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Kate & Leopold Review

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It’s time for one of those romance films where you’re really hoping that the romance will be good but have serious doubts the whole time. Unfortunately your gut would be correct on this one because the romance is very weak. At least we have some time travel shenanigans to help with that. It keeps the film interesting but otherwise I don’t think this is an all timer or anything like that. Instead it all goes a bit too quickly and the ending doesn’t seem particularly happy.

The movie starts out by introducing us to Leopold who has a rather restrictive life. He is being pressured into marrying somebody for money since his royal line isn’t doing very well at the moment. He’s been resisting but can no longer fight against the social pressures. Before this can happen, he sees his future ancestor taking photos so he chases the guy and falls into a portal which leads to the modern day. The other guy (Stuart) gets injured and had to stay at the hospital so Leopold has to try and survive a few days in the modern world before he goes back. He bumps into Stuart’s ex girlfriend Kate though and quickly begins to like her. He will have to compete with an inappropriate boss of hers though as well as the big cultural divide that comes with the passing of time. Can he really get used to the present?

So why is the romance weak? To start with, it’s all a bit too fast. Initially Kate finds Leopold annoying and then she quickly begins to see his charm and all that. He saves her from a petty thief and also calls out her boss. The whole thing made Kate look rather naive though as she was warned not to eat dinner with the boss since he would obviously try something and of course that was the case. Now of course he is the worst character here and by a large margin but you would expect Kate to have more street smarts. Instead she fumbles her way through life, gets drunk, and doesn’t really seem to react to situations very quickly.

She makes snap decisions and those are usually not a good idea. Like her decision in the ending which seems like a terrible one because there may be no take backs. You have to assume that the future home crew will pay her a visit a some point because that’s the only way to make this feasible. Otherwise I think she will realize a little too late just how unsophisticated

Also, we have to consider the fact that Leopold was going to marry someone in the past. Yes, he was pressured to do so but that is a very small comfort to me. It means that this can happen again with people pressuring him not to marry an ordinary person. He needed to have a whole lot more agency here. I would also say it’s probably not a good idea to date your ancestor’s ex girlfriend in general but since the relatives don’t really know each other I suppose I can cut a little slack there. It still doesn’t make the romance any better with none of them seeming like serious characters.

Also, while Kate should leave the company because she can never trust that boss again, leaving right as she got the promotion is pretty crazy. I definitely can’t say that I agreed with that option at all. Especially not for a past life where she’s now going to be super broke. Hopefully Stuart finds another way to go back to the past and reads when the next portal will be around. He was surprisingly chill about helping his ex meet a new guy but I guess he put that whole relationship behind him. In a way that’s pretty healthy.

Then we have the side character Charlie who wants to be a good comedian. He seems to have decent skills and perhaps just tries a little too hard. He can be a bit annoying at times but at least he had Leopold’s back from the start. So I’ll give him points for being a solid character even if he was mainly around to slow the plot a bit. Additionally he bombed so hard at the club I don’t know how he managed to salvage things the second time around and get a girlfriend with Leopold’s help. I suppose alls well that ends well.

The way the time travel works here is pretty fun as the past seems to basically be happening at the same time. So it’s more like one of those things where everything is moving forward to you’re quickly sotted into the moment that you want to go as opposed to it making a whole new universe. The film isn’t focusing on the time travel too hard but still something that’s good to notice. To me that’s where the hook is that separates this from a random film.

Leopold could be a little slow at picking up on things here but it’s not played up too much like other films would. So he can come off as a bit dense but for the most part is just trying to do his best. He has some morals too like how he wouldn’t continue to advertise a product that was no good. The other characters including Kate seemed to think that this was a good gig either way but Leopold wanted to only do things that would leave the world proud of him. In a way it shows how society had already started to fall from his time to the present. Then again, he’s the one getting married because he can’t defy social expectations back in his day so he can’t talk much. Yeah I keep bringing that one up because it is a massive blow to the film the entire time.

Overall, This is a reasonable film. I think the boss got off way too easily but on the whole this is more of an uplifting movie. It’s a very light toned comedy film with some romance and every character running around. The cast isn’t particularly big so that lets the individual dynamics play out. I tend to always choose a good rom-com over a rom-dram and this is why. Even when it’s not the best film, it still ends up being a fun watch. The pacing is good and there is a reasonable amount of replay value. You really just have to overlook the poor romance.

Overall 5/10

Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning Review

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This is it, we’ve made it to the end of the Mission Impossible series. Naturally there is a whole lot going on here since the film tries to close out a lot of story threads at once. It’s a solid film to be sure although it is unable to quite match the last few. It underestimates how much the audience is paying attention and throws in more recycled footage than you’d expect. Still, all fans of Mission Impossible will likely be satisfied with how this one plays out.

The story starts a few months after the last one with Ethan Hunt still on the run from all of the countries around the world. His team of operatives are ready to help him save the world, but there isn’t an easy path to this. He may have the key that will allow the heroes to access the source code, but only Gabriel knows where that is. Ethan is going to have to track that guy down yet again, but every time he catches up to him, Gabriel ends up murdering one of his friends. Will this time be any different?

The story changes quite a lot as the film goes on which makes sense since it is basically 3 hours long. We get several plot twists and of course there is a pretty big cast here. In general the film does a good job of switching things up so you don’t feel the runtime but there are some moments where it seems like the film is actively padding the time. Several long drawn out stares across the room, endless flashbacks, and I would say the whole film goes on pause during a long underwater sequence.

