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Devil in a Blue Dress Review

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

This is definitely one of those films that is noir all the way to the core. Prepare for a lot of characters, a lot of moving parts, and a lot of inner monologuing. It really manages to nail all of the elements here and there’s even a good amount of dry humor/light banter. Once the main guy’s friend shows up the movie definitely gets real lively. All in all I’d say it did a good job here.

The movie starts by introducing us to Easy who is a man that is rather down on his luck. He’s trying to do things the right away after making a mistake once in his past. He owns a house now but the problem is that it’s very hard to get any kind of job. A rather shady individual shows up saying he has a job and it won’t even be that tough. Dewitt is a private investigator who has been having trouble finding a girl who went missing named Daphne. Her disappearance was strange and her husband Todd was forced to drop out of the mayor race. The whole thing sounds dicey right out of the gate, but unfortunately Easy is quite desperate at this point and needs the money. So now begins a mission that is even more dangerous than he could have ever expected.

Right out of the gate nobody is being very helpful. In fact, you could say everyone is trying to get in his way. He goes to the club where Daphne is supposed to frequent and people conveniently don’t remember anything. One girl named Coretta claims to know about Daphne but after using Easy for a while, doesn’t really prove to be super helpful and ultimately withholds her info a bit too long.

In a noir conspiracy like this you basically have to be super careful when you use your cards. Hold them too long and they become useless but use them too quickly and you have tipped your hand. It’s all about the mind games here and a lot of strategy. Fortunately for Easy he is a quick thinker and good at adapting. The whole first half of the film he gets messed over by pretty much everybody. Every faction from the PI, gangsters, cops, and independents are trying to scare and beat the fight out of him.

It’s why in the second half it feels good when Easy finally has some leverage. Mind you he never really gets to take it easy in this film. It’s one of those adventures where he has to stay ready at all times because things can change at any moment. He works really well as the lead even if he’s not the most heroic character. The affair with Coretta for example wasn’t a good move no matter how her current relationship was going.

Easy does make his share of mistakes but often times there’s really nothing he can do. He’s in the middle of such a large operation that at times all he can really do is wait for his chance to get in on the action. I do remember there were quite a few times Daphne would run off and I feel like he could have done more to prevent her from escaping.

Considering the title of the movie and that Daphne is wearing a blue dress, you probably don’t want to trust her very much at all either. Of course you can’t trust anyone here. Daphne is an interesting character though and just being in the middle of this already shows that she has a lot of courage. I don’t think very many could stay alive and keep on making moves as easily as she did in this situation.

Joppy was the most annoying character in the film by far though. The guy’s supposed to be one of Easy’s best friends and a little money gets to him real quick. I know he tries to talk his way out of it but when the stakes are this high that doesn’t mean much. Betrayals are nearly impossible to come back from when your life is at risk.

Dewitt makes for a solid villain. I do think he falls for the trap of getting his plan so convoluted that it works against him though. In a way that happens to most of the characters here but that’s where those mind games come back into play. Everyone’s got their own ideas of how to come out on top here. Even the mayor candidates get involved.

The simplest character here is Mouse and that’s also why he is a standout. When he shows up the villains either talk or get blown away. He doesn’t exactly take no for an answer and he’s also not the most patient character. He racks up quite a body count considering how late into the film he’s introduced. Without Mouse Easy would have definitely been doomed. Now that’s a fact and Easy really needs to thank him some more.

All in all it’s definitely a fun thriller though. The movie’s pacing is always good from start to finish and it is a movie where you really have to be paying attention or you will absolutely get lost. It’s also a title where you don’t really get the answers until the end so you can have fun building up the case in your head for most of it. See if you can figure out who is the true mastermind and what’s actually going on here. Props if you can assemble the pieces even before Easy does.

Overall, Devil in a Blue Dress is a pretty good film. The heroine herself doesn’t actually have as big a role as you might have expected though. She is still crucial to the plot of course but definitely more as a plot device than a main character. She is still fast enough to nab a car before Easy can get away though. The film can be rather intense at some points but never really goes over the top. I could easily recommend this to any fans of the noir/thriller genres. It’s a satisfying movie all around and it’s a fairly long one so it definitely doesn’t end too quickly.

Overall 7/10

Anatomy of a Murder Review

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It’s time for a very long courtroom drama. This one definitely has the length of an epic but it allows the movie to really go in depth on every piece of evidence. The movie is based on a book based on a real case but wit the names and everything switched I figured it should still get the full review and score treatment. It is definitely an intense case all the way and should keep your attention all the way through. It’s dealing with some pretty severe subject matter but actually shows enough restraint not to have any of it on screen so I can really appreciate that.

The film starts with Biegler relaxing. Business has been slow but that’s all about to change. He is asked to represent Laura’s husband Manny in a rather big case. Manny murdered someone but he did it to avenge his wife who had been attacked and Sword Art Online’d by another guy. So Manny’s murder was righteous justice. At least that’s the way he sees it. Biegler has to point out that no matter how awful the other person was, this would still be considered pre mediated murder as it didn’t happen immediately. It’s not self defense or anything as the act had already happened after the guy violated Laura. They could try for temporary insanity but it doesn’t seem like that will hold up. Biegler’s going to really have to fight hard to win this case..but should he win it?

There is a whole lot going on here and so one of the themes is really about just looking ahead and doing your job. It’s the toughest part about being a lawyer to be honest as it means you will sometimes need to defend crooks and people that you know are guilty. You can’t let your personal feelings sway your judgment and have to trust in the jury and the courts system to come up with the right verdict. Manny’s no saint by any stretch of the imagination. For starters he is a domestic abuser who is always hitting Laura and the guy gets insanely jealous. He has a full on violent streak which doesn’t help his case at all. If Biegler is able to get him off, then Laura’s life is about to get a lot worse.

