Category Archives: 7 Star Movies

The 6th Day Review

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It’s time for a sci-fi film about everyone’s worst fear. Imagine you go home one day and a clone has taken over your life? Definitely not a fun feeling. The movie balances out the sci-fi and action really well and makes for a solid watch from start to finish. A quality film that I would recommend checking out without a doubt.

The movie starts by introducing us to the 6th Day laws which prohibit anyone from making clones of humans. It’s just not the right thing to do and the tech isn’t ready for it. This will prevent anyone from trying to perfect the technology and causing accidents in the meantime. Our main character here is Adam who flies helicopters and one day his partner has to go on a mission without him since Adam needs to buy a doll for his daughter’s birthday. The crew is destroyed but Adam doesn’t know this. He heads back to the house back in time for the party only to find that “Adam” is already there. Now there are a bunch of people trying to murder the lead so he has to get to the bottom of this conspiracy and reclaim his family before it’s too late.

This may be a 2000 film but it’s got a classic 90s vibe to me. There’s a lot of fast paced action here while also still making time for a good amount of quips and humor. It’s balanced well so the film’s what I would call a light hearted thriller. Adam is a great fighter who knows how to use a gun and take care of himself. No matter how many enemies you throw at him, you know he’s basically got this.

There’s time for a good amount of lore into how the future works with cloning at the ready and the character cast is good. I actually thought the main villains were rather fun. One of them dies quite a few times before he has to be cloned each time which sounds rather painful to have to keep going through that but at least you never die right? Dr. Weir is the only villain I wasn’t big on though. He’s one of those guys who started off with rather reasonable goals and everything but then he went too far.

So in the end he turns back on this and tries to see the light but he waited too long. He really just ensured that the rich Mr. Drucker would have to take him down. It’s always rough when you see the scientist making a dumb mistake like this. If you’re going to betray the villains then you should really cover your bases before doing it. Have some kind of a plan right?

Drucker is a much more interesting villain because of how he just goes all in on the plan. His opening speech is basically him admitting that he’s evil and doing human cloning despite the rules being against it. He’s rich and nobody can stop him so why not right? He’s a very smug kind of villain which works really well here. He can’t fight but he has a lot of goons on his side.

I also appreciated that the film handled the topic of clones very well. After all once a clone does exist, he is sentient so now you can’t exactly end him right? So lets say with Adam and his clone, you need Adam to get his life back but the clone also thinks that he is real and has the same love for his family. In a way there is no real way to win in this situation. Someone is going to have a sad ending here and that’s the case in practically every film of this kind.

The Sonic 90s show and God of Highschool easily have the saddest endings when it comes to clones but this film’s ending can be rather sad as well. Yes, it’s not played off as a sad ending and I appreciate that but it is still sad when you think about it. One of them can’t be with the family unless they alternate days or something which would be weird as well.

So the film handles it as best as possible. It’s a satisfactory ending and the rare sad ending that I can be fine with. You definitely hope that cloning never becomes a thing in the real world because it would really just be scary. The whole film has a bit of a scary undertone despite how it’s fairly light hearted the whole time. I’d say it’s because you could easily picture a future like this.

It’s all handled rather realistically I would say. Definitely a lot to think about when it comes to the story and I do dig themes like this. It’s why Sci-Fi’s so good. Like I said earlier, the fight scenes are really good and the effects are solid. The soundtrack is even pretty good. The violence isn’t over the top either, a few intense moments but mainly your classic action type of content. Fairly minimal fanservice although one character has a weird VR maid that shows up. That’s one of those spooky elements that’s already shown up in the real world but it does seem like you’d have to be really desperate to go that route. The main romance is actually rather decent since the main character is already married at the start so they don’t have to run into the usual drama.

I also wouldn’t expect her to realize that Adam’s clone is around since the clones in this film are effectively perfect. They have all of the memories and think that they are real so I wouldn’t expect any key differences there. The film’s pacing is good so really as you can see the positives really outweigh the negatives.

Overall, The 6th Day is a pretty good movie. It takes the subject of clones a lot farther than I would have expected since you’re just thinking about a classic action thriller here. The comedy is also handled well and helps to kick this to the next level. This movie isn’t brought up very often so if you happen to see it online then I would definitely recommend checking it out.

Overall 7/10

The Unsuspected Review

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It’s time for an old school mystery thriller. This one definitely has a lot of characters running around which helps to enhance the mystery angle and I would say that it ends up working out really well. There are enough characters here where you can really start making your own guesses on what happened and who the true culprit is. There are a solid number of twists and turns here so it will be tough to really guess it all correctly but trying to come close is definitely the main objective here.

So the movie starts with a lady getting murdered. She was actually on the phone with someone but completely panicked and so while she was being murdered she didn’t yell out the person’s name, description, or anything like that. In fact she dropped the phone so only a scream was heard which didn’t seem to bother the other person on the line nearly as much as you would have expected it to. We then get to the main house where there is a big party for Victor ongoing. Just about everyone is here and it should be all good except a mysterious guy shows up. His name is Steven and he claims to be the husband of Matilda, the lady who died out at sea.

Nobody has been aware of her being married before and as it happens, she was quite rich. So naturally her family were expecting to get everything and now this guy has shown up? Is he just here for the money and is this some kind of a scam? They’ll need to figure it out quickly and does this have anything to do with the murder of the other lady? More and more characters enter the plot as the film goes on and the main thing I would say is that this is one of those films where you really can’t rust anyone. They’ve all got an angle that they are working on.

