Tag Archives: Drama

I.Q. Review

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It’s time for a romance film that has a fairly unique gimmick but at the same time it doesn’t feel like this actually changes the flow of the movie all that much. In fact, the movie would likely be about the same either way. Unfortunately it suffers from having a particularly weak romance and the characters aren’t really likable. When you’ve got an unlikable cast and the romance in a romance film is weak…well there’s not a whole lot more you can do about this. The film just ends up being doomed upon arrival.

The movie starts with introducing us to Catherine and James who are engaged to be married. It’s a rather big deal for them of course but their individual careers are also rather big. They aren’t really the romantic types but things just worked out. Well, one day their car breaks down and so they head to a mechanic’s shop to fix it. Unfortunately one of the workers there is a very unprofessional gentleman named Ed who immediately falls for Catherine and starts to bad mouth James. Ed has no sense of tact or anything like that and basically just does whatever he wants. Naturally Catherine isn’t overly fond of him so Ed works with her uncle Einstein to try and make a favorable impression. To do this, he pretends to suddenly be a genius who solved the problem of nuclear energy. Sure enough this does catch Catherine’s attention but the other problem here is that now the whole state of New Jersey is really hyped about this. Has he set himself up to fail?

The story itself is a classic of one person pretending to be somebody that they’re not in order to attract the other but of course it usually does equal out to being a bad romance. For starters this means the relationship will be starting off of a massive deception. You also have to factor in that she is already engaged here. Yes, the film tries to show us that James is a boring guy who doesn’t add a lot of spice to the world but at the same time it’s not like Catherine really signed up for a super romantic guy.

His one really bad scene was when he wouldn’t start having fun with her during the middle of a dinner engagement. It wasn’t the best time for that anyway but even so it’s not like she was actively trying to leave the relationship. So Ed going after her so hard was just a bad look. Make no mistake, he takes the bulk of the blame on this one. He really should have just kept on living his life and not pursuing her. I also think the way he did it just came across as being distasteful too because he immediately started bashing James. Not a very nice thing to do.

Ed’s just hard to root for and the guy is constantly annoying. Meanwhile I do have to dock some points for Catherine for entertaining this at all. Yeah this guy is super smart now but that doesn’t means he has to play along and entertain the guy. She is already taken and off the market, that’s really all that he needs to know. She needs to completely leave the current relationship first before any of this could happen so yeah she isn’t a solid character either.

Finally you have Einstein and his team who are supporting Ed the whole time. It’s not a good look for them either since they should have been respecting the fact that she was already in a committed relationship. It also would have been nice if Einstein was more supportive of Catherine in general like when she found an error in Ed’s work and Einstein played dumb to help the guy out. Einstein may be a genius but he was completely out of his depth here.

The film actually showed some good restraint in not making James out to be some terrible creep. Ultimately they settled for just making him boring which is fine. That’s certainly not a terrible quality particularly with it being so subjective. You automatically end up rooting for the guy. The real losers in this fight were the American people though. Everybody was so excited about being the first to have nuclear power. Even the President was ready to get involved and it was going to be a huge victory for New Jersey in general. Ed got everybody’s hopes up only to let them down afterwards. Just not a good moment for him at all.

I rather liked Catherine’s boss as a character because he’s really emotionally involved in what he does. The guy was really trying to get Catherine to find a way to help out the company and then after that he did their best. It’s why lying is always a bad approach because there will always be several victims involved. Ed never actually seems all that remorseful for what he did though. They definitely could have made things a little tougher for him.

In terms of the comedic aspects of the film, it’s okay. It’s not the funniest film out there but there are a decent amount of jokes running around. It’s one of those things where the jokes would work better if you really enjoyed the characters. I liked Ed’s boss though, the guy was trying to keep it real the whole time but would crumble when it was time to get famous. He told Ed that the whole thing was a bad idea from the start though so I have to give him credit there. Then you had the scientists feeding Ed the right answers during tests but the whole thing was so obvious that it mainly just makes the side characters look bad.

Overall, I.Q. is not one of the better films. I feel like the premise absolutely dooms it from the start. The worst part is that you could cut out her fiancé and almost nothing changes yet it would help the film out quite a bit. Ed would still be annoying but at least he wouldn’t feel like a bad character so that’s an immediate improvement. It’s a reminder of how even small plot elements can really change a whole lot of things. All it takes is one story element to really shut things down. If they ever do a remake of this film perhaps they could really improve it. I doubt it’ll return tho.

