Tag Archives: Comedy

The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie Review

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Hey where’s Bugs Bunny??? That’s the first thing you’ll be asking yourself as you turn on the film and unfortunately he isn’t in this film. This one is really drilling down to a small character cast and it’s definitely a bold decision. I suppose you don’t have to always get the whole gang involved but it’s why this film doesn’t end up matching up against the bigger event films like Space Jam. I just don’t think the Looney Tunes are able to hold their film nearly as well as other comedy franchises and it’s because the banter isn’t quite on the same level. Then for visual humor Tom and Jerry tend to take the solid win. Still, this is a good film, it just doesn’t really have much in the way of replay value.

The film introduces us to Daffy and Porky who grew up together after being adopted by Farmer Jim. Daffy was always a really crazy kid who would get Porky into trouble while Porky was a lot more straight laced. They always got along though and helped each other out. In the present, Porky likes a girl named Petunia and so Daffy helps play wingman. He actually does a really good job of this and things are mainly looking good…except for the fact that they’re about to lose their house. It’s just too destructive and then a comet blew off the roof so there was no real hiding that. They only have a few days to fix this but that’s the least of their problems. The Earth itself is doomed with mysterious aliens showing up. Can Daffy and Porky save the day or are they just too green for the job?

Now if Bugs, Road Runner, and the others were around this would be easy but this is definitely a down to Earth squad. Maybe the plan would be to slowly introduce more and more of the Toons to build up to an Avengers moment of sorts. Although I would say in general this isn’t quite the tone that the film is going for. It’s definitely a comedy first and foremost even with all the danger around. The story is more about seeing if Daffy and Porky can keep their bond strong even amidst what is going on.

In that area, I would say Daffy ends up looking better. He doesn’t let anything shake him and stays the courageous figure that we all know. Yeah he does get into a lot of trouble and doesn’t think things through but he’s a genuine guy. It was disappointing when Porky tried to trick him into staying home and didn’t stay acting as a good friend. It was a bad look for Porky especially since Daffy had always been by his side. For that reason I can’t say that I liked Porky much at all here. It’s not like he’s ever been my favorite character or anything like that but surely he could have been better.

As for Petunia, she’s okay at best but can also be rather scatter brained. Not in a fun chaotic way like Daffy but more when it comes to science for her. When you see Looney Tunes you’re thinking of absolutely crazy characters so she could have stood to be more crazy the whole time. She’s still better than Farmer Jim though. I get the kind of gag they were going for here but all of his scenes did tend to drag a bit. The guy came off as more annoying than anything. Technically he’s a good guy just looking out for his kids but his scenes simply weren’t funny.

I can say that the animation is really good though. The characters look very vibrant and the movie is always moving at a quick pace. There is consistently a whole lot going on visually which is always good and the action scenes aren’t half bad. You do start to get tired of seeing the villains spitting out the gum constantly but that’s a side effect of the mind control. It’s not quite crude humor but getting into that feel. It takes the aura away from the scenes.

The writing’s not bad. We do have some good gags and I liked the scene after the credits. It’s not really the kind of script that is laugh out loud funny but it does depend on just how much you like the Looney Tunes. Longtime fans will likely have a blast even just off of the nostalgia. There’s a lot there to keep you going the whole time. The soundtrack doesn’t have any particularly remarkable tunes though so that’s too bad.

The movie does have a big plot twist involving the alien though. It may make you scratch your head a bit since it’s the kind of twist that makes some actions look sus in retrospect. That said, I applaud the film for adding that in. Ultimately the film covers a lot of ground in 90 minutes. It’s good harmless fun all the way through. I do think it was lacking a bit of a hook though as the plot is fairly simple and it just takes a while to get to the conclusion. I think you could have spent the film really trying to test the bond between Daffy and Porky more. Yeah that does end up happening but mainly it’s just because Porky is looking bad here. In a way it would probably have been easiest if they made Petunia evil and so she would have been tricking Porky the whole time. Of course at that point it is a very different movie so that’s definitely not a small change.

Overall, The Day The Earth Blew Up is a good film. It’s not one I’d really be tempted to watch and I’d say the average Looney Tunes episode is more fun though. This one just felt like it was taking itself too seriously at times. For a film like this you really need to go all out and not take small steps here and there. This should have been a lot crazier and more energetic. Maybe put in less of a real story and just more of the characters messing around. Eh…that could backfire though. Just saying “The film should have been funnier” isn’t particularly helpful either. Well I’d say to still check it out and see what you think. Since the movie is under 2 hours it’s not as if it’ll take too long to watch it anyway.

Overall 6/10

Charlotte Review

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Charlotte is definitely quite the rollercoaster ride. The show begins as a happy comedic slice of life for most of its run but then takes a sharp dive into being a rather dark drama. One episode in particular feels super extreme next to the others and so you can never really guess what will happen next. I tend to have quite a lot of issues with the series as it began to end in terms of plot points and abilities working a little oddly. Still, you will be on the edge of your seat the whole time, that’s for sure.

The series starts off by introducing us to Yuu who is far from your average anime protagonist. This guy is a perv who cheats on his exams and basically misuses his power in every way. He has the ability to take over another person’s body for 5 minutes and in that time his original body falls unconscious. So it can be a bit dangerous since your body might slam to the ground hard but also 5 seconds isn’t very long so that can also backfire really heavily since you may return to your body before completing your objective. Still Yuu has managed to be quite popular and nearly nabs the girl of his dreams but then he is defeated by the supernatural student council. Tomori and her gangs now have blackmail on him and force the guy to transfer students and help in finding other metahumans. All of them must come to the school where they can do no more harm. Yuu’s no hero though so how will he escape from these guys?

That’s the plot for the majority of the show at least. As it goes on we get a lot more depth to the world though like with evil organizations on the rise and things like that. It really expands and gets pretty interesting with all the ramifications of what’s possible. That being said, the show really needed more episodes because the ending gets super rushed. I like how sudden it all occurs because we get to be shocked like Yuu but there are a lot of parts that absolutely fall apart. We’ll get to all of that but the character roster is fairly small so lets talk about them.

First up is Yuu and of course like I explained he is not a very nice guy. He would be one of the big villains if we based him on the very first episode’s appearance. Fortunately he does improve from there which is good but it’s a bit too slow for my liking. For example once we’re already deep into his character arc, he notices Tomori being beaten up by a bunch of thugs and does not arrive to help her. He simply does nothing and judging from Jojiro’s reaction, he is aware of it as well and does nothing. It’s just a true shame because the plotline is never addressed. For all we know she is still bullied.

Yuu also falls to the darkness more than once after this event so he’s inconsistent at best. He could have used his powers to really help out humanity but instead he always picks the wrong path. Perhaps he’s just inexperienced but you do lose a lot of patience with him by the end. He should have improved a lot quicker and with less setbacks. Then he would have been a character you could get behind. So yeah by the end of the series I was still not a fan of his.

Then you have Tomori who is a fun heroine. Her whole mission does put her in a lot of danger since she is always going after metahumans. She is very quick to violence as well but ultimately she comes off as a much more balanced character. I do think she looks a little too weak in the climax of the series though. I expected her to be putting up much more of a fight. Her power is that she can appear invisible to one person at a time which is of course a huge drawback. My main issue is that the show itself seems to forget that several times.