Meanwhile for Laura, she continues to live it up at the clubs. She doesn’t act in the way one would be expected to after such a traumatic experience. It could be the way she is coping but as Biegler says, that doesn’t matter right now, they need the good optics. So he tells her to stop looking so beautiful all the time which is a rather difficult demand for her. Throughout the movie everyone keeps commenting on how beautiful she is and she loves flirting nonstop. That’s basically her gimmick and it doesn’t do wonders for Biegler here. After all, she told the group what happened and there was circumstantial evidence to support it but it’s not like anyone else was there and the cleanup crew could find no evidence.

Thing is, they weren’t likely to find evidence since they didn’t show up until the next day. The movie never actually confirms what happened one way or the other as you are meant to come to a decision on this just like the jury. Personally I do think it happened. Going back to the coping part, I think that’s exactly what happened here. She could have froze up and completely broken mentally but instead she tried to just move past this and use her beauty as a weapon. Her history of flirting and going around started even before the event so most likely it is an event that went sideways. She doesn’t intend to change her ways after one bad outing and either way it doesn’t excuse the guy who got murdered in any way. He got what was coming to him and that’s that.

The film acknowledging that optics are important is a realistic move. Most things are about optics which is why PR is so important. Even if the facts haven’t changed, it does make sense that more people will be sympathetic to Laura’s plight if she looks really homely. It’s a huge bias to be sure but one that does track when you take data samples. In a perfect world she should be able to dress and act however she likes without it affecting her case but nobody lives in a perfect world just yet. I am glad that Biegler stayed strong when she was flirting with him though. That would definitely have been a whole mess and someone has to stay professional. She was really goading him on too but he didn’t take the bait. It is a dangerous game because eventually someone might make a move but at least that day was not today.

One thing that’s always tricky here though is when a film is trying to present someone as super beautiful. A lady so gorgeous that every guy falls for her immediately. There are standards of beauty and people who will immediately be found attractive by most but it’s never to this kind of exaggeration. I would have liked at least one character to have not appeared to be interested just to keep it from being this one sided. Like Biegler admitting she wasn’t his type or something. It’s a super mild nitpick though and I suppose anyone reviewing the film who does think she is super beautiful may disagree on that point. It’s just a pretty large generalization but maybe everyone in the area grew up with roughly the same standards and she would meet all of their criteria each time.

I’d say the only weak part of the film is how people in the courtroom couldn’t really stay professional. The fact that talking about underwear in such a serious case would have people laughing was just weird. I know cultural norms change over time but that felt like a bit much. For a case this serious I wouldn’t expect very many smiles to be had at all, let alone full laughter. Based on that I would assume Laura had already lost the whole jury if they weren’t taking this seriously.

The ending was rather unexpected I have to say. I just wasn’t prepared for things to go in that direction but it’s an interesting way to end things. Sort of like the cycle continues and it also makes you rethink how the case ended one last time. This is really a movie that did not end until the very last moment. I don’t see things going well for the two characters who vanished at the end but maybe things will be better this time. Who knows in the end…..

Overall, This was definitely a very intense movie. There are a ton of characters and supporting evidence that show up at different points in the film. Different twists, half truths, and new developments that recontextualize everything before it. You really have to be paying attention at all times or you might miss something. I’d have preferred the case was about a different topic as the gravity of this one does lower replay value to an extent but you will want to watch it at least once to see what was really going on here. It’s super well known for good reason after all. I doubt you will find very many titles that are quite as detailed as this one. Of course whether or not the law would agree with this, I would say Manny made the right move in taking the guy out. Manny was a terrible character overall but you can’t let that guy live after what he did to Laura. That would really have been the wrong move.

Overall 7/10

The Road to El Dorado Review

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The Road to El Dorado is one of those animated films that is fairly fast paced with a lot going on at all times. This really frantic style of animation definitely works really well and it’s important to continue to use it a lot when you’ve got a film that is hand drawn. The reason is, it allows you to show off why it is the best form of animation. You just don’t have quite the same amount of moving parts in another kind of animation style. So here your interest is always captured by what’s happening on screen. I do feel like the film doesn’t keep up with the strongest animated pictures but works well enough as a pretty solid adventure.

We are introduced to the two brothers Miguel and Tulio who are good at scamming people. They just finished another scam operation and got a map to the lost city of El Dorado! They manage to make it to this city of gold and even meet a nice lady named Chel who tags along with them. Some hijinx occur and the village elders believe the two to be gods. This is a solid opportunity for Miguel and Tulio so they really lean into this. They convince the village to stop performing human sacrifices and really start changing all of the old traditions. This does lead the elders to be rather suspicious. Are these two really the gods they claim to be? Miguel and Tulio better start thinking about an exit strategy.

That’s probably their biggest mistake to be honest. If we’re being honest the ruse was never going to last forever. At some point it was going to be discovered and so they should have been ready for it. Unfortunately they really weren’t until it was too late. The most annoying part of the story is when we finally get to the big fight between the main two. I expected it would be over the main heroine initially and in a way it is, but not in the usual sense. Tulio talks about leaving with Chel as just the two of them which hurts Miguel. I thought that whole scene was extremely forced. Why would that even be something you say and why before you have actually left the kingdom. You’re going to need all 3 of you no matter what the end game plan is. So that was definitely very annoying.

It also just felt out of character but that leads to a lot of petty dialogue and disagreements between the two for a while. So for the record, I blame everything on Tulio here, everything after that is basically retaliation. Yes, it was super annoying retaliation but he didn’t start it at least. It seems like the movie needed some way to break the two apart and I am glad that it didn’t become one of those big love triangles. That said, it still could have been done smoother. Plus you have the corrupt priest Tzekel as a villain already so you could have used him to trick the main duo.

Tzekel is one of those villains who almost didn’t go all the way crazy. Basically he just didn’t think the main two were legit (They weren’t) and he felt like they were changing all of the traditions. They probably could have thrown him a bone and he would have been happy to serve. They just didn’t play up to his ego here. You could make the case that he would have gone evil anyway since the guy was always shady but it’s hard to say for sure. Either way the heroes did good in stopping the sacrifices and everything like that.

