Category Archives: Live Action Movie Reviews

Shock Review

Posted on by
Reply


Shock is a pretty old movie about why you have to be careful how you word things. The main heroine could have saved herself a lot of grief if she had handled things better and on the other hand, the main guy should have been more on the ball. Throughout the movie you may be wondering how the heroes can get out of their fate since they are falling into all of the old traps. The movie is pretty short so you won’t have to wonder for too long.

It’s only around an hour after all so there is definitely not a whole lot of time here. The movie starts off with Janet arriving at a hotel to prepare for her husband’s arrival after being a prisoner of war for many years. Unfortunately either the hotel lost her reservation or she forgot to make one but they say she can stay for a day. She goes to her room but then witnesses Dr. Cross murdering his wife through the window. This puts her in a state of shock so fantastic that she is unable to move or make a sound. Her husband Paul arrives and sees her in this state so he quickly calls the doctor who then calls in Dr. Cross since Cross is the world’s leading expert in this kind of thing. Cross explains he can fix her but he’ll have to do it in his private hospital. Cross takes her there and his new girlfriend Elaine realizes that Janet is the only witness to the murder. They will have to make sure she never recovers.

Now this plot does hinge on quite a few things. One of the big ones of course being the fact that if Janet had been able to react even slightly or do anything other than panic the whole time then they wouldn’t have even taken her to the hospital. Paul did a pretty bad job of trying to wake her up as well to be honest. You’d think there are a lot of things you could try before taking her to a private hospital.

The only thing I would say on Paul’s behalf is at least the hospital doesn’t seem shady on its surface. It has a great reputation along with the lead doctor and it has been generating positive results for an incredibly long time. There is no reason to doubt that he would heal her…initially. As the film goes on Janet flat out tells Paul why she got traumatized and how Cross murdered his wife, but Paul doesn’t believe her at all. Throughout the film he gives authorization for all kinds of treatments to be used on her which just makes you shake your head.

As Paul even notes many times, Janet is not getting better so why let this continue? The fact that she was able to recognize him and have a discussion…multiple times should have told him that something was up. That’s why Paul ended up being my least favorite character in the film. He could and should have handled everything so much better than he did. He just ended up putting Janet in a lot of danger the whole time.

As for Janet, she’s not innocent either. Really, she could have framed things so much better. Put it this way, when she first woke up she could have quickly played along so everyone would see she was sane and she could have left the hospital immediately. She could have told Paul she wanted to leave with him or even said something like they had not been letting her see him for a while. Something to put him on high alert so they could leave. Jumping right into the story about Cross murdering the wife and yelling just helped make Paul think she was crazy. Now, either way Paul should have helped but this didn’t do her any favors. Same with her initial escape attempt.

Then we have Elaine who is definitely portrayed as the most sinister character. She has absolutely 0 qualms about just murdering everyone in their way. She’s consistent in that degree which doesn’t bode well for her by the end. Then you have Cross who tries to be a lot more wishy washy about the whole thing which is hard to buy. You don’t just murder someone without meaning to do so and you especially don’t end up doing that twice. I wasn’t buying that in either instance. So when he keeps on talking about how he didn’t mean to and everything it’s hard to buy into that. Even his quick change of heart at the end doesn’t amount to much because he had already gone this far. Such a character just can’t be trusted.

Shock is a film where it can be tough to see how everyone is manipulated so easily. I can cut some characters a break like the inspector and the number 1 authority on shocks because from what both of them saw there just wasn’t anything to suspect. It’s a little harder to buy into some of the staff but the trickiest characters are absolutely Paul and Janet because there just isn’t a whole lot of defending either one of them. They just keep putting themselves in worse and worse positions.

The writing in the film is solid even with the characters acting like this though. I always like the script and dialogue with films back in this era as all of the characters just sound very regal and sophisticated. The style works out rather well. The pacing is naturally pretty decent with the film being so short and all. There’s no way this movie could end up dragging out at this point.

Overall, Shock is a film that has a pretty direct plot from start to finish. You do feel like the characters could have handled this a lot better though which can be a bit annoying at times. It’s a shame since the actual hospital did end up being rather legitimate but having someone corrupt at the top is all you need to completely destroy the whole environment. It’s a decent film so I’d recommend it if you want to watch an old school thriller but there are better options out there.

Overall 6/10

Face/Off Review

Posted on by
2

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

Face/Off is definitely one of the more intense action thrillers I’ve seen in quite a while. Everything really just keeps happening nonstop as we get many different gunfights and the body count is massive. Prepare yourself for an explosive time here as both of the main characters definitely will not be holding back this time around. It definitely has its share of slip ups but I will say this for the film, it does deliver on a lot of hype.

The movie starts with Castor attempting to assassinate Sean Archer, an agent of special forces. Unfortunately instead he ends up hitting Sean’s son. Castor decides to leave at that point although I was surprised he didn’t just take a second shot. We cut to 6 years later where Archer has finally tracked Castor down and defeats him after a big fight scene. The issue is that he has already planted a big bomb in the city that could destroy thousands. The only way to find out the truth is for Sean to go undercover using Castor’s face. There is a surgical operation that allows a person to swap faces with another and it’s actually a reversible process so supposedly there is no risk. Sean must now enter a top security max prison in order to find out about the bomb but meanwhile Castor wakes up and steals Sean’s face. With both people assuming the other’s identity, a game of cat and mouse begins.

When I say this film is nonstop action that’s almost an understatement. The amount of explosions here is absolutely crazy with both characters going at it over and over again. The movie has great music to accompany the fights and the slow-mo can be pretty fun with the jumping gun shots. Gunfights can get quite stylistic when you do them right and this crew definitely knows how to handle them. The standout fight for me may actually be the very first one at the airport though although there’s a lot of high quality ones.

You’ll notice right away that this film has quite the body count though. Characters are being blown to shreds left and right. If you’re a supporting character or even a main one you are absolutely not safe here. There were a few characters that died rather unexpectedly if you ask me. I’d point to at least a certain hospital scene for that where there were two characters that I thought were going to make it out of this. Then if you’re any kind of nameless grunt trying to get into the action that’s game over. Some characters are almost literally minding their own business but just get shot anyway while the characters are fighting. By the ending, while it’s an uplifting one, there’s a bitter sweet element to it since Castor manages to take out so many people. Even Sean is forced to take out a bunch while he is undercover since he needed to get out alive.

