Category Archives: Live Action Movie Reviews

The X from Outer Space Review

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It’s time for a classic Kaiju film from way back in the day. I do have to admit that I was not very familiar with it but hey that happens. After watching it, it definitely does deliver on the Kaiju action but the human plot is particularly weak even compared to normal. You really don’t care about these guys and the random love triangle going on. It takes forever for Guilala to appear but once the monster does show up then things start to get real interesting. Get ready for a lot of buildings to be destroyed!

So the movie starts with a space crew heading off into space. Unfortunately their doctor gets sick so he has to be replaced with another one who is really not happy about being up here and makes this clear from the jump. Previous expeditions continue to disappear with all of the crew members dying but it’s unknown why that is happening. Well it turns out that there is some kind of tractor beam and an odd sponge/spore type object here. The heroes end up bringing this back to Earth and unfortunately it ends up being a massively powerful Kaiju that is determined to destroy the planet. They must find a way to reverse these effects or its all over!

While I mention Guilala in the summary that is still fairly deep into the film even though I mention it now. I like the deign a lot and Guilala seems to have a lot of powers but they are too much for the budget. For example at one point he starts glowing blue as if this guy thinks he’s Godzilla but then nothing happens. I do like the reaction times of plucking jets out of the sky even if they shouldn’t have been so low to begin with. Don’t underestimate the power of a Kaiju after all. Guilala is definitely the highlight of the film though.

Back to the humans though, so we have the weak romance going on. Sano is a guy in high demand as the local correspondent from Earth is in love with him as well as a new astronaut who is on the mission. It seems like Sano and the first girl are semi official but it’s hard to really know this for sure. She has a picture of him on her desk after all but it could just be her being possessive. During the first call to Earth the new girl makes sure to be extra clingy with Sano so the first girl quickly gets an attitude and gives off the silent treatment.

It all feels a bit unreasonable because Sano was actually doing really well on the ship. He refused the second girl’s offer to dance and basically dodged all of her flirting attempts. I don’t see how he could have handled it any better short of constantly talking about how he was in love with the first girl which would have been a bit tacky. Ultimately the astronaut gets the hint and near the end of the film it’s played off as a really sad moment. Look romance can be tragic, the person you like won’t always like you back but you just gotta buckle up and keep it moving. Don’t be desperate, don’t try too hard, and just move on.

All that being said, Sano is the only one who came out of this looking good. The second girl was moving way too fast and the first one was just way too insecure. She never actually made a move to talk to Sano about this or discuss rationally. Instead she just became super upset for no reason. If she is going to fly off the handle that much when any girl talks to Sano then I suspect this will be a pretty rough romance going forward.

As for the doctor who didn’t want to be on the mission, I think the idea of the character is good. I’d like to see this guy complaining constantly and bringing everyone down but his role is rather minimal so he doesn’t end up actually doing a lot. His role could and should have been a whole lot bigger. I guess he had the one moment where he cracked and ran for the controls at least….it’ll have to do.

Meanwhile the sense of distance was a bit odd here. So the whole mission is super dangerous and stuff because you have to go deep into space where people keep vanishing right? Well at one point they run out of fuel…so the main heroine flies in from the base with the extra fuel. She gets there in a matter of minutes but we could say it was hours in real time. Either way it seems like it was absolutely trivial to get to where the main characters were in space so how does that make any sense? It’s just a bit odd if you ask me.

The whole film I wouldn’t say is thought out all that well which is why the Kaiju is what is saving it the whole time. Without the Kaiju this film would have just ended up being boring. At least this way there was something to keep you engaged even if there could be some recycled animation at times. There wasn’t a whole lot of monster footage but it was a decent start. The effects of the Kaiju deforming were pretty good at least.

Overall, Creature X isn’t nearly as good as it could have been but I would still say it was fun enough. I had a good time watching the film even if I was taking shots the whole time. It’s an easy film to poke fun at for all of the missed opportunities and such. At the same time the Kaiju is still cool and while the characters aren’t good, the film avoids making any big mistakes. It’s short enough where even the poor pacing of the first half won’t hurt the replay value too much. I could watch this one again even if there is not much point as long as the main Godzilla films exist which absolutely crush this one.

Overall 6/10

When a Stranger Calls (2006) Review

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It’s always rare for a horror remake to beat the original but this is one of those rare times where it worked out. Now this still isn’t some amazing film or anything like that so lets not get ahead of ourselves. That being said, it is well above the average horror title so you love to see it. Add a few more interesting characters and you could almost have made a good film out of this. The potential is there at least.

The movie starts with Jill getting ready to babysit for some rich folks as they head out for a while. It should be an easy gig and the kids are very young so they’ll just be sleeping the whole time. Yeah it doesn’t get much easier than this but then things begin to get a little tricky when she receives calls from a nefarious character. He starts out by being really silent but then starts to threaten her life. He intends to murder her before the night ends and makes it clear that he can see her. Jill has to find a way to murder this guy before she is destroyed but can she pull this off?

The whole film is basically her in the house trying to figure out what’s going on. For this reason the film can be a bit of a slow burn. Things don’t really happen until we get near the end so they do overplay the phone calls a little bit. I feel like he probably calls her at least 20 times during the film and each time she has to try and scramble to gather her bearings. She does call the police which is good but they basically say they can’t help her out since the threats haven’t been direct enough and it might be a prank caller. I dare say this is where she should have exaggerated a bit and talk about glass breaking and loud explosions in the background. Something to get the cops here a little quicker.

