Category Archives: Live Action Movies

What About Bob? Review

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It’s time for a pretty crazy film about what might happen if someone decides to stalk you across the city. This one’s a comedy though so we get to see the fun parts of the premise without dwelling on the darker elements. What this film does particularly well is not breaking character at all during the journey. Even right as we are getting to the end of the film, it resists the urge to suddenly get serious. I thought that was really impressive because 99% of the time the film will quickly get serious at the end to try and land some kind of message. This time the film wasn’t worried about any of that and I thought it was better off for it.

The main character here is debatably Bob or Leo but I’m going to say that it’s Leo. Leo is a professional psychiatrist who is getting ready for a long vacation. Unfortunately he has one last interview before he heads out and it is with a guy named Bob. Bob comes from another psychiatrist who retired suddenly but seems like a harmless guy. Bob suffers from numerous phobias but the biggest one is the fear of germs. He always carries a napkin so he doesn’t have to touch anything directly. Leo gives him some general advice and then heads on vacation. The problem? Bob has followed him over and declares that he won’t be leaving, Leo needs to be giving him guidance 24/7. Can Leo throw Bob out without hurting his reputation with his family?

Leo’s also got a big interview with Good Morning America about his new book and this is threatening that appointment quite a lot. So Leo is stressed throughout the film and you can definitely feel his pain. It doesn’t help that his family quickly become big fans of Bob. They want him around and even think that he is more fun than Lein general. That’s really not good for Leo’s chances of getting them on board. Every time he makes a move against Bob they end up getting more and more upset.

Leo is the antagonist by the end of the film though. He is absolutely trying to destroy Bob and is willing to use bombs for this approach. So as sympathetic as he gets you do have to remember that he is also crazy. It’s just in a different way than Bob. At one point you feel like the film is about to end with the interview but then we get a whole other act after that which was a really good fakeout. The constant battle with Leo and Bob is really where a lot of the humor comes from. I would say Leo is the standout character here and you couldn’t make the film without him.

The movie’s sense of humor is really good so you’ll be having a good time throughout. The pacing is solid as well and the film doesn’t really have any weaknesses here. This is an old school comedy film that manages to land just about all of its jokes. I guess the weakest part of the film would be the family for me. They tend to take Bob’s side a little too easily. That’s part of the joke of course so it works within the film’s context but for the characters themselves you’ll be shaking your head.

As for Bob, he’s fun because he is absolutely psychotic. If he wasn’t crazy then of course he would be a big antagonist as well. Instead you can just make the case that he is supremely oblivious and has no idea what is going on. In a way that is definitely a rough situation to be in. He does manage to get over his traumas pretty quickly but then he still has to get readjusted to real life where he doesn’t understand boundaries and common sense elements. Once he has those, then he would really be okay but that’s not likely to happen anytime soon.

He clearly knows enough to get along with most people to the point where he is even getting married. So Bob has potential here but the specific mental block of his psychiatrist may just be something that’s cemented by this point. If we ever get a sequel, the film already set things up with a legal battle that is about to ensue. It’s more of a funny ending than anything trying to set up a sequel of course but it could work if they ever wanted to get some nostalgia money out of the audience.

The cast is pretty small which is good for this film. There wouldn’t be time to introduce a bunch of characters or anything like that. We did have some fun supporting characters though like the crazy next door neighbors who are always around. Additionally there is Leo’s colleague from the crazy ward but she ended up not being of any real help here. Somehow Bob took over the whole place in under a day which again shows just how charismatic he can be when he really wants to.

He also has a lot of good technical skills like getting a bus to where Leo lives and finding out all of the information on how to get there. Bob has a very one track mind and so I think Leo’s best chance to stop him would have been to trick the guy. Get him to use his one track mind for something but that is easier said than done. Leo tries to trick him on numerous occasions and it just never seems to work. Bob is always a few steps ahead of him. That’s just how it goes.

Overall, What About Bob? is a film that has a really crazy premise and just rolls with it. That’s so much better than trying to take this too seriously. Bob even pretends to off himself at one point to infiltrate a call center which is absolutely diabolical. If you like watching comedies like this then this one is absolutely up your alley. If you are looking for one of those films that has a very serious moral/message at the end…well then this one isn’t exactly for you.

Overall 7/10

Exit 8 Review

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It’s time for a horror title that came out recently. Exit 8 definitely delivers on the scares and especially hits hard if you are claustrophobic at all. I tend to not be great in small spaces but a train station is just large enough where I don’t think it would end up being a really big deal. As for clearing the challenges, well you better hope that you are really good at games.

