Tag Archives: Film Review

First Men in the Moon Review

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It’s time for a sci-fi title. Usually I’d say a “sci-fi thriller” but this really isn’t that kind of story. It’s actually a bit more of a slow burn until we start approaching the end. There’s a large chunk in the beginning where you’re just wondering when they’re actually going to get to space. It also makes the dicey decision of spoiling one of the survivors by making most of the film a flashback. I never liked that narrative decision in the past and I can tell you that this has not changed over the years.

Well, the film starts off with a bunch of astronauts making it to the Moon and they’re hyped because this is the first time that humanity has made it so far. Or…that’s what they thought! A flag is found there and so they track down one of the survivors from the original trip. He casually explains that they have already been to the Moon and they even met some aliens. The United Nations wants answers and this guy is happy to provide them. People did not believe him when he first told the world, but now they will listen!

We then begin his flashback and for a little while there we just get some comedic shenanigans. Arnold and Kate meet up with a crazy scientist named Joseph. Turns out that the guy has a way to negate gravity and so the three of them head up into the Moon. The Moon has already been conquered by a race of alien beings though. They are not particularly strong or anything like that but they do have the advantage in sheer numbers. Arnold and Kate figure they need to get out of there but Joseph thinks that they can be reasoned with. This will prevent some problems.

I’m absolutely against Joseph here. There is just no evidence to really show that these aliens will be good and it feels like the height of naivety to be trying to make peace when the stakes are this high. At least get home first but Joseph goes into full trust mode right away. The aliens can talk and have intelligence so it’s not like this is definitely a doomed mission but looking out for his friends first would have been the right move. So I definitely didn’t like Joseph by the end of this.

As for Arnold, I thought he was a solid main character. He prioritized saving Kate right away and fought off a bunch of the aliens. He even has a Superman type moment where a bunch of them jump on him and he just shakes them off. While it was a bad look for the aliens, it was definitely a good look for him. Meanwhile Kate did her best not to panic too much or anything like that. She did feel more on the powerless side though but still beats some heroines from her time. She could have used some more scenes to develop some personality though.

The aliens are one of the weaker parts of the film though. They just don’t feel very imposing and the only one who really got any character was the leader. The rest of them may not have been mindless exactly but they were close to that point. Acting like some kind of hivemind just running to the ship and getting defeated rather quickly. The ending of the film goes for a bit of a cop out approach but since you weren’t too invested in the aliens, you’re not exactly broken up about it.

Okay this is sounding rather negative so I do want to emphasize that this was a good film. It’s just a true slow burn where you have to be in it for the plot. Also you will need to see if you prefer the space scenes or the ones back on Earth. I’d say they are fairly balanced. The writing is solid and the characters are good except for the crazy scientist. It just all ends in a rather anti climactic way. It’s basically someone telling a story the whole time and there is no sense of danger as a result since you know that he survived. If the film ended by showing him to be a shapeshifter or something then that would be different.

The biggest other way to solve this would be for the story part to not be a factor. Just have the astronauts head to the Moon in the present. Have them still find a flag showing that someone else had been there but we never get those answers. It would help the film just have more of a “Cosmic Horror” vibe without having to spoil the ending or show that everyone already survived. That would have been the best way to pull this off.

The effects definitely get a good shoutout though. The film is fairly old but they did a good job of showing the Moon and the various tech involved. It’s not like you will mistake this for a 2020 film or anything like that but it’s clear that a lot of effort went into this one. Nowadays they’d probably just settle with throwing CG everywhere. I would have liked some solid music tracks to go along with the scenes though. That’s another way to amp up the tension.

Overall, This is a film I would recommend to sci-fi fans but perhaps not ahead of most of its rivals. This one could have used some more fight scenes. The brief Power Rangers type hand to hand of throwing the aliens around was fun after all. So focusing more on that would be a good thing if you ask me. That said, I believe Wells was more about writing dramatic, suspense type stories like this that introduced a lot of lore and could be weird but never turned into full on action stories. I guess the film would have to deviate quite a bit if it wanted to achieve that.

Overall 6/10

The Towering Inferno Review

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It’s time for a really long film. This movie definitely wasn’t trying to be one of those titles that you breeze through in 30 minutes! Fortunately while this is one of those films that does feel really long, it does make good work out of the time. You could definitely have cut out about 20-30 minutes of lingering shots where the film was trying to show off but otherwise most of it was for character moments. A disaster film should be trying to build up a lot of characters so you can see who cracks and who doesn’t as the situation gets serious.

The film starts off with the completion of a giant skyscraper. The owner wants to show this off and so a bunch of rich celebrity types are invited to the mass unveiling. All of the lights will be turned on for each floor so that the building can be seen from anywhere in the city. It is a technological marvel and the architect, Doug, is pretty proud of what he has accomplished. Unfortunately he finds out that they tried saving a bunch of costs by not putting in the advanced wiring that he asked for. Sure enough, the building catches fire and now we have a situation where thousands may die. He will have to work with the firefighters to put a stop to this.

First off I have to say that Doug really should take no blame in this situation. He absolutely did everything right but recommending they use wiring above industry standards and put in a bunch of fail safes. The fact of the matter is that his plans would have prevented the fire from ever happening and it is entirely on management that this situation got so crazy. They all ought to be ashamed of themselves. As a result Doug is definitely one of the most likable characters in the film. He puts his life on the line throughout in order to solve this problem and save lives. It’s why he’s here.

