Category Archives: 6 Star Movies

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes Review

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It’s time for the big prequel to the classic Hunger Games story. Since we already know how corrupt the place is, you can assume that this’ll be more of a sad story right from the start. The movie does not disappoint in this regard as it is all quite dreary for most of its run. The film does a good job of not being over the top gritty though. The kills don’t tend to be too bloody with the wort of the wounds effectively being off screen. It’s certainly not a feel good movie but one that serves as a cautionary tale to be careful who you trust.

The movie starts by introducing us to Snow who pretends that he is one of the spoiled rich kids in order to survive at a prestigious school for long enough to win an award and actually get rich. His family was rich for a time so nobody suspects anything but this year there is a wrinkle in the plan. The Hunger Games have not been getting great ratings so they are spicing things up with the mentor system. Snow will have to try and make sure that his tribute, Lucy, survives through the tournament at least long enough to prove that he is the best mentor. Can he pull this off or are the games too rigged for that?

There are definitely quite a few things against Snow here, one of them is the teacher. This guy can’t stand Snow and openly says that he will do his best to wreck the guy’s life. When that is the person standing in your way, it is difficult to win any kind of prize. Fortunately the game master is on Snow’s side so he still has a chance. Thing is, he has to try and connect with Lucy which will be difficult since the tributes naturally dislike the people from the capital.

The tributes are given no choice but to compete in these games with their whole families held hostage in the meantime so they can’t even properly resist. If they make the wrong move then they will all be destroyed. Meanwhile, nearly all of the tributes are doomed to die anyway so it is a really rough system. It shows how barbaric the future state of the world is as everyone just watches these games and treats it like a normal thing. Ratings have gone down which is a good thing but it’s definitely not enough to shut the whole thing down.

The toughest part about a dystopia film like this is finding someone to root for. After all, most of the characters are going to be downright antagonistic right from the start. You’re not really rooting for Snow because he is pretty bad himself. Yeah he gets some sympathy points for not actually being rich and just doing his best to hang in there but at the same time he’s been living the life for so long that he may as well be one of those rich kids. Snow plays up to whoever has power and you can tell that he will not be a revolutionary.

Snow gradually gets worse and worse as the film goes on. Not everything is his fault but a lot of the situations are ones that he gets himself into. It’s hard for anyone to make a difference in this kind of world but in the end Snow definitely didn’t do much to change the world. If anything, his ideas for a more cruel Hunger Games may have made things worse. Sure, the combatants will get some better privileges in the lead up to the games but at the same time this will make the games run longer which has a rougher long term effect.

Initially I figured the games would be most of the climax but surprisingly there is quite a bit of story even after that. We get to see more of the lives in the District and how rough those are. Even when things seem happy, there is the underlining fear of knowing that any year you could be chosen for the Hunger Games. You can’t truly live a happy life with the specter of death right behind you like that. It’s just not possible and will only make things rougher and rougher for them all.

Sejanus is the only guy who really tries to make a difference. On one hand yo can respect that but he always does so in the sloppiest ways possible. The guy ends up looking gullible and slow on the uptake. He’s not good at keeping secrets and his half hearted plans don’t help anyone out long term. So he still beats Snow because it’s better to have a bad plan than no plan but you’d think that this guy could have done a lot better. He wins bravery points for talking back in such a dictatorship but couldn’t do much more than that.

Meanwhile for Lucy, she’s not a bad heroine but also seems to not be the best at strategy. I don’t see how she could allow herself to be close to Snow at all considering the circumstances. Even with the actions Snow did during the games, you would always assume that he is against you. The odds of this guy actually being a good person would just be near 0%. He was keeping lots of secrets and lies the whole time after all. Fortunately she eventually finds enough out to get out of there but otherwise that whole plot felt a bit forced to me. In the actual games she did well to last a while but definitely took a whole lot of risks. She wasn’t quite as memorable and hungry for battle as Katniss.

One weakness for prequels is that you roughly know all of the story beats that are going to happen so it does put a lot of extra pressure on the movie to execute the plot extremely well. Any mistakes will feel extra heavy as a result of already knowing the layout. I would say the film does a fine job. It does drag on a little at different points but it still a good movie. You will stay interested but I do think cutting out maybe 15-20 minutes would have made a good difference here. The length just doesn’t make sense with a much shorter Hunger Games like what we saw here.

Overall, A lot of the characters seem a bit gullible here like one guy drinking from a vial dropped off with a bunch of other stuff from someone who clearly despised him. It may not seem like a big thing but in such a cutthroat world, you’d imagine that everyone would have their guards up at all times. The same thing goes for the student who was murdered at the zoo or Sejanus in his various plights. The characters don’t always act like they’re in a sudden death world. You could say that they were simply too sheltered in the rich world and lacked common sense but at the same time that can only go so far. Well, suspend your disbelief and just follow the story along. It’s still interesting enough to get you past the main issues.