The movie goes out of its way to make Castor as unlikable and irredeemable as possible though. In his very first scene he makes it abundantly clear that he is absolutely crazy and this never lets up. It does get to the point where he begins to hold the film back though. He has so many bad scenes that you’ll lose count. You’re supposed to dislike the character of course but I think the movie could have shown a bit more restraint with him.

Meanwhile Sean is a good character. He is put in a very tough situation most of the time though. Things are not easy on him for over half the film. I have to say that I definitely wouldn’t have agreed with his decision to swap faces in the first place but at least he was doing it for the right reasons. The rest of the film is him just having to deal with the consequences of that. He’s a good guy and even ends up helping out with someone else’s kid who would have been in a tough spot without him. His instincts as a parent kicked in quick and I definitely had no qualms with him as the lead.

This film can definitely be very violent at times. It’s certainly an old school thriller in that sense with people being shot dead left and right. You’ve also got the face operations of course which are gruesome almost by definition. The whole process looks crazy painful and even just imagining how someone would look without a face is not a pleasant sight. As for the constant explosions, I will admit that they almost get funny after a point. At the very least it’s hard not to laugh near the end when the two characters are lighting the city on fire because of how over the top it is. The same fight scene is extended multiple times so that the fight gets restarted each and every time you think it’s about to be over. Definitely, a good way to keep you guessing on when it’ll actually end though.

Face/Off has some decent humor scenes though. I liked when the scientist got summoned to Castor at the hospital and still had the guts to ask what he wanted. It was rather obvious as Castor pointed out so it’s not the kind of thing you’d usually have to ask twice about. I guess he was stressed out which is why he didn’t put 2 and 2 together though. There’s other funny moments like that as well and it helps the film keep a light tone even with how violent and dark other aspects of it could be.

I also liked the scenes when Castor and Sean would face off. There was a lot of pretty intense battles between them with strong dialogue and generally hype scenes. Likewise at the very end of the film we also get a really good standoff between a bunch of the characters. I always like standoff moments like that. They’re quite tense and test out how quick on the draw you are.

The thing is, Castor gets away with a ton in this film. While he’s masquerading as Sean, he gets to abuse his power quite a lot. That’s not even getting to the fact that he was with Sean’s wife for a while and that whole plot-line’s just not pleasant even if you don’t really see anything. The idea of two guys getting to switch their lives in a thriller context is definitely a unique one and this film really tried to make the most of it, but ultimately it just made too many mistakes for me to say it’s a good title.

Overall, Face/Off is a very long film and you can feel the length. That said, unlike some films that are this long, I wouldn’t say that’s a bad thing. On one hand, usually you want a long film to feel short because it means that the film really breezed by, but on the other hand, I think you can appreciate just how much this film was able to accomplish in its run-time. The movie was able to really delve into this plot and the various ramifications of it a lot more than it ever could have done so in around 90 minutes. Really if the film would have laid off of the violence and heavily toned down Castor’s character, I think everything would have worked out really nicely. It’s not like it would be a perfect film but those two changes would have made a world of difference. Castor ultimately just goes way too far so you aren’t able to enjoy pretty much any scene where it’s just him so he holds the whole thing back.

Overall 4/10

Libel Review

Posted on by
2


Whenever a film has a court scene I know it’s going to be good and the effect naturally increases when almost the whole film is built around such a case. Libel is a movie that really handles all of its elements really well. You’ve got a strong cast here and a lot going on as well. The movie has a very satisfying journey and conclusion so it’s definitely worth your time to check it out.

The movie starts with Jeffrey arriving home in between tours at the army. He is enjoying a quick drink when a program goes on TV that startles him. It’s his old friend Mark except some things don’t make sense. Mark has convenient memory loss but Jeffrey knows this has to be fake. His friend Mark is dead and this has to be an imposter known as Frank. Jeffrey publishes an article in the paper exposing Mark and so Mark retaliates by suing him. The two of them must now go into court to battle it out and see if Mark is telling the truth or if he is actually Frank. Only one man can walk away the victor this time so they will have to battle it out pretty carefully.

The court is in session for a good chunk of the film spanning several days. It’s definitely a blast seeing the case unfold in real time as the characters try to connect the dots and see what is going on. We get several different flashbacks, some of which we see more than once from different points of view. We learn a whole lot about the characters, particularly Frank who is clearly an antagonist. In the flashbacks he is quick to threaten Jeffrey’s life with a pipe he found and just seems unhinged the entire time. Certainly not someone you can get along with. If anything I think Mark had too loose of an attitude with him. He shakes off the fact that a murder was nearly committed or that Frank was reading his letter. Throughout the flashbacks we see that Mark never took him very seriously which definitely ends up being a bit of a mistake.

It was hard to understand him there. The whole “Both of you stop” is always the worst response when it’s clearly only one of the characters starting something. Mark is a solid main character in the present though. He definitely has a of self doubt thanks to what happened in the war and being a bit traumatized here and there but on the whole he seems to be a good guy. This case is definitely doing a number on him as well though.

Meanwhile you have Margaret who is doing her best to support him even when things get rather tricky. He really isn’t giving her a lot to work with though so Margaret has to find everything out along with the Jury which puts her in a pretty tricky spot. Finally you have Jeffrey who has to be the standout character here. He is quite determined to see justice done and that’s always something you have to respect in a character. He’s not doing any of this for money but to keep up the honor of his friend’s name and to protect everyone from the deception. From his point of view, he can’t exactly let this slide.

You’ve also got some side characters running around as well. One of them is Mark’s cousin who has a story about a scar that makes things difficult at trial. He definitely seems like a slippery character. Then you have the two lawyers who were really good. Both of them do a really good job of defending their clients and I do like how it was mentioned that they get along really well outside of work. It shows that they do a good job of not letting the work ever get too personal. They do their jobs and just make sure to do them well.

