Tag Archives: Comedy

The 30 Foot Bride of Candy Rock Review

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It’s time for a parody of a film that I wasn’t a big fan of. Fortunately this one blows the original out of the water. I’m not going to say that it’s a great film or anything but it’s fun enough and worth a few laughs. Ultimately I would say that it is solid and a film that you don’t want to forget because of how absurd the whole thing is.

The film starts off by introducing us to Rossiter who is running for governor. This guy knows that he is the best man for the job and is eager to do whatever it takes to win. The only real obstacle in his path is the garbage disposal man, Artie. Artie is someone who has resisted Rossiter’s total ownership of the town. This man owns all of the businesses except for Artie’s. The worst part is that his niece Emmy is dating Artie which Rossiter fears will lower his own social reputation. Well Artie manages along just fine until Emmy grows huge one day. Now her appetite is fierce and she desperately needs to consume more and more calories. Can he really handle her at this point or is it game over for Artie?

Artie is one of those guys who isn’t very smart and so he rarely notices when someone’s insulting him. He tends to be getting dominated throughout the film with a variety of insults but at least his spirits never go low because he takes it all in stride. The guy is really carefree in a lot of ways and that’s nice because it really means that he can always make a comeback. Through misunderstandings and absurd events going on he manages to usually get some victories too like Rossiter allowing him to marry Emmy.

Artie’s ultimately not one of the most likable characters though because of this. Not being very smart tends to hurt when it’s to an exaggerated degree. He did somehow create a robot capable of moving through time and space while bending reality though so he does have some skills. It does lead to a fairly interesting climax with a lot going on though. If you thought the first half was crazy, well the second half definitely escalates this quite a bit. Trust me the film was not holding back at all.

Emmy doesn’t look as good here though because she tends to be unreasonable once she’s a giant. Now you could say that a side effect of turning giant is that it’s destroying her reasoning skills and that’s certainly possible but I’m not sure that I’m giving her that out yet. The film doesn’t really go into that and so in the end it can make her look a little petty. She causes a ton of collateral damage when throwing the trees around and ultimately takes her vengeance a little too far. Honestly people could have died after all of the rampaging. Also the town did pretty well to get her the jumbo food and drink considering that this was a situation nobody had seen before.

Finally I did enjoy Rossiter’s character quite a bit. Yeah the guy’s as selfish and uncaring as can be but that’s part of his charm. He’s the guy who would run you over to save 50 cents if he needed too. All he cares about is himself and he’s not afraid to flaunt that. He has a ton of close calls while on camera but always manages to play them off which shows how resourceful he is. I actually think he could do a pretty good job all things considered. Yeah he’s not someone you could ever trust because of how two faced he is, but by all accounts he’s run the town really well.

Throughout the film everyone seems really happy and they all get along. So wouldn’t you say that Rossiter should take most of the credit for that since he owns every business? He also seems to get along with just about everyone aside from the main character which is pretty impressive. This guy has good people skills to be sure and the film establishes him well. Considering the short runtime each character has a very well defined personality right out of the gate.

The writing is really solid and the humor is on point here. Of course you really need to enjoy this humor style. I’d still consider it slapstick even if the main guy isn’t getting knocked around too much because he does get grabbed a few times. You just know he would have been slugged if there weren’t witnesses around. He definitely needs to be careful because Rossiter is not the kind of guy who will give up. You easily could have done sequels to this movie if all of the actors had still been around because there’s a whole lot of potential around the setup.

The best gag was probably when the machine started explaining how the wedding would have to wait and then it went farther to start yelling that there would be no wedding. Of course it was just another glitch but the timing was just perfect for trolling the main two. It’s clear that the robot still has a lot of errors to iron out but at least it come through when it counts. You can’t really ask for much more than that.

