Author: Verse

The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992) 4/5

Categories 4/5, Comedy, Family, Movie and Series Reviews, Musical

Brian Henson, the son of famed Muppets creator Jim Henson, has created one of the best renditions of Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol. It is played for all audiences, but this approach never holds back the movie and it certainly never feels like a movie that is talking down to its audience.

I reviewed another one of Brian Henson’s creations last year for Halloween. Battleground, an episode of the anthology Nightmares & Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King, featured a hitman (William Hurt) locked in an exciting battle with toys. The best episode of the collection by far, it does not surprise me then that The Muppet Christmas Carol is also such a standout. The attention to detail is as rich with the Muppets, as actors and puppet-actors mix effortlessly and with joy.

Michael Caine’s role as Ebenezer Scrooge is also timeless. Caine is just purely delightful to watch, as his eyes and subtleties give life to the well worn shoes. Scrooge grabs onto the characters and world around him and it is sincere and elevates the movie. The face certainly is not the whole movie, but if you are going to be one of the few people-people in front of the camera then it is what you would hope for.

Oh and the sets. They are absolutely charming. The Henson name comes with an expectation, at least in my eyes, to be captivated in a kind of magic for the worlds involved. The Muppet Christmas Carol is no slouch either in this regard as the puppets you expect to see are all standouts. What is even better are the newer characters, creations to fill the three ghosts, as they are striking and fantastic camera tricks make them all the better.

Finally, as a light musical, what would it be if I did not touch on the songs. Paul Williams composed a wonderful assortment of songs that mostly plays well to its setting and feels ripped straight from Dickens pages. In fact, a quick scouring of the internet reveals that this was in fact how Williams went about it, turning the pages and finding the words. Just listen as the song Scrooge opens the film and hear the affection or enjoy the Marley brothers in one of my favorite scenes. I can see some people not connecting with everything, I didn’t, but buying into the intent means a lot here.

If you find yourself watching The Muppet Christmas Carol, you will feel the magic or you should be checked for a pulse.

Firefox CSS: Centered Bookmark Bar with Hidden Text

Categories Tech

I enjoy having my bookmark bar always showing, but the default styling is a bit much. This area is reserved for my most visited websites, a way to quickly jump from one to the other, and so seeing full names constantly is not necessary. Visually, I just think things should be centered and so there is that.

What This Changes

  • Hide the bookmark text but show it if you hover over an icon.
  • Adjust the padding around the icons so they aren’t so cramped together.
  • Increase the icons sizes to 18px each. Anything more and it starts to look a bit blurry.
  • Center the bookmarks and add a 2px padding below and above so they aren’t touching the edges of the bar.
  • Style the separators on the toolbar using an RGBA color that goes well with the Nordic Dark theme. You can adjust this color to anything else you want at any RGBA color picking website. Just replace rgba(77, 85, 101, 1) with whatever color you want.
Some icons are missing for privacy, but this is what it will look like. When you hover over an icon the name will then be shown for the icon.

The How

Changing the CSS in Firefox can seem complicated if you land at the official documentation pages, but it is a lot easier than that. A fair robust how-to page is housed on reddit and so I will not try to reinvent that wheel. Follow the link and when you get to the part about adding code, you can use what I have below.

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Cold Comes the Night (2013) 1.5/5

Categories 1.5/5, Crime, Movie and Series Reviews, Thriller

It is hard to imagine that Cold Comes the Night coincided with the conclusion of Breaking Bad. One had Bryan Cranston giving a career defining closeout performance for one of the most well regarded shows, while the other is Cold Comes the Night. I swear it is almost incomprehensible how these are the same two people. I guess all the good juice got squeezed for Breaking Bad, because Cranston is the weakest link in the cast here.

I would not give the lions share of blame to the actors though. Direction for the movie is very off. The script also does no favors, but execution is the death of it. You can see it in how Alice Eve has a couple of scenes that are obviously in need of another go, while the rest is fine. There is a garage scene and someone is the lookout for Cranston’s Togo, and it may be some of the worst line delivery. Those kind of problems extend to the whole film. Some scenes actually work well and then others are so obviously bad that they felt unguided.

I learned that during the making of Cold Comes the Night, Cranston made a short film, Writers Block by Brandon Polanco, with some of the movie crew during bad weather. Honestly, if you just want some Cranston then watch that. It is very much an art piece, so it will not be for everyone, but it is 12 minutes of Cranston being the best part of something. That is a world I prefer.

