Tag Archives: Romance

The Thomas Crown Affair (1999) Review

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

Whenever you’ve got a film with the word affair in the title then you know that you might be in trouble. Naturally the word doesn’t have to inherently be bad but it’s usually used in a negative context. The film is basically about someone trying to pull a James Bond and just the concept of that plan is usually funny to me. Still, it does actually work in the real world even so I can’t really talk much about that. Ultimately the film lacks the good characters to make this a success and the romance is particularly weak.

The film starts off with a rare painting being stolen from Thomas Crown’s museum. It was worth tons and the insurance company might have to pay for it. As a result they send in a lady named Catherine to oversee the whole thing. She will make sure that the company does not get ripped off here and she will locate the painting. She believes that Thomas did it himself. It seems a bit unlikely to the cops to put it mildly but she is convinced. So her plan will be to seduce him and then get the information. Will she really be able to reel in a rich guy who has everything so easily?

The first part of the plot that already starts you off on a skeptical note is Catherine’s idea that she can just seduce this guy like it’s easy. I have the same skepticism for many romance type titles and naturally the James Bond films as well. Sure there are some people that are extremely shallow like that but a super rich guy with unlimited options? At least have her break him down after several months or something but he immediately takes the bait hook line and sinker. Now you could argue that it’s just because he wants the thrills of a cat and mouse game but to me it seems like he liked her right away with how sharp her personality is.

Then the rest of the film continues the cat and mouse game while they mess with each other the whole time. There’s a subplot where Thomas has a psychiatrist who confirms how he can’t trust women and all that. Well the film seems to confirm his suspicions as Catherine tries to mess him over several times. If anything the movie seems to make the case for Thomas on why he can’t trust anyone too much. The instant Catherine feels betrayed she tries to completely ruin his life by exposing his theft.

I mean…that was her job the whole time but it’s clear by the end that it’s super personal now. She refuses to listen to him at all and just goes back to her own thing. Then by the end when the misunderstanding it cleared up she is desperate to be with him again. Catherine jus seems incredibly unstable and I don’t see things going well for the two of them. The original film had the much more satisfying ending as a result and I couldn’t stand by this one. The reason is because I wasn’t a big fan of the romance in general despite how much the film tried to present it as a decent one.

I do like the whole enemies to lovers trope when handled right but this one didn’t convince me. As much as I was going on about Catherine not being the most reliable or trust worthy, the same is true for Thomas of course. The whole film is happening because he was bored and wanted a thrill after all. You better hope he doesn’t get bored of romance either since he seemed like a real player back in his day. That is definitely one of the big downsides of being super rich. It’s a bit of a meme as everybody would usually like to be rich anyway but I can see how life can get dull if you don’t find anything to give you purpose.

Also to make the romance even worse, we have the head cop in charge of the case, Michael. This guy is absolutely desperate for Catherine from his very first scene and it’s obvious that she is not into him at all. She gives him a pity kiss later but I wish the guy had been a little bolder and just created some distance after the first attempts failed. Lets keep this professional right? This film is the definition of unprofessional as nobody was able to really keep to the job but it’s probably the worst for Michael. Catherine at least had the excuse of this being part of her plan and Thomas was using this as a way to gauge Catherine but Michael should have at least been objective.

Now in terms of the heist itself, it does stretch your disbelief at times. I find it hard to believe that nobody noticed the CEO sliding under the door to steal the painting early on. The film’s excuse for this would be how crowded things were and to an extent I get that but it’s still a bit of a stretch. Likewise when the painting was returned later on. The ole switcheroo was pretty clever though and I didn’t really have any problems with that one. I did enjoy all the “magic” and planning even if the resources and time to pull that off are also tricky. Thomas obviously has the money but finding enough people willing to take a fall and potential jail time? With enough money you can pretty much do anything but you can also count on at least one guy to get cold feet and go to the cops.

I’m not really an artistic person myself so I always wonder how paintings can really go for millions of dollars. I’d sooner buy into the conspiracy that the whole art market is just a front for money laundering than actually thinking someone would value the piece so highly. Talent is talent and some people are truly gifted at it but millions for any piece of art seems absolutely crazy. I’m also not particularly entertained by walking around a museum to look at paintings. That seems like the kind of thing you would endure for good company.

So the main appeal of the movie is about the heist and the cat and mouse games. That is when the movie is at its best but the rough romance really holds it back. There’s just no way this will work out and the romance is more of a show over tell kind of experience. So not only was I not convinced but the movie spends a lot of time on the romance only for me to still be shaking my head the whole time.

Overall, I would still skip on this film. It’s an improvement over the first film but it’s still not a winner yet. At this point I think we need a live action version of Sly Cooper. That’s a film with a similar premise but 1000x cooler. You will still have the cat and mouse banter with the detective trying to catch the thief but it’s played in a much more interesting way. Until that movie comes out, I recommend playing through the games and you will quickly see why the Thomas Crown affair can’t quite compete.

Overall 4/10

The Lake House Review

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It’s time for a film that goes out of its way to shatter its own message time and time again. I suppose it is always harder to follow advice than it is to state it and that’s what happens to the main heroine here. At the end of the day the plot has to be held together by both main characters making the biggest mistakes possible at every turn but that’s how it goes sometimes. It may be very dramatic but I would say this is not a particularly good movie.

The movie starts with Kate leaving her Lake House and alerting the new tenant to make sure he sends any leftover mail to her. She is now working hard at a hospital trying to save lives but it gets off to a rocky start when someone is hit by a car/truck and dies right in front of her. She is not having a good day but then gets an odd message from the tenant. It turns out that their mail is reaching each other from 2 years apart. He is actually the previous tenant from 2 years ago. Their messages are floating across time and both are so desperate that they fall in love with each other through the pen pal system. How can they possibly meet up to express their feelings?

This won’t be easy. Sure it’s only 2 years and it’s not like she moves far enough away but they’d have to ask for each other’s phone number, names, etc. In a lot of ways it will be easier for Kate since she is in the future so she should be able to look him up with minimal effort. She doesn’t though because the film would be over basically immediately. For Alex it’ll be slightly tougher since she doesn’t know him yet but perhaps with his charm he can win her over too. Instead he just loses touch right away. Are they just really bad at this pen pal stuff?

