Category Archives: 4 Star Movies

Our Souls at Night Review

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There aren’t too many films about romance that blooms when the main characters are seniors so this was definitely different. It makes sense that folks can get lonely even when they are in the twilight years. Personally I would tend to advise against entering a relationship at that late stage but you just hope for the best. The film had some potential but it can’t resist adding in a bunch of drama which ultimately hurts things in the end.

The film starts by introducing us to Louis. He’s really old but has a solid routine every day. He hangs out with his friends and then heads home. Life goes on as normal and he doesn’t seem to have any complaints. Well, one day his neighbor Addie shows up and says they should start sleeping together so the nights won’t feel as long. It’s certainly the strangest offer Louis has gotten but she confirms this will be purely platonic. Luis decides to give this a shot but in the most shocking of plot twists, he begins to fall for her. How could this happen and what should he do about this?

Now obviously this was always going to be the end result. There are loads of lies that you can tell yourself but the biggest one is that you can hang out every night on the bed with someone and not catch feelings at some point. It’s why friends with benefits has always been a bunch of immoral nonsense but also why you don’t go to naked saunas or hot springs adventures with your friends. If you want to keep your friends and not succumb to impulses, you shouldn’t be entering spaces and situations that aren’t meant for them.

The instant Addie made the offer, it was clear to both parties deep in their mind that a romance would happen. The whole deal just wouldn’t make sense otherwise. From that point on, if they’re both on board then there’s technically nothing wrong with it. It would still feel like a rebound to me though and like I said before I just wouldn’t recommend a late stage romance. Why not?

Well when you enter into any kind of relationship you have to take the good with the bad. The bad in this case is likely going to involve a lot of medical issues and deaths of friends due to how old they all are. You’re potentially getting super close to someone who is not going to be around for much longer. That happens even in a young relationship since by extension you now know double the people which means more chances of bad things happening. It’s not a great way to look at things but you have to when you have two people 70+ who are going to be getting together now.

Then we also learn that Louis wasn’t the best guy in his youth. He cheated on his wife and while they patched things up later on, his social reputation was destroyed. You can’t full recover from something like that, the trust is just gone. I felt this was a really unnecessary part of the film. One of those classic plots to show how everyone makes a ton of big mistakes. Why couldn’t Louis just be a good guy?

Meanwhile Addie doesn’t have any big moments of crisis in her past but in the present she is the one who ultimately chooses her other responsibilities over Louis. She started this whole arrangement and yet she’s the one to end it? That’s not a particularly good look. Her ungrateful son spends a lot of the film getting drunk and whining but it sounds to me like she did her best. I didn’t have a problem with any of the issues that guy had been raising up.

In general the kids are the most annoying characters though. Addie’s son Gene is trying to raise his son on his own after the wife left but it seems clear why she did. He gets drunk a lot, isn’t able to properly control himself, and can’t land a job. Perhaps Gene is trying hard but there is really no excuse for when he left his kid all by himself and started drinking. He’s always looking for a fight and is quick to blame others but doesn’t take ownership of his faults. Even by the end of the film we have no reason to think that he has changed at all.

Then we have Louis’ daughter Holly who gets far less screentime but also doesn’t do very well. She comes off as very aggressive during the lunch meeting about how she’s going on her adventure and blames Louis for not being there. Her therapist wanted her to make it very clear to Louis about this so that she could have closure and all. It just seemed to come out of nowhere. Naturally we know that the past events led up to this but it always feels petty to just launch an attack after a long period like this.

Once you’re an adult you have to be responsible for your decisions. Holding onto old grudges is not a good idea but even if you do, just keep it to yourself at that point. Don’t go and set up a meetup just to do more complaining. If Gene was so unhappy, then he shouldn’t be going to Addie for help. Holly could have just gone on her adventure without stopping by to rub Louis’ nose in it. Like I said, the characters are just unlikable.

I also can’t say that I liked any of Louis’ main friends. They’re basically around to be crude and start the rumor mill but that’s all that they are here to do. Louis takes offense at it because he’s the main character this time but from how they were talking, this is probably a regular thing. It doesn’t reflect well on Louis to be hanging out with these characters.

For a slow burn film like this, it helps a lot if the characters are all pleasant. I think that Hallmark could do a really good job with this premise for example. They should have also played up the romance to be more gradual. Instead of the two running to a hotel to try and act like teenagers again, have them do an actual courtship and build up to the end process. Get married first and make it official instead of all this hidden stuff.

As a more minor note, there is a lot of screentime for taking care of Gene’s kid while he is out playing the fool. Louis and Addie do a good job of taking care of him but getting a dog was a big mistake. For starters, both of them aren’t going to last very long so that raises questions on what will happen to the dog. Ultimately they end up giving him to Gene instead. Gene can’t even raise a kid tho, let alone a dog. So that’s the kind of decision that just seems to be very iffy at best.

Overall, Our Souls at Night shows exactly why you don’t want to be getting into any secret entanglements. Eventually everyone finds out and even if you double down, it’s just not going to last. I didn’t particularly enjoy the ending because it felt very avoidable but in a way it is realistic. The situationship worked for a while but now Addie doesn’t need any help to sleep since she’s not alone and so she chose the responsibilities over Louis. Ultimately the biggest moral of the story is, if anyone ever asks you to do something inherently intimate but claims that it will be platonic….listen to your common sense and reject the offer. I did enjoy the small town atmosphere at least, it seemed like a fun area to live in.

Overall 4/10

Barefoot in the Park Review

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Uh oh, it’s time for a romance film. Usually that means you are about to be seeing a really weak romance but of course the film could surprise us? Nah that doesn’t really happen here. There is a good amount of humor within the film but it also gets hurt by some of the characters being really unlikable. It’s the classic example of a film that is pretty fun for most of the adventure but does end up running out of steam before the ending.

