The Narrow Margin Review

Posted on May 2, 2016 by dreager1

It’s time to take a look at an old train film. Just about the whole film takes place on the train with the detective matching wits against the mobsters. It’s a very short film though, only being a little over an hour so it certainly never drags and the pacing stays rather quick the whole time. It’s a fun little detective film. It may not have the same amount of depth as some other retro thrillers, but this is a good film to add to your collection.

Walter Brown is a good detective/police agent who has been tasked with the job of safely getting the wife of a gangster to a jury so she can release a list of names of other wanted associates. The gangsters don’t want this to happen so they’ve sent some men to eliminate her. The advantage that Walter has is that the villains do not know how the wife looks. Unfortunately, Walter’s partner was an amateur at the protecting business and when escorting the lady out of her apartment, he walked down the dark stairs with his eyes closed and enjoying his smoke. He did not notice anything until an innocent bystander happened to show up and the partner quickly died. With him out of the way, Walter must now keep the wife safe on his own. Can he handle this? At least 2 gangsters are already on board the train and there may be more of them afoot.

The situation grows more complicated as the gangsters start to suspect that another lady on board the train is actually the wife thanks to Walter stopping to talk to this lady quite a few times. Can Walter complete his mission and also ensure that no innocents are harmed either? Looks like it is time for a fight! As Walter says at the beginning of the movie, this mission wasn’t very well thought out on the cops side. Surely there is a more secure way of protecting this witness than putting her on board a crowded train with other gangsters right? Maybe a drive with a police escort or something like that. It would take longer, but it would also be safer.

As this is an old film with a good writing staff, the script is very good. The characters engage in quite a few mind games and throw out subtle insults whenever necessary. It doesn’t mean that all of the characters are likable though as that aspect is really 50/50, but the film is engaging all the way from start to finish. This is a solid thriller even if there are not a lot of twists and ruffles. It’s simple, but direct.

As hinted at earlier, I thought that Walter’s partner was pretty terrible at his job and supremely overconfident. The way that he went down was pretty embarrassing. Walter would be a good main character, but he ends up panicking and yelling a lot throughout the film. A detective’s always got to keep his cool under duress while this guy seems to take everything personally. Everything tends to work out all right for him, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that he is great at his job. On the contrary, he leaves his post many times and actually gets his charge killed at one point. Maybe if he spent less time tailing everyone around the train and stopping to chat with the other passengers, he would have had better luck here. Tying up the convict that he did defeat would have surely been a good move as well.

The witness that Walter is protecting loves to talk so get ready for her to keep on insulting everyone. There is a plot twist about her that makes the whole situation a lot worse as well. She refused to play along with Walter’s plan to stay silent so she would turn the music on rather loudly which attracts a lot of attention since officially she can’t let anyone know that she’s on the train. There’s also the fact that she casually opens the door rather easily after hearing a muffled response. Given the plot twist, she should have had her gun at the ready and definitely should have not opened the door. She’s as bad as Walter in that respect.

The villains are fairly generic. They’re around and know how to fight, but in the end they’re simply foot soldiers working for some unseen gangsters. The one who offered Walter a deal surprisingly didn’t get much of a role in the end. One character who actually turned out to be pretty enjoyable was the “Fat Man” I forgot if he got a name by the end, but that’s the term that he kept on using so we may as well roll with it. He’s really invaluable to have on a Train and especially a train with such narrow hallways as this one. Unfortunately, he’s another all talk and no action character so don’t count on him in a fight, but he’s still fun to have and that’s what counts I suppose right?

We also have Ann, who shows up on the train along with her son and his nurse. They’re fine characters I suppose, but they’re really just here to flesh out the cast more than anything else. The secret that Walter tells the kid never even comes into play anyway. They provide a lot of distractions and issues for Walter from his job since the kid seems to think that he’s a robber and Ann keeps reminding Walter to watch out for his nerves. Walter can’t let himself get too attached though because then the person he is guarding could be in danger. Unfortunately, he does forget his priorities a lot although he is faced with a lot of tricky situations. He really needed some backup for this case and it is a little surprising that he wasn’t given any. At least someone right before the train departed right? I can say with confidence that having one more person would have been extremely helpful.

Back to how the case was handled though, the police could have come up with a better plan. Send in two more guys and just make it official that they’re transporting someone. Good luck trying to get past these guys when it’s public knowledge. Also, they should have had security cars following the train once it was confirmed that crooks were following the main guy. The problem is that there was no communication so he was never able to talk to any of the cops. I’d call that a pretty big oversight in whatever the plan was.

Overall, The Narrow Margin was a solid thriller, I definitely recommend checking it out. The plan may have not been the best, but Walter worked with what he got and showed the Police Force that he doesn’t take bribes. He also wins the big fist fight of the film so he proved that when the chips were down he did not need a gun. I have to question the intelligence of the whole cast though in light of the fact that just about everyone left their doors unlocked for the majority of the film. To break the locks, you need to use a gun and that calls attention so the main characters should have definitely kept the rooms locked. Sure, once Walter let the guy in as part of his plan, but how about catching the guy in the act or simply keeping him out. The villains would try breaking in at some point, but Walter would have the edge with his gun at the ready. I definitely would have handled things differently than Walter, but I suppose that’s part of the fun of these thrillers; thinking of the potential ways this could have ended differently.

Overall 7/10

The Fortune Cookie Review

Posted on May 2, 2016 by dreager1

It’s time for an old school comedy with this film. Fortune Cookie is certainly a winner and the film’s plot is helped out by a great script. I also give the film props for the fact that a Fortune Cookie actually does appear in the film so the title wasn’t too vague. Forget hidden meanings, I would have been a little upset if the actual fortune cookie had not made an appearance here. The film can be a bit sad, but for the most part it is just a great joyride in the end.

Harry was a photographer who was covering a Cleveland Browns game for the NFL. Unfortunately, he was a little close to the action and the punt returner ended up hitting him rather hard. Harry was knocked unconscious and taken to the hospital in case he may have been injured rather seriously. This wasn’t the case and Harry was ready to go back home, but that’s when his brother Willie shows up. Willie lets Harry know that he can easily earn 1 million dollars out of this if he’ll just pretend to be injured. Harry doesn’t like this plan since he’s always been a law abiding citizen, but Willie lets him know that his divorced wife may come back to him if he goes ahead with the deal. She even calls and pretends to care about him so Harry decides to go through with the plan. Can he really keep up the charade long enough for the NFL to back down?

Willie is really the character who steals the show here. He really knows his stuff when it comes to conning people about fake injuries. Not only does he know a lot of cases from back in the day, but he knows how to merge fact and fiction in order to make a very believable narrative. Willie is an incredibly charismatic character and he fills the film with good one liners throughout. He can be a little mean, the film also makes a point of showing that he’s not really a good guy. The one thing that he does really like is money though and he is good at making it. He’s no hero, but he is the character that the film needed to boost it to the next level. The NFL keeps on trying to trick the heroes with underhanded tactics like bugging the apartment, but Willie sees through them every single time and is always ahead of the game. Without him, the film would have been over before it could have even begun.

Harry is not quite as good. In the end he makes the right choice about not keeping up the lie, but the process of getting there was quite painful. He is extremely naive whenever the ex wife appears. It’s extremely obvious that she does not care for him one bit and just wants the money, but he doesn’t seem to suspect anything until he finally breaks down at the end and takes it out on everyone. He is also very wishy washy at times as he keeps on acting as if he doesn’t want to go through with the plan before letting Willie convince him. It’s almost as if it is just an act he is putting on so he looks reluctant before going through with it. It’s just really hard to like Harry even if he is portrayed as the “nice” character. He simply lets himself get pulled along for the ride for too long before double thinking it.

No worries, we have an array of supporting characters at the ready who are solid enough to cover for Harry. The Doctor from one of the first scenes is great as he talks back to Willie the whole time and certainly isn’t afraid to dish out the insults. He may have been played like a fiddle, but he kept them honest. There was also the shady doctor who suspected that the whole thing was fake from the start, but ultimately he could not prove it. The 3 NFL lawyers were also fairly great as they tried their best to take Willie down a peg or two. They may have lost every fight, but I liked the way that they sat down and discussed the situation before making a move. It didn’t work out, but some plans just don’t in the end. They still gave it their all and helped make the film so fun.

Meanwhile, we have a character who is played seriously. Boom Boom Jackson is the character who injured Harry in the first place and he wants to rectify his mistake by helping Willie as much as possible. The thing is, he is a character that you don’t want to see at times. That’s because you can kind of feel bad for him since this is obviously upsetting. How would you feel if you may have just crippled a person for life right? So, Jackson is a very sympathetic character and the fact that you know how he is being used just makes it all the worse. However, as Willie was my favorite character, I was rooting for him the entire time. It was a conflict of interest. I’d say that the film did drop the ball with Jackson towards the end though as he probably took things way too hard. He did his part to help Harry out, but that’s no real reason to start missing meetings, tanking at the games, and getting into bar room fights. It felt a little forced to be honest so that Harry would be pressured into making the right call.