We get a twist at one point that she was following Yuu around for ages and yet nobody commented on her at all even when it would have made sense like when his old friend was around or when Yuu was beating people up. From where she was standing it didn’t look like she was even trying to hide. Naturally this ability is next to useless in most cases but that’s part of the fun in the show. You have all these crazy abilities but they all have tons of downsides. (Until the end of the series anyway) It’s a pretty fun gimmick. Either way Tomori showed that she was the only one really ready to lead this team.

As for Jojiro, he has super speed but basically cannot control it. He can pick a direction and zoom off like a bullet but it also means he has a hard time doing anything while moving at that speed. He often injures himself in the process so it’s another unusable power. He was a fun character but once Yusa joins the crew, it does basically destroy his character because his one trait quickly becomes about being obsessed over her. It completely takes over his character to the point where he is written out in the end, the villains don’t even bother going after him.

Yusa is a lot of fun because of her split personality. Dead spirits can inhabit her body and so it turns out her older sister is living inside of her and can take control at any point. Yusa doesn’t remember what happens while she is taken over. Her sister Misa has fire powers with seemingly no drawback so right off the bat it’s one of the best powers you could possibly have. Yusa tend to be a bit of a space case while Misa is the tough one who is always picking fights. Naturally you can probably guess that Misa is my favorite character from the two as a result. Honestly they could have used her during the action scenes since she could definitely hold her own. Ultimately the way she goes out is very underwhelming.

Ayumi has a very big role as Yuu’s younger sister. She is always trying to look out for him by replicating her mother’s recipes and generally being very reliable. She does a good job of going with the flow and always having a very upbeat attitude. Ayumi always keeps the atmosphere bright and was a really good supporting character, I would even say that she was probably one of the best characters in the series. She absolutely needed to have a good ending in order for the series to work.

On a technical level the show is also quite solid. The animation looks really good and the character designs are very colorful. The fights that we do get look really good. In particular Yuu goes up against a swordswoman at one point and the slash itself was super clean even if the whole sequence will definitely have you rolling your eyes. Like cmon now. Meanwhile the soundtrack is really solid. The opening song itself has a super retro feel to it. It sounds like a 90s theme song and I would say even the visuals match that. There are quite a few nice themes within the episodes as well so the series gets more props there as well.

The series also avoids one of the common anime pitfalls, namely fanservice. It’s not completely nonexistent but yeah the series did good there. There is a random scene near the very end when a character is stripped but that’s more for some dicey undertones. For the record I think it was a mental attack on the heroes and nothing actually happened and hopefully there’s no interview from the creator about how something did happen. That would just be needlessly dark like this was an episode of Sword Art Online or something.

Now as I mentioned, the series can go through tone shifts rather quickly. So in one moment you will be having some happy days and then suddenly you’ve got people being tortured and murdered. The violence isn’t particularly over the top or anything, I think it’s just the suddenness of it that pops out. The only real violent scene I would say was when one character got tortured. Most of it is offscreen and all but we still see the aftermath which was real gruesome. It shows just how dark the world can get even if we didn’t get to see most of it.

Okay now we’re going to start getting into some real spoiler territory. Yeah you could argue the whole review delves into spoilers but this is about to go more into detail so definitely give it a skip if you haven’t watched the show yet. You don’t want to ruin the big twists for yourself because this is a show with massive twists all around. Okay so last warning you want to skip the next 6 paragraphs. Here we gooooooooo.

The turning point in the series is when we find out that time travel has been going on for a long time. Shunsuke is Yuu’s older brother and his ability is that he can use any light to travel back in time. The catch is that every trip causes his eyesight to deteriorate so he cannot do this forever. If he continues this then eventually he will run out of “retries” if you will. The problem is that every timeline still ends with the adults capturing all the kids and murdering them/using them for experiments. In this timeline, he has attained peace for the most part. Not around the whole world but at least in Japan. Time is running out though as the terrorists are getting closer. So this ties in with Yuu and his ability to steal powers and thus, use time control.

I thought it was very effective how we were taken by surprise along with Yuu at the terrorists showing up and beginning their murder spree. Shunsuke’s peace came at a heavy cost in that the characters were unable to defend themselves. I would have liked the main characters to have looked a little better though. I found it really unlikely that Yuu would be crushed so quickly by one of the assassins and the excuses for not using time travel previously were extremely weak. Now the villains did have a clever plan which is to have had a hostage for many years before using their plan. That way unless the heroes are willing to time travel literal years into the past to counter the strategy, they are stuck. It’s hard, almost unfathomable to try and relive years of your life without making any changes. That’s just not going to happen and it’s exactly what the villains were banking on.

It’s great writing by the show and I agree with that much. However, Yuu could have absolutely time travelled, say 1 week into the past. Talk things over with the friends and just think of a plan. At the very least it is an attempt and it’s one without any real downsides. For that matter, in the present you can talk things over for a few days with everyone and then time travel. Time travel is just too broken of a power to not even consider here and I would say that was a real issue. It’s not a plot hole as of course it is a real choice the characters could make but it was an annoying decision.

I would also say this whole plot development opened a lot of interesting doors so that is why it was unfortunate that the series was already ending. You have terrorist groups across the world, other groups of powered fighters, etc. In every future timeline the governments are all evil as well. All of the powers immediately leave once the characters have finished being teenagers which also puts an end time limit on this provided that the heroes can make a cure. There are just a few episodes though so it’s all very fast.

We have a whole journey about how Yuu has to go around the world and absorb the powers of tens of thousands of fighters all on his own. By the end of the series he is near all powerful and it’s a really interesting development. Yet once again there just isn’t enough time to process it. I do like that most of the abilities aren’t shown to us exactly so we just see Yuu doing cool things and can assume as to what the power actually does. Once again though, time travel becomes an issue. He was blind but then he gets a healing power, meaning he can now travel through time. Seems like another good idea to go back in time right? Yuu could go on the journey early and save the world.

So as with many titles, time travel was ultimately the undoing of the series at least on a logic level. It opened up so many pathways to a better future that Yuu just ignored. I did really enjoy the story though even if Yuu falling into a depression for a second time was a little repetitive. His decision to not go back in time was also a big shot to both Shunsuke and Kunagami after all the years they put into this. I really liked Shunsuke, he was a really heroic character who really gave it his all. I could definitely admire that. Meanwhile Kunagami was also fun, especially with how well he was able to put on an act for years without people realizing the truth. Now that is definitely dedication. Their squad of fighters never really got a chance to develop but the series was pretty short.

Overall, Charlotte was a fun series. I do think it was a little too ambitious for its own good though. Ironically the series may have been a bit higher if it had stuck to the happy slice of life episodes from the first half. The second half had higher highs but also lower lows. It really needed one more cour to properly handle this plot. I always love a fast paced adventure but you still need to handle this a little more on screen. I’m skeptical of a lot of the developments by the end like the main characters actually holding off the terrorists while Yuu was gone since the government would have done something. Most things could have been held off with more time. At the end of the day though, this was a fun series and so I would definitely be able to recommend it. It has a lot of interesting ideas and really good world building at the ready. I’d certainly be up for an expanded cut or remake at some point.

