Beyond Tomorrow Review

Posted on December 6, 2020 by dreager1

Time for a film that reminds you of how easily many people can be corrupted by a touch of fame. While the film is a pretty uplifting one for most of its run, it actually goes through what I’d consider to be a fairly dark second half. Things get pretty serious with James choking left and right at every corner. Let me tell you, it’s difficult to really feel bad for the guy after a while. He really didn’t make things easy on himself that’s for sure.

The movie starts with three guys finally finishing work for the day. They run a pretty successful business and have all known each other for quite a while. One of them is a bit of a grouch while the other two have more fun just enjoying the Christmas season. When all of the guests cancel their appearances at the party the main member of the trio, Michael decides to have a little wager. The three of them will throw a wallet with 10 bucks out the window to see if anyone brings it back. 2 people do. A lady named Jean and a guy named James. Michael invites them for a Christmas dinner and they all get along rather well. Eventually Jean and James get together and life looks pretty bright for them except that the 3 men die in a big plane crash. Now they are back as ghosts to try and keep these two together as James begins being tempted by another woman.

First off I gotta say that James is just a terrible character. The guy doesn’t last a minute before lusting after the famous music star he meets. As soon as he goes to the studio to record his song he can’t help but stare at her poster rather obsessively. From there he never looks back and dumps Jean like a sack of bricks. Thing is, he’s not even able to do that so instead he just ignores Jean for a while and hangs out with the new girl. Karma tends to strike rather fast in these films so things don’t go very well for him but it’s a shame just how deeply his character was wrecked. He seemed like a nice guy originally and then all of a sudden he just jumps off the bridge. Madame Tanya even tries to warn him but he ignores all advice given as he is eager to keep on digging his own grave.

It’s why the film seems to have such a tonal shift between the first and second half of the film. One second things are going dandy with everyone having a good ole time and then they’re not. In the first half of the film we have people enjoying their time with dinner, hanging out with the kids at school, going on a merry walk through the park, etc. It’s just a very happy film where everything is going well and all of the characters are wholesome. To go from that to suddenly all of the characters are corrupted was just something I had not been expecting in the slightest. It’s almost like watching an entirely different movie. It was an interesting development though, I just wish James could have stayed strong.

Meanwhile Jean was a good character throughout the story. I’m actually glad that in the end she just walked out. Now I know there are always 2 minds about this. 1 is that you should fight for your man. If you see him being stolen away by another girl then you try to use your own wiles to fight back. The other is that if he is tempted away so easily then you can never trust him again anyway so why bother fighting for him? Just leave and find someone better. I’m more inclined to go with the second option. I think it’s reasonable to confront the issue head on first of course but if you just jump to option 2 I wouldn’t blame you. The second the guy cheats then it’s all over. There’s no real way to come back from that. Jean gave him a chance and he blew it so that’s it.

It’s part of why I’m not a big fan of the ending of the film. Certainly it’s always nice to have a second chance but it’s framed in more of a way like James made a mistake when he didn’t. He knew exactly what he was doing throughout the film as well as the consequences of his actions. He just decided that he didn’t care and so I think the film should have just ended on that note. It’s a pretty intense way to end the film of course but I do think it made a lot of sense after everything he put Jean through.

I do think a missed opportunity here is the ghosts angle. My main issue with it is that the ghosts served no real purpose. Of the 3, only Michael stays around for most of the film. The problem is that he didn’t really do anything. For most of the film he’s just glares at the various characters. At most he’ll throw someone’s hat but that’s about it. He never actually contributes anything to the story after death. The 3 characters were great before that but they may as well have not returned. The ghost angle just wasn’t explored so it felt like a rather empty subplot. There’s a whole lot more they could and should have done with that but I suppose the film didn’t want to get too supernatural and lose sight of the main premise.

Overall, I definitely didn’t like James but I thought this was a well written movie. I would have switched up the ending a bit though. Regardless of if you sympathize with James or not (I certainly don’t) there are definitely people like that who will throw you away as soon as they get fame or status. It’s why you always got to be careful before you commit. I’d recommend checking this film out if you want a pretty serious drama to watch. It’s a Christmas film but not one that is all that happy after the halfway mark so you may want to watch another classic like Jingle All The Way first and then wait a bit on this one. It’s definitely still got the biggest tone shift I’ve seen in a very long time between the first and second acts but it’s handled pretty well. You certainly don’t expect everything that happens.

Overall 6/10

Top Secret Affair Review

Posted on December 6, 2020 by dreager1

Time for one of those films that has everything going for it. It’s got a court case which is always fun to watch even if it feels like half the time the judge refuses to even let the accused speak. Of course that is pretty accurate based on the cases I’ve seen in life. Half the time they just want a chance to take as many shots at you as possible and you’re not allowed to talk back. Then you’ve also got some nice banter with the two main characters and I always like that kind of dynamic. Makes for a pretty entertaining set of dialogue moments and this film is a solid ride from start to finish.

The movie starts off by introducing us to Dorothy, a boss who you do not want to cross. She is furious that General Goodwin is getting the political appointment for the position she and her magazine had been trying to get for someone else. Her staff tells her it’s too late to do anything about it but she doesn’t think so. She is determined to dig up some bad press on this guy in order to make sure he loses the appointment. It’s a pretty intense way to get her revenge but once Dorothy has her mind set on something she accomplishes it. Dorothy invites Goodwin to stay over at her place under the pretext of assembling an article that will speak positively about the army. The Army orders Goodwin to stay at her place. Will he be able to navigate the minefields of questions?

General Goodwin is portrayed as a very intelligent guy. He’s certainly skilled and very qualified for the position he is about to undertake. He doesn’t fall for any of the dirty tricks that the magazine has in store for him. He’s able to break records on their balancing game and knows how to avoid the loaded questions. He even manages to outdrink Dorothy when she tries to get to him that way. Still, we wouldn’t have a film if he perfectly evaded everything right? Unfortunately he has one weakness, Dorothy. As cliche as it sounds, he ends up lowering his guard around her which is a fatal mistake.

It’s too bad because otherwise Goodwin had been doing really good. He didn’t fall for the interviews which you would figure is the toughest part and he even outlasted her in drinking. It just wasn’t enough in the end. This eventually leads to the court room case where Goodwin handles himself well. His only unfortunate scenes here are getting involved with Dorothy and then spilling the beans about old events. It’s just not a mistake he should have made. Regardless, this doesn’t keep him from being the best character in the movie. I already spoke about how much I enjoyed the banter between him and Dorothy.

In many ways that is what keeps the movie operating at a high note the whole time. It’s just a very smart movie with a lot of good lines throughout. While Dorothy is the villain she is also a compelling character and a pretty interesting one to follow. She may get a little overly emotional at the end but otherwise it’s easy to see why she is able to lead this company. She’s quite witty and also good at strategy. She’ll use any kind of tactic to succeed and I’m sure that most would have faltered almost instantly.

Then you’ve got the supporting characters. The main two are Phil and Gooch. Phil is the guy who works for Dorothy. He’s usually around making sarcastic comments or subtly trying to get in Dorothy’s way. He has slightly more of a conscience than she does but seems to just be entertained by following whatever scheme she has afoot. He also gets drunk pretty quickly as well. His best scene is definitely when Dorothy has decided to flee the country so he calls in the government right away. He may not be quite as smart as Dorothy, but Phil definitely has his moments and I just thought he was a lot of fun from start to finish.

Finally you’ve got Gooch who is here to look after Goodwin. His job is to make sure that the story which gets published is positive. Unfortunately for him it’s not like there’s a whole lot that he can actively do about this. At best he can give out advice and talk a good game. He means well though and is a good sidekick to have at your side. He may not be someone who can just take over but if you need someone to carry out orders then he’s your guy. The cast is pretty small as a whole but it’s a solid squad.

