Tag Archives: Film Review

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

Road House Review

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

At its core, Road House is about how fighting to save a corrupt town from itself can often just result in a lot of infighting and everybody losing. You can’t really save people who don’t want to be saved and you will lose a lot in the process. The message makes sense but the whole film feels ultra empty and hollow by the end of its run. Nothing was really accomplished and you will just be shaking your head the whole time. It’s not remotely satisfying.

The movie follows a guy named James who is supposed to be the best in his field. What is his field? The guy’s a bouncer and gets dangerous bars back into shape. He is hired by a guy named Frank to fix up the most corrupt bar in the business. There are constant fights here and the villains have guns and everything. It won’t be an easy fight but James has never backed down from a challenge before and he’s not planning to start now. Good thing he knows how to fight.

It does feel like a bit of a fool’s errand though because in most cases you would only have to deal with the drunks attacking the bar and stuff. In this case, you have a corrupt guy named Brad who owns most of the town. The reason this ruins the operation is that he can literally pay people to blow up buildings and cause a stir. Naturally the police will look the other way as well and so that means James is now fighting an entire town. At this point there is no way to actually fix things.

So during the movie you have a set formula where James will kick some people out, then Brad shows up with threats. James takes more out and then Brad’s hired goons beat them up. There is rarely ever any big progress here and most of the characters really should just abandon town. Naturally it’s not that easy for everyone though so for those people I can see why they would mainly stay out of the way. If you try to help James out then you might lose everything and it’s not like he’ll help you get the money back.

Where the film just starts to get tiresome is when the villains really ramp the damages up and the hero still can’t do anything. They burn down the store of James’ friend and he is powerless to stop them. Then James murders one of Brad’s top fighters so the guy goes and murders his friends. Every time James makes a move, his friends pay the price. It was just too many people by the end so everything felt hollow.

It also doesn’t help that the romance was really weak. James initially tries to present himself as someone who has no time for romance since he is completely on the job and yet it takes very little effort from Elizabeth to break him. Seriously, I was expecting him to put up more of a fight. Then of course she wants him to lay off the danger and does a complete 180 near the end. She is really upset when James murders the right hand man but then doesn’t care once the main villain is taken out. Even though they’re related?

Her character didn’t really make any kind of sense and they should not have been together. It’s indirectly her fault that James lost his friend by the end although leaving him alone was a terrible move on James’ part once he knew that the danger was around. I know he likes to live dangerously but he gets jumped several times during the movie and never seems to learn his lesson. There are several times where he would have been dead if Wade hadn’t showed up and James initially didn’t even ask for him.

For all the tough talk about how James is the best in the business, he seems only slightly above average in a fight. I know this isn’t a superhero film but they could have still made him a little more untouchable. They never go into his origin all that much but that’s probably a good thing to keep up his air of mystery. A prequel about him actually being the best could be interesting but films like this that just drop you in the middle of the action can be a little rare at times.

Ultimately the film just didn’t execute well enough to stay on top. The best character would be his friend Wade although the guy did flirt a little too much with Elizabeth. I feel like it was to warn James to an extent but even so it wasn’t a great idea. Frank may have hired James but he was mainly useless for the whole film. Brad is basically your classic corrupt villain. He takes a lot of risks and should have been taken out but has the powers of money and good fortune on his side. Maybe even some super durability.

In the climax he gets shot so many times and keeps on moving. I was pretty surprised but I do get the message the film was going for. It was just way too little too late. It sure it easy for everyone to step up once the danger has passed but nobody got up when it counted. The scene doesn’t come across nearly as satisfying as the movie is trying to present it as. It’s the definition of a hollow victory on all sides. The fight scenes throughout the film tend to be pretty fun but the film’s tone is just a bit off. There are not enough likable characters here and by the middle point you don’t really feel like the town is worth saving either. Too many characters are just corrupt so the mission should have been abandoned.

