Category Archives: Live Action Movies

Ransom (1996) Review

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

All right it’s thriller time! Whenever someone is taken for ransom you have to decide if you will pay it or not. This is a pretty big dilemma and everyone will have different answers here. I tend to agree with this film’s position on not paying the ransom. If you pay once then they will just do it again or in the worst case they don’t intend on returning the person anyway. You’re taking some considerable risks here. No matter what you pick, the important thing is to never look back.

The film starts with Tom and Kate enjoying a nice day in the park. They are both pretty busy with events and lose sight of the kid. Sean is kidnapped by a bunch of villains and then they send a ransom call. They want millions of dollars from Tom or the kid will die. Tom is a super mega millionaire so he’s fine with paying the money at first but then gets the idea that paying the money will effectively be a death sentence for Sean. So he decides not to pay but now everybody has turned against him and thinks that this is the wrong decision. Has he just made a grave error or is he doing the right thing?

As with all kidnapping films, there is more than a little suspense for disbelief here. In a place as super crowded as what we saw in the opening, I find it hard to believe that there would be no witnesses. I do think the parents should have been more careful and I feel the same way in real life when I see kids running around by themselves but I don’t see it being this smooth. Either way that’s how the film gets the story going so lets not get bogged down too much there.

Naturally from the intro you can tell that I agree with Tom here. You can’t pay the ransom and I thought that the movie did a good job of explaining the logic. Tom stays strong no matter how many critics he gets so that was impressive. The film even gives him a fight scene in this version which was cool. I would argue that he mishandled the timing though and got pretty lucky. He should have tackled the villain once he had spotted the guy and in the end he should have finished him because the guy nearly got another shot off. All in all, he did a lot more right than wrong though and was a good lead.

Unfortunately his wife Kate looks pretty bad the whole time. She crashes out on multiple occasions here as she just wants to pay the money. Then when she gets a suspicious letter she ends up going outside by herself and beaten up. She really needed to think things through more. Yes of course she is also doing everything she can for her son and I appreciate that but you can’t succeed on your own. Once Tom made his decision, she needed to stand by him instead of just making the situation worse. Throughout the film she is one of his biggest challenges because she actively eats away at his confidence.

Meanwhile for the villains, they’re all irredeemable and you don’t feel any pity for them. When you get into the business of kidnapping then you deserve everything that comes to you. Jimmy may have been the mastermind but they were all in on it so when they were getting shot you don’t really care about them. As for Jimmy, he was definitely holding his own for quite a while there and ultimately just got greedy. He did make for a fun contrast as we would see him panicking when Tom would get on TV and start with the threats. We got to see just how shaken up he was the whole time.

The police don’t look great here though. Jumping in unprepared ends up leading them to shooting the only witness. It was incredibly sloppy as they couldn’t have handled that worse. Meanwhile the lead officer leaking secrets to try and shake up the marriage was a low blow. He wants the characters to pay the ransom but taking it into his own hands like that was a bit much. Likewise we also see him talking on the phone about how he’s glad that he isn’t rich which feels incredibly inappropriate. Even aside from the fact that someone might hear him, it’s the worst possible time to say that. He really needs to work on his mindset.

Well nobody’s perfect but it does underscore that Tom is really on his own here. If he even thinks to rely on the police then he will be in trouble and naturally that is exactly what you don’t want to hear. It’s already a stressful situation and being on your own makes it even tougher. That’s why it was impressive that Tom stuck to his guns and never looked back. If he had been shaken up and changed courses then things would not have gone well at all.

Overall, Random is a pretty good movie. It should have you on the edge of your seat the whole time. The writing is pretty good and I really enjoy the premise. It makes for a fun game of cat and mouse. It also allows Tom to actually tough talk to the villains for once rather than the usual setup where the villain just smack talks and gloats for 2 hours. This time the hero gets to take the offensive which is really refreshing. It makes the film a little more fun without sacrificing the atmosphere. At the end of the day the story itself is simple enough but the film is able to craft a really interesting movie out of it by executing well on every aspect. The film has no real weaknesses to speak of here which is impressive and not so easily done. You can trip up in a lot of ways for a thriller like this. So I would definitely recommend checking the movie out.

Overall 7/10

Scarface (1983) 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 iconic gangster films. In a lot of ways it tackles the classic rise to infamy type of story but takes its time with it. The film boasts a very impressive runtime of nearly 3 hours but as a result it can move rather slowly at times. I would also argue that Tony himself looks far less impressive in this version as he falls to the vices faster. Perhaps it is good in terms of not letting people accidentally look up to him but in the film’s context it does mean that he is considerably weaker than the original.

The movie starts off by introducing us to Tony and Manny who slip into the USA. They’re going to be starting out as bottom barrel thugs but Tony has dreams of rising up to the very top. He continues taking more and more risky jobs as he moves up the ranks. His ambition knows no bounds, the guy wants to own everything. He also falls for the wife of his boss. If he’s told no about anything then Tony wants it, that’s the way he lives and how he plans to move until his death.

Obviously this does mean that this is one of those films where you are rooting for the cops to take him down. Tony is a villain through and through. He has some moral scruples compared to other gang members but the guy is still a mass murderer who does whatever he feels like. He gets addicted to drugs to the point where he can barely focus on anything. So he becomes someone whose personality flips on a dime. He’ll blow up out of nowhere and this makes him a very dangerous leader.

It’s a bad mix when you’re in a sudden death career like being a mobster while also being completely addicted to drugs. He’s basically taken in by all of the bad vices and is too far gone to ever go back. Meanwhile there is a subplot where he doesn’t want his siter to go down this path so he gets very demanding in terms of what she can or cannot do. He seems to want her to be alone for her whole life and to just stay indoors. It’s not a particularly reasonable position and so she makes things go pretty badly for him as well although I would have liked her to have finished him off. Instead she just completely cracks in this version which isn’t satisfying in the slightest.

Tony goes around betraying everyone all the time so he doesn’t have many loyal allies by the end. There’s his best friend but then Tony gets upset because of his sister being involved so that’s it for that. Again Tony is really burying himself at this point. Even his obsession with Elvira shows how bad Tony is at making the right decisions. Why would you ever want to get together with a girl who flat out does not like you? She only likes the money and status which isn’t a good idea for a relationship.

