Escape Room Reviews: The Hangover

Special note: I played this one for free, as part of a friend's bringer job interview process.
Company: 60 Out
Room: The Hangover
Date Played: 6/14/17
Player Count: 5, me and 4 mostly-strangers, including some first-timers.
Success:  Success!

Premise: You're in the mob, see? And the big boss is on his way back from the big house, see? And you better figure out where the money ended up after last night's little "party," or you're going to be the next one to sleep with the fishes.

Immersion: As is often the case at 60 Out, the set looks great. Good production design, and very few if any regular locks - the emphasis is on "magical objects," or things that can sense when they're in the correct position. Unfortunately, as is also often the case at 60 Out, a few things were broken or kind of worn out.

Highlights: This game starts strong with a non-linear section that let our group wander away from one another and explore. I like the puzzle structure of solving these puzzles so you can solve that puzzle, as opposed to 'and then, and then, and then.' Makes you feel like you're doing something with intention. The finale is kind of exciting. 

Lowlights: The pace really dropped for us at the midpoint, with a couple of moments that required our GM to chime in to let us know something was correct but finicky. 

And Finally:  The situation which led me to play this room was kind of an odd one - apparently part of the job application process to become a GM is bringing some folks in to play a game? I'm super curious about what they're looking for. The game went smoothly for our group of mostly-newbies, and I thought it was kind of amusing that my experience with previous games led me astray as often as it gave me a boost. As well done as the room is, I don't think it's as innovative or through-and-through great as some of the others 60 Out has on offer, so out of 26 games played, I'm going to call this #14. 

How to book this room yourself: Visit https://www.60out.com/rooms/hangover-game

#2,367: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

Nuts! - ★★½☆☆
So this is the documentary (which was itself based on a book) that was the basis for a podcast that has been optioned for development as a movie. Ultimately, I was a little bit disappointed - in part because I was hoping there was a lot more to the story that I hadn't already heard in other forms, and in part because some of the art styles just aren't my bag.

Aliens - ★★★½☆
This is the one Alien-franchise movie I know I've seen all the way through before, and I was surprised at how much I'd forgotten. The manner of the traditional long, slow build-up. The way everything keeps getting worse. The part where Ridley is crucified for our sins. Wait. No. That's Christianity. I always mix up Christianity and the film Aliens.

Shimmer Lake - ★☆☆☆☆
Points for effort, but this wasn't so great. kind of feels like something you'd stumble over on deep cable. Or a Sci-Fi Channel original if there had been any sci-fi elements. Although the fact that the story is told backwards probably did make me more interested in watching this, the gimmick isn't used very well.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 - ★½☆☆☆
Right after viewing, I figured it was probably better than part 1 because it bothered me less, but on reflection the sequel is probably the worse movie. It's pretty long given how little happens, and of course, because it's a comic book sequel, it's the 'what if they lost their powers' plot. In this case, that means we split up the team. You know, the team we spent a whole movie getting together, the one where everyone made the same speech over and over about finding their family? More like the team who all go on separate adventures in the sequel.

I've heard the original described as "Star Wars for a new generation," but Volume 2 feels more like a Trek movie to me. It's slow, it's mostly guys standing around talking instead of exploring space, and the wily and reckless captain has to face off with a weird, cosmic consciousness and its machinations.

Escape Room Reviews: Wizard's Workshop

Company: 60 Out
Room: Wizard's Workshop
Date Played: 6/11/17
Player Count: 4, which felt just right.
Success:  Success!

Premise: You know how sometimes wizards accidentally trap their souls in alternate dimensions?  Well it's usually fine because this is why you get yourself an apprentice or four.

Immersion: 60 Out is the king of magic objects, so this room seemed like a natural fit. The production design is pretty great, and the transitions between scenes were each delightful in their own way. Some of the objects were kind of broken though, and others showed a lot of wear and tear. 

Highlights: This company always gives you neat things to do in their rooms that I'm certainly not about to describe in detail here. There are a lot of incidental jokes in this room. 

Lowlights: This room might be a little bit too hand-holdy? I'm not sure that I would have liked anything better if it was set up to have you do all the same things except without the clues / instructions, but the in-room guides cover a lot of what you need to do. I'm not even sure if this is a 'lowlight,' although it does mean that you're sometimes robbed of the 'Aha!' moment. Pre-recorded wizards are a tough thing to make.

And Finally: I don't know what our actual time was, but this room seemed really fast to me. Maybe because we didn't spend as much time pondering as we did moving from task to task and then completing the tasks. I do appreciate how 60 Out seems to have an interest in showing you all of the neat stuff they took the time to build - as though it's more important to them that you have a complete experience than that they have impressively low win percentages. Out of 25 rooms, I'm going to rank this one #6. That makes it my favorite 60 Out room so far, although I would caution that it's more in the school of cool experience rooms than mind-bending puzzlers.

#2,364: The Verdict

Diani and Devine Meet the Apocalypse - ★★★★★
I've been to a couple of festival screenings of the movie.  We had one at the San Diego Comic Fest and another at a festival here in LA that doubled as a cast and crew screening.  I still like seeing what parts audiences enjoy.  The LA screening was unusual because there was so many cast and crew in attendance that the audience was a little too hot; their laughs stepped all over jokes the regular audiences enjoy.

Alien - ★★★★★
Watched alongside reading the book of production designer Roger Christian, Cinema Alchemist. The movie remains a classic. The book was badly in need of an editor.

Doctor Strange - ★★★½☆
On a rewatch, I was really pleased with how much more filmic, more cinematic, Dr. Strange is than other, similar movies.

I was wrong when I originally guessed that it would be set in the recent past (in order to make it make sense when he's name dropped in Winter Solider), but I'm going to try again by predicting Strange gets into it with Star Lord about when some song from the 70s charted.

The Verdict - ★★★½☆
Man, Lumet, Mamet, Newman.
You know that ridiculous trailer for House of Games, where "David Mamet writes the way people speak" (even though nobody in that movie sounds anything like a human)? It's movies like this one that got all that praise. Plus, I like the way they slow play a reveal so long that you might start to think it's not coming. I feel like the pacing is more a product of its time, but if you did it today it would seem deft.

Set List: Run the show Sweepstakes!

You know, a big part of what makes Set List at the Pack work so well is... me.  I push buttons, slide sliders, and even make these graphics for when Jason wants to talk to me about something. 

However! In about a month, I will be going on a planned and expected vacation that has nothing to do with my untimely and insensitive remarks, and when I do, someone else is going to have to steer the ship. It could be you! Find out by purchasing specially-marked packages of Hubba Bubba gum, or, like, talking to me or Jason after the show!

Set List at the Pack is a completely improvised stand-up show that happens every Thursday night at 10:30, at the Pack Theater in Los Angeles, CA.