Tag Archives: Film Review

Tenth Avenue Angel Review

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Tenth Avenue Angel is a low key slice of life drama with characters having to make some hard decisions in the end. I did have some issues with the film but ultimately it is a fun film. It’s missing the extra step to go to the next level but it’s also so short that it’s over in the blink of an eye. If you’re looking for a fairly light hearted adventure then you should have a good time here but it’s also possible that you’ll find the main character to be a little too naïve which will end up hurting the whole experience for you.

The movie starts with Flavia excited because her uncle Steve is finally back from his long trip around the world. It turns out that he has actually been in prison all these years but her family convinced her that he was on a trip because they figured she couldn’t handle it. Steve wants them all to keep this deception up as well. It’s been tough getting back into the swing of things though and Steve figures that he should leave town to get a fresh start. He’ll then come back to marry Susan when he’s very successful but she says she might not be around when he’s back. Flavia wants Steve to stay but isn’t sure how to do it. Is there any way to stop this?

Right off the bat Steve comes across as an incredibly selfish character. Susan has been waiting for him all this time and he’s just going to run off? Just like that? It’s a really poor decision on his part and I can see why she said that she may not be around. There’s no guarantee that he would return and he might find someone else there. The fact that he refuses to bring her along because he says it would hurt his pride is an awful reason. He’s really not thinking about her at all so this romance is not going to work out at all.

The whole plot did irreparable damage to Steve’s character. Then additionally he gets tempted back into crime later which was really bad. He is not the kind of guy that is easy to root for and so automatically you can tell that I was not on board with the romance. Then with Susan there is another guy who likes her and she starts to agree to marry him. Basically she is ready to rebound immediately if Steve actually does leave which also isn’t a good sign. In this case she needs to make a decision and wait for Steve or pick someone else but she can’t have this whole set up of choosing based on if he stays or not. She does let the guy know that she doesn’t love him but he doesn’t care and says he will be fine with that. Great….

Then Flavia’s mother Helen is a little too quick to tell Flavia crazy lies to get her to calm down. I always thought it’s never a good idea to lie to kids even about simple things like Santa Claus. Why invent fake ideas for them instead of breaking the truth in a gentle way? It would have been so much better if they told Flavia that Steve was in jail because instead as the only person who doesn’t know the truth, that could potentially put Flavia in a really awkward position. They really didn’t think about that much but they should have. The lies catch up to them eventually and it’s not a good look for Helen.

Flavia’s father Joe is barely even in the movie so it’s hard to say much about the guy. Half the time you even forget he exists. Then there is Flavia herself who is way too gullible. She believes everything like about how mice turn to cash. That’s not something that she should fall for so easily and she apparently would believe everything all the time. It’s played off as tragic since she really trusted her mother so this was a big blow but she should have had a little more common sense. She’s young but she’s not That young to be getting fooled like this.

Flavia is old enough to know how to roller skate and even handle the newsstand for her friend Mac. She just shouldn’t be getting tricked all the time like this and it can be a bit annoying. At some points she wants everyone to treat her like a mature adult but then these things happen and you can really tell that she is not ready for it. Her friend Mac is good though. In fact I’d say that he is the only really good character here. He’s blind but he doesn’t let that stop him from doing a good job selling newspapers. It’s really quite admirable how hard Mac works at this.

He has been grinding out the tough hours and doing his best day in and day out. Rain or not, he’s out there selling the papers. He’s also quick on the uptake and is generally a good guy. He does his best and that’s really all there is to it. The other characters could learn a thing or two from this guy. He even bought Flavia her favorite pair of roller skates for her birthday. It was probably the funniest scene in the film as everyone got her the same thing but this time she was quite quick on the uptake and properly thanked everyone. A gift is a gift so I think you should always be gracious about it. Even if it’s not exactly what you wanted, someone worked hard to get it.

Overall, The writing is good and the film is fun but what holds it back are the characters. A good cast goes a long way and these characters were mainly just unreasonable. It means that there aren’t a lot of great dynamics here and the romance is sub par at best. Even by the end Flavia is just not smart enough and I’m not sure that the moral at the end was the best one since it’s sort of trying to give the stories a bit of credit so she’ll feel better. I would have preferred Flavia come to terms with the stories not being real but learning the reasons behind the stories and still being grateful to her mother. That would have been a whole lot more satisfying.

Overall 6/10

Crossfire Review

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It’s time for a big mystery film where the dots have to be connected before time runs out. Classic noir mysteries like this always tend to be quite solid and this one is no exception. There are quite a few guys running around and a lot of names to keep straight but you’ll probably have a good idea on who the culprit is early on. I wouldn’t say that the film is trying to hide this from the audience for very long, it’s more of a mystery for the characters within the film as they only have bits and pieces of the story.

The movie starts with someone beating an elderly Jewish man to death. We don’t know who this is but there are a few soldiers who are suspects. Basically this platoon is in between missions right now and a few of them had been hanging out with this guy for most of the night. There was apparently some kind of argument so this may have led to things being rough. The reason why it’s noted that this man was Jewish is also because the murder may have been a hate crime based on this. The cops are treating this very seriously and Mitch is the primary suspect but his friend Keeley doesn’t think this is likely so it’s time to investigate the crime personally. The tough part will be that he may find out some answers he didn’t want to know.

This is one of those films where a huge part of it could have been avoided if Mitch didn’t get drunk. Part of the issue here is that he was drinking a whole lot along with the rest of the characters so his memory is spotty at best. There are large parts of the day that he just doesn’t remember at all and this really costs him big time. Instead of being able to give definitive answers he always sounds nervous and hesitant about everything so that doesn’t help to clear his name at all. Most of his “friends” end up making Mitch sound more and more guilty.

Additionally I have to say that I just didn’t like Mitch. He’s married but still followed another lady up to her apartment and it’s fortunate that she had to leave for most of the night because it seemed like he was really close to making a mistake that you can’t come back from. At the very least I think it’s already a mistake to put yourself in a tricky position like that. It just so happened that this would make him look more suspicious as well but that’s more of a side effect.

The best character here is definitely Keeley. While he may not co-operate with the police captain Finlay too much, Keeley is trying his best to solve this and make sure everyone is okay. He just doesn’t know who to trust at first and so he keeps everyone at arm’s length. He’s got a sharp wit and a lot of good comebacks. Keeley knows how to push the envelope as far as it will go without crossing a line and that’s always important. He puts in a whole lot of work and once he is on the same page as Finlay they are able to cover a lot of ground.

