Tag Archives: Film Review

Nothing in Common Review

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It’s time for one of those films that will have you knocked out in no time. There just isn’t much good to say about this film while there are certainly a lot of negatives to give it. The romance is everything you don’t want in a film, the drama makes all of the characters look bad by the end and so the ending isn’t particularly satisfying either. Yeah this is definitely one that you’re going to want to skip and fast!

The movie starts off with introducing us to David who has been moving through relationships like butter. He can just never stick with just one person for long and keeps on moving. Well now his parents are having issues as well and ended up splitting up. His mom wants to go back into the dating scene again while his father’s been fired and is trying to work again. Both of their issues are causing issues for David whose job had been going great but now he’s also being distracted. Can he continue to churn out powerful ads while dealing with all of this or is it all over for him? Only time will tell.

First off the film isn’t really able to make you like David as a character because he’s not the committed type. He ends up falling for the daughter of an executive and they have some flings but then he’s still ready to go back to another girl later when Cheryl leaves. David is someone who just never stays in one place and that’s a trait that’s hard to really change even if he does learn more about family later on. If anything seeing what happened to his parents would probably make it even harder for him to ever sustain a normal relationship.

Then the movie goes so far in making his father Max look bad that there isn’t really any way to recover his character later on. He cheated on his wife pretty much right after they got married and it ended up traumatizing her for life. It’s a really big weight to try and get rid of. Then Max is also irresponsible, doesn’t own up to his mistakes, etc. A character like that never ends up being sympathetic and since the film wastes a lot of screen time trying to do so, it’s just no good.

Meanwhile Lorraine comes across as way too desperate when she’s trying to get back into dating. Lets be realistic here, she’s older now since she was married for many years and it’s also not something you should be jumping right into like that. It’s all just too fast. I was glad that she still ended up leaving to try and reclaim her life on her own but the whole dating plot could have been taken out.

In general I think the saddest part about all of this is that the movie would have been so much more fun if it just focused on David. Just be about him and working on the advertisement business and we skip all of the family drama. I would have enjoyed it a lot more for sure and I think it’s fair to say that around the board it would have been a much better film. I still don’t think it would have been great mind you but at least things were happening in David’s plot that were interesting.

For example, seeing how the commercials was made was fun. We got to see the script phase where you write down what’s going to happen, the initial filming, etc. I rather enjoyed that and think you could easily make a whole film around the concept. I’d watch it at least and while it wouldn’t salvage the lackluster romance, the film would have something more to stand on. Ultimately David’s not a good character and he isn’t portrayed as one but you don’t have to worry about that while you’re watching the film.

The best character is definitely his boss Charley. The guy always had David’s back and was ready to defend him from all who would attack. Even to the end he was able to get David his job back and you know there was probably a lot of backlash for that. The guy’s a true friend who looks out for his people even when corporate tries to get in his way. I don’t think there are a lot of people who would have done that.

In the end I also think the movie is really just lacking a true hook as well. Even aside from the unlikable characters you have to ask yourself what the point of the movie was. David learns a lesson in finding a true romance instead of just playing the field and manages to achieve a proper work life balance but you could have done all of that in a much shorter timeframe. I think the film was trying for a fairly happy tone by the end where the redemption arc really worked and it was all good but to me that didn’t quite succeed either. Eh not every film can be a winner but this one just didn’t really have anything to enjoy about it.

Overall, I really didn’t enjoy this film. The whole backstory of what happened with the parents was a bit too tragic. In any plot like that you at least need to leave enough room for things to go well or to part on amiable terms but this wasn’t it. It would have been a more satisfying film if David just ran off to be honest. The whole thing happened a long time ago of course but since he just found out it would have still been rather fresh. In the end it just feels like a mean spirited title so stay far away!

Overall 1/10

Fate/strange Fake: Whispers of Dawn Review

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It’s time for Fate to begin another animated spinoff. The franchise has really done a whole lot as it expands in every way and this film is already going to be getting a full TV show later on. It’s definitely impressive and this one kicks the route off to a really good start. The Holy Grail War always feels grand in every timeline and this one’s no different. The special also already adds a number of different hooks to really make it stand out.

This one starts off with a rumor about a new Grail War taking place in the United Stated. The ministry is skeptical, however they can’t take a chance on this being legit and send over a pair of professionals to check it out. Due to the war being in America the rules are a bit different due to the magical history not being present. There is no ruler/observer this time around and there is one less servant….for now. There are conditions by which an extra servant can still appear but otherwise this is still very much the classic war that you remember. Each of the masters summon their servants and prepare for battle. Who will come out on top?

This whole special/movie is really about setting up the tournament so at this point it has barely started. Still, that makes it the perfect way to build up the hype and introduce the characters. The cast is already quite large so don’t expect them to all do a lot just yet but we already know some of their motivations and we almost get the first big fight here. The quick clash was a good way to get you ready.

Now the main question you may be wondering is…who am I rooting for? Well let me break down the teams and my general view of their goals and why I would or would not root for them. First up we have Gilgamesh and Tine, this is the pair I am rooting for. Tine’s goal is really to win this grail war quickly o that she can push away all of ther interlopers who have appeared and are wrecking the land. As someone who has helped protect the land for many generations she just can’t let this stand and I resect that. Excellent motive right off the bat so she had my attention. She can also fight and took care of the other guy real quick.

One thing you will learn quickly in this series is that you always have to act very quickly. If you want for even a moment then you may get bumped off by the very servant that you summoned or someone else can land a cheap shot. So your best bet is to use a command seal immediately and otherwise you may be in trouble. Tine doesn’t have this problem because she knows how to address Gilgamesh with respect and doesn’t cross any lines. That’s the kind of dedication and devotion that he is looking for in his subjects. No more and no less, just do what you gotta do and you’ll be fine. It’s completely possible that she will have some sinister motivations in the background but for now she’s easy to root for.

Then Gilgamesh is a super impressive servant as always. I love how grand he talks at all times and the man carries himself like a true professional. He is not someone to be trifled with and we actually get to see him cut loose for a little bit as he gets excited in one scuffle. It’s very rare to see him treat any opponent with a high level of respect so that was cool. Also if you’ve been watching some of the other spinoffs like Grand Order then you get a little something extra in all of the interactions with him and his rival since you got to see more of the context there. Yeah I don’t see any team passing this one and they should be the obvious lock to win the tourney.