This is yet another film that falls into the tragic trap of being better if they were just friends. It would be a really wholesome film if they could both just be encouraging each other the whole time. Alex would give her tips on getting through her current struggles at the hospital and maybe Kate would help him patch things up with his father. Instead going with the romance angle hurts both characters massively and I’ll get into that now.

Kate reveals that she really loves a book about two people always meeting up at the wrong time and the message is about patience. Waiting for the right person instead of rushing things. The book had a sad ending but she will be ready to wait and find the right man. Okay so now she potentially has Alex and just needs to find a way to meet up with him. Instead she loses confidence in him and immediately runs into the arms of Morgan who has been chasing after her for quite a while. She basically decides to settle for him instead of staying alone with seems like an absolute waste. Why would you possibly settle when the whole point of the book is to not do that?

Another problem is how quick it all was. She basically rejects Alex and then runs straight into Morgan’s arms. This isn’t someone who is serious relationship material. I’d also argue that Morgan should have higher standards for himself. They already broke up once in the past because she cheated on him (It turns out that she was with Alex at that time) and he is still content to be with her when she has no remorse? When he brings this up, she immediately gets defensive and gaslights the life out of the guy. She makes it sound like Morgan is being petty and should have gotten over being cheated on which is absolutely crazy.

So we’re definitely on a really bad start with both of these characters. I couldn’t support Morgan at all here but I can’t supposed Kate either since she is way too emotional. She feels like the kind of character who will revenge cheat or have a fling if she gets bored. That’s what happened last time after all. Meanwhile for Alex, he is moving a bit fast here. For starters he does initiate the cheating when he knew Kate already had a boyfriend. Not a very ethical position to take.

Then Kate gives him the silent treatment after one plan goes bad which seems incredibly immature. There should also be some pretty big implications if he couldn’t make it in two years. They should have explored those options together instead of Kate deciding that she needed a man right away. As you can see I wasn’t too sympathetic to her plight.

The whole climax also revolves around Alex not being able to track her down for basically 2 years which is really crazy. Given that the film didn’t seem to deserve the “happy” ending that it got, I actually think the should have had her fail the mission. Have the film end with her waiting as the credits start to roll. You could also argue that this is an open ending and perhaps that means he would be around soon. I just don’t see why he would be willing to listen after such a long amount of time.

Also he just didn’t answer for two years while waiting to surprise her after 2 years? The time travel definitely does have some issues which is probably a byproduct of thinking up such a unique premise. I do think it’s a really cool idea but turning it into a romance feels like it was a mistake. This film would work so much better with the friendship angle because then most of my issues would not end up applying.

My only other applicable issue would just be that Alex’s subplot with his father seems rather shoehorned in. It didn’t have a whole lot of payoff and felt like filler in the movie. I didn’t think it had a noticeable impact on any of the characters’ development so if you cut it than nothing changes. Giving that a bigger role could have fixed that issue but then you’d have less time for the rest. So I’d probably have just substituted that for some more letters. Reading out the letters is probably the highlight of the film after all as it’s fun to keep jumping from place to place in the two eras.

Overall, The Lake House is definitely an emotional film. I think you’ll have a good time for the most part as the concept is explored fairly thoroughly. You’ll just see more and more of the cracks as the romance gets serious and the whole thing falls over by the end. This film absolutely needed better characters and I also have to suspend disbelief big time on the characters falling in love with each other. Through letters? That just seems really crazy to me. The writing is good and I hope more films try a premise like this. They just need to try and stick to the theme. If the characters are big on waiting then have them wait and not jump into a crazy relationship after one setback. That’s still the wildest part of the whole movie.

Overall 4/10

Morning Glory (1933) Review

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Morning Glory is one of those films where you question the overall point of it midway. It’s a classic journey about corruption and how hard show biz is but the main character holds the whole thing back. That does tend to happen a lot but since she folds almost immediately, there isn’t a whole lot of drama here. You know that she won’t be able to make a difference in the industry and so the usual drama just isn’t there.

The movie starts off by introducing us to a pathological liar named Eva. She is really determined to succeed in Hollywood but doesn’t have a lot of confidence and so she just lies about everything on instinct. Anything to give her a slight edge but it’s not really working. She eventually manages to crash a hiring session and make some influential acquaintances but then she fails in her first big show. Will she be able to still become a success?

Eva is a bit too naive for this world and the problem is that losing this trait will almost inevitably carry with it some big penalties. For example she is able to get back into the limelight briefly after getting super drink and having an affair with Louis for a night but that doesn’t help redeem her as a character at all. Instead it’s just another reason to show why she wasn’t ready for this level of competition. It may be something that a lot of would be Hollywood stars go through but she should have fought off the trend.

Getting drunk isn’t really an excuse that I ever tend to accept. Just don’t get drunk in the first place if you know that your true intentions are not going to be the best. It also feels like Eva’s delusions make her not practice or study nearly as hard as she should. She always comes across as incredibly unprepared which should not be the case when this is her passion.

I much preferred Rita who may have been super stuck up but knew her worth. She called Louis’ bluff at one of the shows and stormed out. It’s hard to say who will win in the long term but she is apparently till quite famous so I get the feeling that she will be just fine. As for Louis, he will probably do okay as well but the guy probably can’t count on someone like Eva to bail him out long term. So Rita was fun because she could stand up to the others and wasn’t going to break down at the first sign of trouble.

Louis is another character I don’t like. Obviously he should have been able to control himself when Eva was drunk. The guy is supposed to be a professional and has been in the business long enough to know better. So no sympathy for him later on when he was feeling awkward. Joseph isn’t much better either as the guy knows a lot of what’s going on and never gives Eva any proper heads up. He liked her so he needed to step up. Although I don’t blame him for taking a back seat once she was fooling around with Louis. At that point he may as well run off.

There aren’t really any big characters to root for here though which shows how aimless the film was. To an extent it is really about Eva failing over and over again until she gets her big break. Yes she manages to pull it off but at a great cost as she now has a lot of ammo to be blackmailed with eventually. Additionally, she just doesn’t seem to have the skills to remain as a main star. We don’t even know how she really succeeded in this role since everything we saw earlier would have implied that she’d be a big failure on the big screen.

