Tag Archives: Film Review

The Lone Ranger and the Lost City of Gold Review

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This may just be the film that I have to use going forward as an example of a very standard adventure film. The Lone Ranger is typically a fairly basic hero I suppose but even considering that, this is such a short movie that there isn’t a whole lot of time for a more advanced plot. You have a gang and the Ranger stops them but it’s all very by the numbers. It’s a fun movie to be sure but it’s one that doesn’t have a “hook” which means that it might be tougher to explain to people why they should watch it.

The movie starts with the Lone Ranger’s intro as the theme song plays and then we get to today’s adventure. Some Indians have been getting murdered and their amulets are being taken. The fact that they are being murdered isn’t surprising as the townsfolk can’t stand them but what is this odd connection? Well, the Lone Ranger and his pal Tonto are going to find out. They get the town doctor to help them out in treating some of the injured and along the way it looks like the town may be at the heart of the trouble.

This isn’t really meant to be a complete mystery kind of film so it’s pretty clear at least who some of the villains are. The movie doesn’t make the Ranger or Tonto look very smart at times though. First off in an early scene the Ranger sends Tonto for the doctor. So he walks into the local bar and is greeted with a whole lot of antagonistic characters who all but say that they want to beat him up. So Tonto…turns his back to them and is promptly beaten up. They probably would have murdered him if the doctor hadn’t gone downstairs. It’s a really bad look though because it’s as if Tonto had no survival sense.

It should be obvious not to give your back to the opponents right? I don’t blame him for losing the fight because he was outnumbered but the fact that it basically wasn’t even a fight is what looks bad here. Also I would have liked for the Ranger to do something about this. Yeah I know he’s not an eye for an eye kind of guy but it’s always annoying when the heroes just have to take the high road here. In most ways it is good of course but this is pushing it. It’s one area where Zorro has the edge since that vigilante doesn’t mind mixing things up a bit. The Lone Ranger at least tries to stay the hero through and through the whole time.

There is a fairly big subplot that at times threatens to replace the main one though. So the doctor is a well respected member of the community. He’s the only one who treats the natives well but generally the towngoers look the other way since they need a doctor. Well, the twist is that the doctor is also an Indian and he has hid his upbringing all these years so that he can continue his work. The logic is sound, he knows that if the town finds out his true lineage then he will likely be murdered in quick order. The Indians would then be left on their own with nobody to help them and would likely all be crushed.

The one losing out here is his girlfriend as a result and it’s a big loss. So she keeps trying to get him to reveal the truth and even says that she will leave afterwards. It’s all very dramatic but I do wish she could have been a bit more understanding here. The doctor also could have probably worked out a better deal or at least agreed to talk things out with her more. It’s not a perfect situation for either end but the “solution” of just exposing himself seemed really flawed to me. The film takes a fairly optimistic view at the end but you could also picture the Ranger and Tonto leaving…then the villains taking the doctor out. I mean hopefully they’ve all learned a valuable lesson with the most radicals gone but it’s still really risky.

In a way that plot was more interesting than the main one anyway. Yeah the amulets are relating to some gold and silver but it’s all pretty standard western stuff. The Ranger is also not the most powerful guy so generally when he’s up against the group, he’ll take one guy down and then call it a day. A lot of the film is really hit and run tactics as they slowly defeat more and more of the gang. I can’t call the film a slow burn at all because it’s not but sometimes you do hope that he can just take the whole gang down already.

The fight scenes we get are pretty fun though. There is quite a bit of hand to hand going on and the villains can typically fight on a pretty close level to the Ranger. So you’re never quite sure if the hero will win or not. He also has to try and keep them alive instead of accidentally letting them fall off a cliff which is surprisingly a lot harder than it sounds. Even just thinking about that stuff in the back of his head will naturally slow the Ranger’s thought processes down a bit.

Overall, I would have liked the film to have taken a few more risks here. Lets actually have the City of Gold running around and maybe even delve into the supernatural. It’s not like that is a foreign concept considering the Ranger’s origin right? Instead we have what I would call one of the more generic westerns. Nothing really wrong with it as it’s too short to ever get boring but I just don’t know how I would present this film to folks. I guess the best way is just to go to the basic route of recommending it so the people can see the Lone Ranger. It’s not as if he has a ton of films after all so fans will want to check them all out.

Overall 7/10

State of the Union Review

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It’s time for a classic political film. I’m always down for one of these titles as someone tries to upset the establishment. Usually that is a difficult task though and this is definitely another such example of this. In this case the main character doesn’t even put up that much of a resistance I’d say. You could make the case that it’s because he was corrupted before the film had even begun which means he was really doomed.

The film starts off with Kay’s father on his deathbed as he explains to her that the politicians are all terrible and she needs to take them down. He destroys himself and she goes to work on accumulating power. Unfortunately her newspaper has been left in the dust and most have turned against her. Her only hope is to make a man named Grant the next president. He’s not interested in politics but she aims to change that. He doesn’t have a particularly strong will so she gets him on board quickly and even convinces Conover, one of the big political bigwigs, and Spike, the publicity guy to help. They will also need Grant’s wife Mary to help out here since America will only vote for a family man but will she play ball?

Now in these kinds of films the idea is you’re rooting for the main guy because he hasn’t yet been absorbed into big business. He’s a guy with principles who will stand up for the common man. Unfortunately that just isn’t the case here as his relationship with his wife is super dicey as he is always with Kay and doesn’t really make any effort to hide it. It’s definitely all a big disgrace and so what makes you think Grant can rule the country when he can’t even maintain his convictions at home?

