Tag Archives: Parody

War of the Worlds (2025) Review

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Sometimes you end up watching a film where you wonder what the thought process was. Did anyone think the movie would really be a success or were they just getting the film out as a way to say they did something? Well, this one is really a trip. The writing doesn’t make sense, the plot progression is odd, and the film plays out as a big parody. That said….this is why it actually succeeds. If you watch this as a parody comedy, it’s surprisingly solid with how the characters act so genuine with their odd behavior. You’ll get rather hyped up while watching it. Trust me, this is a film that you won’t be forgetting anytime soon.

The movie begins by introducing us to Will. This guy is a pretty big shot within the Department of Homeland Security. He’s so high up that he can hack into any satellite across the planet and has unrestricted access to people’s phones and computers. He can essentially do anything. One character tries to warn him that the government is always watching and Will powerfully responds that he knows…because he is the government! Will has no regard for people’s privacy and believes that safety comes above all else. No worries though…power won’t corrupt him.

Well, one day the Earth is invaded by aliens and so the government needs Will in order to coordinate a response. They’re going to have to wait though as Will’s top priority is taking care of his two kids. His wife passed away a while back so this is what he has to do. Unfortunately his son is a big conspiracy guy so Will tunes him out and his daughter Faith is always running around and getting into trouble. Will is going to need to use all of his hacking skills to keep her safe but with him being busy…what will America be able to do about all of this?

So like I said this feels like a full parody. For example Will has more power than would be humanly possible here. This film is a conspiracy fan’s best dream because if you did actually have people running around with this level of tech, it would be bad. Then you have the fact that Will is basically blowing people off constantly to help his kids when lives are at stake. Will also takes time to click on every single pop up as news reports keep coming in.

As one point the government asks him for a plan of action and he goes on a 5 minute ramble about how we’re being attacked by aliens from outer space. The sentence is rather redundant but also they already knew that. They wanted to know what to do about it and he basically just says to fight back. Very nice. I do think it’s pretty realistic that some government agents are going to choose family over duty but the film is just so blatant here that it’s hilarious.

You want fake deaths for shock value? One character named Sandra dies around 4-5 times during the movie and always shows up like nothing happened. Nobody tends to even be all that surprised to see her. We get fake death scares for Faith and Dave at different points as well, even one or two for Faith’s boyfriend. The film loves throwing these in all the time along with some scary music to get to you. It may not be subtle, but hey it’s definitely memorable.

Will is basically stuck in the computer room for the whole film so all he really gets to do is look shocked for most of the film. He takes his glasses of and puts them back on at numerous points during the film. Each time makes it even better than the last. Additionally, he does try to leave at one point and has to give up when the doors were locked. That was a fun little suspense scene.

No worries though, we’ve also got a really fun main villain. This guy is as over the top as can be. He talks tough to his bosses about how he’s going to do whatever he wants and then totally gets away with it for ages until the film’s climax. He has absolute confidence and when Will approaches him about this, the guy takes it in stride. He just laughs about how long it took Will to catch on. I like when a villain keeps his composure like that. Sure he’s insane, but he’s not going to just back down on his convictions.

Will definitely is the kind of character who is slow on the uptake though. After the aliens are attacking and things are going crazy, he still refuses to talk to his son Dave. Even once things get crazier and crazier which points to Dave having some valid points, Will doesn’t want to hear it. He’s stubborn to the end. While the end of the movie gives him some character development, it’s also crazy how Will was so readily willing to hack into his family’s devices and completely ignore their need for privacy.

It’s like he just didn’t register that this was a bad thing at all. Meanwhile Faith was okay but not the smartest character considering that they built her up as a genius. She nearly dies by pulling an object out of her leg even though it was already bleeding a lot and in the car she goes on a speech about how Will has no power. Pretty ironic when he remote hacked a Tesla car from his room to save her live and drive her to a security checkpoint. Maybe that speech could have been left for later on.

Initially I thought her boyfriend was going to be useless the whole time because he would never show up to help her when the chips were down. Turns out he is just really slow but once he’s there, the guy does decent enough. His main asset is that the guy works at Amazon so he has a ton of high tech equipment at the ready. Without all of that, the characters would have been doomed. As for Dave, he may have been the best supporting character. For once I can’t even blame him for not telling Will enough because Will seriously wouldn’t let the guy talk at all.

I did like Sandra as well. When she wasn’t constantly dying, she was trying to sound the alert on what was going on but Will would just blow her off the whole time. It’s not like they could have done a whole lot in the span of an hour or so but at least she was trying. Meanwhile the government was mainly helpless without Will. They’d be waiting at the meetings for him to show up and were mainly panicking. It was nice to get some army fight scenes where they were doing well against the Tripods but the aliens are too powerful. They just got a bit overconfident.

The special effects aren’t half bad. The terrible camera work hurts for sure but the actual lasers are good. Make no mistake, the script is definitely better for a comedy than a thriller but at least it’s not terrible either. This is the kind of film you will have fun with. If you think too hard about it, I’m betting you will find some serious plot holes though. It’s just that kind of title. It’s not worried about things like that and is just trying to make for a good time. Ultimately I’m not even all that opposed to such a concept. It makes enough sense to me.

Overall, I’d be up for a sequel to this one. Keep it as cheesy as this one with the heroes fighting off another invasion or something like that. Maybe Will’s development could be learning that things aren’t always ultra black and white. He’s super against the government now to the point where he’s making threats against them but perhaps we’ll see how he actually needs their help in the next film. Would doing another alien invasion film feel redundant? Nahhhhh, I trust this movie to handle it well.

Overall 7/10

Attack of the Killer Tomatoes Review

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As someone who does not like tomatoes I can confirm that one of my greatest fears would definitely be having to go toe to toe with one of them. If these guys bite as strongly as they taste then it would be all over for me. The film does a good job of poking fun at the concept while also getting in some terrifying moments. I would definitely recommend this one.

The film starts off with a lady getting murdered by a tomato. When the cops show up to check out the damage, one of them immediately notices that the “blood” is actually tomato juice. After this point the tomatoes launch an all out assault against humanity. Their numbers are considerable and for the most part the humans are powerless against them. They even have cherry tomatoes on their side. Will the humans be able to mount a proper counter offensive or is it game over for them?

This movie effectively takes shots at a whole lot of different story beats and groups. For starters the government doesn’t look very good here as their so called experts are completely out of their depth the whole time. They have absolutely no idea what they are doing and this only gets more and more evident as the film goes on. Their meeting rooms simply aren’t big enough for them and even their best agents trip up when the going gets the tough. The master of disguise actually made it pretty far but ultimately even he faltered when it counted. Trust me it was not a proud moment for that guy.

