Last movie watched...

[ThryllSeekyr]

Somehow I managed to get what you said about both the movie and the board game mixed up...

This is the excerpt from that role playing game I mentioned before....

SUGGESTED RESOURCES

FICTION

Night's Master. Tanith Lee. One of the most finely crafted fantasy novels ever written. Night's Master and the rest of the stories of Tanith Lee's Flat Earth were the single largest literary influence on Exalted.

Hawkmoon. Michael Moorcock. White Wolf Publishing. Atlanta, GA. ISBN 1-56504-193-3. The other major literary inspiration for Exalted. Hawkmoon has it all — fantasy set in the ruins of a lost golden age, a decadent empire whose twisted sorcerous rulers seek to conquer the world and lots of strange artifacts of the time before the fall. Resurrection Man. Sean Stewart. Ace Books. New York, NY. ISBN 0-441-00339-7

*The Night Watch. Sean Stewart. Ace Books. New York, NY. ISBN 0-441-00554-3 Galveston. Sean Stewart. Ace Books. New York, NY. ISBN 0-441-00686-8 These books are really unexcelled in their ability to show just how terrifying living in a world full of spirits and fairytale magic is like. The depiction of spirits in Exalted was very strongly colored by these books, and they are highly recommend, particularly the second two.

The Black Company. Glen Cook. Tor Books. New York, NY. ISBN 0-81252-139-0. The Lady and The Ten Who Were Taken are excellent inspirations for Exalted. Shapeshifter would make an excellent Lunar Exalted, and The Lady would make an very fine Solar. Also, the slow but very powerful magic of this world is a good inspiration for Storytellers trying to imagine what Exalted's sorcery looks like. The Complete Pegana. Lord Dunsany.

Chaosium,  Inc. Berkeley, CA. ISBN 1-56882-116-6. Arguably the most influential fantasy writer in the history of the sword-and-sorcery genre, and probably neck and neck with Tolkien for his influence on fantasy in general. Lord Dunsany's work is seminal to almost everything in the genre. If you like fantasy, you really owe it to yourself to check it out — this guy is the bomb. Shadow & Claw. Gene Wolfe. Orb. New York, NY. ISBN 0-31289-017-6.

Sword & Citadel. Gene Wolfe. Orb. New York, NY. ISBN 0-31289-018-4. Set in an unimaginably distant future of our own world, these books (collectively known as The Book of the New Sun) are an absolutely fabulous combination of magic and science-fiction elements.

CLASSICS

The Histories. Herodotus. Penguin Books. New York, NY. An amazingly good illustration of how cosmopolitan and advanced the ancient world was, compared to the squalor of the medieval period. The Iliad. Homer. Penguin Books. New York, NY. Pretty much the classic story of a flawed hero. If you just can't bear to read it in a verse-type presentation, Penguin produces a very fine prose-format Iliad.

Volsungasaga. Penguin Books. New York, NY. Later mixed together with a different version of the same story and synthesized into Wagner's "Ring Cycle," the original is far more relevant to Exalted and a pretty good read, too.

VIDEOS AND MOVIES

Ninja Scroll (1995). An absolutely stunning anime — the supernatural martial arts in it were very strong inspirations to Exalted's combat and Charm system. This is a really good movie to show your players before they make up characters, telling them "characters in Exalted can do things like this."

Swordsman II (1991). Starring Jet Li and Brigitte Lin, this film is to live action swordplay what Ninja Scroll is to anime. The wirework, the superbly choreographed swordplay and the amazingly cool martial-art moves make this film great. Another "the game feels like this" movie.

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) While long on dialogue and somewhat short on action, this film, starring Chow Yun-Fat and Michelle Yeoh, is a masterpiece of wirework. While it isn't nonstop swordplay, this film's lavish costuming and complex and passion-driven plot make it an excellent inspiration for character-centered games.

Streetfighter (1996). The anime, not the live-action movie. Set in the modern day, but it has some absolutely great supernatural martial arts fights. Also worth seeing for the totally deadpan way it handles a world full of martial artists who are vastly more powerful than any normal mortal.

