Stats time!
PS4 Trophies 19/39
Sonic Superstars Stats and Records
Reply
Skull Island: Rise of Kong Stats and Records
Stats time!
PS4 Trophies 20/28
Collectibles 12/25
Super Mario Bros. Wonder Stats and Records
Stats time!
Play Time 5h
Badges 10/24
Total Fruits:
World 1 21/27
World 2 14/19
World 3 12/16
World 4 15/20
World 5 14/16
World 6 15/19
World ? 21/29
Jeopardy Review
So this is one of those rare noir films that I really didn’t like. The plot was a little suspect from the jump and then the execution basically went the way that I was hoping it wouldn’t. By the end of the film you’re going to be pretty annoyed and not even the ending can help you feel satisfied here. Definitely a film you want to avoid at all costs!
The film starts off with Helen getting ready to enjoy a nice vacation with her husband Doug and their son Bobby. It was going to be a lot of fun but unfortunately her husband gets stuck under a bunch of wood and high tide is approaching. If he can’t get out in time then he will drown. There aren’t any supplied at the hut so Helen has to try and find some people to get a rope but they are in the middle of nowhere and time is ticking. She bumps into a guy named Lawson who offers to help but what she doesn’t realize is that he’s a wanted murderer and has no intentions of saving her husband. What can she do?
As you can guess Lawson is basically a grade A jerk who is just in it for himself. He’s a full antagonist here and basically spends the film blackmailing Helen into having an affair with him. So in order words he’s completely taking advantage of her and it’s some of the scummiest behavior you can do. Helen feels like she can’t say no to his advances or her husband will certainly be dead and this guy relishes the power that it gives him. The film would already be dead on arrival at this point because such a plot is just absolutely terrible.
Where the film sinks even lower is by not even portraying him as a full villain. Later on he starts to play the mind games of how Helen actually likes him and then she wavers and starts to feel like this too. Even by the end she is willing to run off with him as gratitude…..what? This guy was totally going to ditch Doug and the fact that he helped at the end doesn’t mean she should suddenly ditch her husband like that. The ending is awful but this whole plot was handled poorly. The film needed to condemn Lawson as being 100% in the wrong and a total psychopath. Not try to make him sympathetic and lonely by the end. I wasn’t buying it one bit.
Unfortunately that romance is a massive part of the film so there’s really no getting around it. To call it an uncomfortable romance would be an understatement and you’re rooting for the cops to show up and blow the guy away already. That would have been a super satisfying ending and I’d have been cheering. Instead the film takes a very cautious approach to how it all ends. My view is that he got taken out but I would have liked it to have been clearer.
The film ends up dragging a whole lot due to all of these scenes so this feels like a very long noir title. In part this is probably also due to how small the cast is so a lot of the scenes are filled with dialogue. That would work with likable characters but falls flat otherwise. We needed more action here to distract from the story like a few gun fights or something. Maybe even some long chase scenes.
So while Lawson is the worst character here, Helen also loses a lot of points. Obviously I’m not deducting points away from her when she was basically being forced to stick around or her husband would be destroyed. Where she falters massively is in how undecided she is and how she doesn’t condemn this guy for being so awful. Helen actually seems worried about him and feels bad for Lawson when there is no reason too. So yeah stockholm syndrome hit her real fast.
The best parts of the film are really centered around Doug and Bobby. Even while Doug is close to drowning and knows that he’s in a lot of danger, he keeps up a brave face for his son. He tries to prepare Bobby for what’s about to happen so he can stay safe as the tide comes up. It’s got to be tough not to start panicking when you’re approaching a slow death like this but Doug never loses his resolve.
He easily has the most fortitude out of all the characters and sees the big picture right from the start. He also tries a few plans to get out from under the rubble but ultimately there was just too much wait so it simply wasn’t possible. Bobby doesn’t do great here but he’s a little kid so it’s not like you can blame him much. He does try his best like making a coffee for Doug even if it doesn’t come out well. So at least the effort is there.