Chel is a nice heroine. She actually does contribute when the fighting starts and never just runs off to save herself. I can definitely appreciate that quite a bit. You’re not going to see her fainting or panicking. She already has good street, well I suppose jungle smarts about her. Then you have the horse Altivo who is a fun character. His role may not be as big as some of the other horse characters in these animated movies but he still makes a difference when it counts..

As for the main two, Miguel and Tulio are more fun than likable at times. I like their energy and they always have some good banter. They do tend to lose focus at times though. Look they came here for the gold, not for status, women, food, drink, or anything like that. If they just locked in and didn’t get too greedy then this could have been a very short film. Imagine if after their debut they said that they needed a ride out for celestial business? There are a lot of ways they could have tricked the priest and the other characters. Especially in the start when they had no idea what was going on. Obviously the longer you wait, the more you’re in danger.

I don’t really remember the soundtrack to the movie so I want to say none of the tracks really stuck out to me. Nothing bad as far as I remember but I suppose it was more on the generic side. At least the animation was really solid so that covers the bases on the technical stuff. The final boss does start to get into one of those “I’m huge!” areas which is unfortunate but at this point I suppose that’s the case for almost all of the climaxes nowadays. Most writers still think that making a villain huge is automatically a big W and super impressive.

This isn’t an action film first and foremost though so it’s not a really bad thing or anything. We still get a lot of chase scenes and everything. I also liked the sport that they played early on. The rules were pretty fun and there was a lot going on. I wouldn’t have minded seeing more of that only this time without the main characters cheating the whole time. Lets just see what the characters have got even if they lose big time. In a way maybe the film could have stood to have had more scenes of them just hanging out. The storyline is rather straight forward and it’s not like the film is very long. That’s part of why the review is very straight forward too. There’s not a whole lot to really discuss or unpack next to other titles. So I say you lean into that and just have more time with the heroes exploring. Maybe make it a bit longer before they actually bump into anyone so they are just exploring the mysterious island.

Overall, The Road to El Dorado is a pretty fun film. It does end a bit abruptly and I’m not really super thrilled with how it ended but it’s not bad. It just feels more like one character was forced into a decision rather than choosing it himself. It’s a small thing but it does have a big impact if you ask me. Either way if you like the jungle backdrop or in general are just looking forward to a fun film with a lot of banter, you should check this one out. After all how many other films have a setting quite like this one right?

Overall 7/10

A Holiday to Remember Review

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Oh nooooo, it’s a romance film that focuses on a rebound? And we’ve got a love triangle going? This one definitely gets real dramatic and while most of the film is still decent enough, it takes way too long for the characters to make any decent decisions. Additionally, I felt like the main guy was getting gaslit throughout the entire film so that was a bit annoying at times. He has some valid points here.

The movie starts with Carolyn deciding to leave the big city to go back to the small village she grew up in. It’s a humble existence but you know…it was a fun one. Now her daughter Jordy can have a good time here as well. The only problem is that her ex-fiancé is here. Uh oh….this wasn’t part of the plan. Clay is still upset over what happened in their past and so he’s not thrilled to see her but what sucks for that guy is he basically has every job in the village. He’s the cop, handyman, etc. Looks like they’re going to have to try and get along but is there still a flame between them?

Obviously there shouldn’t be since they have been apart for so long and they left on bad terms. Instead of any spark there should just be animosity here. Lets get into exactly why they broke up. Carolyn panicked…and left him at the alter. She just dashed out of town and never even said goodbye to him. Carolyn has a daughter so she already met someone else but I forget what happened there. I’ll assume they just broke up but either way Clay is at best going to be the rebound guy. Things aren’t going great for her economically and now he can help out. Clay should want no part of this.

I think the roughest part is how Clay talks in depth about how upsetting the whole thing was. He was super embarrassed and humiliated in front of the whole town. It’s not something you just forget you know, that’s a huge deal. He must have felt awful for years wondering what he did that was so wrong. Then you want to know the worst part? Nobody is all that sympathetic to him. They say he should get over it, to stop being a wimp, etc. Even Carolyn has that same energy of “That was so long ago tho” and it’s absolutely crazy. Putting so much of the burden on Clay to just move on makes no sense.

So I was not rooting for this romance at all. It never felt like it made a lot of sense or was even a reasonable one. Too much time has passed and Carolyn really lived her life at this rate. It’s too late to turn around now. Then in the village there is also another girl who likes Clay. She’s been dropping tons of hints and making moves on the guy but none of them have been all that effective. She is less than pleased to see that Carolyn is back and of course her fears are completely justified. That said, why continue to pursue a guy who doesn’t actually care about you right? That’s my main problem with the whole thing. I guess you don’t have to stop until you’re rejected but it won’t be the basis of a great relationship. I can definitely guarantee that.

I should mention there is another aspect to the plot. There’s a homeless kid wandering around the village who steals food to survive. He steals from Carolyn but the main heroine has pity on him and decides to let him stay at the house. She intends to adopt him but the village has a strict policy on this. So Carolyn wants Clay to break the rules and gets upset when he doesn’t. This is also rather unfair because it’s not like he created the rules. As always, everyone takes Carolyn’s side and makes Clay feel bad for literally upholding the rules. Cmon now, that’s just not cool. He really didn’t deserve all of the hate here. Sure, the rules may seem harsh but you can’t break them just because you don’t like a rule. How would there be any law and order at that point?

Also I would say Jordy looks pretty bad here. She gets along with the kid well enough but messes him over near the climax by taking the role he wanted. That was a big blow and there wasn’t really a way to come back from that. Ultimately they get along and we have the wholesome ending but this is one minor subplot that we probably didn’t need. There was already plenty of drama among the main characters by this point.

Look, basically what I’m saying here is that Carolyn should have taken way more responsibility for what happened earlier. That wouldn’t have saved the romance plot but it certainly would have helped. It’s also just annoying to see them do the whole “We’re just gonna be friends” and then immediately go further. At this point they’re both adults and they’ve been around each other for a long time so why would they even assume it wouldn’t happen again? Just feels rather cheesy here.

