Category Archives: 7 Star Movies

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

Where Danger Lives Review

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You know I’m always talking about how it’s tough to have a really solid film where all of the characters are pretty bad right? Well, this is a good example of how you can still make that work. Noir is probably the best genre for this as you basically have a bunch of crooks running around and you have to decide who you want to pull through in the end. The writing is still solid and the plot is engaging so in the end this one definitely gets a thumbs up either way.

All right so the film starts off by showing us how busy Jeff is. He’s a really highly regarded doctor who has always done a great job for his patients and he is getting ready to leave the hospital and start his own practice. He has also been dating one of the nurses, Julie so this works well since there won’t be any workplace drama. Right before he can leave his shift, he has to attend to one last patient. A lady named Margo tried to commit suicide but ultimately it didn’t work out for her. She runs off but leaves Jeff a note with her address and name so he heads over. She basically admits that she needs him so Jeff quickly betrays his girlfriend and hooks up with her. One thing leads to another and he seemingly murders Margo’s husband. Now the two of them are on the run and the long arm of the law is getting closer and closer.

I mentioned how the characters weren’t very likable and it’s time to explain why. First up for Jeff this should be self explanatory. He had a good thing going with Julie and all it took was another lady to bay her eyes at him? Yeah you could use all kind of excuses like he thought she would try committing suicide again if he ran off or that there was no emotion in the cheating and he was just doing it to be a good guy. Unfortunately none of those arguments hold any weight and the film never really addresses this which is unfortunate. That’s a big element in why I think the ending to this film was really weak. It just takes away a big part of the impact there.

Back to Jeff though, the guy also gets super drunk which impairs him for the rest of the film. It also means that he’s not sure exactly if he did murder Margo’s husband or not. As the audience you know what happened from the jump and it’s annoying to see him getting gaslit the whole time. He’s not really back to 100% until the very end of the film and by then it’s very late in the game. Jeff really should have handled everything so much better.

Then we have Margo’s husband Frederick who handled things abysmally. First off, he takes forever to get to the point. He seems to enjoy messing with Jeff as he builds up the suspense but of course this gives Margo a lot of time to make her own move. All Frederick needed to do was say one or two sentences to get all of the plot twists out there but he couldn’t even muster that. Ultimately this would be his undoing and so I couldn’t take this guy seriously. I did think he was an entertaining character though. The guy has a very smug air about him which I can really appreciate.

Next up is Margo and of course she is the one who is already married but trying to go after Jeff so that’s pretty bad right out of the gate. No way you can spin her as a hero in this one. She continues to dig Jeff deeper and deeper into trouble and the whole time you wonder if she actually likes him or if she’s going to bump him off. If that’s what she plans to do then it’s going to be incredibly easy for her to pull it off. You can tell that Jeff would never see it coming.

Finally there is Julie who isn’t bad but is definitely way too forgiving. She misses out on just about the whole film and after that she doesn’t get a chance to have any kind of reaction to what happened. She should have been able to put two and two together so the ending shouldn’t be too bright for Jeff. Perhaps you can say that right after the film ends she really takes it to Jeff but in the end we don’t really get to know.

So the characters annoying but the film really works because the thrills have aged well. One thing I liked about the film was how things kept going badly for the main characters because they were overthinking things. In one scene the road is being blocked by the police and they assume it’s because of the murder but in the end it was just a drugs checkpoint for some kind of plant. Another time they saw the police around and had to run off but it was just the airport trying to pass on a thank you note and the cops were there purely by coincidence.

Villains would absolutely get paranoid in a situation like this and the movie does a good job of showing this off. It’s not something that you usually get to see which makes this one stand out a bit. Additionally, I liked all of the pitstops. At one point the main characters pass by a village where you are required to have a mustache and actually get pulled over if you don’t have one. The only way to get out of this situation was to get married. The whole thing is so strange and absurd while being rather funny. That was a good scene to include.

Then Jeff crashes into another car and gets taken in by the police chief for questioning. The cops are just happy to have something to do because apparently there is no real crime in this town but of course the timing is tough for Jeff and Margo. All of these little incidents keep on reminding you that these are not pros but amateurs trying to escape a murder charge. It adds to the realism but most importantly it’s just a lot of fun. I really appreciated that.