The ending of the movie is a little rushed though. We literally go from one character threatening to murder the other to both of them jumping in the car together a few seconds later. Of course the whole murder thing was more figuratively speaking but she didn’t seem to be on good terms with the guy. There was definitely a ton of emotional back and forth going on but the last scene still just didn’t make sense in context to me. I dunno, feels like it all just moved way too quickly there.

The court case was fun though. It was as one sided and bias as possible but it still made for a lot of good entertainment. I just like to see court room scenes and it’s probably why political thrillers tend to be a blast. Of course this film was also part comedy with a lot of fun moments mixed in as well. It’s just a great mix and that’s why it all works out so well. When you’ve got excellent dialogue and a good premise then you’re in business. Really the element that probably should have been cut out was the romance and then this would really be all set. =

Overall, I would recommend checking this movie out. The film’s just very well written and engaging all the way through. The pacing is on point so nothing ever drags. Goodwin makes for an excellent main character and you can’t help but like his confidence. The cat and mouse battles with him and Dorothy as they talk politely but trade insults through subtext is great. You just don’t see these kind of verbal battles nowadays. You don’t want to miss this classic.

Overall 7/10

Lostorage conflated WIXOSS Review

Posted on December 6, 2020 by dreager1

Time to take a look at the final Wixoss season. Well, the franchise isn’t over but this was the latest season at the time at least so that was a big deal. It also serves as a big crossover event bringing the characters from the first two seasons together to meet the ones from the third. It’s pretty balanced because the first cast had more episodes to work with but this whole thing is a lot fresher to the cast of season 3. Additionally the main character this time around is Kiyoi who is the only character to really have ties to all three seasons. She’s a very appropriate pick for that reason. This is definitely my favorite season. I do feel like a little more could have been done with the crossover concept here but it’s a solid adventure.

The season starts with Kiyoi asking Suzuko to help her out. She needs powerful fighters at her side in order to stop the next round of Selector battles. Satomi may have been defeated but all that means is that Carnival now controls his body and is using it for her own ends. Her goals are just as twisted as his ever were. Unfortunately Suzuko is not eager to join the battles again and decides not to help. Desperate Kiyoi also approaches Ruko for help but…Ruko says no as well. It looks like the adventures took an extremely heavy toll on both of the previous leads so Kiyoi will have to deal with this on her own. That’s not a promising prospect.

This is true for several reasons. The main one being that the heroes are all divided right now while the villains have united stronger than ever. You’ve got Akira, Carnival, and an extremely powerful new villain named Layla. Additionally there are other fighters here and even another cosmic being. If the heroines don’t get their act together soon then it’ll be too late. The rules are different yet again. This time there is no end to the battles until there is only one girl left standing. In addition to your LRig you can also summon another one, even having as many as 3 in one battle. The LRigs from season 3 still have their unique special abilities which puts them at an advantage over most of the original cast. Although, super LRigs like Tama can still activate their Rank 6 stage to balance things out.

Another new thing here is if you lose one battle then you lose your LRig immediately. The winner captures the LRig and can use it in future fights. You don’t have the luxury of being able to ask for a rematch or anything like that. It’s a pretty interesting approach although the rules aren’t explained too well. For example Carnival can summon 3 but when Kiyoi tries one of hers gets blown up. I believe the reason is that Carnival’s ability is that she can disregard the rules..but that’s a bit suspect at best. In general my favorite style of play would be the original way but I do like how they are always innovating.

It’s part of why I really enjoyed the Ruko vs Suzuko battle even if the ending was not as bold as it could have been. Ruko fights using the skills and tactics from the opening seasons while Suzuko uses her fancy game altering abilities and tag team LRig style. It may almost seem unfair but it’s how they play the game so it makes sense that a match would go that way. It’s like seeing someone from Yugioh 5Ds fight someone from Yugioh Arc V. The rules are so different by that point but it’s why a fight would be a lot of fun. Ruko’s LRig is far more powerful than Suzuko’s two so then she needs the special abilities in order to balance things out. It just makes for a great back and forth with a lot of tension as they both acknowledge the other’s strengths. Replace the ending of the fight with something more satisfying and this would be the best fight of the franchise.

One thing this season does really well is the slow build up to the eventual meeting. Now, with the season being fairly short this is a risky gambit. I think it would have really benefited from having 24 episodes personally. Of course Wixoss has never had a long season like that but it would have been really good. We would have really fleshed out more of the battles and gotten everyone involved. Still, it’s a great strategy. The tension for the fight starts building early and then they finally fight in episode 10. When you consider that there are only 12 episodes you can see how the build up was done so well. You may already get this from how this review is going but I also just love crossovers. You can milk the hype for the battles as long as you want because once it does happen I’m definitely going to be thrilled to see them return.

Even just little things like seeing the old cast hanging out is pretty nostalgic. It’s great to see Tama as a human since it took so long to get her to that point. The ordeal certainly put the characters through the ringer. Tama’s also such a nice character that you’re glad she got a happy ending. She’s easily one of the most heroic characters and is probably the only one to not hesitate when hearing that her friends were in trouble. Hitoe and Yuzuki could learn a thing or two from that. Seriously, I can’t state enough how annoying they are with all the bad advice to Ruko. Ruko’s the strongest fighter there so why not let her get involved with the battles? At least let her know what’s going on. The constant lying to her is always a pretty bad idea and just makes the situation that much worse.

As a quick tangent, this is also why the opening theme song is so good for this season. I’m not sure if I’m going to say that it is the best theme song out of the 4 but it certainly has the best intro. It’s a very ominous opening beat and it helped that most of the episodes would begin with an ominous note as the theme song starts. The soundtrack as a whole is pretty solid as always and the graphics are up to the task as well. The series has always managed to keep itself operating at a consistent level. In particular Tama’s fight against Layla was excellent, in part because we had been waiting so long to see her cut loose. Both of them are savage hand to hand fighters who don’t have to rely on energy blasts or special abilities. It’s part of why their fights can cut loose with the choreography. It doesn’t hurt that they are also two of the strongest characters in the series so naturally neither one of them is just going to go down without a good amount of back and forth.

So the build up is good and the season really takes its time. As effective as it is, I do feel like the season maybe bit off more than it could chew with the concept. It’s a grand tournament with all of the characters involved but several of the fights have to get cut short as they resolve off screen. Even big characters like Yuzuki only get 1 real duel before being taken out. I mean…in some ways that’s probably a good thing to be honest. At the same time, she should easily be one of the strongest fighters since she is an LRig herself but you definitely wouldn’t know that from how she performs in this show. Then you’ve got brand new villains like Layla walking around with a lot of hype but there isn’t a ton of time for it.

Due to this you can’t say that the season drags on at all though. There’s always something happening. It’ll always be hard to beat the first viewing of the season but this should hold up really well on a re-watch as well. It’s like a Secret Wars event as you have all of the villains going up against the heroes. At the end of the day that’s why it’s easy to see why this is my favorite season. It’s nice to just get everyone on the same page and have a ton of battles.

Kiyoi is a very solid main character. She’s doing her best to take down Carnival and finally end the eternal battles once and for all. If anything you have to give her more credit than a lot of the other characters who are content to sit back until they are literally forced to join in the fights. Kiyoi gets so many twists in her backstory it can be a little hard to keep the timeline straight but clearly she has been through a lot. I was glad she finally got to get some attention here. She certainly does really well in the climax. The climax is basically a free for all with the rules thrown out the window which was a lot of fun to see. The cosmic being may not have had much of an identity but a faceless opponent like that can make for an imposing final boss either way when you think about it.