Overall, This is a fun film like I said before. I don’t think you’ll find it super memorable so eventually this will fade away but it’s short and never drags on. The characters have some nice back and forth banter the whole time as well which is always good. The writing did a good job here and so mixing that in with the effective humor makes the film a winner as well. It’s probably a rare case of a good film that would have been worse if it was too long because then it would drag on but that doesn’t happen here. A good movie knows when to end and I did enjoy the final scene here as a nice gag to end things off.

Overall 6/10

Practical Magic Review

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It’s time for a film about magic and how a curse can really last for a very long amount of time. The film has its moments but the whole main romance is really just a big rebound so that does take some points without a doubt. Ultimately the movie goes by rather quickly and it’s an entertaining ride even if it won’t end up being one of the top titles.

The film starts off with a witch creating a curse that bad things will befall any guy who tries to get together with her descendants. The marriage will not be able to last and that has carried through to the present. Sally is our main character and she’s not going to let a curse stop her. She marries a guy named Michael and they had some kids but one day he is hit by a truck and she finally realizes that there is no way to beat the curse. She will not allow herself to love ever again but her sister isn’t ready to quit yet and has a ton of affairs. Unfortunately she has gone in with the wrong crowd now by getting together with a crazy guy named Jimmy. Sally will have to help her out before it’s too late but in the meantime what if she falls in love with one of the local authorities named Gary?

Of course that’s exactly what happens and so there is no way to get around this romance. Sally basically lost her husband to a curse and now she’s going to move on just like that? She probably should have just brought him back to life. Yes, the whole movie is a cautionary tale against doing such a thing but I think you can make it work. In a world where magic is real and it is actually possible to revive someone (albeit with some side effects) then you just have to spend your life perfecting the spell to make it work. I guarantee that it’s at least a possibility considering that we know the magic exits.

So the romance ends up being annoying as a result. Granted Gary’s not even a bad guy. He’s a good person trying to do the right thing and help out. It’s just that I’m not buying the romance. Particularly since Michael was also a good guy before he bought the farm early. The most annoying character has to be Gillian though because she’s the one dragging Sally into a whole lot of trouble. From what we’ve seen of Jimmy he wasn’t exactly a class act from the start so how did this relationship even start?

Regardless he ends up causing a lot of trouble for the duration of the film. Naturally he takes the bulk of the blame since he’s the one going around breaking the law and basically trying to murder the heroines. It would just be nice if Gillian was more responsible since it doesn’t feel like she actually learns any lessons during the film. The aunts are also not without blame as they just run out midway through the film and vanish during the climax. It sure would have been nice to have had some adult supervision to back Sally up when she was in a tight spot.

The film feels pretty short and it’s entertaining enough. There are definitely some jokes that work well like the heroes murdering Jimmy multiple times. The plot is serious to an extent but there are always a lot of lighthearted moments thrown in to keep everything balanced. It also wasn’t too easy to snap the curse so the original witch’s power was definitely impressive. You’d think the main characters or at least the aunts could have worked a bit harder to blow up the curse but granted it seems like the aunts agreed with it to an extent. So they had no real reason to snap it.

The cast here is fairly small which isn’t a bad idea so you can focus on the characters but it’s just a problem that none of them are super likable. There aren’t any standouts here and as a result the film isn’t quite as lively or exciting as it could have been. You’ll never feel bored while watching it or anything like that but there also isn’t a ton of replay value here either. So it’s not bad but it’s not that good either and just winds up being in the middle. I will give the ending props for using the power of friendship though. Sally had been neglecting the other moms at school who were just trying to help and so by the end they all help each other out. It may be a bit cheesy but it was still a decent climax.

One thing the film could have done maybe was to lean into the curse a bit more. Have Sally actually try meeting tons of guys and each time something goes wrong. The main weakness of this strategy is it could make Sally look completely desperate so it should be played completely for laughs with lots of slapstick. Then you never do a serious romance and the plot of the film is more actively about ending the curse. I will say that the curse is slick to not activate until the descendant has had kids so this way the lineage will continue to grow.