It certainly doesn’t make you particularly root for the guy, that’s for sure. Even then I was expecting him to put up some kind of defense but it really doesn’t take long for the business to eat away at him. He wasn’t mentally prepared for the brutality of politics and he can only blame himself for that. The worst scene for him is definitely when Kay only needs a minute or so to convince him to change up his speech. Definitely a low blow and from there it’s really a downwards spiral for him.

Meanwhile Mary is a lot better but I would also say that she puts up with too much. For starters, I think she shouldn’t have helped out even at the beginning. The instant she learned Grant only called her over to help with PR should have been the end of it all. That’s a total breach of trust and would make me doubt all of his motives from then on. The disrespect gets worse and worse as the politicians don’t even attempt to play dumb about this. She is here to boost his ratings and you never want to be someone’s pawn.

The only decent politician type character appears to be Spike and even then he is the kind of guy who likes to make fun of everything but still participates anyway. So it’s not as though he is innocent in this whole situation. Far from it! It’s still easier to root for him than the other characters though. At least he has a good time of it all and always has a good burn/insult at the ready. You just want to ignore his advice at times.

Naturally Kay is another big antagonist here. She’s just trying to fulfill her father’s wishes and will use whatever means that she can. She certainly doesn’t actually care for Grant or any of the other characters. She is just doing whatever she can to further her own ambitions and it’s important not to forget that. She would leave the other characters to dry at the first opportunity.

Conover is pretty much the same way. He’s here for the opportunity and the big payout at the end. He lost his sense of honor and duty for country a long time ago. At this point he’s just in it to prove that he still has power and influence. The film is quite consistent with that and showing how all of the politicians are very soulless. It has a pretty dark look on things as the average person is just being manipulated. They are all cogs in the wheels for big business who actually controls things on the outside.

While none of the characters are all that likable, I would say that the writing for the film is pretty good. The story itself is definitely captivating and the pacing is good. It will keep your attention all the way through without fail. In a way corporate only has themselves to blame for how the film ends. They tired getting a little too slick for their own good and flew too close to the sun. The final plan seemed doomed to fail right from the jump because they were just being way too smug and pushing everything in Mary’s face. The fact that they still almost succeeded is the most surprising point. I think a lot of people would have already been past the breaking point by this moment.

Overall, State of the Union is a pretty good movie. It may not be the most optimistic take on how a person can challenge the system but sometimes you do need a film where this is just impossible. It makes the journey even more impressive when in another film the character is able to make a difference. At the end of the day you wouldn’t expect such a big system to be so easy to overthrow after all. You’d hope that most characters would fare a little better though. If you’re interested in seeing the inside of the political realm then this is a good movie to check out.

Overall 7/10

Her Blue Sky Review

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Imagine for a moment that you’re the coolest guy in the room. Everyone has standard black hair but you have cool red hair. Everyone grew old and let themselves get wasted while you are young and immortal. Then you find out the catch..you are stuck in a single room for the rest of your life while you watch a doppelganger of yourself mess up everybody’s lives. This is the tragic drama that unfolds in this movie and it’s a pretty good one that will keep your attention. One characters gets off wayyyyyyyyyyyyy too easily though.

The movie starts with Aoi’s parents getting destroyed so her older sister Akane is forced to take care of the two of them. Akane basically gives everything up including her boyfriend in order to be ready for this task and does a masterful job. The great impact of this sacrifice is not lost on Aoi who blames herself for this. She aims to move to Tokyo as soon as possible so Akane can get her life back and plans to do this through music. Well one day, she bumps into Akane’s old boyfriend Shinno inside of the practice dojo but he hasn’t aged a day. He is stuck in there though and his older self shows up for the town concert but the guy has become a womanizing creep. Should Aoi help the older Shinno get back together with Akane to free the younger self or is this all a big mistake?

There’s a lot going on here and right off the bat you should know that the characters have no idea why the old Shinno has appeared. I’m glad that he doesn’t randomly know either, it helps add some drama on not knowing how to free him. They make the assumption that he has some kind of regret so matchmaking him to Akane makes some sense but it’s also a bit of a leap in logic. Shinnosuke (That’s how I’ll refer to the older one like Aoi does in the movie) is also such a bad guy that you can’t root for them anyway. He would only be making her life a lot worse.

Shinnosuke is really my biggest problem with the movie because he seems like a completely different character. I know some years have passed but for him to have changed this much is absolutely crazy. He has gone against all of his old values and goes out of his way to be a massive jerk. From saying how he thinks girls shouldn’t be in the band, to insulting Akane immediately, there’s no reason to like the guy. I would have liked for him to have been booted out of the band. The film half heartedly tries to massage his flaws in the end but I did not buy it at all. I also thought it was a stretch for Akane to go back to him so quickly. It shouldn’t have even been a tempting proposition for her, I would have expected her to have been completely disillusioned.

So in short, all scenes with Shinnosuke were completely undeserved. He should have been knocked out and the best scene in the film is when Shinno chews him out. It has to be absolutely depressing to meet your future self and find out that you became a total loser. It’s more incentive to make sure you never turn out that way and I’d probably just be in denial that there’s no way I could turn out like that. On some level it would definitely hurt though and Shinno did good to not be crushed.

It’s why Shinno is such a great contrast because he’s easily the best character in the film. He’s in a really sucky situation. Imagine being trapped in a room with nobody to talk to for hours and hours? Yet he never complains or grumbles and is instead always ready to listen to the other characters and support them. He helps Aoi out a whole lot and when he’s put into awkward positions like having someone confess her feelings to him, he handles it about as well as possible. He’s just a good guy and when Akane is in danger he is ready to jump into action. He’s easily the most passionate character in the film and I was really glad that he got some good closure at the end of the film. It really dodged a bullet as it would have been super unsatisfying otherwise.