Overall 6/10

Texas Terror Review

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Texas Terror brings us back into another classic John Wayne adventure. It’s fairly short as with the last few so things have to move fast but it doesn’t feel like there is as much of a sense of urgency as in his other films. It makes for a fun adventure but nothing that I would consider to be top tier. Still, these films always have strong fundamentals and this one is no exception. You will certainly get to see some solid fights.

In Texas Terror you have some outlaws running around as always and unfortunately they bump off a man and escape. The timing of it is rough though so John actually blames himself for this. He gets on the trail and ends up saving a helpless young lady while posing in his disguise. He then has to go back to town and pretend not to know her. It turns out that she is the daughter of the guy who was murdered. The problem is that the villains are around and one of them decides to further frame John for the death of her father. Can John clear his name and save the day or is it all over for him?

He probably could have had a good talk with her a bit sooner and saved on some of the drama to be honest. Yeah it wouldn’t have been the best story based on his understanding of it at the time but at least it would be coming from him and not some third party. At the same time I get it because she does panic a whole lot. I wouldn’t be surprised if she let the cat out of the bag too soon and would spoil everything. At the very least you have to consider the possibility here. She is just not ready for this. As it is, she faints rather easily and is quick to believe this random guy at the town dance. With everyone being so secretive, I get why she might believe things but she still could have stayed a little more calm to really think things through.

One thing I enjoyed in this film is that John actually has a good relationship with the Sheriff this time around. He’s not running around and being a vigilante or anything like that. Yeah his methods might be a little more intense than the average person’s, but he gets results. Ultimately it’s not like the others were able to really do much of anything here. One guy does spot the fact that the villains were using stolen currency which was really clever. You don’t see this used all that often but using serial numbers to track stolen money is actually a really clever idea.

I would have liked the heroes to have been a bit more proactive at that point rather than waiting though. The middle is the only part of the film that is a little slow since we know who the crooks are and the heroes do too. For a film this short, you don’t usually want it to have any slow moments. Ah well, it is what it is I suppose. At least we do get the classic climax with some real fights as John shows why he is the top dog around here. He really gets in some powerful shots. In a way I feel like John shows off more in hand to hand combat than in marksmanship in these films.

As always you have the classic soundtrack here. A little bit of eerie music every time the villains make a move and it really lets you feel what the movie creators were going for the whole time. This way you aren’t left in suspense of anything like that. While the music may really be on the nose, it’s still better than not having a soundtrack. Somehow these old movies actually understood the balance more than some of the modern ones. They may not have had the budget for a whole lot of songs but at least they were able to get in the main ones that counted.

Overall, Texas Terror is a bit of a misleading title. You’re certainly not going to be too scared while watching this film and it’s not like it is going for that vibe either. At best you could say that John’s early disguise was pretty scary. They actually did a really good job with that one since you really could not recognize the guy. It was an impressive disguise, especially since he makes sure to act a lot different as plain ole John. The fact that the heroine almost saw through it might make him look a bit bad but hey that’s just how it goes. If you like classic Westerns then you’ll like this one as well. It feels like there is just not a whole lot to it compared to some of Wayne’s other films but that doesn’t make it a bad film or anything like that. Standard or not, it’s still a fun adventure.

Overall 6/10

Chain Reaction Review

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Chain Reaction is one of those classic thrillers with a whole lot going on but at the same time you also have to stretch your disbelief quite a bit. You almost wish they had said the main character was ex-military or something to explain how far he got. Instead, the villains look a little inept with how much trouble they have trying to find him.

The movie starts with Eddie and a bunch of other scientists finally having a breakthrough on their free energy alternative. This was made possible thanks to Eddie finally locating the right frequency that their energy process needed. He was in too much of a rush to write it down but that’s fine, they’ll handle that later on. The world can now get unlimited clean energy for no extra fee. Of course somebody doesn’t like that and during the night the facility is blown up and one of the head scientists is destroyed with another one missing. Eddie finds this out but now he and his coworker Lily are being framed for being involved here. Paul, one of the seniors advises them to turn themselves in but Eddie refuses. Lily and Eddie will now be on the run for a while as they try to figure out what’s going on and clear their names.

You’ve got both the CIA and the FBI involved with this affair so you can bet that things are white hot right now. This is where you have to try not to have the film lose you. Eddie and Lily have no espionage training or anything like that but they are able to evade everyone fairly easily. At one point they stop by Eddie’s friend’s house to stay for a while and are otherwise just on the run. It feels like they should have been caught within a matter of minutes or hours at the very worst. There is also a point early on where Eddie is running and the cops corner him on a bridge. So he basically jumps on the inside and while they work on fixing it, he just escapes. That seemed improbable.

Of course, thrillers are often improbable. I would say the trick is really just seeing how noticeable it feels in the moment. Most won’t hold up under scrutiny but at least during the movie you can look the other way. This time it was just a whole lot more obvious so you’re basically holding back a smirk the whole time. I won’t say it was crazy or anything like that but just adding in the whole ex military thing would have helped a whole lot.

