Movie Review - No Surrender

No Surrender

2011

Incendo Productions / Incendo 2010-03 Production

Incendo Media

6.5 / 10

Though this is a TV movie, so no big budget to play with, the writers Michael Ades and Scott Abramovitch along with the Director Tristan Dubois give the audience a multi-layered tale of stalking and twisted vengeance.

The premise of the story is pretty basic; Amelia Davis (Mena Suvari) starts a blog after being the victim of spousal abuse and builds a fanbase and following of other similar sufferers of abuse, and tries to help them find a way to leave their violent relationships.  However, she is attacked one night and the possible perpetrators are numerous.   Could it be her ex, who she helped imprison, though is now out on parole; could it be her new boyfriend who may not be as clean cut as he makes out; or could it be a stalker fan.  Once the story gets going the twists start coming thick and fast and each is as believable as the other.  It had me guessing right up to the end when it suddenly became painfully obvious who it was... and that the ending even has a twist in its tale.

Dubois does an exceptional job with the pace of the movie, slowing it down for the more dramatic scenes and screeching it up to maximum to build excitement.  This is a well-crafted piece.

The acting is above average, though the best character is Carlo Rossi who is brilliantly portrayed by Joseph Mesiano.  He gets the gets the swarthy, suave, sexy, smooth, smug, and smarmy personality just right as you are never too sure about him and his motives.

It's all of this which kept me entertained and away from the stop and delete buttons when it came on the telly.  To be truthful, I really enjoyed this film and couldn't find much wrong with it at all.  So if you like mystery movies this is one to watch.  Though, it's not one you would watch over and over again because once it's been solved there's not much else to bring you back to the film.  I would watch it again, should I ever forget the outcome...

Movie Review - De@th On Live

De@th On Live

2013

AKA: Channeling

Strategic Film Partners : Ace Entertainment Films UK

6 / 10

Once upon a time, there was Google Glass, which allowed you access to social media via a headband and a projector just above your eyes.  It also allowed you to take photo's and shoot videos.  The story that writer and director, Drew Thomas, gives the audience is one of the possible progressions of that technology.  He crafts an interesting tale that not only shows the positives but some of the many negatives for this type of tech, as it is directed more towards social media.  What would you do to increase viewers, ratings, and sponsorship?  Especially when more viewers gives the user more sponsorship money...

Wyatt Maddox (Taylor Handley) is out to have fun.  He and his partner Tara (Kate French) "Borrow" cars for races, which are aired live through Wyatt's eye-cam.  During one of these races, something goes wrong and Wyatt ends up dead.  This prompts the return of Jonah (Dominic DeVore), Wyatt's older brother who was serving overseas.  It's not long before he realises that all is not right with his brother's death and starts to investigate, by pretending to be Wyatt.

Though the story is intelligent and gripping there are times when the film falls flat.  These are mainly when the movie changes from action mode to drama.  I'm not saying that Thomas cannot film dramatic scenes as one of the best scenes stars Skyler Day as Jonah's and Wyatt's sister Ashleigh who has an epiphany about her use of the tech and her followers.  Skyler Day is also the strongest actor in the cast, definitely someone to keep an eye on.  However, Thomas is clearly more at home directing the action sequences as these are more powerful and controlled, as the trailer proves.  I also loved the opening sequence of the fake advert, which would really work well if you were watching on telly.

The acting is above average and most of the actors get behind their characters, though there are times when Kate French seems bored and uninterested at being there.  This along with the inconsistencies in pace does wound the movie.  However, it's worth at least one watch should you like mysteries, science fiction, or action thrillers.

  

Movie Review - Aurora Teagarden Mystery: A Bone To Pick

Aurora Teagarden Mystery

A Bone To Pick

2015

Lighthouse Pictures / Muse Entertainment Enterprises : The Hallmark Channel / Muse Distribution International

6.25 / 10

Being English, the title of this movie threw me at first... "The Aurora Teagarden" sounds like a place you would go for a nice cuppa cha while sitting in beautiful floral surroundings...  But no "Aurora Teagarden" is the name of the leading character - poor girl.

