Tag Archives: Drama

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

Paper Moon Review

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Overall 6/10

Plainsong Review

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This is a Hall of Fame movie? I dunno about that, this one definitely doesn’t soar to the classic Hallmark levels of hype. Ultimately the biggest problem here is the lack of a satisfying conclusion to the movie. The antagonists get away with too much without any real penalties. Yes, you can say that maybe there were some consequences down the road but I don’t know if you can really make a convincing argument for that. It seems to me like you would have to do some leaps in logic on your own when the film could have just done that.

The movie follows a teacher named Tom who is having to raise his two kids by himself due to his wife being ill. His wife has retreated more and more into herself to the point where she first moves away but lets the boys see her, and then decides to completely go abroad. She has really deserted them in their time of need and Tom is already busy so now it’s going to be tougher on him. Meanwhile two of the teachers seem to like him. The more reserved Maggie and another girl who is really desperate. Tom has to be careful with how he proceeds…and of course there are also random bullies running around.

This is mainly Tom’s plot though. We also have Victoria who ends up getting pregnant and the guy doesn’t want anything to do with the baby. Victoria wants to keep the baby but has nowhere to go but fortunately she is taken to two elderly brothers who are okay with her moving in. They have a hard time connecting with her due to the age gap but do their best to be accommodating. Will Victoria be grateful for the help in her darkest hour or will she make some more bad mistakes?

Both plots can be annoying the whole time. I suppose the first one to dissect is Tom’s plot. I give him credit for not bad mouthing his wife or anything throughout the movie. She makes a lot of mistakes and is making his job harder but Tom just puts his head down and gets to work. Where Tom is a bit shakier is with the romance. I mentioned the desperate lady earlier and so he puts himself in dangerous situations like driving her home from the bar. Nothing happens but the fact is that something absolutely could have. She could have made a move in the car or claimed that he made a move. When someone’s interested in you, particularly when it’s one way then you have to make sure to never be in one on one situations.

It also gave Maggie the wrong idea but that’s a little harder to predict since the timing had to be perfect for that misunderstanding to occur. Their romance definitely felt a bit rushed though and it’s all moving pretty fast since Tom is still technically married. In fact, that’s the excuse he used for the first woman but then he forgot about that with Maggie. No matter how rocky things are, as long as there is no divorce then you can’t move on. Even then if it’s too fast then it plays out like a rebound. The movie didn’t really need any romance either since it’s not really crucial to the plot.

It’s not a good look for Maggie either for the same reasons. Tom is off the market right now and it basically has to stay that way. She needs to focus more on the schoolwork instead of all that. Another thing going on at the school is that Tom is being pressured to let one kid pass his class despite failing every test. Tom doesn’t want to do that but he may lose his job if he goes against the administration. Then meanwhile the guy actually goes and attacks his two kids. Yeah the two kids look really dumb in leaving home by themselves but you should still reasonably expect that they won’t be attacked by their fellow inhabitants.

The fact that nobody among the teens broke off the whole event was definitely disappointing. Likewise with Tom getting rocked by the bully’s father as well. No serious charges entered the mix or anything by the end of the film. These guys were literally attacking children and left them in the middle of a deserted area and nothing happened. The villains absolutely got away with wayyyyyyy too much by the end of that. It was definitely crazy.

Then with the Victoria plot, she looked really bad. It’s clear from the start that she was hanging out with the wrong crowd and naturally getting pregnant at such a young age is a bad look as well when it’s a voluntary action. You shouldn’t be engaging in acts that could leave you pregnant at such an age and it’s clear that the guy wasn’t ready for this. Then after being given a nice home, she leaves with the guy just to be reminded that he’s a total jerk all over again? It’s as if she had short term memory loss and in a lot of ways that has to be the most annoying part of this whole situation.

You can’t keep falling for the “Grass is always greener” approach. The two old men were nice enough to welcome her in once, to be honest if I was them there wouldn’t be a second chance after that. Kudos to them for being accepting but when you’re that old it’s not good to be having any real stress like that. She really just left without a word and scared them pretty badly. It’s a reminder to them that she would leave at the first sign of a better opportunity.