Each character appears to have some kind of motive and most of them just don’t get along at all. You have Althea who stole Matilda’s boyfriend from her right before they were to be married so there would definitely still be some resentment there. Unfortunately he fell off quickly so now Althea isn’t even happy. Steven’s motivations are obvious of course, if he is faking the marriage then he is here for money and if not, then he may be out for some revenge. He appears to be digging into the recent “suicide” as well which raises more questions. I should mention now that unfortunately the opening murder was ruled a suicide since there was no evidence of a struggle or anything. It’s a shame because the whole movie wouldn’t have happened in the same way if the victim had just yelled anything specific before getting bumped off.

Meanwhile Victor is naturally a suspect for generally being shady and also not reacting much to any of the news. He reads a lot of murder mysteries and different thrillers over the radio so he has experience in these kinds of scenarios. The film tends to open up more questions as it goes on as well when the various characters begin interacting with each other. There are so many secret conversations, layered threats, blackmail, etc. Everything is happening here. That is where the film shines though. The pacing is very fast and they manage to squeeze in many different plots before the film is over.

Naturally the writing is also really good although that should come as no surprise. These old films always tend to have a great script and was crafted with a lot of care. Most of the characters are written to be rather unlikable but it is done in a careful way where they aren’t obnoxious or anything like that. You are rooting for things not to go tooo well for them but they’re not actively hurting the film in the process. For example Althea’s husband spends the whole film being really drunk so he’s annoying and someone to root against but the film doesn’t overplay its hand by having him show up dozens and dozens of times over to beat you over the head with how annoying he is. You get the basis of his character right away. Likewise you see how Althea is always chasing different men and can’t really be trusted.

The flaws that the characters have are rather obvious without being overbearing and that’s absolutely the right away to do it. So in short, the film didn’t really have any negatives for me. Yeah I still think it’s a real stretch how in the first murder the girl didn’t do anything even while she was already on the phone. That whole thing felt more than a little sloppy to me and the film should have written the scene in a different way. Just don’t have her be on the phone you know? I feel like in part it was there to be a red herring as well and the problem is that it’s a little too good as a red herring to the point where it almost becomes a plot hole of sorts. Plot hole is too strong since you can explain it away but all I’m saying is that the first scene doesn’t work all that well despite the rest of the film being really strong.

Also there’s a major plot point/whole storyline that I didn’t mention because the actual plot would be a spoiler in itself. All I’ll say there is that you always have to trust your own recollection or lack thereof rather than someone else’s story. Even if it might work out sometimes, you see so many characters being gaslit because they didn’t trust their own instincts. That is always a problem. Just trust in your instincts and generally everything will work out.

Overall, This is the kind of film where I try not to give too much away because all of the twists and turns as a primary factor in how much you enjoy the film. It’s why a repeat viewing will never hit quite the same way as the initial watch. Still, it is done well enough where you would still have a good time either way. I definitely recommend watching this movie and extra credit to you if you guess who the main culprit is.

Overall 7/10

Kin Review

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All right so it’s time for a sci-fi film that could have started some kind of big franchise but ultimately that was not in the cards. Wasn’t even close to be honest since I never saw anybody talking about this film. It had some interesting ideas but the main problem is that you could make the case that the whole film is set up for the actual film. The cool sci-fi robot/aliens don’t get to do anything until the very end. In a way you could have easily cut the sci-fi stuff out and just made this a film about bonding with family and letting go of the past.

The film starts off with some robots running around and fighting something but no worries that won’t matter for a long time. The main plot starts by introducing us to Eli who is having a tough time at school. His home setup isn’t exactly great which doesn’t help matters. His step father Hal is a fairly strict guy who isn’t a bad person but he hasn’t done much to connect with Eli. He seems to have a tough time opening up and unfortunately he won’t get much time for that. Hal’s son Jimmy shows up one day as he’s finally out of prison but he wants some money to pay off a dangerous person he took a loan from.

Hal isn’t about to break the law so he says no but Jimmy ends up breaking into his shop with a few gangsters. Unfortunately Hal is gunned down during the battle so Jimmy runs off with Eli who doesn’t realize that Hal is dead yet. They are being pursued by Taylor who wants revenge for Jimmy bumping off his brother. A lot of drama going on for sure. Will they be able to stay safe with so many enemies around. Also, what does any of this have to do with the aliens??

So yeah like I said in the beginning, this doesn’t really have much to do with the sci-fi angle at all. The only element that is relevant is that Eli finds a sci-fi gun that one of them drops and this helps him out a whole lot. It can take down just about anyone in a single hit. It takes a little time to master the gun but it definitely comes in handy. Again though, it is something you could remove from the film and almost nothing changes. That’s why it feels like a really odd direction for this movie.

The climax ends up feeling like a completely different movie all of a sudden. We learn about different concepts and some crazy stuff happening in space but that’s all for the sequel. So a lot of potential here but that sequel’s probably never actually going to happen which just makes the whole thing even more pointless. At least I did like the visuals though. They did a great job on the armors and the future plot did sound interesting.

Now while that all sounds negative, I actually did like the movie. Because the foundation is good even considering the fact that the sci-fi part didn’t really add anything. First up, Hal’s actually a solid character. The film achieved a much better balance with him being a strict Dad but still a good person compared to many other films that cross the line and just make this kind of character an antagonist. He handled Jimmy well even if his son didn’t see things that way. Hal can’t just hire him out of the blue, it wouldn’t make sense and the guy was just trying to get him back on the right path. I do think he handled the robbery attempt rather badly but you can chalk some of that up to shock and part of it to underestimating his opponents.

Meanwhile Eli’s a good main character. It does take him a little while to get going but he is young so I can cut him a little slack. I do think he’ll end up being better in a hypothetical sequel. For now I can at least be satisfied with his heart being in the right place. He also ends up going all out with the alien gun which was good. When you’re being attacked you really can’t worry about holding back, especially when you are outnumbered.

