Tag Archives: Drama

12 Dates of Christmas Review

Posted on by
Reply


Time travel in my Christmas movie? That’s a great way to drum up some hype right from the jump because I like any kind of premise that involves messing with time a bit. The film’s going with rules similar to Groundhog Day where the main heroine is trapped in a spell sort of like Itachi’s Izanami. She must continue to relive the same day until she meets some kind of condition. Usually this involves learning a lesson about yourself but you never really know until you complete the objective. It makes for a fun film for sure.

The movie starts off by introducing us to Kate who is rather rude to everyone. She has not been having a fun time at all. Her father and step mom have set her up with a blind date but Kate has made plans to meet up with her Ex to try and win him back so she’s got a busy day coming up. There’s also the Christmas dinner with her folks but Kate figures she’ll ace everything. Unfortunately she is knocked out at the mall as she gets sprayed right in the face and when she wakes up she is in the loop. No matter how good or bad the day goes she keeps getting reset all the way back to the beginning of the day. How can she escape this loop and will she begin to find the faults with herself?

From the start you can see how Kate has a ton of issues so it makes sense that she would be getting a whole lot of character development here. She is rude to her next door neighbor, doesn’t take her friend’s advice seriously, is mean to her step mom for no reason, blows off the blind date, and then tries too hard with an ex who has moved on. So there is an absolute mess of things that she has to get right and of course this should sound like Groundhog Day. You start off by having fun with the whole thing going the path you think is right, then you try to fix everything, then you stop caring, and eventually you land on the right path.

In Groundhog Day I believe they said he spent thousands of cycles in the town which sounds crazy. For Kate she is around a whole lot of times but I would guess 30-40 max as opposed to it being such a long time so at least she doesn’t get as depressed. No matter how fun the day is though, eventually you will reach your limit because the repetition would just be too much. With your progress being reset each time as well it’s not like you could even try to win the lotto or something. I would probably use the time to start learning a new language or some kind of knowledge that would transfer over but that assumes that you haven’t lost hope in getting out of there in the first place anyway.

It’s also rough when you feel like you’ve done everything perfectly and still get looped. At that point do you just try harder and harder or do you give up? It would feel weird to try and do things exactly the same way again but at the same time you want to help people so you don’t want to just forget to help them in one loop. So in a way that means that the final loop where she gets out will usually not be quite as good as one of the failed ones. If you could control where you could end the loop then that would be perfect but of course it would be a little too convenient.

There are just so many possibilities when going through the scenarios as well so it’s hard to know where to even begin. We see all of the ripple effects when she just stops to talk to one different person. Then you also have to pretend that you aren’t tired of eating the same thing over and over again which has to be tough as well. Now there is one side effect of all this time travel which makes the romance one of the weakest ones I’ve seen in a bit. So we know that Kate is obsessed with getting back together with Jack. She tries this many times but ultimately realizes that it’s too late.

No matter what she does or how nice she is, he will always end up proposing to his new girlfriend. It makes sense, they’ve been split together for a very long time and he is serious about this girl, going back to Kate now would just make him look bad. That said, when Kate inevitably falls for Miles you can’t help but feel like it’s a rebound. He was absolutely the second choice. If in any loop Jack had actually said yes to her and gone back with her then she would not have given Miles the time of day.

Any time there’s a rebound romance I can’t say that it was a good one so this holds her back big time. There’s just no getting around that one. As for Miles, I had some issues with him as well. So this guy lost his wife fairly recent, I remember it was no longer than a few years max and I think they may have even just said it was a year ago. Either way he said it’s too tough to be alone at Christmas so that’s why he is looking around. A blind date feels desperate from the jump but fine we’ll roll with it.

In one loop Kate convinces him to skip the blind date and go out with her. He does after a mild amount of convincing and then they connect in another loop when she is undercover. The guy seems desperate for companionship by anyone. Sure, it’s her in each loop but he doesn’t know that she is the same person so that’s another reason why this romance would falter. At the end of the day he gave his word that he would be around for the blind date so skipping it so quickly like that isn’t a good look. He also has a tendency to take everything quite hard and then run off.

I don’t blame him on most occasions but once in a while he dashes off quickly like when Kate brought up her ex at the dinner table during one of the final loops. Kate’s ex Jack seemed reasonable at least. He didn’t fall for any of Kate’s traps and rejected her in every timeline. While he may have moved on to another romance rather quickly, at least he wasn’t going to backpedal. Once he made his decision then that was it. Meanwhile there was a nice guy named Toby who did his best as he waited at the diner but ultimately the girl never showed up. So it’s a bit of a tragic route for him but Kate helps him out in the end. That romance is even more rushed and doesn’t work but the film doesn’t give it much screen time anyway. If you’re desperate enough to go on a blind date then I guess you just hope that it works out.

This movie is definitely at its best when it is having fun with the premise and just going all out with the loops. It’s fun to see the main character slowly get more and more advanced in how much she knows and how to maneuver around the world. You’d think that you would quickly pick up on a lot of things when you live through the day over and over again like this. The movie’s pacing is good and the writing is solid. At most you could just say that Kate is a little too mean at first. She’s completely unlikable and you’d think that she was Scrooge the whole time.

It’s fortunate that she had the loops to protect her because otherwise she completely burns some bridges during the loops. Even before she gives up Kate is just so selfish and only caring about herself that she really makes life rough for the others. At one point during the film I felt like she was trying to ruin Christmas for everybody that she possibly could. Definitely not ideal main character behavior.

Overall, The 12 Dates of Christmas is a fun film. I always like films about a time loop since the premise is just so much fun. Who hasn’t thought about going back in time for a redo? If I had rolled a different way back in the Smash 4 days I could have made it to Tokyo and won the big tournament. It’s impossible not to think about things like that once in a while and the film gives you a chance to really visualize it. I’d definitely recommend checking this one out.

Overall 7/10

Prancer Review

Posted on by
Reply


When you think of Prancer you’re thinking of a fantastical adventure like with Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and his friends. Not a more emotional film about a kid who wants to do the right thing. I think this film had some potential but ultimately the characters can be more on the annoying side and Prancer’s role wasn’t quite big enough. It’s an okay movie but it’s not going to hold its own with the big Christmas hits.

The movie starts with Jessica showing off her reindeer knowledge and having a good time with her friend Carol. She ends up seeing a mysterious reindeer around but it vanishes before anyone else can notice it. Eventually it appears again and she realizes that this is Prancer. Somehow he got injured and has been split up from Santa and the rest of the reindeer. Jessica figures she will nurse him back to health and then set up a meeting spot with Santa to get the guy to take this reindeer back into the group. This won’t be easy though as her father John is going through hard times economically and he is thinking about giving Jessica over to his sister Sarah. Jessica is not happy about this at all but what can she do about it? Also, can she keep the reindeer secret for long?

The deck is absolutely stacked against Jessica here but she never gives up. That’s just not the way she does things. My first main issue with the film is that John can be rather mean the whole time. He never feels very understanding towards Jessica even when she is doing her best. Jessica makes mistakes sure, but she always apologizes and is very respectful towards her father. Usually in these films you see the kid being disrespectful and never apologizing so when he’s still harsh to her despite this it just feels off. The film overplayed its hand with John and makes him far too unlikable so it’s hard to root for him at all or even sympathize to the extent that you normally would. He’s basically an antagonist for most of the movie.