Meanwhile Finlay does a really good job as well. He isn’t able to cover quite as much ground as Keeley for a while there and you could say that it’s partially on him that they didn’t work together a lot sooner but from Finlay’s perspective Keeley was still a suspect as well so his hands were tied. He was reasonable all the way through and made for a solid character here. Then you have Monty who is one of the main guys here. He is always very eager to talk to the cops and try to set things straight but every time he talks he seems to put Mitch in a tough spot….

He definitely makes for an intense character and you aren’t likely to forget Monty as you finish the film. Monty is definitely not a likable character and of course he’s not meant to be. The film does a good job of still making him strategic so there are a lot of mind games going on here and battles of wits. You actually don’t get many seems of him and Keeley in the same room which keeps the plots separate for a while. Floyd is unfortunately very weak willed and of the soldiers he is the easiest one to manipulate for sure. A lot of the time they say if you don’t make any decision then that was automatically the wrong one and that’s what happens for this guy a lot. The window to act gets smaller and smaller until it’s too late.

The oddest character in the film was Ginny’s husband Tremaine. It’s hard to get a read on him since he is constantly lying. After each of his speeches he will say that everything he just said was a lie and this keeps on repeating. He seems chronically depressed and yet he is trying to poke fun at his own expense. Mainly I just wondered what the point of this character was aside from adding some unintentional humor into the film. I was a bit interested in whatever his story was. The guy has clearly been through a whole lot over the years. At least he tried to be helpful unlike Ginny who was determined to stay quiet and not be involved in everything going on.

Mitch’s wife Mary shows up as well to try and help get to the bottom of this. Her role isn’t very large but it’s a fairly pivotal one. She helps Mitch to really get a better understanding of the stakes and that he needs to step up or she’ll be in trouble as well. There are certainly a lot of moving parts here and the film’s got fast pacing so it all works out. The mystery is sound and the writing is good. I can’t say that I had any real issues with the movie and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a good thriller.

Overall, Crossfire may not be a title that you would immediately associate with this film but it works well enough. There isn’t a lot of gun action here as this is more of a mental battle of wills but you can bet that there is a little intensity as we get closer to the end. There are some very smart tricks used here to corner the villain. A satisfying ending is absolutely necessary for a title like this and it all wraps up nicely.

Overall 7/10

The Tomorrow War Review

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I remember thinking this film looked pretty good when the trailer first came out. Who doesn’t like a solid sci-fi film with aliens running around right? Throw in a bit of time travel and now you’ve got a recipe for success. It’s a pretty good film with a fun premise and a lot going on. You could definitely have some fun with sequels and other idea to expand the franchise especially depending on what time travel rules you want to use.

The movie starts out with Dan unfortunately not getting the job that he was hoping for. It puts a bit of a damper on things but he tries to keep a brave face on. Then during the World Cup a bunch of soldiers appear from the future. They explain that humanity is currently losing a battle against a bunch of aliens in 2051. They’ve run out of people to die in the present so they need sacrifices from the current timeline. Perhaps if they throw enough bodies at the aliens then they can finally win. This quickly becomes common place and over time there is a global draft where everyone has to participate.

If you are selected then you are warped into the future to be destroyed by the aliens. If you somehow manage to survive then you come back to the present with significant PTSD. Your family is given a lot of money though so they will be well taken care of. People are very jaded with this because of the low survival rate and people begin to wonder if this war is even worth it. When Dan is selected his wife Emmy says he should run away but he doesn’t like his odds and so he goes into the future. Time to blast some aliens!

I think one of the interesting aspects of the film is deciding if you would support the future war. After all I do think the opposing side here has some good points. One, this war has been going on for years and there has been no noticeable victories or reason for hope on the human side. So it really seems like people are just being sent to their deaths instead of being out there to make a difference. After a point, what is the use in sending more people to a war that has effectively already been lost? You also have to take a whole lot at face value from these soldiers because you don’t know for sure that the future is exactly as they say it is. The army won’t even let people see what these supposed aliens look like. What if they’re lying? If this was an M. Night Shymalan film you get the feeling that it all would have been a big trick and they were fighting in another country or something.

So the skepticism is absolutely justified. Personally I wouldn’t be a fan of fighting in the war and would be one of the ones trying to stop it. It’s deeper than a “This isn’t my problem” kind of mindset but just throwing your life away seems like a really bad idea. The army would need to be a lot more transparent about exactly what our lives are being used for before I could actually open myself up to the idea. It would also be a little concerning how the whole world just went along with this idea so quickly. It wouldn’t pass the smell test.

Of course the aliens are real and Dan finds this out the hard way as he goes to the future. These things look like mini Clovers from Cloverfield which seems to be an American monster thing at this point where Clover is used as the base for quite a few different creatures. They definitely look really intense and you would not want to have to fight one. The movie does a great job of really showing just how scary these creatures are and why people would get intimidated and traumatized so quickly. They would absolutely be enough to give a person nightmares. They’re also very durable as the guns don’t do much to them unless you strike at the weak point. A ton of people die during every skirmish for this reason.

Dan used to be a soldier and so he does a good job of adapting. I liked that he wasn’t like your typical rookie who has to ask a ton of questions and is constantly getting into trouble. Instead he puts his military experience to good use and is always ready for the fight. He does well all things considered and does have to make a lot of tough choices the whole time. He’s a character that is easy to sympathize with and root for.

Then you have Charlie who is effectively the comic relief here. He didn’t want to be here but it’s not like you can say no to the draft so he does his best. He’s a scientist which does come in handy later on in the film. Another ally is Dorian who has been through this draft several times at this point. He joins optionally because he would like to die on the battlefield and so he keeps on testing his limits. It’s really impressive that he lasted so long and the guy has great fundamentals. He makes sure to keep on learning from each of his trips and this pays off.

In the future Dan also meets his daughter Muri who is all grown up now. She’s a solid general even if I wouldn’t say all of the plans are sound. It’s got to be a big shock to be working with her father but Muri keeps her emotions grounded and does a good job of continuing to lead. She has a plan to possibly end this whole war but it won’t be easy and so the project is mainly kept a secret from most people. It’s no guarantee of victory after all so she can only hope that this will work out. It was nice to see her and Dan team up.