Eddie just wants to make the world a better place and so I’d say he is a good lead. He did his best to save lives during the fire and is generally not someone who scares easily. He doesn’t panic a whole lot too which is good and even gets some quick fights. Meanwhile Lily starts off rocky with letting herself get so drunk. No matter what kind of a party it is, you know you’ve had too much to drink when you’re super drunk like this. It doesn’t put her in the best position but at least after that she doesn’t have any rough moments. She generally does her best as well.

Thing is, the main characters are completely out of their depth here for most of the film. The enemies have connections, guns, and a whole lot of power behind them. There’s almost nothing the leads can do without a considerable amount of plot armor. Their only help would be Paul who is rather shady from the jump. Paul is one of those guys who will always say the right things and is constantly in a regretful mood but it just doesn’t help you much at all. You’re still needing someone to actually keep you safe as opposed to just talking about it. He’s not going to be that guy who actually saves the day or anything like that. He does make for a fun character though.

The film’s best moments were often times not even concerning the main characters. I just liked the banter with Paul and everyone who would go at him. Whether it was Paul vs Congress, Paul vs FBI, Paul vs Private companies, etc. They were all a lot of fun. Paul is someone who is supremely confident at all times and feels like nobody can even touch him. When you have absolute confidence like that, well you’re definitely able to do a whole lot.

Ultimately, if we ever did unlock free unlimited energy, you definitely know that there would be massive fights about it. Even if there was enough for everyone all around the world, there would still be fights. People will go to war and fight about every little thing. Imagine something as big as a new kind of energy that would put several sectors completely out of business overnight? Yeah that’s bound to stir up a whole lot of feathers.

The main story may be about the leads finding some answers but I would say the most fun part was definitely the discussions of the impact that such an invention would have. Unlimited energy will likely never be a thing but at least it’s something that you can picture. Still, there needs to be a way to pull off the plot without making the villains look completely incompetent though. Not being able to stop two young adults with no military training is just a rough look.

Overall, Chain Reaction is a good film but not a great one. The villains seemed like they should have been able to win this one near instantly instead of constantly trying to play 4D chess and letting it backfire horribly on them. Still, you will be entertained and at the end of the day that is the most important part. The villains are fun with how over the top they are and the main character does a good job of not panicking. It’s the kind of film that you have a hard time finding nowadays because you’d expect a lot more research and realism to come into play. For this one the entertainment was absolutely the main selling point for better or worse.

Overall 6/10

Maximum Risk 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

Maximum Risk is one of those films with a lot of action and the hero is outnumbered from start to finish. Not an easy situation to be in but at the same time it’s not something that will phase the main character either. He’s been through a whole lot worse than this after all. Or at least he thinks that he has. It’s a reasonably good film, I was satisfied with it by the end. It does make some mistakes here and there but the positives outweigh the negatives.

The film starts with someone making a break for it but he ends up being murdered. We then cut to a police detective named Alain who looks just like the victim. He’s concerned to say the least and finds out that the guy was his secret brother. Alain now needs to live out his brother’s life to find out exactly what happened here. This will involve a lot of deception and it quickly becomes apparent that his brother made a whole lot of enemies among different gangs. Can Alain crack the case or are the villains going to bump him off?

Clearly Alain is in danger from the jump since his brother was already murdered…which makes his opening actions pretty questionable. He walks into seedy neighborhoods asking dangerous questions and then goes straight into a bar. He is just rushing way too much the whole time which doesn’t make a whole lot of sense since in this case he has a police (And military) background. If he was an ordinary joe, then sure he could make the rookie mistakes. So he ends up getting lucky a lot and has a ton of plot armor but even so you kind of just have to shake your head a bit at that.

Also the most troublesome part of the film is definitely when he runs into his brother’s girlfriend Alex. Now it would be taboo to hook up with her for a bunch of reasons. Respect for his brother’s memory, not going after people who were with family, etc. Unfortunately he doesn’t bother with any of that and they get together real fast. The reasoning just makes it even worse as she says at least he looks a lot like his brother. So it goes without saying that the romance is particularly bad here. I would definitely not be able to give this one a pass.

The villains aren’t the most interesting but the film does something here that I appreciated. In all of the mafia films you have the leader being some really old guy who can’t fight but everyone is nervous of him anyway. It basically comes down to the power that he represents and so that makes a lot of sense but even so you’re wondering how nobody has decided to just take a shot yet. Well, in this film the leader gets a little too ahead of himself and so somebody does make a move. It just makes so much sense that somebody would do this eventually. When you get too old, there naturally comes a time where you aren’t able to command the same respect even if you were a really well liked leader. It’s just inevitable.

The film explains early on that Alain has sniper skills from when he was in the army so you keep wondering when he will use these skills. They finally come in handy near the end so that was pretty nice. In general the climax was pretty good as we even brought back Alain’s police friend from the intro. That guy was gone for a while but the movie didn’t forget about him. He also has a pretty good scene near the end even if he caused a whole lot of trouble first. He’s just not initially meant to be a fighter and you can see that. He’s definitely more the detective type while Alain turns out to be a great fighter.

