Tag Archives: Drama

The Holiday Review

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You might as well call this the rebound movie because that is constantly what is going on here. The characters jump from one person to the next with limitless speed. It’s completely uncanny and ultimately takes away from any message of true love that the film is trying to express. It ends up getting too dramatic and so ultimately none of the characters really make a lot of sense here. I cringed a lot more during this movie than any other recent title.

The movie starts off by introducing us to two characters who have both experienced a lot of heartache recently. First is Amanda who is super rich and owns her own film trailers company where she excels. Unfortunately her boyfriend cheated on her and so she breaks up with him and now has nobody to spend Christmas with. She decides to enroll in this super sketchy program where you swap houses with someone and flies all the way to England to get started on her vacation. Now she can be away from all of the usual neighborhoods which could remind her of her ex but she just can’t be alone anymore. So when some guy shows up at her new house she is ready for a quick one night stand.

Meanwhile Iris is having guy trouble of her own as she is in an unrequited love with one of the guys at work. He’s engaged to another woman and has lots of affairs but she is satisfied with just receiving his attention sometimes. He knows that she likes him and continues to exploit this fact by telling her that he needs her and letting her get some action now and again. It’s a very unhealthy dynamic though so Iris ends up swapping houses with Amanda. Now she can finally enjoy being rich for a little while but the colleague continues to call her because he needs some help on his projects. Can she learn to block his number in time?

In a lot of these adventures I really don’t get why the characters don’t just block the number. Seriously it’s not that hard and then you don’t have to worry about seeing any of those messages or calls ever again. In particular from the two characters I also can’t really sympathize with Iris all that much. She’s just too much of a pushover. Unrequited love is one thing. Sure that can be rough but at the same time it’s not this huge mess she’s making it out to be. When you’re in love with someone then you’re happy as long as they are. A crush is when you’re sad that your girl/guy got snagged before you could make your move. True love is much deeper than that and so as long as the girl he is with is a good person then that’s it.

So her jealousy the whole time isn’t great. You either move on or just really enjoy the moments you have with the guy. You do not continue being a homewrecker or just pouting the whole time. Then when you find out that the guy actually knows the whole situation and keeps weaponizing it, that is when Iris should have gotten out of there. How does she even love the guy when he’s this toxic? Yeah her plot just didn’t win me over in the slightest and it really hurts her as a character.

There’s a scene near the end that hurts her a lot too. So she’s ready to rebound with the nice music guy when her ex shows up again. Iris is ready to throw all of that away immediately to get back together with him and the only thing that stops her is that he’s still engaged. Meaning?? She would have gone back together with him if he had claimed that he called it off. It’s a horrible look and is why I can’t root for any of the romances in this film because this kind of thing keeps on happening.

Miles is the guy she’s supposed to end up with but he’s not much better. For starters I think he is a bit too much of a flirt. I half forgot that he was even dating someone because when he meets Iris he’s being super friendly, gives long awkward stares, kisses her on the cheek twice later on, etc. So then his girlfriend cheats on him so he feels bad and goes to Iris for the rebound…..only to then go back to the ex real quick when she asks him over. Ultimately he says no this time and goes back to Iris but again why is he tempted at such a late date? It implies that she could have won him over depending on how she handled this. Real bad look for Miles.

Men and Women reading this blog, always remember to know your worth. If you’re someone’s second choice then that isn’t the person you want to be with. The other wise words of wisdom I’m going to impart is to be careful if someone is too easy as well. Because the way you obtain someone is often the way you lose them. So if someone you like offers you a one night stand right away…know that the offer may be extended to others as well. So yeah when it comes to advice in the ways of love, I’m your guy. I’m something of a romantic expert myself after all….

Yeah back to the movie though, we’re cutting back to Amanda’s plot now. Her plot is also one that’s hard to be sympathetic with. I will say that she handled the Ex way better than Iris though. He cheated so she punched him in the face and kicked him out. Boom that was it for him. No second thoughts, no half hearted apologies, etc. He was gone and out of the movie. Where Amanda’s plot goes wrong is it takes a few seconds upon meeting some complete stranger for her to go all the way with him. Are you kidding me? If that’s similar to how fast she went with the first guy then it’s not too surprising that he ended up being a cheater. The entire point of dating is to find out the true character of a person after all. So you don’t get to learn about that if you’re skipping that whole phase.

Of course, knowing someone isn’t super easy and there are tons of ins and outs to romance that take years of experience and other parts that just require faith. This guy named Graham has a lot of secrets of his own which he doesn’t share and that does make him look bad by the end. Ultimately this plot was just annoying with Amanda and Graham both appearing to have no morals the whole time. I wouldn’t trust either one with my groceries let alone in a relationship! They just seem way too desperate.

The only real quality character here is Arthur. He’s a fairly old guy who is having health issues but still has a fairly positive attitude. He’s a fierce guy too who doesn’t let anyone push him around. He injected some humor into the film and had some of the best moments. The film could actually be inspiring and emotional when it wanted to be rather than being super dramatic all of the time. So this was definitely when the film was at its best. If it could have skipped the romance and just focused on making friends and learning how to enjoy yourself then that would have been a much better film.

The fact that the main characters cannot function by themselves without constantly being in a relationship is in itself a red flag. You should be able to be fairly self sufficient as needed because if not then you’re probably going to be a very clingy partner. You should always have your own interests as well so if you guy/gal needs to be on a business trip or working late you have something to do beyond blasting their phone with endless texts and things like that. None of these characters really seemed all that happy on their own so they aren’t in that perfect spot yet.

Overall, The Holiday is one of those films where you don’t really buy into the characters having a happy ending. They’re all too quick to rebound so it’s hard to see how they could possibly trust each other. There’s just too much baggage and so the relationships probably won’t last. The film could have really worked on making the characters more likable all around if you ask me. The writing isn’t the best and while the film is long, it stuffs itself with so many plots that it doesn’t really matter. It’s just used to create more and more problems for the heroes with made them more and more irredeemable. There are some fairly high quality songs thrown into the mix at least though.