I think there could have been a way to have handled this where James learns that lesson and leaves before it’s too late but at least with the current setup it didn’t work. The first half was a lot more interesting with the setup and seeing James slowly learn how the town works. It’s just going for a much more jaded view on the situation which to be honest is fairly realistic. It just doesn’t work particularly well as a movie.

Overall, Road House is definitely not a film that will be remembered as one of the very good ones. It did not stick the landing but had a lot of fundamental problems even before reaching that point. If anything for once I dare say a prequel about him succeeding at the previous bar would be more interesting. I want to see the main character actually showing why he is the best, rather than trying to live off of the hype and not getting very far. Even if you’re a big fan of bars, I would say to avoid this one.

Overall 3/10

Over the Top Review

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It’s time for a film that actually gives a whole lot of screentime to an arm wrestling tournament. It’s definitely a pretty unique spin on things because there really aren’t very many films about that at all. I’ve never been interested in the sport myself. It looks way too painful and so many things can go wrong. Still, I know people tend to enjoy it and the film does a good job of presenting it as something exciting. In the end it’s a fun movie even with a really annoying kid.

The film starts off by introducing us to Hawk who is a young kid that has been doing well for himself in a private military school. He is shocked and dismayed when his father comes in to pick him up. Lincoln has been out of the picture for 10 years so this is all sudden but his mother really wants them to find a way to bond. She is super sick and so having a father will be good for Hawk. Hawk is determined not to get close to Lincoln and spend the whole trip in silence but what he doesn’t know is that Lincoln is entering the world championships for Arm Wrestling. Lincoln is really trying to win big and make his family proud but he will have to get past his father in law, Jason. Jason doesn’t approve of Lincoln and intends to do whatever is necessary to push him away.

Now you do sympathize with Jason to a rather large degree. It can’t be ignored that Lincoln straight up abandoned his family for 10 years. It’s not like it was one year or something, 10 years is absolutely crazy. The film never gives us much of a solid reason on why he left. It seems like he just couldn’t take the heat and so without any kind of justification (Which would be tough to get in the first place) there isn’t really a reason to root for him here. It’s great that he wants to make amends, but that should not be forced upon Hawk.

Lincoln is the main character so we see things from a very sympathetic viewpoint to him but even so, it makes sense why other characters would oppose him. His wife giving her blessing is nice but since she was basically on her death bed, Jason has a point that she might not have been in her right mind. The film shows that Jason is way too crazy with how he hires actual hoodlums to beat up Lincoln and kidnap Hawk so you’re not rooting for him but the movie had to make him super extreme because otherwise you may have found that he actually did have a good point.

The movie really needed to give us a better reason for why Lincoln was gone for so long. In the present he is fun with how he beats up the enemies and saves the day. He seems like a really good guy, you just can’t ignore the history. With all that said, I still don’t like Hawk. He looks unreasonable and annoying right from the jump. He’s really full of himself and even puts himself in mortal danger like when he ran across the highway. Hawks is very emotional and keeps on switching his feelings every few minutes. He seems like the kind of kid who doesn’t really own up to the situation and is always ready to pass on the blame. Definitely not a good thing to do in any context. I was expecting better out of him, even if just by a little bit.

Yes he gets his big moment by the end but it’s way too late. He was just way too emotional. Fortunately the climax is really more focused on Lincoln fighting off all the big opponents. The movie probably made the final boss a little too powerful though to the point where it is completely unbelievable that Lincoln is able to take him on. Not only is this guy way stronger but he barely struggled throughout the tournament. He’s at near peak condition while Lincoln already needed ice packs and rehab from the earlier matches. He really should have gotten absolutely crushed here.

Ah well, it’s always fun to see the hero win. This movie is generally a pretty light hearted film with quick pacing. It may not always be the most grounded but you will be having a good time as you watch it. I can’t really fault the movie for that. Having a good time should always be the main priority after all and this film never really forgets that. The ending is satisfying and things just work out. I also appreciated how big in scale and presentation the tournament felt. We had intros for the various characters, announcers hyping them up, etc. It felt like a true event and I don’t see how you can take arm wrestling much further than what this film did with it.