If you watch the film, Shinno should be the reason why. Then we have Akane who is a good character but I would argue she has some poor judgment. You have to give her a ton of credit for looking after Aoi so well. She made big sacrifices and just kept on looking forward. She never showed Aoi any hint of weakness and was also very practical in learning how to cook and take care of a kid. Her only fault is in what I would call “settling” when it comes to Shinnosuke. It feels like she just wasn’t able to move on and so in the end she is forced to keep on going after this guy but he doesn’t deserve such a good person. I would have even preferred for her to just leave for Tokyo at the end of the film or something. That would have still been better.

If you have to have her go back with Shinnosuke, have him be begging for a while and she gives a non committal answer like she needs to see him turn his life around first. It should be a long and hard road for him to win her back, not her laughing because he can still play a song. Also, that’s not to say she should go with Michinko because that guy was lame. I’m definitely not a fan of his in the slightest. For starters, he wants to win her over but doesn’t seem to be improving his life at all. He wastes a lot of money in attracting a big singer to the town and then he still drinks a lot of beers and gets drunk?

The guy acts rather desperate wanting her to notice him to the point where everyone knows he has a crush on her. That’s just sad and so I would not have wanted him to have been a rebound either. Meanwhile his son seems to have inherited his timidity in not saying anything to Aoi about his crush. Nothing will ever happen if you stay quiet about these things. Better to say something and get rejected hard than to always hang around and hope you get picked eventually. I’ll never really be able to defend a character like that. It just makes you shake your head instead.

There’s one more supporting character in Aoi’s friend Chika but she doesn’t get to do a whole lot. She’s fun enough and it was nice for Aoi to have at least one friend but you could cut her out and not much would really change. Not for Aoi herself, she is a fun lead. Definitely not the nicest one by a long shot but at least she is a bold character. She is pro active and tries to get things going like when she enters the band and proves herself. She talks tough and is rude to those around her but at least she has the skills to back it up.

While I do say you should be loud and make your feelings known generally, she should have probably kept her peace. Not much use in confessing to a ghost who won’t be here for long. Particularly since it’s someone that her sister likes. It’s one of those unspoken rules that you are not supposed to cross. You just gotta bury those feelings so deep that you never find them again. All in all, it was nice to have a lead who was more on the tough side and wasn’t afraid to call everyone out though. She gave the film a lot of personality.

As for the animation, it’s okay but nothing too noteworthy. The film is pale enough where Shinno’s red hair really stick out though. So it’s a nice contrast like how he stands out from all of the other characters who really can’t keep up. This isn’t exactly an action film so there’s not much opportunity for the film to show off otherwise but I can say that it is far from a low budget experience. The animation is still very smooth and I had no issues there throughout. The music is definitely on the weaker side though, I don’t think any of the tracks really landed.

As for the romance itself, I do tend to like dramatic romances. The more characters and triangles you have, the more intense the drama gets. Naturally I’m not rooting for most of the pairings but so long as the film doesn’t let anyone get too far, it works out well. I’ve already said that I don’t support Shinnosuke and Akane in any way, shape or form but Shinno and her would have worked out well. I can’t support Aoi and Shinno because that would be a massive rebound. Machinko and his son are completely out of luck as well. While I may not be rooting for them, the romances were all developed well though and you can get why the characters would fall for each other. Aside from Akane falling for Shinnosuke again, the others made perfect sense. Like Aoi hangs out with Machinko’s son a lot and her bold attitude probably won him over many times. Machinko being desperate for Akane the whole time makes sense as well since they were close, etc. The writing was on point here.

Overall, Her Blue Sky is a pretty good film. The ending is rather rushed and Shinnosuke got way too lucky the whole time but outside of that I didn’t really have any issues. The film’s pacing is good and a lot is happening the whole time. I’d definitely recommend it so long as you enjoy a good drama film. There is no shortage of that here after all so you can really just enjoy how crazy it all gets. Also a good reminder to always be watching yourself to ensure that your future self doesn’t disappoint your past.

Overall 7/10

Pat and Mike Review

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It always used to seem cheesy to have one of the characters say something like “There’s just one rule. Don’t fall in love with me!” right before they team up in a movie but now I see why that happens. This is one of those classic films where two characters decide to team up and get some massive Ws but along the way they start catching feelings. It’s a pretty fun film but the romance does feel like it’s more on the weak side.

The film starts with introducing us to Pat who is one of the top athletes of our generation. She is incredible in all physical sports and the only reason she hasn’t shattered every record is because she gets nervous whenever her boyfriend Mike shows up to watch her. He finds the whole thing amusing and doesn’t take her career too seriously though. So when she loses another tournament, he suggests she should just give it a rest and marry him already. Then she can be a stay at home mom. Pat resists and jumps off the train so that she can prove she is still the greatest athlete in the world. Well, that’s not her goal, but a local trainer named Mike notices her and decides to team up. Initially he was going to have her throw a few games and everything but she’s the real deal. So he’s decided that he will help her become the best. Can they pull this off?

In a way Mike’s job here is pretty easy since Pat is already super talented. All he has to do is figure out why she freezes up at times and he eventually gets to the bottom of that. Otherwise he does also pressure her to go to sleep early and such. He seems like a good trainer to be honest and their partnership works out well. The guy may not be the most heroic person out there but he is serious about his money so he takes the situation very seriously.

Meanwhile Pat is also a solid character. Naturally the freezing up is real unfortunate but it’s not like she does this on purpose or anything like that. She is an easy character to root for the whole time and seems like a nice person. She has a solid moment where she takes out a whole gang of thugs and made it look easy. This is definitely something that not just anyone could pull off. While Mike was a little embarrassed about the whole thing, he really shouldn’t be. This just further proves that she is a generational talent.