Dan’s father James also gets a fairly big role. The two of them had a falling out and the reasons for this are explained later on in the movie. Well this is James’ big chance to step up now since Dan really needs him and it’s a life or death moment. Both of them are able to put their history to the side to try and help out which was great. James was a fun character. He could certainly be gruff and is probably not the biggest people person but without him Dan would have absolutely been in trouble.

Finally you have Dan’s wife Emmy who has the tough job of working with survivors through their PTSD. It’s not a fun job and of course that’s a big part of why she doesn’t want Dan to leave since she knows this could happen to him. She was very supportive the whole time through thick and thin so she was a very solid character.

The movie has a number of plot twists and developments as things go on. They help to keep you on your toes the whole time and you expect this since there are aliens and time travel running around. There is one twist about Dan that is a little hard to believe though even if the circumstances had been different. I suppose within the multiverse of timelines it can happen though so you just have to really not think of this Dan as the same with an alternate version. This film isn’t portrayed as a multiverse though as it’s more of a linear timestream in which case I don’t think the twist would hold true.

I liked the time travel rules here though. Basically you can anchor the present and future together. Both are still moving forward so once you pick a spot then you are stuck to it. Additionally if the past you dies then the future you and your kids will immediately die if you were going to have them after the adventure. It’s a direct time travel system with clear rules that are easy to understand. It works well within this context and also explains why they wouldn’t just time travel to a few years ago to win the war quickly. There are rules that they just have to abide by.

It would have been fun to have seen the initial invasion by the aliens though. Maybe that could be for a prequel or something. There are a lot of ways to handle an alien invasion film though and starting off in the middle always works well. There is a lot of suspense here and the battles are on point. The graphics look good as well and the movie holds up well. I think it would have made for a fun theater watch if it had gone there.

There will be some times where you have to suspend your disbelief though when the humans are fighting the creatures. They are so fast and so powerful that you can’t outrun them and Dan has some plot armor to stay alive during some of the fights. It feels like the aliens drag things out against him when they were one hit KO’ng the other characters. The very last fight on the mountain is also hard to buy into. I just have to say that the humans are losing that fight. There’s no way they come out on top especially with how long the fight dragged on.

The final fight is rather brutal with the battle going back and forth but humans are going to lose that battle of attrition every time. It made for an epic climax but I didn’t buy into the outcome. The film can be a little brutal and violent with the humans and aliens fighting. It’s nothing like Alien or anything like that but these creatures are certainly not taking prisoners. You can expect a lot of big injuries and fatalities throughout. It does really show why the casualties kept going up at the rate with which the aliens were slaughtering everyone though. The film doesn’t really linger on any moment too long though so I wouldn’t say it’s anything that should hit you too hard for the most part. Mainly it’s standard thriller stuff.

Overall, The Tomorrow War is a good alien invasion movie. The body count is definitely very high with just about everyone dying in the future and a ton in the present. This was not going to be an easy fight for the human race that’s for sure. There’s a lot of avenues you can take for a sequel so it’ll be interesting to see how that goes. The ending probably could have been a bit happier and I probably would have changed one scene but ultimately it’s got a lot of replay value throughout.

Overall 6/10

Noel Review

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If we really have to count this as a Christmas film then Noel has got to be the worst one that I’ve seen. It starts out as a stinker right away and only gets worse. It reminds me a lot of the dialogue from The Room with how off beat everything is. The way the characters talk and act just seems off and the movie just feels really mean spirited by the end. It would help if I actually liked any of the characters but they’re all just really annoying.

In this movie we follow several different plotlines, some of which connect but for the most part they’re fairly separate so lets dive into them. First up is Rose and Charlie’s plot. Rose’s mother has advanced Alzeheimer’s and is barely hanging onto her life at this point. The pressure has really gotten to Rose and she decides to end it all but it prevented from doing so by a guy named Charlie who used to be a priest. He tries to convince her that she still has a lot to live for but she just isn’t sure. She’s tried to live again by crashing parties and going on dates but it all feels empty to her.

Rose has been using all of the most superficial ways to live again and they haven’t worked but when Charlie starts to talk in more supernatural avenues like talking to her mother somehow, Rose isn’t particularly thrilled. Then the doctor in charge of Rose’s mother also likes her so everything is happening really fast. I think Charlie could have handled the situation a whole lot better the whole time because the way he brought up talking to Rose’s mother as a spirit is not really a conversation starter. Things had been going well until then so if he used more tact than it would have worked. The doctor liking her at the end also felt super rushed the whole time.

Rose isn’t my kind of character either with how turning to romance was one of her default options. She also should have said no to the coworker coming to her place when she barely knows the guy. She really succumbed to peer pressure too quickly and deep down she knew this couldn’t work out. The age gap was too crazy so why even try to see how it’ll go? Of course it’s different for everyone but personally I think at max you can make a romance work if someone’s 10 years older than you and the odds will not be in your favor. Any more than that and you’re really going to be doomed if you ask me. But ideally you want within a few years for sure. This subplot was always really dull whenever it showed up.

Then we have Nina and Mike who are close to getting married but the main obstacle right now is Mike’s quick temper and excessive jealousy. He can’t stand to have anyone even look at Nina which makes it difficult for her to have normal friends even. He flies off at the handle all the time and even punches out one of her friends. Nina hopes that he will change but is starting to have doubts and is wondering if perhaps they should just not get together. She is about to have a kid though so the timing would not be great. Then Mike bumps into a crazy who believes that Mike is the reincarnation of his wife and is trying to stir up a lot of trouble.

In a way this plot is in two places so starting off with Nina, you can absolutely see why she has a lot of reservations. Mike is just too excessive and doesn’t show any sign of changing. If there was progress then that would be good but even when she sits him down to talk about this, all he can think about are the guys she mentions may look at her from time to time. He is completely zero’d in on this which is discouraging. Nina likes dressing up to look fancy, her job will require interacting with people and her co-workers. If Mike can’t handle this then this will always be a toxic relationship.

Then Mike probably has the worst plot of all here. So you figure if there is a crazy guy like this you just avoid him and make sure not to humor the guy. Mike is a cop as well so he can arrest the guy if he gets to be too much. Instead he actually invites the guy to his house and is basically attacked before the guy has a heart attack. I get that Mike wants to be a good guy but he just goes way too far like following him to the hospital and trying to give him closure by pretending to be the wife for a quick speech.

