Tag Archives: Thriller

Poppy’s Playtime Chapter 4 Review

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It’s time for a very emotional game. Poppy’s Playtime has been a fairly intense video game series where almost every journey ends with tragedy. Most of the characters do not get a happy ending and at this point they are just hoping to get out of this place alive. It’s hard to say how many chapters there will be but this one does feel as though we are approaching the ending. Potentially just one chapter left now but we’ll have to see how that goes. This was my first journey where it was just one chapter by itself so that was different. It does mean that the game goes a lot faster than the collection.

Chapter 3 ended with the hero finally getting close to the safe haven so things should go well from here. Poppy will go check on Missy while you go forward to save the day. The only thing you did not count on was that the danger is still ever present. Well, I guess you probably did figure on that to be honest. You’ll have to use your wits and reflexes to stay alive once more because these villains still intend to destroy you as soon as they can. There may not be a whole lot of enemies left but each one packs a punch. Are any of the creatures on your side? Or are you walking right into a trap?

Along the way you will learn a lot of lore through your surroundings as well as the various audio tapes. They can get a little repetitive at times though as it feels like the game is drip-feeding you the information much slower than before. You need multiple tapes just for the characters to be begging for their lives during the experiments. It’s pretty clear that the villains got away with a whole lot back in the lab and you can definitely see why they are all eliminated.

The gameplay itself is solid but the story does often tread into the valleys of being a little too extra grim dark. You’re more interested in the present and staying alive than the mystery of what happened before. Personally I would say the best thing for the game to do would be to keep it as secretive as possible. The more open you keep the past, the better it will work for theory crafting. I suppose its existence does give the game a lot of replay value though as I’m sure a whole lot of people enjoy going through the rooms slowly to try and find every possible collectible. Even outside of those, you will often find messages on the tables and walls .

I would say the core gameplay is platforming but there is also a lot of puzzle solving. You need to connect different objects and also piece together patterns. For the most part the game is reasonable with these but there was one puzzle involving anatomy that I thought was a little unreasonable. I had to brute force it and am still not really sure how to do it logically. The red smoke made it so hard to explore and it felt like this puzzle had a number of red herrings. That only made things even trickier. When it comes to the platforming itself, I found it to be much easier than the third game. I still did die a whole lot during the game but nothing quite as crazy as the final boss in part 3.

The toughest segments for me here were typically when I had to use stealth and get past the monster. Their hearing is quite sharp and sometimes their speeds were lightning quick. It’s why I was really grateful for all the checkpoints in the game. Without that it would have definitely taken even longer to complete the game. It would certainly be easier if we could carry a better weapon. The flare gun that the lead has is okay but certainly not the most powerful thing around. It’s mostly good for just scaring the opposition.

The story took around 3 hours to beat and we got over half of the collectibles but not quite all of them. The platinum trophy actually looks rather difficult so that would add a lot of replay value. Of course keep in mind that the game is fairly cheap even when it just came out so it makes the play time a lot more tolerable. You are still getting a good amount of value for your purchase with this one.

The graphics are also pretty solid here. The game definitely does get the horror vibe across well. Even I got startled a few times in the game when I would get caught. It’s a mix of well placed sound design as well as a color scheme that just really works with this. It’s hard not to get scared at least a little while playing the game. The soundtrack is less impressive but I do get why they would do that. If the soundtrack got too hype or something like that then it could definitely take away from the scare factor of it all.

My main complaint with the game would be that it does have the most breaks in action. Or at least it felt that way where there would be several points of listening to long monologues from the villains while you can’t move. With the audio tapes those are optional and you can still move so that’s fine but when you can’t move you wish the villains would pick up the pace a bit. You also figure they should have been able to beat the main character several times so the longer they talk, the more you have to suspend a little disbelief here. It’ll be interesting to see who the main character is by the end. By this point all signs are pointing to him not being some ordinary human.

Overall, Poppy’s Playtime Chapter 4 isn’t quite ready to give us any of the important answers but you still feel that we are getting closer to the end. There just aren’t many villains left to defeat after all and it’s also the kind of game where I’m not expecting that we will get all of the answers. Although there will likely be a lot of them that I just don’t notice during the main story so that’ll be where Youtube comes in handy. If you’ve been keeping up with Poppy then you should definitely jump in now. The game is reasonably difficult and quite intense so you will definitely be kept interested the whole time.

Overall 6/10

Pack of Lies

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Lies are definitely a pretty dangerous slippery slope. All it takes is one well placed lie to start a whole host of troubles and they aren’t easily placed back in the bottle. What if you are lying in order to help save your country? Well, then things get pretty interesting and this movie is definitely a compelling one. I enjoyed the plot and it was written quite well. Certainly a film I would recommend.

Imagine one day that you are minding your own business when a cop shows up and says he will be taking over your bedroom for the foreseeable future. See, they have reason to believe that a big criminal will be showing up in the neighborhood and need to take him by surprise. The trickiest part here is that you can’t tell anybody and this villain may be working with your best friend. Well, now the lies are about to start piling up and you have to decide if you trust the cops or your best friend. That is the burden Barbara and her husband Bob must bear. They are not trained for this though so can they really hang on?

Right off the bat I can say that I probably would not be playing ball here. For starters I just don’t trust people enough. I give Bob huge credit for actually calling the police to make sure that their agent was legit though. I feel like a lot of characters just take the ID at face value when they shouldn’t. Still, it’s a pretty big deal to have them in your house the whole time and if the villains are dangerous then you have just put yourself in a really rough place. Yes, the cop says there is no danger but that’s a little hard to believe.

