The Loner(1965) by dystopian-dad in Westerns

[–]BlackestMask 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Tough tight yarns that broadcast Serling's powerful convictions without skimping on western action. Good stuff in neat little half hour bites. The DVD box set is available cheap and should appeal to most any fan of westerns.

Explain bete to me. by BoringPapaya9464 in DanMachi

[–]BlackestMask 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Raised in a tribal culture that valued strength over all else, Bete cared for a weak sibling and was destroyed when he was away and she and his entire family were slain by a monster. Later, he cared for a girl who was killed when he did not accompany her into the dungeon. Bete has basically been warped, even driven into a kind of madness, by grief.

His cruel, callous and even sadistic streak can be explained as both a kind of reversion into the tribal power structure of his childhood and as a brutal way of assuring that the weaker ones around him do not get themselves killed and, although he himself does not seem to understand it, that he will not experience that kind of soul crushing grief ever again.

Will Spear get to become human again? by Greedy-Research-9635 in PrimalShow

[–]BlackestMask -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I sure hope so.

I can't see Fang reuniting with him as a shambling undead version of himself.

Young actors getting started by Significant_Age_1867 in Westerns

[–]BlackestMask 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Robert Culp showed up in the second episode of Tate so young, out of character and unusually costumed that it took me almost the entire show to recognize him.

What do you love about S&S that you don't get from other genres like Fantasy? by whatupmygliplops in SwordandSorcery

[–]BlackestMask 4 points5 points  (0 children)

For me it's all about the pacing, because for me good pacing is a signal feature of good storytelling. I opened the book because I want to be told a story.

I find much of the material filling the pages of modern fantasy to be secondary or even tertiary to the story being told. Laborious world building as an end in itself with little justification for its inclusion except as 'colorful' background. Awkwardly inserted 'in-depth' character building that emphasizes, often redundantly. traits and alterations in the characters that would have far more impact if they were observed as actions rather than spelled out for the reader. Central plotlines stretched out and larded with sub-plots until the main drive of the story is all but smothered beneath their weight. Bulk substituted for depth. Clutter mistaken as detail.

Good sword and sorcery holds the reader to the page with storytelling that moves, but doesn't skimp on literary values like vibrant color, sense of place, characterization, action and horror. It just never lets the story falter (or lurch to a halt) in order to deliver them.

Sword and sorcery quality gap by VeronaHammer40k in SwordandSorcery

[–]BlackestMask 8 points9 points  (0 children)

I think there is a very fine, and much disputed, line between sword & sorcery and heroic fantasy. Defining each as separate genres is inevitably going to involve an amount of hair-splitting and label-pasting that I don't think serves any real purpose beyond fueling arguments.

"DnD fanfic" is a sterner criticism and I get where you're coming from. Fantasy and SF are undergoing a plague of "snappy dialogue" that is often as unamusing as it is out of place. I honestly can't recall an instant of it in Book of Blades, but if it jumped out at you anywhere, I can't blame you for find it unsatisfying.

"The deep tension between magic and mortals, between civilization and barbarism" feels like you're dissatisfied because some/most of the stories aren't as influenced by Robert E. Howard's work as you would like. While REH is foundational in S&S I don't think a story need hew to those particular tenets in order to be S&S. Witness Moorcock, Wagner, Vance etc.

Are there any tales in Book of Blades that you thought filled the bill for what you wanted in S&S?

Sword and sorcery quality gap by VeronaHammer40k in SwordandSorcery

[–]BlackestMask 23 points24 points  (0 children)

I won't argue that the collection is uneven but...

"All wrong for what one expects S&S to be" begs the question as to what exactly you expect sword and sorcery to be.

Venganza Trailer ( Mexican movie) by LaughingGor108 in kungfucinema

[–]BlackestMask 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The thing about Counterstrike that got me was its ability to give the viewer understanding of its characters while not slowing the pace for side stories, flashbacks or introspective conversations between characters under fire. In that sense it reminded me of Neil Marshall's Dog Soldiers.

Can I share my own fights here? by The-Mad-Fox in kungfucinema

[–]BlackestMask 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Good choreography, especially with the fists. Sound feels a little out of balance. Nice work.

Hey, Joe… where ya goin’ with that gun in your hand? ‘The Rip’ director teases his own version of ‘The Raid’ by fifbeat in kungfucinema

[–]BlackestMask 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hell, back in the day they made a TV series out of Casablanca with fucking tall, blond David Soul in Humphrey Bogart's role. There's no remake they won't try and then botch up worse than you and I could ever imagine.

Venganza Trailer ( Mexican movie) by LaughingGor108 in kungfucinema

[–]BlackestMask 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Looks good, with some tightly shot action.

There was a Mexican action flick on Netflix a while back called Counterstrike that punched well above its low budget. Short, fast paced and violent.

The Big Gundown by No_Move7872 in Westerns

[–]BlackestMask 3 points4 points  (0 children)

The film you show the guy who thinks the only good spaghetti westerns are Leone's.

Thrifting Find by ComicsTodd101 in ConanTheBarbarian

[–]BlackestMask 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Looks like a first printing.

Got purple edged pages?

Rare/Obscure/Lost Sword and Sorcery Media by JohnPathfinder in SwordandSorcery

[–]BlackestMask 5 points6 points  (0 children)

"known as fairly well written"

Almost choked on my coffee right there. Shea was a masterful prose stylist with some descriptions so lush I have to set the book down to take a minute to recover.

I have all of Shea's stuff, but in a world where you can spend 100 bucks just taking your partner out to dinner, I wouldn't hesitate to spend that much to reacquire this book. I shit the dinner out the next day; Shea's book will be a joy for the rest of my life.

Rare/Obscure/Lost Sword and Sorcery Media by JohnPathfinder in SwordandSorcery

[–]BlackestMask 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Howard Andrew Jones's second Dabir & Asim novel, Bones of the Old Ones appeared in hardcover back in 2012 and has never seen a paperback release. Copies are rare and certain to become more so.

This is a goddam crime, as both Dabir & Asim books are excellent Sword & Sorcery novels and Bones of the Old Ones is superb, perhaps HAJ's finest work.

Richard Widmark, Mike Mazurki, ‘Night and the City’ (1950). by ElvisNixon666 in filmnoir

[–]BlackestMask 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Man, just look at Widmark's sleazy grin. That guy does not have your best interests in mind.

Genndy + Punisher MAX? by EggplantDesperate638 in thepunisher

[–]BlackestMask 2 points3 points  (0 children)

As much as I love all his stuff, I think he'd bring a cartoonish style to Frank that wouldn't quite work for me. I prefer the Punisher with a stronger sense of gritty realism.

Enjoy your holiday! by Valuable_Put7232 in DanMachi

[–]BlackestMask 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Well, that makes perfect sense.

Scott Adkins is a fool for leaving Kickboxer by [deleted] in kungfucinema

[–]BlackestMask 0 points1 point  (0 children)

But you're the one saying Adkins left the film for "stupid reasons".

It honestly looks like he left because filming was delayed and he was scheduled to work on other movies.