You may even end up rooting for the tomatoes here because of their fun sound effect. It’s really hype whenever they show up. The sound in and of itself isn’t creepy or anything but it’s with the context of knowing that the tomatoes are back. They even toy with the humans like at one point where they surround someone’s car and then calmly roll away. He really got off easy that time and they were effectively giving him a warning. The Tomatoes just took it a little too easily that time. If they had been serious then the film would be over.

Naturally the special effects for the film aren’t particularly good. There are a lot of cutaways so we don’t really get to see much of anything. The tomatoes themselves are just ordinary tomatoes for 90% of the screentime. I would have liked to have seen them grinning and running around more but the film didn’t really have the budget for that. The overt cheapness of the film is part of what makes it all fun though. This film is a parody that is really being as silly as possible.

Now of course in any film with a ton of jokes, there will be a bunch that absolutely don’t land. This film is no exception to that. For example you have Lois who is trying to make a name for herself but her skills aren’t all that great. So she gets desperate enough to consider her boss’ advice which was not good from the start. We also get a last second romance and so those scenes were pretty rough the whole time.

Fortunately the good ones easily overshadowed those. For example we also had Clark Kent show up as well as a good Superman gag at one point which was really good. We got the classic “up up and away” moment which was really inspired. There was also a kid and his dog although they didn’t do so well in the fight. The film had plenty of good references and little moments here and there that enhanced the movie.

There was also the whole plot regarding the white house’s chief of communications. The guy gets embarrassed early on during the Q&A and then we actually get some repercussions from that later on. His plan had been unfolding for a while but I’m sure this helped speed it up. The betrayal was really good. The scene had a lot of tension to it and good development. I was almost more invested in this plot than the tomatoes for a minute there.

The movie is fairly short but even then you enjoyment here will be based on how much you enjoy the main gag of the Tomatoes. Will you find it to be too silly or just the right amount of fun and exciting? Everything hinges on that because at the end of the day this is not a serious thriller or anything like that. Technically the body count is rather high and by the end a ton of people are dead but it’s not like the tone is going to reflect that. This is meant to be a really happy film all the way around and it succeeds on that angle.

I tend to enjoy some quality silly humor so this is up my alley. There was even a quick song by the corporate guy helping on PR which was out of nowhere but pretty intense. The singing voice wasn’t half bad and the lyrics are of course the main highlight. This guy showed that you can be great at business and still find time to sing a quick tune. So the quality song helps to make up for a lack of a big soundtrack, although it’s not like I would have expected a grand soundtrack for this film anyway.

Now lets imagine that the film was played seriously for a moment. I think the way you would do it is that the tomatoes move at high speeds. They would keep slamming into people and the sheer concussive force would knock them out. Maybe the main character is a cook so he is able to slice them apart when they show up. You could still have an end of the world plot with ease but the question is how many audiences would take it seriously anyway. And if you know that they wouldn’t, well that’s why you do the parody instead.

Overall, Attack of the Killer Tomatoes is a film that I’ve looked forward to for a long while now and I can definitely say that it lived up to the hype. This is a fun film with an original story. It has a large variety of gags so you are bound to like some of them. From there is just depends on how many you did not like. If it’s a small number then we have a winner. I’ll be curious to see how good the sequels are but it will be hard to beat the original. It’s one of those premises that you probably don’t want to overdo. It’s why I really liked the stinger at the end which showed off the new villains coming up. That has a ton of potential right there.

Overall 7/10

Curse of the Black Widow Review

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This has to be one of the weirdest films I’ve ever seen. The tone is absolutely all over the place, the soundtrack has 0 consistency, the plot is super convoluted with a ton of twists, the main character looks like Vince from WWE, there are tons of crazy facial expressions, we have a surprising amount of world building for no reason, and there is even some sequel bait. This film just could not calm down and while it starts to get a bit tiring by the second half, I just have to appreciate the ambition. I actually think there was a ton of creativity here and a whole lot of possibilities to make this into a great film. It couldn’t quite get there and I have my share of issues but it was better than I was expecting.

So the movie starts off with Mark at the bar having a bunch of drinks when a beautiful lady shows up and asks for one of the men to escort her to the car. Specifically she only wants one of the guys so Mark goes back to his drink wishing that he was selected. He would quickly change his tune though as they hear yelling and when he heads outside, the guy has been murdered and the lady is nowhere to be seen. It turns out that her name is Valerie and now she is a suspect in the murder. Mark is hired by a lady named Leigh who explains that she was the guy’s girlfriend. The police suspect that she is behind this because her excuse of not showing up to meet her boyfriend as planned was one of the flimsiest that we’ve heard. Basically the rain was too hard. Mark decides to take up the case and he’s about to fall into a whole conspiracy of craziness.

Okay so the first thing that will stand out here is the strong soundtrack. You have a lot of really fast paced jingles and the movie is generally going for a very energetic vibe. Things are just popping and it really doesn’t match the scary vibe the movie is going for. Yeah sometimes the film will get a little quiet and it will try to get ominous but by then it’s just way too late. I liked the music though, it may not be all that fitting most of the time but it does liven things up which is always cool.

Then Mark also has a ton of facial expressions all the time with a bunch of zoom ins here and there. He is visibly shocked by just about everything and doesn’t even know the basics about spiders. This guy doesn’t seem like he would be a particularly good detective and I can imagine him getting emotionally involved with all of his clients. He seemed a little too eager to take up Leigh’s offer after all and then later on he starts to get a bit jealous at the dance. He doesn’t strike me as a very upstanding guy and is someone you’d probably be better off avoiding the whole time.

Still, he does have that obnoxious kind of personality that lets him strong arm anyone who gets in his way. He has a lot of connections and even members of the cops are ready to help him. We learn about the women who are able to turn into spiders and have super abilities among other such legends. He is really hard pressed to believe any of it for a good while but finally comes around after the proof is truly undeniable.

I liked the chief of police, Gully. Yeah he doesn’t always make the best decisions and probably keeps the situation a little too tight lipped but what I can respect about him is that he doesn’t back down. Mark can bully most of the side characters along to his whims but not this guy. No sirrrrr, Gully is here for the long haul and gets the final say. That’s the kind of guy you want in charge of the investigation.

Now, another area I have to give the film props in is with the subplot at the house where you have Laura and a kid. This plot randomly showed up near the beginning of the movie and had nothing to do with anything. Then wayyyyy later on it returns and still seems to be out of place. They’re talking about secrets, Leigh is involved, etc. It’s only by the end where we get a machine gun styled swarm of twist after twist. The plots end up converging but it took so long that I actually started to think that the film forgot about it. Yeah that would be crazy but I did start to really consider it.

Honestly, the film would be better off without any of that anyway. It’s the weakest part of the film by far. I preferred to have this mysterious lady going around bumping men off for rejecting her. That’s a much scarier premise than having all the family drama and learning everything about the past. I don’t want to know more about the character, I want to just focus on how to stop her. We have this one guy who easily seduces the lady and every scene with him is absolutely painful. You’re just rooting for someone to transform into a spider and eat him already.