Overall, Practical Magic is a decent movie but I feel like there’s so much more you could do with magic. I tend to feel this way for most slice of life/romance type movies that involve magic. Magic is one of the ultimate fantasies for any person to have. There are so many ways you can immediately enhance your life with it or even just show off for others. I’d like to see a main character just go wild with it for once. In this movie the power levels are a bit lower so it might have been harder but the magic feels like it’s only something on the side to keep the film fresh but it’s not as overpowering an element as you might expect. If the comedic/romance plot sounds good to you then you should check it out but the fact that it’s all a rebound hurts it just enough for me to not bump this to the next level.

Overall 5/10

Mieruko-chan Review

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It’s time to take a look at a horror anime! I haven’t seen very many of those so this would be fun. Granted I’d say it’s also part comedy so not a full on horror but the visuals can get intense. The anime never quite manages to match up to the manga version in that area as the manga really feels like a true “Holding nothing back” horror all the way. The anime unfortunately has a big fanservice issue that the manga mainly avoids and that does end up being a crushing blow. Still there’s some fun stuff here as well so lets dive into the world of the supernatural.

The series starts by introducing us to Miko. She was living an ordinary life when she begins to see supernatural spirits. They are all incredibly scary and she has to try and keep a straight face or else they will realize that she can see them. This means Miko has to often just sit there and endure whatever visions she sees. Her best friend Hana is completely oblivious though so Miko also has to make sure to manipulate her so that she doesn’t crash into any ghosts. It really is a full time job but one that she is absolutely ready for…because she has no choice in the matter. So begins a new chapter in her life. Will anyone be able to help save her from this predicament??

This show’s fairly quick at only 12 episodes and most of those are stand alones. We only just start to touch on the more serious plot based episodes by the end so for the most part it’s really just a lot of episodes of Miko getting scared the whole time and trying to keep it together. The opening definitely reflects this well as it’s the most I’ve heard the word “Stop” in an opening ever. That’s basically all the lines in the beginning and the ending. Unfortunately the opening isn’t very good. The music isn’t great and the animation is pretty lazy. It’s a shame because it has a good opening beat but it quickly fades from there. In general the soundtrack is more on the mild side. Nothing you’ll really remember all that much. At most I guess you’ll remember the monster yell that plays at the beginning of the ending for each episode. That’s a good jump scare.

Lets get into the biggest negative right out of the gate though which is of course the fanservice. It’s very relentless and hits you hard in every single episode. You never get a break from this as the show always chooses the absolute worst camera angles. The characters could be talking about lunch and the camera is really low for no reason. We have several shower type scenes here and bottom line, the series isn’t confident enough in its plot and premise so it has to resort to large amounts of fanservice at every corner. It definitely hurts the show quite a lot because of how frequent it is. You never get a break from this at any point and that also makes it hard to recommend.

Now my only other main issue with the show is that you don’t understand why Miko is so afraid. Let me explain here, she sees a whole lot of crazy stuff in regard to the spirits. I get how they look really scary since a lot of them are quite deformed and all. So that makes perfect sense but what really doesn’t make sense is why she is so determined that they don’t know she can see them. She acts as if they could actually hurt her but we already know this isn’t the case.

She’s already seen how tons of humans are getting stabbed by these creatures and the blows go through them. The creatures are completely intangible so none of their blows actually have any weight behind them. Given that we know this to be true, she is in absolutely 0 danger throughout the series. In theory no matter how strong a creature may be, it should not be able to be on the same level as her. It should immediately be crushed and then that would be the end of it. Doesn’t that make the most amount of sense here?

The show could prove me wrong down the road but that wouldn’t help because I need a reason for why Miko is afraid right now. From how the show begins this is something that just started happening to her so you can’t say that something happened to her as a kid with a ghost attacking her and we’d know in the present if this was the case. This was nagging at me throughout every episode because it is such a core part of the plot and yet it feels like the show didn’t think of it.

Now you may just figure that Miko is special so their attacks would land. Except we’ve seen Miko walk right through a spirit and another time she actually got stabbed by one in the train and both times nothing happened. That’s because nothing can happen, Miko is completely immune. So this just feels like a plot hole pretty much at least until we get a real reason for why she is freaking out so much. It doesn’t make sense.