Where the film also drags a bit here is that Jill is basically your average main character. What that means is a lot of tears and panicking the whole time after each of the calls. It’s realistic perhaps but not the most entertaining. I’d like to see her talking smack back to the guy, grab a baseball bat and get ready or something like that. Unfortunately she makes a ton of the rookie horror main character mistakes. For one thing she turns off the alarm system for a while. Gee I hope he doesn’t get in the house while she was messing around….

Jill takes a massive risk in running next door to the spare house in case a neighbor was back home but this was a pretty bad call. There’s no positives to doing this since she had already called and there was no answer. So either the neighbor has already been murdered or he is the villain. In either case going there by yourself and leaving the kids is a bad move. In fact I’d argue she should have brought the kids with her way earlier in the film. Find a room and barricade yourself in or make a break for it with them. By staying so far apart you’re just creating a whole lot of vulnerable areas for the guy to make his move. Trust me that’s exactly what you don’t want to do.

There isn’t much of a supporting cast here which is another weakness. You can tell the film does not care about anyone other than the lead and villain so the rest of the characters are paper thin. You have Tiffany who apparently worked as a homewrecker in cheating with Jill’s guy which hurt their friendship. Things don’t go well for her and there’s actually not a big body count here but the rest of the victims are basically non characters here too. The way the film forces characters into this abandoned house plot can be a little funny but the film should have leaned into it more. Have the milk delivery guy show up, maybe a debt collector, etc. Have a bunch of people show up to get bumped off. It would be a little dark but you could also play it up as some dark humor for a while.

Where the film works is a lot of the scares are more about the atmosphere as opposed to being over the top violent. Knowing that there is someone out there getting ready to murder you is pretty unnerving. Particularly if you aren’t able to do a whole lot about it at the moment. The attacker usually has the edge over the defender for this reason because Jill has to be tense and stressed out the whole time while the murderer can relax and choose when he wants to make a move. The rich house makes for a good backdrop since it is absolutely massive which means there are a ton of hiding places available.

There’s an entire mini river in the house after all and it’s all super dark. Again this is why you need to pick a room or escape as soon as possible. One thing I was surprised didn’t happen was for Jill to use the emergency system to her advantage. When she tripped the alarm at the start is caused security to call her right away. So trip it again and if they call say it is a real emergency this time. Or if it’s later in the film and she can’t come to the phone then they should ideally show up pretty fast.

I was going to take some points from Jill at the end for when she stabs the guy and then runs off instead of finishing him. It’s still a risky move and I get that it’s a stressful situation but if you have the guy on the ground you have to finish him right there and then because it could be your last chance. Fortunately the film basically ends there so no harm no foul. We do get one of those sorta twist endings but it’s very weak compared to most. It’s clear the film wasn’t trying as hard as it could have to get the sequel set up. I mean it makes for a bit of a happier ending sorta compared to what it could have been but the twist ending is a horror staple. You have to have that!

Overall, This film was better than the original in just about every way. I’d still say it was not a particularly strong film because there are no real likable characters and there just isn’t much to it beyond being a horror film. You have a bunch of jump scares and a tense atmosphere which works well enough but you aren’t given enough of a reason to really care about anything. The villain not having a character was actually a good move though. Don’t give me some kind of tragic sob story. It makes sense once in a while for the villain to not have some kind of personal relation to the main character. He’s just a random psycho who happened to target her this time, sometimes it’s scarier for it to just be random like this. If you like the premise t hen give this one a shot but it’s really nothing special.

Overall 5/10

Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man Review

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All right we’re back to the Abbott and Costello adventures! What trouble will these two get into this time? Well we’ve got some actual boxing on the docket in addition to the usual slapstick comedy and it makes for a good mix. We’re still not quite up to the level of the film with the Werewolf but this does beat the Mummy film so in the end you would have to count that as an absolute win!

The film opens with Bud and Lou graduating from detective school so they can be official PIs. You may wonder how Lou actually made it and it turns out that Bud actually paid off the teacher! The brilliance of the gag is you can take this at straight value or assume Bud was taking a shot. I prefer the former but both work pretty well. They get a first client right away, a boxer who is on the run for attempted murder. This boxer isn’t just anyone though…he is the new Invisible Man!!

You can probably guess how his being invisible is going to mess with Lou a whole lot. Lou gets framed constantly and is the butt of every joke because he can’t properly explain himself. It means that things keep on going from bad to worse for him. Poor guy is what you might think right? I’d usually feel bad for him but he’s just a bit too desperate all the time and the film has a final gag at the very end which destroys his character. Lets just say that he’s the type of guy who would abuse his power immediately so whenever he is on the losing side or getting defeated by everyone…I’m actually kind of glad now. Seriously there’s no coming back from that.

A big chunk of the film involves boxing. Basically the way the boxer was framed was by an underground circuit of mafia members betting on the games. This guy refused to take a dive and so they murdered the trainer and pinned it on this guy. At least that’s what the Invisible Man says. Bud basically couldn’t care and doesn’t believe him so he tries to betray the Invisible Man many times and keeps on getting into hot water. Honestly he’s lucky that the guy didn’t bump him off after a while. Lou usually ends up taking some punishment too despite not being on board with betraying him.