Grave of the Fireflies (1988). A really terribly serious animated drama about two Japanese children struggling to survive in World War II Japan. It's not really related to Exalted, but if you're reading this and going, "nah, anime can't tell serious stories," you'll want to see this film. Fair warning — you will cry.

They even admit it hasn't got a lot to do with Exalted I guess they felt it was worth mentioning just because of it's emotional aura alone!

[Dandontdare]

I know Lego movie was successful, but I'm a bit surprised it took the top spot:

Top 10 films in UK and Ireland in 2014 (SOURCE: RENTRAK)

1. The Lego Movie - £34.3m
2. The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies - £33.5m
3. The Inbetweeners 2 - £33.3m
4. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes - £32.7m
5. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 1 - £30.1m
6. Guardians of the Galaxy - £28.5m
7. Paddington - £27.9m
8. X-Men: Days of Future Past - £27.1m
9. How to Train Your Dragon 2 - £25m
10. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 - £24m

Interesting that with the exception of the Inbetweeners and Paddington, it's entirely sci-fi/fantasy (although a talking bear in a duffel coat could be classed as fantasy I guess...!)

[I, Cosh]

Blimey. I knew I hadn't made it to the pictures as much last year but I haven't seen any of the top ten films.

I suppose The Hobbit did alright considering it was only out for the last two weeks of the year.

[Bad City Blue]

I know Lego movie was successful, but I'm a bit surprised it took the top spot:

Top 10 films in UK and Ireland in 2014 (SOURCE: RENTRAK)

1. The Lego Movie - £34.3m
2. The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies - £33.5m
3. The Inbetweeners 2 - £33.3m
4. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes - £32.7m
5. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 1 - £30.1m
6. Guardians of the Galaxy - £28.5m
7. Paddington - £27.9m
8. X-Men: Days of Future Past - £27.1m
9. How to Train Your Dragon 2 - £25m
10. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 - £24m

Interesting that with the exception of the Inbetweeners and Paddington, it's entirely sci-fi/fantasy (although a talking bear in a duffel coat could be classed as fantasy I guess...!)

Box Office Mojo list is different

1    The Lego Movie    Warner Bros.    $56,890,654    2/14
2    The Inbetweeners 2    n/a    $55,652,783    8/6
3    Dawn of the Planet of the Apes    Fox    $55,198,182    7/17
4    Guardians of the Galaxy    Disney    $47,385,948    7/31
5    X-Men: Days of Future Past    Fox    $45,595,814    5/22
6    The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1    Lions Gate    $42,810,203    11/21
7    How to Train Your Dragon 2    Fox    $41,547,592    7/10
8    The Amazing Spider-Man 2    n/a    $40,468,688    4/18
9    The Wolf of Wall Street    UPI    $37,413,041    1/17
10    Gone Girl    Fox    $34,643,161    10/3

[Theblazeuk]

Somehow I managed to get what you said about both the movie and the board game mixed up...

This is the excerpt from that role playing game I mentioned before....

Grave of the Fireflies (1988). A really terribly serious animated drama about two Japanese children struggling to survive in World War II Japan. It's not really related to Exalted, but if you're reading this and going, "nah, anime can't tell serious stories," you'll want to see this film. Fair warning — you will cry.

They even admit it hasn't got a lot to do with Exalted I guess they felt it was worth mentioning just because of it's emotional aura alone!

I was struggling to see how Grave of the Fireflies could possibly relate to the demi-god battles of Exalted, but now I see - almost like an embarassed defence of anime rather than anything actually useful as source material   

[shaolin_monkey]

Jeez, that bloody film.  I can't even think about it without getting something in my eye.  Damn you, Studio Ghibli!!!

[CrazyFoxMachine]

Heavenly Creatures

Sickeningly compelling - filmed with a strangely woozy lucidity that only the slapstick horrorking Jackson could muster. Leaves you reeling and confused - an incredible experience really. Even more surreal that the two women live today - quite separate lives in England and claim to care little for each other despite the intensity of their childhoods. It gives this film even further atmosphere - that this period in their lives was like a mad daydream now long-forgotten. Quite stunning really - shame the team behind it too have since lost their unhinged brilliance to a mire of convoluted adaptations. So now I think the film has even greater resonance than when it first appeared - standing as it does a monument to youthful rashness and creative insanity now long faded.

