6 small changes that would make Mass Effect 3 ending better…

(Without indoctrination theory and without changing it too much)

Well to say, I am becoming quite fed up with all those give us whole new DLC with better ending! or I want blue babies! Not that I don’t want that, but I am quite happy with tragic bitter sweet ending. But only if it’s better clarified. Or rather explained. However, I understand what Bioware wanted to say. Nothing comes without a cost. It’s not like Shepard didn’t know it all along.

1. First, make secret ending available for those who don’t play multiplayer. It pains me to know, that Shepard only survives if you play multiplayer. Some gamers are fine playing alone, enjoying their single player. It just feels awful to complete every single side quest in the game and still not have enough war assets to get the Secret ending.  Or it’s rather impossible to get: even if I solve every quest in a best way possible (counting all three games) I still don’t have enough. And only because I don’t play multiplayer or I don’t not own iPhone. This is actually only thing I really dislike.  

2. Let us know what happened to humans/aliens we care about. Ignoring the magical teleportation of your final squad to Normandy, one last glance or one second cutscene made about them is enough for me. Give them a chance to survive Harbinger blast. They are strong enough. Few seconds of your LI (players care a lot about them, considering how angry they are if something happens to them) – Kaidan, Ashley, Liara, Garrus, Tali looking at sky, the other squad mate placing hand on their shoulder trying to reassure them. So Shepard may have sacrificed his life, but those who she/he fought for survived.

But I get it. They may have survived, signalled Joker to take them to the Citatel (the beam stopped working) to help you and then they got caught in the mass relay force. I admit it, Normandy crash is not working for me either. So Normandy got caught in Destroy Reapers beam – because the ship is equipped with reaper tech and that beam transported her beyond this galaxy. Too complicated. Let it crash on Earth. I still don’t get it, but at least I was happy that my companions made it alive. Sometimes that’s enough. (Actually every time I see it crash on tropical planet, it makes me think of Jacob’ s father.)

3. Relays – most fans consider this the biggest problem. Because we can’t understand what happened to them. Just deactivate them for a while and make all those clever scientinst figure out how to activate them again. At least this would silence mass relay destruction equals big chain reaction explosion and fleet isolation complaints.

I don’t really care if Shepard dies or not. Thought I will do everything in my power to make Shepard live if there is a chance. Actually, I can even justify Star kid explanation. But still, it could be much more. (And we all know it was quarians fault. Why wipe whole galaxy because of their mistake?)  

4. Kid choices. Ok whole reapers presence is test, we can leave it there. So reapers were created to preserve life. But what if they gone rogue and forgotten their original purpose, and after some time something inside them went malfunctioning. That some time ago they started harvesting innocent civilisation and became slaves of their own cycle. They tested Shepard as they did in every cycle and she/he finally managed to prove them wrong – by uniting geth and quarians. This is where dialogues wheel was clearly missing. Shepard can be pretty persuasive, but why it can’t be used now, when it matters the most? Typical paragon persuasion – Star kid is wrong, peace can be achieved, and organics and synthetics don’t have to fight. Reapers, we proved you wrong in this cycle. Shepard proved you wrong. The chosen one. Bla bla. Kwisach Haderach. Ultimate goddie ending. And if you played really well, maybe your Shepard survived.  

5. Middle option is just typical backdoor/neutral wheel option. This choice can work as ultimate final sacrifice closure. Those who want it can take it. It’ s for those who are fine with belief that one big wave made of Shepard changed DNA in whole galaxy. Personal complain – But as an add in can you please release a patch that will erase Edi presence? I just can’t stand her. Maybe if she looked more normal and less sexy? I found it too forced that Edi had to be sexy, and only purpose of that was to justify symbiosis ending. So it only works when robot is equipped with big boobs? And does Edi really need high heels?

