#If You Take ANYTHING From This Tier List Its That You Should Watch The Infamous Object Show

[mumpsetc]

would u consider making a ranking tierlist for every object show you had watched?

The Tier List I Was Using Didn't Have (Or I Couldn't Find) Unconventionally Centered and SFAIM, Both of Which Ive Enjoyed a Lot and Would Probably Put In Good or Funny.

[beyondmistland]

“May your heart be your guiding key” (Full thoughts on Kingdom Hearts III below!)

Graphics:

Ø  The game is bloody gorgeous, which helps mitigate the long and frequent cutscenes

Ø  The lip-syncing rarely fails

Music:

Ø  The new remixes are awesome and the brand-new tracks don't disappoint either

Ø  What does though is the actual audio mixing:

More often than not I struggled to hear the music over the sound effects during gameplay and the voiceovers during cutscenes

Ranking the Worlds:

Ø  #1: Corona: The world is huge, with varied terrain and a kick-ass final boss

Ø  #2 Olympus: The sheer scale and scope of the world took my breath away, plus we (finally!) get to fight all four titans

Ø  #3 The Caribbean: Assassin's Creed IV meets Kingdom Hearts, what's not to like

Ø  #4 Monstropolis: While not as eye-catching as some of the other worlds the way it intersects with the broader KH lore is really neat and the final cutscene was a delight in that it averts the Disney characters being useless when dealing with the original KH villains, on top of which its straightforward design is a nice change of pace, my only complaint is that there are only four types of Unversed

Ø  #5 San Fransokyo: The story is surprisingly short, which means you don't really get the chance to explore the environment, which sucks because the verticality and day/night cycle are awesome, plus there are a number of memorable boss fights

Ø  #6 Twilight Town: If it had been fully recreated based off the KH2 version the world would be much higher on my list but despite how small it is I love the liveliness, not to mention how peaceful it is in comparison to the other worlds, the same can be said for Hundred Acre Wood

Ø  #7 Keyblade Graveyard + Final World + Scala Ad Caelum: Though jaw-dropping in terms of visuals and audio they're not fully realized worlds, the same can be said for Dark World

Ø  #8 Toy Box: I loved the final boss as well as how the story tied into the larger plot of the game and I would be lying if I said I didn't enjoy exploring Andy's room while "You have a friend in me" played in the background

Why then is Toy Box so far down on my list, world design

Even with endgame stats (LV40-45) the Gigas are tough to take down and as a result they come off as gimmicky in the worst sense of the word, beyond that the fact that the majority of the world is set in Galaxy Toys made me feel constrained and claustrophobic, which could have been partially alleviated if we'd been allowed to make our way through the parking lot outside, finally, the story kind of got repetitive with the backtracking whenever the characters were about to leave because "someone went missing yet again"

Ø  #9 Arrendelle: Though it has one of the best final bosses in the game along with Corona there is so much wrong with this world that I wonder if it's less Square Enix's fault and more Disney placing an insane amount of red tape on their favorite cash-cow:

1) Elsa does not become a party member even after you beat the world

2) You do not get to explore the city or the ice palace despite the latter being fully rendered on the map

3) Larxene, a lightning-based character, randomly traps you in an ice labyrinth when that would have made a lot more sense both logically and thematically if it had been Elsa

4) Speaking of Larxene, she does practically nothing the whole time you're there unlike Marluxia and Luxord, who are at least semi-active

5) You climb a mountain and get knocked off of it so many times that even Sora gets fed up

6) The bloody minigame where you have to find Olaf's body parts

7) Forcing us to watch the entire "Let it go" sequence and then having "Do you want to build a snowman" play over Anna's voice as she's explaining herself to Sora

8) So much of the story is excised that you have little clue as to what's going on to the point Hans appears for all of five minutes, doesn't say any lines, and isn't even named when it would have been cool, not to mention, just plain better, if he had started off as a guest member of your party

9) As a result of #8 Sora, Donald, and Goofy's presence feels like even more of an afterthought than usual in the sense that them not being there wouldn't have changed anything at all apart from Hans' Heartless then having no one to defeat it which can be seen by the fact that when they leave no one tells them goodbye unlike in every other world

10) The visual design was bland and tiresome after a while

11) The world's gimmick was uninspired to say the least

12) Fighting alongside a giant snowman (AKA Marshmallow) was awesome and in terms of pure gameplay the labyrinth was actually quite fun