Also the film gets some kudos for having the first guys to actually have some class. It feels like in almost every film, the guy will buckle immediately if a pretty woman so much as talks to him. Doesn’t matter if he’s married or engaged, he just starts blubbering like a fool and cheats immediately. Not the case this time! The first two girls actually turn Valerie down which is why they are absolutely crushed. I appreciated the resolve there. Would have been nice if they could fight too but let me not get greedy. It was just a nice change of pace to see.

Also this is a better vampire film than most vampire titles and that’s even without having any kind of vampire in it. We still had the blood sucking but it was generally not on screen and the way it was handled with the tendrils was way better than biting the neck. Spiders just have a more pleasant way of going about things.

Overall, Curse of the Black Widow is an absolutely wild ride. It’s crazy just how much is going on and it’s all so rapid. Even with that, the second half does drag on a bit with all the exposition and twists. I super did not care about anything that was happening there and wanted to go back to the mystery. That’s what they should have focused on and the movie would have been better off for it. At the end of the day I wouldn’t recommend the film, it made too many mistakes. Still, it was considerably better than I expected and you see so many missed opportunities that it hurts, but you can feel the ambition. The movie took a wide swing and while it missed, it was a fair effort.

Overall 4/10

The Menu 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

It’s time for a film about the dangers of high end restaurants. The premise is certainly fun and I remember really enjoying the trailer. There are parts of the film that do stretch your disbelief to quite a large extent though. I know the film is part comedy but I think it may be more appropriate to call it part parody. When you do that, it makes a bit more sense but regardless I think you’ll have a good time here.

The movie starts with a bunch of people getting ready to go to a super fancy restaurant. Well, by a bunch I mean around 12 or so. It’s a super exclusive event that costs over 100K per person in order to attend. Margot is not really into this high luxury life but her new boyfriend Tyler is paying for the whole event and he lives for fancy cuisine. So she’ll try to make the best of it but it quickly becomes apparent that he originally had invited another girl and she was the backup plan. Not a great way to start their adventure but Margot will still try to have fun. Unfortunately, the meals are small and very unimpressive. Additionally there appears to be something really sinister about this place. Perhaps going to a secluded island in the middle of nowhere with no way out until the boat that arrives the next day was a bad idea with a guy that she doesn’t know super well????

Now I do sympathize with Margot right away because fancy restaurants are definitely not the way to go. What you have to understand is there are tiers to these things. You have fast food shops like McDonalds, Fast casual shops like Chipotle, fast restaurants like Chili’s, and more standard restaurants like Cheesecake Factory. All of these can be good and still will have a lot of traditional options that taste great. When you go one step further to luxury restaurants is when you start to see the absolute worst foods out there. I’ve only gone to a fancy restaurant once, a place called the Manhatta. Let me tell you, it lives up to the hype of why I don’t dine at places like that.

We’re talking about a place with no menu until you arrive. Based on the day, there will only be up to 4 items you can choose from. It’s a combination that brings a side, main course, and dessert. The whole thing is bundled so you can’t break it and you can forget about substitutions. You’ll probably be spending around $50-$70 by the end for a portion of food that is extremely small and that’s assuming you can find anything that you like. They do the whole song and dance of preparing it in front of you and explaining what you’re eating but I’m here to eat not present. So this film does a great job of showing what a luxury restaurant is like and why it’s no fun.

Even in this movie, I did not like a single meal that they serves except for the last one. Pretty much everything here is loaded with seafood and vegetables which is definitely not something I’m all that interested in. It is fun seeing the characters try to convince themselves that t’s good though. The brainwashing is a big part of the fun here. Every character spent tons of money in order to get here and so this has to be good right? They can’t have been absolutely scammed.

At one point they are served a breadless bread bowl and some characters still try to defend it. So the comedy lands pretty well there. Tyler is a bit over the top with how checked out he is as the guy obsesses with the food but I can appreciate what the film was going for there. He’s the most obnoxious character in the film so you’re rooting for him to get taken down the whole time. One of those really fake guys who has on a mask for a long time but ultimately it shatters before when it’s crunch time.

Now we don’t know quite how long he knew Margot, but it’s definitely clear that she didn’t know the real him. As the only one who didn’t grow up super rich, she is sharper than the rest of the characters. I would still say she is a bit slow to act but at least isn’t just sitting in her chair awaiting her own demise the whole time. She has a good ending and in general showed a lot of spunk. Definitely the best character in the movie.

Where you have to suspend a lot of disbelief is with everyone’s inaction the whole time. They all act like NPCs as they just watch things escalate more and more as the body count rises. Surely they should all do something right? In a situation like this, obviously you need to secure a weapon like one of the large butcher knives and try to make a break for the door or just take everyone out. I would say getting outside is most important because then you can at least try and pick everyone off one by one. If you fight them all at once you’re going to lose.

I’d like to say that everyone should team up and overwhelm the villains but the cynical part of me does think at least half of the characters would just be screaming and not actually providing any assistance. So you really do have to assume that you’re completely on your own which does change the dynamic. Still, you gotta do something and anything is better than nothing. I guess part of the idea is that these characters have never really been in a life or death situation before but even so, I like to think the fight or flight mechanics would start to come through. The film being part comedy ultimately saves the whole feature because if this was played completely seriously then I would have some serious problems with this.

As it stands, it’s annoying but doesn’t crush the film. The pacing is good and the whole thing is very interesting. There are quite a few twists and turns as the movie goes on so it’ll keep you guessing all the way through. There are some fun fake outs and of course a lot of moments that are really happening with no fakeouts needed. This ensures that you are always on your toes. The film is also fairly long and gets to really build up to the premise. There is a lot of tension even early on but you have to wait along with the characters to see if it’s just a feeling or not.

While the film is tame for most of its run, it definitely does have some really violent scenes. They stand out as a big contrast which is likely the point so you are shocked along with the characters. So definitely prepare yourself for that, it’s definitely not a film that is just a smooth ride for everyone. There are a lot of bumps along the road here. There is also an element of each character having some kind of a shady secret although playing into the comedic angle a bit, this isn’t balanced at all. Some characters did crazy stuff while others did basically nothing and the main villain just says that’s too bad. He’s rather insane after all so it’s not like this has to make a lot of sense.

Overall, The Menu is a pretty good film. I did like seeing the breakdown of each menu item even if they all sounded pretty bad. The cast of characters are fairly strong. Not that most of them are particularly likable but they all have established characters and personalities early on. The film did a good job of setting them up and allowing the plot to move straight away. It’s a very well made film that really had my attention the whole way through. Maybe it really was the food theme since that’s not something I’ve seen too many films use.