Additionally as soon as they mentioned Barbara’s best friend Julie may be a criminal too, I’d have probably gone over and told her. This all depends on how much you trust your own instincts of course but if I’ve been real friends with someone for years then I can probably tell if they are good or bad. May sound like a humble brag and of course it can backfire but at the same time that is a risk that I feel I would have to take. It just makes too much sense not to.

In this case Barbara plays it by the book but this really does a number on her. She feels super guilty for all of the secrets. I would say a little too guilty at times to be honest. Particularly by the end once we find out if the neighbor was actually in on it or not. By that point you move on and don’t give it another thought. I’d be much harsher on the ending but this is based on a true story to I assume that includes the ending? If not, then yeah the ending is way too dramatic. I just have a hard time wrapping my head around why you would take this so hard. Barbara was ultimately just too emotional for her own good I suppose.

Then we have her husband Bob who took things with a better stride. He was clearly not as emotionally invested. Of course the whole thing was still a big deal for him too but he just wasn’t sweating the details to the same degree. We don’t really see him by the ending but can assume that he was mainly unbothered. He did his civic duty and that’s what counts here. It’s how you should really approach these things.

Their daughter Julie takes it all a lot harder but that makes sense because the whole thing really wasn’t all that fair to her. She is absolutely right that she should have been told more. I do think she would be a risk since she isn’t the best at keeping secrets but for something this large, you just have to find out the hard way just how much you trust her. This is very serious after all so if she would let the secret slip, then that’s a really bad look.

As for the neighbors, Peter doesn’t do much but Helen is certainly a central figure. The whole time she appears to be the perfect friend so the characters have to wonder if she is being truly legit or if this is just part of the game. Is she manipulating them? In that case the spying would of course be a good idea but if she is being framed or used by a criminal, then not speaking up could put her in lethal danger. Throughout the film you have to wonder what is going on and it’s that tension that works really well throughout. You have to question everything as the truth isn’t easily figured out.

As for the cops, they don’t always do a great job of trying to look trustworthy. They keep a lot of secrets and then Barbara even catches them in a lie or two when they would play dumb about things. Any kind of lie in this situation is naturally going to make it even harder to go ahead with the mission. In either event, the title certainly makes a whole lot of sense. It’s a tough situation for all of the characters involved, that much is definitely for sure.

Overall, This was a very compelling film. There are a lot of spies and sleeper agents out there. Technically you really never know if you might bump into one. Their whole job if about blending in and lying after all. So you can either go throughout your life never trusting anyone and just talking about things that don’t matter or going off on a limb and going for that trust. You never really know what the right answer is so you have got to go through it all with no regrets. Additionally if you do end up having a spy in your midst, you really can’t afford to feel bad for them. Spies may not be dirtying their hands directly, but giving away any state secrets will inevitably lead to loss of life. So they made their decision in betraying the country and you reporting them is no real betrayal at all.

Johnny Mnemonic Review

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

It’s time for one of those sci-fi films that is really all over the place. It’s a dystopia but definitely not the most interesting one out there. I do like that corporate is basically the big villain in all of this but even then I wouldn’t say that it is the big win you might be hoping that it is. That’s just not enough to carry the film and so this won’t be remembered as one of the better sci-fi titles.

Our main character is Johnny and his job is to transport confidential information around. With the internet being incredibly compromised, people rely on humans to traffic the data like this. Johnny puts it in his head and then gives it to the client. He wants out of this gig, but his partner tells him that he will need to do one last job first. The problem is that this latest job has a data size that is way above Johnny’s specs. There is just no way that he can process all of this. So what is he going to do? Well Johnny figures he’ll download it anyway and it should be fine. Unfortunately this job isn’t as straight forward as it appeared and now he’s on the run from the Yakuza. He has a bodyguard named Jane helping him but she is not in the best shape. Yeah this is gonna be rough.

Right from the jump Johnny’s decision is just really dumb here. I know that he’s in a hurry to get out of the business but downloading something into his brain that can’t fit just seems like an easy trip to the grave. It’s not a brave or smart thing to do, it’s just plain dumb. A really foolish move and he is counting on the fact that he doesn’t just die instantly from this. He has a few hours before the brain leakage goes too far but any form of brain leakage obviously brings some risks along with it. So yeah this was a bad idea.

Then Johnny’s partner is super shady from the start so it comes as no surprise to find out that he’s involved with the craziness too. First rule of Dystopias is not to trust anybody. Johnny ends up working with Jane out of necessity but it’s not like he can trust her either. She is very strong and capable but gets a severe case of the shakes all the time. That puts her in a really rough spot for any professional gigs so she is also desperate enough to work with a shady fellow like Johnny. Surely there is no way any romance could bloom out of this right? That would just be poor writing.

It just feels like the story is already pretty forced from the jump with Johnny getting into this mess. There’s just no way he should have stuffed his mind and surely he could have found another job. The people giving him the data also seemed very ill prepared for the villains who showed up later on. You’d think that they would have been more prepared. Ah well, Johnny does his best but I wouldn’t say that he is the most interesting lead character.

Jane is okay and I would even say that the shakes aren’t as bad as the film treats them. Jane’s very first scene has her crushing another bodyguard so clearly she is still strong enough to take out the average fighter. Should shaking really be such a big deal? It feels like in most cases she would still be able to get along just fine even if she will need some breaks here and there. Well, at least she does well as the body guard.

The most interesting villain is the Preacher. He’s a complete nutjob who is a hitman that likes to quote the scriptures the whole time. A real twisted guy but he’s also just such a random addition to the film. Corporate hires him whenever they desperately need some action but the idea that this huge company needs to resort to this is pretty funny. The corporation has so much unbelievable power at their disposal and they still need a secret hitman? It’s not like this is a one time thing either, from the conversation it sounds like they summon him from time to time.