To an extent you can get why the Invisible Man would not be trustworthy though. He makes a whole speech about how he could use this power for evil and has a super evil laugh the whole time. The guy seemed to be cracking immediately and we already knew that the serum had some side effects. It’s almost a bit hard to root for the guy at some points because he’s also not very smart. He talks and moves food around when other people are around which nearly outs him.

This is a comedy of course so you expect some stuff like that but I’m still going to be taking shots at the guy anyway. At the end of the day he’s the one performing the actions so of course he has to be blasted for that. The Invisible Man wasn’t quick on the uptake and you expect that form someone like Lou. Lou really looks bad here but that’s to be expected. He barely moves to play along during the fights at times and it nearly costs him big.

Bud is pretty fun in that he’s great as bluffing and reading the situation. It doesn’t always work out well for him but I appreciate the attempt. Like when he stood up to the opposing boxer who was trying to intimidate Lou. That was fun. Ultimately his confidence gets the best of him as he gets punched out when expecting the Invisible Man to come to his rescue but why would he right? Bud was getting on his bad side the entire film.

One thing that works out well here in addition to the main plot is how the Invisible Man actually has his own set of supporting characters and things happening. That helps it to all feel a lot more like a real film all the way through. The characters do tend to be a bit annoying and in particular the doctor strapping him to a table and nearly costing him everything was rough. If he can’t prove his innocence he would be sent to the electric chair anyway so at that point you have to let him try to clear his name.

The climax actually involves a full battle scene which was pretty fun too. Naturally Bud and Lou can’t really fight but they are good at running around which buys some time. The mobsters also made for fairly decent villains. Nothing special of course but i liked the scheme and it added a little danger to the film. Having one of their minions dress up as a security guard to stop the police from suspecting anything was pretty smart.

If there’s something that would have made the film better it would be to take the boxing scenes a little more seriously. Now completely serious of course but I think there is some wiggle room between what we got and what we could have gotten. Also the idea of an invisible helper assisting during the match is a pretty fun idea for even a serious film. I suppose it would be really hard to beat that scheme but you could say that’s the point right?

Overall, This was a pretty fun film. As with any comedy film that has tons of gags like this one, not every gag will land but most of them do and that’s definitely the important thing. The film goes by really quickly and if you like the series then you’ll like this installment. For better or worse it’s not really trying anything all that different from before. I would say if anything the strength of the series is probably in its familiarity to the fans who watch each installment. You know more or less what to expect in each film and it’s a calming experience.

Overall 7/10

Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy Review

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It’s time for another Abbott and Costello film. These two are always getting into a lot of crazy shenanigans filled with comedy and slapstick. It’s really a winning formula and this film is no different. You can feel the series weakening the longer that it goes on but it’s till solid enough where it can stand on its own and you will have a good time all the way through. The gags are on point and the films are fairly quick so the pacing is never an issue. No matter how you slice it, you’ll be having a pretty good time here.

The main characters are messing around as always when they get wrapped up in a pretty dicey situation. A Mummy is being uncovered and someone has been murdered. The are ready to help out so they can make a lot of money. Costello even gets his hands on the legendary amulet which is perfect since that can lead to big bucks but he has to find a way to get the money since everyone is after him. A mysterious lady seems awful interested in the guy as well so he’s feeling pretty good about himself but what if she actually only wants the amulet?

By this point in the series you should pretty much see all of the gags coming a mile away. That said, one that was particularly good was when Bud raises his fist to seemingly hit Lou, so Lou flinches and blocks. Bud asks why he did that so Lou explains he thought Bud was going to hit him. Bud tells him to knock it off so Lou lowers his arm…and then Bud hits him. The execution of that gag was really on point and showed why Lou always needs to keep his guard up around that guy.

Lou actually gets more wins than usual here though. One really solid moment for him was when he was tricking Bud with the money but then later on he does end up eating the medallion so he lost to Bud there. It’s a bit more of a back and forth than usual since typically Lou is getting beat up the whole time. The only area he consistently beats Bud in is with the ladies and of course often times that is part of a villain’s scheme. Lou tends to not realize this though so he’s just having a grand time until it inevitably goes sour for him. At that point he is really out of luck.

One of the weaknesses in this film is that the Mummy gets very limited screentime and isn’t very intimidating even when he does appear. Most of the film has him locked up in the tomb and when he finally gets out the movie is nearly over. His followers get more of a role if anything and none of them look super impressive. In fact the leader must have been a parody type character because he talks really tough about how he’ll finally have to step in and all that jazz only to get defeated immediately. It gets so bad that the main two actually knock him out at one point. Let me tell you…getting knocked out by those two has to be the absolute worst humiliation you could ask for. Seriously that’s really hard to come back from.

The girl’s group were a little better as they actually captured the leads and had the advantage in a fight for most of the film. Ultimately they still go down but at least they put up a fight and had a better goal. They just weren’t ready for the slapstick duo to get in the way and ruin all of their plans.

The ending of the film is pretty fun with how things worked out. It wasn’t exactly what I had been expecting but it still worked pretty well and gave all of the characters a decent amount of closure. It squeezed in some comedy without being too over the top which is really the important part here. The tone and such wasn’t ruined but then again the films are really good at keeping that tonal balance the whole time.