The story starts with a guy getting on a train and noticing a young mother getting yelled at by a random guy. He stands by without doing anything and the same is true of everyone else on the train. He eventually gets to leave but then gets a call from his ex-girlfriend. She is pregnant and it seems to be his kid but she is unsure of what to do next. She is looking to the lead for some counsel but he’s not sure either which is not really helpful. Still, he says he will visit her at the hospital…but then he loses signal on his phone and suddenly there is no way out of the subway. There are 2 rooms that just keep on repeating forever and a sign on the wall which has some rules to follow. If he sees an anomaly, he must move backwards. If there is no anomaly, move forward. The rules sound simple but the game will prove to be difficult.

If you’ve played memory match games then that will be very helpful here. The subway station corridors are pretty uneventful. There are a number of posters and doors as well as a photo booth but that’s about it. Still, the changes can be really small things like doorhandles being in the wrong spot or the posters being a little more immersive than usual. Depending how paranoid you get by the end, you’ll also be fighting yourself. So there are a whole lot of variables to keep track of here.

Now there is a case to be made here for the game being a lot easier than the main character makes it appear. That’s fair because this guy does have asthma so he constantly runs out of breath and this makes it more difficult for him to move forward. Because of how small the distance is, most players would probably go at a quicker pace and try a lot of things before the slow and methodical approach that the lead does. I feel like you would only star to go crazy after doing the rounds for many, many times. It feels like the main character gets exhausted a little too quickly. Physically it makes sense but I’m talking mentally here.

Clearly he hasn’t played the kinds of video games that require you to grind for many hours at a time. It’s why on a serious note, it’s good to be prepared for those kind of situations because this is a trial that can be much easier if you are prepared for it. Now once the game stars to get close to cheating by summoning vicious animals and floods…well then that’s another story. So by that point you’re going to have to rely on some luck and plot armor. I guess you could just pick a direction and run to reset the room but that’s going to be a little unnerving. At least there doesn’t appear to be any rule that forces you to hurry so you can also just rest in a stable room for a while to get your energy up.

You don’t know that for a fact though so it’s possible that the rooms do have an invisible time limit and you would be doomed. It’s just impossible to say this for sure. As for how likable the main guy is, I thought he was decent at best. The guy is definitely a coward with how he didn’t step up at the beginning and even hesitates for a long time at the end. That said, the film is about his development so I would say that he has gotten better over the course of the film. He may not be a true standout by the end but he’s not bad.

The character cast is fairly small but we also have a girl who wanders the subways. Who is she exactly? Like with most of the film you can only speculate here. She was interesting though and did give one of the scarier moments of the film. For the most part the film is trying to scare you with its own concept as opposed to actual jump scares but there are a few exceptions to this. There is also the man who walks around the subway with a briefcase.

For the most part I thought he was okay. He had to deal with a pretty annoying teammate the whole time. The guy definitely did lose his cool by the end and fell for a really easy trap but at least had a decent mindset for the game. If he was by himself I think he would have maybe even lasted longer but probably would have fell for the trap. It’s why you should always play the game cautiously until you are sure about the win conditions.

As for the kid, well he’s got to be the weakest character. Yes he is a kid so you want to cut him some slack but being so quiet for most of the film was really not good. This is a situation of life and death after all so staying quiet really just puts you in a bad spot. Everyone has to do their part in order to try and escape this place alive after all.

I did appreciate how the film gives you just enough pieces to try and cobble the ending together on your own. There are quite a few plausible theories here. Is the main character still stuck in the loop or will it be broken by his action at the end? Does he have any relation to the man with the suitcase? If yes, then he must have a relation to the girl wandering there as well but if not then it appears to be a 1 victim at a time thing. Is the subway trap a moral trial for those who have made a big mistake in their life? The kid may suggest time travel or parallel worlds as well. Lots of fun theories to throw around there. I personally like the idea of full on time travel with 3 alternate versions of the lead but the theory does mostly fall apart around the little kid unless you realllllly stretch things. Probably makes more sense as a good and bad future but then the good one isn’t fully good because the kid went through a lot.

Well, theory crafting is fun at any time either way. The movie will keep your attention the whole time even though it is really just about people walking through a subway tunnel the whole time. Personally I could have done that for the full 2 hours. The only obstacle in the film that I didn’t care for were the rats with human parts. The special effects used definitely looked eerie but more in a gross way than in a scary one. I would have definitely skipped that part. I also think that this part and the flood just feel like the game cheating.

Maybe you could say that cheating makes the situation scarier and you could be right but it’s less satisfying. The idea of a difficult but fair game is much better because you still have the existential fear of never getting out but at least having a chance. You don’t want a rigged game where you know there is no way out. It doesn’t get to that point for the main character but there could be an implication that it would do that for the other characters. If you stick to objective rules then you don’t have to worry about that.