The biggest villain here has to be Roger. He’s not exactly subtle either, the film pushes him as being super evil to the point of being cartoony. He actually pushes someone off to his death and spends the whole film being drunk and really defensive about everything. So if you thought that maybe he was just misunderstood, think again! He’s just not that kind of character. Quite a few characters show their true colors like that although none to that degree. There were several characters running for the one seated pulley despite drawing lots earlier.

The body count is also rather big so you shouldn’t think that things are going to be going easy since it’s “just a building fire”. This is a skyscraper so that’s what makes things different. There are tons of floors and while most of them were evacuated in time, not all of them were. One group was cheating up on one of the higher floors which basically sealed their doom. That’s a trope I definitely don’t mind. When you see characters just doing something wrong like that, having them get burned/bumped off simply makes sense.

On the hero’s side, Michael does really well in repping the firefighters. He is quick to take command of the situation and cuts most of the red tape that comes in. It’s clear that he has little patience for the bureaucratic stuff as he wants to just get into the action to save people. Without him forcing things along, the casualties would have been much higher

How you feel about the film’s pacing will likely come down to how much you enjoy the fire scenes. After all there isn’t going to be a whole lot of variety after a while. You can only show someone burning up so many ways and same for the various floors exploding. I thought the film did a good job of keeping up the tension throughout though. The pacing is slow but the good writing helps to counter that. You’re certainly not going to be bored or anything as you watch the film.

The effects definitely hold up well and there is some actual music in the film which is surprising. Sometimes these titles just don’t have much of a pulse to keep things realistic but this film realized that it couldn’t hurt. I don’t really have any big negatives for the film. I’d say that it’s a fairly safe thriller title with a lot of action and it is actually hard to predict who will be included in the body count. The film has some surprising moments in that area so that you understand how nobody is safe.

The ending may not be the most satisfying as a result but it’s not really something I would shave a star off for. The movie doesn’t have a lot of deep themes or anything like that so after the film what you’ll mostly be pondering is if there were any other ways to escape. Personally I think going for the stairs right away would have been the best move but they didn’t really think about it until it was too late. I would not want to go into the elevator by any means so I’d probably have taken my chances inside the big room. That’s part of what makes the film scary though, there were no obvious ways to survive. In that sense it is more threatening than the other disaster films where usually I can backseat drive quite a lot. I’m not counting films where the entire planet is going to be destroyed of course.

Overall, The Towering Inferno is certainly a fitting title and the movie did a lot with its visuals. Fire is absolutely a powerful force and this is basically the worst nightmare of anyone who is staying at a giant building like this. I never like being too high up in general and this film reinforces that. If any emergency happens, you always want to be closer to the ground. If you like disaster films then you should definitely check this one out. It’s well made and I can see why it has such a strong reputation. It actually gives you a full setup as all of the characters are introduced before things go crazy so you’re bound to have at least a few that you are rooting for.

Overall 7/10

Cats Don’t Dance Review

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It’s time for a classic animated film. I wouldn’t say that it ever got all that big since I don’t really remember it. I may have been in the wrong circles though. It’s a perfectly pleasant film but one that seemed to really lack a hook the whole time. By the time it ends you feel like the film never had much of a high point. So it is a good adventure from start to finish but it never really stuck out.

The film begins by introducing us to a cat named Danny who is really excited to make his big debut into Hollywood. He’s always wanted to be a huge star and knows that he has what it takes. Animals and humans have long collaborated on a bunch of movies in Hollywood. What Danny doesn’t realize is that this is a two tiered system where humans get all of the money and credit while animals get the worst roles without any of the accolades. Danny may be able to change this but he will have to get past the number 1 human prodigy….a little girl named Darla.

Now one question I did have about the whole premise here is how Danny didn’t know about the animals having such a small role. I figure as a big Hollywood fan he would probably have realized that from watching the movie? It sounded like very few animals ever got big roles so that seems like it would have been noticeable. I think the film should have made it so they have decently large roles but just don’t get much money. That would have made a lot more sense on why he wouldn’t have realized this.

Maybe Danny just didn’t actually watch many actual Hollywood films. He did mention at one point that things were different in his hometown so perhaps he mostly just saw local stuff and figured it would be the same in Hollywood. There are ways you could answer this but I was pretty skeptical. Danny’s a good main character though. It takes a lot to get him to start doubting himself near the end but before that he fights as hard as he could. He does inspire a lot of the other characters including Sawyer so without him things never would have changed.

Naturally I didn’t think the romance worked all that well though. It’s a bit rushed especially considering what a rocky start they had. He really put her in a lot of jams without realizing it at first. Sawyer was also pretty content with her situation initially so it’s not like she was coming from a bad situation. All in all Sawyer was a quality character as well. I would have preferred if she had kept more of the fire she had in the first scene but overall still looked good. She just mellowed out rather quickly.

One character who did not lose any of her edge was Darla though. She was really determined to be the heel the whole time. It’s easy to see why it would be tough for her to change since it looks like the entire world was really spoiling her the whole time. The movie’s director and staff were downright scared of her. Then she has a huge bodyguard named Max who can beat up anyone in her way.

Darla was quite literally the star of every show in Hollywood after all. If they ever made a sequel, I could see her returning as a villain. She’s clearly no hero yet by the end of the film. We also get a timeskip where we see that the animals have really overtaken the humans near completely as they star in all of the movies. So there are a lot of interesting things you could do with a sequel. That might not be the direction they go with though but it’s an idea.

The music was one of the strong points of the film and was actually a bit better than the average musical. It’s all pretty fast paced with a whole lot of instruments going on. It reminded me a bit of Aladdin at times. The opening song about Hollywood may have been my favorite one but in general they were strong.