That aside, this is a good way to pass an hour and a half.  Aurora "Roe" Teagarden, played nicely by Candace Cameron Bure. is a member of a mystery group dedicated to "Real Murders".  One of the members, Jane Eagles (Barbara Wallace), invites Roe round to her house so she can borrow a book on female killers, as this had been her "Real Murder" discussion subject.  A few days later she learns of Jane's death and is surprised to find herself in the will as the beneficiary of her house.  It's when she finds the hidden human skull that a mystery starts to reveal itself to her... and her friends...

It's hard to say why I enjoyed this film because some things annoyed me, such as Lexa Doig's character, Sally Allison, who is grating on the nerve and at times I wondered why the two were friends, let alone besties.  This isn't Doig's fault though as she did a more than an admirable portrayal of a strong, independent, and intelligent woman on Andromeda.  But here, she's not such a likeable character.  Though that may be the strong point of this series as it's not relying on characterisations as much as others do in this genre; they're a little more like everyday people, rather than "feel-good" representations.

Another thing which was annoying was how simple the mystery was, I pretty much had it solved at the skull, as I would think most would since previous scenes are so heavy handed at giving you the clues.  I couldn't really believe that it took Roe so long to figure it out.  This is more like a Columbo movie as it's not really about the mystery it's more about the trip to get to the reveal.  At least there's still some mystery here, unlike Columbo.

All of the cast give a solid and equal performance and portray their characters well; none outshines any of the others.  Director Martin Wood does a nice job of keeping the pace steady throughout, which works well with this type and style of story.

If you like your characters to be more "normal" in your mystery movies then you will like this; if you don't mind about the easy solve mystery because you prefer the drama more then this will really be your cuppa cha'.  At least worth one viewing... on a wet and miserable day - English Summertime - when you can't make it out into the Teagarden.

Movie Review - Northern Lights

Northern Lights

2009

Stephanie Germain Productions / Mandalay Television / Alberta Film Entertainment / Nora NL Productions : Lifetime Television / Tandem Comunications

6.25 / 10

The surprising thing about this movie is the quality of the cast and the acting within.  I was mostly surprised by Leann Rimes who can hold her own in the female lead here and fits in well.  I've heard her superb vocal ability and never knew she has thespian talents also, based on this film I would quite happily watch anything else she's done.

The only cringeworthy scene was when Meg Galligan (Leeann Rimes) tells her mother Charlene (Rosanna Arquette) that her father, Charlene's true love, is dead.  Arquette goes way over the top at this news and totally wrecks the scene; though to be fair, Mike Robe who directed should've stepped in to give her some better direction and tone down the theatrics a little - sometimes less can be better.

That said, the rest of the film is very well acted by all, though I have to say Jayne Eastwood who portrays Mayor Hopp is on top form.  I first saw her in Haven as the no-nonsense coroner, and she has the same kind of believable tenacity in this role also, a joy to watch as she brought a smile to my face.

Robe does a decent job of keeping the mystery and suspense rolling as the story of the new Cheif Of Police Nate Burns (Eddie Cibrian) in Lunacy, Alaska finds he has a fifteen-year-old murder case to solve; worse yet, the murder victim is his love interests, father; worst still, it seems that most of Lunacy could be the potential killer.  You're never too sure as the viewer as not many clues are given, in fact, you have to be pretty observant and quick-sighted to spot and remember a certain scene to work out the killer's identity before the Chief of Police.  The resolve of the story is quick, it may have been better to slow this section down and create a little more tension.

Not having read the Nora Roberts novel I cannot say how well it's been adapted, though in its own right Janet Brownell the Teleplay writer does give the audience one hell of a story filled with believable and interesting characters.

If you like murder mysteries then you should like this one, it is definitely a curl-up with your loved one on a Sunday afternoon movie, while the world passes by outside.  Worth at least one viewing.

Movie Review - Switchback

Switchback

1998

Pacific Western / Paramount Pictures / Rysher Entertainment : Paramount Pictures

9.25 / 10

This is a highly entertaining thriller packed with twists and turns in a good story and brilliantly directed and acted.