Overall 3/10

Haven’t You Heard? I’m Sakamoto Review

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It’s time for an anime that is fairly bonkers and definitely in a good way. This show takes the idea of the perfect student and dials it up to 11. Sakamoto can do no wrong and he makes for a very solid main character. You will probably find yourself identifying with his character and basically going “That’s me for real” the whole time. That’s how moving he is. Yeah the show definitely goes by pretty quickly as a result and each episode has something crazy going on.

For the most part each episode is fairly stand alone but there is a true continuity the whole way through. Past events will be referenced and some episodes do continue. The basic premise though is that there is a student named Sakamoto who is basically perfect. Everyone loves this guy, he aces every kind of class and challenge that gets put in his path. The guy is super agile, powerful, and knowledgeable. Yet the guy has a good amount of humility and will always help others out. The school can use someone like Sakamoto because there are a lot of bullies here and so without him the place would fall into anarchy. Can he make the school a better place or does he have a secret flaw?

The opening song is pretty catchy for the series. It really grabs you and stays fairly memorable. The show itself has a pretty good ost as well with some nice variety in there. I’m not saying it’s the next Naruto of course but yeah this is high quality stuff all the way. The animation is also solid although it’s not a stand out. For a show like this that’s part comedy I imagine they didn’t break the bank in terms of the animation quality. So it looks pretty good but it’s not the top of the line stuff. You wouldn’t likely see it in any best animated moments kind of thread.

Where the show excels is with the humor and writing which is bound to get a few laughs out of you. The situations can just be so out there and absurd that you can’t help but grin a little. You always know that Sakamoto will get some characters out of trouble and it’s just about seeing how he will do it. Sometimes he will do it himself like pretending to be possessed and other times he will manipulate the students into doing the right thing. That’s why Sakamoto is a secret mastermind, he’s always a few steps ahead of the competition.

He has to be up there as one of the best characters in the series and that would probably be true for most people. Even if you don’t tend to like the perfect character trope, Sakamoto is very aware of this and so the show has a lot of fun with it. As a result this portrayal works really well. Sakamoto just makes the world a better place and I only have one negative for his character which is that sometimes he goes too far in sandbagging. Like there’s one episode where he gets blackmailed into buying some sketchy DVDs and another where he ends up being the servant of one of the bullies.

Yes, at no point is he in any serious danger and you know he’s just playing along for fun but it’s still not the best look for the guy. Personally if you ask me, I’d just like to see him stand up for himself there and show them up even if it’s in a subtle way. I’d say he tends to be more passive aggressive in how he handles these moments by being a bit too useful and that’s the gag in those moments but eh…that’s the only time I’m not super impressed with him. His positive moments heavily outweigh the negative ones though which is why he’s still a great character. He’s always got a plan and does his best to stay on top.

His friend Kubota is more of a sad character who gets picked on and isn’t strong enough to fight back. That’s a tough predicament to be in for sure so you do feel bad about that. His role in the show is a lot smaller than I would have guessed though as he doesn’t do much after the initial episodes. He has a running gag about his hair changing a lot but that’s about it. Honestly you forget him as soon as he leaves the screen so we didn’t need more screentime anyway.

Atsushi is one of the main bullies in the show and he gets a big role. Unfortunately he does tend to be one of the more annoying character and takes way more Ls than Ws. This guy gets shown up early and turns over a new leaf but he has very weak willpower which means that he backslides very often. You may think that you can count on him after a point but unfortunately that just isn’t the case. He looks really bad in the climax of the series where he completely loses his mind and the main problem is that it’s due to him being tricked. Now granted he would have looked bad no matter what his excuse was but getting tricked makes it sting extra hard.

The guy just didn’t get consistently better and falling backwards like that is a quick way for me to lose respect for the character. At least the same thing didn’t happen to his two friends but they couldn’t stop him anyway so it didn’t help much. Then you have Sera who likes being the center of attention but of course he can’t compete with Sakamoto. That leads to a lot of jealousy and petty moments for the guy. Unlike Atsushi though, he actually has a consistent character arc and ends up becoming a better person after he is humbled the first time. He has a very unfortunate reoccurring gag about stripping though which does hurt his character. It’s more sad than funny most of the time and you feel bad for him because initially he had such great aspirations for himself. Now he is doomed to just be the comic relief.

Aina is a fun character even if she doesn’t have time to do too much. Basically she likes Sakamoto and aims to seduce him but she finds that it’s not so easy because the guy is always extremely focused. He overpowers all of her techniques and she also has to deal with a lot of people meddling in her affairs. The fight over the Ouija board was a really entertaining moment though and one of the better parts in the series. Talk about high takes, you really had to be careful what answer Aina forced on the group. If the series were longer I imagine she would have had more full episodes but the series is pretty short and mainly each character had to get their moment to shine so there wasn’t much time for general chats.

Megumi is more of a timid character in comparison. While Aina directly goes to Sakamoto to try and get him, Megumi is content to hide and try to take pictures of him in secret. You have to give her points for effort there but ultimately as a character she’s not great. I just tend to prefer the bolder characters and so she’s not going to stack up like that. Even a minor character like Kakuta leaves more of an impact because the gag of him trying to get Sakamoto to be one second late to penalize him is a fun one. The guy just is never able to pull this off.

Shigemi is one of the worst characters here. Her gag is that even though she is the mother of Sakamoto’s friend, she falls for him. His natural charms are simply too powerful and while we all know and understand the gag, it doesn’t make her any less annoying. You’re still shaking your head when she shows up. She only gets one full episode to herself but yeah it’s a bit rough. I think the gag was overplayed right out of the gate.

Maruyama was a more entertaining character and that’s considering the fact that he ended up being more annoying at times because of how that was the episode where Sakamoto was working for him the whole time which was hard to watch. Still, the gag of being scared because of how talented Sakamoto was at least worked a lot better as a gag and could hold up its own episode there. The episode being solid is always the important part. Like i wasn’t a big fan of any of the kids but their episode about not crossing the line was still fun. It showed that Sakamoto would make time even to hang out with some kids.

Then we have Hayabusa who is another great character that you could rank near the top. He may be the head honcho of the bullies but he seems like a standup guy. He has a solid honor code and lets his people do whatever they want. He seems to just want to have a good time and for nobody to get seriously hurt. He even sticks up for Sakamoto when the going gets tough. This guy is the real deal and definitely someone that you want on your side. His episode where he tries to survive a fancy restaurant experience was also a very noble one.