In a nutshell, the issues this film had were all boiled down to a weak character cast. The characters were mainly not likable and made the worst possible decisions. I think the old men would have made a much more interesting film at this point. The drama within the town just shows how corrupt everyone could be and I still can’t get over the teen getting away with punching a teacher and terrorizing two little kids. I’d want to be out of that town so fast if that kind of thing can just be overlooked.

Overall, Plainsong goes hard on the emotional beats but forgets to really have a resolution to them. When you just have sad plots over and over, it ends up making things too lopsided for any kind of ending to fix. I wouldn’t really be able to recommend this title because it’s more of a downer than anything else. You’ll want to watch a more traditional Hallmark film over this one.

Overall 4/10

Your Lie in April Review

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Looks like we’ve got a little time loop shenanigan going on here right? Well it’s time to talk about the anime version of this series. It’s pretty similar to the manga, I’d say just sped up in some ways. It has to go pretty fast to adapt everything in time. It’s a pretty solid title for most of its run….until the ending which doesn’t survive any better than the manga. It ends up keeping this one from being a good title which is definitely unfortunate. If the anime could have only diverged from the manga, this title could have been saved.

The story follows a boy named Kousei who is still dealing with a lot of trauma after his physically abusive mother passed away. He was known as a complete child prodigy pianist. He could play the piano better than any other kid using a super mechanical style where he did not add his own personality to the music. Other kids resented him while the adults thought it was really impressive. His mother taught him well but it came at the expense of her humanity and he wasn’t really able to have friends.

Kousei isn’t able to hear music anymore and is definitely not at his best but he doesn’t play competitively anymore anyway. Well one day on the way to a double date (His childhood friend Tsubaki made him attend) he bumps into his best friend Watari’s date Kaori. Kaori also plays music via the violin and she quickly declares that he will support her in the competitions by being her accompanist. He doesn’t want to help her but she isn’t the kind of girl who takes no for an answer. So he will have to really get over the trauma here or it’s all over for him.

Kousei has to go through a lot during this series. You feel bad for him all the way because it’s more than you would want any kid to have to endure. I know that being a musician comes with sacrifice but this gets ridiculous after a while. he’s basically not allowed to live an ordinary life at all. Kousei puts in the work to get better and better but it’s really always matched by a trauma to set him back once again. The hero is a bit too timid for my liking which holds him back but I’ll cut him some slack. He can also be pretty hard on Kaori in order to raise her spirits but considering that she is quite sick as well, it makes a certain degree of sense.

So he’s got his flaws and all but at the end of the day Kousei is doing his best to help out. Meanwhile Kaori is a lot of fun. She always has a ton of energy and really keeps the characters together. She gave Kousei a reason to smile again and made good friends with the whole group in general. Not an easy feat when you are jumping into an existing friendship circle. Kaori just jumps in and it all works out. She definitely has a tough time of things as well but tries not to let anybody worry about her. So she puts on a brave face and keeps on looking forward.

Then we have the rival Takeshi who is a lot of fun. He feels like he could have been the main character in another series. He’s loud and always striving to be better and better. It’s a hard road to the top but he pulled it off. He still yearns to beat Kousei one on one but by every metric he has already surpassed the guy. It’s always nice when you see someone rise to the top through hard work and dedication outside of the main character. It can actually be rather rare.

Meanwhile Emi is the other rival and her skills are also good when she has the right motivation. Kousei is really the only motivation that works on her though. If she wans to be the best then she will need to get over that at some point. Additionally, while she likes Kousei, she never really made any obvious attempts at him. As a result it feels like a doomed romance from the start since none of them are mind readers. There is no realistic way for him to know what she is thinking after all. That’s just not how it all works. She’s a fun character though and the fact that she can reach the top level at all is definitely worth praising.

Nagi may not be at their level yet but she’s another mini rival to show up. Her role in the anime definitely feels quite a bit smaller though. She wants to mess with Kousei but basically drops that as a goal almost immediately. Here she just becomes another friend almost immediately. Nothing wrong with that of course but it would have been nice to have had a longer antagonist. She did good in not letting Kousei sabotage her big moment though. While it was portrayed as a teaching moment, I’d actually say it just made Kousei look bad the whole time. If she had not kept up with him when he started playing off tempo, she would have never come back from that.