While you have a lot of serious plot twists and gang moments, the film does still have time for levity. One side character who was a lot of fun was the cab driver. Yeah the guy was perhaps a little crazy with how invested he was getting in this but he also did save Alain directly on several occasions. Without him the villains would have absolutely won this one. It was a tough journey for the cabby but he won’t be forgotten.

The very ending of the film is a little cheesy with how the characters are nervous about going to talk to somebody but I guess the movie wanted to have a bit of a funny ending. Not every joke lands of course and this one didn’t work for me but it’s the thought that counts. The film certainly had a lot of range and in a way that all helps the film out overall. It definitely feels like a 90s action film with how chaotic it is the whole time.

I also do have to give credit to one of Alain’s opponents. He was a powerful gang member who just kept getting back up and returning after many near death experiences. He was really strong and really durable so Alain had to defeat him multiple times. It was nice to have a rival like this who forced the hero to stay alert at all times. He knew that this guy could appear at any moment. He really left an impression, more than you would have expected from any villain in this film. Especially someone who wasn’t one of the bosses of the underworld.

Oh yeah I can’t forget about the FBI. (Or might have been the CIA) They have two corrupt agents running around trying to apply pressure as well but it’s crazy how inept they are. All they had to do was pretend to be heroic for a few minutes and they could have gotten Alain on their side. Instead they immediately try to throw threats around and pay the price. No their smartest moment but also not their worst as they let Alain and Alex have a private meeting in the background to discuss how to betray the agents. Rule 1 would be to not let them be together out of earshot. Yeah Alain really got lucky that so many of these characters had no idea what they were doing, that’s another form of plot armor you could say.

Overall, Maximum Risk is constantly moving at a high speed and that works in the film’s favor. At its core this is a fun film. If anything the actual story probably plays second fiddle to the general action. Yeah there are twists and such but at the same time I would consider it to be a basic thriller title. The details may change but at its core this is about the main character taking on the underworld and winning. The fight scenes are where the series can have more fun with Alain’s signature kicks. He really knows how to take down his opponents in close quarters combat. The writing is good and the pacing is solid so I really didn’t have any big problems here. The only thing hurting it from going further up has to be the very weak romance because this is absolutely the definition of a rebound. How do you go from finding out your boyfriend is dead to immediately going for his brother within the span of hours/days? Just not a good look since it makes the whole relationship look suspect. Perhaps the brother realized this too and that’s why he didn’t mention her in his final message where he accurately predicted a lot of what was going to happen.

Overall 6/10

Toy Soldiers Review

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Overall 6/10

The Outfit (2022) Review

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

It’s time for a film about a villainous organization making the rounds. It works pretty well as a low key suspense kind of film. Things pick up near the end but a good chunk of it is really about trying to keep quiet and seeing how long the characters can run a bluff. Naturally this isn’t a very easy thing to really pull off especially under duress.

The film starts by introducing us to Leonard. He’s the best at what he does and while most people call him a tailor, he is actually a cutter. Leonard goes to great pains to explain the difference but people always underestimate him. Ah well, his skills are the real deal and everybody goes to his shop but the one catch is that he has to allow the local mob to use the venue as well. His shop is almost like a front in that sense which isn’t his favorite thing in the world but at least he can tune it out. Well, one day two of the high ranking mob members stumble inside after a vicious battle with another gang, Richie and Francis. Richie was badly injured and there is a mysterious suitcase carrying something. Leonard is warned not to mess with it or he’ll lose his life but the whole city is after it. What should he do?

The entire movie takes place inside of Leonard’s shop as different people go in and out. It definitely makes for a pretty interesting setup here. The film has an old school feel to it as a result as you think of the old Hitchcock films that would use one location like this. As the viewer you are out of the loop at first but gradually you begin to see more and more of what’s going on. The film keeps on hinting at things as well to let you craft your own theories before they are revealed.

The movie is very confident in its story to the point where you don’t really have any red herrings here. You’re likely going to know the first pair of twists but then after that it’s much harder to have predicted the last one. It’s all a very logical line of story beats and they are written well. The film will have you engaged with what is going on the whole time without a doubt. It’s very easy to get engrossed in it all.

For the most part this is what I’d call a cerebral thriller so there isn’t a lot of violence but I would say there are two fairly violent deaths. Each one definitely drags on a little longer than necessary as these people die relatively slow deaths. Beyond that, it’s really all about the mental stress which is definitely intense enough in its own right. It’s part of why the film is fun, it’s just a nice angle to approach things from.

As for the characters, Leonard is a nice guy who is trying to get his secretary Mable back on the right track. She’s been after the bad boys for a while now and seems to put too much importance on material wealth. Leonard knows that this will get her into trouble but the problem is that it’s not really easy to fix that. At the end of the day she is just an employee after all, not family or anything like that. People often learn their lessons the hard way. Leonard doesn’t always make the correct calls as the movie goes on but his experience and intuition go a long way. While it’s fair to say that he definitely got lucky in some instances, he handled things as well as he could.