Overall, This is a pretty awful movie. It’s basically about stockholm syndrome but there are so many better ways that it could have been handled. I feel like the movie underestimated just how bad the scenes made Lawson look. He was completely irredeemable, not just some misunderstood soul who’s been out of luck. I think a remake could definitely execute on this premise a whole lot better but in the meantime definitely take a pass on this one. The Noir genre is chock full of much better films all around so pick one of those and you’re set. This one is better left forgotten.
Overall 2/10
The Night Strangler Review
It’s time for the next film in the Night series. The titles are so similar I imagine it’s probably easy to mix this up with the last one and the film itself is fairly similar so I guess that tracks. It beats the first film but I still wouldn’t call it anything super solid. It’s really going through the motions here.
The film starts with Kolchak getting a job once more as a reporter and his boss is even the same. They may be in a different state but the job is the same. It’s time to crack the case on a mass murder mystery of some mysterious assailant strangling multiple women. This guy is only going after dancers which is rather odd and what’s also strange is the way he is doing it. Some of their blood is being drained. Kolchak has vampire experience but this seems like something else. Unfortunately the only way to solve this case will be to get past his boss and the cops. Can Kolchak pull this off?
I don’t know why Tony rehired Kolchak just to go through all of the usual yelling again though. I know they are kind of sort of friends but they basically spend the whole film yelling at each other. Kolchak will find some kind of evidence to which Tony will just shrug and say they can’t use it. They’ll yell and Kolchak will find more evidence but now it’s getting them too deep so Tony will say no. You just can’t win here and part of the problem here is that of course the whole thing is being covered up and Tony is basically just a lackey at this point so naturally he’s not going to do anything to try and fix that. That’s just not how he handles his business.
So naturally I don’t really care for Tony. All he does is obstruct justice the whole time so he can keep his job and by doing so he is indirectly helping the Strangler. The same has to be said for corporate and the cops here since none of them want to allow Kolchak to help. They are content to keep spinning their wheels without any progress. There was only one cop who was really solid because he actually read the reports and even caught some stuff that Kolchak missed. He was still wrong in the end but at least the guy did his research which is a big thing. So when he disagreed I couldn’t fault him for it because he made a rational argument for his side.
I’ll give the researcher Berry some props because he’s actually helpful here. It’s rare that anyone really helps Kolchak out so that was definitely appreciated. Louise also helps out in the end by acting as the bait although the plan was super risky. It could have easily gone downhill since Kolchak got delayed himself and lost her for a few minutes. The cops ironically helped by trying to sabotage him once again as it could have gotten ugly afterwards.
Kolchak may not be perfect but he’s still the best character here. He gets a new job and immediately he’s bribing people and finding out a lot of info that the others didn’t know. He does take his job very seriously and no matter how many times he is suppressed or threatened, he just keeps on going. Kolchak actually does want to save people after all and deliver the news. He also does really well in the yelling matches even if he never actually wins.
I’ll give the film credit for aggressively referencing the first film quite a number of times as well. When you’ve encountered a real life vampire I would expect that to be mentioned quite a bit. Of course the rest of the world doesn’t know this and would likely never believe it but for Kolchak that was a pretty big deal after all. He just can’t escape the supernatural as this villain is basically a real life zombie. That are some technicalities you could mention but that’s basically what is going on here.
The villain strikes every 21 years and only for 18 days. So that’s a silver lining since the victims will be reduced compared to the average serial killer but it also means there is a fine time limit to catching him. You sort of wonder what the villain does during those 21 years. I figure with his vitality restored he’s just wandering the city somewhere but it’s hard to say. Also it’s nice to see Kolchak doing some more actual fighting in this one even if he does get destroyed. He basically resorts to hiding in the second half.
