Tag Archives: Live Action Movie

Selena

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It’s time for a film about a singer that I was not particularly familiar with. That said, those are the kinds of films where you can learn the most. After all, if you watch a film based on someone that you are already very familiar with, then naturally you aren’t going to learn a whole lot. So that makes a lot of sense. It’s a reasonable film but the pacing can really slow down to a glacial pace at times and the movie didn’t do a very good job of getting you to support the main romance when that seemed to be the goal.

The film starts off with Abraham trying to get some good gigs for his band but it doesn’t work out and eventually they have to disband. He tried to get over music for a long while but it’s one of those things that you just can’t get away from. He realizes that his daughter Selena has talent and wants to make her into a star. To this end he begins to contact all of his old friends to try and get some opportunities lined up but it won’t be easy. The family will have to fight hard to keep everyone together here.

It’s definitely a rocky start for Selena as her first few venues don’t have many people showing up but that makes sense. It takes a lot to break out in this industry and while her father sees her talent, to the outside world it’ll seem like he’s probably just bias towards his family. That would be completely understandable after all. Still, she eventually begins to prove herself and naturally that also means she starts to get a whole lot of popularity. That comes with a lot of positives and negatives.

Midway through the film a guy shows up and a romance starts immediately. It was easy to see why Abraham was real skeptical though. This guy is a bit shady right out of the gate and at the first opportunity he does get in with the wrong crowd and causes a ton of trouble. Yes, he says that he loves Selena but as Abraham points out, she is super rich and popular. There would be a lot of incentives for the guy to say that. Selena believes it’s true love but does come across as naive with how quickly she thinks this.

She had already given him a lot to worry about with how she had started to dress up in more risqué fashion so he was just trying to make sure that things didn’t get too crazy. Perhaps at times Abraham would overstep but I’d say on the whole he did a good job as a parent. His biggest mistake was probably opening up the restaurant that ended up failing. Taking risks is fine but not when you’re playing with the family money. That really put everyone in a tough spot.

As for the music itself, it seemed decent. None of the tracks were super memorable but I suppose the style of music can sometimes blend together a bit. The songs also rarely got to play all the way through so maybe that could have helped to tip the scales a bit. I was still glad to have some songs involved to shake things up though. Music is something that can always enhance a movie. The songs themselves don’t even have to be amazing or anything like that, it just helps the tempo and pacing.

In a way since this is more of a slice of life film, there isn’t a whole lot more to get into. Between songs and events we see that the family stayed really close and were still together even once she had gone professional. That was nice to see since it can be rare for the group to stick together like that. She seemed to have a good support network and if she had been able to go on for longer then I’m sure her popularity would have only continued to grow.

It was a nice change of pace to have a film like this that didn’t have a ton of tragedy throughout. Aside from the ending, it’s really an upbeat film all the way through. Yeah there are some issues that they all had to face here and there but nothing super dramatic. Often times when you see a film based on true events, you’re expecting a lot of death and controversy. Instead we mainly just got to see a glimpse into what it can be like to go from a normal life to being mega rich/popular. Music stories tend to be inspiring because they can happen to anyone. You have to have the drive and conviction to make it happen as there will always be many opportunities to give up midway.

Overall, Selena is a film that should teach you a good amount about the person behind the songs. If you’re more interested in her actually singing then this might not be the perfect film for you. They definitely chose to focus on her life story more than her musical career. You still do get to hear the main songs though so ultimately there is still a balance. How much you enjoy the film will ultimately depend on how engaging you find her story to be. This isn’t really my kind of film but it seemed like they did a good job of going through the big events.

Pack of Lies

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Lies are definitely a pretty dangerous slippery slope. All it takes is one well placed lie to start a whole host of troubles and they aren’t easily placed back in the bottle. What if you are lying in order to help save your country? Well, then things get pretty interesting and this movie is definitely a compelling one. I enjoyed the plot and it was written quite well. Certainly a film I would recommend.

Imagine one day that you are minding your own business when a cop shows up and says he will be taking over your bedroom for the foreseeable future. See, they have reason to believe that a big criminal will be showing up in the neighborhood and need to take him by surprise. The trickiest part here is that you can’t tell anybody and this villain may be working with your best friend. Well, now the lies are about to start piling up and you have to decide if you trust the cops or your best friend. That is the burden Barbara and her husband Bob must bear. They are not trained for this though so can they really hang on?

Right off the bat I can say that I probably would not be playing ball here. For starters I just don’t trust people enough. I give Bob huge credit for actually calling the police to make sure that their agent was legit though. I feel like a lot of characters just take the ID at face value when they shouldn’t. Still, it’s a pretty big deal to have them in your house the whole time and if the villains are dangerous then you have just put yourself in a really rough place. Yes, the cop says there is no danger but that’s a little hard to believe.

Additionally as soon as they mentioned Barbara’s best friend Julie may be a criminal too, I’d have probably gone over and told her. This all depends on how much you trust your own instincts of course but if I’ve been real friends with someone for years then I can probably tell if they are good or bad. May sound like a humble brag and of course it can backfire but at the same time that is a risk that I feel I would have to take. It just makes too much sense not to.