Then for all the hype the Preacher gets, the heroes just run him over during their first encounter. Way to ruin the hype right? It was a very questionable decision as soon as it happened. Preacher does return and gets his share of victims but you still keep remembering the first moment. Naturally the film can get a bit violent so keep that in mind if you’re the squeamish type. The film isn’t holding back with how dark the future gets after all so this is not for the faint of heart.

We also meet a friend of Jane’s, The Spider. This guy doesn’t really like the future. He thinks that things should be done without all the electronics everywhere and he tries to be old school. He was entertaining so I appreciated that. The guy was constantly upset about everything and would really speak his mind. More characters like him could have made the film more interesting. I also did like one of the main villains, Shinji. He had a cool energy whip that could cut through nearly anything. It made him a very deadly fighter and the weapon just looks cool in action. He certainly gets his share of hits in.

I do think the film had some potential here but it’s all convoluted without being super interesting. I like a good mystery and sci-fi babble but it just doesn’t always go anywhere. We have a plot with a lady in the screen with ties to Johnny’s past, a resistance that has been around for a while, and both of those elements don’t appear as much as you would think. It’s the kind of title that has a whole lot of world building and character development behind the scenes but we just don’t get to see it. It probably would have worked better as a full on series.

I would also say that as a future story it should have embraced the fun sci-fi elements a bit more. Bring in more cool weapons like Shinji’s energy whip. Johnny isn’t a super fighter or anything like that so it would make sense for him to be carrying something instead of having to hope that he can deal with these guys in hand to hand combat. When you’re dealing with the future it’s not like you need to stick to some pre-existing ideas.

Overall, I think the film could have been better but it’s not nearly as interesting as you would expect. The film could even be a bit dull at times. The idea of people carrying information in their brains is interesting and dare I even say realistic? I could totally see that being the case in the future. Corporate as the villain was also a good idea but it just goes to show that you need more than ideas. You need proper execution! If you want a good sci-fi film, you should definitely check out something like Sword Art Online instead.

Overall 4/10

Twilight of Honor Review

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It’s time for a classic courtroom drama filled with lots of twists and turns. It’s a pretty solid film that is definitely dealing with a hart hitting case. That said, by the end of it there aren’t many likable characters involved with this mystery. At the end of the day, David the lawyer isn’t here to make friends but to see to it that he wins the case. He will be up against one of the toughest prosecutors in the land though so it won’t be easy. One wrong move and it’s curtains for him.

So lets get to the case. Ben is on trial for the murder of a very well respected and liked lawman. This guy seemed to know everybody and on the surface had a spotless record. What’s even worse is that Ben’s own wife Laura is against him and claims that her husband had been abusive for a long time. This murder was not in self defense or for her honor, it was all about him. Everyone believes Ben is guilty and so the trial is a formality but that’s when they rope in David as the lawyer. David didn’t want this case but now that he’s got it, he’s going to fight his hardest to win. Can he find enough straw to pull this case apart or is he absolutely doomed? Only time will tell.

First off, Ben really doesn’t make David’s job any easier. The guy is really obsessed with his wife. Not in a chivalrous way where he wants her to be okay, but in a tier 1 sub way where he just worships her to the point of losing clarity. He doesn’t seem to care how standoffish she is or the fact that she turned him in for cash. He just desperately wants her approval since he never got it before. The poor guy is a completely broken man. Usually in a case like this where your life is at stake, you will be trying your best to stay in the game so that would have been what David expected. No, Ben stays vague and unhelpful until David really pressures him.

Of course Laura’s not a good character either. I just tend to be harsher on Ben because he should have known better. “How you get her is how you lose her”, a variation of that is a classic saying for a reason. Laura was never the very traditional type and loyalty wasn’t her specialty. When you marry someone like that you are really asking for trouble and Ben found that out first hand. Throughout the movie Laura never improves as a character which is intentional. You could call her the soft antagonist of the film.

The main antagonist is Norris of course. The guy didn’t commit any crimes but he is an impressive prosecutor. He knows all of the tricks and is aiming to win. Justice isn’t the end game for this guy, he is trying to garner support for an election someday. So he even has the crying old ladies walk in dramatically during the hearing. Now this is annoying for David of course but at the end of the day in court both sides are going to do their best in order to win. I would say the irony of working in a courtroom setting is that you aren’t playing for justice anymore. Even if you know that your client is guilty, you are obligated to fight your best. So even though Norris had questionable motives, it’s not like I can fault him for going for the win every time.

Unfortunately the film does have a very underwhelming romance subplot that had no point being in the film. We meet Susan who has always liked David even while he was married and so she has been biding his time. Now that David has been widowed, she has her chance and takes it. She is constantly encouraged to do this by her father and all but this just plays out like a rebound no matter how you slice it. I also think it’s always a bit rough to know that this person liked you even while you were married. David really needed to sidestep the whole thing and tell Susan they could stay as friends or something.

Life comes at you fast but in this case it was just too fast. Art made for a fun mentor otherwise though. He was really invested in the case and gave a lot of good advice. It is clear why he was regarded as such a good attorney back in the day. If he was healthier then he probably could have won the whole case right away. Naturally as the case goes on we find out more and more how the victim was not quite as innocent as the reputation would have you believe. Additionally, Laura wasn’t the most trustworthy of witnesses.