Story Pros:

Ø  Master Xehanort's new voice actor is good but after hearing Leonard Nimoy's voice for the past couple of games the change is a bit jarring

Ø  The way previous games are referenced and tied together is a nice way of bringing new players into the fold while also setting up the finale's resolutions

Ø  The game has a better sense of humor than previous installments

Ø  Sora is more like his KH2 self than the bland caricature we saw in 3D and quite a few characters display some degree of genre-savviness

Ø  Master Yen Sid gets out of his chair to lend a hand for once

Ø  Donald Duck is the most powerful mage in Square Enix canon (and I am not making that up)

Gameplay Pros:

Ø  Being able to switch between different save points in the same world is a welcome addition

Ø  The secondary ability of all shotlocks to airstep is ingenious

Ø  You can have more than two party members finally!

Ø  The secret ending isn't too hard to unlock

Ø  You can upgrade your Keyblades, which means older ones aren't automatically relegated to redundancy

Ø  Donald and Goofy are useful again after being nerfed into uselessness in KH2

Ø  Towns and cities are actually populated by fully-voiced NPCs!

Ø  Cutscenes in Theater Mode are unlocked after completing each world rather than after beating the game

Ø  I never tried the Classic Kingdom minigames but the cooking one with Remy was a nice break from the normal gameplay (I suck at the egg-cracking one though)

Ø  The camera doesn't get in the way like it infamously did in KH1

Ø  I like the new main menu design (Feel free to disagree though)

Ø  The Gummi Ship is entirely optional outside of a few mandatory boss battles

Ø  Moogle Tickets are a nice way of giving players a second chance during difficult encounters (I do wish they didn’t activate so quickly though) 

Gameplay Cons:

Ø  The game never once tells you that you can switch between Situation Commands using L2

Ø  The game never once tells you that you keep all your lower-tier magic (Fire, Fira for example) and that your shortcuts don't automatically update to include the higher-tier version of whatever magic you have equipped

Ø  There's no real incentive to switch between Keyblades (That being said, my favorites are Wheel of Fate, Nano Arms, and Happy Gear/Ever After)

Ø  Attractions lose their charm quickly and completely ruin the flow of combat

Ø  Summons aren't too big of a deal since I only ever ended up using them once and even then it was by accident

Ø  Donald still heals you at the wrong time more often than not

Ø  Even on Proud Mode the game is way too easy for the most part (Apparently Critical Mode addresses this but I can't confirm that)

Ø  There is a lack of sidequests and post-game content that contributes to the feeling Square & Disney gave us half a game (For example, there is only one secret boss, said secret boss has a generic design, no ties to the story, and can be defeated at LV40 on your first attempt)

Ø  Hollow Bastion, Mysterious Tower, and Destiny Islands are not playable

Ø  The parkour from 3D has been nerfed too much in terms of distance to actually be useful

Story Cons:

Ø  Nomura fridged Kairi and he worfed almost everyone the first time you arrive at the Keyblade Graveyard!

Ø  The wrapping up of plot points and character arcs from prior entries was a little too nice and neat for me

Ø  The out-of-nowhere introduction of Subject X

Ø  Pete and Maleficent do literally nothing the whole damn game

Ø  The pacing is awful:

Almost all of the game's resolution is held back until after you've beaten the last Disney world

Ø  There are two important cutscenes in the Final World that you can accidentally miss because for some reason they are optional

Ø  We don't get to see what happened to Lingering Will, which also means we don't get any more insight into the third aspect of being (AKA the soul)

Ø  There are no Final Fantasy characters in the game, not even Sephiroth!

Ø  What happened to Demyx?

Ø  Master Eraqus has absolutely nothing to do with Terra’s restoration

Changes I’d make:

Ø  Require us to go through the Disney worlds a second time like in KH2

Ø  Have Aqua and Ven be saved halfway through the game instead of at the end, they could then spend the second half of the game resting or join you on one of the Disney worlds to refresh themselves

Ø  Have Lea and Kairi join you on one of the Disney worlds to get practical experience

Ø  Make the Keyblade Graveyard sequence be a series of one/two/three-on one battles so that members of Organization XIII can use their full arsenal of attacks from previous games

Ø  Let us play the second battle between Lingering Will and Terra-Xehanort

Ø  Speaking of Terra-Xehanort, we should have fought him alongside the Guardian Heartless

Ø  Have us explore Scala Ad Caelum while hunting down the individual replicas before then making us fight all of them in a boss battle

DLC

Ø  The presence of it says a lot about the game and not in a good way

Final Score

Ø  7/10-8/10

[sirpoley]

On Towns in RPGs, Part 5: Building a Playable City

In the first article in this series, I embarked on an ill-defined quest to figure out what, if anything, a town map is actually for in tabletop play.

