Monday Thought: Listening to RFK Jr.
Geek Out
Skye’s 5 Pride Month Movies
Happy Pride, Geekly Gang! What better way to celebrate Pride Month than with movies? Being a member of the LGBTQ+ Community myself, it was fun to curate this list for y’all. My favorite part was seeing how film evolved in its coverage of LGBTQ+ themes. Sometimes heartwarming. Sometimes depressing. Sometimes downright cringeworthy. But what’re you gonna do? Regardless of content, these movies serve as great time capsules for how far we’ve come with discussing LGBTQ+ concepts. We still have a long way to go, but these movies are still cool.
I’d like to clear one thing up real quick. I don’t mean to imply that, as a member of the LGBTQ+ Community, only I can determine the best LGBTQ+ movies. Not at all. I’m one person, and these are some of my favorites I watched this month. There are also several other movies I saw and didn’t mention. Feel free to mention them in the comments. As always, thanks for your understanding. With that said, these are my picks for 5 LGBTQ+ movies for Pride Month.
The Birdcage
I’ll start with a goofy one. That’s mostly what The Birdcage is: goofy. Even with The Birdcage‘s simple premise, it managed to get some good laughs out of me. If you haven’t seen The Birdcage, here’s the run-down. A young man with gay fathers is getting married to a woman whose parents are deeply conservative. So, the whole movie is trying to convince the girl’s parents that the boy has straight parents. With a star-studded cast including Robin Williams, Nathan Lane, Gene Hackman, and Christine Baranski, how could I not recommend The Birdcage?
Also, I truly underestimated the comedic potential with Hank Azaria in The Birdcage. His role as Agador Spartacus had me rolling on multiple occasions.
The Kids Are All Right
Let’s take it down a bit. We go from off-the-wall humor to a more heartfelt premise in The Kids Are All Right. Two children with lesbian parents discover their sperm-donor father and try to connect with him. Another simple yet effective premise. The Kids Are All Right results in some complicated emotions and difficult relationship questions being raised. The mothers are worried about the sperm donor, Paul, taking their children away from them. Meanwhile, with the kids getting older, they’re already having conflicting feelings about their parents. It’s a cute coming-of-age film wrapped in an LGBT blanket.
If you’re in the mood for something more realistic and personal, I recommend The Kids Are All Right, if for no other reason than to remind yourself that Mia Wasikowska has emotions. I was shocked, too.
The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert
Here’s where it gets more complicated. While I really enjoyed The Adventures of Priscilla, it elicited a wide variety of emotions from me. As three drag queens make their way across the Australian Outback, they have several misadventures along the way. That doesn’t seem like much on its face, but it results in all sorts of interactions. The upsides, downsides, and everything else that comes with being a drag queen in the 90s are put on display here, and it’s not always easy to watch. However, y’all may know that movies like that are the kind that attract me.
Sure, The Adventures of Priscilla can be difficult to get through, but I recommend it only for Terence Stamp. Yeah, it’s fun seeing General Zod as a drag queen.
Paris is Burning
Paris is Burning is a classic. While the creation of the film raises some ethical questions, what’s detailed in it is unlike anything else I’ve seen. Paris is Burning outlines the intricacies of Ballroom culture in New York City at the height of the AIDS crisis. This month was my first time watching it, and it raised several difficult emotions. I found myself reflected in each of the folks on-screen and relating to their struggles to an unhealthy degree. We will survive, and Paris is Burning shows us how they do it in “Gay World.”
Paris is Burning also does a fantastic job of highlighting the difficulties of combining LGBTQ+ issues with race issues. This is still an issue today, but if we don’t talk about it, it’ll never change.
Disclosure
Of the movies on this list, the ones I would consider “must-watches” in today’s climate are Paris is Burning and Disclosure. While Paris is Burning has proven to maintain relevance after 35 years, Disclosure was released 5 years ago, and its importance is already striking. Disclosure takes an elaborate and detailed look at the coverage of transgender people in the public eye over the years. From as far back as the 1910s, Disclosure shows us how transgender people have been humiliated from the start. As the world continues to grow and evolve, especially now, we need movies like Disclosure.
Even thinking about Disclosure now, I can’t help but feel emotional. For me, Disclosure hits too close to home, but that’s also why it’s important.
So those are my 5 movies for Pride Month this year. What do y’all think? Are there any movies I mi – Yes. I couldn’t even finish that sentence, but yes, share your favorite LGBTQ+ movies in the comments with us. We always love to hear from you! Now go out there and show the world how you’re not afraid to live your life on your terms. 😉
Geekly News: June 22, 2025
Happy Sunday, Geekly Gang! Kyra Kyle here with another week of Geek News. We have a couple of MCU updates and new board games to talk about. This week had an extra topic or two than last week’s. Yay! Since the MCU news is juicier, we’ll begin with the latest from Avengers: Doomsday.