[Zenith 666]

Birdman.Great performances all round and often hilarious.keaton is terrific.

[Tiplodocus]

In between fixing the tumble dryer, posting the last of the churstmas presents, making an awesome tomato sauce for the pasta and sorting out our broadband contract I have watched  DIE ANOTHER DAY and AVATAR.

Both better than I remember but still full of flaws.

AVATAR definitely benefits from being seen on a biggish screen in high def in glorious 3D as it's such an unashamed visual feast. The dialogue doesn't do much to explain why being a Navi is so wonderful but the script assumes the lushness of Pandora will just suck you in. Is it five years old? Special effects still look utterly flawless.

There aren't many things that would get worse when you add Rosamund Pike and Halle Berry but DIE ANOTHER DAY is one of them. It's not there fault as such. DAD is rattling along quite nicely as a serviceable "Bond goes rogue" movie until Halle arrives to utter terrible innuendo to Brosnan as he holds in his gut. Thereafter it becomes a massive sack of shit with zero surprises and a complete lack of wit. I have warmed slightly to the showdown on an exploding plane but still don't see why, when you build a villain as such a credible physical threat, you then emasculate him in a power rangers outfit.

[I, Cosh]

I don't suppose you can ever really get bored of long, static shots of the American west up on the big screen. Watching The Homesman, I started to suspect they'd been digitally selecting the skies to make them look even more awesome.

That beauty is in stark contrast to the grim life on the frontier. Three young women have suffered devastating mental breakdowns. Hilary Swank, as an aged spinster of 30, and Tommy Lee Jones, a gruff, no-good, workshy Scheisskerl (according to the subtitles) are to drive them back East. As the episodic journey continues, hilarious consequences fail to ensue.

It's slow and fairly bleak but always gripping. Swank is fantastic. Her character, Mary Cuddy, is slightly cold and prim but able and independent and slowly being defeated by the fact that she must do certain things to be accepted in her society. Over the course of the film she shows, underneath this, a wonderful compassion and good-heartedness which made a pretty big impact.

[SmallBlueThing]

Some recent watches,  briefly:

Deliver Us From Evil
Eric Bana as a Noo York cop facing up against demonic possession. Diverting, if overly religious in the sense that it felt like a Catholic Conversion Exercise. Sadly nowhere near as good as the fantastic trailer promised.

Mr Jones
Found Footage horror,  beautifully shot with an at times beautiful aesthetic, in which a couple discover their country retreat is right next door to elusive and mysterious artist "Mr Jones", maker of creepy scarecrow art,  who might just be in the middle of a Lovecraftian invasion from Something Old and Evil.  Very good indeed.

Feast 3: The Happy End
Shit. 

Poseidon Rex
Underwater dinosaur kills drug runners in various computer generated ways, after being released from a volcano.  Entertaining Bollocks.

Little Shop of Horrors
Glorious eighties musical that I didn't overly like on original release, but which this time absolutely blew me away. 

Man of Steel
Enjoyable Superman fluff,  destruction porn and generally well-produced superhero theatrics.  Enjoyed it far more than the recent Batmovies,  and thought the bloke playing Supes nailed it.  Would happily watch another one.
SBT

[Tiplodocus]

Heh! I was thinking about you when I posted about Die Another Day. Are you magically summoned when someone disses a film you like? (Or am I misremembering and you dislike it?)

[SmallBlueThing]

Haha!  No,  while I like DaD an awful lot,  I appreciate that it's perhaps for reasons others may not share. And besides, Skyfall long ago usurped it as my fave Bond film. 

And,  like the Spines thread,  new additions to this one set off my alarm,  raising me erect and stimulated! 

SBT

[Ghastly McNasty]

this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cv568AzZ-i8

I second this. What we do in the shadows. Instant classic. Great humour, and the film manages to show horror from a different perspective. Contender for best comedy horror ever.

[TordelBack]

this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cv568AzZ-i8

I second this. What we do in the shadows. Instant classic. Great humour, and the film manages to show horror from a different perspective. Contender for best comedy horror ever.

The bloody trailer made me cry with laughter. Have to see this!