In the second, I took a look at the common metaphor comparing towns to dungeons—unfavourably.

In the third, I proposed an alternate metaphor: that cities are more like forests than dungeons.

In the fourth, I looked at how forests are used in D&D to see what we could use when thinking about cities.

Now, we're going to get to the nuts and bolts of designing cities for use in D&D.

Think In Terms of Districts, not Distance

No player is ever going to remember, or care about, the actual distance between their current location and the tavern they're trying to get to. Similarly, they won't remember, or care about, the roads they have to cross to get there.

The absolute most you can hope for is that they'll remember and care about some of (but not all of) the neighbourhoods they have to go through. In Terry Pratchet's Ankh-Morpork, the Shades is an extremely memorable and dangerous area. Like Pratchett's characters, players are going to avoid it wherever possible and yet always find that they have to go through it. Planescape: Torment's Hive and Fallout: New Vegas's Freeside have similar qualities. If you grimly tell the players: "the quickest way to the princess is through—oh, dear—the Shades," they'll have a reaction to it.

Don't overdo it with districts; keep the number small enough for them to be memorable. I'd recommend seven as an absolute maximum, but as few as three is perfectly acceptable. Lantzberg, from City of Eternal Rain, only used three (one each for lower, middle, and upper class—end elevation). A district can be as big as you like; feel free to simply scale them up for larger cities.

Forget Thee Not House Hufflepuff

It's no secret that in JK Rowling's Harry Potter series, only two of the four houses matter at all. If you're not Gryffindor or Slytherin, you're lucky to get any screentime at all. However, if they were simply cut from the series, then Hogwarts would feel terribly small, as if it were built solely for Harry to gallivant around in, and not part of a living, breathing world. Your city can't just have people to tell your players who to kill and people to be killed, it needs someone to clean up the mess after, also. From a narrative standpoint, these people don't matter, and will rarely be mentioned, but they can be used to pad your world out. When dividing up your map into districts, include a few that, as far as you're concerned, will never see an adventure, and give it maybe one or two notable characteristics. These are areas that are primarily residential, or involve industries not relevant to adventure (i.e., anyone other than an alchemist, blacksmith, or arcane university). Feel free to leave these places utterly devoid of points of interest.

In the adventure written for Lantzberg, for instance, there's little to no reason to ever visit the castle at the peak of the hill. It's there for verisimilitude (someone has to be in charge) and for the GM to hook later adventures to (which I'll elaborate on in my next point), but mainly it's just there to make the city seem larger. Similarly, most of the buildings in Castleview are manors of rich and important citizens, each one of which might have any number of use for a band of adventurers, but only a handful are actually fleshed out. After all, it would hardly feel like a living, breathing city if every single building was tied into a single adventure, would it?

Gaming is full of Hufflepuff Houses: the 996 Space Marine chapters that aren't lucky enough to be Ultramarines, Blood Angels, Dark Angels, or Space Wolves; D&D fiends that are neither lawful nor chaotic, Morrowind's Houses Dres and Indoril, and any of Homeworld's Kushan other than Kiith S'jet. This isn't laziness; they're there for a reason: they make the world feel larger.

Leave Room to Grow

Try to design a city large enough, and versatile enough, that once the current quest is wrapped up, you can inject some more content into it without serious retconning. This is part of where your Hufflepuff-tier-neighbourhoods come in—maybe one of them has been under the heel of a violent gang the whole time, but the party never found out because they never went there. Once the players have started to clear out your adventure ideas and points of interest, there's still plenty of room to pump some more in without the city bursting like an over-inflated balloon.

The map I posted earlier probably represents the upper limit of how detailed you should make your city. A GM could run a few more adventures out of Lantzberg, but a long-running campaign would probably benefit from a bit more room to breathe.

