Category Archives: 7 Star Movies

Kiss of Death Review

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With a title like this you probably won’t be surprised that this is a Noir movie. It’s certainly got that vibe from the start and you wouldn’t be wrong. It’s a solid film about the dangers of getting into the criminal racket. Once you go in, there’s no guarantee that you’ll get out easy and Nick learns that the hard way. It’s a satisfying adventure but one that didn’t play out the way that I thought it would.

The movie starts with Nick getting caught after his latest heist and taken to jail. The time for this one is going to potentially be 20 years so the DA, A’Angelo tries to strike a deal but Nick declines. He figures that the other crooks will look out for him. Unfortunately they don’t and his wife ends up dead with no money to her name. Nick decides to do the deal now but 3 years have passed and the opportunity is not the same. He has one shot to get back at the crooks which is to be a stoolie for the cops. He’ll find out info and bring it back to D’Angelo but of course this is a very dangerous job. The villains have a lot of pull and the crazy guy named Tommy on their side. One wrong move will not only destroy Nick, but his rebound girlfriend and his kids.

You can probably guess right off the bat that I was not a fan of the romance here. Look, Nick’s whole reason for revenge and making a deal is because his wife was effectively murdered due to the other crooks not watching out for her. She wasn’t given any money or safety. So then why he is suddenly going out with Nettie? What’s worse is that Nettie and her had a big fight shortly before her death and Nettie basically admits that she has wanted Nick for a while now. Nick’s cool with all of this?

With the title of the film I fully expected Nettie to be the big villain here. There would be a twist about how she’s actually the one who murdered the wife or something like that. It wasn’t a suicide but a frame up. It would have made a lot of sense but the film actually plays it straight which is just as bad if not worse. It’s bad for both parties but in particular it’s a bad look for Nick.

He should not be looking for another wife right now. It’s just way too soon after he’s out of jail. The romance is one of the weakest ones that I’ve seen in a while. He does well beyond that but it’s a big thing to sidestep. The movie is solid in spite of Nick, not because of him. I thought D’Angelo did a good job of giving Nick a lot of chances initially and then explaining that the offer wasn’t forever.

3 years later it makes sense that he would feel a bit sour, especially with how Nick treated him. I wouldn’t say D’Angelo did a good job of protecting him at all though. I can see why Nick didn’t trust him to keep them safe because the guy’s track record was just awful the whole time. Anyone could get past him and that’s absolutely not what you want to hear when there is a big mass murderer after you. Nah, escaping him was the right option here.

Tommy is the big villain and he certainly makes his presence known. He doesn’t like squealers at all and definitely doesn’t take any disrespect. It’s clear that beating him won’t be easy and the guy has a lot of experience. You get the feeling that being his friend is also pretty dangerous since he’s such a spontaneous guy. You may be friends with him one moment and then enemies the next. If you’re an enemy then you’re really out of luck.

I would say that Nick’s plan was extremely risky though and had a near 0% chance of working. There are so many ways it could have gone wrong. I suppose he didn’t have many other options at this point but even so, I wouldn’t say it was a good plan. It’s hard to picture it ever working again even if the scenario was played 100 times. When you’ve got nothing to lose you might as well give it a try, but that’s the only time to play this card.

The movie captures the sense of dread and danger that Nick feels when Tommy is on the loose. These old school Noir titles always knew how to build up a good atmosphere and this one is no exception. Nick knows that as far as he gets, he’ll never be safe. I do think it’s probably worth taking the odds and hopping on a train out of the state though. In theory back then the info networks weren’t quite as advanced so get out of the country and try to survive. Of course there are a significant amount of risks to that and he may be looking over his shoulder the rest of his life but I would wager that the odds are better than trying to settle the score personally. It’s a gamble either way of course.

The writing is also very solid. I like the dialogue exchanges here and it may seem like a small thing but a lot of newer films can’t always hold their own in this same respect. It’s all different eras of course and modern films have their good writing as well but sometimes you just want this classic way of speaking. That false politeness between the heroes and villains, the subtle digs thrown into each sentence. It’s difficult to replicate that.

Overall, Kiss of Death is a good Noir film but I do think it’s held back by some of the choices in the story. I just have a really hard time getting past the whole romance angle. It just feels so crazy considering how the whole plot was about getting past her death. What’s the thought process behind throwing this in? If it was solely because the movie needed some romance then that’s just pretty sad. Making Nettie the villain just made so much sense that I’m still shocked the movie didn’t go that route.

Overall 7/10

Master of the World Review

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Vincent Price films tend to be a lot of fun, at least his contributions to them. I can’t say that all of his movies are actually amazing or anything like that but he knows how to have a good time. This is a solid installment in his filmography and it’s a good, classic tale about wanting to stop war. Ultimately many heroes and villains have tried to stop it in these movies but they all come across the big issue that it is just about impossible to stop through normal means. This movie handles that rather well.

The movie starts out by showing us a lot of different attempts at making a plane. Unfortunately it took a lot of tries to get them right and so Prudent and Evans debate a lot about how their plane should be built. Ultimately a government agent named Strock appears and lets them know to just try them both. They head up in a hot air balloon but are kidnapped by Robur and taken aboard his giant plane. Robur explains that he wants to attain world peace and the way he will do this is to destroy all weapons of mass destruction on the planet. Any machine that can hurt someone will have to be destroyed so their go the battleships and tanks. Unfortunately he will only give a brief warning before firing so there will be mass casualties. The heroes need to find a way to stop this guy but how can they?

First off, Robur is an interesting villain. He really hopes that the characters will agree with him but of course the cost is just too high. What I like about him is that he does actually give them some time to try and come up with an alternative. Of course they aren’t able to because in a way there is none. This would be the only way to possibly try and remove wars, but even then it wouldn’t work. If Humanity has shown anything over the years it is that they will keep on creating new weapons forever and nothing can stop that. Robur’s airplane would only serve to embolden the governments to create more things in secret.

Now, the plane can apparently cross the entire Earth in 10 days so he could possibly deal a ton of damage in the meantime. The rest of the world have no combat planes ready yet so if he kept on carpet bombing the way he was now, it’s hard to see how anybody could stop him. It’s why supremacy over the air was always such a big thing in every war. If you control the skies then you control your destiny. So it’s lucky for the world that the heroes did go aboard or that would have been it.

