I rented this because I like to find hidden gems at the video store and add them to my, "Jeremy's B-Movie Marathon lists", if they deserve it.
After renting this I went home and looked it up on IMDb to see if I might have wasted my time. The film only scored 5.8, but 23 of the 24 reviews were EXTREMELY positive write-ups. I didn't think that scenario made much sense so I looked a bit further into the reviewers. It turned out that 22 of the 24 reviews were written by user-id's that HAD NOT reviewed ANY other movies. This sent out red flags.
I plopped the DVD into the player anticipating that I would be on here trying to finger-out the misleading-multi-id movie pusher.
I was wrong.
The movie was good.
There will be no witch-hunt today.
So here I am writing a review that I didn't expect to write.
The Last Lullaby is a realistically paced noir piece about a retired hit-man, and a wealthy heiress in a dangerous legal battle. Tom Sizemore's performance isn't polarizing or Oscar material, BUT it is a return to form, and he was much better than I thought he would be. Sasha Alexander is also good here.
The interaction between the two leads and the gritty realism are the strengths of the movie. That, along with the pacing of the film, reminds me of "The Lookout" starring Joseph Gordon Levitt, "Killshot"(also with Levitt) or "American Gun" starring James Coburn. Films that are too realistically paced and themed thriller's to gather mass appeal, but are quality works of art none-the-less. The standard for which is the early DePalma films, or Gus Van Sant's "Elephant".
I would like to compare this film to "The River Murders" because I saw that earlier this week. Both films star washed-up actors(well, Liotta and Sizemore anyway) in thrillers that went straight to video, but the films are light years apart in terms of quality. I'm amazed to see the two films ranked so close here on IMDB(TRM=5.2, TLL-5.8). "The River Murders" is a predictable and poorly acted piece of crapola, whereas "The Last Lullaby" is a solid thriller that IS going onto my latest, third installment of the "B-Movie Marathon". "The Last Lullaby" is a solid thriller, and an amazing directorial debut for Jeffrey Goodman. That is probably the only thing about this movie that truly blew me away. Goodman is someone movie fans should keep an eye on. Sizemore and Alexander here can act circles around Liotta and Fraga(awful!), and those films should be at least two full points apart.
It's well worth your 2-3 bucks at the redbox or video store. I highly recommend the latter because you have a bigger selection, more flexibility on return times(especially if you get to know a hometown video store owner), and you have that physical aspect of having more than one copy of new releases and being able to pick up the box). Plus, your debit card doesn't just get charged day after day automatically like some money-monster from movie hell. There are many other advantages, but I'll save the rest of that speech for another time. Support you local video store owners.
66/100
You'll like this if you liked: Killshot(not quite as good as this), American Gun(not as good as this), The Lookout(Better than this), That Evening Sun(not as good as this), or Fargo(clearly better than this).
After renting this I went home and looked it up on IMDb to see if I might have wasted my time. The film only scored 5.8, but 23 of the 24 reviews were EXTREMELY positive write-ups. I didn't think that scenario made much sense so I looked a bit further into the reviewers. It turned out that 22 of the 24 reviews were written by user-id's that HAD NOT reviewed ANY other movies. This sent out red flags.
I plopped the DVD into the player anticipating that I would be on here trying to finger-out the misleading-multi-id movie pusher.
I was wrong.
The movie was good.
There will be no witch-hunt today.
So here I am writing a review that I didn't expect to write.
The Last Lullaby is a realistically paced noir piece about a retired hit-man, and a wealthy heiress in a dangerous legal battle. Tom Sizemore's performance isn't polarizing or Oscar material, BUT it is a return to form, and he was much better than I thought he would be. Sasha Alexander is also good here.
The interaction between the two leads and the gritty realism are the strengths of the movie. That, along with the pacing of the film, reminds me of "The Lookout" starring Joseph Gordon Levitt, "Killshot"(also with Levitt) or "American Gun" starring James Coburn. Films that are too realistically paced and themed thriller's to gather mass appeal, but are quality works of art none-the-less. The standard for which is the early DePalma films, or Gus Van Sant's "Elephant".
I would like to compare this film to "The River Murders" because I saw that earlier this week. Both films star washed-up actors(well, Liotta and Sizemore anyway) in thrillers that went straight to video, but the films are light years apart in terms of quality. I'm amazed to see the two films ranked so close here on IMDB(TRM=5.2, TLL-5.8). "The River Murders" is a predictable and poorly acted piece of crapola, whereas "The Last Lullaby" is a solid thriller that IS going onto my latest, third installment of the "B-Movie Marathon". "The Last Lullaby" is a solid thriller, and an amazing directorial debut for Jeffrey Goodman. That is probably the only thing about this movie that truly blew me away. Goodman is someone movie fans should keep an eye on. Sizemore and Alexander here can act circles around Liotta and Fraga(awful!), and those films should be at least two full points apart.
It's well worth your 2-3 bucks at the redbox or video store. I highly recommend the latter because you have a bigger selection, more flexibility on return times(especially if you get to know a hometown video store owner), and you have that physical aspect of having more than one copy of new releases and being able to pick up the box). Plus, your debit card doesn't just get charged day after day automatically like some money-monster from movie hell. There are many other advantages, but I'll save the rest of that speech for another time. Support you local video store owners.
66/100
You'll like this if you liked: Killshot(not quite as good as this), American Gun(not as good as this), The Lookout(Better than this), That Evening Sun(not as good as this), or Fargo(clearly better than this).