Meanwhile poor Tsubaki can’t play the piano so she doesn’t really get to mix it up with the other characters as much. We see her internal struggles as she resents music a lot but her biggest problem is not really getting involved with the others. Her friend Kashiwagi tries to spur her on to get involved but it takes a long time for any progress. Being a little nervous is natural of course but if you stay on the sidelines forever then you will never make any progress. You have to continue to move forward. Unfortunately she is in an impossible situation due to the way the show ended and I don’t see her having any hope now. Ah well, there’s nothing wrong with just staying as friends and she can still be a super valued friend all the way to the end.

While Hiroko sympathizes with Kousei’s Mom too much, she was a solid mentor. I appreciated her being there for Kousei when he needed some help. She is a really solid coach and definitely someone who knew what she was doing. The grownups in this show definitely look rather decent when it counts so I could appreciate that. if anything it would have been fun to have seen her play the piano at least once during the series. We even got to hear the mother playing a bit before she died and that character was rough. There just isn’t any excuse for the way she was hitting Kousei back in the day. The death was still tragic but the series made her as unlikable as possible. There was really no redeeming factor for her here. Kousei wouldn’t have had to deal with so much trauma if she had treated him right.

Then of course we have Kousei’s best friend Watari. Watari’s a good friend who always looks out for everyone. Where he is found lacking is in being a reliable boyfriend. He’s always chasing after all the girls which is a bad look for him. Yes, we do see that he cares about Kaori by the end so you can say it’s one of those things where he cares about all of the girls but there is nothing genuine or noble about that. He comes off as an indecisive guy who chases after every skirt. It’s why he can only be relied on as a friend and definitely nothing more. He’s good natured and fun to have around but that’s about it for him.

The animation is pretty solid. It’s very bright and colorful. The scenes all transition together very well and the movement is good. There is even one death scene near the end that the anime extends a whole lot to really show off the animation effects. In that way it looked impressive but made the scene even sadder. Because it looks like the character is trying to hang on but it’s like the person is blowing up with lots of energy leaving the body. Resistance is futile and it’s a real spectacle. Then you later on have a background that looks like something out of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. It was really cinematic all the way around. So I’d say the animation does a good job of elevating the content to a grand level, even if that isn’t quite enough to raise the score itself.

As for the soundtrack, it’s more on the okay side. None of the tunes are all that memorable. The openings are okay but probably not something I would be listening to all that frequently. It all works well enough for a fairly low key title like this one but otherwise I’d still take a more fast paced rock theme or something like that. Sometimes you just have to really surprise people with something new right? At least that’s the way I see it.

While this series is part romance, there aren’t really any pairings for you to root for. First you have Tsubaki and the random guy she had a crush on. It’s evident early on that she doesn’t actually love him a ton though and the guy doesn’t stick around for long. There is Watari and Kaori but it’s clear that Watari isn’t serious about the relationship so by those standards there’s no way you could root for this. Kousei likes Kaori but of course we definitely can’t root for that since she already has a boyfriend. That would be absolutely crazy. There is Tsubaki and Kousei but he doesn’t like her in that way so of course that was a doomed romance as well. Yeah, I guess there were no romances to root for here. It does you just how chaotic and all over the place the characters were. None of them were really ready for romance. At the end of the day they are basically kids so they’ve got a ways to go.

Okay skip these next two paragraphs that will deal with the spoiler content. Unless you’ve watched the show of course in which case you are definitely free to stick around. Just think about it carefully. Okay so of course as you’ve probably guessed Kaori dies. Additionally a random cat also dies to drive home the fact that the end of the series is super serious business. Nobody is really spared from the onslaught of rage and madness. In a lot of ways I think the saddest part about Kaori dying is that it feels like the series could have easily still had a sad ending if it wanted to by having her not able to play music just yet. Keep her in the wheelchair for a while or something. Actually bumping her off during the surgery though? It’s just too cruel.

