Tag Archives: Romance

High Sierra Review

Posted on by
Reply


High Sierra is a film about a criminal who takes his journey to its logical conclusion. From the start you have a general feeling for how this will play out. The main character is an unrepentant criminal who has stayed in the game for too long. At this point your criminal career doesn’t tend to end until death so he just keeps on going until he can’t anymore. I thought the movie was good but the particularly weak cast keeps it from going to the next level.

The movie starts with Roy being able to leave jail at last. It pays to know criminals in high places after all and Big Mac asks Roy to do one more heist for him. The guy desperately wants his riches and Roy agrees but the one thing the lead doesn’t like is that he will have to team up with two rookies, Red and Babe. These two are amateurs in absolutely every area of the business and they’ve even brought along a lady named Marie for the ride. These two choke under pressure and are always talking tough so Roy’s going to have a hard time on his hands> Can he still pull off the heist and what’s this about bringing a dog along for the ride as well?

Throughout the movie you can see how Roy gets frustrated at the rest of the cast because they do have a habit of making things more difficult on him. When you can’t trust your partners in a life or death situation then that makes things a lot tougher right off the bat. Sure enough, they do get into trouble. Red and Babe are the worst characters in the film by far and the sooner they were written out of the film the better.

The dynamic with Roy and Marie was much better even if she was not quite ready to be a big time criminal either. She has been around the block long enough not to make any big mistakes or get in the way but at the same time this isn’t completely her scene. She is part of why the main characters keep Pard (the dog) around and I am glad that she is so nice to him the whole time. I don’t think Pard should be in such a dangerous environment though. One wrong shot or step and it could be too dangerous so the sooner he wasn’t on screen the better.

Pard was a really great dog of course and knew a lot of tricks but I don’t think he would really want to be a criminal. Pard seems like an upstanding citizen to me. While Marie is good, she does get a bit jealous at one point and I think she focuses too much on romance. Romance is probably something you shouldn’t pursue when you’re in the company of criminals. Not the best batch of options after all.

As for Roy, well I liked him in a lot of ways but also not in others. His positive qualities boil down to the fact that he is confident and efficient. He is also a decent guy compared to the rest as he quickly steps in to help Marie and isn’t about to let these criminals do whatever they want. Nobody pushes Roy around and it’s easy to see how he became such a respected figure where nobody wants to mess with him anymore. Now as to why he was not particularly good. He ends up falling for a lady named Velma who can no longer walk.

Roy agrees to fix this for her and even calls in a surgeon. Keep in mind that the family is very poor and could not afford such an operation so Roy agrees to do it. Velma’s grandfather lets Roy know that she is taken but he doesn’t care. So the surgery is a success and then he asks her to marry him and sulks when she says no. My main problem with this is that the operation going well should have been the best day of her life and yet Roy had to ruin it by bringing this up.

He couldn’t take a hint either and just as bad was the fact that he didn’t try to hide his disappointment. So he goes out of his way to make Velma feel absolutely terrible on her big day and then he also insults the guy she intends to marry right away. Not only was his infatuation really rushed as it came out of nowhere but it just hurts him as a man. The instant he said he would pay for the surgery he should have been able to put on a brave face no mater what happened. You just end up feeling bad for Velma and the family by the end of it all.

As to the actual plot, well the heist is fairly quick but doesn’t go all that smoothly for the main characters. The two guys ended up holding Roy back quite a bit and the whole thing also just took too long. They should have definitely been out of there before the final interruption so I don’t get how it was taking them so long. The time they went wasn’t even that bad and the plan was decent but nothing works forever and that’s why time was of the essence.

The writing in the film was pretty solid. The pacing is good too and so the movie is always keeping your interest from start to finish. I thought the ending was effective and so you get a complete package here. The film is fundamentally sound so even if I think it could have been better, it’s one that I could recommend. Personally I just would have either removed the Velma subplot or made Roy handle it a little better. I just didn’t think it made sense how much the whole experience broke him since he seems like a guy with a lot of experience who would have been in this situation before.

Overall, High Sierra should have skipped the romance but even with it, this is still a solid title. I guess you could call it a heist film but that doesn’t seem right and calling it a thriller makes it sound more action packed than it is. I almost think drama would be the best genre for it, but either way just think of it as a low key film where the lead is trying to pull off a really big crime. It also serves as a reminder on why you shouldn’t drink too many beers as that can end up having a heavy cost.

Overall 7/10

Voice Over! Seiyu Academy Review

Posted on by
2


Time to check out a manga about voice acting. It’s a fairly unique premise to build the series around and works well with your classic rom-com setup. If anything I thought this series really could have been quite a bit longer. I’d have liked to see Hime get to progress more so we could see her in the bigger productions. The series really seems to end just when she has broken out of her shell with the inevitable big time skip. 12 volumes is nothing to sneeze at but something like 16-20 would have been good. All in all, this is a fun series with a satisfying conclusion.

The series focuses around Hime who is a girl that really wants to be a talented voice actress. She attends Seiyu Academy for that one goal but she does have a big weakness. The problem is that her voice…makes her sound like a gorilla. The higher pitch she tries to use, the deeper and rougher the voice comes out. It’s all frustrating for Hime because she has been practicing for so long but has not even come close to her goal. Ultimately she wants to be a “Lovely Blazer” which is what the fighters in a popular anime/music group/vocal group are called. Meeting one in person was what inspired her as a kid.

Still, dreams are only dreams until she can get close. At the school she meets up with the popular boy at school known as Senri. Senri is the opposite as he is extremely talented in any role and is seen as a prodigy. Unfortunately they don’t get off on the right foot so he really dislikes her now. (His fault because he starts off by insulting her) When a play reading for Snow White goes wrong, Hime discovers that she does have exceptional voice acting talent…for male characters. This isn’t exactly her dream though and she wants to keep it a secret. She meets up with a voice coach who makes a deal with her. She has to keep performing as a guy in secret by dressing up as a guy and living a double life. If she can pull this off for a while then he promises to make her a big star as a girl too. Hime’s double life has now begun, but how long can she keep up the act!?

Double lives tend to be fun because it just opens up so many possibilities for story telling. It’s part of what makes superheroes fun as well. Hime has to keep on deceiving everyone as she pulls off her skills to the point where she has to even live at a different place temporarily so nobody knows what’s going on. She has some family issues at home though so this is easy. (Everyone has family issues in this series) Ironically enough, she gets along with Senri really well in her alter ego but the longer she keeps up the secret, the harder it will be to tell him the truth.

