing suspicions about her husband.

The ending of The Gift may be slightly anticlimactic, but the movie manages a slow, effective build of tension and a mystery that is more realistic than many thrillers.  It's definitely worth seeing.

Overall grade: B
Reviewed by James Lynch

NIGHT OF THE GRAND OCTOPUS

 First, let me say that Night of the Grand Octopus from Iello Games is clearly about H.P. Lovecraft's mythos.  The Grand Octopus is Cthulhu --from the physical description to being imprisoned under the sea -- the library resembles Arkham University, and one of the Components is a Silver Key.  It's clearly Lovecraftian.  Anyway...

In Night of the Grand Octopus, 3-5 players are playing Cultists, gathering four different Components to summon the Grand Octopus and win the game (and, presumably, get eaten last).  Each player gets a Cultist Pawn (which goes on the gameboard), an Offspring (which resembles a giant evil Teddy Bear), a token that goes on the Dagger of Power to show how many Cultists a player has (everyone starts with the number of players plus one), and a Command Clock (with the rooms on the gameboard and two dials).  The gameboard has several locations, each connected by pathways and containing their own Components (Skulls in the Crypt, Grimoires in the  Library, and so on); each location has a number of Components equal to the number of players minus one.  There's also an Exterior Location (one of four available), which has a Silver Key and an unique ability.

On each turn, players secretly use their Command Clock to select destinations for their Cultist and Offspring.  (Players can also select the same destination for both, which Sends the Cultist to the Exterior Location and keeps the Offspring from going on the board).  Once everyone is set, the players reveal their Command Clocks and move their Cultist and Offspring to their Locations.

If a Cultist is alone in a Location, they can collect a Component (if they didn't already have that one); if at the Exterior Location, they can use its ability.  If Cultist winds up in a room with an Offspring, they can collect no Component and lose a Cultist (and get eliminated from the game if they have no Cultists left).  And if multiple Cultists wind up in the same Location, they have no negotiate: Everyone can agree that no one gets anything, one player can Dominate and be the only one to get a Component, or everyone loses a Cultist.  At the end of each turn, if a player has four different Components and at least one Cultist left, they win!

Night of the Grand Octopus is fun, quick, and a bit simple.  While the game is easy to learn and a quick play, the strategy consists almost entirely of anticipating/guessing where an opponent's Cultist will go and sending the Offspring there, while trying not to be as predictable themselves.  Night of the Grand Octopus is enjoyable, but it's a quick little game that's best played before a "feature" game.

Overall grade: B-
Reviewed by James Lynch

ANT-MAN

While Marvel has enjoyed great cinematic success with its well-known characters, their Guardians of the Galaxy film did well with much lesser-known characters and a sillier feel.  Now Marvel is trying the same with Ant-Man, a superhero movie that's part action, part comedy, part training montage, and part heist.

Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) is a thief and electrical engineer who just got out of jail for a, er, noble theft.  He wants to take care of his daughter Cassie (Abby Ryder Forston), but his ex-wife Maggie (Judy Greer) wants him to get a job, get a place to live, and pay child support first.  And Maggie's fiancee Paxton (Bobby Cannavale) is a detective who thinks Scott is no good.


Scott can't get a job with his criminal record, so he eventually joins his criminal buddies Luis (Michael Pena), Dave (T.I.), and Kurt (David Dastmalchian) on what's supposed to be a perfect job.  After Scott overcomes a number of obstacles, all he finds is "a motorcycle suit" and a helmet.  When he gets curious and tries the suit on, he shrinks down to the size of an ant!  He also hears a voice in the helmet.

The suit is the creation of Dr. Hank Pym (Michael Douglas), who had been the Ant-Man earlier in his life.  Hank created the "Pym particles" that can shrink or enlarge matter -- and he's worried because businessman Darren Cross (Corey Stall) is on the verge of duplicating the Pym particle and using them to power a lethal armor called Yellowjacket -- which Cross will then sell as a weapon.  Hank needs Scott to break in, destroy the data, and steal the Yellowjacket.  Hank trains Scott in using the suit to manage his size, as well as controlling ants and throwing discs that shrink or enlarge what they hit.  And Hope van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly), Hank's daughter is training Scott to fight despite wanting to go on the mission herself.  She's also pretending to work with Cross -- and has issues with her father, since he never told her what really happened to her mother.

Ant-Man is a lighter superhero movie.  There are plenty of special effects (mainly when we see the ants seem like large beasts) and action (especially at the end), but there's more planning and training through the movie.  Paul Rudd is best known as a comic actor, and he's an excellent choice to helm this movie; Scott Lang's fellow criminals are almost all comic relief.  Ant-Man isn't perfect -- it follows a very straightforward story line, with relatively few surprises -- but it's a simple, likable summer movie.

Overall grade: B

Reviewed by James Lynch

RIFFTRAX LIVE: SHARKNADO 2 -- THE SECOND ONE

The original Sharknado left so many unexplored areas and unanswered questions that a sequel was required.  No, that's not right: It was just a terrible movie that somehow became popular (under the "so bad, it's good" theory) and so another one was made to milk more money out of it.  Fortunately, what's painful by itself can be transformed into comedy gold with commentary.  And that's what got me to see that abomination of a movie: Rifftrax Live: Sharknado 2 -- The Second One.

Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy, and Bill Corbett certainly have plenty of bad material to work with here.  Following the short "Parents -- Who Needs Them?" ("the film that made a young Bruce Wayne burst into tears at Gotham Elementary"), they jump into the sharky badness.  As for the movie itself, it's largely the same as the original (most of the cast, terrible CGI sharks, rapid switches from rain to sun), only it's set in NYC and, owing to the popularity of the first movie, there are lots and lots of d-list "celebrities" making cameos.  The trio have fun riffing it all, whether it's Mark McGrath's pseudo-celebrity as the former Sugar Ray lead singer, Tara Reid's... well, her presence, the heroes' insane plan ("Marvel super villains thing this plan is outrageous"), or the Statue of Liberty's head rolling down streets after the heroes.  ("To hell with physics!")

Possibly the scariest part of all this is that this month, Syfy will be airing Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No!  (There was a preview at Rifftrax Live, and it's exactly what you'd expect.)  There's no way I'm watching that -- unless it's part of Rifftrax Live, in which case there's no way I'm missing it.

Overall grade: B+

Reviewed by James Lynch

MAGIC MIKE XXL

The boys are back!  Magic Mike XXL brings back the movies' most famous male strippers for a light, fun road trip.

Magic Mike XXL begins three years after the original.  Mike (Channing Tatum) has left the world of stripping behind, following his dream of making and selling custom-made furniture.  He gets a call from his old exotic dancers: "Big Dick" Richie (Joe Maganiello), Ken (Matt Bomer), Tito (Adam Rodriguez), and Tarzan (Kevin Nash).  They tell Mike that Dallas is gone and the rest of them will be taking a trip from Tampa to a stripper's convention in Myrtle Beach, SC, with Tobias (Gabriel Iglesias) driving and M.C.ing for them.  Mike passes, but back in his workshop a rap song on the radio gets him swinging and dancing all over -- and next thing you know, he's in the FroYo van heading to the convention!

Along the way, the group wings up getting into various adventures, from an upscale women's club to a gay bar.  The group also meets a number of interesting people: Zoe (Amber Heard), a cool and disaffected young woman who may be Mike's new love interest; Rome (Jada Pinkett Smith), a successful female empowerer and MC, and her brother Andre (Donny Glover), a sexy crooner; and Nancy (Andie MacDowell), a woman who is more than happy her daughter invited five male strippers to crash at their home.

While Magic Mike balanced the eye-candy of male stripping with the search for something beyond that life, Magic Mike XXL is a much more superficial movie.  There's no real conflict or suspense (every setback on the trip is solved very easily and quickly), and while a few characters wonder what they'll do after the big convention, there's no real thought or speculation as to what they'll do when the ride ends.  Also, every scene between the start and finish could be played in random order with little impact on the movie.

What Magic Mike XXL does deliver is fun.  Apart from the sexy, incredibly stylized dance numbers, there are plenty of laughs, whether it's the guys bickering about their issues, their ridiculously sexy routines (including one of the funniest scenes with Backstreet Boys music ever), or Ken's continual new age theories.  This movie also gives more interaction between Mike and his buddies, as this time they're not just background to the relationship with the Kid from the first movie.

Magic Mike XXL is superficial and enjoyable at the same time.  There's not much to think about, but it's fun to watch.

Overall grade: B

Reviewed by James Lynch

Red, White, & Blue!

Happy Fourth of July!  In honor of the holiday, below are some photos of celebrities who wore the red, white, and blue.  Enjoy!

Jim Lynch

*  *  *

Alyssa Milano

Britney Spears

Brooke Burke

Carrie Underwood

Cindy Crawford

Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart

 

Erica Durance

Erin Heatherton

Halle Berry

Jessica Simpson

Julianne Hough

Kate Upton

Katy Perry

Mariah Carey

Nicki Minaj

Niki Taylor

Rachel Bilson

Samantha Hoopes

Will Ferrell

SNAKE OIL -- ELIXIR

So, how good of a salesman are you?  Can you pitch just about anything to "sell" your strange products?  Snake Oil -- Elixir from Out of the Box Publishing is a fun, cute, simple party game similar to Apples to Apples (which is also from Out of the Box Publishing); it's also a successful Kickstarter that plays the same as the original Snake Oil, but with all new cards.

At the start of the game, players draw a hand of six Word Cards.  Next, one player becomes the Customer and draws a Customer Card, which has a profession or character (Party Animal, Ghost, Villain, Little Red Riding Hood) on each side; the Customer decides which side to use.

Going clockwise from the Customer, each player selected two of their Word Cards, "mashing" them together into a product.  The player pitches their product to the Customer, explaining why that Customer needs or wants the product.  (The Customer can stop a pitch after 30 seconds.)  After everyone makes a pitch, the Customer gives the Customer Card to the player whose pitch was liked the best.  Players draw back to six Word Cards, the next player clockwise from the Customer becomes the new Customer, and after everyone has been the Customer the player who earned the most Customer Cards wins!

Snake Oil -- Elixir is quick and fun.  There's a lot of opportunity for humor in the card combinations, and the game goes very quickly (a little too quickly; I recommend letting everyone be the customer twice).  You have to trust the judge will reward the best product and not avoid giving a Customer Card that would guarantee a win to a player.  Apart from that possibility, Snake Oil -- Elixir is a funny, enjoyable party game.

Overall grade: B
Reviewed by James Lynch

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