Of course there are a lot of characters to discuss here so lets talk about them now. One of the big characters who got to return was Akira Aoi who was a big player in the first two seasons. She is back to take names and fortunately she acts a lot more like herself from season 1 before season 2 threw all of her character development into the waste basket. Here Akira is a tough fighter as she is supposed to be. Unfortunately, there isn’t a ton of time for her but I can’t complain since she gets more duels than most of the characters. She’s just such a great villain that any scene with her is always a lot of fun.

In general the villains have a pretty stacked lineup here. Instead of Satomi we have Carnival as the lead villain and she is a vast improvement. Finally we have a villain who isn’t twisted in some way. Season 3’s Satomi is obvious, The villain from season 2 was also about emotional manipulation with Akira, and then we had Season 1’s main villain who was just messing with people because she could. I still couldn’t buy into that character’s origin story. Carnival just wants to take revenge on the humans which is a very reasonable goal for an LRig. LRigs were either born into misery or forced into it afterwards so they certainly have some very strong feelings towards the characters and for good reason.

Then we have Layla who as I mentioned is a great new addition to the cast. In fact, she may have risen up to be my favorite villain. Of course I love Akira as an imposing threat but as much as I can’t stand what season 2 did to her…it’s technically canon so I have to take that into consideration. Layla has no such events hanging over her head. She’s just an incredibly strong fighter who really wants to take down everyone she fights. She gets quite a few solid wins which was excellent. Her fighting style is bold and impressive as well. There’s really nothing not to like about her character. She was even willing to fight Carnival which was superb. Layla is a character who I wish could have gotten more time. I wanted to see her fight Ruko at her best for more of an extended amount of time.

Chinatsu sort of gets a big role here. So in season 3 she is one of the characters who didn’t get a happy ending. At the end of the day her memories were erased. Suzuko tries to tell Chinatsu not to worry about it but that’s easier said than done. Chinatsu sees this as her way to get her memories back but of course this means that she is no longer a powerhouse in the skills department. The show even teases the possibility of a fight with her and Yuzuki/Hanna vs Yuzuki although they end up not happening. That could have been a lot of fun. Again, this is where extra episodes could have come in handy. In the end she isn’t able to accomplish much on her own but that’s what her friends are here for.

Suzuko naturally didn’t want to enter the battles again but the situation with Chinatsu forces her hand. She does want to get those memories back no matter the cost after all. I would argue this isn’t as selfless a motive as just wanting to save the world like Kiyoi but at least this gets her into the fight. She doesn’t fight much here but is treated with a lot of respect as a Wixoss veteran. At this point in the story she is considered to be the second strongest fighter behind Ruko. She even gets the honor of fighting against Carnival which was nice. I was very satisfied with her fights here.

The same can be said for Ruko although I would have liked to have seen her fight just a bit more. As with Suzuko, Ruko is a veteran to the point where it seems like she doesn’t even fight much anymore. She’s grown too powerful for the game and as always her friends are around to give her the worst possible advice and hide secrets from her. Due to circumstances Ruko is without Tama again for a period of time which is unfortunate since that serves as a big nerf to her. I suppose the writers needed a way to ensure Ruko wouldn’t just clean shop but I do admit that I really wanted to see Ruko and Tama take names. After all, that means even with the fight against Suzuko, Ruko couldn’t use Tama. That’s the fight we all wanted to see after all the build up.

Hanna and Hitoe are examples of big supporting characters who ultimately are forced to stay by the sidelines. There’s just no time for them to do much so they are promptly taken out for the count. Neither fighter was ever that impressive to me so that’s not very surprising. There are a whole lot of other characters running around though as almost every old LRig and Wixoss player were brought back into the fold. It’s just a lot of fun to see these guys back in action. Even characters like Shohei aren’t forgotten as he finally gets some real closure here. Kazuki is given the shaft as he appears for like 5 seconds but that’s definitely for the best.

So this ends up being a very balanced season and a nice way to see all of the characters one last time. The final episode definitely ends things off on a high note. My main complaints would just be the season’s plot being a little too ambitious to the point where it couldn’t totally deliver on what it was hyping up. We should have gotten many more battles with the characters all finally getting to duke it out with each other. I’d also say that Tama seemed to be a little nerfed here by falling in the cage. Fortunately her shadowy partner was around to help out and I’m glad she wasn’t forgotten but they should have been able to bust the cage with ease.

To an extent the new Wixoss rules are there to help mask the short length by having each player eliminated after 1 match. It’s not a bad idea particularly with the LRig being taken each time but I think to make things simpler it should have been that the player is also taken out of the picture. Keeping the human around adds even more variables and potential plots to keep track of. This is the kind of thing that I would consider to be more of a minor issue at best though. It’s not something that would lower the score or anything. I do feel like the score could have definitely gotten higher with more battles and episodes though. Even just having a real ending to the Ruko vs Suzuko battle would have probably added a star. We got a 8-9 episode build up to that fight so I was really counting on a true ending to show who the strongest character of all was once and for all.

Overall, This was a really fun way to end the saga. It may not have all ended up exactly as I would have written it out but I can’t deny that it was a lot of fun. Akira and Layla were great villains while Ruko and Suzuko still make for great heroines. Kiyoi did a good job of taking on the mantle of taking on the mantle of main character as well. At the end of the day that gives you a very balanced show firing on all cylinders. While the Ruko vs Suzuko battle may have gotten the most hype, I would say that Ruko vs Layla was another big hitter and one of the best fights of the season. It probably did have the best animation at the end of the day. Then Layla vs Carnival was great because I always like to see in fighting amongst the villains. It adds a lot of tension and underscores that Layla isn’t some pawn who will just follow orders. She makes sure to have her presence felt the whole time. If you’ve made it this far into the series then you should definitely check this season out. If you haven’t gotten into the series yet then you should at least watch season 3 to really get what’s happening here. Otherwise you’re definitely going in blind and will have to prepare for exposition based on things you don’t know a whole lot about yet.

Overall 8/10

Lostorage incited WIXOSS Review

Posted on December 6, 2020 by dreager1

Wixoss returns with its third season. The first two seasons were pretty fun and mainly just got held back by an unfortunate subplot. This time around Wixoss has no such characters to stop it. I mean, the main villain is kinda suspect but nothing too crazy. Lostorage incited is a very solid all around show. It does a good job of introducing all of the characters and giving us another good installment here. The ending’s a bit somber for some characters but since there’s a season 4 you suspect that this isn’t quite the end to the story. That said, it would actually work really well as an ending either way so if you’re not a big sequel person you can end it here and still be fine. The ending may not be super happy but it is pretty definitive.

The show starts by introducing us to two characters who were best friends as kids: Suzuko and Chinatsu. Eventually Suzuko had to move away though. Despite writing to Chinatsu consistently the two lost touch because none of her letters were returned. Suzuko figures Chinatsu probably moved away as well. She’s ready to have a good time at school when a Wixoss card appears and tells Suzuko that she has been chosen as a Selector. This isn’t something you can say no to either. This time around the characters are given 5 coins. If you don’t fight within a certain amount of time then you will lose one of them. If you win a fight then you get to claim one. Additionally you can bet a coin on the match to use a special ability. If you win then you will get the coin back in addition to a new one but if you lose then you’ll lose 2 coins this way. Even though you have 5 coins at the start, 2 are grayed out since otherwise a single win would have you win a tournament right off the bat.

Suzuko would usually be happy to play a game like this but she doesn’t appreciate the stakes. There are quite a few rules here to consider. If you lose all of your coins then you will disappear. Much like the first seasons, your LRig will take over your body while your original self gets thrown into the void hopefully to be reborn as an LRig someday. If you win all of your coins then you can manipulate your memory. You can remember something that you’ve forgotten, forget something you no longer wish to remember, or even alter your memories to be happier ones. There is nothing to suggest that this will actually rewrite events though so worst case you’ll have inaccurate memories that can trip you up. The winning prize isn’t quite as enticing as getting any wish of your desires so a big thing here is just that you may not want to destroy other people by winning your match.

