A young/teenage boy is left at his Grandfathers while his parents go to a funeral. His Grandfather (Michael Ironside) teachs him how to pitch hence the title. Then things go awry.I was rather impressed by the claustrophic feel of this film. At times it plays like a grown up version of Home Alone, at others it reminded me of The Shining. I would recommend you avoid the trailer as it has spoilers and just watch it. A small cast in one location is often the way way to go in low budget efforts and this does it really well. Michael Ironside in a fat suit is a bit wasted though. Well worth seeking out.
Reviews
9 Reviews
Electric Slide
(2014)
Ultimately bland and soulless biopic.
22 December 2014
Dodson owns a furniture store and aspires to a glamorous lifestyle he cannot afford. He borrows money from the bank and then a loan shark. As repayment pressures mount he resorts to bank robbing to fund his debts. He also teams up with a vacant blonde who likes to spout movie dialogue rather than talk with real feeling and their love story is a meaningless sidebar. The problem for me is Dodson is an unlikable man, he steals from friends and wants things without working for them. Sturgess portrays Dodson as ineffectual rather than charismatic which leaves you wondering why the bank tellers he robbed all liked him. I felt no emotional attachment to any of the characters.
The score also misses a trick opting to use generic synth music rather than some of the definitive 80s tunes. Its a stylish enough film but has no emotional core. The period is evoked sufficiently to feel like a period set piece. Could have been better with the talent involved.
The score also misses a trick opting to use generic synth music rather than some of the definitive 80s tunes. Its a stylish enough film but has no emotional core. The period is evoked sufficiently to feel like a period set piece. Could have been better with the talent involved.
The Device
(I) (2014)
Low key sci fi/horror is too low key.
16 December 2014
Two sisters and the husband of one of the women go to a cabin to help the younger sister overcome a past trauma. Whilst there they find an alien artifact and proceed to mess about with it because it might be worth some money. The older sister is then plagued by a dream in which an Alien interferes with her. The Alien itself is a man in a cheap Halloween mask.
Now at one point a character says this is like an X-files story but its not because the X-files was good. This is a three hander with adequate performances and is well shot but ultimately it is quite boring. There's no big sci fi questions posed and no horror either. Give it a miss.
Now at one point a character says this is like an X-files story but its not because the X-files was good. This is a three hander with adequate performances and is well shot but ultimately it is quite boring. There's no big sci fi questions posed and no horror either. Give it a miss.
Tell
(2014)
Comedy Crime thriller lacks bite.
5 December 2014
A petty criminal (Tell) steals some money from his bungling brother and their gang of bank robbers. His wife is furious that he leads the cops back to their home and promptly shoots him, wounding him severely. Tell manages to hide the money. The film looks on as various people all try to get that money from him.
This movie has an excellent cast with every role having an actor you will recognize from TV or film. The performances are uniformly good and it is well shot. It just seems to be lacking something. It feels like a movie from the 1990s. The humor has a light touch and the action is well handled. Worth a watch but with that cast it could have been so much better.
This movie has an excellent cast with every role having an actor you will recognize from TV or film. The performances are uniformly good and it is well shot. It just seems to be lacking something. It feels like a movie from the 1990s. The humor has a light touch and the action is well handled. Worth a watch but with that cast it could have been so much better.
By the Gun
(2014)
Gritty Mafia crime thriller full of good performances.
5 December 2014
A young gangster (Nick) achieves his lifetime goal of joining the Mafia and we see the struggle it causes between his family, friends and girlfriend. This is a well acted piece with a nice turn from Harvey Kietal as a crime Boss. Nicks life is complicated by his long term partner in crimes gambling indiscretions and this leads to an explosion of violence where everyone is affected.
Downbeat locations and realistic dialogue seem to add a feeling of doom for the Mafia lifestyle that is portrayed as dying out. The film is a bit reminiscent of The Town but on a smaller budget. Well worth the money as a rental but it is unlikely that you will feel the need to rush out and buy the Bluray. An all round solid effort.
Downbeat locations and realistic dialogue seem to add a feeling of doom for the Mafia lifestyle that is portrayed as dying out. The film is a bit reminiscent of The Town but on a smaller budget. Well worth the money as a rental but it is unlikely that you will feel the need to rush out and buy the Bluray. An all round solid effort.
Feed the Gods
(2014)
Low budget horror has a small amount of bigfoot.
26 November 2014
Warning: Spoilers
The movie starts with a woman trying to leave somewhere and being told by an armed man she need 3 tickets , 1 for herself and 2 for her small children. She only has two and an older lady says she will take them. Where are they and why the need the tickets is the mystery that is at the heart of the movie.