The songs also match the really fast paced, crazy action of the animation. It’s all very expressive and the kind of animation style that you miss from the old days. You could probably watch the movie on mute and generally understand each of the characters personalities. That’s always a good sign on the animation front. There are a lot of strong colors and they didn’t spare any expense here.

The ending is a bit sudden which isn’t all that rare for these classic animated films. The idea seemed to be to tell a good story and get a message across, then just end real quick. The film is shorter than half an hour so there isn’t a whole lot of time. While the story is good, I do think having the film be a little bit longer could have helped give it that hook I was talking about earlier.

That or make the characters stand out more. While I thought that the characters were good, none of them quite have enough character to make them pop out the way someone like Aladdin does. You just aren’t going to remember these characters too well by the end. It doesn’t take away from their quality at all but it can be the difference between a good film and a very good one.

Overall, I would recommend checking this film out. It is a fun film and there are no serious weaknesses to it. It’s a very safe film and one that anybody could watch at any time. The pacing is good and there is a solid amount of replay value. The messages hold up as well as the technical aspects, that’s just about where its limit is. Maybe throwing in more of a real fight against Darla could have helped. Doesn’t have to be a physical one but maybe a fight of ideals or something. That might have helped give the film some extra closure. These re all fairly minor points though, we’re just talking about the difference of a single star. As long as the film is a good one, that’s still the most important part.

Overall 6/10

Sneakers Review

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It’s time for an Oceans 11 type of film that I hadn’t really heard of before. This one has aged well and I just enjoy these kind of heist stories. There is a good sense of danger throughout even if the ending is perhaps a bit more optimistic than what would likely be happening here. The important thing is that the movie wasn’t going to end on a super sour note and I definitely appreciate that.

The movie starts with Martin and Cosmo using their hacking skills to steal a ton of money from rich people and reallocating it to their favorite social causes. Cosmo ends up being captured by the cops while Martin escapes and changes his identity. Many years pass by and now the NSA has caught up to him. They blackmail Martin with his past and say that they will keep it quiet if he steals something from them. A powerful new kind of hacking equipment that can get decrypt any security system in an instant. Martin gets his team ready for this but should he really give such a powerful piece of equipment to the government?

A big theme in the film is about not trusting anyone. Everyone has some kind of an angle here and you’ve got quite a few factions running around. The Russians are behind every corner of course and all the letter agencies would be interested in this as well. Just stealing the thing won’t be easy either as Martin runs into his past on this adventure. That said, Martin isn’t as indecisive as you may expect with these stakes. He just can’t let the blackmail get out under any circumstances and so he is ready to play ball with the government right from the beginning of this story. He never looks back either and just gets to completing the mission.

Something I appreciated about the film is that all of his teammates are important. The film balances them all rather well. First up we have Whistler who is blind. You may figure this will make him ineffective in most situations but he actually does really well and even gets the MVP spot. He’s the reason they find the enemy base, the reason they had an escape route, etc. Without him they would not have lasted long here. His senses are virtually superhuman.

Then you have Donald who used to work with the CIA. He has a lot of connections as a result and is the most professional member of the group. He has a gun at the ready and bails Martin out from a trap. Definitely the muscle behind the team and he keeps Marin from being too impulsive. Martin does well as the leader but he absolutely does tend to be pretty emotional and lose his cool.

After that is Carl who is the youngest member. He tends to do a lot of the grunt work like hacking at close range or being the guy to pull off social engineering. Carl can be the most annoying one as well though as he gets distracted on the missions and tends to be a little girl crazy. To an extent they all are, but the others at least try to hide it. By default the smallest role would be Darren who handles all of the tech. He makes sure that everything is working well on the ground which is why his codename is “Mother”. So he’s very important but gets a little less to do in terms of individual scenes.

There’s also the main heroine Liz who used to date Martin but managed to get out of that situation. Well when he asks her for help, Liz can’t really bring herself to refuse. She probably should have to be honest though. She’s stuck with the worst tasks like seducing someone to get his voice on record. That’s always a very tired spy trope that never really works without the victim just looking bad. In this case Liz got super sloppy though which put her in a tricky spot.

As for the main villain, well he is pretty good but definitely too indecisive. He can never seem to decide if his main goal is something really personal to him or for the greater good. He tries to use the latter as his reasoning a lot but it always tends to come off as a cover story. Really this guy just wants to prove that he is better than Martin and messes up a lot of his free shots by the end. He could have come out on top easily in this film if he didn’t make massive errors. I thought he made for a good villain overall though. He was certainly entertaining even if he wasn’t always very effective.

The pacing is pretty good here and the writing is solid. It does have the occasional miss when it comes to the jokes but nobody bats 1000. The end of the climax also may have been a little too goofy at the end. The film is part comedy but up to that point the serious scenes were mostly played straight. I suppose they just wanted to have a bit of fun with the ending and it’s a short scene so it’s not like I had any big issues with it. It just felt a little jarring with the timing and all.

The movie really made the most of the tech aspect of the heist. I enjoyed the challenge of Martin having to move really slowly to get past one of the security systems for example. There were a lot of things that had to go right for the heist but they all felt like fairly reasonable challenges without a whole lot of plot armor. There will always be a little bit of that in a film like this but it was never excessive.

Overall, Sneakers is a pretty good film. I had fun with it and it succeeds in being entertaining all the way. There may be a twist that you see coming a mile away but it’s still a good plot on the whole. The title of the film also stands out and is a really good pun. If you’re looking for a well balanced film then I would check this one out. It may not become your next favorite hit but there aren’t a ton of heist films out there and this one holds up with the ones that are already out.