Trust me that’s a rough spot because a lot of that fancy food doesn’t even taste good. He did it all to support his father which was really nice of him. Now at the end of the day you should stick up for yourself and make sure not to get yourself into a jam like that but his heart was in the right place. He did want to make things better all around so it’s hard to fault him for that.

Finally we have Fukase who is the big villain here. The head honcho, the big cheese. He does a good job of ending the season off with a bang. Now this is one plot where I wasn’t crazy about the resolution though because I was just expecting more. The gag itself is funny to an extent but the fast redemption arc just didn’t feel earned. This guy caused a whole lot of trouble after all and while it’s great that he will be a better person now, I wanted more of a true fight. This guy felt like he could be on Sakamoto’s level with all of the tough talk so I just needed to see that in action.

In the end he was more of a strategic fighter which is cool too but seeing someone give Sakamoto a run for his money would have been fun. Maybe next time I suppose. The ending itself was still pretty fun as an emotional climax and a solid name drop. I was thinking it would have been cool to have seen Sakamoto join a new school or something. My theory was that he was like an alien or something sent to make the school a better place. I found out about a darker theory after finishing the show which makes a lot of sense though in which case you can see why they went with this ending.

Overall, This was a really fun show. It’s a full on comedy title that really makes use of the absurd humor style. It can sometimes be tough for a show to get going right away with the humor but this one pulled it off. It was important to start fast too considering that it’s not like this one has 50 episodes to burn. A lot of comedy titles need a second genre to work as well but this one just went all in and it turned out well. I’d say the replay value is fairly strong as well since there are so many gags per episode. Throw in a solid main character and a pretty decent cast overall and you’re set. Outside of the episode with the Mom chasing Sakamoto, all of the other episodes were pretty solid as well. I’d recommend this to anyone looking for a good time. Even if you’re not typically a comedy fan, I’d say to give this one a chance because it’s very accessible.

Overall 7/10

The Preacher’s Wife Review

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Uh oh, it’s time for another Christmas film that I’ve got some issues with. I’m talking serious issues here that definitely do take away from the film. It’s aiming to be a fairly wholesome experience but by the time I’m done with it you’ll see why this didn’t actually work. It’s a shame because the film had some real potential here but ended up fumbling the bag by the end and leaves you wishing that it could have managed to make it to its full potential. It really should have been the next big thing but ultimately it was not to be.

So the movie starts off by introducing us to Henry who is having a hard time as the pastor of his Church lately. Everything in his life is just falling apart, he feels like he can’t get his message across to the congregation anymore and some of the community are starting to get into trouble. One was accused of robbing a store at gunpoint, another is being taken away into a foster home, etc. He also hasn’t made any time for his wife in a long while. Just as things look like they’re about to break, an angel named Dudley appears. He says that he will help make everything better and yet…it seems as if he is after Henry’s wife. If Henry doesn’t move fast then his wife may be gone for good, but how do you stop an angel with unimaginable power?

The bulk of my complaints with the film are about the angel here. As an angel Dudley should be a very virtuous being, one without any real faults who is here to help. If I’m being extra technical he shouldn’t even be a human who died and then became an angel since all will rise up together but there are different theories on that so I can let it slide even if I don’t agree with it. But at the very least he shouldn’t still be interested in romance. I think the plot is partially to hype up Julia as being so attractive that even the divine want her which if that was the film’s intent could be funny but I think the film just seriously wanted a romance which makes no sense here.

The film really goes hard into this plot as they go out on dates and Dudley looks visibly upset when he has to go back to his mission of getting Henry and Julia to be together. One of the worst scenes is the very last one where Julia wants him to stay and he says how he has to go and the two are basically sobbing internally until the guy runs off. We absolutely did not need a final kiss scene there or for both characters to be so filled with regret. It should have been a full break with Dudley just running off. He really didn’t feel like an angel, he was written to be too much like some ordinary joe.

That’s probably the character he should have been written as then. Just make him a friendly ghost who decided he wants to help Henry out to get over the fact that he died early. It doesn’t change much of the plot but makes his flaws a little more understandable. It would still be bad since he is being a homewrecker of course but at least it’s not an angel doing that. That’s just such a crazy plot all the way around. Come onnnnnnnnnn.

I’m afraid Julia is partially to blame here as well. It takes two to tango after all and she’s still having fun dancing with him and doing all of this stuff. She’s even called out on it by her mother and admits that she is window shopping. Look, this is all behavior that is completely inappropriate once you’re married. I actually do believe that guys and girls can be friends which is something that would get you booed off of a lot of streets but it’s a real thing. You just have to know the boundaries. What are those? No 1 on 1 sit down lunch “meetups” because that’s basically a date, absolutely no dancing all right. Let’s not get crazy here. Ice skating together like that is a bad idea because it’ll probably involve a lot of contact, mountain climbing, etc. So yeah a lot of activities are out of bounds now but hey that’s the price of picking your one true love and getting married. You have to acknowledge that your personal life will never be the same. As bad as Henry was throughout the whole film, Julia still has to stay strong on her end as long as they are married.

As for Henry, he was practically begging Julia to cheat on him throughout the movie. He did every single taboo that typically causes this to happen in real life. Completely ignoring her every day, always being outside, not showing her any kind of romance, etc. Part of what makes Henry so bad here is that there is absolutely no excuse. He’s busy yes but he’s not so busy that he couldn’t have made time for her if he actually cared. Choosing to visit someone at the hospital instead of going on the date with her was egregious for multiple reasons. One is that he could have just brought her to the hospital with him and then at least they’re still together. That’s pretty obvious right? He also could have stayed to personally explain this to her instead of ghosting her. Henry finally could have not told Dudley to take her on a date in his place. Henry was just so annoying here and then he has a scene near the end of the film where she makes him a hot chocolate and he ignores her to head out.

Why was that scene so bad? Well, it’s near the end of the film, past the point where he’s supposed to have mostly learned his lesson already. So this scene showed me that he hasn’t learned a single thing. He’s still making the same mistakes over and over and over again. One area where this film was particularly weak even compared to the original is his big confrontation with Dudley about the guy going after his wife. Henry mostly just does a lot of whining here when I was expecting him to be a little fiercer and more direct. Maybe punch the guy out or something right?

