Category Archives: Live Action Movies

John Q Review

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It’s time for a pretty intense film about a guy who is given the run around by a hospital until he finally snaps. You may be getting some Luigi flashbacks around this point although the circumstances are still different. It’s a pretty good movie with a lot of tension and a pretty intriguing plot. Additionally John really tried every legal method that he could until he was eventually forced t take drastic measures. With a film like this you naturally aren’t rooting for the lead to go and shoot everyone but you definitely get how he came to this point. After a while there really aren’t any other choices to be made.

The movie starts by introducing us to John who is rather down on his luck right now. The hours at the factory he works at have been shrinking in each pay period and it is getting hard to provide for his wife and son. The tax collectors have even taken away his car. John says he will fix all of this but it’s an old tune at this point and his wife isn’t sure about that. Well, one day the kid suddenly faints while on the baseball field and it tuns out that he is in critical condition. He will need a heart transplant but it turns out that John’s insurance changed classes recently and so they don’t cover it. Meanwhile the hospital won’t even add him to the chart as a possible donor until John coughs up thousands and thousands of dollars. So John decides to take drastic action and takes over the emergency room by force with his gun. Either his son gets the proper treatment or none of them are walking out of that room.

It’s definitely a drastic situation and I’d say the most intense thing about it is how possible the whole thing is. Obtaining a gun doesn’t seem like an impossible feat for someone who is properly motivate and most locations just aren’t equipped to handle someone with a gun. Now it may not happen as smoothly as it did in this film but someone could definitely take over for a while like in this film. It’s all about what happens from there. Clearly the gunman won’t escape but it’s more about the damage he could do in the meantime. You don’t want to listen to his demands since it could inspire copycat killers but at the same time you can’t just sacrifice all of the hostages in there. It puts the cops in a tough spot.

The main focus here is really on the determination John has in making sure that his kid is okay. Throughout the movie there are a lot of people telling him to give it up and just accept the death but John won’t take no for an answer. It’s not like he is a pro at this either so he does make his share of mistakes but he is trying to keep the situation contained the whole time. You definitely have to give him a lot of credit there. Things easily could have gone real sideways real fast there. Particularly when it comes to money you can definitely get biter about how things are set up. John really tried his best and worked a really hard job but at the end of the day it wasn’t enough.

Meanwhile it’s not quite the best portrayal for the hospital but realistic. They hear countless stories all the time about sick people who can’t pay and have their lives at stake. it does make sense that they can’t take every case or they would be out of business. The main contact lady is particularly antagonistic the whole time with her delivery but what she said was mainly correct. You either have the money or you don’t and if the insurance doesn’t cover the operation then that’s really the end of the story. Changing the laws is the only way to really stop that, otherwise their hands are tied. It’s certainly not the most satisfying answer but at the end of the day that really is the response to this situation.

Frank does the negotiating for the police here at least when he isn’t being compromised by the chief of police. They definitely clash heads quite a bit in this film with their different approaches. Frank is trying to de escalate and see what he can do while the Chief wants a quick end to this. Both plans have their merits. The chief comes across as a jerk the whole time but he did seem to have more of an endgame to his plan. It may have failed but I didn’t have any qualms with taking the shot. The instant John took hostages, he was not just an “innocent man” the way the reports were describing him. Taking him out using lethal means was absolutely a valid plan and I don’t even think it’s a particularly controversial one. Yes the optics don’t look good but the #1 objective is to save the hostages.

Meanwhile John’s wife does good in not selling him out or falling for any traps. She was on his side the whole time and didn’t waiver. I also appreciated that while they had some fights throughout the movie, it never became a big deal or tore them apart. They stayed strong under stress and kept on pressing. They worked as a good team when trying out all available options. It may not have worked but they did make all possible attempts which is good.

While the film is fairly tame, I should note that there are some medical procedures in the film. As a result you do see a live heart for example which is a bit on the intense side. So you’ll want to keep that in mind but otherwise the worst thing that happens is somebody getting roughed up a bit. Both times the guy getting beat up definitely took actions that led up to that point as well. You want to be real careful who you make upset in a situation like this.

If the film has any issues, it can be that it’s a little heavy handed with how antagonistic it makes everyone who opposes John. For example you have the cops laughing it up as they plan to murder him, the chiefs not taking things seriously, the main hospital director smirking as she declines coverage, etc. Almost everybody in the film comes across as a jerk. Then you have the nicer ones but for example the young doctor in training has a very jaded view on the whole hospital business so he talks about how they plan to cheat people out of coverage, etc. It’s all a grand, sinister plan to keep people sick and dying. It’s definitely a bold accusation although we do know that those insurance companies can get really shady.

Overall, One of the big morals here is to make sure you don’t drive while in a rush. If you have to get somewhere quickly, allow yourself to be late instead of trying to speed during a curve. It’s just not worth it, likewise with running through a yellow light. Sometimes you just need to hold the massive L because at least you’ll keep your life. The movie itself is definitely a solid one. You’ve got a sad situation and a father doing his best to make the most of it. There are a lot of fun philosophical and ethical questions to ask about the situation as well. It’s the kind of film that works well with debate as there are a lot of different positions you could take here. The film is fairly long so it gets to spend a lot of time on the story without rushing things. I’d definitely recommend it.

Overall 7/10

Duke (2012)

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It’s time for one of those really dramatic Hallmark titles. Typically when you turn on the channel you can expect to see a really wholesome Christmas type flick or if it’s from the hall of fame then it’s going to be a much more serious title. This is definitely one of those so get ready for the waterworks.