As for Mable, I can’t say that I was a fan of hers. Bad romantic decisions aside, she came off as way too arrogant and overconfident considering her situation. At one point she basically just starts talking tough and being insulted when she was nearly about to be tortured and still in a super dangerous position. You’d think that would make you at least a little more quiet for the time being as you wait for the situation to be a bit better. It seemed to me that she did not have a whole lot of street smarts.

Then we have Richie who is a bit easy to manipulate. The guy thinks he is a real big shot and such hubris is often blinding. The guy was completely out of his depth here and someone who spent a little too much time trying to be intimidating. He could have used all that time posturing to train instead.

Meanwhile Francis is another guy who thinks he is a real trickster and that comes back to bite him a bit here. To an extent all of the characters are trying to manipulate the situation though so it all comes down to who can do that the best. In times like that you need a mix of skill and experience on your side or you’re through. I did appreciate the leader of the gang though, he was sharp like when he noticed an object that really changed things. The boss of the rival gang also seemed smart and resourceful even if we did not get to see nearly as much of her since she didn’t appear until the end.

Overall, The Outfit is a pretty solid film. It’s definitely one of those films that makes you want to try and predict every twist and the fact that it doesn’t cheat with unknowable information definitely makes it that much more satisfying. If you’re up for a film like this then I can solidly recommend this one. The plot continues to shift and change as the movie goes on and the pacing remains solid all throughout the adventure. You could probably even make a sequel with how the film ends although some may say that could end up redundant anyway.

Overall 6/10

Cahill U.S. Marshal Review

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It’s time for a classic western but in this one we do have some annoying kids who do their best to hold everything back. They make all the worst decisions constantly and can’t fight or anything. They get old real quick during the movie and so you wish they had a smaller role. The film itself is still good enough but all the best scenes are when the kids are finally not on screen for it.

The movie starts with Cahill taking down some more criminals. He is known as the best Marshal around and everybody knows to fear him. His skills with the gun are unmatched by any other fighter and when he is on the case, all others better retreat. Unfortunately when he returns home, there is a big prison break and a few people are killed. He asks his son Danny to help track them down but what he doesn’t know is that Danny was in on it. The kid is a total traitor and his silence is causing some huge problems. Will Cahill be able to figure out what’s going on before it is too late?

There are a lot of problems here with Danny. For starters, teaming up with a gang of villains to rob a bank and then not telling on them even after someone dies is crazy. The best time to tell would have been near the beginning when they were in prison and Cahill had his gun. The whole movie should have been over in a few minutes at that rate but of course the kids weren’t smart enough for that. I give Danny most of the blame though because he was actively helping out the villains and also because he’s older. He should have been a much better role model for Billy instead of just leading him down the wrong path the whole time.

He wasn’t even a nice guy outside of the whole prison angle. He was needlessly rude to the Indian lady and didn’t seem to like them in general. The guy has no manners and so you just can’t root for them. Meanwhile Billy is young but he should still know better than to go around working with crooks. He should have ratted them all out to Cahill at the first opportunity that he got. At a certain point you have to be willing to make the heroic call on your own even if it means that you are going against your seniors.

As for the main villain Abe, he does a lot of posturing but is only brave when the kids are around. In a straight fight Cahill would have had him defeated almost immediately. In a lot of ways this villain is extremely unimpressive as a result and only hangs in there because of the kids. Without them in the picture then this film would have been extremely short. He really has fun smirking and laughing but yeah the guy is very petty.

I liked Cahill a lot though and he really had to deal with too much drama here. The guy is working a very honest job taking down criminals and risking his life on a daily basis. It would have been nice if the kids could have at least acknowledged that a little bit instead of hitting the panic button and causing a scene right away. I don’t think that would have been asking too much right? I also give him credit for eventually putting the pieces together and coming up with a plan. It was a very risky plan that kept the kids in danger but they did get themselves into that situation so most of that is on them.

Cahill’s right hand man Lightfoot was a good character. I would say this is the only part of the film that gets mean spirited because the way he went out was rather over the top. He meets a violent end and the guy has been minding his own business until Cahill recruited him. It would have been nice if he could have had a bit of a happier ending. If he had to go out, maybe after a long fight scene where he took a few of them with him. It just felt like the death wasn’t really needed for the story.

It’s not like this is a particularly dark or dreary western either. I think that’s part of why it feels a bit out of nowhere. Yes there are a lot of threats but that’s really all they are. You have the sense of danger without the film going all hardcore about it. Lightfoot’s death is really the only part that fits that bill. Once again, it’s something to blame the kids for because he would not have been in that spot otherwise. The fact that Danny came close to letting some innocent people die for the crime is also crazy.

Now it’s true that the group weren’t innocent in general as they were all committing crimes and getting into trouble but they were innocent of this particular crime which is what counts. Yeah Danny ultimately gets ready to do the right thing but without Cahill there, Danny would have died before he could have really done anything about it. He definitely didn’t plan things out particularly well.

