Tag Archives: Comedy

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Review

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I was never the biggest fan of Beetlejuice admittedly. It relies a bit too much on shocking humor and gross visuals. That said, it definitely beats the sequel which tried going a little too far into this direction. It had some good humor but for every fun joke, there was another cringe one thrown in. Definitely not the kind of movie that typically uses a whole lot of restraint. They even managed to squeeze in animal violence which I was completely not expecting.

The movie starts off with Lydia hosting her big spooky show where she helps people who need to see ghosts. Her daughter Astrid thinks it’s all fake and wants no part of this so the two have really fallen apart. They are forced back together though when Delia’s husband dies tragically out at sea and she wants everyone at the funeral. Lydia’s manager Rory figures this is his chance to marry her and Lydia has almost no free will of her own so she basically just says yeah. In the supernatural world Betelgeuse is making his move though as he is being chased by his ex-wife Delores and so now’s a good time to marry Lydia again.

He has spent years trying to get her attention and slowly she is starting to see visions of him in the real world. The boundary between life and death has never been weaker. Meanwhile Astrid meets an emotionless hack named Jeremy who is really eager to have a relationship and Astrid is lonely herself so she figures she may as well but she will have to try and keep her composure. Mustn’t show too much emotion herself. There’s definitely a lot going on here.

So right away one of the big issues here is how ugly everyone is in the spirit world. I know that’s part of the point with how you move to the next stage of existence with whatever injuries you died with but even so, this just felt like a bit much. You have people with live fish still eating them, a skeleton that’s constantly gushing out blood and a janitor that is pretty much mid vomit. You’re constantly waiting for the real world to return because every scene in the spirit world is just plain gross. It may be the film’s main gimmick but it definitely could have held back a decent amount here. You basically want to look away whenever they are in this world.

Then for no reason two chickens get eaten and there is quite a lot of violence everywhere. Putting in animals in any context had no purpose being here to be honest. It just doesn’t make any kind of sense so that was annoying. In the real world the characters may have always made the wrong decisions and so they weren’t easy to root for but at least nothing too crazy was happening on screen. Although lets dive into the characters now because they didn’t help the film much either.

First up is Delia who feels like a waste of a character. She’s just way too over the top the whole time with how far into the supernatural bubble she’s fallen into. Her scenes were rarely funny because of how exaggerated they were. then you have Jeremy who is annoying from the jump. It’s obvious that he is trying too hard to be the perfect match for Astrid and the fact that she is buying this at all is what will also have you shaking your head. Astrid is supposed to be the smart one except for when she’s not.

Although while Astrid makes her share of mistakes she could be worse. Lydia is 100X worse and her character has been thoroughly assassinated since the first film. She is so crushed by life that she is willing to let herself get married to Rory just because he asked her. She doesn’t actually love him but is going to go through with it anyway? That’s just terrible and no reasonable main character would ever do that. It’s a massive L against her character and throughout the movie she is being manipulated so easily. It’s easy to see why the family fell apart.

The film doesn’t give us much reason to even feel bad for her either. Since it’s part comedy, it’s not like Rory is even being subtle here. Lydia didn’t trust her feelings and that’s always going to lead you to disaster. As for Rory, well he’s your average villain. He does his job pretty well and considering that his plan would have succeeded if not for Betelgeuse I can’t even say it was a bad plan. It felt like a bad plan but it was working.

As for Betelgeuse, well he’s about as crazy as ever. He fears nothing and treats every part of life like it’s a joke. I suppose to him it is all just a big grand joke though so that makes sense. With his reality warping abilities he can defeat anyone as needed and only loses when he feels like it. It does make the film feel a bit aimless though since everyone is at the mercy of his whims. This even undercuts the main villain of the film.

Delores is the main villain here and she has the ability to suck the life out of someone. Honestly I think that plot point is the only reason why she was even added in the first place. At no point is she even a threat to Betelgeuse and the way she goes out is very lackluster. The film seemed to want to include some tension but couldn’t figure out a way to weaken Betelgeuse and so they just gave up halfway.

There is a lot going on throughout the movie and that’s a good thing I suppose but just about none of the plots have a satisfying conclusion. Everything is just jumbled together and none of the characters are interesting enough to hold their own. The only really fun character was the actor because I like over the top villains like him. That said, it’s not like the guy even did much. Then as far as the comedy is concerned, one of the only really good gags was when Betelgeuse took on Jeremy near the end. Beyond that, there were way more misses than hits this time around.

Overall, Beetlejuice couldn’t really manage to have a solid second film. This film comes across more distasteful than the first one and the film didn’t have enough of a focus. You don’t really get the whole plot of Betelgeuse wanting to marry Lydia because if he was serious about it then they would be married already. The fact that he even caused her to have a kid as a gag is crazy. I know you can just say it’s a comedy over and over again but there still needs to be some kind of a real plot to hold it together. I don’t see how the series can continue without Betelgeuse facing off against an actual threat. Or maybe just write him out, he was gone for large portions of this film anyway. Although…the film wasn’t much better for it so maybe I shouldn’t hold out much hope here.

Overall 3/10

The Berenstain Bears’ Christmas Tree Review

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The Berenstain Bears is a series that I grew up with but you don’t really see it much anymore. It didn’t really survive the test of time as well as some other titles. That said, it still has a good amount of quality to it and I was eager to see what their Christmas special looks like. It’s definitely really crazy and I would also say that it plays out more like a Dr. Seuss story with all of the rhyming throughout the dialogue. It’s very different from the usual adventure.

