Tag Archives: Film Review

Black Sunday Review

Posted on by
Reply


Black Sunday is basically a vampire film even if it is technically about witches. Yes, there is a bit of a nuance here of course but lets just say that this will not end up being a big winner or anything like that. Sometimes these old school horror titles can pull off the upset victory but this was not going to follow suit as it falls into pretty much every horror pitfall imaginable.

The film starts off with a witch about to be executed. The humans want to really make it hurt this time so they’ve made a mask that will basically keep on stabbing her until she’s dead. So with the last of her energy she sends out a curse to them. We jump forward 200 years from that point where Andrej and Choma are heading off to a scientists convention when they run into some carriage issues and have to stop at a local haunted mansion. A lady named Katia lives there and this works just fine for Andrej who immediately begins to like her. What he doesn’t realize is that she is the ancestor of the witch Asa and he is about to have the most dangerous days of his life. Can he survive this?

I have to give the villain props for making a lot of moves as soon as she is revived. She quickly mind controls one of the scientists with vampire witch mind control, bumps off one of the characters, and brings in another ally from the grave. She was really set to dominate but ultimately just takes too long which gives Andrej time to figure out what’s going on here. She really needs to bump off just a few more people. She also came rather close at the end but relies on trickery instead of actually finishing off the job. She should have stabbed the main guy from behind or something.

I guess physically she isn’t super strong or anything like that but I would still expect her to at least be able to do this much in a fight. So she gets some points here but part of her success really comes from the heroes just making mistake after mistake as opposed to her being a stable genius or anything like that.

Andrej is an okay main character I guess. He probably falls in love a bit too easily and is slow on the uptake. I’m never too harsh on these guys for not believing in the supernatural right away but Choma was being suspicious from early on and Andrej should have caught that a bit more. At least he managed to catch the trick at the end and didn’t fall for Asa’s charms. Honestly that’s probably more than I could say for a bunch of other main characters.

Just about the opposite is true on all accounts for Choma. He does fall for Asa’s tricks and shows no real willpower of his own. The guy jeopardizes everyone and it all stems from the fact that he was not built for this. Javutich works as a decent sub villain. He actually does have full on super strength so it’s only thanks to some plot armor that the heroes were able to stop him. There are a lot of ways he should have been able to end the film early for Asa.

As for Katia, she’s not a bad heroine but it can be a bit annoying how she panics at everything. She could have alerted the heroes that something was going on a lot earlier but faints and generally doesn’t handle things very well. If she had kept her guard up more then this could have all been different. The cast is fairly small at least so you get to really focus on each of them. By now you’re probably wondering why it’s so weak though right? Surely this is about the same as every other C horror title.

In a lot of ways that’s true but the whole witch/vampire stuff is always going to hurt. I can’t take the visual hypnosis all that seriously where the guy just can’t help but make a move on her. That’s always going to be an extremely hard sell for me. Then the film also makes another big critical error in having some animal violence. As soon as there were some guard dogs in the estate you knew that things would not be going too well which is definitely a shame. The effects they use to show all of the stab marks on Asa are also quite eerie. In general it’s not like the film is super violent or anything like that but it’s not afraid to have some of that disturbing imagery running around.

The writing isn’t bad. All of the characters are able to have full conversations and talk like professionals. I can always appreciate that at least. In this case it’s not enough to get the film up to the next level or anything though. Writing can only get you so far when the rest of the film is not up to to task after all. I’d also say there isn’t really a whole lot to the film. There aren’t a bunch of jump scares and in general it’s not all that frightening. We have the creepy elements and some disturbing moments but that’s really it. The film tends to have a fairly casual tone otherwise.

Overall, Black Sunday is not really a film that I’d recommend. I’ve certainly seen worse films of course but this one is really not doing anything new or different. It’s not going to make sure that you remember it or anything like that. Having a witch as the villain could have actually been real interesting but the film doesn’t do anything with it. She’s not casting a bunch of spells or anything like that. All of the deaths tend to be blood related or just being overpowered which doesn’t take advantage of being a witch. So it felt like this was all one massive missed opportunity. The way the film plays out, you’d think that the writer really wanted to make a vampire film but wasn’t allowed to or something like that. The ending is almost comical with how fast it moves and the villagers showing up the way they did. Technically it’s dark for one character at least but it was all just so sudden.

Overall 3/10

Willow Review

Posted on by
Reply


What if I told you that there was a film out there that was trying to be the next Lord of the Rings? And what if I told you that the film…succeeded? That was definitely the biggest fear imaginable and unfortunately this one pulled off what I didn’t think was possible. This film is 2 hours of nothing as the film desperately tries to bore you out of your mind. The romance, the adventure, the characters, it brought tears to me eyes. It was just so….bad! You’ll be guaranteed to fall asleep while watching this movie and it’s like you just warped ahead 2 hours in time. It’s absolutely crazy.

So the film starts off with one of those opening messages about how there is a prophecy that has scared the ruling class and so all of the babies have to be inspected to make sure they don’t have a special mark. Naturally the villains fumble the bag here so the baby is taken away and found by a group of Dwarves. Most of them are too scared to really do anything and would be quick to abandon her. Even Willow himself is skeptical but he is convinced by his wife to help out. The mage of the land even assigns Willow on a special mission to go and help her out but he has to bring along the classroom bully who would love to get out of there at his first chance. Can they really keep the baby alive?

The film was already at a disadvantage with the whole fantasy setting if we’re being honest here. I already don’t like this kind of old school setting and this is as old as it gets. We’re talking lots of trees and forests and everyone is super poor with no civilization in sight. The magic we’re shown here tends to be rather ordinary stuff and nothing too fancy.

There is nothing fantastic or really interesting about the world. It’s the kind of world that may have a ton of supernatural elements so you never mistake it for the real world and yet it doesn’t do anything exciting with it. For every decent monster design like a two headed worm/dinosaur type thing, you have a bunch of mini humans and talking animals. This is not a film where you will be remembering much and even the strongest beasts tend to go down against normal arrows. When you’re losing to arrows…that is a terrible look. I can’t mince words here, that is a horrible look. You can’t afford to lose to that.