Overall, This was a pretty good film. It’s a good reminder to watch out for the green grass on the other side because going over there could really end up costing you dearly. Jeff figured this out the hard way and you know many people probably get tricked like this all the time. You have to make sure you take care of what you have, rather than risking it all for a possibility. A solid moral to take away from this title I’d say and I would recommend checking it out.

Overall 7/10

Hard Target 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

All right it’s time for a very old school thriller title. This one has a lot of action, guns, and thrills. I’d say it works fairly well even if it doesn’t really have a ton of identity. I can’t guarantee that I will really remember the film a few years from now but maybe I’ll surprise myself. It still is a good film though, the genre is just rather packed with movies at this point.

The movie starts with a guy making a break for it but he’s murdered before he can make it to the goal. Basically there is a group of villains who make sport by giving someone a lot of money and daring him to run all the way to the goal. You sort of wonder how anyone makes it all that far though based on the amount of resources that the villains have. They’re everywhere and you don’t get much of a head start. Well, what they didn’t count on was the victim’s daughter deciding to look into what happened to him.

Her name is Natasha and the deck is not in her favor this time because she hasn’t seen her father in a long time and so she doesn’t have any recent pictures of him. The cops let her know that this is definitely going to be a longshot as a result. The unspoken vibe here is that they can’t help so Natasha recruits a homeless guy named Chance who saved her from a gang. Initially he doesn’t want to get involved but he owes some Union dues and won’t be able to make any money until he can pay them back. So he agrees to help her in exchange for the money but what he doesn’t realize is that he’s about to enter a large conspiracy.

As with any conspiracy thriller like this you will have to stretch your disbelief at least a little bit. Yes, in the film the villains do reference how they’re always paying a ton of people off until the situation gets too hot and they have to leave. Even with that you have to be a little dubious though. They follow their victims into the heart of the city and just go around shooting. You’d think this would attract a ton of attention and eventually reach someone who actually does care. Perhaps I am underestimating the villains but it can be a bit much.

You also wonder why the victims are so bad at using the terrain at times. Once you’re in the city that is absolutely your best shot to survive. Stay in crowded areas and pick off the villains one by one. Instead they usually run into their own demise. So again I’m not sure how the first guy actually got all the way to the harbor. A few more steps and he actually would have beaten them.

There are two main villains here in Van Cleef and Fouchon. Van Cleef is usually my kind of villain as he is very talented with a gun and can hold his own but he weakens near the end. The guy starts to get visibly afraid and he really breaks down. He’s supposed to be the tough man of the group so he really has no business cracking like this. It destroys all of his mystique and so I didn’t care from him by the end. He’s only good at beating up on the weak.

Fouchon is a reasonable main villain though. Very by the books and while his grudge prevents him from making it all the way to the end, you can assume that he only got this far in the first place because of his big ego. Without that he likely would have lost a long time ago. Every associate who works with the villains is pretty much doomed from the start so you are not surprised in the slightest when they start going down. They were definitely not prepared.

As for the main characters, Natasha is a good heroine even if it takes a while for her to start helping. By the climax she is contributing and even has a gun at the ready. Her main issue was just being a little naive at first but fortunately that did not last very long. As for Chance, he may not be the most heroic guy out there as he won’t generally go out of his way to be a superhero but he will help out anyone in front of him like when he stepped up to save Natasha in the intro. The guy’s also a super fighter as he took down like 20 guys all by himself in the climax fight.

Is it maybe a bit exaggerated? Sure but it’s fun. The climax here is really solid with how extended it is and how bad the odds were for Chance. Every time it felt like he had beaten all of the minions, a few more would suddenly show up. There was just no real end to them. Chance also got to mix in some hand to hand combat skills along with the gun shooting. Yeah if you were wondering how well a roundhouse kick would do against a flurry of guns, wonder no longer!

Clarence also ends up helping out near the end. The guy definitely shows up out of nowhere but knows how to fight. He gets some shots in. There’s also a cop who does good in putting the pressure on the villains which is what causes them to start panicking and speeding things up. So the supporting cast here was reasonably solid. The soundtrack is more on the forgettable side and the slow-mo was definitely overdone but for the most part the action scenes were always really solid.

The film could be a little on the violent side at times but nothing too crazy. The most disturbing scene is likely when one guy’s ear gets taken out of the picture. Definitely why you never want to get involved with the underworld because it comes back to bite you. If you’re super unlucky then sometimes this can happen to you even if you are unconnected but that’s a whole lot rarer.