The time limit here is a pretty interesting way to up the stakes though. In the first two seasons you could theoretically just not fight and you would be okay. With the time limit here you absolutely have to participate at some point or you’ll lose your memories. I suppose you may not disappear and would just forget a bunch of stuff since your coins would just be grayed out. It’s hard to confirm that though as no character gets to that point. There’s a chance you would just completely disappear in the same way as losing. A pretty good chance honestly so that’s a pretty good incentive to keep on fighting.

Suzuko is just one half of the main plot. Meanwhile Chinatsu is also a main character. It’s a nice dynamic as I always like having two characters sharing the lead spot particularly when they’re split up. It works as a nice build up to the inevitable confrontation they’ll need to have. So Chinatsu was always a kid who tried to do the right things. She would stick up for Suzuko and help her succeed. She would support her parents when her father was having trouble holding down a job and would keep all of the things she was worrying about to herself. She just did her best not to make anyone worry but now that she’s a teenager this is becoming more than she can bear. Her father has lost his job again so they may have to move which means Chinatsu won’t be able to get into her next school. Chinatsu also lost her current job so she isn’t able to help bring in money.

That’s when the game of Wixoss really brings her in. She is offered a job by Satomi to basically trick people into signing contracts with him and then they are stuck with playing more and more matches. It’s obviously a scam set up and not something she should really be doing but she is desperate enough to make this call. She wants to lose her memories of Suzuko because she believes that they are part of the problem. Deep down Chinatsu really blames herself here. She wants to be able to be a tougher person who can make selfish decisions but feels like she can’t do so without discarding her past. As a result she will get the other characters into sticky situations if it means that it’ll benefit her. So she’s going on the dark path while Suzuko is staying heroic so you can see how their clash of ideals will be a big plot point later on.

That’s probably the longest plot description I’ve given in a while but there’s just a lot to unpack there so it’s necessary. The animation is definitely pretty solid here. We get a lot of nice shots during the action scenes and in general the character designs are on point as well. The animation is nice and smooth. I wouldn’t say there has been a big change since the first two seasons. The contract scenes are still the best looking ones in the series and you don’t really get much of that here but it’s a consistent art style that always looks good. The soundtrack is also really solid. You’ve got a lot of good tunes here including some nice battle themes and a catchy opening. The series has never disappointed in those areas.

Suzuko is a solid new main character. She’s fairly quick at getting used to the game and really giving it her all. While I wouldn’t say she can get as fiery as the original lead, she’s still a fun heroine to follow around. Her main goal is to finally be friends with Chinatsu again and she is resolute in that. It’s enough of a motivation to keep her character interesting. I don’t expect she will really break out as one of the big characters in the series though. Her partner Ril is also solid. When the season first began I thought to an extent it was Chinatsu. Sort of like a fake version of her born from Suzuko’s mind. The show doesn’t really go in that direction but she acts enough like her where I consider that to be true in my head canon. She’s a solid companion. Ril may not be as strong as Tama but I would say she is one of the stronger fighters.

Then you have Chinatsu who really goes into the dark side. She’s a fun hero to have around but she goes so far as being a villain that it’s hard to buy into her being a sympathetic character by the end. In particular she pulls some big tricks on Shohei who was just trying his best to be a hero til the end. Her goals are also naturally a lot shakier than Suzuko’s. Chinatsu believes that cutting out her memories of Suzuko using this game will allow her to be free but will it? Part of the goal here is that by being free she will no longer have to be such a nice person but she seems to be doing a good job of pushing everyone away even with her memories in tact. It’s not like this would make her home situation much better either.

It’s a solid plot because it does show that the burden of always having to be the tough mature character helping everyone out will take its toll. In the end it did end up breaking her and unfortunately she got in with the wrong crowd. I wasn’t really a fan of her by the end. I don’t mind a character arc of going to the dark side but also dooming everyone else through the contracts and being Satomi’s underling? Yeah that’s pretty suspect. Her partner Mel is also interesting because she actually acts sorta shady. It makes it less likely that she is a version of Suzuko. While this isn’t really delved into, you get the feeling that she was goading Chinatsu on at times. She certainly made no effort to put her back on the right track and seemed to enjoy being the villain.

Shou is one of the other Wixoss players. He had a tragic story of his younger sister vanishing after getting involved with the game. He hadn’t paid much attention back then and regrets it now. This may be part of what got him into the game although he never makes much progress. I wouldn’t say he does all that well as one of the big characters. His whole dynamic with his L Rig is definitely not all that great and at the end of the day he’s kind of weak and easily manipulated. Especially given what the stakes are here like finding out what happened to his sister I would have expected him to be a whole lot more serious when it counted.

Then you’ve got Shohei who is actually a great character. In fact I would say that he is the best character here. He actually takes the high road over the other characters by refusing to play the game so nobody gets hurt. It’s an easy strategy to use at its core except for the fact that you’ll end up losing all of your memories and then disappearing from the world forever if you don’t battle. At the end of the day none of the other characters no matter how heroic are willing to make this sacrifice. They want their wish no matter what even if the other characters end up falling to the wayside. Shohei wasn’t having any of that and I can respect it. At the end of the day in the first series I applauded Ruko deciding that her wish was to save everyone. I much prefer that kind of goal because you save everyone while fighting. In this case there are no wishes though so it’s hard to see what else Shohei can do. Sitting back to just accept your death doesn’t sound great but he isn’t hurting anyone this way and it’s hard to think of a workaround. Things may not have gone over very well for him but I can’t fault the decision. I’ve got a lot of respect for the guy and if anything it’s too bad he couldn’t have appeared more.

Hanna is Suzuko’s main friend here. She’s a step up from the friend in the first seasons but I never became a big fan. Hanna is said to be an excellent Wixoss fighter and strategist but you don’t see a whole lot of that here. To me she seemed rather average and quickly surpassed by Suzuko. She certainly has a tragic past of her own to get to. Considering what her goal was I thought she could have handled the new knowledge a little better but I suppose it was pretty intense either way. Her fighter is Nanashi, a fairly mysterious fighter who doesn’t really give her input much. She doesn’t mind being a villain or a hero so long as she is having fun. In a way that makes her one of the more dangerous figures since you absolutely can’t trust her at any point.

Aya is Shou’s LRig and definitely one of the meanest ones. Usually your LRig is someone you can count on at all times but not in this case. She’s constantly insulting him and granted, he does earn it some of the time. Holding back against an opponent in this game is something you must never do since your life and memories are on the line but Shou has a lot of easily exploited weaknesses. In comparison you’ve got Dona who is Shouhei’s LRig and a supportive partner to have. She’s not thrilled about his decision to stay away from the fights but does support him as best she can. She gets a fairly big role for being an LRig and is always right there ready to participate in the action.

There’s not much to say about Sou as his role here is pretty small. He’s definitely a pretty rude guy who only likes fighting people he thinks is weak so that tells you what you need to know about the guy’s confident. He’s pretty willing to be a lowly subordinate if it means he can get wins. Then he’s got a super timid LRig in Guzuko who is one of the worst ones in the game. It definitely makes them an odd pairing but also shows why they are so weak. They aren’t on the same page at all.

Then you have Rio who is a little kid that was selected. In a lot of ways that makes her a tragic character because she can’t possibly comprehend the stakes at the moment. She wants to make her mother well again and figures that by being in the game she will be able to do this. Well of course that may have been true in the first two seasons but since the prize here is only to manipulate memories and not change real world events, you can’t help but feel like this plan couldn’t possibly work out. This also makes her a bit of a tough opponent to fight against since nobody wants to actually take her out for the count since they know what’ll end up happening. Her LRig is named Mama and seems like a nice LRig on the surface but I’m not so sure. I guess it seems like I don’t trust any of them but why would I? They all know the rules but rarely ever let their controllers know until it’s too late. Rio isn’t as charismatic as the little girl from the first two seasons but she was still fun.