It wasn’t a satisfying resolution. I’m not saying Mike needs to be mean about it but you don’t invite someone like that to your apartment and you absolutely don’t need to go to the hospital and humor him. This plot drags on forever and Mike’s actions just don’t feel realistic at all. I felt bad for his partner who was bewildered by this the whole time too. The partner gets a ton of credit for having Mike’s back the whole time though and always keeping his guard up. He knew that something wasn’t right and didn’t abandon his partner.

Then there is Jules who had a great time celebrating Christmas as a teenager while in the hospital and his life has been hard since then so he is determined to have one more party. To get into the hospital he hires someone to break his hand but unfortunately there is no big party this time. The hospital is way too busy with everyone running around and he basically realizes that he’ll never have a happy Christmas again. It makes sense that the hospital would be way too busy with how many patients are running around. It’s the kind of thing you figure may have happened back in the day or in a more quiet area but not here. This plot felt the most random and doesn’t get much closure as he just realizes this was all for naught.

Noel has a very gritty vibe from the start and you can tell that it’s an indie type title. Not only does everything look dirty and shady the whole time but none of the characters are all that great. Most of them don’t even seem like good people that you would get along with if you ever met them. So without great characters to root for that just puts you in an even tougher spot right from the jump. Forget a lot of happy Christmas songs and fun scenes. The movie is always very serious and depressing all the way through.

The film even throws in a bunch of fanservice scenes during Nina and Mike’s plot and everyone seems to be having an affair and making love from time to time. Every character feels so desperate and the film doesn’t have enough of a main plot to actually hold its own so it has to resort to all of this. If the characters could have at least been really good then that would have helped things but that wasn’t the case here. I also mentioned how everyone just acts oddly and that’s embodied the most in Mike’s plot. I still can’t see that story playing out this way at all. Mike honestly looks very dumb with all the risks he was taking. If the guy had a knife or a gun then it would have all been game over.

Overall, At its core the film’s problem is that there are no good scenes. There’s never a moment in the film that will make you smile or think that the movie did something cool. It’s all dreary and depressing the whole time. You might come close to laughing sometimes at just how absurd the whole thing is but that’s not good enough to actually help the film out. It’s all so slow paced and everything drags on forever. This could have been a 40 minute film considering what was actually covered and at least then it would end quickly. Instead it just keeps on going and going. Jules is probably more sympathetic than most of the main characters and even then he should have just gone to just about any party in the city since there are hundreds going on. No reason to injure himself like that. It just showed that he was also a bit crazy to go this far with that. You have to be truly desperate to have someone break your hands to try and enjoy Christmas. Definitely skip this one and stay far away!

Overall 0/10

Maggie’s Christmas Miracle Review

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It’s time for another classic Hallmark movie and this one deals with a lot of tragedy and heartbreak throughout. We’ve got a good reason as to why the main heroine isn’t very into Christmas here and it works out as a fun adventure. The kid is a bit annoying and he doesn’t help the dynamic but at the end of the day you’ve got all the usual Hallmark fun you could ask for.

The movie starts off with Megan’s father running off right at Christmas which really wrecked her image of the holiday. Then fast forward to the future where her husband ran off and now she’s alone with her son Jordan. She’s determined to keep this from happening again and so she runs a bit of a strict home but tries to make sure Jordan is having fun. Unfortunately the broken home has started to affect his grades and so the school recommends a tutor named Casey. Megan has her doubts but calls him in. It’s not a great first impression for her as he’s busy taking care of a shop and has to call her back. Then on his first day looking after Jordan, the kid injures his hand while trying to lift up a tree. Perhaps this won’t work out but what are Megan’s other options?

Megan’s main character flaw here is definitely that she can be a bit overly dramatic. When Jordan injures his hand she really makes a big scene about the whole thing even when everyone including Jordan was saying that it wasn’t so bad. I do think it’s fair to criticize Casey a bit for letting Jordan help unload the truck. Probably not the safest thing for a kid to do but at the same time it’s a fairly busy area so there was never a chance that things would get too crazy. Jordan also messed up on the catch big time and fell over because he lets all the weight fall on him. Not the way you want to handle a situation like that at all.

Jordan badly wants a full family but it’s to the point where he is willing to wreck Christmas for this. He makes a big deal about Casey not being there when he wants to open the presents and while it’s great that he likes Casey, it’s not his place to try and spin a romance out of this. Worst case if Megan gets together with Casey just to keep Jordan happy, none of them would be happy in the long term. It’s why having kids meddle in the romance is always annoying because they are only thinking of themselves and that’s no good.

As for Casey, well he’s not a bad character I suppose. He rushes into the romance way quicker than most of the guys in these films. I’ll give him credit for not hesitating and realizing that he liked Megan right away but what about his professionalism as a teacher? He invites her for dinner almost immediately and you just know he can’t focus on being a normal teacher after all of this. You probably want to keep romance separate when you’re a teacher because it can make things awkward down the road. The romance is definitely a bit rushed as you’d expect.

We do get all of the classic Christmas backdrops though and a fun song here and there. It felt maybe a bit emptier than some of the others though. We don’t get a whole lot of baking scenes here and it felt like Megan didn’t have as many issues to deal with as you’d expect. This was more of a low key adventure all the way through. There wasn’t a whole lot of adversity in the present and the stakes were a lot lower than usual.

It’s not like these films usually have high stakes or anything but usually there’s at least a corporate group that needs to be impressed or an end of the year competition/show that has to be put on. So the whole time there’s the danger of not finishing in time but this didn’t really have any of that. Even if she didn’t get together with Ryan there wasn’t much of a penalty. I guess her son may have flunked the class but that’s about it so the whole film is revolving around the romance a bit more than usual. The movie keeps that small town vibe that always helps with the atmosphere though.

The fact that Casey has to operate a bakery while being a teacher shows how the income is really limited here. A small town atmosphere is almost like a circle where you figure you should be good if nobody moves out but even a small shift can change a lot. I think I’d enjoy being in a small town as part of a vacation to buy things and have a good time but it’s why I wouldn’t want to live there. It just feels like you’d always be watching your back because you don’t have secure prospects in the future. If someone moves out then the whole local economy would be shaken up. The snacks always look really good though.

