Category Archives: 7 Star Movies

Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner Review

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Parents generally have a lot of criteria when it comes to their kids’ marriage and want to make sure that no mistakes are happening. This is part of why there used to be arranged marriages in a ton of places so the parents could select the right person themselves. Fortunately a good deal of the world doesn’t do that anymore but it doesn’t mean that the silent judging doesn’t continue. This is a solid film involving such tensions.

The movie starts off with Joanna and her boyfriend John getting ready to meet her parents. John is a distinguished doctor with dozens of accolades so you may think this will be easy but there’s one thing that the parents are about to be shocked by. He’s black! While a mixed race couple is not such a startling thing now (To most people at least) it was definitely much bigger back then. Joanna and John want her parents’ blessings tonight too because then they’re going out of there and will be married in short order. It’s all so sudden and her parents aren’t really sure how to react.

Part of the fun in watching the film nowadays is how the racial thing isn’t a big deal…but every other bombshell is. This relationship has so many red flags that if it were made nowadays I would think that’s the gag. Like the main characters are worried about the skin while the parents are worried about everything else. Seriously this thing sounds crazy so I’m going to go over all of them. You ready for this? For starters there is a 14 year age gap. He’s 37 and she’s 23. You guys already know my 10 year rule. 10 years is the maximum age gap where I think things can be okay and after that you’re in troubling territory.

Naturally we all know some age gap romances that worked out well but I would argue the odds of succeeding still plummet. It’s just a really big difference in experience so you’d imagine even hobbies and such would be very different. Some may enjoy that as you get to learn more about the younger generation but it would still be worrisome. I think one of the main issues is you would worry that the girl doesn’t find the guy all that attractive and is in it for the money. Meanwhile the other side would worry that the guy only enjoys her because she is young and will move onto the next one once she is older.

Red flag #2, they have only known each other for 10 days. This is the wild one. So they’re going to be getting married in a week and have only known each other this long? Joanna says they fell in love at first sight and people already know that phrase is a red flag. People don’t often think clearly when they first fall in love and it’s easy to get swept away in the moment. In general while I think dating should be at most for a year, at minimum it should be for 3-4 month. In 10 days you really don’t know anything about the other person. I would argue you know less than nothing because it can all be a mask.

Red flag #3, all this pressure on the parents to decide in a matter of hours. You know that the #1 trap they warn people for scammers is that they try to pressure you into something. The more someone tells you that something is urgent, the more you want to really think about this. Is it possible that you are missing something? I understand the circumstances but honestly it is more than a little unreasonable to expect them to be fine with this. Not the petty reasons that the film goes into but for legitimate ones like Joanna is not thinking straight.

Red flag #4, John has already been married and had a kid. They both died in a tragic accident. Okay so this is another big one, it has been some years since he saw them but he already had a family. By definition this makes the relationship a rebound and is it possible that he is rushing into this because he wants another family? It’s something to consider and it’s a lot of pressure on Joanna to live up to this.

Not all of these are red flags for everyone but they would be red flags for me. Generally I do agree with the sentiment that a relationship is between two people and even if nobody else approves then you go for it. It’s still important to find out why that’s the case though. For example, if your family and friends tell you they think this is a mistake and you trust them, it’s worth discussing. I thought Joanna was quite a bit rude at certain points with just how aggressive she was being. She could come off as immature at times here with how oblivious she was.

I appreciate how she would stick by her man though, I just didn’t always appreciate the way that she did it. Once you are serious about someone, then you do have to be there for their defense at all times. Not everyone will understand why you love that person. Maybe the parents might not think he’s handsome enough, or they will find faults in mannerisms or such. At the end of the day those are things you can’t care about. Once you are confident that you’ve got the right person then you just have to hang on as hard as you can.

Meanwhile for John I thought he was pretty solid here. He may not have been quite as committed as Joanna was and I think it was worth calling out at the end, but on the whole he did good. Naturally the guy wants to leave a good impression and he did so even while he was stressed out about everything. It was certainly a difficult situation and he navigated it well. The guy is certainly well accomplished and even if he had not been, his politeness and well manner of speaking showed him to be a good guy. As the parent that’s all you should really be focused about, how he acts. You will never get to truly know the person, that’s something where you just have to have faith in your kids.

Matt doesn’t look too good for a lot of the film though. Apparently he was really well know as a good social rights activist so it came off as hypocritical to a lot of the characters when he was against this. There’s no 2 ways about it, it was a really bad look for him. You always got to practice what you preach and it sounds like he was very positive in the papers about civil rights and other issues so for him to be so upset here is not cool. If the film focused on it really being about him being worried about what they would come across, then that would be one thing. I would want him to say he fully supports the marriage but is really concerned.

Have the focus be on that so maybe his concern starts getting John concerned and that’s where the problems arise. It would have been a much better look for the father. As it stands, he ultimately looks better by the very end but it is a super long road to get there. You sort of feel like that’s how it is for a lot of people where they say one thing while the issue doesn’t affect them and then they switch gears real quick.

Meanwhile Joanna’s mother Christina is also shocked at first but gets on board quickly enough. While she may have not reacted as positively as they hoped, it’s pretty clear that she just needed a little bit of time to get her feelings around the relationship. I thought they could have been more patient there and again it goes down to this short time table. I don’t see anything wrong with her temporarily not being able to yell out a congratulations or anything like that. Imagine your kids showing up one day with a fiancé and about to be married. Even if it’s a top tier prospect, you’d be wondering why your kid wouldn’t have mentioned this and that would raise a lot of alarm bells. Really a whole lot of the trouble here is because of Joanna. She really should have called and handled things better.

John’s parents show up later on in the film but I wish they could have appeared a bit earlier. By the time they appear, it feels like it is too late to really have them contribute much. They basically mirror Joanna’s parents exactly to the point where they don’t add as much to the film as you would have liked. They almost could have been cut out from the film and it wouldn’t have really changed anything. I was looking forward to the meet up but it’s more low key than you would expect.