Overall, Exit 8 is a pretty solid film. I’d definitely recommend checking it out to anyone looking for a unique survival scenario. It’s a horror title that uses a lot of game elements and makes you wonder how you would perform. I may be a little overconfident but I think I’d do pretty well there. At the very least I wouldn’t be falling for the phone trap or talking to a random person in the hallway. The game would need to get a little more creative than that in order to take me down for the count.

Overall 7/10

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

Sneakers Review

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It’s time for an Oceans 11 type of film that I hadn’t really heard of before. This one has aged well and I just enjoy these kind of heist stories. There is a good sense of danger throughout even if the ending is perhaps a bit more optimistic than what would likely be happening here. The important thing is that the movie wasn’t going to end on a super sour note and I definitely appreciate that.

The movie starts with Martin and Cosmo using their hacking skills to steal a ton of money from rich people and reallocating it to their favorite social causes. Cosmo ends up being captured by the cops while Martin escapes and changes his identity. Many years pass by and now the NSA has caught up to him. They blackmail Martin with his past and say that they will keep it quiet if he steals something from them. A powerful new kind of hacking equipment that can get decrypt any security system in an instant. Martin gets his team ready for this but should he really give such a powerful piece of equipment to the government?

A big theme in the film is about not trusting anyone. Everyone has some kind of an angle here and you’ve got quite a few factions running around. The Russians are behind every corner of course and all the letter agencies would be interested in this as well. Just stealing the thing won’t be easy either as Martin runs into his past on this adventure. That said, Martin isn’t as indecisive as you may expect with these stakes. He just can’t let the blackmail get out under any circumstances and so he is ready to play ball with the government right from the beginning of this story. He never looks back either and just gets to completing the mission.

Something I appreciated about the film is that all of his teammates are important. The film balances them all rather well. First up we have Whistler who is blind. You may figure this will make him ineffective in most situations but he actually does really well and even gets the MVP spot. He’s the reason they find the enemy base, the reason they had an escape route, etc. Without him they would not have lasted long here. His senses are virtually superhuman.

Then you have Donald who used to work with the CIA. He has a lot of connections as a result and is the most professional member of the group. He has a gun at the ready and bails Martin out from a trap. Definitely the muscle behind the team and he keeps Marin from being too impulsive. Martin does well as the leader but he absolutely does tend to be pretty emotional and lose his cool.

After that is Carl who is the youngest member. He tends to do a lot of the grunt work like hacking at close range or being the guy to pull off social engineering. Carl can be the most annoying one as well though as he gets distracted on the missions and tends to be a little girl crazy. To an extent they all are, but the others at least try to hide it. By default the smallest role would be Darren who handles all of the tech. He makes sure that everything is working well on the ground which is why his codename is “Mother”. So he’s very important but gets a little less to do in terms of individual scenes.

There’s also the main heroine Liz who used to date Martin but managed to get out of that situation. Well when he asks her for help, Liz can’t really bring herself to refuse. She probably should have to be honest though. She’s stuck with the worst tasks like seducing someone to get his voice on record. That’s always a very tired spy trope that never really works without the victim just looking bad. In this case Liz got super sloppy though which put her in a tricky spot.

As for the main villain, well he is pretty good but definitely too indecisive. He can never seem to decide if his main goal is something really personal to him or for the greater good. He tries to use the latter as his reasoning a lot but it always tends to come off as a cover story. Really this guy just wants to prove that he is better than Martin and messes up a lot of his free shots by the end. He could have come out on top easily in this film if he didn’t make massive errors. I thought he made for a good villain overall though. He was certainly entertaining even if he wasn’t always very effective.

The pacing is pretty good here and the writing is solid. It does have the occasional miss when it comes to the jokes but nobody bats 1000. The end of the climax also may have been a little too goofy at the end. The film is part comedy but up to that point the serious scenes were mostly played straight. I suppose they just wanted to have a bit of fun with the ending and it’s a short scene so it’s not like I had any big issues with it. It just felt a little jarring with the timing and all.

The movie really made the most of the tech aspect of the heist. I enjoyed the challenge of Martin having to move really slowly to get past one of the security systems for example. There were a lot of things that had to go right for the heist but they all felt like fairly reasonable challenges without a whole lot of plot armor. There will always be a little bit of that in a film like this but it was never excessive.

Overall, Sneakers is a pretty good film. I had fun with it and it succeeds in being entertaining all the way. There may be a twist that you see coming a mile away but it’s still a good plot on the whole. The title of the film also stands out and is a really good pun. If you’re looking for a well balanced film then I would check this one out. It may not become your next favorite hit but there aren’t a ton of heist films out there and this one holds up with the ones that are already out.