This film certainly did have a lot of fun with itself. You can tell from all of the super over dramatic characters. Take the mom for instance, she spent the entire film being really hysterical and crying nonstop. She felt like a parody character. This colorful cast of characters ended up being a really strong pack. As mentioned before, the writing is also strong and in the end this film is really complete.

I also have to give some credit to the ending because it was handled really well. By “the ending” I’m talking about Willie’s scene by the way. He’s very good at thinking on his feet and immediately knows how to turn a bad situation into a good one. Harry may have bailed out on him, but he realized that now he can sue the NFL for breaking the constitution by bugging and spying on his house the entire time. He has no proof so it’ll be tough, but he can definitely pull this off. I wouldn’t mind a sequel to this film!

Overall, The Fortune Cookie is one of the best films that I’ve seen in a long time. It has a perfect blend of humor and more humor as Willie steals the show here. The mental battle between him and the NFL is really why you’ll be at the edge of your seat for this film, but all of the characters really do a good job here. The unlikable ex-wife is made to be a bad character of course, but at least she is also super exaggerated. Think of it as Harry’s ultimate moral crisis. Can he make the right move while being surrounded by bad influences everywhere? I do wish that he had a stronger resolve and hesitated less, but you can’t be perfect and I suppose this gave Willie more room to shine since he was always the smartest guy in the room.

Overall 8/10

The Invisible Boy Review

Posted on April 28, 2016 by dreager1

Time to take a look at Robbie The Robot’s next big appearance. I wasn’t a big fan of the Forbidden Planet, but this film fixes just about all of my complaints. At most, you can say that this film is a little dull for most of the film, but slice of life stories can be good as long as the writing is strong. This film manages to get past the fact that the main character is a little kid since that’s usually worrisome for me.

Timmie is a pretty smart kid and he manages to pull off a feat that the world’s greatest scientists could not accomplish. He reawakens a robot that was found through time travel many years ago. (Well…he had some help from the evil A.I.) The scientists are so furious with this that they pretend that Timmie’s accomplishment is not a big deal. They essentially ignore him so Timmie asks his robot to make him invisible. The parents take this in stride and have fun talking to him about particles and super science equations. Timmie’s a little puzzled by all of this. Unfortunately for National Security, there is a central intelligence machine that wants to take down the planet. Can they really regroup in time?

The tone and atmosphere from this film are very different from the Forbidden Planet. This one plays out like an I Love Lucy episode or an Andy Griffith rerun. There is nothing supernatural of action packed about this installment and Timmie just wants to have a good time. You can definitely call this one part comedy as every character intentionally acts unrealistic as they take everything in stride without batting an eye. In this world, there is nothing weird about a kid turning invisible or a robot time travelling. You would think that this film took place in the old days, but even with alien parts, it’s hard to imagine that people could build such a sophisticated A.I. so easily.

The villainous A.I. is pretty good. It’s nowhere near the All Time greats like Skynet or Hal 9000, the ones who paved the way for evil A.I. programs, but it tries its best. I suppose that it is just a little less menacing and I do wish that it had a better physical body although most A.I. start out as mere generators anyway. As per usual, Robbie steals the show here even if he’s not quite as sarcastic and full of one liners as he was last time. After all, he’s not in his right mind for part of this film as he is quickly taken over by the A.I. Even futuristic robots are not safe from its presence.

As for the characters, Timmie’s a decent main character. He can be a little unreasonable and gullible though as he rides a kite in a very dangerous way and opts to be invisible for the lolz. It’s a great power, but I’d ask Robbie for an on and off switch to make it more practical. Robbie can do just about anything so I think it would probably be a pretty easy feat for the guy. The parents are all right I suppose although there is one scene that is a little dicey for them.

Keep in mind that Timmie is a little kid and up to now he’s basically been a model student. When he turns invisible, he decides to spy on his parents while they are trying to hurt the film’s score with unnecessary scenes. The parents realize this and try to catch him so we get a Scooby Doo chase scene. It’s a total Scooby Doo moment, which also means that they start to fear him a little as he retaliates by throwing pillows and other soft objects. You’ll have to suspend a lot of disbelief here. Would you ever be scared of your 7 year old son just because he turned invisible? It’s a little hard to fathom, but they took the win in the end and Timmie got spanked so alls well that ends well I guess.

As per usual, Robbie was the best character here and the A.I. was solid as well. The government looks decently good as they try to pressure the Dad into giving up the secret to his robots, but he doesn’t have any of that. They look discouraged, but not defeated after that scene. I liked the co-workers as well since none of them got along so we got a lot of passive-aggressive insults traded amongst themselves as Timmie used his invisibility powers to mess with the lot of them. It brings up the question, what would you do with invisibility? Would you use your powers to make the world a better place by going on top secret missions for the government or would you pull pranks on everyone so you could brag about your powers? Think carefully on this…

There’s no soundtrack of course and there’s really not much else to say about the film. It’s a pleasant experience. It tries to get a little serious by the end, but even then it stays very light toned with comedy undertones. If you were waiting for the hype moment in the poster above to occur..you’ll be waiting a while. This isn’t really that kind of movie, or at least it’s not played out quite so seriously. The slice of life feel works for this film though and it never really drags on.

Overall, The Invisible Boy is a good film. There are really no negatives to be found here. There’s not much action and while it is a good film, I wouldn’t call it a great one. It would need to have some more exciting moments or better characters to get a higher score. Compared to the average movie though, a 6 is quite high. I recommend this film if you want a nice little film to watch and remember the good ole days with. It’ll certainly be nostalgic for older viewers. If you want more action, then you should probably check out Terminator Genisys for a more serious take on this concept. Of course, you’ll miss out on Robbie The Robot that way so think about this move carefully.

Overall 6/10

Forbidden Planet Review

Posted on April 28, 2016 by dreager1

It’s time to look at a second rate Star Trek film with a crew that certainly won’t impress you. This film was so much worse than I had expected it to be due to the terribly written romance that was included. So, to those that say this is Star Wars IV level, I have to shake my head this time. I don’t think I want any big remakes of this film and I’d rather they adapt The Invisible Boy again. That review’s coming soon so prepare yourself for it. On that note, here we go!

John and his friends command a spaceship and have been sent to an alien planet to look for a researcher who vanished here many years ago. They find him all right, but the rest of the crew has been mysteriously murdered. Hmmm, is it possible that there was some foul play afoot here? The researcher refuses to answer any questions, but the team of space cadets is attacked by an invisible monster at night. After a few space cadets are murdered, John decides to not focus on the issue all that much and focus on romance instead. Does this crew really stand a chance at accomplishing their mission?

The rest of the film would have gotten a decent 6/10 ranking if not for the romance so let’s start with that. The main heroine is Altaira and the problem is that she doesn’t really understand human culture. She doesn’t know what a “kiss” is, etc. The group naturally takes advantage of this and several (perhaps all. Given that the film hints at this by having her say “Why don’t you kiss me like everyone else” to the main character) of them kiss her. The film uses this as an excuse to have her bathing without a bathing suit because she doesn’t know what one is along with fairly dicey forms of attire. You’d think that John would be above all this since he’s the commander, but he decides to get in on the fun as well.

It’s a terrible romance because Altaira doesn’t really understand what she’s doing. The men are just tricking her for their own pleasure. John even admits that they haven’t seen a woman in a very long time so the crew will all dash at her. John says it as a warning, and yet…he’s no better. Altaira essentially has the maturity of a child and so, this romance was never going to work and it obliterated any chance that the film had of being good.

None of the human characters were likable either so that didn’t exactly help the film either. John is a terrible captain and none of his men seem to have any moral values. Altaira is way too naive and her father is cryptic and shady for no real reason. He doesn’t warn the space cadets about the monster until it destroys a few of the members and he didn’t even realize that messing with futuristic tech could destroy his mind. He’s supposed to be some kind of genius right?

Forbidden Planet also goes to great depths to show off its equipment at the expense of destroying the film’s pacing. The pacing completely dies for nearly an hour as the characters slowly walk from room to room looking at just about every single piece of equipment. They even take a quick ride around the complex, which takes around 15 minutes of real time just for fun. Maybe if the effects actually looked good it wouldn’t drag quite as much, but compared to films like Tron Legacy…this one can’t hold up.

The effects aren’t bad though and apparently they were terrific for its day. I don’t think it justifies the incredibly long wait time though. There’s not really a soundtrack, but you wouldn’t expect one for a very old film like this one. There is one highlight to the film that I haven’t really touched on yet. That’s the famous Robbie the Robot. Rob definitely deserves all of the praise that he gets because the character is very enjoyable and a bright spot amidst my other complaints. He has a nice blend of condescending smacktalk with subtle sarcasm to make him a rather deep character. He’s certainly not two dimensional and he’s very loyal as well. He is powerful and I would have liked to have seen him fight the monster, but that’s all right. The insults all make up for it. It’s easy to see why he would later return for other movies.

