Tag Archives: Romance

Barefoot in the Park Review

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Uh oh, it’s time for a romance film. Usually that means you are about to be seeing a really weak romance but of course the film could surprise us? Nah that doesn’t really happen here. There is a good amount of humor within the film but it also gets hurt by some of the characters being really unlikable. It’s the classic example of a film that is pretty fun for most of the adventure but does end up running out of steam before the ending.

The movie starts off by introducing us to Corie and Paul who have just gotten married. Things are going really well for them and right away we see the contrast in personalities here. Corie loves trolling Paul and putting him in embarrassing situations while Paul pretends not to enjoy it too much and so they’ve had a great bond. Well, their bond gets put to the test when they move into Corie’s apartment on the 6th floor which has no heating, almost no room, and no elevator service. Paul isn’t in particularly good shape and so walking up the 5 flights is a real struggle. They also have to deal with an upstairs neighbor named Victor who is not particularly subtle with his flirting towards Corie. How will things turn out?

First off, I will say that the comedy in the film is pretty impressive. I enjoy the banter between the characters and also think that Corie has a good sense of humor. Yes, most of her jokes do have the potential to get Paul punched out or in serious trouble but the high stakes nature of the jokes are what makes them work. I also think those jokes are not really a bad idea at all in strengthening their relationship.

The film also gets a lot of leverage out of the 6th floor part. It’s hard to see why it’s such a big deal to walk up all those flights but I can overlook that because the various jokes are just funny. Then we have Paul trying to keep up with Corie’s energy even if it means trying strange foods. You definitely feel bad for him there because that is a real struggle all the way around.

Now for the romance, it starts out good but does take a tumble by the end. Their relationship should not have been so easy to crush. Surprisingly the film doesn’t really go for the jealousy card with Victor here but instead plays up that Paul feels like a stiff compared to Corie. When she basically admits to that, then they go through a lot of troubles which only resolve with Paul having to play the fool for a bit. Jestermaxing as the kids would say nowadays.

I didn’t think that was a good resolution. For starters, it does play into Corie actually feeling that way to an extent. I would have preferred her to come to the realization that she wants a guy who is very steady and not going to get drunk and such. Have her tone down her own behavior a bit. My biggest issue with the film was how she would act around Victor. It’s one thing to be friendly but I thought she was a bit overboard with him. Victor would really get away with flirting and the way he helped her get down from the AC was absolutely fresh.

The film is mainly content to never make Victor out to be the villain but I would have liked Paul to put him in his place. Boundaries are always important to consider. I say this as someone who does hold the unpopular opinion that you can have really close friends of the opposite sex at all times. Whether married or not, there are wholesome friendships to be had but that is precisely why you need boundaries. If your friend is genuine, then they will respect them and everyone will have a great time.

Then we have a whole subplot where Corie tries to set up her mother Ethel with Victor. Setting someone up on a blind date is always a bad thing to do here and then to see it work can be rather annoying. Victor is introduced as a character with quite the reputation of getting around so why would this possibly be a good idea?

You have to assume that it all works out but it is a strong assumption all the way through. Ethel was a good character though. Romance aside, she did her best to be supportive of Corie and Paul the whole way through. There were plenty of opportunities for her to complain about things like the way the apartment looked but she tried to find the positive side of things.

As for Paul, he mainly did good but unfortunately looks bad at the end when he gets super drunk. Essentially he was trying to prove that he could be fun but in that instant he lost the high ground. I would have preferred that he stuck to his guns and eventually Corie would realize why he was a good man. Some mistake the ability to get drunk and go to clubs as being a fun person when you don’t need any of that. The ability to have fun without being intoxicated is a much more honorable trait.

So the film was pretty solid but really just fumbled when the plot had to get serious. The film probably felt like it needed to have some drama to end things off but this was the wrong way to do it. It just came at the expense of both characters and that’s never a good thing. Additionally, pretty much every scene with Victor just came across as annoying. I would have much preferred that the film be built around the apartment and that’s where the fun comes from. You could have both characters arguing over how the apartment should look and that would easily have enough material for a whole film.

Overall, This is a film that’s pretty fun but does get hurt quite a bit by the end. The end is ultimately what will leave the biggest impact on you so that was a really rough way to go. If you do like a classic comedy-romance then you should probably still check this one out. Just be prepared to see a whole lot of wasted potential here as the film focuses far too much on Ethel and Victor who try to take over the film. You just want to get back to the main duo but they don’t get much of a chance by the middle portion since it leads right to the big fight for the climax. It was a fresh change of pace to have the characters married from the start though rather than waiting until the very end.

Overall 4/10

Horimiya Review

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Horimiya is one of those titles where I was always a bit skeptical of the main romance. When I read it through the manga, I was really not convinced. Hori could also be a bit weird with what she was into which didn’t help matters either. That doesn’t really factor in here until the end of the series. Ultimately it’s a fun title but more for the humor and the banter. The romance itself is going to have to be a little more on the weak side. I suppose it does work better than the manga though.

The series starts off by introducing us to Hori who is a really popular girl at school. She has plenty of friends and a lot of the guys all have crushes on her. What they do not know is that she has to take care of her little brother all the time and basically transforms into mom mode while she is at home. One day she ends up running into the shyest kid in school, Miyamura while she is taking care of the kid. Miyamura and Souta (little kid) get along really well and so he starts to come over. He’s also quite different outside of school as he has to hide all his piercings and such while there. A romance begins to blossom, but can they really hide it from their classmates? Should they even bother hiding this?

The contrast from the most popular to least popular students meeting up is certainly a classic one and that’s really what the series is going for here. Thanks to Hori, Miyamura is eventually able to make a lot of friends of his own here. They both have their friend groups with a lot of overlap between the two and so their school days become a lot more fun. The show has to move pretty fast with setting up the romances and development so the pacing here is really fast.

