Tag Archives: Drama

Looks like Christmas Review

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It’s time for a Christmas battle as two parents and their ideologies clash. I like it when the two main characters are going up against each other like this because it often makes for really good banter. At the same time it will also usually mean that the romance will end up being rather cheesy. It just doesn’t make sense to get together with someone that you’ve been fighting with right? Well that’s the dilemma that this film has to deal with.

The film starts off with Terry and his daughter moving yet again and so it’s time for her to make friends. She isn’t thrilled about this so Terry decides to be a good sport and try being more involved with the school this time. So he joins the board and plans to help with the Christmas ceremony. Apparently it’s been a massive succeed every year and so Terry decides that they should switch things up. He announces that a new approach is in order which really rubs the lead of the festivities, Carol, the wrong way. She will have to stop this.

Now that clearly wasn’t the film’s intent but it’s definitely how I took it. Carol is a hardcore traditionalist who likes doing things the old way. If she has a system then that will absolutely remain as the system for many years to come. She is well loved by the whole community though and we are told numerous times that everyone loves the Christmas party. So it’s not a negative and a lot of this is exposition. Terry only knows on a very basic level that she is loved and likes her traditions.

So when he shows up at the meeting and immediately says that they should try something new, it makes no real sense. The film should have had someone tell him that the party was boring or the kids didn’t like it. That would have given him reason to blow it all up but instead he comes off like he’s picking a fight. Then the principal is also on board with it right away which is a bit iffy. You’d think he wouldn’t want to risk anything here and making Terry the co-chair with Carol was a bold move.

You could say he was just trying to help Terry fit in but I would say that it was all a bit much. Carol was mainly a jerk to Terry for the rest of the movie and clearly in the wrong in most instances but at least you can say that Terry started the fight. Terry does well with the ideas and participating though. I don’t really have any issues with him as a character. There is a dilemma in the film later on where his daughter gets mad at him for not being around more but the way I see it, there wasn’t much more he could do. He was really trying his best and that should be good enough. Terry is under a lot of pressure in a rather high stress environment after all.

The film stacks the deck a bit here as he is also in charge of shutting down the library that Carol is fighting for. He comes through with a pretty good solution at least but once again it brings you to the main challenge which is why Carol would fall for him at all. There’s just too much bad blood for most of the film in order for this to work out. So like most Hallmark films you do have to get past the romance but then the rest of the film is really solid.

As expected, the kids are the weak links here. The daughter comes off as rather annoying with how she blames her father for everything. He does make promises too easily which is something she could call him out for but otherwise she made the whole thing too dramatic. Carol’s son was more reasonable although his study group was rather bad. They clearly weren’t focused much at all and it seems like the kind of place to go if you don’t mind dropping a few points on your next exam. Otherwise there isn’t much reason to go through with it all.

I spoke a lot about Terry but not so much on Carol so lets get to her. For starters I would say she is a solid character. While she is an antagonist for most of the film with Terry, we do see that she is kind to everybody else and has long been known as an upstanding individual. Generally speaking if you have someone like this, then I will still consider them to be a good character. If she had an attitude with everybody then it would be different but that was not the case.

When there is just friction with one person you can cut a whole lot of slack for her. If anything I think it would have been nice to have seen some more support for her from different townsfolk. Maybe have the principal and a few others find out about Terry’s big library mission and defend her or call him out. I’m thinking the film wanted to be careful about totally burning any bridges or making thing too personal but I do think it would have been nice for her to have had some characters in her corner. Instead she was practically gaslit at times into thinking she was the problem. There’s one scene where Terry buys her a Christmas tree and I totally get why she would be upset there. That’s the kind of thing you want to do on your own and she was completely in the right about getting rid of it. At least that’s how I see it.

Overall, Looks like Christmas is a pretty good film. The banter and conflict for most of the film definitely helped to elevate it. I always find that it makes the film a lot more energetic and this title was certainly no exception. It goes by quickly and the film is able to solve the dilemmas without it being too cheesy. The Christmas party also looked pretty fun so that was nice. The romance tends to be a bit more on the eye rolling side but hey that’s just how it goes sometimes. I would definitely recommend checking this film out. It’s a good film for the Christmas season.

Overall 7/10

Silver Bells Review

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It’s time for a whole lot of drama here. Silver Bells is one of those films that brings in the Christmas cheer but also puts the characters through a lot before that. It may not be able to take down some of the classic Hallmark titles but there’s a good amount to enjoy here. It’s always fun to see the big city after all and the writing is solid. The length is also fairly short so the movie really flies on by.

The movie starts off with introducing us to Christy and the family as they sell Christmas trees for a living. It’s been a really good family business but unfortunately Danny is not very satisfied with this arrangement. He’s always felt that he could do a lot more with his life and his passion is in photography. One day he runs away and vanishes. 1 year later, Christy has come to the city again and he is determined to find Danny but is the kid even still okay after all this time?