The basic plot is that Christmas is nearly here and the bears don’t have a Christmas tree yet! Mama Bear says they should buy one from Gus but Papa Bear scoffs at the idea. He will get a tree the old fashioned way and quickly gets Brother and Sister Bear to go along with him. The problem is that every tree is already spoken for with different animals living in them. Time is ticking and the heroes are no closer to their goal. What can they do?

It should be noted that most of the problems here are directly a result of Papa Bear’s actions. The guy really cannot be reasoned with and in this special he also doesn’t seem to be very smart. At one point he forgets what his name is and he basically ignores the rest of the characters when they are talking. It’s his way or the highway at all times which is not really what you want to hear from the guy since he has no plan. I appreciate wanting to cut down the tree yourself but then you should probably have done that well in advance. It is nice that he stops once the animals are in trouble but it’s definitely more of a hollow victory at times.

I do think the animals were pretty mean to the guy though. He actively stopped in his efforts to cut down the tree so the animals should probably be grateful. Instead they go after Papa and try to murder him but if he fought back they would be the ones to lose. They were not really thinking with their heads on that one. I was glad that generally speaking the kids weren’t too upset with Papa though. They were sad about the circumstances but didn’t try to put all of the blame on his feet or anything like that. It would have still been valid but I was glad they didn’t kick him while he was down.

In a way Papa Bear is the main character and the only one to constantly be doing something so having him in the center of the action the whole time did help keep things entertaining. They did a good job with the animation of showing just how psycho his eyes would get the whole time. Even right to the end with the fish, Sister Bear brings up a good point and then he immediately goes into psycho mode. That was definitely pretty crazy and a super intense way to end the special. He may be crazy but that’s exactly why you want him on your side.

It’s also a good thing that the special was short because if it was too long then I think it would have ended up having a serious pacing issue. As it stands, I would say it was balanced well. Papa Bear keeps it just interesting enough where you aren’t waiting for it to end or anything. It’s not really my kind of style of special generally with the dialogue being a bit too slow but the novelty factor really helps it out. If you like the Berenstain Bears then you’ll probably appreciate this take on them.

Once again I’d give a shoutout to the animation here because it really matches the chaotic energy of the special well. In fact you could argue that without the animation, the rest of the story wouldn’t work so well. I wouldn’t be surprised if the story was based around the animation as opposed to the other way around. It can be a little rarer to see animation this chaotic outside of anime nowadays so you definitely need to savor it while you can.

Overall, The Christmas Tree made for a pretty fun adventure as you watched the heroes do their best and everything got really chaotic. It’s certainly really out there and by the end you don’t really know if this was a super cheerful adventure or not. What you do know is that it was generally entertaining. I think it’s a tricky recommendation though, I would only suggest it if you are really familiar with the franchise. Otherwise as a general viewing I would definitely say to check some other titles out first. This definitely feels like a very hit or miss kind of special.

Overall 6/10

Desk Set Review

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It’s time for another classic comedy movie and this is one that has definitely aged pretty well. It’s fun seeing the battle between worker and technology although the machine is definitely set up to fail quite a bit here. It’s a fun movie with a lot of fast paced dialogue and likable characters. At the end of the day it may have less depth than some other titles but works out well enough for me.

The movie starts by introducing us to a mysterious guy named Richard. He’s walking from department to department of a big company and nobody really knows what he is doing here. He spends the most time over by the reference section where he has everybody nervous. The head of the department is Bunny and her team has always done an all star job here. Why should big business have anything to say about it? Well, they are throwing in a machine to replace the humans and get things even more efficient. Can she prove that humans are more than a match for any machine?

It’s the classic dilemma of man vs machine. It’s always a classic debate but at the end of the day you can’t really stall progress. In the short run things will get real disrupted of course but in the long term it just ends up working out. That’s really how these things always go. That being said, you can fight it for a little while and Bunny does bring up a good point that this section is one of the last where you would be able to use a robot. Here’s how the job goes: Someone calls in asking for the answer to a fun fact, then the worker goes and finds the answer.

It’s a very labor intensive section but one that is difficult to automate because the circumstances are different every time. Using a machine for payroll? Sure that makes sense but for something like this in the short term it will only create more work. Particularly since in this movie the characters know all of the answers almost off hand and the few that they don’t are easy to find. For the robot you have to type in the question, then wait for it to print out the response. Additionally you have to make sure that all of the details are right and then input the corrections.

There is no way to stop an answer once it has started and the machine is super fragile. You could say that it was really set up for failure. Now there is a twist about the robot near the end but I would say that the twist doesn’t even make much sense. It may have some slight utility in helping out but the negatives outweigh the positives. For starters it takes up a vast amount of space and it’s quite loud. It would definitely mess up the office atmosphere without a doubt.

As the main character, Bunny does a good job of proving why humans are still needed at this point in time. She does an incredible job of remembering details and locating the answers to things in a cinch. She has so much experience and genius that she could probably have risen to CEO status if she felt the urge to do so. It’s why her coworkers get annoyed when she is being used by Mike the whole time. He doesn’t seem to appreciate her intellect except for when it benefits h8im like in writing papers. He sort of takes her for granted and is always canceling their dates.

You can certainly cut some slack when there is a job that has you on call but the problem is how these occurrences are so regular. Additionally, to be dating for I think they said 8 years and not proposing is crazy. I know some do the whole endless dating routine but to me 1 year is pretty much good enough. By then you should have made up your mind. Ignoring any special circumstances or exceptions, you shouldn’t be dating for longer than that without making things solid.