Willow isn’t really much of a great character. For starters he’s not very brave and his magic is no good. Yes, character arcs and such but he needed a stronger beginning for that. The baby is naturally around a whole lot but she’s a baby so it’s not like she can really do anything you know. Then we have the swordsman Madmartigan, who has a cool name but that’s about the only good thing about the guy. He’s absolutely ready to hightail it and run for a while there before eventually coming to the light. He’s the character who is meant to give us the snappy dialogue and bring the comedy up a notch but he doesn’t really have anyone to banter with so that doesn’t work out very well at all.

You definitely see how the film was trying to capitalize on the Hobbit by having the main characters all be like that but it’s just being a copycat without adding anything to the idea. Also, it’s copying a character that I never even liked which doesn’t help matters there. Okay, there still has to be some redeeming quality to the film right? Soundtrack’s out since that was fairly dull but I can at least give a slight thumbs up to the special effects. I liked the skull mask for one of the villains and the two headed monster didn’t look bad. All in all, the effects did their job so I can’t really find any faults with them there.

You’ve got some romance here but even aside from the love potion beginning, it’s just not very strong. Now we do have an extensive climax where the crew are fighting for at least 30 minutes or so. It’s actually a considerable length all the way and we get a lot of action so that’s good…right? I mean it beats the rest of the film but it’s been a while since I’ve seen such a boring action scene either. It goes back to the fantasy element here as even the sword fighting feels very old school. I think it’s because they’re trying to film this like a real sword fight so it comes across like two guys dueling at a tournament. It doesn’t feel very powerful or fast on either end.

That’s a problem and of course the second is that we still don’t really care about any of the characters by this point. Why should we right? They haven’t done anything to show us that we should care about them and that’s a big issue. The villains are also fairly generic as well which is one angle where the film could have tried to take things to the next level but ultimately fell short.

So there really isn’t much to say about the film. The characters aren’t funny and the plot isn’t engaging. You’ll have to really focus to try and stay awake during this title and the long length won’t help matters there. I need a name for this sub genre of fantasy that is going for hyper realism even while having supernatural elements. Because I do like a good fantasy but it has to be bright and vibrant. I want everything to be really smooth, shiny, and just feel like an awesome otherworld. If it’s beat up or too realistic then it just doesn’t have the same impact to it and ultimately ends up falling short.

Overall, Willow is definitely not the film that will change the fantasy genre as we know it. I still think the craziest part of the film is how we have a long action scene for the climax and yet it never manages to be particularly exciting. It’s a lot like Lord of the Rings in that sense so the parallels continue. Ultimately your best bet is to stay far away from this film. It’s one of those fantasy titles that just brings the worst parts of the genre and doesn’t really tackle its strengths. Better luck next time I suppose. I have to assume that the sequel TV show will be at least a little better…I would hope at least.

Overall 2/10

The Enforcer Review

Posted on by
2

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

It’s time for Harry to return to fight off some more crime. Unfortunately for him, the guy doesn’t have much backup this time. The film shows even more just how inept everyone tends to be without him and corruption is through the roof. I think the movie goes a little too far with this at times here but I dare say it has a slight touch of comedy at times which helps to push things through. If it was fully serious it might almost get a bit depressing.

The film starts off with some guys getting murdered as a terrorist group continues to gain ground for some kind of nefarious purpose. Meanwhile Harry pulls off another stunning victory over the forces of evil but there was a whole lot of collateral damage and he’s demoted. He now has to work with a lady named Kate thanks to a new initiative where they are trying to get more girls on the force. Harry is against this, not because Kate is a girl but because things should be done in a meritocracy. Promoting her just for this reason strikes him as a little silly although the silliness is just beginning. Can Kate prove that she has what it takes?

I think the rough part here is of course we know part of the message is that Kate is ready for action and can back him up but she looks really bad at first. She is clearly not prepared for any of this and nearly gets blown away during a missile practice exercise. It doesn’t exactly inspire confidence when you are counting on this person to watch your back in a life or death situation right? It takes a very long time for Kate to really be combat ready and by then we’re approaching the end of the film so you know what’s about to happen. For what it’s worth, I do think she’s a likable character. Her heart’s in the right place but she was in over her head.

Harry is a fun lead as always. Super gruff and to the point. He can be rather rude for sure but at least you always know he is speaking his mind and not sugar coating things. He’s still just as good a fighter as he ever was and age has not gotten the best of him. The guy puts up with a whole lot but ultimately keeps on going to help people. So I admire the drive and there is really nothing to dislike about the guy. He always puts his best foot forward and is an inspiration to everyone around him.

Now the police captain looks real bad here. For starters, he really wants good press and to look good for the mayor. So he’s running around spoiling Harry’s plans and generally not caring about anything. Arresting Harry’s informant was absolutely terrible. The guy was only looking out for the short term benefits there. It’s clear that he wasn’t actually thinking of the public good. Then by the end he’s absolutely given up as expected and doesn’t even realize that the fight was already over. This is the kind of person that Harry has to work with on a daily basis.

The worst part? Harry is outranked by this guy so there is only so much you can do. It has to be absolutely disheartening to be the best man on the force but to not be ranked high enough to actually make a difference in these things. It’s the ultimate frustration. Then you mayor as well who falls into all of the same traps. He wants votes and he wants results but the guy can’t wait long enough to get them the right way. He’s the kind of guy who would jump into a trap just to spite Harry and to show that he can make his own decisions. He’s not the smartest guy at all.

The villains are okay but not super memorable. They have their own motives and all but at the end of the day they basically are terrorists. Their message gets lost early on when they’re murdering everyone. It always takes a rather huge kind of message to counter murders like that. You need to have an extremely powerful message for me to even begin to think of supporting you by this point. These guys don’t though so they lose the credibility rather quickly.