From the jump I can say that Danny didn’t handle things well. I get wanting to do his own thing and all but the way he handled it was absolutely dangerous and irresponsible. It’s completely possible that things could have gone badly here. If anything that would be the most likely outcome and he just got lucky a bunch of times. While the film makes it clear that Christy wanted Danny to follow in the family business, at no point did I get the impression that he would be violently against it.

I believe if Danny had built up to this long enough then he would have been okay. Instead he actively makes things harder on Christy like when he ran off to take pictures during one of their really busy days. He just felt really selfish the whole time and unfortunately he is also not very good at hiding his tracks. A lady named Catherine decides to help him out and he gets real close to putting her career in jeopardy many times. He leaves snacks lying around, the computer open, forgets to lock doors or close windows, etc. You wonder how he could have really lasted a year.

Also I know he was proud of his photos and remaining a mystery but the fact that he wouldn’t even tell Catherine the answer to where his big photo was taken is crazy. She could have easily been fired and then there would be no more connections for him. In short, I was not a big fan of Danny here, I thought he made too many blunders.

I also didn’t care much for Christy. He definitely made a mistake with how he handled Danny’s wanting to skip on the opera show but beyond that at least he did a good job in finding him. My main problem is with how dismissive he is of Catherine by the end and how quick he is to turn on her. That was an absolutely terrible look and it definitely made it so that you could not root for the romance in the end. The whole climax feels very unbelievable as a result and you will just be shaking your head. It doesn’t feel very plausible and even if it’s going for an unrealistic view, you’re actually hoping that it won’t work out.

As for Catherine, she’s one of the better characters here. You don’t see how she could possibly like Christy after everything they’ve been through though. Catherine is good at her job and doesn’t let herself get distracted too easily. She’s exactly the kind of worker you want to have in your company because she will give it 110%. Manipulating Christy in order for Danny to see his sister was definitely on the underhanded side but she was in a sticky situation.

I also liked corporate here. The son of the CEO is a pretty big character and he is forced into the role of the antagonist due to what’s going on here but he is very reasonable. Look, if someone is constantly breaking into your company and sneaking around then you have to do something about it right? Made perfect sense to me and even then he tried to de-escalate at every turn. I don’t think there is much more you can ask for him. His final emotional scenes were maybe a bit heavy handed though. That subplot about wanting approval from his father felt rather random.

His father also made for a good CEO. He cared about making a difference and seeing the long term vision instead of the immediate bottom line. That is absolutely the way to go here. It’s clear that the company is in good hands. The movie does a good job of fleshing out the world pretty well beyond the immediate main characters. I’d even say I probably cared more about the city and Catherine’s project than with the drama about Christy and the others. Maybe it’s because Danny felt so petty and Christy had his moments as well. They weren’t the best pair of main characters.

His little sister Bridget was okay but doesn’t really contribute much to the adventure. The only main weakness here is the romance like I said before. The film gives too many reasons for the main pairing to despise each other rather than falling in love. It felt pretty bold for Christy to even show his face at the party in the end. Catherine’s friend was definitely a bad influence with how hard she kept trying to make this happen though. That was going a little too far if you ask me.

Overall, Silver Bells is a pretty good film. It may not be an absolute top tier but I had a good time with it and it fits right in with the Christmas themes. You know right from the jump that you will be in for a fun time with lots of fun visuals and a wholesome ending. That’s the main appeal of these films after all, even after things get rocky for the cast, you know it’ll all end up well in the end.

Overall 6/10

November Christmas Review

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It’s time for one of the more emotional Christmas experiences. This one keeps you at the edge of your seat the whole time as you wonder what will happen to the main character….or does it? The movie unfortunately makes the massive mistake of spoiling the entire point of the film in the intro scene by having a fast forward. It’s still one of the craziest kinds of decisions no matter how often I see it. I mean it doesn’t happen often but it shouldn’t happen at all. In a way you’re better off skipping the first 10-15 minutes here.

So ignoring that, the film starts off by introducing us to Tom and Beth who have two kids. Unfortunately their daughter Vanessa is incredibly sick and the treatments have not worked so far. It seems likely that she will be dying soon and so Tom has the idea of celebrating every holiday early so that Vanessa will get to experience them one last time. This is a very unusual plan but Beth gives in and they decide to go for it. It’s time for Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. Is it possible that they will be getting a Christmas miracle at the end?

Naturally it’s an incredibly difficult situation to deal with when you have a sick kid like this. Tom and Beth are both trying to stay strong throughout the circumstances but they have different ways of handling it. Beth figures that Vanessa should really be isolated and kept away from anything requiring effort so that she can heal better. Meanwhile Tom wants her to have fun and encourages her to move around in order to build up some strength. Due to this there is some fighting initially.

I tend to be more on Tom’s side so I felt lie Beth was being unreasonable but it’s not a large part of the film. They both have to team up once the holidays part comes into play and from then on it is pretty smooth. I was glad about that because if we had a subplot about them fighting, that would have been pretty rough. The film is dramatic enough without any of that after all. I also think the idea of the early holidays is really fantastic too. No reason you can’t just celebrate early and whether it looks weird or not, it’s certainly worth it in case Vanessa does die.

