Blue Box Review

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Shonen Jump has lost another big title with Blue Box coming to an end. At one point it was thought to be the next king of Jump to replace One Piece. Unfortunately One Piece still has many years left to go so that was not in the cards. Box still had a fairly long runtime though and was a fun enough series. I would say that it did start to lose a lot of steam in the second half but that’s just how these things go sometimes. The series was unable to capture the same high levels of energy of the will they/won’t they once the main two were together.

The series follows a boy named Taiki who is really into Badminton and a girl named Chinatsu who is a star Basketball player. They both attend the same high school although Chinatsu is one grade above Taiki’s. He has always had a big crush on her and they see each other a lot as the first two people in the gym every morning. What he didn’t expect was for Chinatsu to move in with him! Her parents will be away for a while and were friends with his parents so they got permission for her to stay so that she could focus on Basketball. Now Taiki has more opportunities to confess but also feels like this is a bad time to do so. It could make her feel uncomfortable…what should he do?

First off I would say that Taiki is absolutely correct here. He may want to confess and everything but to be honest it would be the wrong call. Her parents are counting on this being a relaxing environment for Chinatsu with no distractions. A confession is absolutely selfish here because it puts her in a bad spot if she says no. A confession can’t have any pressure behind it or else the whole thing just won’t feel right. This naturally does lead to a lot of drama though as Chinatsu also likes Taiki but faces the same struggles. They have a hard time getting on the same page and both have other suitors who appear to be interested.

That is much more of a factor for Taiki though. His childhood best friend, Hina, really likes him. She’s not even very subtle about it but Taiki completely sees her as a friend and is oblivious to every flirtatious moment. Unfortunately his best friend Kyo is a professional gaslighter who makes every situation much harder than it has to be. So there’s a lot going on but in a way that’s what makes the first half really intense. It was just really chaotic with a whole lot of players involved.

So lets go with the weaknesses of the series first. One is that the sport matches star to be more off screen as the series goes on. This was never a sports series first and foremost but we still got some really big battles early on like Taiki vs Haryu. By the end of the series we start skipping major portions of matches and even skip all of Nationals itself. You know, the thing that was Taiki’s goal from the start? That was definitely an annoying moment because it would have been so cool. You could easily have cut some chapters from the side characters to make room for that. Chinatsu’s final competitions at least got some screentime even if I would have liked to have seen more.

The other weakness by the end is that the supporting characters were never as interesting. It is pretty much obligatory that you try to pair up all of the side characters at the end but you don’t have a lot of reason to care about them. Not compared to the main two which is where all of the development had gone to anyway. Most of these characters are basically left with rebound options so it’s not like you could say the romances are particularly strong either. It works well enough you could say but it’s why the first half is much better.

As for the art, it’s not bad. It’s definitely not one of the stronger Shonen Jump titles in that area though. In particular there were two characters who looked way too similar and I would constantly mix them up. Yusa and his brother. Now granted, brothers should look alike but they really appeared to be identical at times. The art is still good enough though so I wouldn’t say that I had any serious issues there.

So lets get into the characters. First up we have Taiki and I was really clowning on him throughout the series. He just couldn’t stop catching Ls as most of the drama was his fault. Pushing Chinatsu away while in public because he got scared of what other people would think was something that happened more than once. To be clear, he was doing this because he thought that is what was best for Chinatsu. It still doesn’t make him look much better.

Then he doesn’t handle the Hina situation very well. He actually started out well by initially rejecting her but then Kyo got in his head and Taiki started to hesitate. Taiki initially knew that he only had eyes for Chinatsu and needed to stick with that. Instead Kyo gave him an analogy about coffee and a lot of other crazy stuff. Ultimately Taiki decides to still be close friends with Hina which allows her to try and make another play. That was probably a moment too far for her and he needed to break things off.

It’s extremely hard to be friends with someone who wants you. Especially when they already know that you like someone else. It comes off as really selfish no matter how you slice it. Taiki just lacks in confidence a whole lot and this carried over right to the end of the series. Even in the last chapters he is still acting like that. It’s partially because he is written as the everyman and there is this idea that guys are always going to be a little passive/nervous around the girl. Perhaps it is realistic to a degree but it doesn’t make him a very strong lead. I needed to see more fire out of him instead of learning the same lessons over and over again.

In comparison Chinatsu is the much better character. She basically has to initiate every interaction between them. She never loses sight of her goals or waves in the slightest no matter who approaches her. I also appreciate how defensive she gets when anyone makes fun of Taiki. She is very quick to fire back and that’s the kind of loyalty you like to see. Chinatsu’s a very well rounded character and continues to excel in Basketball/school even outside of the romance. Taiki may be her goal but he isn’t the only part of her world.

Even as someone who was more on team Hina in terms of character, Chinatsu is one of the best parts of the series. There can be no doubt on that. She even gets her own rival later on in the series which was pretty cool. No, not a rival in love but an actual Basketball rival so I really appreciated that. She’ll likely have to continue leading the relationship with Taiki but is more than willing to always put in the effort there.

As for Hina, well I may have liked her a lot but some of her actions are pretty indefensible. She continues to go after Taiki even once he has a girlfriend which is really not cool. I know that some will say it’s all fair game until marriage but that’s not a very healthy outlook. Do you really want a guy that you can steal away so easily? To be direct, you should give up if the person you are interested in is already taken. Nothing good can come from going down that avenue but there are certainly a lot of bad things that can arise.

