Robin D. Laws's Blog, page 20

#TIFF17: Zombies of the Quebec Wilds

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If it’s early fall in Toronto I must be attending the Toronto International Film Festival. This year sees a somewhat pared (but still mammoth) number of films, the retirement of a couple of further-flung venues, and a focus on women filmmakers. The notoriously truculent escalators at one of the main houses are allegedly repaired and ready to face the throng of reviewers, industry types, and civilian filmgoers like your humble correspondent. Let’s all get in line, breathe in the popcorn dust, and prepare ourselves for 2017’s cinematic deluge.

The Summit (Argentina, Santiago Mitre, 3.5) High-stakes oil summit becomes additionally fraught for the Argentinean president (Ricardo Darin) when his daughter suffers a breakdown. What seems like a sober-minded political procedural takes a surprising turn into Marnie-style style psychological mystery.

The Number (South Africa, Khalo Matabane, 3.5) Longtime member of dreaded prison gang the 28s feels the pull of a reformist warden’s guidance. Based on a memoir, this neorealist drama conveys the local cultural detail overlying the universals of life behind bars.

Les Affamés (Canada, Robin Aubert, 4.5) Survivors of a zombie outbreak try to remain uneaten in the quiet vastness of rural Quebec. Depending on the handling, films in the tightly constrained zombie sub-genre can be about everything or nothing. With its assured use of stillness and an empathy for both the living and undead, Les Affamés falls magisterially into the second category.

I’m hedging my bets with that rating.  This has the potential to creep up to a 5, but it’s early days and you can’t go around handing those out like dinner mints. Or it could drift down to a 4. Films that conjure an elusive mood take a while to fully settle in. Will I still be thinking about the shot with the girl in the tunnel after 42 more movies?

Now for the zombie taxonomy. Speed: fast. Distinguishing characteristics: pack behavior, including hunting coordination; retention of simple emotions.

The subtitles translate the title as Ravenous. I’m betting they’ll change that if it gets distribution beyond Quebec (as well it should.) The 1999 cannibal Western with Guy Pearce and Robert Carlyle of that name is still a bit too recent, and the name doesn’t carry quite the right connotation for this one. The Famished? The Hungry? Think it over, Seville Pictures.

1% (Australia, Stephen McAllum, 2.5) The return from prison of a brutal motorcycle gang president (Matt Nable) puts him on a collision course with the protege who has been running it more effectively in his absence. Populated pretty much exclusively by charmless, malignant half-wits eminently deserving of failure and doom, without the layer of black comedy that makes that setup work.

Euthanizer (Finland, Teemu Nikki, 4) Judgmental eccentric who puts pets to sleep cut-rate prices attracts an admirer and runs afoul of a wannabe neo-Nazi. Twisted, but never amoral, morality tale of karma and retribution.

Capsule review boilerplate: Ratings are out of 5. I’ll be collecting these reviews in order of preference in a master post the Monday after the fest. Films shown on the festival circuit will appear in theaters, disc and/or streaming over the next year plus. If you’ve heard of a film showing at TIFF, I’m probably waiting to see it during its upcoming conventional release, instead favoring choices that don’t have distribution and might not reappear.

Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff: Mom! He’s in Cisalpine Gaul!

In the latest episode of our globe-trotting, problem-solving podcast, Ken and I talk Magic Blackwater, serial killer as vampire, Stacy Dellorfano and Caracalla vs Geta.

Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff: Gen Con 2017

In the latest episode of our bleary-eyed and gravel-throated podcast, Ken and I talk Gen Con, Gen Con, the eclipse, and Gen Con.

Finding Me at FanExpo Canada 2017

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If the Labor Day weekend is on its way (or Labour Day weekend as we say in these parts), I must be getting ready to do the panel thing at my hometown show, FanExpo Canada. My contributions to the  massive multitrack extravaganza go something like this:

GAME MASTER  MASTERCLASS  Saturday 11:00 AM   Room 714B   
GAME DESIGNER SPOTLIGHT: ROBIN LAWS  Saturday 3:00 PM Room 712   
GETTING STARTED WITH TABLETOP ROLE-PLAYING GAMES  Saturday  5:00 PM    Room 712   
PLAYTESTING GAMES Sunday 3:45 PM    705

I won’t be working a booth, so if you’d like to chat or get something signed, corral me at the above locations before or after the seminars.

Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff: 13/10, Would Betray

In the latest episode of their ENnie-winning podcast, Ken and Robin talk selling players on the new, Breton folklore, bad guy filler and cold war psychic warfare.

Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff: Snouted Meepers

In a sweet but hopefully not suffocating episode of their ENnie-nominated podcast, Ken and I talk player tone shifts, spy news, pulp movies and the Boston molasses flood.

Finding Me at Gen Con 2017

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Every year it’s hard to believe it’s that time of year again already and that goes double for the 50th anniversary edition of Gen Con. Why, it feels like I was working on the 40th anniversary Gen Con history only yesterday…

If you’re at the show, please swing by and say hi. During exhibit hall hours, when I’m not at a panel or in a meeting, I’ll be signing and chatting at the Pelgrane Press booth, #1317.

I will be pontificating at the following panels:

Thursday 4 pm: One GM, One Player Masterclass (Crowne Plaza Pennsylvania Station B)

Friday 1 pm: Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff Live (Crowne Plaza Pennsylvania Station B)

Friday 4 pm: Dramatic Interaction Masterclass (Crowne Plaza Pennsylvania Station B)

Saturday 2 pm: Swords, Spies and Shoggoths: The Pelgrane Press Panel (Crowne Plaza Pennsylvania Station B)

Saturday 4 pm: Investigative Roleplaying Masterclass (Crowne Plaza Pennsylvania Station B)

If you prefer to hear me encouraging other people to talk, I will be moderating but not pontificating at these panels:

Thursday 1 pm: Gaming Saves the World (Crowne Plaza Pennsylvania Station B)

Saturday noon: In the Shadow of the Castle (part of the 50th Anniversary Gen Con Retrospective) In the 80's D&D ruled Gen Con from its big castle in the exhibit hall. Hear stories from the other side of the moat, from Steve Jackson, Mike Pondsmith, Greg Stafford, John Nephew, and Jordan Weisman. (Convention Center Room 105)

Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff: That’s More of a Gloss on Aristotle

In the latest episode of our well-placed podcast, Ken and I talk fumble philosophy, strategic locations, tragedy and occult post-modernism.

Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff: A Different, Less Pear-Like Shape

In the latest episode of their prophetic, fluffy-tailed podcast, Ken and Robin talk rival investigators, mapping Lovecraft's cities, tricks to move your GMing from trad to story, and the white doe of Sertorius.

Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff: Where, As Opposed to What and AAAHH!

In the latest episode of their peripatetic podcast, Ken and Robin talk Tour de Lovecraft: the Destinations, laconic GMing, narrative sharing and the Chicago Phantom.