Another problem here is that the big scene is about Eva getting drunk and making a fool of herself at a party. It seems to be meant to be impressive as the characters mention that she would be a huge hit if she could perform like that when she wasn’t drunk. It didn’t seem all that impressive to me though and if anything I’d be feeling second hand embarrassment if I was at that party. It’s why you never want to have too much alcohol at a party because inevitably there will be someone there who is a lightweight and ends up getting too drink. That’s bound to be a big problem. Not that any of these corrupt characters would really mind I suppose.

I guess the bright side you can probably say is that all of these negative movies about getting into show business probably did keep people from making rash decisions in order to be a star. Ditching your home town and everything in order to shine is definitely not the right play because then you’re already in a vulnerable spot. It’s had to negotiate for a great role and high pay when the other side knows how desperate you are. If Eva had a good manager and more skills then she probably could have fared a bit better. Alas, she went in without any real experience or connections and got trampled by the business.

Overall, Morning Glory is not a film I’d recommend checking out. It does have that retro tone that I enjoy with a fun script and good writing but it is really hard to succeed without a strong cast. A noir film could pull it off due to the really engaging story going on but a romance drama? That’s going to be a really uphill battle and this one was not able to pull it off. You can definitely do better within the genre.

Overall 4/10

Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day Review

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It’s time for a classic romantic drama. This one has a whole lot going on with all of the characters getting into complicated romance dynamics. It shows how just losing one person in a friend group can change everything drastically. That is definitely realistic though because friend groups work on the exact basis of everyone involved. So when you lose even one person then you get yourself into a whole new situation. The show is fun to watch and makes for a good title all around.

The show starts off with 6 kids as close friends. One day a few of them get together to put pressure on Jintan to announce if he likes Menma or not. He gets embarrassed and runs off so Menma gives chase but unfortunately an accident occurs and she dies. We cut forward 5 years and the group has really broken up. For the most part they’re on their own now except for Yukiatsu and Tsuruko. Jintan in particular is depressed and doesn’t do much of anything anymore. He just lounges around and watches the hours go by. Well, one day Menma suddenly shows up and only he can see or hear her. She figures that there must be some kind of regret holding her back and the logical conclusion is that the group of friends needs to reunite once more. Can they pull it off?

Reuniting after 5 years is of course a difficult task. Especially when your only real argument is that the ghost of Menma is asking him to do this. Now there is a massive plot hole here that the whole doesn’t actually address until the climax so I’m going to mention it right away. Menma is able to interact with the physical world. She is able to eat and move dishes around, cook, etc. So…..what better way to prove that she’s actually here than to have her move things while everyone is watching right? You’ll think of this in about 2 seconds while Jintan never does and instead has to listen to everyone doubt him. Of course they would doubt him, I would too.

They also should have come up with the idea but I can cut them some slack since they would be super skeptical right from the start that it’s possible. That’s totally fine and makes sense but I don’t see how the main characters wouldn’t think of it. Jintan gets punches and shoved several times for “making up lies about Menma” and this would be so easy to figure out. I kept thinking about that during the entire show’s run and as the viewer it’ll likely be at the top of your mind too.

Ah well, solution aside (and it would change the whole show) the idea of a ghost is always pretty fun. It’s like having an invisible friend and since this does appear to be the real Menma, it’s a chance for him to get some real closure. Since it’s established early on that he likes her, it does mean that he can be awkward at times but naturally having a good friend hanging out 24/7 is definitely fun. He may be reminded of the trauma but this also allows him to get past it as well.

So you’ve got a big storyline about healing here as every character has some scars from her death. This includes supporting characters as well like her parents and brother. Menma’s mother in particular really broke down by this point while the other two are doing their best to handle this in a healthier manner. It ends up making her a bit of an antagonist for a little while there as she just couldn’t let go. Losing your kid so suddenly would be traumatic so you can understand the pain there.

As the main character Jintan isn’t bad. He can be a bit oblivious at times though. The amount of times he casually talks to Menma while forgetting that anybody can see her is considerable. He also tends to have a lot of doubts with the plans and doesn’t see things through. As the series goes on he gets more confident and makes less mistakes but it’s a tough road for him to the end. All of the characters have their faults which is sort of the point though. It’s a fairly weak character cast so the show mainly has to succeed in spite of that and pulls this off with quality writing.

Menma is the main heroine here and she does her best to keep things light. In a lot of ways she stayed a kid even after being a ghost. Her body may have matured but her spirit is that of a kid so she can still be a little naive. She looks at things on the surface level and for that reason the idea of getting everyone back together seems a little easier than for the others. To her it just makes sense since they used to be friends and she does her best for that mission. Her optimism helps her be one of the better characters.

Tsuruko is one of the more petty characters I’d say. She tries to be the mature character of the bunch of she has disdain for the others. She does seem to put herself on a bit of a perch but then attacks the others in secret. This happened as kids as well when she went to talk to Menma in private. Then in the present she tells dark secrets about Yukiatsu to other girls. She felt like the fakest character in the series and it was all because she couldn’t talk about things in the open. I don’t have a whole lot of respect for characters like that.

She laments about how Yukiatsu never sees her as a girl but it’s not like she ever did anything about that. The fact that they were close friends for so long gave her a lot of chances here. Blaming this on the guy not asking is a very old fashioned approach and one I’ve never agreed with. Then we have Poppo who is mainly okay but in some ways seems like the most broken one. I thought it was a really bad look when he started chanting for Jintan to admit his feelings for Menma and relive the trauma of the old days. He may have apologized afterwards but it felt hollow. There are some things you can’t do and then apologize right afterwards because you simply don’t believe it. If he was going that far then he clearly meant what he was saying.

He did his best to be the friendly one but for a while it felt like an act. He really wanted to be able to see Menma too. Although most of the characters were jealous on that front. The biggest offender was Yukiatsu who is super jealous the whole series. It even leads him to dressing up as Menma at one point which was definitely his lowest scene in the series. The guy was crazy and otherwise had been one of the more responsible ones. He helps Anaru out of some jams although his randomly trying to get with her felt forced. The first time I thought it was almost like a joke or a way to get her past her trauma but then he got serious about it which was weird.

Definitely not a good look for him, especially if you take it as his trying to get back at Jintan. I don’t think that was the intent but either way he could have handled things better. He is one of the more interesting characters though and from the 6 I would argue he is the most irreplaceable. His aggressive nature spurned on some of the more serious conversations that would not have happened otherwise with everyone playing nice.

