Tag Archives: Film Review

12 Dates of Christmas Review

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Time travel in my Christmas movie? That’s a great way to drum up some hype right from the jump because I like any kind of premise that involves messing with time a bit. The film’s going with rules similar to Groundhog Day where the main heroine is trapped in a spell sort of like Itachi’s Izanami. She must continue to relive the same day until she meets some kind of condition. Usually this involves learning a lesson about yourself but you never really know until you complete the objective. It makes for a fun film for sure.

The movie starts off by introducing us to Kate who is rather rude to everyone. She has not been having a fun time at all. Her father and step mom have set her up with a blind date but Kate has made plans to meet up with her Ex to try and win him back so she’s got a busy day coming up. There’s also the Christmas dinner with her folks but Kate figures she’ll ace everything. Unfortunately she is knocked out at the mall as she gets sprayed right in the face and when she wakes up she is in the loop. No matter how good or bad the day goes she keeps getting reset all the way back to the beginning of the day. How can she escape this loop and will she begin to find the faults with herself?

From the start you can see how Kate has a ton of issues so it makes sense that she would be getting a whole lot of character development here. She is rude to her next door neighbor, doesn’t take her friend’s advice seriously, is mean to her step mom for no reason, blows off the blind date, and then tries too hard with an ex who has moved on. So there is an absolute mess of things that she has to get right and of course this should sound like Groundhog Day. You start off by having fun with the whole thing going the path you think is right, then you try to fix everything, then you stop caring, and eventually you land on the right path.

In Groundhog Day I believe they said he spent thousands of cycles in the town which sounds crazy. For Kate she is around a whole lot of times but I would guess 30-40 max as opposed to it being such a long time so at least she doesn’t get as depressed. No matter how fun the day is though, eventually you will reach your limit because the repetition would just be too much. With your progress being reset each time as well it’s not like you could even try to win the lotto or something. I would probably use the time to start learning a new language or some kind of knowledge that would transfer over but that assumes that you haven’t lost hope in getting out of there in the first place anyway.

It’s also rough when you feel like you’ve done everything perfectly and still get looped. At that point do you just try harder and harder or do you give up? It would feel weird to try and do things exactly the same way again but at the same time you want to help people so you don’t want to just forget to help them in one loop. So in a way that means that the final loop where she gets out will usually not be quite as good as one of the failed ones. If you could control where you could end the loop then that would be perfect but of course it would be a little too convenient.

There are just so many possibilities when going through the scenarios as well so it’s hard to know where to even begin. We see all of the ripple effects when she just stops to talk to one different person. Then you also have to pretend that you aren’t tired of eating the same thing over and over again which has to be tough as well. Now there is one side effect of all this time travel which makes the romance one of the weakest ones I’ve seen in a bit. So we know that Kate is obsessed with getting back together with Jack. She tries this many times but ultimately realizes that it’s too late.

No matter what she does or how nice she is, he will always end up proposing to his new girlfriend. It makes sense, they’ve been split together for a very long time and he is serious about this girl, going back to Kate now would just make him look bad. That said, when Kate inevitably falls for Miles you can’t help but feel like it’s a rebound. He was absolutely the second choice. If in any loop Jack had actually said yes to her and gone back with her then she would not have given Miles the time of day.

Any time there’s a rebound romance I can’t say that it was a good one so this holds her back big time. There’s just no getting around that one. As for Miles, I had some issues with him as well. So this guy lost his wife fairly recent, I remember it was no longer than a few years max and I think they may have even just said it was a year ago. Either way he said it’s too tough to be alone at Christmas so that’s why he is looking around. A blind date feels desperate from the jump but fine we’ll roll with it.

In one loop Kate convinces him to skip the blind date and go out with her. He does after a mild amount of convincing and then they connect in another loop when she is undercover. The guy seems desperate for companionship by anyone. Sure, it’s her in each loop but he doesn’t know that she is the same person so that’s another reason why this romance would falter. At the end of the day he gave his word that he would be around for the blind date so skipping it so quickly like that isn’t a good look. He also has a tendency to take everything quite hard and then run off.

I don’t blame him on most occasions but once in a while he dashes off quickly like when Kate brought up her ex at the dinner table during one of the final loops. Kate’s ex Jack seemed reasonable at least. He didn’t fall for any of Kate’s traps and rejected her in every timeline. While he may have moved on to another romance rather quickly, at least he wasn’t going to backpedal. Once he made his decision then that was it. Meanwhile there was a nice guy named Toby who did his best as he waited at the diner but ultimately the girl never showed up. So it’s a bit of a tragic route for him but Kate helps him out in the end. That romance is even more rushed and doesn’t work but the film doesn’t give it much screen time anyway. If you’re desperate enough to go on a blind date then I guess you just hope that it works out.

This movie is definitely at its best when it is having fun with the premise and just going all out with the loops. It’s fun to see the main character slowly get more and more advanced in how much she knows and how to maneuver around the world. You’d think that you would quickly pick up on a lot of things when you live through the day over and over again like this. The movie’s pacing is good and the writing is solid. At most you could just say that Kate is a little too mean at first. She’s completely unlikable and you’d think that she was Scrooge the whole time.

It’s fortunate that she had the loops to protect her because otherwise she completely burns some bridges during the loops. Even before she gives up Kate is just so selfish and only caring about herself that she really makes life rough for the others. At one point during the film I felt like she was trying to ruin Christmas for everybody that she possibly could. Definitely not ideal main character behavior.

Overall, The 12 Dates of Christmas is a fun film. I always like films about a time loop since the premise is just so much fun. Who hasn’t thought about going back in time for a redo? If I had rolled a different way back in the Smash 4 days I could have made it to Tokyo and won the big tournament. It’s impossible not to think about things like that once in a while and the film gives you a chance to really visualize it. I’d definitely recommend checking this one out.