6.  Control the reapers – should be about actual controlling. Admit the cycle was mistake that Reapers went rouge and their original purpose was forgotten. It fits with typical renegade choices: Geth or quarians are decimated; genophage is not cured and so on. Take over Reapers power so that one day, if someone repeats the chaos mistake it will Shepard your turn to stop them. Give them a chance to stay as it is, but make possible return of Reapers a threat – something that people will remember. That reapers still may be there in dark space, watching their progress. If next generation fails, you bring Reapers back. Humanity rules and one particular human – the only one who actually deserves it, has the power now.

So I am fine with Red, Blue, Green pill choices. I only want them to be logical. That’s what I was trying to do in my head.

And I love the game and definitely don’t want to get my money back.

And then in Mass Effect 4 : Return – Some time ago in a Galaxy far far away…

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It´s time to leave and meet one’s end

Why short films can often tell more than a feature films…

A short documentary film by a young Polish director Marcin Koszalka Declaration of immortality is an unusual look at the life and work of the famous Polish climber Piotr ‘Mad’ Korczak. Declaration of immortality can be defined as a Mountain documentary genre. In the first minute it may even seem as a fiction film. The scene where we see the rock climber falling into the lake, definitely suggests it. However, the film contemplating the question of immortality couldn’t start with a different image than a death one.  What initially looks like a feature film or the mountain documentary is an original portrait of the famous Polish climber Piotr ‘Mad’ Korczak. The document maps his long career – as the director tries to uncover all the paths that Polish mountaineer left on High Tatras sidewalks.

Declaration of immortality shows an aesthetic images of the High Tatras. The camera literally tracks Piotr´s footsteps, follows “fingerprints”. Shots where the camera captures the snowy peaks of the Tatra massifs, or when it silently follows the movements of the Piotr hands – these shots are not only beautiful, but also full of meanings.  That’s Piotr whole life – the passion of his life. Director doesn’t need to say more, it is enough if he just points the camera at the mountains and the viewer immediately realizes the depth of Piotr´s love and motivation. It is clear why he can’t leave it behind.  His “love” is mostly presented in the details, in which director almost analytically clings onto Piotr modeling climbing grips – his hands are like the hands of the sculptor, perfecting his life’s work. The viewer doesn’t need to be an experienced mountaineer to understand what is happening.

Declaration of immortality is not a film made of words. This films speaks in the images. Although, it´s not like that this documentary doesn’t use traditional narration discourse – the “talking heads”.  However, a discussion between the director and the main hero is presented as a game.  Question is answered by another question, and sometimes it even seems like that their roles are reversed – and the one who is interviewed is not a Piotr, but the director.  This kind of ambiguous approach to the theme, lifts this documentary from the mere mountain film genre  (although it environment plays an important role) and makes it mesmerizing and intimate statement about the one man and the end of his journey.

Director approach can be considered essayistic – quite a lot of interest is given to the legend surrounding its main character. Or maybe I should tell, that it rather  focuses on his inability to come to the terms with the end of his legend. There behind the Tatras, an important question rises – isn´t already time to go, and leave this place for the others? And Koszalka again answer with the image. In one shot Piotr falls of ground (the same path he has build years ago), while his younger pupil can handle it without problems.

However, this question is never directly answered. Director leaves it open. After all he already hinted at the possible ending (and as a former climber I assure you, that the metaphor of a falling into silence is certainly a nightmare).  The only one who can answer the question is the main hero. He became immortal years ago, but despite the advanced age, he can´t stop.

And the time when he will have to meet one’s end is silently approaching.

Happy Birthday Stan Lee!

I was always more of a Marvel fan. If DC hadn’t got Batman I wouldn’t even bother. My dislike for chaps dressed in a red and blue, or with woman wearing weird pants decorated with stars never changes. Too bad it also applies to that weird family of superheroes, or to the comic hero with the most egocentric name ever (yes I am talking about you Captain).

I can see it now. I do have some serious issues with the stars and tight red and blue dresses.