In a way Robur’s pacifist ideals towards directly taking a human’s life were his own undoing. If he had simply shot the characters down then he would have been safe. Villains with misguided ideals that think they are the hero of their own story definitely make for a compelling character and this guy was no different. He’s certainly the highlight here.

As for the main characters, they definitely tend to bicker a lot. You’ve got Evans who is constantly jealous and mistrusting of Strock. After all Strock gets along very well with his fiancé and so Evans needs him to fail. What better way to be top dog around the place again than to realize that Strock has thrown his lot in with Robut? Evans comes across as really petty and naïve throughout the film. He tries to say that they shouldn’t lie even to the villain because of honor and all that but Strock correctly points out how that won’t save anybody. Honor is all well and good at times. There are certainly lines you shouldn’t cross in any situation but this wasn’t one of them and Evans really didn’t seem to know how the world worked.

Meanwhile Strock was very reasonable the whole time. He doesn’t get caught up in his emotions the way that the others did all the time and that allowed him to plan ahead and do some real good. He would put more thought into his actions in one moment than the rest would for their entire appearances. I thought he single handily gave the heroes a chance while the rest would have completely crashed without him.

Prudent is a genius and all but he’s not really ready to be on the field. He does better than Evans but that’s not exactly an achievement now is it? Dorothy is nice enough but she does tend to blame both sides when Evans and Strock argue even when it is completely Evans’ fault. I would like for her to just call him out instead. By the end of the film they are finally ready to work together, it just takes a long while to actually get to that point.

Ultimately this film is about a difference in ideals that cannot be bridged by any kind of discussion or negotiation. There are times when fighting is the only way to solve an issue and this is one of those times. Everyone (All reasonable people) would like to end war once and for all. War only brings a lot of destruction and trauma in its wake but there are no reasonable ways to end it. Short of the world being destroyed, it’s not going to happen. Robur’s plan wouldn’t have worked either even though he was so confident about it so Strock had to stop him. At least maybe he will think twice about selling it to the government though. The heroes were quick to mention that but doing so would absolutely guarantee an escalated level of violence in the end. Ultimately it’s not possible to stop technology so it’s inevitable that this kind of tech will appear someday but why speed it up? (Of course this wouldn’t even be considered high end tech in today’s day and age)

Overall, I liked this film quite a bit. It’s rather low key and even to the end Robur is treated as a villain who made the wrong moves but didn’t crack. He treats his minions well and same with his prisoners. He was just on the wrong path. The writing is good and the movie’s pacing is solid. It all goes together rather quickly in its journey to the end. I didn’t have any issues with it. Of course I didn’t like Evans but he made for a decent antagonist when you look at it that way. This is a very safe movie with a good amount of positives and no true negatives. It may not be very ambitious but it tells a good story and at the end of the day that’s what you want to see.

Overall 7/10

Witness Review

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

Witness is one of those thriller films with the lead on the run as he has to quickly think of what to do next. I would say the main difference here compared to most is that there is actually a large portion of the film where there isn’t any real action. Instead you have John getting used to the Amish life before the big climax. I would still say it works well though and it’s a solid all around movie.

The story starts with Rachel and her son Samuel heading off to the big city. I forget exactly why they were here but they’ll be heading back to the Amish community pretty soon. Their plans are derailed though when her son Samuel witnesses a murder in the bathroom. A cop was murdered by two attackers, one who is another officer. So this was an inside job but why? That’s for John Book to find out but in the meantime Rachel and Samuel have to stick around as material witnesses. This changes when the corruption appears to go higher than John thought possible so they have to take off. Hiding in an Amish community is a good bet but how long will this last?

For once the villains actually have a tough time locating the heroes because of how nobody here uses phones or anything like that. Nobody is really playing ball with helping the villains get in either so they have to take the long approach to this. It’s an interesting dynamic and something that’s not seen very often at all. So I liked the change of pace here and John is a good sport about trying to fit in. He may not be too familiar with their ways but this doesn’t stop him from helping out like with carpentry.

John isn’t willing to go all the way like suddenly being a pacifist when someone is picking a fight. He still insists on doing things his way and can’t say that I blame him there. I understand it’s the Amish way not to fight back when you’re being attacked at least based on this film but to me it definitely can hit a point where it goes too far and so of course you have to defend yourself here. If John didn’t do anything then things were only going to keep on escalating. So I could definitely back him up there.

In general he’s just a very reasonable character and does well the whole time. Even at the end of the film he makes the right call I would say. Choosing to stay would have been messy and he has a lot of responsibilities of his own. In the end you can count on him to make a rational decision no matter what. As for the heroine Rachel, she is at a bit of a crossroads in her life as she starts to see how the system can be a bit restrictive but at the same time it’s all that she’s ever known. I feel like she would have ended up choosing John over everything if he had asked but ultimately neither one wanted to make the first move.

Rachel is initially very antagonistic towards him but gradually softens up as the film goes on. Her son Samuel did well to not get murdered during the opening scene. He was able to think fast which came in handy and then he also had a critical moment near the end of the film. As far as kids go he was okay. Then I liked John’s partner Carter. Ultimately that guy was a real loyal companion. Usually things don’t go well for that character in these things so you can always appreciate their bravery for doing the right thing and standing up to the villains.

Schaeffer is the main villain here and he’s certainly a difficult obstacle to get past for John. I thought he was handled well here as a solid mastermind type character. You know that he’s quite twisted right from the jump even as he’s always joking around. To him murder just isn’t that big of a deal and he’s the kind of villain you really want to avoid. Ultimately they’re lucky that he wasn’t any crazier because the ending could have easily turned out badly for all parties involved. It was still a good plan of course but yeah it came close to backfiring in the end.

Really the weakest part of the film is the romance. It just doesn’t have much of a purpose being here. It’s expected as soon as we find out that Rachel is a single mom and all but it still doesn’t feel natural. It would have been a lot better to have kept them as friends. Additionally you have her childhood friend who seems to expect that he will marry her someday but she’s not really in love with him. He seems like the fallback plan since she feels like she has to marry someone at some point. With how the film goes it seems like this is still on the table but it has to be in the least satisfying way possible for both of them. How could either one of them be happy with the setup being this way? All this is going to do is frustrate both of them.