In this case Barbara plays it by the book but this really does a number on her. She feels super guilty for all of the secrets. I would say a little too guilty at times to be honest. Particularly by the end once we find out if the neighbor was actually in on it or not. By that point you move on and don’t give it another thought. I’d be much harsher on the ending but this is based on a true story to I assume that includes the ending? If not, then yeah the ending is way too dramatic. I just have a hard time wrapping my head around why you would take this so hard. Barbara was ultimately just too emotional for her own good I suppose.

Then we have her husband Bob who took things with a better stride. He was clearly not as emotionally invested. Of course the whole thing was still a big deal for him too but he just wasn’t sweating the details to the same degree. We don’t really see him by the ending but can assume that he was mainly unbothered. He did his civic duty and that’s what counts here. It’s how you should really approach these things.

Their daughter Julie takes it all a lot harder but that makes sense because the whole thing really wasn’t all that fair to her. She is absolutely right that she should have been told more. I do think she would be a risk since she isn’t the best at keeping secrets but for something this large, you just have to find out the hard way just how much you trust her. This is very serious after all so if she would let the secret slip, then that’s a really bad look.

As for the neighbors, Peter doesn’t do much but Helen is certainly a central figure. The whole time she appears to be the perfect friend so the characters have to wonder if she is being truly legit or if this is just part of the game. Is she manipulating them? In that case the spying would of course be a good idea but if she is being framed or used by a criminal, then not speaking up could put her in lethal danger. Throughout the film you have to wonder what is going on and it’s that tension that works really well throughout. You have to question everything as the truth isn’t easily figured out.

As for the cops, they don’t always do a great job of trying to look trustworthy. They keep a lot of secrets and then Barbara even catches them in a lie or two when they would play dumb about things. Any kind of lie in this situation is naturally going to make it even harder to go ahead with the mission. In either event, the title certainly makes a whole lot of sense. It’s a tough situation for all of the characters involved, that much is definitely for sure.

Overall, This was a very compelling film. There are a lot of spies and sleeper agents out there. Technically you really never know if you might bump into one. Their whole job if about blending in and lying after all. So you can either go throughout your life never trusting anyone and just talking about things that don’t matter or going off on a limb and going for that trust. You never really know what the right answer is so you have got to go through it all with no regrets. Additionally if you do end up having a spy in your midst, you really can’t afford to feel bad for them. Spies may not be dirtying their hands directly, but giving away any state secrets will inevitably lead to loss of life. So they made their decision in betraying the country and you reporting them is no real betrayal at all.

Black Hawk Down

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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 write-up of the unedited version would be more negative

Black Hawk Down is definitely a really intense film. Certainly one that isn’t trying to hold back on your account. The war and its events are not ones that I’m particularly familiar with. This was definitely back before I was really even slightly keeping track of such things. Of course you can still get what is happening really quickly because a lot of wars have very similar motivations and reasons for starting. There will always be serious disagreements across countries and reasons for war, as unfortunate as that might be.

The film mainly takes place in Somalia where a great civil war has started. There is a huge famine so right now you have hundreds of thousands of people dying on both sides which has only increased the bitterness across the board. The United Nations attempted to quiet things down but as soon as the U.S. Marines left then things went crazy again. So now the U.S. is returning to shut everything down but what should have been a 2 week mission has turned into something far greater. With Washington losing patience, the elite soldiers will have to take more drastic measures to assassinate the head of the most violent gang. Can they pull this off?

During the course of the movie, some of the soldiers begin to have some doubts about the mission. Are they really on the right side of this battle and should they be playing the role of the world’s police here? Often times you are not going to get a whole lot of gratitude from people after having served the country which is definitely disheartening. You also have to trust that the intel you are getting is accurate and that you are not fighting on the wrong side here. If you are, then you’re really in trouble.

The film mainly takes the stance that somebody has to put an end to the violence and since America has the means to do so, it’s up to them. I generally do agree with that. It’s hard to just overlook what is going on around the world if you can help it but obviously real life’s not like a video game. When you step in to interfere in any foreign land then you are opening a huge can of worms. It’s a can you should open but it all comes down to execution and being careful not to overextend yourself. In this film the U.S. forces are really put in a very difficult position.

As the title suggests, everything goes wrong once one of the Black Hawks goes down. It triggers a whole lot of events and more lost lives in trying to reclaim the situation. The troops are in heavy enemy territory after all and these guys are not afraid to fight dirty. After a certain point you have to basically assume that everyone walking towards you is an enemy and must be taken down. There are no real exceptions here and you also have to be on the lookout for traps. If you are about to lose, you cannot let yourself be captured alive because that will end up leading you to a much worse fate. For one character I expected the worst but surprisingly he pulled though.

The movie definitely is very dark though so you can expect a whole lot of violence. You really see some very deep wounds across the characters here and one character in particular is beaten really badly. With large scale destruction like this there aren’t really any winners either. You see just how many buildings are blown up and there is a very large death count by the end. Even for the survivors you have to assume there will be some very strong cases of PTSD coming out of this. War always has significant casualties.