The film isn’t super long so it doesn’t have time for some things like this. If it were longer then I think they would have had more to do. We still got a good amount of time to see Tillie being really upset and being mad at John the whole time though. This is something you do tend to see at times though, some people are completely opposed to any mixed race relationship and they tend to try and be the loudest in the room. It was a fun irony to see that the delivery boy and the younger maid were getting along just well though. Sort of like the kids (I guess you would say teens but slowly as I get older and older they’re all just kids to me) don’t really care about the drama. Considering that John and Joanna have only been together for 10 days though, I’m surprised he would tease her about the maid. I get that as a joke when two people are super comfortable with each other but ehhhhhhh that’s a little risky.

Well, it’s their relationship so I suppose I’ll leave that to them. The writing was pretty good here. Even as some of the characters could be annoying with how they handled things, it was mainly realistic. It’s definitely an interesting film and gives you a lot to think about. Eventually the parents have to be ready to give the kids away and often times there can be some issues with that. So it’s good to at least consider the possibility ahead of time.

Overall, I enjoyed the movie. This is one that could have actually used a bit more runtime but ultimately still tackles the main points. It doesn’t really have any weaknesses and stays fairly light hearted. It’s dealing with a lot of serious themes and there is drama but the film doesn’t go out of its way to make anything too dreary. It focuses on the awkwardness of everything a whole lot more which is a good approach. After all, it’s awkward for all parties involved for any first meeting, then amplify that by 10 with all of the shock going around. As long as that sounds interesting to you, you’ll definitely enjoy this movie.

Overall 7/10

Desk Set Review

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It’s time for another classic comedy movie and this is one that has definitely aged pretty well. It’s fun seeing the battle between worker and technology although the machine is definitely set up to fail quite a bit here. It’s a fun movie with a lot of fast paced dialogue and likable characters. At the end of the day it may have less depth than some other titles but works out well enough for me.

The movie starts by introducing us to a mysterious guy named Richard. He’s walking from department to department of a big company and nobody really knows what he is doing here. He spends the most time over by the reference section where he has everybody nervous. The head of the department is Bunny and her team has always done an all star job here. Why should big business have anything to say about it? Well, they are throwing in a machine to replace the humans and get things even more efficient. Can she prove that humans are more than a match for any machine?

It’s the classic dilemma of man vs machine. It’s always a classic debate but at the end of the day you can’t really stall progress. In the short run things will get real disrupted of course but in the long term it just ends up working out. That’s really how these things always go. That being said, you can fight it for a little while and Bunny does bring up a good point that this section is one of the last where you would be able to use a robot. Here’s how the job goes: Someone calls in asking for the answer to a fun fact, then the worker goes and finds the answer.

It’s a very labor intensive section but one that is difficult to automate because the circumstances are different every time. Using a machine for payroll? Sure that makes sense but for something like this in the short term it will only create more work. Particularly since in this movie the characters know all of the answers almost off hand and the few that they don’t are easy to find. For the robot you have to type in the question, then wait for it to print out the response. Additionally you have to make sure that all of the details are right and then input the corrections.

There is no way to stop an answer once it has started and the machine is super fragile. You could say that it was really set up for failure. Now there is a twist about the robot near the end but I would say that the twist doesn’t even make much sense. It may have some slight utility in helping out but the negatives outweigh the positives. For starters it takes up a vast amount of space and it’s quite loud. It would definitely mess up the office atmosphere without a doubt.

As the main character, Bunny does a good job of proving why humans are still needed at this point in time. She does an incredible job of remembering details and locating the answers to things in a cinch. She has so much experience and genius that she could probably have risen to CEO status if she felt the urge to do so. It’s why her coworkers get annoyed when she is being used by Mike the whole time. He doesn’t seem to appreciate her intellect except for when it benefits h8im like in writing papers. He sort of takes her for granted and is always canceling their dates.

You can certainly cut some slack when there is a job that has you on call but the problem is how these occurrences are so regular. Additionally, to be dating for I think they said 8 years and not proposing is crazy. I know some do the whole endless dating routine but to me 1 year is pretty much good enough. By then you should have made up your mind. Ignoring any special circumstances or exceptions, you shouldn’t be dating for longer than that without making things solid.

So Mike’s not very likable but Bunny is a little at fault here for being to patient. I would also say this is what prevents the main romance from being any good because even up to the final scene she seems prepared to go back with Mike and it takes Richard speaking up to prevent her from this. Good on Richard for making his move but I would have liked to have seen more initiative out of Bunny.

Meanwhile Richard doesn’t always look that great here. I know he had orders about not telling anyone why he is here and about the computer but at the same time when you are hanging out with a group for so long, you can’t just suddenly show up with a new computer and expect them to be okay with this. He took way too long to try and explain himself. Some things he could not anticipate like the glitch where everyone thought they got fired but explaining himself more would have helped.

I will say though that the workers didn’t make themselves look great in getting so drunk at the party. If you’re going to do that, you should probably at least have some signs up about how work is paused for the day. I’m guessing there was probably no voicemail back then so there’s nothing you can do about the ringing phones but at least it’s clear this way that everyone is occupied. It seems like otherwise this was a very unofficial kind of thing. I am glad that they all get to have fun though, most Christmas parties don’t tend to get quite so wild at the office.

While Richard didn’t handle some things well, he was a very entertaining character though. I liked that he was actually fairly aggressive with Mike when the guy showed up on the stormy night. Richard may be forgetful but at least he’s more direct than some of the characters and he adds a lot to the humor. A comedy has to be funny after all and he always ensures that it is. I also liked Bunny’s supporting cast. They were all good at their jobs and had developed personalities. While they may not get to do too much in the story, they all felt like real characters as opposed to just being there to fill out the cast.