Overall 6/10

Robot Dreams Review

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It’s time for a largely wholesome film although the ending isn’t the most satisfying. We get to see a whole lot of New York City which can really be the highlight of the film even more than the story. There was a lot of good attention to detail here which allows you to feel nostalgic the whole time as the adventure plays through.

The movie starts by introducing us to a lonely dog who doesn’t really have any friends. This dog does his best to live on as he eats his macaroni and cheese but then one day decides to order himself a friend. He buys and assembles a robot who does end up being a great friend but unfortunately the Dog leaves him on a beach where he is deactivated. The Dog must now make it many months on his own before he can get back onto the beach and fix his friend. Will his friend still be there when the dog comes back though?

The dog is a good example of a main character who needs to find his own internal happiness before he can be truly happy. The guy just doesn’t know how to have a good time on his own and so that’s why he is really relying on the robot the whole time. This is tricky because when you are that reliant on another person then you stop improving yourself. Before finding a friend or even a romantic partner, you need to have a full life that you can keep satisfied on your own. This means having some hobbies and such so when your friend is hanging out with another friend group or just doing something on their own, you’re not just sitting around bored.

Dog does try a few times to find things to do but they never quite work out. He tries going fishing with someone but they don’t seem to connect all that much. At the same time, he did get a post card so maybe they would have been friends for longer. Going on the snow adventure didn’t work out either and so in the end he basically has to be by himself again. I would argue that the dog didn’t really get any character development throughout the movie. In fact, in a sense he didn’t move forward at all so his happiness is still short lived. Hopefully he is more careful this time. The film makes a point of showing how he could have worked harder to get to the robot since everyone else did.

Dog is a nice guy, but perhaps not very reliable. Meanwhile the robot gets the short end of the stick for most of the film but I would argue the happier ending. The robot always did a good job of looking at things positively so he will thrive in any environment. Additionally even his dreams were pretty fun. I disagreed with his final decision though since constantly having to be hiding could get old fast. You always need to face your fears, or in this case just face whatever is in front of you. It’s really the best way to go and just get it over with.

His new owner definitely seems like a good guy so I was glad things worked out for him too. He seems to be trying hard and doing what he can as well. So while the ending wasn’t satisfying for me due to the final choices, at least it didn’t go the crazy option like making it one last dream. The dreams were fun enough but that would have definitely been overdoing it a bit.

As I mentioned before though, the best part of the film is really the NYC backdrop. There are just so many fun elements to the city and the film really captures down all the right details. It’s nice seeing the various parks, the foods, and everything else. You can tell that the creators either got to visit New York City at some point or did an impressive amount of research because it all felt very authentic. It’s why even aside from the story you could watch it just for the backgrounds and little details that appear throughout.

The animation style is pretty nice here. It’s simple but effective. It’s always easy to follow what’s happening in the movie. There is even a pretty decent soundtrack with a number of songs and instrumental themes. They worked well in showing how much fun the city was during the montages. I also liked the way the robot would hum one of the tunes. There isn’t any real dialogue in this film which I do tend to miss but at least the film still managed to be very entertaining the whole time. The characters were able to clearly show what they were doing and thinking even without the dialogue.

Would dialogue have helped the film? Absolutely but at the end of the day when you can make a film that’s still good without any dialogue, then that’s a pretty impressive feat. It’s definitely not something that just anyone can do. I imagine a whole lot of people have probably tried and absolutely failed to pull it off. The stakes are also high because if you fail, the most likely outcome is that the film will be incredibly boring which can really hurt. So make sure you have an air tight premise and fun characters before even thinking of attempting this.

Overall, Robot Dreams is definitely an accurate title for this film with all of the dreams going on. At first it might even trick you if you forgot what the title was. The movie goes by fast and it tells a nice story. I would recommend checking it out. It’s a reminder of how even the most fun activities can seem boring if you haven’t learned how to do them on your own yet. In this case the focus was really on making friends which for Dog seems like a temporary solution while for Robot it seems like he will be good long term. NYC is definitely filled with never ending adventures if you know where to look.

Overall 7/10

Paper Moon Review

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It’s time for a film about a bad influence trying to shake a kid that may or may not be his responsibility. Along the way there are a lot of comedic shenanigans and while the film is decent, I do think it could have been a lot better. It makes some story decisions that don’t seem to make a lot of sense to me but I suppose in that way you can say that I didn’t really predict what direction the story would go in.

The movie starts with a funeral occurring and a guy named Moses decides to take a look. He’s a bit of a travelling evangelist or that’s what he would have them think. In fact, he is a con artist who goes around finding anyone with a recently deceased family member and trying to force them into buying a Bible. He guilts them by making it seem like the dearly departed had already purchased this for the survivor. It’s a pretty terrible racket so this is clearly the villain in the story but the town asks him to take a little girl named Addie over to her surviving relative. In the meantime, everyone thinks Moses is secretly her father although he denies it. He figures he can drop Addie off almost immediately but she doesn’t want to go and decides to blackmail him. He will now have to incorporate her into the con, but can she really keep up?

At its core this is about a criminal teaching a little girl on how to be a criminal in her day. It’s more than a little unfortunate as he is teaching her how to be a bad person. This film is mainly a comedy so you shouldn’t take it too seriously but I would have still expected him to gradually be teaching her better and better habits as a person. She would become a good member of society or something. No, that doesn’t happen though. Even by the end her moral compass is really warped and she is ready to be a criminal. He doesn’t even stop her from all the smoking she does as a kid which is definitely a bit much. Her lungs are going to really be in poor shape. Those scenes tend to be a little more concerning than funny.

In general I think this film would work better without the kid. If Moses was on his own then you could have fun plotting his downfall and rooting against him the whole time. In this case you still do root against him, but now you feel bad for the kid who will be all alone again if he’s caught. It also shows how irresponsible the guy is to be doing all of this with a kid around. He just really doesn’t care though and even starts driving around a performer named Trixie and her assistant. By this point you sort of hope that Moses isn’t her father.

Okay, at least Moses is street smart and won’t be falling for any old gags right? Well, for some reason he is super naive when it comes to Trixie. Even ignoring her dubious career, why would he not suspect that she is conning him when he’s having to get new cars, treat her to a hotel room, etc. I get being a gentleman but it’s all going so fast and he’s not being introspective at all. Now this is terrible, but I would at least get it if she had pulled the moves on him or something. But none of that happened, she just said some nice things and he was completely under her heel. It took a bit initiative from Addie in order to save him.

This felt really out of character for Moses. So he’s a petty crook who picks on the vulnerable and then he’s not even all that smart? Definitely not a great main character. He got out scammed at his own game and beaten up for his efforts. In a lot of ways you could say that he got what was coming to him and the only reason you feel bad is because of Addie. Meanwhile Addie is getting used to a fast paced life that just isn’t going to be fulfilling long term. She should have just been content going home instead of staying all mixed up in this.

As a result it’s not like you can root for Addie either. Yes, she has a slightly better conscience than Moses as she won’t scam the very poor but she still scams everyone else. She seems to think it’s okay if the victim is rich but naturally that’s still not cool. You shouldn’t be scamming anybody, that’s just not a good thing to do. Ah well, there’s a lot to bash and make fun of with the main characters but the film does succeed at being an enjoyable movie.