Then you have Jessica’s brother Steve who is also rather mean the whole time. He blackmails Jessica into doing his dishes for a year so he won’t tell their father about the reindeer. Sure he gets his emotional scenes later on where he stands by Jessica but he was a bit overblown in the opening scenes. Surely he could have made the demands a little better than that right? So I think this boils down to the writer where they wanted to put Jessica in a tough corner but they just weren’t good at holding back. So instead of the characters just being a little rude and setting things up for the heart warming second half, they accidentally made them really mean.

It’s a tough balance but you have to walk a careful line in these films or you make the characters go too far past the point of no return and that’s exactly what happened here. The film ends up suffering for this a bit as a result. Then you have the drama with Jessica and Carol as Jessica takes everything super personally. In this case you feel bad for Carol since she didn’t realize she was offending Jessica by saying she didn’t believe in God and Heaven. Jessica’s reactions were certainly not very graceful at all and this is one time where you didn’t really sympathize with her. She never really has a full apology to Carol on this either or at least not to the extent that she should. Carol really didn’t do anything wrong but got treated badly for most of the film.

Then there’s the neighbor Mrs McFarlane who was reasonable enough but I’m not really sure what the point of her character was. When you think about it she didn’t really do a whole lot here. I suppose we got to see that she wasn’t so bad after all but if you cut her out of the movie then nothing really changes. I expected her to have a much bigger role in the second half/climax because that’s how the setup felt. Not saying it’s objectively a bad decision to have her vanish but it just felt like an odd one.

Prancer also should have done more. Of course during the film you are meant to wonder if he is just a normal reindeer or not and that mystery keeps up until the film definitively makes a statement in the final scene. I liked the way that it ended so that worked out for me but I definitely would have given Prancer more to do. Either he was getting into mischief at the house or being kidnapped which isn’t the best role for this guy. If anything Prancer holds the film back as a result.

With a Christmas movie like this you are looking for an uplifting adventure where you can have a lot of fun. That’s the whole point you could say right? Well this one just isn’t super happy most of the time. You feel sad when Prancer is on screen since he’s hurt and injured. Then you feel sad when everyone is picking on Jessica or when Jessica picks on Carol. There are more sad scenes than happy ones here and as a result that makes the movie a bit lopsided. At the end of the day you could call it more of an uplifting film by the end but it doesn’t consistently grab that tone. So instead you have a balance where half of the time the movie just isn’t very fun.

The writing is decent even if the writers don’t know how to make some characters antagonistic without being over the top mean. With better writing I think you could have really done well with this movie. Perhaps have the main characters be grown ups instead even if it does mean rewriting the approach a bit differently. You could have succeeded with the kids though, it just would have taken more effort. Because of that I’d end up putting this film in the middle. I can’t picture myself ever re watching it over another Christmas movie but I still wouldn’t call it bad. I think that would be too strong.

Overall, Prancer may not be the film you were expecting but you can still get some good moments out of it. I found parts of the film to be a little too mean spirited so that can make it difficult to get to the ending though. It’s a fairly unique film as I wasn’t even totally sure what kind of vibe it was going for at times. I suppose you have to give it credit for trying to be really serious while also balancing the Christmas cheer, it just didn’t pull this off. Only watch this one if you really want to see some Reindeer in live action but otherwise you should watch the original Rudolph movie.

Overall 5/10

The Craft Review

Posted on by
Reply

This review is of the TV-14 edited version of the film. All thoughts below should be addressed as such as a review of the unedited version would be more negative

When I hear the term “The Witching Hour” I think of Football since they use that term every week on Red Zone when the games are entering the final quarter. I don’t watch a whole lot of movies about witches either so I don’t hear it in this context as much. Well in the end that may be a good thing because this one’s not very good. The characters are all pretty bad for the most part and any scene involving a witch initiation or ceremony tends to drag on quite a bit. This one did not end up being a winner.

So the movie starts with Sarah moving into town and it looks like this place is filled with creeps so she’s going to have a hard time fitting in. One guy seems to like her but it quickly becomes apparent that he’s just using her and does the same to all the newcomers. This drives Sarah into the arms of the 3 witch outcasts at the school. They believe that Sarah is the person needed to complete their quartet so they add her to the initiation and begin their spellcasting. At first things seem harmless enough like little coincidences or love spells but then the 3 girls start getting more and more extreme about using their magic to hurt others and have a good time. Sarah wants out but much like a gang…once you’re in there is no way out. Can Sarah stop these 3 or is it game over?

One thing I’ll give the film props for is that it does cover a lot of ground. Keep in mind that at first Sarah isn’t part of the clique so gradually she joins them, then they all explore their abilities, then they see how these powers are causing damage to people, then they become cool with this, and then they turn evil and go after Sarah. So there’s a whole lot of turnarounds going on here and the film does a reasonable job of giving each section time to breathe. As I mentioned earlier it only really drags on during the witch ceremonies.

We don’t need to see them huddled in a circle chanting to the winds or forming blood pacts. Those were dated when they first came out and you feel like Sarah is really letting them take her down the dark side here without much resistance for a while. They are cool with just stealing books from the local witch expert and while Sarah doesn’t steal anything, just hanging out with these guys is a bad look.

Because if you keep being friends with people who are criminals then to an extent it seems like you are condoning it right? You have to take a firm stand against such things if you really want to make a difference. Sarah just gets in a bit too deep here and it feels like the film wouldn’t have even started if she didn’t hang out with these girls. Now you don’t want to judge them on the reputation of course so it’s good Sarah didn’t buy that but once she saw that they were actually not good people then it was time to cut out.

Sarah isn’t exactly blameless in this whole debacle either though. She casts a love spell on Chris, the guy who messed with her in the intro and apparently it’s basically permanent and can’t be turned off. From there he really goes off the deep end with how obsessive he is over her to the point where he becomes dangerous. She finds this amusing at first and disturbing later on but doesn’t take a very active role in trying to remove the spell.

There is one lady named Lirio who at least knows about witches and can maybe help to an extent but surprisingly she ends up doing nothing in this film. She gets to talk tough and come up with ideas but Sarah runs out of there before they can properly try out the spell. I think Sarah should have stood her ground there since maybe they could have fought off the 3 witches together but I guess we’ll never know from there.

Throughout the film they explain that Sarah is a prodigy in magic so you’re waiting for her big power moment but this isn’t quite Shonen Jump so that doesn’t get to happen. Would have been really cool though. Sarah still does get her clutch moments in the end though and we do get a witch battle by the end. Sarah gets to confront all 3 witches and shows them what true power really is. I appreciated having some action at the end.

The ending of the film is also quite solid with Sarah really laying down the law. It’s not quite sequel bait but you know if there was another film that Sarah would be in good shape now. These other 3 won’t be able to do much against her anymore. So in the end I wasn’t big on Sarah’s character but at least she ends well. Bonnie and Rochelle were played up as if they were going to be sympathetic characters for a while there so I was definitely surprised when they went into full villain mode. It wasn’t a bad decision, the film subverted my expectations in a solid way there. These two didn’t really plan things out very well but at least they were following some kind of path.