Since a great chunk of the movie is the large operation to take down the powerful leaders, there isn’t a lot of time for character development or anything like that. You’ll generally know who each of the characters are but that’s about it. The film tries to add a bit of levity amidst the nonstop doom and gloom with a subplot of two soldiers who were seemingly left behind. They’re trying to catch up to the rest of the group and it’s definitely not an easy adventure for them. One of them is basically deaf by the end. I appreciated the film trying to lighten the mood but to an extent that’s basically an impossible job with this kind of movie due to just how serious the subject matter is.

It’s just crazy dark and even when something violent isn’t happening for a change, you can feel the tension in the air and know that something is about to happen. The film does have a fairly large beginning to set things up so you can stay relaxed for that part. I wouldn’t have minded if the whole film was basically setup since that tends to be the best part. Once they are on the field then things get crazy. The soldiers are also at a disadvantage from the start since they have to follow the proper rules of engagement and fight fair. The enemies have homefield here and tons of people who are eager to fight. Their sheer numbers advantage is crazy high, particularly since the U.S. is completely alone out here except for some backup which only helps out super reluctantly at the very end. Even then they left the soldiers behind to get picked off one by one.

Overall, If you really like war films then I imagine you will enjoy this one as well. It’s definitely very long so the film is able to include all of the details that it wants to. At the same time, it is rather unrelenting and you’re not going to be having a lot of fun with this film. It’s just not that kind of film and for me personally, I like happy movies. They add a little pep to your step which I really appreciate. Of course this film can also work as an informative watch although I would argue in that case it’ll always be easier to just read the Wikipedia article or something like that.

Seabiscuit

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It’s time for a big drama film. This one’s definitely long so they have time to cover a whole lot of ground. It’s a pretty interesting film about just how hard it can be to compete in horse races. The characters may not always be the greatest and the film has some pacing problems but on the whole they do a good job with this one. By the end of the adventure you will definitely have no doubts on the legacy of Seabiscuit. Definitely one of those horses who fought hard all the way through to the end.

The movie starts off by introducing us to Charles who ends up becoming super rich when he gets into the car business. This guy had serious talent as a seller and was also very innovative. He managed to succeed in completely changing the business landscape. When the great depression hit, lots of families were affected though and Red’s parents end up having to leave him alone. Red has a tough time growing up as he loses in horse racing and boxing. Well, one day, Charles gives him a chance as the guy has decided to get into the horse business. He gets a horse named Seabiscuit and is eager to see just how far he can get. The horse is deemed by everyone to not be ready for this level of competition but Charles has never listened to the experts before and doesn’t intend to do so now. He will follow his instincts to the end. He even brings in Red to ride the horse.

Naturally the guy is considered to be an underdog. Seabiscuit is just missing the competitive fire to win after being messed with for so long and Red has a massive chip on his shoulder that is always holding him back. Red just isn’t willing to back off and sacrifices races when he’s crossed. In a way both of these fighters will have to surpass the odds and Charles has dreams of them even defeating the legendary Mr. Riddle and becoming the best horse in all the world. Is such a thing even possible?

It’s different from other dreams after all. If you want to be the best Tennis player in the world, at least you are playing the matches yourself. In a setup like this you have to count on the jockey, the horse, and everyone else to do their parts. You can’t win this on your own talent alone. So Charles may be a great business man and he’s been around the block but for this reason I would say this is his most difficult challenge yet. I appreciate that he is always patient and tries to look on the bright side of things though. It’s not always the easiest thing to pull off. He did rebound a bit quickly on the romance side though.

Meanwhile the coach Tom may have been the best character here. He did a really good job of constantly researching the opponents and giving good advice. Additionally, he was kind to the animals and didn’t want to destroy them just because they couldn’t compete anymore. He definitely did really well throughout the film so I have no qualms with him. Naturally Seabiscuit was also a lot of fun. Definitely a tough horse but it makes sense when we see how all the races were rigged for Seabiscuit to lose back in the day. That had to be rough.

As for Red, he’s the weakest of the main characters. The guy messes up way too often. He had a rough upbringing after leaving his folks so I can get the first bit of things but he doesn’t really learn his lessons. When he gets depressed he wastes money and has pointless affairs instead of improving his skills. I think that’s the worst part about the guy. If he used even half of that drive to make himself a better jockey then I would have way more respect for him. The fact is that he is easily rattled. Not telling his team that he only had partial vision was also really selfish of him.

I would say that the gravity of the situation doesn’t really get to him until the end of the film and by then it ends up being a little too late for him. The guy is determined by the end so I will give him that at least. His friend who helps out in the climax definitely felt like the better jockey overall though. He felt way more professional as if he was always in control. With him I think Seabiscuit would have won even more races but of course Red is still good in his own right. He did well in creating bonds, I just think this guy was still even better.