The pacing is solid and the humor is good. While you won’t be rooting for the characters, they do hold themselves over well during the scenes themselves. The back and forth banter between them can be fun as well like at the diner. Addie definitely crushed Moses there even though he really tried to fight back. Ultimately she had all the cards in that situation and he really knew it. He was really just trying to bluff her but she was able to see through this and keep him on the back foot. Really impressive tactics all around there.

Overall, Th8is is definitely more of a low key film. It does show that crime doesn’t pay in the end so I appreciated that moral. I think the movie would have been more enjoyable if Moses had decided to gradually become a better person over the course of the film though. Maybe having Addie stop smoking, then slowly start scamming and wanting to work a job that she could be proud of. A gradual character arc like that would have worked really well I think and then given us a reason to actually root for them by the end. Every movie has an infinite amount of what ifs though. At the end of the day the film went its own way and it was still a good title. I’d recommend this to someone looking for a good time or who just wants a pleasant film without too much craziness.

Overall 6/10

Life is Beautiful Review

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It’s time for a film that has a really big tonal shift midway through. The initial half is a rather silly romantic comedy and then the second half brings a lot of nonstop tragedy. It’s definitely a bold approach as very few films can pull off such a stark change. Well this one puts in a pretty big swing so we’ll see how things turned out.

The movie starts off by introducing us to Guido who is a chronic liar who likes to have a lot of fun. He rolls constantly and falls in love with a lady named Dora. Dora already has a fiancé which would make things tricky for most leads but Guido doesn’t care. He figures that stealing her away will be easy enough and continues flirting nonstop in order to get her attention. Eventually she does decide to go with him and they have a kid. Unfortunately the Nazis invade and split them up. Guido has to keep his son safe but also find a way back to his wife. Can he pull this off or are they all already as good as dead?

Now even once the film changes genres, it is safe to say that it still keeps a lot of the chaotic energy that it had before. The movie will still allow Guido to pull off pranks and tricks the likes of which are just hard to picture. For example he ends up intentionally mistranslating everything the German commander was saying and nobody noticed. Then at one point he uses the loud speaker to declare his love for his wife and to let her know he and their kid were okay. Guido was always a man who was good with his words but this is definitely taken to the extreme here.

Throughout the film he does succeed in tricking his kid Giosue into thinking that this is all some kind of training camp/tournament in order to win a tank. Of course even for a kid that’s a bit of a stretch so you either enjoy this craziness thrown in to keep the film from getting too grim dark or you quickly believe that it is going too far and it weakens the film for you. As someone who enjoys some levity, I’d say it works well enough for me although the actual film is still dark enough where it’s not really my cup of tea.

Additionally while the first half is showing how determined Guido is and how he never gives up, I do think it’s a bit dicey on how he steals Dora away from the fiancé. Yeah he didn’t seem like the greatest guy but they liked each other enough to get to that stage. While not as bad as going after someone who is absolutely taken like in marriage, this is close enough where it gets into very dubious territory. So that prevents me from being able to say I was 100% into the romance.

The film also used the humor to punctuate a particularly sad scene for the lead. At one point he recognizes one of the guys at the German camp which was a professor he used to get along with. The guy acts like he is getting ready to help Guido escape and there are quite a few scenes building up to this. However, when the time comes, it turns out that he just wanted help with a riddle. It’s a call back to the riddle solving days from earlier so it was all one big joke but this time Guido isn’t laughing because lives are on the line. It showed that he couldn’t rely on someone that he thought he could and so of course that didn’t go over very well.

Meanwhile the kid was okay but definitely makes a number of mistakes. He is very young so you can say that is to be expected to an extent but man did he put the lead through a lot. Speaking when he shouldn’t, causing attention to be brought to himself, etc. The last thing you want to do is be in the spotlight here. Meanwhile his wife did good at being hidden to the point where she basically vanishes for the whole second half. She kept her head down and waited for the right opportunity.

Ultimately the ending also doesn’t go for as happy a tone as you might expect. Some things go well and some do not, definitely a tough situation all around. Additionally for the supporting characters there is a lot of tragedy as well. Ultimately the silver lining is that the situation does have a resolution so at least the tough period is over. The amount of casualties was just astronomical in the process.

Overall, I wasn’t quite sure if I should format this as a review and if there were enough differences for a score or if it should be treated as a based on real events kind of story. Ultimately I figured there was probably enough here where I’d make it a review. At the end of the day this is definitely not my kind of film but I appreciate the attempt on a very different take on the situation here. In a way it probably works better than if it had been serious the whole time since that would have made the film an even darker watch. The first half just didn’t click well enough with me since I couldn’t root for the romance. If the heroine had been single the whole time then the whole thing would have flowed better but otherwise even the early flirting doesn’t make any sense. You shouldn’t even be entertaining any of that if you’re already dating. Then naturally the second half isn’t exactly an easy watch. The lead does his best to try and minimize how bad the situation is but even he can’t quite reduce that to 0. It’s pretty obvious to the rest of the characters that things are getting worse and worse as the climax approaches.

Overall 4/10

The Shaggy Dog (1959) Review

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It’s time for a retro dog film with a good amount of fun cheer to it. The Shaggy Dog is one of those titles that moves at a quick pace and delivers on a fun premise. It even randomly throws in a big climax with high stakes and I hadn’t been expecting that. It’s a very retro experience that knows how to have a good time even if the cast themselves are a bit on the weaker side. Lets just say there aren’t a lot of likable characters here.

The movie starts off with Wilby messing up on another one of his inventions. He’s a kid genius but it does take him a lot of trial and error to get where he wants to go and often his father, Wilson has to clean up after him. Wilson is a nice guy overall except that he can’t stand dogs and even has a PTSD type allergy to them. He intends to shoot them all if they ever get into his house. Well one day they get a rich next door neighbor named Francesca who has a big dog and now this could be trouble. Wilby and his friend Buzz both like her and after a fateful trip to the museum, Wilby ends up with an amulet that turns him into a copy of her dog. How will he end this curse?

The way the magic works is also a little unique here. Ordinarily you would expect the human and dog to change places or something but that’s actually not what happens here. Instead the dog just vanishes from existence temporarily while Wilby slowly transforms into a lookalike. The transformation lasts a while until he turns back but it is difficult to predict when this will happen and for how long. So it’s definitely inconvenient for Wilby and even dangerous since of course Wilson will be shooting on sight.

Of course as a dog, most people don’t pay attention to Wilby which gives him a chance to hear some villainous secrets. So I enjoyed the whole gimmick here as the scenes were pretty fun. Wilby really got to show just how helpful it can be to turn into a dog. I do think he could have done a much better job of convincing everyone that he was actually Wilby though since the film didn’t really place any limitations on him. Wilby can still walk around and talk in human language so automatically you figure it shouldn’t be too hard. Wilby doesn’t try this much until the very end though.

As a character Wilby is okay but definitely a bit of a pushover. He gets taken advantage of by Buzz and is also easy to trick. The museum trip didn’t go well because he let his guard down too quickly and then even in the climax he’s put in the same boat as Buzz instead of being one step ahead. I don’t see the dynamic ever getting a whole lot better for him. Wilby needs to just focus on his inventions and hopefully make a real game changer at some point.