They even did have the obligatory arm break during one of the rounds which is absolutely why I would not engage with the sport. It seems to me that everyone who engages in the sport long enough breaks their arm at least once. It’s like Skiing where everybody says you break your leg at least once. Once is already too much for me. I know every sport carries a degree of risk but at least in most of them you can mitigate it. Once the other guy has your arm, I don’t know how you can fight it if they really want to break your arm or there is a big power gap. Too risky for me.

Overall, How much you enjoy this film will all come down to how much you can tolerate the kid. If you can’t handle how annoying and cringy he is the whole time then the movie may falter for you. If you can get past that hen it is a good film. It’s entertaining with a lot of good competitive energy the whole time. The villain and even the kid both have valid points so the movie makes sure to undercut them as necessary to ensure that you can still root for Lincoln. At the end of the day you want a main character you can root for after all and in the end this did the trick. It’s not amazing but it is pretty good and that was enough for me.

Overall 7/10

The Professional Review

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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 review of the unedited version would be more negative

It’s time for a film about having to try and grow up within the world a lot sooner than expected. It’s definitely a tough road for little Mathilda as she encounters a whole lot of obstacles. I think it was definitely an engaging film but at the same time I definitely had my share of issues with it. I would have liked Leon to have been a little more street savvy here.

The film starts off by introducing us to Leon who is an exceptionally skilled assassin. He always completes his missions very quickly and doesn’t have a lot of difficulty with them. When he’s on the case you know that victory is at hand. That being said, he has done this by isolating himself from the rest of the world. This all changes when his neighbor Mathilda’s family are all murdered by a gang and he ends up letting her take shelter at his place. She’s just a little kid so he feels bad about sending her on her way but now he is caught up in a huge conspiracy. This powerful organization of mobsters is after her and so he will be right in the middle of that. Can he take them all down…and should he even try?

It was definitely a rough spot for hm to be in. When Mathilda originally asks him for help, he either had to let her in or watch her get shot to death outside. He would be directly responsible for her death and while he is not the most compassionate soul out there, he couldn’t bring himself to do it. It shows that he’s really not all bad and the assassin job hasn’t totally gotten to him. There is still a piece of humanity to him out there after all. He gradually teaches her the basics of shooting but there really isn’t enough time to make a pro out of her. In fact, she never really gets to put the practice to use which is realistic since she is still so young. Ultimately Leon has to do everything on his own.

He’s fun to root for but at no point can you mistake him for a hero. He does jobs for money and you can’t imagine that they were all to bump off bad people. The money would have had him take out good people too. He has a rule about no women or children but if you’re an innocent dude then you are still out of luck. Unfortunately he isn’t as smart in the real world. His manager Tony is clearly taking advantage of him as Leon lets him keep all the money and Tony just gives him a little bit every now and then. Tony may act like they’re friends but that’s really not the situation on the ground. Tony really doesn’t even come through for Mathilda when it counts. I imagine the list of people you can trust as an assassin is definitely a very short one.

Mathilda can definitely be on the annoying side though. At first she’s fine, she tries to work hard to improve her skills and avenge her little brother. The problem is that she loses this determination early on. You’d think with such a motive she would be pulling off any kind of schedule but instead her resolve weakens and she wants to have fun. Sure, she is a kid so you can cut her some slack but then she actively becomes a problem. She makes up stories that cause Leon to be kicked out, then she makes a spectacle of herself infiltrating the villain base, etc. She directly puts Leon in a whole lot of danger without even getting close to her goals. If she had at least gone ahead and shot the main villain then that would be one thing but instead she choked when it counted. This is definitely a case where that can’t happen. She needed to steel her heart sooner.