Overall, Desk Set is a pretty fun film. It all may be dramatized a tad but hey that’s what you’d expect out of a comedy. The romance tends to be on the weaker side and the characters may not always be responsible but you should still have a pretty fun time all the way through. The film’s pacing is pretty good as well so it never dwells on any scene for too long. It may feel like the kind of film that you will quickly forget after watching it but that’s okay. It’s the kind of movie that you have a good time with even if there isn’t much to discuss afterwards.

Overall 7/10

The Lone Ranger and the Lost City of Gold Review

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This may just be the film that I have to use going forward as an example of a very standard adventure film. The Lone Ranger is typically a fairly basic hero I suppose but even considering that, this is such a short movie that there isn’t a whole lot of time for a more advanced plot. You have a gang and the Ranger stops them but it’s all very by the numbers. It’s a fun movie to be sure but it’s one that doesn’t have a “hook” which means that it might be tougher to explain to people why they should watch it.

The movie starts with the Lone Ranger’s intro as the theme song plays and then we get to today’s adventure. Some Indians have been getting murdered and their amulets are being taken. The fact that they are being murdered isn’t surprising as the townsfolk can’t stand them but what is this odd connection? Well, the Lone Ranger and his pal Tonto are going to find out. They get the town doctor to help them out in treating some of the injured and along the way it looks like the town may be at the heart of the trouble.

This isn’t really meant to be a complete mystery kind of film so it’s pretty clear at least who some of the villains are. The movie doesn’t make the Ranger or Tonto look very smart at times though. First off in an early scene the Ranger sends Tonto for the doctor. So he walks into the local bar and is greeted with a whole lot of antagonistic characters who all but say that they want to beat him up. So Tonto…turns his back to them and is promptly beaten up. They probably would have murdered him if the doctor hadn’t gone downstairs. It’s a really bad look though because it’s as if Tonto had no survival sense.

It should be obvious not to give your back to the opponents right? I don’t blame him for losing the fight because he was outnumbered but the fact that it basically wasn’t even a fight is what looks bad here. Also I would have liked for the Ranger to do something about this. Yeah I know he’s not an eye for an eye kind of guy but it’s always annoying when the heroes just have to take the high road here. In most ways it is good of course but this is pushing it. It’s one area where Zorro has the edge since that vigilante doesn’t mind mixing things up a bit. The Lone Ranger at least tries to stay the hero through and through the whole time.

There is a fairly big subplot that at times threatens to replace the main one though. So the doctor is a well respected member of the community. He’s the only one who treats the natives well but generally the towngoers look the other way since they need a doctor. Well, the twist is that the doctor is also an Indian and he has hid his upbringing all these years so that he can continue his work. The logic is sound, he knows that if the town finds out his true lineage then he will likely be murdered in quick order. The Indians would then be left on their own with nobody to help them and would likely all be crushed.

The one losing out here is his girlfriend as a result and it’s a big loss. So she keeps trying to get him to reveal the truth and even says that she will leave afterwards. It’s all very dramatic but I do wish she could have been a bit more understanding here. The doctor also could have probably worked out a better deal or at least agreed to talk things out with her more. It’s not a perfect situation for either end but the “solution” of just exposing himself seemed really flawed to me. The film takes a fairly optimistic view at the end but you could also picture the Ranger and Tonto leaving…then the villains taking the doctor out. I mean hopefully they’ve all learned a valuable lesson with the most radicals gone but it’s still really risky.

In a way that plot was more interesting than the main one anyway. Yeah the amulets are relating to some gold and silver but it’s all pretty standard western stuff. The Ranger is also not the most powerful guy so generally when he’s up against the group, he’ll take one guy down and then call it a day. A lot of the film is really hit and run tactics as they slowly defeat more and more of the gang. I can’t call the film a slow burn at all because it’s not but sometimes you do hope that he can just take the whole gang down already.

The fight scenes we get are pretty fun though. There is quite a bit of hand to hand going on and the villains can typically fight on a pretty close level to the Ranger. So you’re never quite sure if the hero will win or not. He also has to try and keep them alive instead of accidentally letting them fall off a cliff which is surprisingly a lot harder than it sounds. Even just thinking about that stuff in the back of his head will naturally slow the Ranger’s thought processes down a bit.

Overall, I would have liked the film to have taken a few more risks here. Lets actually have the City of Gold running around and maybe even delve into the supernatural. It’s not like that is a foreign concept considering the Ranger’s origin right? Instead we have what I would call one of the more generic westerns. Nothing really wrong with it as it’s too short to ever get boring but I just don’t know how I would present this film to folks. I guess the best way is just to go to the basic route of recommending it so the people can see the Lone Ranger. It’s not as if he has a ton of films after all so fans will want to check them all out.

Overall 7/10

State of the Union Review

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It’s time for a classic political film. I’m always down for one of these titles as someone tries to upset the establishment. Usually that is a difficult task though and this is definitely another such example of this. In this case the main character doesn’t even put up that much of a resistance I’d say. You could make the case that it’s because he was corrupted before the film had even begun which means he was really doomed.

The film starts off with Kay’s father on his deathbed as he explains to her that the politicians are all terrible and she needs to take them down. He destroys himself and she goes to work on accumulating power. Unfortunately her newspaper has been left in the dust and most have turned against her. Her only hope is to make a man named Grant the next president. He’s not interested in politics but she aims to change that. He doesn’t have a particularly strong will so she gets him on board quickly and even convinces Conover, one of the big political bigwigs, and Spike, the publicity guy to help. They will also need Grant’s wife Mary to help out here since America will only vote for a family man but will she play ball?

Now in these kinds of films the idea is you’re rooting for the main guy because he hasn’t yet been absorbed into big business. He’s a guy with principles who will stand up for the common man. Unfortunately that just isn’t the case here as his relationship with his wife is super dicey as he is always with Kay and doesn’t really make any effort to hide it. It’s definitely all a big disgrace and so what makes you think Grant can rule the country when he can’t even maintain his convictions at home?

