dariosmagata Reviews

Motu Patlu (2012– )

Genuinely funny, doesn't deserve its bad reputation.

[7/10 · 12 November 2022]

I'm surprised that this show has so many negative reviews. I think it's pretty funny, and although the animation is not up to Hollywood standards, it is pretty good. The violence and general style makes me think more of the old Looney Tunes than anything you would see in an American children's show today. It is not like American shows that have an educational lesson built in, this is just for entertainment, and I find that it could entertain both kids and easily pleased adults like myself.

I find it especially funny that Motu and Patlu are usually depicted as good people who try to help everyone out, but whenever they get a little bit of power, they always use it to do harm - like beating up people they have grudges against in the Self Defense episode. Again, it reminds me of the Looney Tunes - sometimes Bugs or Daffy would fight back against someone who wronged them, but sometimes they would just go looking for trouble, and yet you still root for them either way.

Calvin and the Colonel (1961–1962)

A forgotten classic.

[8/10 · 29 June 2022]

I loved this series as a kid, having been exposed to it thanks to Mill Creek's "Giant 600 Cartoon Collection" DVD set, which featured several episodes. Of course, as a kid I had no idea it was a rehash of Amos 'n' Andy, using the same old scripts but with animal characters to avoid accusations of racism. For whatever reason, it wasn't as popular and was cancelled quickly.

Anyway, rewatching it now, it's still funny and holds up very well. It's one of the early animated TV series made for adults, so the humour is not meant for kids (though it's not inappropriate, it just isn't juvenile). It's no more dated than the Flintstones or any other animated sitcom of the sixties which we still remember fondly. "Calvin and the Colonel" definitely deserves more attention today.

Hoppity Hooper (1964– )

A good show, but could have been better.

[6/10 · 29 June 2022]

"Hoppity Hooper" is one of the cartoons I grew up with thanks to its appearance on the low-budget DVD sets made by Mill Creek Entertainment. As a kid, I liked it but didn't love it, and I feel the same now.

It's a lively and funny show, but suffers from two major issues. The first is one that became more common in children's animation in later decades: there is constant noise. Someone is always talking (usually yelling) or else there's a sound effect, without a moment of silence. This makes it a bit grating to watch more than a couple episodes at once. The other problem is that the episodes are only five minutes long with cliffhangers and recaps in each. That doesn't leave enough time to tell a story properly, even with the stories being spread over four episodes each, so the show always seems to be in a rush.

There are some great episodes though - the Twilight Zone parody "Traffic Zone" for one. The very first episode, "Ring-a-Ding Spring" is also a fun one. The show isn't bad at all, but it could have been better - and it might be better remembered today if it had been.

Ninja Champion (1986)

Sleaziest Godfrey Ho film I've seen yet.

[5/10 · 25 December 2019]

Anyone who has seen some of Godfrey Ho's cut-and-paste movies knows that any genre of film was fair game for these. He added ninjas to action movies, horror flicks, rom-coms, police thrillers and just about anything else he could get his hands on. Here, the original movie is a rape-revenge flick and the result is one of the sleaziest Godfrey Ho films I've ever seen. It is pure grindhouse material!

At the beginning of the film, three man attack a couple camping in the woods, raping the woman. The woman's husband, who is an Interpol agent, leaves her as she is now "tainted". As time passes, the woman (named Nancy) decides to seek revenge on the three rapists by tracking them down, seducing them and then killing them one-by-one.

By pure coincidence, the rapists happen to be members of a criminal gang responsible for counterfeiting money. As a result, the ex-husband is also chasing them down as part of his job. Nancy declares that she going to kill him after she takes care of the rapists as punishment for divorcing her. Despite this, he still wants to help her as he believes he can atone for his mistake by doing so.

Added into this already insane story is the fact that the leader of the gang is a secret ninja, and so are some Interpol agents, and throughout the film both groups are training so they can fight each other. This is rather disappointing for Godfrey Ho standards as most of the time, there is a lot of ninja action, but here they mostly just stand around saying there's no need for them to do anything because Nancy is taking care of the killing for them. This means there is even less connection between the two stories than in most of these movies.

The ending of the Nancy story is absolutely nonsensical and defies all logic. You will not see it coming because there is absolutely no foreshadowing of the major twist that occurs - seriously, watch it for yourself and be dumbfounded. The ending of the ninja story, on the other hand, is as standard as can be, as the good ninja fights the bad ninja one-on-one, with predictable results.

Objectively, the film is pretty bad and probably doesn't even deserve 5/10, but as a strange grindhouse-style viewing experience it's unbeatable.