So there’s a ton going on here which is part of why I said it could have been longer. For starters, she’s in her boy form so long that “Hime” can vanish for whole volumes. It becomes very rare to see her at all sometimes to the point where you get used to her other design more. Each plot also has its own set of characters. As Hime she hangs out with the dropout group where the voice actors/actresses were just not big enough to be popular. At school they all help each other to be better. As “Shiro” she hangs out with the expert music stars and directors and also meets Mizuki, a guy who ends up liking her and is quite possibly the worst character in the series although I do not think this was intentional by the series.

So lets go through each side here. I would say the Shiro plot was the strongest one since it’s really the meat of the series. Having to assume a whole new identity and keep the bluff going allows for a lot of shenanigans to occur but also shows how versatile Shiro is. She is still able to make friends quickly and everyone respects her work ethic. She is still a newbie to all of this after all but begins to improve very quickly. Even the tough director gives her a pass after a while.

While I don’t like him, Mizuki will also stick up for her. This storyline also allows us to learn more about Senri’s situation which is certainly complicated. You know that this alter ego will have to end at some point but it’s fun for the duration of the series. I think Hime should even have kept that as something to use if she’s ever in a tough spot trying to find roles as herself. Or maybe reveal it by being in a show where she plays both roles but I’m not sure how feasible that would be long-term. The more the years go by the more her Shiro disguise likely wouldn’t work. It’s the kind of thing that mainly works because she’s still a kid, well I guess teenager at this point but still on the younger side.

As mentioned, Mizuki is just a character I didn’t like at all. The guy’s a big star who is really timid after things didn’t work out with the first girl he liked. He tried his best to help her out at every corner but ultimately this caused her to think he was stifling her development and she had an outburst before dashing off. Honestly I wouldn’t say he did anything wrong there and the girl just should have spoken up. Regardless this traumatized Mizuki so with Hime he is really trying to have a balance where he helps out but lets her do her own thing.

So that’s good but then he ends up trying to make some moves on her and this is where he faltered badly. He’s the kind of character who is nice one second and then quite rude the next. You were never rooting for him to win with her at any point. His origin was sad so you want to cut him some slack but he didn’t make the double life any easier on her when he starts up with the drama. At least he gave her the glasses which could help her get into the prince voice easier.

Senri gets a big role in both sides of the plot. While he doesn’t get along with Hime at all, he does form a quick bond with “Shiro”. After all, for him it’s just easier to hang out with another guy since he at least has some experience there. Senri easily has the biggest character arc in the series and it’s one that was handled well. He slowly breaks out of his shell and learns how to live normally. I thought his plot was usually the most engaging so I was always ready to see what was going on with him.

He also has the most tragic backstory of the group. So his mother Sakura is the world’s greatest actress. She didn’t start out that skilled but had a drive like no other. She ultimately had Senri as a kid but had stopped being an ordinary person long ago. So she raised him as if they were in a movie. Every action and moment was according to the characters they played and so she didn’t see him as her son. Senri grew up with this rather twisted view of the world where everyone was faking their actions and playing roles. This led to a lot of friendships being broken and his becoming a loner.

It’s easy to see how he doesn’t know how to connect with anyone in the present. It’s not like you pick up social skills automatically. How you’re raised plays a big role there and so he was completely broken since he was raised in a way where he didn’t know what was an emotion and what was the role. In the present it makes for an interesting character trait since he really can’t tell if he is in a role or not. That’s definitely a high level of trauma.

So while Sakura’s skills are very good, this hurts her as a character quite a bit. You like to think that she would have been able to raise Senri a little better than she did but he never ended up becoming her top priority. She would always choose work first and of course work is important but Senri’s life was very nearly ruined as a young age. Without Shiro he would have only grown worse.

Shuuma is Mizuki’s friend and he wasn’t very good right from the start. He jumps right towards bullying Shiro from the start to drive him away from Mizuki. It’s the kind of petty tactic that you can’t really come back from. So while this was short lived, it’s not like he had any great moments after this to improve his character further. Fujimori is another character from the agency plot and he’s much better. The guy is rivals with Mizuki but doesn’t randomly go after Shiro to make himself feel better.

In fact, he quickly learns that teamwork is good and is very supportive the whole time. He does end up getting caught in the romance crossfire between the other characters so they’ll randomly attack him but the guy meant well. He’s a rather minor character overall but he was always entertaining.

That’s about all of the characters from the Shiro plot. Before going over to Hime’s story, just a quick reminder that Hime = Shiro. Shiro is just the cover for Hime when she has to work as a guy for a while and using the separate terms in the review is an easy way to keep the two plots separate. For the most part the storylines and characters don’t interact nearly as much as you would expect. There is some overlap like how Senri is at school and in the business but for the most part he’s more of an exception.

Hime and Shiro have the same personality so there’s no sense in talking about the character twice. Hime is a solid main character. She may not be particularly talented at the start but she doesn’t let this get her down and just keeps at it until she can be the best. We actually do get to see a lot of chapters where Hime is training and practicing various steps. I would say it’s very rare that we see this level of training so the author really did a good job in showing just how much drive she had. If any character deserved to get good then it was her.

This is also what helped Haruka to be a likable character. So in the Hime plot, he has given her the mission to pretend to be a guy for a while to get her networking experience, connections, and basically because that’s the only kind of voice she can use at the moment. He acts tough on the outside but he really does this to help her out. So when she gets bullied or talked down to, he always has her back. There was one scene in particular where they go to Hime’s house because they needed permission from her mother for something.

In the scene Hime’s mother keeps talking about her other daughter and dissing Hime the whole time. Haruka was quick to take Hime’s defense and publicly support her there. I thought it was a really pivotal moment and you always want to have an ally like that. When Hime gets sick, Haruka helps make sure she gets peace and quiet. He ends up feeling like the parental figure that Hime never had.

While Hime’s mother looks bad the whole time, none of the blame can be put on Hime’s younger sister Akane. Akane is still just a kid and while she is super talented and successful, she is never mean about it. I get the feeling she’d like to be closer to Hime but it just isn’t possible in this toxic household. Between Hime and Senri’s mothers, the series certainly has a lot of broken households where the characters weren’t raised well. At least you’re glad that Akane was able to have a successful life so far.