A romance film is only as good as its romance and that’s where this one falters. Aside from that, it’s always hype to have a film that takes place around Christmas. The snow was really fun to see and I liked the sets in general. Everything looked nice and the writing was good when it wasn’t just everyone dunking on Clay the whole time. Poor guy’s own mother never took his side in any of this.

Overall, This in a way feels like one of those classic Hallmark Christmas movies but without the wholesome energy of it. This one feels a bit more jaded and it’s also just a bit more mean spirited. I would have liked if the dynamic could have been more pleasant. Honestly not having them already be each other’s ex would have been a good way to start that off. It’s just hard to recover from that and especially when you give such a tough backstory. Look I’m just gonna say it one last time, I don’t think how you can ever forgive and forget when you’re left at the alter like that. There are plenty of other romance films to check out so check one of those out instead.

Overall 4/10

The Christmas Tree Review

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It’s time for a film about criminal negligence. It’s all well and good to use your money to help the poor and support local orphanages but what’s not cool is being manipulated without your knowledge. That’s exactly what happens here though and some basic checks could have helped to prevent that. The movie has a good story to tell even if it is fairly low budget in just about every department.

The movie starts by introducing us to a corrupt orphanage led by Mavilda. She does her best to make sure the kids are not happy and this way she keeps all of the money to herself. The mayor donates a ton of money into the orphanage from the town every year and is happy to be helping out so much but what he doesn’t realize is that it’s not helping out at all. He’s being played for a Grade A sucker the entire time! Noooooo, but yes that’s what is going on. One day, Judy and her family move into town. Her husband Ray has a new job that is quite far though so they will not be living together. Judy can now have her kids stay at the orphanage and she will work as an assistant.

What about the Christmas tree? Well, the one thing that keeps the kids hopes alive is a big tree that they call Mrs. Hopewell. It is a powerful tree that has withstood the test of time. It’s not one of those mini trees that will succumb to the elements. Unfortunately, Mavilda may be chopping it down just to spite the kids. Can Judy stop this abuse of power or will she be too timid to do anything about it?

The fact of the matter is that Mavilda is a complete villain here. Not one of those half hearted ones or anything like that. She is straight up doing her best to torment the kids at every turn and yet nobody is doing anything about it. That’s definitely the biggest plot point that makes no sense. Someone should have figured out something and that someone is the mayor. Like I said before about negligence, considering all of the money that is being funneled into this operation, he really should have been doing something. The fact that he just takes Mavilda at her word each time is crazy. What happened to full home inspections?

The mayor ends up being one of the worst characters here by default because of this. I don’t actually blame the orphans much because what are a bunch of kids gonna do? Yeah they probably could have lodged some complaints or done things of that nature, but again they are very little kids. I’m not sure it’s right to be putting the burden on them to correct this whole mess. I am going to take a shot at Ray here for a bit. How do you move somewhere brand new and then say you have to leave your wife alone for 6 months. Really? That’s absolutely crazy before you’ve really had a chance to scope the place out. At the very least you need to make sure there aren’t any mean characters who will treat Judy poorly.

Then Judy is more of a timid character which isn’t going to work well. She puts up with a ton of absolute disrespect the entire time. This is where you need to have more self respect. It’s obvious that Mavilda is overstepping her bounds so Judy should have gone straight to the mayor a whole lot sooner. Like when Mavilda canceled the shopping trick, that was an obvious abuse of power since the mayor was just there with the money. I would have liked Judy to have had more agency the whole time.

Instead the kids really have to get the job done. Lily and Pappy work with the other kids to send someone to go get Santa. It’s a smart move I have to admit because Santa is probably the only one who can really stop Mavilda at this rate. He has super powers and a whole army after all. Don’t expect a big action sequence or anything like that but we do have lightning on the way.

All in all, we get a happy ending here and everything but the problems lasted a lot longer than they needed to. It’s important to be able to fight back against the darkness and that’s something these characters had not yet figured out. It’s still crazy to think that Mavilda was wasting this money for so many years on gambling and nobody found out. That’s just nuts and it’s not like she was all alone the whole time either. She was playing with other people and even had a friend who is a thief. So nobody squealed and people would just show up with extra money and there were no questions asked? This whole town needs some work.

The animation is definitely on the rough side here, there’s no getting around that. The characters are often off model and an animation student would probably find over 100 errors by the time they are watching this. It’s clearly not a super professional product so it doesn’t exactly win any awards on this front. On the other hand, the story isn’t the most developed and the writing is only okay so this does fit the rest of the special. These all may sound more like insults than complements but in a way that’s fine. This isn’t trying to become some kind of super deep picture.

It’s just a fun little Christmas story for all ages. It doesn’t have any crude humor or annoying jokes either. The reason I enjoyed it is because it’s just a harmless little film. I would say that the short run time helps the replay value quite a bit. I could watch this special right now and not be bored in the slightest. That’s why it is good, I actually have a good time with it. Just have some snacks and you can joke around with the movie. All of the characters may frustrate you because none of them show any initiative and the villain gets off too easily….but hey you can’t win them all. Better luck next time and at least going forward the orphanage should be considerably better.

Overall, The Christmas Tree is a fun film. I had a good time with it despite the limitations on the budget. In fact, in some ways they sort of help because the film leans into this so hard that it becomes part comedy. I don’t think it was intentional of course but that’s how rough the animation is. You don’t really see very many films like this nowadays. So you should definitely watch it as a relic of its time. It’s got wholesome messages to be read and an actual villain. You are getting the full experience here so there’s no reason to skip out on it. Especially with how short it is. You will be done in no time.

Overall 6/10

Cash on Demand Review

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It’s time for a bank heist film that’s actually handled with no real fights here. The thief is a bit of a gentleman after all who wants to win with his cunning and wits as opposed to his fists. It’s definitely a bold approach of course since a whole number of things can go wrong but this is his plan and he’s sticking to it. We’ll have to see how he fares on this mission.

