The Dread Rocket Raticate

Mount Moon is an interesting place. Located in northern Kanto, it's notable not only for its wealth of Pokémon Fossils, but also its extraordinary rate of meteorites per year. I spoke with Gym Leader Brock about it before leaving Pewter City and learned that it was somewhat a rite of passage for Pokémon trainers heading out from western Kanto to the eastern plains. There were certainly easier ways to get to Cerulean City and Saffron City, but Brock assured me that if I was serious about Pokémon training, Mount Moon was the best way to go.
Mount Moon is an arduous climb and littered with numerous interlocking caves that weave beneath the peak. It was not for the faint of heart, but it would be a chance to bond with my Pokémon in the wilderness. I used some of the winnings I earned at Brock's gym to stock up on food, potions, and a handful of Pokéballs before setting out down Route 3 toward the famous landmark mountain.
Along Route 3, I battled a very enthusiastic Shorts Appreciation Fan Club. Delightful young trainers eager to challenge Brock and head off on their own through Mount Moon, but mainly obsessed with shorts. It was along this route and among these youngsters that I first heard the name Team Rocket whispered. According to these young campers and hikers, Team Rocket had set up an operation of sorts at Mount Moon and their presence there was deterring a lot of trainers from passing through.
Back then, Team Rocket was an organization to be feared. They had a lot of influence over everyday life in Kanto, and very few people had the courage to stand up to them. However, as a newcomer to the Kanto region, I was truly clueless at the time. I could see that the kids were unsettled by the thought of Rocket grunts lurking in the caves of Mount Moon, but I was incapable of understanding what this threat meant to them, or what it would come to mean to me. I pressed onward down Route 3 hoping to reach the base camp and Pokémon Center at the foot of Mount Moon before nightfall.
Along the way, I managed to catch a Spearow who I gladly added to the team. I named him Shakespear. Shakespear would come to serve me well inside the dark tunnels of Mount Moon. He needed some training before we entered, so I set to work using the base camp as our new base of operations. Shakespear proved to be a formidable bird and was not unlike Kiwi in his ability to grow quickly adept at fighting and training.
While we were training in the shadow of Mount Moon, Lucky developed a powerful psychic attack that had the potential to inflict confusion upon his opponents, and I noticed Nibbles able to inject a bit of poison from the tip of his horn with some regularity. I was certainly impressed in the team's progress. It was time to start our trek through the underbelly of Mount Moon.

The Zubat was one of the easier Pokémon to sketch,
due largely in part to their huge colony within Mt. Moon.

They don't write this on any of the brochures that I saw, but Mount Moon is absolutely infested with Zubat. You can't go three feet without being assailed by another Zubat, and so naturally the next great addition to Team Fox was a Zubat named Vesper. As I'm sure you can imagine, if you are at all familiar with Zubat, Vesper was a bit of a nightmare to train. That might actually be an understatement.
As we methodically made our way through Mount Moon, I was determined to get Vesper up to par with my other traveling companions. He would often open up a battle with other Zubat, or with the occasional trainer we found along those winding paths, only to be replaced with Shakespear who was an absolute terror in those tunnels.
Shakespear earned his place on my team as the number one Zubat deterrent on Mount Moon. He could out-perform them at every turn, pecking them out of the sky and sending a message that we were not to be trifled with by other Zubat. Those other Zubat did not get that message, however, and continued to plague us the entire time.
Among the outer caves of Mount Moon, I ran into a wide variety of trainers. As Brock had mentioned, it truly did seem as a thoroughfare for aspiring trainers to test their resolve against both the forces of nature and each other. In this particular case, Mount Moon served to test young trainers against a never ending onslaught of territorial Zubat. There were young boys and girls, among them a bug catching kid who wandered too far from Viridian Forest, I presume. I passed and challenged the occasional hiker and a science enthusiast. None posed much of a problem for my team and the pain of losing Rascal felt like it was passing somewhat.

In the heart of Mount Moon, I finally encountered members of Team Rocket. As I approached in the darkness, I heard them talking. Another young trainer had passed through quite recently and dealt them a severe Pokémon beating that still had them upset. Instead of keeping him out of their operation, he had apparently just blown straight through them and their Pokémon without hesitation. When they saw me lurking in the darkness, eavesdropping on their conversation, well they decided to take out their frustrations on me.
Although most of them were weakened by this previous trainer to a point where they couldn't even muster a Pokémon to participate, there was one trainer in that dark tunnel I will never forget. He was the champion of their little operation under Mount Moon, and he would make me pay for wandering where I wasn't wanted. He only had one Pokémon to face my five, but it was enough. I was lucky he didn't have any more.

This Rocket Grunt had an absurdly powerful Raticate, an evolution of my previous Pokémon, Rascal. I knew I had to be careful and so I threw out Lucky to face him. Lucky had recently learned to harness particles on its wings into powerful toxins, and so I had Lucky blow a debilitating sleep powder onto the Dread Rocket Raticate as I would come to call it. As expected, the Raticate dozed off gently and opened itself up to tormenting psychic attacks from Lucky.
What I did not expect was its incredible resilience to Lucky's powerful psychic ability. This ability had taken down numerous thick skinned Geodude along the tunnels of Mount Moon, but the Raticate was formidable. I could tell it was almost defeated, but just as Lucky was going to incapacitate it, Dread Rocket Raticate woke up. It quickly evaded the next attempt to spread a sleep powder. Then it bit down and it bit down hard on Lucky. It was a blow so devastating that Lucky was indeed lucky to not pass out from the strain. I had to switch.
I took a moment to collect myself with all the other Rocket grunts gathered around to cheer on their formidable leader and his terrible Raticate. I knew his Raticate was on the verge of defeat. It would only take one more solid hit to knock it out of the fight and claim a victory. Vesper was still useless. Kiwi and Shakespear were valid candidates, because of their speed and agility. But of all my Pokémon, Nibbles had the most solid defense with his very thick hide, so I felt if any of them were going to survive that devastating hyper fang it would be Nibbles.