Ultimately there really isn’t much to this film beyond the gags. I would argue the movie is built around the gags as opposed to the other way around in this case which is why the monster plot takes a backseat. It may not win against the previous films but fortunately the gags are good enough for the film to stand on its own. I would say there is a decent amount of replay value here due to the sheer number of gags. Something is constantly happening after all and I would probably already rewatch the film and I wouldn’t remember quite a number of the jokes. That’s the benefit of using so many in such a short amount of time.

Overall, This is a movie that I would recommend. Naturally you do have to be a fun of comedic films and this slapstick style of humor in particular. If you are not then you are definitely in the wrong place. It’s consistent all the way through and I’ve got another Costello review coming up shortly so get ready for that one. This time the monster does get much more of a role. I’d say they learned from this one but this movie actually came out after the one I’m going to review next.

Overall 7/10

The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar Review

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This is definitely a pretty interesting gimmick movie. That said, gimmicks tend to run out rather quickly and that’s what happened to this one. Even at only around 40 minutes the movie begins to drag by the halfway point. You won’t be forgetting it anytime soon and yet it still will not end up being one of the big titles. I feel like with any gimmick you still need a really strong product around it or that’s game over.

The movie starts with someone talking about Henry Sugar who was a super rich guy who ended up reading a book about a doctor who met a guy who could see with his eyes closed who learned this from an old master back in the day so he could get rich. In effect this is like having 4 stories overlaid among each other. The stories are accompanied by nonstop narration which is the main gimmick here as someone is always talking while following the characters around. It’s mainly told from a third person perspective and the narrator switches each time. There are a ton of practical effects used here as the whole thing is a bit like a stage.

So it makes for an interesting production but not a very interesting movie. The way everyone talks is intentionally very stilted and there is barely even a plot. Sure the plot is what I described above but it’s basically just being told like a story but you aren’t invested in it. It takes a while for things to really happen and there isn’t much dialogue between the characters. When I’m thinking of a story I’m thinking of a situation that is changing dynamically the whole time with lots of action and excitement. It doesn’t have to be action in the literal sense but a ton of plot progression and all that. You don’t really get any of that here.

There isn’t a whole lot of personality to the characters either, particularly since they don’t give narration for most of the time. The ending ties everything together which works well enough but you’re fairly checked out by that point. A film like this could have really used a lot of humor and I think that would have really taken it to the next stage. Instead without that it ends up being a little more on the forgettable side. I do want to emphasize that the film doesn’t make any really big mistakes.

The biggest issue here is just that it gets boring rather quickly. The absurdity of what’s going on is really the kind of humor that the film is going for but I think it needed to have gone a little more bonkers in order to have actually made this effective. Give me something to really laugh about, you know? Or if not, I dare say you need to film this more traditionally than in the style that was used here.

It does make sense to be more experimental on a short though so I applaud the effort. It’s never really a bad thing to try and explore some new ideas but inevitably that does mean that some will not be successful. I would just say that this is one of those times and if they ever want to make a remake but in a different format, the idea of someone who can see even with their eyes covered is pretty fun. You could still play that off as a light hearted drama with the guy figuring out how to get rich. There’s all kinds of good you could do with that kind of ability.

Overall, The Wonderful Life of Henry Sugar is a very unique film but that’s really all that it has going for it. The pacing isn’t great and I wouldn’t say that any of the characters are particularly interesting. The best part of the film is likely with the first doctor trying to figure out how this is possible. He had the most personality for sure and this was still early on enough where everything felt fresh. Ultimately it just couldn’t hold out after that. Only check this film out if you really want to see what an experimental film can be like.

Overall 4/10

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance Review

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It’s time for a fairly retro film and a pretty fun one at that. It’s sort of part western to an extent while also being pretty original in its own way. It really deals with the power of the pen vs the gun and lets just say that back then the latter always had a tendency to win. The film has good writing and a likable cast of characters which ultimately makes this a big winner in my book.

The movie unfortunately does start in the future which removes a ton of tension. I still think this is an awful movie technique but yeah we start with Senator Ransom and his wife Hallie heading over to a small town to pay their respects to someone who died. The local newspapers figure they have a right to know what’s going on here and pester the guy until he finally tells the story. So the rest of the film is a flashback but hey we now know that the main two characters get out of this alive. Why would you do this? Seriously whyyyyyyy.

Yeah so in the past Ransom is attacked by a group of thugs led by Liberty and that’s when he realizes that it’s time to clean this town up. The problem is that he’s effectively a stranger in this town and while he wants to begin practicing law, it’s difficult when the villains don’t respect him. He doesn’t lose hope though and wants to hold an election and make this a safe town. It will take a lot of guts though and some planning because Liberty makes it clear that he will shoot Ransom. There is one guy who isn’t afraid of this villain, a guy named Tom.

Tom is an excellent shot himself and has taken many opponents down in the past but he’s really not going to go after Liberty. If Liberty gets in his way then Tom will shoot him dead but Liberty is mainly gunning after Ransom so Tom holds his peace. The villain is making allies though so soon the whole village may be doomed. In the meantime Tom is in love with Hallie but she is in love with Ransom making things a little tricky. Gee I wonder who she picks….after all we already saw the flash forward from the first scene….

So for the good parts, as I mentioned earlier I did really like the writing here. The characters are very reasonable and the dialogue is strong. I thought the movie did a good job of also showing why Ransom’s ideals were not going to be enough here. At the end of the day you do need some power in order to push through with your convictions. That’s the way that it’s always been as otherwise you will just be destroyed and nobody will remember you. Ransom starts working on his shooting later on but it’s just a little too late.