She went through a lot as her life was lousy to start with and then the murders happened. So it’s not like Mathilda had an easy life but it would still be nice if she didn’t take so many risks. Running out to where she used to live, following the villains, etc. It’s just really like tempting fate all the time and without a plan there is no benefit to this either. Now if she had a grand master plan then things would be different but that’s not what happened.

As for the main villain Norman, he’s definitely one of those quirky villains. He likes listening to music and then he goes off the rails. He definitely has no mercy but also isn’t the bravest villain as he typically hides behind the rest of his army before making a move. By the end of the movie he sends in dozens and dozens of others first before moving a step. He does have a good strategic mind though as he predicts Leon’s plan himself. The movie doesn’t really give him the big final scene I was expecting though. I was waiting for some kind of a clever line but in the end that’s not how it went down. I suppose it’s not like he needed the dignity of it but it could have been fun.

Naturally this film can definitely be on the violent side. There is quite the body count and neither side has any reason to hold back. With the main character being an assassin, he certainly knows how to take care of many opponents at once. The sheer numbers may have been a problem for most people, but not Leon. It’s not incredibly over the top or anything but definitely enough to be noticeable. The ending also isn’t super satisfying. It’s a bit predictable which isn’t bad but I was hoping it would go with a different angle.

I also would have liked Matilda to help out more. Even considering the fact that she is a kid, I would have expected her to have really contributed more. Maybe shooting at least one or two goons during the climax. I was expecting more of a payoff for the training or maybe you could have had Tony somehow escape the climax and she finishes him off. You don’t always get to pull off the big revenge mode yourself but that would have definitely been a satisfying way to end things off.

Overall, The Professional is a fun film. I would have liked to have seen more scenes with Leon at his job though. The opening is really intense as he takes names and quickly dispatches a whole lot of enemy soldiers in his way. It’s really the last time we get to see him using his true abilities until we start approaching the climax. A few more missions like this would have done a good job of showing off just how dangerous he is. We know it from the story of course but the more he could show this off the better. If you like classic assassins and the ole mentor setup then this is definitely a movie that you should enjoy.

Overall 5/10

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

John Q Review

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It’s time for a pretty intense film about a guy who is given the run around by a hospital until he finally snaps. You may be getting some Luigi flashbacks around this point although the circumstances are still different. It’s a pretty good movie with a lot of tension and a pretty intriguing plot. Additionally John really tried every legal method that he could until he was eventually forced t take drastic measures. With a film like this you naturally aren’t rooting for the lead to go and shoot everyone but you definitely get how he came to this point. After a while there really aren’t any other choices to be made.

The movie starts by introducing us to John who is rather down on his luck right now. The hours at the factory he works at have been shrinking in each pay period and it is getting hard to provide for his wife and son. The tax collectors have even taken away his car. John says he will fix all of this but it’s an old tune at this point and his wife isn’t sure about that. Well, one day the kid suddenly faints while on the baseball field and it tuns out that he is in critical condition. He will need a heart transplant but it turns out that John’s insurance changed classes recently and so they don’t cover it. Meanwhile the hospital won’t even add him to the chart as a possible donor until John coughs up thousands and thousands of dollars. So John decides to take drastic action and takes over the emergency room by force with his gun. Either his son gets the proper treatment or none of them are walking out of that room.

It’s definitely a drastic situation and I’d say the most intense thing about it is how possible the whole thing is. Obtaining a gun doesn’t seem like an impossible feat for someone who is properly motivate and most locations just aren’t equipped to handle someone with a gun. Now it may not happen as smoothly as it did in this film but someone could definitely take over for a while like in this film. It’s all about what happens from there. Clearly the gunman won’t escape but it’s more about the damage he could do in the meantime. You don’t want to listen to his demands since it could inspire copycat killers but at the same time you can’t just sacrifice all of the hostages in there. It puts the cops in a tough spot.