Once you have moved on, then it’s possible you will find someone else but it will take time. The series presents at least two more options for Hina after Taiki and both feel like they would have just been emotional rebounds. For that reason I am glad that the series didn’t force anything at the end. The door is left open for this to succeed and it’s certainly implied that she will eventually make a choice but at least it wasn’t instant. Hina was taking her time and that’s important.

Her final character arc of realizing that she actually wasn’t over Taiki was actually a really good one. Aside from the misstep of telling him about it, it makes sense that she couldn’t just snap her fingers and be over him. A lot of times in the movies you will see a character just immediately move on when they are rejected but things don’t tend to move that fast. The feelings will take some time to dissipate.

Then we have Kyo who is a particularly weak supporting character. By the time he starts to get more screentime at the end, it is too little, too late. It felt like he was mainly around to just sabotage Taiki for a while there. I want to be clear that he never did this intentionally but has a bad habit of talking way too much and he always just has the wrong takes. The guy is a bit too quiet otherwise and then in his own romance he ends up being passive. Even in the moments that are supposed to make him likable, they never seemed to land. Ultimately I had to give him a thumbs down.

Taiki’s parents were far better as characters. It’s not like they have a big role but they were consistently solid the whole time. They mostly kept a hands off approach but Taiki’s dad would remind him to always do what’s right. Then the mom would always do her best to help out in the background by prepping for events, supporting Taiki, etc. Chinatsu’s parents are much the same way with her father very reasonably not being a fan of the setup once he found out that Taiki liked her. That’s just responsible parenting after all since that opens the door to a lot of tricky situations. He ultimately allows it but I wouldn’t have faulted him even if he had made Chinatsu move out.

Haryu works well as the first rival. In a way he is the older what if version of Taiki. He got to play at a high level and has a good relationship with his girlfriend. Ultimately he chooses not to pursue Badminton past high school though while Taiki wants to keep going. The parallels are fun and he even starts to get spooked about playing Taiki. He worries that losing to him will forever change their dynamic. That was a bit petty since they’re on the same squad and should still be playing each other a whole lot. Not playing because you’re scared will only hinder your growth in the long run.

His girlfriend Karen is a strong character as well. She was always quick on the uptake and wasn’t as oblivious as most of the other characters. She doesn’t get to appear a lot but makes sure to set strong ground rules for her relationship. With Haryu she explains that this can never be an excuse for either of them to fail. It’s a pretty good rule if you ask me although any real character should never be using something like that as an excuse either way.

Hyodo takes over as a new rival for the end of the series. He’s even more powerful than Haryu and is basically unbeatable. He has done that by making Badminton his life. He has pushed aside all other interests and has no interest in getting a girlfriend. You could say he’s the other extreme as a possible Taiki future. It may be possible to surpass him but is the cost really worth it? It just feels like that is not a good idea. The manga never makes Taiki tempted by this approach though which is a good thing.

Then we have Hyodo’s younger brother Yusa who is also super good at the sport. Initially he also believes that it requires a ton of sacrifice but then learns from Taiki that you can still live your complete life along with it. I’d say he just needed some more screentime. His romance with Hina is pretty weak and came too late to really make anything out of it. He would make for a solid character in a sequel story though. There’s nothing really wrong with him but it just feels like the guy came on too late.

Ayame is another character who was a bit of a late inclusion. Not as late as Chinatsu’s next door neighbor who just exists for potential drama but still pretty late. She basically goes through guys really fast which makes a few of the characters worry. What if she sinks her fangs into Taiki?? The story never goes there though and she’s actually a bit of a romantic as she tries to get Hina and Taiki together. Her own romance plot with Kyo is a bit forced though and doesn’t work so well. I appreciated what she added to the dynamic though.

Finally there is Yumeka who is a solid character. She may not have a ton of screentime but I did think that she made for a solid rival to Chinatsu. Her skills were definitely on point and she really managed to keep up. This also worked as a way to give Chinatsu an extra plot that wasn’t directly tied to Taiki. That was a really strong move all the way and also gave a reason for the show to include more Basketball scenes.

While the story beats are all fairly straightforward from the start, this is not a series that is being built around twists. The whole idea here is that Taiki and Chinatsu will get together and you’re just seeing how that happens. In a way you could say that is true for most romance series. It’s all about the adventure, not really about the ending. So you hope against all odds for the underdog to win but know that it will be futile. I just think sometimes the authors accidentally make the backup love interest more interesting than the main one. Hina was just more fun to have around even if you knew that she was doomed. Such is life and the appeal of the doomed romance.

The series still had a light tone throughout and just makes for an easy read. I’d say that it is a series which can really appeal to anyone. The only way you’d dislike this series is if you really just don’t like romance drama. Drama is basically inevitable for any long running romance series though because that’s how they extend the runtime. Blue Box stays pretty safe throughout though with no character making mistakes that I would deem to be irredeemable. Drama goes too far if a character actually cheats or something like that and fortunately we never even approach that point.


Overall, Blue Box is a good series that I can recommend. The romance is well written and the sports dynamic helps to add in a bit of extra flair as well. The ending isn’t the strongest and on a petty note it was kind of annoying that they couldn’t genuinely end by noticing that the gym was like a blue box. Adding a correction that it was actually orange was wholly unnecessary. I’d say the series will especially work well in a binge format so you should just start reading through the series right away. As long as you enjoy romance and/or sports then you will have a good time here.