Wolverine Will Be in Avengers: Doomsday
A couple of reports/rumors about the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday surfaced this past week, suggesting that Wolverine will return in some capacity during the massive group film. Early this past week, veteran stunt double Daniel Stevens stated that he’s working on Avengers: Doomsday. Stevens is Hugh Jackman’s stunt double for his role as Wolverine. This admission doesn’t confirm Wolverine will be in Avengers: Doomsday because Stevens has worked as a stunt double for multiple characters during Avengers movies, but the second report may seal the deal.
YouTuber UnBox PHD specializes in drone footage of Hollywood films. They’re the ones who broke that Wolverine would don his blue and yellow suit in Deadpool and Wolverine months before the movie’s release. UnBox PHD took drone images of a classic Wolverine movie scene’s recreation. Marvel asked UnBox PHD to take down the images, and in return, they all but confirmed Wolverine will be in the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday. It’s yet to be seen in what capacity Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine will be involved. Fingers crossed for more updates.
Sacha Baron Cohen’s Mephisto to Make Appearance in Ironheart
Sacha Baron Cohen as the MCU’s Mephisto, who is a Marvel variant of the Devil, was leaked several years prior. Cohen’s Mephisto had been rumored as far back as Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. He cropped up again in Agatha All Along. Just about any Marvel film or series that features a magical element has been rumored or teased Cohen’s Mephisto. Ironheart combines magic and technology. The show’s central theme will be magic versus tech; this conflict interested me in our MCU Preview earlier this year. During that same preview, I mentioned that The Hood would be Ironheart’s main antagonist. While I still believe The Hood will be Ironheart’s focal enemy, he’s a younger character, about the same age as Riri Williams, so it makes sense if someone bigger is pulling the strings.
Marvel leaked Ironheart’s schedule this past week. Next week, we’ll see the first three episodes, and the week after that, the second set of three Ironheart episodes will release. If Ironheart uses The Hood as a mid-boss, someone who’s working for a larger and bigger bad, narratively speaking, it makes sense for the bigger bad to show their face during the fifth and penultimate episode. The Hood may be failing to convert Riri to the dark side, so the one behind The Hood will need to get personal. Notice how the “M” in Karma is suspiciously highlighted in red. A red M for Mephisto? It could be. We won’t have to wait long to see if one of Marvel’s most dastardly enemies graces the screen. I love the Cohen casting of Mephisto.
If we do get Cohen’s Mephisto in Ironheart, I don’t think he’ll be in full makeup, or if he is, we’ll only catch a glimpse. This appearance will most likely introduce the character and sow the seeds for future MCU stories. Could Mephisto make an appearance in Doctor Strange 3 or Midnight Sons, or even VisionQuest? All of those projects make sense.
Paperback Adventures: Volume 2 Launches on GameFound
Paperback Adventures combines a roguelike deck-building game with a word game. Paperback Adventures (first volume) was a solo game only, but Volume 2 offers a 4-player simultaneous co-op game mode as well. The modular system allows for more variety with the more character boxes you have. Even though Geekly has yet to play this game, Paperback Adventures was a hit with several well-known board game reviewers, specifically Shut Up & Sit Down and The Dice Tower.
I like any modular game with a well-thought-out storage system, and Paperback Adventures: Volume 2 appears to have that in spades. The game’s Big Box, which may be an add-on (no word on the Paperback Adventures: Volume 2’s price point yet), has space for everything included in the game. Yes! I don’t know how many times I’ve had larger modular games with ridiculous storage.
Paperback Adventures: Volume 2 takes the original Paperback (which I have played on Steam, and it’s excellent) and adds a layer of adventure with small RPG elements to it. I never picked up a hard copy version of Paperback (and I missed the first wave of Paperback Adventures), but I may have to back Paperback Adventures: Volume 2 when it launches on GameFound next week.
Cozy Cat Cafe Launches on KickStarter
Run your own cat cafe. Arrange furniture. Recruit cats. Attract customers. Cozy Cat Cafe has coziness in its title. Player turns don’t appear to take long. You’ll have a handful of options, but Cozy Cat Cafe ups the ante if you’ve recruited the right cats. Certain cats can pull off special cat tricks (cards).
I don’t know what “Biscuit Boost” does, but I must play it at least once. Want to know more about Cozy Cat Cafe? Fortunately, Stami Games has a quick Instagram video, providing a quick overview. I like a couple of Cozy Cat Cafe’s game mechanisms. Players construct patterns to attract customers, but the customer cards can be altered on one’s turn if you think one of your opponents can attract a customer. Neat! The other game mechanism I like is the double-sided tiles. You can construct a basic piece of furniture, or you can upgrade it for a posh version. Me-ow!
Cozy Cat Cafe has adorable art that fits its theme. If you’re interested in Cozy Cat Cafe, the core box runs about $54 (plus shipping). The deluxe version is $81. There are several other options (some with signed copies of the game). Check out Cozy Cat Cafe on KickStarter.
That’s all the Geek News we have for you this week. Thank you for reading, and wherever you are, I hope you’re having a great day.