The main focus here is really on the determination John has in making sure that his kid is okay. Throughout the movie there are a lot of people telling him to give it up and just accept the death but John won’t take no for an answer. It’s not like he is a pro at this either so he does make his share of mistakes but he is trying to keep the situation contained the whole time. You definitely have to give him a lot of credit there. Things easily could have gone real sideways real fast there. Particularly when it comes to money you can definitely get biter about how things are set up. John really tried his best and worked a really hard job but at the end of the day it wasn’t enough.

Meanwhile it’s not quite the best portrayal for the hospital but realistic. They hear countless stories all the time about sick people who can’t pay and have their lives at stake. it does make sense that they can’t take every case or they would be out of business. The main contact lady is particularly antagonistic the whole time with her delivery but what she said was mainly correct. You either have the money or you don’t and if the insurance doesn’t cover the operation then that’s really the end of the story. Changing the laws is the only way to really stop that, otherwise their hands are tied. It’s certainly not the most satisfying answer but at the end of the day that really is the response to this situation.

Frank does the negotiating for the police here at least when he isn’t being compromised by the chief of police. They definitely clash heads quite a bit in this film with their different approaches. Frank is trying to de escalate and see what he can do while the Chief wants a quick end to this. Both plans have their merits. The chief comes across as a jerk the whole time but he did seem to have more of an endgame to his plan. It may have failed but I didn’t have any qualms with taking the shot. The instant John took hostages, he was not just an “innocent man” the way the reports were describing him. Taking him out using lethal means was absolutely a valid plan and I don’t even think it’s a particularly controversial one. Yes the optics don’t look good but the #1 objective is to save the hostages.

Meanwhile John’s wife does good in not selling him out or falling for any traps. She was on his side the whole time and didn’t waiver. I also appreciated that while they had some fights throughout the movie, it never became a big deal or tore them apart. They stayed strong under stress and kept on pressing. They worked as a good team when trying out all available options. It may not have worked but they did make all possible attempts which is good.

While the film is fairly tame, I should note that there are some medical procedures in the film. As a result you do see a live heart for example which is a bit on the intense side. So you’ll want to keep that in mind but otherwise the worst thing that happens is somebody getting roughed up a bit. Both times the guy getting beat up definitely took actions that led up to that point as well. You want to be real careful who you make upset in a situation like this.

If the film has any issues, it can be that it’s a little heavy handed with how antagonistic it makes everyone who opposes John. For example you have the cops laughing it up as they plan to murder him, the chiefs not taking things seriously, the main hospital director smirking as she declines coverage, etc. Almost everybody in the film comes across as a jerk. Then you have the nicer ones but for example the young doctor in training has a very jaded view on the whole hospital business so he talks about how they plan to cheat people out of coverage, etc. It’s all a grand, sinister plan to keep people sick and dying. It’s definitely a bold accusation although we do know that those insurance companies can get really shady.

Overall, One of the big morals here is to make sure you don’t drive while in a rush. If you have to get somewhere quickly, allow yourself to be late instead of trying to speed during a curve. It’s just not worth it, likewise with running through a yellow light. Sometimes you just need to hold the massive L because at least you’ll keep your life. The movie itself is definitely a solid one. You’ve got a sad situation and a father doing his best to make the most of it. There are a lot of fun philosophical and ethical questions to ask about the situation as well. It’s the kind of film that works well with debate as there are a lot of different positions you could take here. The film is fairly long so it gets to spend a lot of time on the story without rushing things. I’d definitely recommend it.

Overall 7/10

Life is Beautiful Review

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It’s time for a film that has a really big tonal shift midway through. The initial half is a rather silly romantic comedy and then the second half brings a lot of nonstop tragedy. It’s definitely a bold approach as very few films can pull off such a stark change. Well this one puts in a pretty big swing so we’ll see how things turned out.