Nancy was definitely the main villain of the group in the end though and was certainly the most ambitious. She probably should have tried a more direct way of taking Sarah down before it was too late though. Beating around the bush just put her in a tough spot here and gave time for Sarah to get her bearings. The way the witch powers work here is typically more mental than physical like messing around in the dreams but when push comes to shove you can also use telekinetic abilities. There isn’t much in the way of defense though so if they all ganged up on Sarah and just beat her up there would not have been much of a counter to that.

Overall, The Craft wasn’t really my cup of tea. The witch ceremonies drag on a whole lot and the main characters just aren’t very likable. There’s a super random scene with a guy and his snake that pops out of nowhere but for an instant opens up the door to some interesting plot threads. I thought things were going to go in a different direction with some kind of shady group showing up and the main characters having to team up. The 3 witches actually being evil by the end was unexpected and could have worked but ultimately just didn’t take this title to the next level.

Overall 2/10

Nagi-Asu: A Lull in the Sea Review

Posted on by
Reply


At long last, it’s time to dive in to the aquatic romance drama from a while back. This is quite possibly the most dramatic romance that I’ve seen to date. Just about every episode seems to end with a massive cliffhanger like someone confessing or being (literally) swept away before they can do something. It’s a very interesting show so you’ll stay engaged the whole time and ends up being a solid show for that reason. That said, while there are a lot of romances in the show, I can’t say that I could get behind most of them, but the main romance was on point which is what counts right?

The show introduces us to a world very much like ours except for one big difference, a huge chunk of people live underwater. This started ages ago and so there is a divide between those who live underwater and those who live on the surface. They don’t tend to get along very well but at least the kids are allowed to attend school on the surface. They have Ena which effectively lets them breath and interact as normal but they must stay hydrated by swimming or splashing water on themselves every once in a while or they could dry out and die. It certainly makes everyday life a little trickier.

The surface dwellers are all completely normal while the underwater factions get a bit more supernatural too. See, they serve the Sea God and he is represented by a familiar/high priest who accepts their tokens and free meals in exchange for keeping things peaceful. You get the feeling that the surface dwellers wouldn’t buy into that as much. There is a whole world out there but the series mainly sticks to one village. I found myself wondering how the rest of the planet handles the situations and disasters that come into play later on in the series. I guess there wasn’t much time for that but it would have been interesting.

Now lets get to the main story. We follow a group of kids from underwater, Hikari, Manaka, Chisaki, and Kaname and they’ve always been a very close knit group. They would like for things to stay the same always but with their having to go to school on the surface and growing up that seems impossible. They’re all changing and there is no way to turn the clock back now. They can at least do one last big project together which is to create a Lady Ojoshi doll to celebrate the annual Ofunehiki festival. This used to be an annual thing before there became a lot of bad blood between the two factions of humans.

Having kids from the sea and surface work on this together could help to finally heal the divide but it won’t be easy because Hikari isn’t particularly happy about this. He started off on the wrong foot with the surface characters because a guy named Tsumugu is among them and Hikari’s childhood friend Manaka seems to like him. This is where all of the drama starts. The chain of events seems to be: Kaname likes Chisaki who likes Hikari who likes Manaka who likes Tsumugu. With everyone chasing after someone else, that means almost nobody can have a happy ending here.

This is a very character driven show of course so you can expect a whole lot of development for all of the characters here. The romances are a big factor in the show as well so I’ll talk about each one and how they stack up. The cast is at a decent size here as well but fortunately the series is over 20 episodes as 13 probably wouldn’t have been enough to really handle this one. As it is, you feel like the show did a good job of covering a whole lot of ground and even changing things up with a big time skip midway through the series.

The animation is fairly good here. I wouldn’t call it anything super special but as this isn’t an action series they don’t have to worry about big fight scenes or anything. The backgrounds with the water are on point and that’s what counts. The visuals underwater can be good as well and I liked the ice effects. The show could have a bit of fanservice at times but for the most part stays away from that so you could still call this a classier romance story. Falling into that trap would have been bad for the show.

The soundtrack is really good. In this case the second ending particularly jumps out as it plays early for a few of the cliffhangers and works really well. Whenever you hear the song picking up you know that something big is about to happen. It’s suitably emotional and works really well for the show. I’ve listened to it quite a few times and the normal tunes during the episodes are good enough as well. They really serve to enhance the scenes.

Where the show does particularly well is with the drama. The show takes itself really seriously and it works here. Typically I am more of a comedic romance fan if I have to watch something that’s part romance but everything here was dialed up to 11 and it just worked. The show doesn’t do anything halfway and the drama kept me interested so it succeeded. I’d say that’s a credit to the writing as well as to the strong character cast here. You wouldn’t be able to pull off a romantic drama otherwise which is why the genre is so tough to get right. There are some really annoying characters here but that tends to be intentional. The pacing is good as well but now lets go into the characters in more depth.

Lets talk about Hikari first. As the main character he will be getting a ton of screen time here. Initially he is very headstrong and always getting into fights as he lets his jealousy over Manaka get the best of him time and time again. He’s quick to fight and constantly gets into a lot of trouble. It’s hard to root for him at this point in time because he’s just causing so much damage. It’s also the wrong approach to try and win Manaka over as well.

After the time skip he’s a lot more mature and a much improved character. He definitely did good by that point and does his best to keep everyone on track. He really grew into the leadership role out of the main group of friends and by the end I liked him a good amount. Then you have his best friend Kaname who is much more of a quiet figure. He tends to keep his feelings to himself most of the time and just enjoys being part of the gang. Gradually as he sees everyone else making moves he starts to make his.

Unfortunately while Hikari went up as the series went on, Kaname kept on going down. He started out well as the smart member of the group who always had Hikari’s back but then things started to get rough when he would do whatever it took in order to try and win out in the battle of relationships. This would cause him to put Hikari on the spot and try to stir up trouble. He went way too far at different points and there was no going back for that. It’s quite possibly why his ending isn’t quite as bright as some of the others.

Manaka is the fun heroine here who always has a good time and sees the bright side of things. She’s always a fun character and also gets quite a bit of development as the series goes to the end. I don’t think she stuck out as much as the other main characters as her personality is a bit more simple and she doesn’t have as many big character moments to have to fight through. Still, she is always at the center of things so you will see a lot of her.

Chisaki is Manaka’s best friend but of course she likes Hikari so that makes things a bit tricky. Chisaki is always trying to be the very mature member of the group so in a lot of ways she is like Kaname there. That said, the more you bottle stuff up, the tougher it can be and so she makes the situation a lot tougher on herself. She just isn’t able to voice her feelings as easily as Hikari can. Chisaki certainly has her big moments here and of the 4 characters I would say that she gets the most tragic scenes. You feel worse for her than the other 3 in part because you really know that she’s doomed from the start while for the others you figure that they could possibly have a shot at some point.