Jimmy though, I did not like at all. I know he goes through the whole character arc about finally being mature and everything but it takes too long. He made way too many mistakes here. Owing all that money to a bunch of gangsters was a really bad idea, then taking Eli to a strip club, getting drunk, etc. He was really his own worst enemy in this film and made things a lot tougher for everyone. If he could have wizened up a lot sooner then that would have really made a difference.

Meanwhile Milly is a solid character. She does call out Jimmy for how irresponsible he is being the whole time. The guy definitely needed a lecture. The whole strip club venue did feel like a rather cheap attempt to get some fanservice into the movie though. It really has nothing to do with anything except to further show how far Jimmy has fallen but we didn’t need that. There comes a point where you make a character a little too unlikable after all and this is really that point.

As for the villains, I mean they’re basically just generic gangsters so there’s not much to say about them. Taylor comes across as not really thinking things through. His brother got shot because they started a gun fight so the whole quest for revenge feels like an ego trip. I would have much preferred fighting some aliens or something a little cooler at the end. The climax is only tense in the sense that Jimmy could get bumped off which isn’t the worst thing in the world. I’ll give the film props for having one of the cops actually help out a bit as opposed to everyone dying immediately though.

Overall, Kin is a reasonable action film. It’s at its best when it’s not worrying about the sci-fi stuff. Having the main characters be on the run from a bunch of gangters while the main character doesn’t even know they are on the run is pretty intense. Jimmy may be annoying but on the whole the writing here is good and there are definitely way more positives than negatives. The soundtrack could be decent at times and there aren’t a lot of issues to be found here. Just treat it as a solid one-shot and you should have a good time here.

Overall 7/10

Destination Inner Space Review

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It’s time for one of those classic creature feature films. You can always expect a whole lot of action out of a title like this. It’s a retro film that has aged well with solid pacing and a fun monster. I definitely won’t say that it’s out of this world or anything like that but it gets the job done. Your interest will be maintained the whole time and the simple plot makes for a good amount of replay value.

The movie starts with some kind of underwater object being spotted. It doesn’t appear to be a submarine or any kind of life that we have previously known. A few experts are brought in and Commander Wayne is ready to lead the team. Technically this falls more under the doctor’s authority than the marines so Wayne is a bit more limited in power than he normally would be but he is still ready to do what must be done. Unfortunately there is some drama though as a guy named Maddox is here and he keeps insinuating that Wayne did something really terrible a long time ago. It’s some kind of conspiracy that must not be uttered and it’s threatening to tear this crew apart.

While this is a creature feature film, you could definitely say that most of the stakes and danger actually come from the human plot. Maddox is really a loose cannon and definitely the worst character in the film. All of these passive aggressive jabs he takes at Wayne just feels really petty. It gets much worse once we actually find out the truth about his past. The guy was making a whole lot of noise for something that really wasn’t Wayne’s fault, even remotely. Seriously, the guy’s doing a lot of squawking when he should only be blaming himself. It makes him look super bad to be honest and I would argue that he never recovers from this. Just a really bad character all around.

The most surreal part of the film though happens once we’ve learned the tragic backstory. The heroine who likes Maddox suddenly says that she has gained respect for him. It’s supposed to be a touching moment since he just came clean about everything but instead you’re just rolling your eyes. You can’t take this seriously at all because one, it had to be completely dragged out of him. He was ready to keep up the pretense the entire time and blame Wayne for everything. He was actively lying about the events and if Wayne wasn’t persistent enough then this would have really gone sideways. It’s only after enough pressure was applied that he cracks. And second, it just makes Maddox look terrible.

Even if you make some excuses for the guy, at best you don’t lose respect. I don’t see how you could gain it though. So yeah that romance plot was pretty bad. Wayne’s romance plot wasn’t much better though. In his plot he tries convincing a girl to give a guy a chance. This lady is super jaded about men in general and I don’t blame her since Wayne’s first instinct when coming aboard the ship is to flirt with both of the women there. So it does make him come across as rather shallow I have to admit. This romance definitely doesn’t need to be in the film at all.

Wayne’s a solid main character aside from that though. He’s focused on the mission and doing his best to keep everyone alive. He knows what he’s doing which is more than I can say for most of the other characters. The main scientist/doctor here looks really bad. The guy is so concerned with getting a big discovery and achieving new science that he is willing to risk everyone’s lives without a good plan. The guy is actively getting everyone into trouble and does so very unapologetically. Having this guy around is really like having an enemy on deck. Things would have gotten a lot smoother without him.

Now how about the monster? Well the creature is definitely a lot of fun. It’s got a very colorful design and is an aquatic type creature like the Gill Man. The aliens are fairly high tech with the UFO and it made for a good antagonist. It is far from being the strongest villain on the block though. The humans are able to overpower this creature physically which does mean that it would be absolutely stomped/devastated by the average opponent. It would certainly not be going toe to toe with a Xenomorph for example.

The design is what counts though. It also got lucky with one of the humans pouring water on it so it wouldn’t die. Giving water to a water based alien creature is probably the #1 thing you should not do if you want to survive an alien encounter. The humans make a lot of pretty bad mistakes here but I would still say the writing itself is good. Sometimes characters are bound to make some really bad moves and that can be realistic in its own way. It’s not like these guys have to be super geniuses or anything like that.

Like I said earlier, the pacing is pretty good too. Things tend to move fast but you have to really enjoy the situation itself since the creatures take a while to do anything. This is definitely a film about the tension of the unknown and the human drama as much as it is a creature feature film. The action scenes hold up when they occur though and this film just makes for a good time. It’s really got everything I could want/expect from this type of movie.

Overall, Destination Inner Space has a clever title and this makes for a good movie. Even today the ocean is filled with mysteries and you can imagine a lot of spooky stuff being down there. Perhaps no humanoid aliens like this but it makes for a fun element. The movie isn’t flashy so don’t expect a bunch of giant explosions or anything like that. At the same time, what you can bank on is a lot of good fun. This is a film that delivers all the way and you aren’t going to forget it.