Like I said, the weakest part is the romance. Collier is set up to not be a great guy from the start so you know that he’s doomed. The fact that he encouraged Pat to just quit is pretty awful. Clearly she had the skills to go the distance so he should just encourage her. In hindsight it make the whole Golf battle at the start look even worse since she would have aced the whole thing otherwise. That said, leaving Collier doesn’t mean that she needs an immediate rebound. It’s why the romance doesn’t work because you don’t know if she really loves Mike a lot or if this is really just her trying to find another guy real quick. It’s just hard to say either way.

Meanwhile the fact that we had full villains with that gang running around was pretty fun. This is still a comedy first and foremost so I wouldn’t expect anything too crazy but it still does amp up the stakes which I appreciate. If I had any real issues with the film it’s that I would have liked to have seen Pat on top of the world a bit. We know that she is cured in the end but I wanted a longer montage showing her finally winning all of the tournaments. I feel like that would have been a more satisfying ending. I don’t have a problem with the ending itself, but it just happens so quickly that you feel like they left some meat on the table.

We do get a good amount of sports footage in general though which I appreciate. For example, Golf in particular is a sport where we get to really see what Pat’s got. Both in the losing match and then her big return later on. Golf is a sport that I don’t like playing or even watching professionally but it can work well in a movie or anime where they can use some good directing/editing to make it even better. There was also a good tennis match in there.

One subplot that was rather weak was with Mike’s other client though. He was coaching a boxer and for some reason he completely ditches the guy after being with Pat. It felt a little out of character to me because the boxer was still winning his matches and making money. That should have been enough to incentivize Mike to keep close tabs on him. Instead Mike was very dismissive of him the whole film and Pat had to step in. It was a really bad look for Mike and I don’t blame you if you find the guy completely unlikable by the end. It’s not the kind of moment that you can really defend.

It’s more okay to see Mike constantly be bashing his partner because that guy was not very good at his job and it still felt like an even fight. With the boxer, it’s clear that the guy wasn’t very smart so that’s why you feel worse for him. He’s not able to launch any counters or talk tough back to Mike so you can’t really enjoy the banter and back and forth action there because there isn’t any. At the end of the day in a comedy it’s pretty much impossible for every joke to land though. So while that plot was weak, it didn’t ultimately take away from this film’s ability.

Overall, Pat and Mike is a fun film. It balances the comedy and serious moments pretty well throughout the movie. The pacing is solid and it covers a lot of ground. The story beats all tend to be pretty funny as well and there is a good amount of sports footage. So this is a great all around title with how well it juggles everything. As long as you enjoy a low key film like this, then you should have a really fun time.

Overall 7/10

Adam’s Rib Review

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It’s time for a classic comedy title and this one is definitely pretty fun. It has a nice sense of humor and goes by pretty fast. I enjoyed the court case and this movie has a whole lot of energy. I do think that in some ways it hasn’t aged amazingly well like with the moral and how parts of the film turn out but on the whole it is fun. I want to say it is a satisfying watch all the way through even if you don’t necessarily agree with every part of it.

The film starts off with a lady shooting her husband after catching him cheating on her with another lady. Unfortunately for her, the shots don’t end up being fatal and so she is taken to court on the charge of attempted murder. The prosecutor is a man named Adam who believes that the law should be considered as absolute. It cannot be bent or broken so he aims to really make an example out of her. Meanwhile her defense will be Amanda, Adam’s wife who feels that jurors are often bias against women. She seeks full equality in order to end this and so the big fight begins. Can their marriage stay strong as they try to destroy each other on the battlefield?

Now in terms of that question, I feel like it should be an easy Yes. You should absolutely be able to distance the work part of your relationship from the fun part. Like if you’re dating your boss at work and she is always chewing you out for mistakes, once 5:00PM is reached, it shouldn’t matter and you keep chatting as always. That’s how this should be but I feel like Adam takes this the most personally. He feels a little too delicate for most of the film as he takes things too hard and tries to get Amanda to quit. He should just let his talents do the talking for him and have it out with her.

If he really believes that the law will win out in the end then he has nothing to worry about. If the law is so easily broken by her antics, then perhaps it wasn’t a good one. In part I am a bit bias here as well though because I thought the lady was certainly fine. She caught her husband having an affair and decided to put a stop to it. I’d always support that to an extent, like as long as she isn’t firing at random civilians. I also agreed with Amanda that on the other foot this would also have been an easy case.

It’s not to say that any of the people in the court case are all that good because mot of them seemed incredibly suspicious. That said, you still have to go into this on only the facts of the matter. We find out that this was an abusive relationship with both of them hitting each other and throwing constant insults. Definitely not a healthy environment to be in, but that’s how it goes. So whoever wins the case, you aren’t rooting for either character but I would say the girl was more sympathetic. The guy just seemed absolutely unapologetic and like he typically started all of the fights.

Back to the main duo, Adam just comes across as really petty the whole time. He should have talked things out with Amanda more instead of giving up. Running off at the end was also a really bad look since it showed that he wasn’t really confident in the situation. I take a lot of points away from him, but unfortunately I have to take a lot of points from Amanda though. That’s because she allows Kip too much free reign and basically encourages him.

So Kip is the next door neighbor who is constantly flirting with Amanda. He doesn’t care that she is married and makes his contempt for Adam widely known. I have a big problem with Amanda not shutting this down immediately. It’s not cute or funny to let some random guy badmouth your husband the whole time. Perhaps the attention feels good but that just makes it even worse. It was really poor form and then she kept putting herself in bad situations. The worst was nearly getting drunk and being alone at the neighbor’s apartment. That was absolutely a terrible situation and she’s lucky that Adam showed up.

