Tag Archives: Comedy

War of the Worlds (2025) Review

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Sometimes you end up watching a film where you wonder what the thought process was. Did anyone think the movie would really be a success or were they just getting the film out as a way to say they did something? Well, this one is really a trip. The writing doesn’t make sense, the plot progression is odd, and the film plays out as a big parody. That said….this is why it actually succeeds. If you watch this as a parody comedy, it’s surprisingly solid with how the characters act so genuine with their odd behavior. You’ll get rather hyped up while watching it. Trust me, this is a film that you won’t be forgetting anytime soon.

The movie begins by introducing us to Will. This guy is a pretty big shot within the Department of Homeland Security. He’s so high up that he can hack into any satellite across the planet and has unrestricted access to people’s phones and computers. He can essentially do anything. One character tries to warn him that the government is always watching and Will powerfully responds that he knows…because he is the government! Will has no regard for people’s privacy and believes that safety comes above all else. No worries though…power won’t corrupt him.

Well, one day the Earth is invaded by aliens and so the government needs Will in order to coordinate a response. They’re going to have to wait though as Will’s top priority is taking care of his two kids. His wife passed away a while back so this is what he has to do. Unfortunately his son is a big conspiracy guy so Will tunes him out and his daughter Faith is always running around and getting into trouble. Will is going to need to use all of his hacking skills to keep her safe but with him being busy…what will America be able to do about all of this?

So like I said this feels like a full parody. For example Will has more power than would be humanly possible here. This film is a conspiracy fan’s best dream because if you did actually have people running around with this level of tech, it would be bad. Then you have the fact that Will is basically blowing people off constantly to help his kids when lives are at stake. Will also takes time to click on every single pop up as news reports keep coming in.

As one point the government asks him for a plan of action and he goes on a 5 minute ramble about how we’re being attacked by aliens from outer space. The sentence is rather redundant but also they already knew that. They wanted to know what to do about it and he basically just says to fight back. Very nice. I do think it’s pretty realistic that some government agents are going to choose family over duty but the film is just so blatant here that it’s hilarious.

You want fake deaths for shock value? One character named Sandra dies around 4-5 times during the movie and always shows up like nothing happened. Nobody tends to even be all that surprised to see her. We get fake death scares for Faith and Dave at different points as well, even one or two for Faith’s boyfriend. The film loves throwing these in all the time along with some scary music to get to you. It may not be subtle, but hey it’s definitely memorable.

Will is basically stuck in the computer room for the whole film so all he really gets to do is look shocked for most of the film. He takes his glasses of and puts them back on at numerous points during the film. Each time makes it even better than the last. Additionally, he does try to leave at one point and has to give up when the doors were locked. That was a fun little suspense scene.

No worries though, we’ve also got a really fun main villain. This guy is as over the top as can be. He talks tough to his bosses about how he’s going to do whatever he wants and then totally gets away with it for ages until the film’s climax. He has absolute confidence and when Will approaches him about this, the guy takes it in stride. He just laughs about how long it took Will to catch on. I like when a villain keeps his composure like that. Sure he’s insane, but he’s not going to just back down on his convictions.

Will definitely is the kind of character who is slow on the uptake though. After the aliens are attacking and things are going crazy, he still refuses to talk to his son Dave. Even once things get crazier and crazier which points to Dave having some valid points, Will doesn’t want to hear it. He’s stubborn to the end. While the end of the movie gives him some character development, it’s also crazy how Will was so readily willing to hack into his family’s devices and completely ignore their need for privacy.

It’s like he just didn’t register that this was a bad thing at all. Meanwhile Faith was okay but not the smartest character considering that they built her up as a genius. She nearly dies by pulling an object out of her leg even though it was already bleeding a lot and in the car she goes on a speech about how Will has no power. Pretty ironic when he remote hacked a Tesla car from his room to save her live and drive her to a security checkpoint. Maybe that speech could have been left for later on.

Initially I thought her boyfriend was going to be useless the whole time because he would never show up to help her when the chips were down. Turns out he is just really slow but once he’s there, the guy does decent enough. His main asset is that the guy works at Amazon so he has a ton of high tech equipment at the ready. Without all of that, the characters would have been doomed. As for Dave, he may have been the best supporting character. For once I can’t even blame him for not telling Will enough because Will seriously wouldn’t let the guy talk at all.

I did like Sandra as well. When she wasn’t constantly dying, she was trying to sound the alert on what was going on but Will would just blow her off the whole time. It’s not like they could have done a whole lot in the span of an hour or so but at least she was trying. Meanwhile the government was mainly helpless without Will. They’d be waiting at the meetings for him to show up and were mainly panicking. It was nice to get some army fight scenes where they were doing well against the Tripods but the aliens are too powerful. They just got a bit overconfident.

The special effects aren’t half bad. The terrible camera work hurts for sure but the actual lasers are good. Make no mistake, the script is definitely better for a comedy than a thriller but at least it’s not terrible either. This is the kind of film you will have fun with. If you think too hard about it, I’m betting you will find some serious plot holes though. It’s just that kind of title. It’s not worried about things like that and is just trying to make for a good time. Ultimately I’m not even all that opposed to such a concept. It makes enough sense to me.

Overall, I’d be up for a sequel to this one. Keep it as cheesy as this one with the heroes fighting off another invasion or something like that. Maybe Will’s development could be learning that things aren’t always ultra black and white. He’s super against the government now to the point where he’s making threats against them but perhaps we’ll see how he actually needs their help in the next film. Would doing another alien invasion film feel redundant? Nahhhhh, I trust this movie to handle it well.

Overall 7/10

Live and Let Die Review

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It’s time for another James Bond adventure. The Bond films do tend to be on the weaker side next to other secret agent kind of films but occasionally they end up surprising you. Unfortunately this is not one of those times. The film can be rather out there at times which is a nice change of pace for the series but it still does run into every one of the usual issues. As a result, it’s a film that won’t end up ranking all that high for you and instead will leave you hoping that the next one will be better.

The movie starts with some secret agents getting bumped off with ease so James Bond is called back into action once more. His mission is to go to New York and find out what is going on. There are ties to the New Orleans overlord Kananga who is head of a rather powerful operation. Something that could even end up overpowering M16. If Bond doesn’t stop this conspiracy soon, it’ll be all over for humanity.

One funny thing about this film is how Bond is 2 steps behind the villains at every turn. EACH TIME Bond thinks he has a lead or is about to get the drop on the villains, we find out that they were aware of it the entire time. He is captured numerous times and has to be bailed out on many occasions. Only luck and plot armor are enough to keep him safe during all of this. You’d be forgiven for thinking that Bond was a total amateur in this adventure.