So Mike’s not very likable but Bunny is a little at fault here for being to patient. I would also say this is what prevents the main romance from being any good because even up to the final scene she seems prepared to go back with Mike and it takes Richard speaking up to prevent her from this. Good on Richard for making his move but I would have liked to have seen more initiative out of Bunny.

Meanwhile Richard doesn’t always look that great here. I know he had orders about not telling anyone why he is here and about the computer but at the same time when you are hanging out with a group for so long, you can’t just suddenly show up with a new computer and expect them to be okay with this. He took way too long to try and explain himself. Some things he could not anticipate like the glitch where everyone thought they got fired but explaining himself more would have helped.

I will say though that the workers didn’t make themselves look great in getting so drunk at the party. If you’re going to do that, you should probably at least have some signs up about how work is paused for the day. I’m guessing there was probably no voicemail back then so there’s nothing you can do about the ringing phones but at least it’s clear this way that everyone is occupied. It seems like otherwise this was a very unofficial kind of thing. I am glad that they all get to have fun though, most Christmas parties don’t tend to get quite so wild at the office.

While Richard didn’t handle some things well, he was a very entertaining character though. I liked that he was actually fairly aggressive with Mike when the guy showed up on the stormy night. Richard may be forgetful but at least he’s more direct than some of the characters and he adds a lot to the humor. A comedy has to be funny after all and he always ensures that it is. I also liked Bunny’s supporting cast. They were all good at their jobs and had developed personalities. While they may not get to do too much in the story, they all felt like real characters as opposed to just being there to fill out the cast.

Overall, Desk Set is a pretty fun film. It all may be dramatized a tad but hey that’s what you’d expect out of a comedy. The romance tends to be on the weaker side and the characters may not always be responsible but you should still have a pretty fun time all the way through. The film’s pacing is pretty good as well so it never dwells on any scene for too long. It may feel like the kind of film that you will quickly forget after watching it but that’s okay. It’s the kind of movie that you have a good time with even if there isn’t much to discuss afterwards.

Overall 7/10

Pat and Mike Review

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It always used to seem cheesy to have one of the characters say something like “There’s just one rule. Don’t fall in love with me!” right before they team up in a movie but now I see why that happens. This is one of those classic films where two characters decide to team up and get some massive Ws but along the way they start catching feelings. It’s a pretty fun film but the romance does feel like it’s more on the weak side.

The film starts with introducing us to Pat who is one of the top athletes of our generation. She is incredible in all physical sports and the only reason she hasn’t shattered every record is because she gets nervous whenever her boyfriend Mike shows up to watch her. He finds the whole thing amusing and doesn’t take her career too seriously though. So when she loses another tournament, he suggests she should just give it a rest and marry him already. Then she can be a stay at home mom. Pat resists and jumps off the train so that she can prove she is still the greatest athlete in the world. Well, that’s not her goal, but a local trainer named Mike notices her and decides to team up. Initially he was going to have her throw a few games and everything but she’s the real deal. So he’s decided that he will help her become the best. Can they pull this off?

In a way Mike’s job here is pretty easy since Pat is already super talented. All he has to do is figure out why she freezes up at times and he eventually gets to the bottom of that. Otherwise he does also pressure her to go to sleep early and such. He seems like a good trainer to be honest and their partnership works out well. The guy may not be the most heroic person out there but he is serious about his money so he takes the situation very seriously.

Meanwhile Pat is also a solid character. Naturally the freezing up is real unfortunate but it’s not like she does this on purpose or anything like that. She is an easy character to root for the whole time and seems like a nice person. She has a solid moment where she takes out a whole gang of thugs and made it look easy. This is definitely something that not just anyone could pull off. While Mike was a little embarrassed about the whole thing, he really shouldn’t be. This just further proves that she is a generational talent.

Like I said, the weakest part is the romance. Collier is set up to not be a great guy from the start so you know that he’s doomed. The fact that he encouraged Pat to just quit is pretty awful. Clearly she had the skills to go the distance so he should just encourage her. In hindsight it make the whole Golf battle at the start look even worse since she would have aced the whole thing otherwise. That said, leaving Collier doesn’t mean that she needs an immediate rebound. It’s why the romance doesn’t work because you don’t know if she really loves Mike a lot or if this is really just her trying to find another guy real quick. It’s just hard to say either way.

Meanwhile the fact that we had full villains with that gang running around was pretty fun. This is still a comedy first and foremost so I wouldn’t expect anything too crazy but it still does amp up the stakes which I appreciate. If I had any real issues with the film it’s that I would have liked to have seen Pat on top of the world a bit. We know that she is cured in the end but I wanted a longer montage showing her finally winning all of the tournaments. I feel like that would have been a more satisfying ending. I don’t have a problem with the ending itself, but it just happens so quickly that you feel like they left some meat on the table.

We do get a good amount of sports footage in general though which I appreciate. For example, Golf in particular is a sport where we get to really see what Pat’s got. Both in the losing match and then her big return later on. Golf is a sport that I don’t like playing or even watching professionally but it can work well in a movie or anime where they can use some good directing/editing to make it even better. There was also a good tennis match in there.

One subplot that was rather weak was with Mike’s other client though. He was coaching a boxer and for some reason he completely ditches the guy after being with Pat. It felt a little out of character to me because the boxer was still winning his matches and making money. That should have been enough to incentivize Mike to keep close tabs on him. Instead Mike was very dismissive of him the whole film and Pat had to step in. It was a really bad look for Mike and I don’t blame you if you find the guy completely unlikable by the end. It’s not the kind of moment that you can really defend.