Stan Lee was with Marvel since beginning. No matter what will others say, I will always consider him to be one of the greatest comic personas. No one has done more for the mainstream comic than him. Space of this post doesn’t allow me to list all the amazing characters he created. However it doesn’t matter, his fans knows them all.

I don’t normally post celebrations of a famous people. It´s not like people would miss it. But Stan Lee created X-Men – my most favourite comic universe (mainstream comic of course).

So in the celebration of a Stan Lee turning 88 here are his famous cameos.

Last Goodbye from Václav Havel

About leaving

If you happen not know who Václav Havel was or what he has done this article from The Guardian tells quite a lot.

He died some days ago. I kept hearing about him all my life and yet there are still things I didn’t know about him. For example that he acted as a Joan Baez guitar boy – of course he was hiding from police.

Or that he was a chemical laboratory technician.

Some time ago I met him. It was extremely hot day on a he juts sat there surrounded by journalist, photographers and ordinary people.  And they all listened – it didn’t matter how old you were. Old people who only came because of him, young students with the same motivation, teenagers who were barely one or two years old during the revolution in the 1989, or kids asking their parents who the funny man was.

For the young generation he was someone others always spoke about in a good terms. However, younger generation, they barely knew who he really was. I sometimes think that they even forget what has happened in year 1989.

And just to remind you he was not known not only as a politician, but also as an artist and performer. Before he has become the face of the revolution, he was acclaimed writer and the chairman of the Circle of Independent Writers. I saw his play The Garden Ceremony in the theatre. It was amusing satire, highly intellectual and surreal in its own way.

One can say just another intellectual that had become the president. This one was different. He was someone who has pointed his finger at the Czechoslovakia and said look here – so that the big countries would finally know what was going on in the Eastern Europe.

Only few people outside Czech Republic or Slovakia knew that he also tried his luck as the director. His first and last movie was called Leaving – and he only made it few moths ago. How symbolical. I can’t say that movie is amazing, but it’s definitely interesting.

There is also a documentary Citizen Havel made by deceased Czech filmmaker Pavel Koutecký

Sure there is hardly anything bad about him in this movie – fact that many critics can’t get over. But as many of his revolutionary ancestors before him he deserves it too– and we can proudly call him the symbol he was meant to be.

I didn’t go out to light a candle for him. I should do it.  It´s too late now, but let me say my goodbye this way.

Who is on the Ben Wheatley´s Kill List?

Seems like everyone…

Last evening screening at the Poly cinema in Falmouth turned out to be a very interesting meeting.

Kill List is getting quite a lot of attention in UK these days. So I am really happy that it was screened in here, so I could see why it is so popular with my own eyes. And big plus goes to the Poly cinema, because they gave us a chance to talk to the director Ben Wheatley too. Nothing is better than a regular screening accompanied by the people who made the film.

I had no idea what the movie was supposed to be about. I kind of didn’t want it spoiled and sometimes it is just good not know much about the film. And as it turned out, that was a very good decision.

Director Ben Wheatley turned out to be an interesting person too. I like it when directors can reasonably answer questions about their films, when they can completely explain the reason they made it that way. His answers were very honest and interesting, and they really made me think about what he said and how it applies to the movie.

He also said that this was the first and last time he has shot the drama. I can completely understand him. Kill List is too depressing. It really gore and violent, but if you are already used to it  (and watched enough Trier or Chan Park-Wook films or saw Haneke´s Funny Games), it´s not that bad. I would compare it to the Nicolas Winding Refn Drive. Drive was also full of blood and violent scenes (and famous beating scene from lift pose as a very realistic presentation of violence in a quite aesthetically stylish movie), but it was for a reason. In this film violence feels strangely real, sometimes it even hurts looking at it, but it belongs there. You can’t have a movie about hit man without blood. Kill List is definitely an interesting film. Depressing and full of blood and violence, but on the other hand, also offers Mike Leigh like portrayal of a one extraordinary family. Maybe may only problem with this movie is that it tries to be everything – family drama, krimi genre, horror, buddy film, black comedy. However, in the end it works. Because this movie meant to raise all those question and doubts. Because that is exactly what Ben Wheatley wanted from his audience. Same reason why he also banned all questions about the plot before the screening started. He wanted to raise the questions and let us hang there, and then end the film without answering them. He is just one of those directors, who likes to play with their viewers.