The movie does have good humor from start to finish though with some solid writing throughout. You will laugh from time to time because the burns are quite sharp. Outside of the problematic stuff I wrote about above, it can be a pretty wholesome movie as well. It’s just that it’s really hard to overlook the stuff I mentioned. In fact I would say it’s impossible because that’s part of the main plot of the film. So yeah it’s one of those things where whether you like it or not, it’s a big factor and that’s a shame.

Overall, The Preacher’s Wife is a film with a decent plot but one that it doesn’t fully understand. It really wanted to have fun with the premise of the main guy getting so distracted by tons of random stuff that his marriage starts to fall apart. You can do a lot with that plot but having the angel be the one slowly encouraging the wife to cheat is a massive no no. There’s no way he would be doing this much flirting and leading on. He wouldn’t forget his mission like that and it’s a very distracting part of the film. There are good things to be found here but on the whole I would have to give this a thumbs down as a result.

Overall 4/10

Bright Eyes Review

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It’s time for a film that mainly has a very wholesome feel to it but at the same time is a little darker once you actually think about it. I’d say the film goes a bit too far in that area and has enough scenes that just aren’t very fun. The main heroine isn’t really able to hold her ground as the lead either being only a kid and so the film doesn’t go quite as far as it could have. The film ultimately had a lot of room for improvement.

The movie starts off with introducing us to Shirley who lives with her mother in the house of a really rich family that is very mean to the two of them. Mary works as a maid there and so Anita treats her with constant contempt. Shirley’s father died a while back but the Air Force fighters all look after her and help Mary with that task. One of them in particular, Loop really wants to make sure to keep her safe. He suspects that Anita’s family aren’t the nicest but Mary doesn’t complain and he doesn’t really push the envelope there. However, a custody battle over Shirley begins and so he is forced to throw his hat in the ring because if Shirley was forced to join the family he knows they would not treat her properly. Can he claim victory?

Mary is a solid character here who is really just trying to make ends meet and she has done a pretty good job. She puts up with as much disrespect as she needs to in order to get money and look out for Shirley. That’s why it’s rough the way her character arc goes because she was really doing her best and thing still did not go her way at all. I thought the film was really harsh to her because everything went wrong. She lost her husband early on and then another tragedy happens to her.

Then we have Shirley who is okay but she’s very young here so it’s not like there is much for her to do. She is always fairly cheery and takes things in stride. You won’t really see her crying or getting too upset no matter what happens. I’d still say her road isn’t a very happy one even if she doesn’t fully realize what is happening. It would have been nice if she could have spoken up more about Joy, the rich kid who was always being a bully. I know Shirley is a nice person but nothing wrong with calling out the bully and putting her in her place. Shirley may not have had the homefield advantage so the fallout might not be great but I doubt she would really be thinking about that.

Anita and Wellington are fairly cartoonish with how mean they are to Shirley. I’d also say as a result they really aren’t smart at all either. Basically they pretend to be nice to Uncle Ned in order to get their inheritance and yet they do everything possible to make him upset? He says to be nice to Shirley and they basically don’t change their attitudes at all. She keep on allowing their daughter Joy to terrorize Ned and generally be a pain the whole time as well. You just feel like they should have been putting up a much better effort to stay on his good side considering the stakes here. I would say their efforts were pretty awful all around.

Ned was actually a decent character at least. He was actively trying to make things better for Shirley and clearly cared the whole time. It’s really rough not being able to walk on your own since even in a wheelchair his options were limited. I imagine he would have left the family a lot sooner otherwise. The ending is satisfying since you were rooting for him a lot. Loop also did good. The guy was maybe a little more bitter than expected with Adele but it all worked out. I don’t blame him for being upset when she ran off so perhaps getting together again should have been out of the question but otherwise you do need to keep it together for Shirley considering the stakes at play.

For Adele we never got a ton of details on her past and why her relationship with Loop didn’t work out. I was expecting some kind of big reveal/twist on why she left but I guess from the context we have, it was just her making a really big mistake. Ultimately the movie’s ending is good but what holds it back is how it could be a bit mean spirited like I mentioned earlier and the film wasn’t always very entertaining. The songs were definitely really weak here with the main one really not landing in particular. I don’t think Shirley makes for a very good main character either so there isn’t a whole lot of replay value in this one.

Overall, There just isn’t a whole lot of reason to watch this one. It’s not a very bad movie or anything like that but it can be boring at times and I would have handled the plot in a different way. The writing wasn’t always very good and not having great songs hurts as well. I wouldn’t call it a happy movie in the end even if the film tries to really jump forward and not worry about the specifics the whole time. I think you could do better for Christmas films and so for this time I would say to skip this one and check out something else like Jingle All The Way.

Overall 4/10

Going My Way Review

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Time for another festive film as we get closer to Christmas. This one has a solid message and a good character cast but ends up being held back just a little bit by not having enough fun. I think the movie ends up spreading itself a bit too thin with such a large cast and so at times you just wish they would stick to one story beat for a little longer instead of all the jumping around. It makes the film start to get a little boring at times but ultimately it sticks the landing well enough.

The movie starts off with a new guy entering the neighborhood. He is to work at the local church under Father Fitzgibbon but doesn’t have the best first impression as he gets framed for a ball crashing through the window and then gets yelled at by an annoying neighbor. Still, Chuck is eager to help the church out even if it seems like Fitzgibbon is ready to throw him away. What Chuck hasn’t let him in on is that he’s actually the head honcho now as he was sent to save the church. He just doesn’t want to embarrass Fitzgibbon so Chuck pretends that he works for him. It’s definitely a nice thing to do even if it does mean that his mission will be a little more difficult now. Can he save everyone?

I would really describe this film as Chuck going around town and trying to solve everyone’s problems. You have the kids getting into a lot of trouble all the time, a girl who is trying to be an aspiring talent and a guy and his father who completely disagree on everything. That’s just for starters. As the new guy on the block Chuck doesn’t have a ton of credibility yet so he will need to quickly show them why they should listen to him and get their lives back on track. All while trying not to but heads with Fitzgibbon too much.