Tsumugu is the guy from the land who is here to help out and he at least treats the ocean kids well from the start. You can’t say that about a lot of the other kids who were around. He knows a good amount about the ocean children which makes sense as the series goes on. I like that he has a cool head on his shoulders and doesn’t panic a ton the way the other characters do. Tsumugu calculates every move and then tries to find the ideal outcome. He takes this approach to romance as well and this makes for an interesting approach. I liked him well enough. He may have broken up the main dynamic of the main 4 which left them a little sore but he always meant well and he doesn’t tend to make any big mistakes.

Then we have Miuna and she starts out as a girl who causes a lot of little problems for the heroes but after the time skip she becomes a fairly big character. She likes Hikari but of course that’s a problematic crush there and so you can’t root for her and have to hope that she can get over it. Miuna feels doomed from the start due to this and while the whole thing is sad, you just need her to move on. Beyond that plot she was much improved after the time skip to the point where she could now think up plans to help with the festival and do her best to pull her weight.

Her friend Sayu gets a bit less of a role. She starts studying really hard though and does her best to be a bit of a genius. She tends to also be good at being direct with the other characters like Miuna and isn’t quick to get too discouraged or depressed. Her romance may have some of the least development to it but at the end of the day she has spent years on improving herself and putting herself in the best possible position to land her guy. I appreciate the effort into that.

Lord Uroko is an annoying character though and now he’s someone that you won’t be rooting for. He likes to remind everyone that he is just a scale of the sea god so he can’t do much but he rarely helps the heroes out. He tends to feel like a pawn all the way through but one who makes the wrong decisions. Attacking the heroes was already uncalled for with the ice but then helping with the tidal waves? This guy’s a villain if you ask me and I’m glad that Hikari didn’t give the guy a second thought as he went to save Manaka. Sometimes you just have to go out there and save lives even if the cryptic characters claim that it’ll just make things worse. You can’t listen to them.

Akari is a reasonable character for the most part. She was one of the first to rebel from the village since she liked someone from the surface world. I did not approve of the relationship but I agreed with getting out of the village. Those guys could be a little too dicey at times. She did her best to still mend the relationships with everyone in the meantime. Akari ended up being a very memorable supporting character. More so than her husband Itaru. I was less sold on him and he didn’t feel quite as pro active as she was. He was mostly just around but not doing much of anything.

Atsushi doesn’t have much of a role in the story at all except to be someone who likes Miuna but doesn’t seem to stand a chance. As soon as he appears you figure that he’ll get to do something though. I never really liked him much but his role is so small that you won’t really think about him anyway. Now Tomoru was a very annoying character. This guy is the chief of the village and yet he can never be bothered to actually help Hikari out. Worse than that is the fact that he will get in the way. The old traditions are just too important to him and he takes forever to act. He really needed to have Hikari’s back no matter what and helping out earlier could have also solved some of the issues they all faced ahead of time. By not doing that he just put them in an even deeper hole. He has got to be one of the worst characters in the show.

Now lets talk about the final pairings for the show and I’ll tell you which one(s) worked and which did not. This will of course have spoilers to skip the next 7 paragraphs if you haven’t seen the show yet. This is really about romance and drama so if you know all of the final pairing then it’ll probably take away from your enjoyment a bit. So yeah this is your big warning on skipping it because it’s time to dive right in!

First up we have Hikari + Manaka as the first final pair and this one you will probably have guessed. They’re the main two and the show is about all of the obstacles that get in their way. Hikari openly liked her from the start but it always seemed like Manaka liked Tsumugu so things weren’t working out. It turns out that she didn’t like him in that way and just appreciated having him as a good friend. Some scenes may make you think twice about that but at most I suppose you can write it off as her having a very temporary crush on him when they first met. That said, this is easily the strongest romance of the series.

It’s a romance where both of them were the top option for each other and that’s a good thing. There were no rebounds here and Hikari did try real hard for her. He got rejected several times for moving a bit too quickly and I’m all about slowing things down so that wasn’t bad of Manaka. Ultimately I could give this romance a thumbs up because a lot of time passed and so the relationship developed naturally rather than being rushed. It was a good romance all things considered.

Next up is Chisaki + Tsumugu and this one is definitely a lot weaker. Keep in mind that Chisaki has liked Hikari all this time. Tsumugu wasn’t even on her radar until deeper into the series once the time skip happened and Hikari wasn’t a realistic option anymore. Even then she didn’t want to get together with him because she figured that it just wouldn’t be right but by the end she “settled” for him. Second choices never really work and so naturally this one’s going to get the thumbs down. It’s still a rebound even if it’s slightly less so compared to some of the other romances coming up.

After those two is Kaname + Sayu and this is probably the weakest romance. Kaname was desperately after Chisaki and even played dirty with the other characters to knock Hikari out of the running but in the end she just never ended up liking him in that way. He still likes her by the end of the series and only gives Sayu the hope that one day he will like her. On one hand the pairing doesn’t actually happen yet so perhaps it never will but if it does then it wouldn’t work as another rebound. This romance also gets less screen time than most of the others. At the end of the day you felt like Kaname was probably going to lose out and as the show went on that is what happened. Playing dirty never pays.

Then we’ve got Miuna + Atsushi as another romance that takes a nosedive here. Atsushi likes Miuna a lot but the guy barely gets 10 minutes of screen time in the show. Miuna is flat out not interested because she likes Hikari. Glad that ship didn’t work out but Satoru would be a very obvious rebound if it happens. As with the last ship it was only starting to be set up and hadn’t actually gone through so that gives me a little leeway to not give it the full thumbs down yet.

Akari + Itaru is next up and this one is definitely a full thumbs down. Look, Itaru’s wife died fairly recent given how young their daughter Miuna still is and yet he is now going out with the wife’s best friend Akari? It’s easy to see why Miuna was so upset. It’s an unspoken rule that you never go out with friends and so that was a bad idea. It really didn’t make either character look good and while it’s supposed to be a very emotional moment, I wasn’t buying into it. This was a romance that didn’t really need to happen.

Finally we have the Lady Ojoshi and the Sea God. We get to learn more about this one and it just makes the Sea God look really petty and awful. He broke up a perfectly happy couple on a whim and while Ojoshi tried to be happy it was clear that this was not the case. By this point it’s not like you could take things back and so their relationship ends rather tragically. The Sea God then decides to be petty for the rest of his existence and becomes another one of the worst characters here so that’s definitely not a good look for him. In the end the only romance I actually thought was good was the main one with Hikari and Manaka. The rest of the romances lose out but the show is written well so it’s still a fun adventure.

I’ve mentioned quite a bit about how the writing was good for this show and it’s important because as a non action title you’re really counting on the writing and characters to be on point. Without them there is no way the show could have succeeded. It also made some really bold choices like having the big time skip midway through. Part of why that one was interesting was because only some characters aged as the ones in a coma did not. So that really served to change the dynamics up. A few years may not be too crazy and you could make it work in a relationship but at the same time it is still tough because you know that you missed out on several years of your life.