Sadly, I was wrong. Nibbles came out of his Pokéball twitching his long ears and ready to face any challenge. Nibbles didn't even have the chance to see what hit him. That damned Raticate bit down on Nibbles head so hard that he was done in seconds. There was no time for Nibbles to react. His fight was over before it had even begun. I let out a loud wail that echoed through the caverns beneath Mount Moon, but that exclamation of shock and disbelief was drowned out by the numerous members of Team Rocket whooping and hollering at their leader's small victory.
It would be short lived. Kiwi came out and could sense my distress. He launched a brutal quick attack on the Dread Rocket Raticate and ended the fight in a single decisive blow. Team Rocket was not amused, but they were out of Pokémon and wouldn't dare lay a hand on me with my trained Pokémon at my side ready to defend me.
I carefully excused myself from whatever nefarious plot they were hatching in that large cavern. They allowed me to pass on my way without any more provocation. They probably said a bunch of intimidating junk that those gangster types like to say, but honestly my heart was sunken deep into the ground. I wouldn't have heard anything they said. Although probably meaningless to them, I had failed Nibbles and now we would part ways forever.
Speaking honestly, I had high hopes for Nibbles. He was so small and weak when we met, but he had the heart of a champion. I thought Nibbles would be with me on Victory Road, facing down the Elite Four and the Indigo Champion. I thought we would take on the world together, but these foul Team Rocket hooligans put an abrupt end to that fantasy.
I nursed Nibbles back to good health in some quiet corner of Mount Moon and spent our last remaining moments together just appreciating the company. Much like with Rascal, I tried to explain to Nibbles why it was important to me that he lived out the rest of his life here on Mount Moon (and I could truly think of no better place for him) and why I would have to press on without him. I shed a few tears and gave Nibbles a careful hug, avoiding his poisonous horn. He seemed to understand and with a final look at me, he scampered off into the darkness.
I soldiered on for Rascal and Nibbles. I pressed on to Cerulean.

Current Team:
Attacks in Blue are recently learned.

Wraiths In My Campaign

From a comment that I made on a post in the Old School Gamers Facebook group... decided to make a post out of it. My players have run into these enough that they've gotten the gist of how my undead roll.

Wights are "Greater Ghouls" in my campaign - with attribute drain as opposed to level drain. They have the same basic stats as the BtB wight. The attributes are either STR or CON - if the "to hit" is even, it's STR, if odd, it's CON. The effect wears off in 1d12 months. If a player drops to 0 in STR or CON, they die and will become a wight BtB.

What drove me to do this? Look at pictures of the two.

 

The wight has always screamed "BAMF ghoul" at me. I know a "ghast" monster exists and I'll use them as well, but in my campaign the wight is a lot more deadly (although its AC is still 5, as opposed to the ghast's AC of 4).

I also take cues from Tolkien and ghost stories... where terms like "ghosts", "wraiths" and "ghouls" were generic terms for a wide variety of creatures that were similar. And with the barrow wights in Tolkien, they just always struck me as ghoul-like - with corporate bodies.

We now come to wraiths and level drain. Now my vision of wraiths is 100% driven by Tolkien - and with level drains being the domain of wraiths (and vampires). It always bugged me that wights had this ability, and it made sense to me that, instead, there should be lesser versions of wraiths that could drain.

Less this...

More this...

So in my campaign world, any sort of unembodied undead is called a "wraith" by conventional wisdom, though the sages, experienced priests and unlucky adventurers know the difference between "lesser wraiths" and "wraiths." From a mechanical perspective, lesser wraiths have similar stats to BtB wights in AC, HD, Move, and attacks, including 1 level drained. I have come to allow Save vs. Death (Poison/Paralysis) for those touched by a wraith, to resist the level drain (though they are out of combat for a few rounds due to the chill)

However, this doesn't nerf wraiths at all, because I've given both lesser and greater wraiths some extras.

• Lesser Wraiths can fly (similar to BtB Wraiths) in my campaign (24").
• Wraiths have some control over other undead (skeletons, zombies, ghouls) as long as they are within 24" - that's capped at 6HD for lesser, 12HD for greater.
• They can be summoned by necromancers - think of how demons/devils can be summoned and that's the rough analogy here. I use the necromancer class found for 1e that's been around forever as a basis for this.
• They have a nimbus of black "fire" around them, their eyes glow and the temperature drops when you are within 2" of them. 
• When they drain you of life, they regain hp that you have lost!

Nasty creatures, and my players have wisely avoided them as much as possible, although one unfortunate player in my online/Rizzoma campaign has been drained by a lesser wraith, losing a level in the process. Similar to Frodo, he now "feels" undead when they are close, and there may be more as a result of that touch...

What do you think?

AMBER: JOURNEYS BEYOND

Haunted houses are ripe settings for computer games. Within its four walls can hold countless tales of vengeful spirits and bloody murder. It's also a perfect location for some Myst style exploration and puzzling and Hue Forest Entertainment's oft-requested AMBER: Journeys Beyond from 1996 does just this.