The whole series is about moving past trauma but now Kousei ends up having a whole new trauma on top of that one. That’s exactly what I got out of this at least and it’s definitely not fitting in with the tone of fighting to the end. Sometimes things don’t work out but it’s still not the message that I would have been sending the viewers. In the end Kaori confesses her feelings but you could argue that’s the worst time to do it because now that she’s dead, Kousei has no way to respond. It’s just giving him more things to agonize over. I don’t see how he will ever manage to get over this no matter how the series tries to hint that he’ll be okay.

For the most part the series is definitely nice and happy which I appreciate. The episodes go by quickly as a result and the pacing is good. While the anime does have to jump past some manga elements quickly, it’s done in a seamless way where you will only notice something is missing if you read the manga. If you just watch the anime directly then I don’t see why you would suspect a thing. That shows just how well the anime was handled here. It is also nice to hear the actual piano playing even if I don’t understand it to the dramatic extent that the characters do as they decipher each note and cry about how beautiful it is.

Overall, Your Lie in April is definitely a pretty fun show for most of its run. I appreciate the themes of moving past trauma and all, at least while the show sticks to them. Ultimately though, a story like this completely depends on the writing and other elements backing it up. If those run out then you’re not going to have a good time. The ending just doesn’t work and it crushes the usual replay value that would be here. Sad stories are the hardest to do for that reason since everybody wants a happy ending. Or if not happy, then your task becomes 10X harder. It is definitely possible to do like the DBZ Trunks OVA from a long time ago. It’s just easy to backfire as well.

Overall 4/10

Your Lie in April Review

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It’s time for a very emotional story about drama and loss. The series is definitely going for some themes about recovery here and using music is definitely a classic way to do it. That said, the title does end up losing steam by the end of its run and isn’t quite able to finish the journey. I would make the case that the ending goes against all of the main themes here and just doubles down too hard on how rough things can get. It’s definitely not what I was expecting there.

The series introduces us to a boy named Kousei who grew up as a piano prodigy. He was able to play any piece to near perfection but one day his sickly mother passed away. Kousei developed a mental block which prevents him from hearing music anymore and so he can no longer play the piano. Many years pass by and now the most he can do is trace lyrics and do some music work for school. He’s basically depressed and doesn’t have any real motivation. Well one day he meets up with a girl named Kaori who plays the violin. She declares that Kousei will be her accompanist and so it’s time to enter the competitions again. Can he really handle this though?

There is also a second wrinkle here which is that he immediately falls in love with her. The problem is that Kaori is dating his best friend Watari. So he knows she is out of reach and tries to squash his feelings but this gets tougher and tougher as the series goes on. These feelings may end up enhancing his music and yet they can also destroy it. He will need to figure out his feelings quickly or Kousei’s going to end up shutting down again. In a way this helps distract him from his previous trauma but it also opens up the door for more trauma.

The series has a fairly small cast although we do get more characters as the adventure goes on. We meet some rivals and mentor figures but for the most part this is definitely Kousei’s story all the way. He’s a good main character but at the same time he can be annoying at different points. He definitely panics quite a bit and is more on the timid side. He does a good job of getting past the trauma and pushing through though. So on that side he does pretty well for himself. I also appreciate him keeping his feelings for Kaori to himself for so long. That’s really the only option you have here because otherwise he would really be the bad guy in all this. You can’t confess to someone who is already taken. When the person you like is taken, you just gotta internalize and keep on living your life. Kousei really stays strong for the majority of the series until it doesn’t really make much of a difference anymore. Although because it was so late in the series I’d say he should have still kept things to himself.

Meanwhile the trauma means that he isn’t able to hear his own notes while playing the piano. This is a pretty tough trial. Even when you know the right keys, if you can’t hear what amount of pressure you’re putting on them, you’re bound to mess up at some point. So it did make sense that he was struggling a whole lot even as a prodigy. That’s not really something you can simply play through and so destroying the source of trauma was his only chance. We get that in a fairly literal way as he plays harder and harder and learns to move past his old history.