Like I mentioned earlier, one of the film’s strengths is that it does throw in some good humor from time to time though. Harry’s dry wit really works well in different scenes and then you also have a lot of crazy stuff going on like one of the terrorists being in a nun outfit and the pastor generally being super unhelpful. You can’t really stay neutral or talk about nonviolence when you have terrorists inside the building with you. People are unhelpful to a comedic extreme, corrupt to an extreme, and everything is just big and crazy. Even the way Harry handles the opening case is rather funny with how nonchalant he is about it.

The humor never goes too far or wrecks the tone of the film though. It is absolutely a lighter tone than the last film but it’s handled smoothly and isn’t forceful. It just works here and not every film has to have some kind of super deep message after all. This film is also a lot shorter than the last one so in a way this may have been a decision to just make this more of a basic action film. You can never really go wrong with that as long as the writing is good and I thought it was rather solid. The ending may not be quite as solid as the last one since it’s way more of a hollow victory but it’s still good enough. Harry shows off his attitude to the end and we get one last gag of sorts.

Overall, The Enforcer is a good film. I don’t think it quite has the depth of the last one but it’s still a good adventure. In a way it continues to show just how corrupt things are to the point where Harry has to rely on other criminals to get the info he needs on the main villains. He can’t rely on the cops or their information networks which is really rough when you think about it. With the mayor pushing all of his social justice policies in, Harry can see how it might get even worse in the future. He may complain, but ultimately he keeps on getting the job done though and that’s what is important. I would recommend checking this film out, you’ll have a good time.

Overall 6/10

Magnum Force Review

Posted on by
Reply

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

It’s time for Harry to return and start putting some justice back in the streets. Magnum Force tackles the topic of vigilante justice which is pretty fun because usually you only see that in a superhero story. Sure, non superhero movies sometimes have this as well for the main character but it’s a little rarer to have the complete hero having to take on a vigilante. Especially when the hero is someone who is willing to skirt the rules quite a bit like Dirty Harry.

The movie starts with a crook managing to get away on a technicality and preparing to enjoy his new freedom. Unfortunately for him, he bumps into a cop who is just not having this and gets brutally murdered. Harry decides to look into this although he is warned not to look too closely. A man like Harry is going to try for answers and those answers may not be to the department’s best interests. It’s a touchy subject after all and so naturally Harry doesn’t listen to them at all. He’s going to do whatever he wants and that’s really the final answer. He does have a partner, but there’s not much point talking about him because you know how that tends to go.

In a way this movie plays out like a part mystery. Who is this rogue cop? There are several suspects because in the movie we meet a new rookie unit that is formed of several prodigies. These guys are all experts with a gun and are definitely not afraid to use it. So which one of them has gone off the deep end and started executing criminals? Sure, it might sound like a good idea at first and that’s why it is always such a tempting proposition but it becomes a super slippery slope. In fact we can go over that a bit in this review because the movie also goes over this in detail.

Basically as Harry points out, the rogue cop is playing judge, jury, and executioner. Yes, Harry has had to wrestle with these themes even in the first film. Sometimes you do have to pull the trigger but there’s a big difference between doing that either in duress, a split second situation, a one time event, and casually going around bumping off all criminals. You have to be absolutely sure that the person doing the crime is actually guilty and figuring out a lot of similar things as well. After all, if you got this wrong, then you are murdering an innocent person.

In a perfect world, if it were possible to perfectly know if someone was guilty of particularly heinous crimes then I doubt that anyone would have a problem deleting them. If you could press a button and it only deleted people that you knew committed the crime like cold blooded murder in a non acceptable circumstance, then that’d be great. Of course, that is not something that can ever happen. The thing with vigilantism is that you can’t promote it because then it’ll spread and inevitably be used by someone who doesn’t subscribe to the same values. It puts the whole topic in a very dicey spot. You can only really internally root for it and not externally.

Take the opening scene, everyone knows that this guy murdered a bunch of people. He got off on a legal loophole, but that’s all it was…a loophole. When you have actual footage of someone doing something criminal, it can be extremely frustrating to see them out and about again with no problem. The law will never be perfect of course as you can’t stitch every loophole but that’s when vigilantes don’t seem to bad. So in the world of Dirty Harry, you can easily imagine how vigilantes would appear. There is just so much crime and corruption everywhere. The cops seem rather dirty at times so the only way to put a criminal off the streets is to do it yourself.

Of course, using a cop to do this means the whole agency could be compromised. So it makes for a pretty good battle of ideals throughout the movie. Then you also have the battle of generations. Harry is an older guy who has been around the block many times before. He knows how to fight and make command decisions but can he handle any of these younger cops? We see that they are near perfect on the gun range and hold their own in a shooting exhibition. Of course, Harry threw the latter so we can assume he would have won or at least tied there but it doesn’t change the fact that these guys are really evenly matched.

Harry is always a likable character and he does tend to carry the film at a lot of points. He’s certainly not flawless. The guy makes mistakes like anybody else but he’s always at least fighting for something. He still believes that the badge means something after all and this kind of main character is always fun. I also like the main villain. I won’t say who it is but the film definitely takes a twist out of a mystery film with how it’s handled. It makes for a really solid climax all the way around.

The film does show off what a lawless city it takes place in so there is definitely some grit here though. The murders can be a little bloody at times of course. There is some fanservice running around and most of the characters are meant to be rather unlikable. I like the young cops and Harry but pretty much everyone else here tends to be annoying. I actually thought Harry’s partner wasn’t bad but you just feel like he’s absolutely doomed the whole time. Nobody can hang with Harry for long. That’s just how it always is. He’s built different for this kind of thing.