The movie starts off by introducing us to Guido who is a chronic liar who likes to have a lot of fun. He rolls constantly and falls in love with a lady named Dora. Dora already has a fiancé which would make things tricky for most leads but Guido doesn’t care. He figures that stealing her away will be easy enough and continues flirting nonstop in order to get her attention. Eventually she does decide to go with him and they have a kid. Unfortunately the Nazis invade and split them up. Guido has to keep his son safe but also find a way back to his wife. Can he pull this off or are they all already as good as dead?

Now even once the film changes genres, it is safe to say that it still keeps a lot of the chaotic energy that it had before. The movie will still allow Guido to pull off pranks and tricks the likes of which are just hard to picture. For example he ends up intentionally mistranslating everything the German commander was saying and nobody noticed. Then at one point he uses the loud speaker to declare his love for his wife and to let her know he and their kid were okay. Guido was always a man who was good with his words but this is definitely taken to the extreme here.

Throughout the film he does succeed in tricking his kid Giosue into thinking that this is all some kind of training camp/tournament in order to win a tank. Of course even for a kid that’s a bit of a stretch so you either enjoy this craziness thrown in to keep the film from getting too grim dark or you quickly believe that it is going too far and it weakens the film for you. As someone who enjoys some levity, I’d say it works well enough for me although the actual film is still dark enough where it’s not really my cup of tea.

Additionally while the first half is showing how determined Guido is and how he never gives up, I do think it’s a bit dicey on how he steals Dora away from the fiancé. Yeah he didn’t seem like the greatest guy but they liked each other enough to get to that stage. While not as bad as going after someone who is absolutely taken like in marriage, this is close enough where it gets into very dubious territory. So that prevents me from being able to say I was 100% into the romance.

The film also used the humor to punctuate a particularly sad scene for the lead. At one point he recognizes one of the guys at the German camp which was a professor he used to get along with. The guy acts like he is getting ready to help Guido escape and there are quite a few scenes building up to this. However, when the time comes, it turns out that he just wanted help with a riddle. It’s a call back to the riddle solving days from earlier so it was all one big joke but this time Guido isn’t laughing because lives are on the line. It showed that he couldn’t rely on someone that he thought he could and so of course that didn’t go over very well.

Meanwhile the kid was okay but definitely makes a number of mistakes. He is very young so you can say that is to be expected to an extent but man did he put the lead through a lot. Speaking when he shouldn’t, causing attention to be brought to himself, etc. The last thing you want to do is be in the spotlight here. Meanwhile his wife did good at being hidden to the point where she basically vanishes for the whole second half. She kept her head down and waited for the right opportunity.

Ultimately the ending also doesn’t go for as happy a tone as you might expect. Some things go well and some do not, definitely a tough situation all around. Additionally for the supporting characters there is a lot of tragedy as well. Ultimately the silver lining is that the situation does have a resolution so at least the tough period is over. The amount of casualties was just astronomical in the process.

Overall, I wasn’t quite sure if I should format this as a review and if there were enough differences for a score or if it should be treated as a based on real events kind of story. Ultimately I figured there was probably enough here where I’d make it a review. At the end of the day this is definitely not my kind of film but I appreciate the attempt on a very different take on the situation here. In a way it probably works better than if it had been serious the whole time since that would have made the film an even darker watch. The first half just didn’t click well enough with me since I couldn’t root for the romance. If the heroine had been single the whole time then the whole thing would have flowed better but otherwise even the early flirting doesn’t make any sense. You shouldn’t even be entertaining any of that if you’re already dating. Then naturally the second half isn’t exactly an easy watch. The lead does his best to try and minimize how bad the situation is but even he can’t quite reduce that to 0. It’s pretty obvious to the rest of the characters that things are getting worse and worse as the climax approaches.

Overall 4/10

The Shaggy Dog (1959) Review

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It’s time for a retro dog film with a good amount of fun cheer to it. The Shaggy Dog is one of those titles that moves at a quick pace and delivers on a fun premise. It even randomly throws in a big climax with high stakes and I hadn’t been expecting that. It’s a very retro experience that knows how to have a good time even if the cast themselves are a bit on the weaker side. Lets just say there aren’t a lot of likable characters here.