Like in the first film I appreciated how we got an actual fight here with the cops all trying to take down the villain. It doesn’t go any better for them here than in the first film but it’s a nice change of pace compared to always arriving too late to do anything. If you lose a fight that at least means you made it in time for one. Even then I’m always skeptical at how they all get overpowered. Can’t any of them fight at least a little bit? Even if the guy is stronger enough people should be able to hold him down through sheer weight but they don’t use enough teamwork.
The film does have some issues of including random dancing scenes that don’t add anything to the movie though. It’s established that the villain is going after dancers so we get it, you don’t have to play the whole choreography. Also you’d think security would be up after the first murders yet this guy is still able to walk right into the dressing room and murder another one. I’d definitely be suing the shop and the state if I was the family.
Overall, The Night Strangler is reasonably entertaining. It’s not really anything more than that but that’s still enough considering the fairly short runtime. There’s a lot of murders going on but they’re not dragged out too much. I don’t really see myself rewatching this film at any point but I had a decent time. If you really like mystery titles then you should check it out but if not then you’re really not missing much. There are enough great mystery titles where you wouldn’t really need to go and check this one out unless you really need too.
Overall 5/10
The Thing Review
This review is of the TV-14 edited version of the film. All thoughts below should be addressed as such as a review of the unedited version would be more negative
It’s time to look at one of the most iconic horror movies out there. It’s definitely really intense all the way through with a lot of tension and intrigue the whole time. Ultimately it does fall flat due to some unfortunate animal violence and a monster design that leaves a lot to be desired. The film has a core premise that could work if we could get a redo on this someday with a future remake.
The film starts off by introducing us to MacReady and a group of researchers in Antartica. It’s a rather isolated place but these guys are used to it. One day a nearby squad seemingly goes insane as they try to murder a dog and so the heroes take them out. Did the cold weather get to them? No, it appears that a monster is afoot and it can shapeshift as the person it is controlling. This means that any one of the heroes or even more than one are currently aliens in disguise. Is there any way to find out who the culprits are or will distrust doom the squad right off the bat?
There are a lot of suspects here as there are quite a few characters. Additionally just because someone isn’t being controlled in one scene doesn’t mean that he won’t be taken over later on. Any time a character leaves the screen for a prolonged amount of time you have to consider that he may have been compromised and that’s a very dangerous proposition for the other characters. The alien is definitely impressive as it allows the subject to perfectly keep his personality and reason so by all accounts you can’t really tell externally. Additionally the alien is still plotting your death all the while.
So it’s like a live action adaption of Among Us in some ways. I would even say the intrigue is stronger than Invasion of the Body Snatchers which has a similar premise. Having the characters be stuck in Antarctica is a good idea as well because it means there is really no escape. So either you end up taking out the aliens or you get consumed. There are no other options here and the movie keeps this tension up all throughout the movie. So why did it fumble in the end?
Well the main thing here that ends up hurting is of course the animal violence. The Thing starts by murdering most of the dogs and then absorbing the others. One of them ends up getting shot as well and of course they’re all trapped within the cage so when the Thing shows up they can’t even escape. The whole thing’s pretty depressing there and the film should have just had The Thing taking the humans over from the jump. That would have been a whole lot better and then you’d avoid this landmine entirely. The whole scene with the dogs is pretty explicit.
Then you have the creature design as well which isn’t as cool as it needed to be. It’s a slippery mess of tentacles running around and it almost looks like it’s in pain the whole time. It has a cool looking dinosaur mode near the very end but for the most part it just looks like a way less impressive version of Biollante. Give me a more solid monsters to get behind. His attacks were impressive but even then the effects make it look more gross than impressive. It should have looked a whole lot more impressive.
The characters tend to be on the better side though. MacReady is the lead and he knows when it’s time to get serious and stop playing games. He takes command towards the end by force and it makes sense since he actually has a plan while the others would just keep on fighting and not getting anywhere. Considering that the alien is around as well, there is no real time for democracy here. You either take the lead or you end up going down. Using dynamite as a hostage was a great idea since nobody could try and blow him up at that point.