It certainly doesn’t make you particularly root for the guy, that’s for sure. Even then I was expecting him to put up some kind of defense but it really doesn’t take long for the business to eat away at him. He wasn’t mentally prepared for the brutality of politics and he can only blame himself for that. The worst scene for him is definitely when Kay only needs a minute or so to convince him to change up his speech. Definitely a low blow and from there it’s really a downwards spiral for him.

Meanwhile Mary is a lot better but I would also say that she puts up with too much. For starters, I think she shouldn’t have helped out even at the beginning. The instant she learned Grant only called her over to help with PR should have been the end of it all. That’s a total breach of trust and would make me doubt all of his motives from then on. The disrespect gets worse and worse as the politicians don’t even attempt to play dumb about this. She is here to boost his ratings and you never want to be someone’s pawn.

The only decent politician type character appears to be Spike and even then he is the kind of guy who likes to make fun of everything but still participates anyway. So it’s not as though he is innocent in this whole situation. Far from it! It’s still easier to root for him than the other characters though. At least he has a good time of it all and always has a good burn/insult at the ready. You just want to ignore his advice at times.

Naturally Kay is another big antagonist here. She’s just trying to fulfill her father’s wishes and will use whatever means that she can. She certainly doesn’t actually care for Grant or any of the other characters. She is just doing whatever she can to further her own ambitions and it’s important not to forget that. She would leave the other characters to dry at the first opportunity.

Conover is pretty much the same way. He’s here for the opportunity and the big payout at the end. He lost his sense of honor and duty for country a long time ago. At this point he’s just in it to prove that he still has power and influence. The film is quite consistent with that and showing how all of the politicians are very soulless. It has a pretty dark look on things as the average person is just being manipulated. They are all cogs in the wheels for big business who actually controls things on the outside.

While none of the characters are all that likable, I would say that the writing for the film is pretty good. The story itself is definitely captivating and the pacing is good. It will keep your attention all the way through without fail. In a way corporate only has themselves to blame for how the film ends. They tired getting a little too slick for their own good and flew too close to the sun. The final plan seemed doomed to fail right from the jump because they were just being way too smug and pushing everything in Mary’s face. The fact that they still almost succeeded is the most surprising point. I think a lot of people would have already been past the breaking point by this moment.

Overall, State of the Union is a pretty good movie. It may not be the most optimistic take on how a person can challenge the system but sometimes you do need a film where this is just impossible. It makes the journey even more impressive when in another film the character is able to make a difference. At the end of the day you wouldn’t expect such a big system to be so easy to overthrow after all. You’d hope that most characters would fare a little better though. If you’re interested in seeing the inside of the political realm then this is a good movie to check out.

Overall 7/10

Pat and Mike Review

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It always used to seem cheesy to have one of the characters say something like “There’s just one rule. Don’t fall in love with me!” right before they team up in a movie but now I see why that happens. This is one of those classic films where two characters decide to team up and get some massive Ws but along the way they start catching feelings. It’s a pretty fun film but the romance does feel like it’s more on the weak side.

The film starts with introducing us to Pat who is one of the top athletes of our generation. She is incredible in all physical sports and the only reason she hasn’t shattered every record is because she gets nervous whenever her boyfriend Mike shows up to watch her. He finds the whole thing amusing and doesn’t take her career too seriously though. So when she loses another tournament, he suggests she should just give it a rest and marry him already. Then she can be a stay at home mom. Pat resists and jumps off the train so that she can prove she is still the greatest athlete in the world. Well, that’s not her goal, but a local trainer named Mike notices her and decides to team up. Initially he was going to have her throw a few games and everything but she’s the real deal. So he’s decided that he will help her become the best. Can they pull this off?

In a way Mike’s job here is pretty easy since Pat is already super talented. All he has to do is figure out why she freezes up at times and he eventually gets to the bottom of that. Otherwise he does also pressure her to go to sleep early and such. He seems like a good trainer to be honest and their partnership works out well. The guy may not be the most heroic person out there but he is serious about his money so he takes the situation very seriously.

Meanwhile Pat is also a solid character. Naturally the freezing up is real unfortunate but it’s not like she does this on purpose or anything like that. She is an easy character to root for the whole time and seems like a nice person. She has a solid moment where she takes out a whole gang of thugs and made it look easy. This is definitely something that not just anyone could pull off. While Mike was a little embarrassed about the whole thing, he really shouldn’t be. This just further proves that she is a generational talent.

Like I said, the weakest part is the romance. Collier is set up to not be a great guy from the start so you know that he’s doomed. The fact that he encouraged Pat to just quit is pretty awful. Clearly she had the skills to go the distance so he should just encourage her. In hindsight it make the whole Golf battle at the start look even worse since she would have aced the whole thing otherwise. That said, leaving Collier doesn’t mean that she needs an immediate rebound. It’s why the romance doesn’t work because you don’t know if she really loves Mike a lot or if this is really just her trying to find another guy real quick. It’s just hard to say either way.

Meanwhile the fact that we had full villains with that gang running around was pretty fun. This is still a comedy first and foremost so I wouldn’t expect anything too crazy but it still does amp up the stakes which I appreciate. If I had any real issues with the film it’s that I would have liked to have seen Pat on top of the world a bit. We know that she is cured in the end but I wanted a longer montage showing her finally winning all of the tournaments. I feel like that would have been a more satisfying ending. I don’t have a problem with the ending itself, but it just happens so quickly that you feel like they left some meat on the table.

We do get a good amount of sports footage in general though which I appreciate. For example, Golf in particular is a sport where we get to really see what Pat’s got. Both in the losing match and then her big return later on. Golf is a sport that I don’t like playing or even watching professionally but it can work well in a movie or anime where they can use some good directing/editing to make it even better. There was also a good tennis match in there.

One subplot that was rather weak was with Mike’s other client though. He was coaching a boxer and for some reason he completely ditches the guy after being with Pat. It felt a little out of character to me because the boxer was still winning his matches and making money. That should have been enough to incentivize Mike to keep close tabs on him. Instead Mike was very dismissive of him the whole film and Pat had to step in. It was a really bad look for Mike and I don’t blame you if you find the guy completely unlikable by the end. It’s not the kind of moment that you can really defend.