Overall, Hard Target is a pretty solid movie. Again I do think it’ll get lost in the shuffle a bit as I watch more movies but at the same time it really embodies what you would expect an action thriller to be. There are a lot of fight scenes, pretty good pacing, and always some extra thrills around the corner. I enjoyed the fight scenes and you are invested all the way through. I would check this one out if you’re looking for an action title to watch.

Overall 7/10

Suddenly Review

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All right it’s time for an old school thriller. It’s a pretty fun film that goes by quickly and has interesting characters. I would say the weakest link is really the romance but that’s probably not super surprising right? I don’t think the film has the right approach on that part but the rest is good so overall I’d say we’re in the green here. It succeeds in the important ways.

The film starts by introducing us to the town of “Suddenly” where nothing really happens so the name is more on the ironic side. Everyone has a bit of fun with that part but what they don’t realize is that the town is about to live up to that name. See, the President of the United States of America will be passing by and so all of the different police groups are here to make sure nothing happens. After all they have gotten wind of an assassination attempt. The one problem? The assassins have already infiltrated the town and are keeping one family hostage. This house has the perfect angle to murder the President. Can the villains really get away with this?

This is a film where I felt like the villains would have been taken down before having a chance to fire either way but based on the ending maybe I overestimated the cops. The villains end up taking the sheriff and the head police officer so you figure that people will be searching everywhere for them right? Well, they do search a little bit but all it takes is for Ellen (One of the hostages) to assure them that the cops already left for these guys to walk away. Why not realize immediately that this wouldn’t be possible? They wouldn’t have deviated from the plan at the drop of a hat like that. It was a bit rough to see them outmaneuvered so easily.

Now as for the romance, yeah this is definitely the weakest part so lets really dive into this. The main heroine Ellen lost her husband 3 years ago and so now she raises her son Pidge by herself and lives with her father Pop. The Sheriff in town, Tod, is in love with her but she doesn’t want to move on from her husband. That’s admirable but he doesn’t see it that way. He tries to guilt trip her by saying that Pidge needs a son. Tod basically makes the case that she needs to get over it already and marry him. He has the gall to say that his offer won’t be there forever either and that she needs to stop letting everyone down. It’s crazy talk.

Tod seems to think that she owes him love because he’s been such a nice guy the whole time in helping her out and everything. That’s definitely not cool, I would expect a lot better from him. At the end of the day you can be the nicest person everywhere but that doesn’t mean you deserve a girlfriend. It’s just not the way that the ballgame works. So he was real annoying there and from that point on I was really not rooting for them to be together. Additionally you have to consider that he was openly defying/undermining her at every turn.

He knew that she didn’t want Pidge to be playing with guns and yet he buys the kid one anyway. Ellen doesn’t watch him to watch war films but Tod says that it’s okay. The worst part is that it’s portrayed like Ellen is making the mistake here as she has gotten a little too paranoid after her husband was gone but these are very reasonable requests. Also she is Pidge’s mother so she should be able to make the call on what’s objective.

I’d even say that Pidge isn’t ready for these things based on all of his outbursts. He makes so many mistakes and nearly gets everyone murdered in this film. The villains tell him not to yell? Pidge yells. Then at one point he runs to grab his fake gun which won’t work anyway and he talks really tough the whole time but can’t back any of it up. That’s a big issue as well. Yeah he’s a kid so he can’t fight but then you have to stay quiet and listen to orders. All he does is create trouble which gets old fast.

Pop is quick on the uptake at least but doesn’t do a ton here. He’s just a little too old to get in on the action but he does help come up with plans. Ellen is mainly a little too scared to do anything for a while so that leaves Tod. Tod would have been more helpful but he takes a bad injury when he is sneak attacked near the beginning which hampers him for the rest of the film. Yeah that was definitely real inconvenient which was a shame. While I didn’t care for him in the romance bits, he did a good job of talking tough in the movie while being able to back some of it up. He was actively thinking of plans and contributing so I give him the most credit here.

In general it’s the cops who don’t look great here. They just never take out their guns in time. at one point the villain is on the run and you figure they can take care of him since he’s injured and alone. Instead what happens is that he just shoots them. This guy takes out several opponents before they finally put him down. When you have a murderer on the loose and armed you really have to shoot first. Running out and yelling freeze or something like that is never a good idea.