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Nelke & The Legendary Alchemists: Ateliers Of The New World Sends Town Builders On A Quest For Resources

Today, KOEI TECMO America and GUST Studios revealed the most in-depth details yet surrounding the gameplay of Nelke & the Legendary Alchemists: Ateliers of the New World.
The 20th Anniversary title is slated for physical and digital release on March 26, 2019 for the PlayStation 4 Computer Entertainment System, Nintendo Switch, and digital-only on Windows PC via Steam, and will feature everything from resource management to town building and world exploration.

In order to successfully build a new town, Nelke will be tasked with venturing out into Westwald's surrounding lands to find raw materials; perfect to entrust one of the town's alchemists to synthesize into sellable goods. In Nelke & the Legendary Alchemists: Ateliers of the New World, an adventure party of up to five characters from throughout Atelier's collection of fan-favorite games will be formed before setting off on an investigation route, with each party member having a role: attack or support. During an investigation, players will need to be mindful of the Action Gauge. Running through an area too fast will not only rapidly decrease the gauge, but there is risk of missing items and finishing the exploration with less rewards. The Action Gauge is also used for special field events where investigative teams will search for unique items critical to success, like a shovel.

Exploration does come with its fair share of danger, though. While venturing out on various investigative routes, players will encounter perilous foes which must be defeated in order to proceed. Utilizing a collection of different skills, players will whittle down the enemy's HP bar during their time on the Turn Gauge. As attack and support skills are used, the Burst Gauge gradually fills – enabling characters to perform a more powerful ability, striking down enemies with a damaging blow, or using the new power to boost defense. In addition, each character will have their own Drive Gauge; a meter that will be filled from both attacks and the use of the Burst Gauge. Utilizing the Drive Gauge is of utmost importance as it enables members of the party to speed up their normal attacks.

In addition to the gameplay details, KOEI TECMO America also confirmed today that anyone in North America who pre-orders or purchases Nelke & the Legendary Alchemists: Ateliers of the New World within the first two weeks will be entitled to the Town Building 5-Item Set. This pack contains the Gust 25th Anniversary Background Music Packs 1 and 2, the Atelier 20th Anniversary Appreciation House, the 'Mysterious Alchemist' Statue, and an additional resident 'Gust-chan'.

Fans of the Atelier series will also be able to get their hands on a delightful Collector's Edition of Nelke & the Legendary Alchemists: Ateliers of the New World, exclusively available through the NISA Online Store. This must-have version of the game contains a hardcover art book, the game's official soundtrack, a deluxe cloth poster, and an acrylic standee featuring the main character Nelke, all packaged into a beautiful collector's box featuring artwork of the famous alchemists who appear in the game.

Life Is Strange 2 | Episode One "Roads" Review |

After a late spring of prodding, Dontnod's continuation of its award-winning episodic adventure arrangement Life is Strange is here, and it has a loud and clear message to convey to every one of us.

Quick Facts :

• Initial release date: 27 September 2018
• Developer: Dontnod Entertainment
• Genre: Adventure game
• Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows

'Roads' What Is It About :

'Roads', the first episode in Life Is Strange 2, is around two primary things; naivety and wistfulness. It's a testing, self-contradicting true to life experience about children growing up and confronting the duties that join that, encircled through the account of two siblings who are unreasonably youthful to be outfitted to manage their nerve racking circumstance. That juxtaposition is, at its center, what makes this opening section to Life is Strange 2 so exceptionally extraordinary. 

Life is Strange 2 includes none of the characters or settings of its forerunner. Its new saint, a 16-year-old hero Mexican-American kid named Sean Diaz, does not have a choice turning around time-travel capacity like Max Caulfield. Be that as it may, the minute an acoustic guitar starts carefully strumming over the sun-kissed title screen, it is obvious what you are playing. This might be a new story among new faces and obscure districts, however from every other angle this is Life is Strange.

The game rapidly sets the scene. Sean is a relatable track star youngster who is attempting to discover his way in the world , trying different things with workmanship, medications, and young ladies and stressing over whether kinships will last as his training finds some conclusion. The two siblings live with their dad Esteban, a workman and the passionate shake of the family which the siblings rotate around. 

Life is Strange 2 is inside and out a more intricate issue: its activity sprawls out from Seattle to the forested areas of Oregon and still more distant abroad, giving it the vibe of a street motion picture in amusement frame. 

The carefree dynamic of the Diaz family is quickly fathomed as you examine Sean's home, gathering supplies for a late-night party. The course of action has had a honest to goodness graphical refresh as a result of Unreal Engine 4, which infers swathes of superbly completed the process of describing objects, ordered journal doodles, and fluid, human activitys that pass on another level of nuance to the record.

Life is Strange 2, most importantly, is an account of fellowship and society, and even in its beginning times Sean and Daniel's relationship is tremendously contacting. Out and about, Sean is urged to not just pay special mind to or secure Daniel, but rather help raise him. That duty shows in manners both self-evident – don't spook the child with phantom stories previously you stay outdoors amidst the forested areas around evening time — and more hazy. You're bankrupt and eager and urgent. Is it worth a critical dollar to offer him a hint of something to look forward to as a chocolate bar or a toy? 

An untidy whiteboard demonstrates a disorderly errand plan… Invoices and apparatuses uncover that Esteban is a compulsive worker. Sean chimes in contemplatively to The Streets in his room, and Daniel opens his entryway somewhat subsequent to pummeling it close to ensure his sibling won't see his Halloween ensemble. It's a living domain, more so than any found in the principal diversion. 