For the latter, I’m generally not a big underwater guy so mileage will vary on that one. It just feels like everything always goes in slow motion during those points. It’s not like there are any enemies down there, it’s really just Ethan against the elements. I’ve yet to see a film that really manages to make underwater interesting and i think it’s because of the physics of it. It’s like characters bouncing around in space, you can’t really do much in the way of an action set piece there.

For the flashbacks, I don’t mind them in theory as it’s fair to have a flashback to remind folks of what’s going on. Where the film crosses the line is in showing the same flashbacks over and over. We get several scenes 3-4 times like Ethan and the rabbit’s foot, all of the missiles being armed, the end of the world, etc. If someone in the audience can’t remember what they saw 20 minutes ago then that’s rough but you really don’t need to be entering recycled footage more than once. They’re on their own at that point.

The long length of the film does allow them to have a sequence of long events before the film title actually pops up which is pretty nice though. The longer you can make the intro the better because it’s just a fun way to kick things off. Now this might sound like a bit of an insult but I would say the film peaks in the scenes before the film’s intro. We have some nice fights and it’s got that fast paced action you expect from the series. After that we don’t get quite as much action. The action does return but this felt like the most exhilarating part of the film.

We sort of get cheated out of a final fight in this film. It ends up being more of an anti climax compared to the previous films, even part 1 of this saga which had a more climactic final battle. I enjoy the general action too of course but nothing beats a big fight. So I can see how there are pacing issues within the film. You could also say that Ethan is such a dominant main character that the subplots have a harder time without him. That definitely might make it harder if they want to do future films without him, right now it seems like that would be a bad idea.

It might be interesting to handle that Ballerina style with someone calling in Ethan Hunt to take down the new protagonist but we’ll see how that goes. As expected, Ethan is the best character here. He’s a very heroic figure who always does his best to protect everyone even if it puts him in a whole lot of danger. He does make one really dumb decision in terms of going into the computer’s death chamber and nearly being fried though. I don’t think there was enough of a tangible benefit to really make that a good idea and the A.I. should have just murdered him there. There’s no reason it really needed to wait.

That does bring me to the AI or…the Entity as they call him. He might just be the weakest main villain in the MI series. It’s a good thing Gabriel was here to be a fun villain because the Entity just has no presence. He may as well be mindless with how easy he is to manipulate. I was glad he at least got one scene but the whole thing still makes him look worse and worse. There’s just nothing particularly likable about him and I don’t think he will be remembered as the years go by.

Gabriel is fun as always though. He’s still a good fighter and a real strategist. The fact that he is still able to one up Ethan and stay ahead on the planning even without the Entity is quite the feat. The guy really earned his rep as being one of the top tier villains. Additionally he is also just a really good fighter so it’s not like he is only good at theory crafting. It would have been nice for him to have had more of a proper fight with Ethan though. It’s still unfortunate that we didn’t get to see much of that since all of their battles always happened in unique venues that added a lot of RNG.

Grace’s role is a bit smaller here or maybe it just feels that way because of the bigger cast. She still gets to use her pickpocketing skills as a superpower of sorts since she can steal many things in the blink of an eye. It’s a handy ability and she gets to contribute several times in the film. This is one of those ensemble films where everybody gets something to do. Luther and Benji also have their moments where they help out. The group is very reliable at this point and Ethan knows he can count on them to get the job done.

Paris is the newcomer to the group and she’s a lot of fun. An instant show stealer and also the most powerful member of Ethan’s allies. She can hold her own in a fight and is always ready for action. You absolutely need someone like that on any team to keep the villains honest. I definitely look forward to seeing more of her if we get any more future films. Especially if Ethan is gone since she will then be the only top tier fighter on the group. We do get one more secret member of the team towards the end though and he can fight so I suppose she won’t be on her own.

The music is really good as you’d expect with the classic theme playing and always a lot of tense music in the background. The stakes are high here so the music tends to always be very serious. At times the film may go a bit overboard in how seriously it takes itself with everyone constantly stressed and looking terrified but I can picture most people acting like that so it’s not like it’s a bad thing. You’re just waiting for the characters to compose themselves and move on. This is most prevalent in the president subplot as everyone is panicking and yelling for a lot of it.

While the beginning of the film may have set things up a little too high, I still had a great time by the end. I think the initial realization that this doesn’t beat the last few films can make it all feel a bit lower initially but after you’ve had enough time to process the film you remember it more positively. I was definitely wavering on the 7 vs 8 in terms of a final score but ultimately I would say it does enough right to get the extra nudge. It also has a lot of replay value built in because of how much is happening. I could easily see it again and that’s always the quality of a great film. I would sooner rewatch some of the other ones first but yeah I don’t have many complaints with how this one ended.

Also while I would say the rest of the film after the title didn’t have as many big fights, there was a good skirmish inside of somebody’s house. It was extra interesting because of how the fight concluded, it didn’t go the way that I thought it would. Initially I figured we were setting up for a rematch but ultimately it didn’t play out that way. I guess that’s just how things go sometimes but it definitely worked as a really tense moment.

Overall, Mission Impossible has been a great series and it will be a shame to see it go. I’m still hoping they will announce a new film sooner than later but if it does end here then I can still say that we had a really good run. You definitely won’t want to miss this one on the big screen and shouldn’t let the long run time stop you. The pacing could be better and the flashbacks are overdone but I do like how they tried to tie a lot of things together here. Just get some of those mac and cheese balls at the theater and you’re all set. Whether you’re having a blast with the action scenes or mocking the entity and how he messed everything up so badly, there is something here for everybody.