With his debates with the older pastor, I do think Chuck could have explained himself a little more at times. Like when he walked into their first meeting in pajamas. It’s played off as a comical moment but I do think Fitzgibbon was justified in feeling like Chuck wasn’t taking this seriously. That’s absolutely how it appeared at least since he doesn’t have the privilege of seeing the events as we did. Then you have Chuck having fun golfing and such. He would really appear to not be serious at all initially.

Now Fitz does get to see Chuck doing a lot of good as the film goes on. I just think he was actually rather reasonable in his reactions. Fitz absolutely means well even if he can be a little old fashioned and once the two start teaming up things go a lot better. That’s where the heart of the film comes in as it’s about keeping an open mind and trying new things. Sometimes you do need a new approach to an old problem, particularly if the current tactics weren’t working. A lot of people were in quite the predicament under Fitzgibbon’s leadership and while it’s not like he was directly responsible for that, he would not have been able to solve the situations without Chuck.

Meanwhile while Chuck doesn’t communicate enough, he is good at his job. He takes some risks and ultimately bonds with the people really quickly. You need to be very personable when you’re working at a Church after all since you won’t convert any hearts if nobody likes you. His friend Timmy maybe goes a bit too far in how laidback he is though. You don’t really see him doing much work at all but hey I suppose we can’t see what he’s doing off camera. You should be able to have a job where you can relax and have a good time so long as you are still doing your work when it comes time to produce. The ending of the film has a cliffhanger that could have made for an interesting dynamic even if it may have been like a bit of a retread.

So the main plot is solid, but like I said the film can get a little uneventful sometimes with the other plots. For example the romance plot with Carol and Ted. Basically they end up getting married real quick and really rub it in Ted’s father’s face. You’re supposed to be rooting for them but they did come across as a bit rude there even if it was meant to be in good fun. He ultimately has no choice but to accept it since they’re married but then Ted is heading off to the army so they are going to be separated for a while as is. It’s a happy ending as they at least made the relationship official which is good but you just don’t really care about what is going on in this plot. We could have used that for more screentime comparing how the two pastors handle things differently in church.

Give us more scenes with the actual sermons and trying to raise money instead. As it is we already had the romance plot of sorts with the main character running into a lady that he used to be involved with back in the day. Of course he has turned from all such things now but it’s nice that they still have a friendship going. In a way this film does feel like a combination of a lot of experiences that you could picture really happening at the Church but at the same time it maybe goes a little too realistically at times so the film doesn’t have that hook.

Overall, The film plays it fairly safe and I have no significant issues with it. It’s probably not a film that I would ever really feel the need to rewatch but the writing is good and the character cast is solid on the whole so you could do a lot worse. It’s a good film, I just feel like it could have been a very good film. Throw in a little more humor and let us see more of the debates between the lead and Fitz. Based on the premise that’s more or less what I was expecting but it felt like there just weren’t as many of those scenes as I thought there would be.

Overall 6/10

Christmas at the Drive-In Review

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It’s time for our next wholesome Christmas adventure! This time we’re bringing in the Drive-In theater to the mix which is a fun little element to make this one more unique. Ultimately it succeeds on all of the classic Christmas elements you would want to see here. Definitely no real negatives to say about this film and so you’ll have a fun time from start to finish.

The film starts off by introducing us to Sadie who was a very impressive lawyer back in the day but she has decided to hang up her career in order to move back home and become a teacher. She is quite fulfilled in this role but then runs into her ex-boyfriend Holden. There’s a lot of history between these two as Holden stood her up on their last date and so their relationship fell apart. It’s been many years but the reunion is not under happy circumstances as Holden wants to destroy the Drive-In theater. Sadie is resolved to save it though and so the town is giving her until Christmas to prove that it can still be a hit. If not, then it will be destroyed to pave the way for new jobs. As Holden technically owns the Drive-In, he is forced to assist her as a good faith effort but his heart’s not really in it. Can Sadie pull this off?

Now as soon as they said Holden and Sadie used to be together you knew that things were going to get a little dicey for them. Holden’s excuse is that he saw Sadie cheating on him back in the day so that’s why he didn’t approach her and so the two of them are still single to this day. You can probably guess what kinds of misunderstandings are going on here. You’d think both characters would be a little too busy following their interests for romance at this late time but hey that’s how it goes I suppose.

I was glad that the film brought in more of an emphasis on baking and showing off different Christmas snacks because I’ve missed that from some of the recent movies that I’ve seen. The sugar cookies looked like fun as well as the chocolate drink. It’s definitely the time of the year to eat as much as you can and just have a good time with it. The Christmas decorations and backgrounds are also handled really well. The town looks like it would be a fun place to hang out and the Drive-In looks nice. Now that’s not really something I’d be all that tempted to do because being in a car just feels a bit too confining, I’d probably prefer to stand outside and watch but with the cold temperatures outside the average civilian would probably need the heater.

The writing is on point here. While the story may be somewhat predictable, I always say that it’s all about the execution. Just because you know how a story will end doesn’t mean that it’s bad. You shouldn’t always try to subvert everyone’s expectations after all as sometimes the expected ending is the right one to go with. The pacing is good and the film really goes by quickly. The main cast is also quite small here. You have the main two of course who do a good job. Holden may not have been very enthusiastic at first but he’s a good guy and gradually started putting in more and more of an effort. He even spent a ton of money on this project which was impressive.

Sadie of course was doing her best from the start and it’s great that she was looking out for the town the whole time. Losing the drive-in would have been rough even if granted, I think the town would have ultimately been okay. She also does her best to help someone in fighting a legal battle. I appreciated Kendra as a solid antagonist who sympathized with Holden’s plight but had the highest obligation to her shareholders. She was going to get a profit out of this no matter what and that’s the attitude you have to have when you’re in charge. It’s nothing personal after all, just business.

Then you have Bobby who was another antagonist. I mean from his perspective Holden is the trailer since the two had long since signed the contract. That said, he does play a dirty trick in bribing the council so the guy ultimately does not have the moral high ground at all. He really should have kept to playing fair all the way til the end. It’s always good to have a true antagonist to spice things up though so that was fun. He was an entertaining character all the way through to the end.

