The Pineville Heist (2016) Poster

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3/10
Bad acting, boring story
jetlagpictures13 November 2019
The acting in this movie is atrocious, particularly the teenage lead. It sounded like he had marbles in his mouth the whole time. The story was boring and predictable. The visuals and music were very good.
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2/10
Horrible Movie
sncfnpsd13 February 2022
Terrible acting, the script is horrible. I was literally laughing at the two bank robbers burying the money because of the poor writing. Only reason I gave it two stars was for the nice cinematography.
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6/10
A decent College student production,
ceajm26 April 2016
The Pineville Heist, Started off with great vistas and high possibilities, decent story line, but is basically a long winded College style production. The lighting was good. The sound was good. The acting was mediocre. Had a story line that was dragged out Way too long with the chase scene in the high school. An honest grade would be a high B to a low A. I have seen worse. But my $28 dollar admission fee for my wife and I was $20 too much. There are way too many good movies to see, than to spend your time seeing this one. The best acting was from the deputy sheriff and he was knocked out for half the movie. I did like the acting from the principal Theo.
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9/10
Well Worth Watching!!!
tabbytwocats1 June 2016
The Pineville Heist begins with an aerial shot over the pristine forested land which sets the mood for the entire movie. The music was well chosen and immediately gives you a local feel pulling you right into the story. The story picks up right after a bank heist where a local teenager innocently stumbles into the robbers camp and from there all goes from bad to worse.

The cast chosen for this film complement each other enhancing genuine credibility to the story. Included with the intense suspense, the story involves intertwined evolving relationships and interactions amongst a father and son, a boy and his friends, a school teacher, a janitor, principal, sheriff, cops, good guys and bad guys.

I would have liked to have seen the story delve deeper into some of the characters personalities. This would have created more intensity identifying with them.

You quickly become engrossed into the movie as you follow the trail of the stolen money. Be ready for exciting plot twists and turns. This movie is a must see if you like a gripping story and thrilling suspense.

Kudos to the director Lee Chambers on his first feature film. . Is there a sequel in the works?...PH II ?
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10/10
Excellent
drgordie29 May 2016
The Pineville heist Cineplex Silver City April 25,2016

Wake up Thunder Bay! You have a legitimate Hollywood film maker in your midst. The Pineville heist (www. Pinevilleheist.com) is a film by Lee Chambers, a teacher at your very own Confederation College. I first heard about the movie because my niece Leah Rantala, has a small part in it. I must admit at first I thought "oh cute a college film she's got a little part". When I found out there was a screening in Hollywood I thought it odd. I was married for 10 years to a "film producer", so I do understand a little bit how this process works. I managed to get passes and I brought my two kids to the screening. We were blown away. After 20 plus years living in the lush green foliage of WA state, I love living in Southern California. The dry climate of fruits,nuts and flakes....and sunshine.

Yet, I AM from Thunder Bay, Ontario. I regularly enjoy dissing on the good old Lakehead and making fun of it, especially the cold weather, and it's location so far from everything "important".... but always with a light heart.

Truthfully it was a great place to grow up and I have been proud of many things from my home town, like more NHL players per capita than any other city, ski jumpers, skiing mogul champs, even the band leader of a ultra famous nighttime talk show.

I NEVER imagined it would include FILM MAKING! Until now. This movie is as good as, if not better than anything I have seen made or funded by Hollywood and these Califophony-ia studios!

This is the REAL DEAL!!! Lee Chambers truly is a big league hitter yet gone unnoticed whose time has come! The Pineville Heist is a great movie and when you get the chance, see it! Butts in seats and dollars, how you spend them, speak volumes to these studios and their distributors!! Go see this movie in Thunder Bay.

Sincerely Dr Gordon J Grobelny DC Calabasas California
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10/10
Fantastic Film!
edward-bukowski1 March 2017
I review film submissions for many film festivals, so it was a welcome surprise when I had seen this as a submission to the 2017 FILMCHELLA film festival on February 27th, I am only one of a couple dozen reviewers for that festival, but I strongly recommend it as an official selection, This is an epic film, from the opening shot, a beautiful aerial view of the forest, to the eerie shots accentuated by the low key lighting and use of hard shadows in the school, the cinematography looks fantastic, like it was shot with the same cameras used in big budget films, it is a very well written story, the principal, the sheriff and the school teacher were it's strongest actors, overall the school teacher is the best actor in the film, she is perfect, the principle is obviously a Hollywood character actor, and he's good at it' the sheriff was portrayed perfectly, the actor playing that role could easily be a real sheriff or football and baseball coach as he is the perfect role model type personality, this is definitely a coming of age film as well as a thriller, it has moments that captivated the audience and kept them at the edge of their seats, for a relatively low budget film, on Hollywood terms anything produced for under a million dollars is low budget, it looks and sounds like a bigger budget film, it has a few small errors in the audio, slight ADR discrepancies, and a few slight Visual Effects errors, not enough for the general public to criticize, but prevalent enough for distributors to take notice, the score is good, the acting is good, the characters work well together, it's believable, overall I loved this film, it kept me excited and intrigued, and engaged in the story, at the end it didn't feel like 80 minutes, which is great, the pace kept going, I would watch it again..
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8/10
Entertaining and well done over all
lucasj-3046130 May 2016
This is a very well produced film. It is not a multi-million dollar Hollywood blockbuster, however you would not know that by the superior production quality. It kept my interest throughout the 80 minute duration. Do not expect the world and you will not be disappointed, it is well done and it is the first Feature Film by Director Lee Chambers. Not every story needs a billion dollars in special effects and 2.5 hours to be told. This is Lee's story and his film adaptation of it and he has done an amazing job bringing his dream to the big screen on a small budget. You will not find a better film for the budget. Being from Thunder Bay where a lot of the movie was filmed was great but it wasn't the make or break for me, this film will be enjoyable to anyone. Give it a go and decide for yourself, film is art after all and who am to pass judgement on others creative expression.
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8/10
I Would Watch it Twice.
Pineville Heist is surely a movie to watch. Like many productions, there are issues here and there. Some ADR doesn't match up, some sound effects needed more altering to fit the environment, and there are some VFX issues. But that doesn't make this a bad film. It has a logical plot that takes the audience from point A to B and it does it effectively with good acting, good camera work, and overall good production value. Is it a movie that I can watch and make fun of with my friends? Yeah, but it's a movie I can also watch seriously. But everything I have listed are all present in Hollywood level films, and that's what makes me take this film serious.