This even happens in real life as there are a few people who keep getting passed around in an endless cycle because I guess everyone wants to prove themselves but it seems like a terrible idea. With his influence Tony could have had a whole lot of options but no he wanted the lady who was already married. Elvira may not be a good person in the slightest but I still put most of the burden on Tony here for trying to break up the marriage from the start.

The film has some violent moments to be sure. It doesn’t mind having some blood spray during the gunfights and there is the axe moment. In this case you can count on people being shot in non combat situations as well like the scene where Tony shoots one of the passengers in his car. You probably shouldn’t double cross the leader of a mafia boss like that. Tony said he doesn’t murder kids and so he took steps to enforce this position. It was a good scene for Tony amidst a mountain of bad moments but we’ll take what we can get here.

I feel like the police had a smaller role here than in the original film despite the longer screentime. Yes we’ve got the corrupt cop but we don’t get the perspective of the main police force hunting this guy the whole time. That could have helped this film by giving us some tangible characters to root for. It’s why films based around the villains are always fighting an uphill battle. Unless the villain is super charismatic or has a goal that you can empathize with then you run the risk of the film just being too dreary. This one never really gets past that to make the case on why you should really be invested in the title. Just give me one really likable character and that could change things at least a little but the movie never really does that.

Overall, Scarface may be an iconic film but I wouldn’t say it’s all that good. It does show off the rough life of a gangster and it’s not like you have any real sympathy here because they are all bad apples anyway. This is a life that they completely chose for themselves after all. Now they have to contend with the dark side of their own career. The more that Tony loses, the happier you get as the audience. At the same time, this is just not a happy film. It’s a very serious one that just keeps on going and so when the film isn’t fun that takes a lot of the pop out of it. It’s hard to succeed under such circumstances. I’d recommend just watching the original one instead which handled the material a lot better.

Overall 4/10

Bullet Train 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

Bullet Train definitely got a whole lot of marketing and advertising when it was first coming out. It was going to be a totally crazy film filled with lots of assassins and action the whole time. I’m always up for an ensemble film and so this was pretty fun although I do think it could have utilized the ensemble part a little more.

Ladybug is one of those bounty hunter/special agents who takes on different requests for money. I hesitate to call him a straight up assassin like the rest of the people on the train because he’s rarely going after any lives and people just die on accident. Ladybug’s filling in for a sick colleague here. This should be easy, he just has to get on the train, steal a suitcase, and then head back out. Easy peasy. What he doesn’t know is that he has a whole lot of company. One guy is here to murder the person who put his son in the hospital, a pair of assassins was hired by a top mafia boss for another mission, a little girl is here for murder, etc. Everybody has their own motivations but they are all fighting for the kill. Can Ladybug handle them all? On one hand he clearly has more experience than most of these guys but on the other hand he’s not nearly as bloodthirsty. He will have to think carefully here.

So before I mentioned how I didn’t think the ensemble part was handled perfectly and that’s because some of these characters get almost nothing to do. In particularly the poison girl and the knife guy are dispatched rather quickly. We still get backstories for both characters but as a result they just didn’t get to feel important. An easy fix to this I’d say would have been to have had their origins earlier. That way you are waiting for them to appear for most of the film. Even without increasing the sheer amount of screentime, their presence would be felt more.

I would even say to go one step further, it might have been a good idea to have shown everyone’s origins at the start of the film. Then as they all step foot on the train it becomes a true battle royale. You can make an exception for one or two characters who rely on twists but this would have definitely helped. Even so, the film does a good job of juggling quite a few characters and even giving them full personalities. You end up remembering them even well past the film’s runtime which is impressive.

At times the film’s tonal shifts can be a bit much. Sometimes you start to look forward to a big fight and then it doesn’t quite play out. On the other hand, the light tone and humor is part of what makes the film fun. On the whole I would have liked to play the fights more straight but the ones that we do get tend to be pretty good. The film’s light tone also helps to prevent things from getting too dreary which could have easily occurred otherwise.

The movie can be fairly violent but at least most of the scenes are combat related so it doesn’t feel too bad. Enough to be noticeable but not enough where I would dock serious points for it or anything like that. The visuals for the film were really nice though and it made good use of the mascots and colorful backgrounds. The train looked like it would be very comfortable to ride on.

As the main character Ladybug was decent. He definitely messed up by not getting off the train earlier though. It’s a good thing he’s lucky because otherwise the mission made no sense. He was only able to get the suitcase at the start because the two assassins left it alone and totally forgot about it. Usually I’d call that plot hax but the film specifically shows how Ladybug is always super lucky (Although he sees it as bad luck since he doesn’t like to see people getting murdered) so I can overlook that. He gets lucky throughout the film but that’s the point. He does a good job of not letting it get to him though and has a lot of the most enjoyable bits of dialogue here. He does a good job of leading the film.

Lemon was a really fun guy who was a big fan of Thomas the Tank Engine. This was a fun and original gimmick. I know an online account that is always talking about that train so it’s nice to see the franchise being referenced. Lemon may not be the biggest genius in the room but he can read people and that trait continues throughout the film. He gets a bit sloppy at one point but always did a good job of lightening up the atmosphere. His confrontation with Ladybug was really good.

Then we have Tangerine who is the serious member of the duo. He may argue with Lemon a lot but does trust the guy’s judgment when it counts. If he was just a hair trigger faster he could have ended the movie sooner. Ultimately he just wasn’t able to connect with his shot before it was too late. The film did a good job of developing both characters.

Then we have our first miss in The Father. Different characters insult him and it makes sense because he’s just super out of his depth here. The instant the Prince revealed herself as responsible for pushing his son off a building, he should have taken her out. Instead he hesitates and this leads him down a long trail of danger. The guy is a really passive fighter the whole time compared to the other characters and that’s what holds him back. He isn’t even close to the others in terms of skill.

The same can be true of Prince but to make up for this she has a lot of plans and contingencies. I give her a whole lot of credit for always remaining on top of the situation. She manipulates a whole lot of characters before the film is over which is more than I can say for some of the others. The Wolf and the Hornet don’t get to do much and are mainly here to fill out the numbers. This is definitely the part where I said the film could have developed them more. That would have made them way more likable and memorable.