Then you have Hime’s friends at school who are all in the delinquent/lower class because they struggle with one form of voicework or another. First is Tsukino and her issue is that her voice is just really low. It’s hard for her to use her voice more since she got bullied for it a whole lot. Part of Hime’s role in this group is to get everyone past their fears though and gradually Tsukino gets past hers. I wouldn’t say she gets a lot of moments in the series but everyone got something to do and this was a nice enough plot.

In general I just liked how close knit the group was and how they would all have each other’s backs during the tough times. Shou is the tough punk of the group and basically isn’t doing well because he can seem like a bit of a delinquent. This comes in handy though because he doesn’t let anyone mess with them. Additionally he’s able to be friends with Ume who had a tough time being with others. Ume could be a little stuck up at times and with her talent for writing scripts, she wouldn’t take the voice actors/actresses into account. Gradually she is able to fix this.

That really wraps up both sides of the adventures here. The cast is fairly large here and they’re all balanced well. It does go back to what I was saying about the series being a little short though. With all of these characters I really think it could have been really good to have just had a few more volumes. It feels like there is still so much to do when the series ends. We didn’t really get to see everyone’s reactions to finding out about Hime, her journey into being more successful, etc. You just have to try your best to fit in the pieces when the time skip jumps in.

The artwork here is good. I wouldn’t say it’s one of the stronger Shojo titles that I’ve read in that area but the writing is able to hold it up. You’ll be blasting through each volume because it just ends up being a real page turner. The humor works well enough and balances out the more serious moments here. I suppose the romance wasn’t bad. Any scene with Mizuki in it was always annoying but the rest wasn’t super dramatic nor was it usually the focus so that helped. This way the title got to be more about the various friendships with the characters and how they all help each other to succeed. An academy where you train to be a professional should be a place like that where you can count on others to have your back.

Overall, Voice Over is a series that I would certainly recommend. It’s a fairly unique premise and it’s always fun to see the inner workings of how the voices go. Changing up your voice and doing a lot of roles always seems like something that would be difficult to do. Naturally it’s best when people just like your default voice so you can keep using that but I want to say that most won’t be so lucky. You’ll need to be able to play many different roles. So if you’re up for a light hearted adventure then this is a fun one to check out. Where else will you get a fun comedy with the main character living two lives right?

Overall 7/10

Left Behind II: Tribulation Force

Posted on by
Reply


In Left Behind 2 the situation continues to grow more dangerous for the heroes. Nicolae has gotten even more support so he now effectively runs the free world and has full access over the media. This makes it more difficult to stop him and the heroes also have the knowledge that they can’t stop him. How should they proceed now and will this cause tensions among the group? They will have to pray that they make the right decisions or their Tribulation Force will be over before it has truly begun.

The first film ended with the heroes having some hope here because they did manage to get a moral victory with Buck becoming a Christian so he can not be deceived by Nicolae’s persuasive abilities. This film also has a similar kind of tone to it as the heroes know they cannot win the war so they have to secure smaller victories in the meantime. Every life they save is a big accomplishment in itself so they have to keep on trying their best and taking as many risks as needed.

Why have they accepted defeat in terms of stopping Nicolae? Well, the reason actually makes sense. The events are playing out exactly as they were foretold in the Bible which is what helped get the main characters into becoming Christians. As such, they know that what is written has to come true which means that the Anti Christ will come to power and the temple will be rebuilt. The main characters then know that these events have to happen but it’s possible they can at least slow things down or convert more people in the meantime. It comes down to the classic debate where if you know what the future holds and can’t change it, are your other actions all predestined as well so no matter what you choose, the end result is the same?

Well to keep it brief, while the future will happen as foreseen by God, there’s no way for anyone to actually know the future. (You can safely ignore fortune tellers and such for that reason) Not to say God can’t enhance someone with future sight as done in the past but there’s no way to tell if someone is scamming you or not. If they say they know when he is coming back then you know it’s a scam because the Bible makes it clear that nobody would know. As for any other predictions, I would still ignore them since it’s safer to just accept that the future is unknown outside of what’s written in the Bible.

So going back to the characters, they still have to try their best because regardless of how the future will play out, they don’t know what’s going to happen so going in half heartedly is not the way to do it. You do understand why Rayford doesn’t want to be driving Nicolae around though. Being the personal driver for the Anti-Christ is not something you want on your resume but ultimately I was on Bruce’s side here. Now if Nicolae starts asking Rayford to commit some actual crimes then it’s time to draw the line. This connection comes in handy almost right away too.

Rayford takes some rather extreme risks the whole time though. He has no real subtlety when going around and downloading files from the computer. It works out but you do feel like he should have done a smoother job of the whole thing. In general Rayford looked good here. He helped to patch things up with Chloe and Buck while also doing on all kinds of missions so he was really busy here.

Buck’s the other main hero and things are also tough for him the whole time. Being a reporter and having to be at the front lines every time with Nicolae watching his every move has to be unnerving. There was a really random scene though where there’s a new boss at his company who wants to give him a hard time. Fortunately his old assistant showed up in time to defend him but the whole thing felt random. Nicolae really wants Buck on his side so you feel like the company would have gotten the memo. Imagine if Buck was fired there? That would have thrown Nicolae’s plans for a loop and it just seemed odd that this would even come close to happening.

That’s the one scene that felt really out of place in the movie. As always Buck fought through it though and keeps having a critical role throughout the movie. Then we have Chloe who has a much bigger role in this film but unfortunately it’s not a good one. She is mainly used to add a big romance/drama subplot which wasn’t needed. She gets jealous quickly, doesn’t listen or give Buck a chance to explain and hurts the team’s morale. It feels like she took the longest to really get on board with what’s going on and you would have thought she would have made more progress by now. At least things are squared away by the ending so she should be good in the third film but I’d definitely be cool with the subplot vanishing. I don’t think this is the perfect time for romance with the end of the world going on.

Bruce doesn’t get as much to do in the field but he’s effectively the group’s field commander so he helps with coordinating everything and making sure that the characters are all on the same page. He is the one giving the sermons at Church to help convert more people so his role is definitely pivotal either way. It probably would have been tough to balance another subplot too.