The film starts by introducing us to Fordyce who runs an incredibly tight ship in his bank. A single mess up is enough for him to really lash out at people. He doesn’t attend the Christmas staff parties or anything of that nature. He does his job and then he heads out. Well, one day he is visited by a senior executive from the insurance agency who wants to make sure that the funds are kept secure. Fordyce wants things to go perfectly so he works with the guy, but it turns out that this Gore fellow is actually a thief. Now that he is inside the bank, he intends to make a clean getaway. He won’t need to even fire a shot. As for Fordyce, he can’t make many moves right now because his family is being held hostage and the villains even got his wife on the phone to prove it. What can this guy do?

I should note that Fordyce is fairly old so fighting is probably out of the question. You already know that he wouldn’t be able to knock the guy out too quickly and additionally, he would need to act quickly because fi the accomplices don’t see Gore go to the window at certain intervals for the hand sign, his family will be gone. Another issue here is that Fordyce has no friends on the job so nobody would notice that he is acting irregularly at all. The day didn’t start out great for him either with how he treated his right hand man Pearson. Yes, things are looking particularly bad for the main character.

The film is rather short as it is barely over an hour so as you can expect the plot details come in fast and hard. This works well for the film because you can’t really have this cat and mouse game going on for too long at this point. Either the guy will get away or the cops will catch him but it’s difficult to have anything in between that. I will give the rest of the staff a good thumbs up here because they did end up calling the cops when they saw that Gore’s name was fake. That was good heads up thinking. They maybe could have also done something to quickly secure him before the cops arrived but I know they were trying to also keep things normal. So all in all it was a good move.

I have to dock some points for Fordyce though. I can’t go into details on this because it involves a twist near the end but he made a huge error and the whole plan falls apart if he doesn’t do this. It involves the whole reason that he is humoring these guys which is that they have hostages. I know things can be tough in the heat of the moment but it was a really bad mistake to make. It could have cost everyone at the bank rather dearly.

I’m giving the police some props to for being very proactive here. They did their jobs and they did them well. They weren’t waiting around to see what the characters were saying, they captured the immediate threat and took it from there. It was one of the better portrayals I’ve seen from them so I definitely appreciated that. Pearson was also good for continuing to do his job despite all of the insults. He was a good second in command.

Finally you definitely have to give Gore props for his performance. The guy was basically involved in a very high stakes gamble on himself. If he made any kind of mistake then he would have been taken down. The guy’s plan could have failed in dozens of ways and yet he didn’t let that scare him from continuing to move forward. That’s what makes him a good villain. He’s also a very charismatic fellow and that’s how he was able to easily ace the human engineering part of the plan. If he was acting shady or crooked from the jump then the plan would have failed immediately from there.

It’s like the scam where someone pretends to be a McDonalds manager to get behind the counter. It’s actually worked several times so these plans do have a real track record of succeeding. That said, it still takes a lot of guts. Also, while Gore was using this as an excuse to mess with them, he did have a point that the bank should have some kind of a true plan. They need better security measures since at the time anyone could walk into the bank and see the manager. That doesn’t make much sense and it is certainly a big liability. At least this experience will help them improve.

Overall, Cash on Demand is a fairly simple film but a fun one. You definitely will have a good time here. The writing is very strong as is common for old time films like this. The character cast is also small so most of the film is really about the banter between them. The actual heist is handled really well and I do applaud the fact that the film was able to handle so much tension without having the villain even fire a shot. It shows just how solid the writing was and while one of the twists may not have been the strongest, it is something that you could find believable in real life as well. So definitely hunt this film down as soon as you can and check it out for a classic bank heist experience!

Overall 7/10

Max Dugan Returns Review

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All right Max Dugan is finally back! Now this is gonna be a real hype sequel, I can feel it! Wait, this is the original film? Pretty odd title I have to admit. The film is fairly solid but the romance is definitely on the unbelievable side and I also think the main characters tend to make the wrong decisions. I know that nobody likes a handout but sometimes you just gotta say thanks, accept the gift and move on.

The movie starts off by introducing us to Nora who is completely exhausted working as a teacher and trying to make ends meet, as well as her son Michael. He isn’t doing very well in Baseball right now. Their day gets worse when someone steals Nora’s car but her police friend Brian lets her borrow his motorcycle. He has had a crush on her for a long while but never has the guts to ask her out. He’s thinking about changing that. Everyone’s lives are thrown upside down though when a man named Max Dugan shows up. He’s Nora’s father who vanished when she was still a kid and so she holds a massive grudge against the guy. He explains that he is dying with a terminal illness so he has no use for money. Nora doesn’t want things to get any more complicated so she allows Max to stay but he can’t tell Michael his true identity. Will the kid figure it out anyway?

I would call this a slice of life film as its core to be honest. Drama could also work but this is a very low key film. Even the drama we do get isn’t about a lot of characters yelling at each other or anything like that. They all tend to handle things rather calmly but at the end of the day Max is officially a criminal so he really needs to tread lightly. If he makes any moves too quickly then he could get arrested which will interfere with trying to make amends with his family.

It’s definitely nice that he wants to be a good person and spread his wealth. He’s certainly got a lot of it after all and at the end of the day you are free to do with your money whatever you want. If he wants to spoil his grandson and his daughter then so be it. Unfortunately this is where the main two can be rather annoying. He gets them all kinds of cool stuff like a new TV, appliances, a car, etc. Now I will say that getting presents from someone you know is a criminal can be dicey but as long as you know the products themselves are good then there is nothing to really worry about right? Also Max did explain the situation and the casino stole the money first. So he’s not really a crook. Legally he is, but it was his money in the first place.