The action scenes are solid and John has to try and hang in there without his gun for a little while. That helps to make the climax a little more tense the whole time since it would have been a lot easier if he had his gun. The battle in the parking area was also solid. The movie has a very fast beginning and ending. The middle will drag if you’re expecting a lot of action but the non-action scenes were still solid. Rachel’s father Eli could be annoying as he was super rigid in his customs though. You definitely want someone who’s a little more flexible so you can have a real dialogue there. He didn’t do much to try and close the gap between them.

Overall, Witness is a pretty good movie. I thought the writing and plot were sound. Corruption can always be a good vehicle for a lot of scenarios and having John use the Amish location as a way to hide was genius. I did always think it was an interesting lifestyle. It’s not for me since I need my electronics and everything but I’m sure it’s a good way to really build a lot of community and for everyone to get used to leaning on each other when the going gets tough. In the big city life you’re less likely to get close to a lot of people like that.

Overall 7/10

Viva Las Vegas Review

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It’s time for another Elvis adventure. I thought this one was quite a bit better than the last one as it embraces the humor and good cheer that you would want out of a musical film like this. There are a lot of good tunes here throughout and you won’t be disappointed. The romance may be a bit weak but as it’s played for laughs most of the time it doesn’t end up dragging anything down.

The movie starts with Lucky and Elmo getting ready for the big race. This is the ultimate grand prix and you could say that they’re rivals of sorts. Elmo is rich and has the better car so he invites Lucky to race for him but Lucky is eager to win this on his own. Nobody’s going to stop him! Well it’s a nice idea but it won’t be so easy. See, Lucky meets up with a lady named Rusty that he falls for and so he wastes an entire day running through every club with Elmo to find her. He finally locates her at the swimming pool but after his flirting attempts fail quite massively, he drops his money in the pool and it’s gone. He’ll have to get money quickly in order to get an engine for the race. Can he pull this off?

One thing that works really well in the film from start to finish is the humor. This is a film that will live or die on how funny it is after all and fortunately this lands. The best sequence is definitely when Rusty decides to go on a revenge date with Elmo so Lucky takes it upon himself to mess this up. He does this by making sure that he is the waiter assigned to them and messes up all of the dishes and keeps causing a lot of noise. Lucky isn’t subtle about this either. He just runs in and starts causing general mayhem the whole time.

Elmo tries to politely tell him off but it never works. As for Rusty, since she was only doing this to get back at Lucky anyway, she seemed happy enough to just get out of there. So in a way Elmo was just being used the whole time but in a way I think he knew this. He was just desperate enough to play along the whole time. See, Elmo and Lucky were rivals for Rusty but she only ever had eyes for Lucky. Elmo was out of the game before it ever started.

It was almost surprising that the two of them stayed friends throughout all of this but I suppose at the end of the day they weren’t taking it all very seriously. Their friendship wasn’t about to be broken so easily! It’s a nice change of pace from how fragile these things usually are. In the end Elmo was a decent character. He may have been too much of a flirt like Lucky but at least he was a fun guy.

Meanwhile Lucky is okay but definitely not the loyal type. He seems to instantly fall for any girl that he sees so if I’m Rusty I’d be very weary here. He also doesn’t take a hint too quickly like when he was singing the song to Rusty but getting shot down the whole time. Ultimately he doesn’t plan things out too well in advance either like with the whole money situation. Why let the engine be an issue so close to the actual race? If he had ended up missing it then that would have been very bad for him.

The actual race is only a very small part of the film though so you will need to be watching this for the comedy and romance instead. That takes up almost the entire film after all. There are also a lot of songs I suppose. They’re all reasonably catchy. You’ve got that classic Elvis feel to each of the tunes. I wouldn’t say any of them are home run hits but they do the job. There are a lot of songs here after all and so it’s good that they’re fun. Boring songs would have been a really bad idea here since you want to keep up the full momentum the whole time.

Then for Rusty, she’s a good heroine but should have stuck to her guns. Initially she wanted nothing to do with Lucky but ultimately falls for him anyway and then starts to get jealous a lot. Her character flaw here is that she wants him to stop racing since she thinks its dangerous and wants to be the focus point of his life. It makes her come across as rather selfish the whole time. She knew what she was getting into here so why change it up at the last second like this? It didn’t make a lot of sense and ultimately you know she’s just going to have to get used to it because Lucky was not going to leave the race.

Their banter was good while they were rivals and I think they should have kept it that way. Would have been a much better way to go about it if you ask me. They were really going at it too. Like their battle at the competition, it was nice to see them both trying so hard to win it all. You don’t get that same energy once they’re together. It’s also just cheesy in general because of how quickly everything moves. Slow the roll a bit and the film would work better for it.

Overall, Viva Las Vegas is a solid all around film. The plot is good and a lot of the gags in the movie really work well. The movie knows how to get a good laugh out of you. The main guy and his rival definitely get too distracted by girls though. At least Elmo doesn’t scam them because he’s too nice for that but the same isn’t said for Lucky. You will have a hard time rooting for Lucky the whole time since Elmo just seems like a better person in every way. You still know how it’s all going to play out either way though. That’s just how it goes.

Overall 7/10

The Pelican Brief Review

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It’s time for a movie about a full government conspiracy. This one goes very deep into the inner government and so the characters can’t be safe anywhere. Conspiracy films can be a lot of fun with how you can’t really trust anyone but have to be able to use people to get your message across. Otherwise on your own there’s only so much that you can do. There’s a good amount of twists and espionage throughout the movie so it makes for a really solid adventure.

The film starts off with two supreme court justices being taken out by some kind of assassin. People wonder why and how this happened but nobody really knows. That’s when we meet our main character Darby. She wrote a quick paper/theory on who she thought actually set this up and it’s a big conspiracy involving the government. She tells her teacher that she’s having an affair with and he tells his contact within the White House. Soon enough the teacher is dead and eventually the same is true of the White House contact. It’s clear that Darby struck a nerve in her paper and so she needs to try and put as much distance between her and these guys as possible. The last person she can trust is a reporter named Gray but can she really trust him?