Now beyond that, while the soundtrack isn’t anything special the animation can be decent at times. Still nothing too high budget or anything like that but I do like the energy effects which work well for the occasional energy blast. The character designs are good as well and so for the most part everything is fairly smooth. I think the budget was decent for the show.

If you can get past the whole premise of the show not working, the small cast is fairly effective here. Miko is a good heroine who is doing her best to survive through this crazy situation and makes sure to look after Hana as well. At times Miko can be really dismissive of Hana’s attempts to help her but it’s more that she is trying to keep Hana safe and other times she’s too lost in thought. Miko isn’t perfect or anything but she’s a very good character all around and someone that you want on your side.

Then you have Hana who is the best character. I like how cheerful and upbeat she is all the time. Hana is very quick to defend Miko from all kinds of dangers and also always wants to be there for her. Hana may not know about any monsters or special abilities but it doesn’t stop her from doing her best and getting in there to stop the creatures as needed. She rescues a dog and in general will tell off anyone who makes Miko sad. That’s the hallmark of a true friend all the way through.

One more member added to the main cast is Yuria but she doesn’t really make it until the second half. They do introduce her early on through cameos and such but it takes a while to really get going. You feel bad for her the whole time because she can see spirits and has always longed to have someone else around who could see them but Miko won’t admit it. I actually think Miko really should have told Yuria sooner. Yuria won’t be in any extra danger since she can already see the spirits so I don’t see a downside. I can absolutely sympathize with how frustrated Yuria is the whole time because to her this just doesn’t make any kind of sense. By the end of the season they finally have a formal agreement that they know about each other but I expect that the misunderstandings will continue for some time.

It’s also easy to see why since Miko did literally choke Yuria to the point of unconsciousness right. Those were desperate times based on Miko’s misconception about how dangerous the spirits were but it’s not something you ever forget if you’re the one who was getting knocked out. The Godmother shows up briefly here but she looks very bad. She’s clearly past her prime and isn’t able to deal with any of the monsters so you can only hope that she’ll do better in a future season.

The season does have a bit of a cliffhanger for a sequel but it’s not as direct as I would have liked. Trust me, I’d have gone all in with the cliffhanger and just had a field day there. I feel like you have to go bold to try and pressure a second season. The ending here still works well enough but it’s more of a wholesome ending with a few nuggets to be explored as opposed to a glaring cliffhanger.

The show’s climax does end up being the best part as we get the shrine yokai who actively fight other yokai but the whole thing is a bit of a mystery. Why did they protect Miko 3 times and why are they super upset now? That’s all to be explored in a second season if we ever get there. They’re some of the scarier monsters as well because of how well they fight although once again I would make the case that they aren’t too scary yet since we figure they can’t actually touch Miko. Until proven otherwise or a character mentions that spirits can hurt humans I just don’t see why I would believe that.

One more character I should quickly talk about is Zen. He’s a good example of how to write a solid anti-hero/vigilante. The guy has a very mysterious aura when he shows up and plays a big part in the last episodes. He even gets an emotional backstory which is probably the most emotional out of all the characters. He had to put up with a whole lot and so he’s doing things in the present as well. He doesn’t take prisoners and it’s highly implied that he straight up murders someone. Within the context it makes sense though.

There was someone going around murdering cats in the neighborhood and he couldn’t let that stand. Fortunately the show doesn’t actually show any of the murders but based on the amount of ghosts around we can tell that it was a lot. There wasn’t much point in a trial at that point since he was guilty so that was it. I look forward to seeing more of Zen even if his role probably will only get smaller from here. He was a bit rude to his neighbor for no reason but due to a plot twist involving the neighbor we can definitely let it slide.

So yeah the show has a good blend of characters. The cast is solid which is always the proper foundation for a show. The stories range from comedic to scary to serious and the all flow together pretty well. If the show could show a bit more restraint in some areas then you could definitely see how this would just be a fun show to pop in and laugh with from time to time. The world building is on point so even with only a few episodes you feel like you know the score pretty well.