Then we have Anaru who in some ways is the most tragic character. A lot of it is on her though as she also makes the mistake of liking Jintan but not saying anything about it for years. She ends up losing her identity and trying to fit in with the cool crowd who were not really supportive when it counted. The show tries to make her friends look decent at the very end but they seemed fake for the rest of the show. The sudden final scene for them didn’t really work. Anaru does finally confess her feelings later on so that’s the one point I could feel bad for her since Jintan just runs off as normal. It’s definitely one of the absolute worst reactions you can possibly get to a confession like that. I felt like he never properly apologized for that either.

Anaru’s character arc is probably the clearest out of the 6 as she learns to make her own decisions and not just try to fit in with everyone. It’s a healthy character arc and so I definitely appreciated that. That said, I still couldn’t root for her and Jintan since that would be an obvious rebound. In fact, for that reason I couldn’t root for any of the romances in the show. I suppose Jintan and Menma would be fine but she’s dead so that’s not a realistic option either.

That’s why the show is best when it’s focused on the drama and not the romance. Some of it can be a little forced like Anaru being tricked into nearly going to a hotel with some random guy. Terrible look for her even leaving the club at all. Going was already a mistake but how do you not have any street smarts? It’s a good thing Yukiatsu was there at the time. The more normal drama is better with the friends arguing at their fort. At times the arguments can start to go in circles but it makes sense when you have a problem like this one that doesn’t have a clear answer. After all they can argue forever but there’s no way to really know why Menma is stuck on Earth except to keep on trying their best guesses.

The animation is a little better than I would have expected. The colors are striking and there’s a good amount of movement. It’s certainly more than you might expect for a fairly laidback show like this. The opening never really grew on me though and the ost within the show is okay but forgettable. This is the kind of show that needs to survive on the story as there is nothing else to really back that up on the audio front. For a romance/drama that is fine though, I think music is a much bigger deal for an action title but that’s highly debatable.

You’re here for the story of the characters reconnecting after all and that part is handled well. Sticking to a single season was also probably a good idea since it is the kind of show that would get tougher and tougher to pull off as it got more episodes. The longer you go, the more mundane the arguments would start to get. This one had a good balance with all of the characters being rightfully upset and pulling out the cards you would expect. Like thinking Jintan was messing with them or using Menma as a taunt of sorts. He definitely did seem crazy for a while there so that wouldn’t have been too surprising.

Will they stay friends forever? Probably not, friend circles come and go with the ages but it’s a natural thing. A lot of people that you even know well will eventually fade away. Maybe they go to a different school, get married, travel abroad, etc. So you just have to enjoy the friendships while they occur. This show gave the characters a chance to relive those days once more and it’s the kind of emotional beat that any viewer can enjoy.

The storyline about all of the characters effectively wearing a fake social mask is also on point. As the show goes on, the characters all realize that they didn’t know each other nearly as well as they thought they did. They all had different intentions and motivations at the time that was only realized later on. That makes sense as well as even close friends won’t know everything about each other. Even by the end that won’t be the case but it does help them all finally move on from how much guilt they had been holding onto from the past incident.

Overall, Anohana is a pretty good show. I had no real issues with it and it’s just a pleasant ride the whole way through. I’ll never forget how Menma didn’t just prove her existence at the beginning though. There were a good amount of plots going on at the same time here and they all got satisfactory endings. I didn’t feel like any character got shafted out of their trauma developments. As long as you like a more quiet type title then this will be a good title to look up.

Overall 7/10

A Whisker Away Review

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It’s time for a true romance film which I can’t say that I had really heard of before. I can safely say it’s one of the better romance titles that I’ve seen in a while. We finally have a main heroine who is really aggressive and going for what she wants instead of just being evasive the whole time. I love the confidence and that sets the film on a good start right from the jump. The movie’s attempts at being more action packed tend to fail but the film tends to be on point when it comes to the romance.

The movie starts off by introducing us to Miyo who is madly in love with Hinode. She does everything she can to get him to notice her like body slamming him, lunging at him, yelling about how she loves him, etc. He apparently told her off many times and so now he just completely ignores her which makes her sad. Fortunately Miyo grabbed a cat mask from a shady cat dealer and so she uses this to become a cat and become friends with Hinode that way. He loves the cat so that is how Miyo gets his love for now but she hopes to one day win as a human too. In the meantime though, is this deal a little too good to be true.

So like I said the weakest part is the whole cat salesman and the action going on over there. It’s pretty out there and weird which is fun because it’s so jarring from the rest of the story but I feel like it goes on for a tad too long by the end of it. We get a fairly long climax of running after the guy, tackling him, etc. The problem is that he seems to be all powerful with how he can shape shift, fly, etc. So the fact that they can do anything to him doesn’t really make sense. You have to suspend a whole lot of disbelief for all of the scenes involving him.

The cat world is interesting but also a little under developed. I guess everyone who gets turned into cats just sort of give up but you’d expect more general chaos and anarchy. Narratively it is satisfying to see the various characters make their declarations and fight back but the whole thing takes itself a little too seriously. I like the angle of Miyo turning into a cat and even the whole mask system and how cats can turn into humans. I would keep that but I would reduce the focus in the climax on the other world.

Back to the main story though, I really liked Miyo as the lead. I appreciated the fact that she always kept up a positive outlook and did her best to stay strong no matter what was going on. She certainly went through a whole lot of hardships and really had to tough it out on her own. Her parents split up and so she’s been trying to be fair to her new stepmom while also guarding herself from being attached. While she plays off her love to Hinode as a bit of a joke, it’s still really serious for her and every rejection hurts.

Through it all she never really takes it out on the other characters. Her loyalty is also nice like when she jumped off of a building to take care of some bullies. I definitely wouldn’t advise doing that for obvious reasons but she wasn’t about to let them bad mouth Hinode. They were sure talking loud to be heard from the roof though. Eventually Miyo isn’t able to get it together and breaks down by the end but she stayed strong for a real long time. Ultimately she’s one of the better main heroines that I’ve seen in a while and I will always give tremendous respect to any character who is able to properly charge forward and speak out her feelings.