The film definitely makes it look easy with how the justices were taken out but you figure it had to be tough and so the only people who could do this would be professionals. That’s pretty much what the government says here. They all doubt each other like the FBI going up against the CIA but at the end of the day they have so many “leads” and theories that it’s hard to put any stock in any of them. The government is not close to cracking this case at all except for Darby who seems to have a handle on it. We don’t really get to find out most of the details until near the end of the film but it’s definitely very interconnected.

Darby is a solid main character and I can definitely understand why she wanted to stay out of this. Everybody around her keeps on dying and she doesn’t want to be next. Absolutely understandable since it’s not like Gray could likely protect her from the whole government if it comes to that. At the same time, he really needs her around as a witness because otherwise he doesn’t have a case. His boss reminds him of that a lot. Honestly the boss is a pretty good character, I would say he’s reasonable and at the end of the day he’s someone who actually will have your back.

Darby puts herself in a lot of risky positions throughout the film so I’d definitely give her kudos there. As for Gray, he’s a good guy as well. He won’t be bought by the government or any of the villains. He’ll just keep on going until he has the truth in hand. Having someone you can depend on like this is absolutely massive. The heroes have to survive being shot at and tracked down after all. If either one of them had been on their own for the whole movie then they would have certainly been defeated. You need teamwork to survive a situation like this.

The Pelican Brief has a really strong atmosphere going on the whole time too. You always feel a bit unsettled as the characters are walking around because danger can be anywhere. Like when Darcy is walking with the white house guy and doesn’t realize that he was taken out by an imposter. You know that things could go very badly for her right from the start. You also don’t get all of the answers right away as the film likes to leave you guessing on which squad actually sent out the it this time. Every group has their own reasons foe either trying to destroy the brief or in allowing it to succeed.

There aren’t too many heroes here as a result since everybody is protecting their own self interests. Even the President of the USA doesn’t look very good here as he’s also very suspicious and cares more about being re-elected than being just. As a result you see him quite a few times taking the low road here. In general it’s hard to win when everyone above you is so corrupt. That feeling of powerlessness is definitely a classic in the conspiracy genre.

This movie is fairly long but it’s executed well. In this case you can understand the length because of how complex the plot is and how the film has to develop everything. It does lead into a very satisfying ending so I’d say that worked out well. Additionally it has a good amount of replay value as you look at the scenes now knowing what you learn from the ending. It would make for a fun re-watch.

I would say one of the best scenes in the movie is when the heroes have to head to a law firm to track someone down. Needless to say, the villains had already anticipated this so it’s not very easy but it was a good try either way. Getting out of there alive was a puzzle in itself as choosing the wrong way out or showing weakness could be fatal. There is definitely a body count here as learning just about anything can put you in the hot seat. There may be some times you figure that the main characters should be dead at that. I suppose a defense you can make is that the villains still have to be a tiny bit subtle or this will become a big thing. So they can’t go around popping everyone off and have to at least have some kind of cover-up. They definitely took out the other characters quick enough but we don’t actually know how long they were planning that. So it could have taken longer than expected.

When it’s you against the world then you really can’t afford to take it easy. The heroes are always on the move and the only real ally here was Gray’s boss. That guy deserves a special shout-out because he actually was very helpful and wasn’t just around to waste time or slow the pacing down. Once he saw how serious this was, he was ready to help right away. I think that’s one thing this film has over other conspiracy titles. This time not everyone was in on it so you actually had a few good men who were helping out or minding their business. It wasn’t completely hopeless and the ending helps to support that as well. Mix in the solid writing and you’ve really got a winner here.

Overall, The Pelican Brief is a pretty good government conspiracy film. These kind of films can make you feel paranoid or you can just say that the whole thing feels bonkers. Either way you can have a good time here. The name is also rather catchy and actually becomes something to think about as opposed to just being some random title. Everything has some meaning in this film. So check this one out if it sounds like your cup of tea.

Overall 7/10

Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase Review

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Nancy Drew returns for another adventure but this time she ends up having to go to some great lengths to solve the mystery. It’s not her best appearance by a longshot to the point where she almost appears as an antagonist at some points. Definitely not the detective you want on your case. It’s a fun enough story though with a good amount of solid dialogue and good pacing to keep it going.

The movie starts with Nancy getting excited because a mansion is about to be turned into a hospital. This will be great for the community and the only catch is that the two elderly ladies who own the place have to keep living there for a little bit to make it official. A wrinkle occurs though when it becomes clear that someone doesn’t want the hospital to be built and wants to scare these ladies into leaving to the point that he even commits murder to get this across. Nancy realizes that leaving is not in the cards so she forges a suicide note and fixes up the crime scene so that the old ladies will be tricked into staying. She figures it’ll all end well as long as she can find the crooks first. Will she pull this off or has she just doomed these ladies for no good reason?

No matter how you slice it, Nancy definitely went too far here. You just can’t put them into danger like this without giving them a shot. Of course they wouldn’t have stayed in the house if they knew it was a murder but that’s not Nancy’s business. She has to let them make their own decisions, they are grownups after all. Nancy really took things into her own hands here and it was not a good idea. Then she also goes around blackmailing her friend Ted into going with her. She makes it clear that she will get him fired from his current job otherwise.

It’s hard to really root for Nancy as a hero here because she is so unhinged. She proves on multiple occasions that she doesn’t mind just running off and leaving Ted to fend for himself. He certainly didn’t ask for this and it was her idea so shouldn’t she be doing most of the work? Even near the end he has to be the one to stay in the basement and wait for the villain to arrive while she is taken away by her father so he has no back-up.

It’s easy to see why Ted is so fed up all the time. I dare say that Nancy has gotten even more bold in her attempts to get him on the case. At this point there is little that she won’t do in order to get her way and that should absolutely scare Ted. Ted is solid as always though. Ultimately he does help Nancy out and even if he doesn’t want to be here, he gives every task his 100% effort. Even when tings go sideways he never sells her out and he’s just a good guy. It’s just his bad luck that Nancy is always around to put him into some difficult situations.

Sure, Nancy does help out by the end and she has her detective moments so I don’t want it to sound like she’s not doing anything. Nancy does help, it’s just that her “the end justifies the means” approach gets real sketchy real fast. This time around her father Carson gets less of a role but at least we have Officer Tweedy to make up for it. He’s the kind of guy who never has time for the kids so he tends to miss out on a lot of clues and context. Usually you can only count on him to make the wrong calls at the wrong times. Very rarely will he actually get to help the crew out which is very unfortunate.

