Mid-Feb 2023 Update

Posted on February 15, 2023 by ashleymanningwriter

I’ve spent most of February getting over a stubborn cold that I’ve had since half way through January. Mostly I’ve just felt bunged up, but I’m finally feeling back to normal this week. With writing, apart from Magic in London, and reviews, I’ve not really done that much. I’m definitely going to be putting some time into that in the next few days. The same with reading. I’m about a quarter of the way through Salman Rushdie’s new book, Victory City, which I’m really enjoying but haven’t really sat down just to read.

Pretty much all my free time has been spent playing Yakuza 3. I finished Kiwami 2 a couple of weeks back and moved straight into the 3rd game. I 100% finished Kiwami 2 and am aiming to do 3 as well, but I think the batting centre minigame has broken me. I just can’t get the timing down on it and I think it will be the last thing left to do in the game, so will probably give up on that. Especially since Like a Dragon: Ishin is out next week, which will sap up my next few weeks of free time.

I’ve been listening to Paramore’s new album, This is Why, a lot this week. It’s clicked with me a lot quicker than Hard Times did, and I’m really enjoying it. I’ve also been listening to the first two parts of Atum, the new Smashing Pumpkins album, but I’m not completely sold by it. Like Cyr, I enjoy it while it’s on but there isn’t a single track on the album that I actually remember after the album is finished. They all just blur into one. Part Three is out in April, so hopefully once it’s all out it will come together and it’ll click after a few listens. Smashing Pumpkins are one of my favourite bands, but I’ve been a little disappointed with their last three albums.

For the last two months I’ve also been putting in as much overtime as possible at work, as I’m saving up for my big holiday this year to Japan. We were originally planning to go back in 2020, but obviously with everything that happened it got delayed but we have it booked now for April and that will be here very soon. While I’m on holiday I’m planning to have posts scheduled on here. I’m hoping to have a good portion of the Showa era of Godzilla films reviewed to put them on here daily, and then there will be Magic in London on Fridays still. I’m a big Godzilla fan, and I think the original is one of the best films ever made. I’ve never reviewed them though, or really written that much about them, apart from Godzilla: King of the Monsters. While in Japan, we will be going to see some Godzilla statues around Tokyo, which I’m really looking forward to.

Thanks for reading and until next time,

Ashley

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What’s Love Got to Do with It? – Film Review

Posted on February 14, 2023 by ashleymanningwriter

Director: Shekhar Kapur

Writer: Jemima Khan

Starring: Lily James, Shazad Latif, Shabana Azmi, Emma Thompson, Sajal Aly, Oliver Chris, Asim Chaudhry, Jeff Mirza, Alice Orr-Ewing, Rahat Fateh Ali Khan

The latest film from director Shekhar Kapur is What’s Love Got to Do with It?, a rom-com about arranged/assisted marriages, culture clashes, and documentaries. It stars Lily James as Zoe, a documentary filmmaker who chronicles her childhood friend, Kaz (Shazad Latif) as he decides to ask his parents for an assisted marriage. Zoe is sceptical of the whole idea, and doesn’t think he should go through with it, but sees the potential in his story for a documentary.

Both Lily James and Shazad Latif are excellent. There’s a lot of chemistry between them and work really well together in every scene they share. Both Zoe and Kaz are instantly likable characters, and you get a real sense of the connection they’ve had since childhood from the start. All of the central characters are really well. The film is also really funny, with plenty of jokes all the way through. The story is split between scenes in London and Lahore, and the beauty of both cities absolutely shine on screen. There are so many gorgeous shots of the Thames with London’s landmarks in the background. Equally Lahore is given a lot of time on screen to captivate you.

The different cultures are presented really well throughout the story. Kaz and Zoe lived next door to each other growing up, but their views on the world and family are completely different. Kaz feels it’s his responsibility to get married to make his parents proud and to live a life they would approve of, which contrasts with Zoe’s belief that marriage should be for love. As Zoe documents what’s happening and interviews various people who had arranged marriage, and the different experiences that people have had, she learns about the differences between the two families. It also really presents that there are different ways to find happy ever after, even though there’s a lot of the rom com tropes on display.  

One of the more emotional parts of the film is the sub-plot about Kaz’s sister, who had been banished from the family for not marrying a Muslim. Her entire family has turned their back on her for not sticking to tradition, and there’s a lot of raw emotions on display. Her name or what happened is barely mentioned. It would have been interesting to see this explored further, but it still hits home.

What’s Love Got to Do with It is funny, sweet, and has plenty of realistic characters that you genuinely care about as the story unfolds. It feels a lot more inspired than a lot of other recent rom-coms, and while it’s not reinventing the genre it’s still really good.  

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Paddleton – Film Review

Posted on February 13, 2023 by ashleymanningwriter

Director: Alex Lehmann

Writers: Alex Lehmann and Mark Duplass

Starring: Ray Romano and Mark Duplass

In Paddleton Mark Duplass stars as Michael, a middle-aged man who finds out that he has terminal cancer. Not wanting to suffer in pain, he decides to take prescribed life-ending medication and asks his best friend, Andy (Ray Romano) to be there when he does. Andy reluctantly agrees, and they go on a road trip to the nearest pharmacy that will actually fulfil the prescription.  

The title refers to a game that Michael and Andy have created and play on a regular basis, where they take it turns to hit a ball off a wall at a drive-in theatre and try to get it into a barrel. It’s part of their routine, where they spend pretty much all their free time together playing Paddleton, eating Pizza and watching martial arts film. They both live quite a life almost removed from the rest of society, as they’re each other’s only friend and don’t have much contact with anyone else. Andy is incredibly socially awkward, hating any small talk and comes across as unintentionally rude in most situations. He dreads his co-workers speaking to him, and only ever seems to be at east around Michael.