Bond walks into a villain stronghold with no plan and so he is immediately defeated. Another time he sits down at their restaurant and falls into a trap. He falls into the same trap a second time later. These are only a few of his missteps. The villains really should have just bumped him off at that point but they do love their theatrics.

The villains also have the arrogance of not keeping their fortune teller Solitaire guarded at all times. She has the special ability to read the future so long as she never gets intimate with a man. Bond’s whole thing is that he has no moral compass when it comes to love but even if the villains didn’t know that, why wouldn’t her house constantly be guarded? How are you a pivotal player in a giant terrorist racket and yet you just go back to your home like it’s nothing after a mission? This naturally ends up in disaster for the villains.

Solitaire isn’t a particularly good heroine though as she relies too much on the cards. She allows them to completely dictate her destiny and yes, even her love life. The cards are also total trolls since they gave her an answer that would mean losing her powers no matter how you slice it. So in a way you could say that she never had any real chance of winning here. There is another heroine named Rosie who isn’t particularly likable either. Another easy score for Bond and someone who never really gets to prove her skills on the field.

It’s no wonder why all the other agents are constantly dying. Bond seems to e the only capable one around. That’s also a pretty sad thing since as this film shows, he isn’t all that great. He’s distracted too easily by women an doesn’t know how to avoid any traps. He is not the kind of guy that you want to rely on to save you. It’s just not going to work out very well in your favor.

The humor in the film can be pretty decent at times. When a character named Sheriff Pepper shows up, the film briefly becomes a full on comedy. The change in tone is rather dramatic but it works out well. The chase scene may be a bit too drawn out but it was nice to see the sheriff show up to yell at everybody. He really had a lot of confidence and so it made it easy for you to root for him.

I also appreciated the laughing villain who seemed to have some real supernatural abilities. He was tough to deal with and just kept on coming after Bond. This film delving into the supernatural like that also helped to increase the stakes, it’s just a shame that the villains couldn’t have been more entertaining otherwise. I also don’t really care about the tribe subplot with all the snakes. I did enjoy the New Orleans parade that would be used to bump off the heroes without anybody suspecting anything. That was a scene that I thought was actually super clever and both times it was used was really effective.

So if the Bond films could just stay away from the consistently terrible romances there might actually be something here. Have him act a little more professional. Meanwhile the opening credits song should be used more for total hype than for the fanservice. The songs sometimes aren’t even all that bad themselves but the images will have you cringing. The writing for the film isn’t all that bad either but everyone feels a little too easy. It’s at its best when the film is trying to be about the secret agent stuff. The gag where the driver was in on the whole trick was really good. That was an effective moment without a doubt and one of the big twists about the villain was also good. I would just say that for large portions of the film it didn’t feel like there was a ton of plot here. Certainly less so than in other films because this one got so ambitious with everything going on that it wasn’t always focused.

Overall, Live and Let Die is not one of Bond’s better films. It still has all the fanservice and one night affairs as the older films but without a lot of cool villains or action scenes to try and combat that. In fact, don’t expect Bond to be doing much of any fighting for most of this title. It can be funny to see Bond losing just about every encounter he does have without even putting up a fight but the actual plot isn’t nearly as interesting as it could have been. Ultimately this is a huge demerit to the film. I would recommend checking out some of the latest Bond films instead of this one. It simply doesn’t age well.

Overall 4/10

Earth Girls Are Easy Review

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It’s time for a rather rough romantic comedy. This is the kind of film that comes to mind for most people who aren’t really into the genre. It’s super cheesy and none of the characters are likable. The romance is super rushed and the whole film will make you cringe a whole lot. There just isn’t much here to really enjoy. I appreciate that the film is really having fun messing around here and there is a lot of energy to the film but unfortunately it never quite makes the leap to being good.

The movie starts off by introducing us to Valerie who is currently in a rather frustrating relationship with Ted. He seems to have grown bored of her and pays her 0 mind whenever he is around. She doesn’t realize that he’s been cheating on her for a while now but ends up catching him in the act. She kicks him out and is wondering what to do next when she ends up bumping into a trio of aliens who crash landed in her pool. The main one is named Mac and he quickly takes a liking to her. Well, all 3 are desperate for a girl and like her but Mac ends up being the only one with a serious sideplot. Will Valerie rebound with this alien or will she take Ted back?

I would say the first problem here is how much of a doormat Valerie is. She catches Ted cheating on her and then all it takes is a few nice words from him and she is ready to take him back again? Just a really bad look on her part. You’ll be shaking your head the whole time. This happens multiple times mind you. He yells at her about how the wedding is off and makes a huge scene with the cops…then he acts nice and she takes him back yet again. It’s just such a bad romance.

Of course the goal is to make Ted look as shallow and fake as possible, but the problem is the way that it was executed also makes Valerie look really bad. It’s a lose lose situation as a result and that’s the real problem here. They should have had her not take him back at all and throughout the film he is trying to win her over/take down the aliens. That would have made a lot more sense and wouldn’t have destroyed Valerie’s character as well.

Additionally, the rebound with the alien also doesn’t do her character any favors because it seems like she just doesn’t really know what she wants. She’ll basically take any guy who will give her attention and that’s not how you write a good main character. Her best friend is also able to easily influence her, so it further shows that Valerie doesn’t really have a whole lot of strength of will. She can just be blown away by the tide. That’s true for most of the girls in this film to be honest so it’s not like any of them looked all that good. Her best friend was nice enough but certainly not responsible in the slightest. The kind of person who will always get you into trouble because none of the fun is really planned ahead. The friend just goes off of vibes and instinct which is a recipe for disaster.

The aliens are unfortunately annoying as well. The film decides to go the route of their being brainless. The problem is that this doesn’t really make sense since in the initial scene they seemed normal. Desperate of course since they were talking about girls right from the jump but at least they did have some reason. Once they crash land, they may as well be mindless brutes with how they play around with all of the objects. Them not knowing Earth customs is one thing but they didn’t know anything. They eat Valerie’s fish, make a mess of the whole house, etc. They were super annoying and naturally this meant they were on my bad side from the start.

The film actually tries to give Mac a serious romance plot as well which will also have you shaking your head. It just doesn’t make any kind of sense. The ending is trying to be wholesome but you can’t take it seriously and that is how the whole film plays out. None of the jokes are particularly funny. The only thing I can really say in the film’s defense is that it has quick pacing. There is always a lot going on and it’s not like you are ever going to get bored.

On the flip side, the film does resort to fanservice very often. It’s clear that the writers were not super confident in their own product so they had to go low-brow for most of the film. It feels like a Charlie’s Angels experience at times. Not a good recipe for easy laughs, if anything it just shows you how desperate the film is. It certainly did not win the movie any points and by this part of the film, it’s not like it could really afford to lose any either. All around, a rough time here.