Overall 6/10

Arrival Review

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It’s time for a sci-fi film that is really trying to be a very different take on the genre. No big explosions, fights, or anything like that. This is a grounded story where the aliens may actually be on the back foot the whole time. I appreciate the unique take and it has some interesting concepts. I just wish it could have delved into those a little sooner. It’s a fairly slow paced film. One that had a good amount of thought into it but won’t exactly keep you at the edge of your seat.

The movie starts off by introducing us to Louise whose daughter recently died after falling ill. Louise teaches classes about languages and that has been her life’s work. Well, it is time for her to use these expert skills as the government comes for her. Aliens have landed on Earth and they a way to understand what is being said. The aliens make some kind of a grunting noise but nobody can figure them out. Louise is ready to solve this puzzle and will be aided by Donnelly, another expert in a slightly different field. Can they really translate what the aliens are saying?

I will say that it seems like a daunting task to try and translate alien languages. At least for other English languages you have some common elements and things that you can use to narrow it down. In this case though? You’re starting from absolute scratch and that’s not going to be a picnic. I did like seeing all of the technology at their fingertips like software that instantly logs and matches all symbols used. It’s the 21st century after all, you should be using all of that stuff. Louise is able to figure out that the aliens use a visual style of language and quickly begins to make some headway by using that as a basis.

You will still have to just roll with some of the progress though. The characters have to make massive assumptions on what the aliens are saying and just make it work within their solution. That was always going to be the case so at least the movie did make it a real trial in order to get to that point. That’s the most you can really ask for. Once we got to full blown conversations, it would have been nice to have talked with the aliens a bit more but the film is basically over by then. Unfortunately the good parts will have to stay in your imagination as the film ends once the real plot is beginning to thicken.

Needless to say, it’s probably ultimately going to be a sad ending but not for the immediate characters. The concepts that are introduced by the end are all very spoilery but interesting all the same. I like the ideas here and that is what sci-fi’s all about. You just don’t have time to explore it much because the film is over by then. The point of this is so that it can work as a twist but I would have preferred to skip the twist stage and just make this part of the main plot. Maybe that can be the case next time.

Now for the main character, I would say that Louise does not look good by the end. Thanks to the twists, she comes across as being very manipulative. You cannot in good conscience make the decisions that she did when you know the full story. It doesn’t absolve other characters from their actions but it’s hard to root for Louise. There are a lot of factors for her to consider but she absolutely needs to mention certain facts ahead of time. Otherwise you really are just falling before fate and using that as an ultimate excuse.

Donnelly also suffers from the ending quite a bit. Now I do have to say that he deserves a lot of leniency here because he was betrayed in a very special way. It’s the kind of thing that you would never really get over but you have to remember that it’s not the kid’s fault by any means. So if he was only distant to someone else then it would be fine but apparently it was obvious to his kid as well. So that’s not a good look for him. These parts will make more sense when you watch the movie but are really all wrapped within the spoilers.

For the aliens themselves, well they start out a bit cooler than how they end. The designs aren’t terrible but definitely low tier as far as aliens go. Unfortunately they look worse as the plot goes on and we see just how doomed they are. There’s just no way around that. They have abilities that transcend time and yet they cannot defeat their own extinction without outside help? This is where using time as a plot device gets dicey. Time is essentially unbeatable. Any film/show where repeated time travel cannot stop a future has to be written amazingly or it will leave you with a lot of slam dunk questions like Flashpoint. I didn’t really buy the alien plight here.

I also think they surely could have made things easier for the humans to understand if they really wanted to. Again, I enjoy anything to do with time travel or just time elements in general but you have to be ready to answer a ton of questions. Also the film could have used a faster tempo. Any scene without the aliens would usually be a bit more on the boring side. I think you are supposed to really feel Louise’s sadness during most of the scenes but they fall a bit flat.

It’s hard to really force a scene to be sad so it either hits you or it doesn’t. I’ve seen some really sad scenes like in Episode Trunks or Madoka Magica but this film can’t quite match those. Obviously losing a kid is really sad so the film’s got a slam dunk premise but just spends a little too much time here. Also the mystery angle keeps you a bit distracted from the sadness which is probably a bit hard to write around. Needless to say, the instant you figure out what is going on, the film will feel like it’s dragging more as you wait for the characters to catch up.

Overall, Arrival is an interesting film. I wish it had just gotten to the interesting stuff a whole lot sooner. If aliens ever showed up, technically the other governments would probably be correct with their more aggressive approach. Wait too long and their space lasers will probably pop you out of the sky. If you’re up for a high concept sci-fi film then you should check this one out. It’s still better than 2001: A Space Odyssey and Interstellar but doesn’t quite hit the highs of your classic alien invasion films….since it’s lacking the invasion.

Overall 5/10

The Beekeeper Review

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This review is of the TV-14 version of the film. All thoughts below should be addressed as such as a review of the unedited version would be more negative

The Beekeeper is a pretty fun movie. It’s essentially taking a lot of inspiration from John Wick while adding in a little extra humor. How intentional the humor is may be up for debate but I do think it is winking at you throughout the whole runtime. My only main issue with the film is that I wouldn’t have added so much lore around the Beekeepers. It would be infinitely funnier if the main guy is just a normal dude who likes bees and in this world people are just scared of bee enthusiasts.