Overall, Magnum Force is a pretty solid film. It’s definitely a long one so there is a whole lot of time for investigation here and debates on what is going on. The movie avoids being too black and white on the issue which I appreciated as it is a bit of a nuanced topic. It may be an uncomfortable one for most but there is a reason why vigilante justice is so popular after all. The film absolutely lands the ending as well so it makes for a satisfying watch. It’s probably a film that would be a little too intense for younger watchers but I wouldn’t say it is completely off its rocker either. I do think the film showed some restraint overall since it could easily mess with the audience’s emotions to make the vigilantism even more accepted based on how awful the criminals are. You are more left to assume based on context and such rather than shown the various crimes for the most part which is always the best way to go. So yeah this is definitely the film to watch if you want a compelling action title.

Overall 6/10

Scrooge Review

Posted on by
2


It’s time for one of the original Christmas Carol adaptions. This was definitely a classic and while you can feel its age, it’s always impressive to still see it handle all of the story elements from the newer versions. Sure, it may have to go through some of them rather quickly but you definitely get the point of it. I would probably not put it ahead of any of the other versions that I’ve seen but any fan of the story should definitely get a kick out of this one.

The story starts with Scrooge being rather stingy as always and not even letting his partner Bob put some wood into the fire in peace. Scrooge wants to save every penny and that is how he has built his wealth over the years. A penny saved is a penny earned and all of that. Sure enough, it is a motto that works but he takes it to the extreme. He even declines to go to his nephew’s Christmas dinner and instead heads home. That proves to be a mistake as a ghost shows up and explains that Scrooge is about to be haunted and guilt tripped by 3 ghosts. Scrooge will either be convinced to walk a lighter path by the end of this, or his future will be looking bleak.

Scrooge honestly doesn’t put up a ton of resistance in this one I’d say. I think it’s the way the movie is approaching this where Scrooge is more of a harmless cynic as opposed to being a downright antagonist. Once the ghosts show him the error of his ways and rub his nose in it, Scrooge very quickly sees the light and works on being a better person. It’s a very quick turnaround time but it makes sense when you consider that he isn’t actively resisting the ghosts as much. It’s not like Scrooged where he is as corrupt as possible after all.

Scrooge definitely lost a whole lot over the years in trying to build his riches. It’s not something that comes without a price after all. In the end he blames himself the hardest for Tiny Tim and that’s definitely valid. When you’re rich, it’s not like you suddenly have a huge obligation to take care of everyone in your family. It’s not like I fault him for their being poor completely but at the same time he could have helped out in little ways over the years. Perhaps in running his business a little more fairly. At least the guy had a consistent approach to everyone and wasn’t just picking on a few people.

Keeping all the money was just what he did. The ghosts aren’t as fantastical as they would start to be in later films. They all have a little charisma but the personalities weren’t yet set in stone. In later adaptions the ghost of the future is always absolute horror fodder as he shows up in a crazy cloak and looks more and more demonic as the years go by. In this case he is marginally scarier than the others but it’s not by a great deal or anything like that. Scrooge is probably more scared of all the random people looting his house after death. No respect for the recently departed around here!

The writing is solid as always. Scrooge may not be a nice guy but he’s a well written character as are the others. The heroes try to keep a cheerful face on even when things are hard and so the whole thing comes together well. At its core the Christmas Carol is always a story of optimism and how anybody can be changed. It’s a fun story to watch around Christmas time in all of its different adaptions.

The film is fairly short and direct so there really isn’t a whole lot more to say about the film though. I thought Bob was a solid character who may be a little timid, but he puts up with everything that he can in order to provide for his family. It takes a lot sometimes to not fire back at the boss when he’s being crazy but you know you need the job. Then Fred was definitely a solid character for trying to keep on inviting Scrooge to things long after he has probably been turned down hundreds and hundreds of times in the past. Nobody would have blamed him if he’d given up long before that.

Scrooge was really lucky to be surrounded by so many good people if you think about it. In another setting things could have been tough for him even after the ghosts had rehabilitated the guy. It’s hard to just start fresh when you’ve completely alienated everyone around you after all. It’s not like anyone ever owes you a second chance inherently. You have to have someone willing to talk to you first and so Fred really came in clutch there.

Overall, Scrooge is a pretty good story. Admittedly there is little reason to watch this version over the newer ones since they have consistently improved more and more as the years have gone by. I really liked an animated one that came out in the late 2000s and for live action it’s hard to go away from Scrooged. Still, as this is one of the original ones, it’s playing the story straight without all of the flourishes and new directions. it can be good to remember what the baseline is here as opposed to all of the modern renditions. So if you are really curious how it played out then this is a good film to watch.

Overall 6/10

Godzilla Minus One Review

Posted on by
2


It’s time for the return of Godzilla! Japan likes to bring him back from time to time although lately we haven’t really seen any big opponents for him. This is a return to form of a more serious Godzilla film and what would happen if he really did show up. It’s a solid modern take on the Kaiju and delivers with some solid special effects. It doesn’t stand out compared to the average Godzilla film but having any Godzilla film show up is always awesome!

The movie starts with Koichi deciding to dodge his suicide bomb run and just head to an island to recharge for a bit. No way he’s dying in futility! Nobody is particularly thrilled about this but they don’t have time to convince him to be destroyed because Godzilla shows up and starts laying waste to all of them. Koichi and Tachibana are the only survivors. Tachibana escapes to parts unknown while Koichi visits his home but people are also upset at him. A suicide bomber cannot return alive, it means that they didn’t follow through. The only thing keeping Koichi together at this point is taking care of a lady named Noriko and a baby she is helping out. They are homeless after the attacks and so he lets her crash at his place. Can he redeem himself now?

A lot of the story is really about Koichi dealing with the fact that he survived and wondering if he made the right choice. He has survivor’s guilt and a whole lot of PTSD to unpack so it’s definitely not easy. I would say this also tends to be a cultural distinction here as Japan always was really big on the family honor dynamic. Koichi knows he would have died for pretty much no purpose and yet he still can’t shake the guilt because it’s what was expected of him. Defying the rules and doing your own thing is more of an American ideology and that’s where I tend to stand. To me it makes sense to keep surviving and make the rational decision without guilt but of course that’s easier said than done.