Then we have the main villain Nicolae who still makes for an imposing figure. He’s got a fairly strong chokehold on the world and uses his powers effectively to break everyone down. The guy rarely breaks down but that does make it satisfying when the heroes do finally get one up over him. In a way these films are definitely about a lot of strategic battles. There are a lot of rules by which Nicolae can use his power, for example he can use telepathy to an extent but he’s not seemingly allowed to just use this on the whole planet and be done with it which does give the heroes a chance here.

One character who was annoying the whole time was Chris though. So this guy didn’t take the rapture very well and refuses to believe in God. He storms out of the church and then nearly commits suicide. He even pointed a gun at Rayford and nearly took it all out on him which would have really been crazy. The heroes do have a scene where they try to talk him down right outside of the Church btu that doesn’t end up working out so well. Only Rayford is able to turn him by the end. So Chris ends up in a good spot but I certainly wouldn’t have minded if he was cut out.

Overall, Left Behind II is a solid sequel. While it doesn’t quite match up to the original with the intense rapture scene and setting the board for each of the characters it is a good sequel. Each of the characters gets to continue their journey and get closer to God. The journey is quite early though to the point where you could say they are still at the very beginning and will need to steel themselves for what is to come. Buck will certainly have to be extremely careful now since Nicolae will likely know that he has been betrayed. It’s possible that he won’t know but I’m pretty sure he figured it out. By extension Rayford should be careful as well since they are seen together a lot. All it takes is one traitor in the congregation to put everyone at risk. Next up is the final of the original Left Behind trilogy movies so we’ll see how that one goes.

The Seven Deadly Sins: Seven Days Review

Posted on by
Reply


Next up on the Seven Deadly Sins spinoff list is more of a romance title. Yes, Seven Days is a title that I would consider to be a romance first and foremost which is a first for this series. The main manga certainly had its share of romance plots but it was always an action/adventure as the main genre. Well, this title is exclusively about the romance between Ban and Elaine which is a change of pace right away. I’m not a big fan of the romance myself but the story is told well. We get some action and the characters are nice enough so that ends up being a win.

The story starts off by explaining that Elaine is one of the fairies tasked with protecting the fountain of eternal youth from any who should go into the forest. Fortunately she is not alone, her brother is the fairy king and he is incredibly strong. There are many powerful fairies within the forest and even the trees automatically protect against intruders. Unfortunately a bunch of the fairies were suckered by a corrupt human who kidnapped them and the King went off to save them. The rest of the fairies quickly ran away back to the Fairy Realm so Elaine is tasked as the only fairy left who must protect the whole kingdom on her own. The King said he would return shortly but now 700 years have passed. One day a mysterious traveler named Ban appears and he is in search of the fountain of Eternal Youth. Elaine must stop him but he seems different from the rest.

Elaine has good reasons to be really jaded at humanity. She has the ability to read minds and so far everyone who has come to the fountain to gain eternal youth has been a complete criminal. They all end up being liars and try to attack her right away. Fortunately she has been strong enough to defeat them all with ease but between that and a lot of the fairies being kidnapped, the humans do not look very trustworthy at all. Ban’s really shown to be the only good human here.

It is unfortunate that the rest of the fairies look so weak though. Losing to random humans like this isn’t a good look for them. If these were higher ranked villains then that would be different but the way they lost was sad. Even Elaine who looks impressive against the humans ends up faltering when an actual monster shows up. The Fairies definitely need some good power ups so they can alter the balance of power because this is really not working out for them.

Yes, a monster does show up in the second volume to add a little danger to the equation. Of course if you’ve read the main series then you know how this adventure has to end. In case you haven’t, I can say that this definitely changes the dynamic of the series and ties into Ban’s role in the main title. The ending is definitely an emotional one but with enough hope left where you know the characters can still have a chance.

The battle scene was also solid. It’s cool to see Ban fighting back in the day before he got his powers. He was still a strong fighter but of course not on the same level that he is currently. He fights more carefully than in the main series since he really can’t afford to be getting hit like normal but in the end he still can’t quite go up against the really strong opponents without his abilities.

Ban’s a likable character here. He’s quick to give up on his journey when he learns that it will hurt the forest and from then on just tries to help Elaine get through her boredom. I’m still not a fan of the romance angle here but at least through the series we take 7 days before they start to be together instead of right away. Still not a whole lot of time but since they’re both bored with absolutely nothing to do, it’s 7 days where they’re hanging out 24/7 instead of some hours at a time.

I also think the artist did a better job of drawing Elaine to look a little older at least. We know she’s 1000+ years old and all but when she looks too young it just doesn’t feel right. Still not a perfect scenario but better than it could have been. As for Elaine, she’s a good lead. She did well to protect the forest for 700 years without any real backup. (She has a demon dog but he vanishes whenever villains appear) If I was her I would be sore at how everyone just vanished though. The fairies completely ditched her so maybe she should have ditched the forest and left as well. The task just feels completely unreasonable.

It’s also a shame that she doesn’t have more ways to fight off this monster. I feel like she should have some kind of special abilities that would aid her here but she wasn’t really able to do much against this beast. If Ban were not here then she would have gone down in an instant. Ultimately she stayed heroic through to the end though and did not complain as she looked through the forest. It was certainly a relief for her to read Ban’s mind and finally find an honest human for the first time. Having the ability to read someone’s mind has got to be a very comforting feeling since you know for a fact that you aren’t being tricked.

This series (2 volumes, but that’s enough to be called a series I suppose) has a very small cast but I think that’s intentional to show how alone Elaine is. The other fairies appear briefly in volume 1 but after that it’s really just her and Ban the whole time. It’s hard to imagine how she didn’t go crazy just wandering around the forest for 700 years with nothing to do aside from murdering the occasional trespasser. There is some dialogue about how the passage of time feels different for immortals because of just how long it is but that’s still just a really long amount of time.

Also from just reading this series, you have to be mad at the King. He told her he’d be right back and then vanishes for 700 years? Aside from his death or complete memory erasure there is really no excuse for that. I also think there’s no excuse for other Fairies not arriving to work in shifts or to try and get her some intel. They sure show up very quickly in the epilogue when Ban’s around so where were they until then? These are the kinds of allies that you absolutely do not want.