Satomi is the big villain of the series and well he’s definitely not my kind of villain. Every single line he has is an innuendo as he constantly messes with the heroes and heroines. The guy manipulates them so easily that you’ll be shaking your head. Why do they always get so flustered so easily? In general this season just had a lot of fun with that and it would continue on to the next season too as the characters intentionally frame things in a suggestive way. It’s all obvious enough where I’d love a character to play dumb and just accept the challenge. At the end of the day the characters are just asking if you want to have a match with them. Instead of being flustered or stammering just accept the challenge with a “Yeah, let’s have a great game ” and that would be an excellent comeback.

Back to Satomi though. His general goal is he wants to make everyone as miserable as possible. He’s definitely in the right field for this since that’s not a very difficult task to do at all. He’s also a very strong Wixoss player so it’s not like you can just disregard him either. The guy needs to be treated as a serious opponent and taken down right away. The problem is that there are very few characters in the series who can match him. This is because his chosen fighter Carnival is incredibly powerful. Carnival can reach elusive levels that only fighters like Tama could match and she has the nice ability of being able to use everyone’s ability. It’s always really hard to match a fighter like that because it breaks the balance of the game. If your opponent knows you’ve only got 1 skill while they can choose any, that’s naturally going to be very difficult to counter.

Kiyoi appears here but very briefly. She is seen as a powerful opponent who was even able to dominate Chinatsu. Then just as quickly she disappears from the season after having one more big fight. She clearly wants to stop Satomi’s plans but isn’t working with the rest of the group. She’s a mysterious loner and makes for a very interesting character. We’ll learn more about her in the next season though so this was really just a little quick set of appearances to set that up. Kiyoi was definitely a great character in this season.

Overall, This is the best season of Wixoss yet. While the memories angle seems like it makes the stakes a little lower than putting your immortal soul on the line for a wish, the end result is still basically the same. At the end of the day if you lose all of your memories you still do vanish so that hasn’t changed. The writing may not be amazing at times like with all of the characters getting flustered so easily by the most basic of suggestive phrases but the show has a lot of good plot lines and action to keep it going on a strong note. It’s a pretty interesting story all told and one that was able to survive on the new characters without needing the older ones to appear. I don’t have any real issues with the season and would definitely recommend giving it a watch. You don’t even need the first two seasons for context since it’s a whole new cast although it should be noted that this is in the old continuity and there are definitely references to that.

Overall 7/10

Armored Core 2 Review

Posted on December 5, 2020 by dreager1

This is a game that I’ve owned for an incredibly long time. I made it pretty deep into the game a while around 10 years ago but I could never make it to the end. The game was just so difficult and the way it always moves forward added another wrinkle to the whole thing. Well, I finally started the game over and managed to conquer the game in the last instant. That final level is crazy tough. I think the game had a lot of promise but the gameplay mechanics end up really holding it back in the long term.

The plot involves a group of bounty hunters known as Ravens. You are one of these guys and your suit is pretty powerful. You accomplish missions on behalf of your benefactors and it is a pretty good gig to be honest with money coming in like crazy. Still, there’s something shady about the group and you become less and less sure about your goals as the game goes on. Perhaps its time to just get out of this job while you still can? Only time will tell if you are able to make the right move in time or if it will be game over by then.

The gameplay is that of a 3D Shooter. You can equip your robot with all kinds of weaponry and supporting weapons as well. Money doesn’t grow on trees here and there is no way to go back and earn money so that means you have to decide what to buy very carefully. You’ll want to have good weapons of course but also fundamental parts that will let your robot jump and move around without consuming too much energy. Naturally it can be difficult to balance all of this together so that’s definitely something to keep in mind. If you buy the wrong item then you’re definitely going to end up regretting it. The toughest thing to get used to is probably aiming. You have to use the L2 and R2 buttons to do this instead of looking around as you usually would. There is also no lock on feature which is unfortunate. Only missiles will lock on by themselves. Everything else requires you to do the ground work.

There are a decent amount of levels here so the game should take you 7-10 hours I would expect. There is also the Arena Mode you can play to have fun with. The objective there is to take down robots in 1 on 1 battles. Each win moves you up a spot and it also helps you unlock new weapons and such. Now this would have been a great way to earn money but you only get money the first time you complete a level. That part’s definitely unfortunate but I will admit that it’s a fun bonus mode.

I’ve already referenced this, but my main issue with the game is how restricted you are. As you lose you will end up in the final stretch of levels. The issue is that you will also be out of money so there is no real way to earn more. If you’ve got a bad loadout then that means you are basically stuck with nowhere to go. There should always be a way to earn money or replay old levels to continue improving. Locking that mechanic away just strikes me as being a bad idea right from the jump. It makes the game feel a lot more like a grind since you can’t even lose in peace. You have to quickly load the old file up again since otherwise you’re stuck in a worse position. The one thing you never want a game to do is lose the fun factor and unfortunately that’s something that Armored Core 2 is definitely guilty of.

At least the graphics are really good. The cutscenes are really ahead of their time. The story also seems pretty engaging. The final bosses were really intense as the final guy even had more than one form. It made for a very intense boss battle. Some of the levels could be a bit too ambiguous on what you were supposed to do and ironically the best option is sometimes to skip the enemies and just rush to the goal. Not really something you would expect from this game but battling minions only depletes your health and there is no way to gain any back during a level so why bother with them in the first place right? This is definitely a game where you learn as you play.

Overall, Armored Core 2 has a nice premise but really ended up underperforming in every area. While the gameplay is okay, it’s definitely weaker than all of the other big mech series if you ask me. Then you’ve got the level mechanics where they keep going even if you lose and there’s no way to earn money. That’s the part that really bites. At least in most games you could play older levels to get better but in this one you’re just stuck. That just seems like such a bad mechanic to me. I don’t understand what’s going on there. It’s a mechanic that has never worked and I really don’t expect that to change anytime soon. It’s unfortunately just the way that it is. If the game could have fixed this and given you a way to grind it would have easily jumped 2 stars. In a way that’s the most tragic thing about this one. If you’re looking for a fun PS2 game to play then I would recommend almost anything else. You’re bound to have a better time rolling with a different title like the Transformers PS2 game or one of the many Gundam adventures.

Overall 5/10

Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story + Bowser Jr’s Journey Review

Posted on December 3, 2020 by dreager1

The Mario & Luigi series has been a fun one to play through. Bowser’s Inside Story has often been known as the best one in the series and I can see why. The story is a blast and it’s just nice to see Bowser getting a star role like how he is here. The game does have a few new mechanics in there that aren’t my favorite but for the most part this takes everything from Partners in Time and improves upon them. Making this a very complete Mario game that you’ve got to check out at some point. Then you’ve also got the new bonus game Bowser Jr’s Journey which is surprisingly substantial considering that it’s a bonus experience.

In Bowser’s Inside Story the plot starts with a pandemic going across the planet. Everyone is turning into Blorbs which is a fancy way of saying they are all swelling up like balloons. Peach calls an emergency meeting but did not invite Bowser. He isn’t happy about that and bursts in. Shortly afterwards he eats a poisoned mushroom and sucks everyone inside himself. Now there is nobody to stop Fawful from taking over the Kingdom and ruling the world. Nobody except…Bowser! Little does he know that Mario and Luigi will still be providing some help though from inside his belly.

There’s quite a lot more story to go through here but that’s the general premise. It’s nice to really see Bowser’s side of things here. Finally you have a lead going straight after the villains instead of going to a bunch of different castles the whole time. Bowser’s just a lot of fun. Mario and Luigi still can’t really talk here while Bowser constantly gets a ton of great lines and moments which really helps him out here. You have to love his confidence. A lot of things go over his head but the guy just seems very genuine. He’s a villain, but one who at least does care about his minions which is always good to see.