Meanwhile for Buzz, the guy is no real friend. He is always quick to blame Wilby when the lead isn’t around and quickly goes from girl to girl. Buzz is certainly not a serious character and so you really aren’t rooting for the guy. You hope that the girls will know better around him but until they figure out what’s up, it was up to Wilby to mess up the guy’s plans while in his disguise as a dog.

As for Wilson, he was a little too extreme in how he was actually shooting at the dog. Even ignoring the body swap, that means he was willingly shooting at his neighbor’s dog just for getting into the house. It’s just such an extreme response and makes him look really bad. Throughout the film Wilson is always proving himself to be the kind of guy who jumps to conclusions and then at the end he is basically just basking in the glory of something that he only played a small part in.

It all works well enough for some laughs but it doesn’t make the character super likable. Even Francesca looks pretty bad as she is quick to be tricked by Buzz and then even starts to go after Wilby just to make another girl jealous. The fact that she gave away her dog in the end was also absolutely crazy after everything he did for her. A really bizarre way for the film to end if you ask me.

Still, the important thing is that the film is fun like I said. The writing is on point with a really solid script all the way through. The retro writing style really works well for this movie and the pacing is good. I may not say that it’s laugh out loud levels of being funny but it didn’t really have any issues either. The movie never drags and it has plenty of replay value. I also enjoyed the sub plot with the one cop who was going crazy after seeing the dog so many times and then how the government shut down Wilson on suspicion of being a traitor. That was a pretty fun battle even if Wilby’s younger brother sold the dad out there.

Overall, The Shaggy Dog is a pretty good movie. I like the concept of turning into a dog as there are a lot of fun gags you can do with that. Clearly the industry thought so too since this wouldn’t be the last Shaggy Dog film. This may not be the kind of film that you walk away from every year to point out how awesome it was but it is something you could watch at any time. The intense climax also helps with the replay value. I’ll be curious to see if the newer films can really match this one and if they can’t, hopefully they will at least be close.

Overall 7/10

Komi Can’t Communicate Review

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It’s time to look at a series that lasted quite a while. I think just about anyone would be impressed at Komi’s final chapter count even if it was a little slick by having some chapters be only 3 pages each to it could release 3 at once. The overall page count would end up being quite low next to the chapters compared to other titles. Still it was quite the ride. I don’t think it ended up matching the average romance series for several reasons that I will get into but you definitely can’t deny that the series got rather popular for a while there.

The series revolves around a lady named Komi. She is a top student and considered by many to be the most beautiful girl at the school. What none of them realize is that she is incredibly shy to the point where she can’t really say a single word to anybody. There are always a lot of wild reasons for how people don’t realize this and she has a very strong aura that the characters always interpret as Komi being really cool. Well one day a boy named Tadano shows up and he’s as average as can be. Nothing about him stands out. He’s basically the most normal guy ever and he isn’t afraid to walk up to Komi and strike up a conversation. He becomes her first friend and now Komi has a plan to make 100 friends before she graduates. She will confront of social fears head on. Will she manage to make 100 friends in this time frame though?

Obviously making 100 friends is tough. Not even just tough, it’s near impossible when you think about it. Most people only make a few friends in their lifetime, making 100 would make you wonder how loose the person’s definition of a friend is. Typically speaking a friend would be something more than simply a co-worker or acquaintance. A friend is someone you hang out with and chat or do fun activities with. If you consider a friend to just be someone that you get along with then that’s a different story. Now you can throw most of this away within the context of a show since here you can have a lot of friends but it does show what a steep goal Komi has set up for herself. It also means that the series is going to have to introduce a bunch of characters. It certainly does meet that challenge but a lot of the characters don’t get much to do. Effectively each character is generally one trait that becomes the character. Only the main ones are immune to this. I can’t think of any other realistic ways to make 100 characters here without the series being 100 volumes or something like that.

So Komi did its best on this but it does serve as one of the series’ weak points. I would argue that its cast is quite a bit weaker than the average title’s. I wouldn’t say I’m a huge fan of most of the characters. I like a small handful but even then I wouldn’t say that any character here is great. It means I’m going to be a little less invested in what’s going on compared to another series. If a new chapter came out for this series vs any other ongoing title I was reading, this one would typically be in last. Quite a few of the quirky characters end up being more disturbing or creepy than funny.

The series also goes for more of a drama feel than comedy I’d say. Now I’m not sure if this is technically correct but the series rarely feels all that funny. If i is trying to be a comedy then it’s not really succeeding. I see it more as a slice of life drama that has a lot of romantic plots going on in the background. Usually these titles won’t work quite as well though because I just prefer to be laughing and having a good time throughout. The more a series is cheery and having fun, the more it all works out for me.

That also brings me to the art which I would say is more on the sub par side. It’s definitely not holding its own next to the average title. The artist seems to be going for a realistic feel at times that doesn’t translate over very well. It’s a good attempt to be sure but it’s just not working. It can take away from the serious scenes and such. At least it does help mitigate the fanservice though. In general I’d say that the series doesn’t have too much fanservice but it does creep in there from time to time.

You also have several characters who are creeps the whole time and always trying to mess with Komi. For the most part the guys in the series come across as super desperate. The craziest one is a girl though which is a nice twist of fate but of course she only serves to hurt the series so it’s not like the title gains any standing there. At the end of the day you’re not going to be super impressed with the writing and the extremely short chapters can hurt the plot’s progression. That being said, lets take a look at the characters more in depth. I won’t go into all 100 friends as a lot of them don’t really do much but we’ll at least talk about the big ones.

So first up we have Komi of course and she isn’t bad. Now she’s not my kind of character because of how quiet and subdued she is the whole time. I generally prefer when characters are more tough and outgoing. It just works as a better dynamic. Even as Komi improves in this regard by the end of the series, she never quite hits her stride. It is nice to see her open up more and actually talk though. It takes a while for her to defeat her timid nature but it is an absolute victory and that’s something to be proud of. Some people aren’t able to overcome their fears like this.

Komi also does well in not letting Tadano go to one of the other girls although I do think she was a bit too timid when Manbagi was involved for a while there. Fighting over a guy is usually not a great thing to have to do but in this case if she actually wants him then she shouldn’t have encouraged Manbagi at all. The big three-way romance was a large part of the series and in many ways the peak of the title. It was very interesting throughout so I appreciated that even if I was rooting for Manbagi a lot more than Komi.

At the end of the day, Komi confronted her fears and accomplished her goals. She may not have been a particularly interesting main character but she wasn’t a bad one. As for Tadano, being normal and uninteresting is his whole gimmick so it works in an ironic sort of sense. I can’t say I’m a big fan of his either though. He’s okay, nothing particularly wrong with him but the author goes in so hard on the average gimmick that there is no time for him to really break out as a character.

The most interesting part of his character was ultimately the brief relationship with Manbagi. Initially he basically says yes because nobody’s asked him out before and then he was torn on how he should feel. It felt like a pretty realistic storyline because if a girl suddenly asks you out, it might be easy to say yes on the spot. You’re not sure why you would say no and if you’ve never been in a relationship before then it might be a good idea. He ultimately breaks it off after thinking the whole thing through more which was pretty devastating for Manbagi but better sooner than later.