The movie starts off by introducing us to Corie and Paul who have just gotten married. Things are going really well for them and right away we see the contrast in personalities here. Corie loves trolling Paul and putting him in embarrassing situations while Paul pretends not to enjoy it too much and so they’ve had a great bond. Well, their bond gets put to the test when they move into Corie’s apartment on the 6th floor which has no heating, almost no room, and no elevator service. Paul isn’t in particularly good shape and so walking up the 5 flights is a real struggle. They also have to deal with an upstairs neighbor named Victor who is not particularly subtle with his flirting towards Corie. How will things turn out?

First off, I will say that the comedy in the film is pretty impressive. I enjoy the banter between the characters and also think that Corie has a good sense of humor. Yes, most of her jokes do have the potential to get Paul punched out or in serious trouble but the high stakes nature of the jokes are what makes them work. I also think those jokes are not really a bad idea at all in strengthening their relationship.

The film also gets a lot of leverage out of the 6th floor part. It’s hard to see why it’s such a big deal to walk up all those flights but I can overlook that because the various jokes are just funny. Then we have Paul trying to keep up with Corie’s energy even if it means trying strange foods. You definitely feel bad for him there because that is a real struggle all the way around.

Now for the romance, it starts out good but does take a tumble by the end. Their relationship should not have been so easy to crush. Surprisingly the film doesn’t really go for the jealousy card with Victor here but instead plays up that Paul feels like a stiff compared to Corie. When she basically admits to that, then they go through a lot of troubles which only resolve with Paul having to play the fool for a bit. Jestermaxing as the kids would say nowadays.

I didn’t think that was a good resolution. For starters, it does play into Corie actually feeling that way to an extent. I would have preferred her to come to the realization that she wants a guy who is very steady and not going to get drunk and such. Have her tone down her own behavior a bit. My biggest issue with the film was how she would act around Victor. It’s one thing to be friendly but I thought she was a bit overboard with him. Victor would really get away with flirting and the way he helped her get down from the AC was absolutely fresh.

The film is mainly content to never make Victor out to be the villain but I would have liked Paul to put him in his place. Boundaries are always important to consider. I say this as someone who does hold the unpopular opinion that you can have really close friends of the opposite sex at all times. Whether married or not, there are wholesome friendships to be had but that is precisely why you need boundaries. If your friend is genuine, then they will respect them and everyone will have a great time.

Then we have a whole subplot where Corie tries to set up her mother Ethel with Victor. Setting someone up on a blind date is always a bad thing to do here and then to see it work can be rather annoying. Victor is introduced as a character with quite the reputation of getting around so why would this possibly be a good idea?

You have to assume that it all works out but it is a strong assumption all the way through. Ethel was a good character though. Romance aside, she did her best to be supportive of Corie and Paul the whole way through. There were plenty of opportunities for her to complain about things like the way the apartment looked but she tried to find the positive side of things.

As for Paul, he mainly did good but unfortunately looks bad at the end when he gets super drunk. Essentially he was trying to prove that he could be fun but in that instant he lost the high ground. I would have preferred that he stuck to his guns and eventually Corie would realize why he was a good man. Some mistake the ability to get drunk and go to clubs as being a fun person when you don’t need any of that. The ability to have fun without being intoxicated is a much more honorable trait.

So the film was pretty solid but really just fumbled when the plot had to get serious. The film probably felt like it needed to have some drama to end things off but this was the wrong way to do it. It just came at the expense of both characters and that’s never a good thing. Additionally, pretty much every scene with Victor just came across as annoying. I would have much preferred that the film be built around the apartment and that’s where the fun comes from. You could have both characters arguing over how the apartment should look and that would easily have enough material for a whole film.

Overall, This is a film that’s pretty fun but does get hurt quite a bit by the end. The end is ultimately what will leave the biggest impact on you so that was a really rough way to go. If you do like a classic comedy-romance then you should probably still check this one out. Just be prepared to see a whole lot of wasted potential here as the film focuses far too much on Ethel and Victor who try to take over the film. You just want to get back to the main duo but they don’t get much of a chance by the middle portion since it leads right to the big fight for the climax. It was a fresh change of pace to have the characters married from the start though rather than waiting until the very end.

Overall 4/10

Flight 7500 Review

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I think a problem that some slow burn films have is that you need to have a great payoff at the end. I love a good setup phase but if there is no big climax then you did something wrong. This film spends an incredible amount of time setting up the characters and establishing an eerie atmosphere only to have no real plan on how to deal with this. As a result we get a very underwhelming climax that will just leave you shaking your head.

The film starts by showing us a bunch of characters getting onto a plane. They are as unlikable as possible and I’ll get into them in a moment. Still, everyone just has to make it through the flight but unfortunately a guy starts bleeding and dies really quickly. There may be some contagion on board now and weird things begin to happen. Flickering lights, spirits and aberrations, etc. Maybe everyone is just getting a little stressed out? They need to simply survive until the end of the film…but will they?

Weird things happening is a fun setup here so we’re still in business. One of the big problems though is in making everyone so unlikable. I know this is usually a tool to help make sure you don’t mind seeing them all die but it feels like this tends to backfire most of the time. There is just usually not a good reason to do this and it does play a part in the film’s failure. Better characters could have really made a difference here.

First you’ve got Jake who doesn’t believe in the capitalist system and wants to steal as many things as possible. He will make money off the grid and live in whatever way he sees fit. No rules can stop him. This guy just looks out for himself and you can probably guess that he will be one of the first ones to go. He’s quite brazen about breaking protocol and there is just nothing good about him.