You’re not going to beat a lifelong gunman when you just started training. I mean you can possibly win because in a shootout all you need is one good shot but the odds aren’t in your favor. At times I do think Ransom was a little overly naive though like when he yelled at Tom for saving his life in the diner. Liberty would have kept escalating and Ransom just didn’t want to admit that having a gun was real useful at that point. Ultimately while he would likely never admit it to Tom, he does see the value here. The ending works really well with this as Ransom has a really good life but will always have some memories about the past that he would rather forget.

Tom is absolutely the standout character here though. I like how tough he is and that he was the only character who would actually stand up to Liberty the whole time. You always got the feeling that he would have crushed Liberty in a straight fight and the villain knew it which is why he always backed down. Tom wasn’t the hero type so he wasn’t going to save the town but I just liked the idea of him being a wild card. The guy was having his own cinematic adventure off screen as we hear about him winning fights and shooting opponents down.

He also gets the best directed scene in the movie involving a flashback to a scene we saw earlier in the film but with a different camera angle. Not only does it fix a potential power levels issue but it just enhances the film quite a lot. At the end of the day Tom’s a fairly complex character but someone you can count on. He definitely starts to slip a lot in the end and things don’t always go great for him, but he was definitely a lot of fun.

His partner Pompey was also great. You can’t forget that he saved Tom’s life on several occasions and you can assume the same has been true for a while. There are many situations where being on your own would be fatal in these fights. Having a strong ally makes for a world of difference. Then you have the heroine Hallie who is nice enough. She probably could have been a little more direct in who she wanted to be with between Tom and Ransom but I would put the least amount of pressure on her because Tom was the one trying to pull moves the whole time. Even if you don’t get a direct rejection you can often tell where the wind is blowing and he was being intentionally oblivious I’d say hoping that he would win.

As a villain Liberty isn’t bad. I think the film did a good job of showing how he would act really tough and cocky around people who can’t fight back but would shrink to the actually powerful opponents. I’d say that’s probably true for many villains. This guy could look rather whiny and weak at times but it made for a fairly realistic villain. Then we have the comic relief Link who was mainly here to show how this town got so weak in the first place. He was definitely not ready to fight off anybody and naturally that empowers the villains.

Overall, This was a pretty fun film and I really don’t have many complaints. Of course I would have cut out the first scene so it doesn’t spoil almost the entire movie’s stakes but the actual movie is still high quality. Also the reporters are completely unlikable with how they forced Ransom to tell them the story. He honestly should have told them to get lost instead of answering their questions with the kind of attitude they were having but I guess that’s just how it goes. In the end Ransom was always a nice guy even if it was to a fault at times.

Overall 7/10

The Shootist Review

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It’s time for a fairly somber wild west film. There isn’t a whole lot of action here but the film definitely delivers with a pretty solid climax. The build up for that was definitely a lot of fun and ultimately ties everything in well. It’s a pretty good film that takes itself seriously and has a lot of solid writing. It’s not perfect but I had a consistently good time all the way through.

The movie starts by introducing us to Books. He is a very notorious killer. The guy has never lost a fight and is one of the only survivors of the true wild west. What people don’t realize is that he’s dying. The guy is old but it’s not that, he has developed cancer and his doctor confirmed the diagnosis. There is no way out for him now and so he has only a few weeks to live. He decides to rent out a room in a quiet town and just wait for his death. That was the plan at least but he isn’t ready to just die like this and so he prepares to see the world a bit and get into one last fight. The stakes are pretty high for him but what’s the worst that can happen in the fight right? He’ll be dead soon anyway.

It’s got to be tough knowing that the end of your life is approaching but at the same time I always rather liked the idea of having a rough time table. If I know I’m going to die in 4 weeks for example then I would go crazy enjoying every kind of food and activity I wanted in the meantime. Of course the reason you wouldn’t want to do that is because no diagnosis is 100% accurate. If they made a mistake and you just spent your life savings…that won’t go over very well. So it’s always important that no matter what you don’t do anything that would be irreversible. Trust me it’s not a good idea. Of course back in the wild west days there were far less resources so the diagnosis could be said with more confidence since it’s not like he could have an operation.

A big portion of the film is Brooks getting to know Bond, the owner of the house, and her son. The weakest part of the film is definitely the mild romance with Bond and Books though. It doesn’t really make sense, he’ll be dead soon anyway and they got off to a really rocky start as it is. Granted the film doesn’t really go anywhere with this but that’s part of why it’s just filler and could have been removed. Having this connection didn’t actually add anything to the film and you could have replaced it with something a whole lot more useful. At least if you ask me that definitely could have been changed quite a bit. At most have her see him with some respect for leading a tough life but you don’t need anything more than that.

I’d also say it’s selfish of Books to be driving around with her and asking her to accompany him. There’s not much use in building bonds when you’re about to die because you’re just going to leave the other person in a rather rough spot. Of course it provides him some comfort but hey you don’t always get to win out. I’d have preferred he just hang out with everyone a little like his scenes with Doc, Gillom, and the others. Books is still a solid character and the film goes out of its way to show that he was no common criminal. He didn’t start fights, he just ended them.