There’s also a lot of ways the show can go from here. If they really do pursue the idea that most of these ghosts just have unresolved issues then Mieruko could become some kind of spirit detective who helps them move on. It could also get more action packed if she gets a spirit summon of her own to deal with them. It’s always a risk changing genres but there’s just so much room for it that you feel like the show should go for it. You can absolutely still keep in the comedy and slice of life stuff while also having the big plot episodes. It could also make for some more solid plot twists like with the father and Zen, both of which are handled pretty well if you didn’t know about them previously.

Overall, Mieruko-Chan has a lot of entertaining moments within it. If they were to ever ditch the fanservice for season 2 then there would be a lot of potential here. The story itself feels like it’s going to end up being a wholesome one as not all of the ghosts are bad. In time Miko should be able to master her ability and then we’ll really be set. In the meantime though I wouldn’t be able to recommend this one. If you can get past the fanservice then sure you should go for it but that’s a big if.

Overall 4/10

Kaguya-sama: Love Is War The First Kiss That Never Ends Review

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All right it’s time for an anime film to show us how to really make a quality romance. Kaguya-sama is an elite franchise for a bunch of reasons and one of those is that it actually has a quality romance without being rushed or making things about rebounds. Kaguya and Shirogane work because they were always each other’s first pick and nothing else was going on there. The movie really expands on that and gives the two characters a lot of closure. All in all this is a great title.

The movie picks up where the show left off with Kaguya and Shirogane finally getting together…or did they? See they may have had their first kiss but they haven’t been able to talk with each other since then so the situation is getting tense. Making matters worse is the fact that Kaguya appears to have fallen back into her icy persona from the old days so Shirogane gets the feeling that she is trying to put some distance between them. He needs to win her over one last time but can he really pull this off? Meanwhile Kaguya is fighting her inner demons and has to decide if she should finally remove all of the masks and risk it all by being with Shirogane. It’s a tough call.

So if you’re a fan of Ino, Chika, or Ishigami then there’s not going to be much here for you. This film is really about Kaguya and Shirogane all the way through. Those 3 characters barely get more than a few lines and while you know they’re off having their own adventures, the movie isn’t worrying about them. It’s nice to see them of course and I think more screen time would have been nice if the film extended its run time but the main duo always have the best plot anyway so it works out.

As always the animation is really solid here. Everything really pops out at you and the show has a lot of fun flexing for random scenes. A great moment with the animation was when Kaguya was trying to run away from Shirogane. She was suddenly leaping across the walls like a cat and zooming around. That was definitely real impressive. We may not have as many visual gags since the film is fairly serious next to the standard episode but they are still around at some points. I would also still consider the film part comedy since a lot of it is super fun. The movie just knows when to slow down and have an emotional scene.

The soundtrack is also excellent as always. The show had a great variety of themes and the movie continues this really well. While the opening song is not quite as strong as any of the openings that appeared prior, it’s still good. I’ve listened to it a good amount of times to prep for the review in case it jumped up but in the end I think it just isn’t quite as high speed and energetic as prior ones. I suppose that may have been the idea.

Now for the movie, it’s interesting in that it’s a decently long movie but it can be a bit hard to go into the plot much because the story itself is quick. It’s ultimately just about the two finally having time to have a candid talk about the situation. Things just keep happening that prevents the two from doing this like Shirogane fainting or Kaguya turning chibi and then having a complete mental breakdown. The movie definitely did a great job of adapting chibi Kaguya too. That was a really fun part in the manga and the show really captured how crazy the whole thing was. The doctor who showed up for Shirogane is a lot of fun as always too.

Now for the romance itself, which character handled it better? Well that would probably be Shirogane since if Kaguya hadn’t panicked you can make the case that the film would have effectively ended during the first scenes. They would have made it official that they were going out and that would have been the end of it. Then once the icy persona was back Shirogane did a good job of trying hard the whole time. I don’t blame him for missing the hint about her hands being cold because that was out of character for Kaguya so he just didn’t pick up on it.