Overall, While the review may sound harsh, this movie just tripped into all of the possible issues it could land on with a rom-com like this. The most important thing you have to do in order to make this film a success is to be funny and unfortunately this one was not funny. The next most important step is to at least have a decent romance and we didn’t get that either. This is the kind of movie that serves as a warning on what not to do in this kind of experience. I would definitely recommend you to stick away from this film, especially if you disagree with the film’s title. I guess if you believe it, the film makes a strong case for this though. The aliens have every girl wanting to be with them even though they can barely talk or do anything. It makes all of the girls in this film look really shallow.

Overall 3/10

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 Review

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It’s time to return to the world of the Guardians of the Galaxy where they have to deal with a whole new threat. The films have had their ups and downs to be sure but how would this one wrap things up? Well, unfortunately I would say that it is the weakest one of the 3. The Rocket subplot is a double blow since it introduces animal violence while also writing him out of most of the movie. A very risky call no matter how you slice it since he is such a popular character. Ah well, we still do have a lot of fun banter with the rest of the characters.

The film starts off with the Guardians still being in a rocky spot as Star Lord grieves over not having Gamora around anymore. She died and was replaced with an alternate version of herself that never actually dated him. Now he just gets drunk all day but when the team is suddenly attacked and Rocket gets into critical condition, Star Lord realizes that he has to get his game on. Rocket’s unable to be healed by the usual sci-fi tech because of a bomb inside his chest and so they need to find a way to deactivate it. This may mean going up against the high Evolutionary but the team has never allowed themselves to be deterred before and they aren’t about to start now.

So lets get the dicey parts out of the way first. The High Evolutionary’s whole gimmick is that he experiments on animals in order to evolve them further. He aims to make a new human race that is superior to the old one. So naturally in a film adaption that means that we are seeing a lot of animals in rough states. Several of them were essentially dismantled and are part cyborgs now. Rocket grew up with a bunch of them so we see this quite a bit. Fortunately the surgeries already happened as that would have really pushed the envelope into absolutely terrible stories but it is a really dark plot that to this day you never need in any kind of film. It’s never going to elevate things.

Rocket also had a lot of experiments done on him which were quite painful. It’s a subplot that really drags the film since we cut away to it numerous times. Meanwhile the High Evolutionary looks really bad the whole time. I’m used to him being a fairly poised villain who is in control but here he constantly whines and it out of his depth. He doesn’t seem to be a great super genius and was unable to find Rocket for many years despite the guy being a world famous Guardian. This guy’s utopia didn’t even work as he has actual drug dealers running around.

He says he’ll just start again but why would a new attempt be any different? He feels like he is just completely insane. That’s not a bad thing for a villain necessarily but at the same time I would say that it just doesn’t make sense amidst the wider context. I would argue it makes his whole goal seem weird since he wasn’t even close to succeeding and having Rocket won’t really help with that. he discards all of his test subjects too quickly.

While the film also did a number on Warlock in terms of totally changing his character, at least he was funny. I can see why longtime fans wouldn’t appreciate this version since he’s nothing like the comics/games but at least he looks reasonably strong. I would argue he should have crushed the Guardians with ease though since that team is hardly the strongest one out there. I suppose he just lets his guard down a little too quickly when the going gets tough. With the Sentry coming up, Warlock’s probably not going to be able to stand out quite as much in his next appearance.

Where the film is stronger is in the usual banter. If you liked their discussions in the first two films then you should like them here as well. This team loves to constantly be bashing each other and they’re always doing pranks. For better or worse, you can’t trust your teammates on the small stuff but you can count on them when the stakes are serious. Mantis is always pranking Drax despite his many protests, Star Lord seems like he can’t help but constantly flirt with Gamora, etc. The team is completely dysfunctional but you could say that’s part of the fun.

The only member who is mainly left out is Groot thanks to Rocket being gone the whole time. Still a rough decision I gotta say and they should have kept him awake the whole time and helping out, just have there be a time limit on the bomb or something. From the Guardians I would say Mantis was my favorite character. Yeah she is definitely very immature and gets the team into a lot of trouble but at the same time I would say she cares about the team the most. She is always doing everything she can in order to help the rest out. Her attempts sometimes backfire but it’s the thought that counts.

Gamora is also solid considering how much she has to put up with. She is completely a different person than the old one so it’s really not fair how much pressure they put on her. I was glad that she stuck to her guns and did not let peer pressure win. That would have been a pretty bad look if you ask me. It was also good to have at least one team member who could fight well and keep the team on track. I would say that’s Drax’s role but he still ends up being the team’s jobber for most of the film. He does well against Warlock in the opening fight though so I’ll give him that. He also gets some big moments near the end of the film.

I didn’t care much for Yondu’s replacement but at least he doesn’t appear much. He was being kinda rude to Cosmo for no good reason. Cosmo did good though and reminded viewers why he is one of the most powerful creatures here. His mental abilities are really impressive. Finally we have Star Lord and he does not look good at all here. Getting so drunk and wasted during the intro was really rough. I needed him to step up as the team leader a whole lot sooner than he did. This is supposed to be his team after all, it was time for him to man up and act like it. I already talked about the Gamora stuff but yeah he’s just too desperate. I think he works well as the whiny comic relief in most cases, the serious moments just don’t hit as hard.

The film does a good job of making him funny at least though. I would make the case that the humor in the film tends to land more than it doesn’t. For that reason I would label the film more as a comedy adventure than adding any action to it. We do get some good fight scenes but I would say no great ones. The first fight with Warlock is way too slow and the best fight is the room battle near the end where everyone fights at once. Unfortunately there isn’t a great climax fight this time. I think the reason is because the High Evolutionary can’t really fight so there was no big villain that would force the heroes to team up against him.

While the second film had a lot of faults, it did deliver on a rather big climax which also had Star Lord’s best scene in the MCU. If you take away the Rocket subplot entirely then this film has a clean win over the second film but with it then it does end up sinking more than expected. Ultimately I guess you just can’t beat the original film which had all the fun first meetings. It was probably the funniest as well. In general it’s not possible for every joke in a comedy film to land but I would say most of them did there. A good amount landed in this film as well though.

As for the music, I would say it’s a step down from the first two films. Maybe that means low key the new music eras can’t beat the 80s. That is definitely possible although I tend to like 2000s so maybe it’s just the selection. There were no themes here that felt like they would become iconic or anything like that. They were good enough but not crazy good. Meanwhile we don’t get the usual big stingers at the end of this film so the ending is rather subdued.