All of the court scenes were handled with a lot of dignity which is always important. Everyone follows the rules and so the experience goes pretty smoothly. The actual mystery is explained pretty well too. It’s all pretty logical and does take us from point A to B. The whole amnesia thing is super convenient of course but I guess without that we would not have a film at all. As a result Mark ends up acting a little shady near the beginning of the film with how he keeps so many secrets all the time. Part of it was memory loss and the other part was just hiding things so he doesn’t take any chances which is extremely risky.

The main characters have a dog and a kid but surprisingly they don’t appear much. I’m definitely fine with that so we can cut to the heart of the matter. That said, it does illustrate why it is such a bad idea to keep your doors unlocked all day and allow tours of the residence. If it had been more of a dangerous guy instead of Jeffrey, he would have easily had time to kidnap the family or even just rob some things as he walked out. Of course this film is quite old but you still feel like the whole thing was a bit reckless of the leads. It’s not really important to the plot but when you see the reporters just walking in and taking names, it definitely makes you think.

Overall, Libel is a solid film. The story is very interesting and the characters are good. When you mix that together then you have a good film that can stand on its own and has a good amount of replay value. One thing that was not fully explained was the moment with the jacket. Best thing I could think of was the character being worried that anyone finding out what had happened could get him in trouble but if anything then you would want less evidence right? Leaving the jacket could be worse so I’m not sure exactly what was going on there but that’s really my own question. Beyond that you’re all set to just jump in and have a good time here.

Overall 7/10

Cast a Dark Shadow Review

Posted on by
Reply


Usually characters making a lot of shaky decisions is thought to be more of a horror trope. Well, this film manages to give that a run for its money since none of the characters are all that smart here. They make a ton of mistakes so by the end there is a lot of tension since you can’t trust them to pull through. It’s always a bit of a twist to have the main villain act as the main character and it works rather well here. The film keeps you guessing.

The movie starts by introducing us to Edward and his much older wife. It’s one of those age gap marriages where Edward did it for the money while Monica doesn’t notice this since she just wanted a companion. Well, Edward had been slowly accelerating her death by constantly feeding her wine but one day she mentions that she will be setting up a will so Edward quickly murders her. He figured that she would be giving all of her money to family when in fact she was going to give it all to him. Edward now realizes that he should have held off on the murder for another day at least but it’s too late. So he quickly goes on a trip and finds the rich Freda and decides to marry her. He’s back to being rich but can he keep the truth from her?

I want to say that the writing is pretty good. While a lot of the characters act rather questionably, I wouldn’t say this is a writing thing but simply that the characters were not meant to be all that smart. It’s not exactly unheard of after all. At best I would say Freda is the character where you have to wonder what she has done to secure herself if anything. But lets take a step back and talk about some of the characters and why I didn’t think they handled things well.

First up is Edward. So of course if he had just waited 1 more day he would have been rich beyond belief. Considering what a final moment this was and how big a deal it was, he definitely could have asked her a little more directly about her intentions. I also dare say he could have read the room a bit more when her attorney was around and how displeased he was. That should have been a big tipoff that she was about to give him a lot of money. It just makes the most amount of sense and yet Edward did not realize this which cost him. He’s certainly not a good character anyway though so you’re glad to see him fail.

Then you have Monica who just didn’t see the writing in the wall here. She didn’t realize that he was after her money and ultimately didn’t last too long. It’s tough when you’re rich since peo0ple may want you for the money so it’s always hard to know when the love was genuine. It’s too bad she couldn’t have found companionship through a club or something instead. Then you have the maid Emmie who you’ll feel bad for. She has done a good job for the family and yet Monica left her with almost nothing. I feel like she should have gotten more. Then you feel bad for her with Edward just tricking her the whole time and not paying her. Definitely another underhanded trick. Emmie gets tricked a lot and is just too trusting for her own good.

Then you have Phillip who is the most sensible member of the cast. He doesn’t trust Edward and has no reservations about saying this to his face either. Phillip puts the guy in his place and does a really good job of it too. He really deserves a lot of credit in this film for always staying one step ahead of Edward and also for not getting intimidated. With this we’re down to the final two main characters who both get sizable roles.

First up is Freda who is the lady who ends up marrying Edward. She talks a really good game about not getting tricked and keeping close watch of her money but to marry Edward so quickly was a rookie mistake. Naturally he was hiding a ton of secrets even if she never could have guessed to this extent. So, she did make sure not to cut a check so I wonder if when marrying they signed something keeping the money separate. Otherwise I was surprised he couldn’t just take her money or sign in his name. It’s fortunate it wasn’t that easy at least. She held her ground but there were so many red flags here after they were married. Yelling at her for going into the old wife’s room is a big one and of course all the threats of violence and such against her. She made sure to always see things in a humorous light but she really got herself into a bad situation. Her final scene nearly made things even more dangerous.

Finally you have Charlotte, a rich lady who showed up recently and is looking to buy a house. Naturally Edward has an interest in her as well. Charlotte’s role here is pretty solid and I do like her plan. Admittedly, it is still an incredibly risky plan. She made a lot of rational points which in theory guarantee her safety but when you’re dealing with a psychotic murderer there is no guarantee that they will act rationally. She was risking an awful lot with her plan so I appreciate the fact that she stuck to her guns but things almost got dicey anyway. Particularly in the final scene as well things almost went sideways.

Cast a Dark Shadow is definitely a film that reminds you to always be cautious around people you don’t truly know. Just because you meet someone for a few minutes and they seem nice doesn’t mean that you should suddenly marry them or go over to their house past midnight when you give a call. People can lie after all and then suddenly their nice story isn’t as pleasant as it appeared to me. A lot of the characters in this film took way too much at face value which is what really let to things being pretty difficult for them. Edward was outsmarting most of the cast for quite a while and the whole time you’re waiting for him to be defeated.

