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Hoosiers Review

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It’s time for one of those emotional sport titles. Hoosiers does a good job of including a lot of the actual sports action. Sometimes these films focus more on the off the field drama but deep down we are here for the sports so it makes sense to really show that off. This movie is pretty well done all around with the only real weakness being the romance. That part definitely didn’t seem to be needed and was a bit on the rushed side but that’s how it goes sometimes.

The movie starts with a guy named Norman walking into a small town. He is here to coach the Basketball team and everyone is a bit wary of the guy. They don’t take kindly to new faces and this team has been pretty bad for a long time. It’s going to be hard to change everyone’s minds unless Norman can pull together a really big win streak. It’ll be tough though since the team’s best player Jimmy doesn’t play Basketball anymore and a fellow teacher Myra in insistent about leaving him alone. Can Norman defy the odds?

Okay so the town does look pretty bad here with how they are totally against Norman the whole time. It’s not like their team was already amazing or something. In the films where you have a new coach coming in to a championship then it’s a bit more understandable. In this case it’s not like they could get much worse so why give him such a hard time? Additionally they didn’t even have much of a plan so it would have just resulted in more losses. You half want Norman to just walk out of there since the town was being so resistant.

Props to Norman for sticking it out though. He’s not a perfect coach or anything either. The guy is stubborn to a fault and wants to make the team respect him even if it means losing a few games. And he’s not bluffing about that last part either so even when the team is losing because of his strategies, he will have them press on. At one point this even means fielding an incomplete team. If you let someone get away with breaking the rules then everyone will, so he had to make some really tough choices there.

As for the romance, well Myra can’t stand Norman initially. Right from the start she attacks him for his age and then never lets up for the rest of the movie. Due in part to that and how much older he looked than her, I was expecting a father type relationship here. She would gradually respect him and then things would work out from there. Instead that didn’t even come close to being the case and the inevitable romantic ending just didn’t make sense here. The tone shift happens way too quickly for it to be believable so this would have been better in a trilogy or something like that.

Meanwhile for Myra, I appreciate her looking out for Jimmy but it does feel like she starts several fights for no reason. She basically went in assuming that Norman would be a bad guy and never even let the guy try to make a case for himself. It’s good that she ended up changing her tune later on but it does make her appear unreasonable right from the jump. As for Jimmy, he was a good character all the way through. He made his own choices throughout the film and came in clutch when it counted.

One character who did not step up quick enough was Shooter. He starts out as being an unreliable drunk and even as he improves, he also relapses at one point. It was definitely a disappointing outcome for him since I was hoping that he would really improve. You can’t relapse on the main stage and embarrass everybody. It’s true that Norman threw him into too big of a situation right away but at the same time, he still should have been able to come out on top there. Particularly with the stakes being as high as they were.

The film is at its best when it is focused on the sports and less on the drama though. I enjoyed seeing the characters play ball as we see the various teams go at it. The practice drills were also solid and Norman’s experience definitely came through. While his on the field skills may have been lacking at times like with how easily he would be thrown out of the game but the team was definitely in way better shape than they were before he started.

It’s hard to say how good Norman was as a general teacher because surprisingly they didn’t really show that at all. It is mentioned how he has to teach two subjects as part of the contract but I guess that wasn’t seen as a big deal to the core story. It could have been an interesting subplot but it was not needed so I’m cool with it being left to the side. I imagine that any further plots could end up getting in the way of the sport itself and that would not be a good bargain. At the end of the day the Basketball has to be enough to really win the day.

Overall, Hoosiers is a pretty inspirational story about how anyone can rise to the top with a good work ethic. It can be a bit cheesy about how they start wrecking everybody and the next best team is naturally playing dirty. It would make sense to have the other best team just also be a well oiled machine with talented players but you get the message they are going for. If you enjoy Basketball or just like a good story then you will probably enjoy this movie. It’s well executed and while the story itself may be pretty straight forward, you don’t really mind that since it keeps you entertained.

Overall 7/10

Robot Dreams Review

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It’s time for a largely wholesome film although the ending isn’t the most satisfying. We get to see a whole lot of New York City which can really be the highlight of the film even more than the story. There was a lot of good attention to detail here which allows you to feel nostalgic the whole time as the adventure plays through.