Overall, Seven Days was a fun spinoff. It does show that you can have a quality romance adventure even if you’re not on board with the actual romance. The story’s very low key with lots of scenes of Ban just reading a book about beer labels to Elaine as he wows her with his adventures. The fact that this book is so low key is the point as she’s desperate for any activity that will erase her boredom and it’s a good way to connect the two characters. Elaine was always a fun enough character in the main series while Ban could be hit or miss. He was at his best in this story though and the author understood his character well. The ending is also solid and ties into the main series smoothly. As the story is stand alone you can read this without context of the main series and maybe it’ll even help you to give it a read. Either way, you’ll have a good time reading these two volumes.

Overall 7/10

Behind the Scenes

Posted on by
Reply


The main character’s a bit of a pushover but the manga’s off to a good start. Working on the special effects is definitely a subject that you can have a lot of fun with. I’ll have a review up for this series once it’s finished. We’ll see if the lead can end up becoming the ultimate club member!

Overall 6/10

The Lost Valentine Review

Posted on by
2


The Lost Valentine is a very emotional story about how war can certainly turn a romance tragic very quickly. The movie deals with the aftermath of that and makes for a solid emotional story. I wouldn’t say it’s a great one but it should keep your attention from start to finish. There’s also some good detective work at play here so the plot moves quite actively.

The movie starts by introducing us to Caroline whose husband went missing during the war and was presumed dead. Since this wasn’t official, Caroline would go to the train station where they promised they would meet every year on Valentine’s. She would sit there all day and then go home. Rinse and repeat for decades. Well, one channel thinks they can get a good pay day out of this so reporter Susan is put onto the case. Her mission is to get the full story from Caroline. Susan’s not thrilled about this since she finds it boring and has a very bad first impression with Caroline’s grandson as a result. Can she turn this around and get the story or is that game over?

In a lot of ways the film could have been over after the first few minutes when Susan was badmouthing Caroline in front of Lucas. Now, they weren’t direct insults to her but she was criticizing the story and saying that it wasn’t very important. If I’m Lucas I’d shut the whole thing down right there. Hard to forget about insults like that. While of course we learn that Susan ends up finding the whole story very moving and gets into it, if you’re Lucas you would probably have a lot of doubts for a long while. Not until she actually starts doing some detective work would I think that her heart is into this.

Susan’s definitely crafty about how she gets in to get the story though. She basically forces her way into the house and from there it would be awkward for Lucas to throw her out. So you have to give Susan some points there and of course her character arc does end up working out positively. I thought it was a bit iffy how she ran back to her day job once Lucas got upset at her but since she didn’t give up on the assignment, I didn’t dock any major points off of her. Ultimately she may have been judgmental at the beginning but got to be a good character by the end.

As for Lucas, well he’s a solid character as well. He does well in his physical therapy job and even had the time to write a book as well. Unfortunately he is the kind of guy who reads too much into a situation and quickly jumps to the wrong conclusions. A romance drama like this will always have that one big misunderstanding moment, but this one felt very forced. (Okay, most of them feel forced) Lucas decides to be rather rude to her as a result which shows that he wasn’t as cool with being “just friends” as he should have been. Additionally, lets say that it wasn’t a misunderstanding…she had hinted that she was together with someone earlier. Even his parents and grandmother knew that but told him to go over to try and win her over. So what’s with the big personality shift here? I thought he was way off base.

With Susan just coming off another relationship so this was a rebound and Lucas being like this, I can tell you that I was not a big fan of this romance. It just didn’t end up working well for me at all. Since it’s a big focus that does hurt the film to an extent. The romance with Caroline was a lot better as she never rebounded and stayed loyal with visiting the train station all these years. She’s definitely the kind of person you’d want to be friends with. Caroline does a lot of volunteering in her spare time as well and just ends up being a very solid character. Her husband was also great as we see him in the flashbacks saving various characters. There were several times where he could have escaped and saved himself but each time he took the high road and did what he could to keep everyone safe. Now that’s what I call drive and determination!

As always you can count on the friends of the main characters to give the worst possible advice at all times though. This is pretty much a staple for the friends to be bad in romances though. You’ve got Susan’s friends telling her to just marry the guy she’s not super interested in because he’s a good guy. I mean…it’s nice that they’re trying to be supportive but you never want to “settle” on someone just because they’re not bad. I don’t think that’s a good way to build a long term relationship. Then you have Lucas’ parents and Caroline saying it doesn’t matter if Susan already has a boyfriend, just assume he’s not the right one and try to win her over. I suppose the game’s not over until she’s married but if someone’s taken then I’d say 9 times out of 10 it’s time to move on and think about someone else. Or just be okay on your own, you can still be quite content that way.

Overall, The Lost Valentine is a good film. I wasn’t a fan of the main romance but the writing is still good and the characters are reasonable. The movie is fairly short so you have to move through things at a fairly rapid pace. That does mean that the romance doesn’t have a lot of time to develop but at the same time you don’t want things to drag out either. I’d say the balance was good enough and you do feel happy for Caroline to have some closure at the end. She had definitely gone through a lot so this way she got to have some happy memories at the end. The flashbacks were also good to give the story more depth, honestly that may have even made for a stronger film if we had stayed in the past the whole time. Would have been a more tragic ending though.

Overall 6/10

Tender Mercies Review

Posted on by
Reply


Tender Mercies is definitely a film that was better than I expected it to be. The drama isn’t overblown, the characters are realistic, and it’s a movie that doesn’t fumble the bag at the end. You’ll be treated to a complete picture here and that’s always good to see. The movie doesn’t make any big mistakes or anything like that and just makes for a consistent ride from start to finish.

The movie starts by introducing us to Rosa who is managing a gas station operation on her own. Her husband died a long time ago and so she raises her son, Sonny on her own. Well, one day a guy by the name of Mac shows up. He’s broke and has nowhere to go so she hires him on as an assistant. He gradually gives up his drinking problem and marries her. Things are going well but then she discovers that he used to be a really big song writer and now his ex-wife and daughter are nearby. Can Mac really stay away from his old career or is he about to get dragged back in?

At first you figure the movie will go through the usual motions. Mac will end up cheating on Rosa, he’ll fall back into his drinking habits, and then only by the end of the film will he realize that he did all of the wrong things. Well, none of that happens in the movie. It ends up being a much more wholesome experience than you might have suspected at first. The whole thing ends up being a lot more on the pleasant side so while it is fairly low key, you have a good time watching it.

