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jrnolan
Reviews
The Entitled (2011)
major plot hole
The kidnappers tie up the wealthy young people and leave them completely unattended for long periods of time. So, guess what? One of them wriggles out and they escape. I believe in suspension of disbelief for a good story, but this isn't one of them. I would have preferred that Ray Liotta went berserk and rescued the victims. I also hated the lead character's narration. Don't say it, show it. The ends did not justify the means.
Backtrace (2018)
There isn't enough suspension of disbelief for this film
Spoiler alert, like it matters. The whole film depends on Matthew Modine surviving the big shootout in the beginning of the film. His two partners are killed but he survives because he isn't finished off when he could have and should have been finished off. The shooter gets him down on the ground and doesn't put one in his head. He just leaves. Why would he not make sure Modine is dead? Later on, Modine escapes prison in the trunk of a car, which was about to be searched but isn't searched because another principal involved is honking his horn behind the car with Modine in it. Is that all it takes to prevent a search? If you keep honking, they will forego standard procedure? In another scene, a cop shows up at the house where they are working to restore Modine's memory with injections. The cop is clearly suspicious, then just leaves. Gee, another close call. Such suspense. I could not finish watching this and I love Stallone. Garbage.
USS Indianapolis: Men of Courage (2016)
See "Mission of the Shark" instead
"Mission of the Shark" made in 1991 is a much better telling of the story of the Indianapolis. Stars Stacy Keach, Richard Thomas and David Caruso. I agree with others that Captain Quint's version in "Jaws" is best. Spielberg directed Richard Dreyfuss and Roy Scheider to appear spellbound as Robert Shaw tells the story. Dreyfuss says they didn't have to act, they were truly spellbound by Shaw's performance in that scene, which Shaw helped write.
The Phynx (1970)
worse than I feared
I finally bought a copy of this film on DVD from an online seller, and it is truly dreadful. It has a running time of 81 minutes but it felt like 4 hours. I only bought it to see the many cameo appearances of stars young and old, but some of them are so brief that you have to watch every second of the film to catch them. Richard Pryor introduces himself and then he's gone! The best part of the film is at the end when Pat O'Brien is reunited with former Dead End Kids Leo Gorcey and Huntz Hall. Leo looks positively ancient, even though he was only 51 at the time. He died of liver failure shortly after shooting his scenes. His heavy drinking really took its toll. The writing on this film is horrendous, and the acting is worse than any Ed Wood film. I completely agree with Warner Brothers' decision to shelve this film and never release it, even though they probably spent a good deal of money to make it. It's an embarrassment and painful to watch. I hope to someday see Jerry Lewis' never-released "The Day the Clown Cried," another legendary bad film, so I can compare it to "The Phynx."