The movie starts by introducing us to a lonely dog who doesn’t really have any friends. This dog does his best to live on as he eats his macaroni and cheese but then one day decides to order himself a friend. He buys and assembles a robot who does end up being a great friend but unfortunately the Dog leaves him on a beach where he is deactivated. The Dog must now make it many months on his own before he can get back onto the beach and fix his friend. Will his friend still be there when the dog comes back though?

The dog is a good example of a main character who needs to find his own internal happiness before he can be truly happy. The guy just doesn’t know how to have a good time on his own and so that’s why he is really relying on the robot the whole time. This is tricky because when you are that reliant on another person then you stop improving yourself. Before finding a friend or even a romantic partner, you need to have a full life that you can keep satisfied on your own. This means having some hobbies and such so when your friend is hanging out with another friend group or just doing something on their own, you’re not just sitting around bored.

Dog does try a few times to find things to do but they never quite work out. He tries going fishing with someone but they don’t seem to connect all that much. At the same time, he did get a post card so maybe they would have been friends for longer. Going on the snow adventure didn’t work out either and so in the end he basically has to be by himself again. I would argue that the dog didn’t really get any character development throughout the movie. In fact, in a sense he didn’t move forward at all so his happiness is still short lived. Hopefully he is more careful this time. The film makes a point of showing how he could have worked harder to get to the robot since everyone else did.

Dog is a nice guy, but perhaps not very reliable. Meanwhile the robot gets the short end of the stick for most of the film but I would argue the happier ending. The robot always did a good job of looking at things positively so he will thrive in any environment. Additionally even his dreams were pretty fun. I disagreed with his final decision though since constantly having to be hiding could get old fast. You always need to face your fears, or in this case just face whatever is in front of you. It’s really the best way to go and just get it over with.

His new owner definitely seems like a good guy so I was glad things worked out for him too. He seems to be trying hard and doing what he can as well. So while the ending wasn’t satisfying for me due to the final choices, at least it didn’t go the crazy option like making it one last dream. The dreams were fun enough but that would have definitely been overdoing it a bit.

As I mentioned before though, the best part of the film is really the NYC backdrop. There are just so many fun elements to the city and the film really captures down all the right details. It’s nice seeing the various parks, the foods, and everything else. You can tell that the creators either got to visit New York City at some point or did an impressive amount of research because it all felt very authentic. It’s why even aside from the story you could watch it just for the backgrounds and little details that appear throughout.

The animation style is pretty nice here. It’s simple but effective. It’s always easy to follow what’s happening in the movie. There is even a pretty decent soundtrack with a number of songs and instrumental themes. They worked well in showing how much fun the city was during the montages. I also liked the way the robot would hum one of the tunes. There isn’t any real dialogue in this film which I do tend to miss but at least the film still managed to be very entertaining the whole time. The characters were able to clearly show what they were doing and thinking even without the dialogue.

Would dialogue have helped the film? Absolutely but at the end of the day when you can make a film that’s still good without any dialogue, then that’s a pretty impressive feat. It’s definitely not something that just anyone can do. I imagine a whole lot of people have probably tried and absolutely failed to pull it off. The stakes are also high because if you fail, the most likely outcome is that the film will be incredibly boring which can really hurt. So make sure you have an air tight premise and fun characters before even thinking of attempting this.

Overall, Robot Dreams is definitely an accurate title for this film with all of the dreams going on. At first it might even trick you if you forgot what the title was. The movie goes by fast and it tells a nice story. I would recommend checking it out. It’s a reminder of how even the most fun activities can seem boring if you haven’t learned how to do them on your own yet. In this case the focus was really on making friends which for Dog seems like a temporary solution while for Robot it seems like he will be good long term. NYC is definitely filled with never ending adventures if you know where to look.

Overall 7/10

The Shell Seekers Review

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It’s time for a film about the horrors of growing older. You slowly realize that your time in this world is coming to an end and people start showing their true colors. It’s tough because at this point you just have to either roll with it or go for confrontations even at the end. In a way the film comes off as being a little depressing and I also thought that the main character was too much of a pushover. I was hoping she would be more aggressive here.

