Author: tomgoldrick

  • Simple, Fun, and Engaging – The Fall Guy Review

    Most of what I heard about The Fall Guy before seeing it myself was folks pondering on Twitter, “who is this movie made for?” It turns out the movie is made for folks who love movies. Whodathunkit?

    Rarely do I get to watch a movie that feels so jam-packed with passion and love for the art form. Not only is The Fall Guy a movie about movies, it’s a movie about the people who make movies. Emily Blunt plays a stunt coordinator turned director playing opposite Ryan Gosling, a stunt man forced into early quasi-retirement who is brought back for one more gig. Winston Duke excels as the movie-within-a-movie’s stunt director; he’s a great addition to an already stellar cast. What was marketed as a nonstop action romp turned out to be much more of a romantic comedy through the lens of film making, which was a pleasant surprise. The writing was witty, the actors looked like they were having a blast, and the visual effects were stunning.

    Compared to the director’s other similar project, Bullet Train, The Fall Guy kept me engaged throughout and was more polished overall. I usually find myself nitpicking dialogue or special effects if I’m not really into a movie. Besides leaving to get drink refills and a quick bathroom break, my partner and I were stuck to our seats, nearly forgetting to eat all of the snacks we snuck in with us.

    The question is, was this movie worth watching in the theaters instead of catching it on streaming in the comfort of my own home? I guess that depends on your living situation, but The Fall Guy was worth watching on the silver screen. Health concerns notwithstanding, the theater feels like the right place to see a movie that is a celebration of the industry as well as the art. TFG may not have a gimmicky popcorn cup like Dune 2, but it was worth seeing in the theater for the sake of talking about it on the walk to the parking lot.

  • Death, Destruction, and Chaos – An Age of Sigmar: Warcry Battle Report

    If playing tabletop wargames is your favorite part of the hobby, then you likely play a skirmish game like Warcry or Kill Team. Either provide all of the glory that traditional Warhammer provides at a significantly smaller scale. It’s been around six months since I last played a game of Warcry, so I thought it would be worthwhile to walk through some of what happened on that fateful night.

    After work, three of my friends came by to trade Magic the Gathering cards and play Warcry. I set up the board with five objectives and a couples pieces of terrain (unfortunately, I had temporarily misplaced some of my more vertical terrain) and laid out the available warbands for my friends to select. Noah chose his ever faithful Ossiarch Bonereapers, Sam stuck with his Kruleboyz, Alec brought out the Iron Golems, and I represented the Daemons of Nurgle.

    The battle plan was a simple capture and hold objective with the twist that anyone who controls an objective turns it into a healing spring for any nearby allied models. What started out as a patient game of Red Rover turned into a mosh pit in the middle of the board once we all realized that it was going to be the turning point in the game without serious upsets occurring. Alec’s sturdy Iron Golems marched to the center objective first, followed by a skeleton warrior and a Beast of Nurgle. Sam’s Kruleboyz were ambushed by Noah’s Liege Kavalos, which kept them securely in their corner of the battlefield.

    Despite having a ton of wounds, the Orruks were eventually able to fell the Ossiarch leader and begin spilling onto the rest of the board. By that time, however, most of the battle had already taken place. As the Ossiarch retreated, the Ogor Breacher and Beasts of Nurgle continued to clash over the central objective, while the Plaguebearers charging in toe were easily felled by the remaining Iron Golems.

    By the end of the game, the Kruleboyz were able to slink away mostly unharmed but without achieving their ultimate victory of poisoning the local water supply. Their job was done for them, however, as the blighted corpses of the followers of Nurgle piled up around the well and oozed foul bile into the soil. A new dawn rose slowly over the battlefield to reveal the Iron Golems standing victorious over their enemies, unaware that grandfather Nurgle’s wishes had been fulfilled as well.