Overall 4/10

Black Hawk Down

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

Black Hawk Down is definitely a really intense film. Certainly one that isn’t trying to hold back on your account. The war and its events are not ones that I’m particularly familiar with. This was definitely back before I was really even slightly keeping track of such things. Of course you can still get what is happening really quickly because a lot of wars have very similar motivations and reasons for starting. There will always be serious disagreements across countries and reasons for war, as unfortunate as that might be.

The film mainly takes place in Somalia where a great civil war has started. There is a huge famine so right now you have hundreds of thousands of people dying on both sides which has only increased the bitterness across the board. The United Nations attempted to quiet things down but as soon as the U.S. Marines left then things went crazy again. So now the U.S. is returning to shut everything down but what should have been a 2 week mission has turned into something far greater. With Washington losing patience, the elite soldiers will have to take more drastic measures to assassinate the head of the most violent gang. Can they pull this off?

During the course of the movie, some of the soldiers begin to have some doubts about the mission. Are they really on the right side of this battle and should they be playing the role of the world’s police here? Often times you are not going to get a whole lot of gratitude from people after having served the country which is definitely disheartening. You also have to trust that the intel you are getting is accurate and that you are not fighting on the wrong side here. If you are, then you’re really in trouble.

The film mainly takes the stance that somebody has to put an end to the violence and since America has the means to do so, it’s up to them. I generally do agree with that. It’s hard to just overlook what is going on around the world if you can help it but obviously real life’s not like a video game. When you step in to interfere in any foreign land then you are opening a huge can of worms. It’s a can you should open but it all comes down to execution and being careful not to overextend yourself. In this film the U.S. forces are really put in a very difficult position.

As the title suggests, everything goes wrong once one of the Black Hawks goes down. It triggers a whole lot of events and more lost lives in trying to reclaim the situation. The troops are in heavy enemy territory after all and these guys are not afraid to fight dirty. After a certain point you have to basically assume that everyone walking towards you is an enemy and must be taken down. There are no real exceptions here and you also have to be on the lookout for traps. If you are about to lose, you cannot let yourself be captured alive because that will end up leading you to a much worse fate. For one character I expected the worst but surprisingly he pulled though.

The movie definitely is very dark though so you can expect a whole lot of violence. You really see some very deep wounds across the characters here and one character in particular is beaten really badly. With large scale destruction like this there aren’t really any winners either. You see just how many buildings are blown up and there is a very large death count by the end. Even for the survivors you have to assume there will be some very strong cases of PTSD coming out of this. War always has significant casualties.

Since a great chunk of the movie is the large operation to take down the powerful leaders, there isn’t a lot of time for character development or anything like that. You’ll generally know who each of the characters are but that’s about it. The film tries to add a bit of levity amidst the nonstop doom and gloom with a subplot of two soldiers who were seemingly left behind. They’re trying to catch up to the rest of the group and it’s definitely not an easy adventure for them. One of them is basically deaf by the end. I appreciated the film trying to lighten the mood but to an extent that’s basically an impossible job with this kind of movie due to just how serious the subject matter is.

It’s just crazy dark and even when something violent isn’t happening for a change, you can feel the tension in the air and know that something is about to happen. The film does have a fairly large beginning to set things up so you can stay relaxed for that part. I wouldn’t have minded if the whole film was basically setup since that tends to be the best part. Once they are on the field then things get crazy. The soldiers are also at a disadvantage from the start since they have to follow the proper rules of engagement and fight fair. The enemies have homefield here and tons of people who are eager to fight. Their sheer numbers advantage is crazy high, particularly since the U.S. is completely alone out here except for some backup which only helps out super reluctantly at the very end. Even then they left the soldiers behind to get picked off one by one.

Overall, If you really like war films then I imagine you will enjoy this one as well. It’s definitely very long so the film is able to include all of the details that it wants to. At the same time, it is rather unrelenting and you’re not going to be having a lot of fun with this film. It’s just not that kind of film and for me personally, I like happy movies. They add a little pep to your step which I really appreciate. Of course this film can also work as an informative watch although I would argue in that case it’ll always be easier to just read the Wikipedia article or something like that.

The Tunnel to Summer, the Exit of Goodbyes Review

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It’s time for a really great romance film. I often say that romance is handled rather badly in movies and so it’s always good to have an anime film show up to remind me that this kind of a story can be done well. The title is a real mouthful but it is a great movie through and through. Get ready for a lot of emotional punches to be thrown at you throughout the movie.

The film starts by explaining there there is a secret tunnel in this one town. When you go inside it, you are disconnected from time itself. You can reclaim anything that you have lost within that tunnel but it will cost you something in return…your time. 3 seconds in there is close to 2 hours in the real world. So that’s a great deal of time. If you trip or spend too much time in there, well you will have been gone for a very long time. You would have to be crazy to believe that this tunnel really exists….and even crazier to give it a try. You should not dwell on the past…..