I like Tweedy’s confidence though even if it’s misplaced. He’s just that kind of character but he’s entertaining all the way through which is the important part. You can’t help but smile when he’s around. The leap in logic to arresting the two elderly women was a bit much though. Like seriously…you’re arresting those two? That has to be a low moment in his career because cmon now, that just doesn’t make sense.

The writing is good as always though and I always like the old school dialogue. The pacing is good and all of the scenes flow together. The movie is fairly short as it is so I suppose it’s not super impressive that the pacing is good but it’s still worth noting. On the whole it’s just a very low key mystery film that is entertaining all the way through. It’s not exactly a thrill a minute but there are still life or death stakes here and the villains absolutely meant business.

Partially because it’s so short and also because the story is basic, but there isn’t a whole lot more to say about this one. I don’t think it will end up being very memorable down the stretch either. I would have liked the series to have continued on for a while longer either way though because there’s just all kinds of stories you could do with Nancy and Ted. It could have had well over 10 films like Sherlock Holmes and it could have worked out. These bite sized adventures are perfect for constructing a lot of scenarios around the characters. I suppose it just wasn’t meant to be.

Overall, Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase is a pretty good movie. I would rank it lower than the others but they’re all rather close either way so it’s not like it’s a big gap or anything. There’s a good amount of replay value here and the movie doesn’t really make any mistakes. It’s a very by the books movie that is content at being a good watch. If you like an old fashioned mystery like this then I’d recommend checking this one out. That said, you may as well check out one of the others instead, there’s no real reason to jump to this one specifically. Maybe if Carson got to do more since I like his more professional take on things. He may have a lot of limits due to how the law works but he never lets it get him down.

Overall 7/10

Nancy Drew… Trouble Shooter Review

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Nancy Drew has returned for some more detective shenanigans! Nancy herself doesn’t look very good in this film though and as tends to be the case in these older adventures, her friend Ted seems to be the real detective around here. It’s a fun movie and definitely a short one as well so you will have this finished in a flash. It may not stick out among the Drew adventures but it’s just solid all around.

The movie starts with a guy being accused of murder so he writes to his friend Carson Drew. Carson is ready to see that justice is served so he quickly heads out to help but much to his dismay, Nancy Drew finds out about this as well and now she wants to help. Unfortunately for Ted, she quickly tracks him down as well and decides that he will be helping her this time around. Can the two of them solve the case of who really committed the murder or will they just get in Carson’s way and cause an innocent man to be taken down?

You can see how Carson treats Nancy as a burden here with how he sighs and tries to keep her out of trouble. He’s just used to doing everything so having a kid around slows his roll. While he is confident though, it does feel like he is always foiled in the end though. There’s only so much that his law training can do here without becoming a vigilante like Nancy. Also, he’s a bit distracted here as he starts off a romance with Edna who immediately captivates him as well as Ted. Nancy gets awful spore about this which impacts her detective skills as well.

Now with a man’s life hanging in the balance you figure that the characters would not let any distractions stop them but that never seems to be the case here. All of the romance scenes here are rather painful with Carson and Ted just tripping over themselves in trying to help her. You’d think they would be a little more subtle and would realize that this isn’t the time for such tings. Worry about romance after the case has been solved. It also doesn’t feel like the romance actually impacts the story all that much. It’s just kind of there to be there.

It does hurt Ted a little but beyond that he looks good. He’s the only one to realize that the attendant was stealing the chickens and he ultimately proves to be helpful at the end as he ensures the heroes have a good landing. He is always very reluctant to get involved in these cases and would much rather take it over to the police, but once he is dragged in, Ted makes sure to do the job right. It’s why he’s such a quality character. You can sympathize with how he just wants to have a quiet day but that won’t be an option for very long. I’d say a lot of the film’s best humor also revolves around Ted and his reactions. It goes without saying that he’s the best character here.

Not to take too many shots at Nancy, she is a good lead but she almost comes off more like an antagonist at times with how she gets in the way. Her one sided feud with Edna doesn’t do her any favors either. Edna is trying to be nice the whole time while Nancy is just petty and takes everything personally. She’s also very slow on the uptake like when Carson had to quickly change his story around Edna and Nancy just didn’t get it. She tends to miss some clues that are right in front of her and so ultimately she has a ways to go before she would become the famous detective.

As for the actual case, it’s not bad. Despite a murder being involved I wouldn’t say it’s super captivating. It’s all fairly basic and the character cast is very small so it’s not like there are a whole lot of suspects that it could be. Basically if someone shows up and acts a bit antagonistic then you figure he’s probably the culprit. Sadly there’s no officer Tweedy this time so the heroes have to make do without him.

I’d say the reason why the film shines though is because the writing is just really good. Sure, it’s all very low key but because of that it ends up being a very calming film. It feels like a slice of life all the way through with two kids doing their best to spice up the day. They get their fill of action and adventure or at least Ted does. Nancy’s always ready for another round even if that’s not a good idea.

So even if the film doesn’t become all that unique, you could easily see 10 or more films just riding off of this one’s energy. You can easily just keep it going for a long while yet with slightly different cases and I think it would still be entertaining. I could probably do without the random romance but that strikes me as a one time thing anyway so the other films wouldn’t need to do that. Now we just need a film series about the Hardy Boys.

Overall, This was a pretty good film I’d say. I do have the disclaimer that you could be bored if you walk into this expecting a lot of action, but this isn’t that kind of film nor is it attempting to be. You have to be drawn in by the writing and the cheerful vibe of all the scenes. If that sounds good to you then you will certainly have a good time here. It’s just a very calming film that makes you feel good. The only thing that could have hurt this film would be if it was too long since this kind of plot is best meant for a shorter film but that’s why it’s so fast. It’s a quick adventure that’s over without having any pacing issues.

Overall 7/10

Dante’s Peak Review

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Volcano disaster films should always be hype pretty much by definition since lava should make for a great visual. That’s not always the case but it’s a good rule of thumb at least. I would say this is a solid disaster film as well, we get a lot of danger and good visuals. Some really annoying characters for sure but it’s an entertaining movie with some solid pacing throughout. I definitely didn’t have any big issues with it.