Overall 8/10

Up in the Air Review

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

This film definitely brings up some interesting points and ideas. I had a good time with the philosophical angles of the film even if I thought it came away with the wrong answers each time. Sometimes you want a film that makes you think like this one though and so that part worked out. Ultimately I wouldn’t say it was a good film though as it made too many mistakes and I had too many issues with it. I can say that it is certainly memorable though and not one of those titles you will soon forget.

The movie starts by introducing us to Ryan who has the very unenviable job of having to fire people. Basically his company are professional firers, so if a company doesn’t have the heart to fire somebody, then this place does it. Ryan rather enjoys the job because it allows him to be in the air almost every day of the year and his life’s goal is to reach 10 million miles. Sure the job itself isn’t fun, but that’s all it is…a job. So Ryan aims to make the most of it but one day he is called back to home base because the big brass had an idea. Why not use computers so that they can fire people remotely?

Ryan is completely against the idea on principle but also because it would mean no more travel. He’s now expected to fly Natalie, the girl who suggested this idea, around the world with him so she gets a feel for the business. He needs to show her just how difficult this line of work is but along the way she starts trying to put ideas into his head about needing a life away from work. Is she about to confuse this guy who had his life in order?

The main conflict of course is the whole idea of being forced to work from the office but beneath that is the real struggle here. Ryan has always lived a life of isolation. He has affairs and one night stands but keeps himself untethered to anybody. That’s the way he likes it, all the fun without any of the responsibility. He scoffs at the idea of a true romance and basically has his life all mapped out. He even meets up with a girl named Alex who agrees to a friends with benefits sort of relationship. It’s certainly not a wholesome life but Ryan thinks that he has really found something here. Well, that is until Natalie starts talking to him.

She accuses him of intentionally limiting his options, not taking Alex seriously, and of basically being really lonely. Ryan only thinks that he’s happy but he isn’t actually happy. That’s her frame of mind at least. Then Ryan has to meet up with his family for a wedding and despite seeing how disastrous it all is for everybody, he starts to believe that maybe having a family would be a good thing. Hmm..probably not the best idea here, at least not with the current people that he knows.

One thing you have to understand is that from the start, Alex is portrayed as being exactly like Ryan. They’re both extremely easy and are always up for some “fun” because they don’t have any real morals. It’s not a true relationship, it’s all just surface level. Ryan lets himself get tricked out of this to the extent that he basically makes a fool of himself but ultimately he only has himself to blame here. He should have seen all of this coming. So in the end of the film you don’t really feel bad for him, it was a big mistake and he’ll learn from it.

I would even say that despite the framing, it’s not a sad ending. The only tragic thing is that he wasn’t able to really enjoy the big airplane moment that he had been looking forward to. Everything else he will get over very shortly. It’s just a small stumbling block on the rest of his journey. He will be back to being levelheaded and everything else will march into place. It’s not as if Ryan is a good person. He’s clearly into bad habits and a toxic way of living but I don’t think he was secretly unhappy or anything like that. This is just what he enjoys and the life that he wants to lead. I would say what Natalie was telling him was just projecting how she wants to live her life.

I would even say that Natalie’s life was considerably sadder the whole time. She has a pretty rough breakup, she watches her big work project go up in flames, and finally she is the one who is forced to turn her back on a pretty big career trajectory. The ending for her looks promising and that’s a good thing but she probably needs to check her route as well. Meanwhile Alex is basically like Ryan. Certainly not a good person and living life on the rough side but it’s basically what she does. I don’t see her changing anytime soon and eventually it’ll all catch up to her.

It goes without saying that the romance is particularly weak here. It’s not like you’re ever able to root for Ryan and Alex. You see them as a temporary convenience and only Natalie is initially unable to see that. Their scenes tend to be rather painful which I’d say is probably the point. While the film may have been trying to say that Ryan lost out by focusing so much at work, I’d say the wedding subplot hurts that. There are a whole lot of issues going on there and of course the groom getting cold feet at the end was pretty terrible.

This film pretty much makes the argument of why you would want to stay out of relationships. Yes they can be a lot of fun but they can also completely derail your life and need tremendous amounts of upkeep. When Ryan and Alex have their sort of debates with Natalie, they come out the victor in each event. I would even say they got the ultimate victory by enabling Natalie to have a one night stand with a random stranger. Not quite the decision that someone who aims to have a stable family would do right? You’ll have to be careful not to let this film make you too jaded about actual relationships.

There are counter arguments to Ryan’s methodologies about romance and love of course but Natalie isn’t able to properly articulate any of them. So by the end of the film the solo life looks a lot more promising than it could have been. Regardless it does go back to my main point where I’d say Ryan is reasonably happy. He has a job that keeps him busy, a goal that gives his life purpose, etc. At the end of the day those two things can carry you through a whole lot.

Overall, Up in the Air is a jaded film but one that brings up interesting topics. I had a good time with it and the only things that bring it down tend to be the romance and at times the writing can be a little sketchy. The film is absolutely at its best when showing Ryan at the job. Now I don’t think anybody in the rooms would have bought his speeches at all. I think that part was all way too smooth to be realistic but the film is trying to keep a fairly light tone throughout all of this. There are a good amount of jokes to undercut the tension every now and then. The film did have a good sense of humor, enough so where it’s almost hard to get yourself adjusted when the film goes super serious later on. If you want to watch a film with debates on romance then this is a decent one to check out but technically I would sooner recommend an actual romance film and you can use that as a bar to see if it’s the life you want.

