Tag Archives: Film Review

The Shootist Review

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It’s time for a fairly somber wild west film. There isn’t a whole lot of action here but the film definitely delivers with a pretty solid climax. The build up for that was definitely a lot of fun and ultimately ties everything in well. It’s a pretty good film that takes itself seriously and has a lot of solid writing. It’s not perfect but I had a consistently good time all the way through.

The movie starts by introducing us to Books. He is a very notorious killer. The guy has never lost a fight and is one of the only survivors of the true wild west. What people don’t realize is that he’s dying. The guy is old but it’s not that, he has developed cancer and his doctor confirmed the diagnosis. There is no way out for him now and so he has only a few weeks to live. He decides to rent out a room in a quiet town and just wait for his death. That was the plan at least but he isn’t ready to just die like this and so he prepares to see the world a bit and get into one last fight. The stakes are pretty high for him but what’s the worst that can happen in the fight right? He’ll be dead soon anyway.

It’s got to be tough knowing that the end of your life is approaching but at the same time I always rather liked the idea of having a rough time table. If I know I’m going to die in 4 weeks for example then I would go crazy enjoying every kind of food and activity I wanted in the meantime. Of course the reason you wouldn’t want to do that is because no diagnosis is 100% accurate. If they made a mistake and you just spent your life savings…that won’t go over very well. So it’s always important that no matter what you don’t do anything that would be irreversible. Trust me it’s not a good idea. Of course back in the wild west days there were far less resources so the diagnosis could be said with more confidence since it’s not like he could have an operation.

A big portion of the film is Brooks getting to know Bond, the owner of the house, and her son. The weakest part of the film is definitely the mild romance with Bond and Books though. It doesn’t really make sense, he’ll be dead soon anyway and they got off to a really rocky start as it is. Granted the film doesn’t really go anywhere with this but that’s part of why it’s just filler and could have been removed. Having this connection didn’t actually add anything to the film and you could have replaced it with something a whole lot more useful. At least if you ask me that definitely could have been changed quite a bit. At most have her see him with some respect for leading a tough life but you don’t need anything more than that.

I’d also say it’s selfish of Books to be driving around with her and asking her to accompany him. There’s not much use in building bonds when you’re about to die because you’re just going to leave the other person in a rather rough spot. Of course it provides him some comfort but hey you don’t always get to win out. I’d have preferred he just hang out with everyone a little like his scenes with Doc, Gillom, and the others. Books is still a solid character and the film goes out of its way to show that he was no common criminal. He didn’t start fights, he just ended them.

I do think it was pretty unreasonable when Bond was giving him a hard time over murdering the home intruders. Clearly they were going to finish him off so he had to defend himself. For the most part Bond is reasonable in the film though and I definitely didn’t blame her at all for wanting Books out after he lied to her about his identity. I think most people would feel the same way because right out of the gate you can’t trust your tenant. That’s not a good way to start things off.

Gillom manages to be really annoying throughout the film though. The guy ends up being a thief by the end and while he apologized, I didn’t buy it. It also wasn’t the best of apologies either. He gets a good moment at the end of the film at least so I’ll give him that but for the most part he was definitely really weak. I much preferred the guy at the stables who was good at bartering. He had a decent sense of humor too and was able to hold his own without being insecure or over the top like Gillom.

Finally I liked the doctor, he was a good friend to Books throughout the adventure. He also didn’t sugar coat how things would end up if Books died naturally which I appreciated. At the end of the day that’s probably the worst thing you can do. You need to give your patient the right tools and knowledge to make the best informed decision possible. That’s just not going to work if you don’t explain the situation 100% accurately and clearly.

The highlight of the film is definitely the big climax. I liked how each of the 3 big gunmen just walked into the saloon waiting for Books to show up. Each one was super smug and confident in their abilities. You were wondering if they would turn on each other, team up, or just watch in the end. It made for a good setting and I liked how Books just walked in with a ton of confidence. He was maybe too confident as he was wide open during the first shot and is just lucky that the guy missed.

It’s a full action climax that you may not have expected for this film and it ended up working out really well. While most of the film is more dialogue heavy and just about life in general, you always want to have some kind of explosive climax and this film definitely delivered on that. The fight scene was handled really well and you got to clearly see Books’ accuracy all the way through. An ending is supremely important for any film so it was really good that this one stuck the landing.

Overall, This is a film that I could easily recommend whether you enjoy wild west type films or not. It’s really more about deciding how you die and making a final stand. The classic hero having to enter one last fight is certainly a popular kind of plot and it makes sense because there’s a lot to enjoy with that. The writing is really solid which is naturally important and I also really liked the cast of characters. These films can sometimes make the lead a little too unlikable so you’re rooting for him to lose or at least to go for a draw but in this case Books was actually likable so that worked out well. He had a lot of fun banter with the local Marshall which made for a little injection of humor into the film. That guy was definitely as mean as he could be but that never broke Books.

Overall 7/10

Who Was That Lady? Review

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All right so imagine you walk into a room and you see your husband with another lady in the position of the poster. Now…..unless you’re a grade A sucker this is where the film ends because you’re pulling in the papers and axing the whole thing off right? Well this movie’s all about the main guy trying to gaslight his wife into thinking that this isn’t actually happening. Will he succeed or will justice prevail?? Time to find out!

So I have to say whenever the main character gets off too easy I tend to be annoyed and that happens here. I was waiting for things to really turn on him but they never really do. Basically the film starts off with a student staying after class and pulls the moves on him. His reaction times were dead in the water but for the sake of argument we can say he was putting up a struggle but lacked the power. David’s wife Ann walks in and sees this so she dashes off and says they will be getting divorced. David knows his only hope is to get the help of his best friend Michael to lie on his behalf. Lying is like breathing for Michael so you could even say that he was born for this task and boy is he eager to pull it off!

The story they go with is that David is part of the FBI and part of his job is going on dates and having affairs with various women who are actually operatives from enemy establishments. The whole thing sounds so bogus but Ann believes it because a part of her wants to believe in her husband which is actually just tragic when you think about it. Now David’s web of lies continues to grow and grow but he’s having a blast. What can possibly go wrong with this?? Well when the real FBI step in things start to get a little shaky.

Yeah so I have no sympathy for the main character here. David makes all of the usual excuses and one liners here but I don’t buy any of them. It was a mistake…it happened too fast, etc. Nahhh that’s not going to work. What’s even worse is when he goes with Michael on the group date. He absolutely needed to say no and just deal with the consequences. Even if nothing ended up happening, just going on the group date was a really bad idea. Sure he got to experience some danger near the end but for the most part there were no real downsides to the adventure. He just got to mess around a lot and in the end things are actually better off for him than when he started the film. Life and death situations can change a person but there was no real reason for Ann to forgive him.

Meanwhile Ann may be a lot more sympathetic than David but I was still not a fan. She gets fooled way too easily especially considering how weak the story is. She should have stuck to her guns. I actually think a more interesting premise would have been that she was doubting him the whole film so he keeps on making the stories more and more fantastic in a bid to get her to believe him. By the end she finally starts to believe him when something goes wrong and he has to come clean. Boom that’s so many times better than what we got and it would have also made her look a whole lot better.