So the film keeps up this very somber tone for a long while with Koichi and it’s a bit hard to connect to. I do appreciate that he is trying to take care of Noriko though. The film can’t help but try to force a romance later on though which I thought was rather unnecessary. Having Koichi help a pure stranger out of the kindness of his heart or some kind of belief that he needed to even out the scales would have been really good. In saving her he would save himself or something like that. The romance just muddies that message a bit I’d say. At least it does take place over several years so I won’t give the usual complaint of it being rushed. It really wasn’t in this case, I just felt it didn’t really support the themes.

Noriko is a good person as well with how she takes care of the baby and everything. She also tries to move on so that she is not a bother to Koichi at all. I can appreciate that like her getting a job and everything. Her reaction times are also a lot better than Koichi’s and her instincts are sharp. She even has the best durability feat among the humans in the whole film. As a whole she is definitely a quality character, dare I say easily the best human in the film?

There are some other characters but they tend to be more on the annoying side. You have the inventor who barely knows what he is doing and who gets drunk a lot. You’ve got the young guy who is out of his depths but really wants to help. Then you have the older, more jaded guy who is ready to step up when needed. They aren’t bad but don’t do a whole lot. Tachibana was a good rival at least in that he wouldn’t let Koichi off easily but didn’t let his personal feelings get in the way of things by the end. When it was time to buckle down and do his job, he did it 100%.

Now as for Godzilla, unfortunately this is one of his weakest incarnations. That is usually going to happen when you have him up against humans though. In this case, conventional weaponry is enough to heavily damage him to the point of needing to use his regeneration. The main ships are nearly able to destroy him on their own. This Godzilla would not last for very long against someone like Orga, I can tell you that for sure. I liked the regeneration and how fast it worked, but being at the cost of his overall durability was a little unfortunate. You have to try and strike a balance of course but I don’t think this was it.

Naturally it’s all going to get a little cheesy with the humans fighting Godzilla but that’s how it goes I suppose. Whenever the power balance is drastic enough, that is going to happen. The ending actually had another cheesy event aside from Godzilla going down, but that one I was fine with. I always root for the Hollywood type ending where things go well and so this worked out really well. Why have a grim ending when you can have a happy one right? If not for that part of the ending you could argue that the costs were just way too great.

We do have a pair of cliffhangers at the end of the movie. We know most likely they will never be followed up on but I still appreciate having them in there. It’s an ending that reminds you just how doomed everyone is going to be in the future. Humanity has no idea what they have just gotten themselves into! It’s also a very realistic human setting so the odds of building some kind of Mecha Godzilla this time feel very remote.

The soundtrack is all right. The standout is definitely when they play the main Godzilla theme from the good ole days. None of the other tracks were nearly as intense. Godzilla’s new roar isn’t bad although I prefer the original one. The design itself is definitely solid on all accounts though. The Atomic Breath may take a little too long to fire and recharge but these nerfs were likely necessary to give the humans a fighting chance and even then they feel super outmatched anyway.

The writing was solid in the film and I appreciate that there is a lot going on. The graphics are definitely good all around. In general it’s just not quite as fast paced as the average Godzilla film though. It’s hard to go back to the days of not having an opponent Kaiju. Shin Godzilla did that to better effect with all of the humor throughout the film and poking fun at how everything needs a meeting. This one was going for a much more somber tone which was never really going to work out quite as well. It’s just tough to really pull that off in general but thanks to Godzilla the film is still pretty solid.

Overall, Godzilla Minus One is a pretty good film. It may not reach the usual Godzilla standard at times but that’s because they were trying to lean a bit more on the humans here. I don’t think that plot ever becomes super compelling as Godzilla steals the show without appearing for a while. So you’re left just wanting Godzilla to appear every time even when the humans are supposed to be dominating and it’s hard to really balance both ends. Still, I definitely recommend checking this one out as soon as possible. It’s not every day that we have a Godzilla film!

Overall 7/10

The Cheaters Review

Posted on by
Reply


It’s time for a film about the dangers of rampant greed. Pretty much everyone in this film is either trying for money or status. Just about none of the characters are all that likable which can work out well enough for a comedic film where everyone is getting wrecked. I would say it definitely does work in this instance. The characters are all obnoxious but not outright malicious or anything like that. That’s the line you want to be careful about crossing after all and the film does a really good job on this one.

The film starts off with James being reminded that he is super broke to the point of being near bankruptcy. What had once been a vast empire of wealth has been absolutely squandered. He really did a terrible job of utilizing his assets and was too showy about buying everything. He has one chance though, a rich relative is dying and so he might be able to get a lot of money. The family is super stoked but then it turns out he has given the money away to a random girl he saw at a show once. If she can’t be located, then the family will get all of the money so they must ensure that this “Florie” character never hear about the news. That…or they could find her first to keep her in the dark.

The latter seems like an absolutely terrible idea so naturally that’s what they go with. If you ask me, that’s just a bit weird and will give her the idea that something is up. How many people actually pay attention to the newspaper right? I think if James and the others hadn’t actually done anything then this film could have played out very differently, but again that’s where the greed comes into play. They just stretched themselves a little too thin and ultimately that came back to bite them.

One big story element that intertwines with this is that Therese wants to impress her boyfriend by taking care of a poor soul for Christmas. This is apparently something that is used as a bragging chip to an extent. All the rich people are doing it, or at least so she says. So she brings in Anthony, a washed up actor who has serious drinking issues and he will stay with them for a little while. The tricky thing about this is the guy doesn’t move around much so they all tend to forget about him and he ends up overhearing a lot of juicy information. He is now a potential liability so they have to be careful or he will wreck the whole thing for them. Can they really stop him though?

