Movie Review - Deadly Attraction

Deadly Attraction

2017

The Cast

Everything about this film screams averageness.  From the story:  A woman abused by her first husband vows never to be a target again for any man.  After fighting back and killing her abuser Ruby Asher (Hartley) finds herself on the road of greed.  Lying to herself that she's doing this not just for herself but for her daughter, Amanda (Deveaux), as well, she starts to drain all the men in her life of their money.  Though as time goes on, she finds she has to go further to get what she's owed by these undeserving men... so she results to taking their lives as well as their money.  However, her latest victim leaves most of his fortune to his daughter, Teresa (Wilson), so now she will have to pay for taking the Black Widows hard-earned dues.  The hardest thing to swallow is that Amanda doesn't know the truth about her mother... though the new Step-Daughter cottons on about one second after hearing her daddy's dead.

This is your basic Black Widow tale with a slight twist.  Though, it's not a big enough twist to take the story or film out of its mediocrity.

To the acting: which on the whole, isn't anything special.  I like Gary Chalk, who briefly appears in this film... and it's so quick that his skills have little effect on the proceedings.  I first saw Sebastian Spence in Ceder Cove and thought he was brilliant with his character in that.  Even in other films and series, he's been a decent actor and I have enjoyed his performance.  Here he starts off well and even has a little in common with his Ceder Cove character...  however when he changes character, I found him a little flat in emotion and personality.  Even Hartley fluctuates in her portrayal of Ruby.  Though I have to say, when she's in tough and devious mode she's at her best.  She doesn't appear concerning enough when she's playing at doting wife and mother.  So it's unbelievable that neither her husbands and daughter don't know her plans... or at least question her noticeable mood swings.  The two that stood out to me was Jim Shield as rancher husband, Daniel Nash, and step-daughter Teresa Landon played well by Brittany Wilson.

Once again, as is the case with many a TV Movie the direction is pretty basic and standard for a thriller.  More tension and atmosphere would be welcome, as would a change of pace, and a few nice camera shots.  Come on guy's, let's show some artistic film-making temperament once in a while.  When the story is average at least try to keep the audience interested with the directing.

This is a one watch movie... preferable when all other entertainment is exhausted and it's bad weather outside or you're laid up ill.

I give this Black Widow Tale an average bite of 5 out of 10.

The Trailer

Movie Review - The Wrong Nanny

The Wrong Nanny

2017

The Cast

This is a clever little tale which has a pretty good twist to the main plot, though even a couch-potato will be able to work it out quite early on.  It's just a shame everything else about the movie isn't up to that standard.

Please be aware that you will need to watch an awful opening sequence.  This is both badly acted and scripted.  However, it's not shot too badly.  But once you're past this and into the story proper then things do lift... a little.

The main bother I had with the story was the whole "Fund Raising" arc.  No matter how much I didn't try to think it out, I still couldn't relate to the fact that, mother of two, Stella (Hartley) would even consider hanging around with the self-gratifying Meredith (Williamson) and her kowtowing minions.  Let alone, try to impress her.  This entire scenario was filled with such stereotypical fodder that it muddled the main storyline; this should have been a better arc.

Secondly, the acting was all over the place.  This could be due to the out of sequence shooting of the scenes, because Freya Tingley (Blake), would be dire in one scene and then pretty decent in the next.  It really does disjoint the film to have this kind of acting difference.  The rest of the cast was pretty average, though Brody Hutzler (Tanner) and Bree Williamson (Meredith) do add a bit of solidness with their portrayal of their characters.    Though, I think the trouble with Lindsay Hartley's character is due to the writing and direction, rather than her acting.  There were quite a few things that weren't completely believable with Stella.

Though the story is strong in its synopsis, it does let itself down on some of the narration and stereotypical characters.  There's also the obvious antagonising scenes where we get to see Blake's real character and motivation.  The number of times that their friend's daughter, Julianna (Green) told Stella that she was like a mother to her was near vomit inducing.  Some of these scenes appeared forced and there were too many.

This film would have been so much better with these issues sorted out.  But even though there were a few annoyances it still is a good film, not great.

For the most part, the direction and pace are standard and steady, not adding anything new to the film.  The acting levels out at average.  And the story is better and stronger for the character of Blake and her background.

If there's a rainstorm or blizzard blazing outside then spending an afternoon with this flick wouldn't be too bad.

I give this bad nanny an average 5.5 out of 10.

The Trailer