The series tries to massage his mother’s character near the end but it was too late for that. During the series we see how she was flat out abusive to him. She would beat him until he bled, isolated him from all other kids, etc. Even though we see that it was to make him stronger and all, that’s just not a valid excuse or even closer to one. It would be difficult to think of any excuse that would make it okay to be hitting a child like that. It makes sense that he was so traumatized and while forgiving her and moving on is a heroic thing to do, it’s not going to be making me any more sympathetic as the reader. The Mom messed up in her job of raising Kousei.

The series definitely doesn’t give nearly as much screen time to his friend Watari. Watari is always around and has his moments but at the same time he doesn’t undergo any major character arcs. His ending shows that the guy does care to an extent but the fact that he is constantly flirting with every girl is still a bad look for him. You can’t really root for any of his romances when he’s always so flaky. He does do his best to encourage Kousei at every turn though. He never really gets upset and is there for the lead whenever possible. So while he is probably not a good romantic partner, at least he does serve as a good friend. Watari works hard to give Kousei the push he needs near the end. Considering that Watari didn’t even get to win the big soccer game, you could say that things never went very well for him here.

Tsubaki is the main heroine in a sense. Kaori is way more pivotal to the story itself but Tsubaki gets several chapters to herself and we get to see her pov different times. She’s a character who is at a cross roads because she wants everything to stay the same but of course that’s not really possible in any setting. Then at the same time she also likes Kousei but is unsure of how to actually tell him this. She stays in denial for a very long time and even by the end she never really makes a move. So that keeps her from really being a strong character.

She’s a nice friend and all but it makes sense why Kousei wouldn’t pick up on any signs of her liking him. She just didn’t make it easy at all and was just being her same ole self. Yes, she finally does have a big moment near the end of the series but by then it’s simply too late for her. I would say Tsubaki completely missed her window because by the end of the series she will never know if she could ever be anything more than a rebound. That’s assuming she even gets a romance in the future at all. I’m all for thinking your feelings through before making a move but that should take a day, not several months. Ah well, at least either way she always gets to hold onto her memories of really supporting Kousei no matter what.

I had some good respect for her first boyfriend as a result. It became pretty apparent to him early on that Tsubaki wasn’t all that interested and so he broke up with her in the nicest way possible. He was a real gentleman about the whole thing and he knows that you can never settle for second place. So since he wasn’t needed, the guy ended up moving on without having anybody lose dignity or have to get embarrassed in the process.

As for Kaori, she’s definitely a standout character in the series. She’s always really cheerful and outgoing. She easily gets Kousei out of his shell and keeps on pushing. Without her, the other characters wouldn’t have been able to move forward. She can often be a troll and likes to mess with Kousei. I liked how she would call him friend A. That was a fun nickname. As the series goes on we do get to see some cracks in her cheerful armor which makes sense. Nobody is happy all of the time, everyone has their own struggles and it’s why you can always be impressed by someone who seems chronically happy. They are able to put up the front, whether for others or even for themselves and just have a good time in the moment.

I always tend to like these characters. They’re like walking Martyr complexes who are determined to make the world a better place even at their own expense. Yes, she has some rough moments like when she jokes to someone about committing suicide. That was a low moment for her both as a character but also literally since she was finding it harder to stay alive. Her path is definitely the thorniest one and definitely didn’t go the way you’d hope. She is the heart of the series though so without her things would be tougher.

Kashiwagi is a fairly minor character but she was always trying to help push Tsubaki to make a move. Without her Tsubaki would really have been dragging her feet even more. She just wasn’t a very proactive character. The fact that Kashiwagi knew more about music than she did was quite telling. That said, I think she works best as a side character and it’s probably good that they didn’t try to give her a major plot or anything. Not everyone needs to be in the spotlight like that.

Then we have Nagi who shows up fairly late in the game. She wants to ruin Kousei but that goal falls through early on. She’s an interesting character but her character arc goes a bit quickly. In a way she mirrors how Kousei used to be with how easily she gets frightened. Nagi means well and she beats the average kid but her role does feel the most superfluous. You could remove her from the series and I don’t think a whole lot would change.