Then we have Enkidu and Wolf. In theory this is the next strongest pairing but I’m highly expecting Enkidu to suffer the worf effect here. The pieces are all just in place right now. This guy’s a literal god compared to all of the other servants who are mere heroic spirits. He can control the very atmosphere and environment and Gilgamesh has been looking forward to fighting him. I’m betting that the little girl’s shadow is going to show up and murder him since the foreshadowing is already there. It would be a shame to see Enkidu go down so quickly but I do have high hopes for this new villain so it really could work out. It’s also a little too early to actually be worrying all that much.

I like Enkidu as a pretty solid antagonist. He’s a very reasonable fighter and someone with complex motivations. Then you have the owner who is a normal Wolf. It’s an interesting concept since before now we’ve only seen humans be masters but it makes sense that any sentient life could do it. My one problem is how the Wolf is going to be involved in the fighting and could get hurt now. That already happened here and it’s definitely animal violence you don’t want to see. If the series brings that back in any form it’ll definitely be concerning. This was the only part that wasn’t great since the rest of the special was spectacular.

Alexandre is another fun pick for a master because he’s a police officer. I guess police chief is probably more appropriate here and the guy even has a personal army dedicated to his cause. He wants to fight for justice but gets criticized by one of the other officers for it. You can tell that this guy’s sense of justice is probably more the tyrannical sort but considering some other fighters here are going to be pure evil, you may need to root for him.

This is really helping to take full advantage of the fact that the war is in America this time by involving the police and government. I’m really liking the approach. Unfortunately while this guy is one of the more interesting characters, I really don’t like his servant Orlando yet. The guy doesn’t seem like a fighter and gets overwhelmed too easily by his vices. I have a feeling he’s going to be a chore to watch until he eventually gets bumped off. Hopefully he can prove me wrong.

Then we have Flat and Jack who feel completely out of their league. Flat has skills but doesn’t totally know how to use them yet which could come back to hurt him. Then we have Jack the Ripper who seems reasonably tough but not all that impressive. Yeah they should be very worried at this point and could be a first round exit. They have no interesting motivations for being in this tournament either so there’s not much reason to root for them. They’re just doomed.

We don’t know almost anything about Richard and Ayaka yet so I’ll mainly skip them. Richard seems like a solid hero and the only “Hero” out of the 12 who is actually heroic. You can tell that he’ll be one of the main characters. As for Ayaka she appears to still be in her rebellious phase so we’ll have to see how that plays out. I see them being a fun combo to root for but I’ll still take Gilgamesh any day. Richard’s going to really need to prove himself here.

Tsubaki’s just a kid so right now it’s not like she has any big plans. Fortunately she seems to potentially have one of the strongest servants since the mysterious shadow is getting a lot of hype. Her whole plot is wrapped up in some mystery right now since we don’t even know if her parents totally know about what happened. Initially it seemed like her father wanted to be the master based on the planning and getting the artifacts but we also got a scene where he was monitoring a mysterious bruise/imprint on her so maybe this is a plan to make her powerful. Either way I can see this being one of the darker plots but as long as she has the shadow to protect her I expect things are going to start going up for Tsubaki.

Next up is Jester who is very much a big wild card character here. His servant Assassin seemingly took him down for the count right away but he was able to auto revive later on. He definitely has some pretty solid abilities even as a “human” so there is more to him than meets the eye. Even the servants may want to be afraid of the guy at this point and I think the Assassin should be very nervous. It’s going to be difficult for her to get away from this guy should he choose to chase after her. Making some humans a big threat is a good way to increase the tension though so I look forward to seeing what this guy can do.

While Waver and Grey are not in the tournament it will be interesting to see if they get involved in the action. As a pseudo servant Grey can fight and while the Waver show depicted how she would not be able to hold her own against any servant perhaps she can get some kind of power up. Waver is also well versed in magic and perhaps he would be able to come up with a spell that could work as well. They don’t need to get involved but it would certainly be fun.

Francesa is very much another mystery character. She is a servant where we don’t know who her master is and she appears to be a double agent. Francesa also doesn’t seem particularly heroic and has a whole speech about how easy it is to be a villain. This is someone you want to watch out for because she will absolutely stab you in the back. I don’t expect she will end up being one of the stronger servants but should still have a sizable role.

Then we have Faldeus who is a government worker and it seems to be implied he’s either CIA or FBI. He’s a really fun character right off the bat here because he made a great plan and executed it flawlessly. He knows how to be undercover and having the government around here is a brilliant move. It adds a whole new dimension to the Holy Grail War and really spices things up. I’m betting he will be a main antagonist here and at the end of the day even servants can die against bullets if you land the attack with enough stealth. Yeah this guy is going to be a lot of fun.

So there are the combatants. As you can see the movie set up a whole lot of plots and characters right from the jump which is excellent. This tournament is bound to be a blast and even thought the tournament is typically only a few days long, you can easily make this a long series just by having lots of fights, planning etc. The bigger the cast the bigger each day will be and the cast is already quite large here.

The animation is definitely really solid as you would expect. We haven’t had much action yet but all of the characters are really clear and the backgrounds are sharp. The soundtrack isn’t quite as memorable as the other Fate titles just yet but I did really like the ending theme. I’ve been hearing it a lot on Pandora and it really helps bring in the grand vibes of the series. Fate should always feel like a huge deal with even the weakest spirit still being a powerful fighter and that comes across here.

Overall, I expect this is going to be a really high tier part of the Fate franchise. The setup was excellent and there is just so much to do here. It’s still early to get a proper vibe on how things will play out so we’ll just have to wait and see. If they keep the production values and writing up then there should be no worries here. I definitely recommend checking this one out as soon as possible.

Overall 7/10

S.W.A.T. Review

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SWAT is one of those franchises that I have heard about on many occasions but I still wouldn’t say that I knew a whole lot about the actual details of it. In the end I suppose it doesn’t really matter though as in a lot of ways the film is a fairly standard adventure. You’re not really going to see a lot of things that surprise you here and I would say the biggest knock against the film could be in how it’s satisfied being a normal thriller. That said, I always defend a film for being just a regular action film as long as the execution is good and that was on point here.