Childs is someone who gives MacReady a tough time for most of the film. Mainly because he also knows they can’t trust anyone and he got some really strong circumstantial evidence that made him really distrust MacReady. I couldn’t really blame him there because the evidence did look pretty bad. Childs is quick on his feet and does pretty well otherwise. Blair is the character I didn’t like because he completely cracks at one point and only makes things worse for everyone. He’s extremely annoying as a result. I do wonder if maybe it’s just that he was being controlled from the jump but I don’t feel like the movie was really implying that. It would have been interesting but that’s more of a baseless theory.
The film is able to juggle a fairly big cast pretty well by giving each character their own full personality and keeping them memorable. So even as the bodies begin to pile up there are enough characters around to keep everyone scrambling. It also makes the place look even more empty and remote as more and more characters keep falling. If you’re claustrophobic then this movie will be extra intense for you and certainly you won’t be thrilled to go to Antarctica after that.
The ending is definitely pretty excellent. Naturally I do suspect one of the two characters in particular based on some events that happened near the end but keeping it open ended is part of what makes this an effective way to close out the movie. I can’t help but think that a full on sequel would really be a lot of fun though. Have the creature get loose in a major city or something with everyone scrambling to stop him. That would just be so much fun right? It would be more of an action than a thriller at that point but it would work.
Overall, The Thing is a movie where I can definitely see how it’s really well liked. There are some things to enjoy here like the tension I keep talking about and the mystery angle. Not being able to trust anyone is definitely a good way to keep you engaged the whole time. Ultimately the film just went too far in trying to be disturbing as well with the design and the dog scenes which prevented this from being a smash hit. My advice would unfortunately be to give this film a skip, they should have just had the alien jump in as a human from the jump and that could have really gone a long way.
Overall 2/10
The Night House Review
This review is of the TV-14 edited version of the movie. All thoughts below should be addressed as such as a review of the unedited version would be more negative
It’s time for one of those spooky haunted house films. Unfortunately this one doesn’t come close to the classic House on Haunted Hill films. The main character hurts this one a lot but also the more we went into the film the more all of the characters started getting rather annoying. Even the villain seems like a bunch of nonsense all things considered. Yeah this is definitely a film to run away from ASAP!
The film starts with Owen destroying himself so now his wife Beth’s life has been flipped upside down. She’s no longer able to think straight and focus on her teaching duties so she takes some time off. Her friends do their best to cheer her up but Beth won’t have any of it. She’s going to stay depressed for as long as it takes. Then some weird things begin to happen, music turns on by itself at home, her husband’s phone starts texting her, etc. Is it possible that somehow his spirit is still alive? The weirdness mainly happens at home so Beth has to stick it out for as long as possible.
One thing the film does to try and make this a bit different from your standard title is that Beth is someone who is super jaded, loves depressing humor and isn’t afraid of the ghost. So she’s dodging most of the stereotypes and it makes sense since she assumes that the ghost is her husband. Why would she fear him right? It’s pretty reasonable and makes sense and even her journey about finding out the secrets behind his suicide note checks out. However it would be nice if she could be a little more agreeable with her friends who are really just trying to help out. All of their kindness is just met with sarcasm the whole time.
By the end she’s often alone because she keeps pushing everyone away. Then in the climax the mind games start putting her in a tricky spot where she barely makes her way out. There’s not much she could do about getting wrecked in the fight with the ghost since he has super strength but being a loner wasn’t doing her a whole lot of good here. Also at the very end I think she should have warned the others about the threat that is lurking around. I suppose they may not believe her but then they are in mortal danger!