At the end of the day this film spreads a good message about friendship and uniting the people with a common cause. You don’t really see this kind of experience as much in the big city but in a small town where everyone knows each other you like to think that everyone would have each other’s back for a situation like this.

Overall, This was a pretty fun film. As always what I like to see in a Christmas film is a solid message and good vibes all throughout. The ending should always leave you feeling happy and fulfilled which this movie pulls off. You definitely feel good watching it and it properly captures the Christmas spirit. I would definitely recommend checking it out and having a good time with this film. It should get you in the mood to celebrate as we are getting very close to the end of the year right now!

Overall 7/10

A Very Merry Toy Store Review

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The poster’s a bit of a missed opportunity here if you ask me. The plot involves the two toy store owners reluctantly teaming up and while we all know how it will end, I feel like the poster should at least be playing up the battle a little bit right? Try and trick the audience into thinking that this will be the next big fight. That would have made a lot more sense if you ask me. Ah well, you can’t win them all but the film itself is still very solid.

The movie starts with introducing us to Connie and Will who both own fairly successful toy stores. There is a lot of bad blood between them, mainly from Connie’s side. The reason for this is due to a long family grudge when Will’s ancestor ended up making his own store right down the block from Connie’s after a dispute involving the name. Connie never forgave Will for this so she goes for as many cheap shots as possible. Well, one day Roy moves into town and he’s the owner of a massive corporate toy shop. He’s here to completely change the game and upset the hierarchy of the toy environment. He has a massive amount of money to throw around so Connie and Will may have to team up to stop him. Will even that be enough though?

I always love the classic team up trope. It’s one of the greatest in the business particularly when it’s very reluctant and you have the hero and villain bickering the whole time. Granted there isn’t really a villain from the duo although Connie comes the closest. Throughout the film you never get the vibe that Will actually dislikes her while Connie clearly has nothing but contempt for the guy. He’s always trying to help while Connie keeps on throwing insults and trying to make the whole thing harder on both of them. It takes her an extremely long time to get past this as she really took the family grudge personally while Randy was mainly pretty cool about it the whole time.

He also tended to get the best lines so he was a really fun character all the way through. I liked the Looney Tunes references and the guy was always game for any plan. He was just really enthusiastic and had a ton of energy. Now granted he does fold to corporate rather quick but in the end it’s a fairly practical move once the tide was turning. Meanwhile Connie could be really stubborn but she still pulled her own weight and did good. The reluctant team up doesn’t work as well if both people are excited about it so by being the debbie downer she helped to keep things in perspective and offer a contrast the whole time.

This film also had a fairly large cast for this kind of Christmas adventure. Usually you don’t expect a lot of characters, just the main 2, the boyfriend who loses out at the start and then the villain. Here we have quite a few side characters, some who could have been cut out to be honest. For example we have a subplot about a guy named Joe who gets a crush on Pam so he lies to her about needing to learn the piano and they hit it off. It’s a plot that doesn’t really add anything to the film except another romance so this could have really been cut out.

Then we have a whole subplot about someone stealing items from the toy store and the heroes are trying to find out who this is. The plot ultimately plays a role by the ending but the thief could have really been cut out. In fact I would argue the thief was probably the weakest character here as her motivations weren’t all that solid and that plot got old real quickly. It just didn’t really work.

Then we have the comic relief character Randy who can barely think straight. The poor guy was racking up Ls the entire film but at least I appreciate that he was rather confident. He would always blame everything on everyone else which is impressive. Randy’s not the kind of guy who will end up taking responsibility for anything and that’s probably sounding like the most back handed complement ever but it makes the jokes work a bit better. When you have a character who is dumb as bricks it will either be really funny or really cringe. This ended up being more on the funny side.

We can’t forget about our villain Roy though. Now here was a really fun villain who kept the heroes on their toes the whole time. I loved how smug he was throughout and I felt like he won the verbal battles constantly. The heroes would try to get one step ahead of him and he would always counter. He used every dirty trick in the book and for the most part you just had no clue how anybody was going to stop him. That’s the kind of villain you need. He really helped elevate the whole experience and in part it’s also because he was treated seriously the whole time. He wasn’t some comic relief villain to be mopped up by the heroes or some random who never stood a chance. No, this guy was a big CEO of a major company and he acted the part.

His best scene was probably when he was in the board room as everyone was telling him what a great position the company was in. He was clearly on cloud 9 at that moment because he had flat out won. He had beaten the odds and that was it. Now naturally you can guess that things would ultimately not go very well but the film was a very satisfying watch. The writing was good and the character cast was very solid. You really can’t go wrong with this title.

Overall, This is one of the stronger Christmas films that I’ve watched. I really enjoyed all of the banter and fighting going on. The film may have been a little overstuffed at times as these subplots took time away from the main battles that you wanted to see but it still succeeded more often than not. The Toy Stores made for a good backdrop and it was fun to see each side keep trying to outdo each other whether it was in handing out free pancakes or hiring a professional singer. Both sides just did not want to lose and you need to have that energy in order to come out on top.

Overall 7/10

Mrs. Miracle Review

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It’s time for our next big Hallmark adventure. The films have always been consistently solid and this is another good entry to check out. It’s a bit weaker than the average title I will say in part because two kids play a big part in the story and naturally they can’t quite keep up with the other characters. The strong writing keeps this flowing together smoothly either way.

The movie starts off by introducing us to Seth and his two kids. The kids have always been a handful and this has been getting worse and worse over the years. Every single babysitter ran out as fast as they could rather than deal with the kids. Seth’s wife died a long time ago and at this point it seems like he may have to be forever alone. That’s when Mrs. Miracle shows up. It’s hard to say who she is exactly as the lady is shrouded in mystery but possesses teleportation, telekinesis, and is more intelligent than the average person. She has decided to pretend to be the new babysitter to help the kids mature while also introducing Seth to the next love of his life. Can Seth stay true to the memory of his wife or is he ready to jump into the next relationship?

So first up the kids are definitely annoying. Let me throw that out there right away, these kids are not really helping Seth out at all. They seem rather apologetic after making a mess of things but that doesn’t stop them from doing the same thing over and over and over again. Seriously they never seem to learn their lesson and yeah they’re young but all of their scenes do tend to be annoying so the film has to work on succeeding in spite of them.