A Few Key Details

What are the kinds of things a DM really needs to know about a city? D&D3.5 had little statblocks for cities and settlements that broke down the demographics of different areas, but that's probably more granular than is actually necessary. Remember—every bit of detail that you include has the potential to distract the GM from finding the fact they actually need. It isn't for instance, particularly important to know that 12.5% of a neighbourhood's population are halflings while 54% are elves, but it might be useful to know that a neighbourhood has a notably large elf population and an often-overlooked halfling minority.

Who are the Watchmen that the Watchers Watch?

One infamously common thing that comes up in D&D is the city watch. It's shadow looms large over every action the party, and your villains, will take, so it's worth thinking about them a little bit. Its best to err on the side of making them too weak rather than too strong, as a powerful, well-organized law enforcement group can really put a damper on the opportunities for adventure. The counter-argument is that if the city watch isn't strong enough to threaten the party, then the party effectively has the run of the city; my preferred answer to this problem is to give the local lord a powerful knight or champion who can be used as a beat-stick against major threats to law and order (like the PCs) if need be, but can plausibly be busy enough with other problems to leave some for the party to handle.

When deciding who the local authorities are, almost anything you can come up with is more interesting (and historically plausible) than a centralized, professional police force. Here's a few examples:

A militia organized by local guilds

A local gang that provides protection in exchange for money and doesn't want outsiders muscling in on their turf

A semi-legitimate religious militant order

A mercenary group funded by a coalition of wealthy merchants (who just so happen to overlook their own crimes and corruption)

Don't get too bogged down in their stats; just pick a low-level NPC from the back of the Monster Manual and write down who they work for. Different neighbourhoods can share the same organization, but try to prevent a single organization from policing the entire city.

By breaking up law enforcement by district, you also prevent the entire city dogpiling on the party when they break a law, like you see in video games. If the party robs a house in the Ironworker's District, they can lay low in the Lists, where the Ironworkers' Patrol has no jurisdiction, until the heat dies down.

Points of Interest!

All those numbers you see scattered over D&D cities? Now's the time to add them. Each one should correspond to a description in a document somewhere. These descriptions can be as long or as short as you wish. For example, on the short end, #1 from Lantzberg just has this to say:

However, and I won't get into too much detail for fear of spoilers, some of those numbers are elaborate, multi-page dungeons.

While you should endeavour to keep the number of districts low, there is no ceiling to how many points of interest you should put into the city. Don't burn yourself out. If you can come up with six, put in six. If you can come up with fifty, put in fifty.

A point of interest can be anything from a scenic overlook to a toll bridge to an elaborate sewer system packed with kobolds and giant rats and treasure. They can be as fleshed out or as minimal as you are comfortable with. There's a sweet spot that varies from GM to GM, as if you include too much detail you suffer from information overload as the party approaches the point of interest (sixteen pages of description, for instance, for a single shop is less than helpful), while too little information might lead to you having to do too much on the fly. I like maybe one to three sentences per point of interest, or per room in a point of interest if it is important enough to warrant its own map (I typically only map dungeons).

Random Encounters

I'll write a series on handling random encounters later, but for now, breaking up encounters by district is a convenient way to do it. More dangerous districts, for instance, might have muggers or even monsters that attack (especially at night). If you're going to use random encounters in your campaign, creating a table for each district lets you use your local colour to affect actual game mechanics. Castleview, for instance, is very safe due to constant patrols by the Lady-Mayor's Watch, while the flooded Lists are full of man-eating fungi, ghouls, criminals, and who knows what. This lets you follow the age-old advice to "show, don't tell." You don't have to say "this area is full of crime," you can show the players this by throwing some criminals at them.

This post has already gone on way longer than intended. Next time, we'll use what we've learned to answer the original question and make better town maps.

[buildercar]

New Post has been published on http://www.buildercar.com/first-drive-2018-volkswagen-tiguan/

First Drive: 2018 Volkswagen Tiguan

DENVER, Colorado — In case you haven’t heard it enough yet, crossover and SUV sales have been going gangbusters all over the world, driven heavily by soaring demand in the U.S. Volkswagen has mostly had to watch this feeding frenzy from the sidelines. America has always been the uncrackable nut for VW, but with the aging Touareg being superseded by the handsome Atlas and the similarly dated first-generation Tiguan being replaced for 2018, things might be on a long-overdue upswing.