The Elder also doesn’t do a lot but his scenes are very memorable. For starters one of his twists makes a lot of sense and I was wondering why The Father didn’t think of this. The Elder was a really good character and dominated in his short screen time. The White Death is a little more forgettable. A decent villain who perhaps got a little too much hype. Less hype may have gone a long way here since his actions could have spoken for themselves instead.

Overall, Bullet Train is a good film. It does deliver on having a lot of action and the ending is also pretty satisfying. I think the movie could have had a little more confidence in its own fight scenes though. Letting the characters go at it a bit longer would have been nice. I also wouldn’t have minded some more verbal confrontations because those were always a lot of fun with how the characters would try to be normal on the surface. It had a very Sakamoto Days kind of vibe there. If you haven’t watched this film yet then I’d recommend it. It makes for a good watch.

Overall 6/10

Firestarter (2022) 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 likely be more negative.

Firestarter is one of those films that has some interesting ideas but misses on the execution. It also has one of the most groanworthy endings in a minute. So this was definitely not going to make Firestarter the next big hit but hopefully at some point someone is able to really crack the code here. I also feel like Charlie was severely nerfed in this version but it’s been a while since I saw the first film.

The movie starts off with Charlie using her fire powers and then we get a bit of a disjointed origin as we see her parents going through a bunch of experiments. I thought this was a pretty interesting way for us to learn the info because everyone already knows how they would get their powers. So we should just jump around instead of watching it in real time. In the present, Charlie makes a big mistake and blows up part of a school so the heroes are now on the run from the evil organization. Will they be able to escape or has their luck finally run out?

This film is a reminder of just how hard it is to live your life on the run. Imagine being careful for years and years only for 5 minutes to wipe all of that out. It’s why you need to train and be ready to fight off possible invaders. This is my main problem with Andy who takes the route of wanting Charlie to live a normal life. So even knowing that there are powerful entities trying to reach her, he doesn’t make a move. Really not a smart move at all. I can blame him for a lot of what happened and the same goes for Charlie.

Vicky is probably the most tragic figure since she wanted Charlie to train and just got overruled the whole time. She should have definitely been training too though and would have ended up doing better during her battle. Since she had an injury the deck wasn’t stacked in her favor to begin with but a little extra power could have definitely helped out here.

Meanwhile I can’t say that I was ever a big fan of Andy. When it comes time for him to fight, he really doesn’t look very good. I think it was a big mistake to put his energies into illusions instead of directly trying to press Rainbird during their mental battle. Both ways keep the guy preoccupied only the latter has an actual chance of defeating him as well. It just makes a lot more sense in a fight. Andy’s abilities were limited enough where it definitely didn’t seem like he would win anyway. His final decision involving using his powers one last time was not bad though. I think given the circumstances it made sense even if it was a bit of a controversial moment.

Now for Charlie, she is just a kid so I’ll give her some props but that’s about it. She still should have known better than to try and call the cops. Blowing up in the school also wasn’t a good moment. She definitely needed more training but I would have expected her to have a better handle on things. Taking down an animal was not a good idea either. Yes, the film squeezed in animal violence which was not a good idea. The film uses it as foreshadowing for another moment but it was not good.

The movie lost more points there as well. But back to Charlie, she gets a lot of hype for her powers improving more and more but then by the end she isn’t able to melt past a basic hazmat suit? That was one of her worst moments here because that’s way too basic of a defense. If her flames are on pace to be nuclear, then she should be blowing these guys away. Then with the one opponent that she should definitely be trying to blow away, she ends up holding back. Without getting into specifics, it’s why the ending is pretty bad here.

It just doesn’t make any sense and weakens the main character as a result. It feels like several characters would have definitely been let down there. Also having her need any kind of help in the end takes away from her as a powerful weapon. It doesn’t seem like Charlie lives up to her own hype here. She gets some cool moments in breaking into the main villain’s base and taking on a lot of opponents but she also lets her guard down a bit too easily.

As for the main villain Jane, I almost thought she was a parody for a little while there. She is extremely unprepared and has no good plans throughout the whole film. Even by the end the way that she goes down is pretty embarrassing. She tries threatening a retired doctor and he doesn’t take her seriously either. She had no aura the entire time and since she is supposed to be the leader of this super serious mystery group, it doesn’t make the group look very good either.

Finally we have Rainbird who is back in the field one more time. It’s hard to say why he has much of a change of heart though because the whole time he is introduced as a rather ferocious fighter. It’s not like he ever loved the organization given how they tossed him aside but he also doesn’t seem like someone who would have had a lot of mercy either. By the end he should have kept on shooting and that would have opened the door for the heroine to counter and blow him away.

The secret organization also has a ton of pull with how they were able to jump in even after several police officers were gunned down and take control of the situation. Feels like that’s the kind of situation that would have gotten them forcibly shut down. The leader does reprimand Rainbird on this but otherwise it doesn’t look like there was more fallout. This is a story that could probably improve with a TV show approach since it could flesh out the world a lot better.

The soundtrack’s pretty solid for the movie at least. It has a bit of a mysterious air that works well with the scenes and it’s memorable. That’s more than you can say for most live action films so that is immediately a big win here. The special effects aren’t bad either. The fire looks pretty fun even if a little overly dramatic at times. The film can be randomly violent at times with some of the half burned scenes but for the most part isn’t super intense. Just enough to be noticeable though.

Overall, Firestarter is not a good movie. I would definitely say to give it a pass because it fumbles the ball on too many areas. It’s got an interesting premise but that’s just not enough for me to recommend this one. You have to get past the animal violence and the ending first which is a fairly tall order. You’re better off just watching the Fantastic Four instead to see someone using their fire abilities really well. Another version of this should have the kid be a bit older so then we could have a proper superhero type film.

Overall 3/10

Little Big League Review

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It’s time for a wholesome Baseball film. Imagine if you woke up one day and were the owner of a professional baseball team? There’s a lot that could go on from there. Admittedly if you’re not an ambitious person you may just immediately sell the team and collect your hundreds of millions of dollar. Nothing wrong with that but if you are a competitive person then it’s time to prove your skills on the biggest audience you have ever encountered. It makes for a fun film that does have some cheesy moments here and there.