Overall 4/10

Azure Striker Gunvolt: The Anime Review

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It’s time for a quick anime OVA that adapts the beginning of the Gunvolt game. That game was really a blast when I got to play through the trilogy and I can say that it was fun to see some of the events again here. It reminds me why Gunvolt is such a great character as he defies orders to get the job done. He does what he has to here and not many characters could have followed suit. It’s also nice to be following a prodigy who is known for the best as opposed to some rookie. It’s not like this is the only story like that but they are still rarer than the alternative so I enjoy each instance.

The story starts pretty fast as you’re thrown into some battles and we see Gunvolt get captured by the enemies The Sumeragi company basically owns the world and they are as corrupt as possible. Gunvolt is part of a resistance group that saved him a while back and he uses his powers to help out. There are people who have special abilities like Gunvolt and they are all basically hunted down or end up joining the villains. This should have been a routine mission of sabotage but it all goes sideways when it turns out that the thing powering up the villains is actually a little girl. Gunvolt is ordered to murder her but naturally he refuses such an order. What all these characters forget is that Gunvolt is a hero!

Naturally that should be an easy decision for any main character because murdering a child would make them no better than the villains. It also immediately ensures that you don’t like any of the members of the resistance since Gunvolt was the only one to stand against them there. Sure, it’s easier for him since he is the strongest one but the others still could have done something instead of just watching the whole time. So that’s why Gunvolt is the only true hero here.

We also get a glimpse of his fighting style when he takes out a bunch of minions and we even cover one of the boss fights. The cameo from the rival is a bit random as he fires some shots at Gunvolt and the villain before vanishing. I suppose it just took him a while to get there. He is a fun character to have around though. You just don’t really know what his deal is from this episode.

The animation is not the best but I wouldn’t call it bad or anything like that. It gets the job done in terms of the action and showing us the electricity effects. The voice acting definitely could use more energy as well. It feels a bit too low and the characters don’t sound as if they are in the middle of a deadly conflict. You can’t be quite so calm in such a circumstance. So that’s definitely something they really could have improved upon. It’s clear that the technical elements weren’t a top concern for this special but at least we did get a song.

This is almost like a pilot chapter for a series. It just gives you the intro and you’re on your own from there. So I would say that this one succeeds because it would have definitely made me want to check out the games. If I hadn’t played them already I would definitely be racing to order them off Ebay. While the video games feel like Mega Man, I would say the anime and concept are sufficiently different so this does feel like a new experience. Definitely full credit and bravo to Gunvolt here. The special is really over in the blink of an eye.

It’s why you don’t really want to buy any excuses for series that take until episode 10 or more to get good. You need to be good right out of the gate. If you aren’t able to be good by the end of episode 1 then you did something wrong. Even with the technical limitations, we had good writing and a solid story here. Right away you could buy into the bond between Gunvolt and the kid he saved. Gunvolt will definitely be a good mentor and protector. You can feel the hero vibes off of him immediately.

Overall, This was a good special. It certainly didn’t get top production values or anything like that but it told a good story. The concept is enough to hold the product up on its own after all. The game will just have to show you the rest of the content. Hopefully one day we will get a proper adaption of Gunvolt because this could really be an awesome story. It’s also a completed one at this point so that should also help in terms of helping the creators pace it. In the meantime this special will have to do though so enjoy it while you can.

Overall 7/10

West of the Divide Review

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It’s time for a fairly short western this time around. Watching these old 1930s titles is pretty fun to see what would stick around for future generations of films and what wouldn’t. One thing’s for sure, the black and white camera doesn’t help make it any easier to differentiate the characters. For some reason they had the main duo and villain duo wearing similar hats and outfits. Ah well at least you can usually tell who is who based on what’s happening in the story but they sure could have made that a whole lot easier.

The movie has all of the classic corruption themes going around as one guy is trying to steal cattle and money from everyone else. A lady named Fay is even attacked for her money but fortunately Ted and his partner Dusty manage to get it back. This is a full on villain group they’re dealing with though so they decide to deceive the enemies into thinking that Ted is an unfamous murderer. Now he can be involved in the plans and find a way to make sure that Fay and her father are able to get out of this in one piece. Ted will need to really make sure that his gun skills are up to task though or this will be a very short adventure for him.

One difference compared to newer films is that there is a much bigger emphasis on fist fights over gun fights. Ted takes on different opponents as the film goes on and the battles tend to be rather close. He eats some really nasty shots during the course of the film which really puts him in a rough spot. I guess these villains actually train in hand to hand combat or maybe Ted’s just weak. We can’t rule that out either because his opponents didn’t exactly look to be in the best shape of their lives.

The important thing is that Ted wins in the end though and that’s what happens. He puts up a good fight each time and is definitely a strong competitor. Naturally he is unbeatable with a gun as well and looks pretty good in those fights. His partner Dusty is also a trusty sidekick. The guy doesn’t really get much action but he brings in the backup whenever they are needed so the guy has a key role. Additionally it’s just nice to have someone as support. The whole film would be way more difficult if Ted was all by himself.

Meanwhile the villains are fairly generic. There isn’t a lot to these guys, they just want to get rich and do it fast. They figure that might makes right and had been succeeding before Ted got there. Fay doesn’t do much as the main heroine to be honest but I guess there’s not really a lot that she could do at the time. It’s not like she was secretly great with a gun or anything like that.

Probably the most noticeable area where the film feels old is with the soundtrack and sound effects. When the music plays, there aren’t any real sound effects that can be played. It also seems like there is only one piece of music in the film so they just keep on reusing it for all of the action scenes and everything. Not a ton of variety to be found here. At least the music is good but it’s also the same one that was used in a previous film so I guess there weren’t many options back then. It’s not like this holds the film back but it gives you a greater appreciation for the future where there were a ton of tracks going on at all times.