Slowly but surely, Volkswagen is making up for lost time. And for broken promises. VW suffered more than a flesh wound in the wake of its infamous Dieselgate scandal, but the prescription going forward is to introduce lots of new metal to win back customers. “We’re working to regain our customers’ trust and rebuild the brand,” said VW product and technology manager Mark Gillies. “New vehicles are the lifeblood to this business.”

We headed to Colorado for the launch of the 2018 Volkswagen Tiguan, which should make VW into a bigger player in the critical mid-size SUV space, peeling customers away from stalwarts like the Honda CR-V, Toyota RAV4, and Ford Escape.

The 2018 Tiguan rides on the same MQB architecture as the Golf and Atlas, sharing with those vehicles VW’s polished expertise in packaging. Although Europe gets both short- and long-wheelbase versions of the Tiguan, only the latter will be on offer here in the States. That means 10.6 inches of additional length compared to the first-gen Tiguan, as well as 58 percent more cargo capacity on two-row models. Front-wheel drive models come standard with a third row of seating, while all-wheel-drive models can add it as a stand-alone $500 option on any trim level.

Unsurprisingly, the third row is suitable only for kids, but an average-sized adult could manage for short rides in a pinch, which is more than can be said for the jump seats in the Nissan Rogue. Where the Tiguan shines is in how easily the second row folds down and slides forward, revealing a generous opening for rear-seat passengers. In terms of overall size, the Tiguan is slightly larger than most of its key competitors, but still well shy of much larger Atlas.

Although the Tiguan shares its underpinnings with the Golf, dynamically, they feel more like distant cousins than close siblings. That starts with the Tiguan’s new 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder, the sole engine for U.S. models. Mated to an eight-speed automatic, the 184-hp “B-cycle” engine uses a modified Miller combustion cycle for improved efficiency, yielding 35 lb-ft more torque yet 14 fewer hp than the outgoing 2.0T.

The new engine is sluggish off the line as we climb from Denver up into the surrounding mountains, snaking through twisting ribbons of pavement and rough dirt roads aboard a front-wheel-drive Tiguan with three rows. Peak 221 lb-ft torque comes in early at 1,600 rpm and stays perfectly flat until 3,940 rpm, but the long pedal travel means the Tiguan is always a step or two behind where you expect it. Even in the meat of the rev range, from 4,400 rpm to 6,000, where the new EA888 four-cylinder makes max hp, the engine feels coarse and resistant. It doesn’t help that the eight-speed automatic transmission is occasionally lazy to downshift, although this can be mitigated by switching the shift lever into Sport.

A big caveat is that our entire route was at altitudes ranging from 5,100 feet to roughly 8,000 feet. No doubt the thin air was played a part in all that huffing and puffing, even with a turbocharger on board. However, when we previously drove a pre-production Passat with this engine, it disappointed compared to the pleasantly zippy 1.8-liter turbo it replaces. Volkswagen will also tag in the B-cycle 2.0-liter to replace the 1.8T in the Beetle, as well as the next-generation Jetta.

On the plus side, the Tiguan rides like a dream. It tracks confidently down the highway. Potholes and expansion joints are of little concern to the MQB-platformed family hauler, while bumpy dirt roads don’t transmit much in the way of nasty vibrations into the cabin. Germany engineered the Tiguan to satisfy Americans’ preference for easy driving, and in that respect it’s spot-on. The brakes, too, are not overly grabby and intuitive to modulate.

Steering feel and handling may be the victims of this focus on comfort — none of the Golf’s fun or even the Atlas’ poised capability come through. There’s a fairly large dead spot on-center, and although the steering does build weight as it approaches lock, it doesn’t gain much of anything in the way of feedback. In all-wheel-drive models with the Active Control rotary drive select knob, you can customize the steering or powertrain to your liking, but even these modes offer just minor improvements.

The Mazda CX-5, Ford Escape, and Hyundai Tucson may be more rewarding to drive, but the Tiguan could be on top when it comes to the interior. The redesigned cabin is also a big leap forward, expressing clean and intuitive design that will age well. Starting with the second-tier SE model (S is the base), VW’s new MIB II infotainment takes center stage. Integrated smoothly into the center stack, the 8-inch display boasts clear and bright graphics as well as Bluetooth, Android Auto and Apple CarPlay (standard on all models). The seats are supportive and not overly bolstered, visibility all around is top-notch, and the multiple USB ports will keep the whole family charged up. Overall materials are good quality. We also noticed very little road or wind noise on our many highway miles.