The monster was also decently cool. The invisibility trick was likely to save the budget, but we got some glimpses here and there and even a quick shot towards the end. I wish the monster could have appeared for an extended amount of time though. Regardless, it broke the barriers made of pure energy which theoretically should not be possible. Who knows, we may have found a rival for Godzilla after all. It’s a shame that this action part of the film could not have been a bit longer because it was easily the highlight of the film. I’m always up for more action after all and the laser fights reminded me of Star Trek. It was certainly made in that kind of style and had the film gone this route, it likely would have been a lot better.

Overall, A terrible romance is what ultimately doomed this film. It could be drawn out and a little boring at times, but it would have still doubled the score that it ultimately got here. The laser action scenes and the giant monster would make sure of it. Maybe throw in a twist about aliens arriving as well for extra tension. If you’re looking for a retro sci-fi film, you should just go and watch Star Wars Episode IV. If you do plan to see the film, at least you’ll have Robbie The Robot to enjoy. His presence in the film does help to elevate it to a certain degree. This isn’t the last that you’ll see of good ole Robbie though as my next review will feature another big appearance of his.

Overall 3/10

Hannah Review

Posted on April 27, 2016 by dreager1

Time to look at an interesting assassin film. I was actually super confident that this film had to be R due to the atmosphere and the fact that it could get pretty intense at times so I was surprised that it netted the PG-13 rating. That’s definitely a good thing although it ultimately can’t save this film. Hannah is a film that always wanted to have a sequel based on the unexplored plot lines, but settled for being one incomplete film. Think of it as a mystery thriller.

Hannah was trained as a hunter/killer ever since she was a baby. She was raised by an experienced secret agent who taught her how to live in a harsh environment (Snowy mountains) for years. The only thing Hannah knows is that she is supposed to push a big red button when she feels ready for a new challenge. Upon pressing this button, she’ll be hunted by another assassin and only one of them may walk away from their fight. Her mentor urges her not to do this, but Hannah does anyway. So begins a deadly game of cat and mouse as the mentor leaves to fight his battles while Hannah meets up with a nice (heh) family who help her realize how much fun life can be. The only tricky part is that the assassins (Multiple ones now? Doesn’t seem fair anymore….) don’t care about collateral damage.

First off, I’d like to say that a born assassin is always a great concept. This character naturally learned a very skewed version of morality and won’t really comprehend the difference between good and evil. Not for quite a while at least and possibly never if the assassin never talks with the targets. Street Fighter’s Cammy had an origin like this although it was never delved into and we’ve seen it with many other characters. The problem is, it’s incredibly difficult to utilize this plot without falling into the trap of super violence or the “Starfire issue” which has the character act way too ignorant of non combat related things. I’m sure that a well trained assassin will know a lot about daily happenings since it is necessary for the job. I don’t think I’ve ever seen this concept played out exactly as I would like it too, but it’s very hard to perfectly adapt something from my head canon as opposed to what is happening on screen.

This film takes a nice shot at the concept, but they do make Hannah very naive. She is a kid though and a lot younger than most assassins would be so it’s a little more excusable. That doesn’t make the scenes any more enjoyable though and I probably could have done without most of the scenes with the family. The parents got a lot of good one liners and burns in, but they really just held Hannah back most of the time. Hannah’s friend was very annoying as well since she could have handled Hannah’s secret a lot better rather than simply running off to get captured or put Hannah in a bad spot. The friend was supposed to be tough right?

This is also one of those films where you’ll probably feel bad for most of the background characters. Essentially, just meeting Hannah is a death sentence since her opponents will quickly find and neutralize you. After all, the characters know too much. It’s a shame to be in their shoes and it is why you should always know how to fight if you’re dealing in that kind of business.

The best character is easily Hannah’s mentor, Erik. He’s a very well trained fighter and it’s easy to see that he is more skilled than the other people who are after him. He successfully evaded them for years after all and it is only due to Hannah that they found out at all. He consistently gets the better of them the whole time and seems to be on the ball. He was involved with the super soldier experiments, but seems to definitely have more heart than the other members. The main villain is certainly not in the same boat. She cannot decide if she wants to destroy Hannah or simply capture her for more experimentation and she can’t fight at all. She talks tough from behind a glass screen, but once the action dials up she is quickly overwhelmed.

As for Hannah herself, she is a decent character I suppose, but not too likable. Again, if she knew more about Earth customs and such, I think she would have been much better. As it is, at least she can fight even if it can be a bit of a stretch to see her taking on adult agents. Just think of it like Robin beating crooks back in the day even though he was a little kid. A little stretch of the imagination isn’t all that bad.

Unfortunately, the film does fall into the classic animal violence trap for no reason. Even worse, this occurs at the very beginning as a Deer is shot with an arrow and then shot with a gun just to hurt the film’s chances of being good even more. It’s debatable as to whether it’s worse to start or finish with animal violence. If you start with it, I’m going to be in a sour mood for the rest of the film as it’s not easy to forget. If it’s at the end, then at least I could have maybe enjoyed it for a while until it happened to which the film would crash. Same effect in the end, but I had more time to enjoy it. Either way, this started the film off on a verrrry bad note that it most certainly could not recover from.

The film’s fairly violent even without that though. It’s not quite as extreme as some other thrillers/horror films that I”ve seen, but it can still be a bit much. Films can certainly have menacing villains and cool action scenes without resorting to this. Just look at Final Fantasy VII Advent Children or Man of Steel if you want a live action film example. Again, this usually comes hand in hand with the born assassin concept though.

Luckily, the soundtrack is incredibly good so you’ll really have a pleasing experience audially at the very least. Most of the themes are all really cool futuristic techno esque pieces, which is something that fits very well for this concept as well. In particular, you’ll think of the tunnel scene near the beginning of the film, which actually worked as a great environment. It would have been great if Hannah could have stayed in the base for the whole film. The locale would have been a big improvement and it definitely would have had a Resident Evil vibe to it. Hey, if the film wasn’t going to get a high score by that point, it may as well go for being more engaging. Resident Evil films are nothing if not engaging.

A lot of storylines are not wrapped up by the end so there is plenty of room for a sequel. Just about all of the backstory and reasoning behind the fights in the film are shrouded in mystery so you can choose to come up with your own answers. I don’t think a sequel will be coming out after all and it’s possibly for the best. That being said, a good 10 year time skip with a new assassin as a rival could make for a riveting film provided that it was handled perfectly. There’s a better chance of Transformers 5 actually getting a 6/10 though.

Overall, Hannah wasn’t exactly a winner, but it certainly could have been worse. I was definitely shocked to see the soundtrack. I still love the basic premise as well and you can easily just zone out of the film and imagine how the film should have gone. I don’t really have that luxury while reviewing of course, but in my head canon I’ll sneak in a quick “Sorry writers, but x should have happened to y in place of a, etc, etc) Nobody can write a better film for me than me after all. If you like the concept and are prepared for an intense film then this should be right up your ally. The subplot with Eric even plays out like a James Bond/Bourne type adventure as well so action is never lacking. If you want a better action film though, just check out Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol.

Overall 3/10

A Few Good Men Review

Posted on April 2, 2016 by dreager1

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

It’s time for a classic film and one that’s more critically applauded when compared to Galaxy Quest. Even the title can be seen as deep because you have to decide who the title is referring too. I personally think that it shouldn’t really go towards the two guys who choked the poor victim so I’d place it on Daniel and his partners, but I suppose that it’s ultimately your choice there.

Dawson and Downey are two U.S. Army Marines who have been charged with murder of another cadet in a hazing incident. They have pleaded innocent as the other cadet was murdered, but they claim to have been ordered to haze him. Their superior officer has given another story so it is time to go to court. Daniel has been assigned to the case, but while he is known as a skilled lawyer who can reduce a client’s sentence quite easily, he likes to take the easy way out. If a deal is offered, he’ll take it. JoAnne doesn’t want this to happen since she thinks the two guys are totally innocent and assigns herself as Daniel’s partner. There’s also a third partner who is involved, but he’s not thrilled at the prospect of helping these two bullies.

Before getting into anything else, I will say that I definitely agree with the third guy. Dawson and Downey are in the wrong here and spending a lifetime in prison is essentially what they deserve. Knowingly or not, they did murder someone and took away his chance at a future. They may say that they were ordered to put him into a suffocating position long enough to strike fear into him, but that’s essentially torture and any amount of common sense will tell you that this isn’t okay. When you’re in the Marines you’re expected to follow orders no matter what. Well, then you’ve got to set the example for the others or allow yourself to be discharged from your post. Assaulting a defenseless person is definitely not the right choice to make in any situation. It doesn’t make it any better when you consider that it was 2 vs 1 and the fact that these guys were supposed to be friends. Yeah, Dawson and Downey got no sympathy from me.