Overall 7/10

Mashle: Magic and Muscles Review

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You know it’s actually a bit weird to think that Mashle only had 18 volumes. For some reason I figured it had around 30 or so. I guess it was shorter than I thought but it’s fine because the series was jam packed with tons of high quality moments. It hit way above its pay grade the whole time and you could even say it embraces the parody angle even more than One Punch Man did. Mash isn’t quite as invincible as Saitama was by any means but for the most part he still scaled above his opponents. This is definitely an excellent series that I absolutely recommend checking out. It’s a series where I recommend checking out the anime a lot as well since it did a great job of elevating the material even further. Yeah you’re definitely in a great position here.

The series starts off by introducing us to Mash who was born without magic for some reason. In this world it is seen as a curse to not have magic. Like you are not loved by the universe and it’s practically a crime to even exist. Fortunately he is adopted by a nice man who vows to keep him safe but the authorities find out about this. Mash must now enter a magic school and become one of the Divine Visionaries. Only by doing this can he keep his father safe and perhaps end this crazy discrimination against the magic-less users. Is he strong enough to pull this off though? Mash will be fighting the absolute cream of the crop, the strongest magic users to ever exist.

While the characters start coming around later on, most of them are unreasonable at first. It’s crazy how many people are basically jealous of Mash the whole time. They are rooting for his downfall and are no shy about it. They want to take him down for the count no matter what it takes. There are a lot of petty people here but I suppose that is almost to be expected at this point because most settings end up being filled with crazy people while the main character has to prove them wrong. Such is the fate of being the main character.

The artwork here is really good, in fact I would go as far as to say that it’s spectacular. The author absolutely nails both the comedic and action parts of the story. That’s what happens when you have a top tier artist like this at the ready. It holds its own with the upper echelon of Jump titles here. The fights are incredibly satisfying. It’s channeling the energy of the older Jump titles like Kenshin where you had everyone fighting the final boss one by one. They would all go down and then the next fighter would make a move. The fights are easy to follow while the abilities remain very creative and colorful the whole time.

I’d also say the pacing is good. Every chapter has something going for it. Again that could vary between a really hype action scene occurring or maybe it’s a really good gag. Either way the story never just pauses in the middle to leave you hanging. You can be reassured about that. Also while a lot of stories tend to have endings that aren’t all that great, I thought the ending here was pretty fun. It worked well with the themes of the series as being sort of serious if you zoom into the themes but comedic on its face. It’s definitely a fun way to do this.

There’s definitely quite a few arcs in this. The first main part of the story involves getting the stars needed to enter the big tournament coming up to set the stage for the visionaries. This pits Mash up against some steep competition like Dot and Lance at least they were tough back in the day as well as a whole cult group. He has to make sure not to lose himself during these battles either. If he lets his guard down too soon then it’ll all be over for him. Fortunately he’s not the kind of guy to stress about anything. He just eats some cream puffs and gets to work. Definitely one of the bravest fighters out there without a doubt and it helps to have the level of ability that he has. One punch is enough to usually win the day. Quite a few of the characters become main characters by this point and join the good side so a lot happens in the intro.

You may expect that the series gets more and more intense with stronger villains that it would get a lot more serious but that isn’t really the case. Right up through the end the series is still managing a really good balance between comedy and action which is definitely impressive. Most titles would not stand a chance at that or it would feel very weird with the tone but that’s never a problem here. That just shows how good Mash is. The Divine Visionary exams take up a very large part of the series so hopefully you like them but I don’t have many doubts about that.

Mashle does a great job of keeping every challenge fresh and it’s always a lot of fun. Then we jump into the big climax against Innocent Zero and his forces. Like I said before the climax is really great. We’re talking nonstop fights here with a lot of great appearances from everyone involved. Everyone has a part to play and they complete their roles flawlessly. Whether it’s a supporting character who has been around since chapter 1 or a very recent villain, everyone does something here. The whole montage of fighters is really impressive to be sure. One of the best climaxes I’ve read in a while. It makes full use of how many characters have been introduced and fleshed out over the years as well as the increasing power levels here.

At most you could say that it does highlight some power level issues in general though. For example, it feels like there should be no way that half of these characters can survive a single hit from Innocent Zero. At this point the amount of power we’re talking about it crazy after all. You’d expect that Mash himself would murder say Dot or Lance with a single hit if he’s serious and this guy is leagues stronger than Mash. So there may be a little plot armor occurring at different points here that you will have to try and ignore. This is something that happens to any series once the power levels are high enough though so it’s not like it’s a shock. It’s just the way that the ball bounces.

Now lets talk about the characters a bit. First up is Mash who is a very solid main character. He may not take things seriously all the time but he can fight well and ultimately wants to do his pops proud. He has his deep moments when avenging a friend where we see that he notices more than he lets on. So all in all he is definitely the guy you want to have on your side. I would say he balances out the serious and comedic parts of his personality really well. He ends up being funny without being annoying so there really aren’t any big downsides to his character.

Then you have Finn who is one of those really scared characters. For the most part he is not ready to deal with the big threats but eventually gets his man up moment. So naturally you know that I don’t really care for the character too much. I always appreciate it when he steps up as needed but that’s too little and too late to really bump him up the ranks for me. I would need to see that done on a consistent basis.

A better example of a flawed character who is still rather solid is Dot. Dot falls for all the traps and his weakness to girls is a really big one. At the same time he can still fight rather well and always talks tough. So he can actually back himself up and continues to get stronger as the series goes on. He may not be one of the strongest fighters out there but he is a consistent ally who always does his best and he is entertaining. So I give him a thumbs up there.

Lance is an even better fighter. This guy is the genius of the main characters and so he was able to master his craft at an early age. There are very few other fighters who could have managed that. His fighting style is also very direct. He plunges you into the ground with his gravity which is an ability that is really hard to block or dodge. You just have to be even stronger so that the gravity doesn’t affect you. The guy’s main quirk is a bit much so that can hold him back but otherwise he’s solid.

Lemon is the main heroine in a way but she gets a really small role next to her competitors. You can go through just about the whole series and only find a rare handful of moments where she really got something to do. She’s a super minor character all the way around and wasn’t that interesting. Wahlberg may not do much for a large chunk of the series but he is at least rather cool. I don’t think that he’s a great headmaster since he tends to take his time making the right choices. He will ask the other students for their input a little too much and tends to be rather passive. However, I can forgive just about all of this for one big reason, he is strong. At the end of the day, that helps a character overcome many obstacles. So by the end I would say that he was rather solid.

Rayne is one of the first divine visionaries to appear and get to fight. The one catch with that is he doesn’t get as much time to be mysterious and get a lot of hype. Still, his abilities are the real deal and I like him. He’s not quite as much of a stickler about the rules as some of the other characters which I can appreciate. He doesn’t lose sight of the forest for the trees while other characters lose sight of that immediately! My favorite visionary is easily Ryoh though. He’s the light visionary who is really cool and confident in his own abilities. He may brag a lot but that is rather deserved when you consider how strong he is. Why wouldn’t he brag right?