So lets talk about the good parts first. The animation is definitely solid. The colors are sharp and there is always a lot of movement. It all really stands out and gets a lot of credit there. The soundtrack is more on the bland side. It’s not bad or anything but you won’t be humming any of the songs later on. They are good but definitely not game changers. The openings also don’t sound as fast paced and intense as you might have expected.

Horimiya is a pretty fun series where the humor really stands out. I definitely tend to enjoy any scene where her father Kyousuke shows up. Some titles may go a bit too far with the slapstick but I would say this one has a good balance. Hori may throw him around a lot but is still happy to have him around. On the serious note, you do feel like he could have done a better job of being in her life. So there is a lot of resentment in the background as well but at the end of the day his scenes tend to be really funny. He’s able to play a lot of roles depending on when he needs to be serious or not.

Good humor will always get you far in a show like that. Hori’s mom gets far less to do this time around but it’s clear that she has been really supportive and helped get Hori this far. Without her it would have been much more difficult in the early years. Each of the characters contribute to the fun banter and humor of the show though. I’m not saying every joke is going to land but more often than not you can bop along with the jokes.

The weakest plot is Hori wanting Miyamura to be more assertive. This goes back to why I was not the biggest fan of their relationship. Basically she wants him to get upset at her more and even hit her. She’s into some really trippy stuff and he does his best to accommodate her but naturally this is a bit out of his wheelhouse. It felt like a less persistent plot than in the manga but you will be wincing a bit at that. Their dynamic is a whole lot better when that isn’t a factor.

Aside from that plot, Hori is definitely a good main character here. I find it rare to have the main heroine be such a popular person in these romance shows. Usually if anything you would see that from the guy right? It helps allow for more fresh dynamics and she never wavers either. Miyamura is the guy she likes and she doesn’t show real interest in the others. This allows her to have lots of friends without things getting awkward or anything like that.

I definitely appreciated this. Additionally, looking after Souta every day shows how responsible she is. Hori never complains about any of that and managed to still have a really good social life. Now that is impressive I gotta say. As for Miyamura, well he is more of a mixed bag. On one hand, you can definitely see how he had a tough time of things. The guy used to be bullied and then hanging out by himself only served to double down on the issue and everyone left him alone. Thanks to Hori he makes a lot of friends and he’s generally a good person.

In general the only tricky thing for him is how he treats his old best friend: Shindo. Now like I mentioned with Kyousuke, you have to walk a tight line between the humor being funny or just a bit mean spirited. I feel like the dynamic with Sanada always went a little too far. He was Miyamura’s only friend from back in the day and I feel like that should mean a lot. Sanada would look out for him and Miyamura’s past would have been a lot tougher without him. Sanada is just a good dude and while he makes a whole lot of mistakes, it would have been nice to have had a few genuine scenes where Miyamura acknowledged his friendship.

Ah well, Sanada is doomed to be a pure comedy character. Either way I liked him quite a bit and he’s one of the highlights here. Ultimately Miyamura is still a good character too. Even if I have that issue with him, it doesn’t take away from the fact that he is generally there for his friends. While his romance with Hori can get a little odd, there are still no rebounds or anything like that. It is still a romance that I can actually get behind as a result.

The main couple aren’t the only characters with more than one face though. We also have Iura who plays the class clown at school but is then the responsible older brother at home. In a way that’s similar to Hori although she isn’t the comic relief like that. I definitely empathize with Iura’s character the most because these are roles he has to play for a long stretch of time. It’s just easier to play the clown as you can stay relaxed at school and then save the energy for later on. He does a good job of always defending his sister and making sure that she’s okay.

He gets one main episode/segment to himself when helping his sister study and it was a really good episode. Iura is technically around all the time but we rarely get to see a whole lot of him so that was handled well. Then we have Tooru who initially liked Hori but never really stood a chance with Miyamura around. Perhaps he should have made his feelings plain earlier although it wouldn’t have ended up making a difference. He ends up being rather popular anyway with two different characters liking him.

You could even say that his plot is a whole lot more dramatic than the actual main romance. Ultimately he needed to be more confident and stop taking a backseat at every turn. He’s a good guy and takes the loss well so I can respect that. He ends up moving past his initial feelings to be a good friend. That’s not always easy but he pulled it off. Then you have Yuki who is Hori’s best friends and has confidence issues of her own. Mainly she just overthinks things too much. She spends a lot of time helping others out but not really taking into account that she should be looking out for herself as well.

Yuki makes for a good friend although I would have preferred if the show didn’t throw her into the romance drama. It feels like Chika from Kaguya Sama is the only sidekick character to escape all of that. I’d rather Yuki have just been one of the gang rather than jumping into the whole mess. Ultimately she gets a whole lot to do in the series and has to confront her own feelings on more than one occasion. It was not an easy journey but she made it and I would say that she is probably the best out of the heroines.

Then you have Sengoku who grew up with Hori and really got terrorized by her for a very long time. He’s a fun character but you feel bad for him after a while. Hori definitely gave him a bit of a complex and the poor guy can never move forward without being reminded of the past. It makes sense why he would gravitate towards Remi who is basically the opposite of Hori. Remi s way more traditionally girly and gives Sengoku a chance to act a bit more manly. Remi doesn’t always think things through and gets people in trouble like in the opening episode. That first instance made her and Sengoku both look a little rough with how aggressive they were being but they managed to rebound after that. Their romance plot isn’t bad but when neither character is particularly aggressive, you have to be ready for more of a slow burn.

Sakura is a classic case of a character who is too timid and waits until her only possible result in love is defeat. I actually think she had a real shot at landing her guy if she had been direct. Ultimately she beat around the bush too much and it cost her big time. She’s not my kind of character as I would prefer her to have been a lot more outgoing but baking the cookies and such was still a bold move. Then we have Yanagi who is probably the most pointless character in the show. His eyesight’s not that great and removing him from the show wouldn’t change much.