Now as far as this plot goes, my hot take is it’s still good that they brought him in. Even if it was for completely selfish reasons and they didn’t do it out of the goodness of their hearts, it barely matters to me. For example, lets say someone donate a million dollars to a local orphanage and you later find out it was because they desperately needed the tax break it would get them. Well…the kids still got the money so I don’t mind that the rich person benefited from it. At the end of the day, if you do a good action, I’m glad to see it even if the action itself was not heartfelt. Obviously if it’s a scam and the orphanage did not benefit then that’s a whole other issue.

So Anthony has a nice house now and a place to rest. I would argue that this is really all that matters in the long run. Anthony isn’t the greatest character either as he is dealing with his own issues but he definitely has more of a conscience than the other characters. He was doing his best to make sure that Florie wasn’t totally left out to dry although it took him a long time to really make a final decision. Also he continues to be drunk for a long while and I was hoping he would really beat that addiction during the movie.

The writing is really what makes this film entertaining. The story itself isn’t necessarily exciting on its own but it’s fun to watch this group of amateurs try to succeed in their big plot. It’s clearly over their heads in a big way but they continue to try regardless. James has that complete confidence yet paranoia that makes for a good combination. He’s good at bluffing but definitely panics when it doesn’t work. Therese is a little too eager for outside approval the whole time and uses deceptions to try and make herself ready. That’s also not a good way to go about things.

Stephen is pretty direct about not trusting Anthony from the start so I appreciate that. He basically said out loud what the rest of the characters were thinking. Anthony was a solid wild card to throw some tension into the mix. I also liked Florie for that role, especially as she got a solid twist early on. I also think the whole idea of the uncle giving all of his vast fortune to a random show girl he met over his own family speaks volumes to the family themselves. You definitely shouldn’t take for granted if the money is coming to you or not when someone passes away. That will always be a true wild card after all right until the end.

The ending wasn’t particularly satisfying even if they were trying for an uplifting message there. It’s completely not the direction I would have taken the movie but it’s not like it wrecked everything or anything like that. It may not have been where I wanted the movie to go but it’s not particularly egregious. Just expect to shake your head the whole time.

Overall, The Cheaters is one of those films where the main characters get off pretty easy. Sure, they may not have hurt anyone directly but they were effectively trying to steal millions of dollars and especially back in the day that was a ton of money. I don’t think they really deserved to get any of the money at the end. Apologies are all well and good but it was a little late by that point. I think they should have just vowed to do better with their money. After all, did they actually learn anything by the time the film was over? I’m not sure that they did and that’s definitely a real problem here. I wouldn’t be surprised if they were to pull this kind of stunt again. Actually that would have made for a funny ending even if it might be contrived to have someone else dying.

Overall 7/10

Battle Beyond the Stars Review

Posted on by
2


This movie is definitely like a cross between Star Wars and the Seven Samurai. It’s really about recruiting a bunch of people to fight the enemy overlords and then we get to the big climax. It’s a good movie that is bogged down by some terrible writing. This may be the first time I’ve had to say that in a while but yes the writing is absolutely abysmal at times. You’ll see what I mean as we go through this but ultimately I would still give the movie a thumbs up. It may not be the best sci-fi out there but it does a lot of things right.

The film starts off with the evil emperor Sador deciding to take down another planet. This time he is after a peaceful planet that has no real fighting capabilities. They don’t want to go down without a fight though so Shad is sent off into the vast universe to find people who will help fight off the powerful villains. It’s going to be a tough sell because they don’t have any money or priceless artifacts to give up. Anyone who helps out will be doing so out of the goodness of their hearts…yeah. That’s not going to be a great way to get the best help out there but Shad will do his best.

Okay so here’s where the biggest glaring issue of the film comes in. They are absolutely desperate to get some bounty hunters to help. Truly desperate, Shad is asking everyone he meets if they can help. We’re talking from drunk Cowboys to random aliens who share a consciousness. It doesn’t really matter just how good they are, he just needs people. So about halfway into the movie we have Saint-Exmin show up and she is stoked to be a part of the crew. She is begging to join even so that she can fight and even if she dies, then she will have died in the line of duty in an honorable way. It makes a lot of sense so…Shad will let her in right? She is from a warrior race and her entire ship is built for combat.

No, Shad tells her to get lost and thinks she’s annoying. He figures she is weak and they’re better off without her. It’s gotta be one of the dumbest things I’ve heard in a long time. It made absolutely no sense and throughout the film he is a jerk to her for absolutely no reason. Yeah he finally apologizes near the very end but it felt like there must have been a few scenes left on the cutting floor or something. There was absolutely no reason for what he was doing there. It was virtually film breaking because it goes against the entire plot and this is the only time that Shad acts like this. It still makes no sense.

I can’t say I liked Shad much as a main character even aside from that whole thing though. For starters, he is a bit too oblivious about everything. He doesn’t really know anything about romance aside from breeding and is super slow on the uptake. All of the flirting and romance in the movie is painful to watch as a result. You are waiting to just get onto the next plot point each time. Nanelia also doesn’t know much about romance and since she is the main heroine that doesn’t bode well for either of them. Saint-Exmin at least tries to pass on her knowledge so I appreciate that. It may be a bit too bold for some but being bold is the best way to move forward within reason.

Saint-Exmin was actually a solid character. Would have been nice if she wasn’t used for fanservice all the time but her core personality was solid which is what counts. Meanwhile Nanelia wasn’t all that interesting. It felt like she was more of a nothing character who didn’t have any big ambitions or goals of her own. It would have been good if she could have had more to do in the film considering that she is one of the first ones to join in on this whole rebellion.

The characters recruited later on all have more of a role. You’ve got the Cowboy who shows up early on and gets a whole subplot. At first he doesn’t want to fight since he figures its a losing battle and doesn’t want anyone to look up to him but gradually gets his courage back and does really well. He’s someone you can count on when the chips are down even if at first he was really hesitant. That was definitely a pretty uplifting moment for the guy and by the end he was one of the more heroic ones.