The movie starts with Terry returning home after a tough deployment in the army. He was badly injured which is why he’s back home and now he has a severe case of PTSD as well as some survivor’s guilt since he wants to get back out there and fast. Unfortunately the doctor says that he will not be cleared to go back and so he must stay as a civilian. He really doesn’t have a say in it and his only solace is in a stray dog that popped up. One day it all becomes too much for him though so he abandons his wife and kid as he and the dog drive off. Many years pass and their lives seem fine enough but his dog Duke gets super sick. Terry drops him off at a vet and dashes off again because he isn’t ready to handle more death. Thing is, the vet can heal him and so now they need to find Terry.

As you can tell there is a whole lot of dashing going on around here. Now Terry is dealing with a lot so you don’t want to be too harsh to the guy but he definitely did cause a lot of trouble for himself here. Ditching the family was really bad, especially when we find out that his wife died shortly afterwards from cancer. So his daughter was really on her own trying to pick up the pieces. Fortunately things went well for her but that was a tougher situation than it needed to be and Terry has to take direct responsibility there.

Then we have the second time where his dog was dying and Terry couldn’t be there for the experience. Yes, it’s tough but that’s the job. When you have a pet you gotta be there until the end and so I couldn’t really cut him any slack there. He made too many mistakes throughout the film but at least he’s in a better headspace now. Terry has finally gotten past his issues, but it was really quite the ride to that point.

It’s very fortunate that he had such a solid circle of friends around him. If they all weren’t so supportive then it would have been far worse for him. He wouldn’t have known what was going on with Duke without his friend bringing up the subject. The film has a fairly small cast the whole time since this is definitely more of a personal story. His daughter gets a small role but she’s mainly just trying to find Terry and set things right. She definitely gets a lot of credit for sticking her neck out in order to push things forward. Considering the circumstances, I don’t think anyone would have blamed her for not wanting to find Terry at this point and just continuing on her way.

The film is about his trauma after all but she likely has a lot of her own. She may blame herself for not noticing sooner which caused Terry to storm out during the party, playing a lot of what ifs in her head, etc. All of that can really add up as well. Meanwhile the vet definitely looked real good here. Technically speaking it’s not like they had to take Duke in. It was against their rules and everything but they still went ahead and did the right thing as needed. Definitely a good way to lead by example here. They fulfilled their duties as doctors and treated the injured animal in front of them.

I would note that Duke himself does play a bit of a back seat to Terry as the lead though. This is definitely not a case of dual main characters as Terry is clearly the star. Still, we can definitely say that Duke is the MVP here as without him Terry would have been in real trouble. He gave his owner someone to think about at all times and was a good distraction on the whole. Duke stayed strong and didn’t falter no matter how tough things got.

The film is fairly short and the plot is very direct so there isn’t a lot more to get into with this one. Mix that in with the fact that it’s got a small cast and that’s about it for the movie. You should know based on the premise if you’ll enjoy it or not because this isn’t a movie about plot twists or anything like that. It’s a very direct film after all. The writing is solid and the movie never drags on so you can put those feathers in its cap as well.

Overall, Duke is definitely an emotional film that definitely focuses on a lot of the sadder aspects of dealing with PTSD. It’s really about nonstop trauma and getting past it. As a result there aren’t very many happy scenes in the film. The whole thing comes across more as a very exhausting adventure about a veteran having to find his road to recovery. It’s a good message and definitely something that is good to keep in mind as it’s never too late to get better. Of course a good message doesn’t always translate into being a fun film and that’s exactly what’s going on here. You definitely have to be ready for a pretty intense movie here.

Life is Beautiful Review

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It’s time for a film that has a really big tonal shift midway through. The initial half is a rather silly romantic comedy and then the second half brings a lot of nonstop tragedy. It’s definitely a bold approach as very few films can pull off such a stark change. Well this one puts in a pretty big swing so we’ll see how things turned out.

The movie starts off by introducing us to Guido who is a chronic liar who likes to have a lot of fun. He rolls constantly and falls in love with a lady named Dora. Dora already has a fiancé which would make things tricky for most leads but Guido doesn’t care. He figures that stealing her away will be easy enough and continues flirting nonstop in order to get her attention. Eventually she does decide to go with him and they have a kid. Unfortunately the Nazis invade and split them up. Guido has to keep his son safe but also find a way back to his wife. Can he pull this off or are they all already as good as dead?

Now even once the film changes genres, it is safe to say that it still keeps a lot of the chaotic energy that it had before. The movie will still allow Guido to pull off pranks and tricks the likes of which are just hard to picture. For example he ends up intentionally mistranslating everything the German commander was saying and nobody noticed. Then at one point he uses the loud speaker to declare his love for his wife and to let her know he and their kid were okay. Guido was always a man who was good with his words but this is definitely taken to the extreme here.

Throughout the film he does succeed in tricking his kid Giosue into thinking that this is all some kind of training camp/tournament in order to win a tank. Of course even for a kid that’s a bit of a stretch so you either enjoy this craziness thrown in to keep the film from getting too grim dark or you quickly believe that it is going too far and it weakens the film for you. As someone who enjoys some levity, I’d say it works well enough for me although the actual film is still dark enough where it’s not really my cup of tea.

Additionally while the first half is showing how determined Guido is and how he never gives up, I do think it’s a bit dicey on how he steals Dora away from the fiancé. Yeah he didn’t seem like the greatest guy but they liked each other enough to get to that stage. While not as bad as going after someone who is absolutely taken like in marriage, this is close enough where it gets into very dubious territory. So that prevents me from being able to say I was 100% into the romance.

The film also used the humor to punctuate a particularly sad scene for the lead. At one point he recognizes one of the guys at the German camp which was a professor he used to get along with. The guy acts like he is getting ready to help Guido escape and there are quite a few scenes building up to this. However, when the time comes, it turns out that he just wanted help with a riddle. It’s a call back to the riddle solving days from earlier so it was all one big joke but this time Guido isn’t laughing because lives are on the line. It showed that he couldn’t rely on someone that he thought he could and so of course that didn’t go over very well.