Overall, Guardians 3 could have been better. It definitely suffers from having one of the worst MCU villains to date and not having a proper super bad to end the film with. Removing Rocket from most of the film was not a good decision and of course his backstory really ended up hurting the film as well. This was just one negative too many for the film to get around and so that sealed its fate. I think if you go into the film as a fan of the Guardians and just want a fun time you may get the best out of this. If you’re going in as an action fan or a big comic book guy, then you are probably not going to have as good a time here between Warlock and the High Evolutionary.

Overall 4/10

Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. Review

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Coming of age stories are always a very hard sell for me. They tend to be a bit more dramatic than needed and also make the characters look very whiny. Look, coming of age isn’t particularly hard. Being a kid is fun. Being a teen is fun. And yeah being an adult is fun too. Each part tends to have its high points but as a kid you can still be a high quality character yet these films always portray kids as being the most annoying characters possible. You just shake your head every time they show up.

Margaret is the main character here and the film starts with her family letting her know that they are moving over to New Jersey. Margaret has been a lifetime New yorker and so she isn’t happy about this. To her, NYC is where it’s at but the parents take her along to start the next chapter of her life. The next door neighbor shows up and announces that they can be friends. This girl is really outgoing and Margaret is just glad to have a friend so quickly. This girl has several other friends so all of a sudden Margaret is in a clique. It all feels fun but there is something empty about this life and she also begins to realize that she may be a pat of the bully squad. How can she get out of this?

Another source for drama here is that her father is Jewish and her mother is Christian. Naturally both religions are completely incompatible and she will need to choose one at some point. They made a joint decision not to pressure her one way or the other but the stakes are naturally high. Only one of them can be right after all and the wrong one will be going to hell by the end. Can Margaret really afford to take it slow right now? In a way the parents decision to not pressure her also means it’ll be tough for Margaret to ask either one for help so she is really on her own here.

This one mostly only starts to become a big deal by the climax of the film when the family gets involved and naturally escalates things. You want to say that everyone can just get along but I dare say this is a bigger deal than if your family has opposing politics. Opposing religions is literally a matter of life and death based on the outcomes according to each type. It’s why if you intend to have kids, I would argue you should not marry if you have different beliefs. It will only lead to problems down the line and you also have to consider that it is easier to be dragged down than to bring someone up. So if you marry thinking that you can convert your partner, think again. That is a massive risk no matter how you look at it.

Back to Margaret though, a big problem with her character is how easy it is to cause her to act cruelly towards the other kids. She believes rude rumors about a tall classmate right away and never even stops to think that this could be a lie. So she is hanging out with the bullies and never suspects a thing. She also allows them to convince her to do crazy things and never utilizes her freewill. She is just too desperate to fit in the whole time. It would have been nice if she could have confided in her parents more instead of just hiding things. Her mom in particular tried doing her best to help out but when the secrets are kept, there is only so much that the adults can do. They were basically frozen out.

Margaret is also just a kid so it’s a bit early for her to be thinking about crushes and stuff. The parents definitely needed to make sure games like spin the bottle and the closet of doom weren’t being played. Fortunately those are games that don’t really get played as much nowadays. I like to think most people have seen the problems with them but even for back in the day it’s crazy to think those things were happening. I would view the film in general as a good cautionary tale to be careful who you hang out with.

Everyone thinks they can be the exception but if you hang out with troublemakers then you will probably become one yourself. You’ll just learn too many bad mentalities and habits over time. It’s why it was hard to even root for Margaret the whole time since you kept seeing her on the wrong side. Also the film’s idea of what the kids would talk about tended to be more on the annoying side. It’s not that the writing was bad per say. It might even be slightly realistic although I have my doubts. It’s just that the script is not engaging as a result so the pacing really drags on.

I’d say the only main character who was holding it together the whole time was the teacher. He was trying to be funny and help everyone out as much as he could. I would have said the mother too since I mainly enjoyed her character but she did allow herself to be used a bit too easily at the school. I was glad she got past that though. The grandparents on the father’s side felt very manipulative so they get a thumbs down. The grandmother on the mom’s side was perhaps a bit aggressive but I cut her more slack since she was there the whole time and had a great relationship with Margaret. So she earned more credit in advance. The father was decently solid too for most of the film, I was glad that he didn’t make a fuss about there being no furniture and just made himself comfortable anyway. It’s always good to be easygoing and just let the chips fall where they may. Unfortunately he crashes by the end of the film for having crazy magazines in the house, I thought Margaret was bluffing the whole time to fit in so I was shocked when she actually found them. Yeah that was a terrible look for the guy, he doesn’t seem to be living the most moral of lives.

Overall, This film definitely wasn’t up my alley. It’s just not all that interesting and often times when characters are written to be “super realistic” they tend to just be unlikable the whole time. This film badly needed better characters and maybe even more of a plot aside from the whole themes of growing up. That’s just not enough for a whole film and you still need something really interesting to catch your attention.

Overall 4/10

Houdini

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Just about everyone has heard of Houdini at some point or another. The guy was a true master of his craft and an escape artist the likes of which we probably won’t see again. How much of it was pure skill and how much of it was the audience not paying attention? The exact amounts are going to be difficult to quantify but without a doubt he had serious skills in order to pull off his achievements without people ever totally figuring them out. The movie does a good job capturing a lot of his big exploits.

The film starts off with showing us how versatile Houdini was as he performed many different tricks and roles. The guy then notices a lady that he falls in love with named Bess. They quickly get married and so now she can be his assistant as he becomes a full fledged magician. Unfortunately this is where their battles begin to occur because he is really into magic to the point where it is taking over his life. It’s a long job that doesn’t really end and has no retirement plan while she wants to be having some fun too. He tries normal 9-5 jobs like working at a factory but he just isn’t able to resist the allure of going back into the magic tricks and being an escape artist. Somehow there must be a way to make it all work…right?

Now I would say the romance happened way too quickly and didn’t feel all that realistic but since this is based on true events I can cut the film some slack. Provided that this is how things happened in real life of course but I guess I’ll have to assume that this is the case. It does make sense that they would have a lot of fights though since it’s not like they knew each other for a super long time. In general you tend to be on Bess’ side though. There are several times in the film where they make a deal and then Houdini backs out of it because the crowd riles him up.

Those are moments where he definitely looks bad. I do think Bess was rather hard on him and quick with the ultimatums but once Houdini agrees to them, that’s all there is to it. He should have thought about that more instead of agreeing if he was going to back out. Ultimately the back outs never tend to work out in his favor either. He was just too ambitious and trying to do the impossible. Houdini’s ego was too great to let him refuse a challenge but some things really are impossible to escape from.