And in the end I have to say again, it worked. People talked, people wondered, and they kept talking about Ben Wheatley´s Kill List all evening – trying to find answers to his questions.

Brief encounters and train platforms

An evening with David Lean and Krzysztof Kieslowski

And once again it had something to do with a trains. As I pointed some time before trains or trains platforms offer us some really amazing chance meetings. All those strangers and people walking around, losing their bags, hurrying to catch their trains. Seriously, not catching your trains can seriously damage or change your life.

Famous film from the polish director Krzysztof Kieslowski Blind Chance is all about a guy who was too late or too soon to catch one particular train – and it´s about his life but from three different perspectives. Everything because of the one train. Catch it or not to catch it. Communist, rebel, or a successful doctor? That is rather serious question there.

Two strangers from the David Lean 1945 feature Brief Encounter are rather interesting “pair“. Good wife and successful doctor had also found each other by a chance. One day they met in the small café near the train platform (looks like something is in my eye trick will always work),they fell in love and tried to cheat on their husband and wife. It may sound bold, but that´s exactly what this movies is about – it´s about trying not to love, about suppressing your feelings. Too bad their love was strong and too bad her husband was just too good and understanding to be abandoned.
I suppose that was rather the point. It said a lot of about human affiliations and that ever-present guilt in our lives.

I didn’t know much about film or about the actors. Apparently it’s again some sort of British national film treasure, because everyone around me saw it before and obviously they didn’t mind seeing it again.  And to say it frankly, I am not that much into romance (and I do not consider film as Casablanca to be a romance – for me it’s amazingly written war drama with great tragic pair of heroes). However, when I do like something it’s because a reason. And David Lean Brief Encounter is an amazing study of a relationship between man and woman, with fine actors performances and believable settings. Film feels very realistic – like life itself. I would definitely suggest it to anyone, even to the most cynical individuals.

This film is also David Lean last encounter with the writer and playwright Noel Coward. Sometimes it´s really hard to say goodbye.

We are all strangers on a train…

At the beginning

I decided, that my first introduction to the amazing world of blogging should start with proper arrival. On a train. Because this moving platform is definitely my most favourite one. So it all starts on a train, especially on the one I had to take to Bristol, where I hope to fulfill my amazing film expectation (even thought I am having hard time suppressing  my conscience, which is still trying to accuse me of ditching my university assignments).

I always loved trains. To those who love cars, bikes, or boats or anything, trains are number one for me.  Some time ago I decided, that one day I will make a film about them. Like Buster Keaton did. Because if it wasn´t his love for the trains, world would never know the movie The General – in my opinion greatest silent comedy ever created.

They are spacious, comfortable (when staff can remember to turn heating on), with coffee service and sometimes (depends on country, certainly not in the UK) they are cheaper.  And bonus feature is – you can never know who you will meet there.
I had some very interesting encounters in all my train years, it´s just one of those this that happens. Take Hitchcock famous thriller Strangers on a train as an example.  That was one of an unforgettable chance meeting and it ended up with an offer no one can refuse. Even if you try.
Something like that can never happen in real life. And it´s too bad sometimes. It would bring some excitement into my boring life of a university student.  Craziest person I ever met on a train was one of those faint healers – he tried to heal another passenger broken arm.
One day, when I end my blog I´ll take a plain (intergalactic space ship would by me first choice, but we are still not there). That´s another one of favourite film platforms for action and important meetings – it´s something people and filmmakers can easily identify with.  I suggest Air force one as an example. I am sure that happens all the time.

So you can meet loads of interesting people on the train. And as I see, my train is already arriving and I need to get ready for another amazing encounter – this time with the cinema itself.