BUT THAT”S HOW A NORMIE WOULD THINK!!!! Kaoru realizes that this is how he can bring his sister Karen back to life. She dies when they were children in a tragic accident that tore his family apart. His father is constantly drunk now and beats him while his mother left a long time ago. There is no bringing the past back to life but bringing Karen into existence might be able to help things. A new transfer student named Anzu shows up to class and she’s interested in the tunnel as well. Her goals remain a mystery to Kaoru but he is happy to have company. Still, can he really allow this girl to throw her life away? Going far enough into the tunnel to find Karen could mean that decades and decades of time will have passed. Possibly even hundreds of years.

First up one of the things that I liked about the film was that it didn’t try to really prove why you should not dwell on the past. Some films can be heavy handed about this but in this case the movie didn’t seem to have a problem with the goal itself. Kaoru needed some closure and so the tunnel was the way he would need to go in order to get it. When you have something that can change reality like the tunnel then I’d argue that you probably need to use it. Why wouldn’t you use something like that right? It just makes perfect sense.

The tunnel itself is certainly scary but we see how Kaoru really has nothing to lose. Yes he has a friend at school but there are no other serious connections. It only makes sense that he would be fine with tossing his life into the void. I’d probably have at least stuffed some money into a savings account so I’d have a nice sum upon my return but beyond that you might as well jump into the void. You could say that Anzu is the only real complication here since now he is slowly having a reason to keep on existing in the present.

Anzu is rather depressed and also doesn’t really have any friends or close family to keep her tethered to this world. That said, this slowly does begin to change as the film goes on. It leads to a really selfish move on Kaoru’s part though. I can definitely say that he made a huge mistake there and I wouldn’t blame Anzu for holding a grudge over that. She ends up being a really standout character not just for her tough personality in the present but for her loyalty and perseverance in the future as well. A lot of characters would have cracked or given in to rebounds sooner but not her.

I also liked that she stood up to the bullies right away in her school. That was a good way to solve the issue as opposed to just taking it or something like that. I always like when a character is guarded and tough to start out with. Anzu wasn’t accepting favors from anyone without a fight and she could defend herself. So that made for a high quality character. Meanwhile I also thought Kaoru was a really solid main character. Again I really appreciated his determination. He had a goal and was really determined to see it through. He didn’t waiver but he also gave Anzu the choice to turn back when he saw that she was having doubts as well.

Kaoru had to endure a whole lot over the years and he never let any of it crush him. That can definitely be tough to handle. Now I do think he should have ensured that he recovered what was lost and then went back to the real world. Based on how the tunnel works this should have been possible. I actually thought Anzu was going to be the one to save him by virtue of her “losing him” which would fit the criteria. Some pretty interesting ways it could have ended but the way it was handled was also good. We got enough repercussions where it didn’t feel like the movie had a cop out here.

It instead feels like an ending where none of the characters will have any regrets. It’s a super satisfying ending and yes it was a really well developed romance. I can say that it clears almost every romance I’ve seen in a very long time. The relationship took a while to develop and made sense with what they had gone through together. It’s just easy to root for. Meanwhile Karen may never have appeared in the present but she still left a good impact. It’s clear that she was a really good character and you can see why Kaoru missed her. It’s always nice to see a character like that who looks on the bright side of things and keeps the vibe light.

Kaoru’s father unfortunately got worse and worse as the film went on. Naturally it goes without saying that there is no excuse to get so drunk that you hit your son. It also sounds like this wasn’t the first time that he hit him. Then showing up later on with a surprise wife? Even the way he handled Kaoru when the latter was throwing up (Throwing him out of the room) showed how crazy he was. I was expecting some kind of redemption arc for the guy but it never happened. At least thanks to the way the ending goes, Kaoru shouldn’t have to deal with this.

The animation is pretty solid here. The film gets to really show off with the tunnel which looked really nice. The colors were striking and it definitely had a good air of mystery about it. I also liked how the flip phone looked which is always a retro design. The whole thing looks nice. The soundtrack is a little more forgettable but the lyrical song at the end is solid. The movie does well enough on the technicals.

Overall, I always enjoy a good film about time travel. It’s more appropriate to say this was about time displacement though as there is no actual travelling through time here. Regardless, you get the idea though. The concept was really interesting and the story is super engaging. The film has its share of sad and happy moments along with a great ending to tie it all together. I would definitely recommend this one. It’s a great title and you won’t be forgetting it anytime soon after you have watched the movie.