Overall, Maggie’s Christmas Miracle is a good film. I’d probably be jaded on Christmas too if everything bad always happened on that date. It would just feel like a very bad coincidence that would suck the fun out of it. Even if it wasn’t the day’s fault per say, it would just be rough. So that helps the film as you understand her issues with Christmas more than some of the other heroines. Things all work out though and if you’re already missing Christmas right now then this is a good film to check out to regain that energy. It’s going to be a long while until we’re back in Christmas season after all.

Overall 7/10

A Magical Christmas Village Review

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Hallmark Christmas movies are some of the biggest staples of quality and consistency in the industry. You can always count on them to be really solid but this has to be one of the weakest Hallmark films that I’ve seen. It’s still a good film so not taking that away from it but it just could and should have been a lot better. The magical angle here just doesn’t work and Vivian is one of the most annoying characters I’ve seen in this.

So the movie starts off with Summer’s mother Vivian going through hard times after selling off her house almost for free so Summer says Vivian can stay with her. The two don’t usually get along super well but this time she will make it work. Summer is a very methodical person who likes to plan everything out while Vivian is more about living in the moment. Things get more tense when Vivian helps Summer’s daughter Chloe set up a Christmas village that takes up a lot of space in the living room. All the while with tensions rising, a guy named Ryan shows up and Summer may have fallen for him. But she has no time for romance or Christmas….is this really happening to her?

So lets get the elephant out of the way here which is the magical village. “Do you believe in Destiny?” I’ve actually got an editorial about that coming up sometime by 2024 but this film takes the Yes approach to that in how the village is the controller of destiny. See, whatever happens in the village will happen in real life so Chloe uses this village to set up Summer and Ryan. Yes, she doesn’t realize that she is doing this but everything she does there happens in real life so you start doubting the romance big time. If Summer and Ryan are being manipulated then is this really valid?

You can make a case that the village doesn’t manipulate you emotionally and only does so physically but it still gets them into dicey situations the whole time. I think the village could have been a fun thing if it was limited to being used to help Vivian find a new house and things like that but when it started also being used for the romance then that was a touch too far. It just wasn’t charming and became more on the annoying side. Chloe’s okay since she isn’t trying to use this but I wouldn’t say she is the most interesting character. She can be a little too much with how she goads Summer into romance and tries to act like she’s wiser than she is.

Vivian is the annoying one here. So in the film you’re supposed to recognize that both she and Summer had good points and they needed to meet in the middle but this time I was on Team Summer the whole time. Vivian basically sold her house which was worth a fortune for peanuts because she felt bad for the new owners. It’s great that you want to help out but there’s a saying that you should always help within your means. For example if you buy your friend a house but now you’re homeless, you weren’t as altruistic as you think you were because now you have to freeload at a friend’s or with your family.

I wouldn’t have had a problem with Vivian doing this if she could have survived on her own but now her finances are awful and she has to stay with Summer the whole time. It’s a bad look for her and then Summer does her best to help out. She tries to balance Vivian’s finances, look for a new house, etc. Vivian responds by ghosting her and missing out on multiple meetings. Vivian is not helpful in the slightest nor does she have any intention of being useful. It’s almost like she’s rebelling the whole time but the film never paints her as the antagonist. So that part was always a bit frustrating. I didn’t even think Summer mishandled the situation.

Later on Summer vents about always having to help Vivian and well..she’s not wrong. Vivian doesn’t seem very responsible and just ends up causing more and more problems all the time. That’s not the kind of thing you want to see from someone who is supposed to be in your corner. Ryan at least tries his best to help her out and give good speeches but usually she responds with bad advice the whole time. The one positive quality for Vivian is that she is a very healthy eater. She’s big on smoothies and always buying the right things to live a long and healthy life.

This is Summer’s only flaw as I do think it was a bit uncalled for to throw away Vivian’s smoothies the way that she did. If she didn’t want to drink them or wanted to help Chloe do that then you should really do this in a direct way. Wasting food is wasting food no matter how you slice it. It’s also a bit disrespectful and she’s a grown up. Cmon now. Summer’s character arc is more straight forward about learning to love Christmas and getting together with Ryan. It’s a classic one and while you may not buy into the romance angle, she’s a fun enough heroine. She has a good reason for not being very into Christmas since she effectively lost her childhood by having to look after Vivian all the time.

Finally for Ryan, there’s not a whole lot to his character. He doesn’t see himself as ever being in a family so he has fun with his TV dinners and likes taking jobs that have him travelling all over the place. This way he’s never tied down and has no time to regret anything. Of course you know this won’t last but it’s honestly not a bad idea. You can have a blast when you’re single and just go around seeing the sights and having a ton of great frozen dinners. His lifestyle seemed rather reasonable and he was never whiny about that so I appreciated this. As always I found the romance to be rather rushed but otherwise he seemed like a good character with a clear head on his shoulders.

Overall, This is still a fun film that I would recommend. As always with Hallmark the pacing is quick and the tone is solid. You’ll get a lot of fun Christmas visuals and solid writing throughout. It’s only bogged down a bit by the cast not being very likable relative to the other Hallmark films and the magic angle just doesn’t work. Whenever someone is being controlled like this it just introduces a whole lot of other things to think about like the concept of free will here and the film has no time to really delve into this. So as a result it weakens the movie instead of helps it. It’s a fairly small part of the movie but it’s part of what keeps it from matching up with the others. That and Vivian of course. I feel like Vivian didn’t really learn her lesson the way most of the other characters learned a moral by the end.

Overall 6/10

Space Jam: A New Legacy Review

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After revisiting the first Space Jam it was time to take a look at the sequel. In many ways the sequel reminds me of Airplane 2. It’s still a good movie but it’s really just trying to copy the first movie without really trying to stand out on its own. As a result it misses a lot of the soul of the original and instead of being a great movie, it ends up being a solid adventure that will always be overshadowed by the first.

The movie starts with Lebron trying to get his son Dominic to focus on Basketball more but this ends up turning the kid away from the sport. What he really wants to be is a video game developer and at a young age he has already developed a reasonably sophisticated Basketball game. It’s actually rather impressive but the big video game designer camp takes place on the same day as Basketball camp which Dominic had already committed to. Lebron doesn’t wan to let him drop out so Dominic runs away to a server room and the two of them get warped into the digital world. Now Dominic is being held hostage and tricked into teaming up with a villain group known as the Goon Squad. Lebron will have to assemble a powerful team in order to stop them but is there any way to beat such a group? He may have to call in the Looney Tunes.