Throughout the movie he is a perfect gentleman. He may not always be able to read her mind but for the most part he does a good job of adapting to the situation and never giving up. In terms of not wanting to let his own mask fall off, that also makes sense. He worked hard to become the best at the school and thrive despite not being from a rich family. To an extent I think that would never go away. There’s a saying about how everyone has around 6 faces, the one they show family, friends, work colleagues, online, with strangers, and the one they have when alone. Some people are better than others at basically keeping them all more or less the same and others do this more as you get older but to an extent I’d say you will always be a little different based on the setting.

In a relationship though, the biggest factor is trust so you do need to be able to trust your partner with your true self. In this case if Shirogane isn’t ultimately able to trust Kaguya that far then their relationship would be doomed eventually. He would never be able to relax and the stress/nerves would ultimately get to him. You could make the case that even by the end of the film he hasn’t truly let go yet so that could be a plot to continue on even if he is in a much better place than where he started.

Then for Kaguya the problem is similar but she comes to terms with it quite a bit quicker than Shirogane. It helps that she has always been a very introspective person so she literally creates alternate hers from each of her age periods to talk about this. Once they come to an understanding she is able to just be herself and be with Shirogane. Perhaps as Shirogane says it is a little easier for her since it’s a side he used to know since that’s how she was at the beginning Of course part of that is just him making excuses but I would also say it is true to an extent. Her true self is still mega rich and had other suiters in the past while Shirogane is worried everything would immediately come crashing down. It’s the dark side of overthinking everything and it’s nice to see the series acknowledging this since that’s the entire premise really. Both characters just overthinking everything all the time.

Seeing Kaguya overcome her fears and finally come into her own was a great plot point. While I would say Shirogane slightly edged her out as the main character of the movie, the series is hers and you could say the whole series was building up to this point. Just losing the mask and being analytical all the time to just have a heartfelt moment and stop playing the chasing game. So yeah this is a winning romance and it worked well for the movie. You could probably even jump in to this film without watching the show since you have enough context and it still ends up being a really solid title.

Overall, This was a lot of fun. The romance is written really well and is one of the few ships I can get behind. If I ever write an editorial on how to write a good romance, this will absolutely be one of the examples I use. The whole thing is satisfying and the ending is solid. I still do want future seasons to adapt the rest of the series though. It may not have had the best final saga in the manga but it’s still important to get to the end of the series. The anime can probably end up buffing it as well since it has done such a great job of adapting the content so far. I’m confident that they can do something really good here.

Overall 8/10

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

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

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

Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein Review

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Wait a minute, shouldn’t the title actually say that they met Frankenstein’s monster? Hmmmmm, well that’s a mystery for another day. Honestly I would have exchanged that for the Werewolf since it makes the most sense personally but I suppose it gets the idea across that the supernatural monsters are here and they are ready for action. It’s a pretty good film and the Abbott and Costello banter works really well. It’s always fun to see them having a hard time communicating with one taking everything super literally and the other one not knowing how to phrase things a bit better. Ultimately the monsters have the edge in firepower but can they overcome this duo’s creativity and unexpectedness?

The movie starts off with Larry Talbot stealing the show as per usual as he calls in to try and stop the world from unleashing the powers of Dracula and Frankenstein on the world. Unfortunately his power is too great and he turns into the legendary Wolfman which ends the call. We then cut to Chick and Wilbur who are messing around and getting into trouble! They got the deliveries of the monsters and end up bringing them to the client’s place but allow the monsters to escape. Now Dracula and Frankenstein are primed to destroy the world and even steal Wilbur’s body if they aren’t stopped. Will Larry arrive in time to stop them? Also can Wilbur stay focused as the villainess Sandra tries to pull the moves on him?