Meanwhile the main villain John is definitely memorable. He’s a very intense villain all the way around and one that really does command respect. He is smart and tends to be 1-2 steps ahead of the other characters. He even gets a bit of a backstory which I was not really expecting the whole time. The other villains may have been more forgettable but this guy did good. That helped make all of the scenes at the house even more engaging.

Overall, A film like this always gets you thinking about how you would act in a situation like this. As Todd points out in one scene, they are effectively already dead. When you’re kidnapped in your own home like this, you have to try something because the alternative will be worse. Even if you die, you at least make sure that the villains would go next. Additionally you need to make sure that your attempt is bold enough so that you actually do die and don’t get left alive to be tortured or something like that. So there’s definitely a good amount of tension here and the script is solid all the way so you never get bored.

Overall 7/10

The Flight That Disappeared Review

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It’s time for a suspense film involving a plane that has a very supernatural experience. It’s a fairly short film but one that is pretty interesting all the way through. I would have liked a certain part of the film to have been extended a bit more involving a trial but in the end I was pretty satisfied.

The movie starts out with a bunch of characters boarding a plane for Washington. Among them, 3 in particular are going to a very important meeting. Tom, who is an expert rocket scientist, Marcia, one of the world’s greatest mathematicians, and Carl who is a top tier inventor, particularly in the art of making bombs. What reason would there be to have all 3 of them in some kind of big meeting? Well, there’s no time to find out as the plane suddenly begins to elevate higher and higher into the sky. The pilots have lost control and if they can’t find a way to rectify this soon, everyone is going to die from lack of oxygen or an eventual crash when the engines turn off. Is this some kind of conspiracy?

This film’s got that old school suspense kind of vibe to it as you really don’t know what is going on. Of course you can make a lot of guesses and try to reason things out but most of the movie is really part mystery in figuring this out. The characters aren’t able to get very far in this but to their defense, it wouldn’t really be possible to do that in the first place. Not with the way this scenario is going at least. By the end we get our answers or at least some of them and it’s fun but that’s the rushed part.

So I won’t say what the answer is to the mystery of why the plane has lost control but it introduced a bunch of concepts and a very interesting storyline. The problem? This is only around for about 10 minutes max and then the film just keeps on going. I’m thinking the idea is that this way you will really be left in suspense wondering what just happened but personally I wanted to see more of this. Get some deep philosophical and ethical discussions going with a good amount of back and forth. Due to the length of the scene there just isn’t time for any of that and I can’t help but feel like that was a missed opportunity.

As the main character Tom isn’t bad but he does feel a bit desperate at first. He doesn’t make it 5 minutes without immediately hitting on the girl sitting next to him. Can’t he just ride the plane silently and focus on the journey? At least he is a bit quicker on the uptake than some of the other characters but comes dangerously close to getting himself arrested by the end. I wouldn’t say there is a lot to his character but for this kind of story having an average joe will suffice.

Then we have Marcia who tolerates Tom well enough and by the end you get the feeling that a rushed romance might be forming. She doesn’t always look very smart though like when she tries to smoke inside of the plane when they were already informed that oxygen was light. Not a great look for her there. From the 3 geniuses I would say she gets the least to do but she is still a primary figure in the movie and is always around.

Then we have Carl who builds bombs which is a pretty tough job since there’s always that feeling of guilt when someone is hit by one. He seems to really dislike bombs and the fact that they are used at all. He was definitely not in agreement with one insane passenger who really wanted to use the bombs and fast. That guy was so insane that is was a bit funny next to the rest of the characters who were all fairly serious and reasonable. Carl didn’t even want to talk to anyone for most of the film but by the end he’s ready to hang out with the crew.

The film does have a super random subplot involving the co-pilot getting ready to marry the stewardess. I don’t really get what the point of it was. The whole time I was expecting one of them to get in on the mystery which would make sense but they’re basically just observers the whole time. Maybe it was all to be a misdirect or that was a big enough role where they felt some kind of extra backstory would be helpful. It just felt so random that I was still surprised by the end.

The ending is definitely solid. It throws in a bit of humor here and also adds enough substance to end things on a solid note. Even this you could expand on a little bit. I would argue most of the scenes for the pilots could have been switched to add more to the ending or the big climax. Either way that would have been a good idea. Although the scenes were good for helping to give the audience more of an idea on what was happening so maybe the real idea here would be to have the actual film just be longer. This way you don’t need to cut more things and instead you just build upon what was there. There’s absolutely enough of a solid story to easily make this 100 minutes or so.