Overall 7/10

Bad Day at Black Rock Review

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All right it’s time for one of those films that I hadn’t heard of before but was actually really solid. There’s a lot of good tension here and at times it can even play out a bit like a Twilight Zone episode. The main character did annoy me at times with how much disrespect he was taking from the other characters but ultimately it was a tough situation and the movie was careful not to give him any easy outs. It makes for a tense watch the whole way through.

The film starts with a guy named John getting off of a train and into a small town. For some reason nobody is happy to see him and he is given the cold shoulder immediately. The concierge straight up tells him to go home and nobody wants to give him a car to drive. He’s told all of the hotel rooms are booked, people threaten him, etc. John came here in search of a guy named Komoko but the instant he brings up this name things get even worse. The local sheriff is completely drunk and refuses to help while everyone else just acts like a villain. It’s clear that nothing good happened to Komoko and now something is about to happen to John. Someone lets him know that he will be murdered by the town at the end of the day. Outnumbered with no vehicles, weapons, and 1 dead arm, can John find a way out of here?

You can see how the situation is definitely not in his favor. I’d say the biggest issue is really that he only has 1 good arm. It means that even with the element of surprise, any attack option will be incredibly risky. One bad hit and John will be on the ground with no real way to defend himself. Yeah it’s possible to fight with one arm but it gives you dozens of new weaknesses. You have to really fight perfectly and even then winning is only a possibility. Particularly with a whole town against you. Yes, it’s a small town but we’re still talking around 6-8 guys against 1 man. Those are not good odds.

John does his best not to pick any fights and to keep his head low but it’s clear that this won’t work. Now that he’s entered this town he won’t be allowed to leave. A good chunk of the film is really about the town making veiled threats against John as he tries to figure out what to do. Actually to be honest the threats are barely even veiled by the end. For most of the movie I was expecting there to be a twist like John could use his second arm or he had some kind of gun but that’s not the way things go. He is actually able to fight reasonably well but like I said, that’s not enough to really make him feel safe. If I was him I would have finished off the first attacker during the bar fight though. At least you take one guy down before dying.

In these kinds of situations I always feel like it’s better to die quickly than risk a slow death. So you jump into the fray which will force the enemy to shoot you a few times and then bam, you’re out of the picture. So you either win or you die fast and there’s no middle-ground. Now I should say that in the town not everyone is super evil. Some are just weak willed and don’t have the courage to stand up to the mob. It’s particularly tough in a small town like this. As one lady says, John will at least be dead in short order but the rest of them have to continue living in the town. It’s not even much of a town either.

They are running out of food and water, nobody ever visits and the place is completely isolated. There are less than 20 people living in the village and it doesn’t look like they will be having any kids anytime soon. It’s like watching an extinction in real time. The fact that the survivors actively try to prevent anyone from visiting definitely says a lot too. They are really making history here but the wrong kind.

As for what happened to Komoko, well it is explained. You can probably guess almost immediately what happened to him though based on how the town is. It’s definitely a pretty tragic event and it makes everyone look really bad. Even the characters who try to help out by the end I still don’t have a whole lot of sympathy for. They didn’t act when it counted the first time and that made everyone complicit. It’s almost worse in a way for the “good guys” who did nothing compared to the villains who are openly evil. If you don’t do anything then you really helped out in the end. The Sheriff in particular is rather toothless as he gets threatened as well and pushed around. That was definitely not a good look.

The movie sticks the landing and has a satisfying conclusion. I had a good time watching the movie. There are a decent amount of characters all things considered and they are written well. The villains have a lot of screen presence and all of the characters seem rather realistic. Like I said, I’d have liked John to do some things a bit different but who knows how things would have gone. At least keep the gun once you knocked the first guy out, that could have been super handy.

Overall, Bad Day at Black Rock is definitely an intense film. I would say part of what makes it rather scary as well is that you can picture this happening in real life. You always do want to be careful where you travel and you should always do some research first. Even the best of countries have rough areas, neighborhoods, and yeah even towns can fall into the picture. If you go unprepared then you are likely to vanish in the wind. Back in the day it was harder to actually do research like that though. John certainly had no idea what he was walking into. The movie tackles some serious themes and does so without missing a beat or overplaying its hand. I would certainly recommend checking it out.

Overall 7/10

Blood on the Moon Review

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It’s time for a fairly emotional western title. It’s one where the romance can definitely be a little bit on the weaker side but I do think the story is more engaging than the last one. We once again have different factions here but it’s a more obvious good vs evil scenario this time. It just takes the main character a little long to actually make up his mind and pick the right group.

The film starts by introducing us to Joe who really just enjoys doing his own thing. He’s always wandering around from place to place but he is short on funds at the moment. His old friend Tate shows up and wants Jim to help him with a mission that’s going to pay super great. Basically they have to keep John and the other livestock owners from getting them off the property in time. See, Tate wants to buy up all of the animals from John’ family but he only wants to pay bottom dollar. So this forced John to have to get out fast because if he stays too long then I think he would be over the deadline and it would be trespassing. Of course it’s not like this is really legal but back in the day it was hard to patrol everything. So Jim is on board since he needs the money but his conscience isn’t a happy camper.

Jim slowly gets to be a little close to John’s family and sees just how cruel Tate’s group is. Tate’s group doesn’t really trust Jim as it is so he has to be extra careful when he leaves them. Meanwhile, John’s daughter Amy doesn’t really care for Jim either after a big misunderstanding during their first meeting that doesn’t really get much better after that. She really made up her mind about him early on though so here wasn’t a whole lot for him to do about this. It’s part of why it’s hard to see a romance really going anywhere here. Amy was completely murder him when they first met. Yes, she sees why that would be a bad idea but jumping all the way to romance feels rather extreme. I just couldn’t buy into it.