The gameplay is your classic turn based adventure. You can use special combo attacks (Which are much, much stronger than normal moves so you really need to use them) hammers, or jumps. You also can move around the overworld and enemies appear so by jumping on them or hitting them with hammers you can get a pre-emptive strike which is very useful in battle. The only parts of the gameplay that I found to be pretty weak were the moments in Bowser’s stomach when you have to jump up and down to make him wake up and blasting the orbs to make Bowser giant. These moments happened a little too often and always took forever. Not a big thing of course but a minor area where things could have been improved.

Beyond that, I had no real complaints with the game. The story was a lot of fun and the gameplay was smooth. I felt like leveling up wasn’t quite as daunting as the previous games. In part because this time I actually understood how the bonus multipliers worked this time around so I didn’t waste it all in HP. Definitely not a fun moment that time. Fawful also works really well as the main villain. I loved his catch phrase “I have chortles” as he starts laughing. Basically his grammar is majorly messed up but in a pretty fun way. He certainly enjoys mocking Bowser so you know the main character will get his revenge at some point. His second in command Midbus was also pretty impressive. A guy who can fight with Bowser toe to toe has got to be crazy strong. It also helps raise the stakes in the game which were already pretty high. Having an end of the world threat was great. Also quick shoutout to Peach for actually having telekinetic powers in this game. She only used this in one scene but it was impressive. I guess she has been training.

In Bowser Jr’s Journey we see the events of the main game from his perspective. Bowser Jr is a pretty ungrateful guy who really does as he pleases. He’s not here to make friends and all the Koopalings get upset as he continues to disregard their opinions as he searches for a very sketchy “cure” to the Blorbs. One by one the Koopalings leave until Bowser Jr’s group consists of him and Morton. When a trio of new villains working under Fawful appear Bowser Jr must rethink his approach. Is he really going to be able to save Bowser if none of the minions want to work for him anymore?

The story is pretty emotional in large part because we’ve already seen how polite and heart warming Bowser can be. The guy’s just fun to hang around and he does treat his minions well. Bowser Jr is the opposite and is incredibly unlikable. I was not expecting him to be quite so mean all the time so that did come as a bit of a shock. Regardless, I would definitely have to say that the game had some good story arcs going. The story was actually crafted really well which helped the game succeed.

The gameplay is pretty different as it’s more like an automatic game where you watch your minions fight. You can cheer them on and issue several special attacks/power their moves up but it’s not super interactive. Prepare to play old levels quite a lot here in order to get their levels up to snuff. Playing the elements here is most important. Flying minions beat ground minions. Ground beat throwers and throwers beat flyers. If you put your team in a good formation that makes the most of this then you will be in a good position to do a lot of good. Tactics are more important than level ups but if you really just want to skate by just find a level that you can beat without having to help out at all and have them run it over and over again. Before long you’ll have made it to the end of the game. It’s surprisingly tough but as with every game that has a level up system, you can ultimately persevere.

I liked the game. It’s a pretty simple title that doesn’t have a lot to it in terms of gameplay variation and such but that’s fine. It’s really just a side adventure you’re playing around with. If anything you could play it during the main game to try and keep them in sync. What was particularly impressive was the story since it was actually pretty engaging. I never would have thought Bowser Jr would be the one to be able to lead his own adventure but here we are.

The graphics are pretty good. The character models are very sharp and the backgrounds really stand out. The whole thing looks really modern. Then you’ve got a catchy soundtrack as well. The best theme in the game for me has to either me the final boss of Inside Story or the general Bowser encounter theme. Both themes are actually pretty intense. The final boss even sounds like a Kingdom Hearts theme. You can really hear the usual instruments and themes at least. It helped really make the game feel like a big deal. In terms of replay value, I’d say this game has a good amount. Keep in mind that the main stories for the two combined should take you around 40 hours. (It took me 43) If you then work on getting all levels ups and beating all levels then this would probably get you to around 47 hours.

Overall, This is a game with mountains of content. It’s clear why this has always been a standout game for the Mario series. I’ll be starting Dream Team pretty soon but it’s definitely got big boots to fill this time around. I have little doubts that it will be another good installment though as the series has been consistent. The fact that this is really two games in one just makes the whole thing even better. Jr’s Journey gameplay may take some getting used to but it can quickly become addicting once you’re into it. I almost went and 100% completed the game just because I felt like it so there’s that. Sometimes you just never know when a game’s going to just go off like that.

Overall 8/10

Bonds of the Skies Review

Posted on December 3, 2020 by dreager1

I can’t say that I was familiar with this game before it came out but the fact that it’s from Kemco was a really good sign because they have quickly solidified themselves as one of the leaders in mobile gaming. Whenever their games get ported to PS4 you know you’re in for a treat. To date Asdivine Hearts is one of the gold standards for RPGs. I would put it up there with fellow titans Kingdom Hearts 2 and Final Fantasy XIII. The sequel was a little weaker thanks to the story but the gameplay was still top notch with a lot of strategy. I’ve never played a game like that where I got all the characters to the max level 99 and still couldn’t beat the final boss without working on my magic some more. This game is on the shorter side next to those but still delivers a complete experience.

So in this world there exist a few Grimoa. These are the deities of the land. 3 of them decided to split their powers into a kid of sorts while the flame one decided not to do so. Well, many years later various towns start being attacked by a fire monster and all of the deities assume the fire one is responsible. This leads Nogard, the wind Grimoa to go to a small town and recruit the help of a man named Eil. Eil is a mild mannered guy who just wants to do the right thing. He’s not really much of a fighter but will absolutely help in order to stop these villains from having their way with the world. He suits up but this will be no easy quest. He must find two other humans to partner with the other two deities. Only then will they be strong enough to take on the Fire dragon and save the planet.

The story is pretty straight forward with a classic formula. You go to each town to find a new partner until you have a full team of 3. After that you go to different islands to find the kid deities and then you’re set for the final boss. There aren’t really any big twists or turns here beyond the usual although you do get a ton of dialogue. The game should take you between 7-10 hours to complete. There isn’t a whole lot of grinding necessary as your levels will do well for the most part but it’s also worth noting that grinding isn’t all that painful here for people who don’t like it. As I mentioned, Kemco is an old pro at this. The gameplay speed is incredibly fast. You can also put your guys on auto battle mode in order to take out the minions. Now, it’s a little less advanced than in their later games as auto mode means the can only fire off a generic strike so spells are off the table. It’s still a fair compromise for not actually having to control them. It means instead of running away from encounters you can fight through all of them in order to keep your level doing well. The EXP you can earn in the dungeon right before the final boss is insane so don’t be afraid to stay there and grind for a bit. In less than 10 minutes I got my guys from level 60 to 75 in this place and it was just enough to claim victory.

The gameplay is that of a turn based style. You have the option to use physical attacks, magic, or items. In general I recommend only having one skill equipped because then you can equip a lot of passive boosts which are far more useful in my opinion. You only ever need 1 real skill here. Perhaps 3 for Avi as the team’s medic you want her to have the main 2 healing spells as well. Fight like this and you’ll have a very balanced roster. In addition to the usual equipment you can also equip which monsters you want to have at the ready. I stayed with the default ones throughout the whole game but it’s a nice way to add more variety.

The graphics look pretty nice. I was surprised that only one of the Grimoa got a character portrait as the others talk so having one would make sense. In general you get the feeling that this game didn’t have a big budget the way some of the others had but they still did a pretty good job of getting all the fundamentals in. The animations are really smooth and the game does look quite nice. I definitely wouldn’t dock any points there. This is a game that’s aged really well. The soundtrack is also pretty solid. It’s all nice and fast paced which works pretty well with how quickly the gameplay moves. Note that you can speed up the gameplay to 3X by clicking L1.