Meanwhile the kid was okay but definitely makes a number of mistakes. He is very young so you can say that is to be expected to an extent but man did he put the lead through a lot. Speaking when he shouldn’t, causing attention to be brought to himself, etc. The last thing you want to do is be in the spotlight here. Meanwhile his wife did good at being hidden to the point where she basically vanishes for the whole second half. She kept her head down and waited for the right opportunity.

Ultimately the ending also doesn’t go for as happy a tone as you might expect. Some things go well and some do not, definitely a tough situation all around. Additionally for the supporting characters there is a lot of tragedy as well. Ultimately the silver lining is that the situation does have a resolution so at least the tough period is over. The amount of casualties was just astronomical in the process.

Overall, I wasn’t quite sure if I should format this as a review and if there were enough differences for a score or if it should be treated as a based on real events kind of story. Ultimately I figured there was probably enough here where I’d make it a review. At the end of the day this is definitely not my kind of film but I appreciate the attempt on a very different take on the situation here. In a way it probably works better than if it had been serious the whole time since that would have made the film an even darker watch. The first half just didn’t click well enough with me since I couldn’t root for the romance. If the heroine had been single the whole time then the whole thing would have flowed better but otherwise even the early flirting doesn’t make any sense. You shouldn’t even be entertaining any of that if you’re already dating. Then naturally the second half isn’t exactly an easy watch. The lead does his best to try and minimize how bad the situation is but even he can’t quite reduce that to 0. It’s pretty obvious to the rest of the characters that things are getting worse and worse as the climax approaches.

Overall 4/10

The Shaggy Dog (1959) Review

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It’s time for a retro dog film with a good amount of fun cheer to it. The Shaggy Dog is one of those titles that moves at a quick pace and delivers on a fun premise. It even randomly throws in a big climax with high stakes and I hadn’t been expecting that. It’s a very retro experience that knows how to have a good time even if the cast themselves are a bit on the weaker side. Lets just say there aren’t a lot of likable characters here.

The movie starts off with Wilby messing up on another one of his inventions. He’s a kid genius but it does take him a lot of trial and error to get where he wants to go and often his father, Wilson has to clean up after him. Wilson is a nice guy overall except that he can’t stand dogs and even has a PTSD type allergy to them. He intends to shoot them all if they ever get into his house. Well one day they get a rich next door neighbor named Francesca who has a big dog and now this could be trouble. Wilby and his friend Buzz both like her and after a fateful trip to the museum, Wilby ends up with an amulet that turns him into a copy of her dog. How will he end this curse?

The way the magic works is also a little unique here. Ordinarily you would expect the human and dog to change places or something but that’s actually not what happens here. Instead the dog just vanishes from existence temporarily while Wilby slowly transforms into a lookalike. The transformation lasts a while until he turns back but it is difficult to predict when this will happen and for how long. So it’s definitely inconvenient for Wilby and even dangerous since of course Wilson will be shooting on sight.

Of course as a dog, most people don’t pay attention to Wilby which gives him a chance to hear some villainous secrets. So I enjoyed the whole gimmick here as the scenes were pretty fun. Wilby really got to show just how helpful it can be to turn into a dog. I do think he could have done a much better job of convincing everyone that he was actually Wilby though since the film didn’t really place any limitations on him. Wilby can still walk around and talk in human language so automatically you figure it shouldn’t be too hard. Wilby doesn’t try this much until the very end though.

As a character Wilby is okay but definitely a bit of a pushover. He gets taken advantage of by Buzz and is also easy to trick. The museum trip didn’t go well because he let his guard down too quickly and then even in the climax he’s put in the same boat as Buzz instead of being one step ahead. I don’t see the dynamic ever getting a whole lot better for him. Wilby needs to just focus on his inventions and hopefully make a real game changer at some point.

Meanwhile for Buzz, the guy is no real friend. He is always quick to blame Wilby when the lead isn’t around and quickly goes from girl to girl. Buzz is certainly not a serious character and so you really aren’t rooting for the guy. You hope that the girls will know better around him but until they figure out what’s up, it was up to Wilby to mess up the guy’s plans while in his disguise as a dog.

As for Wilson, he was a little too extreme in how he was actually shooting at the dog. Even ignoring the body swap, that means he was willingly shooting at his neighbor’s dog just for getting into the house. It’s just such an extreme response and makes him look really bad. Throughout the film Wilson is always proving himself to be the kind of guy who jumps to conclusions and then at the end he is basically just basking in the glory of something that he only played a small part in.

It all works well enough for some laughs but it doesn’t make the character super likable. Even Francesca looks pretty bad as she is quick to be tricked by Buzz and then even starts to go after Wilby just to make another girl jealous. The fact that she gave away her dog in the end was also absolutely crazy after everything he did for her. A really bizarre way for the film to end if you ask me.

Still, the important thing is that the film is fun like I said. The writing is on point with a really solid script all the way through. The retro writing style really works well for this movie and the pacing is good. I may not say that it’s laugh out loud levels of being funny but it didn’t really have any issues either. The movie never drags and it has plenty of replay value. I also enjoyed the sub plot with the one cop who was going crazy after seeing the dog so many times and then how the government shut down Wilson on suspicion of being a traitor. That was a pretty fun battle even if Wilby’s younger brother sold the dad out there.

Overall, The Shaggy Dog is a pretty good movie. I like the concept of turning into a dog as there are a lot of fun gags you can do with that. Clearly the industry thought so too since this wouldn’t be the last Shaggy Dog film. This may not be the kind of film that you walk away from every year to point out how awesome it was but it is something you could watch at any time. The intense climax also helps with the replay value. I’ll be curious to see if the newer films can really match this one and if they can’t, hopefully they will at least be close.