It’s still better than her sister Carol’s plot though. In a storyline as old as time, Carol believes that the bad boy Tate actually likes her and so she is ready to sell out her father immediately. Sure he gives the usual lines like he won’t actually murder John but why would she actually believe that? She feels like a massive sucker throughout the film and it’s all a really bad look for her. Even if Tate wasn’t going to murder John, he was still going to steal all of the cattle and put them in a serious jam. There’s no way she bought into his half hearted logic the whole time. So that means she just overlooked it in order to be with him which is definitely not good. She’s just a traitor plain and simple. There was no way for her to go up from there.

Meanwhile I actually thought Tate made for a good villain. Yeah he got really lucky to have a traitor at the ready but even beyond that he was a quick talker and always had a plan going. So the guy definitely wasn’t lazy like some main villains. He also had skills of his own but at the end of the day he just wasn’t skilled enough to win. That’s really what it boils down to. Romance aside, Amy was a solid heroine here. I give her points for having a gun and being ready to fight at all times. Her enthusiasm often tended to be on a higher level than her actual skills but she does actually land some good hits in the climax.

The climax is one of those classic shootouts where the heroes are all in a cabin and trying to fire at the villains who are right outside. It always felt like it would be really difficult for anyone to land a hit here since you’re both walls or rocks that wouldn’t easily be shredded by bullets. I suppose it’s all about how risky each side gets and who lands a lucky hit first. Also if you run out of bullets then that’s another issue. Amy and Jim had help from one guy who was avenging his son so they made for a really good team.

Then we have Jim who is a decent main character but I can’t say that he was all that great. Again, it took him a while to actually choose the heroic side in the conflict here. Things could have easily gone in a way where he never got to defect from the group and the main problem here is that a main character with good morals would have never faltered in the first place. The fact that Jim was originally doing this for the money is a bad look for him. So he did improve by the end but ultimately he’s not one of the best western lead characters.

Then John was okay. He actually had some fairly good ideas and traps here like giving out fake directions on a map to see who would take the bait. Ultimately there are only so many plans you can come up with in this setting though and in the end you need muscle to win in these battles. You’d think more of the people who wanted to keep their cattle and stay safe would have fought back but for the most part these guys are just watching the whole time and not doing much of anything.

Meanwhile the writing is solid as you would expect. The script is good as always with a lot of fun dialogue and everyone talks in that very retro way of speaking. The story is well developed with a lot of moving pieces as well. We even get the local government involved at one point which was nice. These guys definitely wasn’t as smart and tend to get themselves into trouble but I liked that angle since you don’t often see the government in these films. It helped add an extra oomph to the movie without a doubt and I’d like to see this become more of a thing. It’s technically still a very small element in this movie so another film could definitely take it farther.

Overall, This film had a good plot going and the main cast was solid. You are fairly well engaged the whole time and the action scenes are pretty good. The pacing is on point and the climax is really solid. I would have liked it if the main character wasn’t just ready to work on super shady dealings for the money but at least he did switch up once he saw just how bad his group is. That definitely worked as a wake up call for him. The ending is definitely wholesome and so I would recommend this film. Get ready for a fairly rushed ending in terms of romance but otherwise it works out. The main moral I’d say here is to watch out before you start shooting all over the place because there could be a misunderstanding.

Overall 7/10

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire Review

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All right it’s time for the next film in the Monsterverse and you can bet that this is going to be a really intense one. Seeing Godzilla and King Kong take the stage again is definitely a lot of fun. The movie delivers on the action and while I would like to have seen Godzilla more, he does get several fights and shows up early so I’ll give the title credit there.

The movie starts off with King Kong running away from a bunch of creatures. He may be the King of this realm but even that has its limits when the numbers disadvantage is drastic enough. Fortunately his traps are enough to stop them and he continues his quest to find other members of his race. He does end up finding a bunch of them but unfortunately they are being led by the Skar King who has the help of a powerful monster known as Shimo. King Kong can’t handle these fighters on his own…it’s time to call in Godzilla.

A good portion of the film is really about setting up the team-up. You have Godzilla travelling across the world and destroying a bunch of Titans in order to stock up his power for the mission. Meanwhile King Kong actually takes a while to meet up with the Skar King as he first defeats a ton of opponents and bonds with one of the smaller creatures. Think of that one as a King Kong Jr in a way. I like the concept of the team-up a lot and my only issue with it is the lack of threat from the villains but more on that later. There is something really hype about seeing Godzilla gearing up like that.

Right up through the into of the hyped Skar King is really intense there. You’re ready for this and he’s even got a throne. From there though….the Skar King’s not a joke by any means but he’s not a final boss. The film makes it clear that he is weaker than King Kong and many times weaker than Godzilla. He would be lucky to last more than a minute against Godzilla and while he can so marginally better against King Kong, he would be taken down in short order. I like his design and fighting style though, they are both excellent but that’s all he has going for him.

Meanwhile Shimo has a really cool design but I’m afraid things aren’t looking good for her either. She seems to be stronger than King Kong by a good margin but still not a complete match for Godzilla. Still, it’s at least closer, my main problem is how she takes orders. I just don’t see this happening to one of the Alphas who would sooner die in resistance. I’d like to see more of Shimo in the future but yeah this film’s main weak point is that you never feel like Godzilla is in danger. Yeah King Kong is, but we need Godzilla to be pushed to his limits too unless you just keep him for the final climax or something.

Now you may be wondering, what about the humans? Well the humans are okay. You’re mostly waiting for them to get off the screen so you can have fun with the Kaiju though. The main plot is about Dr. Ilene’s daughter Jia to start seeing visions about Kaiju and some kind of a message. She hasn’t been fitting well into school anyway so she gets to go on a trip to the Hollow Earth to see what is going on. Jia’s a nice enough character, she means well and does help out a bit.