Then you have Lance who is acting strange the whole time and brings a big briefcase with him. You could blame a lot of the problems on this guy to be honest. He’s not as mean as some of the other characters but does give off a tough vibe from the start. Lance is clearly not here to talk to the other characters at all. Then there is Jacinta and at first it seems like the only bad thing about her is that she’s goth which is a little funny to be honest. Well, after that she does seem to be a little too into death like trying to feel some blood which will just spread the virus if that’s going around. Her speech to Rick also felt a little bit like she was starting to flirt with how their actions don’t matter or how good they were in life.

Definitely a terrible mindset to have. Of course I can’t give Rick any real points either. He just got married and yet he can’t help but stare at Jacinta the whole time? You have to absolutely do better than that. It doesn’t matter how pretty she may be or what her fashion sense is, he literally just got married. Come on now. Rick may not be as bad as some of the other characters but that was not a good look for him.

Meanwhile his wife Liz is constantly complaining about everyone. She panics a whole lot and just finds a way to find faults with everyone. She is never happy and is determined to make this flight a very long one for everyone. You wonder how she and Rick even got together in the first place based on their scenes. He must have really been desperate or she just changed a whole lot.

The staff isn’t free of fault either. One of the main hostesses is Laura and she is actively having an affair with the pilot Pete even though he is married. He has told her that he will get a divorce so they can be together forever and she actually bought this. Of course it doesn’t ultimately matter if that is true or not. He’s still married at the moment so both characters look terrible here.

Then you have Suzy who may by default be the most reasonable character here but even she is a bit iffy. She basically admits that she is only with her current boyfriend because he’s a safe bet. She actually still likes her ex a lot more and so the poor guy doesn’t even know this. That’s just tragic when you really think about it. Suzy probably has the roughest end though so you feel bad for her. When the monster goes after her, absolutely nobody makes a move to help her. They just run away which is insane. You can see how this character cast is completely unlikable right? There are other characters as well but you get the idea of it. The plane tends to feel pretty empty considering how many people are around as well and while this is for the twist later on, it is incredibly forced that nobody comments on this.

So what about the monster? Well, we never really get to see it. There are flashes and you might see an arm but for the most part even by the end you don’t really get a full shot. You’re waiting for things to start happening after all the ominous moments but there is absolutely no payoff. The film has a big twist at the end but it’s just so lame. It’s one of those twists that just seems to exist but there is no reason for it.

It’s a boring ending and I wanted something more direct. The film leads us on with a Shinigami doll so you’re expecting an actual figure for them to fight but that’s not the case. It feels like a Shyamalan and certainly not one of the good ones. The film loses all momentum here and also becomes another one of those titles where everything was pointless. Thanks to the twist, nothing ever really mattered. Every action the characters took was futile and that’s always going to be a sore spot for me. You need to write these things in a way where the actions matter or else the viewing won’t be satisfying, let alone a rewatch.

Overall, I would say this is a movie you will want to skip out on. It’s just not a good title. The film really ends on a whimper and almost forgets that it is supposed to be a horror film by the end. You do get some unnerving visuals although I would say they tend to just be more on the gross side like the one guy who was bleeding a lot. We have a jump scare early on and then the film starts to abandon that as well. It just feels like there was no big plan here so in the end everything just fell apart. It’s a shame because a plane is a great place for a horror moment considering that there is no way out. Better luck next time I suppose.

Overall 4/10

Bye Bye Birdie Review

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The secret trick to a romantic comedy is to forget all about the romance and just make a good comedy. That will work in most situations because that’s actually why the audience is around. Unfortunately this film forgot to really work on the comedy so you’re left with a film that’s just more annoying than anything. It ended up being weaker than I had expected it to be and so this is a film that I would definitely recommend you to skip. The song is also extremely bad.

The film starts off with one of the most obnoxious songs you’ll ever hear. It’s just so extremely slow that just getting through the first few sentences is rough. Fortunately it doesn’t make a big comeback in that exaggerated way again until the end of the film. The plot here is that the legendary singer Birdie has been drafted to the army for a while and everyone is really torn up about this. They will give him a chance to sing one last time before going and for extra publicity he will be kissing one of his fans. They select a girl named Kim who tells her boyfriend that she will be cheating on him but just once so he shouldn’t mind. He’s not thrilled about this but has no self respect and so he reluctantly gets on board. Will all this publicity end up being a curse to the small town in Ohio?

Now you do need to keep in mind that this is primarily a comedy. So you’re going to be hearing a lot of crazy things here but they are portrayed in a much lighter way than they sound. That’s fine, it makes sense but these jokes can be really hard to pull off. You absolutely need top tier execution and the film just didn’t have that so all the characters just look really bad.

First off we have Birdie. He’s one of those guys who just lost his mind due to all the fame and is a total jerk now. He gets drunk and is always running around to cause trouble. His role’s actually not as big as you’d expect though. He’s basically just here to be annoying and cause a lot of trouble for everyone. Hopefully being in the army will help get him into shape and make him a productive member of society. It’s a lot to ask for…but hey it could end up happening.

Then we have Albert who has been dating his secretary Rosie for a while but doesn’t have the guts to tell his mother Mae. As a result he just lets her do whatever she wants, including insulting Rosie directly. Albert has been gaslighting Rosie into thinking that he will confront Mae for a very long time now and it’s never happened. Albert just wants to be famous with his own song but nothing is working out for him. Ultimately Rosie runs off to go flirt with a bunch of guys to make Albert jealous. In the end things eventually work out but Albert looks really bad for the whole adventure. You need guts to make it in Hollywood and so it’s easy to see why he has been struggling.

Meanwhile Rosie needed to have moved on earlier. It’s clear that Albert is not the kind of guy to fight for her and that’s a huge red flag. In a way, part of why he succeeded in the end is because Mae had a rather sudden character arc. If not for that then things could have still been really dicey. I don’t see how Rosie would want to pursue things at that point. I would also say that she really hurt herself in deciding to get drunk and flirty. Immediately looking for a rebound is not a good idea.