The movie starts with a scammer tricking a lady into surrendering all of her money as well as the money that belonged to a charity that she helped out. She ends up shooting herself and so Adam, the local beekeeper goes out for revenge. He takes out the scammers in a matter of minutes but it turns out that this was just one branch of a much larger organization. They considered the opening attack to be a declaration of war and are putting all of their agents into the field to take Adam out. Can Adam really defeat these guys, the FBI, CIA, and everyone else who is out to get him?

Power fantasy is a genre that is popular for anime but doesn’t happen as much in live action. You may get the occasional title but even movies like Superman and He Man aren’t generally leaning into that. This one is much more direct as Adam is shown to be able to take down whole squads single handily. He’s not better than them by a little bit, but by a wide margin. He’s on a whole different level and that’s considering that he is holding back quite a bit. For the most part he isn’t trying to murder these guys.

Well, he tends to murder the foot soldiers but holds back a little against the bosses. He begins to hold back less and less as the film goes on though. There’s just not a whole lot of mercy left within the guy and every time the villains return he’s feeling less charitable. In a sense the film shows that Adam should have taken out the main leader the first time since it would have prevented a whole lot of retaliation at first.

Now this is definitely a film that benefits from the edited version because the script is very modern. Particularly from Derek, the big mastermind behind all of the scammers. That guy talks like a kid on his XBox the whole time. Now, it can be funny to see just how out of sync with reality he is. He’s constantly poking fun at his underlings and criticizing how they deliver their messages. This guy always has a witty comeback for everything and even talks tough to Adam during their initial meeting.

He’s extremely whiny and that’s essentially the point. He has been gifted a whole empire that he doesn’t really deserve. Derek would never have gotten to the top without the influence of his mother and is always playing catch up. The only reason he lasts so long in the film is because of how many meat shields are put in front of him. Don’t expect this guy to be getting any fight scenes but he has plenty of underlings who can fulfill that role.

In particular there are at least two fighters who try to give Adam a run for his money. The first is another Beekeeper but “try” is the key word here. She is never really a threat and that was pretty nice to see. Often times you see every member of a group is roughly equal but this movie was reminding us that Adam was special. He’s not just any Beekeeper, he’s the strongest one there is. A fighter without peer. The fight was short and to the point.

The much more intense fight was in the climax against a man who has already defeated a beekeeper in the past. To that guy’s credit, he very nearly manages to defeat Adam. He was really just a move or two away from winning. While it’s true that Adam would have been weakened from the fights leading up to that moment, I’d still give a lot of credit for going close because that’s more than most others could do.

I would also note that Adam is strictly an anti-hero here. While it’s true that he initially enters battle to avenge the lady who was scammed, he does take things very far. His kill count is massive by the end and he is destroying everyone in his way. Guys like the Punisher would applaud his efforts to be sure. Ultimately he had an objective and saw it through to the end. The situation makes that difficult for the groups like FBI who are tasked with defending the villains. You feel bad for them but there’s ultimately not much that Adam can do about that. If you side with the villains then you ultimately have to be taken down with them. Unless you are Superman, you’re not going to have any easy ways to spare them all without endangering the mission.

In general the government is pretty fun to have around as antagonists though. There is a ton of corruption going on here as everyone is keeping their secrets. There is even a twist about the villain’s mother which ties into all of this. The FBI subplot may feel pointless at times but I would say that’s part of the humor. Veronica is shown to be a terrible cop throughout the movie. She can’t control her emotions, lashes out all the time, gets drunk, etc. Yet somehow she is the top FBI agent and always 3 steps behind Adam.

Adam may be helping to avenge her mother but Veronica still wants to take him down right away. She brings up the classic argument of how the laws will fix this, knowing good and well that they can’t go after scammers from different countries. Nothing would happen with the legal system here. It doesn’t mean that you abandon it of course, but she shouldn’t try to pretend like they will actually do anything. They’d probably just make Adam disappear using extra legal methods and that’s about it.

The film is definitely pretty violent so you should keep that in mind if you’re not great with that stuff. Adam is particularly vindictive against the scammers so he actively pulls off some torture before murdering each member. There are a lot of broken bones/missing limbs in addition to the bloodshed. Throw in the film’s incredibly quick pacing and that makes for a lot of violence. I gotta say, the film crams in a whole lot of plot in this adventure. It’s impressive just how much gets done and what a big supporting cast we have here.

I do standby what I said about not needing the lore for the Beekeepers though. All of the lines in the film about Adam being a beekeeper are really funny under the context of them being afraid because he likes bees. Once we get into a whole group and the government rankings then the film starts taking itself a bit too seriously. The concept is still funny enough on its own but we just didn’t need all of that if you ask me. The rest of the government stuff can stay. In general I still like seeing the meetings and seeing how everyone plans to deal with Adam. There are quite a few conversations that happen purely to increase Adam’s reputation. Whenever any of the minions tries to say that he’s just a guy, he is immediately and decisively corrected.

Overall, The Beekeeper is a pretty good film. It is really about showing just how strong Adam is and works like wish fulfillment with how the scammers are all defeated. If only someone would put a stop to them like that in real life. Eventually some scammers are stopped but it feels like new ones always arrive. It’ll be interesting to see how the sequel goes. There are a lot of fun directions you can take this film in. One thing’s for sure, Adam is going to really be dominating whoever goes after him. I don’t see the films trying to add anyone who is directly on his level. Adam is basically superhuman, there is nobody on his level. If you like a good action title then I recommend this one.