The devil genuinely in the subtle elements, and this is extended to the discourse. Sean would now be able to respond to surrounding discussions amid ongoing interaction, or, in other words, much like the framework found in Night School's Oxenfree. This implies the game doesn't simply bolt you out when you associate with something, and there's very little dead air when you're investigating, which I for one believe is a colossal move up to life is strange part 1.

Discussions proceed all through physical activities, which helps me to remember discussion among Sam and Nathan in uncharted 4, makes the experience undeniably streaming and artistic. This is helped by an influx of new camera strategies, from taking off feathered creatures eye-see shots of the siblings to astute close-ups and wide edges that give space to the player to think about and consider what unfurls before them. 

A progression of grievous occasions happens not long after the introduction which results in the incidental demise of their racially provocative neighbor, which subsequently prompts their dad turning into a casualty of police severity, shot dead without hesitating. 

The menu and stock framework have been fleshed out definitively, and your knapsack is loaded up with nostalgic things from your home and will keep on clamoring with articles as you advance through the story. You can likewise hang trinkets and connect fixes to it, these going about as the discretionary collectables you can discover amid the occasions of the diversion. 

In particular, the things in your rucksack really mean something, As it holds everything that the siblings have left from their previous life. Sean's journal is another key bit of gear. Amid calm minutes Sean can utilize his craft aptitudes to sit and draw the earth around him, a fun little amusement that effectively makes a memory,(This too helps me to remember Uncharted 4 where Nathan draws his own guide in somewhat entertaining path as he continues investigating ) demonstrating DONTNOD's proclivity to attach play to the story.

While investigating you will locate an additional blue feature on specific things in the condition that takes into account a dialog between the siblings, rather than perceptions neighborhood to the hero. You can train Daniel about trail blast blemishes on trees and push him to continue attempting when he has a craving for abandoning skipping stones. 

Its influenced fascinating in light of the fact that you to understand that Sean is similarly as green to the world as his sibling, however is presently his sole gatekeeper. You're compelled to consider how you utilize that duty. Daniel is starving and you don't have any cash for nourishment, yet by taking you affect him by obscuring the lines among good and bad, which have outcomes even inside this one episode. 

Obviously, there are additionally interchange, more twofold flashpoints that don't have simple answers, however I found that creation intense choices and lamenting my activities attempted to make a feeling of perpetual quality and promise to my own story that had me considerably more drew in with this account than I at any point was in past titles in the arrangement. 

At last, this outcomes in a wonderfully paced prologue to a fresh out of the plastic new world, one that I never needed to take off. Cunning composition and important moves up to the moment to minute ongoing interaction guarantee that Life is Strange 2 is an equation breaking development for the experience diversion kind. 

The Verdict :

The first episode of Dontnod's Life is Strange 2 guarantees a greater, more intricate story than told by the predecessor, Though its social reactions feel expansive and rather awkward up until now, its center story of fellowship and clique between two conceivable characters is as of now gigantically contacting. With Life is Strange 2, DONTNOD has overhauled and refined each component that made its ancestor fruitful, while sprinkling some supernatural new increases in with the general mish-mash to make a basic kind pushing background that isn't only for fans.

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10 Of My Favourite Romantic Comedies

Tootsie (Dir. Sidney Pollack, 1982)

When I went to New York in 2014, the first two places I wanted to visit were the bench (yes, a bench) that Jack Lemmon sits on in The Apartment, the second was the Russian Tea Rooms - just so I could go to the same booth that Dustin Hoffman and Sidney Pollack sit at in Tootsie. But my parents wouldn't let me actually step a foot inside the tea rooms until I did my infamous Tootsie impression. It's safe to say I have a soft spot for this film. 

Michael Dorsey (Dustin Hoffman) is a struggling New York actor, his long suffering agent George (Sidney Pollack) has more or less given up on him due to his client's reputation for being one of the most difficult actors to work with (Michael once refused to sit down on a commercial, the logic being that he was playing a Tomato - and if they can't move then how are they going to sit down?). Michael's fellow acting friend Sandy (Terri Garr) is rejected from a role on a daytime, hospital-based soap and Michael's desperation leads him to take it upon himself to dress up in drag and try for the part himself, which he gets. He must keep up the charade of his new persona (Dorothy Michaels) to millions of viewers and everyone on set, including the leading lady Julie (Jessica Lange), whom Michael has fallen in love with. What's more, he has to deal with the affections of co-star John (George Gaynes) and Julie's father Les (Charles Durning), who have both fallen in love with him as Dorothy.

It's not just a comedy about a person in drag. It's alot more than that. It actually has things to say about sexism and the unrealistic beauty expectations that women are faced with. Hoffman has said in interviews that the film gave him an idea of how much pressure is put on women to look perfect all the time and how those who aren't generically beautiful are erased. This is touched upon in the film itself, Dorothy's looks are commonly remarked upon with those on set saying that she might look a little more attractive if the camera's pulled back... to Cleveland. Because of this, Dorothy asserts her authority with impulsive, ad-libbed dialogue changes on set that makes her character in the show a much more stronger and independent individual than the role originally wrote her to be, which helps it to become a ratings smash. Michael ends up being the most successful that he's ever been in his entire career, and he learns to become a better man after being a woman ("I was a better man with you, as a woman... than I ever was with a woman, as a man. Know what I mean?").