That’s not to say Rosa and Mac don’t have their disagreements but things never get ugly. She takes the whole twist about him being a musician really well. Then you have the group of teenage fans who show up to ask Mac for advice. He doesn’t yell at them to go away, they don’t end up turning out to be crooks or anything like that. It’s just a normal exchange between the characters and then they head off. Everyone appears to be rather decent for the most part.

So in the end I liked Mac. I do think the whole romance angle is a bit weak though. Even with all of the quick time skips the whole thing feels too fast. It’s also always a tricky dynamic to marry your employer like that. It all worked out in the end of course but that was the weakest part of the film and you probably could have done without it. Then you have Rosa who did a good job in raising Sonny. She has a good work ethic and never really complains during the movie. She does her best at all times and while she may not care for Mac’s old family all that much, she still acts nice enough in the end when it counts.

As for Sonny, well I’m not a big fan of the kids in these films but he wasn’t too bad. He seemed a little more mature than most at the very least. He was also able to connect with Mac rather quickly which helped him transition into this lifestyle a lot easier than he could have otherwise. Sonny was also ready to take down the bullies when they got too aggressive. Sonny doesn’t play around with that kind of thing.

For Mac’s old family, well you’ve got his ex-wife Dixie who does not look very good here. The only allowance I’ll grant her here is that apparently Mac was pretty bad back in the day as well. Apparently he even tried to murder her once and so she completely despises him. It’s clear that she never ended up forgiving him. Since we don’t see too much into the past it’s hard to really gauge just how bad the whole situation is. So while I didn’t like Dixie, I cut her a bit of slack there.

Then there’s the daughter Sue Ann and she seems nice enough. She ultimately did set out to meet Mac after all these years had passed. Her judgment may not have been the greatest but she seemed like a nice enough person. Too bad things didn’t go very well for her. Finally you have Harry who used to be Mac’s agent but just isn’t super helpful anymore. He’s very dismissive of Mac’s song until he figures that he can get some money out of it. That’s when you see his true colors come out. He makes for an entertaining character but not someone you really want to have in your corner.

Then you have the young band who look to Mac for guidance. They weren’t bad either. I liked their determination here. Apparently they all work multiple jobs in order to have enough time and money to pursue their passion in music. They all give this 100% of their time and it has paid off to an extent. Things start to go well for them here too.

So the main reason why this movie is good is that it’s a rare look at how a lot of people are good. It seems like nowadays the movies always take a very jaded view on humanity where everyone has an angle or is a villain deep down. The characters here may not be saints but for the most part they’re all nice and doing their best to hang in there. Mac certainly had his issues but he overcame them and did the right thing. Rosa works hard in her job and keep a happy personality despite that. The gas station has a lot of visitors but none of them turn out to be thieves or crooks. It’s just a nice change of pace to have everything go fairly well.

The film isn’t without its drama and tragedies though. Bad things do happen to the cast here and they grieve appropriately. It’s not a sad film by any means but there are sad scenes. Still, you never get the feeling that the film is going to be very mean spirited after it’s been on for a while. At first you may suspect that bad things will happen because you’re just so used to it but when the film resists those urges you can’t help but feel like it really ended up being a whole lot better than it could have been.

Overall, Tender Mercies is a good film. You could say that a good reason for this is in what it doesn’t do as opposed to what it does accomplish. Either way, it’s a drama film with a lot of restraint and a film that will leave you feeling good after it’s all over. I certainly enjoyed the music as well. The lyrical songs may not be my thing but the background music is all very fitting the whole time. If you’re up for a rather low key film with a lot of emotional moments then this is the one to check out.

Overall 7/10

Henry Poole Is Here Review

Posted on by
Reply


Henry Poole makes for a very unique film and it’ll take you on a fun journey. I found Henry himself to be super unreasonable for most of it but the rest of the characters were solid enough. It’s a good drama film in the end even if it can be a bit long at times.

The movie starts with Henry moving into a new house. It’s a rather beat up old place and he considerably overpaid for it but he doesn’t seem to care. His real estate agent even offers to knock down the price but he declines. He then meets his neighbors and everyone seems reasonable enough, if not a little over friendly. One day a water stain appears by his wall outside though and the neighbor Esperanza declares that it is the Face of God. Henry is incredibly doubtful of this since it just looks like a normal water stain but pretty soon she is inviting lots of people from her Church to check it out. Henry sees how his house is quickly becoming a public attraction and he wants to stop it, but doesn’t really know how to do so. Also, why is he so uncaring about everything?

The film answers that question soon enough although you can probably guess it fairly early in the film. I can say that I can see why he’s not sweating the small stuff anymore and isn’t even trying to have much in the way of conversation. In his situation he may as well just do his thing and not worry about the rest. He has a lot of snacks, pizza, and the works. I’d say I would probably do something similar. No reason to break off human contact but I would definitely be getting a lot of pizza and snacks. At that point you may was well, there’s no reason not too.

I also don’t blame him for doubting the stain initially. After all, the whole thing did seem bonkers so I probably wouldn’t even humor everyone by touching it. As mysterious miracles start to happen to people though, I would certainly have given it a shot. It’s not like you have to do anything crazy either, just reach out and grab it. I think there’s a line between being healthily skeptical and being unreasonably so. Henry crossed that point after the lady with glasses tried the wall.

See, there’s a super market cashier named Patience who has really poor eyesight and needs thick glasses in order to see. So one day she touches the wall and she can see now. I don’ blame him for being skeptical of the congregation since they could just be lying but it’s clear that Patience was being honest there. At that point you really don’t have anything to lose.

He also takes things really far in the other direction like when he starts to yell at the crowd or beat up on his house. At the very least if you’re not going to buy into it then you have to be careful not to panic. The whole group breaking into his own every time does sound invasive so he should be pushing back there. Keep on building gates or something but wrecking your own house probably wasn’t the play.

Instead of trying to cover the stain with paint I would have just put a poster or a picture over it though. I feel like that would have worked a whole lot better and I don’t think the group would be as active about removing it. If they tried you could always nail it down the next time. All I’m saying is Henry had a lot of other options but I felt like he gave up rather early on.

As for Esperanza, while she meant well you do think she could have respected boundaries a bit more. She was always sneaking around and the fact that she had to “sneak” means that she knew she was doing something wrong. You would think that would be going against her faith since that’s something Henry didn’t want her to do. So in a way she’s not being quite as virtuous and honest as you would be expecting. Then you have the whole congregation getting in on this too so I guess they were all cool with this? I get that it was a big deal that doesn’t happen very often but I still don’t think that’s an excuse for breaking and entering.