Overall, Cast a Dark Shadow is a very interesting villain. It can be annoying seeing everyone fall into Edward’s traps though. Particularly Freda since I liked her tough personality and how she would stand up to him. Just after all the bravado it would usually lead to her falling into the trap anyway so I wouldn’t say it went perfectly. The lawyer Phillip definitely deserves a lot of credit though because he was definitely crucial to making sure things go well. In general he was just a fun guy too. If you’re up for a solid thriller then this film is good to watch. Have a glass of water with you and take a shot every time a character says or does something that makes you shake your head.

Overall 6/10

Killer Klowns From Outer Space Review

Posted on by
Reply


Killer Clowns is one of those films that is effectively part parody and part horror so it tries to grab both of those genres to have at the ready. It handles this pretty well for the most part. I’d say it doesn’t quite bump itself up into the territory of “very good” but I wouldn’t call it a bad film either way. When you mix the idea of a classic clown with aliens then you’ve got yourself a pretty interesting premise right off the bat filled with all kinds of craziness.

The movie starts off with a meteor crash landing on the outskirts of town. It turns out that this was actually a space circus filled with murderous klowns who aim to destroy everyone they can find. Effectively they are like alien invaders who go from planet to planet murdering the inhabitants and using their blood as if they were vampires. This time the town they have landed in isn’t very advanced so the humans are going to have to watch out. The problem is that this is one of those neighborhoods with a lot of pranks and a cop who is pretty corrupt. As a result, the Klowns manage to gain a lot of ground before anyone really even notices they are there.

Mike and Debbie are the main characters here as they are the first to find the Klowns and live to tell the tale. Fortunately for the the Klowns are very slow so outrunning them isn’t a big deal most of the time. They have great offensive power through their guns which can destroy an opponent in one shot as well as their shadow powers which can make any shadow real. They have no way to bump up their speed though so that gives the humans a chance. They also have a weakness which is their nose. If it sustains any kind of damage then the klown will be knocked out of existence really quick. Pretty good trick to have right?

By giving the aliens a weakness this already makes the film more interesting than if they were invincible. That said, they are still incredibly powerful so don’t expect the humans to do well. As the film goes on the Klowns end up taking a ton of people down. Pretty much everyone gets defeated at one point or another whether it be through fake pizza deliveries or not being able to react in time. It definitely gets especially tricky for two prisoners who were locked up and unable to escape when the Klown shows up. By the end of the film there aren’t a whole lot of survivors.

As for the leads, I can’t say any of the characters were all that likable. Mike apparently pranks people quite a lot as it is and he was a bit careless with taking Debbie inside a mysterious tent that could be super dangerous. Probably not the best move there all things considered but at least he has a lot of confidence in his friends the Terenzi brothers to the point where he isn’t worried when they vanish while on the enemy ship.

Then you have Debbie who panics quite a bit here. I’ll give her props for being able to fight off the popcorn monsters though. She actually did a good job of buying time throughout the scene until eventually they overwhelmed her. It was quite a bit lucky to say the least that they decided to spare her after murdering pretty much everyone else though. Technically near the end we see a few more volleyballs so presumably there are other people trapped but in one of those unexpected moments the heroes don’t have time to save them so they blow them up instead.

As for Dave, I guess he would be seen as one of the most reasonable characters in the film. He hasn’t quite gotten over Debbie yet though and takes a lot of below the belt shots at Mike but still was willing to go into the forest to check things out. I have to give him some credit there and he takes out a lot of the Klowns once he figures out their weakness. He certainly did more damage than Mooney, especially considering that the guy was talking so tough the whole time. Of course you know exactly how that plot is going to end but it still makes for a pretty fun sequence. The guy’s just so confident and has the sarcastic attitude down pat. He probably just should have kept his guard up with the Klowns though.

As for the Terenzi brothers, those guys didn’t really add anything to the film. I could have definitely done without them. They are here for the comedy of course but the film already had a good amount of it so I don’t think we needed them. As for the comedy itself, I’d say the film hits a lot more than it misses. Mooney gets a lot of funny scenes, I liked the banter with the characters, and some scenes like the Klowns trying to bump someone off the road are just classic. It’s hard to deny that those moments are definitely on point.

Then you have some jokes that are a little too extended like the shop owner glancing at the Klowns the whole time or the Terenzi brothers and pretty much anything they say. The farmer with his exaggerated reactions was definitely interesting to be sure but I wouldn’t call that scene very funny. Fortunately the movie handled the dog scene as well as possible. I was gearing up for a very shaky beginning to the film but at least we don’t see anything and maybe the Klowns don’t mess with animals. Not likely of course but hey, implied is better than showing.

Despite the lighter tone of the film it does get rather violent at times. The cocoons basically bleed people dry so whenever you open it you can expect the human to not look so good. One human literally gets melted by pie but the film actually managed to make that scene not so violent. One person is used as a live puppet which was definitely intense and so you never know when the film is about to escalate things. It definitely underscores that the Klowns may not look like threats, but they are really doing a number on the town. There’s also some brief fanservice in the film like the obligatory shower and one person who opens the door for delivery but the film mainly manages to avoid this.

Killer Klowns definitely manages to be more of a roller coaster ride next to its peers. Its better than most horror films that I’ve seen but loses to most of the Sci-Fi ones so that helps it try to find that balance. It makes sense that you would take both the pros and cons of the genres. The weak characters and the sudden violence is something more out of horror, but the cool set designs, weapons, and fun dialogue is more Sci-Fi based. I definitely like how the tent doubled as a space ship and in general the film looks pretty good. The guns are unique and clearly a lot of thought went into the Klowns. Since they don’t talk much that just makes them even more mysterious. I believe they only had 1 true scene where they talked when they were messing with Mooney.

Finally it’s worth noting that the soundtrack here is pretty great. So on a technical level the film succeeded with the visuals being on point and the soundtrack really nailing that 80s vibe. It’s got a lot of life to it and helps really make the film more memorable. A good soundtrack goes a long way after all and it does get that subtle terror tone mixed in with the usual clown tracks. All we needed at the end of the film was a huge intergalactic battle with other alien species like the Tooth Fairy and this could have really hit the moon with how crazy things got.