A few years ago it was voted the best movie ever by a group of actors. Perhaps this is because as actors, they could relate to the struggle that Michael and his acting friends go through, for example being so poor that the commute back from the day job each day was a toss up between spending all your money on a cab or the cheaper option of getting mugged while walking home. The opening montage of Michael going to different auditions and getting humiliated at each one must be all too familiar for some people, and it's easy to see Pollack's agent character as a manifestation of the frustrations that he felt due to the disagreements that him and Hoffman had on set.

Tootsie is endlessly quotable not just with funny lines ("no-one wants to see two people living next to chemical waste, they can see that in New Jersey"), but also entire scenes of dialogue that emerge out of the absurdity of Michael's situation and the fact that he's struggling to juggle different persona's. He's in love with a woman whilst pretending to be a woman, he has one leering co-star serenading him outside his apartment, another that wants to marry him and a best friend who is wondering why a man named Les is taking him for a lovely night in front of the fire. Like the two leads in Some Like It Hot he's got himself into a situation that he's fallen far too deep in to ever escape from, which snowballs more and more as the film rolls on, and it's hilarious: 

George: Julie thinks your gay?
Michael: No, my friend Sandy
George: Well sleep with her then.
Michael: I slept with her once she still thinks I'm gay.
George: Oh, that's not good Michael.

Michael: If I didn't love Julie before you should have seen the look on her face when she thought I was a lesbian.
George: "Lesbian"? You just said gay.
Michael: No, no, no - Sandy thinks I'm gay, Julie thinks I'm a lesbian.
George: I thought Dorothy was supposed to be straight?
Michael: Dorothy IS straight. Tonight Les, the sweetest, nicest man in the world asked me to marry him.
George: A guy named Les wants YOU to marry him?
Michael: No, no, no - he wants to marry Dorothy.
George: Does he know she's a lesbian?
Michael: Dorothy's NOT a lesbian.
George: I know that, does HE know that?
Michael: Know WHAT?
George: That, er, I... I don't know.

Dustin Hoffman's performance in Tootsie may be my favourite one in this whole list, he didn't take home the Oscar for this one but to my mind it's the best performance of his career. As testament to how convincing he is as Dorothy, he once went up to Midnight Cowboy co-star John Voight in drag and said how much of a fan "she" was of his movies, and Voight didn't suspect a thing. Dorothy's funny southern accent, colourful wardrobe, her complete disregard to just act out one scene as its written in her script and her friendship with Julia makes her a memorable and lovable character to us and to the characters within the film. His performance could have so easily turned into an over-the-top farce but instead we sometimes forget that Dorothy is a person in drag at all, and when Julie says at the end that she "misses" Dorothy, we do too. 

If that's not enough, Tootsie also gives you advice on how to best to deal with sexist men... zap them in the badoobies with an electric cattle prod.

"That's a lovely blouse"

Trouble in Paradise (Dir. Ernst Lubitsch, 1932)

What really is the "Lubitsch touch?" Billy Wilder said that if he knew the answer then he would patent it. Read quotes from fellow filmmakers and critics and no two definitions seem to be the same. Wilder said it was the following: 

"It was the elegant use of the Superjoke. You had a joke, and you felt satisfied, and then there was one more big joke on top of it. The joke you didn't expect"

In Ernst Lubitsch's Trouble in Paradise, this definition is summed up best during the dinner scene between Gaston (Herbert Marshal) and Lily (Kay Francis), when the two accuse each other of being thieves. Gaston returns a pin that he has pickpocketed off Lily, only to check the time and discover that she has stolen his watch off him. The film centers around these two thieves who fall in love and decide to use their skills to rob a rich woman named Mariette (Kay Francis). 

Upon its release, Trouble In Paradise was a the type of film, the likes of which wouldn't come along again for a long time. Being a pre-code picture it had concepts that simply would never find their way into films in the decade succeeding it. Here we have two thieves that get away with their crimes, that sleep together without getting married, with one contemplating having an affair. In terms of the film's style; it has certain aspects that would have forbade its showing after the code's implementation, since it used methods such as shadows and 'do not disturb' signs to suggest sex. This was the type of occurrence that Leland A Poague defined as the Lubitsch Touch: 

"A style that is gracefully charming and fluid, with an ingenious ability to suggest more than it showed".

Like Wilder, Lubitsch knew that the audience could add up two and two themselves. To put this more explicitly, Scorsese once said that "Lubitsch could do more with a closed door than another director could do with an open fly". The love triangle that occurs within the film is hinted at even as early as the opening credits, as the three names are displayed in a triangle above an image of a bed. Despite all of this, his films maintain a sophistication that has all but disappeared from romantic comedies today. Ultimately at the heart of the picture is still a warm love story, and regardless of a suggestion of an affair between Gaston and Mariette, it's clear that Gaston and Lily are the ones that are destined to be with one another; their profession is what makes them fall in love in the first place and being thieves they don't trust anyone besides each other. Trouble in Paradise is quite simply delightful and now Christmas is around the corner I'll be settling down soon to watch one of Lubitsch's other masterpieces soon: The Shop Around the Corner.

                                                                           Peter Bogdanovich discusses "The Lubitsch Touch"

The Goodbye Girl (Dir. Herbert Ross, 1977)

"Thank you Neil Simon for making us laugh at falling in love...again"

Richard Dreyfuss became the youngest man ever to win the best actor Oscar in The Goodbye Girl, in it he plays Elliot, an eccentric Chicago actor who has arrived in New York only to discover that the apartment that he is renting is already lived in by the recently dumped dancer Paula (Masha Mason) and her precocious daughter Lucy (Quinn Cummings). Unbeknownst to Paula, her ex boyfriend (also an actor), sublet the apartment to Elliot before abandoning the two and travelling to Italy, naturally she is now sceptical of men - especially actors. Elliot agrees to let the two stay in the apartment and the three must attempt to live together as harmoniously as possible.