It doesn’t help that they don’t make it very easy for Daniel either. They hide crucial bits of information from their allies until the prosecutors bring up the evidence in court. (It’s way too late by then of course) They also don’t seem all that sorry about their actions either. There is basically no remorse for a while. They even say that they have a code. “Units, Corp, God, Country.” So, God’s third on that list and your Unit is above your Country? The priorities are really messed up here and when you put the Unit above morality then you know something is going to go wrong. As it stands, I was basically rooting for the opposing team although naturally I wanted the lie about not giving the order to come out.

Nathan is a pretty good villain and I instantly recognized the villain from the Shining. The actor’s voice is certainly iconic and he does a good job of playing the role here. Nathan is pretty confident and in his old age he really wants to command respect from just about everyone that he talks to. He has no respect for anyone but himself and he is committed to doing things his way. His personality is ultimately his downfall, but this was a villain that I could get behind.

Daniel’s a pretty good main character. I like the overconfidence and the fact that he treats everything like a game. It’s ultimately a front as he shows on different occasions that he actually has a good grasp on everything so it seems like he just has fun trolling everyone. His superiors clearly see his talent as they chose him…or that’s what he wants to think. They probably just wanted someone who would roll over when they attacked in court. Daniel’s only downfall is the fact that he panics a lot. When he panics, Daniel gets drunk and then he’ll start running around and yelling. This happens to a lot of main characters to be honest, they’ll just panic and then try to get sober in time for the climax. It may have been discouraging as the case had a lot of set backs, but getting drunk won’t help.

JoAnne’s a good heroine and she certainly does a good job of digging up a lot of info on her own. Without her prodding, the heroes would have definitely lost the case as she is the one who started to make Nathan look suspicious and Daniel would have given up several times if not for her. JoAnne is strong willed and you always need that in a lawyer. I’m also glad that the film avoided the predictable romance between her and Daniel. They ultimately stay in the friend zone and that’s the realistic way to handle this. Getting together after a few days of working on a case would have been dicey.

Daniel’s rival was a pretty interesting antagonist and he was actually reasonable, which is something that usually doesn’t happen. They were fighting as part of the case, but off the record they were still pals and even went out for drinks. They would feed each other info and the banter was always good. Meanwhile, the hardened secret agent was a bit of a let down. He talked tough and he got a lot of hype as well, but when the going got tough he decided to get out of there. By “there” I mean life and it was a rather anticlimactic way to go. There was really no point to doing any of that and it just made the guy look weak.

Of course, the main reason why this film was a lot of fun was the court room scenes. I always enjoy those and a good part of the film took place in court once the action started. The Judge kept them all honest as he overruled some of the objections. He also wouldn’t stand for any insults and not even Nathan could get away with any rudeness here. The court scenes were where you could really see what the characters were made of. Who had the skills and who simply did not. Daniel snatching away the rule book and bringing up the lunch room question was certainly one of the highlight moments in the court. He certainly did a great job debating even if the evidence was stacked against him from the start.

Overall, A Few Good Men is a solid film. There really isn’t much negative to say about it. The ending was satisfying since Dawson and Downey didn’t get a super happy ending. As far as I’m concerned, they’re just as guilty as anyone else. The characters were all pretty charismatic and I wouldn’t have minded seeing more of Nathan at the base. A few more scenes over there would have definitely been a blast. If you want a solid strategic film with good dialogue throughout, this is the film for you. You know that Nathan is lying from the start so you just have to wonder how the heroes can prove it. To an extent, the ending involves plot hax since there is no other way that the heroes could have made it, but it’s still pretty fun and the debate doesn’t use any hax until the very end so the rest is all very legit. We need more good court room films.

Overall 8/10

Galaxy Quest Review

Posted on April 2, 2016 by dreager1

I saw this film a while back, but the review has been in limbo for quite a while. I’m always up for a parody even if they can get a little dicey at times. This one is pretty well done for the most part, but it still does have enough dicey moments and plots to hold it back quite a bit. The bright side is that this film is much better than some older Sci-Fi films like The Forbidden Planet. The bad side is that it’s no Star Trek and the parody should always be better than the original.

The plot revolves around Peter. (Again?) Well, Jason to be more specific, but he played Peter in the Star Trek parody show and it still has a very strong following among its fans. The problem is that the show was too popular and aliens from other solar systems have seen it as well. A group of them come to Earth to enlist the aid of the actors who they believe to be the real characters. Jason naturally agrees since he loves to be in the spotlight, but his comrades are a lot more reluctant. Jason may have been good in the show, but can he really hack it against a group of tyrannical aliens who have come to destroy everything that we know and hold dear? It’ll take a lot of gusto to hold these guys in check!

First, I’ve definitely gotta say that the TV show looks pretty hype. It definitely feels like Star Trek, but possibly with higher stakes. I wouldn’t mind seeing a movie that adapts the actual show rather than showing the real world. As it stands, the actors…range from good characters to iffy ones although luckily none of them are downright terrible or even really bad, which is good.

The best member is easily Alexander. He really disliked his role in the TV show and tries to forget it, but that task is incredibly difficult when the fans always recite your famous lines. He dislikes the fans and isn’t afraid to show it, but Jason always plays on his ego. Alexander wants to be a great stage magician or something like that so he must answer the curtain call or he’ll be a fraud. Towards the end he lives out some of his lines and learns the values of friendship, but I’ll definitely miss his cynical/dramatic self from the opening.

Jason’s the lead and well…he’s a little dicey. He’s actually similar to the Peter from Men In Black Alien Crisis, but he’s a little less obvious and also doesn’t seem as far gone. We learn through exposition that he basically was like Kirk and he flirts with Gwen a lot during the film, but luckily he is typically shot down. I was glad that he actually took the alien situation in stride and talked tough to the villains even if he thought it was a dream. He certainly has more guts than the rest of the crew so it is one of those cases where he has a lot of good traits, but tries to balance himself out with bad ones. It’s not as extreme as it could have been though.

Gwen’s a decent character although the film sadly uses her for fanservice on more than one occasion. One scene in particular makes no sense as her outfit just happens to rip during the climax. It’s a shame since her other gimmick of repeating the computer was a pretty original one. I think her character would have been fine with just that one trait. Gwen lacks the charisma that Jason and Alexander have, but she’s better than Fred. Fred was a decent character, but his romance at the end really was unneeded and wrecked his emotionless front. He would typically just go along with whatever plan Jason thought of and that was also enough for his character. I think the film just went overboard with how much personality it wanted each member to have.

Unfortunately, the same can be said for the alien allies as well. They all have very annoying voices and their lack of knowledge about Earth can also drag on and on. I’ve never liked the trope of aliens not knowing Earth’s customs which makes them look bad for long periods of time. We get that they don’t know about Earth, but there’s no need to dwell on it. The sounds that the alien allies make when they panic can also be annoying and it doesn’t grow on you the same way that Chewy’s roars do. I just didn’t like any of the allies from the get go. If they were less naive and a little more hardcore then that could be different, but at it stands, they needed more vigor and gusto.

The main villain is fairly decent. He’s a little on the generic side of course, but the main thing that matters is that he has a cool design and he can fight. He isn’t here to ask for help from the humans and he doesn’t back down to their threats either. His army is also pretty intelligent and there was a pretty big shock moment towards the end as the villains took the ship. It’s a good thing the heroes are in a place that houses a legendary weapon with an unknown power. I can definitely buy into that twist and I wouldn’t even call it all that plot haxed. Well…okay, there was plot hax involved.

Now, I can buy the fans figuring out the true purpose of the device, but how? The explanations in the film that were given were unsatisfying to be honest and this may be a parody, but I still want to know how the deux ex machinas are known to the general public. It was great to see the fans getting their props and it proves my age old theory that sometimes the fans know the characters better than the writers. A little plot hax never hurt anyone and it doesn’t hurt the film either, but it’s something to think about. Hopefully the main characters will keep this in mind the next time they have a press conference.

A sequel dealing with the fallout from this film could also be fun. After all, they probably suspect that aliens exist now since a spaceship was launched in the middle of the awards and Jason actually disintegrated an alien. It’s easy to play off the alien as a trick, but the spaceship? I don’t think so. A sequel with the government recruiting the cast into their space program to fight off some invaders would be pretty hype even if a reboot is probably more likely at this point.

Overall, Galaxy Quest is a decent parody. It certainly has its flaws, but I’d still call it a “decent” film in the end. This is a classic one and done film as you’ll never need to re watch it. It has enough solid moments to keep it afloat and Alexander definitely steals the show even if you end up feeling bad for the fans at some points. They didn’t ask for this! They just wanted to have a good time, but they really took a verbal beating at times. The romance can be iffy and the characters can be dicey, but the film never goes too far with these points. The part that made this film get to a 5 was the alien allies and I think they were just enough to tip it down. It all adds up of course, but they were the main culprits. I could recommend this to you all to watch, but you may be better off checking out Star Trek Into Darkness! That film has the right blend of action and hype!