Overall 7/10

Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow Review

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I have to say this is definitely a film that I hadn’t heard of before now. It seems like a really obscure comic book movie even if they got a fairly big actress in this one. It’s a fun throwback to the more retro superheroes from the backgrounds to the plot and characters. It works well and I had a good time with the movie but I could see how the visuals would be rather mixed. It’s a very unique style that makes everything look mysterious like a noir film but it can also make you a bit queasy. I could see this getting people sick in the theaters, there’s something about the lighting that almost makes you dizzy. I dare say that a more traditional approach would have worked really well for the film even if it would perhaps make it a little less unique.

The film starts with reporter Polly looking into why a bunch of scientists have been disappearing. Her boss warns her not to get mixed up with all of this though because it’s quite dangerous but she is determined to get in the mix. She’s much like Lois Lane in that no story is too dangerous for her. Well she meets up with the last scientist yet and his name is Dr. Jennings. He rambles about how a guy named Totenkopf is going to murder them all because he was part of some project but he runs off without giving too many details. Not a very smart move tbh. Then giant robots attack the city and the government is forced to call in the Sky Captain. This guy is as tough as they come. He has a tough airplane and has a way with words.

Brute strength won’t win the day this time though so he may have to team up with Polly. Thing is, they have a lot of beef with each other. Sky Captain seems to go on the rebound at times and Polly would lie/steal from Sky Captain. They really just didn’t match and I think the film had fun making things as bad between them as possible. Still there is no escape from the team up this time so they have to get ready to talk like the old days. Really none of them are going to do much against a ton of robots so it’s all about finding Totenkopf’s base and taking him out.

As the main heroine I’d say that Polly does a really good job here. She’s a fun character and I’ll always give her credit for just jumping into the danger and doing her thing. She won’t be stopped by anybody. You can see how that may not make it easy for her in a romance since she is quite independent and will keep taking risks anyway. It’s much easier to do that when you aren’t tied down since you can then take all the risks that you want. She will need to be a little more careful with the photos she takes though. There is a scene at the very end of the film that has to be heartbreaking. It’s a comedy scene and all but is still rough for her. She ultimately chose sentimentality over doing the job and that cost her big time.

Then we have the Sky Captain who may not have a ton of personality but he’s one of those old heroes that you can’t help but like. He has a lot of confidence and is not afraid to go up against incredibly powerful fighters all on his own. At the end of the day he is just a normal guy so the fact that he is able to go up against giant mechs without batting an eye is impressive. He may be a little harsh with Polly which huts him in terms of being professional but otherwise is reasonable throughout the movie. He’s quick on his feet and is very decisive with all of his actions. You won’t get any hesitation out of him. The city would have been doomed without him.

What superhero would be complete without a sidekick though right? He has Dex at the ready and he’s really the tech guy. He analyses sounds back at the base so they can track the villains. He’s always handy to have around and while he may not be an active fighter, that doesn’t stop him from always getting into the mix. It would have been nice to have seen him in the field more but you do get a little of that in the climax. Ultimately while sidekicks are a staple, I think they usually aren’t needed for a film even if that is tradition. If you are going to do it then the sidekick should be able to hold his own and fortunately Dex wasn’t a liability for most of the movie.

Totenkopf makes for a solid main villain here and the film throws some twists your way by the end. One thing I was really impressed with was how high tech everything was. The robotics and tech at the ready look a bit ahead of their time. Both in and out of universe, they did a good job on the special effects. In a way it also helps that I wasn’t really sure what to expect with this film. I suppose I was thinking of something a little more grounded than what we got here so that ended up working out quite nicely. Surprising me with a lot of extra action all around is a win in my book.

I think this could have made for a pretty solid franchise. There aren’t any parts of the film that I would say were very weak. It’s well balanced on all sides from the characters to the fights. Perhaps I would switch gears with the villain in the sequel and make it someone who can get a lot more screen time and maybe even fight the Sky Captain in hand to hand. That’s more of a style choice though, so long as the execution is good then they could do a film like this again. It’s a very direct movie that delivers on what you would expect without relying on any gimmicks. You have to be confident in your writing skills to pull that off and this film did good there.

Overall, The Sky Captain is a pretty good film. It may not have ended up being all that big but it gets the job done. If you see this one around then I’d recommend checking it out. It’s an interesting movie and I can always use more comic book superhero type films. It may not have become a big franchise but then that means you can really enjoy this adventure as some kind of stand alone. The pacing is quick so the movie never drags on or anything either.

Overall 7/10

Little Shop of Horrors (1986) Review

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I can’t say that I enjoyed the first Little Shop of Horrors much at all and this one really isn’t much better if it even is better. The concept of a plant that eats people is certainly interesting enough but the film is bogged down with bad characters and the music doesn’t work very well. I’m convinced that the best songs are always found in films that are ironically not musicals. The musicals don’t seem to land as well, even if that does sound a bit odd. I guess One Piece Film: Red is an exception but I’d call that more of a concert film than a musical so the point stands.

The movie starts by introducing us to our hapless hero Seymour. He’s a big pushover at the shop and he has a big crush on his colleague Audrey but doesn’t have the guts to admit it. He’s always messing up with something and so the day gets away from him awfully fast. One day an alien plant crash lands on Earth and Seymour ends up looking after it. Perhaps his luck is finally changing? This plant is growing fast and may turn the plant store he works at from being a place that nobody know about to a full highlight among the town’s residents. That’s quite the upgrade but it’s not without a catch. This plant which he calls Audrey II can only grow with blood and it needs quite a lot of it. Seymour has to be careful that he isn’t tempted too far into the dark side and if he lowers his guard he may be eaten alive.

I have a lot of issues with the film so where to start. It’s always fun trying to think of how to play this. I guess we’ll start with the music. It gets a bit obnoxious really quick as the songs keep jumping in every few minutes. I didn’t even care for any of the songs all that much. They don’t really fit the film too well and they weren’t really my style. It felt more like a quantity over quality thing and quickly hurt the movie’s pacing.

Then I usually don’t really consider attire to venture into the realm of fanservice on its own. It’s really all in the camera work if you ask me and how the directing is going but this film is quite shameless about it. Any time Audrey is on screen you can tell the film is putting a lot of focus on her and aside from just smashing the film’s story to pieces as these scenes detail it, it’s just unnecessary. Even beyond being used for fanservice the whole time, Audrey looks really bad here. So she lacks self confidence like Seymour and as a result she goes out with Orin, an abusive guy who treats her like dirt the whole film.