Overall 7/10

Donnie Darko 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 one of those films where the main character is slowly going crazy but you have to determine if this is actually what’s going on or if there’s more to the situation than meets the eye. You’ve got the classic delusions and even a giant 6 foot Rabbit so this film isn’t afraid to get supernatural. Unfortunately the build up is rather large to what I would consider to be a lackluster climax and getting there is rough with the characters all being super annoying and terrible for the most part. There aren’t really many people to root for here and so that’s something sequels will need to try and fix.

The film starts off by introducing us to Donnie who has been having some mental issues for a while now. He takes pills to reduce the effects but sometimes he skips them and starts to crash out. He’s been wandering around the city at night and seeing a large rabbit man named Frank. Frank tells Donnie that the world is going to end in a few days. Donnie might even believe him but officially tells his therapist that he doesn’t think the world will end. Donnie actually has two friends and then even gets a girlfriend in Gretchen but for the most part has trouble connecting to people. Even the famous motivational speaker gets on Donnie’s nerves. Will he be able to stop the world from ending or is Fran really just a figment of his imagination?

This is one of those films where you will definitely need to stay focused because we jump from day to day. There is a timer about how many days are left until the end of the world and so sometimes there are whole weeks left and then there are just a few days in others. So you have to read through these carefully because the film isn’t always linear but the events are normal enough where you might not even notice at times. A engine fell through Donnie’s house but fortunately he wasn’t hurt but the cops are acting a bit weird about the whole thing.

Like I said before the main problem here does come from the characters though. Donnie is extremely hard to root for. He shows up with a bad attitude from the start and never really gets any better. From insulting his sister and mother to crashing out during lessons, he just isn’t a very heroic figure. During his therapy sessions he has a hard time focusing and it doesn’t seem like anything really interests him. He’s very odd the whole time and you can be odd without being a jerk but he never really chooses that option. I would have liked to have seen him resist Frank’s influence more as well.

Donnie seems easy to manipulate and always tends to choose the worst outcomes. Even through to the end I don’t think he made the right call. He basically decides to give up, at least that’s how I would frame it. He could have tried a lot of other paths but he chose the easiest one which doesn’t even guarantee a happy ending. In fact you could say that in some ways this is now the dark ending but it depends on how you interpret it. I’ll go into my interpretation near the end of the film.

For the most part I’d say the film has a generally dark tone. Everyone’s been through a lot and there is another tragedy along each corner. You’ve got Gretchen’s backstory which is naturally dark and then gets even darker with what happens in the present. You have the motivational speaker’s secret which is again super dark and so the town doesn’t seem to have a lot of hope with it. One girl is bullied a whole lot and naturally the main character doesn’t do much about it. Just about everyone is needlessly mean spirited like when a bunch of kids make fun of an old lady.

There’s quite a bit of language here and none of the characters seem like someone you would want to be friends with. Of course the characters are not responsible while the parents are away and throw a big fight as well. People are doing drugs, the romance is rushed, etc. This film definitely takes itself very seriously but this kind of grim title needs a bit more of a hook.

That’s where Frank really should come in. Lets get some more answers out of this guy and learn about the end of the world. Well, for the most part he just talks cryptically the whole time and isn’t very helpful. Sometimes he helps out like when he had Donnie burn down a house that exposed a villain. That was good but is takes him a while to get to that point. Before that Frank just seems generally demonic and it’s still hard to tell what his actual goals are. Is he just here to spread chaos? Because I could definitely believe that.

Okay now to discuss the ending. Skip these next two paragraphs if you haven’t seen the film yet. My main theory here is that there was no real time travel per say and instead we got taken to a new dimension. Throughout the film they talk about time travel by going through a ship and entering a portal to go back. Well, we get to see Donnie arrive back at the start but he chooses to stay in his room so the engine crashes through and murders him. At this point all of the characters across the film wake up, seemingly very startled. Some are panicking, sweating, etc.

It seems like they all regained their memories of the lost time here. So even though it’s the past, the events all seemed to happen. For that reason I would say that Donnie was able to open a portal through dimensions. In this way it’s like a parallel universe where everybody is around but now events are playing out a bit differently. Unfortunately because Donnie won’t be around to burn the house, that means the speaker will still be up to his criminal activities. Then again if everyone remembers, maybe they can shut him down quickly. That’s basically how I interpret the ending and so it’s a pretty sad one since Donnie gave up and just let himself get blasted. He should have gotten out of there and used his advanced knowledge to really make a difference. There are a ton of ways you can change the world when you have an early start like that. It also seems like this kind of thing has happened before with the old lady who wrote a book but Donnie should have checked in with her right away. The whole alternate universe would also tie in with the planet ending like Frank said. In this way it really did end as that universe/timeline no longer exists.

Well, there are a lot of ways to look at the ending. The film is definitely weird enough for it all. Unfortunately it’s just no weird in a good way. You absolutely could have pulled this off if the characters were better but this cast? Yeah they were definitely not even remotely ready for this. A good surreal kind of film needs to have quality characters, a really engaging plot, and of course an interesting climax. Attack of the Killer Tomatoes is an example of a really weird film that works after all.

Overall, Donnie Darko is held back in a lot of ways by Donnie Darko himself. He isn’t quite the lead character that you need to make a film like this succeed. Instead he just keeps the film from reaching its true potential. The rest of the characters don’t really help matters either though. Frank had potential here but the way his character goes out is pretty lame and he lost all of his aura the instant that the mask came off. There just isn’t much that is appealing about this film. I give it some props for trying to have a very unique story but it did not work.

Overall 2/10

DOA: Dead or Alive Review

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Dead or Alive is one of those titles that is always super tragic. The series has amazing characters who got a lot of hype thanks to the fan-animated Dead Fantasy series. Additionally there is a lot of rich lore and world building to be found but instead it is often thrown away in place of fanservice. The same thing happens here. The movie has a fantastic soundtrack, great fights and visuals, not to mention a great cast. Unfortunately the fanservice continues to come in strong and hard which ultimately prevents the film from succeeding the way that it should have. You have to squint your way through to the end which is not the way to go.