Meanwhile Riddle made for a pretty good opponent. I do wonder if there were any scandals about him being responsible for rider injuries though because if not then that was definitely a bold play on the film’s part. I liked him quite a bit as the antagonist. The guy may have come across as cruel but he’s just being a good businessman. You don’t want to take on all challengers because you have way more to lose than to gain. I also imagine that travelling too often will weaken the horse as well. Now the guy also did seem nervous so it’s a mixed bag for him but overall this is the kind of opponent that you want to have.

I’m not well versed in horse racing at all but the final level did feel a bit cheesy with how weak the world champion horse looked. I would have expected a lot more pop out of him and for this to not have even been close. Instead, Seabiscuit was the one who had to be slowed down at one point after the huge lead. I’d be surprised if that’s how things really played out. I’d also figure that the faster horse would just be dominating but I suppose that part’s also different from human racing in that there is more to it than that. You have to ensure that the horse constantly runs at full power or you could lose a race that you might’ve won.

That said, I can never support animal racing like this irl. It seems way too tough on the horse and naturally I don’t support all the hitting in order to make them go faster. It all seems barbaric and in general I don’t like seeing animals in any activity. The finished product might look fun but the road there is often really intense. The best horse might be treated really well but the ones who lose could be in for a tough time.

Overall, While this film may not get me into horse racing, it does a good job of showing how technical the whole process is. There is a lot of strategy put into every different part of the sport so it has complexities like any other. You could probably trim a lot of the fluff out of the film and it would flow better so just know ahead of time that this is a pretty long one. If you like horse racing then you should have good fun here and if you don’t, then you’d probably want to skip it. That’s ultimately the make or break point. The film sure gets a lot more right than wrong though.

Life is Beautiful Review

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It’s time for a film that has a really big tonal shift midway through. The initial half is a rather silly romantic comedy and then the second half brings a lot of nonstop tragedy. It’s definitely a bold approach as very few films can pull off such a stark change. Well this one puts in a pretty big swing so we’ll see how things turned out.

The movie starts off by introducing us to Guido who is a chronic liar who likes to have a lot of fun. He rolls constantly and falls in love with a lady named Dora. Dora already has a fiancé which would make things tricky for most leads but Guido doesn’t care. He figures that stealing her away will be easy enough and continues flirting nonstop in order to get her attention. Eventually she does decide to go with him and they have a kid. Unfortunately the Nazis invade and split them up. Guido has to keep his son safe but also find a way back to his wife. Can he pull this off or are they all already as good as dead?

Now even once the film changes genres, it is safe to say that it still keeps a lot of the chaotic energy that it had before. The movie will still allow Guido to pull off pranks and tricks the likes of which are just hard to picture. For example he ends up intentionally mistranslating everything the German commander was saying and nobody noticed. Then at one point he uses the loud speaker to declare his love for his wife and to let her know he and their kid were okay. Guido was always a man who was good with his words but this is definitely taken to the extreme here.

Throughout the film he does succeed in tricking his kid Giosue into thinking that this is all some kind of training camp/tournament in order to win a tank. Of course even for a kid that’s a bit of a stretch so you either enjoy this craziness thrown in to keep the film from getting too grim dark or you quickly believe that it is going too far and it weakens the film for you. As someone who enjoys some levity, I’d say it works well enough for me although the actual film is still dark enough where it’s not really my cup of tea.

Additionally while the first half is showing how determined Guido is and how he never gives up, I do think it’s a bit dicey on how he steals Dora away from the fiancé. Yeah he didn’t seem like the greatest guy but they liked each other enough to get to that stage. While not as bad as going after someone who is absolutely taken like in marriage, this is close enough where it gets into very dubious territory. So that prevents me from being able to say I was 100% into the romance.

The film also used the humor to punctuate a particularly sad scene for the lead. At one point he recognizes one of the guys at the German camp which was a professor he used to get along with. The guy acts like he is getting ready to help Guido escape and there are quite a few scenes building up to this. However, when the time comes, it turns out that he just wanted help with a riddle. It’s a call back to the riddle solving days from earlier so it was all one big joke but this time Guido isn’t laughing because lives are on the line. It showed that he couldn’t rely on someone that he thought he could and so of course that didn’t go over very well.

Meanwhile the kid was okay but definitely makes a number of mistakes. He is very young so you can say that is to be expected to an extent but man did he put the lead through a lot. Speaking when he shouldn’t, causing attention to be brought to himself, etc. The last thing you want to do is be in the spotlight here. Meanwhile his wife did good at being hidden to the point where she basically vanishes for the whole second half. She kept her head down and waited for the right opportunity.

Ultimately the ending also doesn’t go for as happy a tone as you might expect. Some things go well and some do not, definitely a tough situation all around. Additionally for the supporting characters there is a lot of tragedy as well. Ultimately the silver lining is that the situation does have a resolution so at least the tough period is over. The amount of casualties was just astronomical in the process.