Overall, The Flight That Disappeared is a pretty good movie. It’s a fairly low key thriller that keeps you filled with suspense without needing a bunch of explosives or anything like that. As a result it is probably fair to say that this is still more of a slow burn thriller but as long as you are fine with that, the payoff is executed well. I would recommend this film to anyone thinking about riding a plane soon. They actually go fairly in depth on things like the height and how often you have to call mission control.

Overall 7/10

Heaven Can Wait Review

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I saw the original film adaption of this story not too long ago with good ole Mr. Jordan. I thought it was okay but didn’t actually think it was very good and the ending was pretty bad. Well this one improves upon the original in just about every way and is a lot better. The ending’s still not great to be honest…in fact it’s still bad but the film manages to overcome the original’s just enough for me to still give it the thumbs up all the way.

So the film starts off with Joe training hard to stay in shape for the Rams. He is the backup QB but you never know when he will become the starter someday. In fact, that day is coming up fast as the coaches have decided to plug him in. He goes out for a bike ride but is unfortunately destroyed in the car crash. He is taken to the after-world to prepare for his journey to Heaven but Joe feels like there has been a mixup. Well, he was correct! It turns out that he should have survived and the new trainee was a little too overeager. Jordan promises to find Joe a new body since his original was already cremated but can he really get a body that is just as good as the old one? That’s not going to be an easy feat I’ll tell you that right now!

The whole thing is pretty unfair to Joe from the start so you feel bad for the guy. He’s trained his entire life for a shot like this and then it’s all taken away from him in an instant. I suppose life itself can often be unfair like that but for a movie you’re hoping that he gets the perfect ending. The problem is that he never does. The ending is on the bittersweet side as he gets to accomplish some of his dreams but has to sacrifice others. It’s like he just really can’t get it all but because the error was not on his side, Jordan should have made it up to him a lot better.

Well, Joe has a good attitude about the whole thing so I give him credit there. I like how they showed Joe’s good work ethic here. To play QB for the NFL you need to be memorizing a lot of playsheets and putting in a ton of time into the craft. So when he takes on the body of a big CEO, he actually does the research and handles himself fairly well in the big business meeting. The only problem is that he’s not very smart with how he handles the two people trying to murder him. Joe took over the body of a guy who was recently murdered by his wife and the guy she was cheating with so it would stand to reason that they would try again once he had the miraculous recovery right?

Well…he doesn’t do anything about it. It’s just a very questionable move there because you figure that he would fix this really fast. It shouldn’t even be a question, he should have quickly gotten the cops involved or if he thought there was no evidence he could grab, confront them at least. Instead he just has fun living his life and acts as if they don’t like each other but as a mild disagreement and not to the extent of his body being deadly just a little bit earlier. The wife and secretary are played up a bit more here than in the original for how goofy and slapstick they are. This is one area where I’d say the original wins. They’re so cartoonish here that you just can’t take them very seriously at all which makes their victory all the worse.

We do have to have the big romance here of course and so the heroine here is Betty. She was at odds with the guy whose body Joe took over so there is some friction at first but when Joe makes good on his word to stop harming the environment and small businesses then she comes around. Of course Joe is married so I’m a bit wary with Betty so readily going out with him to dinner and the like. Sure you could say it’s just as friends…surrrrreee but Joe clearly doesn’t see it that way. He does give her the ole promise that he’ll get divorced soon so they could get together but the whole thing should feel rather suspicious. Also it just doesn’t make her look great. I’d also argue that the ending isn’t great for her either.

Yes, she remembers the line that he says at the end so she knows this quarterback is the one Joe was talking about but there’s no reason to assume that it’s the same guy. In fact it isn’t anyway since Joe is gone so they’re going to hook up because she’s doing this as a favor to Joe? No matter how you slice it, it makes her look a little too willing to jump into the next relationship rather than giving herself some time to grieve and stay solo after the first guy was bumped off.

Jordan tries hard with finding good bodies for Joe but I have to say that he didn’t try hard enough. As I keep saying, the ending wasn’t satisfying and it’s entirely Jordan’s fault. He could have warned Joe about the murder attempt and he certainly could have allowed him to live out the rest of his life rather than conking out early. He’s one of those guys who promises the moon but then doesn’t deliver.