It’s probably the saddest part of the whole series to be honest as the drama was at an all time high there. The series never managed to match this energy later on to the point where the author was basically forced to recycle the plot with a different character for more drama. Manbagi is also forced to rebound with a sports player and that was a plot that wasn’t all that interesting. Still you always knew Tadano would end up with Komi so you shouldn’t let yourself get too ruffled by the ending. You just know that a breakup will always hurt somebody once it happens.

Then there is Najimi who is always an interesting figure in the series. For starters we don’t know if Najimi is a girl or a boy since the character dodges the question every time. It definitely underscores how much of a troll Najimi can be which is pretty fun. Tadano was lucky to have this friend from the start who was always good at breaking the ice. As the series goes on Najimi gets less of a role but that character has so many friends that it seems intentional. In a way Najimi was looking out for Komi and Tadano and once they were totally good, Najimi was able to help everyone else. That’s how I interpret it all at least.

As the series goes on, Komi’s brother Shousuke also gets a bigger role. He’s rather quiet like Komi but not because he’s super timid. He just doesn’t have anything to say and so one girl in his class is always trying to get him to talk and smile. These chapters were pretty fun and I dare say they had a much better dynamic than Komi and Tadano. That could also just be because the storylines were rare though. Small does of something can be really misleading since I might be singing a different tune if it was reversed.

Komi’s whole family is fun though. Her father is also pretty awkward socially and his attempts to bond with Tadano usually get rather rocky. Fortunately Tadano is great at reading people which works out. Then you have Komi’s mother Shuuko who loves gossip and feeling young again. She’s super extroverted and can make anyone feel at home right away. She was a really nice character and it’s always good to have someone who can break the ice.

As for the main rival Manbagi, well I already went into most of her plot earlier. What I like about her is that she is very outgoing and goes for what she wants. She liked Tadano and so she worked up the courage to ask him out. Even when she was really scared and knew it was a longshot, she took the shot. That’s more guts than 99% of the case in this series who all hide behind their personas and issues. That’s why you feel bad for Manbagi because from the start you knew that she was doomed. Sure the author throws her a bone by introducing a new character but that’s still more of a backup pick. It feels like a desperate consolation. Also she gets a new design after the rejection that wasn’t nearly as good so pair that with her reduced screentime and it was a rough finish for her.

We can’t forget about Yamai who was the most unhinged character in the series. She literally kidnaps Tadano at one point and threatens to kidnap him. She attempts to drug Komi multiple times and is always acting perverted. The biggest problem with Yamai is that this is generally played for laughs but it’s taken to such uncomfortable extremes that there is no humor to be had here. You’re actually hoping the characters will properly call her out on this but it just doesn’t happen. Sure Komi might tell her to cut it out but then Yamai is back to her tricks the next day. Definitely a bad character that absolutely holds the series back.

Then we have Hitomi who is Tadano’s little sister. She’s a lot of fun in the subplot as she messes with Komi’s brother. Hitomi has more character to her than Tadano does which helps her scenes work well. I would say she comes the closest to being a true comedic character in the series as well. Her scenes work really well and it’s just always fun to see her in action.

Katai is one of the relatively few male characters with a role here. He ends up being a good friend to Tadano despite all of the numerous misunderstandings that happen throughout the series. He looks really tough but ends up being a good guy during the series. He’s easy to root for because he’s always doing his best no matter what. He’s just socially awkward in his own way, much like the rest of the characters in the series.

Shiroki is a really minor character but she gets a shout-out for being a good friend to Manbagi. She really looked out for the girl and did her best throughout. It’s just nice to get to see another friend group in action outside of the main characters. Kiyoko is one of the weaker friends. She is very serious and has a hard time sharing her feelings. By the end of the series she lightens up a little bit but as far as character gimmicks go her was one of the less interesting ones.

Inaka is your classic country girl. She always overestimates how much people think about that though to the point where she is really sensitive on that area. I suppose it’s easier said than done to ignore that though. It’s something that she eventually makes peace with though. Not a bad character once she has her confidence back. Hafuru is one of the more absurd characters since he always has a baby pacifier in his mouth. He’s just too far gone to root for at this point. When you’re putting in a pacifier like that, there’s just no going back. It’s also not really a gimmick that you can do a lot with so it gets repetitive very quickly.

Kaede and Agari are fairly similar although Kaede is definitely a little more outgoing. They’re both fairly nice and quiet as they help Komi out. Nice characters to be sure but they could stand to be a little more aggressive to really stand out here. That would give them a nice boost to really get ahead. It’s better than a negative gimmick which is what Shibuki has to deal with. Basically she sweats a whole lot. No matter what she does, the sweat just keeps on coming. I can definitely sympathize with that since sweating is no fun. Particularly if you’re the only one sweating and everyone else is feeling real cold or normal.

She has a huge complex about that and it’s probably the most realistic form of social anxiety in the series. So you definitely feel bad for Shibuki and she is easy to root for throughout the series. She ends up being paired with Naruse who tends to be very self absorbed. He thinks that everyone loves him even when they aren’t thinking about him at all. Beneath this shell he’s quiet nice though and does look out for hi fellow classmates. His role within the series is definitely a solid one especially once he is able to talk genuinely.

Nakanaka is another fun character. She has fun with the occult and is great at video games so how do you beat that combo? She is a bit on the weird side which is why she doesn’t have many friends but I think if she put in more of an effort she would have a lot of them. She’s just a very nice character who is easy to get along with and also gets very competitive. Likewise Netsuno is also very competitive and gets to fight a lot. She is often outgunned but it’s the thought that counts. These are the characters who are fun to have around since they really push the others forward.

Rei is a fun little character as one of the only relevant kids. She ends up bonding with Komi fairly quick. It’s too bad that she ended up missing out on most of the series because I thought she was rather fun and added a different dynamic than most of the other characters. Emoyama is someone whose gimmick didn’t work all that well though. She basically just uses the word “emo” a lot and her chapters tended to be complete snoozefests. You would just wait for her to leave because she just didn’t really add much to the series.

Then you’ve got all the guys in the delusions group where they imagine dating the various heroines. Those chapters are as painful as they sound and I wish these guys didn’t have to get so much screentime. It’s completely undeserved and I would have liked for Tadano to properly scold them a bit more. He shouldn’t even play along and stay in the discussion, as soon as the topic changes to that he should be out there. You don’t want to even be complicit in that whole thing, all it does is destroy your reputation.

I’d say that’s a good amount of characters to get into. Naturally there are a bunch of others involved like Komi’s final rival who was in love with Tadano and advocated for a threeway wedding. Another example of when Komi and Tadano should have had a harder stance because this girl absolutely doesn’t listen to the word no. Sometimes these quirky personalities just shouldn’t be tolerated but that’s just my two cents. Tadano and Komi have a strong bond but there’s no point in letting others try and test that.

Overall, Komi Can’t Communicate is definitely a series that had a massive cast and a ton of chapters but it is held back by those very same characters. Without comedy or a stronger main romance to root for, there is little replay value to be had here. So the series is not bad by any means but I also can’t see myself ever going back to read it again. It’s just not that kind of series and so that’s why I would put it in the middle. If you think the premise sounds good then you should check it out but it’s not about to wow you or anything like that.