In a way he’s just a stepping stone to get Yuki’s plot to move around. Otherwise he doesn’t have a ton of agency of his own although maybe that’ll change in the next season. I don’t remember too well if he had other stories. Tanihara is a former bully who gets a big redemption arc so he was a lot more important. Ultimately it took time but he was able to get a good connection with Miyamura. A plot like that shouldn’t move too fast so I thought they did a good job on the balance there.

Finally there is Sawada who is a fun character. She gets a good fake out early on and from there continues to be one of the more endearing characters. Sawada is an example of a fun character who gets a lot of good humor but also does have a very serious plot of her own going on in the background. She doesn’t appear as much as you would expect but always manages to be a fun wild card in the dynamic. She can get some good banter with any of the characters even though she initially has to get past some fears.

The cast of characters is wide and varied with a lot of fun ones in there. That’s a key part for any comedy like this. A slice of life show will only be as good as its characters. The show also stays classy and mainly avoids any issues with fanservice and the like. Horimiya has confidence in its character writing to get the job done and so that works out. As for the romance, it can be a bit touch and go depending on the plots. I would say this isn’t the strongest romantic show but it is far better than others. So that’s why it stays fully in the green as a show.

Overall, Horimiya is a pretty fun show. It’s impressive how much they covered in a single season. Yes, the pacing will feel fast but Hori and Miyamura basically get together early on and then they still have time to hang out. The show balances 3-4 different romance plots along with backstories and everything. So it’s all crammed in and you will feel like you saw about 20 episodes. The character developments are important and so this is a show with good production values that I can recommend to anyone. Hori is a great driving force throughout the series as a proactive heroine who knows what she wants and has better communication skills than most of the classic anime characters you will see. The show fully delivers on its share of funny and emotional moments.

Overall 7/10

Bye Bye Birdie Review

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The secret trick to a romantic comedy is to forget all about the romance and just make a good comedy. That will work in most situations because that’s actually why the audience is around. Unfortunately this film forgot to really work on the comedy so you’re left with a film that’s just more annoying than anything. It ended up being weaker than I had expected it to be and so this is a film that I would definitely recommend you to skip. The song is also extremely bad.

The film starts off with one of the most obnoxious songs you’ll ever hear. It’s just so extremely slow that just getting through the first few sentences is rough. Fortunately it doesn’t make a big comeback in that exaggerated way again until the end of the film. The plot here is that the legendary singer Birdie has been drafted to the army for a while and everyone is really torn up about this. They will give him a chance to sing one last time before going and for extra publicity he will be kissing one of his fans. They select a girl named Kim who tells her boyfriend that she will be cheating on him but just once so he shouldn’t mind. He’s not thrilled about this but has no self respect and so he reluctantly gets on board. Will all this publicity end up being a curse to the small town in Ohio?

Now you do need to keep in mind that this is primarily a comedy. So you’re going to be hearing a lot of crazy things here but they are portrayed in a much lighter way than they sound. That’s fine, it makes sense but these jokes can be really hard to pull off. You absolutely need top tier execution and the film just didn’t have that so all the characters just look really bad.

First off we have Birdie. He’s one of those guys who just lost his mind due to all the fame and is a total jerk now. He gets drunk and is always running around to cause trouble. His role’s actually not as big as you’d expect though. He’s basically just here to be annoying and cause a lot of trouble for everyone. Hopefully being in the army will help get him into shape and make him a productive member of society. It’s a lot to ask for…but hey it could end up happening.

Then we have Albert who has been dating his secretary Rosie for a while but doesn’t have the guts to tell his mother Mae. As a result he just lets her do whatever she wants, including insulting Rosie directly. Albert has been gaslighting Rosie into thinking that he will confront Mae for a very long time now and it’s never happened. Albert just wants to be famous with his own song but nothing is working out for him. Ultimately Rosie runs off to go flirt with a bunch of guys to make Albert jealous. In the end things eventually work out but Albert looks really bad for the whole adventure. You need guts to make it in Hollywood and so it’s easy to see why he has been struggling.

Meanwhile Rosie needed to have moved on earlier. It’s clear that Albert is not the kind of guy to fight for her and that’s a huge red flag. In a way, part of why he succeeded in the end is because Mae had a rather sudden character arc. If not for that then things could have still been really dicey. I don’t see how Rosie would want to pursue things at that point. I would also say that she really hurt herself in deciding to get drunk and flirty. Immediately looking for a rebound is not a good idea.

As for Mae, well she makes for a good antagonist. The transparent guilt tripping worked well here and I like that she wasn’t very subtle. She didn’t like Rosie and made that known right away. The film needed a good antagonist and she filled that role well. She dominated Albert and Rosie throughout the whole film so they could definitely use some lessons from her on how to stick up for themselves.

Then we have Kim who is unfortunately the weakest character in the film. In a way her character arc hits the hardest because it’s not a completely unpopular opinion the way that it should be. She figures that a quick moment with a celebrity doesn’t count and her boyfriend shouldn’t be so insecure. It’s an advanced class in gaslighting since obviously this is a big deal. She also makes such a big deal about getting kissed by Birdie that it makes the boyfriend look even worse. If Kim was a good character she would have declined the invite right from the start.

Cheating is cheating no matter the circumstance or setting that it is in. Naturally her boyfriend’s decision here is to go rebound with another girl. It’s really incredible how quickly characters will just move on from their current “love” to the next one. Maybe their relationship wasn’t so serious then right? He just comes off like a sucker for most of his appearances and how easily Kim is able to talk him out of his doubts each time.

Kim finally has doubts at the last second but it’s way too late for that. Everyone swooning over Birdie just look bad as well. It’s all just too much even if that’s how things could be back in the day. You need a whole lot more balance than that. All of this could have still worked out if the film was really funny but it wasn’t hitting the right feels here. I needed some good banter or something like that but we never got those scenes. The best moments may have been with Kim’s father and his desperation for fame but even those moments were hit or miss.