We also have a subplot where the nearby farmer Jess shows up to help. He noticed a connection in all of Tom’s questions and decided to put his best foot forward. He even mended his relationship with his best friend. There’s a lot more drama there but basically Jess had a death of his own to think about and so he wasn’t around for his friend during a tough period. You sot of feel like the friend could have been more understanding there but we don’t know the exact context of how it all went down. Meanwhile the friend has a new girlfriend after his wife died and I didn’t think we needed a rebound romance in this film. Focusing on the main plot is good enough for me.

As always it was fun to see the strong sense of community spirit that you always see in these Hallmark type films. Everyone pitched in to help once they knew the situation with Vanessa and so she had a lot of support. It’s always nice to imagine a town where everybody knows each other and they plan evens and things like that. If you’re introverted it’s probably a nightmare but otherwise it’s like something is always going on.

This one can be a little relentless with how sad it is the whole time. Part of me thinks that is why they spoiled the final outcome in the beginning of the movie so that people wouldn’t be too on edge the whole time. I get it but I do think that it weakens the impact for that very reason. You have to commit at that point and just go all in. I’m a bigger fan of happy films generally but if you handle the tone and ending right, a somber one can work too.

The ending was ultimately satisfying here so it ended up working out. It’s no exaggeration to say that the ending could have swung the film 2-3 stars in a single move depending on how it went. So this is a complete experience and has good writing throughout. It’s more of a holiday merge as opposed to a full Christmas film but it works well for each of them. The writing is pretty good and as always the film’s length is pretty short. That means there isn’t a ton of time for fluff or any of that. Instead the film really dives into the heart of things right away.

The only plot that seemed really out of nowhere with no reason to be included was the rebellious nice and her uncle at the cafe. She was basically rebelling and wanted to be a good artist instead of waiting tables. She comes off as very irresponsible the whole time especially once we learn about her backstory and how he came through for her when nobody else did. The film never paints him as being unreasonable at all so this plot needed some more cooking. The problem is that there just wasn’t much time for it and so they really ended up rushing the whole thing. She basically just learns to be a better person right away but putting more time into the holiday celebrations would have been a better use of the movie’s time.

Overall, November Christmas is a pretty good film. At times it can be a little too somber though. The ending really helps things out but I do feel like the replay value for this title would be very low. I suppose you would just need to really be in the mood for this kind of flick but I don’t see that being the case too often around the holidays. It’s well made and there are a lot of fun moments to be had but it does lag behind the average title. There aren’t a lot of big competitors in the somber arena though so if this sounds good then you should definitely check it out.

Overall 6/10

Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner Review

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Parents generally have a lot of criteria when it comes to their kids’ marriage and want to make sure that no mistakes are happening. This is part of why there used to be arranged marriages in a ton of places so the parents could select the right person themselves. Fortunately a good deal of the world doesn’t do that anymore but it doesn’t mean that the silent judging doesn’t continue. This is a solid film involving such tensions.

The movie starts off with Joanna and her boyfriend John getting ready to meet her parents. John is a distinguished doctor with dozens of accolades so you may think this will be easy but there’s one thing that the parents are about to be shocked by. He’s black! While a mixed race couple is not such a startling thing now (To most people at least) it was definitely much bigger back then. Joanna and John want her parents’ blessings tonight too because then they’re going out of there and will be married in short order. It’s all so sudden and her parents aren’t really sure how to react.

Part of the fun in watching the film nowadays is how the racial thing isn’t a big deal…but every other bombshell is. This relationship has so many red flags that if it were made nowadays I would think that’s the gag. Like the main characters are worried about the skin while the parents are worried about everything else. Seriously this thing sounds crazy so I’m going to go over all of them. You ready for this? For starters there is a 14 year age gap. He’s 37 and she’s 23. You guys already know my 10 year rule. 10 years is the maximum age gap where I think things can be okay and after that you’re in troubling territory.

Naturally we all know some age gap romances that worked out well but I would argue the odds of succeeding still plummet. It’s just a really big difference in experience so you’d imagine even hobbies and such would be very different. Some may enjoy that as you get to learn more about the younger generation but it would still be worrisome. I think one of the main issues is you would worry that the girl doesn’t find the guy all that attractive and is in it for the money. Meanwhile the other side would worry that the guy only enjoys her because she is young and will move onto the next one once she is older.

Red flag #2, they have only known each other for 10 days. This is the wild one. So they’re going to be getting married in a week and have only known each other this long? Joanna says they fell in love at first sight and people already know that phrase is a red flag. People don’t often think clearly when they first fall in love and it’s easy to get swept away in the moment. In general while I think dating should be at most for a year, at minimum it should be for 3-4 month. In 10 days you really don’t know anything about the other person. I would argue you know less than nothing because it can all be a mask.