The movie starts with showing us the Swat team in action. They show up and clean out the bad guys rather quickly although in the process they do end up shooting one of the hostages. While the civilian lived, the issue is that this still broke protocol and so Brian is fired while Jim is demoted to being the guy who checks in the guns. Jim’s not happy but figures he’ll just stick around until he can move up again. That opportunity comes soon as Hondo is brought in to help the Swat’s poor public image. He is putting together a team of his own and decides that he wants Jim on it. This is Jim’s chance to finally make a comeback, but can he still hang with the rest of these professionals? Only time will tell!

First off I have to give the film credit for the soundtrack. There are quite a few lyrical songs that show up in this film which sound really good. The fast paced rock and high intensity of the action really mix well together here. The movie may lay it on a bit thick with the songs as they just show up out of nowhere in max volume but I had a lot of fun with it. It certainly makes the film stand out more than it would otherwise.

The action scenes here are also pretty solid as you would expect. Then the film also did subvert my expectations in one way that was fun. So there’s this big villain who gets his big intro scene with a lot of hype as you’d expect. He destroys someone, laughs about it and starts to monologue about how awesome he is. The guy then takes his car out for a joy ride…and gets pulled over by a cop and ultimately arrested. This…is the big bad. No, it’s not a big master plan like the Joker and he actually just made a mistake.

I think the film actually could have capitalized on this more because it’s a fun turn of events. Sometimes mistakes happen and this one just so happened to nearly end the villain’s plans in a single instant. It was really good fun there and it takes the guy a whole long time to get back in action. There is a double edged sword to this which I’ll get into in a minute, but yeah that was fun. I just kept waiting for some super big plot twist to happen and it didn’t arrive.

Don’t get me wrong, there are twists here but nothing too crazy and you can probably see one coming a mile away. Now the double edged sword of this is that without a main villain, the first half of the film is very low key. I even want to say the first 70% but that might be going too far. Mainly we get to see Jim train with the Swat team and a lot of setup as they locate each of the members for the team one by one. You get to see the team learning to get along, the training montages, etc. It plays out like an origin story to a large extent but that means there isn’t a lot of time for the high stakes battles.

It feels like we’re closing in on the end by the time this arrives. It delivers though and I still enjoyed the whole getting the team together part of the movie. It’s a classic way to set things up and it was satisfying. I would have just altered events slightly to setup the climax earlier and maybe thrown in an extra fight scene or two near the middle to really shake things up. Then this would really be a perfect setup.

Jim makes for a pretty solid main character here. He’s someone who does the right thing and he doesn’t rat out his partner even when someone tries to tempt him into doing so. You have to give the guy props for that and he also didn’t let his skills get rusty while he was on the bench. His partner Brian is annoying throughout the movie though. The guy really didn’t have a great plan and then didn’t take the consequences well. I don’t mind him running in there to try and save the hostage, that actually made sense but ultimately you still need to be able to take responsibility for that. If you don’t then you’re just being petty at that point and doubling down.

Meanwhile Hondo is definitely a solid character. He definitely doesn’t take too much disrespect from the Swat head who keeps trying to make new enemies. Ultimately Hondo trusts his team and puts them in the best position to win. You can’t really ask for much more than that out of any leader. He shows up in crunch time and gets the job done. The rest of the team also tend to be solid. One guy is perhaps a little too cocky and always ready to pick fights but it helps throw some tension into the mix. Then you have the tough heroine who is definitely ready to beat up anyone in her way.

The film does throw in some classic romance really just to tick off a box. There isn’t much point to the romance and it doesn’t change the film at all. It’s the definition of the Hollywood romance that doesn’t work as these people barely even know each other and it’s all so sudden. Not enough to really hurt the film mind you, but you’ll probably be rolling your eyes at that. If you want to go the romance route that should probably be saved for the second or third film so that enough time has passed for this to make sense.

Overall, Swat’s a pretty good film. I had a good time with it and can also see why the franchise had enough potential to keep on going. There’s a whole lot you can do in terms of different adventures with this crew. There will always be villains to beat up and since the Swat is the best of the best, I like the idea of their always arriving at the end once the villains have been around for a while. They should be treated as the climax of an adventure they weren’t apart of each time because that’s really their role. They show up when local law enforcement is having a difficult time. Even the weakest member on Swat should be an excellent, top of the line fighter. We’ll see if the next film can keep up the momentum but I had a good time here.

Overall 7/10

Hunter Killer Review

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

It’s time for a tense adventure beneath the waves in this title. While you may think it will be difficult to pull off an intense film while the characters are all trapped in a submarine, this one does a pretty good job of it. The writing is solid and the characters are good so in the end that makes for a very complete adventure.

The movie kicks off with one of the US submarines vanishing so the government is a bit concerned. They’re in the middle of a cold war with Russia and tensions are high so a submarine “vanishing” isn’t something that they can just let slide. They send in Captain Joe to handle this and the guy basically spent his whole career in a submarine so he is ready for action. Joe is a free thinker and doesn’t always play things by the books though so that does cause some concern for his crewmates. Will this guy really be able to seal the deal and get them a proper victory over the Russians? Only time will tell.

Even aside from recent news about submarines I’ve never wanted to go under the sea. I can easily get claustrophobic in that kind of setting and to me the helplessness of the situation is the worst part. If something goes wrong then there is absolutely no escape. At least in a plane you can hope for a safe landing or jump out with a parachute but under the ocean that’s it. So with the ship that went down you already know the crew is basically doomed but at the same time you still do have to go with the rescue operation and find out.

One of the moral dilemmas Joe is faced with here is his crew’s not too eager to help out any Russians even if they’re drowning. Fortunately Joe has no such hesitations and points out that they have to save anyone who needs help. I’m definitely glad he made the right call here and never wavered. At the end of the day you have to do what’s right there and it’s not like anyone else would be in a position to help out. He even asks for help from their captain, Andropov when trying to navigate through the territories.