At the end the Jury certainly had a lot to think about and the movie really followed the proper steps in how to handle the drama well. The evidence trickles in and my only complaint would be that I wish we could have gotten more screentime for the rebuttals. We basically skip a lot in the climax to get to David’s closing remarks but I wanted to see them going at it more. After all, those were usually the best parts of the film. I also enjoyed the openly corrupt judge who didn’t even bother with trying to appear fair. It was only after things were really over the top that he started to do anything.

The weakest parts of the film are naturally when we are seeing the flashbacks into what happened. None of the characters in those flashbacks are the slightest bit likable after all so you’re just waiting to go back to the present where we can have some real dialogue and action. The flashbacks are probably a good idea for people to keep up with what’s going on but honestly I would have been fine without them. Just let us picture what is happening in our heads like the jury as the two sides explain their account of the events. That would be a more effective way if you ask me although I imagine this may not be a popular sentiment since people probably enjoy seeing the actual events.

Overall, Twilight of Honor is a pretty good movie. It’s a solid reminder to not believe everything you hear at face value. People always have motives even if they aren’t readily apparent and knowing his to discern truth from fiction is a rather big skill. It’s definitely something you really have to work at over time. If you get enough experience in it, then you will be in a safer spot. Best thing to do is always to evaluate people and facts on your own. Second hand sources are just that, second hand. While the characters in the actual case are all annoying and antagonistic, it doesn’t take away from this being a well written film of high quality.

Overall 7/10

Meg 2: The Trench Review

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It’s time for the big sequel to the original Meg title. The first one wasn’t exactly a top caliber film and unfortunately neither is this one. The Trench certainly does throw in a whole lot more action when it comes to the human combatants but it will also be a long while until you see the Sharks in action. In a sense that can be a good thing for the film since the sharks are usually going to be the title’s downfall. At the same time, you know they will show up eventually so either way it’s not like this will have much of an effect long term. In that case, you might as well get it over with. Sure enough, the film does fall into old habits at that point.

The film focuses around Jonas who has been fighting off eco-terrorists and saving the day from the shadows. His crew is also busy raising one of the Megs and Jiuming is even so overconfident as to think that the Meg won’t eat him. This puts him into danger almost immediately but somehow he manages to get to safety. Everyone tells him what a bad idea this is but he doesn’t care. The heroes go further into the ocean than they had planned and end up finding out that there are several Megs. They just won’t have time to do much about this because of an insurrection. Turns out corporate still has a few tricks up their sleeve and now the heroes will be stuck underwater…forever. Can Jonas figure a way out of here?

A good chunk of the film is really an underwater survival mission. How do you get out of a submarine with no escape pods left and the villains watching your every move? This will definitely make you even more paranoid about being left so far under the sea. It’s just not a good business move especially when it seems like there is a traitor behind every door. Corporate doesn’t have the greatest of plans here as they basically pull a Jurassic World but we have the villainous smirks and cackling throughout the film which is the real important thing. You can tell that these villains really think the world of themselves.

Jonas is a solid lead as always. He is a solid fighter and doesn’t underestimate the terrors of the deep. He is always the voice of reason here and ultimately is the one to get things done. Without him the rest of the crew would not have lasted more than a few minutes. They are seriously outmatched without him there at all times. That’s why Jonas is the head honcho after all.

Meiying is supposed to be the fun child character but she does tend to be more on the annoying side. Stowing away on a dangerous underwater adventure is really not the play. She may have some scientific knowledge that comes in handy from time to time but she also spends a whole lot of time just slowing everyone down. She is physically unable to compete when the going gets tough and that is exactly why kids stay out of missions like this.

Unfortunately Jiuming may be even worse at times. He was a second away from completely traumatizing the kid by getting eaten by the Meg. He was way too confident in his sonar gadget and should have been doing a whole lot of further test studies before actually getting in the ocean. He had to rely on pure luck to stay alive and I can tell you now that this is not a good meter for success. You can’t count on luck to bail you out of every opportunity. That’s just not happening, it’s not a good way to play the odds.

The guy doesn’t really learn his lesson as he is constantly running into danger. Now you may be wondering if every character was completely unprepared for action but I can at least say that DJ was ready. This guy decided to properly arm himself in case the going got tough. Some would call him paranoid, I would call him realistic. This is exactly the kind of initiative I like to see in these events. He had some hand to hand skills, a taser, and other miscellaneous equipment. He saves the day on several accounts here. Every time you think DJ is done, he pulls something else out of his toolbox.

He really stole the show in his quick scenes here. I wish I could say the same about the villains. The lady had a great line though where she asks if another villain is crying. That about sums up how threatening these guys are to be honest. This does give us a chance to give Jonas a solid one liner as he kicks someone off a bridge later on though. When the film leans into a little bit of cheesy behavior, you know that it has a ton of confidence. On the whole the film had a good blend of action and humor. I would say the tone was solid and the fight scenes even had some good choreography. One mistake the film had was in having the best action scene be at the very beginning of the film though. When you peak that early there are always going to be some problems.

So like I said the sharks don’t appear for a while. Unless you count the opening scene I suppose. So the film was mainly doing good but once the Sharks show up then the animal violence begins. One of the big problems with creature films like this is how the monsters don’t actually end up being all that scary. The main character is ultimately able to take a few on with just basic equipment after all. Not the best look for these creatures right? So sadly they are stabbed and blown up. Also the opening scene is fairly graphic with all of the animals getting chopped.

It’s why the creature genre tends to be doomed on arrival. Either the monsters show up and get crushed, or they don’t appear much and you were in a whole bait and switch operation. In either event, the film is probably not going to get the highest score. I would say if you take out all of the animals then this could have been an easy 6 out of 10. Throw in all of the shark bashing and of course it’s going to go lower. Props to the film for not bumping off the dog though, now that would have been really crossing the line.