I’m not really a fan of Ilene though. The fact that she allowed Bernie to get railroaded by corporate despite helping save the world is pretty harsh. I thought that she looked really bad there and I wouldn’t trust her if I was Bernie. Bernie is easily the most likable member of the main cast and his humor moments tend to land the most. At times he can cross the line into being rather cringy and annoying though. Then you have Trapper who is the only one with absolute confidence at all times. I liked seeing him think of different ways to help out and he was always creative.

So the humans as a whole weren’t bad. The writing wasn’t always great but I’ve seen much worse. It can just drain a lot of time, it felt like their plot would just keep on going long past when you figure you’ve got the point of what they were talking about. I would argue King Kong also has a bit too much screen time of just walking around with Kid Kong. I wanted the big action set pieces you know, not the adventure. Also some of his kills against the local creatures were a bit much. I know they’re technically monsters but they did look rather like animals so that was a little dicey. Basically the King Kong survival moments didn’t really help the film go further.

Ultimately I would say it lost to the original Godzilla vs Kong and Godzilla: King of the Monster films for that reason. Still, this is starting to sound negative so lets go back into the positives real quick. First up, the Kaiju designs here are all great. We’re finally talking S rank fighters here. I liked the spider a lot, the underwater Kaiju, etc. Each of Godzilla’s opponents were fun to watch. They were strong but nowhere near his level. This is why Godzilla is King of the Monsters. The difference is made very apparent when nobody wants to challenge Godzilla while everyone is trying to test King Kong.

One annoying thing about Godzilla being this powerful though is that the film has to constantly make him miss with the atomic breath. After all the fight would be over the instant he scores a direct hit on any of the enemies. Then the film acknowledges his Atomic Wave attack but he conveniently doesn’t use it in any of the big battles because it would end the movie. So I admire the attempt to try and keep this even but we all know Godzilla would have stomped everyone in this film. It’s why I thought it was a bit of a stretch how Shimo kept ducking him and landing sneak attacks on Kong. I don’t know about that but Godzilla’s strength was respected and I always like that.

The film does have a bit of an odd plot point with Godzilla being drawn to a signal the whole film and gearing up but by the end of the film some characters think he wasn’t going to make it. The simplest solution if you ask me is that the researchers were wrong and Godzilla was on the way. I can buy into that, particularly since in the last film we saw how he knows how to get to the Hollow Earth by just blasting into the ground. So that’s how I would answer that at least.

I’m surprised the government hasn’t made another Kaiju of their own yet. Mecha Godzilla did very well after all and they should be able to reverse engineer the specs at some point. It might have made things cluttered but it’s time to see the army do something different. I felt like chuckling when they sent some plans to go and take down Godzilla. I mean, are you kidding me?? It goes without saying that the special effects are excellent here. I also thought the soundtrack was good. I’d have liked some electronic type tunes like Godzilla Final Wars but I’ll take what we can get here.

The film delivers on the team up and I’d argue the final fight already makes the whole experience work pretty well. It’s an excellent spectacle and the decision to have the fight be in the real world was a great idea. In the Hollow Earth things tend to be a lot bigger so you can’t always appreciate the scale while in the real world you get to see everything get destroyed.

While this can sound like a bit of a diss, the film is really playing to its strengths when there is a lot of destruction on screen. I’m really here for the Kaiju fights and those go really hard. I could easily watch 2 hours of the Kaiju just fighting among each other. It’s incredibly entertaining and just great at all times. I’m definitely ready to see what they do for the next film in this series. Hopefully we don’t have to wait too long for it.

Overall, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire is a pretty good film. All it would have needed to cross the threshold into great territory would have been to have one of the enemies actually be powerful relative to Godzilla. You feel like Godzilla would beat them 2 on 1, much less when he has King Kong at the ready. There are a lot of fun easter eggs to the series and you even get to see an unexpected character. So that was great and it also shows that there are a lot of elements already ready for that future film. I think it’s time for a Destroy All Monsters adaption with Destoroyah as the final boss now.

Overall 7/10

The Magnetic Monster Review

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All right so I know that right out of the gate you are probably expecting some giant monster running around and crushing everyone right? Well this isn’t that kind of movie and instead I would say it’s more of a brainy kind of film where the heroes have to figure out how to use science to save the day. It works well and is a pretty fun film with a good script and solid pacing. I’d call it more of a slow burn that mainly just works because everything was handled well. If the writing wasn’t as good then of course this movie would not have ended up being very good. It rides or dies with the writing.

The first thing you should know is that the film is quite short so this allows things to move rather quickly. It’s barely over an hour and that works out well since the plot is rather simple. There is a phenomenon taking place that is causing everything to be magnetized. It happens suddenly and causes a lot of trouble for one store. The A-men, a group of powerful scientists who look into this kind of thing are sent to investigate. Sure enough, there is a mysterious force at work here and eventually they narrow it down. It turns out that one scientist was meddling with nature a little too much and created a sentient energy that is eating other kinds of energy. It can cause implosions and is generally too powerful to be contained. The main characters will have to think of something fast or it’s all over.

I have to say that my first thought here was that it reminded me a whole lot of Ghostbusters. Even the way the office was set up gave me those kind of vibes. Sure this is more science-based than supernatural but they have all kinds of fancy equipment and pull out a variety of objects from their bags. Also getting a fancy title like “The A-Men” makes them stick out a whole lot. The movie may not be part comedy but it has a fairly light hearted tone to it as well which only serves to further add to that effect.