It’s more okay to see Mike constantly be bashing his partner because that guy was not very good at his job and it still felt like an even fight. With the boxer, it’s clear that the guy wasn’t very smart so that’s why you feel worse for him. He’s not able to launch any counters or talk tough back to Mike so you can’t really enjoy the banter and back and forth action there because there isn’t any. At the end of the day in a comedy it’s pretty much impossible for every joke to land though. So while that plot was weak, it didn’t ultimately take away from this film’s ability.

Overall, Pat and Mike is a fun film. It balances the comedy and serious moments pretty well throughout the movie. The pacing is solid and it covers a lot of ground. The story beats all tend to be pretty funny as well and there is a good amount of sports footage. So this is a great all around title with how well it juggles everything. As long as you enjoy a low key film like this, then you should have a really fun time.

Overall 7/10

Adam’s Rib Review

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It’s time for a classic comedy title and this one is definitely pretty fun. It has a nice sense of humor and goes by pretty fast. I enjoyed the court case and this movie has a whole lot of energy. I do think that in some ways it hasn’t aged amazingly well like with the moral and how parts of the film turn out but on the whole it is fun. I want to say it is a satisfying watch all the way through even if you don’t necessarily agree with every part of it.

The film starts off with a lady shooting her husband after catching him cheating on her with another lady. Unfortunately for her, the shots don’t end up being fatal and so she is taken to court on the charge of attempted murder. The prosecutor is a man named Adam who believes that the law should be considered as absolute. It cannot be bent or broken so he aims to really make an example out of her. Meanwhile her defense will be Amanda, Adam’s wife who feels that jurors are often bias against women. She seeks full equality in order to end this and so the big fight begins. Can their marriage stay strong as they try to destroy each other on the battlefield?

Now in terms of that question, I feel like it should be an easy Yes. You should absolutely be able to distance the work part of your relationship from the fun part. Like if you’re dating your boss at work and she is always chewing you out for mistakes, once 5:00PM is reached, it shouldn’t matter and you keep chatting as always. That’s how this should be but I feel like Adam takes this the most personally. He feels a little too delicate for most of the film as he takes things too hard and tries to get Amanda to quit. He should just let his talents do the talking for him and have it out with her.

If he really believes that the law will win out in the end then he has nothing to worry about. If the law is so easily broken by her antics, then perhaps it wasn’t a good one. In part I am a bit bias here as well though because I thought the lady was certainly fine. She caught her husband having an affair and decided to put a stop to it. I’d always support that to an extent, like as long as she isn’t firing at random civilians. I also agreed with Amanda that on the other foot this would also have been an easy case.

It’s not to say that any of the people in the court case are all that good because mot of them seemed incredibly suspicious. That said, you still have to go into this on only the facts of the matter. We find out that this was an abusive relationship with both of them hitting each other and throwing constant insults. Definitely not a healthy environment to be in, but that’s how it goes. So whoever wins the case, you aren’t rooting for either character but I would say the girl was more sympathetic. The guy just seemed absolutely unapologetic and like he typically started all of the fights.

Back to the main duo, Adam just comes across as really petty the whole time. He should have talked things out with Amanda more instead of giving up. Running off at the end was also a really bad look since it showed that he wasn’t really confident in the situation. I take a lot of points away from him, but unfortunately I have to take a lot of points from Amanda though. That’s because she allows Kip too much free reign and basically encourages him.

So Kip is the next door neighbor who is constantly flirting with Amanda. He doesn’t care that she is married and makes his contempt for Adam widely known. I have a big problem with Amanda not shutting this down immediately. It’s not cute or funny to let some random guy badmouth your husband the whole time. Perhaps the attention feels good but that just makes it even worse. It was really poor form and then she kept putting herself in bad situations. The worst was nearly getting drunk and being alone at the neighbor’s apartment. That was absolutely a terrible situation and she’s lucky that Adam showed up.

I would have cut out that entire plotline because it felt completely unnecessary. Just there for a little drama and some more jokes but it all felt a bit more mean spirited than the rest of the film. You were definitely ready for Kip to get blasted in the end and Amanda defending him was also pretty terrible. Definitely the weakest part of the movie but not something that would end up sabotaging the film as a whole.

After all we still had all of the court scenes which were a lot of fun. It was nice to see all of the different witnesses show up and then the experts to give their own testimony. The film got a lot of screentime to this part which was cool. We got to really see what the case was like and it definitely helped take things to the next level. I always love a good courtroom scene and the more detailed they are, the better. It felt like we got to see every aspect of the case.

Overall, This was a pretty good movie. It’s definitely a solid comedy with a lot of funny moments. Not all of the jokes land and both characters do look really bad in different ways. As long as you don’t take them too seriously then you should be fine. At the end of the day, things resolve pretty well as far as the case is concerned and we do have a happy ending. There may have been some bumps in the road but the pacing is fast and the writing is good. It’s definitely a solid film that I can recommend.

Overall 7/10

High Cost of Loving Review

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It’s time for a classic romantic comedy title. It’s a fun enough film that has a nice plot. I would say the film restrains itself a bit too much at times and could have really drummed up the craziness of it all a bit more. Still, it’s an easy film for me to recommend to anyone and it’s fairly short so things tend to move fast.

The film starts off by introducing us to Jim and Ginny who have a really good marriage going on. They have no real problems and Ginny is finally pregnant after nearly a decade so they are ready for fun. The only problem is that Jim’s job has been taken over by a new company and they might be letting some people go. When almost everybody except for Jim gets an invite to a luncheon, he figures that this is game over. Should he talk things over with the bosses and see what’s going on…or should he crash out? Time for Jim’s toughest call!