Overall, Meg 2 feels impressively long but I can’t tell if that’s a good thing and the writers packed a lot in or it means that the pacing was a bit slower than I thought. Either way if you’re here for the sharks then you may find the first half way too slow but if you’re here for the character banter then the second half may not match up for you. If you’re a Dinosaur film then you’ll probably have a good time here because their role is way bigger than I thought it would be. Personally I figured that would maybe just be the opening scene or something but they actually stick around. I think it’s probably time for this series to retire but if we get a third then the only way to top this will be to finally add aliens or something like that.

Overall 3/10

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes Review

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It’s time for the big prequel to the classic Hunger Games story. Since we already know how corrupt the place is, you can assume that this’ll be more of a sad story right from the start. The movie does not disappoint in this regard as it is all quite dreary for most of its run. The film does a good job of not being over the top gritty though. The kills don’t tend to be too bloody with the wort of the wounds effectively being off screen. It’s certainly not a feel good movie but one that serves as a cautionary tale to be careful who you trust.

The movie starts by introducing us to Snow who pretends that he is one of the spoiled rich kids in order to survive at a prestigious school for long enough to win an award and actually get rich. His family was rich for a time so nobody suspects anything but this year there is a wrinkle in the plan. The Hunger Games have not been getting great ratings so they are spicing things up with the mentor system. Snow will have to try and make sure that his tribute, Lucy, survives through the tournament at least long enough to prove that he is the best mentor. Can he pull this off or are the games too rigged for that?

There are definitely quite a few things against Snow here, one of them is the teacher. This guy can’t stand Snow and openly says that he will do his best to wreck the guy’s life. When that is the person standing in your way, it is difficult to win any kind of prize. Fortunately the game master is on Snow’s side so he still has a chance. Thing is, he has to try and connect with Lucy which will be difficult since the tributes naturally dislike the people from the capital.

The tributes are given no choice but to compete in these games with their whole families held hostage in the meantime so they can’t even properly resist. If they make the wrong move then they will all be destroyed. Meanwhile, nearly all of the tributes are doomed to die anyway so it is a really rough system. It shows how barbaric the future state of the world is as everyone just watches these games and treats it like a normal thing. Ratings have gone down which is a good thing but it’s definitely not enough to shut the whole thing down.

The toughest part about a dystopia film like this is finding someone to root for. After all, most of the characters are going to be downright antagonistic right from the start. You’re not really rooting for Snow because he is pretty bad himself. Yeah he gets some sympathy points for not actually being rich and just doing his best to hang in there but at the same time he’s been living the life for so long that he may as well be one of those rich kids. Snow plays up to whoever has power and you can tell that he will not be a revolutionary.

Snow gradually gets worse and worse as the film goes on. Not everything is his fault but a lot of the situations are ones that he gets himself into. It’s hard for anyone to make a difference in this kind of world but in the end Snow definitely didn’t do much to change the world. If anything, his ideas for a more cruel Hunger Games may have made things worse. Sure, the combatants will get some better privileges in the lead up to the games but at the same time this will make the games run longer which has a rougher long term effect.

Initially I figured the games would be most of the climax but surprisingly there is quite a bit of story even after that. We get to see more of the lives in the District and how rough those are. Even when things seem happy, there is the underlining fear of knowing that any year you could be chosen for the Hunger Games. You can’t truly live a happy life with the specter of death right behind you like that. It’s just not possible and will only make things rougher and rougher for them all.

Sejanus is the only guy who really tries to make a difference. On one hand yo can respect that but he always does so in the sloppiest ways possible. The guy ends up looking gullible and slow on the uptake. He’s not good at keeping secrets and his half hearted plans don’t help anyone out long term. So he still beats Snow because it’s better to have a bad plan than no plan but you’d think that this guy could have done a lot better. He wins bravery points for talking back in such a dictatorship but couldn’t do much more than that.

Meanwhile for Lucy, she’s not a bad heroine but also seems to not be the best at strategy. I don’t see how she could allow herself to be close to Snow at all considering the circumstances. Even with the actions Snow did during the games, you would always assume that he is against you. The odds of this guy actually being a good person would just be near 0%. He was keeping lots of secrets and lies the whole time after all. Fortunately she eventually finds enough out to get out of there but otherwise that whole plot felt a bit forced to me. In the actual games she did well to last a while but definitely took a whole lot of risks. She wasn’t quite as memorable and hungry for battle as Katniss.

One weakness for prequels is that you roughly know all of the story beats that are going to happen so it does put a lot of extra pressure on the movie to execute the plot extremely well. Any mistakes will feel extra heavy as a result of already knowing the layout. I would say the film does a fine job. It does drag on a little at different points but it still a good movie. You will stay interested but I do think cutting out maybe 15-20 minutes would have made a good difference here. The length just doesn’t make sense with a much shorter Hunger Games like what we saw here.

Overall, A lot of the characters seem a bit gullible here like one guy drinking from a vial dropped off with a bunch of other stuff from someone who clearly despised him. It may not seem like a big thing but in such a cutthroat world, you’d imagine that everyone would have their guards up at all times. The same thing goes for the student who was murdered at the zoo or Sejanus in his various plights. The characters don’t always act like they’re in a sudden death world. You could say that they were simply too sheltered in the rich world and lacked common sense but at the same time that can only go so far. Well, suspend your disbelief and just follow the story along. It’s still interesting enough to get you past the main issues.