Seth meanwhile is doing his best to raise the kids while working a full time job. It’s not easy but he makes it work and always has a good attitude about it. So I definitely have to give him some proper credit there. He doesn’t seem thrilled about the kids being in the big show but ultimately he still does his best to encourage them. The guy doesn’t even seem all that lonely or sad despite everyone trying to get him back into the market. He’s just living his best life and having a good time.

Then you have Reba who is a successful entrepreneur who owns her own business. She’s doing quite well for herself and has really succeeded by every metric but when the school teacher for the play goes down, Reba is asked to take over. She very reasonably points out that she has a business to run but the other characters don’t care and so she’s guilt tripped into this. I dunno, I think I’m on Reba’s team here but hey that’s how it goes I suppose. She does her best and due to some magical shenanigans she bumps into Seth and they hit it off. It’s all going well except that each of them has one problem.

Seth refuses to pay music anymore since he wants to keep that sacred between him and his wife. Playing the piano is the one thing he can’t do anymore so he asks that this be respected. Meanwhile Reba refuses to talk to her sister anymore after that person stole her fiancé and basically destroyed any ties between them. So she wants Seth to respect that. So what happens? Reba tells Seth he should play the piano again and Seth tells her to go and make amends with the sister. Yeah…the one thing that both characters don’t want to do. This is where the film loses me a little bit.

They’re lucky that the other character didn’t go for the break up right away. It’s hard to just get over something so huge and especially when you’re being told to do it by someone that you’ve only just met. It’s just not going to go over well. I think it’s very reasonable for Seth to want something that remains private between him and his wife. Not wanting to play the piano isn’t some kind of grand crime or anything like that. It’s just a personal decision.

Then on the other side, Reba is also pretty justified in not forgiving her sister. Having her steal the fiancé like that is absolutely something that cannot be taken back. What’s worse is the guy broke up with her and we already know that she only grabbed him to get one up on Reba. So she stole the guy and then the win was obtained so everything after that didn’t matter. Yeah if I’m Reba I’m probably never talking to her again either. The ending forces both characters to come to terms with this and forgive/forget but that was more than a little cheesy. I know the ending has to be perfect but they should have made the challenges a little more mild since then it would be easier to get past them.

As for Mrs. Miracle, well she does tend to interfere with the characters a lot but she sees it as her duty. She’s like Mary Poppins in a sense but hides her abilities a little more. She’s nice enough, ultimately she is just trying to help everyone out even if her viewpoint can possibly be a little skewed at some points. If she thinks that she is in the right then she will plunge ahead no matter what the other characters say. It’s her world and we’re just living in it after all.

The writing for the film is pretty solid as you would expect. The characters are all fairly pleasant after all. They can get real emotional real fast but in the end things tend to work out. The characters can always apologize and start over. They may say things they will regret later on but it never goes too far out of bounds to where it wouldn’t make sense for them to stay together. They even compromise a whole lot to make this work even if that’s where I think they can go a bit far.

Overall, This is a pretty fun film for Christmas. It’s got a fun vibe all the way through and just makes for an enjoyable movie. It goes by really quickly and the fast is also quite small so that lets you really get to analyze each character. If you’ve seen the Hallmark formula before then you probably know how the film is going to end before it actually does and yet it’s fine because the execution is on point. You have no problem seeing the beats coming since you are enjoying them as they appear. I’ll have a review up for the next film in this series pretty quickly.

Overall 6/10

Three Godfathers Review

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This film’s pretty interesting in how it feels like it turns into a completely different film as soon as the main characters leave town. At first it seemed like more of a personal drama with a bunch of hooligans messing things up and having to be thrown out soon. Instead we get more of a survival film. I do have to admit that the first part seemed a little more interesting but it also could have backfired pretty badly with the romance so maybe this was the right move. It can drag a little but I wouldn’t call it a bad film.

The movie starts off with two strangers wandering into town. One is a nice old guy named Doc and the other is someone who likes music named Gus but keeps on changing his backstory. Still they’re harmless enough and this town is a very friendly one where everyone is invited to enjoy the festivities. It’s all going well until a third guy walks into the room, Bob. Bob was kicked out of the town years ago for generally being a big delinquent and nobody is happy to see him. He doesn’t seem happy to be here either but mainly returned to get some drinks and hook up with different people. One of the girls he liked is getting married though so he lost out.

He tries to play some mind games on her but ultimately it doesn’t work. So he robs the place with Doc and Gus as they run out of there. These hardened criminals won’t stop for anything…except a baby that they come across. His mother dies from being stuck in the desert for so long so now these three have to help the baby. Can they do it though? Bob is heavily against this and figures they should leave the baby to die while Doc in particular wants to help him. This could end up sealing his fate but ultimately he risks it all to make the right decision. Will they survive?

It’s always tricky when you have a film focusing around a bunch of villains because you have to be careful not to write them to be too evil or it’ll just be annoying for the viewers to see them the whole time. Alternately you don’t want to be halfhearted about the whole thing or then there was no point to the plot in general. Doc and Gus mostly hit that proper medium but Bob is mean enough where the redemption arc doesn’t work as well for him. There were several times he was going to leave the baby to fend for himself and certainly didn’t help much in trying to preserve everyones’ lives. He’s the kind of guy who is in it for himself all the way through.

Even back at home his poor reputation was well deserved. He’s clearly the kind of guy who has commitment issues and lies as he breathes. The guy really does everything possible to be a super antagonist the whole time. The characters should have definitely kicked him out again. Sure they were definitely scared but they had the numbers advantage there. The guy was also threatening the fiancé of one guy who just didn’t do much about it. It is a shame that the film pretty much confirms that the girl did still like Bob and basically settled with the nice guy for marriage. That always seems like one of the most tragic things where the guy is super happy because the girl finally said yes to marrying him and yet she only did it because there were no better options. That’s enough to traumatize someone.