The film also has time to throw in some twists which was surprising. For example we find out that Ted is related to someone which was unexpected. It definitely makes the situation more personal and it’s good that Ted stopped someone from beating the kid up. Ted would have done it anyway of course but it was a good example for the kid. The kid doesn’t look great here as he messes up his first horse ride but I suppose there wasn’t a whole lot that he could have done about that. At least the kid never complained or anything and was just doing his best the whole time.

Overall, West of the Divide is a good film. If you like westerns then you should get a nice kick out of this one. It is old and definitely feels dated but at the same time you can definitely say that it is a quality picture. It doesn’t really have any glaring weaknesses and the pacing is really good at all times. It is the kind of movie you can easily recommend to anybody passing by. The short runtime also makes it very accessible. It’s easy to see why people really enjoyed these short films back in the day.

Overall 7/10

Toy Soldiers Review

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

When you watch films about how tough the bullies were back in school, you may sometimes wonder how they would fare against an actual threat. Well, this film isn’t quite about this as the main characters aren’t bullies but they are big time delinquents and this is their chance to do something big. They can save the school and really make everybody owe them. Do they really have what it takes though?

The film introduces us to the villains early on with Luis and his gang breaking in and causing some chaos. Luis didn’t realize that his father was already taken away though so he leaves. A long time passes by and this time he breaks into a school containing the sons of the most powerful people around. He aims to use them as hostages to get his father out of prison but the U.S. does not negotiate with terrorists. Will they break the rules on this one to save the kids or leave them be?

What the villains don’t realize is that this is Billy’s school. He’s been a delinquent for as long as he can remember and likes doing all kinds of pranks like taking the dean’s office and throwing everything outside or messing with the phones. Edward has decided not to expel him in each case though because he really wants to fix Billy. Billy’s already been expelled several times after all an Edward doesn’t want his school to just become another one of those. That said, when the terrorists invade the school, we may need some delinquents on hand.

Now you’re probably wondering how some random school kids can do anything in this situation and well…they do need a lot of plot armor. The film tries to balance the happy go lucky tone of a school film with the bleak moments when the terrorists are murdering people. It makes for a bit of an odd balance and this even affects the kids as they are pulling off crazy Home Alone type plans while in a fairly serious situation. So yeah realistically they would probably be blown away to Kingdom Come but the film lets them have their fun.

I’d say it ends up being a fun result at the very least. Yeah I wouldn’t take it too seriously so if you are looking for a very serious title then this one probably isn’t for you. The switching back and forth can be a bit jarring but I kind of get it since it’s hard to maintain the serious tone the whole time with the kids. Not impossible of course as others have done it but this one wasn’t quite ready for that.

Billy makes for a decent main character although I do think he is unreasonable for most of the film. There was really no reason to be acting up in school so much. We get a glimpse into his backstory enough to know that he’s not particularly close with any of his parents but for that reason he should be trying to make sure that he does well in school. This is his last bastion of peace after all. Once he’s out of here then it will get tricky. I know he’s just not looking ahead like that but he should be. He also loses his nerve later on in the film but gets the courage back when it counts.

There is a body count here so things don’t go great for everyone but for the most part the villains are taken down. One kid in particular who went down looked good before taking the loss. He was at least trying to do something and was ultimately just a bit too slow in the draw. I’ll take that over not even attempting to do something like most of the other kids here. Those could have used a real lesson in bravery and learning what to do next.

As for Edward, he was a fun adult here. Perhaps a bit too lenient at times but I do appreciate that he was trying to look out for the kids. He also works as the hype character in the film as he tries to tell the FBI that these aren’t your average kids. These delinquents don’t get scared or anything like that. That’s why it would have been fun if we could have seen more out of them. Ultimately there isn’t much time for the delinquent phase before the stakes go high.

As for the main villain Luis, he’s really solid as an antagonist. The guy has clear goals and well thought out plans at his disposal. Realistically he takes the win in most situations here. I did like how the fact that one of the kids was the son of a mafia boss actually played a role in the story here. It’s why Luis decided to let him go but then things went sideways right after that. The mafia gets their revenge rather quickly and we see just how much power they have. Luis may be a terrorist but he certainly doesn’t have the same level of reach and influence as an established Mafia. Not even close.

I appreciate the fact that the film actually had the government get involved but to be honest they look pretty weak here. They literally lose their entire 3 man sneak squad right they begin the infiltration. Yeah it was bad luck that wasn’t really their fault but still. These are supposed to be the professionals and they’re going down like that? No wonder the kids had to really take matters into their own hands. This is considering that the kids had earlier gotten them the full locations of where all the enemies where. If the kids had all seen that, they’d have definitely been a little irritated to say the least.

Overall, Toy Soldiers is a good film. I thought it was entertaining all the way through. Not saying it’s a great film or anything like that but I did think the premise itself was rather solid. While hostage films can be annoying at times as the heroes have their hands held behind their back in terms of what they can do, it’s fun once you reach the counter attack stage. Since the heroes are kids you shouldn’t be expecting a ton of fights or anything like that but at the same time we still do get our action moments. As long as you like a good action film then I think you will be enjoying yourself here. It’s what I would call a true popcorn flick for you to just turn your mind off and enjoy.