The brief romance moments we get with the main character and his wife tend to be on the cheesier side to be honest but I’ll let it slide as the moments are quick and it’s not like they’re that bad or anything like that. It just feels like the film isn’t quite as confident in writing those scenes as it is in the main part of the film. Also you get that the whole film can’t be tense with this living energy but it almost feels a bit out of place to have the main couple talking about finances halfway during the film when the danger isn’t quite over yet. A funny scene that did land was when the cab driver was affected by the magnetic pull and handled the situation well. He didn’t lose his cool and had a lot of info to give the heroes.

This is the kind of film where the narrator steps in to fill in the blanks on details in the story and whenever we have a quick jump. I would say that worked well. One thing I would have liked to have seen more of was the energy itself though. Lets get some big speeches about why humanity has to be destroyed and stuff like that. I’d also like to see more out of the super computer (“MANIAC”) who got absolutely crushed here. Especially with how old this film is I would say that approached some sci-fi levels as well. It was sort of like the Bat Computer from the old comic book films but even then the super computer lost so fast that it really couldn’t keep any kind of hype.

Now, like I said this is a slow burn film so you do have to enjoy the plot. You’re going to have numerous scenes of the characters just talking about the energy and what this means for science. There isn’t a lot of action for most of the film and a lot of times the magnetic energy is being rather harmless. It’s part of the scare factor though as you never know when it’s going to suddenly just blow up a building or something. Those moments really come out of the blue. Naturally it’s also off screen since the effects for that would have probably been rather tricky.

So you are here for the writing and the banter is solid. You have some disagreements with the characters and some tough talk but for the most part they are all on the same side so they are all trying to be helpful. I could definitely appreciate that. There isn’t really much room for human villains here. I’d say the scientist on the plane is the closest thing to it because he was generally not helpful with keeping secrets the way that he was. He put a ton of people in danger without having a great reason for it. Things could have definitely gone sideways very easily.

The scary thing is that ultimately you could say the energy probably got the last laugh here. Everyone is probably filled with radiation at this point and their lives will have been shortened in the process. It’s definitely rough but I suppose that’s how it goes sometimes. At least in the meantime you can take the happy ending at face value. At least they are all alive.

Overall, The Magnetic Monster may not be a film that is nearly as exciting as its title but at the same time I would say that it is still a pretty good film. It’s the kind of film that keeps you engaged all the while you are watching it. You aren’t likely to talk about it much in the future or anything like that but the very basic nature of the film means that it has a ton of replay value. You can go back and watch it at any time and it’s so short that it will fly by in an instant. Now there is the sign of a good film. I would recommend checking this out if you’re looking for a basic sci-fi film that executes the story well.

Overall 7/10

So Long at the Fair Review

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This is one of those films where I have to say that the title is really clever. Right out of the gate when the plot starts you gotta let out a quick chuckle there. It works really well. As for the film itself, I’d say it’s solid. In some ways it’s the kind of film that I do think could have been executed a bit better and has been, but it’s a fun story all the way. It’s filled with some thrills and chills as the mystery intensifies but my main problem is that you aren’t quite as invested in the missing character as you could be.

The film starts with Vicky and her brother Johnny visiting Paris. Vicky is super psyched to be here and wants to try out all of the activities and visit different places. Johnny is bored and irritated the whole time but she talks him into it. He’s more concerned about his work to be honest and he’s not feeling too well. They have a good time and retire for the night but the next day Johnny is gone. In fact his whole room appears to have disappeared and everybody says that he doesn’t even exit. Vicky has walked into some kind of conspiracy but is she ready to handle it?

So I would say that Vicky is the weakest part of the film. I get not being experienced in this kind of situation of course but she has a tendency to faint and panic at every step. The villains outmaneuver her at all points and she doesn’t really stick up for herself. I get not just punching everyone out since this isn’t a 2020s film but I think she could be a little more forceful about the whole thing. Her brother has been vanished after all which means he is likely murdered or about to be. You have to take drastic steps at this point.

She’s a little overly emotional as well. So I’m quite critical of her the whole time. She is going through a rather stressful situation of course so I cut her some slack but yeah it’s a good thing that she gets help from George later. Now this guy does fairly well for himself and is able to take that aggressive position I was hoping for. He’s going on secret missions like he is James Bond and doesn’t take no for an answer. His natural confidence and smooth behavior helps a lot here.

The only dent I would put against him is it wasn’t really necessary to kiss Vicky in the hotel room as a cover. I’d say he took advantage of the situation there and this film didn’t actually need any kind of romance. Lets focus on the suspense and adventure instead! He’s still the MVP of the film though since everyone else was generally unhelpful. I’d also say that the villains got really lucky here that nobody was paying attention and Johnny didn’t talk to many people. Otherwise it would be incredibly difficult to hide such a conspiracy.

It’s not as bad as a film where this happens on a plane since that was just absurd but this goes to similar extremes. I don’t see how so much work was done without anyone noticing especially in a place as busy as Paris. I guess the hotel could be a little dead at times but ehhhh it stretched my disbelief a bit. This kind of plot does usually revolve around a little disbelief of course though and it has less than others so it wasn’t too bad.

Like I said earlier though, one of the only weaknesses here is that you don’t really care about Johnny much. The ending of the film should be really sad and yet you barely care. I feel like the film is more about the thrill of the mystery and finding out what happened whereas in other films you would be equally invested in the final fate of the one who vanished. I’m cool with this though because the chase is most of the film. Trying to connect the dots and see what happened. I also appreciate that Vicky didn’t let herself be gaslit into thinking that he didn’t come along or that he left early though. Now that would have been absolutely crazy.

There aren’t many supporting characters who get involved here. One of them certainly meets a rather explosive end which come to think of it, is also another bit of a stretch. It’s just such a big move. I guess it’s realistic in terms of a villain would do this of course but then the ending should be harsher. You have the main cop saying he understands why the villains did this and all that in a rather somber tone. Someone should remind him that these villains were ruthlessly murdering people. I guess it’s possible that he hasn’t connected the dots yet but yeah the ending should have been tougher there. If the film was longer then I would have liked for it to lean into the conspiracy angle a bit more.