The film starts off by introducing us to the main character who lets herself out of the hospital because she really doesn’t like the environment. She does not want to feel like an invalid and wants to enjoy the last years of her life as much as possible. Yes, she had a heart attack but otherwise she feels just fine. Unfortunately she quickly realizes that the family thinks of her as a burden so she heads off to be with the one relative who always had her back. Unfortunately the others are still hot on her trail because they want money!

Okay so the first thing here is that you don’t have to put someone in your will just because they are family. I would say having them there by default makes sense but if it’s clear that they only want the money and don’t care about you then that’s something that has to be on the table. At one point two of her kids try stealing some rare drawings behind her back and the old lady still doesn’t change anything. By the end of the film she still has these ungrateful kids in her will which is crazy. It’s just not a smart move. I give her some credit for giving away the paintings just to spite the kids but she could have taken things a bit farther.

None of the characters here seem to make the best decisions though. One of her daughters was in a happy enough relationship but decides to toss it all aside for a big job to advance her career. I suppose it all comes down to knowing where your priorities are. If the job is really her top priority then that’s fine but I definitely don’t want to hear any excuses about it later on. The grass is always greener which is why you should not be making any rash decisions without thinking them all the way through first. That will always lead to disaster.

Also back to the heroine again, at one point she confronts her aunt and gets absolutely bodied in their debate. She lets herself get cut off numerous times and is constantly on the back foot. I think it can be tough when you’re in the middle of a debate like that but you have to establish that you are correct right from the jump. That is the first step to getting everything to work out if you ask me.

The film isn’t overly interested in redeeming the other characters and that’s a good thing. It would have probably been more on the cheesy side if any of them had a sudden change of heart. It didn’t seem like these characters would be doing anything like that anyway. So with the whole movie showing how unlikable they all were, it did mean that this film would drag on a great deal. If the heroine was calling them out the whole time that would be one thing but with the way that the film plays out, it just ends up being annoying.

Even near the end the main heroine interrupts a fight to just put herself in the wrong again which made me roll my eyes. It’s good to be a peacemaker but sometimes you can absolutely take that way too far and this was definitely one of those times. The film could have stood to have been a little happier throughout as well. To me it felt more like a cautionary tale about being careful when you’re older. Knowing who your real friends are and weeding out the fake ones. I still think it was absolutely beyond the pale to be rummaging through her attic trying to sell stuff away. That was crazy.

There is also a romance plot going on between the gardener and one of the girls and it is pretty brutal stuff. So from the start he is very cold and not talkative. He doesn’t show any real interest in her and brushes off all attempts at communication. Well, she decides to go with him anyway and then almost immediately starts to get upset at how cold and quiet he is. The whole point is that he was like that from the start so I thought that was extremely unreasonable. It would be one thing if he suddenly changed drastically after talking to her but he didn’t change at all so that was really crazy. Definitely a really bad look for her if you ask me so I was already checked out of that plot early on.

This film didn’t even need a romance plot. When your main character is old, you should be focusing on the unique trials relating to that main plot. Squeezing in a romance plot just because you can is absolutely crazy stuff. I was certainly surprised by it at the very least but not in a good way. Okay most of this was negative so at least one positive I can say about the film is that the scenery was good. The movie just needed to be happier and offer a little more hope for the heroine. Maybe add in some more likable family members somewhere or just make her really tough so the whole time she is fighting them off and we get a moment of introspection like maybe she went wrong at some point. At this point we’re talking about a completely different movie though.

Overall, The Shell Seekers was not really my kind of film. It could be too slow at times and the characters were all way too annoying. There wasn’t really anyone to root for. The writing was okay but the romance was weak and so ultimately that really limited the film’s overall potential. There was just no coming back from all of that and so I would say to give this one a skip.

Overall 4/10

Road House 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

At its core, Road House is about how fighting to save a corrupt town from itself can often just result in a lot of infighting and everybody losing. You can’t really save people who don’t want to be saved and you will lose a lot in the process. The message makes sense but the whole film feels ultra empty and hollow by the end of its run. Nothing was really accomplished and you will just be shaking your head the whole time. It’s not remotely satisfying.