Red flag #3, all this pressure on the parents to decide in a matter of hours. You know that the #1 trap they warn people for scammers is that they try to pressure you into something. The more someone tells you that something is urgent, the more you want to really think about this. Is it possible that you are missing something? I understand the circumstances but honestly it is more than a little unreasonable to expect them to be fine with this. Not the petty reasons that the film goes into but for legitimate ones like Joanna is not thinking straight.

Red flag #4, John has already been married and had a kid. They both died in a tragic accident. Okay so this is another big one, it has been some years since he saw them but he already had a family. By definition this makes the relationship a rebound and is it possible that he is rushing into this because he wants another family? It’s something to consider and it’s a lot of pressure on Joanna to live up to this.

Not all of these are red flags for everyone but they would be red flags for me. Generally I do agree with the sentiment that a relationship is between two people and even if nobody else approves then you go for it. It’s still important to find out why that’s the case though. For example, if your family and friends tell you they think this is a mistake and you trust them, it’s worth discussing. I thought Joanna was quite a bit rude at certain points with just how aggressive she was being. She could come off as immature at times here with how oblivious she was.

I appreciate how she would stick by her man though, I just didn’t always appreciate the way that she did it. Once you are serious about someone, then you do have to be there for their defense at all times. Not everyone will understand why you love that person. Maybe the parents might not think he’s handsome enough, or they will find faults in mannerisms or such. At the end of the day those are things you can’t care about. Once you are confident that you’ve got the right person then you just have to hang on as hard as you can.

Meanwhile for John I thought he was pretty solid here. He may not have been quite as committed as Joanna was and I think it was worth calling out at the end, but on the whole he did good. Naturally the guy wants to leave a good impression and he did so even while he was stressed out about everything. It was certainly a difficult situation and he navigated it well. The guy is certainly well accomplished and even if he had not been, his politeness and well manner of speaking showed him to be a good guy. As the parent that’s all you should really be focused about, how he acts. You will never get to truly know the person, that’s something where you just have to have faith in your kids.

Matt doesn’t look too good for a lot of the film though. Apparently he was really well know as a good social rights activist so it came off as hypocritical to a lot of the characters when he was against this. There’s no 2 ways about it, it was a really bad look for him. You always got to practice what you preach and it sounds like he was very positive in the papers about civil rights and other issues so for him to be so upset here is not cool. If the film focused on it really being about him being worried about what they would come across, then that would be one thing. I would want him to say he fully supports the marriage but is really concerned.

Have the focus be on that so maybe his concern starts getting John concerned and that’s where the problems arise. It would have been a much better look for the father. As it stands, he ultimately looks better by the very end but it is a super long road to get there. You sort of feel like that’s how it is for a lot of people where they say one thing while the issue doesn’t affect them and then they switch gears real quick.

Meanwhile Joanna’s mother Christina is also shocked at first but gets on board quickly enough. While she may have not reacted as positively as they hoped, it’s pretty clear that she just needed a little bit of time to get her feelings around the relationship. I thought they could have been more patient there and again it goes down to this short time table. I don’t see anything wrong with her temporarily not being able to yell out a congratulations or anything like that. Imagine your kids showing up one day with a fiancé and about to be married. Even if it’s a top tier prospect, you’d be wondering why your kid wouldn’t have mentioned this and that would raise a lot of alarm bells. Really a whole lot of the trouble here is because of Joanna. She really should have called and handled things better.

John’s parents show up later on in the film but I wish they could have appeared a bit earlier. By the time they appear, it feels like it is too late to really have them contribute much. They basically mirror Joanna’s parents exactly to the point where they don’t add as much to the film as you would have liked. They almost could have been cut out from the film and it wouldn’t have really changed anything. I was looking forward to the meet up but it’s more low key than you would expect.

The film isn’t super long so it doesn’t have time for some things like this. If it were longer then I think they would have had more to do. We still got a good amount of time to see Tillie being really upset and being mad at John the whole time though. This is something you do tend to see at times though, some people are completely opposed to any mixed race relationship and they tend to try and be the loudest in the room. It was a fun irony to see that the delivery boy and the younger maid were getting along just well though. Sort of like the kids (I guess you would say teens but slowly as I get older and older they’re all just kids to me) don’t really care about the drama. Considering that John and Joanna have only been together for 10 days though, I’m surprised he would tease her about the maid. I get that as a joke when two people are super comfortable with each other but ehhhhhhh that’s a little risky.

Well, it’s their relationship so I suppose I’ll leave that to them. The writing was pretty good here. Even as some of the characters could be annoying with how they handled things, it was mainly realistic. It’s definitely an interesting film and gives you a lot to think about. Eventually the parents have to be ready to give the kids away and often times there can be some issues with that. So it’s good to at least consider the possibility ahead of time.