Unlike the first movie we do have a full act where Lebron goes around recruiting everyone to his cause. Initially he wants characters like Superman and King Kong to be in the group but Bugs tricks him at each corner and ensures that Lebron only gets the classic Looney Tunes. It was nice to see cameos of Superman and the League with the DCAU artstyle and a lot of other quick movies during this period but that’s really it as far as cameos go. None of the heroes really get to leave their respective worlds except you may see them in the background during the game. So this goes back to the classic Space Jam plot of the basketball game.

The biggest issue here is that the game is using Dominic’s custom rules meaning there are special abilities and all kinds of crazy rules. It reminds me of when Mario wrecked the Tennis game series by making the latest entry so gimicky. This basketball game has style point rules so the amount of points you score is completely arbitrary based on how many points the writers need the characters to score. In the first film the villains were up by around 50-100 points at halftime so this time? They’re up by 1000.

The sequel is trying to make everything bigger and bolder but in doing so they did wreck a lot of the tension of the game. The first movie actually had a lot of danger throughout but with this one since the rules are so fake you didn’t really get that. It’s not as fun to see the game when everyone is cheating. It gets so bad that the Algorithm is even able to negate points just because he wants to. That was the biggest moment of cheating by far and went way too far. Like cmon, you’re just going to hack the basketball game and say that points don’t count? Then that means the Algorithm could have been doing that all time or he could have just made their points to go to 0. There’s no reason for him not to cheat further when he can do it so the whole climax doesn’t make sense anymore.

The humor is also not nearly as funny as the original. You don’t have the laugh out loud moments that the original had and in a way the Looney Tunes just don’t have as much personality or enough to do. I’d say the best moment low key was when Bugs reflected Marvin’s laser back at him. That was the kind of hype Bugs moment you’d expect from the guy. I also liked the fakeout with Michael Jordan but how cool would it have been if he actually showed up? That would have been great!

The animation is good but I dare say the original looks better which is a little concerning. It’s been over 20 years since the original after all but no shot compares to when the villains powered up in the original. The characters were just more substantial and of course when they turned into CG at the end they really couldn’t keep up. Even the live action moments felt more movie budget quality in the original. I think that may be at the heart of things here, the sequel just didn’t feel as much like it got a theater budget and was just a fun movie to bring the characters back.

Finally there’s one scene that just feels like it was mishandled in the worst way possible. So the villains have someone with Dame Time, an ability that freezes time for 3 minutes because that’s how fast he can move. So when the villains bring him onto the court, Daffy brings out Road Runner who proceeds to get absolutely destroyed and can’t move at all. Why? It would have been so much better for Dame Time to be wrecking everyone and then Daffy brings in Road Runner for the second round. Say he can move so quickly that even time stop can’t completely stop him. Would have been one of the best moments in the film but instead he gets absolutely devastated in the fight and the old lady has to use some vague Matrix abilities to stop him. Not nearly as satisfying when you think about it.

As you can see, when comparing the film to the original it definitely is doomed in every area. That said, if you look at it as a stand alone film then it isn’t bad. It’s still a lot of fun the whole time and the pacing is on point. The game has a lot of good moments and I do like the visuals. There isn’t an area of the film that I would say is particularly weak when looking at it in a vacuum. The movie can hold its own for as long as it takes even if you see the missed potential of how the film could have been a whole lot better.

The human plot for example isn’t very interesting. Dominic is extremely annoying the whole time. It’s one thing to not want to play Basketball and to be upset at Lebron but he handles everything very immaturely. For example when Lebron tells him that the Algorithm is fooling him and lives are at stake, Dominic refuses to believe him. You’re saying he is going to listen to a computer program he’s known for an hour at best compared to his own father? That was an awful moment. He also tries to make decisions on his own without letting Lebron knows which naturally makes things tricky.

As for Lebron he could be a lot more tactful with how he handles the situation. He did try to play the game before it glitched out though and if Dominic really did already commit to the basketball camp then I can see why he wanted him to go there. Ultimately the drama is mainly Dominic’s fault the whole time but I think they could have done a better job of adding some more interesting elements to this. The Algorithm and the Goon Squad also aren’t particularly interesting. There’s not a whole lot to them. I think the Algorithm at least had some potential but by the end you just wouldn’t have much to say about him. He’s manipulative and knows how to cheat but that’s about it.

Overall, Space Jam 2 has already started to fade away in everyone’s minds so it doesn’t have the lasting presence of the first. Still, if you wanted to see all of your favorite characters again then this is a solid one to pick out. It would have been nice if the characters who made a cameo could have appeared more though. Go all out with the premise and actually have Superman on the basketball team. That would have been a lot of fun and might have even made more sense with the Goon Squad. Everyone could be using their special abilities the whole time and it would have elevated the film to new heights. Maybe they’ll try that for the third game though.

Overall 7/10

Space Jam Review

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It’s time to revisit the original Space Jam. This film was always a lot of fun as you got to see all of the Looney Tunes running around and everyone played in a really intense Basketball game. You do have to overlook some parts of the premise since we know that the Toons wouldn’t get crushed so easily though. They would have easily beaten the Monstars even without help if you ask me so there are some power level concerns here but ultimately you still get a lot of fun. The movie balances the serious and comedic moments well.

The film starts off with Michael Jordan retiring from Basketball and pursuing a career in Baseball but unfortunately it isn’t going very well. One day while playing golf he is sucked into the Looney Tunes world. Basically Bugs has called him in because they were getting decimated by a group of alien invaders and the only way to save their lives from being eternal prisoners is to defeat them in a basketball game. It won’t be easy though as the invaders have stolen the skills of some of the best Basketball players in the world and now they’re all around 15 feet tall. Can even Michael’s skills be enough to turn the tides against them?

So of course this is what I meant about the Looney Tunes looking a bit weak here. No way they would lose to the aliens. These guys are multiverse busters who can do the impossible and yet they are on the losing side? I have a tough time buying that one even if it is a comedy so you can’t take it too seriously. We see the enemies crushing them during the game as well with raw power and they just don’t respect the power of the Looney Tunes all that much. Once the heroes go crazy they start to even things out though.