Sometimes he was just a little bit too much with how whiny he was. So it really depended on the moment and jokes can easily get overplayed. I think this film could have been a whole lot better if it could just execute the jokes more seamlessly. Of course, that’s easier said than done without any examples. One plot change to make this work would be to change the dynamic so that Albert and Rosie were constantly fighting over who should propose to the other one first. Then that could leave room for more banter and not make Albert look quite as bad in how he was on the back foot during the whole film.

Overall, Bye Bye Birdie was a miss on this one. I had my doubts as soon as the first shot of the movie came in. The rest of it just had a mix of weak characters, fanservice, and not enough humor to really get the movie over the hump. As a result this one definitely lost out on all sides. Better luck next time and all that. You can do a lot better with old time rom-com films so I would recommend looking one of those up instead.

Overall 4/10

The Way We Were Review

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Time for what is apparently a legendary romance film but I am left thinking that it is incredibly overrated. This is one of those jaded romance films where everyone acts absolutely terrible and the characters would have been better off staying single. You gotta wait for the perfect marriage and settling early will usually end up in this kind of scenario. The ending is saddest for the rebounds who are really stuck as being an after thought.

The movie starts off by introducing us to two characters. Katie who is openly joining communist groups and has very unpopular political opinions and Hubbell who basically just enjoys his life and doesn’t think about politics much. We get a lot of contrasting scenes in the beginning where Katie is basically miserable for decades as she makes politics her whole life while Hubbell is having a blast trying out a ton of hobbies. It is a really striking contrast right there. Well, in the present Hubbell is serving a term in the army while working on his books while Katie works in more of a live radio setting while still doing her protests. They meet up again and decide to get together. Can their physical attraction to each other get past all of the numerous red flags that stay in the way?

Usually the answer to that question is going to be no. The reason is because passion can fade over time. Usually one or both people are going to have reduced drives over the years, they will get older and less attractive, etc. There are whole memes about why this is a bad idea and that’s why you can’t fall for someone on physical attraction alone. That’s what crushes and one night stands are made of. A true love goes beyond that to personality and really loving every part of the other person. That doesn’t have to be literal of course as it can be 90% or something even if that’s not ideal. The problem is that these two tick each other off from the start.

For Katie, it’s clear that her politics have a higher place than Hubbell. She feels like his positions and attitude towards current events are wrong and so she would be compromising by not standing up in defiance every time. That is already a dealbreaker. When your side is right and the other is “wrong” then you won’t have true synergy at that point because now you have yourself on a higher pedestal. She doesn’t even try to analyze her worldview and just makes a scene at every party and event. Katie won’t be quiet about this and moreover she will lecture everyone else.

Katie was absolutely not fun at parties. Now, parties aren’t for everyone but if you’re going to marry someone who loves being at parties, then that’s not going to be a good development. Often times people aren’t going to change a whole lot for marriage. She put herself in a bad position and as the film goes on, her position gets worse and worse until there was really no hope left except to go grab a rebound guy to take care of the kid and go from there which is naturally another bad decision.

Meanwhile, as drastic as Katie was, Hubbell is decidedly worse. He is the one who decides to go and cheat on her. Ultimately while fans of his character can try to come up with a number of excuses, the truth is that there are none. Cheating is breaking the covenant of marriage completely. That is much more serious than fights here and there or disagreements. He already made the oath of for better or worse after all. So as annoying as Katie was, Hubbell was the one in the wrong here and ends up being the worst character here.

He ultimately goes for a rebound later on as well. As the ending shows though, Katie and Hubbell still like each other and are basically only kept apart thanks to social customs. It makes the situation even worse for their new partners because they are clearly second fiddle and this comes close to emotional cheating. So that is why both of the main characters are just really terrible the whole time so you can’t root for any of them. The film doesn’t try to hide this though.

The first time they get together is when Katie took advantage of Hubbell while he was extremely drunk and didn’t know what was happening. If the roles were reversed this film would have really been seen as pushing the envelope back in the day. It’s just a terrible way for their relationship to start. Yeah Hubbell made a lot of bad decisions to put himself in that position but Katie was the one to take advantage of this. It is played up in a romantic and even comedic way afterwards but it was a rough scene.

So with the romance already in the toilet, could the film come back from that? Well, this isn’t a comedy so you don’t really have the laughs to balance it out. Instead you have more drama like a bunch of Hollywood figures being taken to court and that puts more friction on the relationship. What I can say for the film is that the pacing’s pretty decent. I didn’t think that the film dragged on or anything even with the characters not being fun. So I think that is definitely a credit to the movie.

By the end of the film it’s hard to say who is having a more enjoyable life. Katie continues to fight a losing battle of talking to the masses but at least has the knowledge that she will never compromise on her beliefs. It’ll be hard for her to make friends as you will always need to watch your jokes and be ready for a political lecture. Meanwhile Hubbell is really well off with continued financial success but knowing that he will always compromise and crumble his beliefs for the easier road. He will do whatever is needed in order to get to the next point which will eat away at his psyche even if he would never admit it, potentially even to himself. As the years go by, he will have wasted them with pointless chatter instead of doing anything.

Overall, This is a pretty dreary film about two people who were just completely incompatible from the start. They are just too different and their lifestyles wouldn’t be fun to each other. Hubbell is clearly content to just lounge around and listen to his friends gossip about everything while Katie would much prefer hanging out 1 on 1 or doing something constructive. It’s why you always need to take these things into account as well when going into a relationship. The only context I would recommend this film to people in would be as a cautionary tale of what not to do when getting ready for marriage. You can’t treat it as the next logical step of dating, it is a completely different beast and you better be sure that you know the other person extremely well. You will never be 100% certain but you had better be careful because it will be one of the most important decisions of your life.