I would have cut out that entire plotline because it felt completely unnecessary. Just there for a little drama and some more jokes but it all felt a bit more mean spirited than the rest of the film. You were definitely ready for Kip to get blasted in the end and Amanda defending him was also pretty terrible. Definitely the weakest part of the movie but not something that would end up sabotaging the film as a whole.

After all we still had all of the court scenes which were a lot of fun. It was nice to see all of the different witnesses show up and then the experts to give their own testimony. The film got a lot of screentime to this part which was cool. We got to really see what the case was like and it definitely helped take things to the next level. I always love a good courtroom scene and the more detailed they are, the better. It felt like we got to see every aspect of the case.

Overall, This was a pretty good movie. It’s definitely a solid comedy with a lot of funny moments. Not all of the jokes land and both characters do look really bad in different ways. As long as you don’t take them too seriously then you should be fine. At the end of the day, things resolve pretty well as far as the case is concerned and we do have a happy ending. There may have been some bumps in the road but the pacing is fast and the writing is good. It’s definitely a solid film that I can recommend.

Overall 7/10

The Wild Robot Review

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It’s time for a movie that is very much like Wall-E. It’s an emotional story about a robot trying to connect with an animal and along the way we even get some action scenes near the end. There’s a lot going on here and while the beginning does tend to be a little on the slow side, it picks up as the movie goes on. I would say that the movie had a good balance of good and bad things happening throughout while maintaining a positive tone. Ultimately I would recommend checking it out.

The movie starts with Roz landing in a forest area within Earth. As a proud robot belonging to a massive corporation, her mission to enrich the lives of those around her and fulfill their goals. The problem is that there was an accident and she was never supposed to land in a place like this where there are no humans. She tries to help out the animals initially but can’t understand them so she trains until he is able to do so. Roz then ends up assisting a little bird named Brightbill when hatching and so the bird thinks of her as his mother. A local fox named Fink initially appears as a tricky antagonist but quickly ends up helping her out. The two of them need to help Brightbill learn how to fly and survive on his own. This little bird was the runt of the litter and otherwise would have likely died without any help.

It’s a pretty heartwarming family story going on here with Roz and the gang. It’s got a good message the whole time with the characters all pitching in to help each other out and it has a very strong sense of community. The whole climax is about getting everyone to band together after all. Now this will never be perfect in a forest setting as the cycle of life and the food chain will force some tough realities into existing. That said, it’s still nice to at least see everyone band together against a common enemy.

I do want to underscore again that this is not an action movie. So don’t let me trick you into getting the tone wrong. This is a family movie first and foremost about the bonds of friendship. The climax at the end does give us some action but it’s not played super serious for the most part and these are hardly the strongest foes out there. The main villain A.I. is pretty impressive though. She is certainly persistent and has quite a few methods available to use in attacking the heroes. It really ended the film on a high note.

The literal ending of the film I was not a big fan of though. We got a heart warming moment but I thought Roz made the wrong call here. Hopefully a sequel would address this. Back to the characters though, Roz makes for a fun lead. She can be a little slow on the uptake initially, but then learns what it really means to look out for other people. It becomes less about the programming and more about her individually which was really nice. It was the kind of character development you like to see.

As for Fink, he brings a lot of the heart to the film. His quick wit is always a lot of fun and he brings up the film’s energy. Now it is fair to say that he does take some of the gags a little far. You get the feeling that he actually was serious about ending Brightbill for a little while in the beginning. Still, he turns over the leaf and becomes a force for good which is ultimately the important thing. The film would lose a lot if he wasn’t there because he just brings a lot of depth to it. You could argue that he definitely had the roughest upbringing among the characters.

Finally for Brightbill, well I wasn’t a big fan of his. I thought that the other two characters were considerably better. He’s earnest and means well but I didn’t like how easy it was to turn him against Roz. I felt like that plot development needed to have happened a lot sooner for it to be believable. For it to have happened so late in the game just makes him look absolutely terrible. Yeah, I was not really a fan of that at all. It was tough for him to recover, which may sound a bit harsh but I consider this to be a kind of betrayal which is never cool.

I’ll give the film props for also not making the bullying too overdone or anything. Brightbill got teased quite a bit for sure but it’s not like they were beating up on him the whole time. I guess the closest to that was when they started dunking him in the water and Roz quickly broke that up. The film just feels fairly realistic and you could substitute the animals for humans and quickly understand the message just as clearly. It is a well written film, I could stand by that 100%.

As for the animation, it looks decent. I wouldn’t say I was crazy about it but I don’t really have any big complaints. It’s not going to touch the hand drawn animation for the last 30-40 years but it can hold its own with the average CG production. I would just say it’s a film that will be relying more on the writing and story than any technical elements. There isn’t much of a soundtrack either with the exception of a song or two in there. Nothing in particular to really write home about though.

As a final note, the film also did good with the supporting characters. I liked Brightbill’s mentor who taught him how to really fly with a high level of skill. I also liked the elder who did his best to try and help Brightbill fit in. There were a real number of characters all doing their best here and the film did a good job of establishing their characters. There would probably be quite a few new characters if they ever did a sequel to this one but I’m confident that they would work out well enough.

Overall, The Wild Robot is a good movie from start to finish. Yes, it can be a little understated and I will admit that I tend to miss the humans a bit from time to time. The first half was a bit slow as Roz is getting used to things and the fox could have used one more character to help him with all the snappy quips and such but at the end of the day the positives outweigh these. You will be entertained and I would recommend checking it out if you are looking for a fun family film. It’s definitely quality content and the movie goes by quickly. The climax is also fun since you may not be expecting things to get quite as explosive as it did. Ultimately that makes for a fun film and I’d definitely check out a sequel.