As for Mae, well she makes for a good antagonist. The transparent guilt tripping worked well here and I like that she wasn’t very subtle. She didn’t like Rosie and made that known right away. The film needed a good antagonist and she filled that role well. She dominated Albert and Rosie throughout the whole film so they could definitely use some lessons from her on how to stick up for themselves.

Then we have Kim who is unfortunately the weakest character in the film. In a way her character arc hits the hardest because it’s not a completely unpopular opinion the way that it should be. She figures that a quick moment with a celebrity doesn’t count and her boyfriend shouldn’t be so insecure. It’s an advanced class in gaslighting since obviously this is a big deal. She also makes such a big deal about getting kissed by Birdie that it makes the boyfriend look even worse. If Kim was a good character she would have declined the invite right from the start.

Cheating is cheating no matter the circumstance or setting that it is in. Naturally her boyfriend’s decision here is to go rebound with another girl. It’s really incredible how quickly characters will just move on from their current “love” to the next one. Maybe their relationship wasn’t so serious then right? He just comes off like a sucker for most of his appearances and how easily Kim is able to talk him out of his doubts each time.

Kim finally has doubts at the last second but it’s way too late for that. Everyone swooning over Birdie just look bad as well. It’s all just too much even if that’s how things could be back in the day. You need a whole lot more balance than that. All of this could have still worked out if the film was really funny but it wasn’t hitting the right feels here. I needed some good banter or something like that but we never got those scenes. The best moments may have been with Kim’s father and his desperation for fame but even those moments were hit or miss.

Sometimes he was just a little bit too much with how whiny he was. So it really depended on the moment and jokes can easily get overplayed. I think this film could have been a whole lot better if it could just execute the jokes more seamlessly. Of course, that’s easier said than done without any examples. One plot change to make this work would be to change the dynamic so that Albert and Rosie were constantly fighting over who should propose to the other one first. Then that could leave room for more banter and not make Albert look quite as bad in how he was on the back foot during the whole film.

Overall, Bye Bye Birdie was a miss on this one. I had my doubts as soon as the first shot of the movie came in. The rest of it just had a mix of weak characters, fanservice, and not enough humor to really get the movie over the hump. As a result this one definitely lost out on all sides. Better luck next time and all that. You can do a lot better with old time rom-com films so I would recommend looking one of those up instead.

Overall 4/10

The Town 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

It’s time for a film about committing crime in a small town. Definitely not the best option in general but it’s extra rough here when a ton of people are into crime. The main crew have been doing this for a while but things are shaken up when the leader falls in love. Is he going to mess this up for everyone or are they the ones who are getting greedy?

The film starts off with introducing us to Doug and his posse. They just completed a huge bank heist and are basically set for life. Doug figures this is it for the jobs but his partner Jem doesn’t think so. Jem has been gone for quite a while in jail so he is itching for more jobs. Doug thinks this is a really bad idea but Jem doesn’t tend to take no for an answer and makes it clear that Doug leaving may cause some problems. In their bank heist, Jem panicked and took a hostage. She was let go but heard all of their voices and got to see a lot. Doug checks up on her but falls in love and now they’re dating. Jem worries that this could mean death for their group if she puts two and two together.

So on the first part, Jem is right that this is a really dumb idea. You should never date your hostage. That’s just a really bad idea because it does make sense that she would be a liability. She may not have realizes anything just yet but it is possible that she could make the connection at any point. It was Jem’s fault for making her a hostage in the beginning but Doug really compounded the issue here. He is a bit in denial of this the whole time but it was a bad move.

Now Jem is still crazy the whole time and should have been satisfied with the big score at the beginning. It seems like it’s less about the money and more like he just really wants to live an exciting life. He almost thrives on these life or death situations like when he accompanies Doug to go beat up some people who were harassing his girlfriend. Doug didn’t need to give him any details and Jem was still ready to bust up a bunch of heads.

The town is effectively ruled by the crime lord known as Fergie. He’s really not the smartest character on the block though. Sure, Doug was planning to leave and Fergie wanted to stop that but he does so by basically rage baiting Doug a whole lot by revealing how he destroyed the guy’s parents. That doesn’t seem like a good move if you’re planning to stay alive. If anything, it feels like a good way to shorten the remainder of your life span.

This guy is still just a man after all. He can summon up a bunch of help but that’s not going to help a whole lot when he lets Doug meet with him whenever. His ending is one of the most predictable parts of the film. If anything, I think Doug let him get away with too much for quite a while there. You usually need to take someone out of the picture near instantly in this kind of situation.

Then we have his girlfriend Claire who is okay. I think she was moving rather quickly with the romance but she doesn’t know about the robber part and I can’t blame her for that. Not just anyone would have been able to make the connection there. Later on I suppose her reaction is justified enough about how she gets upset with Doug. If anything she probably should have ratted him out. From her perspective, he’s a total villain who manipulated her. It would be dangerous to assume that any part of their relationship was real. She decides to believe in it but I just don’t think that was a great idea.

For the most part the FBI agents are completely in over their heads but I did appreciate that the film made them look decent. They couldn’t crack the case officially for a while there but at least they had leads. It’s just that in a town like this, all of the crooks would look after each other so there wasn’t much in the way of hard proof to get after anyone. You had to try and work around that which isn’t easy. When it came down to the climactic shootout, they were ready.

Then you’ve got Krista, the crazy ex. As soon as she shows up, you know that she’ll be trouble and that’s exactly what happens. She is here to really cause some mixups and keep Doug stressed out. She had a tough lot in life but a lot of it was self sabotage with the drugs. It’s why you should never get involved in that business in the first place. Aside from damaging your body, it makes it easy for others to blackmail or just plain manipulate you.