Tabletop Game Review: Marvel United, Rise of the Black Panther
Has it been long enough since we’ve covered a Marvel United expansion? It’s been one month? Eh, why not cover one of the final expansions from the original release, Rise of the Black Panther? Like I said in our last expansion review, Geekly won’t be covering every Marvel United expansion, but we will review the ones worth your time or the ones we believe people will most likely purchase. In short, you may want to consider these expansions.
Hey, hey! Kyra Kyle here. In Marvel United, take on the roles of iconic Marvel heroes who work together to stop the master plan of a powerful villain controlled by the game. Each villain has a unique master plan, cards that trigger various effects, and threats that make clearing locations difficult. Heroes clear missions, making the villain vulnerable, and finally take on the mastermind before they complete their evil plot. Can you save the world from impending doom? Let’s find out with Rise of the Black Panther.
Wait. Before we leap into the fray, we should look at Rise of the Black Panther’s fine print.
The Fiddly Bits
Designer: Andrea Chiarvesio and Eric M. Lang
Publisher: CMON Global Limited and Spin Master Ltd.
Date Released: 2021
Number of Players: 1-4
Age Range: 8 and up
Setup Time: 5-10 minutes
Play Time: 30-40 minutes
Game Mechanisms
Cooperative Play
Hand Management
Modular Board
Solo / Solitaire Game
Variable Player Powers
Game Setup
We already covered the Game Setup and Game Flow in our Marvel United review (here’s a link to that review), so we’ll go over the basics in the following two sections. Let’s cover an abbreviated review of the game setup and rules.
Marvel United’s setup can change depending on which Villain and Heroes you choose to play. Each game consists of six locations. Typically, core sets have eight locations. Since Rise of the Black Panther is an expansion, it only has six. You may choose your locations or shuffle them and choose six at random. Each Location card has spaces at the top for civilians and thugs and a rectangle with a block of text that will state “End of Turn” at the top of the box.
Place civilian/thug tokens on their matching spaces. Shuffle the Villain’s Threat deck and deal out each Threat face-up so that it covers the rectangle at the bottom of each location. You must clear this threat before gaining the “End of Turn” effect printed on a Location. Place health tokens where signified on threat cards and on the Villain dashboard. Place the three mission cards (Defeat Thugs, Rescue Civilians, and Clear Threats) face up under the villain dashboard where the text reads “Unlocked.”
Each player shuffles their hero decks and then draws three cards to form their hands. Shuffle the Villain’s Master Plan deck. Leave the Master Plan deck face down. This will be the villain’s draw pile.
Players place their miniatures on one of the six location cards, usually the centralmost location for each player (easy access). Then, they place the villain on the location card opposing the heroes.
Game Flow
The villain(s) play first. Draw the top card of their master plan deck. The villain moves the number of spaces indicated. Resolve any BAM! Effects and these effects will be printed on a space within the villain’s dashboard. Then, place the civilian/thug tokens (if any) indicated at the bottom of the card. After all these effects are resolved, the heroes get their turn.
Heroes pick who goes first, and hero turns will continue around the table clockwise. At the beginning of each game, Heroes will get three turns before the villain receives another turn. During their turn, heroes play one card from their hand.
Resolve actions and the symbols printed at the bottom of the hero’s card in any order. The symbols at the bottom of a hero’s card will be shared with the next player, but any printed action will not be shared. Heroes will use these actions to complete missions. The game begins with three missions in play: Defeat Thugs, Rescue Civilians, and Clear Threats. Each mission card will have spaces for the tokens they require to complete. As soon as these spaces are filled, the card is discarded, and the mission is considered complete. Mission cards can be completed in any order.
After the heroes complete the first mission, the villain panics and will act (play a card) every two hero cards instead of every three hero cards. After the heroes complete the second mission, the villain becomes vulnerable to damage. The heroes can complete the third mission, but it isn’t necessary. If the heroes do complete the third mission, each hero immediately draws 1 card, increasing each player’s hand size by one.
Play continues back and forth until either the villain wins (by completing their unique master plan or anyone, heroes or villains, runs out of cards) or the heroes win by dealing enough damage to the villain after the villain becomes vulnerable to damage.
Review
Rise of the Black Panther has some stellar heroes in its ranks. The Challenge Card uses some interesting game elements that I haven’t seen Marvel United use before or since. Killmonger can be a tricky villain and one of my favorites to defeat. It’s an accomplishment to defeat Killmonger. But Rise of the Black Panther’s Locations may be the biggest reason why Geekly’s covering this specific expansion. We’ll start with Locations.
Jabari Village and Warrior Falls have solid “End of Turn” abilities. One gives you a Wild token while the other allows you to deal one damage at that Location. Not bad. But it doesn’t hold a candle to the remaining four Locations. Golden City lets players move to any other Location at the end of their turn. This gives players extra movement. I love that. That gives me one less resource to manage and I can focus on Heroics and Attack. Royal Palace allows players to search their deck for a card and place that card at the top of their deck. Fantastic! This would be a strong ability in most card games with decks. But the Great Mound and Shuri’s Lab puts Rise of the Black Panther Locations over the top.