The movie starts with Harry and his partner trying to escape as a volcano is erupting but unfortunately she has them hang back for a bit to try and grab some computer files. This ends up backfiring completely as they leave too late and she gets crushed by falling debris. Ultimately there is no way to recover from this and so Harry is now back to being alone. He then gets called into another potential volcano situation and it looks serious. Unfortunately even though his boss Paul specifically invited Harry here to gauge the volcano reactions, he thinks Harry is being a little too presumptuous and denies the action. This prevents anyone from evacuating until the volcano actually blows up. Will they be able to escape now or is it game over?

I would say that part of what makes a volcano situation particularly deadly is that just touching the lava would mean game over. It’s not like touching the stove where you can quickly leap away if you have good reaction times. Let the lava hit your leg and you’re not running anywhere. So with that delay a lot of people really don’t have a chance here. There are some intense images like when we see the bridges just collapse into nothingness and everyone crashing. Your best bet in a way is to go to the water but even then lava can survive for a bit on that surface. We also see that it boils the water up to an incredible temperature that just cannot be survived.

So water sounds good in theory but it’s probably not your best bet. Your best bet if possible is to put as much distance as possible and hope a rescue squad arrives but it’s still going to be a tough call. The body count here is quite high and we can blame Paul on this completely. The film tries to give him some hero moments later on and that he means well but at the end of the day he chose to gamble with everyone’s lives. That was a really bad call and it’s really hard to come back from that. Especially because it’s not like Harry was crazy.

In some disaster films you can see why the main guy is written off because he is acting erratically or not making any sense. That’s not the case here as Harry was being very careful from start to finish. I don’t really see what he could have done differently. He did all of the tests by the books and then used the evidence to show his findings. Paul just decided to ignore this and I didn’t think his counter reasoning was all that good. What’s the point of bringing in your best man if you won’t accept his findings?

As for the mayor Rachel, I wouldn’t put much blame on her. Ultimately she did end up listening to Paul but he is the big boss so that makes sense. In her position it’s hard to say that she should have listened to Harry. There were some warning signs but in the end it’s natural to listen to the experts when they’re talking. That’s exactly what she did so you can’t really fault that. The film was starting to set up a romance with her and Harry which is a bit iffy though since he lost the lady who was going to be his wife in such a tragic way.

Yes, time has passed but you don’t just do a rebound like that. While the film doesn’t go too far with this, I would still say the romance is a weak point here. Rachel’s kids can also be on the annoying side. They do try to help near the end of the film which doesn’t make the situation any better but I won’t deduct too many points for that from them. I do think the boy just randomly going to prohibited areas is a bit much though. His mom’s the mayor so he should be behaving himself more.

One of the most annoying characters is the grandmother though. She decides to just ride out the volcano in her house for some reason. Whether she wanted to test her limits or just didn’t think it was a big deal, it’s still selfish because she has family. It was natural that someone would come to check up on her and everyone nearly died as a result. You can only make that kind of a choice if you’re on your own but otherwise you have a lot of other people to think about.

There’s a scene involving the dog that nearly gets very messy but fortunately the movie doesn’t fall into that trap. The scene is intentionally meant to get you a little stressed but I can accept that since it ends well. I still don’t think it’s a good idea mind you, as using a dog to make everything tense is the cheap way out. You need to just let the volcano do that and it was already effective so why go through all of the extra effort? The film needs to have confidence in itself.

Overall, Dante’s Peak is a solid film. The writing is good and it’s an interesting story. I do tend to enjoy my disaster films as the visuals are always a lot of fun. Imagining how the end of the world can be also helps to show the appeal of these titles. In this case being locked in an island with a volcano erupting definitely sounds absolutely distressing. Even if you live through it, you’ve lost everything so the recovery process is just as scary. It would probably make this a hard watch for anyone who has actually had to experience something like this. If you’re up for an intense thriller though, then this is the one to check out. There’s definitely a body count here as well so don’t expect everyone to get off the island without a scratch.

Overall 7/10

Point Blank Review

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It’s always very and I mean very risky to backstab a fellow villain when you’re trying to make a lot of money. Remember that this is someone who was willing to go on such a dangerous mission in the first place so he will stop at nothing to get revenge. That’s really what this film is all about to, it’s a big revenge title. The movie works very well as a noir thriller where every scene is ominous and you never know what will happen next.

So the movie starts off with Walker on the big heist so he can finally get rich. Unfortunately he is shot in the back by his partner Reese who runs off with the cash and Walker’s wife. A long time passes but Walker eventually gets out of jail and he’s eager to even the score. He lives solely for revenge now and nothing is going to deter him from getting that. Whatever it takes, he will get his money back. So begins a long journey where he faces off with every big figure in the underworld. Will any of them give Walker his money?

Now right off the bat while this is a serious noir title, there is one part of the story that almost feels like it’s part parody. So Walker really wants his money which is just as important as the revenge. First he goes to Reese for it but when that doesn’t work he begins climbing up the criminal food chain in order to get it. He goes after Reese’s boss, then that guy’s boss, etc. all the way to the top. The issue is that none of these villains have any money.

Yes, all the big shots of the criminal empire have their funds tied up in assets and generally non cash objects. That is really hard to believe when their lives are literally at stake. You have them talking matter of factly about this even when they are being threatened and ultimate murdered. A lot of villains lose their lives over this as Walker isn’t playing games. He actually means to keep on destroying everyone until he gets his money so the villains should just produce it already. You can’t tell me that the heads who have near unlimited power aren’t able to scrounge up the money.

So that was always odd but it would never deter Walker. He just kept going after them and there was a really handy informant who had his back as well. It pays to have good intel so you are always on the winning side here. You won’t have too much sympathy for Walker’s wife Lynne though as ultimately she did go with Reese here. Not a good move and it just makes her look so bad. So even when she has regrets later on, it’s clear that she had made her choice and it wasn’t a good one.

The movie does have a sense of humor though even while Walker is on his mission. At one point he is able to get onto the elevators because the villains are basically goofing off. Then you have the guy who tries to trick Walker into getting in front of a sniper rifle but the tables are turned on him. It’s not laugh out loud funny like a big gag movie but the subtle humor worked well. It’s a very serious film but not one that always feels like you’re dreading the next moment. It has a lot of energy to it.