Overall, I enjoyed the movie. This is one that could have actually used a bit more runtime but ultimately still tackles the main points. It doesn’t really have any weaknesses and stays fairly light hearted. It’s dealing with a lot of serious themes and there is drama but the film doesn’t go out of its way to make anything too dreary. It focuses on the awkwardness of everything a whole lot more which is a good approach. After all, it’s awkward for all parties involved for any first meeting, then amplify that by 10 with all of the shock going around. As long as that sounds interesting to you, you’ll definitely enjoy this movie.

Overall 7/10

State of the Union Review

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It’s time for a classic political film. I’m always down for one of these titles as someone tries to upset the establishment. Usually that is a difficult task though and this is definitely another such example of this. In this case the main character doesn’t even put up that much of a resistance I’d say. You could make the case that it’s because he was corrupted before the film had even begun which means he was really doomed.

The film starts off with Kay’s father on his deathbed as he explains to her that the politicians are all terrible and she needs to take them down. He destroys himself and she goes to work on accumulating power. Unfortunately her newspaper has been left in the dust and most have turned against her. Her only hope is to make a man named Grant the next president. He’s not interested in politics but she aims to change that. He doesn’t have a particularly strong will so she gets him on board quickly and even convinces Conover, one of the big political bigwigs, and Spike, the publicity guy to help. They will also need Grant’s wife Mary to help out here since America will only vote for a family man but will she play ball?

Now in these kinds of films the idea is you’re rooting for the main guy because he hasn’t yet been absorbed into big business. He’s a guy with principles who will stand up for the common man. Unfortunately that just isn’t the case here as his relationship with his wife is super dicey as he is always with Kay and doesn’t really make any effort to hide it. It’s definitely all a big disgrace and so what makes you think Grant can rule the country when he can’t even maintain his convictions at home?

It certainly doesn’t make you particularly root for the guy, that’s for sure. Even then I was expecting him to put up some kind of defense but it really doesn’t take long for the business to eat away at him. He wasn’t mentally prepared for the brutality of politics and he can only blame himself for that. The worst scene for him is definitely when Kay only needs a minute or so to convince him to change up his speech. Definitely a low blow and from there it’s really a downwards spiral for him.

Meanwhile Mary is a lot better but I would also say that she puts up with too much. For starters, I think she shouldn’t have helped out even at the beginning. The instant she learned Grant only called her over to help with PR should have been the end of it all. That’s a total breach of trust and would make me doubt all of his motives from then on. The disrespect gets worse and worse as the politicians don’t even attempt to play dumb about this. She is here to boost his ratings and you never want to be someone’s pawn.

The only decent politician type character appears to be Spike and even then he is the kind of guy who likes to make fun of everything but still participates anyway. So it’s not as though he is innocent in this whole situation. Far from it! It’s still easier to root for him than the other characters though. At least he has a good time of it all and always has a good burn/insult at the ready. You just want to ignore his advice at times.

Naturally Kay is another big antagonist here. She’s just trying to fulfill her father’s wishes and will use whatever means that she can. She certainly doesn’t actually care for Grant or any of the other characters. She is just doing whatever she can to further her own ambitions and it’s important not to forget that. She would leave the other characters to dry at the first opportunity.

Conover is pretty much the same way. He’s here for the opportunity and the big payout at the end. He lost his sense of honor and duty for country a long time ago. At this point he’s just in it to prove that he still has power and influence. The film is quite consistent with that and showing how all of the politicians are very soulless. It has a pretty dark look on things as the average person is just being manipulated. They are all cogs in the wheels for big business who actually controls things on the outside.

While none of the characters are all that likable, I would say that the writing for the film is pretty good. The story itself is definitely captivating and the pacing is good. It will keep your attention all the way through without fail. In a way corporate only has themselves to blame for how the film ends. They tired getting a little too slick for their own good and flew too close to the sun. The final plan seemed doomed to fail right from the jump because they were just being way too smug and pushing everything in Mary’s face. The fact that they still almost succeeded is the most surprising point. I think a lot of people would have already been past the breaking point by this moment.

Overall, State of the Union is a pretty good movie. It may not be the most optimistic take on how a person can challenge the system but sometimes you do need a film where this is just impossible. It makes the journey even more impressive when in another film the character is able to make a difference. At the end of the day you wouldn’t expect such a big system to be so easy to overthrow after all. You’d hope that most characters would fare a little better though. If you’re interested in seeing the inside of the political realm then this is a good movie to check out.

Overall 7/10

Her Blue Sky Review

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Imagine for a moment that you’re the coolest guy in the room. Everyone has standard black hair but you have cool red hair. Everyone grew old and let themselves get wasted while you are young and immortal. Then you find out the catch..you are stuck in a single room for the rest of your life while you watch a doppelganger of yourself mess up everybody’s lives. This is the tragic drama that unfolds in this movie and it’s a pretty good one that will keep your attention. One characters gets off wayyyyyyyyyyyyy too easily though.