The film does a good job with the humor and a lot of this is meant to be in good fun but of course you still have to think about it. It’s pretty fun to see Henry avoiding contact with everyone the whole time. The supermarket discussion with Patience for example definitely feels very one sided as she tries to make a friend. I can’t say I that I do much talking while at the check out line myself though. Definitely not really my speed. Patience means well though and is a solid character.

Then we get to the next door neighbor Dawn and her daughter Millie. Millie doesn’t talk anymore after a traumatic event from her past so now she just walks around and records people. Naturally this may be another case for the wall as well. Dawn and Millie are probably the only two characters that Henry is nice to from the start. Millie has a rough time of things but gets better as the film goes on. As for Dawn, she’s definitely very compassionate and does her best to welcome Henry into the neighborhood as well.

I would say Esperanza was best at this by bringing her empanadas over and everything. She really tried hard even when Henry was rather rude the whole time. Now the film does have a romance going with Henry and Dawn that I don’t think needed to be here. At one point Henry wonders if it’s selfish of him to be starting a relationship now and of course my answer would be an absolute yes. Look, you know the score here if you’re Henry and this is really something that will mainly help himself. I don’t see any way that this would be good for Dawn. This just puts her in a rough spot.

Now if Henry was in a different situation then fine, shoot your shot and try to have a good relationship. I don’t think this was the right time and place though. The romance is also a rather quick one and ultimately doesn’t change a whole lot in the film so I think it could have been skipped and wouldn’t have really created any issues. In the end you certainly won’t forget this film though. It’s a rather low key title through and through but the premise is just so unique that it works.

The movie portrays the wall as the real deal here but I’m definitely glad that it likely wouldn’t work out that way in real life. God can of course create miracles like this, but I don’t like the idea of applying it to a specific place or object. Some religions differ on this but in Christianity, we know that you can pray at any point, anywhere and God will hear you. You don’t need any intermediaries or anything like that to get the message across. The idea of the miracles only happening when you place your hand on the wall does introduce an intermediary though.

It would quickly become easy to start worshipping the wall if such a thing were to happen. That would become an idol of sorts and sure enough, people were leaving offerings under the wall. Of course it is meant to be left for God in this instance but I just don’t like the idea of this all being limited to one spot. Of course it can happen but this is why I don’t think it ever would. When God performs a miracle, it will be at a time and place we cannot guess. Not a specific location each time. Miracles happen every day too and we just can’t ever notice/know all of them.

Which if you don’t know the plot of the movie before watching, it’s fun to follow the scenes along and try to guess what genre this even is. At first when Henry kept on hearing flashbacks in his head, I figured he had some kind of supernatural power which is why he kept to himself. Like he is forced to keep on living all of his old experiences. Then I thought this was going to turn into some cult type film with Esperanza and her gang heading in. It takes a while to really know what kind of film this is.

You never think it’ll suddenly turn super dark or anything though. The film has a lot of solid comedic moments from the start so it doesn’t have a sinister flavor. I’d still say that the film was quite fun even through to the end. Some of the jokes can end up feeling more painful than funny like the nurse messing up on the shots a lot but the script was solid for each of those moments. A lot of the scenes are quietly funny too so it never feels like the film is really trying to make you laugh. It’s just witty and easy to follow along with.

As a final note, the film had a pretty solid soundtrack. There were quite a lot of songs in the movie and I thought they fit the tone rather well. The beat was very catchy and while I didn’t always catch a lot of the lyrics, they all seemed to represent Henry’s state of mind in the scene that he was in. I haven’t seen this many songs in a movie for quite some time and it was executed quite well here.

Overall, Henry Poole Is Here is a solid movie with some pretty good themes. The movie can be a bit long but ultimately it gets to accomplish quite a lot in that period of time. Henry is put in a tough situation so you can understand why he is so upset even if you don’t always agree with it. Of course it’s easy to say that you would handle the situation differently but it’s hard to say until it happens to you. Knowing that you will be safe after death plays a big role in being okay in this kind of situation though. Personally I would just try to maximize my enjoyment in the last days and have lots of junk food and pizza while trying not to think about it too hard. That’s only if I had definite knowledge of what was going to happen though. Most likely I wouldn’t be too convinced and would mostly still be living in a normal way, albeit with maybe a few more goodies than usual. Definitely check this out if you want to watch a more off beat kind of film.

Overall 7/10

For the Love of the Game Review

Posted on by
Reply


Time for some Baseball action. This film also throws some romance into the mix but it’s probably the weakest part here. Ultimately this is a classic story of having to choose between your love for someone else and your love of the game. There’s a lot of drama over here and what is going on ends up being bigger than any single game.

The movie starts with Billy getting ready to pitch his final game. He’s gotten quite a bit older and can’t really throw the way that he used too. He’s just too old and he knows it, but he doesn’t want to leave the game either. He’s had a great career so his coach Frank is reluctant to pull him out but at the same time he does want to win. Billy can continue his career if he really wants to do so, but it will be on a different team. He reflects on his life as the game goes on and how it all led to this.

A big part of that is in his romance with Jane. So this one falls flat for a few reasons. One of which is that they hook up almost immediately without really knowing each other so both come off as really desperate. Jane tries to say later on that she isn’t usually that kind of person but it’s a bit late for that and then Billy certainly proves that he is that kind of person when he cheats on her later on. They just never really ended up connecting in the long run and so the romance wasn’t one that you could really root for.

Put it this way, if Billy was able to cheat on Jane after a single disagreement then he was never too serious about her in the first place. You just don’t cheat on someone like that, especially so quickly. It was really a terrible look for him. Jane really shouldn’t have even attempted to bridge the gap here after that. From the start another red flag was that their relationship was going to be a long distance one where they aren’t supposed to call each other or even think about each other. They were supposed to live their lives and just hang out when they’re in the same town. That doesn’t sound like a winning way to go through life now does it?

The Baseball scenes are fun though even if they never feel like the main part of the story. The final game in the present is certainly dramatic since Billy wants to go out on a high note. No better way than to try and pitch a shutout right? That’s extremely rare in any game and almost never happens. Billy also has a good team by his side. There’s the up and coming outfielder who initially has a hard time not messing up on the field but learns to tune out the media and just play ball.