She seems to think she deserves this for some wild reason and it’s why she never approaches Seymour. Keep in mind that this film is part comedy and dare I say parody so that’s probably supposed to be a bit funny but it’s just bizarre. The film could have done a lot better with her character. Then any scene with Orin in it is very cringe worthy. So he’s a dentist in this version and the guy gets really excited to be dishing out pain to people. In fact the only reason he took the job is because it gives him a legal way to inflict pain on people for as much as he wants. The guy is as unbalanced as they come but you probably knew that by now. It takes a while for him to be taken out and in the meantime he’s just awful.

Then this isn’t a vampire film but it might as well be with how Audrey II has to suck Seymour’s blood the whole time. Those scenes are always rather gross and the film doesn’t hold back on the sound effects. There’s something about drinking blood that’s always rather gut wrenching and one of numerous reasons why any vampire related media is in for a very rough time right out of the gate. All of those scenes are just really bad. I’m glad that Audrey II talks a whole lot and has a full personality but that’s hardly enough to help the film fully recover. At least I can give it props for trying some different things and expanding on the overall plot but it would need serious re-writes to even approach being good.

Making Audrey II a big villain with a lot of fight scenes would have been a good first step though if you ask me. I already talked about Seymour so you can guess that I don’t like the guy. He doesn’t stand up for himself at all and that’s a big problem. He is quickly tainted to the dark path and while things work out for him, it’s hard to really root for him. It’s not like he’s some hero. He had a rough time of it sure but it doesn’t really excuse his actions at all.

The only character I liked quite a bit was Mushnik and even he can’t really be trusted the whole time. I liked how his personality did a 180 near the end though. You really didn’t see it coming because the whole time he had seemed like a really decent guy. Perhaps not the nicest but from what we had seen of Seymour you would assume that he used to be nicer but finally had enough of the main guy making a mess of things. So Mushnik’s character arc goes in a unique direction.

There’s also a random character who gets involved in the dentist subplot but that’s more of a random moment than anything. What happens when someone who enjoys pain meets someone who likes dishing it out? It certainly makes things tricky that’s for sure. Maybe all of the characters in this film are just crazy. It would explain a lot. The movie does have a decent ending to set things up for the sequel though. If it decided to take a different turn you could really make this into a proper alien invasion film.

One nitpick for Seymour’s character is also that he doesn’t think things through. When the shop was finally getting famous due to the big plant, he should have tried to stockpile as much money as he could so he could then escape there. Take Audrey and go to a better city, leave Mushnik to deal with the plant. Mushnik would be thrilled at first and you can let him figure out the true danger of the plant. It would have made a whole lot more sense than just not wanting any attention and putting himself in a corner. He always made the wrong choices.

Overall, The Little Shop of Horrors is a movie you will want to pass on. It does live up to being as crazy as the premise of the movie would suggest but it’s just so bad on every level. There really isn’t any saving this movie because you would need to try again from the ground up. At this point it’s probably worth just letting this franchise rest in peace instead of trying once again. After a point you just have to cut your losses so I would say to avoid this film and keep moving. You aren’t missing anything here.

Overall 2/10

Dirty Harry 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 uncut version would be more negative

Dirty Harry is certainly a classic in the world of thriller films. It’s a title you’ve definitely heard of and it’s gotten quite a few movies. After watching the film I can see how it would help make vigilantes really popular in media. This really taps into the appeal of characters like the Punisher who are able to take things a step past the law when the villains exploit loopholes. The film gets quite serious and isn’t afraid to push Harry to his limits. It’s got just enough restraint to keep from getting too dicey and ends up being a solid movie.

The movie starts off with a mysterious murderer named Scorpio shooting someone on the roof. He then begins sending letters to the police with warnings that he will continue to murder more people until they heed his demands. At first they don’t intend to listen to him but as the bodies start to pile up they consider just paying him the money. Harry is absolutely against this because he feels that once you give the villain an inch then he’ll take a mile. The demands won’t stop and he figures the hostage that Scorpio kidnapped is likely already dead anyway. He’s overruled by the boss though who wants Harry to go through with the plan anyway and deliver the money. Can Harry find a way to stop Scorpio while dealing with all the red tape?

Hostage situations are never easy but there is a reason why the U.S. and many other countries have a firm policy that they do not negotiate with terrorists. The reason for this is that it really is never ending. If you pay off one of them then you will end up having to pay them all off and more villains will begin to copy this approach. If you don’t negotiate then yes the initial hostages will perish but less villains will be incentivized to even make this attempt because there is no pay off. They know that they won’t be getting any profits off of this.

The movie certainly agrees with that logic as Scorpio plays them the whole time. It’s also putting Harry at a disadvantage since as the messenger boy he is always one step behind and is basically at Scorpio’s whims with all the running around. Scorpio can take him out at any time while Harry has to keep his guard up. Fortunately Harry is very resourceful and manages to outsmart Scorpio but in almost any other case he’d be dead. So when the cops just want to do this again and again, it really doesn’t seem to be very efficient.

The movie also deals with the classic issue of everyone knowing that a villain is guilty but legally they can’t lock him up due to a loophole. Even in real life I always roll my eyes when there is a case with complete proof but the evidence isn’t admissible in court because it wasn’t submitted in time or something like that. It feels like a common sense issue where the evidence should absolutely be considered when we know that it is genuine. Likewise if you get information through non legal channels then it won’t be counted as well.

So in this case even though we now Scorpio has murdered several people, was caught with weapons in his home and confessed to it, plus fired at an officer of the law, they can’t keep him in prison. Moreover he is allowed to walk free without anyone allowed to follow him. The whole thing seems absolutely batty and that’s why the whole concept of Dirty Harry is that he is tempted to do things off the books because every legal attempt failed. It makes for a very difficult choice of course because once you cross that line there is no coming back from that. It’s tough to go back behind the line once you’re over it because then you’ll notice this scenario happening all the time.