Then we have Owen who is easily the worst character in the film. Obviously committing suicide is a really bad thing to do right out of the gate but the context of the movie makes it so much worse. So he is aware that there is a supernatural being who is after both him and Beth. This creature called Nothing actively wants to murder them….so he murders himself without letting Beth know? So much for protecting your wife until the day you die. It gets so much worse than that though. He actually goes ahead and starts murdering a bunch of women who look just like his wife in an extremely awful attempt to trick the creature.
What? This may be the worst plan I’ve ever heard of. No joke it’s hard to top this for a variety of reasons. Can you think of them? Lets break this down. A supernatural creature appears and tells Owen to murder his wife. This creature is invisible and seems to always be around but hard to pin down. So Owen….goes outside and searches until he finds women who look just like Beth. He has enough natural charm to date all of them…then he murders them and places their bodies in a little hut to show the creature so it will assume that he murdered his wife.
All right lets break down this horrific plan. First off…he still goes home to his wife every day and Nothing sees this. So…how are you going to fool him again? It’s abusrrrrrrd!! Okay then the next problem is if you’re going to try this trick you just need one body. Why did he murder several body doubles? That just tells Nothing that you’re really taking him for a fool now. This film really needed to toss out the script and start again. This is just bad man. Also that means he is becoming a mass murderer to try and protect his wife. Surely he has the drive to stick around and make sure she’s okay right?
Nahhhh he murders himself and leaves her a vague note with no context, no warning, and nothing that is helpful at all. He basically just makes her think that he is crazy and of course now Nothing ends up going after her next. He’s such an awful character and the more you see of him the worse it gets. It gets even worse though. Nothing is able to harness extra dimensional energies so he takes Beth into an alternate world where she appears as one of the victims and then he has the past essence of Owen start beating her up and nearly destroys her. So Owen in a roundabout way was nearly the end of Beth. Did I mention how awful this character is yet??
Okay lets move on. At least we had a decent character in Claire. She sees that her friend Beth is clearly cracking up but tries to be there for her regardless. Claire is easily the best character. She has issues of her own but is doing her best to be supportive and available. Meanwhile the neighbor Mel is okay but not as impressive since he didn’t tell Beth that Owen was crazy when he had the chance. I know he may have felt it was none of his business but when you’re good friends with someone you have to break the truth to them. Particularly if that person’s life is in danger or if the trust has been betrayed. If Mel was worried about what would happen next then leave an anonymous note or something.
Also Nothing’s not much of an interesting villain. I also don’t think the movie knew what to do with him. He can clearly interact with solid objects in the real world yet he uses so many roundabout ways to destroy Beth. If he wanted her dead then he could have done it at any time. Instead he tries to break her mentally first and puts her in different illusions and memory fights. I suppose he has all the time in the world to win but it just makes him look weak and ineffectual. The fact that he is invisible so we never actually see him doesn’t really help matters either.
Overall, The Night House is a really annoying film and the characters’ actions make 0 sense. Owen was ultimately a much more sinister villain than Nothing. At least Nothing is a random supernatural villain messing around but Owen is a mass murderer literally executing innocent people with no proper end goal in mind. By the end of it Owen’s just such an awful character and you’re cringing whenever he’s on screen. There just wasn’t much of a point to this adventure. You don’t always need a lot of answers by the end but as far as I’m concerned Nothing is still out there terrorizing people and he’s likely not done with Beth quite yet. The other world will continue to be a factor as everyone gets haunted and so there can be no peace. You could make a solid action sequel to this as the government gets involved or something but as a horror, nah this is not going anywhere anytime soon.
Overall 1/10
April Fool’s Day Review
This review is of the TV-14 edited version of the film. All thoughts below should be addressed as such as a review of the unedited version would be more negative
April Fool’s Day is definitely an interesting film. Because of the nature of being a film about the trickiest day of the year there are a ton of different fake outs and craziness going on. At the same time, the film is still quite violent and doesn’t hold back with those moments so the question is if the context can sort of help out here or is it still the same thing in the end? I will say the absurd nature of it does give the film a little extra punch but ultimately it’s still not one I would be very likely to recommend.