The movie follows a guy named James who is supposed to be the best in his field. What is his field? The guy’s a bouncer and gets dangerous bars back into shape. He is hired by a guy named Frank to fix up the most corrupt bar in the business. There are constant fights here and the villains have guns and everything. It won’t be an easy fight but James has never backed down from a challenge before and he’s not planning to start now. Good thing he knows how to fight.

It does feel like a bit of a fool’s errand though because in most cases you would only have to deal with the drunks attacking the bar and stuff. In this case, you have a corrupt guy named Brad who owns most of the town. The reason this ruins the operation is that he can literally pay people to blow up buildings and cause a stir. Naturally the police will look the other way as well and so that means James is now fighting an entire town. At this point there is no way to actually fix things.

So during the movie you have a set formula where James will kick some people out, then Brad shows up with threats. James takes more out and then Brad’s hired goons beat them up. There is rarely ever any big progress here and most of the characters really should just abandon town. Naturally it’s not that easy for everyone though so for those people I can see why they would mainly stay out of the way. If you try to help James out then you might lose everything and it’s not like he’ll help you get the money back.

Where the film just starts to get tiresome is when the villains really ramp the damages up and the hero still can’t do anything. They burn down the store of James’ friend and he is powerless to stop them. Then James murders one of Brad’s top fighters so the guy goes and murders his friends. Every time James makes a move, his friends pay the price. It was just too many people by the end so everything felt hollow.

It also doesn’t help that the romance was really weak. James initially tries to present himself as someone who has no time for romance since he is completely on the job and yet it takes very little effort from Elizabeth to break him. Seriously, I was expecting him to put up more of a fight. Then of course she wants him to lay off the danger and does a complete 180 near the end. She is really upset when James murders the right hand man but then doesn’t care once the main villain is taken out. Even though they’re related?

Her character didn’t really make any kind of sense and they should not have been together. It’s indirectly her fault that James lost his friend by the end although leaving him alone was a terrible move on James’ part once he knew that the danger was around. I know he likes to live dangerously but he gets jumped several times during the movie and never seems to learn his lesson. There are several times where he would have been dead if Wade hadn’t showed up and James initially didn’t even ask for him.

For all the tough talk about how James is the best in the business, he seems only slightly above average in a fight. I know this isn’t a superhero film but they could have still made him a little more untouchable. They never go into his origin all that much but that’s probably a good thing to keep up his air of mystery. A prequel about him actually being the best could be interesting but films like this that just drop you in the middle of the action can be a little rare at times.

Ultimately the film just didn’t execute well enough to stay on top. The best character would be his friend Wade although the guy did flirt a little too much with Elizabeth. I feel like it was to warn James to an extent but even so it wasn’t a great idea. Frank may have hired James but he was mainly useless for the whole film. Brad is basically your classic corrupt villain. He takes a lot of risks and should have been taken out but has the powers of money and good fortune on his side. Maybe even some super durability.

In the climax he gets shot so many times and keeps on moving. I was pretty surprised but I do get the message the film was going for. It was just way too little too late. It sure it easy for everyone to step up once the danger has passed but nobody got up when it counted. The scene doesn’t come across nearly as satisfying as the movie is trying to present it as. It’s the definition of a hollow victory on all sides. The fight scenes throughout the film tend to be pretty fun but the film’s tone is just a bit off. There are not enough likable characters here and by the middle point you don’t really feel like the town is worth saving either. Too many characters are just corrupt so the mission should have been abandoned.

I think there could have been a way to have handled this where James learns that lesson and leaves before it’s too late but at least with the current setup it didn’t work. The first half was a lot more interesting with the setup and seeing James slowly learn how the town works. It’s just going for a much more jaded view on the situation which to be honest is fairly realistic. It just doesn’t work particularly well as a movie.

Overall, Road House is definitely not a film that will be remembered as one of the very good ones. It did not stick the landing but had a lot of fundamental problems even before reaching that point. If anything for once I dare say a prequel about him succeeding at the previous bar would be more interesting. I want to see the main character actually showing why he is the best, rather than trying to live off of the hype and not getting very far. Even if you’re a big fan of bars, I would say to avoid this one.