Then you have his friend Michael who is the king of being a bad influence. You can always count on him to make sure that things don’t go well. He always starts off with fairly clever ideas but ends up doubling down on them so many times that they go all the way around into being bad ideas. He really instigates a lot of the problems. So make no mistake he’s definitely a true antagonist here and someone you can’t root for. At the same time he is easily the most entertaining character. It’s always a lot of fun to see him with the fast talk and trying to outsmart everyone.

In the climax when the two are attacked by villains he’s the only one who actually tries to put up a fight. He still gets folded real fast but I appreciated the attempt. I feel like the really confident fast talkers like this guy can usually at least know the basics of combat so that made sense. Ultimately that’s no substitute for having actual abilities though. His confidence at least makes other characters think twice and he was really able to dominate for most of the film because of this.

There’s also the main FBI agent who gets a decent role here. He ultimately pays a bit of a price for being too passive in the film though. If he had jumped in from the jump then he could have really changed a ton of events in the film. Instead he wanted to be nice and in the end actually dragged things out a lot more. Poor guy just wanted to relax and wasn’t ready for all of this.

The film definitely has a lot of funny moments and has a decent script so it’s not a really bad movie or anything like that. You should grin now and again but the basic premise does hold it back quite a lot. You definitely can’t get behind the romance and the main character ends up crossing a little too far into unlikable territory. You can deal with a main character who’s not super likable or anything like that but when he’s this bad it does end up taking a toll on the film. Ultimately it also feels a bit more stretched out than it needs to be as well.

Overall, This is one film where the main character should have lost at the end. At least maybe have Ann get some kind of quick revenge on him for a little while to try and even the score. It was all just a little too easy considering that she actually saw him cheating. It’s not like it was word of mouth or a rumor where you could debate it. I get the feeling a modern remake would have things play out a little differently for David and for once I think that would actually make sense here. That kind of moment is typically game over after all even if the film tries to brush it aside a bit. I enjoy a fun/light tone as much as the next guy of course and the events are cool but the premise just puts a bit of a damper on it.

Overall 4/10

Human Voice Review

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This is definitely a really short film so there’s not much time for a full plot. It’s more about having a scenario and then the special takes it to a conclusion. The main problem is as a result we do not care at all about any of the characters here. Seriously the main character isn’t even likable based on the brief context we have here and the only one who seems decent would be the maid who is just trying her best.

The story here is that there’s an older lady who looks forward to talking to a young man that she is seeing. This relationship doesn’t appear as if it will ultimately go anywhere but she needed a rebound after her husband passed away a long time ago. This guy was cool with it and so they meet up a lot. On this day though, he calls and explains that it’s all over. They will not be seeing each other anymore and in fact he’s hanging out with a younger woman now. Uh ohhhhhhh.

You guys probably already know how I feel about age gap romances from other titles and basically I think they almost never work. There are no “Never” or “Always” conditions in a romance but I would say it rarely ever works out because the two people will just be too different. In general I say 10 years is around the cutoff so someone who’s 38 and someone who’s 31 can probably work things out even if it’s a little tricky but if we’re talking 41 and 29 then you’re not likely to have a great time. This movie seems to really be a straight depiction of this because the younger guy inevitably went for a younger woman.

The way he broke the news to her was pretty bad. I mean he just waited to call later in the day? Of course she already knew about the younger lady as we find out later and was just trying to block that from her mind. These characters are being delusional and so the conversation isn’t very interesting at all. In fact it’s really just the heroine talking the whole time as she thinks about the past and feels lonely about her future prospects.

In general I’m not big on rebounds either so the way I see it, her husband died but they had a good time for a while and now that’s really it. There’s no picking a next guy, you just have to live the rest of the life on solo player mode. To each their own of course but she should have reasonably expected this to happen at some point and start looking at her options. Picking the younger guy was probably the downfall here because it meant that she could not try to find someone around her age in the meantime.

The party line phones were nostalgic though. I remember when the lines were set up in a way where it was all connected so if you picked up the phone then someone else could be listening on the other end. That must have been a nightmare, I don’t know how people could have really used their phones much. I suppose some might not mind others eavesdropping and it can be nice for parties but I think in most cases it would just end up not being worth it.

You only feel bad for the maid here who is trying to avoid all of the drama but it seems like this kind of thing happens a lot. She very smoothly prepares the dinner and then gets out of there before any big blow up Absolutely a good move and she’s very quick on her feet. She also tried warning the main heroine in a way by how she kept asking if the guy was really coming. Nobody wants to waste food right?

It was also cool to see that it was an Eggplant Parmesan here since I go tot make that recently. Eggplant isn’t my favorite to say the least but when you throw enough sauce and cheese at the problem then you’re good. There are few things that these two elements cannot cure in a food dish. I did find out recently that pineapple pizza is one of those exceptions. The food looked really presentable here though and that’s a silver lining for the short.

This isn’t an awful short or anything but it is pretty bad because it’s hard to find any real positives here. Sure, I have small praises like the food but that doesn’t count for a whole lot. There’s not enough terrible content for me to push it lower but I just don’t see why you would make a short with such a flimsy plot. It’s just a little too light with not enough story or characters. As a result it just comes across as trying way too hard the whole time. Like it’s searching for some kind of award to pat it on the back about how the film managed a whole story with only a few characters appearing and this was at the extent of a real story.

Overall, Yeah this wasn’t very good. The short gives you no reason to identify with the characters and is trying so hard to be emotional that it doesn’t work. If you want to watch a really emotional moment then check out the Arlong climax in One Piece or any episode of RWBY volume 3. This one…..nahhhhhh. It needed more characters, a deeper plot, or some kind of plot twist. For example a massive twist at the end would at least have kept you guessing and honestly I would have been on board with that. I did not expect a twist at any point in the story so that’s what really could have thrown me for a massive loop. Cmon guys lets make it happen next time! In the meantime you should skip this one.

Overall 3/10

Transformers: Rise of the Beasts Review

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Transformers has definitely had a lot of films over the years. The original animated one was excellent but then the live action ones have tended to have a lot of issues for the most part. This one’s here to take us in a new direction and on one hand it’s got a pretty grand plot. On the other hand the fights are severely lacking compared to the old ones so that’s something that I’m hoping can improve pretty soon for the next one. It’s also probably a good idea to not cut out the best scene in the movie.

The film starts with the Maximals being under attack by an incredibly powerful fighter named Scourge. He isn’t a Decepticon nor an Autobot but a Terracon who works for Unicron. He effortlessly destroys one of the fighters and proves why he is a threat to be reckoned with. We then cut to Noah who is our lead here. He’s around some bad influences and once he doesn’t make the cut for the job he applied to, he resorts to a life of crime. Things don’t go well though as the car he tries to steal ends up being an Autobot and he is taken to their base. They want him to take some kind of artifact from a museum and then he can go on his way but the Terracons know about this and want it as well. Can the Autobots take Scourge down and save the planet or will they all be eaten by Unicron?