It’s why anti heroes are so popular. I’ll keep this tangent brief so we go back to the main plot but part of why people support characters like the Punisher is because they seal up these loopholes. If you live in the city or neighborhood where a mass murderer was let go, it won’t be of much comfort for you to hear on the news that he had to be let go due to whatever loophole was in place. You figure that you’re in danger so when the Punisher shows up and takes the guy out, a part of you is relieved. Light Yagami from Death Note is a classic example of this. He apparently ended over 90% of crime in just the span of a few years due to the fear from criminals that they would be next. He’s certainly no hero but if you lived in that world you now had a much greater chance of not being murdered or robbed. So even if you don’t condone the action you can’t help but appreciate it as you enjoy your life. It’s why there are so many films with characters like this because it’s a really easy sell and Dirty Harry makes a strong case for it.

Scorpio is shown to be as twisted and underhanded as a villain gets. You don’t want to see him get off so easy because you know that he will continue his crimes. He clearly enjoys them and wastes almost no time in getting back on the action. It’s only a shame that he got away with so much before Harry was able to be put on the case. I could have done without some of the descriptions in the movie even if it was to show how deranged the guy was. He’s not a villain that you will forget so easily.

Meanwhile Harry makes for a great main character. It should be noted that he does make every attempt to do this by the book at first. He follows orders even when they don’t make a lot of sense and he’s not just going around trying to murder Scorpio. It’s just that every attempt doesn’t work and he sees how crazy the suits are when they say things like how he should have handled a different case in another way even though he saved a girl’s life from a lunatic. There’s a big disconnect with the upper bosses that becomes more evident as the film goes by.

That said, I don’t blame his partner Chico for throwing in the sack and retiring. At the end of the day this is a super dangerous job and you never know if you’ll be walking away for the last time or not. So after nearly dying you understand why he would be hesitant to go back into the ring. Being a police officer is an extremely difficult position that only some are really able to do. You have to be prepared for death at any moment. I know I wouldn’t be a good fit for that job for example.

Overall, Dirty Harry is a very intense film that keeps you on your toes. It shows how tough it is to stop someone who has really set their mind on doing harm to someone. Even in real life if someone is crazy enough and has no regard for their own life then they will cause some kind of disaster before they are stopped. It happens all the time and if there is any loophole that causes them to get out then another incident will occur. Vigilantes can’t be allowed to operate in the real world not only because of the slippery slope but because assuming they can have a 100% accurate policy of only going after villains would be idealistic at best. In the movies though it can be satisfying to see the villain get it at the end. The movie ending with Scorpio going free would have been absolutely horrible and it’s no exaggeration to say that the movie would have been a 1 or lower. So you can’t end like that and this movie had a really good ending. It’s a satisfying one after that tough journey.

Overall 6/10

It Lives Again Review

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

Whenever you have a film where the villain is an evil baby you are probably in trouble. There are only so many ways you can try to make that work and to date I don’t think any movie has succeeded. There are some interesting elements to the movie for sure and it almost gets into government conspiracy territory but at the end of the day it’s still just not able to get past the premise and I would advise skipping past this movie asap!

So it turns out that mutant babies are being born all across the country. The government has decided to take them down because of the danger that they pose. There are certain things they can use to detect if a couple is going to have one of these babies. The detection isn’t 100% accurate but it’s close enough so if they get a false reading…well that’s going to be another dead baby. Almost nobody knows about this though except for Frank who figured this out after the events of the first film. He heads over to Jody and Eugene to warn them about this since Jody is currently pregnant with a baby that is slated to be one of these demons. They’re rather skeptical but the government isn’t very subtle which tips their hand early. Can the couple escape with Frank or should they stick with the government. Can they trust either one of them?

This is one of those films where you absolutely do not want to trust anybody though. Think about it, the government is absolutely a group you want to avoid because they are going to murder the baby straightaway. So getting away from them is a top concern even if it means going with Frank and his group but then you probably want to escape from them at some point as well. They’ve got a whole lab set up including a bunch of babies in cages. That’s already rather ominous right? So just keep on moving.

What makes it tough though is that Eugene isn’t even really sure if he wans to keep the kid. He’s a little nervous about the whole thing and you totally get it. The kids look like monsters and if they are true demons then is it really even their kid? The way he and Jody handle the situation is bad though as they keep flip flopping. It makes things very easy for the babies to go around beating them up and claiming more victims. For the most part Jody is really the one who wants the kid and you get it because she still did give birth to him. So she has that strong mother’s instinct in play even when the kid seems rather crazy.

This naturally leads to a lot of fighting between the main two. Meanwhile Eugene is scared out of his wits half the time until she talks him back into it. So he doesn’t get to have a whole lot of fun here. In the end I wasn’t particularly a big fan of any of the characters. Frank did well in finding the characters and trying to save the babies but I didn’t think that the place did a great job of looking after them. Somehow things worked out for a while but you should see how they handle these kids. The doctor just opens the cage when it’s feeding time. Inevitably you know this won’t end well.

It’s hard to know what you should even do with the kids long term. It seems like they can’t be tamed so do you just have to keep them in cages forever? They’ll grow up soon in theory so you’ll need more and more space. It just doesn’t seem sustainable. Of course just murdering them like the government isn’t the answer either. It basically means everyone is just in a really bad situation here and I would have liked for the film to focus on this a little more. Let us really think about the moral implications of what is going on here and let us take sides.

Personally I think you would just need an island for these creatures to live in peace but then you have the logistics of getting the families to agree to this and safe procedures to transport them. All aspects that are much tougher than they sound so it’s not something you can just do 1-2-3. The film isn’t super interested in answering these questions though as the second half just becomes your average horror film. The monster babies go around biting and stabbing everyone and you know that the humans are doomed.

It’s all rather violent and you’re just waiting for the government to show up and clean house. The babies seem to enter rage mode at the drop of a hat so you feel like there is really no hope even early on. The film has an interesting ending that could lead to a sequel or you could take it as more of a “The cycle will continue” but to what end? The way the film ends there are certainly less resources so you can’t directly do what Frank did. It would be difficult to replicate that at least without a lot of finances. Ultimately it feels like the government won this round.