I do think it was pretty unreasonable when Bond was giving him a hard time over murdering the home intruders. Clearly they were going to finish him off so he had to defend himself. For the most part Bond is reasonable in the film though and I definitely didn’t blame her at all for wanting Books out after he lied to her about his identity. I think most people would feel the same way because right out of the gate you can’t trust your tenant. That’s not a good way to start things off.

Gillom manages to be really annoying throughout the film though. The guy ends up being a thief by the end and while he apologized, I didn’t buy it. It also wasn’t the best of apologies either. He gets a good moment at the end of the film at least so I’ll give him that but for the most part he was definitely really weak. I much preferred the guy at the stables who was good at bartering. He had a decent sense of humor too and was able to hold his own without being insecure or over the top like Gillom.

Finally I liked the doctor, he was a good friend to Books throughout the adventure. He also didn’t sugar coat how things would end up if Books died naturally which I appreciated. At the end of the day that’s probably the worst thing you can do. You need to give your patient the right tools and knowledge to make the best informed decision possible. That’s just not going to work if you don’t explain the situation 100% accurately and clearly.

The highlight of the film is definitely the big climax. I liked how each of the 3 big gunmen just walked into the saloon waiting for Books to show up. Each one was super smug and confident in their abilities. You were wondering if they would turn on each other, team up, or just watch in the end. It made for a good setting and I liked how Books just walked in with a ton of confidence. He was maybe too confident as he was wide open during the first shot and is just lucky that the guy missed.

It’s a full action climax that you may not have expected for this film and it ended up working out really well. While most of the film is more dialogue heavy and just about life in general, you always want to have some kind of explosive climax and this film definitely delivered on that. The fight scene was handled really well and you got to clearly see Books’ accuracy all the way through. An ending is supremely important for any film so it was really good that this one stuck the landing.

Overall, This is a film that I could easily recommend whether you enjoy wild west type films or not. It’s really more about deciding how you die and making a final stand. The classic hero having to enter one last fight is certainly a popular kind of plot and it makes sense because there’s a lot to enjoy with that. The writing is really solid which is naturally important and I also really liked the cast of characters. These films can sometimes make the lead a little too unlikable so you’re rooting for him to lose or at least to go for a draw but in this case Books was actually likable so that worked out well. He had a lot of fun banter with the local Marshall which made for a little injection of humor into the film. That guy was definitely as mean as he could be but that never broke Books.

Overall 7/10

Who Was That Lady? Review

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All right so imagine you walk into a room and you see your husband with another lady in the position of the poster. Now…..unless you’re a grade A sucker this is where the film ends because you’re pulling in the papers and axing the whole thing off right? Well this movie’s all about the main guy trying to gaslight his wife into thinking that this isn’t actually happening. Will he succeed or will justice prevail?? Time to find out!

So I have to say whenever the main character gets off too easy I tend to be annoyed and that happens here. I was waiting for things to really turn on him but they never really do. Basically the film starts off with a student staying after class and pulls the moves on him. His reaction times were dead in the water but for the sake of argument we can say he was putting up a struggle but lacked the power. David’s wife Ann walks in and sees this so she dashes off and says they will be getting divorced. David knows his only hope is to get the help of his best friend Michael to lie on his behalf. Lying is like breathing for Michael so you could even say that he was born for this task and boy is he eager to pull it off!

The story they go with is that David is part of the FBI and part of his job is going on dates and having affairs with various women who are actually operatives from enemy establishments. The whole thing sounds so bogus but Ann believes it because a part of her wants to believe in her husband which is actually just tragic when you think about it. Now David’s web of lies continues to grow and grow but he’s having a blast. What can possibly go wrong with this?? Well when the real FBI step in things start to get a little shaky.

Yeah so I have no sympathy for the main character here. David makes all of the usual excuses and one liners here but I don’t buy any of them. It was a mistake…it happened too fast, etc. Nahhh that’s not going to work. What’s even worse is when he goes with Michael on the group date. He absolutely needed to say no and just deal with the consequences. Even if nothing ended up happening, just going on the group date was a really bad idea. Sure he got to experience some danger near the end but for the most part there were no real downsides to the adventure. He just got to mess around a lot and in the end things are actually better off for him than when he started the film. Life and death situations can change a person but there was no real reason for Ann to forgive him.

Meanwhile Ann may be a lot more sympathetic than David but I was still not a fan. She gets fooled way too easily especially considering how weak the story is. She should have stuck to her guns. I actually think a more interesting premise would have been that she was doubting him the whole film so he keeps on making the stories more and more fantastic in a bid to get her to believe him. By the end she finally starts to believe him when something goes wrong and he has to come clean. Boom that’s so many times better than what we got and it would have also made her look a whole lot better.

Then you have his friend Michael who is the king of being a bad influence. You can always count on him to make sure that things don’t go well. He always starts off with fairly clever ideas but ends up doubling down on them so many times that they go all the way around into being bad ideas. He really instigates a lot of the problems. So make no mistake he’s definitely a true antagonist here and someone you can’t root for. At the same time he is easily the most entertaining character. It’s always a lot of fun to see him with the fast talk and trying to outsmart everyone.

In the climax when the two are attacked by villains he’s the only one who actually tries to put up a fight. He still gets folded real fast but I appreciated the attempt. I feel like the really confident fast talkers like this guy can usually at least know the basics of combat so that made sense. Ultimately that’s no substitute for having actual abilities though. His confidence at least makes other characters think twice and he was really able to dominate for most of the film because of this.