The film starts off with introducing us to Billy and his grandfather. They would always go to the games together and since grandpa owned the Minnesota Twins, they got great seats. Well, one day his grandpa dies and leaves the team for Billy. Billy’s still just a kid but he is eager to continue his father’s legacy and get a good victory. As the film goes on Billy learns more about the inner workings of the sport but also starts to lose his humanity. Has the power and fame gotten to him?

Billy is probably the most annoying character in here because of how quickly the power corrupts. He doesn’t have a very strong moral compass as he forgets about his friends and even about his ethics. He is quick to use his newfound powers to rent movies that aren’t appropriate and doesn’t seem very apologetic the whole time. They say that money and power bring out the bigger version of you and this absolutely exposed Billy for the person hat he really is. It was an unfortunate situation on all sides. By the end he slowly starts to get better but it would have been really nice if he could have stayed strong the whole time. He could have shown that perhaps a kid can be a good owner.

His team certainly wasn’t the best though. A bunch of them were just total quitters the whole time. They punched in to do their jobs and then they dipped. Not the best way to go about things. I guess when it’s hopeless then you can see how people would check out but the fact that some of them were still throwing games just to spite Billy was pretty bad. It shows that they did not have the right priorities here at all so in a way you don’t even want to root for them. Perhaps they deserved the original coach who was always yelling at them.

The most important Baseball player here is Lou because he has a crush on Billy’s Mom. Sorry guys but this was a pretty bad subplot. You can’t be dating the owner’s mother. Yes, he likes her before Billy became his boss but by that point it was all over. He needed to break it off. There are way too many conflicts of interest here and of course as this is a classic rebound, it’s no a romance plot that I could really go for. For better or worse the relationship would need to wait until after Billy retired.

Additionally, Lou enters a slump around this time and while the timing might be coincidental, I’ve never really put much stock in coincidences. They’re just hard to believe if you ask me. Things tend to happen for a reason in most cases and in this case I think Lou was just too distracted. Too busy with romance instead of hitting the books and working on his batting swing. That’s a real problem.

Meanwhile Billy’s other friends weren’t really much better. They were quick to abuse their power as well to pick on the new kid once Billy left. Seems like a rather vicious cycle. Obviously this is all played for laughs but it’s still not a good look for the kids. They aren’t exactly the most humble kids out there.

The movie is at its best when focusing on the actual Baseball. It was nice to see Billy showing off his knowledge and the players actually getting to put it into practice. There are definitely ways you can help someone even if you aren’t a Master’s level expert in Baseball or anything like that. I can buy the kid being an owner to a degree since he would just have to hire the right talent who would take care of the day to day. Actually going out there and talking with the team? That would be more of a distraction for sure.

I think the movie could have even been more fun if they aged the kid up a bit. It would have allowed him to really contribute a bit more and you could still have the players being defensive about having to listen to a teenager. Yeah they would look petty but to be honest they already look petty here so it’s not like it would be much different. Good advice is good advice regardless of who is giving it.

While this is something you can always do for yourself anyway, it was really nice seeing the huge spreads that the Baseball players get after each game. It would certainly help take the sting out of the defeat for me. It wasn’t even anything too fancy, chips and sandwiches but the fact that they were endless was awesome. As the owner you would be able to partake in the meal each time too. Just another one of the endless perks of being an owner.

Overall, The movie is pretty fun and has solid pacing. I think it could have stood to have a little more fun with the premise and focus on Billy being a generational coach instead of letting all of the drama get more important. That said, the premise alone makes this a pretty fun film. Who hasn’t thought about being a boss while you were still a kid right? There would be a whole lot of things that you could do and you feel like you would be able to handle it better than the grownups. Whether that is true or not would certainly depend on the adult in question but that’s the idea. I’d like to see more films like this one. You could definitely do it without making the kid super unlikable though. Have him keep his confidence from the opening scenes without any of the drama and corruption later on. No helping throw water balloons at people or falling asleep during games. That made him look terrible.

Overall 6/10

Borderlands Review

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Whenever a film like Borderlands gets bad reviews you have to consider if it bombed for not being faithful to the games, it was too much like the games, or it just ended up being boring. The first two can result in really fun films while the latter is definitely a miss. I don’t even know which category this one falls into because I never played the games but to me it does feel like it’s leaning hard into being a video game film. This one goes through a whole lot of funny story beats as it pokes fun at itself the whole time. As a result it really ends up being a fun film and I would definitely recommend it. We don’t get enough parody type titles like this nowadays.

The movie starts off with Tina being rescued from some kind of sci-fi ship by Roland. He has defected from the corrupt army and wants to help her out. They are assisted by an escaped inmate named Krieg. In the future, everything basically went bad but out of all the planets, Pandora is the worst. It’s like a Mad Max wasteland there and crime rules the day. We cut to a bounty hunter named Lilith who is constantly complaining and is glad to have left that place. Well, she is hired by a man named Atlas to find his daughter Tina and rescue her from this Roland fellow. Lilith agrees due to the big pay day but is she really on the right side?

So first off, the whole introduction phase to the film is great. First we get a full Star Wars parody and then after that we get a parody to the usual bounty hunter intro. Lilith is approached by a bunch of thugs and immediately takes them out. Just straight up obliterates all of them. If she’s anything like this in the games then we’re looking at a top tier video game protagonist right out of the gate. Then when the “Mysterious leader” figure shows up, she shoots him dead too. It’s just such a great deconstruction of the usual scene and like I emphasized before, we need more well written parodies like this.

Ultimately Lilith decides to help not out of the goodness of her heart or anything like that but just because of the money. When she lands on the planet we see the Mad Max fighters except they’re basically all losers who get immediately crushed. You will always get points from me for making fun of that overrated series. Yeah they look more impressive deeper in the film when a bunch of them rush the heroes but this was a great introduction. As with most parodies, I would say the film tends to be a bit weaker once we get to the serious stuff.