It’s a bit tragic because there are some interesting plots here but they really aren’t able to carry the film for very long. I liked Frank’s entrance at the house when he starts telling the characters about what is going on. The scene of all the cops showing up outside of the hospital was suitably ominous and helped the main characters start to piece things together. The movie knew how to build a rather intense atmosphere and so they really should have stuck to that instead of going the horror route. Having everything be shrouded in mystery and the characters going into hiding would have been interesting. Give us more scenes with the government and what they’re planning. Beyond the demon kids the world seems realistic so what do a lot of the inside agents think about this? It’s still like murdering normal babies so surely there are some who would be against this.

Overall, It Lives Again has the wrong priorities here. I think if you tone down the violence a lot and make the babies a non factor then this could have been interesting. Have the film be a debate about what to do with them as the number of babies continues to expand. We could get some good plans out of that and maybe slowly see the doom approaching the country as every minute of inaction means more people are being taken down. It’s hard to escape the inevitable issue of having to shoot the babies though and the film naturally gets dark as a result. I think there are ways around this but I won’t say that it’s easy. It’s just something you have to try and side step. So switching the premise entirely is the best bet but this is a long winded way of saying that your best bet is to just skip this one.

Overall 2/10

Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li Review

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It’s kind of cool that Street Fighter actually got a movie as recent as 2009. It was certainly a bold take to do a movie about Chun Li with very few references to the world at large. You’d almost think they were trying to make some kind of cinematic universe for Street Fighter. Well, whatever the objective was, I can’t say that it worked super well since nobody talks about this film. It’s too bad since the movie was good although it does have enough issues to where I can’t call it great. Mortal Kombat remains as the elite fighting game movie.

The movie introduces us to Chun Li early on and how she really enjoyed fighting. It was a way for her to connect with her father and she was also quite good at this. It wasn’t long before she would end up being one of the top fighters around but he was kidnapped a while back by Bison. Chun Li’s mother dies later on and the heroine decides she will continue to live a brave and tough life no matter how dangerous it is. So when she receives a scroll that may have the answers she needs to find Bison and take him down, she can’t overlook this. Is Chun Li really ready to take on these powerful villains though?

The movie may be close to the 2010s era but it feels more like an early 2000s film with the jarring scene transitions and narration throughout. The colors are also different, it’s almost blue at times which is something that makes me think of older films as well. It does help the movie to stand out I suppose which is good but some of the techniques haven’t aged really well. Instead of coming across as cool, it just feels like the movie is trying to tell you how intense it all is.

I’ll give the film props for the fight scenes though. They’re more on the simple side but each one goes hard. I liked Chun Li’s battle against Vega as she destroyed the guy. Yes, he does look pretty bad here but I don’t mind since we saw Li training a whole lot during the film. She had to really pull herself to the limits of what she could take and she did this well. (I do think the training was still excessive as there is one moment where she almost dies because she’s nearly pushed into a saw type device) Vega has likely been assassinating people who can’t fight back for a long time so I doubt he’s been training as extensively. This would end up being a bit of a wake up call for him. The two tend to be natural enemies in the games so it was a nice tribute to that.

Vega still had the initial scene of taking out some delegates which was really cool though. I do feel like these gangsters always take a lot of risks though. Of course as the viewer we know that Bison is going to absolutely destroy these guys but even without that, why not bring a bodyguard to these meetings? If you are told not to then just don’t go right? What is to stop Bison from murdering these guys? Nothing and that’s the problem. It seems like it’s real easy for Bison to go all the way to the top. I’ll still give him credit because he was determined from the start but it was a bad look for the other villains all around.

Bison is portrayed more as a classic villain tycoon as opposed to a supervillain in this film but it works out well. I would have been upset if he couldn’t fight but he still has his hand to hand skills on point and even starts to overwhelm Chun Li during their fight. The movie never forgets that he is one of the top fighters and that’s a good thing because he should be generating a good amount of respect. It takes a lot of people to defeat him and that’s as it should be. He makes for a fun villain and even has a bit of an honor code where he will spare kids if he can help it.

As for Chun Li, I definitely liked her portrayal here. She has definitely lost herself in the quest of vengeance for a bit but considering how much she has gone through that definitely makes sense. As the film goes on she learns to fight with others as well and to not let this get as personal. It’s a very complete journey for her and by the sequel (If it had gotten one) she would have really been a top professional all around. If any character could get a film aside from Ryu it would definitely have been her. It would have been nice if she could have worn something that looked similar to the costume in the games though as a fun reference.

In the B plot we have Nash who has been trying to find Bison for years. Well, in a way he’s found him but it’s hard to get any evidence to put him away. This time he has some help since the cops led by Maya are here to help but in the end none of them are able to help all that much. The most embarrassing scene by far for them is when they are on a stakeout and have to make sure they don’t lose track of the villains but take time to quickly embrace and mess around. While they’re doing that the villain just drives off….that was just bad. It was such a sad moment.

From the start Nash seemed interested in Maya as he would stare at her and make comments so you knew he wasn’t a great agent. You just hoped that Maya would then be the one ready for action but that wasn’t the case either. So both of them aren’t very good and you really could have cut them out of the movie entirely. It really wouldn’t have changed much at all because they don’t contribute. Sure, they beat up some minions from time to time but Chun Li and her mentor do all the hard work. The mentor character was solid from start to finish at least. While I disagree on his training methods, at least he is strong and does a lot of work for himself. He may not be a match for Bison anymore but he is still tough overall.

The film can get a little dark like with Bison murdering one guy Man of Steel style and as we see the state of the city but for the most part it’s a fairly light action film. One thing I disagreed with for Chun Li though was in deciding to not keep any money or assets at all so she would just live on the street. I know that the scroll said she needed to really be within the city in order to make a difference but this was a little risky. Maybe use your money to help people out in the neighborhood and draw out Bison or at least get yourself a little room. It’s like getting yourself arrested on purpose to check out a jail, I feel like the plan’s risk level outweighs the benefits. Things worked out for Chun Li but they easily could have failed.