Overall 7/10

The Duelists Review

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I tend to enjoy a good swordfight but there is one style that has never really appealed to me. That would be fencing. It just never really managed to hit the same highs. It feels like half of what they do is just clang swords against each other and they have to go very slow and methodical the whole time. It’s the slowest form of sword battle there can be and so the duels tend to miss their mark here. Mix in the old setting and there are quite a lot of things going against the film here. Still, in the end I would say this isn’t a bad film. It can just be a little dull at times.

The movie starts off with Feraud winning a duel. He wins rather easily and badly injures his opponent. Thing is, his opponent was the son of a mayor so he complains to the government and they get Armand to step in. Armand doesn’t want to fight but Feraud forces the issue so Armand defeats him. That should have been the end of it but unfortunately that was not the case. Instead Feraud decides to hunt him down for a rematch….the first of many.

The film covers a whole lot of years as their duels continue over and over again. It never really ends as Feraud will win one, then Armand, etc. Armand consistently wants to de-escalate but it isn’t easy to duck the duels. To ignore a challenge would be dishonorable after all and that was a huge thing back then. Everyone is really into honor and all of that. Feraud also seems to be incredibly unstable and not really the kind of guy who would take no for an answer.

The guy proves just how determined he is as he still chases Armand after almost 20 years which is insane! He just never gets bored of all this. Additionally Feraud doesn’t actually think of his skills as inferior in any way. In fairness to him, the matches are pretty even. I would argue that Armand always has the slight edge but it is close enough where I would not say that it is definitive or anything like that. In a battle with blades, anyone can be the victor. All it takes is one solid hit after all and then that’s it.

I don’t really fault Armand at all during the movie either. There are quite a few characters who tell him to stop fighting and all of that but it is always Feraud who is going after him. Armand was not looking for a fight and would have been perfectly happy just doing his own thing the whole time. Within the honor system, Armand did what he could to avoid the battles. You could say that he should have just ignored the honor implications but at the end of the day that’s just not who he is. It’s not the way that Armand does business.

As for Feraud, well that guy’s just crazy. At best he makes for a decent villain but I wasn’t really a fan of his. He basically exists to make everyone’s lives harder. Without him Armand would have had a much easier time of things. The final gun fight was certainly suspenseful and a shift from the usual sword fights but Feraud was still doomed there as well. He got to take the first shot and still lost. At that point there is no way to really make a comeback.

I’d say you can count this as a war film as well since most of the film is taking place during active wartime. If you are a big fan of the Napoloeon era of history then that might enhance the experience as well. Naturally it doesn’t do a lot for me since it’s all just old timer stuff as far as I’m concerned. The film did its best not to feel too old but it will still be hard to really capture your attention the whole time. The movie could have definitely benefitted from a shorter runtime.

The film is also trying to keep a realistic tone for the most part since it’s based on a short story which is loosely related to some actual events. This further limits the film because you could have done some interesting things with a wider supporting cast. Have characters on both sides to further hype up the final match. Make Feraud more of an actual character rather than a crazy antagonist. There is also a point where the two characters have to reluctantly team up. I dare say you could have gotten more out of that.

The two characters wouldn’t bury the hatchet or anything but you get to see their strengths a bit more and why they were excelling so much. Throughout the movie both of them keep on getting power up after power up so it is clear that both of them are top tier fighters/soldiers. Without this grudge, both of them would really just be legends among the army. Letting them show this off by defeating a whole platoon would have been really cool.

Overall, The Duelists is a movie that I can recommend if you are a big history buff but otherwise you can do better. The action is definitely not bad but fencing just isn’t very exciting. It’s clear that a lot of effort was put into this one. it just needed more of a hook to really keep me engaged. So for those reasons the film could only manage to break even at best for me. I’m just not really able to get into the whole honor system so Armand’s plight didn’t resonate with me. The fencing doesn’t do anything for me either but at least we had a solid script. The romance is more of a miss than a hit since it is all rebounds by the end but it’s not like that is a huge part of the story. It’s a big part of Armand’s motivations for ending things once and for all though.

Overall 5/10

Big Eyes

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This is one of those films that is based on true events so I’m going to be a bit nicer to the characters than I would be otherwise. I assume the general flow is accurate to real life even if things might be changed here or there. It just doesn’t make anyone look all that good by the end of it but makes for a good story. The artwork isn’t really my kind of style but it must be huge as I definitely see it around a lot in real life.

The film starts off by introducing us to Margaret who has just split up from her husband. This film takes place back in the day where this was a much rarer event. Margaret knew that this was necessary but is in a rough place now since it is hard to get a job. She also has to take care of her daughter Jane. For now Margaret is making ends meet by selling street paintings but it is just barely enough to get by. She ends up meeting a guy named Walter who also draws a lot. He claims that she has potential and even seems to have feelings for her. Margaret feels like this is all going a little fast but then her ex husband goes to court for custody of their daughter. The only easy way out of this is to quickly re-marry so she gets together with Walter and keeps Jane. Unfortunately she did not have time to properly get to know Walter and it turns out that he is incredibly money hungry. Will she really be in for a happy life now or is that time already gone?