Overall 5/10

Punch-Drunk Love 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

The film introduces us to Barry who has a reasonable job and his life is stable but the guy has nobody to really share it with. He has 7 sisters who are super talkative and outgoing but they are a little too much for him. The guys at work seem okay but you could still say that he doesn’t really have any friends. Well one day a lady shows up who likes him but Barry had been impatient and dialed one of those unethical phone numbers to have an intimate talk with a random person. That was a big mistake as she is now blackmailing him and wants a ton of money or he will be exposed. If this wasn’t bad enough, she has a gang going after him. Can Barry get his life in working order or is it all over for him?

One thing that will stand out right away is how good the main theme is. It’s really catchy and helps the scene to stand out more with the fast paced dialogue. It’s quite fitting and usually music is an area that films have a lot of trouble with so I was definitely glad to see this. The theme plays quite a few times and never gets old. While the movie itself may not be a big hit, at least it does give you something really catchy to remember it by. Other films wish they could pull that off.

Meanwhile the crazy nature of the film is also nice. Little things here and there won’t always make sense as the film intentionally tries to catch your attention with small details. Whether it is characters doing crazy things in the background, the nature of Barry’s business, etc. The whole film thrives on being very weird. It is definitely very successful on that front although I dare say the film could have stood to take itself a little less seriously and then it could have really capitalized on the weirdness.

Naturally the romance is going to be one of the weak links here. On one hand the weakness is part of how weird the whole thing is with the main heroine being rather desperate for Barry for some reason. It’s a very lucky occurrence for Barry so you almost want to root for him but of course turning to the phone number first was a massive mistake. No real way to save him at that point and either way the romance itself would have been way too rushed.

Barry deals with a lot over the course of the film but in a way it doesn’t feel like he really solves the core issues. He may have shut down the villain group that was after him but he still has the crazy 7 sisters who will keep on messing with him and you can bet that this relationship is going to get complicated for him as well. Hopefully he is just able to handle the situation really well but the ending doesn’t ring quite as positively as intended. The best way for Barry to handle this would just be to not take things so seriously. The sisters really like talking so you just let them keep on talking but you don’t really engage with the points unless directly asked. Then from there know that it’s such an info overload that most of the info itself will be lost in the shuffle.

Most of the 7 sisters don’t get to do much but we do get one family scene where you can at least see what the chaos is like. The main one who was trying to set Barry up with a girlfriend in the first place gets the biggest role. She seems nice enough but has no real concept of boundaries or privacy. She will just say whatever she is thinking which can really put Barry in a tough spot at times.

Then with the heroine Lena, you’re sort of waiting for a big twist to happen the whole time but in the end nothing really pops up. I guess you could say she’s just a nice person without any big agendas at play which is cool to see. Romance aside she seemed like a nice person who wasn’t too quick to judge Barry based on second hand information and actually got to know him. She was also fairly clever like with her original car plan. I suppose that could count as a bit of a twist.

The villains here aren’t the most intense ones you’ll meet. They talk tough at first but quickly begin to meet their match. I did like the added sense of danger here though. They really forced Barry to quickly consider the situation and see what he would do next. He was ready during the final confrontation which was a pretty good scene. It beat the actual last meeting scene which was definitely on the anti climactic side. I was expecting a bit more than that even though this is not an action film.

As far as the tone goes, I would still call this part comedy to an extent but it’s definitely not going for a goofy vibe. Funny things happen every now and again but there are also some serious undertones occurring throughout. The movie manages the balance pretty well and I’d say this one could have been better with just getting rid of the phone plot. I’d have had Barry get scammed in a different way that would have made him a little more sympathetic instead. Also the second half is played a bit too linearly compared to the first half. I’d have thrown in some more wrinkles and twists to keep it from being too standard.

Overall, Punch-Drunk Love is a decent film. I’d say it was a bit better than I was expecting. I think I was expecting the film to be a little too try hard in how serious it would get but instead this film found a really good balance which I can appreciate. If you’re interested in a film that definitely gets weird then you should check this out. The movie’s at its best when its just having a good time messing with you as the viewer. You’ll pick up a ton of little moments in the background that really help to amp up the experience. They could really do a sequel to this one if they ever felt like it but I suppose that’s probably not likely.

Overall 5/10

Attack of the Killer Tomatoes Review

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As someone who does not like tomatoes I can confirm that one of my greatest fears would definitely be having to go toe to toe with one of them. If these guys bite as strongly as they taste then it would be all over for me. The film does a good job of poking fun at the concept while also getting in some terrifying moments. I would definitely recommend this one.

The film starts off with a lady getting murdered by a tomato. When the cops show up to check out the damage, one of them immediately notices that the “blood” is actually tomato juice. After this point the tomatoes launch an all out assault against humanity. Their numbers are considerable and for the most part the humans are powerless against them. They even have cherry tomatoes on their side. Will the humans be able to mount a proper counter offensive or is it game over for them?

This movie effectively takes shots at a whole lot of different story beats and groups. For starters the government doesn’t look very good here as their so called experts are completely out of their depth the whole time. They have absolutely no idea what they are doing and this only gets more and more evident as the film goes on. Their meeting rooms simply aren’t big enough for them and even their best agents trip up when the going gets the tough. The master of disguise actually made it pretty far but ultimately even he faltered when it counted. Trust me it was not a proud moment for that guy.

You may even end up rooting for the tomatoes here because of their fun sound effect. It’s really hype whenever they show up. The sound in and of itself isn’t creepy or anything but it’s with the context of knowing that the tomatoes are back. They even toy with the humans like at one point where they surround someone’s car and then calmly roll away. He really got off easy that time and they were effectively giving him a warning. The Tomatoes just took it a little too easily that time. If they had been serious then the film would be over.

Naturally the special effects for the film aren’t particularly good. There are a lot of cutaways so we don’t really get to see much of anything. The tomatoes themselves are just ordinary tomatoes for 90% of the screentime. I would have liked to have seen them grinning and running around more but the film didn’t really have the budget for that. The overt cheapness of the film is part of what makes it all fun though. This film is a parody that is really being as silly as possible.

Now of course in any film with a ton of jokes, there will be a bunch that absolutely don’t land. This film is no exception to that. For example you have Lois who is trying to make a name for herself but her skills aren’t all that great. So she gets desperate enough to consider her boss’ advice which was not good from the start. We also get a last second romance and so those scenes were pretty rough the whole time.

Fortunately the good ones easily overshadowed those. For example we also had Clark Kent show up as well as a good Superman gag at one point which was really good. We got the classic “up up and away” moment which was really inspired. There was also a kid and his dog although they didn’t do so well in the fight. The film had plenty of good references and little moments here and there that enhanced the movie.

There was also the whole plot regarding the white house’s chief of communications. The guy gets embarrassed early on during the Q&A and then we actually get some repercussions from that later on. His plan had been unfolding for a while but I’m sure this helped speed it up. The betrayal was really good. The scene had a lot of tension to it and good development. I was almost more invested in this plot than the tomatoes for a minute there.