The part that I would be very critical as an audience member is one part where the bad guy and someone hiding are in the same room together. It's builds tension, but it needed to learn when not to play music. It was a tense scene, and what would have made the hair stand on the back of your neck would be silence... Just the sounds of the guy walking, sounds of the person hiding trying not to breath, and just hearing the room. That would put us there, make us feel how they feel. But instead that experience is taken away with music.

But despite all of that, I think it's a great film. The part that makes me laugh is throughout the film a poster on the wall pops up at almost ironic times... a simple poster that says "Make Healthy Choices".
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10/10
A high school teen stumbles into the aftermath of a bank robbery gone wrong.
contact-742-50083516 December 2016
Warning: Spoilers
SPOILERS AHEAD

THE PINEVILLE HEIST is a coming of age thriller that introduces us to Aaron Stevens, the son of a politician in a small town known as Pineville, he shares a bad rep due to his father's unpopular economic policies which have sent the entire town into bankruptcy and recession after he closes the mill. Aaron isn't on good terms with him either since he is more interested in drama and Hamlet rather than politics and economics. Aaron develops a crush on his drama teacher, Miss Becker, the only person who encourages Aaron to pursue his acting dreams. She's both a mentor and the source of Aaron's burgeoning desires as a growing male. While out in the woods with his friend Mike, they stumble upon a camp, and when they hear people approaching they hide, it is here that they witness an assassination that involves the bank robbers who stole the money that Aaron's father used to attempt to save the town. Aaron takes the money and flees as the robbers give chase, their identities unknown to him as he hides from them. Aaron takes refuge at his school, when classes are over and there's only a few teachers there (The School Principal and Miss Becker) Aaron tries to do the right thing by calling the police and giving the money back, little does he know that one of the robbers is a figure of authority.

 THE PINEVILLE HEIST is both thriller and coming of age story; When Aaron tries to do the right thing he is let-down by every figure of authority he's supposed to look up to. His father is perceived as the man who is ruining his town, his school principal is a mumbling cowardly mess and both cops that should come to his aid turn out to be the very same robbers and murderers he tried to escape from. The most heartbreaking development perhaps is that Miss Becker is also part of the robbery. While the PINEVILLE HEIST indulges in claustrophobic chase sequences, it's more an examination on disappointment and disenchantment about the people who we grow up looking up to. The more we grow up, the more we realize that the people who we once worshiped as heroes, or those who we are told that are pillars of the community in reality are frail, flawed people whose desperation can turn them into the worst version of themselves. In the end, Aaron stays true to himself, his father regains his respect (and not the other way around) by showing up to save him and explain that the stolen money was meant to save the town from bankruptcy. We could also mention that being chased around by a figure of authority in a deserted school represent dreams caused by anxiety due to School pressures, Aaron's school changes when the classrooms are empty and the hallways get dark, we've all dream of a familiar place that we visit by day only for our subconscious to turn it hostile while we sleep; a dream in which Aaron is the hero who protects the beautiful (and out of his reach) Miss Becker. Like the leading man of a movie, this entire setting feels almost like young Aaron's subconscious giving way to his teenage fantasies. He is after all, an actor in training who seeks to be the main character of a story. It is, however, all too real and the consequences of trying to do the right thing in the real world tend to backfire, another lesson in growing pains for young Aaron.

 THE PINEVILLE HEIST biggest asset is its moody cinematography and framing composition, the deserted school at night becomes a nightmarish setting, the low key lighting and use of hard shadows create an aura of tension, sinking the film in darkness helps the theme of how that which should feel safe and familiar becomes dangerous and deadly. The color palette of greens and blues manage to transform the school setting into a darker and effective maze from which there is no escape. Sequences shot in the woods are also notable, capturing the humid beauty of the wilderness, giving it a majestic and cinematic look that makes the production look bigger and making full use of its resources. These

THE PINEVILLE HEIST is part thriller and part coming of age story, one in which growing up comes with the disappointment in the people we look up to and the figures of authority that are meant to keep us safe, and that doing the right thing and staying true to ourselves can bring unwanted consequences. Hard lessons for our young protagonist to learn.
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8/10
Lee Chambers has serious directing chops
vponka26 October 2018
Was lucky enough to attend a screening of Lee Chambers' "The Pineville Heist" last night. It's the story of a high school kid who stumbles onto bank robbers burying their stolen cash in the woods, and then his life is turned upside down when he decides to find the money and take it. You should check it out. It's extremely well-shot and obvious that Lee Chambers has serious directing chops. What I also find impressive about it is that Chambers produced it on his own with minimal funding. I've always been impressed by indie filmmakers who against all odds manage to shoot, edit and release a feature film. It's a herculean effort and Chambers deserves applause for that alone. You'd never know from the look of The Pineville Heist that it was made on an indie-sized budget. It looks great. It's a fun movie and it makes me wonder how cool a movie Chambers could make if someone were wise enough to give this guy a few million bucks!
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