The film starts off with a bunch of students getting invited to a big April Fool’s party at the fancy mansion of Muffy. The teens are always messing with each other a whole lot with all kinds of pranks but things start to go a bit far when someone is murdered. Is this all really a prank or is someone taking this chance to bump off each and every student? One thing’s for sure, these guys are going to need to try and stay one step ahead of the pranks or they are doomed!
You’re supposed to be kept off balance from the jump because of how much these guys love pranking each other. Put it this way, we have a fake death very early on in the film with the two guys faking an accident by the boat. From there on you know that no prank is out of bounds and even if the characters start to physically fight each other it may be part of the act. So you can’t trust any of the characters or their actions for the duration of the film because you really don’t know what is fake and what is real. I’d say that’s the most effective part of the film because it almost borderlines on being parody but it’s still played very seriously.
It does mean that none of the characters are all that likable though. You just feel like they all go too far with it and so hanging around any of them during the April Fool’s week would be completely unbearable. Even the nicer characters like Muffy are constantly pranking everyone! I would quickly come up with some kind of excuse every year about how I have to go abroad or something. Anything to stay away from the absolute madness!
All of the romances in the film are very weak since they all just seem to be quick affairs over the summer without a whole lot to them. None of these guys and girls actually seem all that loyal or faithful and would cheat in a heartbeat. They’re basically joking about that throughout as it is. You could say in a lot of ways the teenagers in this film are the stereotypical figures you would expect from a horror title like this. None of them would make for great friends but hey they all get along at least.
Of course this is another thing limiting the film. If you don’t really care for the characters then all of the fake jump scares and pranks aren’t going to work quite as well. The film can be on the violent side as well at times with the deaths. Obviously not on the same level as any of the real big slashers though.
Now this is a film with some twists and turns in it. Some of those twists will really change your outlook on the film as a whole so it’s important to factor that in. I will say that it is effective and I can’t even say that I saw the twists coming. Not all of them anyway. Some are a bit hard to believe in hindsight though like we’re talking big stretches of disbelief on how you could have pulled some of the pranks off. I suppose I can accept the disbelief though only because I can maybe picture how it would work. I don’t think it’s likely for these teens to pull them off though.
There is also a lot of convenience in terms of characters being in the right place at the right time to get pranked or notice a deal that the culprit wants them to find but I can buy this one a little more. My excuse would be that there are tons of extra pranks and backup traps so if one doesn’t work then you have a backup at the ready. Mayyyyybe a stretch but not as much of one.
Overall, I’d say how much you enjoy this film will all depend on how much you enjoy all the fakeouts. Either you will get burned out after a while and think the film overdoes it or you’ll enjoy how much it doubles down. The film is completely relentless on this right up through to the end so it never gets sidetracked. The ending is really solid to be honest and actually does win the film back a star or two. So ultimately I liked the idea behind the whole movie. The execution just needs to be so much better and it’s rough because I don’t think these are twists you should pull off too often or it’ll get old fast. So you can already say that one of the opportunities has been wasted now. Next time just make the characters a lot more likable, improve the writing and we’d really be in business. Until then this one will have to be a pass.
Overall 4/10
xxxHolic: A Midsummer Night’s Dream Review
It’s time for my first journey into the xxxHolic series at least in terms of animation since I’ve read the manga. It’s a pretty fun low key supernatural franchise with a lot of things happening and often times it’s all about the atmosphere. Usually things don’t end up going well for the greedy figures or anyone who is too antagonistic. This short film is definitely no exception to that. It’s a fun ride all the way through though.
The film starts off with Watanuki having a tough time as always with a bunch of spirits trying to grab him. The poor guy has always been able to see spirits and the main issue is they know it so he has to constantly fight them off. The film has a lot of fun with the animation with Watanuki flailing to escape. Well it’s summer time now and Watanuki has to head back to the witch Yuko to serve his time. Basically she gave him something to keep the spirits from totally destroying him and in exchange he spends the Summer working from her. (Yes this is a film that jumps you right in so for more context you’ll want to read the books. That said, it’s not like you need much more context than this.