Tokyo Raiders (2000)

Overly complicated and ruined by the soundtrack.

[4/10 · 25 December 2019]

What could have been a decent early-2000s Hong Kong action flick is ruined for me by two factors.

One of them is the excessively complicated plot. It has more twists and turns than probably any film I've ever seen. Many of them are predictable and most are spelled out in dialogue rather than being shown somehow. I'm not sure whether this sort of thing is commonplace in HK cinema of this era but it is not something I've seen in older martial arts films, even the cheesiest ones.

The other issue is the soundtrack, regarding both dialogue and music. As you would expect, the film is dubbed, and not very well. It would be quite good in comparison to some '80s flicks but for a modern movie it is really not acceptable. Every male character sounds the same and there is very little emotion in any of their voices. Adding on to this, the dialogue itself is often stupid and there are some really lame jokes relating to American ideas of Asian culture which I am sure were not in the original script.

What really killed it in my view is the music. The film has a ridiculous techno and dance soundtrack which does not fit at all with most of the action or with the tone of the film. As someone who is not a fan of this type of music, it made me want to switch off the film very quickly - however I'd imagine that even fans of this style would not want to see it used in a film like this.

The film is at least watchable, but I would not recommend it as there is much better stuff available in this category.

A Christmas Without Snow (1980 TV Movie)

Heartwarming TV movie.

[7/10 · 25 December 2019]

Given that I bought this movie on a dollar-store DVD and discovered it was an old made-for-TV movie, I was not expecting much. However, I was really pleasantly surprised by this one as it comes off as a very genuine and heartwarming film.

The film centers around a San Francisco choir which comes under the director of a strict new choirmaster, Ephraim Adams (John Houseman). He wants to whip them into shape in time for them to perform Handel's "Messiah" on Christmas, a difficult task due to the amateur nature of the group. Among the members are a recently divorced woman (Michael Learned), a shy Korean woman who deserves a solo but is reluctant to audition (Daisietta Kim), a friendly Dutch man (Ramon Bieri) and an African-American boy who cares for his old grandmother (Calvin Levels). Also present is the pastor of the church where they will perform (James Cromwell) along with his rebellious son. Throughout the story these and other characters encounter difficulties including a botched romance, jealousy among members, and the destruction of the church's pipe organ (resulting in some humorous incidents with an electronic instrument).

John Houseman is brilliant as the choirmaster who comes off as overly demanding but clearly loves and respects his craft. The other actors and actresses are all good and most of the characters are well developed. The woman played by Michael Learned is set up as our main character but she fades into the group throughout much of the middle of the film - which is perhaps for the best as there is much more going on in the narrative than just her story.

Overall, this is a great film which captures the real spirit of the Christmas season. At times it does get a bit soap opera-ish and carried away with all its characters, but in a holiday TV movie that's to be expected. Definitely recommended if you can track down a copy.

Hotwire (1980)

Car chase fun - good stuff if you don't expect an Oscar winner!

[8/10 · 24 December 2017]

This is an obscure but lovable movie filmed in the tail end of the '70s, but not released until 1980.

The surprisingly complicated plot involved a cocky vagabond namd Billy Ed, who gets arrested in put in jail under the watchful eye of Sheriff Harley, played by George Kennedy. The sheriff's brother Farley, a sleazy car salesman (Also George Kennedy) bails him out in exchange for his services as a repo man. Our hero ends up working alongisde the Weasel (Strother Martin in his final role) repossessing cars for Farley, who intentionally sells them to people who can't afford them so that he can repossess them later.

Over the course of doing this, Billy Ed falls in love with a working girl under the command of Bodine, a pimp. Harley knows that Bodine is involved in some illegal activities, but won't arrest him because Bodine lets him have his pick of the women. Farley, on the other hand, hates Bodine because he drives around in an expensive Rolls-Royce that he hasn't paid for. Farley is afraid to repossess the Rolls-Royce because Bodine has dangerous henchmen, and because his brother is quite happy with the current arrangement. This Rolls-Royce becomes a background item throughout the whole film.

In the end, Billy Ed and Weasel decide to get the Rolls-Royce, leading to a wild car chase in which Bodine plunges off the end of a dock, never to be seen again. Unfortunately, by the time our heroes reache Farley's car lot, the Rolls is in pieces, leaving Farley without his prized possession. Billy Ed and Weasel quit, leaving Billy Ed free to be with the woman he loves and Weasel apparently free to keep stealing cars, which he continues to do.