Overall 3/10

Over the Top Review

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It’s time for a film that actually gives a whole lot of screentime to an arm wrestling tournament. It’s definitely a pretty unique spin on things because there really aren’t very many films about that at all. I’ve never been interested in the sport myself. It looks way too painful and so many things can go wrong. Still, I know people tend to enjoy it and the film does a good job of presenting it as something exciting. In the end it’s a fun movie even with a really annoying kid.

The film starts off by introducing us to Hawk who is a young kid that has been doing well for himself in a private military school. He is shocked and dismayed when his father comes in to pick him up. Lincoln has been out of the picture for 10 years so this is all sudden but his mother really wants them to find a way to bond. She is super sick and so having a father will be good for Hawk. Hawk is determined not to get close to Lincoln and spend the whole trip in silence but what he doesn’t know is that Lincoln is entering the world championships for Arm Wrestling. Lincoln is really trying to win big and make his family proud but he will have to get past his father in law, Jason. Jason doesn’t approve of Lincoln and intends to do whatever is necessary to push him away.

Now you do sympathize with Jason to a rather large degree. It can’t be ignored that Lincoln straight up abandoned his family for 10 years. It’s not like it was one year or something, 10 years is absolutely crazy. The film never gives us much of a solid reason on why he left. It seems like he just couldn’t take the heat and so without any kind of justification (Which would be tough to get in the first place) there isn’t really a reason to root for him here. It’s great that he wants to make amends, but that should not be forced upon Hawk.

Lincoln is the main character so we see things from a very sympathetic viewpoint to him but even so, it makes sense why other characters would oppose him. His wife giving her blessing is nice but since she was basically on her death bed, Jason has a point that she might not have been in her right mind. The film shows that Jason is way too crazy with how he hires actual hoodlums to beat up Lincoln and kidnap Hawk so you’re not rooting for him but the movie had to make him super extreme because otherwise you may have found that he actually did have a good point.

The movie really needed to give us a better reason for why Lincoln was gone for so long. In the present he is fun with how he beats up the enemies and saves the day. He seems like a really good guy, you just can’t ignore the history. With all that said, I still don’t like Hawk. He looks unreasonable and annoying right from the jump. He’s really full of himself and even puts himself in mortal danger like when he ran across the highway. Hawks is very emotional and keeps on switching his feelings every few minutes. He seems like the kind of kid who doesn’t really own up to the situation and is always ready to pass on the blame. Definitely not a good thing to do in any context. I was expecting better out of him, even if just by a little bit.

Yes he gets his big moment by the end but it’s way too late. He was just way too emotional. Fortunately the climax is really more focused on Lincoln fighting off all the big opponents. The movie probably made the final boss a little too powerful though to the point where it is completely unbelievable that Lincoln is able to take him on. Not only is this guy way stronger but he barely struggled throughout the tournament. He’s at near peak condition while Lincoln already needed ice packs and rehab from the earlier matches. He really should have gotten absolutely crushed here.

Ah well, it’s always fun to see the hero win. This movie is generally a pretty light hearted film with quick pacing. It may not always be the most grounded but you will be having a good time as you watch it. I can’t really fault the movie for that. Having a good time should always be the main priority after all and this film never really forgets that. The ending is satisfying and things just work out. I also appreciated how big in scale and presentation the tournament felt. We had intros for the various characters, announcers hyping them up, etc. It felt like a true event and I don’t see how you can take arm wrestling much further than what this film did with it.

They even did have the obligatory arm break during one of the rounds which is absolutely why I would not engage with the sport. It seems to me that everyone who engages in the sport long enough breaks their arm at least once. It’s like Skiing where everybody says you break your leg at least once. Once is already too much for me. I know every sport carries a degree of risk but at least in most of them you can mitigate it. Once the other guy has your arm, I don’t know how you can fight it if they really want to break your arm or there is a big power gap. Too risky for me.

Overall, How much you enjoy this film will all come down to how much you can tolerate the kid. If you can’t handle how annoying and cringy he is the whole time then the movie may falter for you. If you can get past that hen it is a good film. It’s entertaining with a lot of good competitive energy the whole time. The villain and even the kid both have valid points so the movie makes sure to undercut them as necessary to ensure that you can still root for Lincoln. At the end of the day you want a main character you can root for after all and in the end this did the trick. It’s not amazing but it is pretty good and that was enough for me.

Overall 7/10