Now a lot of this film does rely on Jim not making the smartest choices time and time again. He jumps to conclusions quite regularly and doesn’t put himself in a position to succeed. It’s a story that we have all seen many times before but it can be pretty funny. I would have liked for things to have been more extreme like I mentioned in the intro though. Like one misunderstanding that worked super well is when someone jokes with Jim that he won’t be ordering the boxes because he might mess it up. The guy was just having some fun and Jim didn’t pick up on it because he was so stressed.

Beyond that, we don’t have a ton of big misunderstandings going on though. So a lot of it is Jim really just overthinking things and I feel like it’s because the film wanted to stay very grounded. You could have really had it both ways in this case though. Also Jim does look pretty bad throughout because of how callous he was when the shoe was on the other foot. At the beginning of the film he talks quite happily about how some guys will get fired and that’s just how life works. He talks a lot about survival of the fittest and all of that. It makes it ever so slightly harder to root for him here because you know first hand that he would not really care if someone else was fired.

He took his safe standing within the company for granted to the point where he didn’t even imagine not having the job. It’s why his friend Steve is comfortable about joking how he would be super depressed and end it all if he was fired. Nothing wrong with the jokes but then you have to be able to take it when you’re the one going down. Instead Jim was super defensive and panicking the whole time. It just didn’t do wonders to make him likable and then of course when he’s frustrated he is very quick to start taking it out on his wife. Being snappy, irritated, etc.

Jim doesn’t talk about things until it is forced out of him and it’s jut such a standard move but it is always a character killer. You can’t be so close to someone and then immediately still get so upset like that. He needed to talk things over and calm down. Ginny is also shown to be super reasonable the whole time so it’s not like there was any risk of her being upset. There was no downside to talking things out with her instead of straining everything like when he wasn’t acting very concerned about her pregnancy results coming out negative.

His friend Steve seemed a lot more reasonable and was a good guy to the end. He prevented Jim from making any career destroying decisions the whole time. His wife Syd may have been someone who just wouldn’t start talking but at least she wasn’t actually trying to cause harm. So I won’t really dock her any points there. She meant well and of course this goes back to how the characters don’t mind smack talking everyone except when it effects them. The double standards are where things really start to get dicey.

If there are any other main issues here, it can be that you feel like there should have been another angle to the film. Either make the jokes a bit bigger like I mentioned or introduce another plot. Even though the film isn’t all that long, it feels like there isn’t anywhere for it to really go. So it’s a serviceable film but not a super memorable one. It’s nice to see a married couple without too much drama but in the meantime their scenes tend to be a little on the boring side. Showing how close they are in the opening also backfires because of how easy we see Jim turn on her later on. You may as well cut out the intro at that point.

I did like the fact that Jim’s immediate boss had his back. Often times in these things it feels like the main character is on his own throughout management but since he was such a good worker, it makes sense that some people would have his back. It would have been annoying if the boss was just looking out for himself or something like that. The top executives were also pretty solid. They asked the hard questions and pressed Jim a little. They did seem really good at their jobs and it’s not like they take joy in letting anyone go. They are just doing their jobs and doing them well. This is an example of a movie that didn’t really have an antagonist but ultimately didn’t need one anyway.

Overall, High Cost of Loving is a good film. It hits enough of the right notes to skate on by and it’s one that you could easily watch because it’s just light entertainment. It has good replay value in that way. It does reinforce why you should always have proper communication channels open with everyone. If you don’t, then it opens the door for misunderstandings and panic. Also, perhaps keep the jokes to a minimum if you would be upset if the same thing happened to you.

Overall 6/10

The Rescuers Down Under Review

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It’s time for the big sequel to the original Rescuers. It’s pretty impressive that they managed to really capture the feel and atmosphere of the first film after such a long break. It’s a film that has definitely aged well and made for a good watch. It’s what I would call a fairly basic animated film. Nothing too fancy but you generally enjoy i either way with no big negatives to stop it.

The movie starts with Cody adventuring through the wilderness and helping animals along the way. Unfortunately he is captured by Percival, a big animal hunter who wants to take down one of the legendary birds in the area. Cody is presumed dead by the authorities so it is up to the Rescue agents to save him this time. They send their best operatives Bernard and Bianca for one last mission. It’s not good timing for Bernard since he was getting ready to propose to Bianca but hey villains don’t wait for a good spot after all. They are greeted by Jake, a guy who is a little too comfortable flirting with Bianca while Bernard is right there. Will Bernard still be able to bring his A game and save Cody or will he be too distracted to be of much help?

Now while this plot is mainly for laughs at Bernard’s expense, it doesn’t make Bianca look particularly good. To an extent you should always be able to know when someone is flirting with you. The fact that for pretty much the whole film she just thinks he is being polite was a little hard to buy. I appreciate Bianca being a super nice character who is always trying to help but even that has limits. A the end of the day, you gotta keep your guard up.

This is also a really bad look for Bernard for not saying anything. He just needed to be direct. I know the guy is always really nervous and has a hard time doing anything but this would have absolutely been the time to change his reputation. He needed to man up and set the record straight. While he’s not as nervous as in the first film, it’s still a pretty big knock against him.

The only one you don’t really blame for this is Jake who has every reason to be oblivious about Bianca already being taken. So yeah that guy just has natural charisma and confidence. He is even quick to cheer Bernard on in the final scene. That may have been sudden and super forced but hey he’s a good sport. I wouldn’t say he’s a great character or anything but he’s entertaining and definitely gives the cast some real energy.