Overall 8/10

Charlotte Review

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Overall 6/10

Winter’s Bone Review

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

It’s time for a film about the horrors of living in a rough neighborhood where you can’t trust anybody. There is a lot of trouble going on everywhere and so it makes for a tense adventure. One that is without many pleasant scenes to be honest so as a whole the movie has a hard time trying to cross the boundary into being good. The mystery is interesting but to an extent you start thinking the resolution doesn’t really matter and the heroine just needs to find a way out of there.

The movie starts off by introducing us to Ree. She’s a teenager who has been given the daunting task of looking after her whole family after her father vanished. Her mother is super sick and can barely think anymore while her two siblings are too young to look out for themselves. They live really far out in the middle of nowhere so it’s not like there are any institutions or agencies that can help them. Now it turns out her father put the house as collateral before he ran off with a bunch of debts and a criminal record. If she doesn’t find him and make the guy go to court within a few days, her family will be homeless and that will be game over. Can she find him though?

The main reason why finding him will be tricky is because everyone around here are involved with drug dealing or know the people who are in it and don’t want to be a snitch. Talking around these parts is basically a death sentence after all and yet Ree needs to find her answers. The deeper she gets, the more danger she puts herself in and even gets beaten up. They may all have a lot of family around these parts but these people may as well be strangers. The business comes first before family and of course that puts Ree in a really bad position.

Her uncle is really the only character who defends her. Most of the others are willing to murder her when she digs into what’s happening. Yes she gets some help by the very end but it does feel a bit hollow since earlier they were going to let her die. They say that tough times show you a person’s true self and Ree definitely got to see the true feelings of many of her family members. She will know that they definitely can’t be counted on. It would be one thing if they were all just staying quiet about her father but when they jump into threats and violence then that’s crazy.

Additionally, if they wanted to get her off the trail then they should have helped her out. Maybe find a way to get her another place to live, bribe the courts, etc. They could have found some incentives which would make her want to drop the case, instead all they did was ensure that she absolutely had to keep on searching. She really did not have any choice in the matter. While the ending may be happy to an extent, you can’t help but feel like things will still be bad for a very long time. She certainly created a lot of enemies and rocked the boat during this adventure. That generally does not turn out very well.

As a character Ree is good though. She is risking her life the whole time for a task that shouldn’t even be hers. Ultimately she stepped in to fill the shoes of her parents who were both not able to handle the job. Additionally she managed to stay away from drugs and all of the bad habits that everyone else in the film had. So she gets a lot of credit there.

The only other character who I would give credit is Teardrop, the uncle who helped her out. He’s also risking his life by supporting her in any way because the rest of the community won’t like that. It takes a lot of bravery and guts to go against the masses and yet he does this on more than one occasion. He’s the only one who really went to bat for her so that does deserve credit. The rest of the town are all just super unlikable.

Ultimately that’s also why the film just isn’t very good. It’s super dreary the whole time and without many likable characters, it makes the adventure a bit of a slog. It’s just nonstop intimidation and corrupt characters running around. There aren’t a lot of colorful backdrops out there in the wilderness and it’s not like this is a huge conspiracy plot either. It’s a fairly local styled mystery and you can connect the dots on what happened to her father early on. The film was really lacking a hook that would really make you want to keep watching. Without that, well this one will just end up fading from your memory. I’d only recommend checking it out if you really want to watch a tragic kind of film. There are some people who have no choice but to live in an area like that and so you see just how tough that is.

Overall, Winter’s Bone is not the best film. In fact I wouldn’t really even call it a good one. The whole circumstance for the main characters definitely sucks and they need to find a way to sell the house and get out of there. Things will only get worse before they get better after all. Of course it’s easier said than done to leave any area and that’s why the whole situation is tough. It may be a dramatic film but it’s not one that is all that fun so I’d definitely say to give it a skip and watch something else.

Overall 3/10

Seabiscuit

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It’s time for a big drama film. This one’s definitely long so they have time to cover a whole lot of ground. It’s a pretty interesting film about just how hard it can be to compete in horse races. The characters may not always be the greatest and the film has some pacing problems but on the whole they do a good job with this one. By the end of the adventure you will definitely have no doubts on the legacy of Seabiscuit. Definitely one of those horses who fought hard all the way through to the end.