The film starts by introducing us to our three leads. You have Princess Kasumi who wants to find her brother Hayate who supposedly died during the Dead or Alive tournament but she doesn’t believe this. When she gets an invite to the tournament, Kasumi gets her chance to find out what’s going on. Tina’s reason for entering the tournament is a bit more mild, she wants to prove to people that she is a true fighter and not a fake wrestler. Finally Christie just wants to make more money and there are millions to be stolen from this island. Who will take the crown?

There are a lot more characters in the tournament but technically speaking most of them do not last very long. It was fun to see a bunch of characters from the games either way though. Tina’s father Bass gets a fight to himself and it’s clear that he is holding back a great deal so when he goes down it’s not like he suddenly had to get nerfed by the plot or anything. Who wants to defeat their kid in a serious fight right? If anything you could say he was mostly used for the comedy which worked really well.

This is the kind of film where you do have to overlook the characters really taking it to each other even when it’s a friendly match though. Christie for example dishes out a ton of pain to her boyfriend Max like hitting him where it hurt and crushing his hands. It was intense enough where I thought he was being set up to be a total villain but in the end it just ended up being their dynamic. Max has one scene where he defeats a fighter accidentally which was taken a bit far as a gag though. In the end I’m surprised he still ended up with Christie but I guess his confident attitude actually worked.

His romance plot is still better than Weatherby’s though. That guy didn’t stand up to help Helena when it counted and so that was a real bad look for him. I give him some points for actually talking to Helena instead of creeping by the computer all day but he still wasn’t really my kind of character.

Another character who looks bad here is Ayane. She is so determined to murder Kasumi that she takes this to a crazy obsessive level. Ayane could have been putting that time towards helping to find Hayate as well. Even if he was dead, just let Kasumi do what she wants for now. There is no reason to be going this aggressive and then by the end she is acting like nothing happened. I tend to like Ayane but she did not look good in this one.

Hayate sadly doesn’t get to do a lot here but he is given a lot of hype as being the strongest warrior on the planet. That was appreciated and he does his best even when he’s outgunned. I have a hard time believing that he would lose but I guess I can ignore that. The point of Victor’s new tech is that he can copy and predict people’s moves but I don’t think the body would be quick enough to counter and also properly execute the move. We can just chalk it up to sci-fi shenanigans.

Victor actually made for a pretty good villain. He’s nice and over the top the whole time with al the laughing and bragging about how strong he is. He’s a villain who is clearly having a good time throughout the movie and seems to actually enjoy being rich. Sometimes you just want a big villain like this who is completely unrepentant and does whatever he feels like. No need for some kind of a fancy character arc here.

Hayabusa does well in taking out a lot of minions here. I also appreciated that he was really protective of Kasumi rather than trying to murder her. The guy was even able to push his feelings aside throughout the movie so that he could properly protect her. He gets big props for not getting distracted. This guy is just a really good hero through and through who is as noble as they come.

Speaking of distractions, I was also pleasantly surprised that the film didn’t have any of the characters try and use their looks to distract the villains. That’s one of the worst tropes and fortunately the movie didn’t have any of them sacrifice their dignity. Now the extreme levels of fanservice in the film do negate this to an extent but at least that’s one thing it avoided. The various romance plots tend to be really weak. The only decent one is with Hayabusa and even then it could probably stand to slow down a bit. The others are definitely more on the annoying side and move too quickly.

Back to the characters, I would say Kasumi is the best one. She goes out of her way to try and save Hayate and puts herself in great risk. She understands what it means to look out for someone even if it puts your whole future at stake. She’s definitely the kind of friend you want to have on your side and her skills are quite impressive. Definitely a really fun character without a doubt. Then we have Christie who is fun as an antagonist. She doesn’t have the moral compass of the others.

Sure she’s not going around murdering everybody but she is a thief and takes whatever she wants. In terms of fighting abilities she may be the strongest heroine out of Kasumi even if it doesn’t seem like her training was as formal. You get the feeling that she just had to learn in a hurry after being a thief for so long which makes a lot of sense. She’s charismatic and a lot of fun to have around the whole time.

Now I have to admit that the final two heroines Tina and Helena look so similar that I was mixing them up the whole time. I generally know them from their storylines as Helena had the Weatherby one while Tina was proving herself but this is where video game costumes would help out to really differentiate them. They’re both fun enough, I probably prefer Helena because she has more of a troll side to her. She was definitely messing with Weatherby intentionally a few times. As far as flirting goes, that’s probably one of the better ways to do it. Tina had to start off with a fake victory to move on forward in the tournament so it didn’t make her look quite as hype.

Still you’ve got a lot of fun characters throughout. I also really liked the tournament style as matches could happen anywhere at any time. That’s just a really cool concept and there were a few homages to the games like how the cameras and UI worked. The soundtrack is awesome like I mentioned before with a ton of rock music. The pacing is really fast and so this film was really firing on all cylinders. The writing is really good with a fairly light tone but still keeping the story serious. You’re super invested in what’s going on the whole time and the fighting choreography is really solid. The film even played the volleyball match very seriously without any fanservice attempts in there.

Alas, like I mentioned before the fanservice still keeps this from being a good movie. I can’t really recommend a title that will have you shaking your head and wincing so often. That just wouldn’t make sense. It’s better than something like Charlie’s Angels which was all flash with no substance since this one has a good film buried beneath that but it has to succeed in spite of those scenes which was too hard of a mission. I would like to see a modern version pull this off while not falling into the usual traps.