Overall 6/10

The Purple Rose of Cairo Review

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It’s time for a movie that has an interesting premise but never really gets into it. The movie has some ideas but the whole thing is bogged down by a terrible romance. Ultimately the film’s humor style just didn’t work out so the whole thing ends up being a dud but I do appreciate the attempt. Sometimes these films just can’t score the big W and that’s just how it goes. I’d like a remake some day that’s more of a horror thriller about the real subplot going on here.

The movie introduces us to Cecilia who is a very unhappy person. She is married to a rather abusive guy who is always cheating on her and doesn’t bring in any money. He’s basically a deadbeat. Meanwhile she has a hard time concentrating on anything and keeps on messing up at her job until she is fired. Her only real place to be calm and have a good time is at the movie theater so she goes there to continually watch a film as much as possible. One day the main character Tom jumps out of the screen and announces that he’s in love with her. Cecilia is shocked by this but then the actor who plays the character (Gil) shows up and also says he likes her. She must now choose between these men but of course she is also still married an has to think about this. What can she do?

First off Cecilia looks really bad here. At the risk of sounding like victim blaming here, she really gets herself into constant trouble. Everything at the job was completely her fault. She was not focusing at all and was instead gossiping the entire time. That’s never going to be a good idea and will naturally get her into trouble. She kept on dropping things and getting the wrong order so yeah that was a bad look. Then with the husband this is easier said than done but she needed to actually leave him. You just can’t get past this many red flags in one guy. Cheating and abusive and broke? That’s just absolutely terrible and it sounds like he has been like this for a very long time so it’s not like this is recent either. Oh no this is definitely a bad look all the way.

Finally when he comes down to choosing Tom or his actor, Cecilia looks really bad and naive here. For starters, it’s not like Gil was subtle at all about wanting to force Tom back in the screen to save his acting career. So didn’t Cecilia think for a second it was odd that Gil suddenly started liking her? Almost like this would make Tom lose his hope and just settle back into the screen? Basically Cecilia was played here and so while it leads to a sad ending, it ultimately it a situation that she created once again.

Gil isn’t a nice guy but you don’t expect him to be. He’s one of those Hollywood hotshots who is basically doing whatever he likes and she should have seen through that way easier. As for Tom, the guy is super oblivious to everything and seems to be lacking in common sense but at least he tries his best. He was able to turn down a bunch of the sketchy women who were after him after all so I can give him some credit there. That whole scene lasted a bit too long though.

What you’re really interested in is the subplot of how Tom broke through the film screen. We find out that as soon as the film is digitized, the characters become real. They’re also all unique to the exact picture that is being played. So for example if you have 100 copies of the film, then there are 100 Toms. No character has ever left the movie before but it seems like it’s something that is possible if a character ever thought about it. We find out that this has started a bit of a revolt abroad to the point where people are pulling the movie.

The fact that all the characters are actually sentient is pretty crazy. They are also immortal as shown when Tom could not be hurt despite someone trying to beat him up. There are a whole lot of ramifications to this but the movie is mainly a comedy so the characters just laugh about it. It’s a shame because that was the most interesting part of the film with ease. The whole movie industry would suddenly become a lot more dangerous if the characters could just leap out of the screen like that. Additionally we see that real people can jump into the movies as well.

Unfortunately we end up having to go back to the romance plot. Putting everything else to the side for a moment, if Cecilia was actually a decisive person that would have helped out a lot. Like if she decided to be with Tom, then not giving Gil the time of day would have been good. Maybe making it official with her husband that they are through, etc. These are all steps that she should have taken and that would have been a really good idea. Instead she is just too scattered and starts rambling about random things all the time.

Her character is just way too weak willed throughout the movie and that’s the real problem here. Even before she gets suckered at the end of the film, she never really makes the right decisions. The writing in general isn’t great either. I did like the movie itself within the movie because there all of the dialogue was on point. In the present though, the characters were all a bit too extreme like Tom being oblivious, Cecilia being indecisive, her husband being whiny, etc. It’s not exactly the kind of writing that grips you.

Overall, This is not a movie I would recommend. Just like how Cecilia wastes money on movie tickets and popcorn every night despite being ultra broke, it would not be the wisest decision for you to watch this film. Check out a different romance title instead. There are plenty of much better ones out there after all and they will all steer you down a better path. This is the path you want to go, only if you want to see an interesting premise that is shoved to the side. There are few things more tragic than a great premise that is never explored.

Overall 4/10

The Courier

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The Courier is one of those films that I can definitely say I hadn’t heard of before. It’s a pretty interesting story although I do think it did not end up sticking the landing. The final part of the film just ends up being more on the weaker side. Still, I imagine their options were limited on what they could really do considering the fact that it is based on real events so it’s not like they could just make everything up. I’m not sure how many liberties were taken with this one or not since I was not familiar with the events but I assume the general layout/beginning and end are close to what happened.

The film starts by explaining how things are still tense during the cold war and people don’t really know what the Soviet Union will do next. The West needs an informant and so they decide to bring in well known businessman, Greville. M16 and the CIA convince him that this mission won’t be crazy dangerous and they really need someone to just go in and act natural. He will end up getting something from their contact Oleg and then he can come home. It’ll all e real easy but are they hiding something from him?

The movie also ends up adapting the big Cuban Missile Crisis so it was interesting to see that play a role in the film. Tensions were definitely high all around and everybody was seen as suspicious. So honestly no matter what the CIA and M16 said, this was always going to be super dangerous. Even if Greville played everything perfectly, it would still raise a lot of eyebrows to see how often he was entering Russia. That puts you on a list no matter what and he tempted fate a little too much.

