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Don Offline OP
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I saw in shout that Mina says,
Quote:
give it a go... lots of fun.
Well, Sherlock Holmes was lots of fun, if your definition of fun is leaping about, punching people and blowing things up but it was oh, so not Sherlock Holmes. It was, in fact, as far away from Holmes as you could get and still be set in the gaslight era. Actually this made it easy for me to watch it, as they weren't doing Sherlock Holmes wrong, they weren't doing him at all. I first developed this defense, by the way, when Tim Burton made The Batman bullet proof.

I have a face-to-face friend who is as serious an U.N.C.L.E. fanatic as I am (although he hasn't just finished re-watching all four seasons of the original show like I have - although the DVDs belong to him) who is also a pretty serious film buff and he basically considers Richie a hack (my words not his).

In one of the trailers I saw, Hugh Grant made it sound as if there isn't a world-wide U.N.C.L.E. organization and it is just a new code name for the three of them. I'm actually hoping this is the case because that will be enough to kick in my they aren't doing U.N.C.L.E. wrong, they aren't doing U.N.C.L.E. at all reflex. I didn't hate the Sherlock Holmes movies once I got past the notion that they were Sherlock Holmes movies.

So the question is not whether or not The Man from U.N.C.L.E. is 'fun' but whether it is messed up enough that I can actually sit through it without walking out.

Okay I am probably too cheap to actually get up and walk out but I will certainly bi*** and moan though the whole thing under my breath and likely end up with a sour stomach if it isn't wrong as opposed to bad.

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Don, that is probably the biggest reason that I resist the urge to see movies like this when they come out. That and the fact that when I watch them on netflix a few months later I can be sipping beer while I am being offended <chuckle>


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Wow. You guys take entertainment seriously.

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I've only seen trailers and still enjoy the senior agent on NCIS so I'm just not getting into it. There was even a lovely joke about it.

We don't go out to the movies very often, so I get quite particular about what we do go to. I still haven't seen the A-team move, Liam Neeson not withstanding, and likely never will.

Also, I'm still ticked off about what they did to Mr. Phelps in Mission Impossible.

I'm in the camp of leave my shows and movies alone and come up with some new material already. The only "sequels/remakes" that got this right were the Dirty Dancing ones turning it more into of an anthology set.

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Liam was the only reason I went to that movie. And as long as you were not expecting 'The A Team', it wasn't a really bad movie.

There is another bad movie remake <sigh>

I mostly agree about 'remakes'.


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Mayhem Inc.
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Yes, I said give it a go in shout smile And, I stand by that.

Qualifiers apply - I have never seen the original show. I like spy movies. I loathe, absolutely loathe, the new Daniel Crag Bond movies (so if you love those, we might not see eye to eye on others movies).

Now this movie was fun. It was witty. It had wonderful characters and great acting. In short, this movie makes me want to watch the original show to see if it lives up to the movie.

During the past two weeks I have seen Mission Impossible (whatever number it is), Man From U.N.C.L.E., American Ultra, and Hitman. So far my hands down favorite is Man From U.N.C.L.E.

MI (whatever number) and Hitman are about equal in enjoyability, and American Ultra - well wait for cable, when nothing else is on.

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Chaotic Obfuscator
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Well I enjoyed MI. So I guess I will have to see both Man from UNCLE (Bob), and Hitman.

Thanks

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Ok, Cheeky and I saw it and I'll give you the honest opinion. First, I agree with Pam, when they messed with Jim Phelps in MI I resolved not to see any of the sequels no matter how good or bad they were. That said....

First of all, Cheeky loved U.N.C.L.E top to bottom. I was a little more discerning. I will say that overall I DID like it. Things they did right... They really represented the sixties wonderfully. Caught the atmosphere and sense of style as well as the cold war tension spot on. Henry Caville as Napoleon Solo was pretty darned good. Not perfect, but there were a couple of times he really seemed to be channeling Robert Vaughn. Not often, but a couple.

Hammer's version of Ilya didn't really meet my expectations at all. He more of a goon than a spy and if I remember right, in the series, Ilya got tied up and held hostage at least once per episode. Situation was reversed in the movie.

There was a female spy but she wasn't April Dancer which was a little disappointing.

This was an origin story so there was no U.N.C.L.E until the very end. Hugh Grant played Waverly and wasn't too bad, but only appeared in a few scenes.

Overall, not a bad movie but with the anticipation that the box office will be low enough to prevent any kind of sequel it would have been better to skip the origin story and just jump feet first into an already established U.N.C.L.E and skipped all of the CIA\KGB stuff.