Overall, Killer Klowns is definitely a very memorable film. It manages to really execute on the parody elements and the idea of having a Clown (Even if they’re known as Klowns) is pretty genius. Invading a small town like this where nobody suspects anything and the police are intentionally not helping thanks to Mooney makes things pretty interesting. At times the film can definitely get quite disturbing like the scene of a Klown drinking someone’s blood but for the most part it is just focusing on how crazy this whole thing is. The Klowns seem to keep thinking of new powers as they face new obstacles in the film. We get a nice stinger at the end of the film horror style where you know that the humans are pretty much doomed and it’s really the ideal way to wraps things up. I get the feeling a remake/sequel would not be quite as good as the original but I’d be interested to see how they handle this in a modern environment. I doubt anyone will believe the main character even if he snaps a photo so that should help prevent technology from changing things quite as much. If you like the idea of a wonky Sci-Fi film that definitely goes all out then this could be up your alley. It gets pretty intense at times but everything moves at a quick pace so one second you’ll be in a serious horror moment and in the next you’ll be in comedy land.

Overall 5/10

The Atomic Brain Review

Posted on by
Reply


Time for a really old sci-fi film that’s also incredibly short. The film is barely over an hour so the whole thing really vanishes in a flash. It has some interesting ideas but don’t expect the characters to make any smart moves. They fall into every trap possible which makes sense because otherwise you’ll wonder how such an old lady can possibly hope to keep them on the defensive. The only way this works is if the heroines don’t know what they are doing.

The film starts by explaining the premise to us. Hettie is a lady who is quite old at this point and she is not ready to die yet. Her idea is that she will take over the body of a much younger girl so that she can live again. The issue is that nobody has succeeded in doing a brain transplant like this yet. Well, she has found one doctor just crazy enough to do it. Otto is his name and victory is his game. He hasn’t quite succeeded yet, but she is sure he will crack the case. She sends her assistant Victor over to pick up the three girls who responded to the interview letter in the paper. Bea, Anita, and Nina are looking forward to a pleasant job here but it looks like they may have gotten more than they bargained for with this one.

From the start you feel like the experiments are suspect at best. Hettie was taking a huge risk allowing the experiment to be performed on her since she could die or any number of things could happen to her. Additionally, this also assumes that Otto isn’t very smart. Everyone knows Hettie will betray him as soon as she has her new body. All he cares about is having funding to continue his experiments on forever and that won’t work. With her sedated for the experiment he has all of the power. So not a good plan and Otto doesn’t make for a particularly smart villain either.

Then you have Victor who is constantly used and manipulated throughout the film. It gets worse when you consider that he has been manipulated for many, many years without even suspecting that something is up. By the time he does, well lets just say that he doesn’t look very good at all. The guy definitely knows how to let his guard down even when in enemy territory. You’d think he would have at least been a little ready for an attack.

As for the three main characters, Anita gets the smallest role from the main 3. She doesn’t know a lot of English but quickly can tell that this place is shady. Unfortunately there’s not a whole lot she can do though so she ends up being taken out pretty quick. Nina and Bea are really the two main characters here. I’d say Bea is the best character as she comes up with plans and is a lot braver than the other characters. I thought the way she went out was a bit unnecessary though. The film’s basically over at this point so why not let her have more of a happy ending right? Feels like Bea really couldn’t catch a break here.

Finally you have Nina who may not stand out as much as the other characters but she did well enough on her own I guess. Ultimately she needed a lot of help but how you get out is the important thing. Again though, you feel like the ladies should have just overpowered Hettie at any point because she is so old. Especially near the end where she makes it plain as day that she will be murdering everyone. Why not take a chance and attack her since things aren’t going well anyway?

The same thing would apply to Victor and Otto as well. At least Otto had a plan though but it seemed like Victory was just going to take everything lying down when he could be doing just about anything instead. He has a lot of reasons to attack Hettie and secure the win that way. Doing so would absolutely have made more sense than just standing there and getting drunk as he feels sorry for himself.

This film actually has a narrator which is not something you see very often anymore. It’s one from the villain’s point of view for the most part as he constantly defends them and explains why things are the way that they are. The voice doesn’t have a whole lot of energy to it though so you can tell he’s just trying to get the lines over with. On one hand, I’d say the film’s dialogue has aged rather well and has that fun retro feel to it. I always tend to like back and forth from the old days like this.

On the other hand, I wouldn’t say the film is quite as fun as some of the other old classics because we don’t really have an active main character here to take everyone down. None of the heroines ever get to fight or anything like that and the subplot of the cat who got a human’s body isn’t exactly a positive for the film. I’ve never been big on the whole humans acting like animals thing. Most recently it gives me flashbacks to that film known as “Cats” which was….certainly an experience. Regardless, you’d think the cat would be a little more cautious or be able to run quicker when you’ve got random monster men out in the field. The film liked to have fun with its hybrid monsters though and everyone gets injured at some point. Bea getting sliced and then squashed was one combo for example.

The heroes just didn’t keep their guard up as much as they should and ended up losing quite a bit more than you’d expect. I think the film could have focused a little more on how crazy this whole thing was and maybe switched everyone’s bodies instead of going down this road. It’s a film with some promise like the nuclear reaction but at the end of the day the character cast is really weak. I dare say you could point to almost any other film from this era that I’ve seen and the cast holds up better.

Overall, What this film really needed was a main character to take some action and get to the bottom of this. Maybe have the police show up at some point to put a little pressure on everyone. Those kinds of details would have helped take the movie to the next level for sure. As it stands, the brain transplant doesn’t work quite as well as it could have with the cat brain since it’s not like the animal can do much here and you feel like there is no point to the animal hybrids since they don’t actually do anything.

Overall 4/10

Southpaw Review

Posted on by
Reply

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

Southpaw is in a lot of ways a modern Rocky film. That said, as long as Creed exists we have a much better version of how to follow Rocky up. The fight scenes in Southpaw aren’t nearly as dynamic as Creed’s and the film goes a little too far in getting Billy to absolute rock bottom for his eventual climb back to success. This isn’t really a film I would recommend but it does have enough positives to keep it from being a bad movie. A sequel would have potential.