Things could have gone badly in a lot of ways but of course that could have happened regardless. I would say Joe consistently made the right decisions and was rewarded for doing so quite regularly. He also handled himself with a lot of authority the whole time so that nobody could capitalize on any moment of weakness. That’s really the trick to making the hard calls and getting everyone through the situation. The crew could get annoying the whole time with how much they tried to double think him but ultimately he never let them get the last word in and quickly got them out of the control room.

The other captain, Andropov ultimately did good as well. He was able to see past the sides in the war and do the right thing to help out. He was cautious about it being a trap initially but after a point that just wouldn’t make sense so it was time to get on board. You definitely need to enjoy the tense atmosphere within the submarine to enjoy the film since that’s really the bulk of the adventure but it’s very well done so you should have no problems. The pacing always feels fast with a lot going on.

Then you have the subplot with Beaman’s team having to infiltrate Russia and secure the president from people trying to take over the country from within. This part’s more like a Jason Bourne type adventure with a lot of action and gunfire everywhere. It definitely works out pretty well and helps to give the film some action along with the tension. It also does a good job of showing just how important a sniper is. One guy manages to take out a bunch of enemies including tanks and cars by himself. If you have a good vantage point and powerful ammo then there are very few limits to how you can contribute in a battle.

I’d like to see more movies really show off the sniper and what he can do with fire bomb bullets and things like that. It was a really impressive showing. I also thought the leader of the group looked great in going back for him instead of descending with the sub. At the end of the day you should never leave someone behind. Doing that would just be a massive mistake on all accounts. The villains probably should have just murdered the Russian president though. I don’t see a whole lot of benefit to keeping him alive with a situation like this could happen.

I feel like usually the US is the one having to deal with traitors and such in these thrillers so that was a nice change of pace. This also worked well in giving a war atmosphere without actually starting the battles in the main plot. I probably wouldn’t have stood there and trusted the former crew to protect me like Joe did in the climax but hey it ended up working out. I can’t say that I really had any problems with the film, it was a strong ride from start to finish. At best you can probably say that there just isn’t enough memorable moments to this film. It’s likely that you will just end up forgetting about it at some point but it’s still a title I could easily recommend.

Overall, Hunter Killer is a pretty intense name for this movie and it ultimately lives up to the hype. You have solid action, characters, and pacing all throughout. The submarine backdrop is probably not one that you want to use too often but it works for getting the job done. If you want to see just how stressful it can be to make decisions while your life is in the balance then this is a good title to check out.

Overall 7/10

Blacula Review

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Oof, this film was pretty bad. I’m just going to say it upfront, this one was not a winner by any stretch of the imagination. Initially it started off with a little potential as the main character seems like a reasonable guy. Perhaps he would be an anti-hero of sorts who only feeds on the blood of the wicked. A lot of potential right there but nah it just becomes another B version of the Dracula film which was already quite bad. There isn’t much to redeem about this film to be honest.

The movie starts off with a guy going to Dracula and asking him to stop slavery basically. Dracula laughs and basically confirms that he loves slavery and this whole thing was a trap. The guy tries to fight him off but promptly gets bitten. His wife dies and the guy is left in the tomb. Many years later, he wakes up and is now the vampire known as Blacula!! Surely he will now be going around trying to help people out, destroy any other vampires in existence and keep onto his righteous cause right? Wrong!! He hungers and so he begins to drain everyone as he goes through life. He then finds a girl who looks like his late wife and decides that he wants her. Can the others stop him?

As you can probably guess one of my big issues here is just how Blacula is suddenly super evil. As a normal person he was a good guy trying to do the right thing. Why did he have to suddenly fall to such depths now? It doesn’t make sense and critically assassinates his character. There’s also no reason for this. You could absolutely have him fall in love with this lady and try to win her over without all the threats and bumping everyone off. The main villain here could have just been Dracula who had kept on living throughout all of these years. Boom you’d have a great story right there.

Unfortunately this film could not think things through and just went with this sad approach instead. The movie plays out exactly as you would expect with Blacula picking everyone off. One of the worst instances of this is when he is running through the streets and bumps into a cab. So the driver gets out and she naturally gives him a talking too…and he decides to murder her? Not to mention that he’s hunting around a black neighborhood. You can see the irony here right?? He was fighting to stop slavery, give equal rights to all…and now he’s basically murdering a bunch of the black community.

It undermines his character even more. Now if you said that Dracula injected his personality into Blacula then that could have been something. Honestly it would still have been a very baffling decision but at least it would make sense but the film never even hints at that. At best you can say we do see how he is losing his mind and getting more feral but that’s just standard vampire stuff. There’s still nothing in there that would cause his personality to do a complete 180. This is definitely a very lackluster film I have to say.

Of course it has the usual vampire movie issues as well like all the blood draining and everything. No matter how many times I see it I still find the whole thing a bit revolting. You should do vampire films without the draining. Think about it and you’ll see that I’m right. Have the vampires scare people in a different way and then we’re good. Like seeing Blacula in a dark alley with the cape is already scary so if you know he’s going to murder you then you don’t need the draining.

Okay enough about Blacula. Tina is the main heroine here and she doesn’t look great but you also have to cut her some slack because some of that is the subtle vampire mind control. Also it’s tough because she doesn’t really have an out here. Technically no matter where she goes or what she does there is no way to escape this guy. It’s a rather cruel environment to be in without a way out. Then you have Thomas who mainly leads the search in trying to stop this guy. He’s a reasonable main guy doing his best to help out but there’s nothing about him that particularly stands out. Much like this movie in general…..

Still, he’s good and does get results. The movie’s ending isn’t particularly satisfying but the movie did end which is what I was waiting for. At last the journey was over. There are some silver linings here like the characters but on the whole this film just makes no sense. They seriously need to remake it but with Blacula as an anti-hero. Or if you want him to be a true villain, have Dracula put him into stasis and when he wakes up have him appear in an area where his community is being terrorized or something. So now he wants revenge on the world. That kind of gimmick would go a long way. Just about anything instead of what we got to be honest.

The dark atmosphere worked well and the film had a lot of tension. So capitalize on all of that and maybe, just maybe you will have given the film a fighting chance to do something good. I wouldn’t hold my breath since it would still be a vampire film and would likely have the same issues though. At the end of the day there are very few good vampire films and I don’t see that really changing in the future.