Okay so lets go with the good, the bad, and the ugly. To start with I will say that the humans plot is handled a lot more gracefully than in older films. None of the characters are pervs, there’s not a ton of comedy running around, and they’re all decent. I wouldn’t say any of the characters are particularly interesting but the plot is played very seriously the whole time and Noah feels like a real character. Perhaps a bit too “real” though as he’s quick to be ready to betray the Autobots even as we get near the end of the film. He’s not someone to be trusted. Now his motivations were reasonable as he wanted to protect his family but betraying the robots is not a great call.

Meanwhile Elena is solid as well. Her boss is always stealing credit and so she hasn’t been able to move up. Perhaps this whole experience can help her finally make a name for herself….provided she survives this at least. I would say the best part of the human plot would definitely be the after credits scene for the film. It’s definitely an excellent moment and gets you hyped for the future. So that’s something the film definitely did really well there. I’d have probably thrown in an extra character or something but there’s a lot of possibilities here.

The robot designs are also on point. Scourge looks really strong right out of the gate. He works well as the main villain and is probably the best villain out of all the live action Transformers villains. The guy has presence and you can feel his power. Optimus Prime has a great personality as well. Like in the Bayverse films this Prime is very bloodthirsty and just wants to destroy everyone. The film cut out his best scene involving this but the guy wasn’t playing around. Prime should be desperate to get back home and stop the villains after all the deaths so the characterization makes a whole lot of sense.

Okay so those are the main positive elements of the film. Now lets talk about some of the negatives here. For the first thing, the fights just aren’t good. They aren’t just the weakest Transformers fights but I would say they are weak movie fights in general. A lot of the times you’re just looking at a quick tackle, a stab, and then the fight is over. That or they’re just blasting each other a while. There’s never a sense of just how strong or weak someone is because they all look really fragile in battle. A good example of this is how effortlessly Prime was defeated by Scourge.

In practice it makes a lot of sense. You want to show how good Scourge is so you clown on Prime a bit but the execution was way off. It just made Prime look like a chump as opposed to making Scourge look like a champ and that’s really my main problem here. It’s absolutely not the way to go about this and there’s now weight to the battles. You have Noah blasting away at Scourge later on and distracting him while the guy was no selling hits from Prime? The power levels were too wonky and yet too one sided at the same time. So even when you had the rest of the robots getting involved it didn’t really do anything for me.

The visuals are good of course but the actual fights were definitely below average. The soundtrack’s also extremely weak but for a movie that’s not a huge deal. You mostly don’t even notice the music in these things anyway. Of course it’d be nice if it was a lot better but I’m just saying I wasn’t expecting a whole lot either way. So the movie has good pacing and you’re engaged during it but you feel a bit sad because the whole Unicron experience can only happen once and now we’ve already used it up. At least the opening battles with Scourge and we can’t get those back again.

Ultimately I just think a bit of a problem here is that without big fights the film can be a little more on the forgettable side. I know everything that happened with the story beats and all but for example I couldn’t tell you quite as much about the individual robots. Of course we had Bumblebee around and he did great near the climax but there wasn’t much to him if you take away the knowledge you already have. Same with most of the other robots as only Mirage got a ton to do.

Now I will say even if on average the fights weren’t top tier, the visual of Bumblebee getting taken out was pretty intense. You will still have some major doubts on the heroes looking so bad there of course but it’s still something that you won’t forget. There is also something to be said for this being a well written film of course. It’s a good title and while it doesn’t have a lot of replay value it definitely did more good things than bad ones. I’d be able to confidently say that I’m a fan of the film, it just has potential to be so much more. I think it’s time to bring in Megatron in the next film for some kind of big team up. Especially with the new characters who will be showing up soon since in theory they should absolutely decimate the Autobots in a straight fight.

Overall, Transformers is always a fun movie to watch. This one does have a lot of action and thrilling scenes. I like seeing the robots smashing each other to bits but it just slacked off on the actual battles a little too hard. The most important thing is the story of course and that’s on point but I really did want some big battles here. A battle with giant robots should always be supremely engaging and if it isn’t then something went terribly wrong. This is not the way that it was supposed to go….not at alllllllll. Also if you’re here for the Maximals, don’t be. There’s a reason why I went the whole review without even mentioning them and that’s because they are completely pointless to the story. They add nothing. None of them are interesting. We don’t even get a proper fight between them and the Autobots. It’s just like how the Dinobots were wasted, I can safely say that these guys were completely wasted too. That said, I am hyped for the sequel and will absolutely be there right away. I’ve still got pretty high hopes there.

Overall 6/10

One Piece Season 1 Review

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It’s time to finally talk about the live action One Piece series. One Piece, more commonly known as One Peak is considered to be one of the all time greatest manga/anime series. It just keeps on going and shows no signs of stopping. It was inevitable that a live action version would come out at some point and that moment is finally here. It’s definitely a great first season and I’d say that it lived up to the hype. Of course at the end of the day there did have to be some cuts in order to make it work but the whole thing came out well.

The story focuses around a kid named Monkey D. Luffy. He ate a devil fruit which turned him into a rubber man. He now seeks to become the King of the Pirates and find the legendary treasure known as the One Piece. To this end he will need to gather up a crew, around 10 people will do. Of course this won’t be easy as all those who stand in his way have the same goal and also have frightening powers of his own. Every great hero must start somewhere though and Luffy is now prepared to go for the goal and make his dream a reality. There are 8 episodes in this season and for the most part they adapt oneshot stories but there are multi parters here and of course the whole thing is narratively connected.

All right so lets quickly talk about how the actors fit the characters. Whenever you see characters in live action you either see them as cosplayers or really embodying the character. I would say that they really nailed Zoro, Buggy, and Usopp. I’m actually still the most mixed about Luffy because to me in a lot of ways he just still doesn’t look/feel like the Luffy from the show. Still a really fun character but I’m not seeing it yet. Sanji and Nami I’m more on the fence about but I think they work well enough. Not as much to say about the side characters, Shanks crew doesn’t look too impressive yet but Mihawk and Garp are excellent! Koby’s also fitting but since I don’t like the character much I wouldn’t have minded if he changed.

Now lets break down each of the episodes a bit. The first one is the intro episode so of course we get to meet Luffy, Nami, Zoro, and Koby who will end up being main characters for the whole adventure. Their paths all cross as they are trying for different goals. Nami is a burglar who steals from the navy, Zoro is a legendary pirate hunter and Luffy of course wants to be the pirate king. Koby wants to be a marine and change the world but he’s a little too nervous to pull that off. The episode does a good job of introducing every character, having them meet up, and then giving us a group fight. It’s a huge advantage of every episode being 40+ minutes like this because then you have enough time to pull this off.

The episode also sets the tone for the rest of the series with a lot of solid humor/banter along with the fights. Zoro steals the show right away with how cool he is. The guy is super skilled and yes at this point he would clearly beat Luffy in a fight. Not any shade against Luffy though, the rival is always supposed to start out stronger. The 3 characters already have a pretty good dynamic here as well even if it’s hard to call them a true team by this point. As in the anime I did think Zoro didn’t play this too smart by letting himself be captured though. It was obvious that these corrupt guys weren’t going to honor their word and let him know so it was a poor trap to get caught in.