Overall 7/10

Project Hail Mary Review

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It’s time to check out a sci-fi film that came out a while back and got a ton of buzz. Sci-Fi is one of those genres that can be really good when used right. You get to see characters running around with giant energy guns, using advanced suits of armor, etc. It all blends together to make for a really good experience but then you have other titles which forego all of the cool elements and try to go for some deep storytelling and lore. Unfortunately this one unsuccessfully tries for that angle a whole lot and ends up being a bit of a drawn out mess.

The movie begins by explaining that the Sun is slowly being taken down by an army of powerful organisms. They are smaller than the normal eye can see but they are shutting down every star in the system. Ryland is contacted by the world’s unified agency which is trying to save the planet. After all if the Sun goes out, then Earth has no more hope left. Ryland is super skeptical about going to space but when he wakes up after stasis, he is the final survivor. It is all up to him now but can he really claim victory here?

You can tell that the government was desperate since it’s not like Ryland really had too many answers here. He just has one breakthrough but sometimes that is where science can start. So a lot of the film is really split between a bunch of flashbacks where we see what happened and how Ryland got into space. He has amnesia in the present which is always a convenient way to avoid spoiling the flashbacks. Then in the present he takes a while to get used to the gameplan after some initial panicking.

I feel like the story was mostly concealed for the trailers so I’ll avoid too many of the specifics but the film’s story takes a pretty big change when he is no longer struggling by himself in space. Unfortunately I would say it wasn’t a great development to turn things around. This is actually a film where I dare say it could have been improved by a bit of romance or at least some banter with another humanoid running around. The romance would have probably been rushed so the latter would be preferable.

This film falls into the issues that most films have when there is only one main character. It can be rather boring. This is a long film that feels like a very long film and that’s always a problem. You will have very long scenes of the film trying to show off is special effects or panning around the spaceship to show you how accurate it is. That will probably appeal to some space fans but I’m really just here for a lot of excitement and quick pacing. It never goes to the absurd lengths of 2001: A Space Odyssey at least.

That will always go down as being the worst sci-fi film. That said, this one could have easily shaved off 30-40 minutes and been in a better space. Any Ryland scene from when he first wakes up is annoying as he just acts drunk the whole time. Again this is the film trying to show how realistic it is since you would be out of sorts with amnesia waking up after a super long coma but these are the kinds of details that you don’t need.

The pacing is at a glacial pace and again that is because we didn’t have other characters to bounce off of. This is one of those few examples where I can say that the flashbacks were far more interesting than the present day stuff. We got to see the governments working together, some shady stuff, and most importantly just a lot of dialogue back and forth. I would have liked it if every scene was on Earth and we just direct the people in space on how to save the Sun. You could still have a lot of tension with communications going out or the countries starting to fight each other which causes a lot of issues.

In space the best chance for you to enjoy the film is if you enjoy a friendship that occurs up there. Unfortunately the character they chose just isn’t all that interesting. This is one of those cases where I would say the design is partially at fault here because there is just nothing you can really do with that. You’ll just be shaking your head at the big reveal. It’s not like this is the first time a story has gone in this direction. There are a decent amount of similar designs out there but they never really tend to be all that cool.

At least I didn’t really have any issues with the main character. He did pretty well in his experiments and I also thought he made the right call in running for it during one of the flashbacks. I do think he could have fought a whole lot harder but it’s not like this guy is a trained fighter. So I didn’t want to be too harsh on him or anything like that.

Ultimately the film is going for a bit of an upbeat vibe. There is a body count to be sure and you could say it’s implied that things are much worse than what we see but the characters never lose hope. Ryland keeps his head down and works hard throughout. He may have personally lost hope at some points but would still get back up there. Personally being in a space ship so far away from home would be absolutely terrifying so just being able to get past that is a good look for him.

The advice I’d give for this film is just similar to what I put for After-Earth. In any sci-fi film you should try to keep at least some of the basic concepts around or you are wasting the whole point of being a sci-fi. There should be cool aliens, great looking backgrounds of sci-fi locations that don’t exist in real life, cool weapons, etc.

This film doesn’t have much of that. In many ways you could do this film without the sci-fi part The whole Sun part could still be around with normal radiation hitting it or something and then the rocket ride. So if you are going to go the sci-fi route, then I’d say go all the way and just make it a blast. Also we don’t need the lingering shots in space and all that. Space all tends to look the same after a while and we need the pacing to stay fast.

Overall, I would definitely give this one a pass. The plot has an interesting premise with the Sun going out but then the rest of the execution just falls apart. The film is way too long and loses sight of the number one objective, which is to remain entertaining at all times. It just doesn’t prioritize being fun and doesn’t make for a satisfying watch. I did appreciate the Football terminology though. I would always go for the Hail Mary in Madden and it’s honestly a great play to run on 1st and 10 because nobody ever expects it.

Overall 4/10

After Earth Review

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It’s time for a sci-fi film that has aliens and everything. In theory you’d think that would be a winning formula but this film does not capitalize on that at all. Will Smith is also written out for most of the adventure which was not a good idea. No matter how you slice it, this was not the way to go about things. It ended up lower than my expectations in the end.

The movie takes place in the future where humanity was chased off of their home world. Cypher is known as humanity’s greatest fighter because he has eliminated his emotion of fear. This allows him to slay the powerful human hunting beasts. These beasts cannot use their eyes to see and so humans become completely invisible to them except for when they have fear in their hearts. His son Kitai wants to be a powerful warrior as well some day but doesn’t end up doing so well in the exams. He ends up missing the mark to become a full fledged ranger once again.