Overall, Blacula is definitely a pretty bad film. In the end the movie did not even use the premise at all. Change Blacula to Dracula and nothing about the film changes. That’s probably the worst part in all of this because then it makes the whole thing pointless. You’ll be shaking your head the whole time and wondering why the movie even exists. If you want to watch a vampire film then watch The Batman vs Dracula instead. Hardly my favorite Batman film out there but it still blows this one away with ease.

Overall 1/10

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time Review

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It’s time for a movie about the dangers of time travel. See time travel is something that can be super beneficial and help you out of a jam but it can also become something that you rely on too much and then you’re really out of luck. You want to hit the middle ground but with that much power it’s just not so easy. This is definitely a solid film all around and one that I would recommend checking out.

The movie starts by introducing us to Makoto who is living a fairly ordinary life. She is best friends with two guys, Chiaki and Kosuke. If you’ve studied up on your film cues then you’ll know that this is already a red flag. According to film rules guys and girls can never stay as just friends! 😦 One day Makoto falls down while in the supply room and crushes a time travel device. She can now go back in time by building up energy and running like the Flash before literally leaping through time. It’s a power that she will have to master quickly or she will end up going too far back. It’s a lot of fun but is she somehow causing trouble by messing with the timeline?

First off the animation is solid here. It’s not quite at the mainstream anime level like Naruto or Pokemon but still above your average western title. There aren’t a lot of bright colors and the like for it to be able to show off with the animation but it’s all clear and you can follow along which is the important part. The writing is on point and the characters are likable so you have a good foundation here. The soundtrack’s more on the subdued side though so don’t expect to get a lot of big lyrical songs this time around.

This film’s more of a romantic slice of life so don’t expect too much end of the world stakes or anything like that. There definitely is danger here and things happen but for the most part it’s really about Makoto learning to stay and face her problems instead of running away from them. Always a good moral if you ask me. I do have some issues with the romance here but we’ll get into that in a minute. I did appreciate how Makoto’s aunt took the whole time travel aspect in stride though and offered her two cents about how to use it responsibly. A much better reaction than being shocked and having Makoto explain it all again.

As the main character Makoto is pretty solid. She wants to keep the status quo and is pretty good about rearranging events to make this happen. She wants to help people out and just seems like a good kid in general. Perhaps not very brave with how much running she does but at the end of the day she really tries her best. It’s probably not the most satisfying ending for her but that’s the risk of time travel. You never really know what timeline would end up being the best one and ultimately I’d say she left her ideal one.

Then there is Chiaki who is one of her best friends and he keeps trying to confess his feelings to her which causes Makoto to have to use more of her time travel. He just isn’t ready to stay as just friends and she’s not ready to let him out of the friend zone so it’s a tough dynamic. In that sense her plan was always doomed to fail though because from how he confessed it was clear that he had been thinking about this for a while. So even if she found ways to avoid him for a little bit, it was going to happen eventually or he’d move on. She needed to be able to stay in the pocket and throw out the rejection in the flat. Just let him off easy and you’re good.

He gets some points for his tenacity but also loses some for the fact that he went on the rebound rather quickly. After she avoided him enough times he goes after her best friend and it makes you think he couldn’t have been that head over heels for her. It’s always a tough call of when it’s time to move on. I would argue that this is way too soon though because even though he couldn’t get an answer out of her, he was still ready to move on.

Likewise the same thing happens with Kosuke. It’s more ambiguous but I would say it’s heavily implied that he likes her as well and ultimately goes with someone else. You could also just say that he was looking out for her as a friend so to the film’s defense it is up to you to decide. He’s a nice guy and did his best to not let anyone down while pursuing his own dreams. He really took school seriously which differentiates him from the others by quite a lot.

So with the romance, ignoring the whole why couldn’t they all just be friends angle (Because sometimes people just are friends and none of them are in a secret crush but that’s never to be in these things) I would say Makoto seeing the various timelines and how the guy would end up with someone else just showed why perhaps the romance wouldn’t have been best. If you were truly soulmates then the guy wouldn’t be going with another girl so easily right? To the guy he doesn’t remember confessing so it’s not a rebound per say but it does show that she was easily replaced and that’s not the basis for a good romance. That’s why I’m not really sure that it would have worked out.

Also while you can “learn to love” someone, I also don’t think that’s a great starting point. She clearly didn’t see him as that kind of guy and I would say the first impression is huge. She mainly just got jealous when he was with someone else and that’s another red flag. Wanting a guy because otherwise he will be taken seems like a very petty reason to me. At least the film does take place over the full summer and they’ve all known each other for a while so I won’t say that the romance is super rushed or anything. It may not be the best one but it still made an attempt.

Of course the film is at its best when we’re just seeing Makoto having fun using time travel. Before she realizes how serious it all is, it’s nice to see someone just enjoying the ability. Particularly since she uses it for everyday things like having her favorite dinner multiple times or getting to sleep in. Being able to rewind time means being able to ignore the consequences of your actions for a while. You can go to a restaurant and order all the most expensive things. Then after leaving you can rewind time and you stay full since you still experienced the event like how she was so tired after doing Karaoke on a bunch of loops. The applications of time travel are endless and I’d love to see a long running comedy about it some day. Just a character having fun with the power and living a perfect life. You’d probably need some kind of threat or danger eventually to hook people but I’d have fun just watching that series as in. Also kudos to the film on the unique method of landing out of time travel with the forward roll into the wall. It’s a little element but one that really helps the film stand out since that is very memorable.

Overall, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time is a pretty good movie. In some ways you’re just as interested in the movie that we didn’t see though. The apocalyptic future sounded real interesting and you sort of look forward to seeing how things went. It also adds an extra layer to the ending because it’s really hard to interpret exactly what’s going on. Personally given all the evidence I can’t see how things will ever work out for Makoto so that part’s tragic but as long as she has fun in the present then I suppose that’s all that matters. At the very least she definitely wouldn’t want to use time travel again even if she got the ability again.

Overall 7/10

Kickboxer Review

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

It’s time to look at a film that by all accounts should have been really good but instead it fumbled throughout the experience until it crashed in the end. It’s a shame because the template for this kind of film isn’t all that hard to follow. Just deliver with some good fight scenes and you will have a fun revenge film that works all around. The title got sequels so I guess enough people liked it, but it was a big thumbs down for me.