Overall, Cahill U.S. Marshal is a good film but one that is held back from the kids. There is such a stark contrast between his scenes and those of the kids. Whenever the kids are on screen you end up getting really annoyed, however when the Marshal is on screen then you’re going to get a fairly intense scene showing just how skilled he is. It’s like two different films at some points. So if you really like westerns then I imagine you will enjoy this one too but you will be able to tell that it is a level under that of your average westerns. Those blow this one away and also have a lot more action.

Overall 6/10

The Third Murder Review

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It’s time for a police thriller, this time with a bit of a jaded edge from the defense attorney. He doesn’t really care about justice and just does whatever he can in order to get the best deal for his clients. This way he can just stay detached from everything but will he be able to in this case? It’s an interesting film but one that doesn’t have any real likable characters for the most part. I was also really hoping we could get more scenes within the courtroom but for the most part they tend to all be off screen.

The movie starts off with a guy getting murdered and then lit on fire. We cut to the present where the assailant was found to be a guy named Misumi who ended up agreeing to the charges. He is not slated to be sent for death and so that’s when Shigemori is called in as his defense. Shigemori needs to fight the technicality of the crime here. If he can change it from a murder robbery to something slightly lower, then he can get the guy off with life in prison instead. The problem is that Misumi seems to keep on giving different answers to every question as if he himself isn’t sure of what happened and is also giving incriminating statements. Does this guy want to be found guilty?

For a while there that’s sort of what I figured was happening. Misumi desperately wanted the death penalty and was trying to sabotage himself. It turns out that this wasn’t the case which makes him look that much worse to be honest. He comes off as really naive and gullible the whole time. The guy is in a bad position and just tries to do his best but he really could have planned things out almost any other way and had a better outcome. So every time the characters have a conversation with him you just cringe. Even right to the end the guy was being super cryptic.

As with any criminal case, you do have to try and measure all of the evidence. One girl even tells Shigemori how nobody tells the truth around here and that seems about right. Everybody is lying to their own ends. Even Shigemori basically says he will do whatever it takes to win even if he doesn’t believe what he is saying. It’s a pretty rough way for a defense attorney to speak. I imagine it’s probably the easiest way for him to live with himself since it is a tough job. Being a defense attorney means you sometimes have to defend truly terrible people that you know are guilty. It’s definitely not a job that I could ever take.

He has a younger assistant who still believes in justice but we’ll see how long that lasts. The prosecutor is a lot more likable since she is trying to make the world a better place and is getting stopped by Shigemori the whole time. Now I know the Japanese criminal system can make a person jaded with how good they are at forcing confessions. Regardless of if the confession is true or not, they get it and then that ends the threat. In any society you always have to choose between security and freedom. Japan has chosen security and so there are pros and cons to that. A pro is that you often don’t see a lot of crime, most of the ones that make the headlines are from tourists which makes a lot of sense.

It means if you commit a crime then you will be in for a very bad time. It also means you need to be really careful where you are at because if you are falsely accused then you are also in for a bad time. For what it’s worth, I would say the Japanese system has more pros than cons, I would consider it to probably be the best system around the world. Other systems that use a similar security styled focus like China tend to have more corruption issues and freedom styled justice systems always tend to become a bit of a joke by the end.

All of these are reasons why Shigemori may not believe in the cause anymore. His father used to be a more lenient man but has also turned hard after his light sentences were taken for granted. One of them even involves the current suspect. Now as the film goes on we get more and more actual motives for Misumi beyond the ones that were made up. One in particular involves the girl Sakie and while most of the plotlines are left a bit up for interpretation, I don’t believe there is ever any scene that gives us a reason to doubt what happened to her. It is the cleanest explanation for the murder later on and helps Misumi look more reasonable.

I still maintain that Misumi could have handled things a whole lot better though and his whole speech about control was really just bonkers. The fact is that some people do have control over other people’s lives depending on the context and situation. It may be nice to say that nobody should have control but that’s like me saying it would be nice if there was no crime. There’s just not much point in such a statement because that’s just how it is.

Also back to Shigemori, part of why he’s not likable is aside from the fact that he doesn’t care about justice, he just seems to be completely unreasonable the whole time. For example he brings a letter to the widow of the man who was killed and explains it’s from the murderer who feels bad about the whole thing. The fact that he actually half expected her to take the letter is crazy. That’s just such an insult, I was glad she ripped it. Why would you possibly forgive the murderer so easily or believe that he has any sympathy about the incident? If anything I’d be more likely to attend the hearings after that and make it clear that I want him gone. Shigemori acting like that was rude of her was totally crazy.

Ah well, again I also think the film would have been a whole lot better if we got to be in the courtroom a bit more. Of course the judge also seemed to be a bit corrupt in the sense that he was most worried about his image. I don’t blame the judge for basically insulting the whole defense team at the end though because the way they handled the situation would absolutely look crazy to everyone on the outside. The investigating period as the characters travel around is interesting enough but usually the court room is the payoff for all of that. It felt like we got cheated out of the most interesting bits and could only see a small preview of it.

