Films: Old Skool DVDs & a laugh

I’m entertaining my parents on Monday evening, and after the meal we’ll watch a “family” film. They have a very conservative and restricted viewing range of films, mostly b/w westerns, where the good guys wear white hats and bad guys wear black hats. I’m not to averse to that to make a change from the modern CGI fests which are quite frankly boring in many cases.

So, having been primed with a list of “acceptable” films I went on a binge on Amazon. I don’t have a TV licence, having dispensed with that nearly a decade ago due to the mindless dross that is pumped out, and having done the maths worked out its better to invest in DVDs of stuff I actually do want to watch year in year out.

So I’ve bought 7 or so “new” DVDs of ancient Westerns and stuff, mostly featuring John Wayne.They’re the moving wallpaper I’ll be able to watch whilst doing the ironing, painting and so forth, plus make my house parent friendly. Its also interesting to see how films have evolved over time and matured with better plot lines (mostly), Take for instance:

El Dorado
John Wayne helps the drunken Sheriff (Robert Mitchum) defeat the bad guys.

Rio Bravo
John Wayne helps the drunken Sheriff (Dean Martin) defeat the bad guys.

Both directed by Howard Hawks.

I might mock them, but these films are all useful for dreaming up scenarios for RPGs and wargames as they are relatively simple and easy to understand. Often I, and others try and run before we can walk when presenting scenarios to players we rarely game with and have had little chance to build either a rapport with, or ongoing narrative.

As for the laugh…

Amazon or someone, saw fit to send me this DVD: Postnatal Rescue.

A more inappropriate DVD for me would be hard to imagine.

So thanks to Amazon and or my benefactor. 😉

Maybe I’ll watch it with my mother on Monday.