Then we get to the main villain Percival who is actually really good. This guy makes plans and is highly effective at his job. Yeah perhaps tricking a kid isn’t so hard but he still pulled it off. He’s also rather intimidating like when he pointed his gun straight at Cody. It’s the little things like that which you imagine would be a whole lot tougher to do nowadays. This guy was completely unhinged and an absolute danger to all parties involved. He was constantly threatening his animal assistant but unlike other villains you could actually picture those threats as being credible.

It really helps in any movie to have a villain who is a serious threat like this. Whether it’s an animated film for kids or not, you should be able to pull this off. The short length of the film also helps for things to be moving fast at all times. The only part that felt rather forced and a bit drawn out was the subplot with the bird trying to have his back fixed. Ehhh I just didn’t think it was all that funny and I wanted to go back to the main plot. The character himself is pretty fun without a doubt but this didn’t add anything to the film at all. Give me more scenes of Cody working to break out of the facility or the mice getting closer to their goal instead.

Well, the animation is definitely quite solid as you would expect. The movie has a very fast paced/chaotic vibe to it the whole time. The characters are super expressive and the colors are very sharp. It’s the kind of movie that will continue to look really good even 50 years from now. A true feat if I do say so myself. The music is okay, nothing all that special but it’s not as big a focus as in the original movie anyway.

The writing is good so at the end of the day the film nailed the fundamentals. I even enjoyed the setting and Australia is not always the best backdrop. They just did a really good job of making the backgrounds all look fun. I also enjoyed the accents the whole time, I thought they did a really good job with that.

As with the first film, you may question just how effective the animal army can be at times. A lot has to go right for them to even set up the missions since they have to distract the human at the controls every time. This movie goes a bit more in depth on how the missions are set up so it makes sense to spend a few lines on it. This is just the kind of film that you can’t think about too hard. You have to suspend a little disbelief here but I would say it’s honestly not a ton. The film is still smartly written overall so I have no problems here. I do think there is quite a nice opportunity to eventually have the humans get involved though. No reason why they couldn’t right? Humans can understand the animals after all so a joint partnership could work really well. Maybe the villain could be a disgruntled UN agent who doesn’t like the new competition or something like that.

Overall, The Rescuers have maintained an impressive level of quality and consistency here. I would easily be able to recommend this to anyone. It’s just a fun story that doesn’t overstay its welcome and produces a lot of fun characters. The main villain was especially impressive with just how hype they were allowed to make him. He’s a total villain through and through. They just allowed him to have some actual charisma and bravado within that role. I’d definitely be down for more films in this series.

Overall 7/10

Space Cowboys Review

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Space Cowboys is one of those films that knows how to have a good time. There are a lot of little jokes throughout the movie and for the most part it’s got a light tone. I would say that it does start to falter a bit during the climax when the film takes itself a little too seriously. Still, it’s a fun enough movie, I would say that it goes by quickly even with the long run time and so you’ll have a good time here.

The movie starts off by showing us Frank and the crew back when they were younger. They were the best crew of pilots you could have out there! They were ready to go into space and everything but Bob messed them over at the last second. Decades have passed and each member is retired and living the good life. That changes when we find out that a Russian satellite is falling. The impact will be disastrous and the U.S. is trying to keep it afloat to prevent all out catastrophe. This forces Bob, who is now a high ranking NASA official to call in Frank. They will have to let bygones be bygones but Frank is only accepting the mission under one condition. His old senior citizen buddies have to be included in the team as well. Bob agrees..but secretly plans to leave them behind.

You could say it’s like a battle of wits here except that while Frank has all the bravado, Bob has all the wits. It can’t be denied that Frank is a total genius and everything but allowing yourself to be tricked by the same guy twice is pretty rough. If not for the vice president getting involved, it was definitely not going to go very well for Frank. I sort of figured Frank would have had some kind of a backup plan but unfortunately that was not to be.

The film’s biggest strength is in the banter though. I like all of the crisp dialogue between the characters as they really take each other to town. They all get along pretty well so they’re able to really go in without anyone taking offense. The only person with actual bad blood is Bob and those arguments tend to be fun as well. The writing is solid here and you should have a smile on for most of it. When the film wants to be funny, the jokes tend to land.

The film’s biggest weakness are the serious plots like I mentioned before. The whole climax is trying really hard to be serious, intense, and dramatic. The main problem is that you just can’t take any of it seriously. It’s all too by the book to be honest and I think they should have played it all more for laughs. Sure, in a way you could say that the whole film was building up to the actual mission so it would need to be serious but I just wasn’t buying it.

Additionally there is a quick romance plot here that doesn’t work either. The film seemed to think that it had to have a romance but otherwise there is no real reason for this to have even started. It really comes out of nowhere with no kind of warning and feels extremely rushed. I don’t think you would have much time for hooking up with the fate of the planet resting in the balance. It’s like the characters in these movies are trying to speedrun romance and that’s not really a successful way to go about things. It really doesn’t work out for her due to a variety of reasons.

It’s safe to say that Frank is the most enjoyable character in the film. He talks tough and never shows his kinder side but the guy made sure that his whole team got to be here. He really went above and beyond for them which is really important. It’s definitely not something that just anyone would do and the rest of the characters know it. It’s why they have such a tight squad, because they really trust each other.