The movie features a great performance by Strother Martin, who looks and sounds perfect for the role. George Kennedy is good too, although a bit exaggerated at times. You can tell it was difficult to differentiate Harley and Farley, but he does fit nicely into both roles. John Terry as Billy Ed is fine, but forgettable - he's the hero, but the surrounding characters steal the show.

Surprisingly, there are at least two original songs, which play over the opening credits and end credits. The movie's low budget doesn't really show through, as it has plenty of car action, a variety of locations including a cool drag racing strip, and good actors. This film is definitely worth seeing just for fun - it may not be for intellectuals and it doesn't have a moral, but it will keep you entertained for 90 minutes. What more can you ask for?

The Poppy Is Also a Flower (1966 TV Movie)

An all-star cast doesn't equal a great movie, case in point!

[3/10 · 24 December 2017]

This movie was produced by the United Nations. That's about all you really need to know. The UN has slipped up many times in history, and rarely seems to accomplish its goals, something this movie embodies perfectly. Watch it and you'll know exactly what I mean.

The movie centers around a strange plan to contaminate a large shipment of opium poppies with radioactivity, so that as the drug is refined and circulated around the world, agents can track the radioactivity and see where the opium from this particular source is going. The goal of these agents is to figure out who is involved in the opium trade so that they can be arrested and the drug trade ended.

Following the setup of this scheme, which takes quite awhile, the movie follows two of the agents around the world as they follow the radioactive opium, meeting a variety of people who are involved in the drug trade in one way or another. There is some fighting and spy stuff, but none of it manages to be exciting.

The film's climax takes place on a train, where the agents and the bad guys face off. One agent is killed, which comes as a shock as he's been there throughout the whole movie, but it doesn't matter much as the other agent still catches the drug kingpin, and the movie quickly ends.

The whole thing is narrated by Princess Grace (of Monaco), but many versions cut this out to make it feel more like a normal movie. Unfortunately, that leaves the viewer with no explanation of where anything is taking place! Even with the narration intact, this is a terrible movie and despite its obvious anti-drug stance, it does very little to actually show why drugs are bad. You will be far too bored by this movie to care about its moral.

The best part of this movie is a totally pointless 3-minute scene where Trini Lopez performs "La Bamba" in full in a nightclub. Throughout the song, he keeps begging the audience to let him leave the stage so he can catch a flight! Even he didn't want to be in this. I wonder if he got paid the token $1 like everyone else in the movie (!) or if he was just performing in whatever nightclub they decided to shoot the scene in...?

Donner (2001 TV Movie)

Shame this isn't on every year!

[7/10 · 24 December 2017]

My family recorded this special on tape when it aired in 2001, when I was two years old, not knowing that was the only time it would ever air on TV! Since then I've watched it every year. Its a fun, lighthearted Christmas special with a decent message and plenty of humour for kids and parents. Very much something in the spirit of classic cartoons, especially with its timing, but being a computer-animated film it doesn't quite capture the same feeling.

The story here is that Donner wants to join Santa's reindeer team, but he can't because he doesn't know how to fly. He teams up with some oddball elves who create various contraptions to make him fly, leading to a lot of slapstick comedy, but no success. Finally, he overcomes his inability and believes in himself, finding the power to fly after all. It's a simple plot, but for a special like this, that's all you need.

The animation doesn't hold up very well (it's 2001 CGI, so that's to be expected), and some of the references and characterizations are a bit weird, but it's a charming short and one that deserves to be seen. Unfortunately, not only has it never been shown on TV in Canada since its initial airing, it also never came out on VHS or DVD in this country. It is on YouTube in full HD, though, so check it out!

The Book Thief (2013)

Far from the brilliance of the novel...

[5/10 · 7 June 2015]

Marcus Zusak's novel 'The Book Thief' is a masterpiece that will truly make you feel what the characters are going through. It's unfortunate that the movie couldn't seem to match this feeling, at least for me. Simply put, it felt like the filmmakers had based their screenplay on the Sparknotes version on the novel. So many key plot points are missing that the storyline is a mess - you need to have read the book in order to understand why anything in this movie happens. Events from the book occur out of order in the movie, lessening their impact, and many touching scenes are cut completely.

Of course, there is some good in the film. I have to praise the writers for not adding a single thing to the story, meaning that the overall tone is retained. Also, the cinematography is simply excellent, appropriately lending a dark and dreary tone to the entire picture. But for me, the films' shortcomings far overpowered these triumphs, thus the middle-of-the-road rating. As a movie, it's quite well done, but as an adaptation, it fails.