Base Tiguan S models start at $26,245 with front-wheel drive, coming standard with 17-inch aluminum wheels, LED taillights, a rear camera, and a 6.5-inch display screen. The bulk of sales in the segment happen at right around $30,000, so the volume-seller is sure to be the SE, which comes in at $29,980. Most customers will be more than happy with the keyless entry, larger 8-inch display, synthetic faux-leather interior with heated front seats, an eight-way power driver’s seat, dual-zone climate control, and blind-spot monitoring with rear cross-traffic alert. Spring for the $33,450 SEL to get bigger 18-inch wheels, a panoramic sunroof (usually $1,200 on S or SE trims), navigation, adaptive cruise control with Stop & Go, and remote start.

Atop the heap is the $37,150 SEL Premium. That’s a lot of scratch, but it comes positively loaded to the gills with 19-inch wheels, LED headlights, leather seats and trim, Fender audio, a hands-free tailgate, a 360-degree camera, park assist, and VW’s version of Audi’s snazzy digital cockpit. It seems somewhat of an oversight to have the digital cockpit instrument display only available at such a high level, when it seems like the sort of thing people would easily pay for if the SEL trim were just a bit more expensive. That said, the a $850 Driver Assist package for lesser models includes automatic emergency braking with pedestrian detection, blind-spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic alert with autonomous braking, lane-keep assist, the 360-degree camera, adaptive cruise, and parking sensors with rear autonomous braking. Later on in the model year, the Tiguan will get an R-Line appearance package for $1,795 on SEL and $1,495 on SEL Premium trims.

Built in Mexico specifically for the U.S., the new Tiguan is undoubtedly a step in a more competitive direction for VW, even if it’s not a joy to drive. In fact, if you like the last Tiguan so much, you can still buy it — it’ll remain at dealers for the foreseeable future as the Tiguan Limited. VW says that it wants to spread itself across SUV segments as much as possible and demand for smaller-sized models is high enough to justify keeping the ol’ girl around. Given how much bigger the 2018 Tiguan is, VW doesn’t expect much cannibalization by the Limited.

While we still need to see how this Tiguan’s engine fares at altitudes closer to sea level, until then, it’s safe to say Volkswagen should be on the shopping list if comfort, utility, and lots of available tech are priorities. Who knows, maybe this family-friendly crossover is the nutcracker Volkswagen has been long needed.

2018 Volkswagen Tiguan Specifications

ON SALE Late Summer 2017 PRICE $26245 (base) ENGINE 2.0L turbocharged DOHC 16-valve I-4/184 hp @ 4,400-6,000 rpm, 221 lb-ft @ 1,600-3,940 rpm TRANSMISSION 8-speed automatic LAYOUT 4-door, 5/7-passenger, front-engine, FWD/AWD SUV EPA MILEAGE 21-22/27 mpg (city/hwy) L x W x H 185.1 x 72.4 x 65.3 in WHEELBASE 109.8 in WEIGHT 3,780-4,043 lb 0-60 MPH 8.2 sec TOP SPEED N/A

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[harry365in2016]

Top Movies Seen in 2016 NOT Released in 2016

Hey all! This is my list of the best movies I saw in 2016 that were not released in 2016. If you’re looking for the top movies I saw in 2016 that were released in 2016 check it out here! [Link forthcoming]

IMPORTANT NOTE:  I'm gonna be honest, aside from #1 choice, the rest of this list is in a rough order rather than definitive.

20) Sunset Boulevard (1950)

While watching Sunset Boulevard I couldn't understand why it was classified as film noir. That is, until it became painfully obvious why it was film noir.

Sunset Boulevard is a pitch black movie about how far people will sacrifice they're own livelihood just for a taste of that Hollywood fame and fortune. It's about what happens when someone loses their fame and is desperate to get it back.

19) Everest (2015)

Disasters scare the piss out of me. Both real life disasters and fictional ones. Knowing this I'm not sure why I willingly chose to watch this movie. Even though it terrified me I'm still glad I watched.

