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The Lucky Man (2017)
I don't get all the hate...
I had the opportunity to attend the premiere for this movie in Dallas last year and thoroughly enjoyed it. It was very reminiscent of BONNIE & CLYDE but with a twist. Leads Jesse James and Mariana Paola Vicente played well off each other and the film employed a plethora of well-known character actors, such as Burton Gilliam, Dennis O'Neill, and Larry Jack Dotson. Overall, it was a really good movie and I look forward to seeing what director Norman Gregory McGuire delivers next.
The Bottom Line (2003)
Could have been so much better.
I attended the premiere of THE BOTTOM LINE at the Lakewood Theatre in Dallas and knowing so many of the cast and crew and how highly they had been talking about it, I went in really expecting, and hoping for a great film. I came out sorely disappointed.
The first thing that indicated that things were only going to get worse, was how bad the audio was. When the characters were talking, the background ambient noise, at times, was much louder and made it very difficult to hear everything. The other aspect, was bad camera work. In one scene near the beginning, two of the characters are in a kitchen talking and the camera slowly tracks in and shakes, unintentionally.
It was almost as if the camera operator forgot that they were tracking on a tiled floor and forgot to take into account, the grooves between each tile and instead of re-taking the shot, they decided to leave it in the film.
The bad audio continued throughout the movie and the characters were not much better. Two of the characters who are in the bar, Ben and Jan, are each married to their spouses but Ben really wants Jan. They kiss, then she gives him a speech on how wrong it is, then they dance for a while, then they sit back down, kiss, she gives another speech and...well, do you see a pattern here? It got so repetitive I was ready to walk out but decided to stay until the end.
I feel that the filmmakers were trying for a story along the lines of Crash, American Graffiti, et al, about a group of characters who come into each other's lives over the course of one evening and the repercussions they have on each other but the writer, Pam Boyd, should have watched American Graffiti or even The Big Chill to get a better understanding of character development.
When the film ended, the director, Matt Posey, got up on stage and apologized to the audience and said the film had audio issues and that they were still working them out. My question to him was why premiere a movie that obviously isn't finished and not wait until all the issues were resolved? I give the filmmakers kudos for actually getting out there and actually producing the movie. As an Indie filmmaker myself for over 25 years, I know how difficult it is to get any film made but the technical issues and a few more re-writes should have been resolved before the film saw the light of day. I know and have worked with most of the people in/on this film but I'm giving my honest opinion.
As a side note, a few years later another version of the film was released. The original was about 90 minutes, the new cut was 45 minutes. I never saw the new version because having watched the original I didn't want to watch any of it again.
Midlothia (2007)
Great Film.
I saw MIDLOTHIA at the 2007 AFI Dallas International Film Festival. I had the pleasure of working with Director and Star Bill Sebastian a few years back on Irish American Ninja (I was the Irish guy in there) and I was very pleased with the outcome on MIDLOTHIA. I know Bill and the rest of the cast and crew worked hard on this drama and it shows. The movie's topics, such as alcoholism, abortion, faithfulness, among others, was handled expertly by Bill and co.
It was a very emotional film about every-day life and the four main leads were terrific. I'd be very surprised if these guys (and gal) didn't go on to bigger projects. As an independent filmmaker myself, I know what goes into making a film, any film and I give top marks to Bill and co. for a terrific heartfelt film.
When Time Ran Out... (1980)
When Time Ran Out.
I can't get over the amount of negative feedback left here. WTRO was indeed the last of the big disaster movies but the movie, as cheesy as it was, still holds up pretty well. Some of the reviews here, i.e. the guy who falls off the helicopter and falls towards the volcano sideways were very funny but you either take it for what it is or you don't. Personally, I thought it was the cast that made this film. Paul Newman, WIlliam Holden, Jacqueline Bisset, Ernest Borgnine and the late, great, James Franciscus.
As an independent filmmaker myself, check out www.lcafilms.com for more information, I've always loved the big disaster movies of the 70's: THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE, THE TOWERING INFERNO, EARTHQUAKE, and yes, even the likes of THE SWARM and WHEN TIME RAN OUT. Irwin Allen had a knack for getting big name stars to appear in his movies and it's sad that this great storyteller, who was once considered the King of Hollywood, was pushed down to the bottom of the barrel. He probably saw WTRO as the film that could relaunch his career but sadly, that never happened.
I don't agree with this trend Hollywood is going through right now where they feel the need to remake every other movie that has been made already but there are a few exceptions. I can't wait to see POSEIDON, Wolfgang Peterson's remake of THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE. What Peterson did was what needed to be done. He got an all-star cast for today, just like Irwin Allen did back in the 70's with all his disaster movies. I would love to remake WHEN TIME RAN OUT today, avoiding so many clichés and bad special effects the original had but I love the premise.
Imagine yourself and your significant other, on holidays on a tropical island and while there, an inactive volcano suddenly erupts and you have a choice. Either stay at the hotel and pray to God the lava won't come your way or trek across the perilous wilderness, hoping that you will be safe on the other side of the island. It's a wonderful movie premise and that's probably where he got all the actors to sign off. I really enjoyed WTRO for the kind of movie it was and especially because of the all-star cast it had. There's only one filmmaker today who seems to be able to gather all-star casts for his movies and that is Uwe Boll.
Unfortunately, his movies seem rushed and the actors always appear to be walking through their parts. They obviously got paid well and that's about it. I would love to remake THE TOWERING INFERNO today and have an all-star cast playing lead roles to supporting roles. It would be great to see the likes of Harrison Ford, Bruce Willis, Tom Hanks, Liam Neeson, Michael Douglas, Sean Connery, Clint Eastwood, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Kate Capshaw and many others in a disaster movie today. If I get my way, you just might!!!