He’s presented as a nice guy who is fairly honorable and so he didn’t want to just ditch Oleg and leave the guy to his fate. A really good quality without a doubt but on the other hand it also means that he was basically entering into a no win situation. Both Oleg and Greville should have left much earlier and each one just underestimated the other side. A key thing to always try to do is imagine that the enemy has the same level of abilities that you do. So as you’re gaining more and more intel then it should come as no surprise that they will be doing the same.

A big subplot in the movie is the marriage trouble Greville is having with his wife and the big reason is because he didn’t tell her what was really going on. That was a big mistake on his part. No matter what anyone says, you can always tell your wife what is happening. No secret should be too big because if you can’t trust her with that, then your relationship is already doomed as it is. If he had come clean about this then perhaps she would have been upset and told him not to go but at least she would know exactly what was going on. Yeah the risk is higher since she can mess up as well but I think you have to take that risk.

Oleg was also keeping secrets and his makes more sense since he was actively betraying his country. It makes a lot of sense why his wife would likely not be on board with that. Still, the same rules apply here. If you can’t even trust your wife then you are already lost. Oleg had the most dangerous role here since he was a high level official working within the enemy territory. It’s why he should have played things a bit differently but of course hindsight is always undefeated.

The CIA and M16 are definitely very shady the whole time. They basically use their pieces for as long as possible and then ditch them eventually. The M16 guy at least seemed to care a bit and wasn’t going as far but the CIA lady was definitely real eager to use the pieces for as long as she could. She definitely put them in really great risks here and of course that did not play out so well. Like I said before, the ending isn’t quite as fun and that’s because it definitely gets rather dark and gruesome. The movie doesn’t shy away from showing you the tougher parts about being a spy.

It’s definitely not all fun and games like in James Bond. You’re in incredible danger at every point and once you’re caught, death is the last of your worries. It’s why I always wonder how characters will just be at gunpoint and meekly follow the villains. Your best bet is to run and they end up landing a fatal shot or something. A quick death is what you want. If you’re captured then your chances of survival approach 0 and it will be a really long period of time for you. Every minute will feel like forever. Of course in the moment it can be tough to make a decision but the important thing is to never let yourself get taken anywhere. Try to drill that into your mind as much as possible.

Overall, The Courier is definitely an intense film. It shows how difficult it is to be a spy and also how the government can put some quick pressure on you to get the job. Greville was a bit naive in how easily he let them convince him to take up the job though. He basically threw away his secure life for this and while it turned out better than it could have, that won’t always be the case. 9 times out of 10 these kinds of shady deals from the government are not going to work out well for you and it’s best to decline. If you have the CIA or another agency walking up to you and asking you to do something, you probably want to say no. There will be a lot of guilt tripping and soft threats but as long as you haven’t actually done anything, then you’re good.

Heavenly Sword Review

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It’s time for a game with a really iconic cover but I admit that I completely forgot it existed for a while there. Heavenly Sword is one of those rare 3D beat em ups that isn’t a warriors title. I love the beat em up genre so this was definitely fun although the game is very short. So keep that in mind because you will have this game done in under 6 hours easy and there are no PS3 trophies in terms of replay value. The initial playthrough needs to be enough for you to get all your enjoyment in.

The game starts off in the climax with Nariko fighting off legions of warriors but the cursed blade is draining her life force. Her battle is at an end but then we cut back to 5 days earlier. Nariko always grew up as someone that everybody disliked and she wasn’t treated particularly well. People wanted a boy, not a girl. Well Nariko did her best to get strong either way and it turns out that she is the one destined to use the Heaven’s Sword. Now she will have to fight off the enemies for a people who don’t even respect her. She only has one friend in the world, a girl named Kai. Perhaps that will be all the inspiration that Nariko needs.

Honestly if Kai wasn’t around I would not blame Nariko if she just up and left. Even up through the end when she’s saving lives you still have the NPCs being rude for no reason. Nariko is basically a one woman army and without her the main fighters would have died out ages ago. The whole thing is just so absurd that you get annoyed when thinking about it. Her own father was tempted to murder her several times and just doesn’t seem like a good guy. I know the game tries to redeem him to an extent but it’s all just too late and he nearly convinces Kai not to help Nariko near the climax.

Kai is the only solid heroine here to help out. She may not be nearly as strong as Nariko but her bow and arrow skills are really good. While most of the gameplay is your classic 3D slasher, her levels are more motion based. You shoot arrows and then control them by tilting your controller to hit the soldiers from the opposing side. While I am not a fan of motion controls and this was the weakest point of the game, I did really like the concept they were going for here. An archer or any kind of sniper is always a huge asset on the battlefield because of how many people they can take out.

Due to the game’s war setting it’s fun to see her taking people out even while the main fights are occurring elsewhere. So that was pretty cool but of course the best part is playing as Nariko. You have light, normal, and heavy attacks. You switch them up to cancel the opponent’s moves and then keep attacking to land damage. It is like a game of rock paper scissors with the 3 elements and it can be tough to memorize them. The game has a lot more depth than the average beat em up. I was actually button mashing for a good chunk of time towards the end of the game because it was hard to land the hits perfectly.

My biggest piece of advice is to roll a lot because that allows you to get out of the line of fire and start some counter attacks. Especially with the final boss who has a huge health bar you need to do this. Any time he lands a hit on you, that’s going to set you back big time. So keep that in mind here. There is some motion control elements with the platforming but not too many. You also have a lot of quick time events which are fun but the timing is incredibly fast. I wasn’t able to react to almost any of those and just had to memorize them for the second run through. Fortunately there are constant check points in this game.