Aside from the story you do have some post game content to work on. There will definitely still be some quests around and I think there are two dungeons. The Platinum trophy is definitely pretty achievable. I don’t expect it should take you more than an extra 2-3 hours to get the rest of the trophies. It’s something that’s worth doing if you completed the game since you’ll already be so close to doing so.

As for the main characters, Eil is decent but not great. He’s a very timid character. Throughout the game everyone mocks him quite a bit for being too nice and always talking in a worried way. It’s a fairly interesting character arc at times but I never felt like he really came into his own. A little more confidence would have gone a long way. His ally Iks is a lot more outgoing by nature and isn’t afraid to stand up for himself. If anything you’ll feel bad for him a bit when Eil sets up a trick against him. Iks is a solid companion to have. Finally you have Avi who wants to do her part to save the world but has a hard time being straight with the group. She’s used to withholding her feelings at all times. She gradually becomes close with the group though and the 3 make for a solid team. I’ll give her props for being bold enough to walk up to the other two demanding they hand over their Grimoas at the time they met even if that’s probably not how transferring ownership works.

Overall, Bonds of the Skies is definitely a pretty great game. It’s like a pocket RPG that you can quickly blast through and get a feel for the genre. I can’t state enough how seamless the gameplay is here with all of the quality of life upgrades in. Even little things like speeding up the gameplay for grinding and auto battle are things that more RPGs should add but surprisingly this is one of the only companies to do so. Playing through it just never feels like a chore and this is a very balanced game. I’d definitely recommend it to anyone that wants to check out an RPG title.

Overall 8/10

Sleeping With The Enemy Review

Posted on November 29, 2020 by dreager1

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

When you see a title like this along with the general premise you will probably just walk right on past it to the next section of the store. It just doesn’t seem like a winner and your initial gut would be correct. It’s rather difficult to make a plot like this work in the first place so it’s no surprise that it didn’t but I’d say the film put in an effort. It just didn’t end up paying off this time around.

The movie opens up by introducing us to Laura, she’s certainly a tragic character married to the abusive Martin. One day she is able to escape by feigning her death and settling down in a small village. She meets up with her new neighbor Ben and prepares for a rebound romance. Unfortunately she made one critical mistake when escaping her old life. She threw her ring in the toilet and flushes but never actually checked to see if it went down. It did not and now Martin has reason to suspect that she isn’t actually dead. He sets off to find her. Will Laura be safe in this town or is it all over.

I would say the ring is her only mistake because while we do get a tricky call from someone that blows her cover, it’s not likely that she could have controlled that. You should only worry about what you can control which in this case is the ring. While that was an unfortunate slip, Laura did do a good job of seizing her opportunity when she needed to. Jumping into the ocean during such a storm is definitely not an easy thing to do that’s for sure. I would also make the case that Laura should have kept her wig on instead of going back to her classic hair. It would help with the disguise at least a bit and coupling that with a new name would help quite a bit in staying under the radar. It wasn’t quite to be though.

The film definitely sets Martin up as the big bad guy right from the start. He’s shown to be pretty crazy almost immediately and from there he only goes worse and worse. Unfortunately people tend to talk to him quite a lot so he finds out information on locating Laura pretty easily. You’d think there would be a lot of warning bells set off when this guy approaches you but people don’t seem to notice each time. The guys here aren’t the most perceptive that’s for sure. I was half expecting him to destroy the boat guy who showed up near the beginning but that guy got lucky this time.

Meanwhile Laura is a solid main character. As mentioned, she was pretty brave to come up with the plan to escape and does a good job of rebuilding her life. She contributes quite a bit towards the end of the film and doesn’t back down when it’s crunch time. She’s easily the best character here although there isn’t much of a cast to go against her. We’ve got Ben but he’s not all that great. The guy means well of course but he goes down real quick in the climax despite having the element of surprise and I wasn’t a big fan of the romance either. It definitely seems like a romance is the last thing Laura would want to deal with right now after seeing how the last one went. The way Ben handled the whole apples situation also wasn’t the greatest first appearance for him if he was trying to make a positive impression. The only thing I’ll give him credit for is noticing that something was wrong during the climax of the film.

Now having a plot like this one with an abusive character like Martin makes for easy tension in a film but it’s definitely not a plot that will help a movie. The first chunk of the movie is all pretty unbearable until Laura is able to get out of there. Of course you may wonder how she ended up with someone like this but of course she explains he wasn’t always like this and used to appear to be nice. It’s one of the dangerous things about relationships and why you can’t blame Laura here. At the end of the day it’s hard to ever really know someone else and this kind of thing could happen. It’s a very tragic plot point to be sure but definitely not one that makes for good film.

Overall, Sleeping With The Enemy is not a film I would recommend. The main plot isn’t good and since that’s the whole focus of the film it’s unable to get past that. The movie just would have needed something drastic to really get past this. At the end of the day the writing isn’t bad and the film moves pretty quickly but there’s just no way to really recommend it. At the end of the day the movie just isn’t really any fun. That said, you would expect that just based on the title and the synopsis. If you want a thriller to watch I would recommend the latest Mission Impossible instead. That one gives you a lot of tension and action but also has a pretty fun feel to it.

Overall 2/10

The Courtship of Eddie’s Father Review

Posted on November 29, 2020 by dreager1

Time for a rom-com film from a while back. So right away I had some concerns here because a kid was going to have a big role in the film. As you may know, kids tend to distract from the film going on with a lot of their crazy antics and holding things back. Unfortunately Eddie is no exception and easily the worst character in the film. Fortunately the rest of the movie is still pretty decent and it’s a film I could recommend. I just think it could have been even better if Eddie himself just wasn’t in the mix the whole time.

The movie starts by introducing us to Tom. He’s a man whose wife recently died so he’s doing his best to go on with life as normal. Unfortunately Eddie isn’t happy about this and wants to have a Mom again. Tom assures him that the two of them will be okay but Eddie throws fits and begins crying all the time. So Tom begins on his journey to find someone and ends up meeting a lady named Rita. Unfortunately Eddie doesn’t like her because he wants Tom to marry their next door neighbor Elizabeth. There are a ton of reasons why this shouldn’t happen, particularly that Elizabeth was Tom’s wife’s best friend. You’re not really going to marry her best friend right? Right?….well we’ll see if Tom can stay strong.

So I’ve already wrote about Eddie but lets wrap up his character now so we can move on to the others. He’s just really not coping well at all and tries to deflect this all the time by saying that Tom isn’t happy. You can see how visibly confused Tom was because they had just finished watching a movie that he enjoyed quite a bit but Eddie quickly threw cold water over the whole thing. Throughout the film Eddie is constantly projecting like this and Tom ends up being under a lot of pressure to find someone and fast. Then you’ve also got the scene where Eddie is rude to the girl at camp. This is already bad but even worse is the fact that everyone in class was always teasing her so Eddie had been the girl’s only friend. This sudden betrayal would be hard for the girl to deal with and this is never brought up again. Eddie’s just really mean throughout the entire film and every scene with him will have you cringing.

As for Tom, he’s okay but I wouldn’t actually call him a good character either. First off, as much as Eddie whines about the whole thing, that shouldn’t be enough to just make him find a new wife so quickly. Then you’ve got the fact that you can’t really take him seriously in these new relationships. He is seemingly interested in 3 women during the course of the film, Dollye, Rita, and Elizabeth. Dollye is taken off the table early on but with Rita and Elizabeth the guy can’t make up his mind. He actively goes on dates with both of them and doesn’t see any problem with this. Inevitably one of them won’t have a happy ending here.

