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That Touch of Mink Review

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It’s time for a classic romantic comedy film. It’s been a little while since I’ve seen one of the Cary Grant/Doris Day combination films and this is a solid one as you’d expect. It’s maybe a tad weaker than the average film because the film tries to be a little more grounded this time. It’s not quite as crazy as you might expect although you can still expect a lot of shenanigans to be occurring. It may not be near the top but at the same time it is quite timeless so you can really watch this at any time and have fun.

The movie starts with Cathy heading to a job interview. It’s been a trying time for her as she has to deal with an annoying clerk to cash in her unemployment checks named Beasley so she really needs things to work out. Unfortunately she ends up getting splashed with a bunch of mud by the rich Roger who is so rich that he doesn’t even stop to help out. Instead he sends his lackey Roger to do the damage control. Roger has watched as time and time again Philip got his way due to a mix of being handsome and rich. Now that he has someone as upset as Cathy at his side, he figures this is the perfect time to watch someone really let Philip have it. So Roger escorts her up but unfortunately it doesn’t end up working out that well.

See, she has a change of heart as everyone else always does and as a result she accepts his offer to go out with her. Now Roger’s plan is foiled and he may have just helped Philip get another win accidentally. With his mind slowly breaking he starts to seek some help from a psychiatrist which kicks off a whole lot of misunderstandings.

Back to Cathy she is a bit unsure of how to proceed. On one hand she does like Philip but she isn’t sure exactly how serious he is. Does he actually want to marry her or is he just trying to pull out some moves so that she will go all the way with him. For Philip he also starts to see Cathy a bit differently than most of the ladies that he has gone out so he starts to have doubts on if he should break the whole thing off. Both of them are just never on the same page which always leads to a lot of drama and issues. Can they make this work?

So at its core this is a classic romance film and you can probably see how that’s going to play out. In the short term what sets this one apart is that both of them want to be together but have doubts on the other one’s intentions so they play it safe. This results in both characters going in a circle a whole lot which drags things out but there are fun scenes with this as well. I appreciated Cathy having a good friend in Connie who was defending her the whole time. Connie has a bit more of a cynical mindset when it comes to these guys but you really can’t blame her. If a rich guy showed up and then 5 minutes later you found out he was going out with your best friend you’d also feel like this is suspiciously fast. It just doesn’t really add up so you would start to think that it’s some kind of a desperate play.

Unfortunately Cathy usually doesn’t listen to Connie’s advice much but at least she tries. Roger is the equivalent for Philip but the guy isn’t quite as selfless as Connie. Honestly for most of the film he’s really just trying to keep Philip and Cathy from being together just to stick it to Philip. He sort of resents being the sidekick all the time and wants to do something about it but isn’t brave enough to do this directly. It’s definitely what holds him back as a character. He’s fun and fulfils the punching bag role rather well but as a character he’s not the kind of friend you would want to have.

Then we have Beasley who is really here just as a tool to try and make Philip jealous. You know that he never stands a chance here and the guy comes off as so desperate and annoying that he’s basically the villain. He really tries to take advantage of his position to get together with Cathy and that tells you all that you need to know about the guy. He’s far from being a class act that’s for sure. I’d have preferred that we got a real rival but that may have muddied the water here a bit. At least this way there’s no rebound but the climax involves tricking him into thinking he has a chance which is a trope I tend to dislike. Cathy should try to get to Philip without having to use anybody.
As for Philip, he is the kind of guy who never seems all that serious about a relationship. He’s certainly been through a whole lot of them over the years after all so why should this one be any different? Of course you’re meant to see that it will be different this time but I would be completely skeptical all the while. It just doesn’t really add up and it’s hard to change so quickly. Of course it’s possible but it’s not something you would typically bet on. He seems like a decent guy otherwise, Philip is just a chronic flirt. He does have the decency to try and break things off with Cathy when he sees that she’s serious about the whole thing at least.

By the end I can’t say I’m fully on board with the romance but at least there weren’t any real rebounds here compared to most films like this. A lot of times the middle act will have the characters going with a rebound to see if they can get over the other but that doesn’t happen here aside from Cathy pretending at one point. The scenes of each character getting super stressed out and breaking into hives was a bit odd but perhaps a creative way of showing how nervous they were. Philip getting sick at the end was a bit cheesy since he doesn’t seem like the type to get nervous at the end with all of his experience. That seemed to just be to even things up even if it didn’t make a lot of sense.

Overall, That Touch of Mink is a fun comedy film. It’s nothing great or world shattering but it gets the job done with that retro style of humor that works well. Things tend to happen quickly and the writing is on point. It’s a pleasant film that doesn’t drag on and even if some of the jokes may not land, most should. It’s a well balanced film and there aren’t any moments that will really leave you shaking your head. At the end of the day you’ll certainly be entertained all the way through and that is the goal of the film. So I’d recommend checking it out and you won’t be disappointed.