Finally Max was a loyal friend to Joe the whole time. He really helped get Joe back into Football shape rather quickly which was impressive and the guy helped out with the murder case. I will say that the investigation was a lot more fun than in the first film. It does get a little goofier at times but on the whole I thought it was a blast and a half. I’m always up for a good mystery after all.

Overall, Heaven Can Wait is a fun film. I’d say on the whole the humor lands more effectively than the first one. Joe is a better main character here and like I said it’s just better nearly all around the board compared to the first. The ending is still a downer but it’s not enough to keep me from recommending the film. You’ll definitely have a good time here and hey it’s also an important reminder to be careful when entering any road/tunnel that is not properly lit. It’s a real risk.

Overall 7/10

Apology for Murder Review

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It’s time for a very old school noir mystery thriller type of film. This is one of those titles where you probably won’t have much sympathy for the guy who is being strung along since he ultimately makes all of the wrong choices. So you’re waiting for the cops to nab them. It’s a good film with solid pacing and so you’ll have fun here. It’s also fairly short so it finishes quickly.

The movie starts off with explaining to us that Toni and her husband are not on good terms. She married him for the money and he finally figured this out. It’s a pretty rough deal for the guy who is already busy enough as it is trying to get richer. Toni decides to enlist the help of a guy named Kenny by promising to love him forever. So the guy murders her husband for her and now Toni just has to dump the guy and move on. The thing is, the cops have found out about the murder and Kenny is dangerously close to losing his nerve. Particularly since his boss is the one investigating the case and always gets his man. Is Toni going to have to extend the body count a little?

So the reason you can’t feel bad for Kenny here is because he did flat out murder her husband so that makes him a villain right from the jump. No matter what happens after that, no normal person would just go and commit murder like this. Second of all, Toni was still married and Kenny knew it so getting together with her is a big no no. The guy is then willing to let an innocent person be stuck with the murder rap instead of him. So what this all boils down to is a super selfish guy who will do whatever he needs to in order to get what he wants. Not exactly a hero right?

Not even close to one! Especially since if Toni had actually turned out to like him, he would have really had no regrets. Everything that happens later on is really because she’s not very smart about picking her moments and also isn’t great at playing pretend. If she just kept up the act even to the very minimum of assuring Kenny that she couldn’t wait for them to run off together then she would have been good. Instead she basically tells him to his face every time that she only cares about the money.

Even then Kenny doesn’t really do anything about this until he actually sees her with another man but anyone who at least had a little respect for himself would have made a move well before then so she really got lucky here. Kenny just doesn’t have any real smarts about him and so you’re waiting for his downfall. Naturally Toni’s just a bad here. Aside from being really bad at manipulating everyone, she is the true brains behind the operation. In that respect you could definitely say that she is the biggest villain of the bunch. Without her a lot of these things wouldn’t have happened in the first place and it goes without saying that she is very unrepentant about the whole thing.

The best character here by far is McKee. The guy tries hard to get to the truth of things the whole time and never stops even when Kenny keeps throwing subtle digs at the guy. It does take him a while to realize exactly what’s going on but in part it’s because he was hoping to find a different answer so you can’t really blame him. He was still the most useful member of the cast by far and did good work.

The writing in the film is pretty good overall. Even if most of the characters can be really annoying, I wouldn’t call that bad writing. It just means that those characters are suckers the whole time and that can happen in real life too which is why it can be realistic. Toni was certainly able to bend a lot of her guys to her will, it’s rather depressing when you think about it but a reminder to always be careful that you are of sound mind when making a big decision. Also if someone tells you to commit a crime like murder, it’s a good idea not to do that.

As mentioned the film is really short which is also why the cast is so small. It’s a bit over an hour so that’s enough time to get the murder in and then jump us to the after effects. A good chunk of it is about McKee getting closer and closer to the truth while Kenny tries to slow things down or just generally panics some more. It’s a solid game of cat and mouse there. If it was longer maybe we could have thrown in a few more characters but the balance works well enough. It won’t rise up to become one of the top Noir titles or anything like that but it is engaging the whole time and made for a good watch.

Overall, I’d call this a fairly safe Noir title. It has a compelling story but isn’t really taking any risks. There aren’t really any twists to worry about this time and the story plays out in a surprisingly straight forward manor. Probably the most straight forward that I’ve seen in the genre. I’d say this probably does make it have less rewatch value than another title but on that initial watch I don’t see you having any issues. I’m not totally sure I get what the title was going for though, I would have probably picked something else to draw in the crowds.