The movie has a fun style of humor though and is always moving at a good pace. The writing is on point and the characters are all fun. At its core this is a fun slice of life type film and that’s where the film is at its strongest. You get some good banter between the characters and it’s always fun to see people trying to goad Houdini on into making a big mistake. Some story beats might feel a bit repetitive because of how the film is quickly moving through the years of his life (Breaking a promise to his wife and then regretting it) but for the most part the film keeps moving forward.

The retirement felt the most random for a bit there but at least once he figured out the trick to it, Houdini was able to get over that. Otherwise it would have been pretty crazy for a magician/escape artist to fall for your average spirit medium nonsense. I know he was desperate but that’s definitely not the right place to be turning to.

His partner ended up being a solid character as well even if he arrived rather late into the film. I figured he might be an antagonist or something but then remembered what I was watching and that would have probably been a touch too dramatic. It’s certainly possible to have a saboteur on board or something but it just felt unlikely. Regardless, the film serves as a big reminder on why you would never catch me in one of these magic trick acts. All it takes is a single mistake, a single miscommunication and you could be in real trouble. Even something like the magic saw act. Often times they are using real tools here.

I know the box is made so that you won’t get cut but what if the magician makes a mistake or just decides to have a go at you anyway? From that point on you are already completely helpless and that’s the part that I don’t like. There is just no escape at that point and that’s the problem. I probably wouldn’t even attend a magic show because to me I don’t really see the entertainment in it. Perhaps one that is more of a visual experience like the big shows in “Now You See Me” but otherwise I’d definitely tend to skip all of that. Now if you paid me to be one of those hecklers then I think I would have a rather good time in that role. Heh, yeah now that would be a pretty good time all around.

Overall, Houdini is a pretty good movie. It is a fun ride the whole time which is the important thing even while it does allow some time for the more emotional/serious moments. If you aren’t too familiar with the guy then this is a good way to learn about him and have a fun time too. The tricks are fun to watch and you can try to imagine what the tricks were to escaping them. I always tend to suspect that there is a big trick on the back-end of this but from that point on it is up to your imagination to fill in the blanks on its own. Not an easy task but it gives you something to think about. Being an escape artist or a magician are careers that would definitely not be up my alley but they are fun to watch.

Maid in Manhattan Review

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Okay it’s time for a pretty wholesome romance story about how true love prevails. It’s a pretty fun movie all around but the romance itself definitely doesn’t work out so well. The characters make a whole lot of mistakes throughout its run and the whole time you are rooting for a guy named Jerry who is just trying to do his best. It’s tough when you have good points but nobody will listen to you. Chris is lucky to have a trusty employee like Jerry at the ready.

The movie starts by introducing us to Marisa who works as a maid at a fairly fancy hotel. She has always done a good job over the years and does her best to keep on improving her craft. She would like to even join management someday but doesn’t really feel confident enough to pursue this. Her friend Stephanie decides to take the plunge for Marisa and mails in the application. The timing is rough though as Stephanie also convinced her to put on the rich clothes of Caroline, one of the people staying at the hotel.

As it so happens, a guy named Chris who is running for senate happens to bump into her and mistakes her for being the rich Caroline. They hit it off right away but this temporary fun cannot last. At any point she could be discovered by her boss or Chris might find out the truth. Should Marisa break things off before it gets too serious or keep up the deception for as long as she can? The stakes are definitely quite high here.

Naturally it’s a bit hard to root for Marisa here because she does break all of the basic rules of being a maid. Theft is a serious taboo and of course she should not be wearing the lady’s clothes either. You certainly wouldn’t feel good if you found out that somebody was messing around with your stuff right? It’s just basic etiquette at that point. No amount of peer pressure should have convinced Marisa to put that on.

Additionally, she had many chances to break things off with Chris or come clean about the whole situation but instead kept silent and this caused the situation to keep on getting worse. Marisa was just too half hearted about the whole thing and still manages to get upset at Chris and the others later on. I didn’t think her blow up was justified because all of the issues were her own. I would argue that by the end of the film she doesn’t seem super remorseful and doesn’t seem to have really learned the moral of the story.

Her kid Ty definitely gets her into a lot of trouble as well. This guy is always meddling like when he seeks out Chris for some closure. Marisa and him had already had a conversation on this and were supposed to have come to an understanding but in the end it turned out that this was not the case. Ty just does whatever he wants and figures it’ll be okay as long as things turn out well but generally he holds Marisa back. The kid needed to focus more on making his big speeches at school.

As for Chris, he comes across as a little too understanding at times. Even once all the cards are out on the table, he barely seems to care. Marisa storms off and he’s still willing to have her back right away. The whole thing just feels a bit rushed with how devoted he is to her instantly. A single walk through Central Park completely changed his life. He may be a nice guy but I don’t see how he will end up being a good senator. The guy is distracted too easily and doesn’t have his mind on policies.

His right hand man Jerry is likely the only reason he is even in the game. Jerry always knows what events to attend and who to talk to in order to make things work out just right. He is the guy who steps in to save the day when others don’t even know that the stakes are this high. No matter how many times he is ignored, Jerry still does his best. I respected his drive here and the guy had true determination. If Chris listened to him more often, he may be president by this point.

As for the side characters, Stephanie means well but she definitely does get Marisa into a lot of trouble. Mailing in an application to be manager for someone without telling them is extremely risky. Additionally the idea of trying on the coat was a pretty bad one. She adds to the film’s jokes at times but also tends to have a dirty mind so most of her gags will have you shaking your head.

Caroline makes for an intriguing antagonist. You can tell that she’s the kind of person who will always escalate a situation and she is quite good at it. Definitely not someone you can just wave off, she will keep on swinging. Thing is, she does have some valid points here when it comes to Marisa. She may not be the nicest person but it does make sense to stand your ground when things aren’t making sense. She was fun with how oblivious she was to how much Chris did not like her.

As with most rom-coms, the film is at its best when focused on the comedy. The script is pretty solid and there are a lot of quality jokes to be had the whole time. The pacing is good and there are quite a lot of characters here. You can enjoy the general tone and the film is over before you know it. The flip side to that of course is that none of the serious scenes work quite as well and of course the romance is as rushed as possible. It’s a very Hollywood styled romance with the two characters clicking immediately and basically skipping the dating phase to go to the one night stand mode immediately. You can tell that neither one of these characters are very serious and so you can’t imagine the relationship lasting for very long.

Overall, The two sides of the coin roughly cancel each other out so what you have is a movie right in the middle. If you enjoy romance movies then I can really recommend this one but if you’re just looking for a comedy then there are much better ones out there. This one does have the added bonus of having a lot of scenes in New York City though. That was definitely a lot of fun as they passed all of the big landmarks on the west side. It just adds a bit of extra punch to the film since that scenery is so iconic. The film itself may not be anything fancy but the execution is good enough. Honestly you could have cut out the romance part and just made it a wacky comedy about Marisa having to keep all of the crazy guests at bay long enough to get her promotion. I think that could have really worked.