An example of a character who is much worse is Toshiya. This kid is annoying not because he didn’t want to switch seats with Kousei but because the guy was whining a whole lot when he first appeared. Then later on he becomes a fan of the lead but is too scared to say anything. Yeah he’s definitely got a ways to go. You have to be able to defend your positions with poise and confidence. If you always have to hide then something is not right. He is just a kid so he’ll probably get better, but he’s definitely not at that point yet.

Meanwhile Kousei’s coach Hiroko is a solid character. She takes a tough approach with him without being abusive so you can always appreciate that. She has a lot of personality and is a fun character all the way through. I definitely enjoyed her and she adds a lot to the dynamic. Without her, Kousei would have really been in a lot of trouble. Then we have the lead’s two main rivals Emi and Takeshi. Emi is one of those rivals who secretly likes him so that adds some drama to the mix. She’s at her best when he’s around and does great in the competitions but apparently she gets sloppy otherwise.

Emi is the definition of a high maintenance star. If conditions are perfect then she will excel but otherwise she will falter. It’s really as simple as that. She’s a fun character since I always like competition but it’s fair to say that Takeshi gets more of a role. Without Kousei for all those years, Takeshi quickly rose to being the best musician on the block. The only reason he is still in Japan is because he has always wanted one more rematch. So he gets that and even gets a really grand final song. He gets a whole lot of credit throughout the series and I think he has the most full songs aside from the main character. He’s a very well rounded character so I was glad to have him around.

There are a few more characters like the other coaches but that’s about it for the regulars. The series gives everyone some time to shine and while it is more of a drama than a comedy, it has its share of light hearted scenes as well. The series is probably at its best with the long piano performances as the series goes all in on making them really emotional. We get a lot of internal dialogue to go along with the lyrics and we see how everyone really gets caught up in the experience. You definitely do have to enjoy the performances though because otherwise they do go on for a long while and you may get bored.

The writing is enough to keep you interested though. That’s why it’s a shame that the ending basically throws this all away. It could have been worse for sure and the series tried its best to handle the ending as tactfully as possible but it still takes major points. The series even includes an animal death near the end in what has to be one of the most unnecessary moments in the series. That was just crazy.

Skip these next two paragraphs which will have spoilers for the ending. This way you can still be surprised when you read the series. All right so here we go. Kaori decides to take the surgery after Kousei inspires her to fight to the end. Unfortunately she dies during the surgery and so now Kousei’s going to go through the feeling of loss all over again. Even more so since he is the one who really pressured her to take the surgery. Yes, she was going to die either way but that level of pressure will absolutely haunt him. The manga has Tsubaki show up to try and comfort him, she still hopes to be his girlfriend but it’s hard to see the guy ever opening up again.

Kaori also prepared him a letter for after death explaining that she was always in love with him and just pretended to love Watari. While that’s her way of trying to finally come clean and make things easy, it will only make things harder on Kousei as he wonders why he didn’t notice. The manga tries to prevent this as more of a bittersweet ending but it really feels like a terribly sad ending all the way. There’s just no way around it, you can’t have the heroine die at the end. After all the themes of fighting hard and not giving up, for it to all be in vain like that is a terrible message. Then having a cat die slightly earlier just so Kousei could have another person that he couldn’t save in time. The whole thing was way too mean spirited and definitely dropped some points. I would have definitely kept her alive and also not done the twist about the letter. Yes, the letter makes things better on why she was so friendly with him the whole time but him just being friend A would have still been satisfactory.

The art for the series is solid enough. I don’t think it’s really my kind of style but it’s never unclear or anything like that. Maybe it can seem a bit un detailed at times or it’s the way the characters move. That said, it’s still clear enough to be sure and I had no real issues with it. It lands the emotional parts as needed and you can easily be binging the series. The artwork definitely fulfills its purpose there.

Overall, A Lie in April definitely lives up to the title. The lie makes sense by the end and you also feel lied to if you were expecting a certain ending. The series goes well for most of its run, but as they say the ending is the most important part of any title. If you don’t stick the landing then it’ll hurt. It’s a bit debatable as a bad ending can hurt almost as bad but i might agree that the last impression will overtake the first. There would definitely be no incentive to re read this one either unless you choose one of the volumes to end at. Making your own fake ending in a sense but of course that’s still fake so it’s sort of stretching disbelief. After al, you know that the series isn’t really over. For that reason I would say to go read Nisekoi instead for a very wholesome adventure.