He gets some really good fights in the series as well an left a big impact. His screen time relative to some of the other characters may have been small but he was still a lot of fun. Tom is another fun character who doesn’t appear much. He wants Mash to join in the sports events and it’s easy to see why since Mash is a super athletic star. At the same time, this guy can’t fight so he is written out real quick. Definitely don’t expect much out of him.

Margarette is one of the big antagonists early on and is definitely powerful. I actually forget how close the fight with Mash was. The ability to use sound waves and then shape them into various objects is really impressive. Margarette leaves quite the impression even if I am not a big fan of the character. Carpaccio is someone who has even less of an impression. Cool character and definitely a lot of fun abilities but a very small role. One of those characters who really existed for Mash to beat up but otherwise didn’t have much to do.

Innocent Zero is easily one of the biggest villains in the series. It’s not surprising as he is introduced as the big bad fairly early into the series. His abilities are the real deal and they get more impressive as the climax hits. He’s a really solid villain. Although I feel like I tend to remember him more for his super powerful abilities than as a character. That’s the kind of figure that he is. You’re not thinking about a grand origin story and super ambitious goals but more of a classic final boss kind of figure. It works well enough with him though and he leaves more of an impact than most of the others.

An exception to this is Doom though. He’s the best villain in the series by far. The guy’s another crazy strong fighter but he has a good honor code and is also just a lot more interesting. His fight with Mash felt more personal and his impact on the story was bigger. He was the true benchmark for Mash to compare himself with and serves as the last main opponent before the final boss. Doom got to fight quite a few opponents during the series and always dominated in his matches. Yeah that guy was awesome.

By the end of the series we even get to see the god of the world show up which was certainly interesting. It was another chance for Mashle to showcase its unique form of humor and it felt like something out of One Punch Man. I wouldn’t be shocked if that series pulls off something similar at some point but in the meantime this is really a Mashle exclusive. The god here is fairly powerful to be sure, probably one of the strongest but he’s no Mash. Okay now lets circle back and look at some more of the characters.

Abel is one of the first big villains and he was a whole lot of fun. The guy’s role has aged well and he just makes for a very imposing figure. The series goes into the redemption arcs without too much thought into them which is fitting for a light hearted title. So you may be a bit dubious on everyone being cool with Abel but it is what it is. He’s a solid villain through and through. I also liked his right hand man Abyss a whole lot. That guy is super loyal and he was also a terrific fighter. He really gave Mash a tough run for his money during their initial encounter. I always value loyalty in a character.

They had a number of other fighters on their squad who showed up but for the most part they were all written out after they were dispatched. Back to the visionaries, Orter is another strong member but definitely the most fixated on the rules to becoming a borderline villain. The fact that he is always so eager to execute Mash reflects real poorly on him. Here’s the problem, Mash at the end of the day is someone who is actively working to fight the villains. So taking him down doesn’t help at all except to restore the status quo. It’s my big problem with a character like this who completely loses perspective. So he’s okay as a villain but I wouldn’t acknowledge him as a hero.

Kaldo is a lot more interesting. He doesn’t necessarily approve of Mash in any way but he gives him some advice. Kaldo recognizes the benefit in having another strong fighter on board which immediately makes him a whole lot more interesting. I also like the sword that he uses. I wish he could have appeared a little earlier on so that he could get more fights but he still made the most of his screen time.

Brad is one of those bullies who quickly turned over a new leaf and it’s a good thing that he did or Mash would have really gave him some trouble. He ends up being a reasonably entertaining character in the background but he definitely never gets much of a serious role. Same goes for Regro who did a good job of raising Mash but after that he is really written out. There just isn’t anything for him to really do at that point.

Not all of the visionaries get a ton to do though so I’ll go through a few of these quickly. Renatus is one of those guys who is rather tough with a psychotic streak. He’s definitely interesting but I would have liked to have seen more of him. I can’t say that I liked Agito at all. The guy definitely doesn’t stack up with the others and his being quirky doesn’t end up really being a positive.

I can’t say I remember Sophina or Tsuara much at all to be honest even after refreshing myself on the wiki. So I’m going to list that as a demerit. If I don’t remember you very well then that means there is clearly a big problem here. It’s a shame but that’s just how it goes sometimes.

Meliadoul is an interesting character. She shows up really late to the whole thing but gets a solid role near the end. She’s actually rather tough and I admire her fiery resolve. She is the opposite of Ochoa who is one of the worst characters in the series. Right up through the end he proves himself to not be trustworthy at all and someone who will seek his own safety first. There’s definitely no room for a character like that in these ranks and I wish he could have been more likable. He was good for some of the gags but gets a thumbs down.

Cell War is a fairly cool villain and I definitely like the name. His spikes are hard to dodge and so he is a very powerful fighter all the way through. He’s rather twisted and evil but without overplaying that card. Everything about him is really memorable so you aren’t likely to forget about him anytime soon. Domina was another one of the more impressive villains. His water skills were really good and even by the end of the series he is one of the most powerful members. He is one of those guys where you might not buy into the redemption arc all that much though. You have to suspend a little disbelief there but it was definitely satisfying seeing him show up in the climax so that was cool.

Charles doesn’t quite have the same energy behind him. He’s also rather strong but not as impressive as the last few. I did like Levis a lot though. He’s another villain who is more on the crazy side and fights hard. His ending may not make him look super impressive but for the most part you can count on a tough fight from this guy. Famin is super strong and one of the more twisted villains. It seems like the clown/jester villains always have a bit of an edge to them right? Don’t let this guy’s quirkiness fool you, he’s as deadly as they come and really leaves an impact.

Epidem has one of the most memorable scenes later on because how much of a sucker he proves the heroes to be. The main thing to remember is that if a villain offers you food, you probably shouldn’t take it. That’s like the first lesson everyone learns right? Well, you would think that was the case at least. So his entire fight was really fun. Delisaster is another villain I’m drawing more of a blank on but the design is really solid. It’ll be fun to see all of these villains animated at some point. There are just so many great fights to be had.

Mashle is a series that has tremendous amounts of replay value though. There are so many great fights to be found throughout all of the arcs and like I said the humor is also really good. It takes you back to a nostalgic time in Shonen Jump and it really always keeps a good balance between action and humor. I’d have been cool for the series to have kept on going for a long time. This could have been the next Naruto in terms of impact.

Overall, Mashle is an absolutely elite title. One of the all time greats and definitely a story that you need to read. It’s not every day that we get another big action Shonen like this so you need to check it out right away. The character cast is fun and there are so many fun little references and easter eggs here. The world is really well fleshed out and so you are absolutely engaged in everything that is going on from start to finish. Also if you like cream puffs, this series will likely help you take that to the next level!