The movie starts with Aoi’s parents getting destroyed so her older sister Akane is forced to take care of the two of them. Akane basically gives everything up including her boyfriend in order to be ready for this task and does a masterful job. The great impact of this sacrifice is not lost on Aoi who blames herself for this. She aims to move to Tokyo as soon as possible so Akane can get her life back and plans to do this through music. Well one day, she bumps into Akane’s old boyfriend Shinno inside of the practice dojo but he hasn’t aged a day. He is stuck in there though and his older self shows up for the town concert but the guy has become a womanizing creep. Should Aoi help the older Shinno get back together with Akane to free the younger self or is this all a big mistake?

There’s a lot going on here and right off the bat you should know that the characters have no idea why the old Shinno has appeared. I’m glad that he doesn’t randomly know either, it helps add some drama on not knowing how to free him. They make the assumption that he has some kind of regret so matchmaking him to Akane makes some sense but it’s also a bit of a leap in logic. Shinnosuke (That’s how I’ll refer to the older one like Aoi does in the movie) is also such a bad guy that you can’t root for them anyway. He would only be making her life a lot worse.

Shinnosuke is really my biggest problem with the movie because he seems like a completely different character. I know some years have passed but for him to have changed this much is absolutely crazy. He has gone against all of his old values and goes out of his way to be a massive jerk. From saying how he thinks girls shouldn’t be in the band, to insulting Akane immediately, there’s no reason to like the guy. I would have liked for him to have been booted out of the band. The film half heartedly tries to massage his flaws in the end but I did not buy it at all. I also thought it was a stretch for Akane to go back to him so quickly. It shouldn’t have even been a tempting proposition for her, I would have expected her to have been completely disillusioned.

So in short, all scenes with Shinnosuke were completely undeserved. He should have been knocked out and the best scene in the film is when Shinno chews him out. It has to be absolutely depressing to meet your future self and find out that you became a total loser. It’s more incentive to make sure you never turn out that way and I’d probably just be in denial that there’s no way I could turn out like that. On some level it would definitely hurt though and Shinno did good to not be crushed.

It’s why Shinno is such a great contrast because he’s easily the best character in the film. He’s in a really sucky situation. Imagine being trapped in a room with nobody to talk to for hours and hours? Yet he never complains or grumbles and is instead always ready to listen to the other characters and support them. He helps Aoi out a whole lot and when he’s put into awkward positions like having someone confess her feelings to him, he handles it about as well as possible. He’s just a good guy and when Akane is in danger he is ready to jump into action. He’s easily the most passionate character in the film and I was really glad that he got some good closure at the end of the film. It really dodged a bullet as it would have been super unsatisfying otherwise.

If you watch the film, Shinno should be the reason why. Then we have Akane who is a good character but I would argue she has some poor judgment. You have to give her a ton of credit for looking after Aoi so well. She made big sacrifices and just kept on looking forward. She never showed Aoi any hint of weakness and was also very practical in learning how to cook and take care of a kid. Her only fault is in what I would call “settling” when it comes to Shinnosuke. It feels like she just wasn’t able to move on and so in the end she is forced to keep on going after this guy but he doesn’t deserve such a good person. I would have even preferred for her to just leave for Tokyo at the end of the film or something. That would have still been better.

If you have to have her go back with Shinnosuke, have him be begging for a while and she gives a non committal answer like she needs to see him turn his life around first. It should be a long and hard road for him to win her back, not her laughing because he can still play a song. Also, that’s not to say she should go with Michinko because that guy was lame. I’m definitely not a fan of his in the slightest. For starters, he wants to win her over but doesn’t seem to be improving his life at all. He wastes a lot of money in attracting a big singer to the town and then he still drinks a lot of beers and gets drunk?

The guy acts rather desperate wanting her to notice him to the point where everyone knows he has a crush on her. That’s just sad and so I would not have wanted him to have been a rebound either. Meanwhile his son seems to have inherited his timidity in not saying anything to Aoi about his crush. Nothing will ever happen if you stay quiet about these things. Better to say something and get rejected hard than to always hang around and hope you get picked eventually. I’ll never really be able to defend a character like that. It just makes you shake your head instead.

There’s one more supporting character in Aoi’s friend Chika but she doesn’t get to do a whole lot. She’s fun enough and it was nice for Aoi to have at least one friend but you could cut her out and not much would really change. Not for Aoi herself, she is a fun lead. Definitely not the nicest one by a long shot but at least she is a bold character. She is pro active and tries to get things going like when she enters the band and proves herself. She talks tough and is rude to those around her but at least she has the skills to back it up.

While I do say you should be loud and make your feelings known generally, she should have probably kept her peace. Not much use in confessing to a ghost who won’t be here for long. Particularly since it’s someone that her sister likes. It’s one of those unspoken rules that you are not supposed to cross. You just gotta bury those feelings so deep that you never find them again. All in all, it was nice to have a lead who was more on the tough side and wasn’t afraid to call everyone out though. She gave the film a lot of personality.