There’s also the catcher Gus who was with Billy every step of the way. Billy would also fight to keep Gus on the team when the coach wanted to put someone else in. They made for a good duo and clearly had a great career even if the time was almost up there. So the movie’s got a lot of emotional stories going on and especially plots about how age always catches up to you. Sure enough, it’s not something that you can escape forever. Ultimately it will always return to make you retire at some point.

Jane’s daughter Heather also gets to appear for a bit. She’s used in a way to try and patch things up with Billy and Jane. Heather’s nice enough even if she starts out as a bit of a rebel. She can give Billy a hard time at first but warms up to him later on. Her role isn’t super large but she does appear near the end of the film in the current timeline and she’s now more of an outgoing person. Perhaps Billy had a positive effect on her there.

I would have liked to have seen some more Baseball action though. That’s really what I’m here for and I felt like it didn’t really get a big role. More Baseball games would have been nice, maybe take us through the whole season as Billy’s play began to deteriorate more and more. Particularly given the title of the film focusing on that would be best and by constantly seeing Baseball games in the flashback, it would also be a meta way to show the audience that it was still the first thing that he thinks about every day. It could further show Jane that she ultimately made the right choice in deciding to head out.

The writing’s decent enough here. You’ll be invested as the film goes on and the pacing is good too. It doesn’t drag out or anything like that either. I wasn’t a fan of the two main leads here but I did like the friend and the coach. Ultimately the coach especially has a tough job here since he needs to keep the locker room happy while also making the tough business decisions so that the team can keep on winning. The whole thing is impossible to keep impersonal here since everyone has known each other for so long. Still, he does a good job of it and is also careful to make sure Billy isn’t overdoing it.

Overall, The film’s main weakness is that the romance doesn’t really work. Both characters made massive mistakes with how the relationship was started in the beginning and then Billy ruined it beyond repair. The Baseball scenes were always great but they were just so few and far between. I really think we should have gotten more cool Baseball moments and that also could have let us meet more of the team. When you think about it, we didn’t actually know too many of the players.

Overall 5/10

Fireproof

Posted on by
Reply


It’s been many years since I saw Fireproof and the last time was before the blog days. It’s definitely an emotional film about two characters needing to fireproof their relationship before it’s all over. By finally turning himself over to the Lord, Caleb is able to make great strides here and so you can expect a fairly uplifting movie here.

The movie starts with Caleb performing more heroics as a firefighter. The guy is pretty much a hero to everyone within the town. His life is seemingly perfect when it comes to his occupation but the trouble starts when he gets home. His wife Catherine won’t talk to him all that much and tends to always be in a bad mood or have something sarcastic to say at the ready. Caleb tends to let his anger get out of control and so the two of them finally agree to have a divorce. Caleb’s father hears about this and tells Caleb to wait 90 days. He gives Caleb a challenge book with a different task each day and if their marriage isn’t back to being strong within that time limit, only then can Caleb walk away.

Caleb agrees to do it although he doesn’t think this will change anything. Meanwhile Catherine’s not buying into these nice things Caleb is doing all of a sudden as it feels fake and automatic. Instead she is unfortunately on the rebound with Dr. Gavin and the two are starting to get close. With poor advice from her friends, Catherine is convinced that this is the right way to go. Can Caleb win her over before it’s too late?

Whenever you have a drama film like this with a marriage on the rocks it can get a bit dicey because you have to get some big disagreements in there but you also have to make sure that neither character is too unlikable or you’ll find yourself rooting against them the entire time. Of course if that happens then it’s really all over. In this case I have to say that both characters were very unlikable so in most cases you probably won’t mind them getting knocked out of the running so you could root for other characters.

It would weaken/destroy the whole message of the film though so it’s good that didn’t happen. Ultimately Caleb’s father is able to use this experience to turn him into a Christian and ultimately help Caleb see the light about his mother as well. Caleb was always very rude to her throughout the film as he thought she was to blame for his parents almost having a divorce. He finally changes his tune once he finds out the truth but it was another reason not to like him for most of the film.

The best character here would be Michael though. He was Caleb’s best friend and gave a lot of good advice the whole time he was having these issues. Michael was always in his corner and it’s definitely good to have a friend like that. The rest of the firefighters were nice enough as well even if their roles weren’t quite as big. One guy certainly had a lot of confidence in himself and really did quite well in the hot sauce competition considering that he was using the real deal.

Of course Gavin would definitely be one of the worst characters here as he is just trying to get Catherine to be with him the whole time. Gavin comes across as a very desperate character and also one who is easily intimidated. He knows that what he is doing is not good but keeps on at it anyway. Definitely not a character you would expect to ever like.

Catherine does deserve a lot of blame here too though. You definitely shouldn’t be flirting or anything like that until the divorce is actually official. Moving on when this hasn’t happened is still cheating. She also does seem to come in with a bad attitude constantly although of course there were a lot of events that happen prior to the movie actually starting. So the implication is that she has been bottling this all up for a very long time and only now has it started to come out.

Then Caleb is always trying to act super innocent like he has done absolutely nothing wrong. As the film goes on this becomes more and more untrue to the point where it is laughable that he is telling everyone what a saint he is. The guy’s not even close and his neighbor even gets to see a lot of his outbursts. The opening outburst in the film where he drove Catherine to tears was a scene that it’s hard to really come back from though. There was no real way to root for the guy in the film after that and Caleb doesn’t really change until the final minutes of the film.

As you can tell I wasn’t big on the romance here but the overall message is still good. You shouldn’t take each day for granted when in a relationship and should always be trying to do something nice. Ideally both parties will be doing this but as long as you take care of your side then it should all balance out in the end. Then of course with Caleb becoming a Christian he’ll no longer be heading off to Hell in the end and presumably Catherine and the others will be joining in too. So it definitely makes for a very wholesome ending here.

Overall, Fireproof serves as a good reminder to always do your best and to be considerate of others. Even if you seem to be doing a great job at everything, it’s possible that you’re missing something. Caleb thought that saving lives and doing great on the job meant that he was automatically doing great at home as well but this wasn’t the case. You can’t miss out on the small things for the bigger picture. You want to have a good balance like Michael did in this film. He always had time to do well on the job and have fun at home with a nice dinner and companionship.