Overall 3/10

Gattaca Review

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It’s time for a sci-fi film that really uses the high tech developments to show how it would be difficult to impersonate somebody. The movie has a good premise but the main character takes quite a number of unreasonable risks that makes things a lot closer than it should have been. It’s an interesting movie but one that is really lacking in good characters.

The movie starts with showing how eugenics has become a big thing through dna technology. You can use science to make sure your kid is born perfectly and you can even customize the dna for the traits that you want. If you pay a lot of money you can basically be guaranteed with a perfect kid. Vincent’s parents want to go with a natural birth but when Vincent comes out with a weak body, they decide to do the dna perfection with his younger brother Anton. They are rivals but Vincent finally beats him in a swimming race one day and then heads off to start a life of his own.

The difficult thing is that this dna purity has created a new kind of discrimination. Most jobs will only hire you if your stats are good enough and as a natural birth with a weak heart, Vincent is ineligible for almost all jobs. One day he comes into a rare opportunity when a famous swimmer named Jerome shows up and explains that he needs Vincent to be his double. Jerome was in a terrible accident and can no longer walk. Vincent is unsure at first, but then decides to go along with it to also prove that he can handle the job. Can he stay undetected?

The film goes to great lengths to show how hard it is to be undetected in this world. Vincent needs to constantly carry a lot of Jerome’s dna with him for spontaneous drug checks, blood shots, eye scans, etc. It’s all an incredible amount of defenses that the company has at the ready and yet with perfect timing Vincent is able to handle them all. His one weakness is that he begins to like a girl named Irene but getting into a relationship now is a terrible idea with how dna spreads.

A huge focus of the film is that dna can be obtained from the smallest thing. Vincent has to scrub his fingernails every morning and use a vacuum on is desk just to make sure there are no particles. So rolling around with a girl is naturally not a good part of the plan and it’s Vincent’s biggest problem here. He absolutely has to know better. For the most part he is very careful and doesn’t make big mistakes but this was a huge one.

He also tends to get emotional like when he wants to quit the program at the last second. When you have a mission like this then you gotta see it through. So I didn’t end up becoming the biggest fan of Vincent. He needed to keep his eye more on the mission at all times instead of wavering and not being ready when the task was at hand. It’s really only thanks to plot armor that he gets as far as he does.

Then you have Jerome who also tends to be really annoying. This guy likes to get drunk which is of course a huge liability since it messes with the samples and also means he might say something that will spill the beans. At one point he decides to go catch a show outside and starts yelling at one of the guards. He draws a whole lot of attention to himself considering that a single slip up would mean the end of him. Ultimately the way he goes out is also pretty rough.

He needed a better end goal instead of just trying to fool Vincent into thinking that he had one. He also took advantage of a moment with Irene in order to fool the detectives which was a terrible look since he definitely did not need to go that far. The film does introduce him as a jerk so it’s not like that’s surprising but still disappointing to see.

As the main heroine, Irene isn’t bad. To her this is a normal romance and I would say she handles herself decently during it. She always stays very professional. Now the romance could have stood to have been more of a slowburn but otherwise I didn’t really have any problems with her character. She even gets some character development by the end where she cares less about the dna side of things.

Finally we have Anton and it was fun to get the big confrontation at the end of the film. A true rematch and the guy still has a solid ego. When he’s not around Vincent, I have no doubt that Anton is really good at his job and handles things well. He just loses perspective when things get personal but still made for a good rival. That helped as a final big action scene.

In the end the film’s sci-fi setting was pretty interesting and it was definitely more fleshed out than most. That being said, I would have liked to have focused more on that than the romance drama or even the drama with Jerome constantly making the wrong decisions. Give me more focus on the space mission itself which was really interesting. There was a whole lot you could do with the chief executive there who was consumed with making sure that the mission would work.

Overall, The biggest boost to this film would have been if the main characters were more likable. In a general sense I suppose you’re rooting for Vincent to expose the system and succeed but he doesn’t really seem like the kind of guy you’d be friends with. The same is true twofold for Jerome. You’re basically starting to root for the investigators early on because they have way more charisma. These guys are slowly piecing together the puzzle and the mystery aspect there is fun. I also think the ending could have been a whole lot better. So long story short, we’ve got a really interesting premise here but I didn’t think the execution was nearly as good as it could have been.

Overall 5/10

Josee, the Tiger and the Fish Review

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I remember seeing a lot of gifs from this film of Josee dashing around in her wheelchair. Otherwise the film itself was rarely mentioned and I felt like it never got the same attention as the other big films. Well, now I’ve finally seen it and I can say that this is a pretty good one. It’s an emotional story with a lot of ups and downs for the various characters. The romance even ends up being pretty solid even if it’s not exactly the pair that I would have rooted for.

The film introduces us to Tsuneo who works as many jobs as possible in order to earn money. He wants to study abroad and has finally got a scholarship to study in Mexico. Things are looking up for him but he can’t let his guard down in the final stretch. He agrees to look after a girl named Josee as a sort of babysitting job. They’re close in age but she is restricted to her wheelchair and so it’s always good to have the help. Josee resents him for it though and treats him like dirt right away. As they spend more time together, they begin to get close but how will Josee react to the fact that Tsuneo will be gone soon?

Josee is an old school tsundere in that she complains and attacks Tsuneo quite a lot. During the first scene when he saves her from at the very least a serious head injury, she immediately calls him a perv. Then when he is doing his best to look after her, she intentionally gives him a lot of tough jobs and makes the tasks as unpleasant as possible. She’s not above hitting him and is also not very emotionally mature so she storms out a lot. All this is to say that the romance was a very rocky one for most of the film.

Still, it avoids any rebounds here and the film takes place over a fairly long period of time so that gets rid of most of my concerns. The timing of the scenes could have been a little better though. We get a montage fairly early on of the two characters hanging out and going to a lot of places so it feels like their friendship was strong. Yet it is easily broken later on due to a series of misunderstandings. It is usually on Tsuneo to be the bigger man here and just let things go but I would have liked a bit more effort on Josee’s part. She is a part of this relationship too after all. I felt like the montage should have been later on in the film, maybe after they had made up.