Overall 5/10

Now You See Me Review

Posted on March 30, 2016 by dreager1

It’s time to watch a film about magic! This is a bit of a team film as several magicians who are the best at what they do are grouped together to perform tricks that have never even been attempted before. Obviously the stakes are high, but these guys are ready. Unfortunately, there are dozens of plot holes and plot twists that don’t make sense. The writers took all of the easy routes during the film when it comes to explanations and it ultimately makes you feel like there was not a lot of effort put into this title.

As for the plot, it revolves around this team. The magicians find a magical orb at a mysterious apartment that they were all sent too via playing cards. These cards were expertly handed to them as they were in places that nobody should have been able to get to all that easily. The challenge isn’t told to the viewers until the very end, but it involves stealing a lot of things and crushing the lives of several people. What’s in it for the magicians? The thrills and the chance to join a mysterious magic group of legend.

That’s their side of the story. On the other side, we have Dylan, an FBI agent whose mission is to capture these guys. They may not have been a threat at first, but they rob all of the money from a large bank’s vault and then they steal millions from their boss. Their last trick is set to take place in New York so Dylan must use every tool at his disposal to win. To his dismay, he has a partner for this case from Interpol and he fears that she (Alma) will slow him down. His ego is certainly fairly strong.

At the very least, this isn’t the kind of film that I found dull in the least. The pacing is very quick and most of the dialogue is fairly snappy and entertaining. There is a lot of banter to be found here. Given the nature of the film, there are also a few chase scenes like the ones on the ground and a car chase as well. We even get a big hand to hand fight scene between Dylan and one of the magicians where the guy is pulling off things that shouldn’t even be possible thanks to his magical skills. It’s the kind of action that you want to see in a summer blockbuster. Unfortunately, this gets held down by many other elements.

For starters, Danny is one of the magicians and he’s pretty unlikable. His first scene is him having a one night stand with someone before shooing her away because he has to get to a meeting. Not a great introduction. His overconfidence is good as he messes with the cops a lot, but it’s just irritating to see the cops simply have to back off. They know that this guy is a burglar and he’s also taunting them so that’s reason enough to keep him locked up for questioning for a while.

Another one of the magicians is Henley and her thing is that she’s good at escaping impossible situations like being chained up in an underwater tank and then appearing in the audience. Naturally, she can’t resist quickly stripping before jumping into the tank. There’s a really unnecessary romance plot between her and Danny that goes nowhere and probably never will since her character is not going to be in the sequel.

Merritt is next on the list and what if I said that he was the worst member? He is good at hypnosis to the point where the film has to sacrifice even more realism. Just by talking to you for an instant, he can get you to do whatever you want. He uses his tricks of mind reading as well to humiliate everyone all the time. Despite this, he doesn’t realize that he’s the desperate one as he even asks Henley if she wants to have a one night stand. Whenever he’s on screen, you can get ready to face palm. Why is this black mailing individual one of the four horsemen? (The name of the magic group)

Finally, there’s Jack. He’s the youngest member and he’s great at slight of hand. He can pick any lock and he can magically use the handcuffs that are on him to cuff someone else in the blink of an eye. It’s all really a big stretch of disbelief if you ask me. He’s the best member of the group, but it’s practically automatic. He has no huge faults that hurt the character and he takes all of the big risks while the other members try to get somewhere safe while they still can. They’re not exactly dependable as you can see.

Luckily, Dylan’s a likable protagonist. He always looks and sounds tired, but it gives the impression that he has been doing this for a while and that he has experience on his side. He knows how to talk tough to all of the villains even if he ultimately ends up getting humiliated a lot of the time. He’s the main reason why the film is a blast. His only failing is that he tends to blame everything on Alma and yells at her for basically no reason whenever he’s stressed. Alma should have just left to work on her own after a while because I know I wouldn’t bother with someone like that. Especially when he has to keep on asking her for help since he doesn’t believe in magic.

The main fault with this film aside from the unlikable magicians is the large amount of plot holes. Honestly, you could write a whole 1000+ word review on just that aspect. In the end, we are led to believe that the magic is basically real to an extent. There’s no other way to justify how the magicians pull off so many feats. They hypnotize someone to rob a bank, they can fight off professional FBI agents with their tricks, They can leap from speeding cars and have time to exchange a dummy in their place that looks incredibly realistic to the point where nobody can tell that it’s a fake even at close contact, They can make completely real looking illusions, They phone in the dates for their robberies and where they are taking place, but the police don’t want to close the building or cancel the show, etc. They are able to take down the FBI and Interpol and the citizens of New York are actually cheering them on. Are you kidding me? It’s one thing for Americans to cheer someone illegally walking on a tight rope. It’s another to cheer about someone robbing people (Robbing a bank is essentially robbing a lot of citizens as well) and making lives miserable. I just don’t see that happening in real life to be honest.

There’s also a big plot twist about who the real leader of the 4 Horsemen is and it makes no sense in context to the rest of the film. There’s no way that the film can justify this in a way that will satisfy me. Sorry guys, I’m just not buying it. It turns the film upside down, but not in a good way. The only good part about this was that the tough talking Thaddeus was finally taken down a notch. He made for a good rival to the FBI in following the magicians and I liked his overconfidence, but he had to go at some point. His back and forth with the other old guy was one of the best scenes in the film though. Both of them are supremely confident and have a lot of resources, but only one could come out on top…or maybe none of them. The way that it all happens was pretty interesting and the scene where Thaddeus loses is funny. See, if you ignore the lack of realism, the final twist is hilarious. If you think back to all of the other scenes in the film while already knowing the twist…..well you just have to feel bad for the FBI. This looks pretty shameful on them.

Overall, Now You See Me is a film that should and could have been great. Becoming a good film is a three step process after all. 1. A film should be enjoyable. Check! 2. A film should have likable characters. X. 3. A film should minimize negatives:Extreme Violence, Sensuality, Language, Terrible Dialogue, Bad Pacing, etc. X. So, this film simply couldn’t follow those 3 rules. As it is, I wouldn’t really recommend it. It can make for a decent way to spend your evening, but there are simply better ways to do that. The sequel should be intriguing since the magicians are on the run. I’m looking forward to that and it looks like the big team up’s going to happen. The interesting thing is, I don’t think you would even realize the end twist just judging from the trailer of the second film so that was actually handled pretty well. On a final note, remember that you should never tell a group of teenagers all of the right passwords to your super complicated Swiss bank account which holds millions of dollars even if they claim that they only want to know it for a game they’re playing…that scene was just sad. Dylan’s boss in the FBI had the best line in the film, which basically encapsulates your opinion of the FBI’s handling of the case. “The level of incompetence displayed on the case, that’s a magic trick in and of itself. Abracadabra, I’m takin’ over…”
I reeeeeally loved that line, even if the character proceeded to get embarrassed in the very next minute. When watching the film, that’ll be your reaction as you can probably think of better ways to handle the situation.

Overall 5/10

Batman V Superman Dawn of Justice Review

Posted on March 27, 2016 by dreager1

All right, here we go! This is a film that I’ve been hyped for ever since it was announced. Man of Steel is still one of the greatest comic book films of all time and I teeter between it and Avengers quite a lot. One day I may say that Avengers is better and the next I’ll go back to Man of Steel. It’s a tough choice since Man of Steel obliterates Avengers when it comes to action while Avengers has the better dialogue. At the time of this writing it’s safe to say that I’m going with Man of Steel, but who knows in the future I suppose. You may have heard, but this film has been critically panned and everyone is complaining about the film. I’m not surprised though. Ever since the very beginning of the film’s announcement, I knew that it would be too much for the general audience. This isn’t Deadpool, where the dirty jokes and over the top violence will keep the audience smiling. This isn’t even the Avengers where you have a joke every 30 seconds to make you smile. Batman V Superman is simply an action movie that pits the two most popular superheroes of all time against each other and it succeeds! It doesn’t need any fluff to keep you entertained. Technically my review has no real spoilers in my opinion…but I recommend watching the film first just in case.

Although, it was fun to see the coincidences as I walked into the theater. For starters, there were a few people who left the earlier showing about 30 minutes early. How do I know? Well, I got there around 2 and a half hours early to wait in the line with many other die hard DC fans. There was even some Street Fighter music blasting in the background. Then, when I walked into the film, there was a little kid kicking my seat the entire time. I’m guessing that a critic must have hired her to stop me from having the ultimate theater experience that I was expecting. All right, with the premise out of the way, let’s launch into the film.

