not_really_a_math_guy

I found this boring, dull, and played things too safe despite it trying to seem like it's bringing out the big guns, only to fire blanks. Much of the movie tries to be a psychological thriller, but comes off as what a 12-year-old Wattpad writer would consider psychologically thrilling. It felt like someone gave a fifth grader a typewriter and said, "abduction, dreams, trauma, and the video game Five Nights at Freddy's." I said the movie was boring, to which some people would say, "Oh, well, it's a slow burner," but I disagree. Maybe it was trying to come off as one, but I don't think it got the referenced the recipe to make a slow burner enough. It doesn't hold you over with anything insightful to the rest of the story; very little of the ending pays off, even the slightest things you saw earlier in the movie.

Unlike The Exorcist or Taxi Driver, it doesn't slowly turn up the heat while giving a few road bumps of action or tension here and there, then taking off like a fighter jet. No, it just sporadically turns the dial from boiling hot to ice cold, then throws you off a cliff. This movie is like an icy-hot pack from hell. It repeatedly alternates between mild PG-13 violence to a stale conversation between Mike and Vanessa, then back to mild PG-13 violence, then back to Mike's dream sequences. Rinse, repeat.

The conflict during the conflict/climax was decent; it had some tension here and there. But once it got to the conflict's resolution, it just ticked me off and felt insultingly stupid. There is a twist in the movie that I could see from across the other side of the world. Nothing about this movie is surprising or shocking. My advice is to watch it for the same reasons I watched it: for laughs, goofy scares, and FNAF franchise icons' cameos. Then I think it's satisfactory. Overall, cheap, boring, but ultimately enjoyable for the wrong reasons.

Based on the Tracey J. Butler 2006 web comic of the same name, Lackadaisy follows a group of bootlegger cats. Rocky, Ivy, and Freckle, (as to why they are cats I don't know, does it matter, no, are they adorable, yes, okay let's resume) in St. Louis, Missouri during the prohibition era working for a speakeasy, Lackadaisy, doing crimes for its owner Mitzi May. One night the cats are digging up a coffin full of whiskey located by the Mississippi River when they are chased by the rival Marigold Gang consisting of Mordecai Heller, Serafine, and Nicodeme. This synopsis doesn't fully encapsulate what there is to be wowed by with this short so let me give you the scoop.

The dynamics between all of the characters, mainly the trio, is beautifully and humorously written. Rocky Rickaby (voiced by Michael Kovach) is dramatic and manically insane with an affinity for theater and is the older cousin of Calvin "Freckle" McMurray (voiced by Belsheber Rusape), a seemingly shy and superstitious ginger who is revealed to have a more unhinged side when caught up in shootout with the rivals, and Ivy Pepper (voiced by Lisa Reimold) who is confident and tempermental, and is the love interest of Freckle. Mordecai Heller (voiced by SungWon Cho) is a cold calculated and sophisticated marksman who's kind of fed up with the more reckless style of the gangsters, Serafine and Nicodeme, he's been assigned with.

This short follows the same old cartoonish visual style of the webcomic, (think Animanics or Pinky and The Brain), but with the theatrics of an anime. The amount of work that has clearly gone into the animation is incredible and incredibly vibrant. I was quite refreshed to see something animated that understands it doesn't have to just appeal to children, but an older audience as well, plus shows clear and persistent stylization that felt on the same level of Puss in Boots: The Last Wish.

I was genuinely impressed by this short and hope for nothing, but the best for its creators and actors. This is a moving moment for animation and independent media, proving quality will always reign supreme over quantity and corporate slop. Overall I highly recommend this feature if you love animation and have a half hour to spare. I'm giving this 9/10, very well animated, shows an incredible amount of dedication within each frame. More animated films and TV shows need to take notes of every element that makes this short a masterpiece.