Overall 5/10

Dragon Ball Daima Review

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While we all continue to wait for the return of Dragon Ball Super, we at least got another DB title in the meantime. Daima was marketed as a very different title from the start, it would focus less on the action and be more of a down to Earth story. A return to the tone of classic Dragon Ball with the characters being involved in some crazy situations. It was a pretty interesting idea to be sure but I do miss the action. You can think of it as the third branching path after DBZ with the first being GT and the second being Super. This is another way that things played out after the Buu saga and lets just say that Goku and friends get put through the ringer.

It starts with Goku and Vegeta training as always when someone uses the Dragon Balls to turn all of the Z fighters back into children. They are weaker now and might not be prepared for future enemies. Additionally, Dende has been kidnapped. A helpful soul named Glorio shows up and informs the heroes that they will need to infiltrate the demon realm. This place is split up into 3 worlds and each one has a demon world dragon ball. Upon collecting all 3, the heroes can become adults again and save Dende. It sounds like a simple enough plan but the demon world is not for the faint of heart. Is Goku ready for this?

Well fortunately for him the demon realm isn’t one of the more powerful places. Generally it’s home to a ton of bullies and there are a few strong fighters but nobody that’s really at his level except for the guardians of the Dragon Balls who aren’t malicious. This allows Goku to finally take it easy and have fun a little more since the very universe doesn’t hang in the balance just yet. Although several demon world flunkies do have plans of their own.

The main villain of the series is Gomah and for better or worse he is definitely played for laughs for 90% of the series. He’s constantly crying and throwing tantrums because of how scared he is of Goku and friends. It shows just how far the demon world has fallen from the days of Demon King Dabura. Now there was a guy who really commanded respect. Gomah is just a sad character and your only hope is to find him funny. Because if you don’t then he will just be supremely annoying the whole time.

His partner is Degesu who completes the Team Rocket dynamic. This guy panics a whole lot but at least he has a bit more of an edge to him. He’s not above threatening babies in order to get what he wants. The guy just never backs down, he is always ready for action and that’s the best way to keep things. I just wish he could have gotten a little more to do because his conversations with Arinsu were interesting. Alas, he ends up squandering his potential by sticking with Gomah.

We do get two new Majins in Kuu and Duu but they aren’t particularly good. They’re both characters who don’t really take anything seriously and aren’t all that powerful. Duu actually does get some hype but at the end of the day he’s still not really on the level of the Z fighters. I guess for Demon World standards he is still pretty good though. The guy really likes his chocolate and is always demanding it. Kuu is a bit more responsible and mature at least even if it comes at the expense of his power.

At least Arinsu is fun. She has classic mastermind vibes and while it seems like the show won’t be going in that direction, at least it did add some tension in the show. I would have liked for her to have gotten at least one or two fight scenes but maybe next time. Her plan was a pretty solid one in terms of gathering the Dragon Balls although I would say her wish wasn’t the most inspired.

There were 3 main heroes added to the main cast. First up is Glorio who acts really shady the whole time. The kind of guy you don’t want to let out of your field of vision because you know he will end up back stabbing you at any moment. The guy would not hesitate for one moment. He will just go in there and finish you. As the show goes on he begins to learn the power of friendship though. He’s a decent fighter too, although the show has very messy power levels the whole time so I wouldn’t take that too seriously.

Most importantly, he’s a fun character who actually adds to the dynamic. Likewise Panzy is a fun character. She’s the resident genius of the series who knows how to keep the ships running. She has a good bond with Bulma and saves the group on more than one occasion. Of course it would be nice if she could fight but she still works well as an addition to the supporting cast. With most of the usual main characters stuck at home, you needed someone like that.

There is also a super old Namekian who trolls everyone the whole series but he’s more annoying than anything. I get the joke of this guy actually being super capable but he comes across as irresponsible. He helps out when he feels like it but otherwise doesn’t take a huge role in what’s going on. Then you have the comic relief character who is always dead pan. He can be pretty decent although it’s a bit much to see him constantly talking smack to Vegeta and then nothing happens with him. Vegeta should have clocked him a few times during the series.

From the main cast, I’d say that Piccolo probably gets the shaft here. He is constantly around but doesn’t get his own fights and chokes in his one big moment. It feels like he was added for the Namekian connection but it’s not like that is used a whole lot anyway. I think he could have been cut out and not much would change. I’m tempted to say the same for the Supreme Kai. He has personal lore connections here and knows one of the big villains so that’s all key but the Kai himself doesn’t do much. He mildly helps out in the occasional fight I guess. He just doesn’t feel very supreme.

Naturally it’s fun to see Bulma show up and help out. I do think she was a bit hard on Vegeta at some points though. Goku tends to steal fights to himself and everything so of course Vegeta tries to keep things fair. The show is actually not even that rough for the guy. Don’t count on him taking down the main villain or anything like that but he does still get in a lot of good shots and moments. Vegeta did good even if he is treated as the second fiddle next to Goku. At this point, I suppose that’s just how it has to be though.

As for Goku, he definitely acts a lot more like his kid self here. He really enjoys the situation and is mainly having a blast the whole time. He adapts to the wild life rather quickly and the whole thing is probably nostalgic to a degree since he’s been on many journeys like this before. It’s always fun to see him cut loose a bit but at times he holds back so long that it borderlines on him being a saboteur. The longer you drag a battle out, the more likely it is that someone else will get caught up in it after all.

So what I would say here is that the first 13-15 episodes are basically full on comedy and then we get to a big DBZ type climax. That’s why your enjoyment comes down to the comedy. I’d say Dragon Ball is fairly good on this. There can be some more juvenile moments but on the whole you already know most of the characters and that adds some of the journey to it. You don’t often get to see them all just having fun nowadays so that is a change of pace.

I would just say the show could have done something to make it a tad more energetic. It feels like most of the episodes would revolve around the heroes beating up some random thugs as they planet hop. It would probably have been better to have just gone straight to adventure mode and have them checking out some mountains or something instead. It’s not like the thugs post any kind of threat and it’s less cool to see Goku beating them up and almost boring instead. A lot of the fights really start to blend together.

The battles with the Dragon Ball guardians are a lot of fun but none of the minion fights can say that. The series was also a bit in a corner with how strong Goku and friends are. how can some randoms really take them on? Well, the series tries to convince you that the energy blasters are enough to get the job done and I have a hard time believing that. One episode in particular gets really dramatic as the characters try to survive a whole onslaught and you can’t help but think how easy this whole thing is. A single punch would take them out and yet this takes up a good chunk of an episode.