Written by Neil Simon, the man behind productions such as The Odd Couple and Prisoner of Second Avenue, two of my other favourites (I like Jack Lemmon okay), The Goodbye Girl is genuinely one of the most sweet, heartwarming and touching comedies I've seen. Like Oscar and Felix from The Odd Couple, we see characters with clashing personalities being forced to spend time together in the confinements of their apartment (Elliot is a health food nut that plays guitar when he can't sleep and can't stand Paula's laundry hanging around the apartment). Meanwhile, the plight of the main character's job loss in Prisoner of Second Avenue is echoed in Elliot's perpetual frustration with his part in the ill-fated Richard III production which is a role that he's banking on to ignite his career. The Goodbye Girl had quite a troubled pre-production history but was ultimately a harmonious experience for those on set; originally entitled Bogart Slept Here, it was tipped to be directed by Mike Nichols with Robert De Niro in the starring role. When this fell through and Dreyfuss tested alongside Mason, Simon did a rewrite ("the script didn't work but they did) to make it funnier and more romantic: "I tailor-made the parts to fit in their specific and unique gifts". 

"Goodbye Girl was a wonderful script. Wonderful. And as actors we never got tired of it. Never...It was funny and loving. And the actors and actresses - especially Marsha and Quinn - were perfect" - Richard Dreyfuss 

The play within the film is probably the most hilarious theatre scene in a movie, up there with Gene Wilder's Puttin' On the Ritz scene from Young Frankenstein. The director of Elliot's off-broadway show of Richard III wasn't all that impressed with the way that Laurence Oliver played the historical figure and is convinced that the king was in fact a "flaming homosexual", so on opening night Elliot must prance around the stage in heavy eyeliner and lavender period-era costume while trying and failing to maintain some sense of dignity. Funny scenes like this are balanced with other more melancholy moments; such as immediately after the play when Elliot is sat in his dressing room slowly realising that he's destroyed his career, or when Paula is mugged in the street and cries about how everything goes downhill for her whenever an actor walks into her life. By writing characters that are vulnerable and who each hit rock-bottom at one point in the film, Simon makes them feel more genuine, stopping the picture from becoming nothing more than an endless stream of funny gags. 

Like the title suggests, the boyfriends who have abandoned Paula in her life have left her with a reluctance to fall in love with another man because she's afraid that he'll walk out the door too. Because of this, Elliot realises that he has to prove he's different from all the rest, and that the way to Paula's heart is through her daughter:

The Apartment (Dir. Billy Wilder, 1960)

One of the best closing lines ever, with one of the most heartbreaking reveals ever, The Apartment is one of those movies that got me into movies. Inspired by David Lean's Brief Encounter, Billy Wilder  and screenwriting partner I.A.L Diamond crafted this story of a New York insurance worker Bud Baxter (Jack Lemmon), who rents his flat out to his executives to use for their adulterous flings. He climbs up the corporate ladder, but soon discovers that elevator operator Fran (Shirley MacLaine), whom he is in love with, is one of the women that his boss has been taking back to his apartment. 

The Apartment is probably the bleakest film on this list, especially when you compare it to Wilder's more upbeat previous film, Some Like it Hot. In fact Jack Lemmon didn't regard this as a comedy at all. The world of The Apartment is full of lonely souls that drudge through their working day, who become invisible to their bosses amongst the hundreds of other workers typing away. The smoke filled bars of New York are also full of people looking for company in the lonely holiday season that the film takes place in, and not once do we see Bud with any friends of family. But Wilder created two perfect comedies in a row (seriously I'm sure any director would kill to have these two films under their belt), that despite being very different in tone still carry his expertly witty dialogue. 

Unlike lots of other romantic comedies, especially more modern ones that are populated by perfect people with perfect looks and perfect morals, The Apartment is full of flawed characters. Jack Lemmon is the hero, but he knowingly encourages his co-workers to cheat on their wives with the promise of his apartment, all so he can get a promotion. In addition, his cowardice initially prevents him from standing upto Sheldrake (Fred MacMurray), the man he knows is sleeping with the woman that he loves and who has no intention of ever treating Fran the way that she deserves (he gives her a $100 dollar bill after realising that he's forgotten to get her a Christmas present, essentially turning her into a prostitute). Bud is largely only moved to change his ways after a talking to by his exasperated neighbour Dr Dreyfuss (Jack Kruschen), who believes that Bud is the biggest playboy in town since he sees (and hears!) a different woman each day in Bud's apartment. The doctor tells Jack Lemmon to grow up... and "be a mensch", which he finally has the courage to do at the end of the film, when he wants to save Fran from her depressed stupor:

Bud: You're not gonna bring anybody to my apartment.
Sheldrake: I'm not just bringing anybody. I'm bringing Miss Kubelik.
Bud: Especially not Miss Kubelik...

Sheldrake: What's gotten into you, Baxter? 

Bud: Just following doctor's orders. I've decided to become a mensch. You know what that means? A human being.

It's probably one of the best blends of comedy and drama. Moviewise, there has never been anything like The Apartment love-wise, laugh-wise and otherwise-wise!