The movie starts with Billy becoming the world champion after another big win. His wife Maureen wants him to finally give up boxing though. They have a lot of money as it is and Billy is slowly taking more injuries with each battle. Billy agrees so he prepares a speech but when heading out he is confronted by an up and coming boxer named Miguel. Miguel baits Billy into a fight and during the scuffle one of Miguel’s minions fatally shoots Maureen. After she dies Billy’s life goes into ruins as he tries to end himself which results in his daughter being taken away from him as well. Billy’s also in danger of being bankrupt as he can no longer afford his lifestyle and mansion without money. His only choice is to get back in the ring once more but he’ll need a coach. Can he find someone to help him become the champion again?

So you can definitely see what the film is going for. Absolutely obliterate Billy’s life so then you can see him rise back to the top in order to set things right. The issue for any kind of adventure like this though is if you go too far in blowing up his life then even the climax won’t be as uplifting because there is no going back. That’s basically what happens here. For example, Maureen’s death is a big one. It’s not like she can come back to life so no matter what he does, that’s it. I think a better way to handle that plot would have been to have her get seriously injured or something and he doesn’t have the money to pay for her bills. That leads him to need to become champion again or win some more fights.

Something like that would still allow for almost all of the other big plots to continue. The only exception would be Leila’s story which would definitely need to be retooled a bit. It’s not as crushing a twist as having her die but that just felt unnecessary. Maureen was a fun character so it’s too bad that she got written out so quickly. Billy’s a bit of a tough character to root for most of the time. She helped steer him in the right direction but it’s clear that without her he wasn’t in nearly as good a spot as he once was. He blows up at his own friends to the point where he pulls a gun on one of them. He’s not very co-operative with getting a job initially and doesn’t exactly set a good example for his daughter.

He makes so many mistakes throughout the movie that even when he eventually solves them, you feel like he went quite far. Rocky at his lowest never made these mistakes. Additionally, Billy’s highs aren’t as high as Rocky’s. Rocky’s montages still hold up exceptionally well even after all this time. Billy’s is good as well but it’s clear that it isn’t even in the same league. The song isn’t as memorable and it just doesn’t have as much energy.

Leila’s a kid so it’s hard for her to process all of this of course but she’s not a very fun character most of the time. She definitely doesn’t make things any easier on Billy. Her worst scene is probably when she begs everyone to let her watch his big fight and then has a hard time watching because of how violent it is. That’s exactly why they were warning her not to watch it. Angela was a solid supporting character though. She’s the child services agent in charge of this case and was reasonable the whole time. She did seem to care about making sure Leila was doing well here.

Then you have the villain Miguel. There’s not much to him other than the fact that he fights dirty and likes to egg his opponents on. It wasn’t exactly hard for him to bait Billy into a match. He can fight really well so he’s not all talk but he definitely made sure to be as unlikable as possible. There’s just nothing nice about the guy or charismatic unlike someone like Apollo. Miguel’s fairly one note but his role in the film isn’t nearly as big as you might expect so it’s not a big deal. Finally we have Tick who ends up training Billy for the big fight. He’s a fun enough character and helps to set Billy straight on some things. You can’t win tournaments without a quality coach after all.

The fight scenes are pretty good. Southpaw is clearly going for a very realistic feel so you don’t have the dynamic cuts and lighting as other boxing films. I’ll admit that I miss those since these can’t standout as well without them but by and large I have no complaints with these scenes. You can definitely feel the intensity behind each swing which is the important thing at the end of the days. It also fits in with the rather gritty nature of the film.

Southpaw’s dark outlook can only take it so far though. You’d be hard pressed to call this a fun film. It tries to balance out being an uplifting film with giving Billy a new setback every few minutes so by the end of it you’ll be more exhausted than hyped. Maureen’s death was really my biggest issue with the film but other small scenes like Billy pulling a gun on his friend and threatening to murder him don’t help matters. You’ve got Billy’s suicide attempt as well and the film took the notion of “rock bottom” a little too far.

Overall, Southpaw will serve as a quick fix if you need to watch a big Boxing film while we wait for Creed III. That said, I would just recommend watching the Rocky films again instead. Those are just a lot of fun or check out the two Creed films if you haven’t already. Southpaw doesn’t do anything better than its rivals and as a standalone film it just barely manages to break even. The script isn’t great and there isn’t much replay value but I still wouldn’t call this a bad film because it has enough strengths in the fight scenes to keep it afloat.

Overall 5/10

Designing Woman Review

Posted on by
Reply


Designing Woman is a quality film through and through. Right away you can tell this is going to be a good movie because it balances out the quality writing and humor pretty well. The romance definitely happens rather quickly but the film spends a lot of time showing how this creates some issues so that part was handled well. Quite a bit happens throughout the film so there’s never a dull moment. Even the very end of the film throws a bit of a twist on how the usual confession type scene would usually play out.

The movie starts off with Mike getting super drunk after celebrating a winning bet. He wakes up the next morning super hung over so everything sounds incredibly loud. Unfortunately he may not have remembered to send in his story either so he may be fired. Things start to look up though when he meets a lady named Marilla who fills in the blanks for him. Before shorting out he was able to send the story in thanks to her help and he even paid her quite well for it. Mike decides to quickly marry her. There’s just one thing he’s forgotten, he was already serious about another lady. Meanwhile, Mike has decided to take down a crooked fighting organizer and that guy is sending some goons to take him down. Can Mike and Marilla manage to square away their differences and get past this or will Mike be taking a hit both physically from the mob and emotionally?

One thing the film does very well here is add in some voices for the characters’ internal monologues. Throughout the film the characters make a lot of comments to add on to the scenes. For context, the film is technically being told as a flashback through the eyes of all the characters involved. That’s why they are all able to add in their commentary. In particular Mike and Marilla do a great job of making the scenes all that much more entertaining. In the scenes a lot of times Mike thinks he is winning or that Marilla doesn’t notice something but that never turns out to be the case. She is quite sharp on these things and doesn’t miss a beat.

Mike’s a fun lead character even if his antics probably wouldn’t be quite as fun in person. For example, his decision to lie about the whole adventure to Marilla is naturally a terrible move. The fact is that it would be harder for her to trust him after this even if his motive was ultimately to try not to hurt her. Really that was a generous depiction given to him, you could say that he was just trying to save himself at that point. He makes his share of mistakes but is definitely an entertaining lead.