Cypher’s wife asks him to take Kitai on an adventure anyway. Cypher agrees and hopes that perhaps the two of them can get closer but an accident occurs which destroys the whole crew. Cypher is gravely injured and cannot move so Kitai will have to get a distress signal. It is 100KM away and this is dangerous territory. Of all the planets they could have landed on, it happened to be Earth which is still overrun by those terrible beasts. A single misstep could prove to be fatal here. Unfortunately Kitai is really not ready for this either so it is going to be a difficult journey.

Right off the gate I feel like the movie made a mistake with how Kitai is portrayed. You’re supposed to feel bad for the guy since he has great stats in the training simulation but always freezes up during the field tests. It’s why he was rejected from promotion again when the film starts. You figure that this is the perfect kind of situation to get over his fears and yet right away he starts to panic.

I understand a little panic when things get crazy but when the ship is hit, Kitai starts panicking. An animal shows up on Earth? Kitai panics again. He just panics way too quickly and the worst part is that Cypher is able to talk to him through the headset. So Cypher tells him what to do and what not to do but Kitai just doesn’t listen to him. That has to be the worst part here because if Kitai was completely isolated then that would make more sense. For example Cypher tells him not to throw a rock at the money creature. Kitai throws one anyway and yells out to leave him alone but that makes no real sense.

You could make a stronger argument for it if Kitai was some random kid but he’s been training for years to be a Ranger. He should be able to handle this much. The panicking just never stops and even near the end he is still yelling at Cypher and not realizing what kind of situation he is in. It’s not a good look for him at all and so the character was not particularly likable. I really wish we had Cypher be the main character instead.

Cypher looks good for the most part. He is really harsh towards Kitai for an event that happened when he was even younger but is otherwise the voice of reason here. He has been at this for a long time and is ready to adapt to any situation. Since Cypher has conquered fear, he is also able to handle these unforeseen situations better than most others could. Being stuck in this chair is probably super frustrating for that reason since he knows that this situation could be handled a lot smoother.

I also have to say that 100KM doesn’t sound all that crazy. I understand that the terrain is a lot rougher but I don’t see why it would be such a big journey. Part of the tension here is that the atmosphere is not breathable by humans. So Kitai has to bring these oxygen discs with him and each one lets you breath for 24 hours. He has around 10 discs at first but after an accident he goes down to 4. After a while we see that it won’t be enough and he will be stuck, but why? For reference I have walked 40KM in a single day and that wasn’t even anywhere close to a 24 hour period.

It was around 11-12 hours max. So you have to do double that and you’ve got days to spare. It just felt like the math wasn’t adding up and they should have said it was 300KM or something like that. It’s a bit of a nitpick though so that’s not something I would blame the film big time on. The film’s biggest mistake is adding in a bunch of animal violence. It’s been a little while since I’ve seen it be this blatant. You have baby birds being murdered and then a bunch of monkeys are slaughtered as well.

It’s all to try and hype the beast up as being a huge threat but it definitely as needless as it gets. The various humans being hung up on trees was already enough for all of that. It’s always going to be the risk/downside of having a film take place in the jungle or uninhabited areas like this. Films just can’t resist the urge to throw in a bunch of dead animals which is absolutely crazy.

The monster has a pretty decent design, albeit a bit generic. It would be nice if the creature was a bit smarter though. Surely it can at least keep on throwing blows when a human just vanishes due to there being no fear. I guess these things can’t smell either since it seems like they are completely at a loss by this point. All in all, not the most intimidating monster out there by a longshot.

What the film was also lacking was more interactions. This was a big problem with keeping Kitai by himself the whole time. That just doesn’t make for a very interesting premise. You need some other characters to be around at least for banter. There’s not a whole lot going on here. I would say to the film’s credit, it doesn’t drag on a ton or anything like that. The pacing is reasonable, Kitai just isn’t a likable main character so he doesn’t really amp up his scenes.

Overall, The most justified character in the film was definitely the instructor. He was absolutely right that Kitai was not ready to be a ranger. The guy panicked constantly throughout the film at every little thing. You are definitely going to be a lot more interested in the lore around the world involving the aliens rather than on this survival story though. It is certainly not bad by any means but it is far from being really engaging. I would recommend skipping this one and checking out a different sci-fi film. Stranding someone on a planet with no access to energy guns and other high tech goodies sorta takes the fun out of the genre.

Overall 3/10

Time Limit Review

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It’s time for a film that really pushes is characters to the limit. How far can a soldier be pushed before succumbing to the enemy? Ultimately this will depend entirely on who the soldier is of course but the film raises up some good questions around that. This is a solid movie all around and definitely one that I could recommend. There isn’t really any action so you need to really be watching this film for the strong writing.

The movie starts by introducing us to William who is in charge of investigating a soldier who is said to have betrayed America. The evidence against him is really strong. This man (Harry) has his signature on different documents and his voice plays over the airways with propaganda for the enemy. Finally, he doesn’t even resist any of the charges and just says that he is guilty. Everyone says William should just end the case as guilty and recommend Harry for a court martial but it all feels too easy. William feels like something shady is going on and is determined to look into this more.

Now it is definitely good for William to check all the bases and not immediately just say guilty if he thinks that this isn’t conclusive. That said, not everything is a conspiracy. Now there would be no movie if this was the case but usually the other characters would probably be right here. It’s not like it is only circumstantial evidence, having the guy’s actual voice and signature be around paints a very definitive picture. As for why he is declaring guilt, well you could say that his conscience caught up to him.