I’d say the first problem here is how quickly she got together with Walter. Yes, the film gives us a plausible case through the whole custody scenario but that still doesn’t feel like it would be enough for her to enter this institution again. Divorcing once clearly took a whole lot out of Margaret so going back in just seems like bad business. She could have at least talked with her friend about it more. Margaret has one friend in the film who seems to have a good head on her shoulders the whole time. She is constantly letting Margaret know that this isn’t a good idea and pokes holes in all of the gaslighting that Walter does.

The really disappointing thing is that Margaret chooses Walter over her best friend. It was clear that Walter had his own agenda so she shouldn’t have done that. The friend really wasn’t treated very well here and so you don’t blame her for showing up less often as time went on. As a friend there is a hard limit to just how much you can help someone out. After a point, there is just no way to pull that off. Everyone has to solve their own problems at the end of the day. You can give them all of the tools needed to solve it, but if they don’t use those tools, well then you will have really done all that you could by then.

Walter isn’t exactly subtle either as he begins taking credit for Margaret’s paintings right away. He offers the weakest excuses possible and Margaret shouldn’t have stood for it from the beginning. Then once he sees that she lets him get away with this much, he continues to escalate over and over. Before long he doesn’t allow her to leave her room or have any friends. Now this may just be a runtime issue but it all happens so fast that it just makes her look terrible. Margaret even allows Walter to forbid her from talking to Jane and even introducing a bunch of lies. Margaret was far too passive the whole time.

It all may sound like victim blaming right here but it’s why this film is an important example of why you can’t be a doormat. There will always be someone waiting to step on you. Margaret needed to establish strong guardrails/boundaries from the start. That would have made this a very different film altogether. Rushing the marriage was also another bad thing and I say this as someone who does think that the dating cycle can be drawn out too long. You don’t need to date someone for 2 years to decide if they are marriage material but you can’t go to the other extreme and marry someone after a few months. Dating is the interview process to try and see past the other person’s mask where you find out if he/she is a good person or not.

As for Walter, well he is an effective villain. He’s not a likable guy at all but it is still grudgingly impressive how good he is at networking. The guy has a ton of failed scams by this point but is still able to leverage more victims for his future endeavors. It shows just how much you can do when you don’t have a sense of shame. He strolls right into art galleries and lies as much as it takes in order to claim his prize. He even walks into court and lies like a champ. The guy just doesn’t get embarrassed and there is something to be learned from that.

Someone using those traits for good would be a very effective piece without a doubt. I will say that the film should have had a larger portion of the court case though. I feel like that’s one of the most important aspects of this case after all and it’s treated more like an afterthought. It’s more of a comedic plot than an epic climax after all. It was still a lot of fun but should have really played out on screen. The main argument for Walter would be that Margaret would not have been able to sell her paintings without him. He could point to how timid she was and how she didn’t have much success before him.

I would still be on her side in the court case but at least you add some intrigue there. For the most part he was just floundering and doubling down the whole time. The guy is great at working a crowd as seen before so I would think that he would put up more of a fight there. Either way it leads to a happy ending which is important. Margaret really had a rough road throughout the whole film so she earned a bright moment.

Overall, Big Eyes is an interesting film. I may not have been a fan of the art style but clearly it does resonate with a lot of people. It can be a frustrating film to watch though because the whole time you just feel like Margaret is making things worse and worse for her. She just needed to stand up for herself at least a little but instead she surrenders on all points. At the very least, she needed to stay strong for her daughter. By the time she is actively lying to Jane, it feels like Margaret has completely lost the plot. You always have to be careful if you are being pulled away from family members or friends because that is always an incredibly large red flag. Your support network are the ones you can count on to help you see what is going on with a clear head.

First Men in the Moon Review

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It’s time for a sci-fi title. Usually I’d say a “sci-fi thriller” but this really isn’t that kind of story. It’s actually a bit more of a slow burn until we start approaching the end. There’s a large chunk in the beginning where you’re just wondering when they’re actually going to get to space. It also makes the dicey decision of spoiling one of the survivors by making most of the film a flashback. I never liked that narrative decision in the past and I can tell you that this has not changed over the years.

Well, the film starts off with a bunch of astronauts making it to the Moon and they’re hyped because this is the first time that humanity has made it so far. Or…that’s what they thought! A flag is found there and so they track down one of the survivors from the original trip. He casually explains that they have already been to the Moon and they even met some aliens. The United Nations wants answers and this guy is happy to provide them. People did not believe him when he first told the world, but now they will listen!

We then begin his flashback and for a little while there we just get some comedic shenanigans. Arnold and Kate meet up with a crazy scientist named Joseph. Turns out that the guy has a way to negate gravity and so the three of them head up into the Moon. The Moon has already been conquered by a race of alien beings though. They are not particularly strong or anything like that but they do have the advantage in sheer numbers. Arnold and Kate figure they need to get out of there but Joseph thinks that they can be reasoned with. This will prevent some problems.

I’m absolutely against Joseph here. There is just no evidence to really show that these aliens will be good and it feels like the height of naivety to be trying to make peace when the stakes are this high. At least get home first but Joseph goes into full trust mode right away. The aliens can talk and have intelligence so it’s not like this is definitely a doomed mission but looking out for his friends first would have been the right move. So I definitely didn’t like Joseph by the end of this.

As for Arnold, I thought he was a solid main character. He prioritized saving Kate right away and fought off a bunch of the aliens. He even has a Superman type moment where a bunch of them jump on him and he just shakes them off. While it was a bad look for the aliens, it was definitely a good look for him. Meanwhile Kate did her best not to panic too much or anything like that. She did feel more on the powerless side though but still beats some heroines from her time. She could have used some more scenes to develop some personality though.