Overall, Dead or Alive has a very distinct reputation which is pretty well earned by this point. It’s a shame that it always goes for the easy views when this has the makings of a great franchise. This film is just another example of this tactic. If you can get past all the fanservice then I would recommend checking this film out and seeing what you think. If that sounds like it’ll be a little too difficult then you should just check out the original Moral Kombat instead which is the ultimate tournament film.

Overall 4/10

Mr. Holmes Review

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It’s time for a film about Sherlock Holmes when he was really at the end of his life. This means the film would have to tackle the mystery in a very different way since he can’t be running around and actually fighting himself. No instead he has to solve most of the case in his head. It’s a very different approach. Not a particularly effective one mind you. I did miss the usual Sherlock Holmes style this time. The movie ends up being largely uneventful with a very small cast for most of the run.

The movie starts off by introducing us to Sherlock Holmes who is being taken care of by Mrs. Munro and her son Roger. Roger really likes hanging out with Holmes and learning about bees but Munro is a little less amused as the whole thing. She thinks it might be a bit dangerous, not just for Roger but for Holmes too since he might faint and take a hard fall. Her fears are certainly justified here. Well Holmes is trying to figure out what happened in his final case before retirement. For some reason he can’t think of it, maybe he blocked it out? Well, now he can’t rest until he solves the case.

I would say the part that tripped the film up the most was just how far they decided to age up Holmes. He’s not just old but he’s ancient in this movie. He can barely move at all and is basically dying by this point. A single fall can give him numerous bruises and so that severely limits him. He can basically walk around the house but that’s it. So when I say the case is mainly in his head, it’s really quite literal. Even in the flashbacks he looks old to the point where if you forget that you’re watching a flashback you’d think it was happening in real time.

Holmes does get to use his famous observational skills to pick up on different tricks and also solves a bonus case in the final minutes. I was glad he got a win but there’s still something sad about the whole thing. It’s like he knows that his death is imminent and there’s not a whole lot that he can do about it. In general it’s sad to see any character taken to this extreme, especially when they used to be a fighter. It was fun to have Holmes see his film version at the theaters during the movie.

Considering how Holmes blocked off his memory you can bet that the case doesn’t end super well for him. I won’t go into specifics since that’s the whole point of the climax but I don’t feel like Holmes really made any big mistakes. A big theme within the film is that Holmes is a genius but doesn’t understand people all that well. That may be rue but I don’t think another character would have done much differently at this point. Holmes did take care of the immediate threat and it also made sense to reject the advance since he wasn’t going to be getting involves in any kind of illicit affairs. Sure he could have potentially handled the whole thing with a longer speech and being more verbose in general but this is all hindsight.

You never know how a situation will play out and so I think Holmes is being really harsh to himself throughout the film. Meanwhile Munro is probably the most tragic character here because she’s just trying to provide a good life for her son Roger but a rift is forming between them due to how she treats Holmes. She takes a much more cautious approach than the main character which of course paints her as the bad guy to an extent. She makes her share of mistakes like burning letters meant for Holmes. I can’t really defend that but otherwise her top priority is on protecting Roger and so that’s what she focuses on.

As for Roger, he was a good characters. At times there wasn’t a whole lot to his character but he was really eager to help. He had Sherlock’s back at every point even if it meant keeping secrets. He just needed to be a little older and he would have probably done better in the film. As it is, what happens to him in the film would have been hard to avoid for even trained professionals. When you’re in a moment like that it is easy to panic.

The film’s biggest problem is that it can be rather dull for large chunks of the film. The past case just wasn’t as interesting as it could and should have been. Instead of being the part of the film that really wows you, you are waiting to go back to the present again. I liked hearing Holmes explain the situation by the end as the detective speeches are always fun but it just wasn’t a very captivating case. The presentation in the movie was a whole lot more interesting.

Also while it is normal for characters to start crashing out during stressful times, the disagreements go pretty far. At one point one character tells the other that “You should be dead!!” and it’s a comment that is hard to walk back from after all that. Like you probably can’t easily bury the hatchet on that one. It’ll always be in the back of your head because under duress or not, they clearly meant that. At the end of the day Roger may have tried being Holmes’ friend but that’s about it. He had lots of acquaintances but was ultimately all alone. Even the whole raising bees angle felt like it was him being super lonely. It’s not really the kind of hobby that most people dream about getting into. I know I definitely wouldn’t be able to handle that one because I’m not good with bees as it is.

Overall, Mr. Holmes will have to be one of the weakest Sherlock Holmes films. It’s not bad per say but it does feel like the movie didn’t really know where to go for a large portion of it. It’s really not a detective movie first and foremost. It’s more about vibing and enjoying the great outdoors which can be okay but that works more for a film where the main character can actually be running around and trying things out. Here Holmes can plan things out in his head but that’s just not good enough to be exciting. Check this one out if it’s really early and you want to see what it’s like but the slow paced nature of the movie does severely limit the audience. If the film cannot hook you even slightly while it’s early then that’s game over.

Overall 5/10

Punch-Drunk Love 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

The film introduces us to Barry who has a reasonable job and his life is stable but the guy has nobody to really share it with. He has 7 sisters who are super talkative and outgoing but they are a little too much for him. The guys at work seem okay but you could still say that he doesn’t really have any friends. Well one day a lady shows up who likes him but Barry had been impatient and dialed one of those unethical phone numbers to have an intimate talk with a random person. That was a big mistake as she is now blackmailing him and wants a ton of money or he will be exposed. If this wasn’t bad enough, she has a gang going after him. Can Barry get his life in working order or is it all over for him?

One thing that will stand out right away is how good the main theme is. It’s really catchy and helps the scene to stand out more with the fast paced dialogue. It’s quite fitting and usually music is an area that films have a lot of trouble with so I was definitely glad to see this. The theme plays quite a few times and never gets old. While the movie itself may not be a big hit, at least it does give you something really catchy to remember it by. Other films wish they could pull that off.