The episode also starts the trend where just about every episode will have some kind of flashback/backstory for the character in the episode. Additionally there will always be a cutaway to Koby and the marines as the kid learns just how corrupt they can be. It works fairly well even if I would say this isn’t always necessary. Sometimes you’re engaged with the present scenes enough where you just don’t want to travel back in time. Fortunately the flashbacks tend to be interesting but I will admit they are always the weakest part of every episode and I’d be ready to jump back into the present.

The next episode brings in the debut of Buggy The Clown. The heroes are still trying their best to get along when this guy shows up and unveils his true powers. He can split his body into a bunch of pieces so it’s hard to actually hit him. It’s what makes him a very intense villain though and he is played very seriously here at first. Of course he’s got some One Piece humor in him but the guy is actively terrorizing a whole town which is still pretty dark. We see that the town was totally destroyed too so this series isn’t afraid to get serious when it needs to be.

The heroes still aren’t getting along super well at this point but they’re making improvements. By the end of this episode I’d say the team is fairly well united. One funny moment though was when Nami tried to run away but then stopped right as she exited the tent so they captured her again. I know she was shocked but still you can’t just stop right there, at least keep running until you can hide. Luffy also came really close to death in this episode but writing him out was a good way to let Zoro and Nami bond. The Strawhats are a close unit so it’s good to build up each character dynamic outside of Luffy as well.

Then we get to the first multi parter with Usopp jumping into action. He’s basically someone who lies a whole lot to impress Kaya, the girl that he likes. The problem is that at this point nobody believes a word that he says…and why would they right? The guy is constantly lying so I wouldn’t believe him either. He would tell the village that pirates are coming every year and now that they are actually here…it’s too late. Fortunately Luffy and friends show up in time to help.

The main villain here is Kuro and I was curious how they would handle his lightning fast speed. The show actually does handle it well as it vanishes from sight but unfortunately this does throw a lot of power level issues into the mix. He’s so fast that the heroes can’t possibly react to him and so he forgets his speed at convenient moments. I’m glad that the show kept his speed but they should have come up with a better way for the heroes to beat him. I’m not saying it would be easy but it should absolutely be possible. I was also glad that Zoro got to have a brief fight here but since he was injured the guy naturally couldn’t go all out as needed and then you had the knock out gas.

Usopp was actually handled more seriously than I’m used to seeing him. In the manga the guy’s always a total coward while that doesn’t really come into play here. The show seems to remember this later on so in the final episodes they dial that up. I’d like to see him stay relatively brave since it just makes him more of a quality character but it’s one of those things I suppose. He does decently well in the show even if the other members are more likable.

Then we enter the Baratie with the debut of Sanji. As one of the power hitters of the team it was nice to see him show up. The show does a great job of showing off his combat skills right off the gate and of course he can still cook a mean dish. He is definitely adapted really well and already we’ve got some banter between him and Zoro which is absolutely crucial. This arc is massively important in the show because it also ends up bringing in Mihawk. So Zoro does sort of steal Sanji’s arc a bit but it’s all worth it. I was worried Mihawk would be toned down a lot but he still managed to cut a whole ship in two with a casual slash which was really impressive. That’s absolutely what you want to see from a fighter like this.

Sanji fits right in with the crew and the origin story is still pretty intense here. We also get the beginnings of the Arlong arc so that was an intense way to begin building up to the climax. I definitely didn’t have any real issues with this arc. You do wonder how badly Zoro would have packed up Arlong and crew if he was at full strength though. His swords can pierce the fishmen so mix that in with his speed and technique and he’d be all set. He may not be ready for Mihawk yet but few are.

Then we get to the final episodes involving Arlong and his gang. Nami’s origin story is definitely still really intense here and we see Arlong bribing marines which is a good way to continue to show how corrupt they can be. The action here is intense and while we don’t get some of the really iconic moments from the show, we do get most of the important ones. I would say this is probably the only part where the show’s power levels got a little annoying though. Throughout the show Luffy has looked almost downright weak at times. He gets through his battles but only barely and just by throwing basic punches. This catches up to him when Arlong beats him up.

Here’s the problem, in the manga one of the whole points of the climax was Luffy not knowing what was going on but deciding to beat up Arlong anyway. He knew that was something he could do. In the show his line is almost the exact opposite about how he knows he can’t stop Arlong but he can stop his plans. So I feel like they read that scene backwards and a big part of how impressive this was is because Luffy was that dude. He could ultimately beat up anyone who got in his way in the East Blue. At least until we get to Crocodile, Luffy wasn’t going down.

In the show here Luffy is way more of an underdog which I feel is going to backfire a bit. Right now we’re supposed to feel confident in his abilities and I don’t. I don’t mind him losing to Garp later because of course he should. Garp’s out of his league but the same shouldn’t be true for Arlong. As a villain Arlong’s not bad. I don’t think the effects/design work as well as the other villains but he was tough and that’s what counts. He still manages to be a pretty solid villain all around.

Now the character I never really ended up getting behind was Koby. He gets a lot of shine in this series with a ton of extra screentime but in the end he’s still just so nervous and hesitant. Even when he finally “mans up” and has those big scenes, I couldn’t get by him. I’m hoping he’ll improve in the next season as there is a clear character arc here. I just need it to speed up. Likewise I can’t say I’m a big fan of Helmeppo right now. I prefer him to Koby but he’s still a little too petty. Garp is great though. He may be making poor decisions all around but I like his confidence and at least he has some kind of a honor code going for him.

If I had any issue with the live action series, one minor one can be the camera work. The series reallllllly loves its zoom ins so the camera is constantly in their faces. I sort of get what they’re trying to do in terms of dramatic effect but I think it’s all a bit overdone if you ask me. Those kinds of shots should really be used sparingly if yo want them to have impact. Otherwise the visuals are solid. They really did a good job with the powers and costumes so props to the show there.

The soundtrack is definitely limited but fortunately there was one track which really stood out and as a result ended up buffing the soundtrack as a whole. This was Buggy’s theme. It has some really hype opera type sounds whenever he appears and that was great. Always perfect for a cliffhanger and the show has quite a few really solid ones. The fights are a lot of fun. I would say ironically Luffy easily has the weakest fights mainly because they have no choreography next to Zoro and Sanji’s, but they’re still fun to watch. The best fights tend to be Zoro’s and you can tell a lot of thought was put into them. I dare say his best fight may have even been the very first one where he took down a member of the organization.

A fun part about the show diverging a bit is experiencing those cool what ifs. For example in this version Arlong and Luffy go at it in the Baratie which is considerably different from the manga. I was also glad that Luffy didn’t just roll over or get one shotted even if he was not doing great in the fight. Let them have a proper battle before the rematch since in theory Luffy has no power ups in between rounds so it should be close if we expect him to win later on. Mihawk’s expanded role was also done really excellently here. Also a nice touch was how they unveil every character’s bounties. That was really cool.