Part of what makes the movie work so well is that the Basketball game is absolutely on point. You have a lot of good plays here and a good attention to detail was put on every scene. This actually felt like a real game and I have to say that this is important. You want it to feel real (As real as it can be with the Tunes) because it adds more drama and stakes to the game. You definitely don’t have many penalty flags as the villains get to do whatever they want but beyond that they’re still following the core rules.

Each character also gets their big moment. Someone like Daffy is usually the center of the jokes but he does help by buying into the secret stuff real quick. Bugs is still the mastermind here who tends to get the last laugh the whole time. Lola looks great as she’s one of the only characters with real basketball talent who can hold her own without using Toon Force. Then you have everyone else doing their best to contribute so it’s a real team effort. They may get beat up a whole lot during the game but they keep going.

Meanwhile Michael Jordan makes for a good main character. He’s got a lot of skills and is a confident main character. Even when the heroes are losing big at half time he keeps his cool and tries to think of a new strategy to win. At the end of the day he’s just doing his best to play and save the world. It’s not like his personality is super deep or there’s a lot of character here but he executes all of his scenes really well. He’s just a guy trying to do the right thing and sometimes that’s better than trying to make things overly complicated.

Then you have Stan who is doing his best to keep his job by making Michael happy. His direction is clear, he has to make sure nobody messes with MJ and that’s exactly what he does. He’s one of the main comic relief characters here and I’d say that he does a great job of that. You’ll usually crack a smile whenever he’s on screen. He’s got a good dynamic with Michael. Then you have Bill whose role is small but he makes the most of it. You have to love his absolute confidence when he takes over the field and he isn’t worried about the monsters at all. He even had a total plan for the heroes if they were on offense but unfortunately it turned out they were on defense.

Those are just some examples of the fun dynamics and solid comedy throughout the movie. I wouldn’t say that every joke landed of course and that will always be par for the course for any comedy title but for the most part they were able to land and that’s what counts. Then it helps that the characters are just fun. The Monstars aren’t particularly notable that’s for sure but they did get a high budget transformation which was intense. They actually looked really strong so you had to respect that and they delivered on the pain.

The animation really holds up well to this day. You could tell me it came out in the 2000s and I wouldn’t bat an eye at the animation. There are some areas where you can tell that it’s a 90s film like with the song selection but in a very good way. The songs were all pretty solid and we got a lot of very fun montages here. There’s a ton of replay value to be found here and you can watch the movie several times. It’s all very fast paced with something going on at all times.

If there’s any small issue I’d have, it’s that I’d like to see the Looney Tunes get to show off their individual talents a little more. Road Runner’s speed should be incredible in Basketball after all so lets see that. Daffy may usually play second fiddle to Bugs but he’s usually still in the conversation when it comes to Toon Force so seeing him get more big moments and plays would have been nice. I do like the rivalry that they still have here though and that’s something you want to keep. Bugs gets a big moment here and there but I would like to see him dominate the court more. Of course you don’t want them to be winning too easily but I’d say you should just scale up the villains a bit more and then it all balances out.

Overall, Space Jam is definitely a very unique movie and one that knew exactly what it wanted to do. At its core it’s all about having a crazy Basketball game with the Looney Tunes and the film never forgets this. Space Jam actually takes itself rather seriously which is also very important. The stakes are high after all and then there’s even the subplot in the human world with the players trying to get their skills back after they were stolen. There’s just a lot to like here and Space Jam is a great movie all around. It’s not carried by the Basketball scenes or by the Looney Tunes, but a lot of effort was put into it. I’d definitely recommend this to any film fan that wants to watch a fun flick.

Overall 8/10

The Christmas Contest Review

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It’s time for the next Hallmark Christmas movie! This time we get a contest between exes who did not split up on the best of terms. As a result there is a whole lot of bitterness in the air and you can tell that things are going to get a little tricky for these two. I like the premise since a contest is always fun and it’s a cool change of pace. Some parts of the film definitely don’t work as well as they could have but at the end of the day it’s still a wholesome movie with a lot of fun parts.

Lara is a girl who is too busy for Christmas nowadays. She’s a super successful business person now and has even become the COO and she just doesn’t look back at the past. Unfortunately she will need to confront it now as her mother asks her to enter a Christmas contest. So she reluctantly enters and of course her ex Ben is there as well. Now she really needs to win this contest to make sure that he doesn’t get the last laugh but it won’t be easy. This guy is also really good at Christmas trivia. Still, if she doesn’t defeat him then she will never know peace from her past.

The contest has different phases. The first round was a quiz show, then you have the baking competition, a singing competition, and the final one is to decorate a Christmas tree. I actually thought it made for a fun contest even if some parts of the contest weren’t too well thought out. For example, last place gets the same prize as third place which is $1000. Why would that possibly be the case? What’s the incentive to coming close to first? That was a bit of a mistake if you ask me because there is just no way that this should be right.

Then towards the end the film starts to get a little cheesy as the characters feel that competing at Christmas against each other isn’t something that they want to do and it really feels like they are throwing the contest under the bus. These guys worked hard to set up this Christmas contest and did their best to make it a lot of fun. You’re going to throw it all out just like that? That’s just bad sportsmanship and the company shouldn’t have let them get away with this. Sure, it’s likely that the contest was rigged by the time the finals were around since the check was already printed with both of their names but it just doesn’t feel deserved.

If I was the guy in charge of the contest, I’d have handed them an empty check. If they don’t want to properly complete the contest that they signed up for then they don’t get to have any real money. It’s as simple as that and it would have been 100% justified. That’s the crazy part here. It’s still meant to be a feel good moment of course but I was a little salty on behalf of the competitors who tried their best but lost out. They didn’t lose just to see this happen.

It goes without saying that the romance is on the weaker side here. Lara and Ben were already together and it didn’t work out. Sure they’re both feeling festive for the holidays but that’s even more reason to think that this won’t last and this is just them being very emotional. It’s a super risky move to restart the romance again and I actually think it would have worked a lot better if they had just stayed as friends. Trust me on this, the whole movie would have really been executed to perfection if that was the case. Just make it a fun competition and they see that they get along really great as friends. It was never going to happen but I can dream right?

After all the best part of the movie is when they are having a lot of banter at each other. The two characters can’t help but constantly take shots at each other whenever they’re on screen. The shots never go too far though and it’s just enough to keep them on their toes. Lara may have been reluctant to enter but ultimately she does a good job and makes for a solid heroine. She really wants to win and ultimately stays classy about it like not badmouthing Ben in front of his mother when her cake gets sabotaged.