The movie starts off with Wilby messing up on another one of his inventions. He’s a kid genius but it does take him a lot of trial and error to get where he wants to go and often his father, Wilson has to clean up after him. Wilson is a nice guy overall except that he can’t stand dogs and even has a PTSD type allergy to them. He intends to shoot them all if they ever get into his house. Well one day they get a rich next door neighbor named Francesca who has a big dog and now this could be trouble. Wilby and his friend Buzz both like her and after a fateful trip to the museum, Wilby ends up with an amulet that turns him into a copy of her dog. How will he end this curse?

The way the magic works is also a little unique here. Ordinarily you would expect the human and dog to change places or something but that’s actually not what happens here. Instead the dog just vanishes from existence temporarily while Wilby slowly transforms into a lookalike. The transformation lasts a while until he turns back but it is difficult to predict when this will happen and for how long. So it’s definitely inconvenient for Wilby and even dangerous since of course Wilson will be shooting on sight.

Of course as a dog, most people don’t pay attention to Wilby which gives him a chance to hear some villainous secrets. So I enjoyed the whole gimmick here as the scenes were pretty fun. Wilby really got to show just how helpful it can be to turn into a dog. I do think he could have done a much better job of convincing everyone that he was actually Wilby though since the film didn’t really place any limitations on him. Wilby can still walk around and talk in human language so automatically you figure it shouldn’t be too hard. Wilby doesn’t try this much until the very end though.

As a character Wilby is okay but definitely a bit of a pushover. He gets taken advantage of by Buzz and is also easy to trick. The museum trip didn’t go well because he let his guard down too quickly and then even in the climax he’s put in the same boat as Buzz instead of being one step ahead. I don’t see the dynamic ever getting a whole lot better for him. Wilby needs to just focus on his inventions and hopefully make a real game changer at some point.

Meanwhile for Buzz, the guy is no real friend. He is always quick to blame Wilby when the lead isn’t around and quickly goes from girl to girl. Buzz is certainly not a serious character and so you really aren’t rooting for the guy. You hope that the girls will know better around him but until they figure out what’s up, it was up to Wilby to mess up the guy’s plans while in his disguise as a dog.

As for Wilson, he was a little too extreme in how he was actually shooting at the dog. Even ignoring the body swap, that means he was willingly shooting at his neighbor’s dog just for getting into the house. It’s just such an extreme response and makes him look really bad. Throughout the film Wilson is always proving himself to be the kind of guy who jumps to conclusions and then at the end he is basically just basking in the glory of something that he only played a small part in.

It all works well enough for some laughs but it doesn’t make the character super likable. Even Francesca looks pretty bad as she is quick to be tricked by Buzz and then even starts to go after Wilby just to make another girl jealous. The fact that she gave away her dog in the end was also absolutely crazy after everything he did for her. A really bizarre way for the film to end if you ask me.

Still, the important thing is that the film is fun like I said. The writing is on point with a really solid script all the way through. The retro writing style really works well for this movie and the pacing is good. I may not say that it’s laugh out loud levels of being funny but it didn’t really have any issues either. The movie never drags and it has plenty of replay value. I also enjoyed the sub plot with the one cop who was going crazy after seeing the dog so many times and then how the government shut down Wilson on suspicion of being a traitor. That was a pretty fun battle even if Wilby’s younger brother sold the dad out there.

Overall, The Shaggy Dog is a pretty good movie. I like the concept of turning into a dog as there are a lot of fun gags you can do with that. Clearly the industry thought so too since this wouldn’t be the last Shaggy Dog film. This may not be the kind of film that you walk away from every year to point out how awesome it was but it is something you could watch at any time. The intense climax also helps with the replay value. I’ll be curious to see if the newer films can really match this one and if they can’t, hopefully they will at least be close.

Overall 7/10