As for the animation, it’s okay but nothing too noteworthy. The film is pale enough where Shinno’s red hair really stick out though. So it’s a nice contrast like how he stands out from all of the other characters who really can’t keep up. This isn’t exactly an action film so there’s not much opportunity for the film to show off otherwise but I can say that it is far from a low budget experience. The animation is still very smooth and I had no issues there throughout. The music is definitely on the weaker side though, I don’t think any of the tracks really landed.

As for the romance itself, I do tend to like dramatic romances. The more characters and triangles you have, the more intense the drama gets. Naturally I’m not rooting for most of the pairings but so long as the film doesn’t let anyone get too far, it works out well. I’ve already said that I don’t support Shinnosuke and Akane in any way, shape or form but Shinno and her would have worked out well. I can’t support Aoi and Shinno because that would be a massive rebound. Machinko and his son are completely out of luck as well. While I may not be rooting for them, the romances were all developed well though and you can get why the characters would fall for each other. Aside from Akane falling for Shinnosuke again, the others made perfect sense. Like Aoi hangs out with Machinko’s son a lot and her bold attitude probably won him over many times. Machinko being desperate for Akane the whole time makes sense as well since they were close, etc. The writing was on point here.

Overall, Her Blue Sky is a pretty good film. The ending is rather rushed and Shinnosuke got way too lucky the whole time but outside of that I didn’t really have any issues. The film’s pacing is good and a lot is happening the whole time. I’d definitely recommend it so long as you enjoy a good drama film. There is no shortage of that here after all so you can really just enjoy how crazy it all gets. Also a good reminder to always be watching yourself to ensure that your future self doesn’t disappoint your past.

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

Challenge to Lassie Review

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It’s time for another Lassie film and this one is definitely ready to give you that emotional punch. Fortunately it focuses on the humans taking their Ls again instead of Lassie which is definitely the right way to approach it. It certainly works for me at least although Lassie still does get injured a bit here and there with all of the big jumps. I would say that it doesn’t end up beating the last film but still beats the average Lassie experience.

The movie starts by showing us how a guy named Jack raised Lassie for a long while. She was a small pup at first and then gradually grew into full size. She had a really good upbringing and it all turned out well but Jack was an old man. He was already breaking down and it only got worse when he was beat up by a bunch of thugs. That really accelerated things and he ends up dying. This forces his friend John to look after Lassie but it won’t be easy. She wants to always be with his grave but the grave is located among church grounds where dogs are not allowed. Now the cops have been alerted and since John has no formal license to Lassie, she is in a lot of trouble and may get the death penalty. Can’t anything be done?

I would say the weakest part of the film is how a lot of the characters are super unreasonable. This is a dog after all and a rather harmless one at that. The whole putting him to sleep business makes no real sense. They try to explain how it is necessary because that’s just how the law is, but it feels rather forced the whole time. There is no real reason to be this stringent about it. When the kids ask the judge about why he has to pass the law, the guy can barely even answer. Deep down he also knows that this is all a bunch of nonsense.

The basis of the law is that because John doesn’t have the license, he isn’t able to get one after the fact. Instead of waiting the usual 3 days for someone to pick up the dog, they can skip right to the execution. It’s a case of the process being put ahead of the logic which is where the whole thing breaks down. If a rule doesn’t make sense then you have to find a way to agree with it or just ignore it entirely. Now you do have to put some real effort into understanding the law first as you shouldn’t just break laws that you disagree with but this was a very clear example.

So I can’t say that I really liked any of the policemen or judges here. Then you have the church personnel who aren’t the best here. At least the big preacher at the end seemed reasonable and wouldn’t rat him out but the main guy wasn’t the nicest. You can understand why Lassie wouldn’t be allowed on the church grounds since there could be a lot of cleanliness issues but in this case you should just move the body then. Put it somewhere where Lassie could visit it and you would solve all of the problems at once.

I’ll give John credit for fighting pretty hard to save Lassie the whole time. He went to court and risked his reputation the whole time as well. It’s definitely not something that just anyone can do. His son the young lawyer was also pretty solid here. There were a lot of limitations on what he could really do before he was fully certified but he was always ready to help as well. Even the kids weren’t bad here as they were all on Lassie’s side. It was nice to see the whole community supporting him like that.

As I noted earlier, an issue is that Lassie still goes through a certain amount of grief. It’s nothing as crazy as in the earlier films but she is pushed to her physical limit the whole time as she has to scale mountains and constantly be on the run. You can’t forget the emotional burdens as she wants to be with the old owner the whole time and keeps on being prevented from doing so. Her dedication was definitely second to none but of course those scenes aren’t very fun.

That is a common theme with a lot of the Lassie films which is that they generally aren’t very fun to watch. This one has some fun dialogue and reasonable characters but it is mainly lacking a big hook. One framing device that could have really helped it would have been to have the film start in the court-room and have that continue as the present throughout the movie. We then see the scenes spread across as several flashbacks. Have more and more of the characters enter the court room as witnesses and then we see the scenes from their perspective. It would have turned this into more of a courtroom thriller film which always tends to work pretty well. It would have given the movie a bit of a boost.