What Nora could have done was instead of bad mouthing the presents and throwing them away, talk with Max so they could coordinate what would be good gift as opposed to him throwing the items all around. At the end of the day this was all to get Celia’s attention and it did work. At that point Max could have switched up his approach a bit. I do think not being able to tell Michael the truth was a bit annoying though and led to some very avoidable problems. Telling him upfront would have been a good idea and Michael was old enough where I don’t think he would end up turning to a life of crime just over it.

Look, being rich is fun. I’m not gonna front on that, everyone says it is not but I guarantee if I ever became rich it would be a blast. There’s just so much you can do with some good money after all and so long as you don’t forget the things that are important, it will only enhance your lives. Because Nora was fighting this every step of the way they didn’t get as much as they could have. I do want to be clear though that Nora doesn’t have to forgive him on account of the lavish presents. You can’t buy love or forgiveness just like that and if it was ever implied that Max was trying this then it would have backfired completely.

It’s why a lot of people don’t like accepting gifts because they feel like this could all just be a trick to make them owe something. I would say for this you just have to be firm. If they didn’t mention anything at first, they can’t suddenly say that you owe them right afterwards. That’s where you would just have to call them out on that. I shamelessly accept gifts when they’re given to me. That’s the whole point of receiving gifts after all right? Max still did need more tact so he didn’t make them the talk of the town but his heart was in the right place.

He’s a good guy and has changed a lot from his older days. At least for Michael it’s nice to meet Max and of course he never got to know the guy from before he changed which helps him out a lot. For Nora, this is at least a big help since she was struggling so much before. Of course the big thing here is really the romance which doesn’t go well for most of the film. Brian really wants to impress Nora but he is just very low confidence and she’s always super busy. I don’t see how he stayed in love with her when she keeps brushing him off.

She’s never mean about it or anything but it’s not like he knows the context. Then with the situation involving Max, he naturally has to bring the guy in which causes more friction. I thought Nora was a bit unreasonable when she was mad at Brian for doing his job. Ultimately of course he would have to go after this guy because Max seems incredibly shady and has way too much money. What else would you expect the guy to do right? So that was annoying the whole time and another reason why I could not get behind the romance. It’s hard to get past all of these issues that they were having. It’ll just be the beginning considering Brian’s line of work. He has to go and stop the villains each time and can’t worry about who they are or hurting anyone’s feelings. I don’t see how their relationship could survive this as they both said some very hurtful things. It’s not so easy to forget that.

There is a random scene in the movie where one of Nora’s students starts cheating and she is eventually caught. It turns out that she wanted to help her cousin because families stick together. It’s a nice story but cheating is still cheating. It’s not exactly the best reason to engage in this so I remember being rather dubious. I think Nora let her off rather easily. You can’t cheat for a reason like that. Everyone has a reason like that if you look hard enough after all. So yeah just don’t cheat is the real lesson.

Overall, Max Dugan Returns is a fun film. In some ways it reminds me a bit of Mary Poppins but it’s definitely still a bit more serious. I liked the themes and who wouldn’t want to have a super rich grandpa like this right? I can already tell you that I would be accepting all of the gifts real quick. Just The romance with Brian is not all that impressive but fortunately the film is able to get past that. At the end of the day the strength here is that the film is fun. The pacing is on point and I enjoyed the characters well enough. It’s just a peaceful kind of story in a small town. Like I said even the drama isn’t super crazy or anything like that. It works as well as you’d imagine. I’d be game for another Max Dugan film at some point.

Overall 7/10

The Man Who Lived Twice Review

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It’s time for a title with an interesting premise. It deals with crimes that took place a long time ago and some incredibly big circumstances that prevent you from just saying that the criminal should be turned in. I’ll hand in my verdict as we go through the movie but I appreciate the dilemma. I would say the whole situation was actually handled rather well so it definitely gets good credit there.

The movie starts off by introducing us to the criminal Slick. As his name would suggest, the guy is fast and always getting out of bad situations. The cops have yet to catch him although they are getting a lot closer now. He has his sidekick Gloves and his girlfriend Peggy stay back and then Slick loses the police by going into a school. There he finds out that there is a way to recover his broken face and along the way he will be transformed into a better person who no longer leads a life of crime. Slick decides to take the deal and it works even better than he ever could have guessed.

Slick is a completely new man with no memory of his past life. He decides to study medicine and after a few years he becomes a full fledged doctor. He quickly gains everyone’s respect for being a man of upstanding character. Slick is a fast learner and his heart’s really into the subject. Unfortunately you can never outrun the ghosts of your past. First his partner Gloves shows up, but fortunately the guy is a super loyal person at heart. He immediately decides to keep the secret of Slick’s old life from the guy and becomes a very reliable chauffeur. Then Peggy shows up and she is the real problem. She wants Slick to go back to his old ways and until he does, she intends to blackmail the guy. It’s a dangerous game that she is playing though because if Slick does go back to his old self…she may be in trouble.

It’s definitely a raw deal for Slick because you’d think the odds of anyone ever finding him is super slim. This was before cameras and all of that after all but that’s just the way that it goes sometimes. Slick was a really solid character in both his good and bad forms so he was a really good main character. As a hero I definitely liked how earnest he is but of course as the villain he could really take charge of a room. In both forms he is written really well and the film definitely had no weaknesses there.

Meanwhile Peggy is a decent side villain but definitely a really short sighted one. She isn’t very smart and doesn’t know when to keep her cards hidden. There are very few advantages to be had in alerting the world about every step that you are going to make. She talks to the cops, Gloves, Slick, etc. She is always talking and this puts her in a really bad spot once everyone start to come together. The ending for her was definitely very avoidable.

I would say that Gloves is definitely the MVP here though. He is a character who is truly loyal through thick and thin. Nothing fazed the guy and he really made the big sacrifice when it counted. I would have liked for him to have had a better ending but it really did show just how far he would go in order to protect his friend. It’s rare to find a true friend like that anywhere so you really have to savor them.