The movie starts off by introducing us to Charles who ends up becoming super rich when he gets into the car business. This guy had serious talent as a seller and was also very innovative. He managed to succeed in completely changing the business landscape. When the great depression hit, lots of families were affected though and Red’s parents end up having to leave him alone. Red has a tough time growing up as he loses in horse racing and boxing. Well, one day, Charles gives him a chance as the guy has decided to get into the horse business. He gets a horse named Seabiscuit and is eager to see just how far he can get. The horse is deemed by everyone to not be ready for this level of competition but Charles has never listened to the experts before and doesn’t intend to do so now. He will follow his instincts to the end. He even brings in Red to ride the horse.

Naturally the guy is considered to be an underdog. Seabiscuit is just missing the competitive fire to win after being messed with for so long and Red has a massive chip on his shoulder that is always holding him back. Red just isn’t willing to back off and sacrifices races when he’s crossed. In a way both of these fighters will have to surpass the odds and Charles has dreams of them even defeating the legendary Mr. Riddle and becoming the best horse in all the world. Is such a thing even possible?

It’s different from other dreams after all. If you want to be the best Tennis player in the world, at least you are playing the matches yourself. In a setup like this you have to count on the jockey, the horse, and everyone else to do their parts. You can’t win this on your own talent alone. So Charles may be a great business man and he’s been around the block but for this reason I would say this is his most difficult challenge yet. I appreciate that he is always patient and tries to look on the bright side of things though. It’s not always the easiest thing to pull off. He did rebound a bit quickly on the romance side though.

Meanwhile the coach Tom may have been the best character here. He did a really good job of constantly researching the opponents and giving good advice. Additionally, he was kind to the animals and didn’t want to destroy them just because they couldn’t compete anymore. He definitely did really well throughout the film so I have no qualms with him. Naturally Seabiscuit was also a lot of fun. Definitely a tough horse but it makes sense when we see how all the races were rigged for Seabiscuit to lose back in the day. That had to be rough.

As for Red, he’s the weakest of the main characters. The guy messes up way too often. He had a rough upbringing after leaving his folks so I can get the first bit of things but he doesn’t really learn his lessons. When he gets depressed he wastes money and has pointless affairs instead of improving his skills. I think that’s the worst part about the guy. If he used even half of that drive to make himself a better jockey then I would have way more respect for him. The fact is that he is easily rattled. Not telling his team that he only had partial vision was also really selfish of him.

I would say that the gravity of the situation doesn’t really get to him until the end of the film and by then it ends up being a little too late for him. The guy is determined by the end so I will give him that at least. His friend who helps out in the climax definitely felt like the better jockey overall though. He felt way more professional as if he was always in control. With him I think Seabiscuit would have won even more races but of course Red is still good in his own right. He did well in creating bonds, I just think this guy was still even better.

Meanwhile Riddle made for a pretty good opponent. I do wonder if there were any scandals about him being responsible for rider injuries though because if not then that was definitely a bold play on the film’s part. I liked him quite a bit as the antagonist. The guy may have come across as cruel but he’s just being a good businessman. You don’t want to take on all challengers because you have way more to lose than to gain. I also imagine that travelling too often will weaken the horse as well. Now the guy also did seem nervous so it’s a mixed bag for him but overall this is the kind of opponent that you want to have.

I’m not well versed in horse racing at all but the final level did feel a bit cheesy with how weak the world champion horse looked. I would have expected a lot more pop out of him and for this to not have even been close. Instead, Seabiscuit was the one who had to be slowed down at one point after the huge lead. I’d be surprised if that’s how things really played out. I’d also figure that the faster horse would just be dominating but I suppose that part’s also different from human racing in that there is more to it than that. You have to ensure that the horse constantly runs at full power or you could lose a race that you might’ve won.

That said, I can never support animal racing like this irl. It seems way too tough on the horse and naturally I don’t support all the hitting in order to make them go faster. It all seems barbaric and in general I don’t like seeing animals in any activity. The finished product might look fun but the road there is often really intense. The best horse might be treated really well but the ones who lose could be in for a tough time.

Overall, While this film may not get me into horse racing, it does a good job of showing how technical the whole process is. There is a lot of strategy put into every different part of the sport so it has complexities like any other. You could probably trim a lot of the fluff out of the film and it would flow better so just know ahead of time that this is a pretty long one. If you like horse racing then you should have good fun here and if you don’t, then you’d probably want to skip it. That’s ultimately the make or break point. The film sure gets a lot more right than wrong though.

Mass Review

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All right it’s time for a film that is the definition of being dialogue based. There is a whole lot of talking here and the characters don’t really get to leave the room once they’re inside. It’s an interesting concept but the execution is done in a way that prevents the film from being all that interesting. Each of the characters has to try and navigate their way through the conversation carefully so the pacing gets shot immediately and it all goes downhill from there. Now it’s hard to say if the positions themselves are a spoiler or not but since that is the focus early on, I’m going to lean on not. Throwing the warning out early though because if you do feel that’s a spoiler, then you’ll need to skip the whole review until you watch it.