I didn’t really care about Lilith’s origin story and it’s played a little too straight. Maybe there can be some parody appeal in being as generic as possible? Eh that’s probably a stretch. Either way the film wasn’t quite able to sell me on the emotional/serious bits. Fortunately that is a pretty small part of the film. For the most part this is a film that is just having a good time with itself and that’s the right tone for this film. It adds a lot of replay value and there are a ton of laugh out loud moments.

Claptrap is really one of the standout characters here. Pretty much all of his lines are absolutely great. The guy pulls off being the sarcastic bot persona really well. He is always there to make the heroes feel worse and to kick them while they’re down. In his defense they tend to treat him terribly so what goes around comes around. He is quite helpful a lot of the time even if he also gets them into trouble at other circumstances. Basically he is a true wild card and one that both sides really have to account for or they will get crushed in the process.

I already talked about her a bit but Lilith is really an excellent character here. She is completely jaded with everything and tries to always keep a large distance away from everyone. She’s not looking to create any bonds or relationships. She is just trying to get this mission over with for the money. As the film goes on her true heroic side comes out and all but not without a whole lot of journeying to get there. Additionally by the end she gets some fun abilities that will be fun for the sequel.

The movie had a bigger scale climax than I was expecting that’s for sure. I could see that being a final boss in the games. The main guy Roland was also pretty fun. Now it can be a little tough to take him seriously but I’d argue that’s the point. He’s very easy to overlook and that’s when he crushes his enemies. He’s a solid all around fighter and is around to help Tina the whole time. You have to give him credit for his drive the whole time.

Krieg gets overshadowed a bit in comparison but definitely seems like a great ally. The kind of guy who will really put it all on the line to help Tina. He also does really good in all of his fights and shows off some true super strength. Definitely nothing to dislike about him. As for Tina, I was a little unsure of her at first but the way she handled Lilith the first time they met definitely put her on the good side. She’s really crafty and quick witted. She can take care of herself without any problems and is very proactive. Most kids would be panicking the whole time but not her.

Out of all the characters, Tina is probably the biggest surprise at how much fun she is. I would have assumed that she would be more annoying. The villains tend to be more on the forgettable side though. You got some army grunts and Mr. Atlas himself but none of them are that noteworthy. They do have cool costumes though and Atlas’ protective energy barrier is actually extremely useful. It keeps him in the fight a lot more than you may have expected that it would.

Meanwhile the soundtrack is excellent. It’s extremely good and dominates every scene. You do see a lot of the “bad films” tend to have great soundtracks. I think it’s because some would say that the music shouldn’t dominate the scene so the big films tend to have more generic scores but this one goes hard with the rock music. It’s all really catchy and upbeat holding its own with Mortal Kombat 2, The Resident Evil films, etc. I was really surprised because the games didn’t strike me as having this kind of music.

Now as with all comedy films I wouldn’t expect every joke to land with you. The film does have a big crude humor sequence with some jokes which aren’t really my style. On the whole the jokes tend to work well though so the film is a lot funnier than it isn’t. The pacing is good with a lot happening the whole time as well. The fight scenes are a lot of fun and all the uniforms for the heroes and villains are on point. Again it feels very video game inspired without trying to tone the colors down. That’s the way to do an adaption, everything should really pop out at you.

Overall, I don’t know much at all about the Borderland games. They always looked pretty boring and unappealing but if this film is any indication then maybe they are actually really solid. Still don’t see myself ever playing them but if the film were to get a sequel I would definitely be up for that. That would be absolutely historic! I somehow get the feeling that the odds of that are not very high though. So in the meantime you should definitely check this film out. It may very well surprise you.

Overall 8/10

Imaginary Review

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Blumhouse continues to surpass the average horror films with its products. They’re rarely ever great but they avoid a lot of the pitfalls of other titles. Give me this over titles like Alien, Friday the 13th, and a bunch of the other big horror franchises. These films tend to avoid getting too violent or anything which is nice. That said, at times it can also feel like the villain is being too merciful to the point where it doesn’t make sense. After a point you gotta just take the opponents out right?

The film starts off with introducing us to Jessica and her husband Max. Max had a messy divorce a while back but he is hoping things will be stable now and his two daughters Alice and Taylor will like Jessica. They all moved to a new place for a fresh start but unfortunately this house comes with a dark secret. There is a teddy bear named Chauncey here who quickly becomes friends with Alice. Nothing wrong with having an imaginary friend right?….well there might be a problem with this one. Chauncey is constantly in a bloodlusted state and continues to get more and more demented. Can Jessica stop something that may not have a physical body?

Now I will say that the premise is handled in a rather generic way. This is pretty much the same as M3gan, and all the Chucky films. You have a stuffed animal that talks to a kid and gradually gives more and more demented conditions to friendship. The little girl Alice is incredibly naive and not particularly smart so she falls for this every time. It’s a story concept that we’ve seen many times before. Now granted, this does beat all of the Chucky films and M3gan but you will still be surprised that it didn’t try something a bit different. The film doesn’t really make use of its premise until the very end.

I would say Alice is super annoying here the whole time. I understand that she’s young but she should still be old enough to tell that Chauncey is psychotic. Telling her she has to hurt herself is just unhinged and that would be the time to tell her parents. There is no indication that there is any mind control at work here or anything like that so instead that just means Alice is making these mistakes out of her own free will. It’s a really bad look because this just goes past the realms of common sense. Even right up through the end she is still making a lot of mistakes.

Her older sister Taylor isn’t the smartest either though. She is also naive but in other ways like when she invites a guy over to her house while the mother is gone despite not even knowing him. Naturally the guy is into drugs and is not a good role model at all. So things could have gotten even worse for her if Jessica wasn’t around. Taylor just likes to be a rebel even when it doesn’t make sense to be one. It’s hard to sympathize with her when she is in the wrong on every scene. Not a very reasonable person at all.

As for Max, he seems okay but doesn’t really end up being helpful at all. He is gone for large portions of the film and is generally oblivious. It might be for the best since I can picture him being annoying and not believing what is going on. As for Jessica, she is a good character even if I find it hard to believe just how much of her past she forgot. The film’s weak rationale for the memory loss just doesn’t work. Well I suppose that’s more about suspension of disbelief than blaming the character.