The film is a bit trapped between the movie being rather ambitious but also staying small scale. Like this isn’t a huge gangster battle or some kind of illuminati opponent but at the same time the villains are able to make lots of moves in a short amount of time and do seem to think of everything. They have people tailing Vicky for a while and are also able to bump off people but this ends up not being super widespread. I think it would have been a good idea for the film to have been a little more ambitious.

At the end of the day the writing is good though and that is the foundation of a solid movie. I would have liked a tougher main character but that’s still not going to take away from the film being a solid watch. Particularly considering how old the movie is, I would say that it did quite a lot. I was satisfied here. It may not be as scary as it may have initially appeared but it keeps your attention.

Overall, This is a pretty fun film. It’s also a rather short one so it ends right away. This does allow for some really fast pacing which is always nice and it’s probably for the best. A good mystery is limited only by the writer’s imagination so of course this could be stretched to 3 hours but I thought the length fit the movie rather well. There’s only so much you could do with this film before it would start to go in circles or something without more characters and locations. At the end of the day it is a movie that has aged well so I would recommend checking it out.

Overall 7/10

The Kid From Left Field Review

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It’s time for a retro Baseball title. This one as a kid as one of the main characters so I was wondering if he could really keep the film together but it ultimately works out. My main issue is with some of the adults who really don’t do anything to help him out at all. At the end of the day if you want to improve at anything, whether it be Baseball or video games you’re going to have to be ready to put the work in!

The film starts by introducing us to Coop who works as a peanut salesman within the Baseball stadium. He used to fancy himself as a good player but unfortunately he was never all that great. The folks around the stadium are nice enough to keep the act up so he can look good in front of his son though. I thought that was a really nice thing to do. Unfortunately the local team has been dreadful for a long while now and Coop knows what is wrong with them. The problem is that he has no credibility. When his son Christie passes on an off-hand remark to Pete, one of the players, the team begins to do better. This gives Coop and Christie an idea, they can help the entire team and Coop will have Christie be the go between. Now they can finally win the World Series!

Of course this plan would not work if Christie had no Baseball knowledge so it works out that he is experienced in the game as well. In fact he was managing his own team in the kids division. Even in the pros, while Christie mainly uses Coop’s ideas, he quickly begins to have ideas of his own that work out well. The team goes from being the laughing stock of the sport to suddenly being a top rated contender. There is really just one problem though which is that eventually someone is bound to figure out what is going on. Can Christie keep on being manager until they’ve won it all or is he doomed?

I think the only main problem I have with the film is that the conflict if a little forced. The team is winning ballgames now which is really the only thing the owner and coaches should care about. Why worry about who is giving the orders when the results are this good? I disagreed with Coop’s concerns throughout the whole experience but even worse is that the film gives him some ammo here with how the coach threw out the kid.

Midway through the film, the coach finally figures out without a shadow of a doubt that Christie is the brains behind the operation so he yells at the kid and fires him. You’d think that the players would say something the very instant they saw the kid wasn’t around or go to the owner right? Instead it takes a few losses before they storm the base and bring him back. It also makes no sense why the coach would do that since without Christie, he would be taking losses again and proving himself to be a bad coach. So what was the point of all of that? I didn’t feel like the film made a whole lot of sense in these moments and just made everyone look rather bad.

Christie did his part and the team should have had his back from the jump. Meanwhile Coop needed to be braver. It was nice to see him get all excited about working with Christie and being a secret hero of sorts but it took too long for him to finally get involved on the front end. Even right to the climax he was prepared to ditch the team which would have been rough. When the chips are down you have to deliver.

During the adventure there is a subplot with Pete who of course was in a huge slump before Christie showed up. His relationship with Marian is getting rocky as we come to the time tested dilemma of choosing his job or her. Marian wants him to leave the game because she figures he’s washed up and she might be right. Pete doesn’t want to just ditch his team in the middle of the season though and especially not when he’s suddenly had a big comeback. This time I felt Marian was not being very reasonable. Pete didn’t exactly have a lot of options here and he has people who are counting on him. I think Christie could have helped to train him up further and get the guy a few more accolades first.

So when the film gets dramatic is mainly when I had my doubts here but otherwise it is a fun Baseball film with a lot of action. This time you do get to see a whole lot of plays and any Baseball fan should be satisfied here. The turnaround is also believable since often times the difference between a big play and an error can really just be a single bad habit. These players were terrible because they had no coaching and didn’t really know where to start. So it makes sense that having actual coaches help out and show them the ropes would make for a huge difference.

If you want to get a bit technical again though, it is odd that no player ever complained about how bad their coach was. By all accounts he never even tried to teach them anything so isn’t that a good thing to mention to the owner? They should want to win too since it increases their salary so now I have to give them at least part of the blame. Look it’s not like I want to do this but it makes the most sense logically. The fake coach should never have lasted for even a fraction of how long he did.

Ultimately the film probably should have gone on for at least a few more minutes to really show us the ending but you can guess what would have happened next. So I was pretty satisfied all the way through and can confirm without a shadow of a doubt that this is a movie which puts Baseball first. The writing is good enough where you don’t mind the kid being one of the main characters. If you look at the film too deeply then some parts of the story don’t hold up quite so well but either way you’ll have a good time.

Overall, The Kid from Left Field is a good movie and definitely one to check out when you have the time. It’s a fairly short film so it’s not like it’ll take a ton of time and at the end of the day there’s not much to dislike here. While you will have to stretch your disbelief, you will be having fun the whole time which is what counts. I also am glad to see that snacks have come a long way since back in the day. Roasted Peanuts never sounded all that interesting, give me potato chips or something like that instead if I’m watching a game live.

Overall 7/10