There is quite a bit of action in here aside from it being a mental thriller. The Town keeps you engaged the whole time but it is also a bit of a downer movie. There’s not a whole lot to cheer for here and the ending is more of a bitter sweet one at best. Everyone has lost something by the end and so it felt like they couldn’t really escape their destinies in the long run. They grew up in a crime filled neighborhood and it destroyed them all. It would have been nice to have had a more positive resolution to wrap everything up.

Or maybe a happier middle in there. The film succeeds as a thriller with quick pacing but it has almost no replay value because of this. It’s not a film you’ll want to look up. I will say the film did a better job of making a likable antagonist as the lead compared to other titles. Doug was someone you could almost root for since he was trying to get out of the game and did his best not to hurt anyone. Still a criminal but he could have been a lot worse.

Overall, The Town is a film about how sometimes it can be really hard to go on the straight and narrow. Doug tries his best but the odds were stacked against him. Maybe if he left on his own but then he had to go and fall in love at the worst possible time. There’s definitely a lesson to be had with that. You have to be careful with those feelings because they can really pull you in the wrong direction especially if you go too fast and that romance felt pretty rushed. If you want to see a film about a criminal trying to go straight, this is a pretty decent one to check out. It’s a bit too dreary for me though and so it just doesn’t pass the bar. I’ll go with a classic thriller instead.

Overall 4/10

The Ring Two Review

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The sequel to the Ring is definitely a very different film because it decides to throw away a lot of what made the first film unique. The video isn’t really relevant outside of the opening scene. Samara basically just does whatever she wants at this point and it’s not like anybody can really stop her. So she just goes on a rampage here and for some reason the film tries to make her slightly more sympathetic here when in the first film it was clear that she was super evil and had no doubts about it. I do appreciate that we have true continuity here with the old characters returning but the direction was definitely odd.

The movie starts with showing us how Rachel has built herself a new life far away from the events of the first film. She has escaped the Ring by passing on the curse so things should be better right? Well, unfortunately Samara keeps a grudge and she has apparently followed Rachel. She destroys one teen near the beginning as a warning shot and then starts to possess Aidan. Yes, this is a classic possession film now instead of being curse related. The first teenager is as unlikable as possible so you don’t really feel bad for him since he tried to murder his girlfriend, but why is Samara going after the main characters again?

In theory she should have no reason to go after them right? They passed on the curse and ensured that people would keep dying. Well, Rachel tries to find answers which means looking into Samara’s mother but there is really less point to it this time around. The research may have been futile in the first film but it still made sense since they needed to find out more about the monster and how to stop it. In this sequel, there is less for the heroes to really go on. Even if Rachel finds out some information, it’s not like it will help her right?

This does lead to an extended well fight which makes the well even more important than the first film. The plot armor is even stronger than in the first film as well since Rachel essentially has to fight Samara for quite a bit in order to lock her in. There’s no way this should work by what we’ve seen up to this point and even if Samara would get trapped, we have no reason to believe that it would even slow her down. She is basically a complete monster and should be immune to all of that. Her abilities are not of this realm. We saw in the first film that she could strike even from within the realm after all.

All of the possession stuff doesn’t really add to the film either. She mainly possesses Rachel’s kid Aidan the whole time. You can’t make a kid all that scary. He does bump off the guy who was helping Rachel but you could have seen that coming a mile away. Aidan does his best to fight her but he’s just a kid and so naturally he is utterly powerless against the possession. His scenes tend to drag on and you’re more interested in Rachel’s plot.

Rachel may not be perfect as she nearly drowns Aidan by accident when tricked by the illusions but she is able to do more damage to the villain at least. While I feel like her drowning plan towards the end was way too risky, I suppose the results proved it to be the right course of action. You have to take some leaps of logic when dealing with an all powerful creature like this after all.

You kind of feel bad for Max here because he’s roped into something where he is completely out of his league. At first he thinks he is helping a kid and his mom who are in a tough spot. Then he thinks he may need to help the kid from an abusive situation. All he gets from this is utter destruction. Towards the end you could say he is a little slow on the uptake but you really do have to cut him some slack because this situation is really out there. It’s not the kind of thing that you would be able to believe at face value. At least that’s the way I see it.

At least even if the film seems less focused and a bit more pointless than the first, it was better with the animal violence. Not perfectly as we have a bizarre scene of deers attacking the car and injuring themselves in the process. What was this scene even about? Who knows, Samara may not even know the full extent of her abilities. If she has teleportation, mind control, possession, etc, then she may just have all of the powers. It’s another gentle reminder to the pesky humans that they don’t really stand a chance here.

The film’s overall atmosphere is a little less spooky than the first one’s. In a way this one may have more jump scares but less effective ones. You just want to see Samara on her own attacking everyone, not acting through the body of a kid who can’t really fight back. I also think we need to bring the video back, a fun way to do it would have been to warp the characters inside the video for the climax. One of those stories where if Rachel beats Samara in the video, then Samara dies in real life. It would make Samara look dumb for bringing her in there, but at least it’s a way to get to the end.

Overall, The Ring Two is a pretty different film from the first one. Ultimately I would say that it is a weaker one thanks to all of the emphasis on possession. That tends to be one of the weaker forms of horror to me. It doesn’t help that it’s a kid being possessed so he’s not very scary either. I don’t see the point in learning more about Samara’s backstory here and how even her character feels a bit more different. This almost could have been a completely unrelated film to the first and that’s a problem. A sequel should really be maximizing its potential by being able to skip introductions. This should have been a film about finding Samara’s weakness and defeating her for good. Yes, I don’t count general drowning or closing a well to be an actual weakness.