The main heroine in the present is Janet and she’s nice enough. I wouldn’t say her role is huge though or that I remember anything being really unique about her personality. So she fits the role but doesn’t do much beyond that. Then you have the scientist Clifford who is responsible for the change in the first place. Clearly he is a genius for coming up with such a technique and there are seemingly no real side effects. He makes a good pitch for Slick near the end as well.

So in the end, where do I stack up in the case? The court talks about his crimes from years ago and rules on them. First is the debate of memory and on that front, I don’t think it matters. While it sucks to be paying for a crime you don’t remember committing, I would argue that this doesn’t exonerate you from it. For example if you murder someone, then have a really bad fall where you get complete amnesia, you should still go to jail for the crime of murder. So that one’s a non starter for me, memory doesn’t change anything.

The stronger argument you could make here is about the time. Since we’re talking years ago and since then he has been a doctor helping all sorts of patients, then I think it comes down to how severe the crimes were. Anything requiring jail time should still be served out I would say. If we’re talking minor items like fines then I would argue that the good he did as a doctor outweighs the previous crimes. It’s definitely a nuanced debate for sure but that’s how I see it. Either way I was still satisfied with how the movie handled the ending. It was nice enough and Slick really did a lot of good while he was a doctor.

The fact that the whole community was on his side really shows what an upstanding guy he was. I’m sure that victims of any crimes he committed will never forgive him and that’s 100% valid but assuming the technique holds true, he will only continue to help people in the meantime. It would be a waste to have him just rotting away in jail without the ability to help anyone. At least this way he can continue to pay the world back.

Overall, The Man Who Lived Twice is a really fun film. It had a lot of good tension all the way through and I liked the story itself. I’m always mixed about changing someone with a surgery like this but it’s different from mind control or other films where it is forced. The main guy volunteered for it this time so I didn’t have much to say about that. It was his decision to make. So if you are looking for a well written story with a good amount of tension then this is definitely going to be up your alley.

Overall 7/10

Double Impact 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

All right, it’s time for one of those films that has a solid premise but I think the execution was off. It didn’t really play around with the two main characters looking the same as much as I would have liked. They didn’t even get as many big conversations together as you would expect considering what a big revelation this is. The movie makes all of the easy mistakes and ends up being a below average action film. It doesn’t compete with some of the star’s other movies.

The movie starts off with the main character’s parents celebrating a big accomplishment in opening up a tunnel. They are feeling so hype in fact that they tell their bodyguard he can head out as they drive home. This wasn’t a smart plan as they are quickly shot up by the Triad group. The two kids barely survive with the body guard Frank saving one of them and the other is taken to another country. Still, with the parents out of the way, Triad takes over the tunnel and now has the credit for how it is being used.

We cut to the present where Chad leads a very successful dojo along with Frank. It’s been a quiet but fulfilling life. This all changes when Frank lets Chad know about a new business they can run in Hong Kong. Chad is skeptical but his worries quickly vanish when a girl named Danielle starts flirting with him. Chad thinks he has finally won the lottery when he is knocked out by his twin brother Alex. Basically Alex runs a lot of shady operations out here and has become a really solid fighter as well. Chad has more traditional skills as he teaches martial arts but Alex has street skills which work just as well in a pinch. Frank lets them know the truth about what happened to their parents and how they have to stop Triad. Can the two brothers put aside their differences in order to pull this off?

So I’ve got a few issues here but the first is what I mentioned earlier about the brothers not getting nearly as much dialogue with each other as you would have expected. I really feel like this is a gold mine of opportunity with the characters interacting and bonding. Maybe throw in an extended fight scene. Nah, in the end we do get some banter but there isn’t much about them being twins. They could have just been random people brought together and it would be the same effect.

The film also goes the very dicey way of having Danielle fall for Chad. She was originally with Alex but the guy doesn’t even treat her right at all so you can see why she would leave. The big problem is this just doesn’t feel like an organic relationship, I would argue it doesn’t even feel like a positive one in any way. Rebounding with the brother is never a good idea, you don’t go through different family members like that. Chad should have also been ready to break it off. The initial scene with them is one you can’t blame Chad for since he didn’t know, but after that he takes a lot of responsibility here.

We just didn’t need this kind of drama. Alex starts to feel a little bad about himself later on but it’s also really late for that as well. He’s basically a villain after all, just not quite as out there as the Triad group. So he just wasn’t ready for a relationship either way. The whole using the girl to make the two guys fight is just rather cliche though and not one of the better ones. The film could have definitely done better there.

The film also decides to make one of the villains more on the creepy side for no reason. Kara notices that Danielle is being shady when the heroine was spying on the villains. So Kara messes with her a lot and the whole scene definitely goes on for way too long. There isn’t really a point to Kara frisking Danielle to such a degree except as basically a power play and the movie could have handled things a little more classy than that.

The main villains are basically your average thugs so there’s not much to them. Kara had the most personality, just a shame it wasn’t a better one. She’s definitely not the kind of villain that you want to underestimate though. On the heroes side, Frank was a solid character. He did a good job of trying to get the boys back together and had their backs the whole time. He’s a good man who is really trying to do the right thing. He knew how to fight and was experienced with a gun so the guy always came to the situation prepared.

I didn’t really care for either Chad or Alex though. Alex was just too much of a villain for most of this so either way you wouldn’t trust him outside the mission. His treatment of Danielle was an automatic L for the guy. Meanwhile I liked Chad’s confidence but he could definitely be way too much of a flirt and never kept his eye on the mission. When you lose focus as easily as this guy, that means you are definitely not cut out for the big leagues. Even if there was no villain conspiracy going on, I don’t feel like he would have what it takes to launch a big business. It feels like Frank would have to do all of the heavy lifting and I bet that’s the case back home as well. Chad’s just not a very responsible kind of guy.

The fight scenes are solid as you would expect from this star though. The choreography is on point and you really feel the blows. It’s clear that the characters know what they are doing and that really makes a lot of difference. This isn’t just a bunch of amateurs messing around or anything like that. It can always be a bit cheesy to see a guy knocking out a ton of gunmen with his fists though. The gunmen just end up looking completely incompetent because the main characters aren’t exactly quite about this. Still, it can be funny even if that wasn’t the overall intention.