The graphics are definitely pretty solid. It’s going for a big of a realistic vibe but the effects have aged well. The characters do tend to look rather ugly though and while that is the point, I wouldn’t mind a more stylized version for a sequel. The soundtrack is also pretty solid. Nothing out of this world but it works well within what the game is trying to do. You can easily picture this being a movie so I’ll be curious to check that out at some point.

The story ends with some interesting directions they could go in although I would need them to undo one decision near the end of the game. You need certain characters to make this a success. I’m cool with a whole new cast of villains though as none of the bosses you fight in the game are particularly impressive. I enjoy them more for the banter than for their actual characters. I also give Nariko a lot of credit here for her own tough lines of dialogue which bring out the best in her opponents. The shadow bird is really our best hope of a big villain for a new game.

Overall, Heavenly Sword is a short game but it is a hype experience. So how much you enjoy the game will really come down to how well that balance works for you. If you don’t think that’s good enough then you may end up skipping it but at the same time the going price for it isn’t all that bad nowadays. So to me there isn’t really a downside anymore. I would also say the high quality of the hours that we do get is more than enough to keep you going here. The levels will even give you a reasonable challenge. So I’d definitely be hyped for a sequel.

Overall 8/10

I.Q. Review

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It’s time for a romance film that has a fairly unique gimmick but at the same time it doesn’t feel like this actually changes the flow of the movie all that much. In fact, the movie would likely be about the same either way. Unfortunately it suffers from having a particularly weak romance and the characters aren’t really likable. When you’ve got an unlikable cast and the romance in a romance film is weak…well there’s not a whole lot more you can do about this. The film just ends up being doomed upon arrival.

The movie starts with introducing us to Catherine and James who are engaged to be married. It’s a rather big deal for them of course but their individual careers are also rather big. They aren’t really the romantic types but things just worked out. Well, one day their car breaks down and so they head to a mechanic’s shop to fix it. Unfortunately one of the workers there is a very unprofessional gentleman named Ed who immediately falls for Catherine and starts to bad mouth James. Ed has no sense of tact or anything like that and basically just does whatever he wants. Naturally Catherine isn’t overly fond of him so Ed works with her uncle Einstein to try and make a favorable impression. To do this, he pretends to suddenly be a genius who solved the problem of nuclear energy. Sure enough this does catch Catherine’s attention but the other problem here is that now the whole state of New Jersey is really hyped about this. Has he set himself up to fail?

The story itself is a classic of one person pretending to be somebody that they’re not in order to attract the other but of course it usually does equal out to being a bad romance. For starters this means the relationship will be starting off of a massive deception. You also have to factor in that she is already engaged here. Yes, the film tries to show us that James is a boring guy who doesn’t add a lot of spice to the world but at the same time it’s not like Catherine really signed up for a super romantic guy.

His one really bad scene was when he wouldn’t start having fun with her during the middle of a dinner engagement. It wasn’t the best time for that anyway but even so it’s not like she was actively trying to leave the relationship. So Ed going after her so hard was just a bad look. Make no mistake, he takes the bulk of the blame on this one. He really should have just kept on living his life and not pursuing her. I also think the way he did it just came across as being distasteful too because he immediately started bashing James. Not a very nice thing to do.

Ed’s just hard to root for and the guy is constantly annoying. Meanwhile I do have to dock some points for Catherine for entertaining this at all. Yeah this guy is super smart now but that doesn’t means he has to play along and entertain the guy. She is already taken and off the market, that’s really all that he needs to know. She needs to completely leave the current relationship first before any of this could happen so yeah she isn’t a solid character either.

Finally you have Einstein and his team who are supporting Ed the whole time. It’s not a good look for them either since they should have been respecting the fact that she was already in a committed relationship. It also would have been nice if Einstein was more supportive of Catherine in general like when she found an error in Ed’s work and Einstein played dumb to help the guy out. Einstein may be a genius but he was completely out of his depth here.

The film actually showed some good restraint in not making James out to be some terrible creep. Ultimately they settled for just making him boring which is fine. That’s certainly not a terrible quality particularly with it being so subjective. You automatically end up rooting for the guy. The real losers in this fight were the American people though. Everybody was so excited about being the first to have nuclear power. Even the President was ready to get involved and it was going to be a huge victory for New Jersey in general. Ed got everybody’s hopes up only to let them down afterwards. Just not a good moment for him at all.

I rather liked Catherine’s boss as a character because he’s really emotionally involved in what he does. The guy was really trying to get Catherine to find a way to help out the company and then after that he did their best. It’s why lying is always a bad approach because there will always be several victims involved. Ed never actually seems all that remorseful for what he did though. They definitely could have made things a little tougher for him.

In terms of the comedic aspects of the film, it’s okay. It’s not the funniest film out there but there are a decent amount of jokes running around. It’s one of those things where the jokes would work better if you really enjoyed the characters. I liked Ed’s boss though, the guy was trying to keep it real the whole time but would crumble when it was time to get famous. He told Ed that the whole thing was a bad idea from the start though so I have to give him credit there. Then you had the scientists feeding Ed the right answers during tests but the whole thing was so obvious that it mainly just makes the side characters look bad.

Overall, I.Q. is not one of the better films. I feel like the premise absolutely dooms it from the start. The worst part is that you could cut out her fiancé and almost nothing changes yet it would help the film out quite a bit. Ed would still be annoying but at least he wouldn’t feel like a bad character so that’s an immediate improvement. It’s a reminder of how even small plot elements can really change a whole lot of things. All it takes is one story element to really shut things down. If they ever do a remake of this film perhaps they could really improve it. I doubt it’ll return tho.

Overall 4/10