Overall 4/10

The Ring Review

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The Ring is one of the original horror films about futility. The humans are up against an absolutely unstoppable creature that as no weaknesses and likes to toy with its prey. There is no stopping her, at best you can try to join her side and I doubt that will work for long. The film ends up giving you a good amount of jump scares in the meantime and is iconic for good reason though. It’s certainly a cut above the average horror title.

The movie starts off with two girls talking about the Ring curse. If you watch a certain video, you will die after 7 days. One of the girls watched the video but that turned out to be a bad idea. She gets away with a few fake jump scares initially but then the monster finishes her off. We then cut to the main character Rachel who is a journalist and asked to look into what is going on here. Is this actually a curse or is something else going on here? The more that Rachel looks into this, the more real it becomes. Now she is not the only one in danger as her son Aidan is also getting into supernatural trouble. Can she save him?

Of course the main problem here is that there is no easy way to save anyone here. You can find out about the Ring and diagnose the situation at large but there isn’t really a way to stop her. We learn that the villain’s name is Samara and that she is pure evil. She admits that she will keep on hurting everyone forever and doesn’t really regret these actions. She had a rough backstory but has chosen to stay on the path of violence going forward.

Later on you have characters telling Rachel that she shouldn’t have helped Samara but did it really make a difference? Samara was already murdering people at the start of the movie and she continues to do that afterwards. No matter how you slice it, the victims will continue to pile up. As long as you’ve watched the video, you are essentially already dead and just don’t know it yet. The 7 days is really just a formality by that point. I suspect Samara doesn’t have to wait and just enjoys watching the victims squirm.

Now where Rachel gets a bit lucky is in determining that you can survive so long as you continue to pass the curse forward. I thought the logic to that was a bit flimsy but she ended up being correct so I suppose it all worked out in the end. It is a moral question though. Obviously most would agree that saving your life by sacrificing someone else’s is not a good proposition. It’s a selfish one but since her son was also in the balance, it makes sense that she would choose to play this card. I also appreciate that the sequel actually addresses this.

As the lead Rachel isn’t a bad character. She does a good job of following the clues and trying to figure out what is going on here. I think if she was up against more of a normal threat then she would have really been able to make a lot of progress. She does get a little unreasonably jealous when she’s around her ex Noah but that’s her only real character flaw. Yeah murdering innocent people is also a rough spot so she’s not exactly a hero.

The main character cast is fairly small here though. Noah seemed like a good guy as he tried to delve into the mystery as well. He’s really skeptical initially but you can’t really blame him for that since it’s hard to believe in such a mysterious tape and its effects. Ultimately he gets on board but it’s a little too late by then. He never really stood a chance from the instant that Rachel showed him the tape though. His fate was written in stone right from that moment.

Rachel’s kid Aidan serves as the mysterious character for most of the film. He seems to have a connection to Samara and says vague things. He’s mainly annoying and doesn’t actually help out a lot. In another movie where Samara could have a weakness then he might be fine but here it doesn’t really matter anyway. He’s also too young to really know what he’s doing. A kid like that is usually just around to hold the main character back by being a potential hostage.

The film mostly holds itself back when it comes to violence and such. I was impressed at the restraint relative to other horror titles. That said, why randomly have the horse subplot? Samara has a thing about making horses go crazy and bumps a lot of them off. We see one Horse jump into the ocean to get shredded. This subplot had no business actually being in the film the way that it was. Taking that out would have probably allowed the film to at least tread water right in the middle of the rankings.

Now there is a little plot armor here near the end with Rachel being able to fend off Samara and climb to the top of the well. Realistically this would have been a complete stomp in Samara’s favor. Maybe you could say she is weaker by the well or was holding back to mess with Rachel more? Both arguments are full of cope I’d say but I suppose they are not impossible. As for the famous video itself, well it definitely is spooky. I’d probably be a little unnerved by it as well although I definitely wouldn’t end up watching the whole thing. It seems rather demonic from the jump and doesn’t have much of a plot so I’d just put it down and dash off. If my “friends” tried coward baiting me into watching it, I’d just embrace the label and go eat my chips.

The effects were good though and The Ring does do a good job of maintaining the horror atmosphere the whole time. This isn’t always an easy thing to do but everything from the subtle music to the grim sound effects really works well here. While the hopelessness of the situation may hurt the film as a whole, it doesn’t hurt the atmosphere here. The heroes are surrounded by evil and can’t escape unless they choose to spread it. Now that is a diabolical setup.

Overall, The Ring is not exactly a film that I would really recommend checking out but it does beat a lot of its competitors. I always have an issue with the villain being absolutely unstoppable though. The heroes should be underdogs but if they literally have no chance then why are you even watching the film? There should always be at least one path to victory and that just wasn’t the case here. You definitely won’t forget the film after watching it though.

Overall 4/10

Jurassic World Rebirth Review

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The Jurassic World films keep on coming. At the end of the day, the public is always ready for some dinosaurs I suppose. That said, the films rarely end up being all that good. Having a lot of dinosaurs running around is generally going to result in a lot of animal violence and that’s just hard to escape from. Rebirth certainly isn’t the worst at it but it is also going for a more serious survival tone than the previous popcorn fun titles in the World genre.

This movie begins by explaining that the dinosaurs broke containment once again and now rule over several islands. Humanity has gotten used to this so you generally just avoid those areas and the government keeps them blocked off. When dinosaurs appear in the world at large, they aren’t really acclimated to the environment and don’t last very long. Well one company needs samples from a rare dinosaur in order to make the next jump in heart related medicine. This is super illegal so the company reaches out to Zora, who will do just about anything for a good check. She agrees after hustling the company for a ton of extra money and brings along a few hand picked professionals for this kind of mission Can they complete the objective and escape with their lives intact?

