As someone who owns every single Alice in Wonderland Adaptation to film (including the silent films and the adult versions) I agree. The Tim Burton adaptations are the worst adaptations of Alice in Wonderland of all time. The Disney version is ok, though.
The Alice character is on board with everything because it's a world of her own creation. In any true (to the original story) version Alice is dreaming (side note: Most Alice adaptations to films change this in various ways). She is dreaming in the Disney version. How many dreams do you have where you constantly question everything that is going on? The only time I usually do is when I lucid dream. When I am unaware that I am dreaming things just happen and I tend to accept it.
It's also a surreal, absurd, story. By nature (intentionally). Her demeanor is more inquisitive than anything, often even feeling out of her element, and aptly fits despite any outsiders perspective on the world you may have. Her kowtow to the different characters (such as the White rabbit, or the Queen) is a representation of her age and the time she lived in (on top of that most of the book is metaphor- Carroll loved to play with metaphor and words much like Rod Serling loved to play with visual metaphor and expectations on TV in his time). To be fair the Disney version has her a few years older than the book (in the book I think she's 7, and in the Disney movie she seems more like 12 or so), and as such it seems a little stranger, but at the same time it is the way of children to generally do as they are told by adults with an authoritative way about them- especially, again, given where this was written and when. I am sure Disney had his reasons for changing her age (he always does, but even before him the adaptations varied her age from 12 to mid teens anyway- so film has commonly not had her the same age as the book), but if I ever knew it I have forgotten. It might have had something to do with the actress who played her who was in a couple Disney films at the time (she was also in Peter Pan).
I could go on and on about Alice in Wonderland, but I'll stop. I don't think it's what anyone wants, or even cares about but me. Caring is certainly not in this series purview, as it kind of comes off like an Andy Kaufman like troll attempt to me.
Side note: I love this game, but I would never say this game is flawless. Those two things are not mutually exclusive. A fun game doesn't have to be "good."
Another Side Note: The sea captain thing was in the second movie, Jason. That movie was significantly worse than the first movie which was shocking given how bad the first movie was.
I weirdly love 3000 Miles to Graceland and love that Giantbomb references it so much.
The only problem with that movie is that it's like... 3 hours long or whatever. it's super long, but it's so crazy. Probably the best thing Costner has ever done.
I started reading these books in the last year so I cant read all of this blog for fear of spoilers.
I agree with your assessment of the first book, though. I fairly recently started the second book, and even King admits the first book isn't that good, but people should read it still and stick with it. I agree with him on that, as it's an easy read and it sets up the world and more importantly the character of the Gunslinger. This more easily helps us to enjoy when the story gets much better (almost immediately) when you start reading the second book.
The second book so far is a page turner. It's significantly better written. From what I understood (from what King said at the beginning of The Gunslinger) he wrote the first book when he was like 19. If true that would explain the way he wrote it (the way people speak in The Gunslinger's world is the most irritating thing to read ever- I almost gave up reading it, but I trust King after all these years so I kept reading it anyway and so far as good as the second book is I am glad I did). Apparently he did a lot of work in the early 2000s to try and clean up the writing so I think the versions of the book you get now are actually different than the book he originally released.
Anyway, this series is fascinating. I have no reason I never read the series before. I have always been a fan of King, and while not all his books are great I have read most of them through the entire course of my life (starting when I was very young). There's generally a way that he writes that I find incredibly easy to read and so relatable for me that I often can't stop reading. IT and The Stand (for example) were just incredible reads for me as well (and with those I saw the TV movies first and I still loved the books- I love the movies too). I would say it's because he's one of the authors I read when I was young and kept reading for years, but I have read Dean Koontz, Michael Crichton, Douglas Adams, and many others. There are many great authors that I love to read and have since I was a kid, but King has just always been my favorite modern author.
For me (even with movies based on his stuff) there's just something about the way King's characters work and the worlds they inhabit work that always feel a specific way and it's unlike any other thing I read or see in film. There is very few King adaptions to film that don't have the King feel (I have most of the Stephen King movies except one or two- one of which is because it's shockingly hard to find for a reasonable price). Which, just for the record the one that doesn't quite feel like a King film adaptation, is Cell. That movie is awful.
Sorry, this is long and I am rambling. It's late for me, I'm tired and I should probably stop.
wow, I think he inadvertently picked the hardest game choices for a first play through of this game. Interesting.
Those weird questions they ask you at the beginning is how the game sets the games difficulty, and in this game difficulty means how they dole out skills. Dusk (hard) means you take a while to level at the beginning then you level faster near the end. This is difficult when you play focusing on magic and setting defense as a dump stat (like you did).
KH is not pre-Pixar. Pixar has been around since the 80s or something (Toy Story came out in 1995 you guys- I know, crazy right?). They weren't owned by Disney yet, but Toy Story was made for Disney by them. This game came out in the early 2000s.
It's gonna take them forever to finish this if they only play in 45 minute increments assuming this isn't some elaborate hoax.
Howard the duck does not have sex with Leah Thompson. She comes on to him to make him uncomfortable and then suddenly gets serious just before being interrupted by a home invasion. They never have sex- its just a weird joke, but I'm not gonna defend George Lucas' weirdness too much. It's a weird moment in a movie full of weird moments.
There are anthropomorphic duck boobs near the beginning when Howard is being sucked by the machine to pull him to earth.
Howard is reading a porn mag (featuring anthropomorphic duck ladies) near the beginning of the film.
I love the Howard the duck movie unironically. I think it's a fantastically crazy weird and funny movie that I enjoy.
I often get the Howard the duck theme song stuck in my head (interesting enough Leah Thompson wrote and performed the song in the movie). It's so bad and good 80s junk music. I love it.
I'm with Dan, pickles are the worst. I can't stand tomatoes either. Makes me gag. Difference is I have tried both on multiple occasions and I still hate them.
I did a Googlie, because I don't know what Baby Driver is, and apparently Anthony bourdain has strong opinions about Baby Driver.
Also, I like going to movie theaters still, too. I just don't have a lot of time. I go to every Rifftrax, though. The theaters here are nice, though. I don't know what's wrong with the theaters y'all go to (y'all were talking about having bad theaters). The ones around me (there are several) are great.
Edit: oh, and Flatliners is one of my favorite movies from when I was a kid. Kevin Bacon, Keifer Sutherland, Julia Roberts, William Baldwin, and Oliver Platt. Yes I think it's still an amazing movie. I do not want to see the remake it can only disappoint.
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