There’s also a rather trippy scene where Walker is navigating his way around a house and Chris is mocking him through loudspeakers and all kinds of devices. She really went through a lot of work to get the whole place set up and even lands a really long combo on him. The romance in general here is really weak as you feel like Walker wouldn’t be moving on just yet even after he was betrayed earlier. His mission comes first but then again you could almost still say this is part of the mission. He needs to waste some time between targets to be there at the right time and this may just be how he does it.

The writing is really solid here and I can’t think of the last time I saw a bunch of villains being as nonchalant about their evil empires as these guys were. They would sit on the couch smoking a cigar while talking about how they don’t have the money and how they can bump anyone off. They acted as if these guys all owned rather large companies and were just making business decisions. In some ways I suppose that really was the situation.

The crooks own the city and that’s a rather scary thought to the normal people. I guess you either play ball or that’s game over for you. The ending links up well with the opening and is a solid way to end things off. You get to decide exactly what Walker does at the end and if the package is worth it or not. Personally I do think the whole thing was legit this time with the package but it’s good Walker didn’t go out or he’d probably be gunned down. I do think he ultimately will make a move and it would work out though because Walker will eventually charge and the other guys should be gone.

As a final note, I think the film works as much because of what it didn’t show as what it did. There’s a lot of hidden lore here and dynamics we just don’t know about. The film doesn’t explain everything and I don’t think it needs to. Everything is kept very mysterious and that works exceptionally well for a noir. The more vague everything is, the more you get to try and put the pieces back together yourself. It adds a layer of unease to the whole thing and this atmosphere stays from start to finish. The film doesn’t fumble here.

It’s not perfect to be sure and has some weak elements like the romance and character basically going through with an affair to get the villain to drop his guard. I never like that approach because I don’t think under any circumstance you should allow yourself to be compromised just to complete the mission. There has to be a better way and at that point you just delay the mission or try something else even if it’s a bit riskier.

Overall, Point Blank is a really solid movie. You get to slowly pick up the pieces with Walker and he is a fun lead with how resolute the guy is in getting revenge. He will stop at absolutely nothing in order to get his money back and that’s real dedication right there. Nobody’s going to double cross him in the future, that’s a guarantee. If this film ever got a sequel I’d be all for it but there is some charm in being a one off since you really just get to imagine how it all played out.

Overall 7/10

Thor: Love and Thunder Review

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Thor has returned for his first solo adventure in quite a while. Thor Ragnarok still ranks as one of the top Marvel films while the first two have their mixed moments. Perhaps controversially I always had Thor 2 ahead of the first one even if the power levels in that film would go on to make everything else a little tricky. I’ll go into the full Thor rankings later on. Love and Thunder is a solid installment in the series even if it doesn’t come close to matching Ragnarok.

The movie starts with introducing us to the god butcher known as Gorr and his origins on how he came to get this title. He seemed like a rather decent guy but ultimately a tragic experience pushes him to the dark side. He begins to destroy all of the gods one by one. We then cut to Thor who is in a bit of a slump. He goes around and finishes battles with his immense strength but it all feels empty to him. Now this mission to save the gods and his people may be just what Thor needs but he will have to also deal with the shock of seeing Jane Foster become the new Thor. Will they be able to put aside their past history to team up and take Gorr down?

There’s a lot to unpack here so first lets start off with some of the really solid aspects. The action scenes are great when they happen. The biggest highlight for me was naturally the big team up with Thor and Jane as we get to see a lot of good combos there. The movie does a good job of having each energy weapon be a slightly different color which works well for contrast during the battles. There’s a lot of good movement here and I would say the power levels are accounted for as well. Each fighter has a different fighting strategy based on how they battle.

Thor still retains his power increase from Ragnarok which is important. For the most part I didn’t have too many strength issues. There is a moment involving being tied up that I found a little hard to buy and one or two fights end in more of a stalemate than I would have expected. It’s all more on the mild side though and nothing as head scratching as the Kurse fight from film 2. There’s one scene where Thor holds back two sci-fi motorbikes with his legs which may be the most impressive physical feat we’ve seen from him.

The soundtrack is also very solid. Not quite Dr. Strange level but there are a lot of good action tunes. I do think it was an odd decision to leave the best sounding lyrical song for the credits though. I think it would have worked really well during the movie similar to how Ragnarok had a song that appeared when Thor unlocked his true abilities. Either way it makes for a fun soundtrack to look up online.

As the main character Thor is good even if he’s still feeling a bit of his Endgame depression here. The movie plays up the gag with his hammers a bit too much and Thor has slowly become more of a full on comedic character than an action star. You can definitely have the balance of both and do it well but what makes that work is Thor’s full confidence. The scene with him taking the gang to Zeus’ palace for example can have some decent humor moments but it all feels a bit out of character. Thor’s the kind of hero who would usually take to the stage and start talking as opposed to almost being nervous and just staying in the stands the whole time. Thor can have a hero sure…but the whole thing didn’t really make sense.

So Thor is good and looks strong in combat but I wouldn’t say it was his best appearance. During battle there is no problem as he goes all in. There’s one scene in particular that is pretty much taken out of the Seven Deadly Sins playbook involving a solid catch and throw back that was very impressive. Definitely one of the highlights. The romance scenes can have him struggling a bit but in general the romance in the film was really weak. It’s been so long since Thor and Jane have been apart that this should really be something that they don’t rebound into. Stay as good friends and that would have been a much better dynamic. You could probably have better banter that way as well. There wasn’t any romance scene here that really worked.

Then we have Jane as the main heroine and she is a good character. I thought her plan involving using Mjolnir was a pretty smart one and I would have expected it to work a lot better. Her plot is the serious one in the film and provides a contrast to the happy Thor moments. Ultimately she’s a solid character who makes the right choices in the end and her fans should be really pleased with her portrayal here. She uses the hammer in a lot of creative ways too.

Valkyrie’s role is a lot smaller here than last time but she is around for the whole journey. Unfortunately she just can’t keep up in terms of raw power along with the others at this point so she tends to play more of a backup role. I like that she’s always ready to fight though and she gets more to do than Lady Sif, that’s for sure. Jane’s friend gets an even smaller role and that was a supremely good idea since she doesn’t add much to the story.