Overall, The Third Murder is an interesting film. It runs a tad too long at times and I would have either made the characters a bit more optimistic or given the assistant more of a role. It would just be nice to have someone in the film who was super invested in what was actually happening. To a degree that is part of Shigemori’s character arc but it takes him a long while to get there. Ultimately the film has a lot to say about the justice system and characters spouting off their own idea of ethics but for the most part the characters come off as crazy. Like the father when he said that at birth some people are capable of murder and others aren’t. It’s such a crazy perspective I had to wonder if he meant something else at first. Either way there is a lot going on here.

Overall 6/10

Plane Review

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

It’s time for a thriller and I remember seeing this trailer several times when the film was coming out. Sometimes you just like to see a fairly basic action title and this one definitely fits the bill on that level. There is quite a bit of action here and the characters have to surpass some real difficult odds. The film is fun the whole way through and the weakest aspect is really just that there aren’t any really great members of the crew outside of the main cast.

The film starts with Brodie getting ready for a fairly routine flight. He’s a solid pilot and has seen his share of action over the years. He’s flown through all kinds of weather so when the company forces him to chart a path right through a storm, he isn’t overly worried. He is less than pleased at also being surprised to find out that he will be transporting a criminal as well but doesn’t really get an option about that. Well, naturally the storm does impact the plane and they are forced to have an emergency landing in the middle of enemy territory. They are now being attacked by legions of powerful tribesmen. Can Brodie and Louis (The convict) team up to save everybody or will they ultimately fall to this attack?

I would say the film does a pretty good job at building some tension early during the flight although it was pushing it a bit to have Brodie leave the controls to check on everyone during a massive storm. I’m thinking it was to get him banged up and show how serious this was but there had to be a better way to do that. Still, once they land the film moves pretty fast. Brodie and Louis exploring the island is pretty fun and Brodie even gets to use his expert skills to get the phone working.

The first fight is definitely on the weaker side though. It was really just a long grapple and I was expecting a lot more hand to hand there. I’m thinking that’s because this was made to be a really down to Earth film so this is supposed to be what fighting is really like but I’ll take a cinematic battle any day. The gun fights we get later on are definitely a lot more solid and I would argue that’s usually rare. Typically I would expect the hand to hand battles to really be the highlight in a film like this.

Ah well, I suppose the film couldn’t do it all. On the gun fighting, I was glad they showed just how useful a good sniper can be. He took out most of the enemies on his own. If anything, I think they could have potentially won that fight outright since he just needed a few more shots. By the very end we do get into some Storm Trooper status as everyone keeps on missing but the film made clear the difference between a master operative who does this for a living and the random terrorists.

I also really enjoyed the subplot with corporate talking tough from home base. You had the sleazy CEO type guy who refuses to help no matter what since he is worried about his reputation. He would absolutely just let everybody back to die if it would help his image. Then you have the consultant who is good at situations like this. He comes in insulting everybody and gets right to business. This guy is definitely the standout character of the film because without him calling in backup and getting things ready, the heroes would have been absolutely cooked.

I’d even say it’s almost like a twist because for a while there you are basically expecting Brodie to do everything himself. Instead in this case he actually has a whole lot of backup who come in clutch to help out. It makes this into a bit of a team up film which initially you thought it would just be with the main two. They still do a good chunk of the work but they get a good amount of help against the waves of enemies. In the end it also helps with the whole realism angle.

So Brodie works well as the main character. He’s a tough fighter and never gives up as he fights on. I do think he had a pretty bad plan at the end though when he’s ready to give himself up. I get the noble sacrifice play and all but giving yourself up is never the right move. All it does it open yourself up to a whole lot of trouble. There’s rarely if ever any real benefit to doing this and you have better odds trying to fight your way out. Yeah your odds are lousy there too, but at least they aren’t 0.

Then Louis also does well with his combat experience. The guy has been around for a long time and he takes out some of the enemies right away. I was surprised if anything how shocked and hesitant Brodie was. In this situation you have to take the out as quickly as possible since jail is not an option and using lethal measures is a must. Without Louis, Brodie was definitely not going to last long here. At the end of the day Louis definitely proved himself when it counted.

As for the rest of the crew, they’re just generally awful. They panic and yell the whole time and then when they’re obviously in strange territory they still run up to the cars approaching. It’s not like it would have changed things much if they had stayed back but everyone knows not to run up to those. Then later on when it’s time to escape, they grumble about the method. None of them seemed to have any common sense or even a sense of urgency about them. It’s always rough to see the NPC type characters acting like this because you just expect better. I’ll give some kudos to Brodie’s co-pilot and one of the stewardesses but aside from them the others were just making too many bad decisions.

As you can expect given the circumstances, there is definitely a bit of a body count here. The characters are getting bumped off left and right and the film can definitely get rather violent. It’s definitely a case where I think it could have been more extreme but it’s enough to probably caution you about either way. Know that you’re getting into an intense film with this one but you could probably guess that. The film has solid writing and pacing throughout so it all goes pretty quickly. The film never lingers on any one moment for too long.