There’s nothing bad about Jessica, she does an admirable job of trying to bond with the two kids. I also think she was very appropriate in jumping into the conversation Taylor was having with the guy to set boundaries. So Jessica had a solid backbone the whole time and did her best with stopping the villains. She was more proactive than a lot of other characters would be in her place.

I do have some problems with Chauncey though. The first is that he’s on fraud watch the whole time. He doesn’t manage to take down the boy who messed with Alice’s stuff. Since Chauncey is supposed to be super protective why not bump the guy off? That part didn’t really make any sense. Then once the characters are in his domain, he isn’t able to take down almost anybody? He takes out a single victim and that’s it. Very disappointing showing for this guy. I also think his true form could have been cooler.

The giant bear is hype but the shadow human silhouette? Nahhh that was a bit too generic. The eye popping out effect also looked a bit more strange than scary. Honestly the film just overthought itself. The big bear form was plenty scary, focusing on that would be a really good idea. Chauncey’s also not that spooky when talking through Alice. Having him do more on his own would be a good idea. Even the final jump scare of the movie is really half hearted. Should have gone a bit further/had some movement to really work.

A very valid criticism for the film is that it’s not particularly scary. At its core this feels more like a film about Jessica trying to fit into the family and it’s a wholesome enough plot. The horror around it feels rather mild the whole time. Again that is probably good in terms of keeping things from getting too violent. There is really only one bloody scene and it’s mainly off camera. They still could have found ways to have had Chauncey be a little more relevant though.

We do have a spooky next door neighbor character though. Would have been nice if Taylor had more common sense though. Why go into a stranger’s house in the middle of the night? I don’t care if the lady is 90 years old, that still could end really badly especially with how over the top shady she was. Everybody tends to be shady in this kind of film. The weakest part of the film is probably Jessica’s past with her father though. The movie spends a decent amount of time here without a great payoff. At the same time, the two scariest moments of the film involve his transformation so maybe it was worth it to include him in there. It might sound crazy to say this but the spider monster was scarier than Chauncey.

Overall, For a film about an imaginary friend you would expect more scenes that revolve around the supernatural world. The imaginary friend part isn’t really relevant until the literal climax of the film and that’s where the missed opportunities were. I think the climax should have been longer and should have started earlier. That’s the meat and potatoes of the story after all. The twist about Chauncey’s true target was really good and I also liked a good fakeout there. It’s really good stuff but all crammed in at the very end of the adventure when that should have been the main focus. Check this out if you want a decent thriller title but don’t expect to get scared at all. It’s not really that kind of film.

Overall 6/10

Grace & Glorie Review

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It’s time for one of those emotional titles. This one definitely is working on hitting you in the feels the whole time but doesn’t bring a lot to the table beyond that. Glorie is a really good character but everyone else can be really annoying the whole time and so that limits the film a bit. There is also not really anything in the way of replay value so the film has to do its best to succeed in spite of that. It’s not a bad film but I would also say there aren’t many reasons to check it out.

The movie introduces us to Glorie who is a hospice volunteer. She moved away from the big city with her husband after tragic events involving her son and now she can try to put his death behind her. It won’t be so easy though. She meets an old lady named Grace who is slowly dying and not taking things too well. She is refusing all help and is determined to go out on her terms. She doesn’t trust other people like lawyers or doctors and is causing a lot of trouble by not letting anyone help her. Glorie is determined to help her but is she up to the task?

I’d say the toughest part for Glorie is that she is a volunteer so there is a point at which her hands are tied. She can only do so much here after all. Still she goes in with a good attitude and only crashes out once. The crash out wasn’t a great look for her to be honest but in a drama film you are expecting this at least once. All in all she was good and definitely one of the highlight characters in the film. Without her Grace would have really been in trouble. You never really get over the kind of trauma that Grace experienced here but you can do your best to at least make some kind of progress.

For that reason her husband could be a bit annoying here even if he did end up coming in clutch each time when Glorie needed him. He was just way too petty and sulky the whole film. Snapping at his wife real quick each time and being in a rush despite what she’s going through. The fact that he even wanted another kid after what happened to the last one is pretty crazy. You can float the idea once but if Glorie isn’t up for it then you definitely shouldn’t bring it up again. It’s a rough situation but that’s gotta be the last thing she would want to hear at that point.

Meanwhile Grace’s last direct relative looks awful here. His wife really wants some kind of inheritance and he shuts that down at least but he is really quick to turn on Grace and even Glorie later. The guy is completely self absorbed and acts like a jerk throughout the movie. He just needs to toughen up and get with the program. I understand that his role isn’t easy but it still doesn’t give him any reason to be acting like a child here. He should have explained things better to Grace and made his points without being so petty. Sending her back to the senior home would be good for him but certainly not for her. It’s an especially bad look when she was always talking about how helpful he was. He looks better by the end but it’s a bit late by then.

As for his wife talking about the money the whole time, that has to be one of the most annoying things you can imagine when you’re dying. The last thing you want is for people to be worried about your money. I’d have half a mind to change up the will and put it somewhere else to spite them after that. Not like they’d see the will until I was dead anyway. I was glad that the kid got half though because she was the only one who seemed to really care for Grace’s wellbeing the whole time. The fact that she wrote so many letters and was so consistent about this for years is really quite something. Definitely above and beyond what you would usually expect from a kid.

I think to really make the film more fun they should have made Grace a bit more fun. Instead of her being a little bitter and uptight the whole time, just have her be super optimistic. Maybe the reason she didn’t want to stay at the senior home was because she just wanted to explore a lot and make some final memories. Maybe have her talk Glorie through her trauma instead of just adding onto it. There are a lot of ways this could have gone like even fighting the construction crew in court a bit more. I think those would have all been a lot more interesting and would have really gotten you engaged in what was going on.

So with that and making Glorie’s husband more agreeable that would have been a nice combination. Also the picnic that she prepared could probably have had some more normal foods and it would have really been a hit. If I’m nearing my deathbed, the last thing I want to see is a lobster macaroni salad. Seriously that would just make me want to go back home. Brie cheese isn’t bad though. It’s hardly my favorite cheese but I would appreciate the gesture there. In the film Grace talks about how the conventional oven makes things taste better than electric. I’m skeptical that this is anything more than placebo but I can’t rule it out since soda out of a glass bottle does taste a lot better than plastic.