Overall 6/10

Mrs. Santa Claus Review

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Santa Claus gets a lot of films so it’s about time that Mrs. Santa Claus gets something too right? This makes for a fun film even if it is a bit uneventful. Santa doesn’t look great here and the kids are annoying but we do get a standout villain that’s actually rather impressive. When you have a villain that can take on the reindeer then you know things are going to get good. There are a few scenes in the film that make you think things are about to get epic but they tend to be false alarms.

The movie starts with Santa ignoring Mrs. Claus as she tries to help him out by making hot chocolate and creating a whole new path across the world. He just can’t be bothered so she figures she’ll travel the world to prove that it works. Unfortunately her reindeer crash and while they are being healed by a doctor she is trapped in New York. Well she figures that at least she can help out with the working conditions for the children and even meets up with a lady named Sadie who is protesting for women’s rights. There is only one man who can stand in Mrs. Claus’s way now and that’s Mr. Tavish. He is the owner of the largest toy company in New York and what he says goes. Can she defeat him?

So what makes Mr. Tavish special is that he can talk back to anyone. When Mrs. Claus tries to make a plan like having the children go on strike or not working hard then he immediately counters by punishing them with not being allowed to leave work early. He’s always one step ahead of her and that’s crazy because usually she is on top of things. There’s even a scene in the climax where he takes over the stables and basically prevented the reindeer from being used. Sure, Rudolph wasn’t around but he still basically stalemated all of them which is quite impressive. Ultimately the powers of friendship were what deterred him but physically nobody was about to stop this guy. That’s why I say that he was real impressive.

Meanwhile Sadie did a good job of petitioning and protesting all by herself for ages until Mrs. Claus showed up. Sadie was determined and wasn’t about to let anyone get in her way. That is absolutely the kind of dedication that you want to see from any character. It was really a credit to her character and she did a good job. It only makes the other characters look bad in how literally nobody was around to support her. You’d think that at least someone else would have taken a risk. Every great movement starts with one person though and Sadie can be proud to say that she was that person this time.

As for Mrs. Claus, I thought she was a solid character. She can be a bit naïve at times as New York takes her by surprise at first. I suppose everyone at the North Pole are rather nice and even tempered so she wasn’t ready for all the big antagonists here. That said, even if it takes her a while to get past this, ultimately she does well. She also gets points for bravery in going on the trip by herself when Santa was too busy with his work. She also couldn’t have predicted that some of the kids would be petty traitors who were too busy looking after themselves to help out with her plans. A lot of times these plans only work when everyone bands together and that was not the case here.

Santa looks bad here though. He seriously could have heard Mrs. Claus out about her plan instead of staying buried in the books. Then apparently he didn’t realize she was missing for several days? No that’s a really bad look for the guy and it was only when the hot chocolate tasted bad that he noticed. I liked when he started walking over to the elf as if to threaten him but sadly that scene wasn’t handled well as he came off as more confused and unsure of himself than threatening. That could have been a really hype scene otherwise but it just wasn’t to be.

This film is also part musical but none of the songs really land. They’re all old but also rather slow paced. A lot of times the songs in non-musical films tend to beat the musical ones and this continues along here as well. I wouldn’t say that any of them are bad or anything like that but they aren’t quite holding their own here. They don’t enhance the film and it has to succeed in spite of them rather than because of them which is a crucial difference. Also we missed an easy lay-up to see Mrs. Santa Claus learn about pizza. I get that she was in a poor area so that might have been tough and maybe pizza wasn’t even around yet in which case I would cut the film some slack but that would have been cool. It’s a staple of New York after all. You would almost forget that the film is in New York considering there aren’t any real landmarks after the Statue of Liberty. I guess that’s how old it is since usually I can recognize it right out of the jump.

Overall, Mrs. Santa Claus is a good movie. I would have liked it to have been a little more daring with lots of iconic moments all the way through though. Maybe have her defeat the villain at the end instead of talking to him or have Santa appear in a rage mode and take the guy down. I could have done without the songs too. It’s not a bad film to watch just since it’s rare to see Mrs. Santa Claus around and there’s nothing really negative to say about the film. It’s short too so it’s over quickly but I would just say that we haven’t yet seen the definitive Mrs. Santa Claus film yet. One day we will get one and we will know it when we see it.

Overall 6/10

An American Christmas Carol Review

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It’s time for an American version of the classic Christmas Carol. My main issue with this one is that it doesn’t really change things up all that much from the classic story so it didn’t take advantage of the different setting. It’s not one of the stronger Christmas Carol adaptions either. It’s decent fun but you’re not going to walk away from this one a changed person. You’ll just want to go watch Scrooged again as the definitive version of the story.