Right away you can tell that this is going to be a film without very many heroes. I suppose the main scientist would be the only one to count. Zora is basically a bounty hunter, she completes her missions and serves her own interests. It was a bit of a low blow how she kept scamming Martin by making him pay more and more when he was already paying top dollar for this. Zora isn’t really meant to be likable though, she is a necessary evil that Martin has to use.

That said, the character type can usually still be fun. There just wasn’t anything charismatic about Zora. She just goes through the motions and ends up being a bit of a flat character. In general that’s my problem with the case. They all tend to feel throwaway and it’s what ends up hurting the film as a whole too since it ends up not being very interesting for large portions of time. I blame the setting to a degree as I much prefer a big city to the forestland like this. There just isn’t much interesting to look at visually.

Additionally, since the film is going for a more realistic vibe, it’s fairly rough goings. The whole area is rugged and certainly not sleek or shiny. The dinosaurs are also in a tough position because on one hand the film is trying to present them as fierce creatures that are always a big threat and are dangerous. On the other hand they are also basically like wildlife which are very fragile and can be destroyed by the pesky humans. It’s an impossible balance and for the most part I’d say they look weak.

One guy even has an anti dinosaur gun and manages to take out quite a large number of them. At no point do you think the main characters are really outmatched by the dinosaurs. In a way that’s probably why you needed the corporate villain. Martin is easily the best character here. He’s able to think on his feet and always has a plan at the ready. He even pulls out the gun near the end which was a smart idea considering how outnumbered he was. The guy believes that progress requires sacrifice, just not his own.

As a villain, Martin just really stands out and in a very good way. The film needed a main character who could really hold their own against him verbally. The main group also run into a family who were on the waters when they are attacked by a dinosaur. I know it’s meant to be a rare event so you don’t blame the family too much but in a world of dinosaurs…you may want to rethink certain activities. The most annoying character in this group is definitely the boyfriend. He locks in towards the climax but at first he is slacking off even when it is his shift and just doesn’t take things seriously. You know he’ll win over the father by the end but you’re rooting against him.

So we have certain scenes like that which inject a little humor into the film but on the whole it was definitely lacking in that area. In a way the film may have benefited from taking itself less seriously. At the same time it wouldn’t solve the main issue which is that dinosaurs still do get shot and blasted. There is a body count here and you have to blame the humans the whole time since they are the ones going into dinosaur territory and then claiming self defense while going for their goal.

While Henry is the voice of reason here as the timid scientist, he ultimately did still agree to go on this mission. The guy acts a bit shocked when corporate quickly begins to escalate their actions but he probably should have taken that into account. He’s a character who would have been a lot better if he was more confident. Confidence is ultimately still one of the best traits in a character. That’s why Duncan is a lot more likable even though he’s also a scammer like Zora. At least he is ready for the dinosaurs and letting himself be the bait when needed.

It’s already hard to root for humans when giant monsters are involved and this just makes it even tougher. I suppose that’s why the reason had to be really good like the heart medicine but even with that they are still the invaders here. There aren’t any big human against human fights in this one so the dinosaur action is mainly what you’re going to get. Ultimately for me this one was more of a miss but perhaps not much more than other titles in the franchise. As odd as it may sound, they should make a film like this that focuses on the government discussing the impacts that dinosaurs will have on society. I feel like that’s a film that I could get behind a lot more than a survival title in the forest like this.

Overall, Jurassic World Rebirth is a different take on the franchise at least compared to the recent ones. I tend to prefer the blockbuster approach as this one can almost get a bit dull as it goes on. If you really like dinosaurs then you should check it out, but otherwise I’d say you can skip this one with no regrets. It’s not going to become the next breakout hit for you and it may be time for the franchise to finally move onto robotic dinosaurs.

Overall 4/10

No Country for Old Men Review

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

This is one of those films that tried getting a little too clever with itself. The whole film builds up to some pretty big confrontations and ultimately we don’t get to end any of them. It’s a bit of a downer and while this anti climax was clearly intentional, I’d say that it doesn’t make the end result any better. The film really should have gone with a traditional climax and it would have ended up being much better off for it.

The movie starts off by introducing us to the psycho hitman, Anton. This guy was captured by the cops early on but unfortunately the officer let his guard down so Anton escapes and continues his murder spree. He is then tasked with hunting down a man named Moss who escaped with a bunch of money after running into a total murder scene. Moss realizes immediately that this much money means a lot of trouble so he needs to stay on the run until he can defeat Anton. The problem is that Moss is married so that means his wife is automatically a target now. Meanwhile Sheriff Ed has now been assigned to this case and needs to arrest both parties. Finally, the bounty hunter Carson has been hired to take the money. With 4 parties involved, there should be a lot of chaos.

Well, there should have been at least….this is where things get a bit messy if you ask me. This should have absolutely been a good setup for a ton of awesome fights and while we do get a solid battle between Anton and Moss, the others never get any real fights. Carson is built up a whole lot as a top tier fighter. He has a lot of experience and isn’t scared of Anton despite his reputation. That implies a lot of things, the most important of which is that he can hold his own. Unfortunately instead he is dumpstered unceremoniously while making every mistake he warned against.

It’s an incredibly embarrassing scene and he should have went out with more dignity. It’s a bit of a western staple for the victim to just stand around while he is shot to death but you’d like to see someone try to land a counter shot at least once. This time wasn’t that time though. Then we have the sheriff Ed who is late to every confrontation. He misses every fight and basically just has to comment on the situation every time. He has some weird dreams but ultimately doesn’t advance the plot much at all. I would argue that there isn’t much of a point to him being here. He should have had some kind of action scene.