Overall 9/10

The 30 Foot Bride of Candy Rock Review

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It’s time for a parody of a film that I wasn’t a big fan of. Fortunately this one blows the original out of the water. I’m not going to say that it’s a great film or anything but it’s fun enough and worth a few laughs. Ultimately I would say that it is solid and a film that you don’t want to forget because of how absurd the whole thing is.

The film starts off by introducing us to Rossiter who is running for governor. This guy knows that he is the best man for the job and is eager to do whatever it takes to win. The only real obstacle in his path is the garbage disposal man, Artie. Artie is someone who has resisted Rossiter’s total ownership of the town. This man owns all of the businesses except for Artie’s. The worst part is that his niece Emmy is dating Artie which Rossiter fears will lower his own social reputation. Well Artie manages along just fine until Emmy grows huge one day. Now her appetite is fierce and she desperately needs to consume more and more calories. Can he really handle her at this point or is it game over for Artie?

Artie is one of those guys who isn’t very smart and so he rarely notices when someone’s insulting him. He tends to be getting dominated throughout the film with a variety of insults but at least his spirits never go low because he takes it all in stride. The guy is really carefree in a lot of ways and that’s nice because it really means that he can always make a comeback. Through misunderstandings and absurd events going on he manages to usually get some victories too like Rossiter allowing him to marry Emmy.

Artie’s ultimately not one of the most likable characters though because of this. Not being very smart tends to hurt when it’s to an exaggerated degree. He did somehow create a robot capable of moving through time and space while bending reality though so he does have some skills. It does lead to a fairly interesting climax with a lot going on though. If you thought the first half was crazy, well the second half definitely escalates this quite a bit. Trust me the film was not holding back at all.

Emmy doesn’t look as good here though because she tends to be unreasonable once she’s a giant. Now you could say that a side effect of turning giant is that it’s destroying her reasoning skills and that’s certainly possible but I’m not sure that I’m giving her that out yet. The film doesn’t really go into that and so in the end it can make her look a little petty. She causes a ton of collateral damage when throwing the trees around and ultimately takes her vengeance a little too far. Honestly people could have died after all of the rampaging. Also the town did pretty well to get her the jumbo food and drink considering that this was a situation nobody had seen before.

Finally I did enjoy Rossiter’s character quite a bit. Yeah the guy’s as selfish and uncaring as can be but that’s part of his charm. He’s the guy who would run you over to save 50 cents if he needed too. All he cares about is himself and he’s not afraid to flaunt that. He has a ton of close calls while on camera but always manages to play them off which shows how resourceful he is. I actually think he could do a pretty good job all things considered. Yeah he’s not someone you could ever trust because of how two faced he is, but by all accounts he’s run the town really well.

Throughout the film everyone seems really happy and they all get along. So wouldn’t you say that Rossiter should take most of the credit for that since he owns every business? He also seems to get along with just about everyone aside from the main character which is pretty impressive. This guy has good people skills to be sure and the film establishes him well. Considering the short runtime each character has a very well defined personality right out of the gate.

The writing is really solid and the humor is on point here. Of course you really need to enjoy this humor style. I’d still consider it slapstick even if the main guy isn’t getting knocked around too much because he does get grabbed a few times. You just know he would have been slugged if there weren’t witnesses around. He definitely needs to be careful because Rossiter is not the kind of guy who will give up. You easily could have done sequels to this movie if all of the actors had still been around because there’s a whole lot of potential around the setup.

The best gag was probably when the machine started explaining how the wedding would have to wait and then it went farther to start yelling that there would be no wedding. Of course it was just another glitch but the timing was just perfect for trolling the main two. It’s clear that the robot still has a lot of errors to iron out but at least it come through when it counts. You can’t really ask for much more than that.

Overall, This is a fun film like I said before. I don’t think you’ll find it super memorable so eventually this will fade away but it’s short and never drags on. The characters have some nice back and forth banter the whole time as well which is always good. The writing did a good job here and so mixing that in with the effective humor makes the film a winner as well. It’s probably a rare case of a good film that would have been worse if it was too long because then it would drag on but that doesn’t happen here. A good movie knows when to end and I did enjoy the final scene here as a nice gag to end things off.

Overall 6/10

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies Review

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Time for some zombies to take the stage here. I saw the original Pride and Prejudice a while back and needless to say it wasn’t really my thing. I’m not big on zombie movies either but would they help to spice things up? In a way they did because the original movie was really boring while this one is at least tolerable the whole time. It really makes a big difference being able to at least have some fight scenes to follow. It still has some serious issues to be sure but being boring is not one of them.

The movie starts off quietly enough with the Bennett sisters talking about nothing much and getting ready for a party but the film quickly shows us how the situation is not as it appears. When nearby zombies show up, the girls suit up and destroy them all. See, Zombies are actually a relatively normal occurrence in this world and so everyone needs to train in order to defeat them. Elizabeth in particular believes that knowing how to fight is much more important than studying to be a lady although this is not a view that many agree with. In fact you could say that most do not agree with her which has put her in a bit of a tough spot.

We’re then introduced to Darcy who is a bit of a ruffian, not the nicest chap in the woods that’s for sure. The reason for this is that he’s always ready to strike out against tons of zombies and things of that nature to the point where he just doesn’t see the point in parties and such. Naturally the main romance for the film is between him and Elizabeth who do actually agree in this approach to a large extent but misunderstandings and poorly framing their words often result in a ton of friction. Darcy is also put in the awkward spot of having to suspect one of Elizabeth’s sisters of being about to turn into a zombie which Elizabeth doesn’t appreciate.

I should note here that Darcy’s worries are completely warranted so it’s really Elizabeth who doesn’t handle things well here. Yes it’s a personal matter obviously but one zombie can end up creating a bunch of other zombie sand that is exactly why you have to be really careful here. If you’re not careful then that is game over, as simple as that. Most characters here are not careful which is how the zombies keep on spreading.

The best part of the film is really just how nonchalant the characters are about the situation though. To them it’s just not that weird since they’ve always grown up knowing zombies were around and it’s a pretty fun way to pitch the movie. I’m glad we can skip the parts of everyone being shocked to see one and fumbling as they wonder what to do. By having experienced fighters be the main characters it makes the journey more fun.

That said, there is one scene that does not work for this reason. One of the sisters was walking by her lonesome when a zombie appears. It’s that of an older lady so it’s tragic but she is extremely, extremeeeeeeely slow and starts walking towards the heroine. The girl freaks out….and so the zombie managed to get to her which starts the drama. How did this happen? We cut away from the scene fairly quick but it just makes no sense. You should never get hit by a zombie unless it’s a sneak attack or you just broke your leg. A trained fighter getting that startled? I don’t think so.