Throughout the film, William’s right hand man is particularly upset about this. By taking such a stand, William is putting his whole career in jeopardy and if you are black listed from the army then getting another job can be very difficult. As a result the friend has to play the heel and apply a lot of pressure to Harry. Whether you like the character or not will probably depend on if you think he went too far in the movie or if you think he was just being a good friend. You probably want to have a friend who will have your back like this but of course there are pros and cons to this.

Sometimes the only way to help your friend out is to go against their wishes but that’s not always going to go over well. William’s secretary takes a much more measured approach but also tends to think William is making the wrong move here. Even William is unsure of himself at times but at least he does manage to get the full story by the end. He will have no regrets now about leaving any knowledge on the table. The film also ends early so you don’t know if his efforts were successful or not. It is ultimately up to you to wonder about that.

Without going into details, the explanation is essentially what you might have figured here. The enemy put a lot of pressure on Harry and threatened lives until Harry ended up working for their side. This is a classic tactic to break an enemy soldier from any country. You either torture them directly or bring in some others and see how much pain you can inflict until the guy cracks. For this reason, some are not sympathetic to Harry’s plight. As they would say, this is just part of what you signed up for.

If you can save 10 people by making a compromise with the enemy while potentially hurting 100 others, did you make the right call? You will never see the other 100 but you can directly see the 10 that you saved. It’s the tough kind of moral call that you can never predict until you are actually in the situation. It’s easy to backseat drive it but that will always be one of the toughest kinds of decisions out there.

For the records, I was on the boss’s side here. Ultimately you can’t crack because you will be hurting untold masses by working with the enemy. It doesn’t mean that I would have the strength to resist but I do think it would be the wrong move to work with the enemy. Their general was clearly not bluffing so he would have murdered the whole squad but they would know that they stuck true to their ideals the whole way through.

I don’t think William will ultimately be able to sway a jury on this one. As for Harry, I don’t fault him for his decision. Even if I don’t agree with it, I couldn’t bring myself to slam him for having to make such a tough call. It’s just too high stakes for all of that. I do think he could have been a lot more co-operative during the movie though. I understand that he wanted to keep the events secret after several promises were made but by being so tight lipped he instead caused more scrutiny to go into the case. If he wanted to take the fall without fighting back, then he could have explained in more general terms what happened.

He also ended up carrying the guilt to such a degree that it hurt his wife and anyone around him as well. There had to be a better way of handling this. It’s a burden that is hard to really understand from afar but staying quiet is never the right answer here. The film’s cast is pretty small overall so you really have a lot of time to think about the story and what was going on here. This is a film that is definitely timeless since war is eternal and this kind of situation will always appear. Like the general says, rules are ultimately there for a reason though. If you start to doubt them then you’re going to be in a weaker space right away.

Overall, I’m not always for following the rules in these kinds of films but this time the army creed actually held up. The rules were set up for good reason and have withstood the test of time. I’d definitely recommend checking this one out if you’re up for a film with debates and conversations about ethics. It’s not exactly a feel good movie though so you should be prepared for drama and an ending that is only potentially going to wind up being a happy one.

Overall 7/10

The Crowded Sky Review

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It’s time for another big airplane thriller. This one deals with the extra stress of knowing just how crowded the sky is with other vehicles. One wrong move and you could be in for a deadly crash. This film is definitely going for a very dramatic feel with a solid amount of humor so in theory this should have been a winner but doesn’t end up winning the day. I’d put it around the middle, it gets some stuff right but never really turns the corner. It’s a decent adventure but never manages to keep any momentum for very long.

There are two plots going on here. The first is with Dale who is a pilot but some blame him for an event earlier where he turned up and another plane ended up crashing with its passengers. Along the way his wife has been openly cheating on him but Dale is trying to keep the marriage together for his daughter. It’s not easy though and he essentially needs to bribe his wife into not doing anything drastic. It’s just a miserable life for him right now but t lest he has his plane.

Dale’s a realist, he knows that things can go wrong during the flight and is just hoping that this won’t be the case here. Unfortunately his radio stops working early on and he experiences a lot of technical errors. This can’t be a good sign. I respect Dale trying to keep things together for his daughter but sticking with an open cheater like that is absolutely a recipe for disaster. If he wants to keep any self respect, Dale just needs to get out of there.

I couldn’t tell if the film was trying to make his wife even slightly sympathetic or not but I can definitely say that it didn’t work for me. For starters, her excuses about being lonely and everything are just as weak as can be. That’s a terrible reason to be cheating and definitely not one that I would ever accept. Spoiler alert, I wouldn’t accept virtually any reason for cheating.

Then we have the other plot where Barnett is piloting a plane with a bunch of passengers. he has to ride with co-pilot Mike and there are a lot of tensions here. Barnett is the reason that Mike never got promoted after all and there is a lot of bitterness between them. Barnett’s also been having trouble connecting with his son. Barnett basically pushed him away by being far too stern and never being positive. Barnett looks pretty bad in all of the flashbacks and basically took it all out on Mike.

Ultimately this causes him to intentionally break rules while flying the plane as he tries to goad Mike into fighting with him. The whole film is not a good look for Barnett even if he gradually starts to learn his lesson by the end. It’s just far too late by that point and he has caused far too much pain and suffering by this point. This is a film that is not afraid to have a body count or have some characters completely lose out after all.

In fact the deaths really hit hard in the film because there is no slow-mo or introspection. It stands out because otherwise the film loves to pause for dramatic effect. This made for a pretty good contrast and is something that the film did right. The whole film is building up the tension of how even a single mistake can be fatal in the air and the movie doesn’t back down from this theme.