My favorite helper was Gelt who is basically the world’s strongest bounty hunter. This guy was a serious threat and definitely not someone to be underestimated. His whole intro is really cool as we learn how everyone else was exterminated. He’s the main reason the heroes can even stand a chance against the main villain. Gelt earned his title and I would definitely be down for a prequel film about this guy. It would definitely be loaded with action and you get the feeling there is more to his past than what he is letting on.

Finally we have the 5 aliens with a shared conscience. They’re not bad, I definitely don’t envy them though. Imagine someone else constantly being in your head 24/7 at all times without any way out of that? That would be absolutely brutal. No privacy taken to the extreme. You could probably use this in some creative ways in a battle series but that’s not exactly what this movie is all about. They do a good job of filling in the last roster slots but that’s about all I would say for these guys.

The film spends so much time recruiting the heroes that we don’t have much time for the villains though. There are some mini villains scattered throughout the film but the main villain himself? He’s more of an obstacle to be defeated than a full fledged villain in his own right. He actually had potential with the solid design and everything but winds up being forgettable. I do think that does a disservice to the film since there was a lot of potential there. It’s another reason why the film doesn’t have good writing to me. It’s not paced correctly with characters being left out and of course I went over the main reason why I didn’t care for the writing. The film is still good and enjoyable all the way of course but yeah you’re left thinking that this could and should have been even better.

The special effects are definitely solid though. I appreciated all of the effects for the lasers and fights. The alien costumes looked good as well. Everything felt like it was crafted very carefully here. Even the ship felt extra real with the various rooms. It reminded me of the Enterprise from Star Trek. The ship basically being sentient with the A.I. was really the cherry on top there. It wasn’t afraid to take shots at the main guy on several occasions for being too timid and messing up on the controls. The ship was right by the way, this guy would choke under pressure every time he was at the command stations. You definitely don’t want him as your captain because he’ll never fire in time.

Overall, This is a film that is fairly memorable which tends to be a good thing. It may not be a match for the top tier sci-fi films out there but it is still at least trying to do something interesting. We got a lot of world building and a bunch of varied characters. I would like to see another film tackle this premise with better writing and it could really be a smash hit. In the meantime this one still has enough whit and good action scenes to keep it on top all the way. That’s definitely nothing to sneeze at, that’s for sure.

Overall 6/10

The Possession Review

Posted on by
Reply


It’s time for another one of those films where a malicious entity works to break a family apart. These spirits definitely like to go for the slow corruption angle to speed up the drama but sometimes you wonder what the end game is. Is it just to mess with everyone and the spirit enjoys the chaos or is it something deeper? Because the former would come off as rather petty if you think about it. Nothing wrong with petty for a villain but it’s something you think about when the main plot isn’t super gripping.

The film starts with the evil box claiming its first victim. An older lady was unfortunately the first fighter to go up against the box and she was unable to withstand its supernatural barrage. She is thrown around for a bit and gets murdered. So the family decides to sell the box off, where it is taken by Emily. This leads to our main characters. Clyde and Stephanie divorced about a year ago and while things are tense, at least they don’t fully hate each other. They have the two daughters Hannah and Emily on rotating shifts and things seem to be fine. Emily hopes they will get back together but that doesn’t seem to be in the cards. Emily starts to act rather off after getting the box though. Is it…haunted????

I mean we watched the opening scene so we already know the truth. It takes most of the film for the main characters to know what is going on as well so it’s a bit of a slow burn. I have a few issues with this movie to be sure but I will say that it beats the average horror film. Not a hard thing to do of course but it’s still a win so we’ll take it. Basically, one issue I had here is it’s one of those films where the heroes don’t really have much of a chance. The spirit can directly control people, amps up their physical abilities, can push people around with telekinesis, etc. It doesn’t really have any limitations and can operate over a large area. So the average person has no hope without a significant amount of plot armor. Not very fair now is it?

So one of the big problems with a film like this is it feels rather pointless at times. Even when the heroes do take the threat seriously and try dealing with it, at best they start to delay things. It is a horror film so make sure you stay all the way through to the ending. It’s not as annoying as something like the Grudge but yeah they really need to give these things some more weaknesses. Like some kind of a physical form or some defenses that the humans can use to fight back a little bit.

There are a solid amount of fake jump scares to buy time for the real ones. As a result though, almost every jump in the first half is fake. You have raccoons breaking and entering along with insects also pulling stuff off. It definitely makes for a tough combination for the poor father who is already trying to navigate a difficult situation and doesn’t have time for all of this supernatural mumbo jumbo.

On the human side, the film does a good job of not vilifying either of the parents too much at least. Stephanie maybe seems a little more antagonistic since the film is from Clyde’s point of view but at least it’s nothing too crazy. She is moving on with her life and is tired of Clyde always holding her back. The fact that he was even late to pick up the kids has to be annoying. He also seems a little too jealous of her new boyfriend considering that they’re broken up. At that point it’s not really any of his business. They’re not together anymore so he’s gotta just move on.

The new boyfriend doesn’t seem all that bad either. He’s a bit obnoxious but not to a crazy extent. I don’t think you’re meant to care about the guy all that much so his screentime tends to be minimal. As for Clyde, I wouldn’t say he does a great job of connecting to the kids. He’s busy and has calls that have to be picked up and stuff like that but for the most part I wouldn’t say that he is making any critical mistakes or anything. Clyde does put a lot of work into saving Emilly so he tried his best.

Emily is super annoying but you do have to consider that most of this is the box’s fault. She’s not usually as crazy as she appears. Emily is maybe a bit too naive and all but she is younger. Hannah seems like a good older sister who is always trying to look at things rationally. Kids just aren’t ready to fight a supernatural monster, even the adults were really at the end of their rope there.

I guess the main issue here is that this film isn’t doing anything new, different, or exciting. It’s you run of the mill film about possession which isn’t a super interesting topic anyway. It’s not going to do anything to change your mind on the subject. I like the fact that it is a bit tamer than other films in the genre. It’s not super violent although it does have some moments like the principal getting blinded. It goes more for shock value and gross imagery like spitting out a bunch of flies and things like that. It was interesting how some of the stuff was actually happening as opposed to illusions. It made for an interesting scene where the fumigators had to be called in to get rid of them. It’s a small note but that was nice.