Overall, Double Impact isn’t my favorite film. The fight scenes are good but the story is weak and the main characters are even weaker. There was no point to the scene of Danielle getting searched and that definitely could have been dropped out of the film. If you want to watch a film just for the fights, there are many better option so I would recommend those instead of this one. Double Impact should have focused more on the lost twins angle with a lot of good scenes you could have had there. Instead, it was game over for this one.

Overall 4/10

Elysium 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

Elysium is one of those films that you may think will be okay since it’s sci-fi in nature and takes place in the future. That being said, it ends up feeling more like one of those gritty dystopias that defeats the purpose of the sci-fi angle since most things are fairly low tech. The characters aren’t all that good and some of the plans are even worse. Ultimately this is a film that you can definitely skip and you won’t really be missing much of anything.

The movie starts off by explaining that in the future, the humans messed Earth up as expected so all of the rich moved to a sky country known as Elysium. There they can ignore what is going on and live their lives in peace. Every so often some people will try to sneak over there and get shot out of the sky or captured. Delacourt is the head of security but she is frustrated with how lax the government is being so she makes a deal with the head of corporate known as John. They will stage a coup and take everything over. He will be even richer than he already is and then she will have control. There’s nothing that can stand in their way…nothing except a guy named Max.

Max is a guy who is rather down on his luck right now. He used to be one of the best criminals in the game but he was caught and is trying to live an honest life now. The problem is that all humans are basically slaves on Earth now and everyone continues to mess with him. He finally has enough when he gets stuck inside a server room and nearly burns to death. In fact, he will be dead shortly because of the crazy amounts of radiation. This causes him to go back to his old crime partner Spider. He will help the guy with whatever he wants to do in exchange for a ticket to Elysium. Spider agrees to this but is this a smart move?

Now, right off the bat the film does give Max a whole lot of reasons to do this. We see how his life is completely hopeless right now and it is not going to get any better. Even if Delacourt takes over, she is going to continue the slavery system. Max really just needs to find a way to get into Elysium and live a new life but that’s not very likely either. He actually criticized the whole system early on about how the attempts to break in would always fail so what would be different now? Well, not much but you might as well get shot to death instead of slowly dying by radiation.

The mission doesn’t go great though and now Max has the secrets of the world in his head. He can effectively override everything set up across the planet and Elysium. Here’s where his plan gets really bad although I admit I don’t really know what alternatives there are. Keep in mind that Max is dying any day now either way. His only chance is the medical technology of Elysium but any kind of cure will probably mean rendering him unconscious for a while. You see the dilemma right? The secrets in his head are the only things keeping him alive so he has that as a bargaining chip but he then has to trust the villains at their word when they say they will cure him.

There’s no shot that will work so….yeah this isn’t a great situation to be in. I think Max’s only move right from the start was to shut everything down and start a global panic if that’s what he wanted to do, or let himself get taken to Elysium without being cured. Then he can at least live out his final days in relative comfort in a more beautiful environment. Those are his only calls and ultimately he is forced into a decision by the end but I didn’t think that any of his decisions were all that great. He was in a bad situation but he kept on making it worse like going inside the server room.

It’s easy to Monday Quarterback the situation from the sidelines but that’s just how I see it. I did enjoy Delacourt as the villain quite a bit. She seemed to be someone who was actually rather reasonable and saw the big picture on things. She was harsh and would do whatever she needed to in order to protect the civilians and that’s what you would expect the commander to do. She held onto her post well and that makes for a good villain. She was fighting for her ideals and everything.

John’s only ideals were corporate greed but in a way I can sort of respect that too. He didn’t care about the internal struggle for power or anything like that. He just wanted his money up front and whoever could do that would end up being his ally. It’s a simple motivation but he represents corporate really well. It’s just what they do after all. Kruger was a decent wild card as someone who was hired to do the tough jobs. Obviously he’s not the kind of guy you ever trust but every solid shadow government needs someone off the books to help out when they’re in a pinch. This guy absolutely ends up covering that base.

The fact that the villains still let their guard down around him is absolutely crazy. We also have the main heroine Frey here as another important character. She comes in clutch to help Max on different occasions and was a good person. She helps to add in the emotional punch to the film as more incentive for why Max can’t just give up. If he does, then her daughter is doomed since she is also very sick and of course nobody on Earth ever gets any help. There’s definitely a lot of suffering going on and it’s why this would definitely be considered a failed timeline. The rich won and the poor lost.

The film has a happy ending at least. You imagine it won’t go quite as smoothly as it might appear but at least people have a brief moment to relax and take a break. Ultimately some of the themes in this movie are ones that you could see playing out in real life. Certainly the idea of minimizing benefits as much as possible is a big one and with robots around, you could see them handling a lot of jobs down the line. They can’t be reasoned with and so that will get rather difficult for the humans. Naturally I never see things getting quite as dramatic as they are in this film though.

It would have been nice if the film could have just focused more on the sci-fi. We get a brief fight with Max taking on one of the droids once he has the exo suit but that’s about it. This is definitely not an action film first and foremost. There are a number of shootouts and the film can even get rather violent at times but most of this is more about the journey. Where the film really falters is that most of the characters aren’t likable. Hey it sucks that the humans have to put up with all of this and it’s understandable that most of them would become cruel or jaded as well but it doesn’t make them likable at all. The fact that the villains are more charismatic than the heroes is a bit of a problem for them. Not saying you root for the villains but you can also see how the humans would wreck the setup.

Overall, Elysium could have easily taken place in the past and not much of the story would really change. That’s why it feels like a waste of the futuristic setting. Yes, we do have robots running around and all but most of the environments are still really run down to show how bad Earth has gotten. The premise could have been a lot more interesting. At the end of the day the film just isn’t much fun to watch and that is the golden rule of any movie. Check out a different futuristic movie instead like Star Trek.

Overall 4/10