There’s also the main FBI agent who gets a decent role here. He ultimately pays a bit of a price for being too passive in the film though. If he had jumped in from the jump then he could have really changed a ton of events in the film. Instead he wanted to be nice and in the end actually dragged things out a lot more. Poor guy just wanted to relax and wasn’t ready for all of this.

The film definitely has a lot of funny moments and has a decent script so it’s not a really bad movie or anything like that. You should grin now and again but the basic premise does hold it back quite a lot. You definitely can’t get behind the romance and the main character ends up crossing a little too far into unlikable territory. You can deal with a main character who’s not super likable or anything like that but when he’s this bad it does end up taking a toll on the film. Ultimately it also feels a bit more stretched out than it needs to be as well.

Overall, This is one film where the main character should have lost at the end. At least maybe have Ann get some kind of quick revenge on him for a little while to try and even the score. It was all just a little too easy considering that she actually saw him cheating. It’s not like it was word of mouth or a rumor where you could debate it. I get the feeling a modern remake would have things play out a little differently for David and for once I think that would actually make sense here. That kind of moment is typically game over after all even if the film tries to brush it aside a bit. I enjoy a fun/light tone as much as the next guy of course and the events are cool but the premise just puts a bit of a damper on it.

Overall 4/10

Human Voice Review

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This is definitely a really short film so there’s not much time for a full plot. It’s more about having a scenario and then the special takes it to a conclusion. The main problem is as a result we do not care at all about any of the characters here. Seriously the main character isn’t even likable based on the brief context we have here and the only one who seems decent would be the maid who is just trying her best.

The story here is that there’s an older lady who looks forward to talking to a young man that she is seeing. This relationship doesn’t appear as if it will ultimately go anywhere but she needed a rebound after her husband passed away a long time ago. This guy was cool with it and so they meet up a lot. On this day though, he calls and explains that it’s all over. They will not be seeing each other anymore and in fact he’s hanging out with a younger woman now. Uh ohhhhhhh.

You guys probably already know how I feel about age gap romances from other titles and basically I think they almost never work. There are no “Never” or “Always” conditions in a romance but I would say it rarely ever works out because the two people will just be too different. In general I say 10 years is around the cutoff so someone who’s 38 and someone who’s 31 can probably work things out even if it’s a little tricky but if we’re talking 41 and 29 then you’re not likely to have a great time. This movie seems to really be a straight depiction of this because the younger guy inevitably went for a younger woman.

The way he broke the news to her was pretty bad. I mean he just waited to call later in the day? Of course she already knew about the younger lady as we find out later and was just trying to block that from her mind. These characters are being delusional and so the conversation isn’t very interesting at all. In fact it’s really just the heroine talking the whole time as she thinks about the past and feels lonely about her future prospects.

In general I’m not big on rebounds either so the way I see it, her husband died but they had a good time for a while and now that’s really it. There’s no picking a next guy, you just have to live the rest of the life on solo player mode. To each their own of course but she should have reasonably expected this to happen at some point and start looking at her options. Picking the younger guy was probably the downfall here because it meant that she could not try to find someone around her age in the meantime.

The party line phones were nostalgic though. I remember when the lines were set up in a way where it was all connected so if you picked up the phone then someone else could be listening on the other end. That must have been a nightmare, I don’t know how people could have really used their phones much. I suppose some might not mind others eavesdropping and it can be nice for parties but I think in most cases it would just end up not being worth it.

You only feel bad for the maid here who is trying to avoid all of the drama but it seems like this kind of thing happens a lot. She very smoothly prepares the dinner and then gets out of there before any big blow up Absolutely a good move and she’s very quick on her feet. She also tried warning the main heroine in a way by how she kept asking if the guy was really coming. Nobody wants to waste food right?

It was also cool to see that it was an Eggplant Parmesan here since I go tot make that recently. Eggplant isn’t my favorite to say the least but when you throw enough sauce and cheese at the problem then you’re good. There are few things that these two elements cannot cure in a food dish. I did find out recently that pineapple pizza is one of those exceptions. The food looked really presentable here though and that’s a silver lining for the short.

This isn’t an awful short or anything but it is pretty bad because it’s hard to find any real positives here. Sure, I have small praises like the food but that doesn’t count for a whole lot. There’s not enough terrible content for me to push it lower but I just don’t see why you would make a short with such a flimsy plot. It’s just a little too light with not enough story or characters. As a result it just comes across as trying way too hard the whole time. Like it’s searching for some kind of award to pat it on the back about how the film managed a whole story with only a few characters appearing and this was at the extent of a real story.

Overall, Yeah this wasn’t very good. The short gives you no reason to identify with the characters and is trying so hard to be emotional that it doesn’t work. If you want to watch a really emotional moment then check out the Arlong climax in One Piece or any episode of RWBY volume 3. This one…..nahhhhhh. It needed more characters, a deeper plot, or some kind of plot twist. For example a massive twist at the end would at least have kept you guessing and honestly I would have been on board with that. I did not expect a twist at any point in the story so that’s what really could have thrown me for a massive loop. Cmon guys lets make it happen next time! In the meantime you should skip this one.

Overall 3/10

Transformers: Rise of the Beasts Review

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Transformers has definitely had a lot of films over the years. The original animated one was excellent but then the live action ones have tended to have a lot of issues for the most part. This one’s here to take us in a new direction and on one hand it’s got a pretty grand plot. On the other hand the fights are severely lacking compared to the old ones so that’s something that I’m hoping can improve pretty soon for the next one. It’s also probably a good idea to not cut out the best scene in the movie.

