Fiasco: Nextwave comes crashing down!

Tonight we played the second act of a Fiasco (Bully Pulpit Games) episode using the Heroes of Pinnacle City playset written by Ryan Consell, Josh Hoey, Anna Kreider, and Kit Kreider, to simulate Nextwave: Agents of H.A.T.E.

We had as much fun as we had in the first act; let’s just say that the portal which the Bloodstone family had been supposed to guard re-opened in Daeseong-dong, bringing hordes of doppelgangers of The Captain, and Pulgasari himself! Despite Nextwave nearly starting World War III, and Monica very publicly insulting the Avengers, Aaron Stacks managed to end up on top as the Avengers’ new leader…

Mini-Review – The Admiral: Roaring Currents

Edmund and I just saw the South Korean epic, The Admiral: Roaring Currents this afternoon. Right now it’s only playing in a few North American theatres (fewer than 50), despite having done incredibly well in South Korea — more than 15 million admissions and the first local film to gross more than US$100 million. If you have a chance to catch it, I highly recommend it.

I found this movie exciting, vivid,and easy to follow despite its large cast and Korean and Japanese dialogue. The visuals are impeccable and meticulous; there is so much to see, so many details to notice and enjoy. Every frame has a tactile quality to it, you feel it must be real — even the CGI parts.

This is an unusual movie for me to like so much, because it’s a war movie, and it only has one female character (mute, at that!) Yet it was so well paced and so gorgeous that I was swept along (ha-ha.) I’ll be honest, I usually get very confused when I watch war movies; after a while, I just can’t remember who is who and why they’re so angry (viz.: Saving Private Ryan.) But here, in part thanks to the distinctive uniforms and banners of the Korean and Japanese forces, I had no trouble at all despite the complexities of the naval battle. Speaking of which, I felt that Admiral Yi Sunshin’s plans and tactics unfolded at the perfect rate for my brain to catch up with: “Oh, yeah, so that’s what he’s trying to do!”, step by step.

A small detail that helped: the subtitles were very clean, crisp, and legible, and scrolled at the right rate for me to read. There were a few grammatical errors and typos, but nothing egregious. The sound quality was excellent, with a rich auditory landscape that added to the visual textures to complete the sense of reality, of being there. The music was epic and perfectly supported the mood. I felt that this was a momentous time, in a way that few would-be epic movies convey so thoroughly.

In short, I really enjoyed this movie. Good for: history buffs, fans of epic action sagas, those who love portrayals of great leaders tormented by doubt. Bad for: viewers who flinch at gore, people who hate subtitles.