Overall, I wasn’t quite sure if I should format this as a review and if there were enough differences for a score or if it should be treated as a based on real events kind of story. Ultimately I figured there was probably enough here where I’d make it a review. At the end of the day this is definitely not my kind of film but I appreciate the attempt on a very different take on the situation here. In a way it probably works better than if it had been serious the whole time since that would have made the film an even darker watch. The first half just didn’t click well enough with me since I couldn’t root for the romance. If the heroine had been single the whole time then the whole thing would have flowed better but otherwise even the early flirting doesn’t make any sense. You shouldn’t even be entertaining any of that if you’re already dating. Then naturally the second half isn’t exactly an easy watch. The lead does his best to try and minimize how bad the situation is but even he can’t quite reduce that to 0. It’s pretty obvious to the rest of the characters that things are getting worse and worse as the climax approaches.

Overall 4/10

Matewan

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It’s time for a film based on true events. Those always hit extra hard when you don’t really know about the events beforehand. The whole strike was new to me so that made things nice and unpredictable. It’s definitely an intense film where there are no easy victories. We have the heroes holding back for most of the film but eventually once it is time to fight, they do deliver. It covers a lot of ground and so overall I was definitely satisfied with it.

The movie starts with Joe moving into a small town. It’s really in a difficult spot here as the mining company is making people perform back breaking work with no real pay or benefits at all. They are treated as disposable tools who can be replaced at any time. In the movie they even mention how a lot of the miners keep dying left and right. You may wonder why they put up with this but there just weren’t many options available to them at this point in time. They took what they could get and that’s really all that there was to it. There is a union, but it is incredibly weak here and the company has been successful in setting off race wars among the miners so they don’t work together. Well, Joe is here to tell them that there is a better way but will he be successful?

One thing you have to remember about strikes, particularly back in the days is that it was incredibly dangerous. Often times you are up against an entity that is much more powerful than you are. They will have more guns, people, and typically even the law on their side. After all, the legality of striking in general can range from technically being legal to being completely illegal. Then at that point you have to hope you can hold out. So during the course of the film you have people being forced to live in the wilderness since all of their assets and homes were taken away. It’s an incredible challenge for all of them.

Then eventually this escalates into full blown violence and you also have people who will be tempted to go traitor or look out for their own self interests. There are so many factors in place that it makes sense how difficult it is to have everyone on the same page. Some characters can be rather gullible though. At the end of the day it is always important to remember to hear both sides of an argument, especially if you are friends with someone. It’s unfortunately realistic though. Often times you’ll hear someone spreading around rumors and lies about your friend and instead of asking them what’s up, the person will believe this right away and continue escalating.

If you are actually friends with someone, then you should face them and ask about what’s going on. It’s the only way to avoid misunderstandings like this. One of the heroines here definitely made a huge mistake there. I also thought the traitor got off super easy here but I suppose depending on what we know about him from the real life event, it’s not like the film could really just make something up. I mean it could, but probably not a good idea if you’re trying to really be a full adaption that is true to life.

The best character by far is the sheriff though. He was a true standout from the start. I figured that he would be useless at best and an ally to the company at worst. Fortunately neither of those two options happened and he really looked after his people. He wasn’t about to be overpowered in his own town and really fought to the end. The fact that he could actually fight was also good since it showed that he wasn’t just all talk. The climax is very impressive and ended things on a high note. Every scene with the sheriff in it was quite good.

The mayor was not nearly impressive though. Even by the end he’s whining about how he just wanted to talk but it’s obvious that this wasn’t an option. He’s the kind of character who will still be talking as he’s getting shot. In some cases you have to make the first move because if you don’t, then you’ll end up being dead. It’s one of those topics that i shard to debate though because everyone is pretty firm on their sides. I’d just say that for my take, in a life or death situation you can’t afford to wait.

This is my issue with Joe at times here. He keeps telling everyone to be patient and keep on waiting but after a while it’s clear that this is not working. The mining company is not above breaking the law and doing whatever they want. If you wait too long then you will eventually fold. There are times when waiting is good to be sure and Joe does help on different occasions but he does start to get annoying by the end. You can only stick to the same plan for so long before it starts to become a burden. Joe didn’t really adapt with the situation and that’s what held him back here.

At the end of the day, the film reminds you that a union is only as strong as its members. To stand up to a whole group like this, you need a lot of fighters and muscle to back them up. If the sheriff didn’t have his guns, then all of Joe’s tough talk wouldn’t have mattered at all. The villains made it clear that they would have just shot him and had the whole situation done with. Joe doesn’t seem to factor that part in though which is when you shake your head.

I will say that the movie also doesn’t hold back on just how rough corporate is. They literally go around slitting throats and burning churches. It may almost seem cartoonishly evil to an extent but I have no doubt that these things would have happened. The company would act almost like the mafia to get its way. Even nowadays we see mass firings when different places try to start a union. Sure we may be past the point of rifles and everyone being shot on sight but corporate has never lost sight of trying to stay on top of things.

Overall, Matewan is definitely an interesting film. I’d imagine it was a pretty faithful retelling of events as it wasn’t pulling any punches. The film didn’t mince words on how much the miners suffered even as they got their licks in. There was a ton of collateral damage but at least they did change the system in the end. Change often comes at a high price after all, it’s not something that just happens. If you are interested in the situation then you should definitely check out the film. Just remember that it is an intense journey all the way through.