The film starts with the Maximals being under attack by an incredibly powerful fighter named Scourge. He isn’t a Decepticon nor an Autobot but a Terracon who works for Unicron. He effortlessly destroys one of the fighters and proves why he is a threat to be reckoned with. We then cut to Noah who is our lead here. He’s around some bad influences and once he doesn’t make the cut for the job he applied to, he resorts to a life of crime. Things don’t go well though as the car he tries to steal ends up being an Autobot and he is taken to their base. They want him to take some kind of artifact from a museum and then he can go on his way but the Terracons know about this and want it as well. Can the Autobots take Scourge down and save the planet or will they all be eaten by Unicron?

Okay so lets go with the good, the bad, and the ugly. To start with I will say that the humans plot is handled a lot more gracefully than in older films. None of the characters are pervs, there’s not a ton of comedy running around, and they’re all decent. I wouldn’t say any of the characters are particularly interesting but the plot is played very seriously the whole time and Noah feels like a real character. Perhaps a bit too “real” though as he’s quick to be ready to betray the Autobots even as we get near the end of the film. He’s not someone to be trusted. Now his motivations were reasonable as he wanted to protect his family but betraying the robots is not a great call.

Meanwhile Elena is solid as well. Her boss is always stealing credit and so she hasn’t been able to move up. Perhaps this whole experience can help her finally make a name for herself….provided she survives this at least. I would say the best part of the human plot would definitely be the after credits scene for the film. It’s definitely an excellent moment and gets you hyped for the future. So that’s something the film definitely did really well there. I’d have probably thrown in an extra character or something but there’s a lot of possibilities here.

The robot designs are also on point. Scourge looks really strong right out of the gate. He works well as the main villain and is probably the best villain out of all the live action Transformers villains. The guy has presence and you can feel his power. Optimus Prime has a great personality as well. Like in the Bayverse films this Prime is very bloodthirsty and just wants to destroy everyone. The film cut out his best scene involving this but the guy wasn’t playing around. Prime should be desperate to get back home and stop the villains after all the deaths so the characterization makes a whole lot of sense.

Okay so those are the main positive elements of the film. Now lets talk about some of the negatives here. For the first thing, the fights just aren’t good. They aren’t just the weakest Transformers fights but I would say they are weak movie fights in general. A lot of the times you’re just looking at a quick tackle, a stab, and then the fight is over. That or they’re just blasting each other a while. There’s never a sense of just how strong or weak someone is because they all look really fragile in battle. A good example of this is how effortlessly Prime was defeated by Scourge.

In practice it makes a lot of sense. You want to show how good Scourge is so you clown on Prime a bit but the execution was way off. It just made Prime look like a chump as opposed to making Scourge look like a champ and that’s really my main problem here. It’s absolutely not the way to go about this and there’s now weight to the battles. You have Noah blasting away at Scourge later on and distracting him while the guy was no selling hits from Prime? The power levels were too wonky and yet too one sided at the same time. So even when you had the rest of the robots getting involved it didn’t really do anything for me.

The visuals are good of course but the actual fights were definitely below average. The soundtrack’s also extremely weak but for a movie that’s not a huge deal. You mostly don’t even notice the music in these things anyway. Of course it’d be nice if it was a lot better but I’m just saying I wasn’t expecting a whole lot either way. So the movie has good pacing and you’re engaged during it but you feel a bit sad because the whole Unicron experience can only happen once and now we’ve already used it up. At least the opening battles with Scourge and we can’t get those back again.

Ultimately I just think a bit of a problem here is that without big fights the film can be a little more on the forgettable side. I know everything that happened with the story beats and all but for example I couldn’t tell you quite as much about the individual robots. Of course we had Bumblebee around and he did great near the climax but there wasn’t much to him if you take away the knowledge you already have. Same with most of the other robots as only Mirage got a ton to do.

Now I will say even if on average the fights weren’t top tier, the visual of Bumblebee getting taken out was pretty intense. You will still have some major doubts on the heroes looking so bad there of course but it’s still something that you won’t forget. There is also something to be said for this being a well written film of course. It’s a good title and while it doesn’t have a lot of replay value it definitely did more good things than bad ones. I’d be able to confidently say that I’m a fan of the film, it just has potential to be so much more. I think it’s time to bring in Megatron in the next film for some kind of big team up. Especially with the new characters who will be showing up soon since in theory they should absolutely decimate the Autobots in a straight fight.

Overall, Transformers is always a fun movie to watch. This one does have a lot of action and thrilling scenes. I like seeing the robots smashing each other to bits but it just slacked off on the actual battles a little too hard. The most important thing is the story of course and that’s on point but I really did want some big battles here. A battle with giant robots should always be supremely engaging and if it isn’t then something went terribly wrong. This is not the way that it was supposed to go….not at alllllllll. Also if you’re here for the Maximals, don’t be. There’s a reason why I went the whole review without even mentioning them and that’s because they are completely pointless to the story. They add nothing. None of them are interesting. We don’t even get a proper fight between them and the Autobots. It’s just like how the Dinobots were wasted, I can safely say that these guys were completely wasted too. That said, I am hyped for the sequel and will absolutely be there right away. I’ve still got pretty high hopes there.

Overall 6/10