Great Mound is one of the only ways to manipulate Crisis Tokens in the original Marvel United release. Full stop. If you have a villain who has pesky Crisis Token abilities (one of those is Killmonger included in Rise of the Black Panther) and you only have the original Marvel United release, Great Mound is a must. Its “End of Turn” ability allows players to discard a card from their hand to the bottom of their deck to remove 1 Crisis Token anywhere. Shuri’s Lab creates a great tandem of Location abilities. Its “End of Turn” ability grants players the ability to draw up to their maximum hand size, negating any ill effects from the Great Mound and giving players a way to heal. I like Enter the Spider-Verse’s Locations a lot, but they pale in comparison to Rise of the Black Panther’s.
As mentioned in previous Marvel United reviews, Challenge cards provide optional rules to spice up the core gameplay. Rise of the Black Panther’s “Endangered Locations” is a simple and engaging rule twist. During Setup, Each Hero is linked to a different Location by using the included Endangered Location tokens. During play, each time Overflow is triggered in a Location, the Hero with its matching token takes 1 damage. This makes each Location mean something to certain players. This Challenge card could influence players to keep one Location clear of tokens over another Location. I love it because it raises the stakes and adds a dash of strategy and something else for players to navigate.
We’ll get to the heroes in a bit, but let’s talk about one of the MCU’s better villains, Killmonger. Killmonger also happens to be an intriguing villain in Marvel United. He wins when four or more Locations have 3 or more Crisis Tokens, and he adds Crisis Tokens in various ways. His Overflow and BAM! abilities replace Civilian/Thug Tokens with Crisis Tokens, which will make clearing missions (in order to make Killmonger vulnerable to damage) more difficult. The “Weapon Smuggling” Threat card has a similar action. And his Master Plan deck adds plenty of Civilian/Thug tokens, which can trigger Overflows, while his “Overthrow” ability can convert multiple Civilian tokens into Crisis Tokens. In short, Killmonger can turn the tide of battle in short order.
Furthermore, Killmonger has plenty of ways of dealing additional damage to Heroes, which can cause players to race toward Shuri’s Lab for some heals. Killmonger has one of the higher potential damage outputs of Marvel United’s original set. As I said prior, beating Killmonger is an accomplishment.
Rise of the Black Panther’s Heroes are darn good and should be up for the task of defeating Killmonger. Black Panther tends to focus on giving himself bonus actions, but his Movement is so good that he’s a good choice for teams choosing specialists (All Attack or All Heroics), and the other two Heroes in this expansion happen to be specialists. Winter Soldier is one of the better pure damage dealers from Marvel United’s original set. His deck tends to be the most self-centered of the Rise of the Black Panther heroes. He gives himself Attack tokens. This can also make Winter Soldier the easiest Hero to play. Of the Rise of the Black Panther heroes, Shuri is easily my favorite.
Shuri has a stunning five cards with Wild symbols on the bottom. This gives her and her teammates options whenever they take their turns. The remainder of her deck centers around Heroics. Winter Soldier is the fighter; Shuri is the helping hand. And Shuri’s one special effect “Young Genius” certainly lends a helping hand. She gives one Hero (she can target herself) a wild token and the player may draw cards until they have 3 cards. Not only does she hand out an extra wild token, but Shuri heals a Hero up to their full health. This is huge. I don’t know how many times Shuri’s ability saved my party’s bacon. She is Rise of the Black Panther’s standout Hero.
Too Long, Didn’t Read
Rise of the Black Panther has some of the original Marvel United set’s best Locations. Its Challenge card adds a simple but compelling wrinkle to gameplay. Killmonger is a worthy adversary. The Heroes provide variety, but Shuri can turn the tide of battle.
Friday Potpourri: Food
Video Game Creator Matching Quiz 02
Whatcha Watching, Geekly: June 2025
Happy Wednesday! Since it’s Wednesday, we have another Whatcha post. Hey, hey, Geekly Gang! Kyra Kyle here. Today, the Geekly writers will share the TV shows and movies they watched over the last month. Feel free to share what you’ve been watching, because you’re part of the Geekly Gang, too.
Kyra’s Shows
I’ve watched a handful of shows, but Good American Family may be the most noteworthy. Good American Family is another true crime documentary, but it doesn’t involve murder like my last month’s picks, just child abuse and neglect. Trigger Warning: If you don’t care to watch a show about child abuse, I would skip Good American Family.
This Hulu exclusive follows a real-world couple (Kristine and Michael Barnett) as they adopt a child with dwarfism (Natalia Grace). Good American Family makes an interesting choice with its narrative structure; it attempts to show both sides of the issue. This idea may work better in theory than in practice. Kristine (portrayed by Ellen Pompeo) and Michael (played by Mark Duplass) tell their story first. In fact, the first two episodes (which originally aired the same day, March 19, 2025) follow the Barnett’s sequence of events.