Overall 4/10

Duke (2012)

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It’s time for one of those really dramatic Hallmark titles. Typically when you turn on the channel you can expect to see a really wholesome Christmas type flick or if it’s from the hall of fame then it’s going to be a much more serious title. This is definitely one of those so get ready for the waterworks.

The movie starts with Terry returning home after a tough deployment in the army. He was badly injured which is why he’s back home and now he has a severe case of PTSD as well as some survivor’s guilt since he wants to get back out there and fast. Unfortunately the doctor says that he will not be cleared to go back and so he must stay as a civilian. He really doesn’t have a say in it and his only solace is in a stray dog that popped up. One day it all becomes too much for him though so he abandons his wife and kid as he and the dog drive off. Many years pass and their lives seem fine enough but his dog Duke gets super sick. Terry drops him off at a vet and dashes off again because he isn’t ready to handle more death. Thing is, the vet can heal him and so now they need to find Terry.

As you can tell there is a whole lot of dashing going on around here. Now Terry is dealing with a lot so you don’t want to be too harsh to the guy but he definitely did cause a lot of trouble for himself here. Ditching the family was really bad, especially when we find out that his wife died shortly afterwards from cancer. So his daughter was really on her own trying to pick up the pieces. Fortunately things went well for her but that was a tougher situation than it needed to be and Terry has to take direct responsibility there.

Then we have the second time where his dog was dying and Terry couldn’t be there for the experience. Yes, it’s tough but that’s the job. When you have a pet you gotta be there until the end and so I couldn’t really cut him any slack there. He made too many mistakes throughout the film but at least he’s in a better headspace now. Terry has finally gotten past his issues, but it was really quite the ride to that point.

It’s very fortunate that he had such a solid circle of friends around him. If they all weren’t so supportive then it would have been far worse for him. He wouldn’t have known what was going on with Duke without his friend bringing up the subject. The film has a fairly small cast the whole time since this is definitely more of a personal story. His daughter gets a small role but she’s mainly just trying to find Terry and set things right. She definitely gets a lot of credit for sticking her neck out in order to push things forward. Considering the circumstances, I don’t think anyone would have blamed her for not wanting to find Terry at this point and just continuing on her way.

The film is about his trauma after all but she likely has a lot of her own. She may blame herself for not noticing sooner which caused Terry to storm out during the party, playing a lot of what ifs in her head, etc. All of that can really add up as well. Meanwhile the vet definitely looked real good here. Technically speaking it’s not like they had to take Duke in. It was against their rules and everything but they still went ahead and did the right thing as needed. Definitely a good way to lead by example here. They fulfilled their duties as doctors and treated the injured animal in front of them.

I would note that Duke himself does play a bit of a back seat to Terry as the lead though. This is definitely not a case of dual main characters as Terry is clearly the star. Still, we can definitely say that Duke is the MVP here as without him Terry would have been in real trouble. He gave his owner someone to think about at all times and was a good distraction on the whole. Duke stayed strong and didn’t falter no matter how tough things got.

The film is fairly short and the plot is very direct so there isn’t a lot more to get into with this one. Mix that in with the fact that it’s got a small cast and that’s about it for the movie. You should know based on the premise if you’ll enjoy it or not because this isn’t a movie about plot twists or anything like that. It’s a very direct film after all. The writing is solid and the movie never drags on so you can put those feathers in its cap as well.

Overall, Duke is definitely an emotional film that definitely focuses on a lot of the sadder aspects of dealing with PTSD. It’s really about nonstop trauma and getting past it. As a result there aren’t very many happy scenes in the film. The whole thing comes across more as a very exhausting adventure about a veteran having to find his road to recovery. It’s a good message and definitely something that is good to keep in mind as it’s never too late to get better. Of course a good message doesn’t always translate into being a fun film and that’s exactly what’s going on here. You definitely have to be ready for a pretty intense movie here.