It starts off with Slade having his assistant Thatcher help him with taking back all of the valuables he loaned out. Basically he planned it out just right so he would give things to everyone in town and when they couldn’t pay it back he would get everything back with interest. He basically owns the city now but everyone else is dying in the cold. That night he is visited by a ghost and this would be the beginning of 3 more visits that would haunt him in the nights to come. Are these ghosts real or is he dreaming?

You can guess the entire story from that because the Christmas Carol is a story as old as time. It is following the classic beats here. I suppose they changed up the names but that’s about it. Slade was close to getting engaged/married to one girl but he directly sent her father to the grave by convincing someone to lend money to him instead of her father. Slade also began using very dubious selling techniques to get more money and squeeze the value out of the end user. It was all rather rough but that’s just his style. Now he sees just how much he was hurting everyone and how he has to make things right.

It feels like the movie is pretty much on automatic. He does a 180 real fast by the end and agrees to help out. This Scrooge just didn’t go through as gradual a character arc. Having the actual Christmas Carol be a book within the universe was a questionable choice. It’s cliché but I would have liked him to have said Humbug at least once. It’s a staple at this point. I would also argue that this version of Scrooge as Slade was a lot meaner than the others which made it harder to redeem him.

Put it this way, the average Scrooge is someone who destroys Tiny Tim but does so unknowingly. He fires people for nothing and doesn’t donate to charity but otherwise that’s the extent of it. He’s rich and everyone can’t stand him because he’s a harsh boss and doesn’t help the community. At no point in those stories is he actively taking away people’s furniture and possessions. It is a completely different ballgame here with Slade doing all of that. Because now he is actively harming all of their lives as opposed to doing it passively.

We’re in the middle of a great depression during this film’s timetable with everyone dying out as it is and then he’s taking the piano, chairs, and everything else? They have nothing to sell or barter with now so of course everyone’s dying. This Slade already knew that so it’s less believable for him to have a change of heart when he sees the visions. At least usually the main character isn’t going that far so when he sees the end results of his actions then he is ready to change.

Additionally this Slade doesn’t seem very smart. When we get to the future ghost we see people partying because someone died and they’re all making fun of him. Slade has to ask who died several times even though it’s patently obvious from the start. He just can’t figure it out and it would almost be funny if it wasn’t just odd. Scrooge had to be a slick customer in order to get rich and mess everyone over. He should be able to very quickly deduce that the only person disliked enough for this to happen is himself. We don’t need him to be questioning this at any point.

The rest of the characters are about as you’d expect. This version of Tiny Tim is having a really tough time and is getting sicker and sicker. Thatcher tries to stay upbeat about this while his wife is furious at Slade and wants to take him down. Their daughter tends to panic about what’s going on which is rough since they were trying to play it cool. She was just a little too young to handle it. Then you have the ghosts who are here to take a lot of pot shots at Slade as they show him where he went wrong.

While it would have been a bold approach, I think maybe playing this off as a Scrooge origin story could have been good. In fact I’m surprised nobody’s done that yet. The flashback got me thinking about it because it was a little longer and more detailed than I’m used to. Seeing him rise up the ranks and always be ready to make a deal just got me interested. That would make for a very fun film and it would be completely unique. So that’s a win/win if you ask me. Now I want to see a film like that and you can even keep in the supernatural elements if you want but I don’t think you’d need them.

I’ve been comparing this one to other Christmas Carols a lot but I do want to still point out that this is a good film. True it doesn’t hold its own next to the others but if you look at the movie in isolation then it’s still a good story. It’s got a solid beginning, middle, and ending. The supernatural impact of the ghosts is solid and the writing is good. You should be engaged all the way through the movie and that’s the sign of a successful picture. You won’t get bored or anything like that during the movie.

Overall, An American Christmas Carol is an interesting idea in concept but it just didn’t work out compared to the others. The film to do this angle the best was Scrooged as it really took a deeper look into what a jaded CEO type could really be like. To convert him they really had to put him through the wringer and he was even in near death situations like being shot at. Throwing in some spice like that helps to make the story unique and would also have a more American flavor as opposed to just telling the same story again with brand new names.

Overall 6/10

Tenth Avenue Angel Review

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Overall 6/10

Crossfire Review

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Overall 7/10

The Tomorrow War Review

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Overall 6/10

Noel Review

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Overall 0/10

Maggie’s Christmas Miracle Review

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Overall 7/10

A Magical Christmas Village Review

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Overall 6/10

Space Jam: A New Legacy Review

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Overall 7/10