The movie starts with Kurt’s brother Eric deciding to take on the Thailand top kickboxing fighter. Eric has always been the world champion but one guy claimed that Thailand had the real strongest. So Eric shows up and unfortunately he is badly beaten by Tong to the point where he is crippled for life. Kurt’s upset since the guy was cheating but there is nothing to be done since this scene is basically an underground arena. Kurt will have to train with the local elder Xian to get strong enough to avenge his brother but Tong has more tricks up his sleeve. Who will come out on top!?

There’s a lot of problems with this very contrived setup. The first one is that Eric basically just heads off to Thailand to have a fight that is borderline unsanctioned at the drop of a hat. Really, all it takes is one guy mentioning that there is someone stronger and Eric leaves? I find this a bit hard to believe because Eric is so cocky that he would probably insist on the challenger coming to his turf. That’s the way that these things are supposed to work after all. Rocky did it right where after you lose then you go to the enemy turf.

Additionally as the world champion you’d expect Eric to have press agents and a lot of media attention. Surely they would have flagged if something was wrong with the Thailand site right? They would have had their own security and everything. Instead Eric and Kurt were basically by themselves. You could say that they left in absolute secrecy for the fight but I have my doubts on that and the stadium was all set up for the fight so some reporters would have heard about it. The entirely plot just doesn’t hold up when you think about it.

It makes the beatdown frustrating with Tong openly cheating throughout the entire match. The refs don’t care since they were bought off as apparently Tong basically owns the place. Even the cops don’t dare go against him and again…there’s no way the fight would be held in such a corrupt place. It really doesn’t make any sense and will just have you shaking your head the whole time. Then even with the cheating how did Eric go down so fast? I would have liked to have seen him get some hits in.

Of course you know that he’s going to lose the fight but you could still make it a little interesting. The more lopsided the match becomes, the less likely it is that Kurt will be able to convincingly avenge him. I’d expect better from the world champion. As a character Eric was good though. I did like his confidence and ultimately he was ready to support Kurt later on. He was initially reluctant about letting Kurt get into the ring but that made sense since he knew first hand how brutal things could get.

Then the film is goes for extra edge later on as Tong goes after the heroine. The film could have stopped with a threat or something but no it goes all the way with this plot so the damage was already done. Kurt only finds out about this near the very end of the film and of course it’s a moment used to ignite his rage but this is always the lowest hanging fruit you can use. A film should never use this plot because there’s just no reason for it and after a while all the edge only serves to hurt the film rather than help it.

Additionally the film sacrifices any semblance of realism by the end. So Kurt can’t go all out for a while due to some circumstances so Tong is beating up on him for quite a while. Keep in mind that just a few blows were enough to cripple Eric completely. He lands dozens upon dozens of hits on Kurt and those hits are amped up since he rolled his fist inside of glass chunks. So Kurt is really feeling every punch and the guy just keeps landing these blows.

By the time Kurt is able to fight back he should not even be able to stand. I think the movie was going for some Rocky vibes here as the lead would often get beat up over and over again before landing a counter attack but the movies were never this exaggerated. Then the resulting fight is so one sided that it makes 0 sense again. It’s not like Tong lost all of his skills so why he is just a punching bag now?

It’s like this was a super basic revenge story written by someone who just knew the genre but not how to get there. So pick the easy methods to get Kurt really mad, have him get beat up a while and then beat up the other guy. There is no restraint or reason to any of this and so it really doesn’t work. Of course it’s nice to see the villain get what’s coming to him but it sure does take a super long time to get there. Too long if you ask me.

At least one nice thing I can say about the film is that the soundtrack is good. There are a lot of really solid themes playing here and they fit the action scenes. So the movie put in some work there. The choreography can also be good when it’s finally time for a real fight. It’s just a shame that there isn’t much time for that since usually one of the 2 fighters can’t fight back. Either because he’s completely outmatched or because there is a hostage around. Having more actual fights would have been nice.

Kurt’s a good main character and I did appreciate that he did his best to avenge Eric. I would have had him start off with a little more skill just so that it would be more believable in the end though. It was referenced that he knew how to fight a little and was just sloppy but having him land a hit on Tong during his first outburst or something would have gone a long way.

Xian’s not nearly as good. He’s an old master and yet he did nothing to protect his niece when she was being threatened for years? He says he was worried they’d take it out on her but so then you just make sure to finish off all of the villains and keep her close. Not doing anything is of no help. Mylee is also nice enough but she definitely gets the short end of the stick since she is basically used as rage bait here. She didn’t deserve any of this.

Winston is a guy who helps out and gets Kurt on the right track. He’s had a rough past but is doing his best to get past it. The guy delivers when it counts even if it does take a while for the payoff. Finally there’s Tong who makes for a pretty bad villain. The guy isn’t even brave enough to fight his own battles and resorts to asking his goons for help in the end. If he at least had the dignity to fight his own battles and didn’t go after Mylee then he could have been a reasonable villain but in the end it was not to be.

Overall, Kickboxer is a film I would say to avoid. It just gets way too dark during this adventure ad takes things a step too far. If it was satisfied with being a solid action film then that could have really gone over well for the film but instead it even added some animal violence like when the dog was attacked. I’m telling you, anything the film could do to try and give the main character more fuel for rage, it would do it. Truly a shame.

Overall 1/10

One Million Years B.C Review

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It’s time for a film about cave people and that’s always a huge red flag for me. It’s very rare that a film like that ends up being very good. Unfortunately this would not be the one to buck the trend. The instant you start the film you already know how it’s going to go. Without meaningful dialogue and fun characters this movie was really dead in the water right from the jump. I’m afraid that it never ended up doing anything and that’s the real sad part about this.

The movie starts with a bunch of cave people fighting all over the place. We see how there is no law and order around here. Everyone just does what they want when they want. They are true savages through and through. Tumak gets thrown out so he wanders around for a while until he finds another village that is quite different. These people are all very graceful, they have a real society and even know how to communicate, at least in basic ways. A lady named Loana decides to teach him their ways and so Tumak quickly becomes a good ally to have around. He has the strength to protect them from attacking monsters and now this society is where he can find peace. Unfortunately he messes that up and gets kicked out again so Loana leaves with him. Can they ever find peace?