When a child is kidnapped and his babysitter is murdered in cold blood this starts a series events that will lead FBI Agent Frank LaCrosse (Dennis Quaid) back to the trail of a serial killer who has resumed his killing spree across America.  The writer and director Jeb Stuart weaves a nice story filled with powerful, strong, and believable characters and it's the characters which help to make this such a substantial movie.  Another plus is the twists which keep the viewer unsure of who the killer is.  Unfortunately, I knew who it was because the add blurb on the TV Guide gave it away - bad guide!

Not only does Stuart write a good story he can also direct a good movie.  Stuart has a good eye and gives the audience quite a few well-composed shots.  I really liked the scene where Lane Dixon (Jared Leto) wakes up in the car alone and feels a rumbling through the dashboard.  When he cleans the windscreen he sees a railway engine speeding towards him.  It's not until he jumps from the car that he learns they're just parked on a curve in the track.  Nicely thought out.  Stuart is also good at keeping the pace of the story and the film at the right speed.  The film does slow down at points, such as in the meetings, though it never gets boring as Stuart keeps these entertaining by adding humour to the characters conversations, especially Sheriff Buck Olmstead (R Lee Ermey) and his first in command Deputy Nate Booker (Ted Levine).  When the climax arrives he does a great job of building up tension nearly to the "on the edge of your seat" type.

As for the acting, this is a very strong cast as you can tell from the roll-call above and also includes William Fichtner and Danny Glover.  Not one of the cast fails to deliver a good performance; though, I would have to say that R Lee Ermey's character is one of the most likeable as the logical and full-of-heart Sheriff.  He also has some of the best lines.

I would recommend this film to everyone who hasn't watched it.  In an age of shaky cameras which can make you feel dizzy and quite sick at times, it's nice to watch a static cam film - I don't miss feeling sick at all.  If you like mystery thrillers with a detective spin then this should be right up your alley.

Movie Review - Girl House

Girl House

2014

Brookstreet Pictures : Lightning Entertainment / Signature Entertainment / eOne Films

6.75 / 10

This is the slasher picture of modern times.  In the era where webcams are becoming more popular, especially in the sex industry, this asks the question, do you know who's watching you?

Instead of cam'ing on their own, this brings a group of beautiful girls together at the Girl House owned and run my an internet entrepreneur.  This gives paying viewers a chance to watch the girls at sleep, rest, and play.  Unfortunately for the girls, one of their viewers is Loverboy, a mentally unstable character with a violent and abusive past.

Even though the characters are very stereotypical of this type of film the cast breath new life into them, especially Slaine who plays the troubled Loverboy.

It also helps that the directors Jon Knautz and Trevor Matthews have the skill to create tension and to be able to build up the pace and excitement when needed.  This, in turn, makes it an entertaining film.

One of the main things I loved about the film was the shallow character of Devon, played well by Alyson Bath.  Though it wasn't all down to her portrayal it was her character and how it changed once Loverboy attacked.  It's an original ending to the character, though totally believable and sad... and one of the reasons I liked the movie.  It just elevates it above a normal slasher flick.

There are a couple of issues that niggled me, I know that Loverboy needs to be a computer hacker to be able to find the Girl House, though his character doesn't come across as that type of person.  The other was the stereotypical killers mask... why did he even need to wear one, again it seemed out of character - it'd be nice if a stalker for once, didn't go, Myers, Voorhees or Leatherface, on us.

This is a decent film and at least worth watching once, even more so, if you like the genre.

Movie Review - Dragon Eyes

Dragon Eyes

2012

After Dark Films / Signature Entertainment / Autonomous Films / Dark Castle Entertainment / Silver Pictures : After Dark Films / G2 Pictures / IM Global

2.25 / 10

I've been a fan of Jean-Claude Van Damme films since No Retreat No Surrender back in 1986, in fact, that's when my interest in martial arts movies started to grow.  To be honest, Van Damme has done some bad films in his time and this has to be one of the worst, though not because of him... Van Damme is the strongest actor in the cast.