The fight scenes can be pretty fun with the choreography but since they’re fighting zombies there are a lot of body parts flying around and it can be a bit gross at times. It’s more like monster blood than human blood so it’s not quite as intense as the average vampire film but it can be overdone a little at times. It succeeds more than it fails though. The film also has a pretty hype cliffhanger. You definitely feel like no sequel is coming because there is no possible way the heroes should be able to get past the cliffhanger. Seriously that should be 100% impossible, you’d need to call in Alice from Resident Evil or someone like that to stand a chance. Otherwise you’re really just out of luck.

So the humor is good and the fights can be fun. A much weaker aspect are the characters though and that’s mainly because there are just too many. You’ll be mixing most of the sisters up very quickly because they tend to have the same personality outside of Elizabeth. I had that issue in the first film as well. Most of the gentlemen here seem really fake and the cousin who shows up is extremely annoying. Elizabeth’s mother is way too overdone with how she wants them all to get married to the point where she isn’t subtle about it and ironically hurts their marriage stocks right out of the gate. There aren’t very many characters to root for here at all. When one guy shows up who seems noble, you just don’t believe him for a second. Lets just say the movie has one of the most obvious twists I’ve seen in a while.

Overall, I would say the zombies try their best to make the film more interesting and fun. They succeed to a degree however I still couldn’t say that this is a particularly good film. You would just need better characters for that all around and this film wasn’t able to provide that. I would like to keep this tone for more films like this where you grab an old book and add something supernatural. Seriously there’s a lot of potential here but maybe start with a better base material than Pride and Prejudice. The Magic Treehouse for example could be decent although the kids could ruin it so maybe the safest bet would be Sherlock Holmes: Attack of the Aliens! Something like that would be awesome.

Overall 5/10

The X from Outer Space Review

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It’s time for a classic Kaiju film from way back in the day. I do have to admit that I was not very familiar with it but hey that happens. After watching it, it definitely does deliver on the Kaiju action but the human plot is particularly weak even compared to normal. You really don’t care about these guys and the random love triangle going on. It takes forever for Guilala to appear but once the monster does show up then things start to get real interesting. Get ready for a lot of buildings to be destroyed!

So the movie starts with a space crew heading off into space. Unfortunately their doctor gets sick so he has to be replaced with another one who is really not happy about being up here and makes this clear from the jump. Previous expeditions continue to disappear with all of the crew members dying but it’s unknown why that is happening. Well it turns out that there is some kind of tractor beam and an odd sponge/spore type object here. The heroes end up bringing this back to Earth and unfortunately it ends up being a massively powerful Kaiju that is determined to destroy the planet. They must find a way to reverse these effects or its all over!

While I mention Guilala in the summary that is still fairly deep into the film even though I mention it now. I like the deign a lot and Guilala seems to have a lot of powers but they are too much for the budget. For example at one point he starts glowing blue as if this guy thinks he’s Godzilla but then nothing happens. I do like the reaction times of plucking jets out of the sky even if they shouldn’t have been so low to begin with. Don’t underestimate the power of a Kaiju after all. Guilala is definitely the highlight of the film though.

Back to the humans though, so we have the weak romance going on. Sano is a guy in high demand as the local correspondent from Earth is in love with him as well as a new astronaut who is on the mission. It seems like Sano and the first girl are semi official but it’s hard to really know this for sure. She has a picture of him on her desk after all but it could just be her being possessive. During the first call to Earth the new girl makes sure to be extra clingy with Sano so the first girl quickly gets an attitude and gives off the silent treatment.

It all feels a bit unreasonable because Sano was actually doing really well on the ship. He refused the second girl’s offer to dance and basically dodged all of her flirting attempts. I don’t see how he could have handled it any better short of constantly talking about how he was in love with the first girl which would have been a bit tacky. Ultimately the astronaut gets the hint and near the end of the film it’s played off as a really sad moment. Look romance can be tragic, the person you like won’t always like you back but you just gotta buckle up and keep it moving. Don’t be desperate, don’t try too hard, and just move on.

All that being said, Sano is the only one who came out of this looking good. The second girl was moving way too fast and the first one was just way too insecure. She never actually made a move to talk to Sano about this or discuss rationally. Instead she just became super upset for no reason. If she is going to fly off the handle that much when any girl talks to Sano then I suspect this will be a pretty rough romance going forward.

As for the doctor who didn’t want to be on the mission, I think the idea of the character is good. I’d like to see this guy complaining constantly and bringing everyone down but his role is rather minimal so he doesn’t end up actually doing a lot. His role could and should have been a whole lot bigger. I guess he had the one moment where he cracked and ran for the controls at least….it’ll have to do.

Meanwhile the sense of distance was a bit odd here. So the whole mission is super dangerous and stuff because you have to go deep into space where people keep vanishing right? Well at one point they run out of fuel…so the main heroine flies in from the base with the extra fuel. She gets there in a matter of minutes but we could say it was hours in real time. Either way it seems like it was absolutely trivial to get to where the main characters were in space so how does that make any sense? It’s just a bit odd if you ask me.

The whole film I wouldn’t say is thought out all that well which is why the Kaiju is what is saving it the whole time. Without the Kaiju this film would have just ended up being boring. At least this way there was something to keep you engaged even if there could be some recycled animation at times. There wasn’t a whole lot of monster footage but it was a decent start. The effects of the Kaiju deforming were pretty good at least.

Overall, Creature X isn’t nearly as good as it could have been but I would still say it was fun enough. I had a good time watching the film even if I was taking shots the whole time. It’s an easy film to poke fun at for all of the missed opportunities and such. At the same time the Kaiju is still cool and while the characters aren’t good, the film avoids making any big mistakes. It’s short enough where even the poor pacing of the first half won’t hurt the replay value too much. I could watch this one again even if there is not much point as long as the main Godzilla films exist which absolutely crush this one.

Overall 6/10

Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man Review

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All right we’re back to the Abbott and Costello adventures! What trouble will these two get into this time? Well we’ve got some actual boxing on the docket in addition to the usual slapstick comedy and it makes for a good mix. We’re still not quite up to the level of the film with the Werewolf but this does beat the Mummy film so in the end you would have to count that as an absolute win!

The film opens with Bud and Lou graduating from detective school so they can be official PIs. You may wonder how Lou actually made it and it turns out that Bud actually paid off the teacher! The brilliance of the gag is you can take this at straight value or assume Bud was taking a shot. I prefer the former but both work pretty well. They get a first client right away, a boxer who is on the run for attempted murder. This boxer isn’t just anyone though…he is the new Invisible Man!!