The pacing is good and I can definitely see the show doing each of the arcs justice. Naturally there are a lot of things, scenes, and characters who have to be trimmed to pull this off with any realistic hopes of success but I’ll take it. The positive of getting to see this in a more mainstream setting is always fun. After all I’ll have the anime for my straight adaption with all the superb animation. This is just a more surreal way to see how you can translate this and I still say this was a great job all around. I was very satisfied all the way through.

Overall, One Piece is a show that absolutely surpassed my expectations. It’s not just a good adaption but a great show on its own. It’s very interesting to watch and you will be having a good time all the way through. It never drags on and this is really the sign of a quality title. If you are someone who has never seen One Piece before then you will definitely be able to still enjoy the show a lot and that’s the sign of a really solid title. Just watch it the same way you would watch something like Breaking Bad or Seinfeld as a brand new title and there’s something for those new audiences as well as fans. I look forward to seeing how season 2 shakes out since it will naturally be more difficult as we get to the more powerful villains and expanded cast. I’m confident they can pull it off though. With how great the effects look here with the colors taken right out of the manga, seeing the other characters is gonna be great!

Overall 8/10

Prom Night (2008) Review

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Why’s this poster so awful?? Seriously you can’t tell anything about the film from this and if anything it just makes you want to stay away. Trust me this is not the way to advertise any kind of film. Regardless this is a really bad title though so you will want to stay away. It ends up being a painful experience from start to finish with no real smart characters.

The movie starts off with Donna watching her family get murdered by a psychopath named Richard. We jump to the future where she is now being taken care of by her uncle and aunt. She is still rather traumatized but wants to at least try and enjoy her prom. It should be the perfect day and so she heads out to be with her friends. Unfortunately though Richard has escaped from prison and because everyone is incompetent in this film it took 3 days for the cops to be notified. They let the guardians know but instead of taking Donna out….they decide to let the prom continue since it would be too traumatic to cancel. Okay……how many victims will it take this time before Richard is stopped?

There are so many issues with this film but I think it’s safe to say that the biggest issue you will run into right away is just how depressing and mean spirited the film is. A high body count is to be expected but so many people keep dying and nobody is safe. A lot of these characters had nothing to do with the story and they’re still getting bumped off. Sure that’s technically true for a lot of slashers like this but I think part of the problem with having this take place in the school is you’re basically having a bunch of kids get murdered the whole time. We had an elementary school kid get bumped off in the intro even which is taking things a step farther.

Allowing the prom to continue is also complete insanity. Winn has a moment where he mentions that they don’t see any reason why Richard would come here. Really? They see no reason why the crazy psychopath who made it explicitly clear that he would do whatever it took to go back to Donna would try to attack her now that he’s broken out? That had to be one of the silliest lines in the film without a doubt. I could barely believe what I was hearing. Come on………come onnnnnnnnnnn.

Okay so the prom’s going to continue, but you’re going to let the hotel staff know that there’s a crazy guy on the lookout right? No, the hotel concierge asks the police officer if they should be afraid and he just says “Nah, probably nothing to worry about” and leaves. The hotel staff don’t know anything is wrong until near the end of the film so of course they start to get picked off too. I’d be fuming if I was the sole survivor from the hotel staff because that makes no sense.

Then of course Winn isn’t able to get the villain at the hotel so he tells the two police officers to keep a lookout at the house. Naturally both have to be completely isolated so taking them down is child’s play. Why even stay at the house? The first order of business should have been to take the characters over to the police station. Keeping them in the house that Richard knows the address of is crazy. Even worse is that Donna is kept to her room…where she is right next to a window. You can’t make this stuff up.

Now granted, Richard still shouldn’t have gotten as far as he does but apparently he is so skilled that he can take out virtually every opponent without making a sound. The house is also sound proof I guess because even with the door open and Donna screaming, the parents and Winn can’t hear her while not being all that far away? The amount of plot holes and stretches of imagination here are really pretty insane.

Going back to the tragic part though, it just feels like the film should have let more of the characters get a happy ending. Pretty much everyone was destroyed and the sole survivors are going to have a complex for the rest of their life. It doesn’t stop the film from having a fairly upbeat song for the credits but there’s nothing happy about the ending. There’s nothing really happy about the film in general which is something I have an issue with. A slasher film will rarely be happy of course but the tonal contrast here was a bit much. The film would try to be really happy at times and it didn’t work because obviously you can’t feel that good when everyone’s getting destroyed.

The film’s not as bloody as you would expect but it still tries to be as violent as possible within the confines of not being an R rated horror flick. Characters get stabbed tons of times and the deaths are all rather grisly. Nobody seems able to put up even the slightest amount of a fight against this guy and the whole film feels futile for the heroes. Every scene has so much build up that you see the deaths coming several minutes in advance which is annoying. There are a ton of fake jump scares but they’re always before the real death to the point where you can pretty much set your watch to them.

At one point Dillon even has a dream of the future about what’s about to happen and….she decides to do everything that she did in the dream anyway. A bit of an odd choice if you ask me, wouldn’t you want to not do what you did in the dream even if it wasn’t real? I just don’t see why you would actually try to copy your answers there. Seems like a recipe for disaster by any metric. It’s why hiding under the bed wouldn’t be a good idea since that worked last time so don’t do the same thing twice. It was also rough that she didn’t step in to save her mother. Obviously that’s easier said than done and in the moment it’s hard to make that decision but it’s yet another brutal scene. The cast of characters are all pretty forgettable and the romances are all paper thin. There’s just nothing of substance in this title. The film almost should have just played this off as part parody with the heroes deciding to have the prom party instead of cancelling it.

I keep going back to that because the whole scenario is absolutely crazy. Nothing makes sense in this film, people don’t act the way they should with a mass murderer on the loose with an obvious place of attack. At least in most films the characters reasonably don’t know where the villain will be but this time they actually do know. A whole lot of lives could have been saved if Winn did the responsible thing instead of waiting to see this all play out.

Overall, Prom Night is a film that you should absolutely avoid. There are no redeeming qualities to be found in this film. It starts off rather brutally and ends on that same note. There are no scenes that are actually all that happy because they are happening in the context of ugly things about to happen to the cast. There was basically no escape for them and any victory is a rather hollow one. The slasher genre tends to be doomed right from the jump and this film doesn’t do anything to convince you otherwise. It’s very by the numbers and for a genre like this that’s about as bad as it gets.

Overall 1/10

Living Review

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Living is a movie about the meaning of life and coping with death. It makes for a decent movie even if some parts can be a bit drawn out. It’s likely hard to avoid that since they really want to freeze the film at some points to give you time to ponder about what’s going on as well. It just starts to show itself more in the ending as we jump between present and past several times. I personally would have kept the film chronological even if I see what they were going for there.