This is a strange story of police corruption and gang warfare which flares up out of control when Hong, played by Cung Le is released from prison and drives into St. Jude.  So that premise alone should allow for great drama and martial arts action, especially as Cung Le is a mixed martial arts champion and the cast sports Peter Weller as the crooked cop Mister V.

However, the story is weak and full of plotholes, whereas the martial arts scenes are all fought in slow motion and is easier to spot the fakes and the fluffs - the thrown punches that miss their opponent.  The slowness also distracts from the action.  There was a reason some 80's martial arts films speeded up the action, they knew it made it more exciting.  Hence, you slow it down and it gets boring.  This was a major fubar by director John Hyams - the other was to try and make the film stylish and cool, it was too obvious and failed miserably.

Then there's the set's these are so cheap and tacky they look as if they were either abandoned buildings or somebodies garage.  Should have paid for a location scout, people.

It's Weller as the over-the-top Mister V and Van Damme as Tiano who actually appear to give a damn about the film as they both get into their characters pretty well, though it's nowhere nearly enough to raise this out of the toilet it should be flushed down.

Yet another movie that could have been so much better had things been done differently.

I wouldn't even recommend this to Van Damme fans as he's just not in it fo long enough.  If you're thinking of making a martial arts film then you could watch this to see how it shouldn't be done!

Story - Flash Fiction - Night Of The Trumps!

By Stephen A Abell

Copyright: 4th May 2017

Number Of Words: 300

"Why do cars always break down on a deserted back road?"  She asked dejectedly slamming the passenger door.

"Because they know what scares you, Barbara!"  Kevin's impeccable "Night of the Living Dead" imitation warbled as he peered from behind the bonnet.

"I always hated that name and you tease me with it!"

"But you're a star, Barbara!"

"Oh, Brewster... you're so coooool!"

"Touche!" He smiled, "fucked if I know what's wrong, I'm a doctor Jim, not a mechanic!  You got reception?"

"No.  You?"

"Nah.  Looks like we're walking."

"Great, so are we lookin' for a house with an inverted cross painted in blood on it?"

"Only if we can get help there?"

"Which way?"

"I don't know!  Didn't see a house back there, doesn't mean there wasn't one."

"God, you're no help!  Flip the coin?"

"Yeah, why not(?)"

Barbara pulled a coin from her pocket and called it while it tumbled through the air, "Heads - left"

"To the right then," she announced moving away from the car.

"Let's go die!  Let's go die!"  They chanted as they marched.

Ten minutes later they spotted glints of moonlight reflecting off glass.  Windows.  A house.

"Coin," Kevin commanded, "heads - we knock."

The coin flipped.

"Let's go knock."

Barbara was surprised when lights flickered on after a couple of loud knocks.

"Who the hell is it?"  The voice boomed angrily.

"Sorry, our car broke down.  Do you have a phone we can use to call help?"

"I... er..." Came the slow hesitant response, "yes, just wait a..."

Kevin's foot slammed hard on the door cracking the wood securing the lock.  "Good we'll use it after we're finished."

The last thing the family saw were the sneering faces of two Donald Trump masks and the shimmering blades of the oh-so-sharp knives they carried.

Afterword:

Once again this is for the WdC (writing.com) contest Daily Flash Fiction Challenge.  The prompt this time was - Coin; Road; Slow.

I've been thinking about this opening for a while, to use within the context of another story, though it worked well for what I wanted here.  Sometimes I love to pay homage to other Horror films, books, etc...

So you can obviously spot the Night of the Living Dead reference.  The next is the closing line from the original Fright Night "Oh, Brewster... you're so coooool!"

Of course, there's a Star Trek Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy quip in there to bring a smile to your faces.