Then you have Marilla who’s a blast as well. She is quite crafty and I like that she tends to give a lot of explanations for how her future actions are going to play out in the film. Marilla tries to get to the bottom of things herself after trying to get assistance from the other characters was not working in the slightest. It makes for a fun dynamic with her and Mike. I also liked that instead of the usual drama over their social circles not being very compatible they actually sat down and talked things out with some good compromises. Both characters were very reasonable the whole time which was nice.

The side characters were also on point. Lori did her best to try and help assist Mike through the break up. All things considered she did take it very well and probably wouldn’t have tossed the ravioli on Max if he didn’t go on a long tangent about how great Marilla is. Throughout the film she tries to make things easy on him but he keeps sabotaging himself every which way. I would say Lori had better acting skills than he did and her dog was also a blast. The dog definitely had a lot of personality and constantly wanted hugs. Then you have Maxie who took some big hits back when he was a fighter so he’s not all there now but he came in handy at the end when we got some fights. Same with the actor who was always running around frantically. That guy proved himself when he took out a whole lot of opponents at once.

The fact that we had a big fight scene at the end was pretty cool. It definitely was not something I expected to see here. Despite the film mainly being a light hearted comedy, the fighting/mob angle was handled quite seriously the whole time. It was nice to see the whole case just cut loose. Even Marilla stepped in to get some hits on the villains which was nice because you don’t see that happening quite so often. This is definitely the way you want to handle a climax. Including the phony story Mike tried selling at the end which was pretty funny.

I was also glad that Marilla being rich didn’t immediately get Mike jealous. You see that as a common theme a lot of the time but here he took it in stride. Sure, he was a bit shocked at the whole thing and had to adjust a bit but then he got right back on the saddle and just got with the program. As with everything else they talked it over and got to a good conclusion. That’s where this duo fared better than most leads. They just talk everything through and it’s rare to see two characters so polite the whole time. They definitely do have their big disagreements though and what film would this be without a lot of drama? They were still more mature than I would have expected.

Overall, This is one of those films that just nails the rom-com genre. It gives you a lot of quality humor along with a good cast of characters. There’s a good amount of replay value here thanks to the quality pacing as well. The film is always moving onto the next item and executing all of the scenes well. I really don’t have any negatives to bring up for the film. It executes on all of its plot points quite well. If you’re looking for a solid film to check out then I definitely recommend digging this one up and giving it a whirl.

Overall 7/10

The Final Cut Review

Posted on by
Reply


The Final Cut is a sci-fi film with a pretty interesting idea. It definitely raises some interesting discussion points about the idea of having something that can record your every moment. Unfortunately the movie doesn’t take much time to think about this. The film feels very short which can be seen as a good thing but at the same time it means there isn’t a lot of room to explore anything. At times the film feels rather aimless and never completes any of the more interesting questions it touches on.

The movie starts by introducing us to a new concept that has happened in the universe. There’s now a chip you can implant in yourself which records everything you see and say. When you die, a relative can then send your video file to a cutter who is effectively someone who looks through that data and makes a movie out of it. They then play this at your funeral or “Rememory” as they call it. Alan is known as the best in the biz because he’ll take on the memories of the worst people around and edit the film so much that they appear to be good people. His latest case is another tricky one since he has to clean up an evil guy’s act but then he recognizes a person in the memories. It appears to be someone who died back when Alan was a kid. He’s now determined to find out the truth but meanwhile the people taking a stand against the chip are determined to do whatever it takes.

To start off, the idea of implanting a chip that records what you see doesn’t sound too far off. It seems feasible that this could happen, but I would certainly be on the resistance side. There’s a whole lot of risk with putting anything in your body, especially something that’s around where your brain is. If it short-circuits in your head or you hit your head very hard, what will happen to the chip? It can easily fry your brain or do something else. That’s already reason enough for why you’d never want that kind of thing to be legal. Chipping is just a bad idea for any life forms.

Then you have the whole privacy issue. After all, even if the person using the chip has granted their permission for this to happen, what about all of the people who will inevitably get filmed over the course of that person’s life? Effectively nothing will be private since the cutter is granted free reign over every single memory. Additionally the future audience will also get to see the moments that make the final cut. There are just a lot of reasons why this is a bad idea and of course to maximize its effects we learn in the movie that a lot of people have it plugged into their kids when they are born so there was never even a choice for consent.

The movie tackles both of these themes a bit as there is a whole resistance force against this. The matter even went to court apparently. Alan’s character can’t be bothered with this though so he always runs off when the debate is starting. Alan is completely fine with this until he remembers the skeletons in his closet so then it’s time to dash again. It’s definitely one of those things that you can picture since people are often okay with things until it happens to them. Alan’s definitely not a likable character in the slightest though. His friends are right that his job as a Cutter is just not very savory or even ethical. He’s really just rewriting the past for various characters to try and make them look better. That isn’t good. You can make a case for his being an accomplice by not saying anything.

Naturally the film makes sure to go all the way for this so during the film we see how characters do a lot of awful things that Alan wipes out from the film during the cutting process. The film goes way too far in this area which definitely doomed the movie. You could definitely have established the context of why people are against the implant without having to go into this detail. It shows that the film was not super confident in what explaining its own premise. The worst part is still that we don’t really get to debate the idea either. Alan never really defends his position of why he helps beyond half hearted generalities.

It’s just another reason why he wasn’t a fun lead to follow. Then you have Fletcher who is effectively the main villain here. He wants the tape that Alan is working on so he can prove that this guy was no good from the start. Naturally the proof in this tape would be quite incriminating but Alan is determined not to hand it over because of the Cutter’s Code that he agreed to. Fletcher makes for a much more interesting character than Alan so it would have been interesting to see more of him. I will say that the ending was pretty unexpected with how things played out. I’ll give the film credit on that one.