The movie starts with a room being set up in a church. They are expecting 4 guests and the church lady is extremely stressed the whole time. We get a lot of awkward dialogue the whole time but finally the 4 people arrive. They are two couples and they are here to talk about a recent school shooting. Their conversation is going to get pretty intense because one couple are the parents of one of the kids who got shot, while the other couple are the parents of the school shooter who was then shot by the authorities. Can they come to an understanding?

Well naturally just from the premise you can see how this isn’t exactly a popcorn action flick. It’s all very serious and dreary the whole time. I think the idea of a debate of sorts would be pretty interesting but this isn’t really a debate. The parents of the first boy just really want to hear some regret from the other parents and try to convince them that their son was a monster. Meanwhile the other couple is doing their best to be pleasant but don’t want to back down on their position that he was still their son and otherwise was a good person.

As a result, it’s not like there is much of an end point that they can have here. The second couple has been taking heat from everybody around the world and may have even had similar conversations with other parents. Meanwhile the first couple can talk a lot but it won’t bring their son back so if anything it means that the conversation may just stir up old wounds even more. They all hope that this conversation will help provide some closure but will it do that? In my mind that seems like a pretty impossible task. I could see having conversations with other people but reaching that far across the aisle is probably going to be a bad idea 99% of the time.

Again I do find conversations like this interesting but typically the features I watch online are done in a much more aggressive ways. Think of something along the lines of Piers Morgan where the panelists are always yelling over each other and calling each other names or any Youtube debate with folks like Destiny, Asmongold, Haasan, The Crucible, Peterson, etc. They tend to be one dimension removed from the situation so they can go on TV and start yelling real hard as they press on the positions. You get the slightest fact or detail wrong and they will absolutely pounce on you right away.

In some ways that kind of conversation will tend to yield more results since you can try exposing the other side. Of course in this movie nobody is really in it to expose the other. Perhaps a little at first but again it’s more for closure. It’s just that it takes absolutely forever to get to any of the points. Anytime they start to get into some interesting topics like gun control, psychiatry, etc. they are cut off by one of the other characters to try and make more emotional arguments instead of looking at things logically.

By far I would say the couple who raised the shooter were the best characters here. They both did their best to be sympathetic and proper right from the jump. They said all the right things while also refusing to back down from their positions or relent on any point that would make their son seem like a monster. They kept strong here and just did a solid job. They were also able to look at the situation a whole lot more analytically and didn’t have as many emotional bursts as the first couple. Considering that they went through a whole lot as well, that was impressive. Whether or not they suffered more than the second couple will be debatable but ranking different traumas is ultimately pointless. Everybody suffered in this film which is the point that the film is trying to establish here.

Of course the first couple has a lot of reason to be upset but they were the ones mainly breaking the agreed upon rules like going into interrogation mode and launching into personal attacks. They were consistently more aggressive and having to walk around the room. I give the first couple a lot of credit for agreeing to meet up as well since this easily could have been a trap or some kind of surprise attack. Once they were all alone in that room, any number of bad things could have happened before any kind of backup would arrive. So the first couple also showed a lot of bravery.

The scenes with the church folks from the beginning and ending may have been a little too dragged out but I appreciated the attempt at trying to have a little levity in here. I wouldn’t have minded that as a subplot of them running around and maybe bumping into the room once or twice. It would have been a good chance to have a few cliffhangers too with one side landing a solid zinger as we cut away and then return.

At its core, I suppose the main issue here is that the conversation gets fairly boring pretty fast. You basically know all of the stances that the characters will take before they make them. This is of course because the film is trying to go for a lot of realism. You could picture this being a real conversation between two families with all of the crying and pausing that was implemented in the film. There are probably talks like this that go on every day but in a film you need to do some kind of enhancing to make it interesting. The film could have probably had its runtime cut in half and still preserved all of the core ideas that were brought in.

Overall, Mass may be realistic but it’s not particularly entertaining. I really think they should have had the lawyers from both ides involved. That way you have them being aggressive the whole time while the family begins to see the others’ side of view. The lawyers get kicked out in the climax and then we get the quick wholesome ending. That would definitely work well for making things a little intense. All in all, if this is a topic that you find interesting then you may enjoy the film but otherwise I do think you can find better movies that touch on the themes of forgiveness and moving past trauma like Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children.