A large chunk of the film is really about exploring what life may have been like back in these days. It’s basically why Tumak gets kicked out everywhere since it gives the film a chance to put him in different environments and see what happens. Here’s the problem though…they’re all very boring. I don’t care how many different settlements he sees, they’re all still just too basic to have anything interesting to depict. In a movie I typically need fast paced dialogue, a lot of quality banter, etc. You just don’t get that in this film and that’s a shame.

The random giant monsters are interesting enough at least. You have dinosaurs, giant lizards, etc. Of course this also ends up sinking the film into the animal violence issue which is just as bad. So now the film has that going against it in addition to the movie lacking in any quality characters. I also feel like the old outfits are just an excuse for a lot of fanservice as well. Surely the characters could all wear old fur coats instead of the classic cave costumes right? Feels like the movie’s trying to hide the lack of plot with this.

At the end of the day there just isn’t much for the film to do with this setup and it knows it. So you have a lot of fights and Tumak learning how to live but that’s about it and you can do that in 20 minutes. The rest of the film is effectively fluff and not very interesting fluff at that. The worst thing about the movie is ultimately that you’re just going to be very bored. There is nothing here to actively capture your imagination and that’s really the biggest problem of all. You need to be interested in what’s going on and engaged with the situation for a movie to be good.

The problem is that there isn’t anything to grab your attention. Why should you care about the cave people fighting each other when none of the characters are particularly fun? You shouldn’t is the main reason there. I wouldn’t say any modern level effects would have changed anything either because the place is supposed to look and feel old. There isn’t really a way around that no matter how much you squint.

Also, I do have to say that most films do need a lot of dialogue. You can absolutely pull off doing a film without much talking but it’s going to be very difficult and will fail much more often than it succeeds. Trust me on this, it’s not an easy task by any stretch of the imagination. You really have to give it your all and this film didn’t even come close. I also can’t picture a scenario where a film taking place in prehistoric times could pull it off.

A silent film in space with aliens all around for example could work. Perhaps a sci-fi title about escaping a room where you can’t talk. That silent film about the monsters that react to sound for example is a title that made the most of the premise so this actually made sense. You just need a massive hook like that in order to even attempt to make this a challenge.

Otherwise just adding dinosaurs and such isn’t going to be enough to tip the scales. Nah if anything it’s just going to remind you of how much more fun this could be if the characters were all talking and planning things out. At the end of the day of course if this sounds like your cup of tea then you should enjoy it. The film is very straight forward on what it is about. For example if you like the poster then you should like the movie. It’s not trying to subvert your expectations or throw in a bunch of plot twists. What you see is what you get and the film absolutely embraces this all the way down the line. It’s just not what I was looking for.

Overall, One Million Years ago never makes for a good setting for any film. Trust me on this, it’s the kind of setting you should actively avoid if you want to have any luck here! Films should take place in the modern day or the future if you want to have a leg up on the competition. That’s always my word of advice at least. Those are easily the best eras and I just like for everything to look really current. Then the characters still have to do their part but it’s a start. Yeah this film should be a skip.

Overall 1/10

The Warriors Review

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This review is of the TV-14 edited version of the film. Please address the review as such as a review of the unedited version would be more negative

The Warriors is a film that was pretty big back in the day. I like the concept of a gang having to basically try and get around the entire state with everyone after them. Unfortunately the movie doesn’t quite live up to the concept. There is a good amount of fun to be had here but the more the movie goes, the more the characters start to get a little unlikable. The movie sort of loses focus on its own plot and there isn’t nearly as much action as you would initially expect.

The movie starts off with all of the gangs converging in the Bronx because a speech is going to be made by the most influential gang of all. The leader is basically calling for a ceasefire because if the gangs can team up then they should be able to take over the city. Everyone’s pretty stoked about this but then the leader is suddenly shot. The worst part is that someone claims the Warriors are behind it. Their gang is fairly small plus they are behind enemy lines so it’s time to bounce. The problem as any New Yorker knows is that Coney Island is quite far from the Bronx. It takes over an hour to get there from Manhattan as it is! Are they ready for this?

It’s definitely fun to recognize the sites during the film. They actually filmed in slightly different locations and switched the train signs around which is clever but if you live in Manhattan then you’ll see through it. It’s a good way to just see the city and I’ve been around the area where most of the film takes place in quite a lot so that was nostalgic. The atmosphere is just right and so the film really starts off with a bang. You can feel the danger and the whole first act is excellent.

Where the film drops off majorly is during the chases in the middle of the film. See, the Warriors get split up and each group gets their own subplot. One part of the Warriors ends up bumping into an all girls gang and figure they’ll mess around a whole lot. The film needs extensive amounts of plot armor to keep them alive here though. Keep in mind that they suspect absolutely nothing the whole time and so there are numerous times when the guys are completely preoccupied and defenseless. It made no sense that the girls didn’t just murder them and that will definitely take you out of the film the whole time.

Then you have another group where one of the guys gets distracted by a lady who’s hanging out alone by a bench. He is here to remind us that the Warriors are still a gang and as such are not particularly heroic. Fortunately she ends up being an undercover cop and calls in the police to bring him to jail. What’s disappointing is the fact that he was actually attempting to overpower her which isn’t just a villainous move but pretty much the worst action possible. You’re absolutely rooting for this guy to be crushed and by extension you’re not really rooting for the rest of the Warriors as much either.

As a side note I do think that the undercover cop plan was super risky though. It took quite a while for the cops to arrive after being signaled since I guess they didn’t just have them camping in the park. Personally I think you have to have at least one officer hiding close by in the bushes or something because a lot can happen in a few minutes. You have to be discreet but you can definitely do that while still being safe.

Meanwhile the main one, Swan mostly stays focused and does a good job of staying focused on the goal..until near the end. He ends up cracking and has a quick fling with Mercy who had been taunting him throughout the film but if would have been good if he had stayed strong instead. She was constantly getting the group into fights by goading on different fighters and increasing the tension levels as a result. The Warriors nearly got away without a fight from the first gang and she’s the one who pressed for one. I feel like getting together with her after that is a bit much.