You can probably guess how his being invisible is going to mess with Lou a whole lot. Lou gets framed constantly and is the butt of every joke because he can’t properly explain himself. It means that things keep on going from bad to worse for him. Poor guy is what you might think right? I’d usually feel bad for him but he’s just a bit too desperate all the time and the film has a final gag at the very end which destroys his character. Lets just say that he’s the type of guy who would abuse his power immediately so whenever he is on the losing side or getting defeated by everyone…I’m actually kind of glad now. Seriously there’s no coming back from that.

A big chunk of the film involves boxing. Basically the way the boxer was framed was by an underground circuit of mafia members betting on the games. This guy refused to take a dive and so they murdered the trainer and pinned it on this guy. At least that’s what the Invisible Man says. Bud basically couldn’t care and doesn’t believe him so he tries to betray the Invisible Man many times and keeps on getting into hot water. Honestly he’s lucky that the guy didn’t bump him off after a while. Lou usually ends up taking some punishment too despite not being on board with betraying him.

To an extent you can get why the Invisible Man would not be trustworthy though. He makes a whole speech about how he could use this power for evil and has a super evil laugh the whole time. The guy seemed to be cracking immediately and we already knew that the serum had some side effects. It’s almost a bit hard to root for the guy at some points because he’s also not very smart. He talks and moves food around when other people are around which nearly outs him.

This is a comedy of course so you expect some stuff like that but I’m still going to be taking shots at the guy anyway. At the end of the day he’s the one performing the actions so of course he has to be blasted for that. The Invisible Man wasn’t quick on the uptake and you expect that form someone like Lou. Lou really looks bad here but that’s to be expected. He barely moves to play along during the fights at times and it nearly costs him big.

Bud is pretty fun in that he’s great as bluffing and reading the situation. It doesn’t always work out well for him but I appreciate the attempt. Like when he stood up to the opposing boxer who was trying to intimidate Lou. That was fun. Ultimately his confidence gets the best of him as he gets punched out when expecting the Invisible Man to come to his rescue but why would he right? Bud was getting on his bad side the entire film.

One thing that works out well here in addition to the main plot is how the Invisible Man actually has his own set of supporting characters and things happening. That helps it to all feel a lot more like a real film all the way through. The characters do tend to be a bit annoying and in particular the doctor strapping him to a table and nearly costing him everything was rough. If he can’t prove his innocence he would be sent to the electric chair anyway so at that point you have to let him try to clear his name.

The climax actually involves a full battle scene which was pretty fun too. Naturally Bud and Lou can’t really fight but they are good at running around which buys some time. The mobsters also made for fairly decent villains. Nothing special of course but i liked the scheme and it added a little danger to the film. Having one of their minions dress up as a security guard to stop the police from suspecting anything was pretty smart.

If there’s something that would have made the film better it would be to take the boxing scenes a little more seriously. Now completely serious of course but I think there is some wiggle room between what we got and what we could have gotten. Also the idea of an invisible helper assisting during the match is a pretty fun idea for even a serious film. I suppose it would be really hard to beat that scheme but you could say that’s the point right?

Overall, This was a pretty fun film. As with any comedy film that has tons of gags like this one, not every gag will land but most of them do and that’s definitely the important thing. The film goes by really quickly and if you like the series then you’ll like this installment. For better or worse it’s not really trying anything all that different from before. I would say if anything the strength of the series is probably in its familiarity to the fans who watch each installment. You know more or less what to expect in each film and it’s a calming experience.

Overall 7/10

Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy Review

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It’s time for another Abbott and Costello film. These two are always getting into a lot of crazy shenanigans filled with comedy and slapstick. It’s really a winning formula and this film is no different. You can feel the series weakening the longer that it goes on but it’s till solid enough where it can stand on its own and you will have a good time all the way through. The gags are on point and the films are fairly quick so the pacing is never an issue. No matter how you slice it, you’ll be having a pretty good time here.

The main characters are messing around as always when they get wrapped up in a pretty dicey situation. A Mummy is being uncovered and someone has been murdered. The are ready to help out so they can make a lot of money. Costello even gets his hands on the legendary amulet which is perfect since that can lead to big bucks but he has to find a way to get the money since everyone is after him. A mysterious lady seems awful interested in the guy as well so he’s feeling pretty good about himself but what if she actually only wants the amulet?

By this point in the series you should pretty much see all of the gags coming a mile away. That said, one that was particularly good was when Bud raises his fist to seemingly hit Lou, so Lou flinches and blocks. Bud asks why he did that so Lou explains he thought Bud was going to hit him. Bud tells him to knock it off so Lou lowers his arm…and then Bud hits him. The execution of that gag was really on point and showed why Lou always needs to keep his guard up around that guy.

Lou actually gets more wins than usual here though. One really solid moment for him was when he was tricking Bud with the money but then later on he does end up eating the medallion so he lost to Bud there. It’s a bit more of a back and forth than usual since typically Lou is getting beat up the whole time. The only area he consistently beats Bud in is with the ladies and of course often times that is part of a villain’s scheme. Lou tends to not realize this though so he’s just having a grand time until it inevitably goes sour for him. At that point he is really out of luck.

One of the weaknesses in this film is that the Mummy gets very limited screentime and isn’t very intimidating even when he does appear. Most of the film has him locked up in the tomb and when he finally gets out the movie is nearly over. His followers get more of a role if anything and none of them look super impressive. In fact the leader must have been a parody type character because he talks really tough about how he’ll finally have to step in and all that jazz only to get defeated immediately. It gets so bad that the main two actually knock him out at one point. Let me tell you…getting knocked out by those two has to be the absolute worst humiliation you could ask for. Seriously that’s really hard to come back from.

The girl’s group were a little better as they actually captured the leads and had the advantage in a fight for most of the film. Ultimately they still go down but at least they put up a fight and had a better goal. They just weren’t ready for the slapstick duo to get in the way and ruin all of their plans.

The ending of the film is pretty fun with how things worked out. It wasn’t exactly what I had been expecting but it still worked pretty well and gave all of the characters a decent amount of closure. It squeezed in some comedy without being too over the top which is really the important part here. The tone and such wasn’t ruined but then again the films are really good at keeping that tonal balance the whole time.

Ultimately there really isn’t much to this film beyond the gags. I would argue the movie is built around the gags as opposed to the other way around in this case which is why the monster plot takes a backseat. It may not win against the previous films but fortunately the gags are good enough for the film to stand on its own. I would say there is a decent amount of replay value here due to the sheer number of gags. Something is constantly happening after all and I would probably already rewatch the film and I wouldn’t remember quite a number of the jokes. That’s the benefit of using so many in such a short amount of time.

Overall, This is a movie that I would recommend. Naturally you do have to be a fun of comedic films and this slapstick style of humor in particular. If you are not then you are definitely in the wrong place. It’s consistent all the way through and I’ve got another Costello review coming up shortly so get ready for that one. This time the monster does get much more of a role. I’d say they learned from this one but this movie actually came out after the one I’m going to review next.

Overall 7/10