Overall 2/10

The Third Murder Review

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It’s time for a police thriller, this time with a bit of a jaded edge from the defense attorney. He doesn’t really care about justice and just does whatever he can in order to get the best deal for his clients. This way he can just stay detached from everything but will he be able to in this case? It’s an interesting film but one that doesn’t have any real likable characters for the most part. I was also really hoping we could get more scenes within the courtroom but for the most part they tend to all be off screen.

The movie starts off with a guy getting murdered and then lit on fire. We cut to the present where the assailant was found to be a guy named Misumi who ended up agreeing to the charges. He is not slated to be sent for death and so that’s when Shigemori is called in as his defense. Shigemori needs to fight the technicality of the crime here. If he can change it from a murder robbery to something slightly lower, then he can get the guy off with life in prison instead. The problem is that Misumi seems to keep on giving different answers to every question as if he himself isn’t sure of what happened and is also giving incriminating statements. Does this guy want to be found guilty?

For a while there that’s sort of what I figured was happening. Misumi desperately wanted the death penalty and was trying to sabotage himself. It turns out that this wasn’t the case which makes him look that much worse to be honest. He comes off as really naive and gullible the whole time. The guy is in a bad position and just tries to do his best but he really could have planned things out almost any other way and had a better outcome. So every time the characters have a conversation with him you just cringe. Even right to the end the guy was being super cryptic.

As with any criminal case, you do have to try and measure all of the evidence. One girl even tells Shigemori how nobody tells the truth around here and that seems about right. Everybody is lying to their own ends. Even Shigemori basically says he will do whatever it takes to win even if he doesn’t believe what he is saying. It’s a pretty rough way for a defense attorney to speak. I imagine it’s probably the easiest way for him to live with himself since it is a tough job. Being a defense attorney means you sometimes have to defend truly terrible people that you know are guilty. It’s definitely not a job that I could ever take.

He has a younger assistant who still believes in justice but we’ll see how long that lasts. The prosecutor is a lot more likable since she is trying to make the world a better place and is getting stopped by Shigemori the whole time. Now I know the Japanese criminal system can make a person jaded with how good they are at forcing confessions. Regardless of if the confession is true or not, they get it and then that ends the threat. In any society you always have to choose between security and freedom. Japan has chosen security and so there are pros and cons to that. A pro is that you often don’t see a lot of crime, most of the ones that make the headlines are from tourists which makes a lot of sense.

It means if you commit a crime then you will be in for a very bad time. It also means you need to be really careful where you are at because if you are falsely accused then you are also in for a bad time. For what it’s worth, I would say the Japanese system has more pros than cons, I would consider it to probably be the best system around the world. Other systems that use a similar security styled focus like China tend to have more corruption issues and freedom styled justice systems always tend to become a bit of a joke by the end.

All of these are reasons why Shigemori may not believe in the cause anymore. His father used to be a more lenient man but has also turned hard after his light sentences were taken for granted. One of them even involves the current suspect. Now as the film goes on we get more and more actual motives for Misumi beyond the ones that were made up. One in particular involves the girl Sakie and while most of the plotlines are left a bit up for interpretation, I don’t believe there is ever any scene that gives us a reason to doubt what happened to her. It is the cleanest explanation for the murder later on and helps Misumi look more reasonable.

I still maintain that Misumi could have handled things a whole lot better though and his whole speech about control was really just bonkers. The fact is that some people do have control over other people’s lives depending on the context and situation. It may be nice to say that nobody should have control but that’s like me saying it would be nice if there was no crime. There’s just not much point in such a statement because that’s just how it is.

Also back to Shigemori, part of why he’s not likable is aside from the fact that he doesn’t care about justice, he just seems to be completely unreasonable the whole time. For example he brings a letter to the widow of the man who was killed and explains it’s from the murderer who feels bad about the whole thing. The fact that he actually half expected her to take the letter is crazy. That’s just such an insult, I was glad she ripped it. Why would you possibly forgive the murderer so easily or believe that he has any sympathy about the incident? If anything I’d be more likely to attend the hearings after that and make it clear that I want him gone. Shigemori acting like that was rude of her was totally crazy.

Ah well, again I also think the film would have been a whole lot better if we got to be in the courtroom a bit more. Of course the judge also seemed to be a bit corrupt in the sense that he was most worried about his image. I don’t blame the judge for basically insulting the whole defense team at the end though because the way they handled the situation would absolutely look crazy to everyone on the outside. The investigating period as the characters travel around is interesting enough but usually the court room is the payoff for all of that. It felt like we got cheated out of the most interesting bits and could only see a small preview of it.