Overall, Grace and Glorie isn’t a bad film but it’s not the most energetic one either. At the end of the day it is about an old lady who is reaching the end of her life after all so you wouldn’t really expect it to be bubbling with energy or anything like that. Still, it can be a bit of a dreary watch so it isn’t super entertaining. I won’t go as far as to say that it’s boring or anything but it can be uneventful. The ending is satisfying enough but it is a film that feels long as you are watching it and that keeps the movie from really achieving greatness. I would sooner recommend pretty much all of the classic Hallmark Christmas titles over this film. Hallmark is still able to handle itself reasonably well with these films but they aren’t quite the all star hits that you have come to expect from the brand.

Overall 5/10

Fall Review

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Fall is one of those films that basically just has one location and the challenge is to try and keep the film captivating for the full runtime. I think there’s a decent amount of potential in that kind of idea but this premise in particular was pretty limited the whole time. There’s only so much you can do with the tower the whole time and this movie had to resort to some desperate tactics the whole time. Needless to say, this film was not a winner.

The movie starts by introducing us to Becky and her best friend Hunter. They both like climbing a lot but it is a rather dangerous sport and Becky’s husband ends up dying during one such adventure. A year passes and Becky has not been able to recover at all. So Hunter shows up and tells Becky that it’s time to face her fears by climbing an incredibly dangerous radio tower that was decommissioned years ago. Naturally that means it is not up to code anymore and so climbing it is going to be pretty rough. Hunter needs the views for her social media though and Becky is weak to peer pressure so she agrees to go on the mission. Will this be a fatal mistake?

The first thing you’ll notice here is that the film loves going for shock value. We see a dog being eaten alive early on in the film in such a gratuitous scene that it dooms the whole movie. At this point there was literally no way the film was going to redeem itself. That just doesn’t happen. Then later on we have a bird getting eaten alive and so the film really wasn’t holding back on the animal violence. Those were 2 really poor options and yeah the film never did even come close to recovering.

I also feel like the movie wasn’t particularly confident in its own plot. For that reason one of the characters wears a fairly impractical outfit which she says is to appease the viewers and get clicks. It’s sadly realistic but still not a good thing for the movie because it’s just taken to the extreme. I would say live action movies don’t generally have a big fanservice issue but this is an actual plot point and the camera angles are always at the ready so this is another thing that is not in the film’s favor.

Going 3 for 3, the film also has a pretty big writing issue. The script is super low effort with the characters swearing up a storm and so they forget to ever make them all that likable. Hunter is being way too pushy about Becky climbing this super dangerous tower and is then irresponsible as well. Forgetting to pack any food is an absolutely massive oversight. Then we also learn more about their past and it turns out that Hunter was no true friend at all. That was really unnecessary and just added extra drama for no real reason. You really shouldn’t do that, it’s another desperate move on the film’s part that doesn’t enhance the experience at all.

I’d also say it’s the worst possible timing to mention this while you are stuck high up in the sky like this. It’s only a good idea if you want to get pushed off. As for Becky, she’s also not likable as she takes out her grief on everybody else. It’s fine not to have moved on after a year but then you need to be able to internalize this pretty well and not just double down on the mistakes. You also shouldn’t let yourself get manipulated so easily and make no mistake, she was easily handled by Hunter. Just not a good idea because usually peer pressure is done in a negative way. It doesn’t have to be that way but that’s usually how it goes.

The film handles its twist pretty well. It feels like the twist was all anybody would talk about for this film after it came out because it was so legendary and I do think that part was handled pretty well. I still have some logic issues with the film though that are hard to overlook. For starters when Hunter heads back down for the drone, why not use it right then? Instead of making a 20/80 jump to try to get back up, use it right away. If you can get help then you will have pulled off a great moment. You could probably even use it to carefully guide the remaining phone down. The low battery issue would have come up either way but they didn’t know that at the time.

You’ll probably have to stretch your disbelief the most when night time comes. You just don’t buy that the characters wouldn’t roll off while asleep or that a big gust of wind wouldn’t blow them away. They are way too sentient and operating logically even after having been up there for well over 24 hours. Adrenaline can get you pretty far but not quite this far. They’re still able to climb and move around with maneuvers that take up a whole lot of upper body strength. It’s especially a stretch for Becky who has spent the last year drinking endless amounts of beer at the bar and just lounging her life away. You will keep some strength but enough to pull off all these stunts? Nah, I don’t even believe it for Hunter much less Becky. Too much energy was spent just getting up the tower, let alone being stuck up there for so long.

Beyond that, the film shows how hopeless the whole thing was pretty well. Once you are on that tower there aren’t a whole lot of options available to you. Climbing that is a bad idea in itself but people do bad ideas for clicks all the time online so it’s not super surprising. It doesn’t make the characters any more likable though. I think what would have made this film more likable would be if they had a great reason for climbing like someone was offering money that they needed for a sick relative or something. You’d get the reasoning a bit better.

Of course the film would obviously still fail if it didn’t clean up the animal violence though. There’s no real getting around that particularly with how violent those moments were. The one location type films can be hit or miss and at the end of the day this one was a miss. We did check off the box of having super mean passerbys though as two guys show up just to really stick it to the leads. Perhaps unnecessary but also a bit funny because what are the odds these guys would be that level of corrupt right? Like at least call the cops after stealing the van or something.

Overall, Fall is not a film that I would recommend. Even aside from all the unnecessary moments, it’s just not a film that is very confident in its own story. I think deep down the writers knew that there was no shut things would work out after being stuck on top and so they had to add a whole lot of drama to try and distract you. The main problem is that the distractions simply don’t work so at the end of the day you’re just shaking your head the whole time. If you want a film with a whole lot more tension you should probably keep on searching elsewhere.

Overall 2/10

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire Review

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It’s time for another Ghostbusters adventure and this one does its best to give everybody some time to shine. It almost feels like a bit of an ensemble cast with how many people are showing up now. Unfortunately one of my least favorite characters gets most of the screentime and keeps on making mistakes in this one. Ghostbusters making mistakes on the job is nothing new though. This is a fairly enjoyable film but one that is lacking the It factor to get higher.