Zeus looks awful but I won’t go into that much further for spoiler purposes. Lets just say that I don’t see him gaining any real fans from this appearance. Now we get to Gorr and I thought he was an interesting villain. I’m a little less impressed with the execution as I felt the film could make him a little overboard in how petty he could be. (Scaring some kids comes to mind) His goal actually makes sense and the intro scene does a lot to really get his character across. His actions in the grand scheme make sense as a result which makes him a really interesting villain.

I felt like the writers realized he was starting to get a little too sympathetic so they had to quickly try and stop that but it’s not needed. Having a villain like this is always a good idea because even if you don’t root for them, at least they’re not just randomly psychotic. I would argue that at times the film even shows how a lot of people would potentially support his goal to destroy all of the gods. Over 90% of the gods we’ve met have all looked absolutely lousy and are basically unchecked evil. The heroes aren’t going to deal with them so that’s where Gorr steps in. That could be a longer editorial in itself but basically the appeal is that he’s like the Punisher. A villain who is judging other villains but down the road Gorr starts to be more generally unstable and and loses focus in his vision which hurts him as a character.

Now lets talk about the rankings a bit. So ultimately I would say that Ragnarok is clear and away the best of the 4 Thor films. I wouldn’t consider it to be that close. In second would be Thor 2, then Love and Thunder, followed by the original Thor movie. The reason why the first Thor film is at the end is really because there wasn’t a whole lot of action and it’s old enough where the visuals don’t hold up next to the others. Still a solid movie but in last by a solid amount.

The reason why The Dark World beats this one mainly comes down to that film having better pacing. Love and Thunder has higher peaks with its action scenes but also lower lows. Dark World had some cringe humor of its own but it doesn’t last as long and tends to rebound quicker. Yes, there’s the infamous moment of Thor’s mother being murdered and he’s back to joking shortly after, but this film matches that. There’s a moment where some people are kidnapped and are in mortal danger. Seconds…literally seconds later and Thor is back to flirting and joking around with Jane. Both of them seem to not care at all until a little later when they address the situation. That’s a perfect example of humor appearing at the worst possible moment.

Humor in itself can be a lot of fun of course. A lot of the best titles out there have a lot of humor and it works well but it’s all about timing. This film didn’t always get that across like with the Zeus scenes being way dragged out and Thor’s friends really not being helpful for a while there. Characters like Iron Man, Spider Man, and Ant Man just tend to have a better balance. They’re funnier and of course that does come down to writing of course but it also fits in with their characters more. If you want a comedic Thor, Ragnarok shows how to get the best balance of this as he’s still supremely confident as opposed to joking more at his own expense.

Then there’s also a very cheesy scene near the end. Lets just say it involves sharing power but man while it’s supposed to be an inspirational moment and all, it was still just hard to get into. Super convenient to have this on the go but I would have cut that scene out entirely and just had Thor use some cool range moves. It would have had a whole lot more impact that way.

The visuals are stunning all the way through, even away from the action scenes. I saw the movie in 3D so it was a little blurrier than usual. I couldn’t necessarily make out any easter eggs if they were too far in the background or get the full battle experience but all of them will likely be up on Youtube in 4K soon so then it’s time to relive the epic battles. I hope the films continue with emphasizing the glow of the weapons because it’s an almost anime type technique that immediately enhances a battle. Watch any Ufotable battle and you see that one of the tricks they used to have the best animation is that there are always a lot of colors at play.

I also enjoyed seeing the Guardians of the Galaxy for a bit. Their role is small but this is a really solid way to remind you that this is a cinematic universe without having the guest stars steal the film. (Not that I ever mind having them get a huge amount of screen time) It’s a very solid way to get this across. As a final note before approaching the end, I thought the way the film handled the monsters was really good and how the heroes would take care of them. I’m mainly thinking of the battle on the black and white planet. Instead of it being a traditional 3 vs 1, you had a 3 v 1 with a lot of monsters acting as stage hazards.

The characters would have to deal with them at times while also trying not to lose sight of Gorr and it helped make the battles more tense. Also, while the monsters were glass cannons, they could still deal a whole lot of damage so it’s not like you could ignore them completely. I wonder if this planet is one of the moments where there was some cut footage because there’s a scene involving a big blow and then next has the characters walking and squaring up for a fight. It felt like something was just missing there. Either way one of the best sequences there.

The ending to the movie is good and sets up a lot of fun ideas for the next movie. In theory there’s a whole new avenue of situations and scenarios that you can do now so I’ll be interested to see how that goes. In a lot of ways I can easily see the next one beating this film. The setups that are around have a whole lot of potential. The first after credits scene gives us a good glimpse of how the next film might go. Now, this next opponent is not even remotely a threat at this point in time but I’m sure there will be a way to even the playing field. There’s only one aspect I didn’t like about the first after credits scene and it involves one of the characters who appeared. I just don’t see the value in having him around so hopefully the next film can change my mind. It’s too bad the Avengers aren’t fully formed right now because this plot could almost work as the next Avengers title rather than a Thor standalone movie.

As for the second after credits scene, it’s decent enough. It opens the door to some interesting possibilities. If it follows a DBZ kind of logic, it will open things up almost as much as the whole multiverse angle. The movie already showed us a decently high cosmic level of things so at this point there isn’t much that you can rule out from the films incorporating into future plots. That’s a good thing since it will help to keep things really unpredictable.

Overall, Thor: Love and Thunder is a pretty good movie. With the big theater films there is always a lot to discuss. Ultimately it’s going to have less replay value than most of the other recent Marvel movies though. It beats Eternals but gets slaughtered by all of the other Phase IV titles. (Shang Chi, Spiderman, Dr. Strange, Black Widow) It beats Guardians of the Galaxy 2 but loses to all of the other Phase III titles. You get the idea and of course that does speak to how solid the Marvel movies have been for this to still be a positive score and lose to so many but it also shows how this movie didn’t reach its full potential. Most likely you’ll rewatch the fights online more than you will the whole movie. Still, the benefit of the comedic tone is that you can put this film on and just enjoy the moments. It’s mostly all light hearted and even if it does drag at times, there are still a lot of good moments. If you like the Marvel films then you’ll want to check this one out.

Overall 7/10