It’s more okay to see Mike constantly be bashing his partner because that guy was not very good at his job and it still felt like an even fight. With the boxer, it’s clear that the guy wasn’t very smart so that’s why you feel worse for him. He’s not able to launch any counters or talk tough back to Mike so you can’t really enjoy the banter and back and forth action there because there isn’t any. At the end of the day in a comedy it’s pretty much impossible for every joke to land though. So while that plot was weak, it didn’t ultimately take away from this film’s ability.

Overall, Pat and Mike is a fun film. It balances the comedy and serious moments pretty well throughout the movie. The pacing is solid and it covers a lot of ground. The story beats all tend to be pretty funny as well and there is a good amount of sports footage. So this is a great all around title with how well it juggles everything. As long as you enjoy a low key film like this, then you should have a really fun time.

Overall 7/10

Adam’s Rib Review

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It’s time for a classic comedy title and this one is definitely pretty fun. It has a nice sense of humor and goes by pretty fast. I enjoyed the court case and this movie has a whole lot of energy. I do think that in some ways it hasn’t aged amazingly well like with the moral and how parts of the film turn out but on the whole it is fun. I want to say it is a satisfying watch all the way through even if you don’t necessarily agree with every part of it.

The film starts off with a lady shooting her husband after catching him cheating on her with another lady. Unfortunately for her, the shots don’t end up being fatal and so she is taken to court on the charge of attempted murder. The prosecutor is a man named Adam who believes that the law should be considered as absolute. It cannot be bent or broken so he aims to really make an example out of her. Meanwhile her defense will be Amanda, Adam’s wife who feels that jurors are often bias against women. She seeks full equality in order to end this and so the big fight begins. Can their marriage stay strong as they try to destroy each other on the battlefield?

Now in terms of that question, I feel like it should be an easy Yes. You should absolutely be able to distance the work part of your relationship from the fun part. Like if you’re dating your boss at work and she is always chewing you out for mistakes, once 5:00PM is reached, it shouldn’t matter and you keep chatting as always. That’s how this should be but I feel like Adam takes this the most personally. He feels a little too delicate for most of the film as he takes things too hard and tries to get Amanda to quit. He should just let his talents do the talking for him and have it out with her.

If he really believes that the law will win out in the end then he has nothing to worry about. If the law is so easily broken by her antics, then perhaps it wasn’t a good one. In part I am a bit bias here as well though because I thought the lady was certainly fine. She caught her husband having an affair and decided to put a stop to it. I’d always support that to an extent, like as long as she isn’t firing at random civilians. I also agreed with Amanda that on the other foot this would also have been an easy case.

It’s not to say that any of the people in the court case are all that good because mot of them seemed incredibly suspicious. That said, you still have to go into this on only the facts of the matter. We find out that this was an abusive relationship with both of them hitting each other and throwing constant insults. Definitely not a healthy environment to be in, but that’s how it goes. So whoever wins the case, you aren’t rooting for either character but I would say the girl was more sympathetic. The guy just seemed absolutely unapologetic and like he typically started all of the fights.

Back to the main duo, Adam just comes across as really petty the whole time. He should have talked things out with Amanda more instead of giving up. Running off at the end was also a really bad look since it showed that he wasn’t really confident in the situation. I take a lot of points away from him, but unfortunately I have to take a lot of points from Amanda though. That’s because she allows Kip too much free reign and basically encourages him.

So Kip is the next door neighbor who is constantly flirting with Amanda. He doesn’t care that she is married and makes his contempt for Adam widely known. I have a big problem with Amanda not shutting this down immediately. It’s not cute or funny to let some random guy badmouth your husband the whole time. Perhaps the attention feels good but that just makes it even worse. It was really poor form and then she kept putting herself in bad situations. The worst was nearly getting drunk and being alone at the neighbor’s apartment. That was absolutely a terrible situation and she’s lucky that Adam showed up.

I would have cut out that entire plotline because it felt completely unnecessary. Just there for a little drama and some more jokes but it all felt a bit more mean spirited than the rest of the film. You were definitely ready for Kip to get blasted in the end and Amanda defending him was also pretty terrible. Definitely the weakest part of the movie but not something that would end up sabotaging the film as a whole.

After all we still had all of the court scenes which were a lot of fun. It was nice to see all of the different witnesses show up and then the experts to give their own testimony. The film got a lot of screentime to this part which was cool. We got to really see what the case was like and it definitely helped take things to the next level. I always love a good courtroom scene and the more detailed they are, the better. It felt like we got to see every aspect of the case.

Overall, This was a pretty good movie. It’s definitely a solid comedy with a lot of funny moments. Not all of the jokes land and both characters do look really bad in different ways. As long as you don’t take them too seriously then you should be fine. At the end of the day, things resolve pretty well as far as the case is concerned and we do have a happy ending. There may have been some bumps in the road but the pacing is fast and the writing is good. It’s definitely a solid film that I can recommend.

Overall 7/10

Return to Glennascaul Review

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It’s always fun to check out a short because the film makers get to really test their skills. Can they really tell a complete story within the time frame or is it going to be all messed up and cluttered? Fortunately I can say that they did succeed with this one. It manages to be a pretty fun story all the way. I wouldn’t call it all that scary but the experience would still be unnerving overall. It had a good atmosphere and the short keeps your attention the whole time.

The short starts with a guy driving through the roads until he comes across a guy whose car seems to have stopped working. Naturally our hero is a gentlemen and tells the guy to hop in. The guy starts to tell him a spooky story of what happened here and it is definitely something to shake up most people. The hero puts on a brave face but based on how the short ends, it did get to him in the end. It was a pretty fun way to end the short I’ve gotta say. Really helped to end things on a high note.