The first half of the show mainly relied on fake threats like this to keep you busy. At that point you should just lean on the comedy instead. My biggest complaint with the series comes down to the fact that some episodes can almost be a bit boring. The characters carry the episodes as much as possible but you really feel like it should have been way better. This is Dragon Ball after all!

Fortunately the climax does show up with the huge fight scene that spirals through several episodes. It does still have some issues like most of the battle feeling a bit repetitive though. The villain has complete regeneration but is selectively weak from scene to scene. So one moment he can handle Goku at his peak and then he’s getting rocked by fighters in their base form. So the fight has the hero land a ton of punches and energy blasts. Then the villain regenerates. Hero repeats the combo over and over as the villain regenerates over and over. It just makes you not take the fight as seriously after a while.

It’s an interesting way to show off just how powerful a certain artifact in the series is but it doesn’t always make for the best fight. The animation is really good for the battles though. It looks very flashy and the characters are constantly moving at a very high speed. The show does look like a very modern production which is always good. You can easily picture a lot of Youtube videos showing off the fights since you can then sub in your own music and streamline it. The final episodes do feel a whole lot like DBZ even if the enemy isn’t really able to fight back for most of it. It’s a great way to end thing off and it does allow you to end on a high note. At least on my end I can say that the discussions and everything relating to the series jumped up almost 10 times for the final episodes. You could say all of the viewers locked in at that point and I’d include myself with that.

One thing against the series is that the soundtrack is pretty weak though. It’s got very little variety and the tracks that are there aren’t very good. They should have gotten the Bruce Falconer music instead to be honest. There aren’t any Daima tunes that I would end up searching on my own because they just didn’t fit the action or suspense scenes all that well. It feels like a soundtrack aimed for a comedy that forgot to transition to action later on.

We do get a ton of lore within this show so maybe future products will utilize that in some way. Even if the show doesn’t get referenced later on, there’s never anything wrong with having a stand alone title in there. If anything I would say that it should happen a lot more often. Not everything has to be a big canon continuation or something like that. Sometimes it’s fine to just make a side story and have fun with it. I do think Daima could have been a little more high budget and frantic though. The animation was certainly high budget when it came to the big fights but maybe adding more action scenes here and there that didn’t revolve around the heroes knocking everyone out with an easy punch.

Also, I tend to look at it a bit harsher because I’m one of those DBZ fans who really loves all the high octane action and everything like that. I don’t have any real nostalgia for the kid Dragon Ball days in part because I never read it. So that part of Daima would end up being lost on me as a result. My counter would be that it still could have been more interesting and then it would work for all audiences. Since the power levels are the main issue here, I would have just made the wish a little different. Have it time travel the Z fighters’ minds to back when they were kids so they don’t even know each other, much less how to use their powers. Then it would explain why they are having trouble with grunts until the ending. You’d probably have to switch some other things to make it work but that might be a better approach.

Overall, Dragon Ball Daima is a good show but it can feel underwhelming just because of the huge bar that’s been set by the other titles like Super, DBZ, and even GT. The climax does some pretty heavy lifting here to show us Daima’s potential though so I appreciate that. The characters and their banter have to be enough to tide you over for the rest of the show. At the end of the day it is a fairly small title with 20 episodes and in a sense if it doesn’t get a sequel you could basically just call it an AU filler. That said, you have to savor any appearances by Goku and friends because it’s not like they are on TV all that often. So Daima did what it set out to do in keeping Goku at the front of everyone’s minds.

Overall 7/10

Up in the Air Review

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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

This film definitely brings up some interesting points and ideas. I had a good time with the philosophical angles of the film even if I thought it came away with the wrong answers each time. Sometimes you want a film that makes you think like this one though and so that part worked out. Ultimately I wouldn’t say it was a good film though as it made too many mistakes and I had too many issues with it. I can say that it is certainly memorable though and not one of those titles you will soon forget.

The movie starts by introducing us to Ryan who has the very unenviable job of having to fire people. Basically his company are professional firers, so if a company doesn’t have the heart to fire somebody, then this place does it. Ryan rather enjoys the job because it allows him to be in the air almost every day of the year and his life’s goal is to reach 10 million miles. Sure the job itself isn’t fun, but that’s all it is…a job. So Ryan aims to make the most of it but one day he is called back to home base because the big brass had an idea. Why not use computers so that they can fire people remotely?

Ryan is completely against the idea on principle but also because it would mean no more travel. He’s now expected to fly Natalie, the girl who suggested this idea, around the world with him so she gets a feel for the business. He needs to show her just how difficult this line of work is but along the way she starts trying to put ideas into his head about needing a life away from work. Is she about to confuse this guy who had his life in order?

The main conflict of course is the whole idea of being forced to work from the office but beneath that is the real struggle here. Ryan has always lived a life of isolation. He has affairs and one night stands but keeps himself untethered to anybody. That’s the way he likes it, all the fun without any of the responsibility. He scoffs at the idea of a true romance and basically has his life all mapped out. He even meets up with a girl named Alex who agrees to a friends with benefits sort of relationship. It’s certainly not a wholesome life but Ryan thinks that he has really found something here. Well, that is until Natalie starts talking to him.

She accuses him of intentionally limiting his options, not taking Alex seriously, and of basically being really lonely. Ryan only thinks that he’s happy but he isn’t actually happy. That’s her frame of mind at least. Then Ryan has to meet up with his family for a wedding and despite seeing how disastrous it all is for everybody, he starts to believe that maybe having a family would be a good thing. Hmm..probably not the best idea here, at least not with the current people that he knows.

One thing you have to understand is that from the start, Alex is portrayed as being exactly like Ryan. They’re both extremely easy and are always up for some “fun” because they don’t have any real morals. It’s not a true relationship, it’s all just surface level. Ryan lets himself get tricked out of this to the extent that he basically makes a fool of himself but ultimately he only has himself to blame here. He should have seen all of this coming. So in the end of the film you don’t really feel bad for him, it was a big mistake and he’ll learn from it.

I would even say that despite the framing, it’s not a sad ending. The only tragic thing is that he wasn’t able to really enjoy the big airplane moment that he had been looking forward to. Everything else he will get over very shortly. It’s just a small stumbling block on the rest of his journey. He will be back to being levelheaded and everything else will march into place. It’s not as if Ryan is a good person. He’s clearly into bad habits and a toxic way of living but I don’t think he was secretly unhappy or anything like that. This is just what he enjoys and the life that he wants to lead. I would say what Natalie was telling him was just projecting how she wants to live her life.