Kristine champions autistic children. She believed in her autistic son, Jacob, and helped him adjust to his neurodivergence and strives to do the same for other children like Jacob. Good American Family goes out of its way to paint Kristine as an angel of mercy in these first two episodes. The same can’t be said for Natalia (played by Imogen Faith Reid).
Natalia does some horrific things like putting her hands over Kristine’s eyes while she’s driving, decapitating her adoptive brother’s stuffed giraffe, and poisoning Kristine’s coffee. What makes matters worse is that Kristine believes that Natalia Grace is a twenty-two-year-old woman instead of a seven-year-old child. It’s like a scene from the movie Orphan. Natalia is getting close to Kristine’s husband, Michael. The first two episodes do a great job of setting up this conceit. It even appears that Natalia has gone through puberty (she might have a period and has pubic hair), so Kristine Barnett’s hypothesis sounds like it could be true.
But then we get Natalia’s point of view in Good American Family’s third episode. She is clearly a child, not an adult. Her outbursts are those of a troubled child with disabilities. What seemed to be understandable–if extreme–responses by the Barnetts in the first two episodes transform into horrific child abuse in the third episode. By the end of the second episode, the Barnetts legally change Natalia’s age to 22 and dump her in an apartment by herself. So, the Barnetts just abandoned their child. That’s terrible. Things get worse for Natalia as the Barnetts sprinkle in some torment (during the third episode and beyond). Spoiler Alert: Eventually, Natalia finds a supportive family, her life turns around, and she takes the Barnetts to court.
Again, I’m most interested in Good American Family’s narrative structure. While I like the attempt to show both sides of this story, the show’s structure holds it back. Many viewers said things like I can’t believe this 22-year-old duped this couple. Clearly, these viewers didn’t watch Good American Family beyond its opening night (when it released its first two episodes). Perhaps Good American Family should’ve released the third episode on opening day or consolidated the first two episodes. The second episode ventures into some nice psychological horror; I could’ve done without the first episode’s melodrama.
The point of view shifts to Michael Barnett near the end of Good American Family. This episode (or episodes) paints Michael as another potential Kristine victim. I never bought it. Good American Family hammers home the point that Natalia was the only victim in this story during its final episode. Ultimately, Good American Family obscured a heap of details during those first two episodes. It didn’t just show the Barnetts’ point of view; it sanitized the Barnetts’ wrongdoing. And what the Barnetts did gets sick.
Kyra’s Movies
I watched plenty of true crime documentaries. I won’t add another one to the movies I watched this last month. Instead, Captain America: Brave New World was added to Disney+. I didn’t watch it in theaters, so I figured I would give it a quick review.
Captain America: Brave New World wasn’t as bad as I feared, but it wasn’t as good as it could’ve been. The Serpent Society barely played a role. The movie doubled down on traditional Hulk villains, Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross (Red Hulk) and The Leader. While I still think Hulk villains in a Captain America movie makes little sense, I like that Captain America: Brave New World didn’t try to shoehorn more members of the Serpent Society. The movie’s villains could’ve been crowded.
Despite being a more focused story than I originally thought, Captain America: Brave New World requires a lot of MCU homework. Falcon/Winter Soldier, The Incredible Hulk, and Eternals. I could see a lot of people watching Falcon/Winter Soldier. That series did well enough on Disney+, but MCU fans would need to subscribe to Disney+ and watch an eight-hour miniseries.
The Incredible Hulk is eighteen years old by this point. Captain America: Brave New World does a good job of building up Ross and his daughter, Betty, but talk about striking while the iron is ice cold. Fewer moviegoers watched Eternals. I wouldn’t have watched Eternals if it weren’t available on my flight to London. I wasn’t going anywhere for eight hours. Why not watch Eternals?
I like how Captain America: Brave New World introduced adamantium by using Celestial Island (an event from Eternals). But I can’t help but imagine the MCU viewer who saw the massive body in the middle of the Indian Ocean and wondered if that was Galactus. There’s a lot of mandatory MCU homework for Captain America: Brave New World. In fact, this movie may have the most required MCU homework. By my count, one would need to watch about 40 hours. 40 hours? Yikes!
And while I said that Captain America: Brave New World’s story could’ve been far more scattered with additional Serpent Society members, that doesn’t mean that the movie has a tight script. It rambles. I thought the movie could’ve ended a handful of times before it did. And my final note is on Sam Wilson’s Captain America (who didn’t take the super soldier serum). The Wakandans did Sam a solid. His vibranium wings saved him multiple times. While that makes sense for the character and within the confines of the MCU, I didn’t like how little I feared for Sam’s safety.
I didn’t want Sam to get hurt, but he’s the one Captain America who didn’t take the super soldier serum, and he went toe to toe with a Hulk. I didn’t gasp once during his battle. It was as if Sam had taken the super soldier serum. Captain America: Brave New World may be a mixed bag, but I love Tim Black Nelson’s Leader. The Leader may have been worth an eighteen-year wait.
