Shmee.Me

June 30, 2016

Get Friendly With The Intern!

Nancy Meyers knows how to make a dramedy. They are the bulk of her directing portfolio, so it should be no surprise that The Intern does its best to bring the laughter and the tears, and if that is what you are in the mood for, The Intern will scratch that itch. It is not a movie that raises the bar, but it is charming and well made, and there is a lot to be said for that.

The Intern is about Ben Whittaker (Robert De Niro) a 70 year widower who is finding retirement to be a bit dull and lonely. He has already traveled the world, and he doesn’t want to be a bother to his son’s family, so he decides to become an intern at a local tech start up. He is quickly paired with the CEO and Founder of the company Jules Ostin (Anne Hathaway) who is overworked and over-busy, so he will have to use his old school work ethic and caring personality to help her out.

This movie is pretty much setup like a standard romantic comedy, but with the twist that the two leads become friends instead of a couple. Which is actually a refreshing change. It is sweet to see De Niro take the role of almost a caring grandfather to this person that just needs a steady hand on her shoulder as her company is taking off. I also appreciated that they did this while still showing that Hathaway’s character was more than capable at her job. She didn’t need someone to save her from her job. She just needed a friend and some guidance.

The Intern is a fine film that no doubt has a large audience. Nancy Meyers is a good filmmaker who knows her product and market well. If you are part of that market, I am sure that you will like The Intern, and even though I am not part of the target audience, I enjoyed myself as well. So just like Jules Ostin you may just need to give The Intern a chance.

June 29, 2016

Hey There Is A Potterverse Magic School A Little Closer To Home! Ilvermorny!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkBPwEmakEc

Thanks to the upcoming Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them we are learning all sorts of things about magic in the good ol’ USA. Yesterday we found out that we Yanks have a our very own magic castle/school, Ilvermorny! You can watch the video above to learn a little more about it, or you can head to Pottermore.com to read the new short story and get yourself all sorted in to your Ilvermorny house. I am a Wampus. Wampuses are the best!

June 28, 2016

Orphan Black Season 4, The Beginning Of The End!

It is all coming together for the clones. There is almost nothing left to figure out, and they know all the key players, so it makes sense that next season would be its last. Early on in season four of Orphan Black you could tell that things were changing. Instead of introducing new mysteries, they were answering and coming back to old ones, and any new questions they had or uncovered were quickly answered. The series is in wrap-up mode, so now there is only one thing left to do: bring it all down.

Now that they know everything, they can formulate a plan to free themselves from the corporation(s) that seek to control them. It leaves me to wonder if next season is going to be full tilt action until the end, or are they going to throw one more monkey wrench for Tatiana Maslany’s wonderful crew of characters to figure out? We only have ten month until we find out. It will be a very long wait indeed.

June 27, 2016June 27, 2016

Games Of Thrones Season 6: The Season Stuff Started To Happen!

It is like producers David Benioff and D. B. Weiss counted up the remaining episodes and went, “Oh crap! We need to start wrapping things up!”. Season six of Game of Thrones ran at a breakneck pace. People were seemingly teleporting all over Westeros and Essos to meet up and make things happen, and to answer all sorts of remaining questions. While all this action has been entertaining it has given the show a different flavor. There is no time left to let things set and stew for a bit.

Though I understand the reason for the change. Game of Thrones is going to be eight seasons long and we have completed six, and we still need to figure out who is going to rule Westeros to fight the White Walkers, and then of course they need to fight the White Walkers. We all know that the end of Game of Thrones will be dragons versus the White Walkers, so season six did its best to clear the table of any remaining appetizers to get us ready for the main course. The problem is that now we are ready and we have to wait just under a year for that main course to be served, and then a year after that for our frozen flambéed dessert. There aren’t many big questions left besides how is this all going to play out, and I for one can’t wait to watch. After all of the Starks’ promising, Winter is here!

June 24, 2016

You Should Be Disappointed With Mighty No. 9; You Shouldn’t Be A Jerk About it.

The Kickstarter funded Mighty No. 9 developed by Keiji Inafune launched this week, and the reviews have been less than kind. Last I checked the game was sitting at 58% on Metacritic. The people that teamed up to give more than $4 Million have been raging about it all over the internet saying things like, “He took our money and ran!”, or “People have created better games with a lot less money!”, but neither of the those statements are fair.

It is true that other games made with less money have been better, I could list several, but those teams were small being made up of one or two dedicated people, not full dev teams. Large development teams like Inafune’s Comcept cost a lot of money, so if things go sideways they burn through money fast, and it seems clear from Inafune’s interviews that is what happened with Mighty No. 9. Not many developers would ever utter the words, “It is better than nothing.”, if things went well. Things went bad and Comcept pushed through and published a game for their backers. Was it the game they wanted? No, but it was indeed better than nothing. Which is more than a lot of failed projects produce. Nothing. Leaving backers empty handed.

I am not saying people should be happy with Might No. 9. It is clearly not a great game, but they shouldn’t be so mad at Keiji Inafune and the rest of Comcept either. They tried their best and failed. A lot of good dev teams have created bad games, and I think that is the case here. What people should be taking from all of this is to remember that backing any creative endeavor on Kickstarter can go sideways, even ones with a lot of talent and knowhow. Which is why you should always spend your money and back projects wisely with the understanding you may end up with nothing, or something that is better than nothing.