Hawk gets the next biggest role due to a personal subplot he gets as well as the whole romance angle. While I could do without some of that, he’s still a fun guy. He can hold his own with Frank as needed and they both keep each other in check. In comparison, Tank and Jerry don’t have as big a role but they’re always around. They all contrast with each other pretty well for the overall team dynamic. It was fun to see how they all got through the physical exams for this. Les just say a good memory goes a long way.

It did seem like a pretty extreme regimen for the crew though. I assume this is to make sure you can handle the tasks while you are in a space station but typically tests like this go a bit over to really make sure you’re ready. So you could probably hold back a little on the old timers and they’d be fine. Honestly they looked way better than the young cadets. We have two cadets who get to go on the trip with the old timers and they look absolutely awful.

One of them gets a concussion almost immediately and ends up being dead weight. The other one goes crazy and basically starts messing everything up as fast as he can. A supremely annoying characters all the way through and that was one part of the climax that just felt really forced. I had a really hard time buying into that and it would have even been more believable if he was a Russian double agent instead. I definitely wouldn’t have minded seeing more of the big meetings and political fights going on in the background. That could have been a pretty good subplot.

Overall, Space Cowboys is a good film. I would say it had enough weak points for me to keep it from going to the next level but on the whole it’s an entertaining film and that’s really what I’m looking for here. If you like the idea of a group of old friends getting to finally achieve their dreams then this is definitely the film to check out. Even if the climax isn’t the greatest, the film had enough good moments to carry it all through and quick enough pacing where you felt like the movie covered a lot of ground without dragging.

Overall 6/10

Kelly’s Heroes

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Kelly’s Heroes is one of those films that threatens to overstay its welcome with the long runtime but ends up being solid all around. It’s certainly better than a good deal of the military/war films that I’ve seen. The comedy really helps to cement itself as a good all around title and it still has time for the serious action scenes as well. This would be tough for almost any title to match I’d say.

The movie begins with Kelly escaping the Nazi base with one of their commanders. He finds out from this guy that there is a huge shipment of 14,000 gold bars that went into a nearby town. The town is significantly behind enemy lines but Kelly smells a huge pay day. So he rounds up a lot of his pals from the army to go and get the gold. Not a whole lot mind you, they want to keep this as a tight operation but a guy called Oddball overhears the plan. He insists on coming along and considering that he has 3 tanks at the ready, Kelly figures it will be a good idea to let him in. So they begin their adventure deep into enemy lines. Can they pull this off?

It’s pretty easy to see why the characters are all super stoked about this though. As one of them says, they face this kind of danger every day for only $50 per day. Well now they can risk their lives for life altering amounts of money. Not a bad deal you’d have to admit. Of course it also doesn’t take away from this being a very difficult mission. So there is a body count and not everyone makes it through. The deaths are taken pretty seriously and the film is able to blend the two genres well. When a character goes down, the cast have a moment of silence before going back to the yelling and bickering.

Kelly makes for a really good main character. You can’t picture anyone else being able to contain this many personalities running around in the same room. They would just completely overwhelm a lesser character but they aren’t going to be pushing Kelly around. Early on it takes a lot of convincing for his boss to get in on this deal and it was only the fact that Kelly was fully prepared to go along without the commander that it forced him into this. The cast for the movie is also impressively large. There are a ton of moving pieces here with different plots that you have to keep track of at once.

Oddball is probably the biggest character next to Kelly. That guy is commanding his own share of troops and while his leadership style is considerably different, he gets the job done as needed. The guy always sounds rather out of it which is part of the appeal. I probably still wouldn’t trust him with a job no matter how many times it turns out well though. The guy has exceptionally good luck which is really handy to have out on the field but you are always worried about when it will run out. You just know that it’ll run out at the absolute worst moment.

I also liked the head general who was at home minding his own business until he heard that the main characters were so deep into enemy territory. He woke up real quick and decided to join them. The guy basically treated the whole thing like a big ball game. It may not be the most responsible way to view things and it was pretty clear that he wouldn’t be much good in a fight but I at least liked the enthusiasm. At the very least he was going to award them all and wasn’t some phony. Him enjoying the celebrations and everything is just the price that the others have to pay for this.

A good part of the film’s appeal is really in all of the banter between the characters and that definitely speaks to the solid writing of the movie. All of the characters tend to bounce off of each other pretty well. It doesn’t mean that everyone is likable but it does mean that you enjoy all of the conversations. The characters really aren’t afraid to get in each other’s faces and yell a lot. They’ve all got big personalities after all but they also are able to get together as a group against the enemy as needed. There is never a moment where they mix up what they want to do with what they need to do.

That’s probably the toughest part to get right for a title like this. The ending is also pretty satisfying. It may get rough for one of the characters but for the most part all of the others get a good resolution. I tend to enjoy heist films and hadn’t seen a wartime one like this before. After watching it, I would be down for more in this genre. It’s probably still a genre that will be best in city type environments but this one showed that war torn areas can work as well. That’s another pretty strong feather in the film’s cap. I typically don’t even enjoy the war setting as a backdrop but this one managed to make it work better than I would have guessed. It’s not over the top muddy and gruesome or anything like that. It’s no summer picnic but it doesn’t get in the way of the story or have me waiting for them to hit up the big cities.

Overall, Kelly’s Heroes is a pretty fun film. A lot of the humor was really well timed and the action was good. There is a lot going on here and that’s a good thing because of how long the film is. I do think they probably could have shaved off 20 minutes or so though. You can feel the film’s length towards the end with the big climax and whenever you can feel the length like that, you know that they are cutting it super close. As long as you enjoy a good laugh then you should watch this one. It’s very rare to see a war movie that is just having a good time like this so you really need to savor that feeling.