That’s all I have for this month. Let’s see what Season and Skye have been watching.
Skye’s Movies
After watching Goodfellas, I can see what everybody’s talking about. Goodfellas isn’t one of those movies I hear a lot about, but whenever I do hear about it, it’s always good things. I wouldn’t say Goodfellas is the quintessential mob movie (considering we live in a world where The Godfather still exists), but it’s still pretty darn good. Goodfellas does a great job of capturing the feel of organized crime, has gritty violence, is just the right amount of uncomfortable, and I loved it.
While not the whole story, Goodfellas does enough to show us both the glamour and danger of mob life. Also, the piano exit from “Layla” has been stuck in my head for weeks.
Some Like it Hot has been on my watch list for years. After watching it, I can confirm that I enjoyed Some Like it Hot, but not as much as I thought. To be clear, Some Like it Hot is still a very funny movie and got some genuine laughs despite its age, but I was surprised by how slow it could be at times. I was taken aback by the sudden romance that came halfway through. It wasn’t necessarily bad; I just wasn’t expecting it.
Even if Some Like it Hot wasn’t as bombastically funny as I anticipated, I still had a fun time with it. After all, nobody’s perfect.
The Seventh Seal is a classic in every meaning of the word. Even to this day, The Seventh Seal is one of those movies that’s studied in film schools around the world. This was my first time watching The Seventh Seal. Put simply, I wasn’t disappointed. I respected The Seventh Seal’s patient approach to suspense and thrills. Modern horror films overly rely on jump scares to make the movie seem scarier. The Seventh Seal‘s silence scared me the most.
If you haven’t seen The Seventh Seal, I highly recommend you treat yourself to one of cinema’s most revered classics.
Eraserhead is a movie I had already seen before this month, but I felt like I needed to watch it again. If you’ve never seen Eraserhead, you’d best go into this experience blind. This is a cinematic journey you’ll never forget. It’s difficult to go into details about what Eraserhead is because it uses shrouded symbolism, abstract storytelling, and deliberate imagery. Despite having seen Eraserhead three times, I still don’t fully understand it. What I like the most about Eraserhead is how you can watch it several times and always come up with a different explanation. That’s, without a doubt, David Lynch’s intention. Rest in peace, David Lynch.
If you’ve never seen it, make sure you watch Eraserhead on an empty stomach. You’ll thank me later. Also, keep telling yourself: “In Heaven, everything is fine.”
Season’s Movies
I’m not much of a movie watcher, but I did re-watch The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 & Part 2. No. I didn’t re-watch The Hunger Games and The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. It’s been a while since I read the books, so I can’t remember everything in the books that got left out of the movies. I think Katniss singing “The Hanging Tree” was my favorite part across both movies. I think the movies did a decent job of representing the books from an outside perspective. As a viewer, I wasn’t completely inundated with Katniss’s every thought. The Hunger Games, in general, is definitely a good series to revisit, both in novel and film form.
Season’s Shows
I’ve been binge-watching Dead End: Paranormal Park the past few days, and I’m in love with it. It’s a cute show that combines accepting people for who they are and fantasy. Who doesn’t like fighting demons while having to deal with scary family/people situations in the real world? Dead End: Paranormal Park features LGBTQIA+ and neurodivergent representation. There is one character who got gender binary-coded, which differs from the comic. This aspect of the show irritates me, but other than that, I’d definitely recommend Dead End: Paranormal Park for people who are looking for something fun and in the spirit of Pride.
Kyra Kyle here again. That’s what the Geekly writers have been watching this past month. Let us know what you’ve been watching, Geekly Gang. Thank you for reading, and wherever you are, I hope you’re having a great day.
90s JRPG Timeline Quiz
Tabletop Game Review: We’re Doomed!
Earth is doomed. The leaders of the world’s most powerful nations have created a scenario where humans need to escape in a rocket ship before the planet implodes. You play the role of one of the world’s leaders. That’s the premise of today’s tabletop game review, We’re Doomed!.
Hey, hey! Kyra Kyle here. Geekly hasn’t had a new board game review in quite some time. Today’s game is a silly party game with a quirky theme. Played in a real-time 15 minutes (the game includes a 15-minute hourglass), We’re Doomed! tasks players with generating enough resources to build a rocket ship big enough for all the players at the table or if you have the most influence and there’s only seating for one player, you become the only one to board the rocket ship. The choice is yours. Work together or backstab the other players.
Before we go any further, let’s prepare this rocket for takeoff and discuss We’re Doomed!’s details.
The Fiddly Bits
Designer: Mike Horton
Publisher: Breaking Games; Magellan
Date Released: 2019
Number of Players: 4-10
Age Range: 12 and up
Setup Time: Less than a minute
Play Time: 15 minutes (timed)
Game Mechanisms
Party Game
Card Game
Negotiation
Player Elimination
Variable Player Powers
Game Setup
We’re Doomed! has a minimal setup. Each player receives one Leader card that they display for others to see. Form piles of influence and resource tokens so every player can access them. The hourglass is set up so that all the sand is on the bottom (before it gets flipped), and the first player token rests on top of the hourglass.