Josee is definitely not one of the more likable characters overall which was a bold choice by the film. You extend some extra sympathy to her because being stuck in a wheelchair since young is really tough but she does her best to push you to your limit. By the end of the film she has finally come to terms with everything and appears like she will be a good character going forward. Better late than never.

Tsuneo has another friend named Mai who has secretly had a crush on him for a very long time. The problem is that she never worked up the courage to ask him out before Josee showed up. While I liked Mai a whole lot more than Josee, it is entirely her fault here. Mai had years to make a move and as I always say, you can’t just wait for the other party here. If you like someone then you better make your feelings known as soon as possible. If you don’t then naturally you are going to lose out.

When Mai finally does take action, it’s mainly to push Josee down in her own way of looking out for Tsuneo. Mai feels like Tsuneo will be held back due to these circumstances and in a way she’s right but it’s obviously coming from a selfish place. Hopefully things work out for Mai in the future but sometimes being a nice person just isn’t enough to win out. You also gotta be bold and upfront.

Tsuneo’s other friend Hayato is definitely solid as well. He doesn’t get quite as much screentime but we can see why he was a good friend. He helps out the lead when he’s in a rough place and always seems to be in high spirits. He is exactly the kind of guy that you want to have in your corner when the chips are down. He could stand to be a little less girl crazy though as that’s not exactly a trait that anyone is really looking for in a quality character.

As for Tsuneo, he’s a pretty patient guy. He overlooks a whole lot of disrespect that would have had other characters backing away early. It may not necessarily be a good quality when you think about it but hey it beats throwing a pity party for himself. The only time he really gets down is after a pretty big accident later on and that’s understandable because it completely changes the trajectory of his whole life. It’s hard to just roll past something like that.

The movie is fairly light hearted for the most part but definitely has quite a few somber moments between the accident and of course Josee’s whole plot. You really can’t emphasize enough how hard it is to not be able to walk. I don’t know how I would be able to pull it off and having a film like this that sympathizes with the dilemma and also giving Josee an opportunity for a happy ending is nice. Even allowing her to talk to kids and letting her make a social impact from her position was really good. It’s the kind of subplot that is nice to have in a wholesome film like this.

Overall, This was a pretty good film. It really goes by quickly and there is always a lot going on. The song may not be one of the more memorable ones for the movie but it wasn’t bad. The romance was handled well here due to the movie allowing the relationship time to progress. I do think that at times Josee could be a little too much with how aggressively mean she was, but ultimately she stepped up when it counted. I’d recommend checking this film out if you’re looking for a solid romance.

Overall 7/10

Write Before Christmas Review

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It’s time for a rare ensemble cast Hallmark film. This one has a whole lot going on with the different plots which naturally means there will be some plots that are stronger than others. I do think it ends up being weaker than the average Hallmark title but is naturally still a really good film filled with solid writing and good character work as you would expect.

The movie’s main character is Jessica who decides to write some cards to different people who have helped her in life. This includes a big time singer, a lady who taught her music, her aunt, and her brother. These letters end up helping everyone out and they all begin moving forward with their own character arcs. Meanwhile Jessica was going to be in for a rough Christmas with her getting dumped by the boyfriend but now she has met a new guy who may end up being her prince charming.

So lets get the obvious issue out of the way, the romance here is a pure rebound. Jessica has only just broken up with this guy for about a day or so before she is already getting with the next one. The relationship falling apart came as a shock to her so she shouldn’t be completely over it just yet. There was clearly a little hesitation here with how she didn’t immediately say yes to the proposal but it doesn’t really change things. She still shouldn’t be moving on this quickly and she barely even knows the guy.

Getting carried away with the Christmas spirit has its limits after all. I did enjoy her as a character though. She is really invested in Christmas and is the type of person who will always be having a lot of fun. Jessica also has a supportive friend at the music shop where she works and it always helps to have someone to vent to. From all the characters in the film, Jessca had the most fleshed out plot which makes sense.

When we get to the inevitable misunderstanding, I would also say that her situation was slightly more understandable. Her guy should have stood his ground and not been taking photos of the girl that was assigned to him as a blind date a while back. Sure he was doing his job but this girl was already shown to be crazy like when she humiliated him in the diner so he needed to cut off contact at that point. Meanwhile he walked in when she was joking with her ex boyfriend about getting the ex discount. Yeah…not the best conversation to be having.

Well things worked out but the romance wasn’t very strong anyway. Both characters could stand to be a little more mature about they handle these things. If something looks sus, you need to just walk over and start asking questions. If your worst fears are realized, well then it’s better to know now rather than finding out later right? Just walking off is the worst possible action you could make because now you will never know one way or the other what was really going on. You can suspect stuff, but won’t have that confirmation.

Meanwhile in the first subplot with the brother, he falls for another army worker over there. He does his best to flirt with her and while the attempts are mainly shaky, it ends up working out. It’s a harmless enough plot but just doesn’t have a whole lot of connection to the main story outside of the letter. Additionally it’s just too fast for much development.

Another plot is Jessica’s aunt meeting the guy who walks a dog next door. She just lost her husband two years ago and he lost his wife 3 years ago so they start flirting and it looks like things are gonna be happening. I don’t have to go into detail on why this is a crazy rebound right? I thought the dog was nice though so it was good to have a wholesome animal having fun here.

Then you have the music guy who was in a slump for a while. Jessica’s letter allows him to regain his confidence and go back to making new songs. He actually doesn’t get a romance plot but I guess there was no room for one. It was nice that he even got to play his next concert nearby where Jessica could hear him. I actually thought he was going to be the one to play matchmaker but that’s not how it went down.