Still, the film just isn’t going to hold your interest for very long unless you’re really into the genre. Maybe if the spirit had more personality or there were some interesting dialogues about how to take it down. This would work better in a setting where the supernatural was common place. Then at least this could be a solid back and forth with both sides using their full arsenal. Because it is more of a first encounters kind of film though, it’s just the humans getting wrecked for a while.

Overall, You know a film isn’t holding your attention when you’re more interested in the basketball team’s fate than the actual main plot. The film actually avoids most of the big horror traps so I appreciate that but at the same time it’s nowhere near being at the level it would need to be for me to call it a good movie. Being boring is a really bad offense for any kind of film. So in the end I would give this one a thumbs down without a doubt. You’re better off finding some other supernatural title to watch like Ghostbusters.

Overall 4/10

Crime Story Review

Posted on by
Reply

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

It’s time for a Jackie Chan film that was actually rather serious. I was on the fence about whether this would get a score or not since it’s based on true events. The names were all changed around and it seemed like it was lose enough though so I decided to just go with it. It’s definitely a reasonably solid film for most of the run but makes enough mistakes to keep it treading water in the middle. You’ve got a good amount of action here but the main character can be rather annoying with how much he puts up with the whole time. The villains definitely needed to get beaten up sooner.

Mr. Wong is a pretty wealthy guy and he has a lot of disputes with his workers over the conditions. He has reason to believe that he will soon be kidnapped and asks for police protection for when this happens. Unfortunately the cops don’t really believe him. Chan is put on as Wong’s bodyguard but he also thinks that the threat isn’t very tangible so he doesn’t take things as seriously as he should. At one point Wong is being followed by a car and asks for help but Chan thinks it’s just some disgruntled workers at first. Chan still does go over to help but it’s too late and Wong is gone. Chan must now find him before the villains do something drastic but can he pull the trigger as needed?

See, Chan is dealing with some PTSD from an earlier case. He was chasing a bunch of crooks through the city and they were just not cooperating so in self defense Chan ended up shooting. There were fatalities and in a way he blames himself although I would say he handled the mission well. Look, sometimes people are gonna die, that’s pretty much inevitable in this kind of situation especially when the crook isn’t stopping. Of course you want to aim for a leg so it’s not fatal but when the crooks also have a gun then that’s game over.

We have a bit of a subplot where Chan works with a counselor to try and get him through the distress. She’s a fun character and the whole time you’re wondering if she’s connected a bit deeper into the film. It’s just good acting in the end but she has such a big emphasis early on that the jaded part of you figures this is some kind of a trap. Either way this is part of why Chan doesn’t just mess everyone up because he’s a little more reserved than usual. He still does all of the usual parkour and running around but isn’t firing off the shots as quickly.

That’s fine, it takes time to get over trauma but what I didn’t like is how he takes so much abuse from the villains. At one point he is questioning a suspicious lady who has been seen with the corrupt cop Mr. Hung. While he is there, the guys minions are tripping Chan, shoving him, etc. They really mess with the guy and go for the ultimate disrespect and Chan just keeps on trying to run out of there. After a point you need to just beat these guys up straight away. There are a lot of ways you could promote this as self defense and if you think the force is too corrupt for this then you just have to hide the villains afterwards.

It was just annoying how he was a punching bag for so long there. I also think he could have handled the situation with Hung a whole lot better. Chan had his suspicions from the start but no proof so he sort of waited and bided his time. The problem with this is that it buys Hung a lot of time to do things. By all accounts Chan should have been dead in this film several times. It’s why you gotta be proactive and make a move based on your gut. The only time Chan really did this was when he roughed up a witness for a while despite everyone warning him not to. That was definitely a good move.

Meanwhile Hung doesn’t make for a great main villain. He may not be the head honcho but he has the biggest role because of his connection with the cops. The guy is a fairly high ranking official so everyone believes him with all of his false information. The guy does a whole lot of damage the whole time and you’re waiting for the heroes to take him out. I will at least give the guy props for his confidence because he really swindles the heroes like a champ even when they could have potentially called his bluff several times. Confidence is the first step towards messing everyone up after all.

He has this random toxic relationship with a girl who shows up a few times during the film. Unfortunately all this does is weaken the film as a whole. The whole affair in the elevator is rather crazy and didn’t have much of a purpose here. I won’t say the relationship itself is unrealistic because you could totally picture this being the case but it’s definitely not something that the film needed. We already knew that Hung was not a good guy and even if this was meant to drum up the slightest bit of sympathy for the guy and why he wanted more money, it definitely didn’t work.

The only one you really feel bad for here is Wong’s wife who is doing her best to comply with the demands and get her husband to safety. It’s just not an easy position to be in and that’s before you consider the corrupt cop and everything going on. All she knows is the cops don’t have a great game plan and keep leading her on a wild goose chase. She does everything she can to save her husband so I would definitely call her the best character in the film.

The film has some good action like I mentioned before and I think that’s something the film should have leaned on a bit harder. Give us more action scenes and solid athletics. That would have helped to also establish Chan as a better main character if he was fighting a lot. Toss the club scene and a few small rewrites would make this solid right off the gate. The film does keep your interest but you see all of the missed potential throughout the movie.

Overall, Crime Story is a film that has a lot of good moments and solid action throughout but definitely gets weakened by the lower points of the film. The whole scene of Chan being hazed at the club was just awful and made no sense. He was too slow to make a move and the toxic relationship with Hung was just wasting valuable screentime. The writing itself isn’t bad and there’s some decent pacing here but in the end these issues definitely start to add up and keep the film from reaching its full potential. I would sooner recommend most of Jackie Chan’s other films.

Overall 5/10