Like Eddie Tom tends to lose his cool pretty quickly though so that also hurts him as a character even aside from not being able to make up his mind. He’s constantly insulting Elizabeth so it’s no wonder that they didn’t hit it off. Additionally when he tries to turn her logic against her when she rightfully points out that he’s always scared and pouting…it doesn’t work. He tries to say that she is also afraid of being in a relationship except that she is still going out on dates and has a solid gig as a nurse so…his argument was terrible from the start. She’s also the one making the effort to go to his place and see Eddie so this is a one way street.

Elizabeth is a decent heroine but I also feel like she was moving in rather quickly with romantic intentions. So, this goes back to the ole rebound that I always speak against in these films. If your wife just died or you split apart, you can’t move on to someone so quickly. How serious were your feelings if you are already prepared to move on? Both parties are suspect there. Even though Tom is meant to be wrong in his speech about how Elizabeth was just there to get married…this did start to go in that direction rather quickly so was he really wrong? Elizabeth said she went there platonically but it sure didn’t stay that way for long. Additionally Tom was the one starting to seem desperate as he kept inviting her for drinks. Yeah, I can’t give that guy a thumbs up.

Rita was a pretty reasonable character as well. She was also interested in Tom from the start and did her best to claim him. Unfortunately Eddie was always trying to ruin things there. She handled things quite rationally and in the end it was Tom who just tossed her aside once he decided to be with Elizabeth. I appreciate the fact that the film didn’t immediately try to make her some kind of villain or anything like that. Rita stayed as a solid character throughout so I appreciate the film’s restraint.

The other two supporting characters were Dollye and Norman. I was fine with both of them being written out rather early though as they got their own subplot because they weren’t quite as interesting. Dollye definitely had a very odd first appearance. Fortunately it went well but if I were Tom I definitely would have had doubts on the request. Her overall quest is good though as she works to get more outgoing. It’s a very noble goal and one worth pursuing. Meeting up with Norman was quite fortunate for her because that guy is quite good at being bold and letting this be known far and wide. Whatever the guy wants he gets. Definitely not the most trustworthy sort but you hope things will work out for them.

The writing is pretty fun though. We do get some nice scenes of humor particularly with the maid who is trying to learn Spanish. She has clearly put in a lot of work to her craft and is just a likable person. She does try to look out for Tom a bit in her own way. In general while I may not be big fans of the main characters or the romance in general which I found to be a bit weak, the film itself is nice and interesting. I wouldn’t really say there is a whole lot against it beyond that. The film is reasonably long and a lot happens. It may drag on a tad at points but not enough to say it’s a bad film. Put it this way, you should have a good time giving it a watch but it probably wouldn’t rank for giving it a re watch after that.

Overall, If you can get past the fact that the characters are going for a rebound romance then this is a decent film. It’s a film that would have benefited from not having Eddie participate at all though. Seriously, the kid really didn’t need to be here. Without him the story would be a lot tighter and you could probably even develop the romance more since it wouldn’t all just be from pressure that the kid provided. If you ask me that’s a winning combination. I somehow don’t think Eddie will be going back to camp after all of this though, he certainly burned all of the bridges he could have there and the little girl isn’t likely to forget his final scene either. Maybe he could be more likable in a sequel if we get a big time jump or something.

Overall 6/10

The Island Review

Posted on November 29, 2020 by dreager1

With a title like the Island you may be guessing that this is some kind of slice of life film or maybe even a romance film. Well, this one’s a little different from that. This one’s a thriller and deals with some pretty interesting themes. I wouldn’t say it lives up to its full potential but ends up being a pretty entertaining film I’d say. A lot happens here for sure and I like the general premise once you start getting into the twists.

The movie starts by introducing us to Lincoln who is the main character. He has grown up on an island where things are pretty strict. You’re not allowed to really go close to anyone or you’ll trigger proximity alerts to the authorities. Nobody is allowed off of the island because the rest of the world is completely poisoned after some kind of nuclear attack. Occasionally the authorities will find more survivors outside and bring them onto the island. Lincoln finds the whole thing to be pretty empty. He just feels like life isn’t fulfilling and has so many questions about why they have to be stuck on this island. Nobody is interested in really giving him any answers though. In fact, people aren’t even allowed to do so or they’ll be in trouble. Well, Lincoln is determined to find answers no matter what it takes.

The whole idea of the island will likely have you feeling a strong sense of skepticism. Has there ever been a chance where this actually was the truth in a film? The instant you find out that nobody is allowed to answer any questions you’ll know that something clearly isn’t right here. Then you’ve got the people who “win” the lottery and get to leave the island to another one on the outside world. Let me back up a bit, the title is referring to the island you make it to for winning the lottery. The home base is technically called something else but you’re living underground in case you were getting mixed up by all the island talk. Basically this is the only way to get back outside so people are always thrilled to get out there. It’s very suspect of course and lets just say that things don’t go well for the people who win.

The movie goes into a lot of other plot lines from there and it does all feel like a big adventure. Due to how the society is set up the main characters don’t know a whole lot though. They are intentionally kept in an environment like kids with not a whole lot of experience outside of their immediate environment. So in some ways they all act a bit like kids even though they’re technically older. The cast isn’t all that big as most of the focus is on Lincoln and Jordan. They are decent main characters although the romance seems to happen awful fast. This is definitely one of those films where I wouldn’t exactly give the romance a thumbs up. Feels like it’s more one of those things that has to happen but didn’t really need to.

Lincoln is very inquisitive about everything that’s going on which is good. Most of the characters are content to just wait and see what happens here so he’s got a leg up there. He’s good at rolling with the situation and adapting well. He looks good throughout the second half of the film and really makes a lot of the right decisions. Meanwhile Jordan is also solid and I like her competitive spirit. She is quite ready to jump into action. She may not have suspected what was going on the same way Lincoln did but she was quick to join his side.

Albert is one of the villains in the film and he definitely does a good job in his role. The guy is a dangerous opponent that you really don’t want to go up against. He’s got a plan for everything and clearly has a lot of experience. He’s the standout character of the movie. Then you’ve got Merrick who is a pretty solid character as well. He has a big role in the film and is pretty smart so he’s always got a lot of ideas as well. Merrick tends to notice things that nobody else does and that’s why he gets the big bucks. Meanwhile Lincoln also has a few friends who pop in every now and again. They’re pretty decent but none of them get a whole lot to do.

If there’s anything holding this film back I suppose it would be that at times the plot can move a bit slowly. Until you get to the main plot twists the characters spend a whole lot of time just at the base not really doing anything. I’m thinking the purpose here is to show just how repetitive life can be while at the base. Still, I think it could have been sped up a bit as well. Once we enter the second half of the movie and get a different backdrop then it really allows for a lot of new circumstances. Some people definitely look really bad for not figuring out that something was up though.

I don’t blame any of the people in the base because there’s no real way for them to have figured anything out but the other people separate from the project? I don’t see how none of them were able to find out about this. The film hints of course that most of these people would rather not know so they don’t search too hard but I’m still not quite able to buy that. Certainly not an operation this big, I don’t care quite how in the middle of nowhere it is located. Additionally, you’d think there would be more guards on the outskirts to stop people from getting away. I guess when you have bounty hunters at the ready though there is less pressure.

Overall, The Island is a good film. I think it could have been better especially with the great plots it has at the ready but it did well enough where I could recommend it. The writing’s decent and the main characters were good. It’s an ambitious title and has a solid climax. The less you know about the film the more you can have fun piecing together the different twists coming up since at the very least from the beginning you’ll definitely know that something isn’t quite adding up here. Of course the true twist would be if a film has this premise but actually plays it straight where the world is covered in radiation. When the main characters bust out they realize this and the film ends on that somber note. It would be extremely unexpected but a really interesting way to play around with the audience expectations.

Overall 6/10

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