Meanwhile the crazy nature of the film is also nice. Little things here and there won’t always make sense as the film intentionally tries to catch your attention with small details. Whether it is characters doing crazy things in the background, the nature of Barry’s business, etc. The whole film thrives on being very weird. It is definitely very successful on that front although I dare say the film could have stood to take itself a little less seriously and then it could have really capitalized on the weirdness.

Naturally the romance is going to be one of the weak links here. On one hand the weakness is part of how weird the whole thing is with the main heroine being rather desperate for Barry for some reason. It’s a very lucky occurrence for Barry so you almost want to root for him but of course turning to the phone number first was a massive mistake. No real way to save him at that point and either way the romance itself would have been way too rushed.

Barry deals with a lot over the course of the film but in a way it doesn’t feel like he really solves the core issues. He may have shut down the villain group that was after him but he still has the crazy 7 sisters who will keep on messing with him and you can bet that this relationship is going to get complicated for him as well. Hopefully he is just able to handle the situation really well but the ending doesn’t ring quite as positively as intended. The best way for Barry to handle this would just be to not take things so seriously. The sisters really like talking so you just let them keep on talking but you don’t really engage with the points unless directly asked. Then from there know that it’s such an info overload that most of the info itself will be lost in the shuffle.

Most of the 7 sisters don’t get to do much but we do get one family scene where you can at least see what the chaos is like. The main one who was trying to set Barry up with a girlfriend in the first place gets the biggest role. She seems nice enough but has no real concept of boundaries or privacy. She will just say whatever she is thinking which can really put Barry in a tough spot at times.

Then with the heroine Lena, you’re sort of waiting for a big twist to happen the whole time but in the end nothing really pops up. I guess you could say she’s just a nice person without any big agendas at play which is cool to see. Romance aside she seemed like a nice person who wasn’t too quick to judge Barry based on second hand information and actually got to know him. She was also fairly clever like with her original car plan. I suppose that could count as a bit of a twist.

The villains here aren’t the most intense ones you’ll meet. They talk tough at first but quickly begin to meet their match. I did like the added sense of danger here though. They really forced Barry to quickly consider the situation and see what he would do next. He was ready during the final confrontation which was a pretty good scene. It beat the actual last meeting scene which was definitely on the anti climactic side. I was expecting a bit more than that even though this is not an action film.

As far as the tone goes, I would still call this part comedy to an extent but it’s definitely not going for a goofy vibe. Funny things happen every now and again but there are also some serious undertones occurring throughout. The movie manages the balance pretty well and I’d say this one could have been better with just getting rid of the phone plot. I’d have had Barry get scammed in a different way that would have made him a little more sympathetic instead. Also the second half is played a bit too linearly compared to the first half. I’d have thrown in some more wrinkles and twists to keep it from being too standard.

Overall, Punch-Drunk Love is a decent film. I’d say it was a bit better than I was expecting. I think I was expecting the film to be a little too try hard in how serious it would get but instead this film found a really good balance which I can appreciate. If you’re interested in a film that definitely gets weird then you should check this out. The movie’s at its best when its just having a good time messing with you as the viewer. You’ll pick up a ton of little moments in the background that really help to amp up the experience. They could really do a sequel to this one if they ever felt like it but I suppose that’s probably not likely.

Overall 5/10

She Wore a Yellow Ribbon Review

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It’s time for a western that actually doesn’t have much in the way of gunfights. It’s a very low key film which can be nice as a change of pace but at the same time it gets a little too calm for part of the adventure. There doesn’t seem to be much of a story for a while there until we finally get to the Indiana showing up and causing chaos. For a while there it’s just the characters walking around and counting down the days to retirement. It’s very inoffensive film but one that you’re probably not going to be tempted to re watch. There just isn’t much of an incentive there.

The film starts off with Nathan getting ready for retirement. His final day is arriving this week and he’s definitely ready for it. Nathan has been doing a tremendous job for many years but even the best have an expiration date at some point. Unfortunately it looks like it won’t be a quiet last few days. His boss has the dicey idea of wanting Nathan to guard his wife on the way back. Indians were already spotted on the trail so this is not going to be easy. Then a lady named Olivia will also be on the mission and she has been attracting the attention of two of Nathan’s best officers. This includes the future replacement for Nathan so this new rivalry is not being very productive. Will the platoon be fine without Nathan?

Naturally the romance isn’t particularly good here. Olivia definitely seems to be messing with the guys quite a bit and almost doesn’t seem to care who she will be with. Ultimately she chooses the one with the better future prospects but how strong are her actual feelings? That’s a bit harder to say and it’s why I can’t picture this being a very strong romance. It’s just not going to go over very well in the long term. While Olivia looks bad for being a distraction here, I also have to give a lot of blame to the two officers. When you’re in a serious army position like this you are in charge of the lives of every officer around you.

You can’t suddenly be getting heated into a fist fight when there are external dangers all around. Nathan scolds both officers but it’s a shame that he had to scold them at all. He was clearly disappointed and I don’t blame him. There’s another guy retiring in a few weeks who is a big drunk and while that guy is irresponsible, at least he can fight. We get a fairly lengthy slapstick action scene where he basically takes down an entire division. Now you could also just say that’s anti hype for those guys to all be defeated by one opponent but I do think it’s really meant to show how strong this guy was.

He is really all muscle. So yes with him and Nathan gone the platoon is absolutely finished. I don’t see the soldiers being able to operate at the same high level that they used to be on. Fortunately Nathan did leave things on a good note within the territory so that should buy some time for the army to get stronger and stronger. Then maybe they can win their next confrontation.

