Blog site from internationally-selling poet and children's book author Steven Helmer showcasing movie and product reviews, nature photography and more.
Movie Review: Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (2023)
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Synopsis: After his wife is murdered by red wizards, Elgin leaves the order of peacekeepers he had been working with, teams up with Holga and becomes a thief to support his young daughter, Kira. When he learns about a tablet that can bring his wife back from the dead, Elgin and his team of thieves attempt one last heist, but he and Holga are captured. They escape two years later and learn their former friend/colleague, Forge, has partnered with a red wizard to make himself a lord and, while raising Kira as his own, brainwashed the child with lies about her father. Determined to get Kira back and knock Forge down a few pegs, Elgin assembles a team to break into Forge's vault and steal both his treasure and the tablet he had sought two years earlier.
Review: I wasn't a big fan of the Dungeons & Dragons film that came out 23 years ago and, when I saw trailers for this one, decided right away not to see it at the theater. I discovered it was available on Paramount Plus earlier this week and, somewhat curious about it from the trailers, decided to give it a try.
I'm still glad I didn't pay money to see it at the theater. However, it ended up being a better film than I was expecting.
I thought the overall plot was entertaining. It was slightly more complex than I normally want to see in an action movie, but not to the point I couldn't follow along. And the film has quite a few entertaining characters in it.
In particular, I liked the team of Forge (Grant) and his red wizard, Sofina (Daisy Head). While the protagonists were likable too, movies like this only work when you have a strong antagonist. Forge was a formidable opponent by himself, mostly because he was now a lord with an army backing him up. The addition of Sofina made him all that much more powerful. Plus, since it was pretty obvious Forge was more or less a pawn and Sofina was up to something, it made the ending a lot less predictable as well.
I also liked how the movie required a bunch of secondary adventures, doing everything from waking the dead to find a powerful weapon to trying to survive a dragon so they could retrieve that weapon. Yet, despite that, the main plot was still wrapped up by the end of the movie, something that is very refreshing during an era when many movies just work to set up the sequel.
My only real complaint about the movie is there was really nothing in it that screamed "Dungeons & Dragons" to me, despite putting that in the title. If anything, it felt a lot like I was watching a spinoff of TheLord of the Rings films. It might have helped to put some more monsters in prominent roles because I'm pretty sure even The Lord of the Rings movies had more of those.
Final Opinion: I didn't hate the movie and it is definitely better than the role-playing-game-based film from 2000, but the movie does still fall short in some places and, again, I'm glad I didn't pay to see it in a theater as a result.
We have two cats in our house and they seem to go through a ton of cat food, to the point I feel like I'm constantly having to buy more. Adding to this is the fact my cats are apparently very picky about the food they eat and, even though they will occasionally eat Friskies canned food (my preference because it is cheaper and comes in bigger cans), they aren't overly thrilled with it and, instead, seem to have a preference for Fancy Feast (which is, of course, more expensive and comes in smaller cans). Having been a cat parent long enough to know the whole "let them go hungry until they eat it" trick doesn't work, at least if I don't want my cats keeping me up all night or getting on the counters/in the garbage, I have mostly just given up and purchased the more expensive cans of food for them. However, when I was at the grocery store last night (once again, for the sole purpose of buying cat food), I noticed the store added this brand to the shelf. Thi
My wife and I didn't have solid dinner plans last night so, as is usually the case when that happens, I wound up stopping at the grocery store on my way home and picking up a couple frozen pizzas for dinner. Since my daughters just like cheese pizza, I wound up getting them a cheap brand. But, I was in the mood to try something a little different so, after some consideration, I purchased the Pep's Drafthaus Prohibition Special for my wife and I. At $8.99, this pizza was more expensive than I would normally prefer to spend on a frozen pizza and, because of that, I did have some second thoughts about my purchase. However, cooking this pizza on our pizza oven last night and giving it a try, I do have to say I was very impressed with it. One of the reasons I took a chance on this brand when I saw it in the freezer was it looked like it had quite a few toppings on it. This included a lot of cheese, sausage, mushrooms, pepperoni, peppers and onions. Since lack of topping
Synopsis: Dorrie Ambler comes to Perry Mason with an unusual request. She needs both him and Paul Drake to examine her appendix scar so they can make a positive identification because she believes someone is trying to set her up as a patsy for Minerva Minden, an heiress that bears a striking resemblance to her. Minerva, however, has a different story - Dorrie is trying to blackmail her. When Dorrie is apparently kidnapped and a body is later found, Minerva is charged with murder and Mason decides to defend her. Review : I've read quite a few Perry Mason novels and some are more memorable than others. This one was definitely one of the more unusual ones. I think the thing I found most interesting about this book was the way it was unclear which of Mason's clients was the one telling the truth. Both told tales that seemed plausible but also a bit untruthful and it was difficult to figure out which was trying to pull the wool over Mason's eyes and why. I also liked how this b
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