To the story itself, so this guy bumped into two ladies who needed a lift. So he stopped and took them home. They invited him inside for some drinks and he lost track of the time so the guy dashed off around 2AM. Unfortunately for him, he actually forgot something so he heads back but the place looks deserted and completely different from what was there before. He visits the owner who explains that those women died ages ago. So what happened, did he enter the twilight zone? Is reality just some kind of messed up simulation??? There are a lot of questions and yet there are absolutely no answers to any of them. This guy is lucky to get away with his life after the ladies start talking to him as random voices.

So it’s going for that spooky vibe but the reason I’d say it’s more unnerving than scary is you don’t really get the feeling that the ghosts are actually hostile. Now mind you, they certainly might be but it’s hard to really say. They may have just wanted some company and they don’t really seem to understand how their situation works all that well either. After all, they probably wouldn’t have let him leave so easily otherwise right? The main guy even seemed to like the younger one so that could have been her chance to go back to humanity or pull him to the spirit realm. It’s hard to say either way what would have happened there.

But yeah I choose to believe nothing malicious was going on there. I just didn’t get those vibes at all. Not all of the ghosts are evil so in a way that actually makes a lot of sense either way. My first guess if I was the guy would be that I just got the directions wrong on the way back though. Seems more likely than ghosts but knowing the names and hearing about the past owners would definitely shake things up a bit. He’ll definitely think twice before stopping while on a drive at night though.

Overall, This was a fun story. It’s like a little preview at something that you can picture happening. Perhaps with a slightly less supernatural twist but for the most part, still going through most of these events. The writing and pacing are both good which is super important for a story like this. If you were to mess up on that then this would feel underdeveloped or too rushed. Instead it manages to be a pretty fun story and it’s also one that would probably not work as well if it was full length. In that way, the story made the most out of its format. The short length also makes it an easy re watch. At the end of the day it skates by on just being a fun little short and it didn’t need to be anything more than that.

Overall 7/10

The Menu Review

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

It’s time for a film about the dangers of high end restaurants. The premise is certainly fun and I remember really enjoying the trailer. There are parts of the film that do stretch your disbelief to quite a large extent though. I know the film is part comedy but I think it may be more appropriate to call it part parody. When you do that, it makes a bit more sense but regardless I think you’ll have a good time here.

The movie starts with a bunch of people getting ready to go to a super fancy restaurant. Well, by a bunch I mean around 12 or so. It’s a super exclusive event that costs over 100K per person in order to attend. Margot is not really into this high luxury life but her new boyfriend Tyler is paying for the whole event and he lives for fancy cuisine. So she’ll try to make the best of it but it quickly becomes apparent that he originally had invited another girl and she was the backup plan. Not a great way to start their adventure but Margot will still try to have fun. Unfortunately, the meals are small and very unimpressive. Additionally there appears to be something really sinister about this place. Perhaps going to a secluded island in the middle of nowhere with no way out until the boat that arrives the next day was a bad idea with a guy that she doesn’t know super well????

Now I do sympathize with Margot right away because fancy restaurants are definitely not the way to go. What you have to understand is there are tiers to these things. You have fast food shops like McDonalds, Fast casual shops like Chipotle, fast restaurants like Chili’s, and more standard restaurants like Cheesecake Factory. All of these can be good and still will have a lot of traditional options that taste great. When you go one step further to luxury restaurants is when you start to see the absolute worst foods out there. I’ve only gone to a fancy restaurant once, a place called the Manhatta. Let me tell you, it lives up to the hype of why I don’t dine at places like that.

We’re talking about a place with no menu until you arrive. Based on the day, there will only be up to 4 items you can choose from. It’s a combination that brings a side, main course, and dessert. The whole thing is bundled so you can’t break it and you can forget about substitutions. You’ll probably be spending around $50-$70 by the end for a portion of food that is extremely small and that’s assuming you can find anything that you like. They do the whole song and dance of preparing it in front of you and explaining what you’re eating but I’m here to eat not present. So this film does a great job of showing what a luxury restaurant is like and why it’s no fun.

Even in this movie, I did not like a single meal that they serves except for the last one. Pretty much everything here is loaded with seafood and vegetables which is definitely not something I’m all that interested in. It is fun seeing the characters try to convince themselves that t’s good though. The brainwashing is a big part of the fun here. Every character spent tons of money in order to get here and so this has to be good right? They can’t have been absolutely scammed.

At one point they are served a breadless bread bowl and some characters still try to defend it. So the comedy lands pretty well there. Tyler is a bit over the top with how checked out he is as the guy obsesses with the food but I can appreciate what the film was going for there. He’s the most obnoxious character in the film so you’re rooting for him to get taken down the whole time. One of those really fake guys who has on a mask for a long time but ultimately it shatters before when it’s crunch time.

Now we don’t know quite how long he knew Margot, but it’s definitely clear that she didn’t know the real him. As the only one who didn’t grow up super rich, she is sharper than the rest of the characters. I would still say she is a bit slow to act but at least isn’t just sitting in her chair awaiting her own demise the whole time. She has a good ending and in general showed a lot of spunk. Definitely the best character in the movie.

Where you have to suspend a lot of disbelief is with everyone’s inaction the whole time. They all act like NPCs as they just watch things escalate more and more as the body count rises. Surely they should all do something right? In a situation like this, obviously you need to secure a weapon like one of the large butcher knives and try to make a break for the door or just take everyone out. I would say getting outside is most important because then you can at least try and pick everyone off one by one. If you fight them all at once you’re going to lose.

I’d like to say that everyone should team up and overwhelm the villains but the cynical part of me does think at least half of the characters would just be screaming and not actually providing any assistance. So you really do have to assume that you’re completely on your own which does change the dynamic. Still, you gotta do something and anything is better than nothing. I guess part of the idea is that these characters have never really been in a life or death situation before but even so, I like to think the fight or flight mechanics would start to come through. The film being part comedy ultimately saves the whole feature because if this was played completely seriously then I would have some serious problems with this.