I could also have gone without the dancing scene. You figured it was inevitable that Chun Li would have to use attraction to distract a villain as it seems to be mandatory for any female agent but you always have to shake your head at that. I’d rather she just busted in and started taking some names. It does lead to a fight scene at least where she dominates the opponent but lets just jump right into the action. The movie definitely understood that Chun Li is a premiere fighter so after the training she crushes most of her opponents. Those are the scenes you really want to watch at all times. “Street Fighter” is still in the name after all and this film could have benefited from more fights. There’s a good amount of action but I think a few more fights would have fit in quite nicely.

Overall, It’s a bit of an odd Street Fighter movie but it gets the job done. Maybe you should just look at it as a normal revenge film and then you’ll appreciate it more. Just hearing the names is always fun as you feel that nostalgia though. There still aren’t many games that can really match the pure hype and name recognition that this series has. It’s why just including Ryu in there for a little bit or as a stinger at the end would have been perfect. Maybe next time I suppose.

Overall 7/10

The Shawshank Redemption 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

This is a movie where even if you haven’t seen it you’ve probably at least heard of the title. It was a really big movie after all. It’s a long epic about a tough stretch through prison and trying to get out of it in one piece. This is a powerful title but ultimately it’s far too mean spirited for me to ever call it a good movie. Getting through the initial prison chapter is rather rough and not even a solid ending could really save this movie.

We start things off with Andy being taken to court as he is accused of murdering his wife and the guy she was cheating with. He denies the charges but the circumstantial evidence is too strong and he is promptly locked up. He is then taken away to the most powerful jail in the world. Here the warden, Norton rules with an iron fist. The prisoners have no rights at this point so you either play ball or things are going to be very rough for you. The prison guards will beat you up at a moment’s notice and these are true beatings. You likely haven’t seen anything quite so intense in a while. Andy does meet some decent folks at the prison including a guy named Red who is good at getting any kind of materials from the outside. Andy will need some kind of a plan if he wants to escape this place but it definitely won’t be easy.

Right off the bat I can tell you that a big reason as to why the film is so bad for me is the villain group known as the Sisters. These guys are basically here to remind you why prison is such a tough place to be. They basically embody all of the classic horror stories about what happens in prisons and they make life really rough for Andy for a long time there. By the time that chapter of the movie is finished and that group is no more, it is quite late in the game without much of a way to get back up. The sheer amount of grit and violence here is something you may partially expect from a prison film but it doesn’t really make things any better either.

Of course people say the best thing to do is not to wind up in jail but that’s not always possible. For example Andy actually is innocent but he wasn’t able to prove that to the jurors and so he wound up here. Just about everyone in the movie claims that they are innocent as well but for the most part they all say this just to say it. You have to assume there are other innocent people here as well but it’s really tough to actually find out who qualifies and who doesn’t. It ultimately doesn’t matter once you’re stuck in there either.

After all you’re basically doomed at this point. If you don’t get taken out by one of the other prisoners or beaten up by the guards then you still have to deal with the Warden. Norton is one of the biggest crooks here and he is absolutely determined to keep all of his power. He isn’t even satisfied with being the King and also wants to be super rich. This works out well for Andy in a way because this gives him a little break as he helps the guy swindle lots of money.

It definitely pays to know your accounting and how to cook the books. At this point the books weren’t just cooked, but deep fried! It all ends up tying in to the end of the film and there are some good twists in there. One thing I can say about Shawshank Redemption is that there is always a lot going on. Some characters like Norton will alternate between being full fledged villains to guys that are actually helpful for a little while. The important thing to remember is just that you can’t really trust anybody though.

I actually liked one guy named Tommy who showed up later in the film but unfortunately he wasn’t ready for a prison quite like this one. Not everyone has a terrible time in Shawshank but I would wager that the vast majority do. Tommy’s stay didn’t seem that bad until the end but your luck just can’t hold out here. Meanwhile I have to give Andy a lot of credit for staying sane and not letting the place break him.

A good portion of the film is about hope and not giving in to despair. He definitely pulled that off and then some here. A lot of characters would have definitely broken well before he did and he had a lot of patience to keep up with his plans all the way through to the end. Meanwhile there is one more big player I hadn’t mentioned yet and that’s Red. He’s the realist of the group and gives a lot of the narration. He’s seen the worst that the prison has had to offer and has managed to navigate the place.

I’m sure it wasn’t easy to create so many connections across the jail and yet he pulled it off. He has a strong reputation in the place as well and it seems like nobody messes with him. In the jail your reputation is really the only thing that you have so you absolutely have to try and have a strong one at all times. If you don’t then you’re really as good as doomed. I liked Red and thought he had a good conclusion to his story. Ultimately the film may have been very grimdark most of the time but at least the ending is one with some hope rather than going for some kind of twisted ending.

Overall, The Shawshank Redemption is definitely not a film that I would recommend though. Prison is often not the ideal backdrop in any film for me because usually that’s a place that is going to be gritty. You can have really cool prison scenes like in one of the Fast & Furious films but when that’s the main location it’s almost always going to falter in the end and you don’t want to stick around for that. If the film could dial down the darker elements of the film then it would be a lot better and I’m sure you could do that while still making the prison an intimidating place. Instead though, watch Naruto: Blood Prison. It’s easily one of the weakest Naruto films out there but it still does the whole prison plot a lot better than this one could.

Overall 1/10

Prancer Review

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When you think of Prancer you’re thinking of a fantastical adventure like with Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and his friends. Not a more emotional film about a kid who wants to do the right thing. I think this film had some potential but ultimately the characters can be more on the annoying side and Prancer’s role wasn’t quite big enough. It’s an okay movie but it’s not going to hold its own with the big Christmas hits.

The movie starts with Jessica showing off her reindeer knowledge and having a good time with her friend Carol. She ends up seeing a mysterious reindeer around but it vanishes before anyone else can notice it. Eventually it appears again and she realizes that this is Prancer. Somehow he got injured and has been split up from Santa and the rest of the reindeer. Jessica figures she will nurse him back to health and then set up a meeting spot with Santa to get the guy to take this reindeer back into the group. This won’t be easy though as her father John is going through hard times economically and he is thinking about giving Jessica over to his sister Sarah. Jessica is not happy about this at all but what can she do about it? Also, can she keep the reindeer secret for long?