The movie starts off with Wakeling getting ready because it’s his first day at a new job. It’s one of those classic desk jobs with a lot of paperwork but unfortunately there is a ton of bureaucracy so it is hard to do anything. It’s also a very old school type job where you can’t ride in the same train as the boss and once you’re at work everyone is at the same table together. It honestly seems like the kind of job that is a dream come true if you get along with your colleagues but a complete nightmare when there are ever any problems because it’s deathly quiet as you’re all huddled in together. The boss Rodney is known as a very cold guy who only talks as needed. He’s not mean or anything but it’s just hard to connect with him.

One day Rodney goes to the doctor’s office and finds out that he is terminally ill with only 6 months left to live. He doesn’t really know who to turn to or to confide in because he has no real relationships. His relationship with his son has been strained since the guy married a lady who isn’t particularly pleasant and the guy’s rather spineless so that was game over. Eventually the only person he can find to talk to is Miss Harris who used to work at his company. He’s an old man and she’s fairly young so some gossip starts but he really has nobody else so they hang out and he tries to find some real purpose in his life. Can he do this with the final 6 months or is it game over?

Finding purpose in life is definitely something you want to do when you’re young because if you wait until the end like this then you can really get depressed. Some would say that life is what you make of it, others consider it a trial you must get through until you die and others would just say to live every day as if it’s your last and have a blast. People put their meaning in life in different things. Some do this through money, fame, fortune, friends, material desires, religion, politics, making a difference in the world, etc. Ultimately what you choose will greatly alter your perception of death and how you feel about this.

For example as a Christian I can look forward to death. However good Earth is, Heaven is infinitely better. There are no shortcuts there so you just have to accept Jesus Christ into your heart and live a full life but if you are given a diagnosis that you are going to die, it would be a positive thing. You would enjoy your last days as much as you could and then well, the trial is over. Not to be too blasé about it of course, I know plenty of Christians who still fear death and others who don’t fear it but want to last as long as possible. Everyone has different feelings about the subject and it’s fair to say that your thoughts about it are very likely to change once it actually happens to you. 6 months is a lot of time for some but barely any for others.

I would just say to always have some hobbies and things to keep you busy so if this were to happen you have things that you can do. I feel like not having hobbies is a very quick way to get depressed because then the days will feel long and you wonder what you are actually doing with yourself. Be careful on what you pair to your identity, what makes you tick. If you place it on something external like sports or politics then that can often backfire, you want to place your faith and personality on something you can more actively control so something directly in your life.

Now back to the film, unfortunately Rodney really doesn’t have anything. He sees his job as being pretty much pointless for a while there and he has no actual friends or anything that has made a lasting impact. This is what encourages him to finally do something really kind for someone and he works hard to help a local group with a playground they were trying to build. He opts to do something meaningful with the remainder of his life which makes for a pretty positive message in the film. I’d still say Rodney was depressed for most of the film and it took him a while to find his passion but at least he did before the end.

The film doesn’t end on a total happy note though. One character mentions how not everyone can ultimately turn their life around the way that he did and the ending heavily underscores that point. There is always a big difference between knowing what the right thing to do is and actually going ahead with it. It’s easy in the spur of the moment to say that you will do something but actually going through with it is another matter entirely. It would have been nice if the film could have had a brighter ending but it’s not tragic enough where it will hurt the score.

As mentioned before, the only thing keeping the movie from a higher score is that the pacing could really die down at times. You can only have so many lingering shots before you get the idea of how deep the scene is supposed to be. I would say the movie is quite clear with its messaging so the extra drawn out moments and such really aren’t necessary. The movie can really tell its own story quite well. The supporting characters also aren’t bad. Miss. Harris is probably the best one here as she did help Rodney a lot in finding his own peace and making his last 6 months be a positive experience. The rest of the staff ultimately didn’t step up.

Not like most of them had much of an option of course so I usually wouldn’t be dunking on them but the last scene was pretty bad. Also Rodney’s son looked pretty bad so while you feel bad for him in the ending, it really is on him. He should have made an effort to talk to his father before it was too late but he was just busy getting pushed around by his wife the whole time.

Overall, Living does a good job of being an emotional film where you get to wonder what you would do if you found out that you had a terminal illness. I would say to always remember that no diagnosis is perfect though so one recommendation is not to rack up a lot of debt. I’ve heard several stories where people did that but ended up living well past the designated death time and that became very troublesome. You should absolutely live large and have more fun than you normally would but do everything in moderation. Stronger miracles have happened in the past after all so you’ve always got a chance out there. I recommend this film if you don’t mind more of a slow burn title with a lot of drama. There aren’t any high action moments here after all but the writing is on point so I had a good time. It was somber without being too try-hard about it.

Overall 6/10

Son of Lassie Review

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It’s no surprise that I didn’t really like the first Lassie movie. In fact it was pretty awful now that I think about it. It’s just not really my kind of film and the sequel is better but still pretty bad. You have the dog still getting shot and some general animal violence. It isn’t in the same level as the first film of course but why can’t we just have a happy dog film instead? That’s what the people want and most importantly, it’s what I want! Seriously just think about it, this has potential to be as big as Air Bud but instead the film ends up being more of a miss. Also more than the first film it just feels a bit aimless at times.

The movie starts off by introducing us to Laddie, the son of Lassie. This guy is really aggressive and doesn’t play by the rules. This often frustrates the Duke because Laddie messes up the flowers. Laddie’s owner Joe doesn’t really care all that much though because he correctly realizes that Laddie is just having a lot of fun. Well Joe gets drafted into war so he heads out while Laddie is to finally be trained professionally. The owners underestimate him though and Laddie travels across the country to find Joe. Looks like Laddie will be having a spot in this war after all but is it really safe for him?

I wouldn’t say the film has a huge plot beyond that though. A good chunk of the adventure is Laddie running after Joe, being taken back home, then finding him again, etc. It’s really a cycle that just keeps on going over and over again. Sure by the end we actually get to meet the enemies and Laddie gets to prove his stuff but that’s the very end of the film. For the most part it was relatively aimless until then.

Also Joe doesn’t make for a very compelling main character. Everyone’s always insulting him all the time and he typically doesn’t really notice or react. Intentionally not reacting to a diss is absolutely a good skill but the problem is that I’m not sure if he even notices so that’s not a good look there. You really need to be ready for action at all times and the digs aren’t exactly subtle either. So if you don’t recognize that then we have some problems. His lack of confidence is also huge.

He likes this one girl and she basically tells him to confess several times and it takes a lot to force it out of him. The guy’s just way too nervous and always running off. Some guys can be shy sure, but this was a bit much. You’re just cringing the whole time. The whole romance isn’t particularly good but it’s not a big part of the film anyway so I suppose it doesn’t have a huge impact. It’s just part of a bigger problem which is that any scene with Joe is brutal. The guy also had no plan when he was taken at gunpoint in the climax and Laddie had to do all the work.

I always say if it’s life or death what do you have to lose? In this case the villain is walking Joe up a cliff so that he can be shot and fall into the abyss. Joe knows that, the villain knows that, and I know that. So why would you possibly just keep walking up and wait to get shot? Lunge at the guy, go for the gun etc. What’s he gonna do…shoot you? Well that’s going to happen anyway so you might as well take a chance. It’s not like this is a scenario where you only might get shot. The guy made is clear that Joe has to be exterminated so that’s really it. You have to try and fight back while you still can. Definitely a pretty brutal moment for good ole Joe.