The movie is fairly short but even then you enjoyment here will be based on how much you enjoy the main gag of the Tomatoes. Will you find it to be too silly or just the right amount of fun and exciting? Everything hinges on that because at the end of the day this is not a serious thriller or anything like that. Technically the body count is rather high and by the end a ton of people are dead but it’s not like the tone is going to reflect that. This is meant to be a really happy film all the way around and it succeeds on that angle.

I tend to enjoy some quality silly humor so this is up my alley. There was even a quick song by the corporate guy helping on PR which was out of nowhere but pretty intense. The singing voice wasn’t half bad and the lyrics are of course the main highlight. This guy showed that you can be great at business and still find time to sing a quick tune. So the quality song helps to make up for a lack of a big soundtrack, although it’s not like I would have expected a grand soundtrack for this film anyway.

Now lets imagine that the film was played seriously for a moment. I think the way you would do it is that the tomatoes move at high speeds. They would keep slamming into people and the sheer concussive force would knock them out. Maybe the main character is a cook so he is able to slice them apart when they show up. You could still have an end of the world plot with ease but the question is how many audiences would take it seriously anyway. And if you know that they wouldn’t, well that’s why you do the parody instead.

Overall, Attack of the Killer Tomatoes is a film that I’ve looked forward to for a long while now and I can definitely say that it lived up to the hype. This is a fun film with an original story. It has a large variety of gags so you are bound to like some of them. From there is just depends on how many you did not like. If it’s a small number then we have a winner. I’ll be curious to see how good the sequels are but it will be hard to beat the original. It’s one of those premises that you probably don’t want to overdo. It’s why I really liked the stinger at the end which showed off the new villains coming up. That has a ton of potential right there.

Overall 7/10

Borderlands Review

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Whenever a film like Borderlands gets bad reviews you have to consider if it bombed for not being faithful to the games, it was too much like the games, or it just ended up being boring. The first two can result in really fun films while the latter is definitely a miss. I don’t even know which category this one falls into because I never played the games but to me it does feel like it’s leaning hard into being a video game film. This one goes through a whole lot of funny story beats as it pokes fun at itself the whole time. As a result it really ends up being a fun film and I would definitely recommend it. We don’t get enough parody type titles like this nowadays.

The movie starts off with Tina being rescued from some kind of sci-fi ship by Roland. He has defected from the corrupt army and wants to help her out. They are assisted by an escaped inmate named Krieg. In the future, everything basically went bad but out of all the planets, Pandora is the worst. It’s like a Mad Max wasteland there and crime rules the day. We cut to a bounty hunter named Lilith who is constantly complaining and is glad to have left that place. Well, she is hired by a man named Atlas to find his daughter Tina and rescue her from this Roland fellow. Lilith agrees due to the big pay day but is she really on the right side?

So first off, the whole introduction phase to the film is great. First we get a full Star Wars parody and then after that we get a parody to the usual bounty hunter intro. Lilith is approached by a bunch of thugs and immediately takes them out. Just straight up obliterates all of them. If she’s anything like this in the games then we’re looking at a top tier video game protagonist right out of the gate. Then when the “Mysterious leader” figure shows up, she shoots him dead too. It’s just such a great deconstruction of the usual scene and like I emphasized before, we need more well written parodies like this.

Ultimately Lilith decides to help not out of the goodness of her heart or anything like that but just because of the money. When she lands on the planet we see the Mad Max fighters except they’re basically all losers who get immediately crushed. You will always get points from me for making fun of that overrated series. Yeah they look more impressive deeper in the film when a bunch of them rush the heroes but this was a great introduction. As with most parodies, I would say the film tends to be a bit weaker once we get to the serious stuff.

I didn’t really care about Lilith’s origin story and it’s played a little too straight. Maybe there can be some parody appeal in being as generic as possible? Eh that’s probably a stretch. Either way the film wasn’t quite able to sell me on the emotional/serious bits. Fortunately that is a pretty small part of the film. For the most part this is a film that is just having a good time with itself and that’s the right tone for this film. It adds a lot of replay value and there are a ton of laugh out loud moments.

Claptrap is really one of the standout characters here. Pretty much all of his lines are absolutely great. The guy pulls off being the sarcastic bot persona really well. He is always there to make the heroes feel worse and to kick them while they’re down. In his defense they tend to treat him terribly so what goes around comes around. He is quite helpful a lot of the time even if he also gets them into trouble at other circumstances. Basically he is a true wild card and one that both sides really have to account for or they will get crushed in the process.

I already talked about her a bit but Lilith is really an excellent character here. She is completely jaded with everything and tries to always keep a large distance away from everyone. She’s not looking to create any bonds or relationships. She is just trying to get this mission over with for the money. As the film goes on her true heroic side comes out and all but not without a whole lot of journeying to get there. Additionally by the end she gets some fun abilities that will be fun for the sequel.

The movie had a bigger scale climax than I was expecting that’s for sure. I could see that being a final boss in the games. The main guy Roland was also pretty fun. Now it can be a little tough to take him seriously but I’d argue that’s the point. He’s very easy to overlook and that’s when he crushes his enemies. He’s a solid all around fighter and is around to help Tina the whole time. You have to give him credit for his drive the whole time.

Krieg gets overshadowed a bit in comparison but definitely seems like a great ally. The kind of guy who will really put it all on the line to help Tina. He also does really good in all of his fights and shows off some true super strength. Definitely nothing to dislike about him. As for Tina, I was a little unsure of her at first but the way she handled Lilith the first time they met definitely put her on the good side. She’s really crafty and quick witted. She can take care of herself without any problems and is very proactive. Most kids would be panicking the whole time but not her.

Out of all the characters, Tina is probably the biggest surprise at how much fun she is. I would have assumed that she would be more annoying. The villains tend to be more on the forgettable side though. You got some army grunts and Mr. Atlas himself but none of them are that noteworthy. They do have cool costumes though and Atlas’ protective energy barrier is actually extremely useful. It keeps him in the fight a lot more than you may have expected that it would.

Meanwhile the soundtrack is excellent. It’s extremely good and dominates every scene. You do see a lot of the “bad films” tend to have great soundtracks. I think it’s because some would say that the music shouldn’t dominate the scene so the big films tend to have more generic scores but this one goes hard with the rock music. It’s all really catchy and upbeat holding its own with Mortal Kombat 2, The Resident Evil films, etc. I was really surprised because the games didn’t strike me as having this kind of music.

Now as with all comedy films I wouldn’t expect every joke to land with you. The film does have a big crude humor sequence with some jokes which aren’t really my style. On the whole the jokes tend to work well though so the film is a lot funnier than it isn’t. The pacing is good with a lot happening the whole time as well. The fight scenes are a lot of fun and all the uniforms for the heroes and villains are on point. Again it feels very video game inspired without trying to tone the colors down. That’s the way to do an adaption, everything should really pop out at you.

Overall, I don’t know much at all about the Borderland games. They always looked pretty boring and unappealing but if this film is any indication then maybe they are actually really solid. Still don’t see myself ever playing them but if the film were to get a sequel I would definitely be up for that. That would be absolutely historic! I somehow get the feeling that the odds of that are not very high though. So in the meantime you should definitely check this film out. It may very well surprise you.

Overall 8/10