I also really liked the step mom Kaoru who was also doing her best. She was trying not to be pushy but was naturally trying to bond with Miyo at least a little. Kaoru did her best throughout and also didn’t let herself get pushed around. When the old mother came to visit, Kaoru stood her ground and fought back really well. She was one of the better developed characters in the film and was a crucial piece in getting things to end well.

Her cat Kinako also ends up getting a pretty sizable role. At first I thought she seemed rather random the whole time but the pieces came together. She is fairly quick on the uptake all things considered and could bluff her way out of situations really well. I would have liked to have seen more of her initial meetups with the various characters instead of the 3 day time skip but it was a very intriguing part of the movie either way.

Then we have Hinode who is a solid guy but probably one of the weaker characters by default. He basically gets embarrassed by Miyo the whole time so he stays away. The guy likes to be quiet and stay out of the limelight which is impossible in this situation. I just have a hard time sympathizing with him when he doesn’t stand up to the bullies or defend Miyo in any way. When some bullies stole her love letter he should have been a bit more forceful and definitely shouldn’t have taken it out on her. That was easily his worst scene.

In his plot, it also seemed reasonable to close down the ceramics shop even though he liked it. Clearly it was not going over very well and his own skills were not enough to keep it afloat. Feelings and platitudes are all well and good but in the end they just weren’t enough. If he really wanted to keep things in place then he needed to work on his skills more. That would really have been the only way for him to have made a difference here. Instead he just got nervous too often and that came back to bite him.

Part of why I could get behind the romance more this time is because there were no rebounds or anything of the sort. Miyo liked Hinode from the start and while he was mainly avoiding her, it’s not like he had anyone else that he liked. It took a very long time so this wasn’t a sudden development either and so this felt like a well crafted romance. We got to really learn about both characters and their trials. I would argue that Miyo faced much harsher and greater challenges the whole time but they both did have their tough times.

Miyo also had a great friend who was really with her through all of the tough times. The friend was definitely not on board with the romance but it makes sense since she was trying to protect Miyo from what she saw as future heartbreak. She really wanted to avoid that at all costs which makes sense. In a way that’s what makes her such a good friend, it’s only natural that you would end up getting upset at the guy who keeps rejecting Miyo.

Meanwhile the animation is pretty solid and smooth. It’s not always the most colorful but it definitely doesn’t hold the film back. I like how fast paced it can all get. Then the soundtrack is solid like you would expect. We get a pair of emotional songs and the overall soundtrack matches the film’s cheerful energy. The movie was definitely on point with all of these technical aspects and the writing so I have no real issues here.

Overall, A Whisker Away is a pretty good film. It’s rare that I say this but it could probably have focused on the romance more and the supernatural less and it could have been even better. That said, it’s a film I would highly recommend you check out because it’s just so much different from your average romance experience. The guy isn’t chasing after the girl and things get all complicated. This time the heroine takes matters into her own hands and it’s just a lot of fun.

Overall 7/10

Bus Stop Review

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Bus Stop is one of those films where the romance has realllllly not aged well. At its core this should be an uplifting movie about a quality character arc but instead you’re just being reminded of how much progress has been made over the years. There are fun moments here to be sure but the ending isn’t particularly satisfying and the path towards getting there can be very rough.

The movie starts off by introducing us to Bo who is a Cowboy that is finally seeing the real world for the first time. He is eager to show the world just how good he is and his mentor Virgil is hoping that Bo will even end up meeting a girl that he will fancy. Well, that turns out to be the case as they bump into a lady named Cherie who is a good singer and dancer. She aspires to go to Hollywood some day but for now is stopped at a small little club of sorts. Bo announces that they will get married and won’t be taking no for an answer. Part of Cherie is flattered but she also realizes that he isn’t quite mature enough for this. How can she get out of this whole marriage thing?

So the funny part here is supposed to be that Bo is completely oblivious to what the word no means. He treats Cherie like the bulls that he wrangles for the show and any answer she gives is ignored until it’s yes. He pressures her into everything like watching his show and saying yes to marriage. This isn’t a great look for Cherie either but Bo is really a big problem here. It goes a step too far with how he’s literally kidnapping her by the end of the film.

Bo straight up became an antagonist and there were few characters that were doing anything about it. Fortunately that’s where Carl steps in, the best character in the film. Carl is quick to challenge Bo to a fight and absolutely crushes him. It was a great moment and showed that at least one guy was going to step in when the going got tough. It’s definitely good that Carl had some experience in physical sports because otherwise Bo was a tough guy himself. Carl just knew what it meant to have a quality romance and that’s why it’s almost a shame for the guy that the owner of the bus stop seemed to like Virgil instead. Perhaps the fight changed her mind though, it seems like you could take things either way.

Still, Carl did the right thing there. For Bo it still seems like an odd plot point because not knowing city customs is one thing but being completely insensitive to the ladies is another. He really didn’t seem to have any regard for Cherie’s feelings and the film wrote him to be way too exaggerated. It’s why you can’t see any possible path to a relationship here after all the things that he did. The film could have ended with a friendship and a heartfelt apology but that’s really about it.

As for Cherie, I would have liked to have seen her show a bit more agency here. While Bo did pour on the pressure the whole time, she still could have said no more decisively and really made a scene about it. I know to an extent she is still limited about the situation because you can’t really know how the guy will react. It’s why I won’t be quite as hard on her but she still didn’t end up being super likable.

I then blame Virgil a bit here because he takes some responsibility for not setting Bo straight sooner. The guy was his mentor so any character flaws Bo has can be taken to him to an extent. Virgil also helped stand up by the end and call Bo out but it took him a long time to do so. He should have been front and center from the start in showing Bo that he was wrong about everything.

If not for the drama, Bo was actually even doing pretty well at all the events. It was clear that he wasn’t all talk but at the same time that doesn’t excuse his off the field issues. It’s a classic example of a character getting distracted and then wasting everything away when it counted. Not a good look at all. I’m also not into the whole bull chasing and such. It feels like it would still hurt the animal to be tripped no matter how carefully it is done. Those sports can be cancelled and I’d definitely be fine.

The meat of the story is really about the romance though and since that part isn’t very good then the rest of the film suffers as a result. The scenes aren’t particularly funny and the ending is a miss so it ends up losing out on both accounts. The pacing isn’t bad as the film isn’t too long and things are always happening but that’s about all I can give for the film. It needed a much better cast to really take things to the next level and this movie wasn’t quite ready for that.

