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Reviews
The Detained (2017)
To the director -
There is a serious case of prosecution here. Did you watch Throwing Stones - the teen horror web series?Stones was the first ever teen horror web series that was on several web networks, horror sites, and landed press on every major horror site. Every week the cast went live to talk to fans on a sponsored show. Stones even produced two seasons and won countless awards. The web series was also based on the full-length optioned script. Your movie stole characters and concepts from Throwing Stones. Example: the gay character who was a Bible thumper. We could go on...
Lars and the Real Girl (2007)
So bad I had to turn it off...
I am a HUGE Gosling fan. Ginormous. But this film has to go down as one of the worst films ever. I come from a small town in NY similar to the one in the movie. NO WAY would the town accept this behavior. Everyone would be thinking Gosling was sleeping with the doll. He'd be some sicko. He'd be kicked out of town so fast or sent away or something into some asylum. Just wasn't believable. And the girl that liked him woud be grossed out by it and wouldn't like him anymore. I had to turn it off at the 40 min. mark because it was wasting my valuable time here on earth. Interesting premise though. Gosling is a star without a doubt. What's funny is my best friend still raves about this movie up and down. He was so surprised that I thought it was less than stellar.
Living & Dying (2007)
Furlong, Bo Bice, Twists and turns...spoilers...
Gotta start with Ed Furlong on this one. You gotta. God bless this kid. $5 bucks says the character he plays in this film is what he's really like in real life. He has a one-liner or two that made me almost blow snot because of the subtle humor in the script. You know all the trials this guy has gone through in recent years and it doesn't even seem like Furlong is even acting. Maybe that's why his performance was good. Same with Madsen. You keep thinking, "I bet this guy is really like this in real life." Does Madsen even have to act? Just natural. Vosloo has obviously moved on from the type-casted Mummy guy. I think the biggest surprise to this film was Jordana Spiro's performance. Her reactions are spot-on in this film. I battled if she was hot or not, but realized I would just like to see more of her.
Not a big fan of shoot 'em out/hostage type films. But what I am a fan of are films with lots of twists and turns to try and keep you guessing. It's not just your standard robbers take over a bank, they kill hostages, and the good guys win in the end type of film. The twists keep on coming...and coming.
The café scenes work best with the hand-held cams to show what it's really like in there. Not glossed over a bit. Think like Bourne Ultimatum "lite" style on some scenes in the café.
And for those Bo Bice fanatics out there - actor Curtis Wayne (who plays Karl) will make you do a double take. These guys are twins.
As I watched I wondered why some of the actors had foreign accents and what were they doing in this small town. Made sense in the end that these people smuggled stuff to other countries/states so they might have these accents. But more is revealed in the bonus features of how some of the producers wanted to make this film for International audiences with some of their stars we might not have heard of. And some of them are smoking hot. Moncia Dean? Need I say more.
Mad Bad (2007)
Vincent Riverside steals every scene...
As soon as the intro to the film plays with the music you wouldn't think for a second this was a low budget movie whatsoever. Very nicely done. And as soon as Vincent Riverside (Gino) appears he STEALS EVERY SCENE he is in. If you take anything away from this movie at all it should be that Vincent Riverside SHOULD be a star. No wonder Josh Brolin cast him as his lead in his first directorial debut "X" that was featured at SXSW in the SHORT Film category. Vincent was the shining light in this INDIE flick. When Gino is on screen is when the dialog in this script shines. Some quotable lines. It's also when the camera work/directing is at it's best. Pretty sure Vince's performance is why this snagged the Grand Jury Prize at the New York Int'l Film Festival. Beyond Riverside's performances and key scenes, well, you get what ya get. If anything - rent it to check out Vincent's performance and say you heard it here first, folks.