Superman’s infamous battle with General Zod destroyed a large part of Metropolis and also crushed one of the big Wayne Enterprises buildings. There were thousands of fatalities as critics of the first film were quick to point out. I certainly don’t buy the reasoning that Superman could have lured Zod away. Both combatants were at around equal strength so good luck stopping fatalities in that situation. The neck snap is another issue altogether and Pokemon actually did a homage to the final fight, but with the correct ending in Mewtwo vs Genesect. An excellent movie in its own right as well. Either way, Batman blames Superman for what happened and has decided that the Man of Steel must die.

Superman is struggling with regaining his confidence because a lot of people are doubting him. He goes into a terrorist area to save Lois Lane, but then he’s framed for destroying a bunch of terrorists because they were shot while he was in the area. First, I have to point out how unrealistic this is. Superman doesn’t use guns so how was this really a set up? The only way it can possibly work is if the bodies were completely ground to dust so there was no evidence, but there was nothing said to even hint at this so it seems like people just ignored the evidence lying inside of the victims. The whole thing was just a little laughable.

A bomb also goes off just when Superman is about to make a speech to try and defend himself so that’s essentially the last straw for Batman. Once he gets his hands on some Kryptonite, then it’s time for the fight to begin. The third plot is about Lex Luthor as he continues to make a mockery of the original comic book character. This was one of the biggest miscasts that I’ve ever seen. This guy just can’t play Lex and he probably shouldn’t play any comic book character again after this. He’s always shaking and trying to have an epic moment, but they all fall flat.

Then from the trailer you know that the film ultimately ends with the three heroes taking on Doomsday. There was a lot of controversy about the trailer showing too much, but I always chuckle at the notion. A trailer can’t show too much. Ultimately, you want to know as much of the film as possible or at least the hype moments. Without Doomsday, the trailer would not have been quite as good. This way you get to be hyped up for a few months rather than a few minutes while watching the film. Throw in your spoilers, twists, after credit scenes, and everything else into the trailers. If it makes them more epic, then you’ve succeeded. Dialogue is a different matter. You want to have the big lines, but I feel like using the comedy lines in a trailer can be tricky since you know that they’re coming so you won’t laugh or even break a smile when you hear them again. I’d say that Marvel’s typically the guiltiest of this as DC doesn’t believe in jokes anyway.

Let’s take a look at some of the critical lines in the film and how they hold up. “Be their hero Clark, be their Angel, be their monument, be anything they need you to be…….or be none of it. You don’t owe this world a thing. You never did.” The first part of the line is fairly good. Sometimes you have to sacrifice what you want to do in order to do what you should do. Of course, it also sounds a little extreme and part of Superman’s problem in this film is that he’s essentially letting himself become a bit of an angel figure for the people. As a Christian throughout his comic history, Superman definitely wouldn’t let himself be presented in that way. Still, the overall message of being a hero and a symbol to people is something that Superman’s always done and you would expect Martha to give him some sound advice here. Instead…she tells him that he can just not do that? To abandon Earth because he doesn’t owe them anything. Gee..I wouldn’t want her to be pep talking my Super Smash Bros crew! It’s similar to how Pa Kent told Superman to let everyone die in the first film. It just comes off as a terrible thing to say and maybe the intention is to show that the world has corrupted them too since that’s a bit of a moral here, but it’s a shame that it comes at the expense of these two characters. Corrupted Ma Kent was really terrible in this film.

Next line is Bruce Wayne’s iconic line about Clark Kent and the Daily Planet being hypocritical. *quote grabbed from IMDB* “The Daily Planet criticizing those who think they’re above the law is a little hypocritical, wouldn’t you say? Considering every time your hero saves a cat out of a tree, you write a puff piece editorial about an alien that could burn the whole place down.” Bruce Wayne is trying to sound really tough and menacing here, but the actual line doesn’t really make any sense if you ask me. Since when has Superman been above the law? I highly doubt that Bruce would have simply allowed a friend to have been killed in a terrorist war camp if he had been around. If he’s referring to Superman attacking General Zod, then he’s no better than the masses as there wasn’t another choice. All Superman has been doing is helping people and mitigating global disasters so Bruce just comes off as desperate here. He’s the one killing all of the random minions, not Superman. I never agreed with the line from the start, but then again…I tend to disagree with just about everything that Batman does in this film.

Finally, let’s get into Lex Luthor’s philosophical question. He states that if God is All Powerful, then he cannot be All Good. If he is All Good, then he is not All Powerful. After all, then why do bad things happen to people? Well, that’s a question you will likely get asked a lot as a Christian. It can get followed up by other gems like why give humans free will if they will just use it to commit atrocious crimes and if he knows all, then do our decisions even matter? Well, humanity without free will is not really much of anything. If we didn’t have free will, we’d basically be robots so we essentially wouldn’t exist. Free will is a necessity and it is the right thing to do, even if it means that life’s going to be hard for most of us. Your decisions naturally do matter. God knows what you will do, but you do not, nor does anyone else. You still have to live your life in the best way possible and you should strive to be the best Christian possible. Finally, God can be All Good and All Powerful without contradicting either statement. It’s well within his power to stop all wrong doings, but doing so would certainly violate free will and that would not be the right thing to do. It would be the easy move to make, but we have to learn from our mistakes and willingly choose to follow him. Otherwise the whole endeavor is pointless anyway.

Those were the big lines so now let’s tackle the more specific positives and negatives of the film. There are a bunch of them to get through here so lets start! An easy positive is certainly the fight scenes in the movie. I loved the battles in Man of Steel even if they were ahead of their time. Movie goers and critics aren’t quite ready for these high levels of CGI. As a huge video game fan, I’ve had time to get used to them and I feel like they more accurately show off the true powers of a titan like Superman than if they went for a more realistic hand to hand battle. In fact, I’d say that this style has severely made characters like Thor and Hulk look weaker than they should. At this point in time, I don’t even consider DC vs Marvel in terms of live action fighting capabilities to even be a debate. Superman would effortlessly crush the Avengers. Look at how Thor had to retreat from an array of bullets or how the Hulk took a lot of damage against the Abomination. Superman’s already fought opponents far stronger and faster than any Marvel counterparts. That’s why it’s important to have a good action scene.

The battles in Man of Steel and Batman V Superman are the best comic book fight scenes of all time. There is nothing even comparable or remotely close to it. The best Marvel fight scene to date is Kurse vs Thor and even that fight was still very quick and was over before you knew it. We don’t have a chance to have battles quite as insanely awesome as in Man of Steel for the most part since Batman can’t move at those speeds anyway, but the final fight with Doomsday is pretty close and it was a blast to see. Whenever there is an action scene in this film, it delivers.

I also greatly enjoyed the soundtrack. Wonder Woman’s theme is naturally the standout one. When she appears it really compliments her big scene of saving Batman. It’s an action scene with a sort of nostalgic undertone that’s hard to place, but gives the theme some depth. Batman’s theme is also fairly good although it’s a little less obvious that it’s his theme. There’s also what I call the “Justice League” theme that shows up for all of the big cameos and hype moments leading into Justice League. It was hard not to laugh when it first played as someone was looking at a photograph since it’s intense rock and felt a little out of place, but I’m always up for a good tune. It can play during a very emotional moment and I’d still be okay with it. There should never be silence when there could be a good theme playing instead. The whole film feels very epic and thematic as a result of these themes and since Man of Steel also delivered with a lot of incredible tunes (Or one good one that kept on repeating over and over again) in Man of Steel, I hope to see this trend continue in Justice League.

Let’s dip into the negatives for a second. We do get a random bath scene with Lois as she and Superman try to talk about the bad situation that he’s in, but it feels really unnecessary. Superman can’t even give her a decent response and just pulls a cop out by jumping in. Avengers didn’t have to use any phony gimmicks like this to try and grab ticket sales and you don’t need this scene. It’s just a waste of time and they could have used the extra time for more fight scenes or something. The romance also doesn’t work because Superman and Lois hardly talk to each other and don’t even seem all that close. It’s not the romance that we needed, but I suppose that it’s the one we deserved considering the Rotten Tomatoes score. (I admit that I’ll never grow out of that Dark Knight reference)

Let’s talk about our first main character, Lex Luthor. I knew that he’d be a disgrace to the great villain right when I saw the trailer and I was not wrong. My hunches are usually right on the money with this kind of thing. Why is it so hard to adapt a villain properly nowadays? Mandarin, Ultron, Joker, etc. Lately we just don’t know how to bring the big villains onto the big screen without embarrassing ourselves either a lot or a little. In Luthor’s case, he’s the worst villain yet and only Joker may give him a run for his money in Suicide Squad. Luthor is essentially a comic relief Luthor who may be a little smart, but he’s so over the top that it just doesn’t matter. One of the most face palm worthy moments was when he forced a senator type guy to eat a candy. Seriously…whyyyyyyyyy. There’s not much to say about how bad this guy is except for the fact that it looks like he’ll unfortunately return for some other titles in the future. I’m just glad that he didn’t end up getting any supernatural powers at the end. I was worried that the film was going to go there for a minute or two and that would have been truly devastating! We need an actor/personality switch for this guy pronto. It was the biggest failing of the movie and Lex is the worst character by far.