A lot of the show is about The Ofunehiki festival and creating a Lady Ojoshi. To be honest this tends to be the most dull part of the show relatively speaking as you’re more interested in the interactions than the actual play. It is used to great effect though as tragedies always happen around this festival. You can see why a lot of people don’t even want to do it anymore even if the adults handle it in a very petty way. Hikari really has to handle most of it which is a bad look for the grown ups. The time skip was a good way to show how things have changed for a lot of the characters and not as much for others. It’s almost like having two completely different shows rolled into one. Hikari is still stuck in his season 1 mode but everyone else has changed so much. Even the attitude when doing the festival again was very different for the adults and kids who had aged up. There was a lot less petty fighting and everything this time around as people saw the very real danger from last time but also the bonds that came through it. Still would have been interesting to see more of the outside world and I wonder if the threat was as apocalyptic as Lord Uroko made it out to be. Something tells me that he exaggerated a bit. This wasn’t the point of the show but it still made me interested.

Hikari also gets the best hype moments of the series like when he saved Manaka from the sea god’s trap. The shoe is not generally going for hype but it does have its moments. Due to the drama there will also be times during the show where everyone makes a mistake or two. I don’t think there is a single character here that acted perfectly but at least most of them are likable so it’s cool. Some moments may feel like they’re just here for drama but it just works out. Each episode has some kind of big development and that’s key for this kind of show. There is also some humor but for the most part this is a very serious show. A happy one as well as a sad one but you’re just along for the ride. It’s so eventful you may be tempted to say that it isn’t a slice of life but I think that’s still appropriate.

Overall, A Lull in the Sea is a good how. It’s a very emotional tale about romance and characters having to grow up. They all deal with a lot of drama and issues that pop up because no matter how hard they try, they aren’t able to keep the old dynamics the way they once were. It’s just not possible and the show is really about accepting change. While it may sound a little too dramatic on its surface, the show does a good job of keeping you invested. It just dives in 100% to being a super dramatic show and that really works out. I would recommend this if a drama sounds appealing to you. Then you won’t find ones much better than this title.

Overall 7/10

Ranking all of the RWBY Episode 4s

Posted on by
Reply

We are back for another round of the RWBY episode rankings! You probably won’t be surprised at how well Volume 3 does but the question is if any of the other volumes can keep up. Will they get absolutely destroyed or will they have a fighting chance here? With a series as good as RWBY it’s always fun to see which episodes can really surpass the others in these battles. You can tell how about half of these episodes are more about setup though, but there are the action ones as well. It shows how balanced the series is as the action changes from volume to volume.

9. Volume 4

Volume 4 has to come in at the tail end here which is rough for the volume but this is more of a low key episode. We see Yang finally come to terms with not having her other arm anymore and it was nice to see the teachers off duty. I always like Yang as the really confident heroine so it was nice to see her get back in the groove. Meanwhile Raven and Qrow’s meetup was hype. We hadn’t known Raven too well by this point so any appearance was really appreciated. A lot of setup for future events occurred here.

8. Volume 7

Finally seeing the heroes become fully official huntsmen was great. It’s been a long time coming after all and it was nice of Ironwood to have kept this in mind with everything going on. That said, I still think the heroes act a bit too in awe of the Ace Ops here. Cmon they may be reasonably tough but RWBY and friends have dealt with much more powerful fighters. We see here that the Ace Ops don’t even see each other as friends so naturally that was going to hurt them down the road. The episode is really more on the calm side but seeing the heroes finally get some real recognition was great. They’ve saved the day on many occasions after all.

7. Volume 6

The cliffhanger for this episode is really what gets it a bit higher up. We have the heroes making their way to an abandoned village which has clearly seen better days. It’s a nice ominous way to end things off but otherwise this episode doesn’t have a whole lot happening. Everyone’s really upset at Ozpin for the fact that he kept more secrets and has no real plan. That’s probably the worst part of it because then he has been stringing them all along for ages without any big strategy. You’d think he would have thought of something over the years but I guess he just never got around to it. It’s a really bad look if you ask me. I was never a big fan of Ozpin but if I was then this would probably hurt even more.

6. Volume 5

Volume 5 will always be the most nostalgic volume for me even if it isn’t my favorite one. That’s because it was coming out right as I first got into the show and so I kept watching the episodes over and over. It may be a dialogue heavy volume but it handled itself in much more interesting ways than Volume 4 so it stayed fresh. We do get a quick Yang fight in this episode though. While the speed of the fight is a bit on the slow side, the choreography is still on point and that’s what counts. It’s also nice to see more of Raven and we’re gearing up for the big conversation there. I also liked that Weiss was able to break free on her own and didn’t really need to be saved. Of course if Yang was not there then she would have been doomed though.

5. Volume 1

Volume 1 has some more fun gags with Ruby and Weiss having their differences. I do wonder where Ruby popped out from though, has she just been beating up on a bunch of Grimm off screen? Admittedly it probably is her fault about the trees burning down since she should have seen Weiss while zipping around. It also is embarrassing to be having so much trouble with normal grimm when individually they should be able to defeat them all with ease. We also get to catch up with the other teams like Jaune and Pyrrha so it was nice to see them. The episode has a good blend of story and action while covering a lot in a small amount of time.

4. Ice Queendom

Now we’re entering the anime only original story and it works quite well here. We get a whole new environment and get to learn about Weiss’ psyche. It’s an effective way of showing her true thoughts the whole time without having to make it appear too forced or anything like that. It’s the right way to go about it. The visuals still look really good and actually getting a Ruby vs Weiss fight is something we’ve been waiting for throughout the franchise. The battle theme is also on point even if it seems like the show always uses the same ones. The lyrical moments are on point though and this show just continues to operate at a very high level. I’m eager to see how this plays out for the rest of the show.

3. Volume 8

Volume 8 continues to go strong in this episode. We get a really tense chase scene where Yang and company are trying to save Oscar. Unfortunately there are just too many Grimm in the way and they can’t keep up. They tried hard though. Ren is annoying in this episode though as the guy blows up on Yang and does a lot of complaining the whole time but it’s all undeserved. He’s the one not handling things well and trying to push that off to everyone else. It’s not the right approach to the situation and he’s hurting the team unity. That’s playing right into Salem’s hands. This would begin his downfall as Ren never really recovers throughout the volume. Well perhaps his downfall began in volume 7 but I remember thinking this was a particularly bad moment for him. The actual episode is just too hype to have any lower though and the song during the chase was on point.

2. Volume 2

This was the first time we really got to see Team RWBY fight..well as a team. They used advanced combination moves and really overwhelmed Torchwick throughout the fight. It was nice to see the combos and as always I liked seeing Blake and Sun team up here. I miss when Blake was the very rebellious one who was always leading the charge like this. She is really at her best here and Sun has always got her back which is great. Neo’s debut appearance was also exciting and seeing the bar from Yang’s trailer was a nice callback. It reminds you why you definitely don’t want to be skipping those trailers. The lyrical song that played during the fight in the episode was also masterful.

1. Volume 3

I have to admit that I was not surprised to see this one at the top because Volume 3 is full of stunning fights. This one had us finally see Mercury and Emerald get their first action scene. Considering that these villains have been around for quite a while, it’s something that has been a long time coming. What better way to show off their skills than to beat some of the most experienced students in the whole school? They won so easily too that it really made a statement too. To this day I’ve watched the fight many times over. The trash talk is also excellent.