Again, the film really shifts gears when the main characters leave the town though so these plots don’t actually get followed up nor do the characters appear much from this point. It’s glossed over a bit though in how Bob does shoot someone before leaving. You’d think he would have been shot on sight or taken down as soon as the baby was secure. He’s not exactly just a guy who’s down on his luck, he’s a hardened killer.

Meanwhile Doc and Gus share some guilt by association. They are stealing money from a town that absolutely could have used it and they are doing this for their own selfish ideals. Gus and Doc may be nicer people in general and have some kind of moral compass but it doesn’t take away from the fact that they are villains and it’s important to keep that in mind the whole time. Because if you forget it then that does a disservice to their victims.

It’s great that they wanted to help out the baby, it just doesn’t take away from the rest of their actions. On the topic of the baby though, that’s where the film starts to drag on a bit. It turns out that the rest of the film is all about escorting the baby through the desert. That means there is not much variety in the backgrounds and the heroes have to move very slowly since they are basically dying of hunter and thirst by the end. It’s not the most engaging watch as a result because you want things to move a whole lot quicker.

The writing is solid enough with a lot of good dialogue but the film just doesn’t make much progress at all. It feels like you could easily cut out 20-30 minutes from the film and you would be set. Viewers who really like the desert or appreciate a slow burn will probably enjoy it but it’s all a bit overdone for me. Even considering that the film’s length isn’t even all that long on its own. No this was definitely that could have been changed a bit. There’s just not much to find interesting about some people carrying a baby through the desert without some kind of sub plot or the event being that enormous that it warrants such a long detailed amount of screentime.

Overall, This is a film where almost all of it is about walking through the desert. It’s played fairly serious so there’s not a whole lot of banter or anything like that to take your mind off of things. It’s a solidly written movie but the only main negative is that it can be a little boring and that’s a big blow for any film. You always want to be exciting or at least super entertaining throughout your whole run. If not then it feels like something really went wrong. Having this take place in the city or something would have been better or maybe just more fight scenes. This was definitely way more adventure than action after all. Or just have the heroes make it to a town where they have to fight off the locals to get the bay some medical attention, now there would be a climax and you’d have all 3 make it there, but two would die during the fight so there’s just one man left standing.

Overall 5/10

The Letter Review

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It’s time for a movie that is entertaining but definitely riddled with suckers around every corner. These characters were all slacking, down bad, or just generally not very smart. Either way it makes for quite the ensemble and the whole time you’re wondering when they will wake up or if it’s just going to be game over for them. The movie’s fairly short so you don’t have to wait long for your answer.

The movie starts off with Leslie shooting the living daylights out of a guy who’s trying to scramble out of her house. He doesn’t make it though and she finishes him off with a few more shots. She summons her husband Robert and their friend Howard as she explains that the guy tried assaulting her and so she had to shoot him in self defense. Of course it is still a murder so she’s heading to trial now but should be found innocent very quickly. Howard has a lot of doubts about this case because of little odd notes that keep popping up that don’t line up with Leslie’s story. Still, he’s just ready to get this over with his bus receptionist Ong shows up and says that a letter exists which will destroy the whole case. Should Howard destroy his entire legal career to save his client when he knows that she is actually guilty or should he follow the law and do the right thing? It’s going to be a tough call.

After all on one hand you could follow the law and establish a fair case. Doing this would save his best friend $10,000, would ensure that he salvages the reputation of the deceased, would keep his career in order, and would get Leslie to actually pay for her crimes. On the flip side, he could save Leslie and ensure she gets away with pure murder, allow his best friend Robert to never realize that his wife was cheating on him, destroy the deceased’s reputation, and also spend $10,000. I’ve never seen an easier decision and yet in the film this is treated as a tough one.

It just makes absolutely no sense. The film maybe works if he actually thought that Leslie was innocent and the letter was fake. Maybe have him try to buy it only because he thinks that the jury would be fooled. That’s a much more interesting dilemma and actually makes a bit of sense. Otherwise the way it appears here is just no good. For a minute that I thought he was falling in love with Leslie which would have been awful for his character but then I would at least understand the logic. However that doesn’t even happen so you’re just questioning his judgment now. Howard’s a pretty awful character all around.

Then you have Robert who unfortunately fits into the trope of the nice guy. He’s just so nice and forgiving that both Leslie and Howard know that he will forgive her even after she was cheating on him. It’s really a bad look for this guy as he opens his heart up again just for her to break it one last time. Hey I’m all for second chances but when you’ve been cheated on then the trust is completely gone. You can never really get it back and the worst part is that Leslie isn’t even sorry about it. She’s sorry that she got caught but that’s about it. Robert really needed to stand up for himself more.

Of course Leslie’s a pretty bad character as well as she threw away a perfectly good life in search of thrills and adventure. There was no real reason to leave Robert like that and she knows it. She just let her base desires win and that was the end of that. Throughout the film she is portrayed as very manipulative and rather merciless so at no point do you actually stop and consider that maybe she’s the victim here. Because it’s obvious that she isn’t. The film does a good job of making her so unrepentant here to the point where when the ending shows up you were practically waiting for it. Leslie really handled the situation as poorly as possible given all of the hints though.

Then you have Ong who does a lot of planning the whole time. He really sets up the conspiracies and places the heroes in harm’s way time and time again. You have to give him credit for being really dedicated. Again I think it was too easy to blackmail the main characters since the ammo wasn’t that strong and the characters should not have gone for it at all but I guess that’s just how it goes.

So while I didn’t really like any of the characters, the film succeeds because the story is still good. It’s an engaging movie from start to finish and also has good writing throughout. The pacing is on point and at no moment will you get bored or anything like that. That’s why I would still say this is a good movie in spite of the characters. A lesser film would have absolutely crumbled without a solid cast but this one managed to really keep it together.

Overall, The Letter is a film that I would recommend checking out. It’s definitely a good cautionary tale to remind you how easy it can be to tell a convincing lie. If you just believe what you are told at face value then you will be putting yourself in a really tricky spot. It can be hard to know who to believe and when to believe something. Unfortunately there will never be a 100% foolproof way to determine that so just go with your gut but always remember that your gut can be wrong sometimes. The characters here definitely learned that the hard way. I would have preferred if the characters could have acted more rationally here so maybe the film could take a bit of a swerve on a remake if we ever get one.

Overall 6/10