As it stands, it’s annoying but doesn’t crush the film. The pacing is good and the whole thing is very interesting. There are quite a few twists and turns as the movie goes on so it’ll keep you guessing all the way through. There are some fun fake outs and of course a lot of moments that are really happening with no fakeouts needed. This ensures that you are always on your toes. The film is also fairly long and gets to really build up to the premise. There is a lot of tension even early on but you have to wait along with the characters to see if it’s just a feeling or not.

While the film is tame for most of its run, it definitely does have some really violent scenes. They stand out as a big contrast which is likely the point so you are shocked along with the characters. So definitely prepare yourself for that, it’s definitely not a film that is just a smooth ride for everyone. There are a lot of bumps along the road here. There is also an element of each character having some kind of a shady secret although playing into the comedic angle a bit, this isn’t balanced at all. Some characters did crazy stuff while others did basically nothing and the main villain just says that’s too bad. He’s rather insane after all so it’s not like this has to make a lot of sense.

Overall, The Menu is a pretty good film. I did like seeing the breakdown of each menu item even if they all sounded pretty bad. The cast of characters are fairly strong. Not that most of them are particularly likable but they all have established characters and personalities early on. The film did a good job of setting them up and allowing the plot to move straight away. It’s a very well made film that really had my attention the whole way through. Maybe it really was the food theme since that’s not something I’ve seen too many films use.

Overall 7/10

Appointment with Death Review

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It’s time for the next Poirot film. I’m always up for a good mystery so I was ready to see what is going on this time. The locations feel a bit reused though as part of it is on a boat and most of it is on the dessert. We’ve already covered both locations but it is fully a new story. The actual case is less interesting than the other mysteries but I would say there is still enough to make this a pretty good movie. There is little reason to watch it over the others but if you want more Poirot content then this is the way to go.

The film starts with Emily blackmailing her family’s attorney Jefferson. Jefferson has shown her that her dead husband had a new will where she was no longer the sole beneficiary. So she tells him to burn it or she will tell the world about the super shady things he did back in the day and he will be thrown in jail. Jefferson doesn’t want to pay for his crimes so he obeys and scatters off. Emily can now rule over all of the children as they have to at least pretend to be kind to her since she now controls all of the family’s vast wealth. They all go on holiday but wouldn’t you know it, Jefferson is there. Emily has to be careful because he might have some plans up his sleeve. Additionally, Poirot is around hoping to have a good time. That will be difficult though as murderous intent fills the air. Everyone wants to murder Emily but who will get to her first?

As always with these films you have a rather massive cast. There are a whole lot of suspects everywhere and the only tricky thing is that a lot of them look quite similar. Fortunately the characters are always using their names because otherwise I’d get mixed up quickly. Most of the characters are not all that likable though. They just let themselves get pushed around way too much. The film tries to give them some excuses for this like they just don’t know what to do because they’ve been used to being ultra rich but I just don’t really buy it. That’s just not good enough as far as excuses go.

One of the worst characters here has to be Nadine who is married but still has an affair with Jefferson the whole time. She basically does it right in front of her husband Lennox the whole time just to mess with him. Not really someone you want to have as an associate and Lennox should definitely try to split from her. In the meantime, I suppose it’s tough to tell if he should try to keep on beating up on Jefferson or just ignore them since there’s not much point in trying to fight for someone who has no interest in you.

Naturally Jefferson also looks really bad for this. The guy definitely has no respect and you know the relationship will be doomed. He will eventually get bored and the same thing will happen. How you get someone is how you lose them after all. The guy was already not looking good from the start when he decided to burn the will but this meant that he just kept on getting worse and worse as the film went on. The whole thing was just corrupt.

That is often a theme of the Poirot films though. Most if not all of the characters have a lot of personal issues and shortcomings going on. He will solve the case but can’t really solve the inter family dynamics. That’s just not really possible and by the time the film ends, most of the characters aren’t even punished for this. Life will go on and they all will just return to their normal lives. Some for the better and some for the worse. It can sometimes be a little anti climactic but that’s how it goes.

Poirot isn’t some kind of hero here. He only solves the case when he’s been hired to do so or it happens right in front of him. Otherwise he really tries to stay out of it and ignore everything shady that it going on. It’s just not really any of his business and that’s how he likes to keep it. He makes for an entertaining character either way though. If anything it’s part of what separates him from the other characters the whole time.

The writing is good either way although the film underestimates the audience a little too much. I thought there were way too many flashbacks to scenes that we had just watched. It felt like the movie added these in case you forgot the moments but it’s not like this is a 5 hour epic. That felt excessive like one lady saying how she never forgets anyone. The flashbacks showing new vantage points to old shots makes sense, like the kid running and our view of what actually happened. The others were not needed.

As always with these things I do have some parts that I have to stretch my disbelief for. Keep in mind that most of this is taking place in a wide open desert. It’s not a very loud environment and everything is out in the open. So when people are being murdered and such, you would usually expect someone to notice. In this case someone got all dressed up and made a move while nobody saw the whole thing. It’s not as egregious as the boat murder from a previous film but it’s definitely something that will have you shaking your head.

As for some of the other characters, you have Raymond who is pretty annoying the whole time. He likes Sarah but keeps getting stopped by his mother. Why doesn’t he just go talk to Sarah anyway? Well, he’s lacking in confidence and she even calls him out on this. It’s such a bad look and it makes it difficult for you to believe in the romance. What would she see in him at that point? None of the romances in this film are particularly convincing but I would say this has to be the weakest one of the lot. It’s all rather fast anyway even without that going on.

Sarah is mainly a solid character but gets a bit too defensive when Poirot is interrogating her. She seems to take offense to the fact that he is calling her a suspect but detective’s rule 101 is that everyone is a suspect. So why is Sarah so upset about all of this? I thought it was rather a poor look for her. Then you have Lady Westholme who is generally upset at everyone and tries to flaunt her power a whole lot. I appreciate the confidence but she would definitely be tiring to be around after a while. She constantly creates a scene so if you’re around then you’re going to be put on the spot by association.