That wraps up another comparison list for the RWBY episodes. Some more shake ups here but at the same time Volume 3 is still dominating so things haven’t fully changed yet. That volume was just so epic though, it really set the tone and pace for the series going forward. A lot of fun moments here though and it’s always nice to revisit the series. Will Episode 5 start to turn the tables? Well we’ll definitely find out soon! That said, the best comparisons will probably be once we hit the climax because every volume always ends with a bang with no exceptions. Measuring which climaxes were the best will be the exciting part.

Look Back Review

Posted on by
Reply


Look Back is a very emotional one shot and it’s impressive that the Chainsawman author keeps churning these out. He seems to like drawing stories about everyday things that tend to get dramatic or have something tragic happen. In this case it would have been nice if he went all the way with something that seemed a bit sci-fi but in the end it wasn’t to be.

The story kicks off with a girl named Fujino who is really interested in being a manga author. She submits stories through the local newspaper and has done rather well for herself. Alas, there is one person who defeats her in each submission and that’s a fellow student named Kyomoto. Kyomoto doesn’t actually attend school and is a shut-in at home so Fujino believes this is unfair. How can she compete with someone who can draw manga 24/7 with no other responsibilities? Can she hope to surpass Kyomotoi or is she just doomed from the start?

They meet up soon after and get along though. One of the main themes of the oneshot is their bond of friendship and how they’re united through manga. Working on the manga helps both of them to become better and stronger than they would have been on their own. It’s nice to see their progress over the years as they team up on the manga and really create a name for themselves. They’re the only two important characters in the oneshot so they really get a lot of screen time this way.

Fujino is a likable lead who may have a hard time expressing herself but she balances her manga and school lives rather well. She’s rather reluctant about having to meet up with Kyomoto at first but it all works out. At the end of the day she doesn’t actually back away from any challenges which is a good thing. Fujino also has a good imagination which gives us a fun segment that’s the best part of the story. It still would have been nice if that could have worked out as it would have been a perfect ending to the story.

Still, this is a very realistic tale so don’t be expecting any miracle endings. Then you have Kyomoto who is gradually taken out of her shell by Fujino as they become good friends. Kyomoto does seem to have more overall talent at least in art but isn’t as outgoing as Fujino so they are a great pair when creating their work. Ultimately Kyomoto has big ambitions for herself which leads her to want to go to a school to learn how to draw even better. It would have been nice if they could have parted on better terms but both characters aren’t really great at talking through emotional moments.

I would say that the art isn’t all that great as I’m not a big fan of this style. It’s very detailed and goes for a rather gritty look to it so that works on how these stories tend to have something traumatic happen but I would prefer a more streamlined look. Something to really make the characters pop out at you. This author’s done well on quite a few of the stories so I think most people do like the art but it just hasn’t worked out for me yet. I think the story holds up in spite of it though.

The oneshot doesn’t get too depressing or anything but I would say that the ending keeps it from going to the next level for me. With a better ending this could be an easy 7 but I just don’t think the conclusion was necessary. Don’t the characters deserve to have something a little happier? The oneshot even wrote in a little side path that could have been used but ultimately it was more of a tease. I won’t spoil what happens to one of the characters but it’s definitely not a happy moment.

I’ll give the manga kudos for not being graphic about it or dwelling on the moment. It just happens quickly and suddenly without warning just like it would in real life. The scene is meant to be rather disturbing for sure because there is no way out and it’s just something that could happen at any time. I was rather taken aback when this happened myself because I can’t say that I was expecting this to happen.

So if you’re reading this one, definitely be prepared for a more emotional read as opposed to a happy one. This is definitely not the kind of title that leaves you grinning at the end. It’s more about pushing through even when things get hard and just never giving up. None of the characters are happy at the end either though and so you’re putting the book down knowing that nobody ended up in a good place. Almost sounds depressing when you think of it like that.

Overall, Look Back is a well written story. While I didn’t care for the direction it went, it was handled carefully enough where I wouldn’t give it a negative score. I still thought it was good and would recommend it to someone looking for a rather intense read. Everyone deals with some kind of tragedy in their life so reading a scenario like this isn’t a bad idea and as it’s a oneshot, this works as a very self contained story. It would probably have been a lot worse if this was an ongoing title because if something with 5-10 volume had this ending then I dare say that it would be bad. That would feel more like a waste, but a oneshot is the perfect place to attempt this kind of plot. I’ll be interested to see which oneshot the author does next, at least when there is time away from the main ongoing.

Overall 6/10

Violent Saturday Review

Posted on by
Reply


Violent Saturday is one of those films with a rather large cast as the various plots all converge by the end for the climax. How well the climax works will likely depend on how much you like all of the characters and plots. I would say that the movie is fairly solid and the plots work well for the most part with one exception. You should have a good time with this one, it can be a bit of a slow boil for a while but the ending definitely handles things nicely.

So lets go through each of the plots here real quick. The main story tying them altogether is we have 3 crooks who have decided to hold up a bank. They’ve done their research and aim to strike at the perfect time where there aren’t too many people who can stop them. Most of the film is based around their preparation so it takes a while for them to actually do the job. That’s where we get the various sub plots to come in as the characters from all of those plots end up being at the bank.

First up is Harry who is the most annoying character. He’s a perv who always runs outside the window of Linda so that he can catch her after she has come home for the night. Unfortunately she doesn’t realize that her apartment is quite high up and so with the window open anyone can see her. Harry doesn’t have the courage to talk to her in person though and so his life keeps on falling through the gutter. Perhaps this experience will teach him some courage but I can tell you that he is easily the worst character in the film.

Then you have Boyd who gets drunk rather easily. He’s not too happy with his home life at the moment and there is a lot of tension with his wife. He is more direct than Harry though and actually does make a pass on Linda. Ultimately she doesn’t take advantage of him in this weakened state and takes him home but not before scolding the wife. The scene was rather intense as Linda dares the lady to try and fight her. We definitely know who would have won that fight.

Meanwhile Linda is a solid character. She’s certainly quite popular in this town but always handles herself with elegance. She is perhaps a little too forgiving as she could have been a lot harder on Harry but it’s a little difficult to call that a character flaw. Linda is easily one of the nicest characters here and doesn’t make any big mistakes so I can certainly appreciate that. Then you have Elsie who is a thief. It’s quite fortunate for her that Harry is the one who located her since the blackmail canceled each other out there.

Elsie comes across as a little petty. Circumstances may be tough but it’s no excuse for being a thief and she gets quite outraged at anyone calling her out. This plot felt like it had the least amount of relevance to the story but at least it’s one more dynamic to follow. We also have an Amish family that is living in a plot of land nearby and that becomes relevant later on. They follow a very peaceful way of life and so they refuse to use violence even when the need arises.

I always think this can be extreme. If that’s the way you live your life then that’s that of course but to protect your family you feel like it is the time to cross a line. Fortunately the main member made the right call when it counted. Finally we also have Shelley who I would say is the main character here. It’s an ensemble film but at least if I had to pick a lead out of them it would be this guy. He did not serve in WWII so his son isn’t taking that too well when the other kids make fun of him.