Overall, This is an example of a film where they take the “Unfamiliar in the big city” trope and take it way too far. It could have been a good dynamic if Bo likes Cherie but she was constantly using new lingo and was too fast paced for him while Bo kept getting himself into trouble by using the wrong sayings. Then you have some misunderstandings and such. Or have Bo be super oblivious to the fact that she’s not into him but not in a way where he is dragging her around. Just have him be loud and overconfident as usual without actively trying to kidnap her or forcing in a wedding. In short, if you fix Bo then you fix the movie. Until then I would say to definitely give this film a skip for now.

Overall 4/10

Drifting Home Review

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It’s time for an anime film with a lot of drama and big events going on. The kids really had to go through a lot here but at the end of the day they pull through and show what real determination can do. It’s a solid film but this is one of the rare times I’ll say that the film went on too long. They start to retread some of the same story beats multiple times and I even think the whole plot of bringing in the veggie people muddied the overall message. Personally the story could have shaved about 30 minutes off and flowed better.

The story starts by introducing us to Kosuke who has a long history with a girl named Natsumi. She had to live at his place for a while when they were kids but then Kosuke’s grandfather died and the two grew really distant. At school they can barely even talk to each other and Natsumi heads to the abandoned projects to be by herself. Those are the old buildings where they used to live and Kosuke’s friends figure it’ll be fun to treat them as haunted houses and go exploring. Kosuke isn’t thrilled about this but he accompanies them and that causes Reina and her friend to give chase. Suddenly the whole building is seemingly carried away and when the kids get up they realize they are all alone at sea. Their home is just drifting along like a boat and there is nothing in sight across all directions. Are they doomed to die out at sea?

Being stuck out at sea while only being a kid is definitely a rough situation and even more so when the characters don’t get along. The premise works really well with the mystery as you wonder how the characters even got to this point. Was it magic that whisked the characters away or is it all a dream like Natsume says? The hunger and fatigue the characters feel certainly seems to be real but perhaps it is all in their heads. For now they have to treat this as real and try to survive.

This is really the main backdrop for Kosuke and Natsumi trying to be friends again. Throughout the movie we slowly start to see more of the flashback of the final incident that caused them to drift apart. It takes a long while to actually see the scene but you do understand where it’s going fairly early on. A lot of the time it does tend to be Kosuke’s fault as he does tend to say things that he doesn’t mean and gets upset quickly. It felt like he went through many attempts of burning the bridge and often it came at little to no provocation.

He isn’t very good at the whole being a good friend thing. Kosuke is good at taking charge and doing what has to be done though. Jumping onto another building to find snacks was a good idea and he does his best with assuming command. Kosuke isn’t very mature most of the time but neither are most of the others since they’re just kids. There will be a lot of moments that make you cringe for sure but without Kosuke the others would have definitely been doomed.

The kid who is the most mature here is definitely Natsumi. While she makes a critical error near the end, for the most part she is the only one really keeping everyone together. She tries to keep the various personalities from destroying each other and absorbs most of the insults. I would have liked her to have fought back a little more though. She’s always being really mature and just internalizing everything but it also means that the other characters tend to consider it open season on her. Particularly Reina who was always picking fights.

Natsumi was definitely going through a whole lot here. Reina is probably the most petty member of the kids though. She is constantly picking fights in part because she is jealous of Natsumi and wants Kosuke all to herself. Reina is all too eager to blame everything on Natsumi for this reason and holds a grudge for a long time. She is fun for the film because that makes the dynamics more interesting but you would absolutely not want her to be on the ship with you.

Juri is her shy friend who is always around. She’s very timid at first but gradually taps into her inner confidence and does better. It was nice to see her taking charge and not just fading away into the background. I don’t think she got enough time to really be too much of a focus for the most part but either way I would say she was a good character. Taishi tended to get himself into trouble but he’s a friendly guy and someone who gets along well with everybody. He may not take things seriously most of the time but that does help to keep morale up.

Finally there is Yusuru who probably gets the biggest shaft out of all the characters. He doesn’t get to have a proper character arc or anything like that. He’s dependable and always around but that’s about it for him. Feels like the film needed an extra person for some of the stunts and that’s why he is around but otherwise the story didn’t have a role set up for him. That’s a shame but at least he wasn’t bad.

There is the mysterious Noppo kid who is constantly hanging around. He’s quiet and doesn’t do or say much until we get deeper into the film and then his role gets bigger. I wasn’t a big fan of his character, he tends to hold them all back a bit and is way too cryptic about everything. He definitely could have told the heroes more and that would have made the situation a lot easier on the rest of them. There wasn’t a good reason for him to hold back.

He’s also responsible for the main subplot that didn’t really add much to the experience. I still say we don’t need the whole veggie thing but I can’t say much more without spoilers. Lets just say the film introduces a whole concept of a bunch of people and this helps in part to explain the mystery of what happened but not in a super satisfying way. This is one of those films where the mystery itself is a lot more compelling than the resolution. It would have made a lot of sense to have had Natsumi be the conduit for taking everyone into the ocean world because she was unable to move on. This would directly be Kosuke’s fault in a lot of ways and that leads into their character arcs.

All these other characters just negate that to a large extent. The film also has a half dozen climaxes where it looks like things are going to end and then it keeps going. I always say that good films should be longer and bad films should be shorter but while this is a good film, it just started to feel its length. Ideally you don’t want a film to feel like it’s super long because by that point it means that some point of the immersion is gone.

Even the drama was a bit repetitive as it felt like Kosuke and Natsumi would make up, only to fall apart again, and then to repeat those steps over and over again. Even the flashbacks started to loop again. It’s a really good story beat of two old friends reuniting but the movie just didn’t seem to know how to stretch the plot on for too long. They didn’t have enough material for it or something like that.

The music was pretty solid here. I liked a few of the tunes and the animation isn’t bad. It’s nothing super high end or anything but it works well enough for the film. The technical aspects didn’t hold the film back or anything like that. The writing was good as well and the movie did a good job of having the kids find creative ways to survive. Perhaps some scenes may feel like a stretch for the kids but as long as it means they’re doing something I can be on board with that. The less time they spent panicking, the more time they had to be productive.