Overall, The Third Murder is an interesting film. It runs a tad too long at times and I would have either made the characters a bit more optimistic or given the assistant more of a role. It would just be nice to have someone in the film who was super invested in what was actually happening. To a degree that is part of Shigemori’s character arc but it takes him a long while to get there. Ultimately the film has a lot to say about the justice system and characters spouting off their own idea of ethics but for the most part the characters come off as crazy. Like the father when he said that at birth some people are capable of murder and others aren’t. It’s such a crazy perspective I had to wonder if he meant something else at first. Either way there is a lot going on here.

Overall 6/10

Robot Dreams Review

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Overall 7/10

The Shell Seekers Review

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It’s time for a film about the horrors of growing older. You slowly realize that your time in this world is coming to an end and people start showing their true colors. It’s tough because at this point you just have to either roll with it or go for confrontations even at the end. In a way the film comes off as being a little depressing and I also thought that the main character was too much of a pushover. I was hoping she would be more aggressive here.

The film starts off by introducing us to the main character who lets herself out of the hospital because she really doesn’t like the environment. She does not want to feel like an invalid and wants to enjoy the last years of her life as much as possible. Yes, she had a heart attack but otherwise she feels just fine. Unfortunately she quickly realizes that the family thinks of her as a burden so she heads off to be with the one relative who always had her back. Unfortunately the others are still hot on her trail because they want money!

Okay so the first thing here is that you don’t have to put someone in your will just because they are family. I would say having them there by default makes sense but if it’s clear that they only want the money and don’t care about you then that’s something that has to be on the table. At one point two of her kids try stealing some rare drawings behind her back and the old lady still doesn’t change anything. By the end of the film she still has these ungrateful kids in her will which is crazy. It’s just not a smart move. I give her some credit for giving away the paintings just to spite the kids but she could have taken things a bit farther.

None of the characters here seem to make the best decisions though. One of her daughters was in a happy enough relationship but decides to toss it all aside for a big job to advance her career. I suppose it all comes down to knowing where your priorities are. If the job is really her top priority then that’s fine but I definitely don’t want to hear any excuses about it later on. The grass is always greener which is why you should not be making any rash decisions without thinking them all the way through first. That will always lead to disaster.

Also back to the heroine again, at one point she confronts her aunt and gets absolutely bodied in their debate. She lets herself get cut off numerous times and is constantly on the back foot. I think it can be tough when you’re in the middle of a debate like that but you have to establish that you are correct right from the jump. That is the first step to getting everything to work out if you ask me.

The film isn’t overly interested in redeeming the other characters and that’s a good thing. It would have probably been more on the cheesy side if any of them had a sudden change of heart. It didn’t seem like these characters would be doing anything like that anyway. So with the whole movie showing how unlikable they all were, it did mean that this film would drag on a great deal. If the heroine was calling them out the whole time that would be one thing but with the way that the film plays out, it just ends up being annoying.

Even near the end the main heroine interrupts a fight to just put herself in the wrong again which made me roll my eyes. It’s good to be a peacemaker but sometimes you can absolutely take that way too far and this was definitely one of those times. The film could have stood to have been a little happier throughout as well. To me it felt more like a cautionary tale about being careful when you’re older. Knowing who your real friends are and weeding out the fake ones. I still think it was absolutely beyond the pale to be rummaging through her attic trying to sell stuff away. That was crazy.

There is also a romance plot going on between the gardener and one of the girls and it is pretty brutal stuff. So from the start he is very cold and not talkative. He doesn’t show any real interest in her and brushes off all attempts at communication. Well, she decides to go with him anyway and then almost immediately starts to get upset at how cold and quiet he is. The whole point is that he was like that from the start so I thought that was extremely unreasonable. It would be one thing if he suddenly changed drastically after talking to her but he didn’t change at all so that was really crazy. Definitely a really bad look for her if you ask me so I was already checked out of that plot early on.

This film didn’t even need a romance plot. When your main character is old, you should be focusing on the unique trials relating to that main plot. Squeezing in a romance plot just because you can is absolutely crazy stuff. I was certainly surprised by it at the very least but not in a good way. Okay most of this was negative so at least one positive I can say about the film is that the scenery was good. The movie just needed to be happier and offer a little more hope for the heroine. Maybe add in some more likable family members somewhere or just make her really tough so the whole time she is fighting them off and we get a moment of introspection like maybe she went wrong at some point. At this point we’re talking about a completely different movie though.

Overall, The Shell Seekers was not really my kind of film. It could be too slow at times and the characters were all way too annoying. There wasn’t really anyone to root for. The writing was okay but the romance was weak and so ultimately that really limited the film’s overall potential. There was just no coming back from all of that and so I would say to give this one a skip.

Overall 4/10