So this was an ambitious one with so much going on. Generally I think the film would have needed to have been longer to have really given all of these plots the screentime that they would have needed. Still, it did well enough with what was going on and the writing was good as always. While the stories may have been rushed, they will still keep your attention.

The film still succeeds at the most important factor for any movie which is that it was fun. Watching this title is enjoyable and you feel the festive vibes. If you can block out the rebound nature for a minute, it’s also just nice to see everybody having a good time. If you ever enter into a relationship, you want it to be filled with fun and whimsy like this. I would like to see Hallmark tackle more non rebound romances as well but for now this will have to do.

Overall, Write Before Christmas has a great title. The pun was particularly inspired and the film’s plot device of the letters being sent around was a good one. I generally prefer solo stories unless there is a big climax where all of the characters meet up though. Something like that would have been really cool here and I think it would have worked even if it may have seemed rushed. The film was already rushed so what’s one more scene right? While I prefer the average Hallmark film, this is still a good movie that I would recommend.

Overall 6/10

The Christmas Card Review

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It’s time for a very classic Hallmark film. This is the kind of film you picture when talking about the channel because it hits all of the classic notes. Now this does include a rebound romance so as always you’re going to want to steer away from that part of it but all the rest is on point. This is the kind of film that will leave you feeling jolly all the way forward.

The movie starts by introducing us to Cody who is serving in the army. His tour has gone mostly well but unfortunately one of his squadmates was murdered in the line of duty. Cody is forced to go on a leave of absence for a while and decides to pay a visit to a lady named Faith who sent him a card. See, there’s a program where you can send cards to people out in the army and Faith always participates. Cody may not know her personally but he wants to thank her for the gesture. Thing is, he didn’t realize how beautiful she was. Cody has fallen in love but the problem is that Faith already has a longterm boyfriend. Can Cody make his move before she gets married?

So this is where things get iffy. Some would say that as long as she doesn’t have a ring yet (Isn’t married) that it’s all fair game and you can still try to steal her away. This is only advice for the desperate though and personally you should leave someone alone if they’re already in a relationship. Even if you are able to win her over, now you know that someone else can do the same thing to you if she is so easily persuaded.

Additionally, it is going to make Faith look bad here. Now as the film goes on her boyfriend looks worse and worse. He’s rather stuffy, drinks a lot, and doesn’t know how to do manual labor. He also ignores her feelings in place of his and values work above all. So yeah he’s not great but they have been in a relationship for a very long time. She didn’t even expect to see him for the holidays since he was so busy. You need to keep this in mind because these were the expectations for their relationship.

Instead he shows up early and notices Cody around so a little rivalry begins here. Naturally as the film goes on Faith begins to waver and eventually joins team Cody. This drama takes up most of the film though as Faith even accepts her boyfriend’s proposal initially and still has an affair with Cody on the side. It’s a really bad look for all parties involved even once the boyfriend surrenders and gets out of there.

What you have to consider here is that for 99% of relationships there will always be someone hotter, smarter, funnier, cuter, etc. If you are always willing to “trade up” from your current partner to someone else, then that is a recipe for disaster. It’s the whole principle of why I’m against rebounds. You have to stick to your pick barring crazy stuff like abuse and such. So Faith shouldn’t have been wavering at all here and it’s why the romance just doesn’t work.

With a romance this bad you may figure that the film is doomed right? Well, that’s not how Hallmark rolls. It delivers a very complete product that can get past the romance. You’ve got great writing after all and a fun atmosphere. It’s the kind of film that reminds you of just how much fun Christmas can be. There is a lot of cheer going on and you get to see some baking and decorating the Christmas tree. It’s a lot of fun and the pacing is always good. Watching this makes you want to go outside and do something fun too.

The true cheat code to life is that you don’t have to wait until Christmas to have a fun time like this. You can make any day really fun if you put your mind to it. As a result this film would hold up whenever you watch it. While Faith’s father Luke was meddling a little too much, you can appreciate his devotion to his daughter. It can be hard to stay silent when you see your kid making a mistake. Especially when you “know” that it’s a mistake.

There was a good amount of banter here and the movie knows how to have a lot of fun with itself. So even if the romance misses, you still have the comedy. Now I think the film could have tried to be even lighter by not having the death at the beginning but I suppose it wanted to start with a somber tone. If the film really wanted to be perfect, it could have dodged the romance entirely and just focused on the good banter the whole time. Now that would have been a good idea, just have them be good friends.

Then the subplot would have been Cody showing Faith’s boyfriend the error of his ways and to cherish Faith now because you never know what the future will bring. Have him tie in the death from the beginning. Low key I think there’s a ton of potential there and then for the longtime Hallmark fans you would still have a solid romance going with the boyfriend becoming a better person.

Overall, The Christmas Letter is a pretty good film. It’s a very focused film that knows where the plot is going and there are no distractions. The atmosphere is nice and cozy the whole time and the pacing is on point. It’s a very easy film to watch and just makes for an enjoyable backdrop. If you have not seen this film yet then you will definitely want to change that. It’s also a reminder that even a quick act like writing a letter can really have a massive impact to someone else.

Overall 7/10

Little Women (1994) Review

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It’s time for another Little Women adaption. It’s not exactly one of my favorite stories but it’s certainly an iconic one. I believe this is the third version that I’ve seen. How much you enjoy it will all come down to how much you enjoy the antics of the main characters. Can you identify with their situation or will you just find it a little dull? Personally I don’t find any of the characters to be super likable so that does really hold things back. The romance doesn’t help.

The 4 sisters are the main characters here. Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy. They live in a rather tough situation with finances not being very good. Their father is always out working and their mother does her best to keep things together. There are only so many ways to entertain themselves in such days but at least they have each other. Well, one day after the usual neighborhood party/dance they meet a rich guy named Theodore. He seems to have taken a liking to Jo but she’s not really in the market for a boyfriend at the moment. Will he win her over or is she going to get away?