The Day of the Jackal (2024) (Episodes 1 & 2) 2/5

Categories 2/5, Crime, Movie and Series Reviews, Thriller

The Day of the Jackal feels like cheap TV, but with a bigger budget. The story is not particularly great so far if you do anything other than swallow everything that is presented to you, a hard pill when a lot does not make sense. Fitting of daytime network TV, there is an army of one British intelligence officer who does it all. They come up with the ideas, know which individual in the entirety of the world is likely to have the answers they seek, do the CPR themselves in an ambulance, go on site and chase the baddies themselves, and they aren’t afraid to raise their voice to their superiors.

In a world of police procedural shows, there is nothing special here in the first two episodes and I don’t think it deserves more of my time in hopeful improvement. The edge to the show, that it deeply wants, feels heavily manufactured and hamfisted into a blah existence. This is not the spy thriller for grown-ups some would have you believe.

I think people are going to be harsh on the portrayal of Bianca by Lashana Lynch, but I think her consistency shows she is capturing what the show probably asked for. The layers of tropes were written in. Eddie Redmayne gets it a bit easier as Jackel, who is likable despite his chosen profession. The choice to go that rout, mirroring one another and who is and isn’t likable, is one of the more interesting choices of the show. However, all good will bought is then sold for nonsense events and smart characters not asking basic questions.

Apocalypse Z (2024) 3/5

Categories 3/5, Horror, Movie and Series Reviews, Thriller

Apocalypse Z, with its slower patient beginnings, makes you think it may offer unique insights. Those never come though and everything the movie does is completely predictable to even the most undiscerning of eyes. However, as a dumb zombie flick there is still something here. A lot of tired repeats of the genre are avoided and those that are there are fleeting, so it is not an offensive outing in a well worn path.

On the audio side, I feel the need to speak out against the use of pig sounds for zombies as it completely ruins any enjoyment of those moments. Visually it is up and down, with most sights being solid and others feeling like old Syfy channel flicks made on pocket change. The cast is great though, from little old ladies to our lead.

If the movie were a bit more clever and less by-the-numbers then maybe it would be more than middle of the road. However, I have read that this is a part 1 of a series, so perhaps we will get to see a bit more ambition in a sequel. I certainly have enough good will to watch another.

Oddity (2024) 4/5

Categories 4/5, Horror, Movie and Series Reviews, Thriller

Oddity is excellent at building tension and has perhaps one of the creepiest scenes I have seen in a movie. However, I can’t help but feel it would have benefited from telegraphing itself a little less. That being said, I think the story is strengthened by its patient telling through a carefully constructed atmosphere that chills.

I am also pleased by the handling of jumps and visual horror. I am not to keen on being startled but I felt like each was led into rather than cheaply surprised. I also find a lot of visual violence hard to appreciate, and so I enjoyed that only the aftermath is ever shown.

Ultimately, I am in a bit of a spot on how to rank this movie. I want to say Oddity is a flawless movie, but I find myself longing a bit more for the cards to be held a bit closer to the chest and for characterizations to be little less on the nose.

You will benefit a lot from skipping the trailer or synopses for this one, I know I did.

Live Service Games Keep Shutting Down, Why Won’t They Learn?

Categories Video Games

A lot of live service games have closed lately, games meant to be developed perpetually in a bid to find a golden cash cow. Less games have succeeded at this than have though, and it takes us to where we are today.

You can cite Concord, XDefiant or SEGA killing HYENAS, their most expensive game to date, before even launching it. The failure of these games to grab hold in the intended way is indisputable. What is missing from consideration is where games are today.

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Old Henry (2021) 5/5

Categories 5/5, Action, Drama, Movie and Series Reviews, Western

Old Henry feels like a throwback to rarely seen westerns. It lacks a lot of flash and for some that could feel as tired as Henry himself feels, but I think this western works so well because it keeps things simple.

Tim Blake Nelson gives an amazing performance, capturing a look and feel that sells the character. The supporting cast is no slouch either.

If anyone has patience for an economical story like this, then they will not regret it. The director and writer, Potsy Ponciroli, is someone to look out for. This is a movie that could bridge the gap between grandmas wanting to watch their westerns and the modern movie goer.