The aliens are one of the weaker parts of the film though. They just don’t feel very imposing and the only one who really got any character was the leader. The rest of them may not have been mindless exactly but they were close to that point. Acting like some kind of hivemind just running to the ship and getting defeated rather quickly. The ending of the film goes for a bit of a cop out approach but since you weren’t too invested in the aliens, you’re not exactly broken up about it.

Okay this is sounding rather negative so I do want to emphasize that this was a good film. It’s just a true slow burn where you have to be in it for the plot. Also you will need to see if you prefer the space scenes or the ones back on Earth. I’d say they are fairly balanced. The writing is solid and the characters are good except for the crazy scientist. It just all ends in a rather anti climactic way. It’s basically someone telling a story the whole time and there is no sense of danger as a result since you know that he survived. If the film ended by showing him to be a shapeshifter or something then that would be different.

The biggest other way to solve this would be for the story part to not be a factor. Just have the astronauts head to the Moon in the present. Have them still find a flag showing that someone else had been there but we never get those answers. It would help the film just have more of a “Cosmic Horror” vibe without having to spoil the ending or show that everyone already survived. That would have been the best way to pull this off.

The effects definitely get a good shoutout though. The film is fairly old but they did a good job of showing the Moon and the various tech involved. It’s not like you will mistake this for a 2020 film or anything like that but it’s clear that a lot of effort went into this one. Nowadays they’d probably just settle with throwing CG everywhere. I would have liked some solid music tracks to go along with the scenes though. That’s another way to amp up the tension.

Overall, This is a film I would recommend to sci-fi fans but perhaps not ahead of most of its rivals. This one could have used some more fight scenes. The brief Power Rangers type hand to hand of throwing the aliens around was fun after all. So focusing more on that would be a good thing if you ask me. That said, I believe Wells was more about writing dramatic, suspense type stories like this that introduced a lot of lore and could be weird but never turned into full on action stories. I guess the film would have to deviate quite a bit if it wanted to achieve that.

Overall 6/10

The Towering Inferno Review

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It’s time for a really long film. This movie definitely wasn’t trying to be one of those titles that you breeze through in 30 minutes! Fortunately while this is one of those films that does feel really long, it does make good work out of the time. You could definitely have cut out about 20-30 minutes of lingering shots where the film was trying to show off but otherwise most of it was for character moments. A disaster film should be trying to build up a lot of characters so you can see who cracks and who doesn’t as the situation gets serious.

The film starts off with the completion of a giant skyscraper. The owner wants to show this off and so a bunch of rich celebrity types are invited to the mass unveiling. All of the lights will be turned on for each floor so that the building can be seen from anywhere in the city. It is a technological marvel and the architect, Doug, is pretty proud of what he has accomplished. Unfortunately he finds out that they tried saving a bunch of costs by not putting in the advanced wiring that he asked for. Sure enough, the building catches fire and now we have a situation where thousands may die. He will have to work with the firefighters to put a stop to this.

First off I have to say that Doug really should take no blame in this situation. He absolutely did everything right but recommending they use wiring above industry standards and put in a bunch of fail safes. The fact of the matter is that his plans would have prevented the fire from ever happening and it is entirely on management that this situation got so crazy. They all ought to be ashamed of themselves. As a result Doug is definitely one of the most likable characters in the film. He puts his life on the line throughout in order to solve this problem and save lives. It’s why he’s here.

The biggest villain here has to be Roger. He’s not exactly subtle either, the film pushes him as being super evil to the point of being cartoony. He actually pushes someone off to his death and spends the whole film being drunk and really defensive about everything. So if you thought that maybe he was just misunderstood, think again! He’s just not that kind of character. Quite a few characters show their true colors like that although none to that degree. There were several characters running for the one seated pulley despite drawing lots earlier.

The body count is also rather big so you shouldn’t think that things are going to be going easy since it’s “just a building fire”. This is a skyscraper so that’s what makes things different. There are tons of floors and while most of them were evacuated in time, not all of them were. One group was cheating up on one of the higher floors which basically sealed their doom. That’s a trope I definitely don’t mind. When you see characters just doing something wrong like that, having them get burned/bumped off simply makes sense.

On the hero’s side, Michael does really well in repping the firefighters. He is quick to take command of the situation and cuts most of the red tape that comes in. It’s clear that he has little patience for the bureaucratic stuff as he wants to just get into the action to save people. Without him forcing things along, the casualties would have been much higher

How you feel about the film’s pacing will likely come down to how much you enjoy the fire scenes. After all there isn’t going to be a whole lot of variety after a while. You can only show someone burning up so many ways and same for the various floors exploding. I thought the film did a good job of keeping up the tension throughout though. The pacing is slow but the good writing helps to counter that. You’re certainly not going to be bored or anything as you watch the film.

The effects definitely hold up well and there is some actual music in the film which is surprising. Sometimes these titles just don’t have much of a pulse to keep things realistic but this film realized that it couldn’t hurt. I don’t really have any big negatives for the film. I’d say that it’s a fairly safe thriller title with a lot of action and it is actually hard to predict who will be included in the body count. The film has some surprising moments in that area so that you understand how nobody is safe.