The deck is absolutely stacked against Jessica here but she never gives up. That’s just not the way she does things. My first main issue with the film is that John can be rather mean the whole time. He never feels very understanding towards Jessica even when she is doing her best. Jessica makes mistakes sure, but she always apologizes and is very respectful towards her father. Usually in these films you see the kid being disrespectful and never apologizing so when he’s still harsh to her despite this it just feels off. The film overplayed its hand with John and makes him far too unlikable so it’s hard to root for him at all or even sympathize to the extent that you normally would. He’s basically an antagonist for most of the movie.

Then you have Jessica’s brother Steve who is also rather mean the whole time. He blackmails Jessica into doing his dishes for a year so he won’t tell their father about the reindeer. Sure he gets his emotional scenes later on where he stands by Jessica but he was a bit overblown in the opening scenes. Surely he could have made the demands a little better than that right? So I think this boils down to the writer where they wanted to put Jessica in a tough corner but they just weren’t good at holding back. So instead of the characters just being a little rude and setting things up for the heart warming second half, they accidentally made them really mean.

It’s a tough balance but you have to walk a careful line in these films or you make the characters go too far past the point of no return and that’s exactly what happened here. The film ends up suffering for this a bit as a result. Then you have the drama with Jessica and Carol as Jessica takes everything super personally. In this case you feel bad for Carol since she didn’t realize she was offending Jessica by saying she didn’t believe in God and Heaven. Jessica’s reactions were certainly not very graceful at all and this is one time where you didn’t really sympathize with her. She never really has a full apology to Carol on this either or at least not to the extent that she should. Carol really didn’t do anything wrong but got treated badly for most of the film.

Then there’s the neighbor Mrs McFarlane who was reasonable enough but I’m not really sure what the point of her character was. When you think about it she didn’t really do a whole lot here. I suppose we got to see that she wasn’t so bad after all but if you cut her out of the movie then nothing really changes. I expected her to have a much bigger role in the second half/climax because that’s how the setup felt. Not saying it’s objectively a bad decision to have her vanish but it just felt like an odd one.

Prancer also should have done more. Of course during the film you are meant to wonder if he is just a normal reindeer or not and that mystery keeps up until the film definitively makes a statement in the final scene. I liked the way that it ended so that worked out for me but I definitely would have given Prancer more to do. Either he was getting into mischief at the house or being kidnapped which isn’t the best role for this guy. If anything Prancer holds the film back as a result.

With a Christmas movie like this you are looking for an uplifting adventure where you can have a lot of fun. That’s the whole point you could say right? Well this one just isn’t super happy most of the time. You feel sad when Prancer is on screen since he’s hurt and injured. Then you feel sad when everyone is picking on Jessica or when Jessica picks on Carol. There are more sad scenes than happy ones here and as a result that makes the movie a bit lopsided. At the end of the day you could call it more of an uplifting film by the end but it doesn’t consistently grab that tone. So instead you have a balance where half of the time the movie just isn’t very fun.

The writing is decent even if the writers don’t know how to make some characters antagonistic without being over the top mean. With better writing I think you could have really done well with this movie. Perhaps have the main characters be grown ups instead even if it does mean rewriting the approach a bit differently. You could have succeeded with the kids though, it just would have taken more effort. Because of that I’d end up putting this film in the middle. I can’t picture myself ever re watching it over another Christmas movie but I still wouldn’t call it bad. I think that would be too strong.

Overall, Prancer may not be the film you were expecting but you can still get some good moments out of it. I found parts of the film to be a little too mean spirited so that can make it difficult to get to the ending though. It’s a fairly unique film as I wasn’t even totally sure what kind of vibe it was going for at times. I suppose you have to give it credit for trying to be really serious while also balancing the Christmas cheer, it just didn’t pull this off. Only watch this one if you really want to see some Reindeer in live action but otherwise you should watch the original Rudolph movie.

Overall 5/10

Battle in Outer Space Review

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With a title like this you know that you’re gonna be in for a fun sci-fi ride. Well, Battle in Outer Space definitely does not disappoint on that front. You’ve got a lot going on here right from the jump and the pacing never slows down. The movie actually goes on past where I thought it was going to end and makes for a good final act. While I would have liked the aliens to have definitely appeared more, I can’t say that the film ultimately disappointed me. It had a lot of fun moments throughout.

The film starts off with a lot of crazy disasters happening across the planet. It’s almost as if gravity just stops working at times which is making things very tricky. The UN holds a summit and while this is going on the aliens abduct Dr. Ahmed using some kind of tractor beam. When he shows up again to sabotage things the scientists are ready and take him out. We are able to locate the enemy base in space and so we send a rocket over there to stop them. What will make matters difficult though is how easily they can mind control someone. What if one of the main characters has been taken? Iwamura and Katsumiya have two main objectives. They have to stop the aliens once and for all, then they also have to rescue Etsuko who was kidnapped.

Let me start off with the weakest part of the film which is definitely the fact that the aliens barely appear at all throughout the story. There is one main scene where you actually see them but they look super weak as Katsumiya is able to take down a bunch of them. Basically these guys are not immune to the space guns and also have no super strength. Katsumiya literally just runs over and grabs Etsuko. He then pulls her out despite the two of them being surrounded by so many aliens. Even all of them combined weren’t able to do anything to him and that’s just a bad look.

It’s clear that the aliens absolutely need their tech to win in this case as the individual aliens are super weak. It’s certainly an odd thing to see as you’re usually used to the aliens looking really tough and formidable. That just wasn’t the case here, not by a longshot. I liked the tech and they certainly talk a good game from behind the loudspeakers but that’s about it. You would need to see a whole lot more out of them in order to really have any kind of confidence in them as true antagonists.

Well, I suppose you don’t need a strong antagonist to have a good alien invasion film and this title proves it. The reason I enjoyed this film first boils down to the writing. The film stays engaging throughout as we have quality characters here and a solid story going on. I always like a classic alien invasion and getting to see the United Nations deliberating about it was cool. We really got to see the governmental side of things here as there is no super main character here to save the day.