Also, you'll never look at your spaghetti colander in the same way again.

Jack Lemmon on Billy Wilder 

Bringing up Baby (Dir. Howards Hawks, 1938)

I maintain that the scene in Bringing Up Baby where Susan's (Katherine Hepburn) dress rips and David (Cary Grant) tries to cover her up is one of the funniest moments in cinema. It demonstrates Cary Grant's talent for physical comedy, with the usually super-suave leading man now acting as the nerdy, bumbling character that we very rarely saw from him. It also comes to symbolise one of the main themes of the film, that although he can't stand this women because she does nothing but irritate and embarrass the poor man, he really can't be without her. Brilliantly, this moment was based on a real incident that happened to Cary Grant; whereby he somehow got the zip of his fly caught in the dress of a woman that was walking past him - forcing the two to walk behind each other in search of some help.

"Now it isn't that I don't like you, Susan, because, after all, in moments of quiet, I'm strangely drawn toward you, but – well, there haven't been any quiet moments."

Not a success upon release, Howard Hawks attributes this to the fact that the characters weren't necessarily realistic: "There were no normal people in it. Everyone you met was a screwball", so maybe there was no one to relate to, but the nonsensical aspects of the picture don't take anything away from the enjoyment of watching it, these days it's one of the most beloved films of the entire genre - Harold Lloyd once said that "it was the best constructed comedy" that he had ever seen. The fact that the film centres around the search for a 'Intercostal Clavical' bone for David's dinosaur reconstruction tells you everything, because such a bone doesn't even exist in the real world, it was chosen simply because it's a funny name and a perfect MacGuffin for a screwball comedy.  

Leigh Singer points out in his video essay on the rom-com, that the love interests in films of the screwball genre often contained male and female leads of equal narrative weight - that is to say, the female role was just as substantial as the male one. Free spirited Susan has a sharp wit but clumsy nature that causes all sorts of trouble for David, he's not all that comfortable in her presence because her own quirky personality challenges his own more introverted one - she does what she wants and her actions leads to the absurd situations that occur, such as: 

When Harry Met Sally (Dir. Rob Reiner, 1989)

Like you didn't know this one was coming. I don't think I've read a "best rom coms ever" list online without this one popping up. There's a reason for that. 

Director Rob Reiner, when asked why there was a decline in romantic comedies, said simply that "there is no Nora Ephron". Although she also directed You've Got Mail and Sleepless in Seattle, I think her most lasting credit will be as a writer on this classic comedy. Reiner said that she was witty, brilliant and had great observational powers about men and women and how they relate to each other.

Whilst on a car journey to New York, strangers Harry (Billy Crystal) and Sally (Meg Ryan) debate whether it's possible for a man and a woman to be friends with one another without them eventually sleeping together. Years later the two bump into each other again and again by chance, until they soon become great friends. They're complete opposites - Sally is a perky, happy and conscientious woman who's extremely fussy when it comes to ordering her food ("I'd like the pie heated and I don't want the ice cream on top, I want it on the side, and I'd like strawberry instead of vanilla if you have it, if not then no ice cream just whipped cream but only if it's real; if it's out of the can then nothing") whilst Harry is more laid back a morbid individual, the type that reads the last page of a new book first just incase he dies before getting to the end.

When Harry Met Sally not only demonstrates Ephron's gift for writing dialogue, but her affinity for New York, the city she was born in. From that scene in Katz Deli, to the arch in Washington Square, to the autumn walk that the two take in Central Park, it's one of the most quintessential movies set in the city, the locations of which are instantly recognisable. After the 9/11 attacks, Ephron edited together a fantastic New York movie montage that Woody Allen presented at the Academy Awards, it was a call to filmmakers everywhere to never stop making films in the city. 

"There are no chase scenes. No food fights. This is walks, apartments, phones, restaurants, movies." - Rob Reiner

Thanks to people on the internet who have alot of time of their hands. We now know that, should you want the New Year's eve finale of the film to perfectly sync up with the New Year's eve countdown in real life - press play on your DVD player or Netflix at 10:30:28 p.m on December 31st. The only question is do you watch this or The Apartment, which also ends on the last day of the year? (Hint: Just watch both because they're wonderful). 

Singin' In The Rain (Dir. Gene Kelly & Stanley Donan, 1952)

"I've made a lot of films that were bigger hits and made a lot more money, but now they look dated. This one, out of all my pictures, has a chance to last." - Gene Kelly

I think he was right about that last part, Singin' in the Rain is ageless. 

This movie about moviemaking stars Gene Kelly as Don; a silent film star in the late 1920s who is  caught up in the industry's transition to talkies. Gossip columns throughout the country maintain that him and his shallow co-star Lina (Jean Hagen) are a smitten couple, even though in reality Don can't stand her. Whilst escaping from his adoring fans one day, Don has a chance encounter with a chorus girl with a beautiful singing voice, Kathy (Debbie Reynolds) who with the help of Don's friend Cosmo (Donald O'Connor) helps Don in his pursuit of capitalising on the popularity of talking pictures. 

There's alot of fun to be had from watching the characters trying to get over the hurdles that come with the new technology on set. First off, Lina is seemingly tone deaf and can't string two harmonious notes together, which means that her screeching voice is cause for disaster on any new picture that she is working on. This satirisation of the talkies process is best summed up when Lina is trying to film a scene with dialogue on a picture called The Duelling Cavalier - after a microphone  concealed in a nearby bush fails to pick up her voice, the director decides to hide the microphone in her dress, only for it to pick up her heartbeat instead. 