Overall, This was a good movie. I’d say that the length hurts the replay value and at the end of the day a bunch of kids will never be the most compelling set of characters. That said, the messages are good and the ending is solid. I always like when a film takes a stance on something instead of trying to have it both ways and so the final line was a great idea. Between that and the photos, the movie wasn’t copping out or anything like that. I’d say to check this movie out. It might even give you a bit of nostalgia for when you would hang out as a kid.

Overall 6/10

Trading Christmas Review

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It’s time for one of those films about house swapping and I’ve never been crazy about the idea. I just don’t trust people at all so I feel like the instant I do one of these, I would lose some things. Things would mysteriously disappear and I would never see them again. That’s a really scary prospect so I would just be too emotional to go along with it. For the people who Air B&B they’re probably thinking I’m crazy though. It is what it is.

The dual main characters are Emily and Charles here. For Emily, she was looking forward to spending Christmas with Heather but her ungrateful daughter has decided to go on a date with Jason instead and will be spending the holidays with him. Emily figures that she can fly over to surprise Heather and dashes over only to find out that Heather snuck away to another state without telling her. Not a very nice thing to do here and now what is Emily supposed to do with herself. She’s alone at Christmas?? The horror of it all. That’s when she bumps into Ray, a good friend of the guy she is borrowing the apartment from and a fast romance starts.

From the 3 plots this is probably the one where you are the most sympathetic to the lead. Emily is just trying to spend quality time with her daughter and the whole surprise visit seems like a fun idea. What are the odds Heather would just switch states right? It’s also rough to lose traditions so suddenly and without warning like this. It’s just tough and that’s why you can’t really buy into the romance here because it seems like Ray caught her at a very vulnerable time. Additionally the 180 to Emily suddenly not being interested in traditions and such was pretty rough. It was all so sudden and I guess in the end it’s like nobody wins.

Ray is nice enough but again the romance is all just so fast and contrived. He should have stayed in his lane and not made a pass at someone who is just renting the apartment for a few days. In theory once she left he would never see her again unless they got really serious about each other really quickly which doesn’t seem like such a good idea. You don’t really know the other person at that point.

Then we have the plot with Heather and Jason which is the weakest one. The whole time it seemed to be building up to a choice of regret where Jason just wasn’t a great guy and they were going to break up as she realized that traditions are good. He lets his friends crash in on their date and kept making the worst decisions possible. He wasn’t even interested in watching her old wonderful place movie. Well eventually they head back and it turns out that he’s a decent dude but the whole plot felt like a bit of a wash. It just didn’t have much of a purpose here. I’d say Heather had a purpose, but not so much Jason except to be a red herring here.

Finally we have the plot with Charles and Faith which was easily the most entertaining. So Charles is an author who writes a ton of books and he is trying to have a quiet place to focus. So that kind of works and he has a spot now except that Faith shows up because she was actually trying to surprise Emily which didn’t work out. The problem is that she terrifies Charles so he runs around crying the whole time about how she is distracting him and being a big baby about the whole thing.

There’s a lot of banter here throughout as a result and Faith really does good on her end like with keeping the neighbors out and even making food. I was on her side the whole time because Charles was often panicking about nothing and was also way too defensive about his books. The guy could stand to learn how to accept some constructive criticism. He eventually does but the plot takes a bit longer than it should have. Once again you have a hard time seeing just why the romance would start here. Maybe if Charles had been a bit nicer from the start there could have been a chance.

Of course then there would be less witty banter so I suppose I would miss that part. Charles just thinks too highly of himself and generalizes everyone which Faith calls him out on. At least now his next books will end up being better. The movie did a good job of balancing these 3 films the whole time. It felt like there was way more of a story here than I would have expected otherwise. The movie isn’t even that long and yet it paces everything well so it gets full kudos for that. You don’t feel like any plot got the short end of the stick.

Heather’s certainly has the least amount of screentime but that makes sense because it’s not like her house was one of the ones that was swapped. At most you could say that with more screentime they could have set things up a bit better to establish that she was trying to have it both ways a bit too much with ditching traditions while still following others and that would help her realize that she really wasn’t nice to her mother at all. A good redemption arc would be nice since she was so petty the whole time.

Overall, Trading Christmas definitely doesn’t change my mind on why I wouldn’t want to ever trade houses/apartments even just for a week or so. I would have real security issues but naturally it does make for a very good movie plot. This movie is charming and fun throughout the whole adventure with good writing and pacing the whole time. Often times you can expect maybe 2 main plots at most but 3 in this Christmas adventure was really taking things to the next level and I was really impressed to see it. The bar was set high here without a doubt. If you’re up for a fun Christmas title then you definitely won’t want to miss out on this.

Overall 7/10

Fallen Angel Review

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It’s time for one of those really dramatic Christmas titles. This time around I can safely say that the romance is super weak though to the point of taking a star away. It just doesn’t make sense and it takes so long for the two leads to really get to the same page that the credits start rolling as they make up. Ehhhhh it’s one of those cases where they should have stayed as friends.

The movie introduces us to Terry who had a rough time growing up since his father was super busy and never really had a lot of time for him. Terry had a lot of resentment about this and swore not to make the same mistake when he grew up. That’s not quite how it went though as he is now working in a big company without much downtime and hasn’t even met a girl yet. Well, he is called down to his old home to shut the place down since his father died but his dad had already promised the place to a lady named Katherine who was renting out the place to show her daughter Olivia.

It might be tough going back down memory lane but Terry is ready for this. Then he finds out that Katherine is actually the little girl who visited the place a long time ago when her father struck someone with a car who died and then he wandered off into the forest and died shortly afterwards. The whole thing was so long ago and tragic that she just doesn’t remember and when Terry finds out that her father is still alive, he forbids Terry from mentioning this. Terry is keeping a whole lot of secrets now and then he falls for Katherine. Can he keep up this relationship in the midst of all these secrets?

The obvious answer here should be no. Also, since he is renting out the house I would imagine that having a relationship with a client is a really bad idea. Not really something you should be doing if you have a clear head on your shoulders. Katherine gets really upset at him later on for this and it’s for really good reason. I don’t see how you could keep on going after this because it’s such a big deal. The fact that she was here before isn’t as big a deal to be honest but the dead father thing is massive.