Overall 7/10

Behind Enemy Lines Review

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It’s time for a film that reminds you of just how dangerous it can be to be caught behind enemy lines. Trust me that’s not a situation that you ever want to be in. It makes for a pretty action packed movie with a lot of chase scenes and having to avoid enemy fire. I had a pretty good time with it and would recommend checking it out to anyone looking for a solid action movie to watch.

The movie starts with Chris really looking forward to his current tour ending. He had been hoping for a lot of action and excitement as a pilot but instead he’s mostly just had to do a lo of flying around empty areas. No gunfights or anything like that and he doesn’t appreciate the peace. Well one day, he ends up flying a little far out and gets shot down by the opposition. His partner is executed and he barely escapes into the wilderness. The US is in a tough political battle with this country and so with the treaty nearly here they don’t want to risk anything setting that back. So despite having a soldier on the run, the higher ups forbid Admiral Leslie from stepping in. Leslie wants to help but needs to figure out a way to do this. Will assistance be in time for Chris or is he truly on his own?

Now if this was a power fantasy film Chris would just defeat the whole army and keep it moving but of course that wouldn’t be super realistic. Best we can do for you here is have Chris be able to outrun the entire army and dodge all of their bullets. A pretty impressive feat in and of itself though. You’re going to see a lot of scenes of everyone trying to murder Chris and he’s just too fast for them. He moves through the forest like it’s his own backyard and he’s also able to use the mud to his advantage so that he can hide even while they are right on top of him. So yeah pretty impressive all around.

This film will have you stretching your disbelief quite a bit with how it’s handled but it does make for a very exciting movie which is always a good idea. It does come at the expense of the hype for one of the villains though. This guy is supposed to be an expert sniper, the best in the business and the film hypes him up as a huge threat. The problem for the guy is that ultimately when the chips are down he isn’t able to hit Chris. He has Chris straight in his sights and misses every single shot. Really a bad look for the guy since he’s a sniper and shooting at someone should be what he does best. It definitely had me a little confused I have to say. Just feels like the villain should have been handled a lot better.

There’s also another scene where he gets really lucky. Basically the villain who was with him steps on a land mine and asks him for help. The sniper says nah and start to walk away. The first villain should have just tried to run or make a jump for it then and blown them both up. No way you just let the other guy get away like that right? It would make no sense and just makes you look bad for accepting that. You have to keep your dignity in tact. All of the villains were on the weak side here to be sure but you can’t just take that. You have to make a move.

Meanwhile Leslie was a good admiral. He definitely did try to do the right thing throughout the whole film but it just wasn’t so easy. Every time he was being stopped on all sides by other officials. The film was definitely trying to show a lot of corruption within the government here like one guy in particular who seemed to be working with the terrorists the whole time. I was surprised at how easily he got off after it was all said and done. I guess there just wasn’t a strong enough case against him and he probably blamed it on someone else but that was unfortunate.

It was nice to see Chris actually get a little help as the film went on from the resistance. Usually it feels like nobody’s around at all and so the hero is really on his own but even just having one person makes a huge difference when you’re on the run like that. The crazy thing is that Chris could have really saved himself a whole movie if he just hadn’t yelled when they blew up his partner. I get that he was feeling pretty stressed and shocked when that happened but at the same time he really didn’t need to yell like that. The scene took so long and was so drawn out that it’s not like he didn’t see it coming. So he should have been prepared for that moment from the start.

If he doesn’t make a sound then nobody finds out and he has a really solid head start over to the extraction point. Even with the moles and traitors running around, I don’t think anyone would have had time to stop him before he escaped. So it was really a turning point in the whole movie right from the start.

Overall, This is definitely an exciting film with a whole lot of action the whole time. The pacing is on point and while the character cast isn’t huge, they work well enough. The movie is definitely at its best when it is really focusing on the thriller aspects of the title over the drama but handles them all rather well. It has a lot of fun with slow mo scenes and tons of camera cuts all over the place to really make you feel the intensity. This is absolutely more of an action film than your classic war title so keep that in mind when you’re watching it. I’ll be curious to see if any of the sequels can match this one. In theory you can just keep reusing the same plot over and over again so it’s all going to come down to the execution. Give me enough fight scenes and you absolutely have a chance after all.

Overall 7/10