Overall 6/10

The Sun Comes Up Review

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It’s time for another Lassie title! This may be the best out of all the Lassie films which may not be saying much…but we take those. I was a little unsure of how to score the film at first because it can be a little dull but does avoid most of the negatives. I had a good enough time with it. It’s not really the kind of film that you would go back and rewatch to be honest but you don’t have to re watch everything right?

The movie starts with some singing as Helen reminds the world why she is a premiere singer. Her skills continue to amaze the world and things are going well until her son is destroyed by an incoming truck. Helen retreats to the country-side and takes a break from singing. Initially she is going to ditch her dog Lassie but is forced o take her in. Helen doesn’t want to be around kids anymore since they all bring back her ptsd but she is shamed and pressured into letting the kids hang around. Will this town break her spirits until she is back to normal or will she go back to singing in order to leave this place behind?

Most of the film is really about Helen desperately trying to fit in no matter what she has to do. Whether it is driving the kids around or memorizing lines that the shop owner gives her in order to fit in, Helen is ready. At the same time, it can also be a little annoying because she is constantly doing everything to please them and it feels a little overdone. It would have been better if she could have been herself and they would gradually get used to her instead. I would also say it’s a bit rough that even to the very end she was planning on leaving the town never to return and didn’t even tell anybody. That’s a pretty big knock against her.

Also, the town is one of those old fashioned places where they figure even the quickest show of friendship means that a romance has to happen. A neighbor puts a lot of pressure on Helen because she didn’t immediately start dating the landlord when he showed up. I suppose normal friendships between adults just can’t be a thing right? The adults were definitely annoying here and the fact that the neighbors initially gave Helen the silent treatment instead of talking to her also comes off as rather petty.

Even the shop owner, who was the most entertaining character wasn’t the nicest one. Quickly letting the cat out of the bag to intentionally force a problem wasn’t a great move. I cut him a lot of slack though since Helen’s decision to keep everyone in the dark was even worse. We do have a dramatic fire at the end to allow the situation to work out for the characters but otherwise I’m sure there would have still been a lot of sore feelings around.

Naturally I didn’t like Jerry either. Definitely an annoying character who was always running off and making things even worse. He constantly panicked and he was also quick to forget his chores and cause problems for Lassie. Jerry needed to be better at clock management and making sure he took care of his responsibilities. It may be a hard thing to hear but at the end of the day, that is what is to be expected. So Jerry just kept sinking the more that the film went on.

Meanwhile the songs aren’t particularly good but that is to be expected when you see that the tag is part musical. It’s well known that musicals tend to have songs that aren’t as good as standard or concert type titles. Musicals are the weakest link after all and these songs will have you shaking your head. Okay most of this sounds really negative so what are the positives? Well, for one thing the movie plays it pretty safe like I said. There aren’t any real bad scenes or moments where Lassie is put through the wringer. This time the humans are given all of the trauma which is absolutely the right way to go about it. I’d prefer the humans have to take the Ls over the animals any day. That’s the right way to do it.

While I didn’t love any of the characters, the writing is good enough so they don’t get too far onto your nerves. The film is short so the pacing is reasonable. In some ways the film has aged a bit too hard in the wrong directions like Helen being such a passive main character but it is also nice to see a small town where everybody just helps each other. So there are some positives about the case like that. Lassie may not be the biggest character here but it’s the first time we see her having fun the whole time which is really nice.

Perhaps the final important thing to note is that it’s just an easy film to watch. You can plug it in any time as a pleasant watch to have in the background. It can be a little boring at times but sometimes you need an uneventful film to unwind with. The film could have probably added some kind of a rude townsperson to add some drama though and that could have helped to elevate things a bit. A lot of what ifs to think about but at the end of the day, this film destroys the average Lassie film and that’s something to be proud of.

Overall, The Sun Comes Up has its share of weaknesses but in the end it is still a good film. The main moral I would give here is that when you’re trying to move on from something, a new environment may actually be a bad thing since you won’t have much time to yourself. Ultimately things worked out for Helen but the town didn’t always make this easy. She had to deal with quite a lot of people the whole time.

Overall 6/10

Hills of Home Review

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You ever start watching a film and almost immediately start thinking to yourself, “Get this stuff off of my screen!!?” Well that is what happens with this film as it is definitely a thumbs down almost immediately. It makes every kind of mistake in the book as it puts Lassie through way too much. There aren’t really any redeeming values to be had with this film and so it ends up being a heavy thumbs down. Definitely a title that you will want to skip at all costs.

The movie starts by showing us that Lassie is on tough times as she is owned by a rather cruel owner. He traumatizes her into being deathly afraid of the water and fortunately her next owner ends up being a doctor named William. He is kinder but also in a rush and initially tries to sell Lassie off. Fortunately his conscience wins out and he keeps her. William is pretty busy as the only doctor around with a never ending stream of patients. He is getting older too but the guy doesn’t complain about it and just keeps on working as hard as he can. Will he be able to cure Lassie of her fears or is this one mission that will be too difficult even for him?

I won’t say that he’s a perfect character though because he does betray Lassie a few times here. Aside from selling her the first time, he also yells at her at different occasions and isn’t very patient with her fears. You would think as a doctor that he would know how difficult these things can be to get over but instead he doesn’t act all that sympathetic. He’s a fun enough character when it comes to interacting with the other humans, he just doesn’t seem like he’s the biggest dog person.