Then we have Ben who is a little more openly manipulative like with getting kids on his team to win brownie points from the audience. That’s why it took me a little longer to realize that he would be the main love interest and not the mean ex who gets defeated by a childhood friend. Gradually Ben starts to be a little nicer and I guess we can just interpret it to his being desperate to win. It still makes for an odd subplot though because it’s hard to root for Ben since he doesn’t seem to care about the kids nearly as much as he should. Not exactly the role model of the year right? Well he knows his Christmas knowledge at least.

One of this film’s strengths though is that it takes up a decent amount of time to give the side characters some development as well. I could have done without the subplot for one of the kids who was worried that he would mess up and cause trouble for everyone. The plot barely went anywhere. Then we had Ben’s mother who was always very set in her ways and didn’t want to make friends. This was a good story arc as Ben shows her that you’re never too old to shake up the routine and have a good time. I’m not sure I picture myself making any new friends when I’m older but you shouldn’t be cut off to the possibility.

Then we have Lara’s mother who was always very business focused and tried to get the heroine on that path. I thought she was solid and at one point Lara is too dramatic with how she tells her off. This is a trend I’ve seen in more than one Hallmark film where the leads blows up on the parent(s) for being too controlling but the problem is that the movie never showed them being anything other than super nice so the moment kind of falls flat a bit. It doesn’t feel as earned as it could have been.

As always the film is fairly short and with so much going on the pacing is on point too. While I had some issues with the film, you could say it’s also because I was really invested in this one. I always love contests and the writing was really good here. You still get your usual Christmas backdrops and baking but with the addition of some fun banter. I’d say there was a lot more of it than usual due to the story and that was a big plus.

Overall, The Christmas Contest is a pretty good film. Hallmark delivers as always and even if you know how the film will play out, you will enjoy the journey there. At the end of the day that is always the most important part for any movie since you need to be able to enjoy it. I’d definitely change the ending but would still recommend it to anyone looking for a fun Christmas movie. You may even learn some Christmas trivia. I assume the trivia here was legit but you’d probably want to look it up just in case the movie is messing with you.

Overall 7/10

Obsession Review

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Obsession is a pretty interesting mystery/thriller. Things get a little trippy at times and there’s a whole lot going on. It’s got a very unique vibe to it where you just don’t know if you’re expecting a happy ending or not. It’s got that retro atmosphere to it that works well and while the final twist is big and yet not, I wasn’t sure how to feel about that one. It makes some earlier scenes a bit iffy. So all in all….this film is all over the place and you won’t be forgetting it at least.

The movie starts with Michael going through a big tragedy as his wife and daughter are kidnapped. There is a ransom but the police tell him not to pay it so he grabs a suitcase of plain paper and tries to fool them. This doesn’t go well as there is unfortunately no good plan here at all. The cops follow the villains to the base but beyond yelling “Hands in the air” don’t seem to know how to protect the hostages. The wife is murdered in the car crash while Michael’s daughter Amy was left in the house and then vanished. She is presumed to be dead though.

Many years later Michael is trying to restart his life and things are going well on the job at least. On a trip to Italy he meets a lady named Sandra who looks a lot like his old wife. He figures that this is a perfect chance to go on the rebound so he asks her out and the two are getting along really well but is this almost too good to be true? He starts to get obsessed into turning her into his wife as he searches for the part of his heart that is still missing.

You could maybe go deeper into the plot but I like to think of this as the general synopsis before then plot goes deeper or any twists in there. One thing I liked about this one a lot more than Vertigo which had a similar plot was that the main character doesn’t seem as deranged. Yes Michael starts to really go off the deep end here as you can see with him asking Sandra to start walking and talking like his late wife did. The difference is that it doesn’t seem as threatening. In Vertigo you felt like the guy would snap at any second while here I didn’t get the impression that he was downright dangerous. It’s a thin line of course but I don’t think he crossed it.

It does make him look bad regardless though. Michael is clearly still going through a lot of trauma and this is how he’s coping but it’s not a healthy way to go about it. Then of course he also has a lot of regrets about how he handled the original kidnapping case by not bringing the money and wants a chance to do it right this time. The climax gets really intense for him in this angle. He makes a lot of mistakes but you can sympathize with how rough things got for him as well. If he could have kept more of a clear head then the movie would have likely gone very differently for him.

Then you have his business partner Robert who is doing his best to keep the company afloat. He wants Michael to move on and hopes this trip to Italy can help. He’s always rather understanding even when Michael is starting to go crazy but Robert does put the company first. He gets a fairly big role in the film and makes for a very intense character. I would say he is one of the standouts here. The guy does very well in his role.

Finally you have Sandra and of course she is a pivotal player here. The romance may seem a bit easy and she definitely gives Michael too much leeway in ordering her around though. At first things were okay so the instant he started to be a little off she needed to call him out and put a stop to that immediately. You can’t let things escalate and then you’re on a good path. She barely even knows this guy too so letting him take too much control would put things in a really bad place.

Now of course the twists at the end of the film can change some or a lot of what I’ve put in below as far as context goes. I won’t give away the big twist here but basically it was a very longshot plan. Things had to happen just right for this film to really happen. One character in particular had to look very bad unfortunately. I’d say the romance itself also got very iffy by the end of this. The ending is memorable with more explosions and tension than I was expecting though. The film really ended up having a grand climax.

In general deciding whether to give the kidnappers the money or not is always tough because if things go sideways then you will wish you had done the other thing. No matter what option you pick, there is no guarantee that things will go well and that’s what makes it a tough choice. So throughout the whole film you have that undercurrent of regret. The movie is well written and my only real issue would be the weak romance and how Michael starts to quickly deteriorate as a character. On the whole it’s good though.

Overall, What you think of the twist will likely impact how effective the film is for you. Personally I do think the movie tipped its hand to the twist really early on if you pay attention to the opening scene but the good part of that is the film isn’t pulling this twist out of a hat. So it really makes sense both in the moment and in hindsight. The writing there is solid and at the end of the day you will be intrigued by what’s going on. There was a lot of planning here in the movie and it would help in a re-watch as something to think about. Maybe not the greatest thriller out there but I would recommend it to see what you think. It’s a cautionary tale on why you don’t want to ever get to obsessive over anything or anyone.

Overall 6/10