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The trick on these sorts of movies is to think of them as something =other= than 'The Man From UNCLE' (or what ever) that we remember and enjoy them as just another action flick. I had that ... 'revelation' when I watched the 'remake' of 'Wild Wild West' :-/


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No. WWW was just a travesty on any level.

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Don Offline OP
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I still haven't seen it, not because I wouldn't go but because I haven't been to the movies since it came out.

MikeD:> re Netflicks: My friend the movie buff, who prefers the big screen experience, and I have a similar solution we save them for the dollar show, which actually costs 2 or 3 dollars depending on when and which day of the week you attend.

Barry:> re Ilya: Ilya was definitely the thinker out of the pair. He was also basically Tonto, although there were times when he pulled Napoleon's fat out of the fire. Did you know that the show's original title was Solo and that the Ilya character didn't even have a name? ]

MikeD2:> re 'revelation' as I said above my epiphany came with Tim Burton's Batman.

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Don,

The reasons =I= would rather watch NF than go to the theater:
  • I really =don't= mind the small screen so much
  • I can pause to movie ta go pee
  • I can enjoy an alcoholic libation while I watch
  • I don't have to put up with disruptive people
  • I can watch half a dozen good movies in a day


Yeah, I was able to enjoy Tim's Batman after I had my revelation <g>

Barry, I guess we will have to agree to disagree. I found WWW to be a decent spoof of a show that was itself spoofing westerns? ... or was it spy movies? ... or both? Any way once I looked at it that way, I thought it was worth 3 stars <chuckle>



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Don, yep, I knew that, though I'll admit, I really didn't know it until recently. Sometimes you really can compare the movie to the original and this is one of those. Not bad really... not great, but not bad.

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Well I saw it today. And I found it definitely enjoyable. I don't have the depth of knowledge of the earlier shows to color my perception, so it could be that because of that, I am less informed. Yet I found it a good film, entertaining, with plenty of atmosphere. I was actually surprised by how well the two male agents carried their roles. I am not particularly fond of Hammer, and found him very take-able. And Cavill was down right fabulous. I recommend it.

Heck now I want to go play a spy game, or maybe even run one once again. ;P

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Mayhem Inc.
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Pande, you should definitely run one smile

Hammer has grown on me. LOVE his voice, even with a Russian accent smile Glad you enjoyed the movie!


Jinkies!
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Don Offline OP
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I actually ran The Man from U.N.C.L.E. four years ago and could easily bring it back if there was enough interest. The game was subdivided into two player teams (to keep the flavor of the show) and set in the present day (4 years ago folks felt intimidated by playing in 60s), some people chose to be the descendants of original characters. Never got more than three players though. Still have the archive and could easily reassemble a forum if there was interest.

I'm not GMing at moment so I am under my one game limit if there is enough interest at present to have another go at it.

I'm still haven't seen the movie so the game would be based on the original show and even if I had seen the movie I'm sure the game would still be based on the original, for those of you who are to too young to remember the glory days here are some clips to inspire...





This one is longer and unofficial but it gives you a good taste.



and here are some sample scenarios from four years ago...

Listed below are five possible scenarios or 'Affairs'. Teams will bid using 'danger points' for the particular scenario they wish to play in. For players familiar with The Amber Diceless Role-playing System you can think of 'danger points' as a form of bad stuff tied to the scenario rather than the character. If all three teams can come to a mutual agreement then bidding beyond one will not be necessary.

The Serenity Valley Affair
An U.N.C.L.E. Agent is dead and the only clue to his murder is a leather lanyard he holds in his hand. One side reads Southeast Browncoats and the other “we got some local color happening” attached to the lanyard's ring is a laminated guest badge for Dragon Con.

The All that Glitters Affair
Treasure hunters in Rennes-le-Château stumble into a fabulous golden horde but is all as it seems to be?

The Vampire Affair
THRUSH sets up a secret base in an abandoned castle in Transylvania. It seems the perfect location as the locals are terrified of the place, but then personnel start to disappear.

The Weapons of Mass Destruction Affair
A infamous arms dealer offers WMDs to the highest bidder at an private auction in an ultra-exclusive Caribbean resort.

The Queen For A Day Affair
No one had heard of the little island of Rapa Moai until researchers studying the island's standing stones discovered a 'deposit' of a rare ore that seemed to contain unearthly properties. Now someone has assassinated the island's Queen and U.N.C.L.E. is called in to find and protect the 'lost' heir.

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Mayhem Inc.
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Don, thought you were thinking of running a FLASH game? Though this sounds sweet.. so you should definitely do both grin


Jinkies!
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Well I would play the man from uncle. wink

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One of the neat things about U.N.C.L.E was how ordinary people always seemed to somehow get involved in the stories. I always thought that helped ground it and keep it from becoming TOO 007. Still, Ian Flemming did have role in the creation of the show.


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