Then for Moss, well I’d say he generally did the best that he could throughout the movie. The only time he fumbles is at the very end by staying at a motel and getting distracted when he needed to stay on mission. He had lasted a long while up to that point but that’s what makes it all the more tragic. I was glad that he was finally someone who could stand up to Anton though. Everyone else was getting absolutely crushed but he would stand his ground. Again, the ending to Moss’ character was just underwhelming though and undercuts the movie quite a bit.

As for Anton, well he’s definitely as crazy as you would expect. We get a long scene where he stares down a gas station owner and continually threatens him for a while before leaving. It was good that the owner didn’t have to die there since it would have been tragic. The whole scene is there to show you how messed up Anton is. Hopefully we get to see one of the heroes take him out right? Yeah….but even with that I think he’s a decent villain. Only problem is he has a ton of plot armor because he’s still just a dude with a gun. He shouldn’t have broken out of custody so easily in the first scene and the cops just look too ineffective the whole film.

The film takes place just old enough where there wasn’t as much tech so I don’t envy the cops’ position though. It absolutely couldn’t have been easy to live in those times. This movie does a good job of showing how scary the wild west environment can be when it spills into the cities. It can be really violent and you don’t always have much in the way of backup or other people who can help you in general.

I enjoyed the main gunfight between Anton and Moss which is why I wish we could have gotten more of that. The back and forth is intense with how high the stakes are. They each have to use the environment to help as an assist like with the nearby car. Any pedestrians along the way are definitely in for a tough time though. There is quite a lot of collateral damage going on here.

While the film is pretty violent, for the most part it isn’t being too excessive about the whole thing. The deaths tend to be pretty quick and to the point. The bounty hunter’s is more of an exception but it still isn’t overly violent, it’s just longer as Anton wants to really rub his victory in.

Overall, No Country for Old Men is a film that takes a lot of time to really build up the atmosphere. It tries to really develop the situation and set up all of the big players. So things are looking up but then it pulls the ole fake out and ruins all the setup. There isn’t really much reason to watch the film as a result. With no proper ending, it means that all the build up ends up just feeling mean spirited as we see how dark the world is without a hero at the end to save the day. It removes any possible replay value here and the film just becomes really empty. You can do better within the western genre.

Overall 4/10

Little Women (1994) Review

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It’s time for another Little Women adaption. It’s not exactly one of my favorite stories but it’s certainly an iconic one. I believe this is the third version that I’ve seen. How much you enjoy it will all come down to how much you enjoy the antics of the main characters. Can you identify with their situation or will you just find it a little dull? Personally I don’t find any of the characters to be super likable so that does really hold things back. The romance doesn’t help.

The 4 sisters are the main characters here. Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy. They live in a rather tough situation with finances not being very good. Their father is always out working and their mother does her best to keep things together. There are only so many ways to entertain themselves in such days but at least they have each other. Well, one day after the usual neighborhood party/dance they meet a rich guy named Theodore. He seems to have taken a liking to Jo but she’s not really in the market for a boyfriend at the moment. Will he win her over or is she going to get away?

So I can’t fault Jo for deciding that she didn’t want to mess around with romance. It’s not for everyone after all and she still wanted to enjoy her usual fun times with the gang. If she were to get a boyfriend then naturally that would end. Well, things get a bit more complicated than that as everyone else continues to move on with their lives. Theodore even decides to rebound with one of Jo’s sisters. Now Jo will have to find a man but who is left?

Ultimately Jo leaves home and by expanding her horizons she meets someone but the romance is pretty fast and not all that developed. It just never worked for me and I also think her sister Amy shouldn’t have gotten together with Theodore. Yeah, he claims that he is over Jo but that’s a bit hard to buy and even then it’s like you were the second choice. That’s how I’ve always felt about the romances in this movie and that hasn’t really changed over time.

This film also takes place in the very olden days and as a result there are all kinds of customs and such that feel dated. The girls can never make the first move, they must be prim and proper at all times, etc. Not to say that it’s all bad but a lot of these things just make them look way too passive as characters. I would have liked more direct action here, maybe in terms of trying to earn money or perhaps jumpstarting the romance on their own.

Jo is the only one who acts rather impulsively in general like selling her hair for money. So she gets more credit there. The writing is good as the old time script holds up but it doesn’t really solve the problem of the main characters not being super interesting. I don’t really know what you would do in order to change that though. Not without changing the story as a whole.

I’ve said this before but I like a good slice of life story, it just needs a touch of comedy. That is what’s missing in this one. The story is all fairly serious which is fine, but where are the scenes that will help me break a smile? There aren’t really any laugh out loud scenes here. Dreary would be the wrong word to describe the film but it just takes itself so seriously.

I guess I’d say the film is like watching a bunch of people who don’t have many hobbies hanging out with each other. It can be fairly wholesome but doesn’t really do much for you. The film also ends up being on the loner side and the pacing can be really slow. A lot of things are all going against the film here and as least one character gets a rather sad ending.

Maybe the next remake can focus a little bit more on Jo’s journey as an author. Focus on the last part of the film with her being abroad and make that a much larger part. You could also use that time to try and develop the romance with the professor but I dare say that might be a waste of time so perhaps you just focus on the writing bits. Or maybe show us what her father was doing at work and add some kind of trial there. Show why the job is so hard. Both of these plots would be immensely more interesting than just staying at the home for longer periods of time.

Overall, Little Women would have benefited from adding a few light scenes with gags and fun jokes. Something to just make the film itself a little more fun and it would also add to the replay value. Throw that all in to the mix and things would improve. Right now this is essentially a film that is lacking a hook. Of course at the end of the day that just means this film wasn’t really for me. I would say to only check it out if you want to see what life would have been like if you had grown up poor in a small town. Otherwise, you’re better off with one of the old sit coms instead.

Overall 4/10