As for Mike, well he’s not the most likable guy either. Naturally there is nothing wrong with wanting to be a pilot and a painter. So I had no issues with the guy there. Where I was more annoyed was with how he would treat his stewardess girlfriend. Mike would just turn off at times and brush her off while thinking about his own troubles. I never like that kind of character because it just makes him come off as a total jerk. He could have still been talking to her the whole time and giving actual reasons for why they couldn’t be married. Their romance just didn’t seem to be great in this one.

I think if we stuck to these plots then the film probably could have done some effective things here. You can balance those 3 main plots well enough even if a lot of the characters come off as being super unlikable. The problem is that the film also adds a drama plot for every pair of characters on the plane. You have one critical lady who is sitting next to an actor for example. She makes fun of how he stresses on everything and there isn’t much to this plot. The dialogue is super repetitive the whole time and just feels pointless.

Then you have a guy who is determined not to look at the girl next to him because he thinks that she’s ugly. She is also having a crisis of confidence at the moment and believes the same thing. As the film goes on and they are all in danger of crashing, he decides to settle because he’s getting older and maybe she’s not so bad looking. That’s hardly romantic at all and just comes off as a pity pairing. Both characters needed to be a whole lot more confident.

After that is the worst subplot where one girl wants to really stick it to this guy she is sitting next to. Apparently she has history with him from the past and so she has completely redesigned herself. The plan is to make his trip absolutely miserable…somehow. Her plan never really makes any sense and then by the halfway point she begins to fall for him for some reason. I don’t see how that’s possible when she was already burned once. By the very end of the film she gets her head back on straight but it was a terrible look and the writing was just confusing here. She was on the back foot for the entire duration of the film.

I like the idea of the zoom ins as every character has an internal monologue but you have to save that for really interesting moments. The film overdoes it and often times there just isn’t much for the characters to say. This film was just trying way too hard by adding all of these plots in and ends up faltering. You can pull this off with great writing but the film wasn’t quite at that level. The writing is generally good but the characters don’t end up being likable and I feel like some of these subplots must have left scenes on the cutting floor because they just don’t flow very well.

Overall, A Crowded Sky works in the sense that the film is very crowded. The movie has a whole lot of characters and there isn’t much breathing room. Not a bad idea at all but then you have to really be able to execute on a high level and this movie couldn’t pull it off. There is a solid sense of danger throughout but the characters could not capitalize on this. It’s not a bad film but I would much sooner recommend the average airplane film over this one. Only check this one out if you’ve already seen all of the popular ones and just want to see another plane title.

Overall 5/10

Summer Rental Review

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It’s time for a short beach adventure film. This one isn’t even 90 minutes so you can imagine how quickly the whole adventure goes through. For the most part it’s a harmless film but there’s no real hook to go along with it. Throw in the usual fanservice shenanigans of a beach film and this one doesn’t quite get up to par. You’re actually rooting for the main villain during the final battle because the heroes aren’t given enough reasons for you to root for them. Sometimes that’s just how things go I suppose but yeah that’s just how these things go sometimes.

Jack’s had a hard life where everything always seems to go badly for him. Well, he aims to change that and takes his family on a big trip for the Summer. They can all just hang out as a family and get some much needed R&R. Sounds like a pretty good idea right? Well, unfortunately they run into a lot of issues like Jack entering the wrong house and then getting a huge heat rash during the vacation. He initially meant this to be a fun vacation for everyone and instead it is all blowing up in his face. Is it too late to turn this around?

I think you’ll be able to tell what kind of film this is after 5 minutes and from there you can just decide if it’s your kind of film or not. Jack really just bumbles his way through every situation possible. It has the feel of your average Adam Sandler film but a lot more family friendly in general. Some of the gags can definitely get iffy but on the whole this is very tame. You just have to see how funny Jack’s antics are for you.

I would say the film has a decent sense of humor but none of the gags are laugh out loud funny. They just tend to be all over the place and very hit or miss by nature. At least Jack does have a loving family who want to help but by the middle of the film he has decided to ditch them for an old guy who is helping to teach him about boats. See, Jack wants to really impress his son by becoming a master driver who can win the big boat competition.

That’s all well and good but making this a surprise is where he went wrong. He should be enjoying the vacation with his family. You know…the whole point of this vacation. Instead he just keeps on making excuses for why he can’t join them and just acts as more of a downer to the vacation itself. This all felt very counter intuitive to the vacation and makes this another example where Jack is really creating his own hole. They all forgive him of course and have fun with the boat race but I’d be mad if I was the rest of the family.

The film ultimately can’t help itself and adds in one crazy character who likes to flash men to get their opinions. Naturally this happens to Jack too and the biggest problem is that Jack put himself in this situation. The lady appeared with obvious ulterior motives to get him to follow her back to her place. He should have obviously said no because there was one reason for that. So no matter how much he protested later on, it was just a bad look.

In general it’s also why I never think it’s a good idea for the married couple to be flirting with other people for kicks. It’s treated as a joke where the wife and daughter are hanging out with the lifeguards and there are plenty of times where the reverse happens but it just seems like a terrible idea. Some people buy into a concept where if your marriage/relationship is strong enough then you should be able to joke around about crushing on other people and things like that but it’s always going to be in bad taste. It’s important not to overestimate your own defenses.

There is a bit of a possible romance going on with the daughter and it’s definitely another reason for Jack to want to bring everyone home. Clearly the beach is not the right environment for these guys. I think the best gag was when the characters realized that they were in the wrong summer house. If anything I would have made that part a little longer. A lot of fun jokes you can do about that. So the film had some good gags here and there but there were just not enough of them to keep this in the green.