Donnie Brasco

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

It’s time for a film based on a true story. These always tend to get pretty intense and I wasn’t familiar with this person so it was all new to me. It’s a pretty interesting story and while it is long, it keeps your attention the whole way. The main character does look pretty bad the whole time though so I hope he was maybe just being humble or over correcting a bit when telling the story.

The story starts with a very well known gangster known as Lefty walking into a coffee shop and seeing a guy named Donnie. Donnie is super good at spotting fake jewels and so Lefty brings him into the fold. Donnie may have shown up out of nowhere but he is good at what he does and so Lefty decides to trust him. The two of them become good friends and Lefty teaches him the ins and outs of the business. What he doesn’t realize is that Donnie works for the government as a double agent and is here to put an end to the mafia for good. Will Lefty realize what is going on in time?

Being a double agent has to be one of the toughest jobs in the world. You’re really living a double life the whole time and you’re in critical danger for the whole mission. One single slip up and you’re read. There is a ton of pressure here and of course you’re making friends with the guys who will ultimately be put in jail or murdered so you have that on your conscience as well. It’s definitely a job that only some people could ever hope to pull off and Donnie is good. He’s a really good agent so he does a good job in the mission.

So I have no qualms with how he handles his duties on the job. He got a ton of intel and really got his way into the ranks. I would say the only big misstep was in agreeing to vouch for another government agent who was clearly not as good. Where he falls apart is in the family business. He keeps his family completely in the dark and does start to have a really hard time breaking free of his gangster role. He just doesn’t talk or act the same as he used to and does get pretty cold with his wife. The instant he hits her is when you know he’s too far gone and that things weren’t really going to be the same. It was unfortunate to see him crumble so hard there. Particularly since his boss Lefty was shown to be a good family man even if he was a ruthless gangster.

All of the mobsters at the top have to have a super ruthless exterior. You can’t show any kind of weakness there. That being said, you do have to be able to turn the switch on and off. I ended up liking Lefty a lot more for this reason. Yeah he is a crook and it’s important not to lose sight of that for even a moment. Even when the guy is acting nice and doing the right things, it’s not like he has suddenly become a saint. He still does rob people for a living and does whatever the mafia tells him to.

It’s just easier to root for a mob who at least has some principles over someone who has none. It’s really as simple as all that. For example you have Sunny as another big villain and you can easily tell that he would cross a lot more lines than Lefty ever would. Sunny is the kind of guy who really lets power get to his head and the further he rises up, the more unstable he gets. The members can all see it, but really can’t do much about it. The mafia is run as a very tight ship and if you step out of line then you get whacked.

It’s for this reason that some of the really high up bosses get a little complacent and overconfident though. They forgot to watch their backs or even realize that eventually someone would make a move. One of the big sources of fear with the Mafia is that you often know ahead of time when you are about to get bumped off. Most of the characters go off silently to be executed but Sunny is a little more proactive than that. I do think he had the right idea there because why would you just allow yourself to be murdered without putting up a fight? That would make absolutely no sense to me.

I would say that the government looks rather undisciplined and scattered in comparison. They aren’t always in communication and when they do show up, they start barking orders without looking at the situation. They were basically ready to blow up Donnie’s operation at the drop of a hat for another one. After all the time he already put in there, that’s definitely insulting to put it mildly. They definitely could have been more supportive and helpful. It’s not a writing problem as the film’s writing is quite good the whole time. That’s just their role here.

The movie’s writing really shines with how it introduces a lot of characters and gives them all personalities very quickly. Some stories really have a tough time getting you to understand the characters but that wasn’t an issue here. Additionally the pacing was on point and there weren’t any real strong negatives to hold it too far back. I would probably say we could cut out all scenes of Donnie’s home life but I understand that if the events were mentioned in the original story then it would be difficult to cut them out.

Overall, Donnie Brasco is an interesting film. It can be fun to see the mobster world for a while there. You’re definitely rooting for them to get taken down the whole time. You need the cops to show up and put a stop to all of this. I know a lot of it comes down to not having a ton of proof or wanting to draw out the big guns but you’d think a solid raid from after they robbed the nearby traffic machines would be good enough. At one point in the film, just about all of them are rounded up but then they are released right away. I get the feeling that the burden of evidence is really high in these cases and the mob must have some strong people on the payroll. Either way if you are up for a solid mob story then it’s hard to imagine a flick doing much better than this one. It really ticked off all the boxes

Murder in Coweta County

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It’s time for another film based on a true story and this time it’s about a big murder from back in the day. We get to see the importance of the death penalty and how it prevents you from making an escape and also how hard it can be to track down proof for a single murder. In the end law enforcement is a very difficult career and not one for the faint of heart. However, when you can solve the case it definitely feels good.

The film starts off by introducing us to Wallace who is one of the most powerful people in the country. He basically has an unofficial empire by which he can rule the masses and escape any kind of justice. One day, someone tries to steal his livestock as revenge for being chased out of town and Wallace murders him. The murder occurred in the territory of Sheriff Potts though and he is not having any of that. Wallace made a big mistake coming onto this guy’s territory and now Potts is eager to have Wallace destroyed for it. Potts will have to assemble the evidence and fast because if Wallace is let go on any kind of a technicality, he’ll never be caught again. The stakes are high!