Katsumiya would be the main character here but he’s not some super skilled CIA fighter or someone that can stop the invasion with a well placed explosive. He’s just here to save Etsuko and then get out. The army is still the one pulling in the big guns to try and stop the invasion as a whole. It’s not so easy to take on so many fighters like that and this is a movie that is using a teamwork approach. Then there is Iwamura but unfortunately he doesn’t look great here. He is often out of his depths and so he isn’t able to be nearly as helpful. Etsuko unfortunately spends a decent chunk of the movie being kidnapped so she isn’t able to help too much either.

So the individuals aren’t the important factor here but what the army is doing to stop these aliens. The movie definitely nails that aspect right out of the gate. The aliens also deal a whole lot of damage to the planet so you know that even if they are defeated, it’s not going to immediately be all sunshine and smiles for the heroes. Now I mentioned how the film seemed like it was about to end. Well, the main chunk of the film is the rescue mission in space and of course we start blasting away but then we get a whole other act on Earth as the aliens prepare another assault.

It does make sense in hindsight that they still had more weapons at the ready but it had just felt like so much of a climax already in space. Regardless it was nice to get some extra action at the end there. You can never have too much combat after all. I don’t think this will end up being more memorable than most of the other big action titles out there. It really lacked the aliens in an alien invasion film but since the rest of the elements were still in play it ended up working out.

Overall, Battle in Outer Space is a film that I would recommend people to check out but I would do so with the reservation that they know the aliens won’t really be appearing. It’s important to underscore that since some people may go in expecting them to not only be appearing but to get a big role. It’s totally understandable but the film is engaging enough even without them. A modern remake would probably be fun with this concept but in the meantime I just enjoy any alien invasion film I can get my hands on. Particularly one from the olden days like this installment since they really knew how to build up to the attacks and have a lot of very solid dialogue between the characters. It’s all handled in a rather low key/calm way that you wouldn’t expect to usually see. There’s not much more to say about the film because it is quiet direct and the story is straight forward. What you see is what you get and in this case that works out well.

Overall 7/10

Support Your Local Gunfighter Review

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It’s time to continue the support series but this one is a decisive step down from the first one. It’s still a good movie and perhaps if the first one did not exist then it would have been great but the whole time you just feel like this one loses on every front. The main character is a massive step down but even the jokes aren’t quite as funny. The movie is just a bit more on the desperate side and could have used some more time on the writing table to really nail down. Still, if you want a film with some funny moments then you should still have a good time here.

The movie starts off with Latigo deciding that he wants to escape a train before he can become married to Goldie. The guy really doesn’t want to get married so you have to figure that Goldie is either mean or just too much for him. It’s just not easy to sympathize with the guy because it seems like he was super drunk and did make it seem like he was interested in her. In fact it seems like he is a huge flirt the whole time and it even known for this so it’s a horrible look for the guy. Well either way he escapes and heads to a nearby town where he pulls the moves on the owner Miss Jenny who likes him too now. There’s also a girl there named Patience who likes him so Latigo is having his fun.

It’s not all fun and games though as there is a big war going on between Taylor and Ames as there always seems to be in wild west country. Latigo figures he’ll make a lot of money and mess with them. One thing leads to another and he gets a guy named Jug to pretend to be the world’s greatest marksman, Swifty. Now nobody will want to mess with them but if the real Swifty shows up then it’ll all be over. There is no coming back from that, it would be game over. Still Latigo can take the money and split right? Well, he is also a gambling addict and can’t help but put all of his money in the tables. Ah great….

You can see why I can’t sympathize with the guy. Far as I’m concerned he’s basically an antagonist here. He digs himself into these holes and would not be in so much trouble if he would stop flirting and getting drunk. The fact that he makes no move to get away from these bad habits just shows that he isn’t trying to improve. He actually does seem to be good with a gun but they don’t go into that in the film much. He constantly tells Jug that he’s no good and is very slow but the film seemed to be hinting that he was only doing that to try and protect Jug. So you’re waiting for him to end up getting some kind of big fight in the climax and yet…it doesn’t happen. So what was that build up for?

Not saying it would have absolutely saved his character or anything like that but it would have been something right? Give me a reason to root for the guy a bit. Even with the gambling it’s annoying because he’s constantly talking about what a scam it is and then he falls for it anyway. The man has no willpower and then succumbs immediately. That’s not a good combination no matter how you slice it. The gambling scenes are pretty intense at least so that’s a start.

Goldie and Miss Jenny don’t make for great characters either. Jenny fell for his emotional story way too quickly and for Goldie I don’t see why she would still want to be with him when Latigo is always running away from her. Even if she were to claim him, wouldn’t that not be very satisfying knowing that he always wants to leave? Seems like it would be a waste to me at least and that’s part of why the romance here is very weak.

Latigo’s partner Jug can be decent at times at least. I wouldn’t say that he’s very likable either and he’s the classic character who is strong but not very smart. At least what I do give him credit for here is that he doesn’t back down from a fight and is ready to go in. He may not be smart but at least he doesn’t run away so easily. The two big villains Taylor and Ames are really forgettable though. Even though their war is a main plot element the whole film, you will find yourself struggling to care the whole time. It’s just not a very interesting story.

I did like the true villain Swifty though. When he shows up the characters have to take note because he has the skills to take the whole town down should he feel the urge. I would have definitely handled the climax a whole lot differently though. It makes for a decent comedic burst I guess but in this case playing the climax straight actually would have been a whole lot more effective. The ending would have been more satisfying and so the film would have benefitted as a whole.

Overall, This film is just not super funny for being a comedy and that is what hurts it here. At the end of the day you need to be funny and be funny consistently. That is the trick for making a really good comedy film. It’s just funny enough where you will have a good time either way but the lackluster characters and underwhelming climax will take away a lot of the replay value that it could have had. I’d recommend giving it a watch if you like westerns and/or comedies but you probably won’t be going for the rewatch. Just the initial viewing will be enough for you to get the full experience and then keep it moving. Still a shame that they didn’t make more movies like this though. I think there would have been a lot of potential to make several parody type films like this. When executed well you can picture just about any kind of profession working in this style.

Overall 6/10