Overall, Challenge to Lassie is a decent film for the most part but I wouldn’t say there is much reason to watch it. In some ways the last one is still a more satisfying overall picture with Lassie mainly getting the sweet end of things. In this one, Lassie may avoid a lot of the physical trauma of the original films but still has to deal with the emotional trauma of the fallout that occurs from the owner dying. It’s not like he returns at the end or anything like that so in the end it’s still a net loss for her. The fact that she still goes to the grave every evening to mourn also shows that she isn’t really over the loss and perhaps never will be. I like to think that eventually she would change and not have to visit the grave but it’s hard to say. Either way if you’ve seen all of the Lassie films then you may as well check this one out. Otherwise you can give it a skip.

Overall 5/10

Hills of Home Review

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You ever start watching a film and almost immediately start thinking to yourself, “Get this stuff off of my screen!!?” Well that is what happens with this film as it is definitely a thumbs down almost immediately. It makes every kind of mistake in the book as it puts Lassie through way too much. There aren’t really any redeeming values to be had with this film and so it ends up being a heavy thumbs down. Definitely a title that you will want to skip at all costs.

The movie starts by showing us that Lassie is on tough times as she is owned by a rather cruel owner. He traumatizes her into being deathly afraid of the water and fortunately her next owner ends up being a doctor named William. He is kinder but also in a rush and initially tries to sell Lassie off. Fortunately his conscience wins out and he keeps her. William is pretty busy as the only doctor around with a never ending stream of patients. He is getting older too but the guy doesn’t complain about it and just keeps on working as hard as he can. Will he be able to cure Lassie of her fears or is this one mission that will be too difficult even for him?

I won’t say that he’s a perfect character though because he does betray Lassie a few times here. Aside from selling her the first time, he also yells at her at different occasions and isn’t very patient with her fears. You would think as a doctor that he would know how difficult these things can be to get over but instead he doesn’t act all that sympathetic. He’s a fun enough character when it comes to interacting with the other humans, he just doesn’t seem like he’s the biggest dog person.

He’s also not that smart as he lets one of his “friends” get away with not paying him back on a lot of loans and then being tricked with Lassie. For starters that isn’t a good friendship and he probably should have asked for some serious money in the end. He let the guy get off easy despite being a major thorn throughout the whole movie. The guy’s son is an aspiring doctor to be but the path forward is made a lot more difficult because of this guy’s objections. Basically the way I would explain it is that the father is very old fashioned in an annoying way.

The aspiring doctor Tammas is okay but way too soft spoken and doesn’t really stand his ground. He gets pushed around so easily and so I never really grew to like the guy all that much. He’s okay at best but that’s a main problem for the film as a whole. The characters don’t really stick out and can come across as boring. You certainly aren’t all that invested in any of the characters, I can tell you that much. They come and go without a ton of impact.

As for Lassie, well like I said the film is rather brutal to her the whole time. It’s just so mean spirited and you get the feeling that none of the characters really knew how to handle a dog both in and out of the movie. Whether it’s Lassie being forced to lay down and clearly not wanting to or the whole water trauma moments, it’s all rather distasteful and holds the film back in a massive way. Even throwing in the big time skip at the end as if this was an anime could not save the film. That’s because there was no saving it by that point.

The writing itself isn’t terrible I suppose. We have some nice dialogue at times but there just isn’t much of a point to it all. Even for a complete slice of life film, you are expecting some dynamics to keep you interested and things like that. Instead you have nothing to hold your interest until the storms start setting in. Even when characters get sick you find it hard to care because of how unlikable they are.

Put it this way, even if we remove all of the animal violence, this film would have been probably stuck around a 5-6. It’s just not interesting enough and I tend to enjoy old time films like this one. Well, this time it wasn’t enough to carry the film which is a really big blow. In my opinion it’s not very hard to make very compelling characters in a setting like this. You just have to make them likable so they shouldn’t be doing anything crazy.

The movie is also fairly short even if it can feel long at times. So there isn’t a ton to talk about here beyond what we’ve already gone over. I suppose the final thing is that if you live by a road that is submerged during all big storms, you should probably have a better backup route rather than trying to swim through with your horse. That just seems like a terribly dangerous way to do this and there has to be a better way. There just has to be, because with this way people are going to die sometimes. I didn’t blame the big city doctor for panicking because the whole thing seemed absolutely crazy.

Overall, Hills of Home is definitely a film to stay far away from. It’s incredibly mean spirited and doesn’t really have anything to it. All of the characters have moments where they are acting like big jerks and you get the feeling that they all probably hate each other. After all you don’t just forget the comments so quickly. Whether it was one wife blaming the doctor for not doing well enough, another guy saying his new method for knocking out someone was terrible, everyone laughing at him at the bar, etc.; they were all taking some major shots here. Lassie doesn’t really get the respect that she deserves at any point which is a shame.

Overall 2/10