Overall 6/10

Texas Terror Review

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Texas Terror brings us back into another classic John Wayne adventure. It’s fairly short as with the last few so things have to move fast but it doesn’t feel like there is as much of a sense of urgency as in his other films. It makes for a fun adventure but nothing that I would consider to be top tier. Still, these films always have strong fundamentals and this one is no exception. You will certainly get to see some solid fights.

In Texas Terror you have some outlaws running around as always and unfortunately they bump off a man and escape. The timing of it is rough though so John actually blames himself for this. He gets on the trail and ends up saving a helpless young lady while posing in his disguise. He then has to go back to town and pretend not to know her. It turns out that she is the daughter of the guy who was murdered. The problem is that the villains are around and one of them decides to further frame John for the death of her father. Can John clear his name and save the day or is it all over for him?

He probably could have had a good talk with her a bit sooner and saved on some of the drama to be honest. Yeah it wouldn’t have been the best story based on his understanding of it at the time but at least it would be coming from him and not some third party. At the same time I get it because she does panic a whole lot. I wouldn’t be surprised if she let the cat out of the bag too soon and would spoil everything. At the very least you have to consider the possibility here. She is just not ready for this. As it is, she faints rather easily and is quick to believe this random guy at the town dance. With everyone being so secretive, I get why she might believe things but she still could have stayed a little more calm to really think things through.

One thing I enjoyed in this film is that John actually has a good relationship with the Sheriff this time around. He’s not running around and being a vigilante or anything like that. Yeah his methods might be a little more intense than the average person’s, but he gets results. Ultimately it’s not like the others were able to really do much of anything here. One guy does spot the fact that the villains were using stolen currency which was really clever. You don’t see this used all that often but using serial numbers to track stolen money is actually a really clever idea.

I would have liked the heroes to have been a bit more proactive at that point rather than waiting though. The middle is the only part of the film that is a little slow since we know who the crooks are and the heroes do too. For a film this short, you don’t usually want it to have any slow moments. Ah well, it is what it is I suppose. At least we do get the classic climax with some real fights as John shows why he is the top dog around here. He really gets in some powerful shots. In a way I feel like John shows off more in hand to hand combat than in marksmanship in these films.

As always you have the classic soundtrack here. A little bit of eerie music every time the villains make a move and it really lets you feel what the movie creators were going for the whole time. This way you aren’t left in suspense of anything like that. While the music may really be on the nose, it’s still better than not having a soundtrack. Somehow these old movies actually understood the balance more than some of the modern ones. They may not have had the budget for a whole lot of songs but at least they were able to get in the main ones that counted.

Overall, Texas Terror is a bit of a misleading title. You’re certainly not going to be too scared while watching this film and it’s not like it is going for that vibe either. At best you could say that John’s early disguise was pretty scary. They actually did a really good job with that one since you really could not recognize the guy. It was an impressive disguise, especially since he makes sure to act a lot different as plain ole John. The fact that the heroine almost saw through it might make him look a bit bad but hey that’s just how it goes. If you like classic Westerns then you’ll like this one as well. It feels like there is just not a whole lot to it compared to some of Wayne’s other films but that doesn’t make it a bad film or anything like that. Standard or not, it’s still a fun adventure.

Overall 6/10

Chain Reaction Review

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Chain Reaction is one of those classic thrillers with a whole lot going on but at the same time you also have to stretch your disbelief quite a bit. You almost wish they had said the main character was ex-military or something to explain how far he got. Instead, the villains look a little inept with how much trouble they have trying to find him.

The movie starts with Eddie and a bunch of other scientists finally having a breakthrough on their free energy alternative. This was made possible thanks to Eddie finally locating the right frequency that their energy process needed. He was in too much of a rush to write it down but that’s fine, they’ll handle that later on. The world can now get unlimited clean energy for no extra fee. Of course somebody doesn’t like that and during the night the facility is blown up and one of the head scientists is destroyed with another one missing. Eddie finds this out but now he and his coworker Lily are being framed for being involved here. Paul, one of the seniors advises them to turn themselves in but Eddie refuses. Lily and Eddie will now be on the run for a while as they try to figure out what’s going on and clear their names.

You’ve got both the CIA and the FBI involved with this affair so you can bet that things are white hot right now. This is where you have to try not to have the film lose you. Eddie and Lily have no espionage training or anything like that but they are able to evade everyone fairly easily. At one point they stop by Eddie’s friend’s house to stay for a while and are otherwise just on the run. It feels like they should have been caught within a matter of minutes or hours at the very worst. There is also a point early on where Eddie is running and the cops corner him on a bridge. So he basically jumps on the inside and while they work on fixing it, he just escapes. That seemed improbable.

Of course, thrillers are often improbable. I would say the trick is really just seeing how noticeable it feels in the moment. Most won’t hold up under scrutiny but at least during the movie you can look the other way. This time it was just a whole lot more obvious so you’re basically holding back a smirk the whole time. I won’t say it was crazy or anything like that but just adding in the whole ex military thing would have helped a whole lot.

Eddie just wants to make the world a better place and so I’d say he is a good lead. He did his best to save lives during the fire and is generally not someone who scares easily. He doesn’t panic a whole lot too which is good and even gets some quick fights. Meanwhile Lily starts off rocky with letting herself get so drunk. No matter what kind of a party it is, you know you’ve had too much to drink when you’re super drunk like this. It doesn’t put her in the best position but at least after that she doesn’t have any rough moments. She generally does her best as well.