For this film’s adventure, Yuko has been invited to a gathering of exclusive collectors by…The Collector. She wants Watanuki and his friend Domeki to attend with her. I say friend but Watanuki doesn’t really get along with Domeki. Domeki has a habit of being super oblivious while Watanuki is super petty and so they’re constantly bickering. But it’s really one sided as Domeki doesn’t care enough about anything to ever actually get upset. He’s also got strong spirit energy so spirits leave him alone with Watanuki is jealous of. Well the heroes arrive at the mansion but the Collector is not there and mysterious things start happening. It would seem that he aims to destroy all of the invited collectors!
I’d say the main thing to learn from this is if you receive a mysterious invitation to go to a mansion in the middle of nowhere…you should probably decline. Is there any positive outcome out of going there? The film does address this though as every collector is incredibly proud of his/her collection and basically came out of pride. You see one extra note is that on the invitation the collector implied that each person is missing something so they can’t let that insult slide. Each collector also collects a different thing and they all start to compare against each other’s collections. Naturally Watanuki isn’t much of a collector so they’re all bashing him the whole time.
The animation is definitely great all around. The mansion is suitably mysterious and the supernatural effects are all on point. It’s got a bit of a retro vibe to it that works really well. Mix that in with all of the experimental stretchy effects and this gets a full thumbs up. It’s all just very fitting for the general weirdness of xxxHolic. The soundtrack is a bit more forgettable but I still wouldn’t call it bad or anything. It’s just not super memorable so you’ll forget most of the tracks real fast.
Watanuki makes for a good main character. He may complain a whole lot and is constantly yelling but it makes for an entertaining lead. He’s fun to follow around and even in the scariest of situations he’s panicking more about the annoyance than actual terror. Then you have Domeki who is a solid foil since he’s so much quieter. He’s not quite as fun though but it’s always good to have a strong fighter at your side when you’re in a crazy mansion like this.
Yuko mainly likes having all of the answers to everything without actually helping so don’t expect her to contribute much. Technically she is never in a lot of danger or anything but you also get the vibe that she would let Watanuki die if she felt he made a mistake. So you’ve still got a good bit of tension here. She makes for a solid mentor character. The actual Collector has a mysterious presence the whole time but I wouldn’t say he’s that great. He’s a good vehicle for making the plot move but that’s about all I’d say for him.
The rest of the collectors are more entertaining. I just like how selfish and over the top they all are. They’re constantly bragging while pretending to have a little humility the whole time. So the film shows you their true faces which look monstrous all while they’re technically saying nice things. It’s all just really insincere the whole time. “Wow your collection is just as good as mine” but you know that’s a complete lie. At least the person saying that didn’t believe it in the slightest.
I would say this film is definitely more on the low key side so if you’re expecting a bunch of explosions and fights then this isn’t exactly what you’re about to get. The film is more about being a warning against rampant greed. You could say the whole film is really a metaphor about it with these guys risking everything they have for something extra. Their need to be the ultimate collector really came back to haunt them where if they had been satisfied with their collection they wouldn’t have fun into that issue at all.
Overall, xxxHolic delivers another satisfying story here. The only issue you could even say is just that it’s so short so it’s over in an instant. It definitely feels like an adventure right out of the books. The ambiance is really good and the atmosphere is really tense which is always what you want to see here. It balances the plot, horror, and comedy all very well so that nothing is out of place. Mix that in with the fast pacing and I really have no complaints with this title. I’d definitely recommend checking this one out.