Then there’s the main heroine Delila but she doesn’t appear all that much so it may be a bit of an overstatement to call her the main heroine. By the start of the film things are already rocky between her and Alan. That said, it still seemed like a bit of an overreaction on her part later on when she’s watching the videos. She clearly knew what his job was so this was the kind of thing he would be doing constantly. It was more personal since it was videos of her of course, but it’s not like that should change the context of what he was doing. I suppose her solution to this was quite permanent but at the same time she could have probably been sued for a ton of money so it was a pretty big risk.

The Final Cut has some interesting ideas and takes place in a unique setting but it’s far too short. We don’t really get to see much of the rebellion itself, the company’s reaction, government, etc. It feels like we’re seeing a very small corner of the world and unfortunately not a very interesting corner. The film relies too much on shock value from the scenes on the videos and is more interested in doing that than actually having Alan have some real conversations about his job. That would have made for a much more interesting film as well as some good debates. If he and Fletcher could have a proper discussion about this without either one constantly dodging questions then that could have been good.

Overall, The Final Cut is a pretty bad film. Alan’s just a poor main character and the fact that I couldn’t agree with any of his decisions and motivations did not help matters. All the videos he would watch tended to be more on the disturbing side. I like the idea of showing a world where this is possible but it wasn’t used properly. In the real world I’d definitely be against any kind of implants like that though. Seems like something that will create a whole lot more harm than good. Maybe someday someone will take another crack at the premise.

Overall 2/10

Little Nikita Review

Posted on by
Reply


Time to take a look at a film about spies and traitors from a while back. It’s a fairly low key espionage film so don’t expect a lot of fight scenes or anything like that. In a way it’s a film where it feels like not a lot happens until the very end. It’s more of a slow burner. The film works well enough even though it’s not particularly exciting. I wouldn’t recommend it over other films in the genre but you should be entertained during the movie.

The movie starts off with someone murdering an employee of the IRS. It turns out that this employee had actually been a double agent from Russia. Interestingly enough, he was murdered by a Russian agent who has gone rogue. The agent’s codename is Scuba. He is blackmailing the Russians into paying him a large sum of money or he will continue to murder all of their operatives. They decide to send in agent Konstantin to take him down. Konstantin is given strict orders not to allow the media to catch wind of this and he has to bring Scuba in alive.

On the other side you’ve got agent Roy of the FBI who wants to avenge his partner who was murdered by Scuba a while back. He finds out that Jeff’s parents are sleeper agents and figures this could be a good way to finally track this guy down. Thing is, he has no proof and furthermore, as sleeper agents that means they haven’t actually done anything yet so it’s not like he can just go in and start shooting. He tries to convince their son Jeff to step in and find out the truth but involving a boy in a case like this is fairly reckless. Will it actually pay off for him?

The idea of the Russians being blackmailed by one of their own makes for a pretty interesting plot. I dare say that it is a pretty original one as well. Usually you might see this on the other side but for the Russians to be on the defensive was an original twist. Naturally due to this the CIA, FBI, and the rest aren’t too keen to get involved. They figure they will just let the Russians take each other out. The reason Roy is getting involved is because it’s personal this time. To avenge his partner he feels like he has to get involved and take Scuba down. He is told off the bat that he will not have any backup though.

With a premise like this you’d probably expect a whole lot of action right? Well, the wrinkle in this plan is that the sleeper agents aren’t really fighters. The whole time the film is going on you’re expecting the pin to drop and for these two seemingly normal parents to suddenly just grab their guns and go into commander mode. Well, that doesn’t exactly happen here. They never get to fight and even at the very end they’re about to easily lose to Scuba. It’s to the point where even once he is shot they aren’t able to stop him from getting the briefcase. I admit that they really did not look very impressive in this film at all. At least in an action context. They seemed like perfectly reasonable people otherwise. Maybe a little naïve since they don’t pick up on anything unless it’s spelt out for them though. At the very least I thought their guard would be up when they met Roy and he suddenly moved next door but they really didn’t.

Jeff’s a decent main character I guess but as a kid he does tend to panic a whole lot. He just isn’t ready for these kind of twists. He just never helps contribute to the situation and while he means well, the scene of him trying to pass the air force exam was pretty rough. The cast is fairly small so each person has to do their part. The other characters were a lot more solid. First up is Roy. Of course he has the whole revenge angle but on the whole he does have some good plans most of the time. He comes in handy with his clutch shots and did figure out the mystery of the sleeper agents really fast. Most of the other characters would have still been in the dark otherwise. I do think his decision to quickly have a random affair was poorly timed though. He’s in the middle of the most important case of his life. Surely he can wait a little bit to stay professional before getting distracted right?

Konstantin was also fun. I always like seeing the experienced agents who have already been through a lot and just have all the answers. That said, he was overwhelmed and surprised by Scuba rather easily. The scene of Scuba breaking into the guy’s shower was just embarrassing for the hardened agent. Especially how he panicked afterwards. Not his best moment to be sure and you feel like he was enthusiastic about paying up afterwards because he was actually scared of Scuba. He just hides this with his nonstop banter. Scuba doesn’t get much if any personality in the film though. He’s really just a mysterious figure who has a clear goal. He wants to get money and will murder people to get it. He’s a bit of an old school antagonist in that sense as there is no origin story or anything like that to clue you in to why he is the way that he is. He just does things his way.

What I think this film probably needed is to have been a little longer. A large chunk of the film seems like it’s all about build up to a big series of interconnected plots. So when the payoff finally happens, it goes by really quick and not in a super satisfying way. Honestly, if you cut out Nick that would probably be the best thing to do. Then you can really have two sleeper agents who still have their skills going up against these forces. Alternately you could also have just made these two agents a little less rusty to force some solid tension in. It would have increased the sense of danger throughout.

Overall, Little Nikita is a good film. It’s definitely fairly low key but I do think it manages to accomplish what it set out to do. A little more focus on the actual agent vs agent action would have been good though because there’s just a lot of fun ways this could play out. While the writing was good, I also think that area could have been bumped up a bit. Put some more solid banter in and make the characters a little more likable. Part of the problem is that Nick wasn’t great and then Roy/Konstantin weren’t as good as they could have been. Tat said, if you’re up for a quick spy thriller this is a good one to check out.

Overall 6/10