Thing is, the main characters are completely out of their depth here for most of the film. The enemies have connections, guns, and a whole lot of power behind them. There’s almost nothing the leads can do without a considerable amount of plot armor. Their only help would be Paul who is rather shady from the jump. Paul is one of those guys who will always say the right things and is constantly in a regretful mood but it just doesn’t help you much at all. You’re still needing someone to actually keep you safe as opposed to just talking about it. He’s not going to be that guy who actually saves the day or anything like that. He does make for a fun character though.

The film’s best moments were often times not even concerning the main characters. I just liked the banter with Paul and everyone who would go at him. Whether it was Paul vs Congress, Paul vs FBI, Paul vs Private companies, etc. They were all a lot of fun. Paul is someone who is supremely confident at all times and feels like nobody can even touch him. When you have absolute confidence like that, well you’re definitely able to do a whole lot.

Ultimately, if we ever did unlock free unlimited energy, you definitely know that there would be massive fights about it. Even if there was enough for everyone all around the world, there would still be fights. People will go to war and fight about every little thing. Imagine something as big as a new kind of energy that would put several sectors completely out of business overnight? Yeah that’s bound to stir up a whole lot of feathers.

The main story may be about the leads finding some answers but I would say the most fun part was definitely the discussions of the impact that such an invention would have. Unlimited energy will likely never be a thing but at least it’s something that you can picture. Still, there needs to be a way to pull off the plot without making the villains look completely incompetent though. Not being able to stop two young adults with no military training is just a rough look.

Overall, Chain Reaction is a good film but not a great one. The villains seemed like they should have been able to win this one near instantly instead of constantly trying to play 4D chess and letting it backfire horribly on them. Still, you will be entertained and at the end of the day that is the most important part. The villains are fun with how over the top they are and the main character does a good job of not panicking. It’s the kind of film that you have a hard time finding nowadays because you’d expect a lot more research and realism to come into play. For this one the entertainment was absolutely the main selling point for better or worse.

Overall 6/10

Mysterious Island Review

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The title of this film may be extremely vague but in a way it’s also quite fitting. The movie is mainly about the island after all and it is quite mysterious so you certainly can’t say that it was a misleading title or anything like that. It’s not a bad film but it can be uneventful for a little while. I would say things really picked up once a certain legendary character showed up and even then you will only really feel the impact if you know the character. If you don’t, then you may end up shrugging a bit.

The film starts with a bunch of people escaping from a prison cell and getting onto a balloon. The civil war is ongoing right now and tensions are incredibly high. Unfortunately their balloon crash lands on a mysterious island. Not just any island mind you….but Monster Island! Now they need to find a way off this island and fast or they will be destroyed. The guys don’t all get along but they decide to put away their differences in order to survive this experience. Two ladies also end up washing ashore so now they can really use their numbers to cook, make weapons, and prepare a way off the island. Will that really be enough or a plan though?

First off I have to give the film enormous credit for not going the cringe route and making the guys all fight over the two ladies. That would have been pretty unbearable and also annoying because it just seems to me that most people would not fall for this obvious trap and would very quickly begin thinking of ways to utilize them in the survival operation. Well, that’s what happens here as they quickly begin to contribute and it was well written. We do get the obligatory romance but for once it wasn’t ultra annoying. It’s a bit rushed but this is a life or death situation and you can see how people would rush such a thing in this situation.

The giant monsters are a little less impressive though. You have a giant chicken, a giant bee, and more. The problem is that all of the “Monsters” tend to just be giant animals for the most part. Yeah it still does work in terms of adding some danger to the film but I would have liked them to have gone all out with the designs. Give us something really scary to make you think twice about everything. I was still glad to see them overall I suppose but at the same time it would also lead to animal violence when they are defeated. It’s the ultimate double edged sword and that was not something the film could really afford.

Additionally it’s not like the island is the best backdrop here. With the characters all stranded there isn’t a whole lot of variety in the backgrounds. It beats a desert or being underwater but I would still take other venues in general. Once the guest star shows up, at least we have his lab and we learn more about the story. I would say his plot is the most interesting part of the film. He clearly seems a little mad with his experiments and he’s not the nicest guy around but at least he does have a full plan. He hasn’t just been wasting time out here or anything like that. No, he’s actually been on his feet and doing things the likes of which nobody has ever seen.

The way he goes out is a bit underwhelming though. Also the film spoils the guest star by putting his name in the opening credits which is an absolutely bizarre decision. I’m guessing at the time it was probably a legal thing where they had to mention him but it’s still a bit annoying. You could probably piece it together anyway when characters talk about his boat but it still would have been more of a surprise. It was also nice to see the in-fighting there with one character really admiring this guy while the other couldn’t stand him. The difference in opinion seems to stem from their jobs which makes sense.

All in all, the film would have been much better if the giant animals were not in it. That’s sad to say but with how the humans were crushing and eating them, they just didn’t work as big antagonists. Would have been better to have either had the island be eerily empty instead or you just used full on monsters. If you needed villains, have the pirate ship show up a bit earlier instead and lead to a lot of big fights. There are a lot of ways around bringing in the giant animals if you really needed to go down that route.

I can at least say that all of the technicals are on point. The writing is good and the pacing is solid. I can’t say there is much of a real soundtrack here but it’s an older film so you don’t really expect that anyway. It is a very quick watch and the tone is nice. It’s got that old time feel to it that always results in quality movies. Without the animal violence it would jump up several points as it is but ultimately that wasn’t to be. It feels a bit like an empty movie. So it’s not particularly offensive but it’s also not a film that I’d be clamoring to watch again. For better or worse…it’s just there. I don’t expect you will remember this film for very long after watching it. Perhaps just the giant monsters since the effects for them were interesting. And of course the guest star since having him appear was pretty fun.