Shelley knows that it couldn’t be helped but it’s difficult to convince his son of that. When this whole bank heist occurs, it’s his chance to finally do something about this. He can be a hero but if he makes the wrong call then he may just end up being dead. So he definitely has to watch out but in the end he does a good job on all counts. Considering that the odds were really against him, Shelley had to use a lot of strategy and tactics in order to turn the tides.

I would say Violent Saturday succeeds because the characters are well developed so it adds a little more tension to the climax. Not all of the characters were good to be sure but the overall picture was on point. The writing was good as well and I enjoyed the climax. It’s definitely tough having to go up against multiple opponents when your own allies aren’t really doing anything to help you out at least for most of it. A bank robbery like this is also a lot more intense back in the day because without cameras or anything, you have to assume that the robbers will never be caught if they escape. It would just be difficult to ever catch up to them and so it became even more imperative that they be stopped here.

Overall, The character arc for Shelley was really good and I’m glad that he got to really prove himself here. The movie keeps a good pace throughout and the fight at the end is fairly long so we get to see a lot of tricks from both sides. I can’t think of many films where the climax takes place in a barn either so that was a very original location to use. If the others had been harder on Shelley for murdering the villains as he fought them then that might have hurt the film a bit but fortunately while they didn’t agree, they weren’t actively getting in Shelley’s way. Now that would have been annoying. This film ages well so I’d recommend checking it out, maybe watch it on a Saturday!

Overall 7/10

Romance on the High Seas Review

Posted on by
Reply


It’s time for a movie about how the lack of trust in a relationship can really get you in trouble. After all, no relationship can exist without trust, it’s just not going to work because the endless cycle of suspicions and all will just keep you trapped. This movie is a fun comedic look at how things could play out and I’d say that it works well. The cast of characters is fairly small but you’ve got a lot of dynamics here.

The movie starts with Elvira having to cancel yet another trip because her husband Michael couldn’t make it again. At this point it’s enough of a running gag where the store even knows her. Elvira is disturbed when she sees that Michael has hired a young, flirty receptionist and decides to test his mettle. She’ll pretend to go on the cruise alone and will hire a stand-in (Georgia) to take her place and keep up the act. She’ll then watch her husband from the building next door to see if he cheats on her or makes any kind of mistake. She’s going to catch him and then…..well that would be sad for her but she’ll feel validated.

Meanwhile Michael is suspicious because at the last second he was able to cancel the work plans but when he offered to go on the cruise, Elvira said that it was too late and she had to go by herself. The whole thing was odd so he hires a detective (Peter) to go on the cruise in his place and spy on Elvira. See if she gets up to any trouble and then report back to him right away. If he catches her in the act then it’ll really wreck his day but he’ll know once and for all that his suspicions were correct. In both cases the main characters have to hope that they are wrong but just don’t have enough trust in each other to not have to attempt this in the first place.

It’s a fun plot that will definitely inspire a lot of shenanigans to be occurring on the ship. Georgia has never been on a cruise before and is typically not very well off so this is all a blast to her. She tries her best to live up to Elvira’s image but the rich lady left her so many instructions that it will be difficult to follow them all. At the end of the day Georgia is more of a free spirit and just wants to have a lot of fun. When she runs into Peter, the two of them hit it off but the tough part for her is that her cover is that of a married woman so she can’t really pursue this.

At first I would say that she doesn’t even realize that he likes her like that, it takes a bit for this to be settled. I thought Georgia was a fun heroine. She could have definitely done more to keep her cover though as resisting a romance for a little while on a cruise isn’t all that hard. She’s certainly earning enough money to just have fun by herself if you ask me. Still, Georgia means well and is one of the more entertaining characters here.

As for Peter, well the whole thing is actually a lot worse on his side. See, he actually thinks that Georgia is Elvira and yet he’s still making a play. At first it is just to test her which is dubious in itself but at least he’s not trying to go further than that. Once he actually does like her and start to make some moves then that’s really dicey since she is “married” as far as he knows. So the romance itself is one that I couldn’t root for in the slightest and it’s not a good look for him either.

The first rule of being this kind of detective is not to get involved with your client. No romances or anything like that because it’s just a conflict of interest. So he failed right out of the gate there. As a character he’s nice enough but he’s definitely not the best at his job. He’s very lucky that things tend to work out in his favor because he could have really been in a jam.

Then we have one really random character in Oscar who doesn’t add a ton to the dynamic. I’m convinced that he was just added to make things more chaotic. In which case….that’s a good idea! The character himself may not be great but the more misunderstandings the better for a film like this. The poor guy is madly in love with Georgia but you know that he is doomed right from the start. Almost every line is him feeling sorry for himself or directly confessing to Georgia but she writes it off as a joke. While it’s played for laughs, that has to be one of your worst fears when speaking out your true feelings.

The other person just laughing it up or joking with you has to be a downer. At least Oscar never lets it get him down though. Then for the main two, Elvira and Michael don’t get to do a whole lot here after the opening scenes. They’re okay but not nearly as interesting so it’s probably for the best that they were dumped to the side. Elvira certainly started this with her big scheme but Michael is also to blame for hiring that receptionist who was quite shady. That lady wasn’t exactly subtle with the flirting or in how rude she was to Elvira. That alone should have gotten her dismissed and if I was Elvira I would have insisted on it.

For the most part the humor in the film is on point which is what makes this a solid watch. The only gag that thought dragged on way too much was when Peter and Oscar get drunk at the bar. They keep on trying to drink their beers but another drunk steals it. This scene goes on for ages until it finally ends and was just stretched out too much. There are a few songs in here but fortunately they don’t take up too much time. I wouldn’t say any of the songs were great or anything but surprisingly Peter probably had the best one here. It was the most outrageous which ended up making it memorable and I got a decent chuckle out of that.

Overall, Romance on the High Seas is a good film. It doesn’t overstay its welcome and has a good amount of laughs for everyone. The characters are solid and the writing is good as well. The film has a whole lot of build up to everyone finally meeting each other and makes the most of it with the climax. I haven’t seen a climax that crazy in quite a long while and it really executes everything on point. If the climax had faltered then it would have certainly hurt the movie so I’m glad that everything worked out ideally. I’d recommend checking this one if you want to watch a comedy with some romance. The romance itself is weak but comedy is the main genre anyway so you’re all set there.

Overall 7/10

Brian’s Song

Posted on by
Reply


It’s been a little while since I saw a film based on a true story. Brian’s Song is a story about two NFL running backs and I have to say that I didn’t really know about either of them before the movie. They were just a little before my time but it was cool to see the NFL highlights and learn more about them through the film. I’d say that the movie does a good job with the adventure. Of course I can’t speak to how accurate it all may be, but as a cinematic experience it does the job.

The movie starts with Gale heading to practice as this will be his first season with the Chicago Bears. There he meets up with the veteran Brian who is currently the running back but he’s been in decline a bit. Brian starts off by messing with Gale a bit with some pranks but eventually they get to be good friends. Gale even ends up becoming the starter right away because of his incredible talents rushing the ball. Brian fortunately takes this in good spirits and they even get to share a room and help each other to succeed further. Sadly this cannot last as Brian becomes incredibly ill and may not make it. Can he be saved or is it all over?