I've already written about how films such as The Purple Rose of Cairo (Allen, 1985) capture perfectly, the joy that we as audience members have when sitting down to watch a film. Singin' in the Rain is the same. The iconic musical number where Kelly is overcome with joy at his new love Kathy that he dances around the streets jumping in puddles and swinging on the lampposts is just about one of the most joyful scenes that any moviegoer will ever witness. Literally. If you watch that dance and don't feel a even a modicum of happiness then your heart appears to have been replaced with a block of ice. 

"The single most memorable dance number on film" - Peter Woolen

Groundhog Day (Dir. Harold Ramis, 1993)

Self-centred weatherman Phil (Bill Murray) is forced to re-live the same day over and over again in a film that The Guardian called "the perfect comedy". At first, Phil takes advantage of the fact that there are no consequences to his reckless actions, then after falling for his colleague Rita (Andie MacDowell) uses his situation to learn about her so he can pretend the two have everything in common, until finally he realises that the only way to break the chain is to become a better individual himself.

Gilbey points out that the longevity of Groundhog Day lies in the fact that screenwriter Danny Rubin  refused to implement any pop culture references pertaining to 90s culture. Unlike for example the reference-filled, horror spoof comedy style of the Scary Movie franchise that will in a few years time become "incomprehensible", Gilbey says that people in decades time will always find the underlying message in Groundhog Day profound. Rubin was attracted to the idea of how a man who seemed incapable of change in his normal life would be effected by the prospect of an eternal day-cycle. Phil's journey from an obnoxious and bitter individual into someone who deserves the love of Rita takes time, even when the predicament of his situation really hits him, the temptation to do things for his own gain and enjoyment still prevails over anything else. When he finally does change his ways and get the girl, we rejoice because we've followed Phil in his journey as he learns to play piano, sculpt ice and improve the lives of the townsfolk  around him.

"I did feel from the very beginning that I'd stumbled upon a story with all the makings of a classic, so simple and true that it could be retold many different ways by many different storytellers." - Danny Rubin

These days, "Groundhog Day" has become a phrase in itself, it has been adapted into a play and last year Sky movies showed the film on a loop (open that link - it's a genius article) on February 2nd - the date of the Groundhog Day holiday. 

Bridget Jones's Diary (Dir. Sharon Maguire, 2001)

Now I work in London I like to think of myself a bit like Bridget Jones. I have about the same public speaking skills as she does, my cooking abilities are a mirror image of hers and my relationship between two men called Ben & Jerry is probably the most meaningful I've had. That's what accounts for the popularity of this loose modern retelling of Pride and Prejudice - that lots of women can relate to Renée Zellwegger's thirty something spinster. 

It's the new year and after her mother unsuccessfully tries to set Bridget (Renée Zellwegger) up with stuck up lawyer Mark Darcy (Colin Firth), she realises that she has to take control of her life, lose some weight, cut down on the cigarettes and find herself a sensible boyfriend to go out with. Unfortunately the man she chooses to get into a relationship with is her sleazy boss Daniel (Hugh Grant, who again shows how much of a great comic actor he is). After a while, Mark is soon also competing for the affections of Bridget after realising that he likes her "just the way she is". Like Bringing Up Baby, The Shop Around the Corner, You've Got Mail and others, Bridget Jones has that familiar romance trope: that the two leads must absolutely despise each other before discovering that they are soulmates, and it's really lovely watching Mark and Bridget fall slowly in love with each other throughout the course of the film. 

Upon its release, people were dubious about the choice to cast an American in the lead role, but now it's difficult to imagine anyone other than Zellwegger in this part. Her accent is spot-on, and every single hilarious and embarrassing encounter she finds herself in makes us love her even more. She's not perfect, and that's why it's funny, as Ricky Gervais once said: "No one wants to see cool people doing brilliantly. I want to see the struggle. That's the fun bit." We love her friends too, caricatures maybe but they spur her on in the story and even do their best to pretend that her blue soup is delicious - best mate Shazzer (Sally Phillips), who can't seem to go two sentences without swearing is basically an embodiment of all my friends from University. 

I do like the sequels, but neither of them could ever match the charm of the first. 

High Fidelity (Dir. Stephen Frears, 2000)

Shifting from the London setting of Nick Hornby's source material to Chicago, High Fidelity starts its story just as record store owner Rob (John Cusack), has been dumped by his girlfriend Laura (Iben Hjejle), this prompts him to look back on his top five breakups of all time and explore what went so wrong. 

We all know someone like Rob. Whether it's a person obsessed with music or whether it's something else like movies or books, he takes what he loves seriously, putting more time and energy into compiling his top ten song lists than anything practical (I can relate to this at this exact moment, I could be flat hunting right now), even going so far as to re-organise his LP's autobiographically. His co-workers in the record store meanwhile are also the types of people that you run into very often, rock snob Barry (Jack Black) looks down his nose at anyone who buys an album at the shop that isn't within his tastes, preferring to educate them on their terrible preferences then to just sell them the damn LP and make money for the shop.

Nick Hornby books always seem to make for good adaptations. I could have easily put Fever Pitch or About a Boy on this list too. Fever Pitch of course featuring a similar main character, a bit of a man-child who has an obsession (Arsenal football club) that the woman in his life can't seem to appreciate.    The two are rom-coms that can be appreciated by men who usually hate the genre, but they both avoid the trap of becoming cliche'd "lads" films, instead simply exploring how important the interests and passions of a person are in shaping their personality.