The ending may not be the most satisfying as a result but it’s not really something I would shave a star off for. The movie doesn’t have a lot of deep themes or anything like that so after the film what you’ll mostly be pondering is if there were any other ways to escape. Personally I think going for the stairs right away would have been the best move but they didn’t really think about it until it was too late. I would not want to go into the elevator by any means so I’d probably have taken my chances inside the big room. That’s part of what makes the film scary though, there were no obvious ways to survive. In that sense it is more threatening than the other disaster films where usually I can backseat drive quite a lot. I’m not counting films where the entire planet is going to be destroyed of course.

Overall, The Towering Inferno is certainly a fitting title and the movie did a lot with its visuals. Fire is absolutely a powerful force and this is basically the worst nightmare of anyone who is staying at a giant building like this. I never like being too high up in general and this film reinforces that. If any emergency happens, you always want to be closer to the ground. If you like disaster films then you should definitely check this one out. It’s well made and I can see why it has such a strong reputation. It actually gives you a full setup as all of the characters are introduced before things go crazy so you’re bound to have at least a few that you are rooting for.

Overall 7/10

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy Review

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Phoenix Wright is one of those game series that I have seen around for a very long time but never got to play before. With the collection being on one of those big PSN sales, I knew this was finally my chance! It is definitely a pretty great collection and the games give you a lot of bang for your buck. This collection took me over 90 hours to complete which was intense! I came super close to hitting that 100 hour milestone.

The story follows a young man named Phoenix who is a defense attorney. He wants to help the innocent and prevent them from being sent to their death. See, in the future there are so many crimes that court cases are only allowed to take up to 3 days. If the defendant is found guilty then more often than not they are put to death. The prosecutors will use any trick up their sleeve to win a case and so Phoenix has to spot the contradictions in the evidence. If he is able to do that, then he will be on the right side of history.

Each game has a similar setup but the main prosecutor tends to change. The first game focuses on Edgeworth who knew Phoenix back when they were kids. They have quite a lot of history and so Edgeworth gets to have a full character arc. The second game has Franziska who is quite ruthless and whips anyone who annoys her. The games don’t mind getting a little extreme in this sense. What other franchise would actually have the judge allow whipping in his court right? Like with Edgeworth she does get a good amount of character development by the end.

The final game has Gadot has the main villain. He has a whole mystery going on that is unveiled as the final game gets to the end. While he felt like the weakest villain which was an interesting way to end the trilogy, I do have to admit that he had the best lines. Pretty much everything he said about the coffee or his abstract messages were just fun. So he definitely grew on me by the end.

Something the games really had going for them was the strong character roster. The supporting characters are a lot of fun. Mia and Maya have really big roles throughout the games and are people that Phoenix can rely on. Mia was really portrayed as the strongest character in the series and you could argue that she still has that spot by the end. Maya goes from being a total novice to actually challenging Phoenix in the final case. She really came along way there. The villains I already mentioned are really good as well. It doesn’t mean that every character is fun, some are a bit overplayed like the old lady. Whenever she appeared I’d have to shake my head. In a way the world feels too small when you bring a character back too often.

The games also did a great job of constantly switching things up. You end up playing as different characters as the games go on like when you play as Edgeworth or Mia. That just helps to keep everything really fresh. Seeing young Phoenix as an unreliable witness was intense. It really reinforces how you can’t trust anyone who is on the stand.

So what’s the gameplay like? Well, you have two sections, free roam and then the court case. In free roam you switch between different areas and talk to people to get evidence. You can also present evidence to people in order to get some reactions and obtain some clues. You will also click on different objects in the background like something in I Spy to get more clues. The toughest part can be deciding what to show each suspect or making sure that you have clicked on everything in the area. So you have to be very methodical. One thing you will figure out quickly is that every person should have 4 lines of dialogue. So if they have less then you must have missed something.

Some cases will add bonus gameplay styles to this like when you have a metal detector or a spray that can locate hidden blood splotches. The meat of the game is in the courtroom though and that’s my favorite part. Basically the witnesses will say 4-6 things and you can press or object to the statement. Generally you will need to press the statement first and then object to the one that is wrong. You will have to prove the contradiction by presenting a piece of evidence. It’s a lot harder than it sounds. Sometimes it is incredibly difficult to find a contradiction and I died many times in this game. It is rather brutal, if you don’t save the game midway then you have to replay a large chunk of the case. Definitely keep a backup save at the ready because it is possible to get save locked here.

The game isn’t a graphical masterpiece though so you shouldn’t expect too much there. There aren’t a lot of animations as most of the story are just still images. There is also no real voice acting outside of the characters yelling objection in the court room. I’d like them to add voice acting to all of the dialogue at some point. It would just make this feel more like an authentic audio book. So the games are very strong but they succeed more on the premise and gameplay than on the technical elements around it.

Technically there isn’t a lot of replay value once you beat the game. It’s not like there are bonus paths, you either win or you lose. Still, at over 90 hours you don’t actually need any replay value. I obtained the Platinum when completing the game because I made sure to go back and get answers wrong as needed. You’ll get most of the trophies naturally but can definitely work on getting any you missed as a form of replay value.

Overall, This was definitely a great trilogy. On its own each game may be more like a 7 because they are just lacking a bit in gameplay but together this just makes such an incredible narrative that I had to bump it up. I’ll definitely be curious to see how the next games play out. I’ll miss Phoenix being the main character as the next trilogy switches but I’m sure they’ll do a good job with the next one. It’ll probably be a while before I get the next trilogy though.

Overall 8/10