Still, like I said the main problem here is that the film can just be rather boring. The story can barely last 40 minutes, let alone the full length of the title. We probably should have focused more on training scenes or maybe even some military battles. You needed more plots or some kind of hook to pull this off. That being said, I was glad that Joe didn’t go with the other guy’s plan to hit Laddie. That would have been absolutely awful so in all of my bashing of the guy, he got that part right.

There’s really not a whole lot to even talk abut with this film in the end. I guess we can say there was a lot of plot armor in nobody being able to stop Laddie from travelling cross country each time. You’d think the characters would learn and keep the leash on each time but Laddie was always a few steps ahead of them. I would have liked the Duke to have appeared more since he’s always the most enjoyable character but he doesn’t do a whole lot here after the intro scenes. Lassie herself also doesn’t have a big role.

Having her step in to save the day would have been a clever way to get some excitement in here. Actually it’ such a great idea that I’m surprised they didn’t do it. Lassie doesn’t have any of the huge pivotal roles you would expect from the old main character appearing in the sequel. It’d be like if Naruto didn’t do much in Boruto or if Goku was slacking off in Super. Lassie should still be the one making a big play now and then even if Laddie is the one with the final moment.

Overall, Son of Lassie is just not a very interesting film. Mix in the animal violence and it was really out of its depth. I think there is probably a great film mixed in there somewhere…but it’s very deep in there so that’s not going to be all that helpful tbh. In the end a dog film should be a fairly upbeat one where the dog isn’t in any danger. Sure that can be boring if handled wrong but it’s all up to the writers. Surely you should be able to make a film that is still really interesting even without that right? If you can’t…well I guess now we’ve got a real problem now don’t we?

Overall 3/10

The Net Review

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I’m going to let you in on a little secret folks. If you find out that someone is hiding a gun and manage to get your hands on it…don’t give it back to that guy. Get out of there and if you’re trapped then hang onto it! This film will constantly have you shaking your head as the main heroine acts like she is in a horror movie. It all doesn’t make any sense and you just expect better. The movie has its moments but ultimately could and should have been a whole lot better than it was. It just hasn’t aged as well as it could have.

Okay so the movie starts off with a guy destroying himself and then we cut to Angela who is a computer whiz. She knows how to remove viruses from different programs and so when there is a problem she is the first one contacted. She had a remote job before it was cool! Almost nobody even knows what she looks like as a result but hey that’s how it goes. One day one of her colleagues wants to come over to show her something but he dies in a plane crash. There’s not much else she can do about that so she hops on a plane to go on vacation! There she meets a rich guy so they immediately have an affair but it turns out that he is here to murder her! So she escapes but he has basically erased her from the world and put in a fake.

Earlier Angela let some guy steal her wallet and so now she has no form of identification and is on the run. If anyone catches her then it will be game over. Her only hope is a married guy she used to cheat with but they are up against a very experienced hacker whose abilities may even exceed theirs. His resources are also considerable since he is a part of a massive global terrorist organization. One thing’s for sure, Angela will need to watch her back on this one!

Okay so lets talk about Angela here. She makes every possible mistake and only survives this movie through an abundance of plot armor. We’ve established that she works remotely and stays at home to the point where nobody knows what she looks like. Her neighbors and even her land lady have never really seen her. So when the hacker turns to her and changes her contact ID in the federal database….there is no way for her to fight back. Literally this doesn’t work if she has some photos of her life or family who can corroborate this but she doesn’t. The guy stole her ID rather easily beforehand and she has no backups. (More understandable since this was the 90s) This is already a bit of a stretch but for now we can’t blame her all that much right?

Well she’s supposed to be a computer whiz but is extremely slow on the uptake here. So lets go back in time real quick. How did this happen? Well she went to a message board that’s a lot like Reddit and was talking about how she really needs a boyfriend. The very helpful posters asked her what she would like to see in a boyfriend and she wants a high value man. Someone very tall, wealthy, James Bond meets Captain America (in her words) and someone whose job involves helping out the world. Naturally she immediately gets doxed so when she goes on vacation a super great guy is waiting for her there. (The reason the terrorists want her is because she has a disc that can hack the entire U.S. government and every private company within the country. Yeah….don’t think about this one too hard)

Okay so the villains’ entire plan revolves around her falling in love with this guy as if she’s the most shallow person in the planet. What kind of person falls in love at first sight with someone they’ve just met right? Right……uh oh. The guy invites her on his private yacht and she immediately accepts and they have a one night stand. The whole time she explains that she never does this kind of thing but I don’t particularly believe her. Weird thing happens though….the guy runs out of stamina really fast and goes away for a drink but he left his clothes and in it was a loaded gun.

So if you’re Angela what do you do? Do you A. Keep the gun as self defense because this guy could be looney tunes? B. Throw it overboard since this seems dangerous. C. Give him back the gun and ask why he has it…..or D. Go for the immediate headshot, throw him overboard and steal all the money from his wallet? Well D’s a total crime and would make you a villain anyway but I think option A is the best bet right? Well she goes with C. The guy gives a lame excuse about how he uses it for hunting but wouldn’t you know it, Angela’s a part time hunting expert too? Haha! So she calls him out on the lie and then flexes by showing that she removed the bullets.

Unfortunately he just strangles her at this point and she dies 😦 At least that’s what would happen in 99% of instances but through plot armor she fights him off and escapes. I always say that I criticize actions regardless of outcomes though and so I have to take shots here. Giving this guy the gun back is absolute insanity. I don’t care that she took out the bullets. The film establishes that she is a computer nerd through and through. She doesn’t work out, have some kind of super powers or anything like that. He’s stronger than her by all metrics and they are alone on a yacht in the middle of the ocean.

You don’t give the guy his gun back in this circumstance! You can’t, that’s like signing your own death warrant. It’s one of the worst moves I’ve seen the heroine pull in quite a while. That was just brutal and at least things don’t get worse after that but it was just a really bad moment for her. Getting into an affair with a random stranger you just met is also pretty bad but most movie protagonists do that so I won’t dock as many points there. The rest of the film plays out mostly normal. She used to cheat with a married man named Alan and successfully broke his home as the guy got divorced but then the hackers get him next but she manages to break into the villain’s base and turn the tables. All’s well that ends well and all that.

The main villain Jack is also pretty weak here. The guy literally has numerous opportunities to take Angela down and cannot do it. Put it this way, he very clearly did not even need to hire a random pickpocket to take her wallet. She just went along with him to his private yacht for an affair at night so he had a million opportunities to murder her. There’s really nothing she would be able to do at this point and then he can grab the disc he needs to take over the world. The film has plot armor on constantly and this guy looks completely powerless for not being able to do anything. The movie shows that he actually grew to like her….sighhhhhhhhh. So that’s why he couldn’t go all out but it just means that his conviction was nonexistent.