It's a movie that shows even the most professional, most capable people can succumb to mother nature. There's no cartoonish dumbness in this movie. The mistakes that were made by the expedition team were all small, understandable mistakes. It just so happens that they all piled up to contribute to one of Everest's most deadly periods in history.

18) To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)

In a lot of ways this movie and 12 Angry Men share thematic similarities. I happened to like 12 Angry Men more but this is still a great movie.

Atticus Finch (and by proxy Gregory Peck) are the human personifications of what decency means. Finch is a quiet gentle man who does not back down in the face of adversary nor does he give up on his convictions. He knows what's right and wrong and he fights tooth and nail for it.

17) The Limey (1999)

It's unfair to compare this movie to Memento but also completely accurate. Both movies are about the nature of memory and how it's colored by grief and trauma.

The Limey is one of Steven Soderburgh's best films. It's quiet and meditative until it's not. Terrance Stamp puts in a great performance as an aging badass who is seeking vengeance. It's also a movie that's sort of about the death of the hippie counter-culture movement from the 60s?

16) The Kid with the Golden Arm (1979)

I loved this movie because of how many characters were in it. It's a simple plot. One group of people are transporting money and goods. Another group wants to rob them.

But the characters! There's a duo called Long Axe and Short Axe, a drunkard who might be a special agent for the local ruler, and a fabled fighter who may or may not exist. The gang trying to steal the money and wares are ruled by a hierarchy. Their ranks include Golden Arm, Silver Spear, Iron Hide, and more outrageous villains.

15) Singing in the Rain (1952)

They don't make them like they used to. Singing in the Rain is a fun romp about a group of actors who are struggling to transition from silent pictures to talkies. It's fun, charming, and will make you grin like an idiot.  

I genuinely loved this movie but also my opinion of it was colored by the fact that I saw it in a ginormous theater with a ginormous screen.

14) Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films (2014)

The subtitle to this documentary is not lying. The story of the 1980s most infamous production company is amazing.

Aside from all the funny stories about how Cannon Films went about making their movies the movie is also an examination of what it means to be an artist who simply cannot help but make trash. The central figures to Cannon Films really did want to make good movies. They just time and time again ended up making at best B-grade flicks.

13) Kiki's Delivery Service (1989)

This movie is an exercise in making a movie the most purely charming thing ever willed into existence. In other words it's charming af.

What I love about Kiki's Delivery Service is that it's mostly just a story about a young person trying to make their place in the world. It's all about the difficulties of setting off on your own. It's about the struggle to provide for one's self.

12) 12 Angry Men* (1957)

What does it take to stand up (metaphorically) in a group of people to fight for what you believe in?

12 Angry Men is a meditation on that theme. Like a lot of other classic movies I saw in 2016 I didn't think this was going to hold up to the hype. It does.

It's also a movie I think people should watch or rewatch from time to time to remind themselves of what it takes to fight for the rights of other people.

In this movie the 11 other jurors are ready to throw the defendant of the case under the bus simply because they're acting on lazy and harmful stereotypes. They're convinced that just because the young man comes from the wrong side of the tracks that he's inherently guilty.

*Yeah, I made 12 Angry Men my 12th pick for the year. Do something about it.

11) Sorcerer (1977)

Ostensibly this movie is a remake of 1953's The Wages of Fear (also excellent), however Sorcerer is kind of its own beast.

It's one of the most tense, terrifying, and stress-inducing movies I've ever seen. Four desparate men are tasked with delivering two trucks full of nitroglycerin through the rocky mountains of South America.

The company that hired them needs the nitro to stop an oil field that is on fire and won't unless they blow it up.

The movie ends up being a sweaty and ugly meditation on the hell corporations put random, everyday people through just for the sake of profit.

10) Gaslight (1944)

"Gaslighting" is a term that has risen in popularity in the last few years. The term comes from this movie.

I don't want to spoil anything about it. The story is about a newly eloped couple who move in together. Then the wife starts having mental "episodes."

The movie is one of the most psychologically gripping films I've ever seen. It does a great job of putting you in the wife's headspace. You feel her frustration and terror as she loses grip on reality.

9) Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954)

Obviously the Creature is a monster, but I'm not sure why this movie is typically classified as horror. To me it's much more an adventure movie.

I'd hazard a guess that Michael Crichton loved this movie and it's what informed his writing. Cause it plays like a Crichton novel. A bunch of scientists discover that some lost creature is living in the lagoon and go to investigate. Along the way they have arguments about the scientific method and how to best deal with the creature.