Overall 7/10

Project Hail Mary Review

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It’s time to check out a sci-fi film that came out a while back and got a ton of buzz. Sci-Fi is one of those genres that can be really good when used right. You get to see characters running around with giant energy guns, using advanced suits of armor, etc. It all blends together to make for a really good experience but then you have other titles which forego all of the cool elements and try to go for some deep storytelling and lore. Unfortunately this one unsuccessfully tries for that angle a whole lot and ends up being a bit of a drawn out mess.

The movie begins by explaining that the Sun is slowly being taken down by an army of powerful organisms. They are smaller than the normal eye can see but they are shutting down every star in the system. Ryland is contacted by the world’s unified agency which is trying to save the planet. After all if the Sun goes out, then Earth has no more hope left. Ryland is super skeptical about going to space but when he wakes up after stasis, he is the final survivor. It is all up to him now but can he really claim victory here?

You can tell that the government was desperate since it’s not like Ryland really had too many answers here. He just has one breakthrough but sometimes that is where science can start. So a lot of the film is really split between a bunch of flashbacks where we see what happened and how Ryland got into space. He has amnesia in the present which is always a convenient way to avoid spoiling the flashbacks. Then in the present he takes a while to get used to the gameplan after some initial panicking.

I feel like the story was mostly concealed for the trailers so I’ll avoid too many of the specifics but the film’s story takes a pretty big change when he is no longer struggling by himself in space. Unfortunately I would say it wasn’t a great development to turn things around. This is actually a film where I dare say it could have been improved by a bit of romance or at least some banter with another humanoid running around. The romance would have probably been rushed so the latter would be preferable.

This film falls into the issues that most films have when there is only one main character. It can be rather boring. This is a long film that feels like a very long film and that’s always a problem. You will have very long scenes of the film trying to show off is special effects or panning around the spaceship to show you how accurate it is. That will probably appeal to some space fans but I’m really just here for a lot of excitement and quick pacing. It never goes to the absurd lengths of 2001: A Space Odyssey at least.

That will always go down as being the worst sci-fi film. That said, this one could have easily shaved off 30-40 minutes and been in a better space. Any Ryland scene from when he first wakes up is annoying as he just acts drunk the whole time. Again this is the film trying to show how realistic it is since you would be out of sorts with amnesia waking up after a super long coma but these are the kinds of details that you don’t need.

The pacing is at a glacial pace and again that is because we didn’t have other characters to bounce off of. This is one of those few examples where I can say that the flashbacks were far more interesting than the present day stuff. We got to see the governments working together, some shady stuff, and most importantly just a lot of dialogue back and forth. I would have liked it if every scene was on Earth and we just direct the people in space on how to save the Sun. You could still have a lot of tension with communications going out or the countries starting to fight each other which causes a lot of issues.

In space the best chance for you to enjoy the film is if you enjoy a friendship that occurs up there. Unfortunately the character they chose just isn’t all that interesting. This is one of those cases where I would say the design is partially at fault here because there is just nothing you can really do with that. You’ll just be shaking your head at the big reveal. It’s not like this is the first time a story has gone in this direction. There are a decent amount of similar designs out there but they never really tend to be all that cool.

At least I didn’t really have any issues with the main character. He did pretty well in his experiments and I also thought he made the right call in running for it during one of the flashbacks. I do think he could have fought a whole lot harder but it’s not like this guy is a trained fighter. So I didn’t want to be too harsh on him or anything like that.

Ultimately the film is going for a bit of an upbeat vibe. There is a body count to be sure and you could say it’s implied that things are much worse than what we see but the characters never lose hope. Ryland keeps his head down and works hard throughout. He may have personally lost hope at some points but would still get back up there. Personally being in a space ship so far away from home would be absolutely terrifying so just being able to get past that is a good look for him.

The advice I’d give for this film is just similar to what I put for After-Earth. In any sci-fi film you should try to keep at least some of the basic concepts around or you are wasting the whole point of being a sci-fi. There should be cool aliens, great looking backgrounds of sci-fi locations that don’t exist in real life, cool weapons, etc.

This film doesn’t have much of that. In many ways you could do this film without the sci-fi part The whole Sun part could still be around with normal radiation hitting it or something and then the rocket ride. So if you are going to go the sci-fi route, then I’d say go all the way and just make it a blast. Also we don’t need the lingering shots in space and all that. Space all tends to look the same after a while and we need the pacing to stay fast.

Overall, I would definitely give this one a pass. The plot has an interesting premise with the Sun going out but then the rest of the execution just falls apart. The film is way too long and loses sight of the number one objective, which is to remain entertaining at all times. It just doesn’t prioritize being fun and doesn’t make for a satisfying watch. I did appreciate the Football terminology though. I would always go for the Hail Mary in Madden and it’s honestly a great play to run on 1st and 10 because nobody ever expects it.

Overall 4/10