Flash forward and the children are now men around 30 at their adopted Gran mothers wake.They are given a box containing clues to their parents identity and resolve to find out who they are. The younger brothers girlfriend accompanies them. When they get there they find out it is big foot territory and the older brother then starts a bigfoot search.
As a horror movie it has a very slow start and only got interesting in the last 20 minutes of the 80 run time. The gore effects are stuff you could do at home with blood bags. The bigfoot has so little screen time it is almost an afterthought. The man in a suit has less than 20 seconds screen time and you only see extreme close ups. There is no nudity and a few f-bombs. Its watchable but I wouldn't say actively seek this out.
Flash forward and the children are now men around 30 at their adopted Gran mothers wake.They are given a box containing clues to their parents identity and resolve to find out who they are. The younger brothers girlfriend accompanies them. When they get there they find out it is big foot territory and the older brother then starts a bigfoot search.
As a horror movie it has a very slow start and only got interesting in the last 20 minutes of the 80 run time. The gore effects are stuff you could do at home with blood bags. The bigfoot has so little screen time it is almost an afterthought. The man in a suit has less than 20 seconds screen time and you only see extreme close ups. There is no nudity and a few f-bombs. Its watchable but I wouldn't say actively seek this out.
Big Bad Bugs
(2012)
Sci fi channel creature feature
20 November 2014
Now this is a sci fi channel movie so you know its going to be fairly cheap and shoddy from the outset. Usually these films have a vaguely recognizable actor or actress in the title role (usually someone from Stargate or Stargate Atlantis) but this film hasn't. The plot for what its worth has a renegade Army scientist opening up a wormhole in a cave that causes insects to grow to a huge size. A team of Seals and a couple of Scientists are sent to plug this vortex before it swallows the world.
Now these films can be entertaining but this is at the lower end of the spectrum for these creature features.Interesting to note that as spiders get bigger there skin becomes bulletproof to the point where a team of a dozen people can empty assault rifles into it without hurting it but a man with a knife can easily dispatch it. Also because the are bigger their brains are bigger so they become smarter (we know this true because of all the dinosaur astrophysicists).
To sum up its pretty bad, the special effects are weak even by sci fi channel standards and the pacing is dire. The finale is quite entertaining in a ludicrous way. Overall, I'd recommend you avoid this unless you are one of those people who get a kick out of watching bad movies.
Now these films can be entertaining but this is at the lower end of the spectrum for these creature features.Interesting to note that as spiders get bigger there skin becomes bulletproof to the point where a team of a dozen people can empty assault rifles into it without hurting it but a man with a knife can easily dispatch it. Also because the are bigger their brains are bigger so they become smarter (we know this true because of all the dinosaur astrophysicists).
To sum up its pretty bad, the special effects are weak even by sci fi channel standards and the pacing is dire. The finale is quite entertaining in a ludicrous way. Overall, I'd recommend you avoid this unless you are one of those people who get a kick out of watching bad movies.
Asylum
(2014 Video)
Wrecked by an tragically unfunny voice-over.
19 November 2014
Strange film this.It starts with 2 editors trying to cut a horror movie from footage from a shoot in some fictional foreign country. What follows is that you see the entire horror movie with a Mystery Science Theater 3000 type comical voice over by the two editors. The film itself looks like a work-print with captions for missing effects etc. There's a couple of cuts to a side story with the editors but this probably only accounts for about 5 minutes of screen time. What ruins this film is the actual horror movie looks watchable whilst the editors are irritatingly unfunny. The production values in the horror movie seem quite decent whilst the editor sections are amateur hour. Its just a pity we couldn't see the horror movie and lose the editors voice over.
Art of Darkness
(2012)
A series of bad character choices somewhat mar this thriller
19 November 2013
Warning: Spoilers
A man and his wife are falling on hard times financially, the husband may be about to lose his job. He persuades his wife to take a modelling photo session and a private residence. Does he get the full address, of course not. She is promptly kidnapped by the photographer who keeps girls tied to tables before ,,, you can see where this is going.
A low budget British horror movie that has plenty of eye rolling moments and some minor gore. It starts slowly with some pretty dreadfully stilted dialogue before plodding on to an uninspired climax.
The main problem is the characters behave in a manner that will make your eyes roll at times, I'm loath to give examples as they would be spoilers.
I have given it four out ten basically it is not ineptly made and may may be worth a watch if you like women in peril movies without it turning into torture porn.
A low budget British horror movie that has plenty of eye rolling moments and some minor gore. It starts slowly with some pretty dreadfully stilted dialogue before plodding on to an uninspired climax.
The main problem is the characters behave in a manner that will make your eyes roll at times, I'm loath to give examples as they would be spoilers.
I have given it four out ten basically it is not ineptly made and may may be worth a watch if you like women in peril movies without it turning into torture porn.
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