8) Five Element Ninjas (1982)

There's a subgenre of martial arts movies that I love that I call "bat shit insane kung fu flicks."

Five Element Ninjas is one of the best.

Its story, if you can call it that, concerns a student getting vengeance for those who slaughtered the rest of his school.

The insane part is that the highest caliber fighters in this universe belong to a color-themed tier system of ninja clans each who base their fighting style off of Earth elements. There's the gold clan, earth clan, fire clan, and water clan. Each of these clans have looney ways of fighting. For instance, the gold clan is covered head to toe in gold cloth. Their clothes are so shiny it blinds their opponents.

This movie is sheer lunacy and I love it.

7) A Hard Day's Night (1964)

The best way I can describe A Hard Day's Night is that it's Animaniacs grandfather.

It's just a fun, absurd romp chronicling the life and times of the Beatles at the height of their fame.

It's movie magic. How many other pop bands tried to cash in on their fame with movies, tv appearances, or otherwise and failed miserably? This movie is lightning in a bottle that might not ever be repeated.

It's also barely a movie in that more than half of it is musical interludes (that also happened to inform the blossoming art form of music videos).

6) Casablanca (1942)

Gonna be honest, part of the reason I slept on Casablanca for so long was that I didn't believe the hype. I thought there was no way it still held up after all these years as one of the best movies of all time.

I was wrong wrong wrong wrong.

I'm in awe of this movie. I cannot think of many other movies in which literally every single character that comes on screen is a fully-formed character with their own rich backstory and traits.

This is one of those movies I want to get lost in. There's very few times in my life when I've wanted to immediately re-watch a movie after viewing it. You might wonder why it's not higher on the list but personal taste in art is a funny thing that's not easily explained. Anyway, the point is I still love this movie.

5) Inside Out (2015)

I guess it's called the Pixar Effect when you have a super charming and funny movie that turns on a dime to emotionally wreck you, yes?

Anyway, Inside Out, IMHO, might be Pixar's best movie to date. It's a fun, infectious movie that delivers a complex tale about how hard it is to grow up. Inside Out is one of those movies when you realize how important art is to explaining humanity. We might laugh at the Greek myths but what they were doing is no different than coming up with a brilliant metaphor for how memories and emotions are handled in the brain. In each case they're using the power of creativity and storytelling to figure out what life and humanity means.

4) Heathers (1988)

Heathers is my platonic ideal of what a satire should be. A heightened reality that is dark, off-kilter, and is still totally recognizable to audiences.

That a movie exists in which suicide is a fad is astonishing. Add a dash of everyday woes about surviving high school, a great performance from Winona Ryder & Christian Slater, and a hilarious script makes it for one of the best satires I've ever seen.

3) Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)

This movie is one that suggests the expansion of the west was not simply carried out by man. Rather, it was a chaotic force upon itself. Once western progress was started in this country there was nothing that could stop it. Even if you tried to stay out of its way it could ruin you. You could be prosperous from western expansion but you'd have blood on your hands.

Of course, since this is a Sergio Leone movie it's also wildly entertaining. It features a great performance from Charles Bronson as a harmonica-weilding gunslinger.

2) Rope (1948)

I think a lot of praise gets thrown to Rope for it's illusions of editing. Namely, that in Alfred Hitchcock's movie it is seemingly one long take. There's only a small number of cuts in the movie -- some of which are obscured cleverly.

However, I think this movie deserves praise for its story. In this film Jimmy Stewart flippantly suggests something awful should be legalized. What he doesn't realize is that he's inspired two younger men to take his word as gospel.

Words have meaning. When you speak you should speak clearly and without any sort of flippant tone. Not respecting language can lead to disastrous results. In the age of the Internet it's incredibly important not to mince your words. There's times that it's hard to suss out the meaning of what someone says online. In communication clarity is king.

1) Shock Corridor (1963)

Shock Corridor is a movie that is unbelievably relevant to today's societal woes. The movie concerns a reporter going undercover in a mental asylum to find out the truth why one of the patients died.

In his journey he crosses paths with patients who become bullhorns for different aspects of American society.

It is a relentless, strange, and ballsy movie. It's loud, brash, and sometimes uncomfortable. It's a great exploitation flick and an even better allegory.