Randomly select one player to go first, or someone could flip over the hourglass and claim the first-player token for themselves. You have 15 minutes before time runs out. Go!
Game Flow
We’re Doomed! is played in rounds until time runs out. Each round is split into two phases: Actions and Contribution. The action phase is played in turn order, starting with the first player. Unless the rules (which can evolve) say otherwise, each player has access to the same five actions: Produce, Indoctrinate, Propagandize, Invade, and Nuke. The first four actions revolve around gaining resources, which can be used to build seats on the rocket ship or gain influence, denoting who’s first to board the ship. The first two (Produce and Indoctrinate) allow players to take resources or influence from the supply. The second set of two (Propagandize and Invade) lets players steal those tokens from other players. The Nuke action allows players to spend resources to eliminate a player.
Each nation’s leader has a bonus for one of these five actions. For example, whenever the Democracy “Invades” they steal 2 Resources from another player for free instead of having to spend an influence token. The Theocracy gets a bonus Influence whenever they “Indoctrinate,” and the Technocracy gains an additional resource whenever they “Produce.”
After each player chooses one of the five actions, play moves to the Contribution Phase. In this phase, players simultaneously choose how many of their resources they donate to the Project, building a bigger rocket ship. The player who donates the most for the round gains the first player token (and will begin the Action phase next round), earns an influence token from the supply, and draws an event card.
There are two types of event cards: ones read aloud and ones read privately. Follow the rules on the card (reading aloud if you are told to read aloud) and after the event is resolved, the new round begins. Keep going until time runs out.
Review
If you’re anything like me, seeing the “player elimination” game mechanism waved a red flag, but remember, We’re Doomed! is a real-time game that lasts exactly 15 minutes. I don’t mind player elimination as a game mechanism if the game is short. And the idea that you can nuke another player is fun and thematic. We’re Doomed! is a fun and thematic game.
Given the proper gaming group, that’d be gamers who don’t mind backstabbing, negotiating, and loose alliances, We’re Doomed! can be a hit. Quick and tense turns are a feature. We didn’t mention this in the game flow, but there is an additional rule where players can claim another player is taking too long (or stalling). If this happens, everyone takes a vote, counting to three, and votes thumbs up or down to eliminate the player. This makes sense because time is of the essence in We’re Doomed. A similar voting system is used whenever there’s a tie during an event card.
Speaking of the event cards, they can swing the game wildly, making We’re Doomed! a fragile game. Fragile in the sense that the wrong combination of event cards can break the game in an unintended manner. During one playthrough, the first event negated influence. The player who became “The Executor” dictated the sequence of who boarded the rocket ship. Then, the very next event “Too Big To Fail” gave one player (I was voted to be that player) six resources at the beginning of the round if they had no resources. Since I was the Technocracy, that meant that I produced nine resources each round. I could’ve eliminated players (spend 8 resources) and nuke them all or donate all the resources, rescuing everyone. I chose to do the latter. Even though we played a five-player game, we had enough resources for ten.
Typically, I don’t care for games that can be this fragile, but We’re Doomed! isn’t meant to be taken seriously. It’s great for some dumb—and I mean dumb—fun. As I said before, with the proper gaming group, We’re Doomed! can be a hit. But with the wrong gaming group, it can be doomed to fail. We’re Doomed! isn’t a game for everyone. Heck. I must be in the right headspace for the game to land, but when it does land, it’s good for a laugh. One of my favorite chuckles came from someone drawing the “Trickle Down Economics” event card that reads, take six resources from The Project. You may choose to keep the resources or distribute them with any number of players. The person who drew the card asked, why wouldn’t I just pocket the resources? This card’s effect doesn’t seem right. Another player responded that’s why the card name is “Trickle Down Economics.” That sounds like Reagan. We’re Doomed!’s strength is that it doesn’t take itself too seriously.
Verdict
While not for everyone, We’re Doomed! can be a bunch of fun with the right gaming group. The game takes no more than 15 minutes (timed with an hourglass). Your gaming group must like backstabbing, negotiating, and loose alliances…and like games that don’t take themselves too seriously.
Geekly News: June 15, 2025, Spaceballs 2
Happy Sunday, Geekly Gang! Kyra Kyle here, serving up another week of geek news. We’ve got a couple of television and movie updates, but the biggest one may be that Spaceballs 2 will hit theaters in 2027. Let’s talk about it.
First Spaceballs 2 Teaser Released
Spaceballs 2 rumors are flying everywhere at the moment. We don’t know what the movie’s full title is going to be for sure. The original Spaceballs dubbed its future sequel Spaceballs 2: The Search for More Money, but judging from this week’s teaser, the movie’s full title may be Spaceballs 2: The Schwartz Awakens.