Overall 7/10
The Outsiders Review
It’s time for a film about a bunch of teenagers who grew up in a rather rough town and basically had to adapt to survive. Unfortunately due to this there aren’t very many winners at all. By the end of the film everyone’s really in a bit of trouble and none of the characters are all that likable. There’s definitely a lot going on here but mainly I’d call it more of a depressing film half the time.
The movie starts off by introducing us to Ponyboy and Johnny. They’re good friends who generally try living their lives without causing trouble but the town is divided into two gangs and so they are members of one group (Greasers) and do have to fight when the others show up. (SOCS) They generally all get along in the first gang but things always escalate with the other one. Well, one day in self defense Johnny murders a member of the opposing gang while protecting Ponyboy and now he has to be on the run. Can they ever get their normal lives back?
It’s definitely a film with a fairly slow pace as a lot of it is the characters reflecting about life an just what it means to live in a society. Johnny and Ponyboy have to stay at different hideouts for a while but things continue to escalate and more and more people die. The reason I would say this is a depressing film is because of all that. Sure the characters learn some lessons about how violence isn’t worth it and how the squabbles shouldn’t take over your life. That said, everyones’ lives are ruined by that point so does it really matter? I can see how this i s listed as a coming of age movie but usually you’d expect those to be a little happier. This one’s just grim for pretty much the entire duration.
Also right off the bat the film doesn’t do the best job of making the Greasers all that likable. One of their members is a guy named Dallas who goes around aggressively flirting with the ladies, is into shady clubs and runs around with a gun causing trouble. Yes the film does show that he really cares about Ponyboy and the rest of his friends but he’s still not shown as a particularly good character. He’s a complex character to be sure but a little more heroic would be nice.
I dare say the most heroic character was Darry who did his best trying to keep Ponyboy and Sodapop on the straight and narrow. It was just difficult doing it on his own while he’s still a kid himself. At least I would say he installed a decent amount of goodness into them compared to the others. Ponyboy for example really didn’t want to be fighting and getting into trouble. He seemed like a good kid who would be defending his friends. He did defend the girl at the movie theater who was being harassed so a scene like that goes a long way.
The film is at its best when it’s about Ponyboy and Johnny just enjoying their friendship and having a good time. It’s a nice breather from everything constantly going wrong for them. Johnny was also a really good friend. He stepped up to save Ponyboy even at the expense of his future and throughout the movie he was a really good friend to have. Probably the most likable character out of the group.
We get to see Johnny take a huge risk to save a lot of lives later on which is something some of the other characters probably would have hesitated with. It’s a shame that the characters couldn’t all let bygones be bygones by that point but we do end up needing to have one more big fight in the end. The film does go to show that some of the SOCS are reasonable and don’t actually want to fight. In that respect the film keeps it realistic with both gangs having some good people in them.
Unfortunately when they are in a crowd there is ultimately not enough of them to stop the gang activities as a whole. I’m always a bit iffy on this since I feel like you just need to leave the gang then and not be a part of this. It’s just easier said than done in a small town where everyone is a part of one of the two gangs. So if you try to leave then you may not end up living through that experience. Which in a way proves the point of how dangerous they are.
I like to think that after the definitive gang fight at the end there won’t be any more rumbles since everyone learned their lesson but at the same time a part of you kind of doubts it. Well, it’s definitely good that the gang culture isn’t nearly as mainstream now as it was then. Of course gangs will always exist but it’s not like every teenager is in on it nowadays the way they all are in this film.
Overall, I think the film could have done with being a little more lighthearted. Tone down the body count by one or two so there is something to really celebrate by the end. It certainly succeeds in being really emotional and somber the whole time but that usually limits a film’s potential. Sure things are finally going to be looking up after the final events since the cycle of violence is finally ended but it came at a massive cost. This is a film that wouldn’t have a lot of replay value because it would just make for a tough watch. There’s a lot happening in the movie so you’ll never be bored but ultimately that’s just not enough to make it really solid. I would say to give this one a skip.
Overall 4/10
DReager1.com 