But again the biggest problem that the film has is…we don’t really care about the plot. The strife between the Indian factions isn’t super engaging, nor are the action scenes around getting into the camp and staying away. If anything the film may have been better if it just stuck to being a slice of life with Nathan just chatting to people and solving problems. In this version I guess more of the drama would have been around different romance plots and maybe some new subplots.

Or go all the way in the other direction and add in a ton of gunfights. That could have also been a good option here. This is a long film that feels long and that’s usually a problem. The pacing could have definitely been a lot better and we probably needed at least one more standout character. It felt like the main character had to basically hold the series by himself which is really not advisable. You need more characters in general.

Or if you can’t add to the cast, add more scenes for both of the guys that the heroine liked. For the most part their whole character personalities revolve around her rather than doing their own thing. Give them each a subplot of their own. Maybe one of them starts questioning Nathan more and more and actually gets it right a few times. Then the other one is getting to be a better and better shooter and wants to convince the captain to reassign him to a gunner role. Not sure if that was a thing back then but just an example. We need more reasons to care about the story and this would be a good way to do it. Maybe even have the Indians show up earlier and one of them used to work in the army or something. By this point I’m starting to change the entire movie so these are just foods for thought.

Overall, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon is a film that doesn’t put as much importance on the ribbon as you might expect. This is still Nathan’s story all the way. I do think the title does a good job of preparing you for a lack of action though. If it was called the big battle of the west or something then that would probably have gotten people excited for a bunch of fights only to be disappointed afterwards. The movie takes great care to avoid making any mistakes, it just forgot to really focus on the strengths. Well, like I said you should check this one out if you like a very calm experience. Just expect it to be extremely calm.

Overall 6/10

Ordinary Angels

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It’s time for one of those inspiring films based on a true story. As I always say it’s nice to watch ones where I’m not familiar with the actual events because then it’s all new territory for me. I get to just enjoy the story and see what happens. It’s a good story and of course you’re looking forward to the happy ending because if it went sideways then things would have really been ugly. That said, the characters are all dealing with a lot of flaws and trauma of their own so there aren’t very many perfect characters. They go quite far with this so it’s not exactly a happy go lucky film the whole time.

The movie starts by introducing us to Ed who has had a tough time of things. He lost his wife at a young age and has had to take care of both his daughters by himself. This is not easy and it has also broken him financially as his youngest daughter Michelle is extremely sick and needs constant doctor visits. Ed is someone who is very good with his hands and works a laborious job but it hasn’t exactly given him the down time to get his life back in order. He has no insurance, no real connections, and so the debts continue to get higher and higher. Fortunately a lady named Sharon hears about this and decides to help out. They may be strangers to her but she wants to make a difference and as the film goes on we learn more about her personal life as to why that is.

So right away I will say that my biggest issue was with Ed for the most part. Sharon does a whole lot to help him out, literally raising thousands of dollars early on to get him out of a jam. I can understand Ed silently resenting this to an extent because he wants to be able to take care of his kids on his own and I get that. The main problem is that he doesn’t really hide this at al and doesn’t treat her well even after she helps out so much. I think the worst of it is after Sharon makes a personal visit to the hospital and gets their board of directors to stop Michelle’s entire bill. Keep in mind that this bill was around half a million dollars.

That’s a bill that would have been impossible to ever get out from and while Ed thanks her, he goes back to being upset at her almost right after. It was really excessive. He was finally justified near the end of the film when after yelling at her some more, Sharon went back to her alcoholic ways and passed out when she was supposed to be watching the kids. That was really bad of course and so she should stay away from that point. Ed finally had a good reason to be upset at her but this was late in the film and even then he pushed her to it.

Ed is fundamentally a good guy trying to help his kids but I do think the movie fumbled a bit in playing it up this strongly. Meanwhile for Sharon she has her share of setbacks as well like when she continues to drink even while lying to her best friend. It can definitely be hard to beat any addiction and drinking is definitely one of the strong ones. That said, she still does her best to keep on helping out. She doesn’t get much closure with her son but you can’t win every battle. At least she does have the satisfaction of knowing that she was able to directly save a life now. I imagine that would be a strong component to help prevent her from getting into drinking again.

We get a pretty intense climax towards the end of the film as well as the characters are rushing to get through a snowstorm in order to get to the hospital. The storms get real intense as the film goes on and it’s a reminder of how strong the weather is. Even nowadays there are plenty of storms that people don’t dare to try and cross because they can completely wreck even the strongest of planes. The fact that somebody actually showed up to help after the TV broadcast was great. There was a really strong sense of unity here. When you see all of the negative headlines online it can be easy to be completely jaded on the whole idea of community spirit but it definitely still happens in some places. I imagine it might be tougher in a big metropolitan city but that’s why it’s good to at least know your neighbors. Build some relationships so everybody helps each other out and that definitely goes a long way. Who knows you could end up helping to save someone’s life someday.

Finally it was also refreshing to finally have a film about helping each other out without any big ulterior motives. It wasn’t because Sharon fell in love with Ed or anything like that. She just really wanted to help out and this was her chance to do something that wasn’t done for her when she was going through a tough time. Of course since it’s based on a true story that’s probably why it played out this way since I’m sure otherwise it would have gone down the Hollywood angle but this way just makes a lot more sense. There are plenty of reasons to help someone out without needing there to be romantic love in some way.

Overall, Ordinary Angels is a good movie about team spirit and how one person can make a difference. Perhaps you can’t do quite as much as what Sharon pulled off here but everyone has a lot of opportunities to do what they can to really help out. There will always be reasons that pop up as to why you might not want to help but the opportunities are still there. If you’re ready for a happy ending then you should check this one out. Like I said before it’s not fully happy so you need to prepare for the drama and trials but at least you know it’s heading towards a satisfying conclusion so that’s always a load off. I’m sure one day it’ll backfire and I’ll watch a film about a true event that has a sad ending but hopefully that day is really far off from the present.