Michael and Andy’s friendship is really endearing and heart-warming. Both Mark Duplass and Ray Romano give incredibly moving and authentic performances. They make it feel so raw and real. There’s so much subtly in every scene, with so much left unsaid that comes across through little movements and hesitations. Little things like Andy wanting to pay for the medicine that will eventually kill his best friend, just so he can feel some kind of control over it.

Through ninety minutes you really get to know both of the characters, and really care for them. It’s sad to watch Michael struggle with cancer and start to fade away, while at the same time you can see Andy losing his only friend and struggling to come to terms with that. It’s a really moving drama, that does have some funny moments, but it’s not an all out comedy.

Paddleton is a moving and understated story about friendship and being there when someone needs you. The story has been told before in various different ways, but the central performances and strength of the characters make this worth watching.

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THE COMIQ – Manga Review

Posted on February 12, 2023 by ashleymanningwriter

THE COMIQ is a short manga series by Kazuki Takahashi, the creator of Yu-Gi-Oh!. It was originally serialised in 2018 for the Weekly Shōnen Jump magazine’s 50th anniversary, and was later collected into a single volume. When asked to write a series celebrating, Takahashi thought it made sense to write a series that revolved around writing manga, and came up with a mystery story, which is a genre he hadn’t really worked in before.

The story follows a new upcoming manga writer, Ryota Sakamaki, who has an unknown assistant drawing the backgrounds. It turns out that there’s some secret messages in the backgrounds that are related to a murder case from three years ago. It turns out that the person working on the backgrounds, Baba, was convicted for the murder, but Sakamaki thinks he’s innocent and sending clues to the world about what really happened.

Almost instantly I was drawn into the story from the interesting premise. At first you don’t really know what’s going on, but as the mystery presents itself it’s completely engrossing. Then the story keeps a quick pace as clues are revealed and secrets uncovered. It’s two hundred pages, so easy to read in one sitting, but even if it was longer there was a good chance I wasn’t going to put it down until I reached the end. Saying that, the actual reveal is a bit messy. It makes sense, but it’s not quite a satisfying conclusion to the mystery presented.

Even though it’s a murder mystery the tone is kept quite light, and Kazuki Takahashi’s art style is very easy to follow. It’s a perfect tribute to the long-running magazine. The characters are all distinct, and all look great. It’s simply a really fun manga, that’s a great time to read. The ending isn’t the greatest, but that doesn’t detract from the journey to get there.

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Your Place or Mine – Film Review

Posted on February 11, 2023 by ashleymanningwriter

Director: Aline Brosh McKenna

Writer: Aline Brosh McKenna

Starring: Reese Witherspoon, Ashton Kutcher, Jesse Williams, Zoë Chao, and Wesley Kimmel

Rating: ★★

Your Place or Mine is written and directed by Aline Brosh McKenna, who previously wrote The Devil Wears Prada and 27 Dresses, as well as co-created the TV show Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. The film stars Reese Witherspoon (who’s also a producer) and Ashton Kutcher. It seems like a recipe for a great rom-com, but it all comes out a little underbaked.  

Twenty years ago, Debbie and Peter had a one-night stand but have remained best friends ever since. Despite living on opposite sides of the country, they speak every single day and tell each other everything, at least they say they do. In order for Debbie to take a class in New York, she swaps houses with Peter, with him travelling to LA to look after her son.  

The characters are built on cliches and they’re not that interesting. Debbie, played by Reese Witherspoon, is an incredibly overprotective mother, who is practically ruining her child’s life with strict rules and regulations about everything, even though she can’t see it. When Peter arrives at her house, he’s met with a forest of post-it notes to keep everything in order. Her son, Jack has many allergies, which makes his day to day life hard enough as it is. On top of that Debbie also stops him from playing hockey, out of fear it will hurt him, which separates him from his friends and makes him feel incredibly isolated. It really feels like there should be some meaningful fallout with that later in the film, but it’s not done very well. Peter, played by Ashton Kutcher, has serious commitment issues, both in his personal and work life. He never dates anyone for longer than six months, and he moves through clients at work just as quickly. One of the funniest scenes in the film is Peter practically dumping a client that wants him to work for them fulltime, almost instantly after he was broken up with by his girlfriend for not committing to the relationship enough.

Both of the characters have secrets, which they both learn about while living in the other’s house. Debbie hasn’t told Peter about a fair bit of her life, while Peter has also been writing a book. They’ve also both abandoned the dreams they had when they were younger. Debbie wanted to be an editor, while Peter wanted to be a novelist. Life has gotten in the way, and they’ve both stopped taking risks. It’s an interesting set up, but it’s not used very well. The characters are quite one note and don’t really get much development throughout the story. Peter has some trauma from his past, but it’s not really explored in any meaningful way. It strays away from anything too heavy. Beyond that, the jokes are fine, but there’s not enough of them to really make it a worthwhile comedy.

Worst of all, the ending is painfully awful. When the big final scene happens, it quickly devolves into dreadful dialogue and awkward acting just to wrap everything up neatly in the final moments. It’s so forced and just not believable in the slightest. Without spoiling anything, there’s something that Debbie has done, that could potentially change Peter’s life forever when he finds out, but it’s just completely brushed over and then it’s happy ever after (it literally says that on screen).

Hollow is a good way to describe Your Place or Mine. The characters fall flat, and it’s hard to really care about them. There are some funny moments, but nothing makes up for how bad the ending is.  An incredibly forgettable rom-com that’s not really worth the time.

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