So I can’t fault Jo for deciding that she didn’t want to mess around with romance. It’s not for everyone after all and she still wanted to enjoy her usual fun times with the gang. If she were to get a boyfriend then naturally that would end. Well, things get a bit more complicated than that as everyone else continues to move on with their lives. Theodore even decides to rebound with one of Jo’s sisters. Now Jo will have to find a man but who is left?

Ultimately Jo leaves home and by expanding her horizons she meets someone but the romance is pretty fast and not all that developed. It just never worked for me and I also think her sister Amy shouldn’t have gotten together with Theodore. Yeah, he claims that he is over Jo but that’s a bit hard to buy and even then it’s like you were the second choice. That’s how I’ve always felt about the romances in this movie and that hasn’t really changed over time.

This film also takes place in the very olden days and as a result there are all kinds of customs and such that feel dated. The girls can never make the first move, they must be prim and proper at all times, etc. Not to say that it’s all bad but a lot of these things just make them look way too passive as characters. I would have liked more direct action here, maybe in terms of trying to earn money or perhaps jumpstarting the romance on their own.

Jo is the only one who acts rather impulsively in general like selling her hair for money. So she gets more credit there. The writing is good as the old time script holds up but it doesn’t really solve the problem of the main characters not being super interesting. I don’t really know what you would do in order to change that though. Not without changing the story as a whole.

I’ve said this before but I like a good slice of life story, it just needs a touch of comedy. That is what’s missing in this one. The story is all fairly serious which is fine, but where are the scenes that will help me break a smile? There aren’t really any laugh out loud scenes here. Dreary would be the wrong word to describe the film but it just takes itself so seriously.

I guess I’d say the film is like watching a bunch of people who don’t have many hobbies hanging out with each other. It can be fairly wholesome but doesn’t really do much for you. The film also ends up being on the loner side and the pacing can be really slow. A lot of things are all going against the film here and as least one character gets a rather sad ending.

Maybe the next remake can focus a little bit more on Jo’s journey as an author. Focus on the last part of the film with her being abroad and make that a much larger part. You could also use that time to try and develop the romance with the professor but I dare say that might be a waste of time so perhaps you just focus on the writing bits. Or maybe show us what her father was doing at work and add some kind of trial there. Show why the job is so hard. Both of these plots would be immensely more interesting than just staying at the home for longer periods of time.

Overall, Little Women would have benefited from adding a few light scenes with gags and fun jokes. Something to just make the film itself a little more fun and it would also add to the replay value. Throw that all in to the mix and things would improve. Right now this is essentially a film that is lacking a hook. Of course at the end of the day that just means this film wasn’t really for me. I would say to only check it out if you want to see what life would have been like if you had grown up poor in a small town. Otherwise, you’re better off with one of the old sit coms instead.

Overall 4/10

The Bell Rings in the Holy Night Review

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It’s time for a very short story but with only 20 pages it manages to properly develop two different romances. I would highly recommend this to any aspiring writers out there and naturally it’s a blast to read through as well. You won’t look at other romance titles in the same way after this one and you almost wish they could have made a whole series out of this.

The story starts on Christmas Eve with Ken preparing to assassinate a big crime lord on orders from his boss. He definitely doesn’t really want to do this but at the same time he feels trapped. He is basically out of money and feels like he’s never proven himself as a man. Ken hasn’t even been able to give his girlfriend Meg an engagement ring yet. Well, she’s not okay with this idea at all. Ken is a minor so he figures he would only go to jail for 5 years and then they could be together but Meg fears that he will have lost a part of himself. Fortunately an older man named Joe shows up and warns Ken not to go through with it.

See, Joe was in the same position 40 years ago and he actually succeeded in murdering his crime lord. What happened is this ended up making it so that he went to jail for far longer than 5 years. He was on the run for a long time even after that and couldn’t bear to show himself to his girlfriend. They had agreed to meet in front of the chapel on Christmas Eve but it took him 40 years to actually make it. He figured that the girl had forgotten all about him by now but it turns out that she had waited all the way until her dying day. Her grand daughter still goes there every year to pass on the message.

So Joe realizes that he really made a mess and wants to make sure that Ken doesn’t make the same mistake. Ken takes this message to heart and ultimately doesn’t sacrifice himself. It’s a really emotional scene and a reminder to never take the shortcuts in life. It’s the kind of message that hits hard because Ken was only a few minutes away from making a decision that would have ruined his life forevermore. That’s a tough pill to swallow.

Meg gets a lot of credit here too for telling Ken that this was a bad idea from the start. She knew that the easy money wasn’t going to make them happy and that turned out to be correct. While we don’t see much of Alice, I appreciated how loyal she was. She didn’t run around looking for a rebound or anything like that. There’s noting more romantic than hanging in there no matter what. They can have eternity in the future even if it didn’t work out in the present.

That’s the true spirit of romance, to never waver and remain together until the end. Even if things don’t work out the way you hoped like one person dies tragically young, you just keep on going with the memories and then make it to the end. I have high hopes that Ken and Meg will last as well since their devotion already appears to be very strong.

The art is really strong. You can see how similar it is to the Saint Seiya series and can imagine how good the fights would be. The artstyle is very expressive which works well for a story like this. Additionally the characters are all really likable. This is just a complete story and the pacing is also on point. It’s really impressive how much ground was covered in a mere 20 pages. It’s a reminder that you can really do a lot and can execute on an excellent story with even a limited page count.

Overall, I would recommend checking this story out. It’s a really good title for Christmas and is how you want to write a steady romance without needing to build it up for 50 volumes. You could believe in the bond here through the characters’ actions. Maybe one day they will make a short animated special of it or something like that. I’d definitely check it out and of course there are enough plot elements to make this into a movie if you really wanted to do that. You’d probably just expand on Joe’s story and we see how everything plays out in real time.

Overall 8/10