The film starts off with an ice demon taking a bunch of people down for the count and then vanishing. Something mysterious is amidst. Unfortunately the cycle will continue as the orb that it is sealed in gets bought by one of the original Ghostbusters who has become an antique dealer now. As soon as that orb is opened up it could spell the end of the world. Meanwhile Phoebe is being visited by a mysterious ghost and since she has no true friends, she is a little more susceptible to social engineering. Will the Ghostbusters’ biggest weakness be one of their own?

So on the positives it is impressive how much is being juggled here. You have the original trio of Ghostbusters, the new fighters which comprises the 4 from the last film, a new guy who may be the next Firemaster, and the B team led by the social media guy and the girl who has taken more of a scientist angle. So that’s a ton to squeeze in along with all of the fight scenes and ghosts popping up. As a result the film does feel rather busy and it’s a good thing that it’s as long as it was. That said, the best characters tend to be the older Ghostbusters so you just wish they could take the starring role at this point. Even if it feels like a nostalgia cash grab, they would be way better than the kids.

Phoebe has the biggest role here as she has to deal with the fact that she’s still a minor and as a result cannot be a legal Ghostbuster. The government plays the antagonist role here but it really does make sense. It’s a super dangerous job even for adults and this wouldn’t fly anywhere else. Obviously the mayor does have a grudge so this is super personal but the argument itself is sound. Phoebe is there for the whole scene but still blames the rest of the team for not defending her.

The problem is that Phoebe proves them right time and time again with how immature she is. She has a habit of making a bad situation worse over and over and over again. There’s just no stopping her and that’s a very bad thing. The plot of her meeting the ghost is even worse though because she doesn’t know this ghost and yet they become friends really fast. Phoebe trusts her enough to let her into the base and even though the ghost acts really suspicious by going right to the generator, Phoebe doesn’t think anything of it. In fact, she leaves the ghost unattended for the rest of the night as she goes to sleep. Really bad idea right there.

I get the plot of Phoebe feeling lonely but this is still pretty inexcusable. This is a universe much like Frieren where Ghosts are just evil creatures and have to be stopped with no ifs ands or buts. For the nicer ones they get nicer prisons but you’re not just letting any on the loose. It simply isn’t done and so Phoebe needed to take her down right away. Now could Phoebe have won? Probably not, the Ghostbusters equipment continues to be incredibly unreliable, slow, and weak. It’s impressive that they have even lasted this long to be honest. The ghosts can dodge the laser, fly high enough so it doesn’t work, crash into things to get the humans off their tail, etc. Realistically they’re not catching anything with that laser.

Her brother gets the shaft this time which is probably good. He basically tries unsuccessfully to take down the garbage ghost and pays the price. Instead we have a big role for Nadeem who shows up early on. The guy is good at scamming and doing whatever it takes in order to make a quick buck. He may not be the most heroic guy out there but he knows what it takes to survive. So then we get a big plot about how he actually has super powers and it’s not half bad. The guy has a lot of good humor scenes and to be honest you’re rooting for him over the Ghostbusters. He quickly starts to steal the show in every scene that he is in.

It does lead to some wonky power levels but this is Ghostbusters so that’s par for the course. The main ice villain here is fairly decent as he gets cool dialogue and a solid design. He doesn’t look super impressive combat wise but the verse isn’t the strongest. I would have just liked there to have been more effort to defeat him or more reason on why he didn’t just immediately murder everybody with the spikes. Seriously in the climax the heroes go at him with no real plan and have to be bailed out multiple times. I think the “best” part here was when they all tried shooting him with the lasers that they knew didn’t work and then they looked shocked when…they still don’t work.

Gary and Callie have a subplot where they are trying to establish their relationship with the kids and make it way more convoluted and harder than it has to be. If they’re married then he’s the step dad and if they’re not, then he’s just plain ole Gary. It’s that simple and yet the whole time they keep stammering about this and by the end I’m not even totally sure of their status. It sounds to me like they’re still dating but I’m not sure. Either way the advice Callie has is for Gary to be tougher on the kids instead of just being a friend but I would argue this is terrible advice if they aren’t married yet. He would really not have much say and if they are, then sure that’s fine.

Felt like a bit of a waste as far as subplots go though. Still, Gary and Callie are at least fun and more entertaining than the kids. They are a bit useless in the actual Ghostbusting though so hopefully they amp up their skills. It is a bit sad that the kids really do all of the work. Back in the old days everybody had a super big role. As for the old timers, they had some fun moments and it was nice to see them in the mix. They may not be able to keep up as much as they used to, but they do their best.

So all in all this feels like a Ghostbusters through and through. I sort of mean it as a complement but to be honest it’s a soft one. The movie feels fairly interchangeable with the others and it feels like the series hasn’t been able to reclaim the fun vibes of the first title. There are some pretty good jokes here. The movie does manage to be pretty funny but the action scenes aren’t quite as entertaining and the movie has a very hard time keeping a straight face during the serious scenes. It’s like the movie is being really serious but the characters themselves can’t really acknowledge what is going on.

For that reason it should probably lean a bit harder on the comedy angle and really let the action just fade out. We can still have a fun climax of course but handling the tone just right is difficult and seems to be too much of a challenge for this film. We do get a remix of the classic theme at the end which was good though. I was waiting the whole film for that and I’m glad that it didn’t disappoint. They should really try to surpass it with a new song but I’m not holding my breath.

Overall, by the end of the film you will probably agree with the mayor that the Ghostbusters are a danger to society. They cause crazy amounts of collateral damage even dealing with a throwaway ghost like in the first scene. They didn’t plan out the storage well so a lot of the chaos throughout the film is directly their fault. In fact, I’d go as far as to say the whole film is their fault. It doesn’t seem like anybody else would have been able to unlock the seal on the orb and having all of the ghosts in one place is a massive security risk. They do their best with the ghosts but the mayor needs to just create some ghost guns and give them to the cops. I’m sure they’ll end up doing a better job.

Overall 6/10