Overall, Mysterious Island has a better concept than the execution. It moves a bit slowly for me and so by the time we get to the big climax, it’s a bit late in the game. It’s not as if the film is super long or anything either but I do think they could have planned out the timing a little bit better. That’s just how I see it at least. If you really like the concept then it’s still worth checking out. The writing is good and the characters all act professional. Even when there are disagreements and in-fighting, they don’t suddenly start acting like children or anything like that.

Overall 5/10

Maximum Risk Review

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

Maximum Risk is one of those films with a lot of action and the hero is outnumbered from start to finish. Not an easy situation to be in but at the same time it’s not something that will phase the main character either. He’s been through a whole lot worse than this after all. Or at least he thinks that he has. It’s a reasonably good film, I was satisfied with it by the end. It does make some mistakes here and there but the positives outweigh the negatives.

The film starts with someone making a break for it but he ends up being murdered. We then cut to a police detective named Alain who looks just like the victim. He’s concerned to say the least and finds out that the guy was his secret brother. Alain now needs to live out his brother’s life to find out exactly what happened here. This will involve a lot of deception and it quickly becomes apparent that his brother made a whole lot of enemies among different gangs. Can Alain crack the case or are the villains going to bump him off?

Clearly Alain is in danger from the jump since his brother was already murdered…which makes his opening actions pretty questionable. He walks into seedy neighborhoods asking dangerous questions and then goes straight into a bar. He is just rushing way too much the whole time which doesn’t make a whole lot of sense since in this case he has a police (And military) background. If he was an ordinary joe, then sure he could make the rookie mistakes. So he ends up getting lucky a lot and has a ton of plot armor but even so you kind of just have to shake your head a bit at that.

Also the most troublesome part of the film is definitely when he runs into his brother’s girlfriend Alex. Now it would be taboo to hook up with her for a bunch of reasons. Respect for his brother’s memory, not going after people who were with family, etc. Unfortunately he doesn’t bother with any of that and they get together real fast. The reasoning just makes it even worse as she says at least he looks a lot like his brother. So it goes without saying that the romance is particularly bad here. I would definitely not be able to give this one a pass.

The villains aren’t the most interesting but the film does something here that I appreciated. In all of the mafia films you have the leader being some really old guy who can’t fight but everyone is nervous of him anyway. It basically comes down to the power that he represents and so that makes a lot of sense but even so you’re wondering how nobody has decided to just take a shot yet. Well, in this film the leader gets a little too ahead of himself and so somebody does make a move. It just makes so much sense that somebody would do this eventually. When you get too old, there naturally comes a time where you aren’t able to command the same respect even if you were a really well liked leader. It’s just inevitable.

The film explains early on that Alain has sniper skills from when he was in the army so you keep wondering when he will use these skills. They finally come in handy near the end so that was pretty nice. In general the climax was pretty good as we even brought back Alain’s police friend from the intro. That guy was gone for a while but the movie didn’t forget about him. He also has a pretty good scene near the end even if he caused a whole lot of trouble first. He’s just not initially meant to be a fighter and you can see that. He’s definitely more the detective type while Alain turns out to be a great fighter.

While you have a lot of serious plot twists and gang moments, the film does still have time for levity. One side character who was a lot of fun was the cab driver. Yeah the guy was perhaps a little crazy with how invested he was getting in this but he also did save Alain directly on several occasions. Without him the villains would have absolutely won this one. It was a tough journey for the cabby but he won’t be forgotten.

The very ending of the film is a little cheesy with how the characters are nervous about going to talk to somebody but I guess the movie wanted to have a bit of a funny ending. Not every joke lands of course and this one didn’t work for me but it’s the thought that counts. The film certainly had a lot of range and in a way that all helps the film out overall. It definitely feels like a 90s action film with how chaotic it is the whole time.

I also do have to give credit to one of Alain’s opponents. He was a powerful gang member who just kept getting back up and returning after many near death experiences. He was really strong and really durable so Alain had to defeat him multiple times. It was nice to have a rival like this who forced the hero to stay alert at all times. He knew that this guy could appear at any moment. He really left an impression, more than you would have expected from any villain in this film. Especially someone who wasn’t one of the bosses of the underworld.

Oh yeah I can’t forget about the FBI. (Or might have been the CIA) They have two corrupt agents running around trying to apply pressure as well but it’s crazy how inept they are. All they had to do was pretend to be heroic for a few minutes and they could have gotten Alain on their side. Instead they immediately try to throw threats around and pay the price. No their smartest moment but also not their worst as they let Alain and Alex have a private meeting in the background to discuss how to betray the agents. Rule 1 would be to not let them be together out of earshot. Yeah Alain really got lucky that so many of these characters had no idea what they were doing, that’s another form of plot armor you could say.

Overall, Maximum Risk is constantly moving at a high speed and that works in the film’s favor. At its core this is a fun film. If anything the actual story probably plays second fiddle to the general action. Yeah there are twists and such but at the same time I would consider it to be a basic thriller title. The details may change but at its core this is about the main character taking on the underworld and winning. The fight scenes are where the series can have more fun with Alain’s signature kicks. He really knows how to take down his opponents in close quarters combat. The writing is good and the pacing is solid so I really didn’t have any big problems here. The only thing hurting it from going further up has to be the very weak romance because this is absolutely the definition of a rebound. How do you go from finding out your boyfriend is dead to immediately going for his brother within the span of hours/days? Just not a good look since it makes the whole relationship look suspect. Perhaps the brother realized this too and that’s why he didn’t mention her in his final message where he accurately predicted a lot of what was going to happen.

Overall 6/10