The Menu 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

It’s time for a film about the dangers of high end restaurants. The premise is certainly fun and I remember really enjoying the trailer. There are parts of the film that do stretch your disbelief to quite a large extent though. I know the film is part comedy but I think it may be more appropriate to call it part parody. When you do that, it makes a bit more sense but regardless I think you’ll have a good time here.

The movie starts with a bunch of people getting ready to go to a super fancy restaurant. Well, by a bunch I mean around 12 or so. It’s a super exclusive event that costs over 100K per person in order to attend. Margot is not really into this high luxury life but her new boyfriend Tyler is paying for the whole event and he lives for fancy cuisine. So she’ll try to make the best of it but it quickly becomes apparent that he originally had invited another girl and she was the backup plan. Not a great way to start their adventure but Margot will still try to have fun. Unfortunately, the meals are small and very unimpressive. Additionally there appears to be something really sinister about this place. Perhaps going to a secluded island in the middle of nowhere with no way out until the boat that arrives the next day was a bad idea with a guy that she doesn’t know super well????

Now I do sympathize with Margot right away because fancy restaurants are definitely not the way to go. What you have to understand is there are tiers to these things. You have fast food shops like McDonalds, Fast casual shops like Chipotle, fast restaurants like Chili’s, and more standard restaurants like Cheesecake Factory. All of these can be good and still will have a lot of traditional options that taste great. When you go one step further to luxury restaurants is when you start to see the absolute worst foods out there. I’ve only gone to a fancy restaurant once, a place called the Manhatta. Let me tell you, it lives up to the hype of why I don’t dine at places like that.

We’re talking about a place with no menu until you arrive. Based on the day, there will only be up to 4 items you can choose from. It’s a combination that brings a side, main course, and dessert. The whole thing is bundled so you can’t break it and you can forget about substitutions. You’ll probably be spending around $50-$70 by the end for a portion of food that is extremely small and that’s assuming you can find anything that you like. They do the whole song and dance of preparing it in front of you and explaining what you’re eating but I’m here to eat not present. So this film does a great job of showing what a luxury restaurant is like and why it’s no fun.

Even in this movie, I did not like a single meal that they serves except for the last one. Pretty much everything here is loaded with seafood and vegetables which is definitely not something I’m all that interested in. It is fun seeing the characters try to convince themselves that t’s good though. The brainwashing is a big part of the fun here. Every character spent tons of money in order to get here and so this has to be good right? They can’t have been absolutely scammed.

At one point they are served a breadless bread bowl and some characters still try to defend it. So the comedy lands pretty well there. Tyler is a bit over the top with how checked out he is as the guy obsesses with the food but I can appreciate what the film was going for there. He’s the most obnoxious character in the film so you’re rooting for him to get taken down the whole time. One of those really fake guys who has on a mask for a long time but ultimately it shatters before when it’s crunch time.

Now we don’t know quite how long he knew Margot, but it’s definitely clear that she didn’t know the real him. As the only one who didn’t grow up super rich, she is sharper than the rest of the characters. I would still say she is a bit slow to act but at least isn’t just sitting in her chair awaiting her own demise the whole time. She has a good ending and in general showed a lot of spunk. Definitely the best character in the movie.

Where you have to suspend a lot of disbelief is with everyone’s inaction the whole time. They all act like NPCs as they just watch things escalate more and more as the body count rises. Surely they should all do something right? In a situation like this, obviously you need to secure a weapon like one of the large butcher knives and try to make a break for the door or just take everyone out. I would say getting outside is most important because then you can at least try and pick everyone off one by one. If you fight them all at once you’re going to lose.

I’d like to say that everyone should team up and overwhelm the villains but the cynical part of me does think at least half of the characters would just be screaming and not actually providing any assistance. So you really do have to assume that you’re completely on your own which does change the dynamic. Still, you gotta do something and anything is better than nothing. I guess part of the idea is that these characters have never really been in a life or death situation before but even so, I like to think the fight or flight mechanics would start to come through. The film being part comedy ultimately saves the whole feature because if this was played completely seriously then I would have some serious problems with this.

As it stands, it’s annoying but doesn’t crush the film. The pacing is good and the whole thing is very interesting. There are quite a few twists and turns as the movie goes on so it’ll keep you guessing all the way through. There are some fun fake outs and of course a lot of moments that are really happening with no fakeouts needed. This ensures that you are always on your toes. The film is also fairly long and gets to really build up to the premise. There is a lot of tension even early on but you have to wait along with the characters to see if it’s just a feeling or not.

While the film is tame for most of its run, it definitely does have some really violent scenes. They stand out as a big contrast which is likely the point so you are shocked along with the characters. So definitely prepare yourself for that, it’s definitely not a film that is just a smooth ride for everyone. There are a lot of bumps along the road here. There is also an element of each character having some kind of a shady secret although playing into the comedic angle a bit, this isn’t balanced at all. Some characters did crazy stuff while others did basically nothing and the main villain just says that’s too bad. He’s rather insane after all so it’s not like this has to make a lot of sense.

Overall, The Menu is a pretty good film. I did like seeing the breakdown of each menu item even if they all sounded pretty bad. The cast of characters are fairly strong. Not that most of them are particularly likable but they all have established characters and personalities early on. The film did a good job of setting them up and allowing the plot to move straight away. It’s a very well made film that really had my attention the whole way through. Maybe it really was the food theme since that’s not something I’ve seen too many films use.

Overall 7/10