As this is based on a true story I suppose it isn’t really a spoiler but at the same time if you don’t know about these events, I figured I’d keep them under wraps just in case. Either way you can bet that this is a very emotional film as movies based on true stories usually tend to be about dramatic events. Why make a movie about an every day situation right? The movie is fairly short as it’s just barely over an hour so the movie doesn’t need to try and stretch the premise out much. It’s able to just go from scene to scene fairly quick.

Of course I would have liked to have seen some more Football highlights but as it stands we got a good amount of them. The main cast is also fairly small as the true focus is on Gale and Brian. The coach gets a decent role as well and I thought he handled all of the situations well. You could tell that he was a good guy and was always willing to do what was best for the team even if it meant that he might be a bit unpopular with some of the players. He just did his job and kept it moving.

I give Brian a lot of credit for not being jealous of Gale as well. A lot of times with movie like this and even in real life you’ll see jealousy start to emerge when the starter is overtaken like this. In any sport there is a lot of pride involved and even more once you’re at the top. You know that Brian wished he could be out on the field but he would just use that as motivation to work even harder as opposed to trying to take any shots at Brian. It was the right attitude to have and it was a real credit to his character.

That brief time where he got to be the starting fullback while Gale was the starting running back was definitely the deal point in their careers. Meanwhile Gale did everything the right way too. He kept on going with 100% effort on all plays and didn’t hold back just because he was friends with Brian. Gale was as supportive as he could be and they really did get along quite well. Gale even overcame his fear of public speaking to give a good speech about Brian later on.

The talent never went to his head and you could see how Gale was incredibly good at playing during his games. One of the fun parts of Football is making friends and getting that feeling of comradery and this movie really handled that quite nicely. Whether you’re a fan of Football or not I think you’ll be able to appreciate the film’s strong writing and solid main characters. The pacing is good and it’s just a well made movie.

It would be nice if the film could have had a happier ending but at the end of the day when you’re based on a true story there is only so much that you can do. Ideally it would be fun to change things a bit so that everyone runs off into the sunset but doing that would likely not go over very well with the viewers. You’re expected to follow the path wherever it takes you and so this film did that.

Overall, Brian’s Song is a good movie. There’s not a whole lot to say about it in part because of how short the film is but also because the plot is very direct. It’s not the kind of movie where there is a lot of lore to talk about or scenes to explain in detail. It’s really a film about bonding over Football and dealing with life’s challenges as they come. So if you’re up for a rather heavy film then this is a good one to check out and the timing is good since we are in Football season right now. It can help you pass the time by until the next games start.

Picnic Review

Posted on by
Reply


This film is one of those titles where it’s a little hard to feel bad for the main guy at times because he keeps making the situation more and more difficult for himself. If he had just been upfront with everyone then the film probably wouldn’t have even had much of a dilemma. Still, in the end that’s not the tactic that the guy decided to use and it ended up costing him quite a bit. This can be a decent drama film but probably not one that you will be finding to be too memorable.

The movie starts off with Hal heading over to a small town. He is penniless once again as things just don’t work out for him but he doesn’t want anyone to know it so he makes up stories about being rich or coming here on a vacation. The train driver doesn’t buy this for a minute but couldn’t care less anyway. The real trouble starts once Hal gets into the town and he asks his old friend Alan for a job. Alan’s a good guy and is willing to help but becomes less enthusiastic once Hal starts making up stories about being a big shot or Alan really wanting him to work at this job. Hal also starts attracting quite a few ladies at the village and now everything’s going crazy. What can he do?

So the first thing Hal could have done would have been to just tell things straight. He fell on hard times and Alan is doing him a favor. Don’t hide those facts, especially when Alan is right there. Hal really pushes his luck in just about every scene and the lies aren’t even that convincing so you know that they are going to fall all around him at any moment. The whole film is really just watching the world around him slowly burn as a result.

He shouldn’t deserve all of the blame though as the other characters could have handled things better as well. In particular I thought Rosemary got off way too easily. She basically tries to cheat with Hal because she wants some excitement and when he isn’t too keen on the idea she causes a huge scene and puts him on a spot. This destroyed what was left of his reputation and completed Alan’s decision to turn against him.

I wouldn’t say Alan was great either here. I can see why he was upset about Hal lying the whole time and that’s understandable but then towards the end it almost feels like he is being easily manipulated by Rosemary’s big scene. Like that was the tipping point when I would have changed that to a different scene. By the end he’s definitely not ready to be all that reasonable anymore.

The main heroine here would be Madge as she always had the best chance from the 3 ladies. She likes Hal well enough but I can see why some of the other characters are skeptical and warn her not to pursue him. All that know about this guy is that he’s a chronic liar who gets into a lot of trouble and doesn’t seem reliable in the slightest. Keep in mind that he just got into town and by the end of the movie he’s already being chased out of it. Is this really the guy you want to pin your entire future on? It seems a little reckless at best and flat out irresponsible at worst. I can’t say that I was able to get behind the romance here at all.

It’s all much too quick and the ladies here seem too desperate. The guys get jealous but I guess their bonds just weren’t all that strong. One thing that holds Picnic back though is that there isn’t much of a plot beyond this. It’s really just about Hal showing up and causing a panic because of his lies and the fact that he was too good looking for the little town. That’s it, it’s not like there is a big villain (Rosemary is the closest to that) or a lot of twists and turns. The movie just goes on until it ends. It’s a low key drama with some romance.

To make that work you would likely need more humor or a very strong cast of characters. This film has neither of those. It’s not boring at least and goes by fairly quick but I wouldn’t call this a good movie. It’s just not quite strong enough to make it to that level. I wouldn’t say it has a lot of replay value either and I can’t think of what hook I would use to tell people to watch it. There isn’t a really big reason in particular to recommend this film to people. Even the picnic itself isn’t all that memorable.

The town sure does make it a big deal though. It’s like a whole festival just for hanging around outside and eating. The fact that a picnic is one of the biggest events in the town also shows you how there isn’t a lot to do here. You better enjoy the food because otherwise that would be game over. I think what would have made the film more interesting would have been if the film leaned into the premise a bit more and had like 20-30 different people going after Hal or if it focused a bit more on how his lying making things tough on the town.

Have him break something by accident and lie about it or point the finger at someone else. Effectively Hal would be destroying the town from the inside by getting everyone to be really suspicious of each other. That would have absolutely been the best way to go here and I think it would have been highly effective. It would have certainly amped up the drama here and also given the town more reason to be so angry at him. Otherwise it’s not like the guy was a super criminal here, he didn’t do enough to justify how everyone turned so violent by the end. Even if Alan and Rosemary were instigating most of it.

Overall, Picnic isn’t a very memorable title and it’s also not a very eventful one. If you want to watch a film about a picnic then that’s probably the novelty feature for this movie but that’s just not enough of a hook. You can do a lot better with both romance and drama films so you can just leave this one by the wayside. It may not be a very bad film but there just aren’t any really strong elements to it.

Overall 4/10