There’s quite a bit to unpack here but first off it’s really nice to see Larry return. He was always the best out of the original Universal monsters and is an even more sympathetic character than Bruce Banner/Hulk and Jekyll/Hyde. You actually feel his distress with how he wants to keep the Wolfman at bay but it’s just so difficult. Ultimately in this movie I would say he has a decent handle on it as he uses his abilities to take on Dracula. His scenes are all played straight as true scenes of terror and he’s consistently great. The film may not be the best way to end his legacy in terms of a happy ending but his role was powerful.

Fans of Dracula should enjoy him here as well because he does get his respect. On the minus side he does get scared of Chick and hides a lot but on the other hand he is treated as the mastermind on the villains’ side. He is the one who powers up Frankenstein and leads all of the attacks which is pretty good. The guy is the most iconic out of all the universal monsters after all so it makes sense he would get the top billing as the leader there. As for Frankenstein, well he’s back to being fully mindless so you can really ignore him. He’s not actually doing much of anything here except stumbling around. I wouldn’t consider him to be nearly as much of a threat if you ask me.

Chick is one of the highlight characters in the film. I like how he always dominates the conversation and keeps Wilbur in line. Of course a lot of the time he does end up being wrong but you can always get why he would make the assumptions that he does because Wilbur is the kind of character who is always exaggerating and making a mess of things. Put it this way, he is always super hyper so aside from this adventure he’s probably panicking like this every day. I’m sure Chick has seen a ton of false positives over the years and in the end Chick helps out when it counts. He even talks tough to Larry. I just like how Chick doesn’t back down.

He is a bit desperate when it comes to girls though so he loses some points there. For example when all of the girls like Wilbur he keeps asking if he can have one for himself to which Wilbur is basically saying “No!” which makes sense. Additionally it’s not like he would have a ton of input in that. Either they like Chick or they don’t and in this case it seems like they don’t. The guy just needs to take his L gracefully and move on. No need to dwell on it, it is what it is after all.

Wilbur looks pretty bad though. He is pretty crucial to the humor of course and gets a lot of funny moments there but as a character he just isn’t very focused and often makes the wrong moves. He panics constantly and also doesn’t have the strength of will to stick to his girl. When the other girls start flirting he immediately folds and it’s a very sad look for the guy. He loses a lot of points in that instance and never really gets them back. The guy never really mans up by the end either. So while he is a net positive to the film because the scenes are funny, I wouldn’t say he ranks as a character.

In general of course the reason why the film is so good is because of the humor. The humor is really handled well with a lot of high quality moments. It’s pretty guaranteed to get some laughs out of you and especially if you like this humor style then you’re in for a treat. The movie never slows down with all of the jokes and gags so they keep on coming rapid fire. We also do get some action in the monster battles which was pretty nice to see. Mix in the solid cast and you have all of the right elements here. I’d also have been game to enjoy this film straight up as a serious adventure with Larry as the main character but we already had a bunch of those so this works as a change of pace. It has definitely withstood the test of time and you don’t really see this kind of humor style anymore. It’s a relic of its time and a pretty solid one at that.

Overall, Abbott and Costello have another solid film here. It’s a pretty good time with a lot of funny jokes and good pacing. I would say the jokes hit the hardest during the first half while Chick doesn’t believe him so you have a solid dynamic there but of course the second half is still good too. The ending really works well with that last scene stinger and I really don’t have very many complaints with the film. It’s an all around solid title with a lot of positives going its way. My favorite film in the series is still the one where they meet Boris but this is another really good entry. I would definitely recommend checking it out.

Overall 7/10

The Four Musketeers Review

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It’s time for more Musketeers action. I can’t say that I’ve been the biggest fan of this franchise and this film wouldn’t really change my mind. I know the main characters aren’t really heroes so I wouldn’t expect them to always be heroic but they really do the bare minimum in just about everything. I wouldn’t trust them with my groceries let alone my life. I’d say the main issue the film has is just that it can be a bit boring at times. It’s not funny enough to pull off the comedy aspect and the fight scenes aren’t good enough for the action part. What does that leave you with? Well I’m not really sure but not enough to make this a solid flick.