Wallace is one of those villains who is quite unremorseful. He really sees himself as the good guy in all of this and believes that his status and power makes all of his decisions absolutely above judgement. It’s definitely a very bold point of view to be sure. That’s what makes him a fun villain though. He heavily overestimates how persuasive he can be in a conversation. Sheriff Potts never even entertains the guy for an instant yet Wallace continues to talk and talk and talk. It’s really quite something. It’s also fun to see how one by one everyone starts to betray them and he realizes that this is actually happening. He absolutely did not count on this happening but at the end of the day most people will look out for themselves when the chips are down. That’s just how it goes.

Meanwhile Potts is a super solid character right from the start. He’s putting everything on the line to solve this case and using all of the resources that he’s got. After all if he can prove the case here he will have shown that nobody is above the law. He will have dealt a great blow to injustice everywhere and that’s just what he did. In the epilogue it’s extremely impressive to see that there were no unsolved cases during his tenure. That is crazy, I doubt very many sheriffs can say the same.

Meanwhile this was a film where there were a lot of other helpful characters as well. You had the two who attested to the murder, you had the deputies questioning everyone, local towngoers who were doing their part, etc. It was nice to really see everyone come together and it was a nice optimistic look at the world. We tend to see the more negative side of things in most cases so I really appreciated this. The movie generally has a good vibe about it. It acknowledges that a lot of bad things tend to happen in Wallace’s kingdom but we don’t see anything more than we have to. The film focuses more on things getting cleaned up than what was there.

We also get a pretty detailed look at the trial proceedings which I always enjoy. I love a good trial and this is definitely the way you’d expect it to be done. It’s all handled very professionally with lots of suspects and exhibits of evidence. Then you have Wallace really shooting himself in the foot even as he tries to prove his own innocence. It’s why you always want the lawyer to speak for you. People often think they can just go in and say what they want, but that’s a good way to make yourself look guilty. Even if you are actually are innocent, often times the last thing you want to do is go in without letting the lawyer represent you. They are professionals at what they do after all and know the ins and outs of the process.

As the film’s storyline is fairly straight forward there’s not a whole lot more to say about this one. At the end of the day it’s a pretty direct story and that’s why I give the film a lot of props for keeping it very interesting and engaging at all times. I imagine it would have been easy for this film to have been boring under the wrong hands. For a film like this you absolutely need good writing and they pulled it off.

Overall, Murder in Coweta County is definitely a good film. We’ve got some strong writing throughout and a good cast of characters. This is one of those old films that has really withstood the test of time in all areas. It’s a movie that has good pacing throughout and a pretty satisfying conclusion. It’s an event that I wasn’t too familiar with from what happened in the real world so it made the film extra fresh the whole time. That definitely adds to the entertainment value big time. I’d recommend watching this if you’re interested in the court proceedings or in seeing some justice being enacted in general. For a film like this it all comes down to the ending of course so I was glad that it really landed without any issues.

Operation Crossbow

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It’s time for a film that takes place during World War II. I wasn’t exactly sure if I should put the review tag on this one or not since it’s based around real events but it sounds like a lot of the details don’t exactly match. Still, just about all of the big characters are using the actual names of the real people and everything so in the end I suppose it’s close enough.

The film mainly revolves around the Nazi’s attempting to build a super rocket. It would be able to deliver a bomb without even needing a pilot and would be virtually unstoppable. Right now there is one issue which is that the ship always tilts to one direction so it doesn’t reach the target. If they solve this issue then it could be all over for the allied forces. Britain sends their top agent Duncan to look into this. Duncan’s group is super skeptical and thinks that the intel is probably bogus since such a rocket is unheard of. Still, Duncan remains on the case.

It’s definitely good that Duncan stayed on this because the scientist’s argument was pretty faulty right out of the gate. The idea that the rocket couldn’t exist because he didn’t know how to build one was pretty crazy. They quickly bomb the original base the Nazi’s were using but this only buys some time. Duncan sends in John and Jacob to Germany to find out where the bombs are being stored now to take them out.

Both the heroes and villains have double agents working on each side which does make things complicated as well. On one hand the heroes get a lot of good intel but on the other hand they never know when they are walking right into a trap. This happens to one agent which results in him being badly beaten before being executed. It’s why you always see countries being real harsh with traitors because their betrayals really have a massive effect.

The film is generally light in tone but the betrayal scene is definitely intense and probably the darkest scene in the film. A close second would probably be when Nora is bumped off though. It was pretty tragic because she ultimately didn’t get to last very long and there was no reason for her to be destroyed. John even vouched for her but the army took her out anyway. Was definitely one of those moments where they were showing how extreme the good guys could be as well. They really didn’t want to take a chance on any other traitors but it doesn’t really excuse doing such a thing. She was an innocent civilian.

The movie definitely goes into a lot of detail on the investigation parts as well. This may not be as interesting at times like listening to the villains monologue while the heroes figure out what is important but it is always fairly tense. If the spies are caught then of course they will die. Meanwhile the villains will stop at nothing to perfect the bomb and even sacrifice 4 of their top pilots for this mission. Definitely a real high price they are paying right there for innovation.