There are a few other characters but that’s the bulk of them. So like I said, there is a going on here with a bunch of characters running around. At times the film gives the interactions more time than the actual mystery. You could almost say the mystery works more as a backdrop at times. That’s why the writing is very important and fortunately it was handled really well so it never gets boring or anything like that. The pacing is on point.

Overall, Appointment with Death goes through all of the motions but with a little less zeal than the other films. Even though the plot is quite intricate, I think it’ll end up being rather forgettable by the end. Still, it’s a pretty good movie even despite this. At the end of the day I tend to enjoy mysteries so even if this one was a little generic and didn’t try to break away from the others, it held my attention. I would say that generally speaking there aren’t a ton of big budget mystery films compared to other genres so you really want to enjoy the ones that you do get. You don’t know how long they’ll be around.

Overall 7/10

Baffled! Review

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Films that involve time travel tend to be the best but films that have some kind of look into the future can also be pretty solid. It’s an ability that can be useful but I imagine in most cases it will just be annoying. After all you generally don’t know how far into the future the visions are and depending on the circumstances, it can be difficult to prove what you know. It’s an ability that you definitely have to navigate carefully and this movie does a good job of keeping things interesting. It’s a bit of a slow burn but with solid enough writing to get you through.

The film starts by introducing us to Tom who is one of the world’s greatest racecar drivers. Unfortunately he crashes out during the race because he started to see some rather odd visions. A lady yelling out some kind of address, a mysterious house, and the ocean. It was all quite bizarre but he is ready to get back into the races. At least he was hoping to do that but a lady named Michelle shows up and it turns out that his visions weren’t just random hallucinations. Something is about to go down in that house/mansion and now he has a duty to help out. So the two decide to form an alliance and head there while pretending not to know each other.

At the mansion, a lady and her daughter have just arrived because her old husband has been writing her. For a long time he was rather cold and distant but over the last few months the letters have really changed. Perhaps they can finally be a family again. Oddly enough, he isn’t there when she arrives. Instead there is just the old lady in a wheelchair who assumes he’ll be coming home soon, an odd couple that may be into drug dealing, and a rather creepy lady who always has a lot of makeup on. It’s a rather colorful bunch you might say. Is this all some kind of elusive trap and can Tom save them all?

In part I would say this plays out as a mystery since Tom is trying to find clues in order to figure out the true meaning of his visions before they come to pass. In other ways it plays out like a classic horror flick with jump scares and all of these creepy characters running around. It’s unlikely you will be scared at any point though with the happy music playing in the background. I could definitely see this being a pretty fun show because the dynamic with the main two is solid enough to carry most of the interactions. Then you’d have different issues in each episode.

Tom’s ability is also just weak enough where it is perfect to keep things from being too easy. For example at one point he sees a leaf, then later on he sees the leaf is leaking, and finally it turns out that it is being poured into a cup so somebody is about to be poisoned. It takes him a while to figure this out and ultimately the knowledge isn’t really able to help much as it’s one mystery he couldn’t solve in time. I figure this will be the case in many instances because the visions are just too vague and not always actionable. Still, he’s ready for the main mystery but he needs a lot of plot armor for it.

For example, at one point he hears someone calling for help so he chases the voice all the way down to the coast where he ends up falling into the ocean and nearly dying. Considering that he had just told Michelle he would be careful, it was definitely not the best decision. He lets his guard down a whole lot considering that he knows something foul is going on here. At least he does show up for the final fight of the film. The battle is actually rather good with a lot of back and forth. I was not expecting a big battle there so that was really a surprise. Definitely an excellent way to end things off.

Meanwhile Michelle gets a lot of credit here because she was super helpful. For starters she is the one who was pro active enough to go after Tom early on and then she did a lot of info gathering during the movie. She felt like a side kick who was truly carrying her own weight and not just being there in awe the whole time. She would also give Tom tips on how to use his abilities which was helpful more than once. It’s another reason why the duo work well together, they each have a part to play and handle their roles well.

As for the characters in this case, I felt the two suspicious people who kept driving off to town were mainly pointless. The big reveal of what they were actually doing is a bit underwhelming. It is fun to see the suspects gradually be taken off the case of course but they definitely could have been a little more relevant. Even the butcher character got more to do than these guys. That guy was also ready to hit Tom over the head with a wine bottle and seriously injure him so even with any twists I can’t exactly call him a good guy.

The daughter is the worst character in the film as she falls for the tricks way too easily. Yes, you have some magical mumbo jumbo going on with the amulet but before even putting that on she was already being naive and meeting with strangers. I don’t care who the guy said he was, you don’t go off by yourself and you definitely run home as soon as anything suspicious happens. Most of the film wouldn’t happen if she wasn’t tricked so easily.

Her mother also looks rather bad the whole time. She lets things get out of control way too easily and doesn’t take things as seriously as she should. The daughter’s 180 personality change is so drastic that it should raise every red flag in the book. I wanted her to do something serious about it. Finally the climax was her worst look as one of the villains basically tells her to sign a document that she is giving away her daughter. Instead of jumping into a rage and hitting anything that moves, the mom just yells “nooooo” and stuff like that. I understand that this is a fight that she couldn’t win, but there is nothing to lose at this point. You try to fight and do your best.

So the characters don’t always make the best decisions here but I did think the film was engaging. It has a bit of an older charm to it as this feels like one of those old school shows. It balances out all of the tones pretty well but at its heart it’s a pretty fun film that knows when to throw in a few jokes without going overboard. It’s got perfect balance all the way through.

Overall, I can recommend this to just about anyone because it feels like the kind of film that can appeal to most groups. It’s got a little bit of everything here and has a satisfying ending. The cliffhanger definitely gets you ready for that hypothetical sequel. The fact that this would have been semi plot based with fighting the same group would have been really cool. Ultimately this will probably always be a more obscure film but it definitely had some real quality to back it up.

Overall 7/10