The film picks up immediately where the last one left off. The 3 Musketeers along with their recent addition in the main character and are minding their own business when the main heroine gets kidnapped. D’art meanwhile gets distracted by a new villainess who finds it really easy to seduce him. Basically any lady can accomplish this task though as her own maid gets him as well. The guy has serious commitment issues so unfortunately you can’t trust him at all. The guy is as sad and shallow as they come which is really unfortunate and by the end of the film he has not changed so seriously you don’t want this guy in your corner. He just isn’t that dude. Trust me on this and in a way it hurts the film by extension since you want to have a good lead.

Wait is that the plot? Well okay that’s not all of it. So there’s potentially a big war brewing and in part it’s due to all of the affairs going on and so the Musketeers may have to actually enter the war and cause trouble. They already spend most of their time beating up on their own country’s army though so are these allies that you actually want to have on your side? Something tells me that you would want them to stay far away instead. Both countries seem reasonably corrupt though and the war never gets all that interesting so you won’t really care much.

In a way that is the film’s biggest issue in a nutshell. It’s just extremely boring. You don’t care about any of the characters. In a lot of ways I would say the first film was actually more engaging since you at least had the young hero picking fights with everyone. He was still a rampant cheater so still no someone you could root for but at least there was a lot going on. In this one? Ehhhhhhhhh yeah it’s just not working for me. Seriously I would have to give it a firm thumbs down. The first film also had the interesting fake fight where the heroes were stealing food which was clever.

That said, we do get flashbacks to the first film so you’ll see it there anyway. As a slight positive, the fights can be decent at times when they appear. Mostly they are treated for laughs though so there isn’t a ton of great choreography here. The film is leaning more fully on humor and adventure after all so there just isn’t time for any of that. Okay I do think the cardinal at least makes for an interesting villain. As basically the highest ranking member in the country he can actually sign documents allowing you to do anything. You could straight up murder someone and he can immediately pardon you. It sure is nice to have that level of power right?

I like the verbal battles there. The Cardinal is always on the offensive and as you can probably guess he tends to completely destroy the other Musketeers in the arguments. At the end of the day he’s not a serious fighter or anything but I tend to like the old government villains to an extent. He is a full villain though with the desperate plans he uses to take down the heroes. They aren’t even morally dubious by the way, they’re just villain plans.

The romance in the film is naturally pretty awful with no real loyalty to speak of. Everyone is cheating the whole time so you definitely can’t trust any of them. It really was a tough world out there with everyone after you. Imagine if this film was about the Musketeers having to fend off wave after wave of enemy invaders? Actually have them jump into the war rather than goofing off and watching it from the sidelines. That would have been a massive improvement right away. I’m not surprised that it didn’t happen of course but the film had many moments where things could have turned epic if that’s what the film wanted to do.

Okay one last slight positive for the film. I’ll throw it a little bone here. The acid blade that the villainess used was pretty cool. The effects for it actually weren’t bad and I wouldn’t mind something similar in a modern film. You can see how deadly the acid is by how it melted the wall and that helps to make the fight with the main character a little more balanced since otherwise he should win easily. He’s not the best guy but he is still trained with a blade after all.

Overall, The Four Musketeers isn’t a particularly good film. It’s one that will have you shaking your head the whole time. It’s not like the negatives are super egregious or anything. Sure the film can be boring, the romance is bad, there’s quite a bit of fanservice and the characters are no good but the film isn’t super long and it’s not like there are any big animal violence moments or excessive violence in general. It’s a fairly safe film to check out but I just can’t recommend it because it should have been many times better. I think the world is ready for a good 3 Musketeers film at this point. It’s just got so much potential. I think you really need to play it straight with the action though. You could absolutely make it part comedy but that shouldn’t be done lightly and of course it has to actually be super funny or that will backfire. I think this is a film that just gets worse and worse in hindsight.

Overall 3/10