Overall, Plane is a fun film. It can definitely get rather intense and the villains are always annoying to see but you’ll enjoy it more than you don’t. While the passengers panicking and generally getting in the way may be realistic, it doesn’t make their scenes any less annoying. You absolutely do not want to get stuck with them on your side. They won’t be able to back you up at all or come in handy and will only put you in more danger. If you’re in a plane crash, you’re definitely going to want to put some distance between you and the others as soon as possible.

Overall 6/10

Red River Review

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It’s time for a big Western. You’ve definitely got a lot going on in this title. You’ve got your gunfights, the slow descent into madness, and even a touch of romance. Yes this film has it all but ultimately it still didn’t end up being an all star for me. I would say the main thing that ends up holding it back when it counts is that the cast isn’t all that great. They can all be a little tough to root for at times.

The movie starts off with Dunson and his friend Groot splitting up from their platoon to go and take some land. They want to eventually grow rich and have cattle everywhere. It was always tough to really grow in these days because there was always a rich person somewhere trying to hog up all the land. In this case it’s a guy named Diego, but Dunson shoots the messenger and dares the guy to attack. This is just the start of the madness that will follow. Will Dunson be able to take over the land while keeping his moral compass or will he eventually become one of the corrupt overlords that he was challenging? The kid named Matt that Dunson picked up will be able to see what happens first-hand.

The benefit of being such a long film is that you can really show how Dunson gradually changes as the years get by. He starts off on a rather heroic note, then starts to get a bit edgy, until he gradually becomes a full fledged villain. He really changes a whole lot from the start to the end and the movie did a good job of keeping it from being rushed. I would argue that the only part which was a bit rushed was the very ending but otherwise it was all handled pretty well. You definitely get to root against Dunson as you see him go off the deep end.

It’s also tough for the rest of the men because they simply don’t have the skill that Dunson has. This was still in the days where being the best with a gun gave you a lot of power. Yes, people could stop him if they ganged up on him but it’s hard to attack knowing that somebody on your side is going to die. Also for a while there he did have protection from Matt who was the next best shooter around. I would give credit to some of the guy who opposed Dunson but for the most part they would always do so with trickery and trying to slip away so it wasn’t quite as impressive.

I was glad that Matt ultimately knew when it was time to take a stand. It took him a while but he did act before anything that couldn’t be reversed could happen. It was intense to see the whole cast be constantly afraid of their own shadows with Dunson on the loose though. It showed just what an effect he had and how great his skills were. Even by the end you could argue that he was still the single best shooter in the land. In a one on one serious fight I’m not sure that Matt could actually take him.

Matt does look a bit unserious during the climax though. We get yet another one of those romances that goes by way too quickly without much real development. Matt also looks extra petty here because he was acting such a big game about not being driven into romance and then he still cracked immediately. In fact the heroine Tess was upset because she thought that he got the wrong impression of her but it seemed to be correct given how quickly things progressed in a single night. So the whole thing just makes you wince because it was a poor look for both characters. I suppose that’s just how it goes sometimes.

I enjoyed Matt’s rival Valance. That guy was a real good shot and gave us some good banter. He gets written out quite a bit in the second half though until a quick moment at the end. The moment is super intense when it starts because we see him making the hard call and showing why he was a loyal friend. The problem is that the outcome just doesn’t make him look particularly good and he’s completely forgotten about. It’s a really dark end for him and the tonal whiplash with the ending is crazy. It’s all treated as being really light hearted and everything despite what just happened. It doesn’t actually make any sense.

In general I thought the ending was extremely weak and did not feel deserved. The last 180 didn’t really make any sense and too much damage had already been done. The concept of the ending is fine and all but you really need a proper path to get there and I would argue that this film veered away from it a long time ago. So for me it was all just too fast and I would have ended with a proper duel. It would be a sad ending but I think it also would have made a whole lot of sense.

Finally I should also mention that Dunson’s friend Groot wasn’t bad. He was also loyal but perhaps to a fault. he would let the guy know when he made a mistake but wouldn’t do anything about it. I would have preferred if Groot had put more distance between himself and Dunson as the film went on. I suppose it’s not like there was much of a place for him to go but even just officially terminating the friendship would have been a good start there. Really letting him know that he has gone too far.

Also while it was a normal thing back then, it’s still rough to see them burning brands directly onto the horses and other livestock. It should have been obvious even back then that it would hurt the animal so the fact that this was going on throughout the film made it even harder to root for the main characters. It’s just not a humane way to treat these creatures who are just doing their best. It’s why you don’t feel so bad when they start to run over the humans during the stampede.

Overall, This is a movie that really shows how people can change under stressful times. If the main characters had not undergone such a huge journey then they would have all been very different people. A lot of them would still be friends and we wouldn’t have seen just how drastic some characters could be. Dangerous life or death moments really bring out a person’s true self and often times it is something that you might not have expected otherwise. You don’t really know someone until that moment strikes and so it makes for a pretty interesting watch. At the same time, it does mean that we are without a great main character for most of the film and Matt is never really able to fill Dunson’s role. It’s not my favorite western but it was still good enough and I would recommend checking it out if you like the genre.

Overall 6/10