Time to talk about the big controversial character in the film..Batman! We grew up with a Batman who didn’t use guns and who didn’t kill people under any circumstances. This Batman doesn’t believe in that since he’s based on the Miller version who is jaded with the world and is willing to murder anyone in his way. Now, he’s not quite as extreme as I was worried he’d be, but Batman does murder/torture people. He uses guns openly to take out many soldiers in the future where morals have been pushed to the wayside and in the present he uses his Bat Car armaments as well as his plane to kill a lot of minions. Even in the hand to hand fight scene it’s heavily implied that he broke some people based on how they landed. This Batman is pretty petty at times as well. In one scene a minion managed to stab him so Batman quickly picked the guy up and grabbed the spear so he could stab him through a wall. That ought to teach him eh! Alfred even lets us know that Batman was not always like this, but things have changed. It seems that Robin was the last straw.

What’s supposed to make you feel better about this is the fact that Batman only murders criminals. Think of it this way. Batman has finally become the vigilante that the cops always feared he would be and they actually support him this time. Yes, the cops are finally on Batman’s side for once now that he is willing to cross the line and deal out lethal punishment. We even see the aftermath of when he breaks into a lab and let’s just say that the fight seemed to have gotten pretty deadly. Again, the film tried to show us that we can sympathize with him because the people that he tortures by branding a logo on their body are the worst of the worst from the criminals. In the end, that’s not how Batman should operate and slowly but surely, the films are trying to make our superheroes cross the line more and more by placing them in tough moral situations. What happened to Superheroes making the right decisions no matter the cost?

Still……Batman was pretty likable. He just feels more like a villain or a hero who is willing to become a villain in order to seek vengeance. See, let’s not take Batman at his word about how he needs to protect the future by murdering Superman. He just wants to kill the guy because Superman destroyed a lot of his employees and friends during the fight in Man of Steel. He feels like he owes something to the fallen and he has to avenge them no matter the cost. No matter how you look at it, revenge is really the only thing that he’s after and that can still be a compelling reason to follow. I’ve always thought that the concept of doing something evil and beforehand knowing that it was so in order to potentially save others even if they don’t know it to be an interesting plot point. It’s been used several times like Homura’s final actions in Madoka Magica Rebellion or the Question’s attempt to kill Lex Luthor over in Justice League. Still, when you really cut to the chase, willingly committing such an act makes you just as guilty as any other criminal. A sin by any other name is still a sin. It’s fun to follow Batman’s story arc from his perspective and that’s what makes the first half so interesting, but I was certainly never in doubt that I had chosen the right side with Superman.

Batman’s Bruce Wayne persona was handled pretty well. He attends events as part of his strategy and never goes overboard with trying to prove that he’s not Batman. It’s pretty futile anyway as just about everyone seems to know who he is. The last straw was the fact that a certain villain knows his identity and tricks him consistently throughout the film. I mean really? Isn’t Batman supposed to be some kind of detective? He certainly gets suckered a lot here and even Wonder Woman is able to steal his encryption device with ease. She does have super speed which gives her a bit of an advantage, but you feel bad for Batman. Things really don’t go his way at first. He does believe that he’s fighting for the human race in his justifications though so at least he gets the cool Rocky type montage as he works out to prepare for his fist fight with Superman.

Superman is another interesting figure. He’s still not sure what he should be doing. He’s used by multiple characters and he refuses to ever come to his own defense when people accuse him. Superman’s extremely out of character and the fact that he so openly talks about killing Batman when, let’s face it, the villain’s not going to keep his end of the deal is just sad. I mean come on guys. I could write a better Superman when I was three. He also really plays up the savior aspect although part of it is the fact that the director loved to use slow-mo cam whenever possible. Superman’s always striking a pose of looking up at the sky or slowly floating down from it. When he arrives at the court hearings, he stays in the air for a few good minutes so everyone could see him before he landed. I mean, the facial expressions can crack you up a lot during the movie, but it’s unintentional. It’s definitely hilarious to see Batman and Superman constantly glaring at each other like in the future segment. I remember people making fun of that a lot when it first came out in the trailer.

The film still got Superman’s power levels right for the most part. The whole taking a hostage at gun point should have absolutely no effect on someone with Superman’s level of speed and it doesn’t. Superman is able to take Doomsday into space and honestly that probably would have been the end of it if the government hadn’t intervened, but that did a good job of showing off Superman’s high level of regeneration when next to the sun. Superman’s a hard guy to keep down after all and he’s still the strongest comic book character of all time. He’s also the most morally sound one, which is something that I wish the film had showed a little more. His line about how nobody stays good on this planet is a terrible one. Superman’s whole character arc is that he always does the right thing no matter how tough it is. Don’t start having him admit that he may not be able to succeed or that he’ll eventually be forced into making the wrong call. That’s just not Superman.

Wonder Woman got the biggest role from the superheroes after Batman and Superman. She had the best theme in the film and she gets a good role in the final battle with Doomsday. She seems fairly strong physically so I hope to see more of that in Justice League. I’m still not crazy about her using a sword since I feel like it undermines her strength a bit like with Thor, but she is evidently still powerful enough to restrain Doomsday even if just for a little bit so that’s a good start and she has a lot of speed. She was definitely portrayed well here and she doesn’t have to have as much drama as the other two. She was actually having fun during the whole film until she finally decided to step in and fight. What were the other two doing? Well, Batman was brooding a lot and getting ready to possibly die while Superman was doubting himself and feeling sad the entire time. It’s easy to see who is handling the situation best here. Although, I do wish that Wonder Woman had been told about the dream of the future instead of Batman just saying that the League would be needed soon.

Let’s not forget the side characters like Lois Lane and Perry. Lois was pretty good as she did her best to exonerate Superman and put herself in the line of fire a lot. It did ultimately make things dicey for Superman, but a reporter’s got to do what she’s got to do I suppose. She came through in the clutch for the team near the end when she revealed the truth about Superman’s cryptic words. She still may not seem a whole lot like the Lois from the comics, but she’s a good character. I actually liked Perry as well even if he’s comically bad. He doesn’t stand for the right things anymore and doesn’t want to ruffle any feathers. Neither does the government so maybe everyone just doesn’t mind letting themselves get stopped by the powers of a profitable company. Perry was always giving Clark Kent the wrong advice so we’ll see if he changes his tune after the heroes helped save the world or if he’ll hey even more extreme. Either way, he was pretty entertaining though.

This film gives us a lot of glimpses into the future of what DC is planning. We get cameos for three other Justice League members. One of them is horribly miscast though. Unfortunately he has black hair. Not blond and not red, but black. Seriously? You can’t even properly get a character’s appearance right anymore? Let’s just say that a certain TV show did really well with this guy so I would expect better from a big budget film although I had already called the fact a long time ago that the show wouldn’t be surpassed here. The suit and actor look much better in the show and people are already very used to that version so it’s going to be a little dicey. Another character’s only cameo was a lot of yelling so no comment there. As for the third, he’s not miscast per say, but he looked terrible since he seemed to be confused in his own element and he was very slow. The scene was horribly filmed for some reason. Well…I’m sure they’ll look better in their own films….probably. I just want Green Lantern at this point so he can keep everyone in check.

Batman also gets a vision of the future or a possible future. There are many theories about this and I can think of at least 6 myself, but that’s practically a cop out so let’s go with the most likely one. Darkseid is going to wage a war on Earth and without the Justice League in existence, what will happen is that they will take over and they will convince/trick Superman into joining them by framing Batman for murdering Lois Lane based on the whole “You took her from me!” line. That’s why Batman is told that he needs to form the League. If the League is available from the get go, then this will never happen so I don’t expect the scene to directly ever come into being. Since the League will be there to prevent this from happening in the first place, I’m confident that Darkseid’s war won’t be as successful. Unfortunately, I wouldn’t be surprised if the films want to use the really old and beaten Superman is evil trope, but I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt and will say that they avoid it this time.

This film is about two hours and a half do it decides to use the first 100 or so minutes on build up before the actual fight starts. I’m fine with this because the set up is where you start to get the hype going. Naturally, both characters don’t get along and they do meet before the actual fight. Batman’s plot is very interesting to follow and the whole movie went by incredibly fast. I would have easily watched the film even if it was another hour or two longer. If anything, that would have been nice to have explored more options, set up Justice League a bit more, or just to give us another Batman vs Superman fight.

Their fight happens near the end of the film and it’s pretty hype. Naturally, there is a ton of plot hax here, but as I mentioned before the film, I didn’t really care who won. Batman has his prep time meme that I love so much and if he won it would give his fans more ammo to use against Superman in all future debates. I’m fine with Superman winning as well since he’s physically got the massive edge and he could beat Batman in a heartbeat. Either way I would probably call plot hax. Suffice it to say, Batman does get prep time for this fight and there is a clear winner. There is no tie or a similar cop out like that, which I was thrilled about. Nothing’s worse than seeing the film just take the easy way out so that they don’t anger the fans. *coughIron Man vs Thor. Vision vs Thor. Thor vs Hulk.cough* Either way, I think you’ll be satisfied with the fight, even considering that one of the fighters wasn’t doing all that much fighting which made the fight a little more lopsided.