I get why it would be hard to show up out of nowhere after so long but the Dad should have appeared and if not, Terry should have still mentioned this. If he wasn’t interested in Katherine romantically then sure he could have decided not to say anything but I would say that by this point it was definitely his obligation. It’s just too serious and personal not to say anything. Then the fact that Terry was about to dash off and everything until at the last second turning around…not his best moment.

As for Katherine, I thought she was okay but also moving too fast on everything. I feel like I would definitely cancel my appointment at the hut if the guy in charge died. I don’t know the new owner enough to trust him so why take the risk? That would be a full refund and I’d just check out another spot. She also got really emotional by the end and I get that the betrayal was rough but it still felt like she could have handled things a little better.

The hospital subplot about the father leaving gifts every year to try and make things better was nice though. There was a common element here about the father of both main characters caring a lot but having a hard time showing it. For Terry it was too late since he died but at least for Katherine she will be able to mend the relationship now and get the family going again. So definitely a happier ending there but again it could have worked better without the romance here.

I gotta give the film credit for trying to give us a true life or death moment in the film though. At one point Terry has to go into the water in order to rescue the boat and we get the serious music as the water rages on. Katherine’s daughter Olivia is blind so she has to try and keep her daughter safe while saving Terry and getting the boat going. It was maybe trying a bit too hard on the film’s part to really get the blood pumping and all but it was a scene I wasn’t really expecting so I give it some credit for that.

Even the whole “Father faking his death” angle was a pretty solid mystery on the film’s part. You may figure it out by the time of the reveal but maybe not, I thought the movie showed good restraint in keeping it from being too obvious. Naturally I will say that faking your death is almost never a good idea and this is another example of that. It may be really hard to show yourself but you’ve really got to take that leap and just get it over with. Once you have a family, it’s selfish to just ditch them like that. Feel free to fake your own death if you’re on your own but otherwise it’s definitely a no go.

Overall, Fallen Angel is a good movie but it needed a little something more to the plot to really make it memorable. Maybe more supporting characters or something back with Terry’s plot like the company calling for him back. That could have added some drama on him being in a rush to get back. The film isn’t super long or anything but even then it felt like there wasn’t a whole lot of story for the film to get through. It’s a good title but doesn’t hold up with most of the other Christmas titles. Check it out if you want some solid drama though.

Overall 6/10

A Season for Miracles Review

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It’s time for one of those Christmas stories that has a wholesome ending but things get rocky for the characters at first. It’s a pretty fun film and it held my attention the whole time. The romance angle may be a bit on the weak side but when you’ve got a quality story at the ready then you can often get past such things. This film also isn’t afraid to tap into the supernatural angle a bit.

The film starts off by showing us that Emilie’s sister has taken another massive L and is being arrested again for drug issues. Emilie prepares to take care of her two nephews as usual but child custody agents show up and demand the kids. They can’t confirm that they can keep the two together either so Emilie decides to flee with them. She shows up to a small town where she is mistaken as the daughter of a rich lady who owns a mansion. Emilie feels uneasy about continuing the deception but the nephews are tired of moving so she stays for a while. The police captain Nathan quickly falls in love with her but also suspects that she isn’t telling him something. What will win out, his mind…or his heart?

Now Emilie isn’t a career criminal like her sister but she definitely does tend to mess up a bit here which is how Nathan gets so suspicious in the first place. When they’re looking through the attic she quickly starts to panic and says she doesn’t want to look at anything. Then not letting her kids buy any food at the market or enrolling them into school. She should at least do these things as a good cover before moving out. If anything she would have probably raised no suspicions had she done this and everything would have been set. Instead, she set off the alarms here.

I’d also say she should have forced the issue and taken her kids out sooner. That would have made more sense because without some supernatural intervention she was doomed here. It wouldn’t be easy to always be living on the run but in theory she just needs to evade the cops one or two more times in different states and they would eventually give up. It would be very difficult to track her down in such a non digital age. The nephews would be upset at first but in a few years they would understand.

While Emilie does have a hard time staying undercover, she is a good character through and through. Part of why she has such a difficult time is because this stuff is not second nature to her. She’s not used to breaking the law or anything like that and is just going this far to protect her family. So I’ve definitely got no issues with her as a character and I also agree with her move of running away because the custody agents clearly didn’t have the kids’ best interests at heart. Yeah they’re just doing their jobs but that’s not really much of a consolation for the kids.

Meanwhile Nathan is a solid character. He had his suspicions and kept at it until he got his answer. He would have solved things much quicker if not for Emilie’s guardian angel watching out for her. You could argue that Nathan overreacted a bit once he finds out the truth and I would agree with that. It’s a rough deception but the circumstances are immediately understandable even if it took him a little while to get to that point. The romance feels a bit rushed and hard to buy as a result but compared to some of the other big Christmas romances it holds up well enough.

As for the guardian angel, she was a nice enough character. She was constantly helping out in small ways and flexing her powers like when she would appear and disappear just to mess with everyone. Without her Emilie would have been doomed so she deserves the MVP role. Perhaps she could have solved the situation a bit easier but I imagine she wanted to eventually get things out in the open so that the humans could solve things themselves. That does make a lot of sense.

The film also squeezes in a courtroom scene which was a really nice touch. I can’t say I was expecting that and while it may not have been particularly long, it got the situation across well. Mix that in with a solid climax and we’re all set. Not every character gets a happy ending as Emilie’s sister is still in jail but it does seem like she wasn’t about to turn over a new leaf. In this case she was too far gone with the drugs but maybe in a sequel she could make a comeback. I’ll at least give her credits for not betraying her kids or sister when the cops tried to interrogate her. I mean it wasn’t much of an interrogation but she confirmed that she wouldn’t play ball.

Overall, A Season for Miracles is a pretty fun film. It’s got a good story and the characters are fun. I would also say that the supporting cast was better than expected. I liked the neighbors and the lawyer in training also did a good job in helping her out. It was nice to see the whole community side with the heroine even after only knowing her for a little while. Shows what a tightknit community they had there and everybody was just generally pleasant. That’s one thing I always appreciate about these Christmas titles which is that the communities are really strong and wholesome. Helps maintain that really friendly atmosphere. Mix in the usual good writing and pacing and I definitely have no complaints with the film and would recommend checking it out. At most the kids might annoy you a bit but that’ll happen in any film where they are present.

Overall 7/10