Maybe the main villain could have used more screentime. All of his scenes were the best ones like when he would threaten Jack or talk about his own top tier boat experience. He won the big race many years in a row after all so it’s not like he’s just spitting out hot air or anything like that. His confidence is well founded and for good reason. It would feel undeserved for him to lose to Jack…..

A beach film is usually not going to rank all that high for me though. There are plenty of things that can always go wrong here without a whole lot of upside. I’ll take a winter vacation anytime. Jack is also just not likable enough as a main character. He’s just way too dumb the whole time so he is really getting himself into these messes and then aside from that going to the neighbor’s house shows a lack of resolve as well. No matter how you slice it, this is all very bad for the main character. To succeed in a film like this, you absolutely need to be giving us a main character to root for.

Overall, This is one of those films that makes for a very peaceful watch. You can really check it out at any point without issue. It’s not like there is a big plot to have to remember either. That said, there’s nothing particularly strong about it either. The film has some decent jokes. You can’t help but laugh at Jack sometimes but there’s not a ton of variety and it’s not super funny or anything. A film like this is banking the entire experience on being able to make you laugh after all. There is no other hook to grab you with. I feel like the film had a decent amount of potential that just didn’t work out for it. it’s one of those films where you can probably find dozens of similar titles and I would just say to try and find one like this title that seems to have had more effort put behind it. This is a film that you can safely skip.

Overall 4/10

Zero Hour Review

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It’s time for an old airplane thriller and I can safely say that this one has withstood the test of time really well. The drama is solid and the characters are pretty good throughout. The movie itself is fairly short but still manages to cram a lot in. As long as you are a fan of the old time films and the retro style of writing then you should have a good time here.

The main character here is a man named Stryker who is haunted my memories of the past. One of his missions did not go well and his decisions directly caused several people to lose their lives. Stryker never forgave himself for this and unfortunately this has taken a toll on his personal life as well. His wife has decided to leave with their son and Stryker just barely manages to follow them onto the plane. He has to find a way to save this relationship but how can he pull himself together? He won’t have much time to worry about this as a poisoned seafood dinner knocks out over half the crew as well as both of the pilots. Stryker will need to land this plane down along with his wife’s help but nobody has any confidence in him. Especially not his old Captain who will be walking them through this from the ground level.

Now it is naturally going to be hard to get past trauma and we see this first hand with Stryker. The flashbacks just come in fast and hard. Even when he is working on landing, he still sees other planes trying to shoot him down. This leads to multiple encounters where he nearly ends up destroying them all. I admit that by the end this definitely gets pretty annoying because the stakes are much too high for this. It’s not like you can just stick the trauma in a pocket and ignore it but hopefully you can at least suppress it long enough to get everyone to safety.

Meanwhile his wife really isn’t helping with how she keeps talking about how he has no chance. The doctor has to spell it out for her that everyone is going to die otherwise so it’s not like things can get worse. I don’t think you should need to be reminded of the stakes in a situation like this. By the end she begins to respect her husband again and stops being a debbie downer but it sure took a while.

The best character here has to be the doctor. He quickly gets to business when he finds out what is going on. He never panics and manages to convince everyone to do their parts in getting through this situation. Without him then everybody would have absolutely been dead. They’re really lucky that a doctor was on board. Meanwhile the Captain may be an almost antagonistic force at times with how much he doesn’t like Stryker but you can totally understand.

Stryker doesn’t seem to do well with authority and the whole past events that started the trauma in the first place would naturally be something that makes the Captain have some negative feelings towards him as well. The captain is still professional all the way through though and knows that his mission is to try and save lives. For that reason there is just one part that makes him look bad.

Near the end of the film there is a ton of smog so the captain tells Stryker to keep the plane in the air despite hearing that most of the crew only has minutes left to live. Obviously staying in the air isn’t a good idea at that point and so you just have to risk your life and try for the choppy landing. The captain should have been getting on board with that plan a lot sooner even if he does get some credit for recognizing that Stryker is in control right now. So he doesn’t drag the issue once he sees that the plane is coming down anyway.

The film is pretty short like I mentioned before but the pacing is definitely on point. The events happen really quickly and there is never any dead air. The airplane also makes for a good plot location because with everyone restricted, that just makes all of the tension even greater. There is no escape for anybody, they are all just having to hope for the best here.

The writing is also pretty good which is no real surprise for a film from this era. The writing always had a certain level of class to it and I like how sophisticated everyone is. These guys were clear professionals the whole way through. If I had any issues with the film it would just be that I thought Stryker’s PTSD was a little too strong. I feel like it should have gone away by the end of the film because the current disaster should be way too stressful to be thinking about anything else.

It’s easy to fall into mental traps when you’re by yourself and have no distractions. When you’re piloting a plane that is about to crash into the Earth? I just don’t think there is enough peace and quiet to get into your own head like that. It seems like it would be a stretch to me at least and the film didn’t exactly need any extra drama. It did make for a pretty cool visual where we see the controls turning into an enemy fighter jet. That was pretty good, definitely impressive for the 50s in terms of special effects.

Overall, I would recommend checking this film out. It’s a strong film all around with good characters and no big issues. There is a lot of replay value here and in a way you should watch it before checking out the original Airplane film to really understand all of the gags. Airplane is naturally the much better film but I can see why it took so much inspiration from this one. The better a film is, the more effectively you can make a parody out of it since you need a good foundation for the gags to be thrown on top of it.

Overall 7/10