The climax throws us into more of a classic gun fight. This is where the film is most like a James Bond type film. Before this most of the espionage was as low key and realistic as possible. It’s how you imagine spies would try to blend in as they just won’t stick out and only people who are close to the situation would even suspect anything. Using the alias of a dead person is super risky but it’s probably more ethical than kidnapping someone and using their identity. I imagine that would have a lot of extra risks and complications as well though since you’re already in enemy territory by that point.

The writing is really solid as you would expect and so the pacing is good as a result. While I didn’t like some of the methods the heroes chose, they were fairly heroic the whole time aside from that one moment. Everyone was out there doing their best and we got to see a lot of teamwork from the highest levels of government. It was nice to see them all pulling together and doing their best to put a stop to the enemies as opposed to just arguing in a room the whole time. It really helped that they could move quickly like bombing the first base before the villains could make any more headway.

I actually thought Duncan was going to be the main character of the film so I was surprised when he got sidelined early on. It was a pretty good misdirect though so I’ll definitely give the movie credit there. Not sure if that was the intent but it was also pretty realistic since often times the bosses wouldn’t be allowed to go on these missions anyway. That’s the whole point of having field agents to go in your place right?

Overall, Operation Crossbow is pretty solid. It’s definitely an interesting movie that will hold your attention the whole time. The writing is solid and there is always a whole lot going on. There are a lot of sacrifices on the heroes so this definitely wasn’t easy but at the end of the day they prevented a big invention that could have really turned the tides of the war. So it was a high cost victory, but a victory nonetheless. If you enjoy war tensions and a bit of James Bond type investigating then you should definitely enjoy this movie.

The Three Faces of Eve

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It’s time for a film about someone who had to deal with multiple personalities. It’s definitely a tough condition to deal with in part because a lot of people will always think that you are lying. It’s very difficult for someone to really wrap their head around the personalities all being different and for the changes to happen so suddenly. Some will just think it’s a convenient excuse and even in real life I’m not sure if I would believe it. I’m not sure specifically what it would take to convince me. So yeah it’s pretty tragic all around.

The film starts with Eve leading a normal life until one day she nearly murders her baby. Her husband takes her to a psychiatrist and at the time this was not a medical condition that people knew about. So even the doctor doesn’t buy into it at first but gradually he does start to accept this and so he keeps her for observation. Eve’s marriage is all but tanked at this point and the switches are getting worse. Instead of just 2 personalities, there are now 3. Is there any way for her to remove these extra personalities or is it too late?

Part of the issue is that the main Eve is the weakest willed of the 3 so it’s not easy for her to keep the others in check. They tend to be rather overwhelming with just how powerful they are. They’re more outgoing, one of them doesn’t really have much in the way of morals, while the third one seems reasonable. So the main Eve in a way doesn’t mind getting removed, she just doesn’t want the mean one to win. In the meantime her husband is not particularly helpful to be honest. He never quite ends up believing in the personalities business and threatens to murder her several times. I didn’t think he was particularly tolerant at all.

He was a bit traumatized when the baby nearly got murdered which is reasonable but all of his scenes after that are just rough. You’d expect at least a little understanding. Also later on he is mad because the people around town are making fun of him but he just shouldn’t care what they say. At least Eve meets a new guy later on and quickly rebounds. It’s all based off of a true story so I won’t say much about that because people should be free to rebound if they want to. In a film’s context I would typically take more of a shot at it.

As for the personalities, I would assume the subconscious reason for them is these are all parts of herself that she was really repressing over the years. They eventually just broke their way forward as most hidden feelings do and the best way to get rid of them would likely be to be honest with yourself. Not everything can be solved purely through willpower of course but it’s always a great first step to get you there.

It’s a very dramatic story in the movie but I wouldn’t say all that eventful. It makes sense since it’s not like this would have suddenly gotten very explosive or anything like that in a small town. Some of the more enjoyable scenes are with the doctors talking to each other but it’s just too bad that they couldn’t do more. They were mostly at a loss the whole time and just tried to keep Eve comfortable without really making much progress on removing the other personalities. In the end it’s mostly Eve who does all of the work. I guess at most they helped her tap into the past trauma.

The writing is solid though and the pacing’s not bad. At most it might get a little slow here and there but I expect you’ll have a good time throughout the adventure. You’ll probably get a little frustrated at the husband but all of the other characters tend to be helpful. The ending is also nice and happy. You know how much I like a wholesome ending so that works out. It may be a bit rushed to be honest but I’m not sure what more they would have really done with more time so you might as well just let the film be on the shorter side.

Overall, The Three Faces of Eve is a reasonable title showing just how tricky it would be to have multiple personalities. It has to feel strange not having full control over your body like that. Hopefully it is the kind of thing that treatment can help with since I imagine we’ve come very far from what this would have been like back in the old days. I feel like you don’t really hear about multiple personalities syndrome much nowadays but I suppose it probably just wouldn’t be in the news.