Then there are two lines I poached from a brilliant comedian who had me and my friend John pissing ourselves with laughter with his skit on horror movies (shame I cannot remember his name and cannot find the set on youtube - it was brilliant).  He would start by setting the scene of most horror films a group of teens break down in the middle of the night on a deserted road.  The decide to split up into pairs (boy - girl of course) to look for help.  Unfortunately for the guy in the wheelchair, there's always an odd number of people so he has to set off by himself.  As he wheels away into the dark night you can hear him chant, "Let's go die!:  Let's go die!"  Then one of the couples come across a house with an inverted cross painted in blood on it... of course, they decide it's a great place to ask for help.  "Let's go die!:  Let's go die!"  Inside they're attacked by a monster.  The man is killed in a grisly manner while the girl runs into the kitchen and grabs a frying pan.  At which point the unknown comedian goes into a frenzy describing the battle only to end with the monster screaming, "Oh NO!  She's got Teflon...  RUN AWAY!  RUN AWAY!

If anyone out there knows where I can find a copy of this stand-up routine I'd be grateful.  We originally saw it on Just For Laughs - The Montreal Comedy Festival.  One of the funniest things I've seen and the memory of it still makes me smile.

As for the story, when I reached the ending the idea of the attackers wearing Donald Trump masks just tickled the right dark humour bone and I knew it had to be in the story.  The title exploded with vehemence in my brain and along with the creation of the story's cover picture I was giggling like a madman.  Hope you enjoyed it too.

Story - Flash Fiction - The Room

By Stephen A Abell

Copyright: 3rd May 2017

Number Of Words: 300

He loved this website.

Since his best friend gave him the address he'd visited every day.  From all the available girls, Lil’Daisy was his favourite.  She was twenty-something though wore her hair in two pigtails and along with her soft sweet voice this gave her the glamour of being younger.  No doubt that’s what the punters wanted… but not him.  Her vivid blue eyes were the attraction, he envisioned diving into them to float and drift for hours.

His hands were sweating… his heart palpitating… as he typed one word and one punctuation into the message box and hit send... and it felt as though he were having a heart attack - Private?

Yes - flashed the reply in the chat box - Private 500 tokens.  True Private 1000 tokens.

He typed in - 1000 - in the token box and hit the mouse button.  The gift was underway.

Thirty seconds later, he alone was drinking in her beauty.  She lifted the tablet and asked the screen, “Do you want to spin the wheel of chance?  It decides what we do… or do you have something special in mind?”

Anything would be good; he just wanted to be with her for a little while.

- Spin

The wheel on the tablet whirled; the options were a blur.

As the wheel slowed he noticed only two choices…  a shiver ran down his back.

LIVE

DIE

What the hell?

The wheel slowed… slowed… stopped.

DIE

Before he could type anything, Lil’Daisy brought a knife up to her throat and in one graceful movement, she sliced deep, severing the jugular.

Transfixed, he watched as blood jetted in wild arcs from the wound and her life drowned in her eyes of blue.

The screen went blank then a notice filled the sudden void.  

This Model Is No Longer Available!

Afterword:

I am a member of the wonderful writer's website writing.com - WdC to the enlightened. If you are a writer of any style, be it, poetry, stories, essays, etc. then I would highly recommend the site.

After being away from WdC for a few years I dared to venture back and try my hand and a few contests to see if I could unblock my writer's mind and imagination. I love the Daily Flash Fiction Challenge as it really makes you work to produce something of substance. The judge sets the prompt, which is usually three random words - in the case of the above story they were Notice; Daisy; Wheel. Then all I had to do was write a story - with a beginning, a middle, and an ending in three-hundred words or less.

That last bit is the kicker as it's so short a word limit I always overshoot the target. Though this is the other reason I love the contest as it makes you reread the story and edit out elements of the story, all the while you're trying to keep the context, the flow, and the power of the tale. It's a wonderful skill to learn.

This story was in the back of my mind after reading about the "Blue Whale" game that is supposedly going on with teens, where they are dared to keep hurting themselves until their last dare where they are commanded to commit suicide. I just couldn't believe that teens would fall for this but maybe their lives are so bad this way out seems like a good thing. Anyway, that story kicked off the idea for the above story, which I hoped you enjoyed.