He’s also not that smart as he lets one of his “friends” get away with not paying him back on a lot of loans and then being tricked with Lassie. For starters that isn’t a good friendship and he probably should have asked for some serious money in the end. He let the guy get off easy despite being a major thorn throughout the whole movie. The guy’s son is an aspiring doctor to be but the path forward is made a lot more difficult because of this guy’s objections. Basically the way I would explain it is that the father is very old fashioned in an annoying way.

The aspiring doctor Tammas is okay but way too soft spoken and doesn’t really stand his ground. He gets pushed around so easily and so I never really grew to like the guy all that much. He’s okay at best but that’s a main problem for the film as a whole. The characters don’t really stick out and can come across as boring. You certainly aren’t all that invested in any of the characters, I can tell you that much. They come and go without a ton of impact.

As for Lassie, well like I said the film is rather brutal to her the whole time. It’s just so mean spirited and you get the feeling that none of the characters really knew how to handle a dog both in and out of the movie. Whether it’s Lassie being forced to lay down and clearly not wanting to or the whole water trauma moments, it’s all rather distasteful and holds the film back in a massive way. Even throwing in the big time skip at the end as if this was an anime could not save the film. That’s because there was no saving it by that point.

The writing itself isn’t terrible I suppose. We have some nice dialogue at times but there just isn’t much of a point to it all. Even for a complete slice of life film, you are expecting some dynamics to keep you interested and things like that. Instead you have nothing to hold your interest until the storms start setting in. Even when characters get sick you find it hard to care because of how unlikable they are.

Put it this way, even if we remove all of the animal violence, this film would have been probably stuck around a 5-6. It’s just not interesting enough and I tend to enjoy old time films like this one. Well, this time it wasn’t enough to carry the film which is a really big blow. In my opinion it’s not very hard to make very compelling characters in a setting like this. You just have to make them likable so they shouldn’t be doing anything crazy.

The movie is also fairly short even if it can feel long at times. So there isn’t a ton to talk about here beyond what we’ve already gone over. I suppose the final thing is that if you live by a road that is submerged during all big storms, you should probably have a better backup route rather than trying to swim through with your horse. That just seems like a terribly dangerous way to do this and there has to be a better way. There just has to be, because with this way people are going to die sometimes. I didn’t blame the big city doctor for panicking because the whole thing seemed absolutely crazy.

Overall, Hills of Home is definitely a film to stay far away from. It’s incredibly mean spirited and doesn’t really have anything to it. All of the characters have moments where they are acting like big jerks and you get the feeling that they all probably hate each other. After all you don’t just forget the comments so quickly. Whether it was one wife blaming the doctor for not doing well enough, another guy saying his new method for knocking out someone was terrible, everyone laughing at him at the bar, etc.; they were all taking some major shots here. Lassie doesn’t really get the respect that she deserves at any point which is a shame.

Overall 2/10

Lonely Are the Brave Review

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Lonely are the Brave is definitely a film that took a much different direction than what I was expecting. Initially it plays out as a very low key drama and then all of a sudden it becomes more of a thriller as the second half is a big chase scene. It’s an interesting story but does start to really fumble in the second half and unfortunately ends on a whimper. The final scene is stretched for quite a long time only to make the wrong decision in the end.

The movie starts off with Burns coming back into town to visit his old friend. Unfortunately his friend is doing two years in jail for helping get some people who jumped across the border illegally. His wife is quite upset at this and so Burns decides to break his friend out. After all, for a Cowboy such as himself getting thrown into jail should be real easy. Burns has never agreed with modern life and still lives life on the wild side. Unfortunately that works against him as the cops don’t want to deal with the paperwork of arresting him. So Burns is forced to seriously upgrade the felony by striking a policeman. Now when he escapes prison he is really going to have to hustle!

I think the film could have focused more on Burns’ lifestyle instead of turning into a big chase film. The chase itself is solid enough but at that point the premise doesn’t really matter anymore. The chase would have been the same regardless so it seemed like a really odd decision. We could have also gone a bit more into Burns’ psyche on why exactly he doesn’t want to modernize. We got a brief speech about not liking restrictions and fences but you could go deeper.

Where the film faced its first big pitfall was when Burns was leaving for the big police chief. He convinces his best friend’s wife to cheat with him “just once” as a parting gift. Now this is terrible for a bunch of reasons but the most obvious one is that cheating is never justified. You see this kind of thing all the time. The guy was coming off a bad break up, he seemed depressed, lost his job, etc. All of these sob stories to try and somehow convince people that cheating is justified now. I’m here to report that the context doesn’t matter. It’s still cheating and a complete betrayal to his friend who is in jail. It was just an awful move to make.

The wife looks terrible as well since it’s like she has no agency there. She should have just told him to get lost. Respectfully or Disrespectfully, I wouldn’t have minded either way she put it to Burns. That scene was just terrible and a really poor way to start off the chase scene. Yeah her husband made a big mistake and will be in Jail for a while as a result, but you still don’t just decide to throw him in the ditch like that.

Then my other issue is the super unnecessary animal violence. You could see this one a mile away to be honest. They built up from the start that Burns was really close with his horse Whiskey. So immediately if you’ve seen any movies before you know that Burns will be punished by having his horse taken away from him. It’s easily the way that you can hurt him the deepest so the film is going to take it. That’s just the way that it goes. The whole build up to that is just fluff and only delays the inevitable.

It all comes to a head for the ending which is why the ending is absolutely brutal. That final scene just stretches over and over. The actual chase itself is also rather drawn out. Perhaps it is because the movie is going for a super realistic vibe but Burns can’t move very quickly through the mountain so it’s one of the slowest chase scenes you will get. Really the only interesting part was the meanwhile with the cops.