The romance here is definitely sub par and in a way that’s because this film should not have had any romance to start with. This is supposed to be a gang war film with a ton of battles and every group going at it. When you stop to have a quick affair like this it just doesn’t make any sense. There are only around 2-3 real battles here. I did like the confrontation in the park which was one of the more extended fights at least. The Warriors got to show that they could really fight but it’s also an opportunity to show what the film could have been.

This absolutely should have been like Mortal Kombat with a fight every few minutes. It should have been a full boss rush as the Warriors take on every rival gang around and keep it moving. There was a whole lot of potential there but in the end there are definitely a lot more chases than fighting. Still there are things that the film does well.

When the characters aren’t looking really awful, we do get to see them planning and outmaneuvering all of the gangs. I liked the atmosphere of the gang being out really late at night. Even nowadays you never want to be out too late because that’s asking for trouble so you can only imagine back when there were a ton of gangs everywhere. You do feel better when you’re in a group though which is why they keep on getting separated until there are fewer and fewer of them around.

The ending is also satisfying and really finishes things off in a nice way. You always want to end things on a high note and that happens here. Plus seeing the sunlight as the heroes finally make it back to Coney Island was nice as a way to show that they did survive the night and made it back home. Only way I’d top the ending would have been to show that the Warriors had a bunch of extra members who had stayed home and they are the ones who end up surrounding the villain. Would have been a good way to show that this is their home turf. The villain was very underwhelming so he would have folded either way but I think this would have been a nice touch.

Overall, The Warriors has a better story than the actual execution. While watching the film you keep waiting for the big gang fights and all the action that follows but instead we focus more on the gang members individually as they get a lot of character development and that’s not what you wanted to see here. Particularly because the characters didn’t end up being likable by the end precisely because of these moments. You’re better off doing the big New York walk yourself one of these days, start early and see how far you can go.

Overall 4/10

The Trip to Bountiful Review

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It’s time for a movie that is pleasant enough but also supremely annoying. The ending isn’t at satisfying as the movie would have you believe and that’s because there just isn’t a reason to believe that things will be different. One character in particular is a massive pushover and looks awful the whole time. Seriously you do not want him in your corner because at the end of the day he’s really not going to do anything for you. He’ll just bow to peer pressure and then that’s the end of that.

The film starts off with introducing us to Carrie who has had to live through a rather unpleasant home environment for quite a while now. Her son Ludie has been completely dominated by his wife Jessie to the point where he will do all her bidding and never sticks up for his own mother. Jessie keeps on taking Carrie’s retirement checks and forbids her from doing basic things like singing hymns. She has also forbidden Carrie from ever going back to her real home. Carrie finally has enough of this and slips away during one sunny afternoon. She has a headstart now but is older and she’s heading for a town so small that most people don’t even know about it anymore. Will she be able to make it or will she be captured by Jessie? The clock is ticking and time is definitely not on her side.

Okay so the main annoying thing here is how much Ludie lets Jessie get away with. The guy is absolutely spineless for the entirety of the film to the point where I would call him an antagonist. When you just stand by and let your mother get picked on then you’re basically guilty in that respect. Ultimately when you’re married it is expected that your significant other will become the #1 priority in your life but you should still be able to see reason enough to stand up for yourself and call that person out when the wrong calls are being made.

This did not feel like a healthy or balanced relationship. Instead Ludie was basically just getting bullied the whole time and it’s a really bad look. It’s a massive L for this guy. Then of course you have Jessie who is still the main antagonist here. It’s crazy how she shamelessly takes the money and constantly barks out orders. She’s a very toxic person and one who shows no real signs of changing which is why the ending doesn’t land. Any scene with her is annoying and you just feel like the movie doesn’t really do anything to have her own up to her crimes. That’s really the biggest problem with her. If the film had acknowledged this…then okay fine I can get behind that. But since they don’t, that’s where the issues really come up.

Finally we have Carrie who is doing her best to get back home. She is very old during this adventure so that does put her at a big disadvantage. She also ends up succumbing to Jessie’s demands most of the time to please Ludie which is too bad since I’d like her to take a firmer stance. Ultimately it would bring more trouble but apologizing when you’re not the one at fault has always been a real annoying thing. You just shouldn’t have to do that under any circumstances.

There is one main side character here in Thelma who was a really nice character. She did her best to look out for Carrie during the bus ride as well as when they were at the bus stop. I actually thought she was going to be around for the whole film but ultimately she was just there for part of the journey. Her appearance was very appreciated though as she helped Carrie through a tough period and it would have been a lot tougher if Carrie was on her own. Ultimately Thelma was the highlight of the movie for just being a kind person in a movie where everyone else seemed rather cruel for no reason. Even the Sheriff took forever and a day to help Carrie out when giving her a simple drive seemed like a no brainer.

I’m also glad the film didn’t have Carrie die when she made it home, like she had just been hanging on until she got there. That definitely would have been real unfortunate. As I mentioned earlier this ending still isn’t perfect like with how the villains don’t really pay for their crimes. That’s something that really should have been fixed through and through. I wanted Carrie to insist she stays in town or just move off on her own. Even bolder, have Jessie leave, those would have all been more satisfying endings.

Instead the ending is basically that things will eventually work out and they all just have to take it. Pretty bad message if you ask me because none of it was Carrie’s fault. It’s the classic “We’re all a little at fault I guess” kind of ending that I never agree with. You shouldn’t have to pay for someone else’s issues and we saw nothing in the film to even suggest that Carrie was being a problem in any way. Throughout the film she was the one doing her best through and through.

That’s really the sore point of the film and what keeps it from getting a higher film. It just feels like the whole thing wasn’t fair at all and Carrie effectively got penalized for just being a nice person. That’s no good. If you watch this film, just get ready to be annoyed a whole lot because Carrie just trying to visit her home is something that should be a simple matter and not something she has to ask permission for. The whole thing is just bonkers.

Overall, This movie is still supposed to be more of a feel good title, but it forgot the feels good parts. If it was a little more upbeat and fun then I think we’d be having a very different conversation here. As it stands that just wasn’t in the cards and I can think of many better films to watch if you want to feel good. It’s time for this movie to instead be lost in the years of time.

Overall 4/10