Then we have Alan who completely forgot the role of doctor and patient in having an affair with Angela early on. At least he is single now so it’s not as bad but the damage is done. It makes it hard for you to really like the guy. The movie in general didn’t have a very strong cast even if I do like the idea of your identity being stolen and having to engage in a whole online battle to get it back. I’d have actually liked to have had the message board users get more involved in the whole battle. One of them was a bit handy at least in getting info but Angela is also supremely lucky.

Seriously one of them was already a terrorist and then she decided that they could still be trusted? She looked up the ages and everything to find their “real” identities but could she really be sure that they were accurate? Angela seemed to have no doubts about it so okay….we’ll roll with that. I will say that the icons were fun though and in general the film had good effects for all of the viruses. It’s fun to see how everything looked back then during the original days of the internet.

The movie goes by fast and the pacing is good. It does make for a fairly easy watch, you just have to be prepared to be shaking your head a lot. The movie will absolutely be throwing you for a loop most of the time. The effects are good and I do like the city backdrops the whole time. Visually the movie looks good and while some of the scenarios aren’t super realistic, on the whole the writing is okay. It doesn’t have any super big issues beyond the romance and the questionable decisions. They do keep this from being a movie that I could positively recommend but it’s far from one of the weakest titles that I’ve watched.

Overall, The Net is one of those films I can rant about for quite a while but fortunately for it, most of the issues are around plot armor and convenience. Those are he kinds of issues that don’t hurt a film’s score quite as much. That being said, the romance is just so rushed here and since it is crucial to the villain’s plan that just makes it even more egregious. If the main heroine had a little more restraint then things would have really been a whole lot different. Check it out if you’re interested in the old days of the internet but the novelty is really the main thing that the film has going for it and that doesn’t last the whole picture.

Overall 4/10

Out of Time Review

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Out of Time is a film that I definitely have quite a few issues with. The main character is very unlikable. Trust me I’ve seen worse but my main problem is that in most instances the film recognizes that he’s not a good person while in this case that’s not happening. He basically gets rewarded the whole time so I’m afraid the story got lost in the sauce. That said, lets dive in here and see what happened.

All right so the film starts off by introducing us to Matt who is the chief of police. He recently helped pull off a major drug bust and is really at the top of his game professionally. Personally his life is a mess though. He is in the middle of divorce proceedings with Alex and is cheating on her with another married lady in Ann. Matt’s one of those guys who needs to learn the value of commitment but that’s not happening anytime soon. It turns out that Ann is terminally ill and will be dying soon so she quickly makes Matt the beneficiary of her life insurance since her husband Chris is abusive and doesn’t deserve the money. Matt doesn’t want to give up yet though so he breaks into his own police vault and steals the drug money. He gives it all to Ann who quickly dies in a house fire along with Chris.

Case closed right? Wrong! The FBI is coming over to grab the drug money so Matt needs to stall them now while he gets more money. Additionally it’s looking like Matt is the main suspect for murdering Ann as his wife Alex starts to close in on the case. Matt keeps lying and doing his best to get in the polices’ way but he can only stall for so long. Can he get to the bottom of this conspiracy in time or is he just completely and utterly doomed?

A big problem here is that Matt is really digging his own grave here. The first problem that is completely indefensible is when he gave Ann the drug money. Yes he wants to help her out with the experimental treatment but he needs to dip into his own savings then. Dip into the retirement or take out a loan but you can’t just give her money that isn’t yours. That is a complete no no and is really taboo. No matter what leaps in logic you want to use, that money was just not his to give and is a huge part of the problem that he is in.

Then he also should have just come clean with the cops about how he knew her. Yeah it’s pretty awkward to admit that you were cheating with someone who’s married because that’s just plain despicable but you did it so you gotta own up to it. If Matt wasn’t constantly getting in Alex’s way during the investigation then things would have moved a whole lot sooner. Yeah Matt would be taken into custody too for misusing the funds but that’s what he gets. So every time he is getting in the way it’s just really annoying.

Because of that I would also say that he gets off way too easily. You’re expecting him to die in the end or at least go to jail but none of that happens here. The very ending is actually awful in just how good things go for him. Alex has the most unrealistic response to this situation that I’ve ever seen. Keep in mind that they were literally divorcing due to a lot of petty arguments involving their jobs. So things weren’t on good terms and finding out that he’s been cheating should have really been the last straw. Instead she asks him a soft question about if he actually liked Ann and Matt gives the most textbook, cliché cheater’s response.

Yeah he didn’t really care about her, it was just one of those things, he was caught up in his fields, it was a mistake, blah, blah. You hear those kind of excuses online all the time and I continue to roll my eyes at them each time. There are “mistakes” like perhaps in a moment of weakness smoking a cigarette, saying a swear word, or even stealing something. You realized it was wrong afterwards and stopped. Cheating? That’s a completely different animal. It’s a huge intentional act that you continue to do because you’re enjoying it.

Matt would have absolutely continued to be with Ann if she didn’t die in the house fire. It’s another reason why you don’t buy into his excuse. The guy doesn’t actually regret anything. Yeah I was actively rooting against him in the whole film so that ending was a huge downer. I won’t go as far as to say it was one of the worst endings I’ve seen in a while but it was definitely not a good one. You do not want to see this ending when you are finishing up a movie.

Now in terms of the thriller aspects the film could be solid. I did like the tension of the cops getting closer to the truth little by little. Matt really had to sweat it out for a while there and it was only a matter of time before they would end up catching up. Alex was a good character who was serious about her job and didn’t want any extra drama. She was doing what she had to and even if that meant working with Alex, wasn’t getting distracted. That speaks volumes about her character and work ethic.

I also liked Chae a lot. He’s a really good friend, probably better than what Matt deserves here. The guy put his own career on the line to help the guy out and was consistently helpful. If Matt was in a jam then Chae was always around to try and bounce him out of it. The guy is good at what he does and is very quick on the uptake. Then you have Chris who is a fairly vanilla villain. As a domestic abuser the guy naturally doesn’t rank at all. By the end of the film he looks even worse as more of a pawn who isn’t very smart. This is definitely a film where you aren’t watching for the antagonist.

Then you have Ann and I can’t say that I like her either. I tend to put most of the blame on the guy in events of cheating but she still takes a considerable share. She is also married after all and no matter how things are going, cheating isn’t the answer. There was a safety issue so of course I won’t say that it’s easy to get out but she needed to do better than what she was doing prior. There are some twists by the end and so she gets some strength points but loses some intelligence ones. Lets just say that the more you think about the climax…..the worse it gets. There are easier ways to do things and complicating matters isn’t always the best.

Overall, Out of Time is a movie that is at its best when it is focusing on the mystery/thriller elements. Honestly make Matt a better character and the entire film would get a lot better. As it stands he does hurt things because the whole time you are rooting for him to lose rather than to get out on top. That takes some of the bite out of the film. It also suffers from an incredibly awful romance here and all of the affair scenes are brutal. It makes this a bit of a rough re watch if you were ever going to check it out again and even on the initial viewing it just isn’t going to compete with the higher end titles. You can definitely do better than this one.

Overall 4/10