Sure, Spaceballs 2 is tapping into Gen X’s nostalgia, but I don’t mind this sequel. If nothing else, it was great to see a nearly 99-year-old Mel Brooks in great health. I can’t believe he’s turning 99 on June 28th. Yikes! We know for sure that Mel Brooks will return as director, and he’ll probably reprise one or both of his roles, President Skroob and Yogurt. Several other casting rumors have swirled since the teaser. In the past, Rick Moranis has mentioned that he’d act in another Mel Brooks movie. It’s unclear if Moranis believed Brooks had another movie left to direct. Bill Pullman and his son, Lewis Pullman (who portrayed Sentry in Thunderbolts*), have also expressed interest in joining Spaceballs 2’s cast.
The original Spaceballs was a fan favorite. I could see numerous actors attached to play different roles. Only time will tell who makes the finals cast list, but despite the obvious nostalgia button being pressed, I’m excited.
Final Superman Trailer Released
Not going to lie, the teeth flying out of the enemy’s mouth and clanging off the camera are a little much. Yowza! Moving on. Despite the final Superman trailer’s brevity, it packs a punch. Pun intended. We get an idea that Lex Luthor intends to destroy Superman, but his monologue suggests that he doesn’t mean to kill Superman, at least not yet. Lex plans to kill everyone important to Superman: Lois (the reporter who does all his interviews) and the people who raised him. Dang! Lex is a certified hater. He goes as far as to say, they (the world) chose Superman, let them die. Nicholas Hoult’s Luthor doesn’t play.
Lex has discovered the Fortress of Solitude (which we saw in the previous trailers), but this trailer may sow the seeds of Lex’s machinations. Superman could pull from the Superman: Birthright comic storyline and have Lex frame Superman as an advanced scout for the Kryptonian race attempting to overtake Earth. One of Lex’s henchmen, Ultraman, could be a Kryptonian clone. He certainly has strength comparable to Superman as he pushes Supes’ face into concrete. The kaiju-style monster Superman fights could even be an animal from Superman’s zoo.
In the comics, Superman kept Kryptonian animals in a zoo enclosed in his Fortress of Solitude. If Lex wants to frame Superman and the Kryptonians for acts of violence, it makes sense if he releases one of the Kryptonian animals from the Fortress of Solitude’s zoo. It could be just as likely that this kaiju-style monster is an illusion. The Superman: Birthright storyline includes something similar with Lex’s smear campaign against Superman. But Lex may not be the only villain working behind the scenes.
Maxwell Lord appears to be the one behind the Justice Gang, this universe’s current iteration of the Justice League, that includes Guy Gardner, Hawkgirl, and Mr. Terrific. It looks as though Lord will only be mentioned, but it’ll be interesting to see how he’s pulling strings. The Justice Gang looks to be wearing Lord apparel. Guy Gardner may also be the perfect Green Lantern to fight Superman. He’s a grade A douchebag, and the perfect foil for Supes. Overall, I liked this final trailer. It doesn’t spoil too much. I could be wrong about a lot of these details. And I can’t wait for Superman to hit theaters next month.
Clash of Clans Show Will Be a Workplace Comedy
We covered the Clash of Clans show announcement a couple of weeks ago. I’ll be honest; I never did get into Clash of Clans. But the news that Clash of Clans will be a workplace comedy has me intrigued. We don’t know if the characters will know they’re part of a video game or if they’re committed to the Clash of Clans’ universe. The zanier the better. Bring it on.
Plakks Basketball Launches on KickStarter
Plakks has a great track record of taking popular sports and translating them to a dexterity-based tabletop game. They’re doing the same with basketball. The pitch is simple. Players bounce the basketball on their half of the court and try to make a basket in their opponent’s goal. If they make a shot, they get to place a player on their opponent’s side of the court. Player figurines affect the ball’s bounce and shrink the playing field. Whoever places five players on their opponent’s side first wins.
Plakks Basketball looks quick and fun to play. If you’re interested, Plakks’ KickStarter page has a video of the gameplay. Pledges range between $28-55 (plus shipping). I missed out on Plakks’ Hockey and Soccer. These games look like they’d be great at a convention.
ANTgravity Preparing for GameFound
Players control ants in this interstellar version of capture the flag. But watch out! A meteor approaches, changing the rules of the game and making players’ weapons more powerful. ANTgravity takes video game concepts and applies them to a quick board game of outer space dominance.
Asteroids (the purple tiles seen above) can block your path. You can shoot them, gaining any bonuses underneath, to clear a path to your opponent’s headquarters (and their flag), but if an ant travels off the board, it floats into outer space and respawns at the hospital. Capture your opponents’ flags and bring them back to your headquarters before time runs out. ANTgravity launches early next week on GameFound. The Core Set costs approximately $34, while the Gameplay All-In runs about $57.
That’s all we have for Geek News this week. We may be a little light on news, now that we’re less than a month away from Superman and Fantastic Four: First Steps. Board game news should pick up again closer to GenCon in early August. Thank you for reading, and wherever you are, I hope you’re having a great day.
jkgeekly.com 