I rather enjoyed the main chief with his sarcastic barbs the whole time. He seemed like a guy who would be fun to work with. Perhaps not the most efficient out there, but considering that all of his colleagues were complete scrubs, he seemed like an expert next to them. He was certainly the most effective and I can see how working with these guys would make him so sarcastic eventually. It’s like he was all alone out there.

There is another subplot with a truck driver but it takes forever to go anywhere so I wouldn’t worry about it. In general the film’s writing was pretty solid so I’ll give it a thumbs up there. The pacing was good as well until the chase scene. I don’t have any real issue with the film’s technicals. The backgrounds and such were fine. The movie just needed more likable characters and to remove the two weaknesses that I talked about earlier. It’s not like they were just small weaknesses either. We’re talking absolute film busters here which is the real problem.

We even have the corrupt cop who goes around beating up inmates with complete immunity. I can’t say that I was expecting that to happen in this film since it just didn’t feel like the tone they were going for. The absolute moral here is that if you don’t change with the times, you will be beaten and overpowered over and over again until you eventually submit. That is your only real option and the film isn’t shy about reminding you of this point.

Overall, This is a film that had some potential but ultimately squandered it. The ending just couldn’t be salvaged in the end and so this one won’t be a film for the record books. You’re better off choosing a different western to watch or just taking the chance to check out a big sci-fi film like some of the Terminator titles for that complete contrast. At the end of the day, change is always coming in and you have to adapt or fall behind.

Overall 4/10

High Cost of Loving Review

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It’s time for a classic romantic comedy title. It’s a fun enough film that has a nice plot. I would say the film restrains itself a bit too much at times and could have really drummed up the craziness of it all a bit more. Still, it’s an easy film for me to recommend to anyone and it’s fairly short so things tend to move fast.

The film starts off by introducing us to Jim and Ginny who have a really good marriage going on. They have no real problems and Ginny is finally pregnant after nearly a decade so they are ready for fun. The only problem is that Jim’s job has been taken over by a new company and they might be letting some people go. When almost everybody except for Jim gets an invite to a luncheon, he figures that this is game over. Should he talk things over with the bosses and see what’s going on…or should he crash out? Time for Jim’s toughest call!

Now a lot of this film does rely on Jim not making the smartest choices time and time again. He jumps to conclusions quite regularly and doesn’t put himself in a position to succeed. It’s a story that we have all seen many times before but it can be pretty funny. I would have liked for things to have been more extreme like I mentioned in the intro though. Like one misunderstanding that worked super well is when someone jokes with Jim that he won’t be ordering the boxes because he might mess it up. The guy was just having some fun and Jim didn’t pick up on it because he was so stressed.

Beyond that, we don’t have a ton of big misunderstandings going on though. So a lot of it is Jim really just overthinking things and I feel like it’s because the film wanted to stay very grounded. You could have really had it both ways in this case though. Also Jim does look pretty bad throughout because of how callous he was when the shoe was on the other foot. At the beginning of the film he talks quite happily about how some guys will get fired and that’s just how life works. He talks a lot about survival of the fittest and all of that. It makes it ever so slightly harder to root for him here because you know first hand that he would not really care if someone else was fired.

He took his safe standing within the company for granted to the point where he didn’t even imagine not having the job. It’s why his friend Steve is comfortable about joking how he would be super depressed and end it all if he was fired. Nothing wrong with the jokes but then you have to be able to take it when you’re the one going down. Instead Jim was super defensive and panicking the whole time. It just didn’t do wonders to make him likable and then of course when he’s frustrated he is very quick to start taking it out on his wife. Being snappy, irritated, etc.

Jim doesn’t talk about things until it is forced out of him and it’s jut such a standard move but it is always a character killer. You can’t be so close to someone and then immediately still get so upset like that. He needed to talk things over and calm down. Ginny is also shown to be super reasonable the whole time so it’s not like there was any risk of her being upset. There was no downside to talking things out with her instead of straining everything like when he wasn’t acting very concerned about her pregnancy results coming out negative.

His friend Steve seemed a lot more reasonable and was a good guy to the end. He prevented Jim from making any career destroying decisions the whole time. His wife Syd may have been someone who just wouldn’t start talking but at least she wasn’t actually trying to cause harm. So I won’t really dock her any points there. She meant well and of course this goes back to how the characters don’t mind smack talking everyone except when it effects them. The double standards are where things really start to get dicey.

If there are any other main issues here, it can be that you feel like there should have been another angle to the film. Either make the jokes a bit bigger like I mentioned or introduce another plot. Even though the film isn’t all that long, it feels like there isn’t anywhere for it to really go. So it’s a serviceable film but not a super memorable one. It’s nice to see a married couple without too much drama but in the meantime their scenes tend to be a little on the boring side. Showing how close they are in the opening also backfires because of how easy we see Jim turn on her later on. You may as well cut out the intro at that point.

I did like the fact that Jim’s immediate boss had his back. Often times in these things it feels like the main character is on his own throughout management but since he was such a good worker, it makes sense that some people would have his back. It would have been annoying if the boss was just looking out for himself or something like that. The top executives were also pretty solid. They asked the hard questions and pressed Jim a little. They did seem really good at their jobs and it’s not like they take joy in letting anyone go. They are just doing their jobs and doing them well. This is an example of a movie that didn’t really have an antagonist but ultimately didn’t need one anyway.

Overall, High Cost of Loving is a good film. It hits enough of the right notes to skate on by and it’s one that you could easily watch because it’s just light entertainment. It has good replay value in that way. It does reinforce why you should always have proper communication channels open with everyone. If you don’t, then it opens the door for misunderstandings and panic. Also, perhaps keep the jokes to a minimum if you would be upset if the same thing happened to you.

Overall 6/10