I would even say that Natalie’s life was considerably sadder the whole time. She has a pretty rough breakup, she watches her big work project go up in flames, and finally she is the one who is forced to turn her back on a pretty big career trajectory. The ending for her looks promising and that’s a good thing but she probably needs to check her route as well. Meanwhile Alex is basically like Ryan. Certainly not a good person and living life on the rough side but it’s basically what she does. I don’t see her changing anytime soon and eventually it’ll all catch up to her.

It goes without saying that the romance is particularly weak here. It’s not like you’re ever able to root for Ryan and Alex. You see them as a temporary convenience and only Natalie is initially unable to see that. Their scenes tend to be rather painful which I’d say is probably the point. While the film may have been trying to say that Ryan lost out by focusing so much at work, I’d say the wedding subplot hurts that. There are a whole lot of issues going on there and of course the groom getting cold feet at the end was pretty terrible.

This film pretty much makes the argument of why you would want to stay out of relationships. Yes they can be a lot of fun but they can also completely derail your life and need tremendous amounts of upkeep. When Ryan and Alex have their sort of debates with Natalie, they come out the victor in each event. I would even say they got the ultimate victory by enabling Natalie to have a one night stand with a random stranger. Not quite the decision that someone who aims to have a stable family would do right? You’ll have to be careful not to let this film make you too jaded about actual relationships.

There are counter arguments to Ryan’s methodologies about romance and love of course but Natalie isn’t able to properly articulate any of them. So by the end of the film the solo life looks a lot more promising than it could have been. Regardless it does go back to my main point where I’d say Ryan is reasonably happy. He has a job that keeps him busy, a goal that gives his life purpose, etc. At the end of the day those two things can carry you through a whole lot.

Overall, Up in the Air is a jaded film but one that brings up interesting topics. I had a good time with it and the only things that bring it down tend to be the romance and at times the writing can be a little sketchy. The film is absolutely at its best when showing Ryan at the job. Now I don’t think anybody in the rooms would have bought his speeches at all. I think that part was all way too smooth to be realistic but the film is trying to keep a fairly light tone throughout all of this. There are a good amount of jokes to undercut the tension every now and then. The film did have a good sense of humor, enough so where it’s almost hard to get yourself adjusted when the film goes super serious later on. If you want to watch a film with debates on romance then this is a decent one to check out but technically I would sooner recommend an actual romance film and you can use that as a bar to see if it’s the life you want.

Overall 4/10

The Purple Rose of Cairo Review

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It’s time for a movie that has an interesting premise but never really gets into it. The movie has some ideas but the whole thing is bogged down by a terrible romance. Ultimately the film’s humor style just didn’t work out so the whole thing ends up being a dud but I do appreciate the attempt. Sometimes these films just can’t score the big W and that’s just how it goes. I’d like a remake some day that’s more of a horror thriller about the real subplot going on here.

The movie introduces us to Cecilia who is a very unhappy person. She is married to a rather abusive guy who is always cheating on her and doesn’t bring in any money. He’s basically a deadbeat. Meanwhile she has a hard time concentrating on anything and keeps on messing up at her job until she is fired. Her only real place to be calm and have a good time is at the movie theater so she goes there to continually watch a film as much as possible. One day the main character Tom jumps out of the screen and announces that he’s in love with her. Cecilia is shocked by this but then the actor who plays the character (Gil) shows up and also says he likes her. She must now choose between these men but of course she is also still married an has to think about this. What can she do?

First off Cecilia looks really bad here. At the risk of sounding like victim blaming here, she really gets herself into constant trouble. Everything at the job was completely her fault. She was not focusing at all and was instead gossiping the entire time. That’s never going to be a good idea and will naturally get her into trouble. She kept on dropping things and getting the wrong order so yeah that was a bad look. Then with the husband this is easier said than done but she needed to actually leave him. You just can’t get past this many red flags in one guy. Cheating and abusive and broke? That’s just absolutely terrible and it sounds like he has been like this for a very long time so it’s not like this is recent either. Oh no this is definitely a bad look all the way.

Finally when he comes down to choosing Tom or his actor, Cecilia looks really bad and naive here. For starters, it’s not like Gil was subtle at all about wanting to force Tom back in the screen to save his acting career. So didn’t Cecilia think for a second it was odd that Gil suddenly started liking her? Almost like this would make Tom lose his hope and just settle back into the screen? Basically Cecilia was played here and so while it leads to a sad ending, it ultimately it a situation that she created once again.

Gil isn’t a nice guy but you don’t expect him to be. He’s one of those Hollywood hotshots who is basically doing whatever he likes and she should have seen through that way easier. As for Tom, the guy is super oblivious to everything and seems to be lacking in common sense but at least he tries his best. He was able to turn down a bunch of the sketchy women who were after him after all so I can give him some credit there. That whole scene lasted a bit too long though.

What you’re really interested in is the subplot of how Tom broke through the film screen. We find out that as soon as the film is digitized, the characters become real. They’re also all unique to the exact picture that is being played. So for example if you have 100 copies of the film, then there are 100 Toms. No character has ever left the movie before but it seems like it’s something that is possible if a character ever thought about it. We find out that this has started a bit of a revolt abroad to the point where people are pulling the movie.

The fact that all the characters are actually sentient is pretty crazy. They are also immortal as shown when Tom could not be hurt despite someone trying to beat him up. There are a whole lot of ramifications to this but the movie is mainly a comedy so the characters just laugh about it. It’s a shame because that was the most interesting part of the film with ease. The whole movie industry would suddenly become a lot more dangerous if the characters could just leap out of the screen like that. Additionally we see that real people can jump into the movies as well.

Unfortunately we end up having to go back to the romance plot. Putting everything else to the side for a moment, if Cecilia was actually a decisive person that would have helped out a lot. Like if she decided to be with Tom, then not giving Gil the time of day would have been good. Maybe making it official with her husband that they are through, etc. These are all steps that she should have taken and that would have been a really good idea. Instead she is just too scattered and starts rambling about random things all the time.

Her character is just way too weak willed throughout the movie and that’s the real problem here. Even before she gets suckered at the end of the film, she never really makes the right decisions. The writing in general isn’t great either. I did like the movie itself within the movie because there all of the dialogue was on point. In the present though, the characters were all a bit too extreme like Tom being oblivious, Cecilia being indecisive, her husband being whiny, etc. It’s not exactly the kind of writing that grips you.

Overall, This is not a movie I would recommend. Just like how Cecilia wastes money on movie tickets and popcorn every night despite being ultra broke, it would not be the wisest decision for you to watch this film. Check out a different romance title instead. There are plenty of much better ones out there after all and they will all steer you down a better path. This is the path you want to go, only if you want to see an interesting premise that is shoved to the side. There are few things more tragic than a great premise that is never explored.

Overall 4/10