Afterwards, the plan to save someone was a little sketchy though. Considering that there were only about 5 minutes and how close the whole thing was, it was a super risky plan. In fact, it’s a plan that should not have worked. The instant that everyone started to get attacked outside, I’m pretty sure that the hostage would have been destroyed. It certainly made more sense for Superman to have done the whole thing on his own, but superheroes are typically lucky I suppose. They only aren’t when it’s relevant to the plot. Whenever a villain tells the hero to freeze and they basically say “lol no” as they run towards the villain and punch him out, it seems like plot hax. The villain could have easily just have shot and the whole thing would not have boded well for the heroes. Still, it’s just something that happens I suppose. On a slightly smaller level of plot hax, I have to say that it was iffy how easily Lex infiltrated the alien ship. Kryptonian tech is a lot better than that so it was a bit of a disappointing scene.

Doomsday certainly did not disappoint as the big villain. It would have been awesome if he had talked like in the Justice League show, but maybe next time. He adapts so you never know if he’ll appear again someday. He made for a great villain even if the fight had some plot hax with how Superman suddenly stopped using his speed and focused on power. It was a credit to his endurance though since Superman was pretty exhausted when the fight first started. Doomsday’s great energy blasts were certainly thrilling to see on the big screen and I look forward to seeing how Darkseid is handled. I definitely trust these guys to accurately show off his design. Picture Thanos and Apocalypse, but even cooler.

Finally, I’ll also give DC credit for not making this film overly violent and gritty like their animated films. I actually didn’t find the film all that violent at all since it was basically bloodless like The Dark Knight. In fact, I’d say that the Dark Knight was more violent thanks to the pencil scene. There was nothing like that here which would make you wince or look away. Most of it is very stylized and that’s why I would actually say that they handled the death of Bruce Wayne’s parents a lot better than any other film or show. They died in basically the least violent way possible. The climax is all hype as well with terrific action and no unnecessary elements.

DC vs Marvel has always been a big debate through the years. DC has always won on the animated front even if Marvel has the current edge while Marvel had the edge in live action. Man of Steel is the greatest comic book film live action-wise, but Marvel would win through sheer numbers. Well, that’s no longer the case. With Batman V Superman in the books now, the tides have turned and DC now wins in this area as well. I don’t see Marvel mounting a comeback..ever really. Unless DC goes on a huge downwards slide, these two films should be able to keep them afloat and the rivalry has finally ended. With this, DC beats Marvel in every area under which they compete. Good games Marvel. You can keep your high RT scores and big universe, but I’ll take DC’s cheat codes of throwing in their 3 biggest characters without all of the individual movies and set up. If it works, why not right?

That’s not to say that all of DC’s films are going to be fantastic after this though. I still think that Suicide Squad is going to be quite bad and the trailer still looks really sad. That is a film that I have absolutely no hopes for, but at least the bar is set really low so there’s always the slim shot that it could surprise me. There’s the possibility right? Marvel’s films are consistently good so I’ll give them credit there. DC’s are all over the place with hit or miss titles, but when they hit, they hit quite effectively!

Overall, Batman V Superman was a blast. Honestly, I doubt I even came close to touching on everything here, but the film review really would go on forever otherwise so if you have any specific questions about something that was not addressed, feel free to leave a comment. I still think that the film should have been called Batman Vs Superman, but I guess the S got lost in the budget cuts. I really look forward to Justice League and seeing Superman get to team up with some of the other heroes. He needs to prove that he’s faster than the Flash and stronger than any other character. That’s part of what makes him the ultimate hero, but they also need to make him nicer and more talkative like the Superman that we know. Rather than brooding and striking poses as if he was Batman, Superman needs to show his leadership qualities as well. As for Batman, he needs to start murdering less. It’s possible that I’m over analyzing the ending, but I feel like he is starting to show some development there so that would be awesome if true. Don’t listen to the bad reviews. Critics/General Audience viewers just weren’t ready for this one yet. You have to realize that the action scenes and plot move at a very quick pace and a lot of things happen so if it’s overwhelming for you, then you may want to take a few more months to prepare yourself first. Play some memory games and Chess battles first to warm yourself before walking in. Then prepare yourself for epicness and a next gen experience! Oh and I almost forgot, no worries if you were sad about the property damage and loss of life last time because the character makes sure to constantly remind us that the areas where they fight are uninhabited so there are basically no fatalities this time around. See, the heroes still care about the little guys even when the world is at stake. That’s what being a hero truly is!

Overall 9/10

Update 12/2/2019 I realized that I had not actually put any film with the 10 star title. This one claims victory in that arena with a slight win over Infinity War and Man of Steel.

Overall 10/10

It Came From Outer Space Review

Posted on March 25, 2016 by dreager1

It’s time for a really old sci-fi film. This one came out even before the original Godzilla film! It’s an intriguing alien story that holds up pretty well although I admit that some things could have been handled better. A fight between the humans and aliens definitely would have been a blast, but maybe once we finally make a big budget sequel someday that’ll happen. This is still a fairly entertaining film that holds up well.

Putnam has never been the most reputable man around, but he had a good career and made some friends in the astrology biz. That being said, these “friends” quickly leave him after he claims that a UFO landed and buried itself in a canyon. Putnam’s not going to stand for this…so he slowly drives away. When he gets home, he realizes that it’s not over as two men who by all accounts should be dead have reappeared. The aliens have done something to the real McCoys and slowly start to take down other humans in the area. What can Putnam do to prevent this alien invasion…and does he even want to aid the humans?

So, it’s a classic invasion film at its core. Slowly, but surely the aliens start to kidnap various humans and nobody knows where they could be. The aliens claim that they’re in good hands, but can we really believe that? Putnam certainly does and it’s part of why he’s such a terrible character. They even kidnap his friend Ellen, but Putnam continues to listen to their demands. The cops won’t have any of this though and Sheriff Matt decides to make the tough calls as he storms their base.

All right, let’s get into why Putnam is such a bad character. He basically lets the aliens walk all over him and then stomp him further into the ground. The aliens fired the first shot and Putnam suspects that they murdered one or two of the humans at the very beginning of the film. He suspects this and yet…he’s hardly alarmed. They later tell him that everyone’s okay, but why is he so happy to help them? If you listen to the first threats, then bigger ones will surely surface and it’s a vicious cycle. Putnam needs to try and stop these guys, but the only thing he does is throw a punch at the Sheriff and try to slow down the police. Even when the aliens start trying to destroy him, Putnam doesn’t really recognize them as a threat the way that he should. I definitely did not like this guy at all.

The aliens were also rather odd. They were portrayed as being a little misunderstood and they were relatively peaceful. Really? That’s not the way that I saw it as they were quick to attack the humans and fired at the main character. They also decided to blow up the Earth when things were not going their way. They had real forms so it’s not as if they needed to attack the humans. They decided on their own that the humans would be hostile and fired the first shot, but that’s ultimately just their justification and not a very good one either.

The humans were pretty embarrassing with how they handled seeing the aliens true form though. The thing may look a little grotesque, but certainly not enough to make a person yell or faint. Nobody took it in stride and you would think that someone would be a little brave. Ah well, at least Putnam was able to dodge a ray blast and take out one of the aliens so the humans didn’t look completely powerless here.

I’m also going to give Sheriff Matt some props here. I thought that he was easily the best human here and at least he tried to do something about the aliens. He went along with the demands for a little while thanks to Putnam, but he eventually realized that something had to be done. He would have made for a much better main character than Putnam, but sometimes it’s good to have the best character be the rival.

You will have to stretch your disbelief quite a bit here as characters are taken down by the super slow alien monsters who have no business taking down any adults on their own. Not without a good blaster anyway and I’m not sure if they have it set to stun here. Putnam spends a lot of time driving around and picking up clues. If only he knew that he was basically just being played here.

Overall, It Came From Outer Space is a good movie. It has that retro feel that is always enjoyable and the writing is fairly good. Even though there are aliens and sci-fi elements, it’s fairly calm and you can almost call it a slice of life where aliens show up. I was glad that the aliens had a true form and that they could actually fight as seen in the end, but I didn’t care for them as characters. Maybe it was the fact that they were pretending to be good guys or the fact that the film never called them out on it. Putnam didn’t do the film any favors, but while he was an unlikable main character, he wasn’t super awful or anything like that to the point where he would bring the experience down. It was an entertaining alien flick and it felt pretty short so the adventure never ended up dragging on. I’d recommend checking it out and then you can see if you agree with Putnam’s view on this one or with Sheriff Matt.

Overall 7/10

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