ghostlander Reviews

Killshot (2008)

Excellent cast + Terrible scenario = Mediocre result

[6/10 · 26 April 2009]

I've watched this film after getting suggested by a friend of mine. First of all, I did take a look at the cast: Mickey Rourke, Rosario Dawson, Diane Lane, Tom Jane... I thought that I couldn't go wrong even with Rourke and Dawson alone like in Sin City, but I was mistaken.

Rourke pretends to be a Native Indian, and does his job real good, but he is no Native Indian even nearly. The character of Rosario Dawson is wasted totally, you can cut it off and forget easily. Diane Lane did her part just fine. Tom Jane tried to perform like a super-man from The Punisher, but he was clearly no supposed to.

The story line is predictable extremely. Even though the whole thing starts up pretty promising, it degrades in quality quickly and leads to a dumb, really dumb end. I cannot believe that a professional hit-man can do so many mistakes one after another. And I do know for sure what a close shot of Remington 870 means.

So, we have a mediocre thriller to watch once upon a time and never return. Without Rourke and Lane it wouldn't even score 6/10 in my opinion.

The Grift (2008)

Entertaining, intelligent, well done!

[8/10 · 25 November 2008]

In brief, this film is about a family of crooks who own a house somewhere outside a small town in the post-WWII United States. They have developed numerous ways to swindle money and goods out of various strangers who happen to stop by their house which looks like a regular country-side family motel. Be sure, they're real masters of this dangerous but profitable business. However, some serious misunderstandings and suspicions grow up between the family members, and here comes the final game with a nice twist at the end.

The story line is very good as well as the acting. Sara Downing (Kate) is the central character and her performance is quite impressive, but I would say that my favourite actor in this film is William McNamara (Hugh Babcock aka Tulsa). His role is short but you wouldn't find the final really amusing without it. In general, this is a very well done low budget film.

Splinter (I) (2008)

A worthless piece of boring crap

[2/10 · 19 November 2008]

I cannot believe that I'm the first person to comment on this film by saying that it's a piece of crap. There is absolutely no back story, no interesting dialogues, no good acting or effects either. The whole film takes place on a country side road to nowhere with a petroleum station in the middle. Some unknown disease turns people and animals into zombie-like creatures. Survive or die. Plain and stupid, seen it all before. Don't expect any really scary scenes: all monster attacks are filmed before and after with no camera job in between, so feel free to use your imagination. The ending is dumb especially: survivors leave the burning petroleum station by feet while there is an undamaged police car nearby with working radio! In other words, avoid this worthless piece of boring crap!

Rigged (2008)

Worth watching definitely!

[8/10 · 15 November 2008]

The story line of this film is about underground boxing. Rebecca Neuenswander acts as a Katherine Parker, a young but promising fighter. Another key character is Michael Dublin (Chad Ortis), a young but experienced promoter. Not a hard guess that this couple has to get through this film in some interesting way.

All right, let me tell you what you won't see in this low budget project. There are no outstanding special effects, no expensive decorations, no catching breath stunts. At the same time, keep in mind that this film isn't just about fights for money, though Rebecca has done an excellent action job while standing against and knocking out numerous tough guys (a matter of taste and fighting experience whether you buy this or not, but I wouldn't say it's impossible totally). First of all, this film is about real life, real relationships and that bitter feeling when you've got nothing to lose, really nothing...

Alone in the Dark 2 (2008 Video)

An absolute crap, don't waste your time.

[1/10 · 22 October 2008]

This film is a complete disaster. The story line is stupid unbelievably, the acting is very poor with an exception of Lance Henriksen probably, and the action scenes are just bad. I've spent the first half an hour trying to figure out when this film starts to make some real sense. During the next half an hour, my hopes have vanished completely and I just stared at the screen feeling damn bored until given up and pulled the disc out of my player. I don't know what's the ending and don't want to.

This pseudo-sequel is of no comparison the original release with Christian Slater, Tara Reid and Stephen Dorff. It wasn't perfect too, but deserved for 7 out of 10 in my opinion. This one has almost no connection to it, and I wonder why it's called "Alone in the Dark II" instead of "The Dead Witch and Dumb Losers" or something like.

Some doors should better remain closed. Some scenarios should better remain unfilmed. Beware and stay away.

Prairie Fever (2008 Video)

Quite a boring western to watch.

[4/10 · 18 September 2008]

What to say, this film has nothing outstanding to offer. The whole story line is plain and simple as a brick. The ex-sheriff Biggs (Kevin Sorbo) became a drunkard after his wife was killed during a robbery. He has agreed to deliver three ex-wives with some serious mental issues to the railway station in the neighborous city where two of them, Blue and Lettie, were supposed to have a ride back home and the third one, Abigail, to a psychiatrical hospital or whatever. There are three pairs of additional primary story characters: card-sharps Monte James and Olivia, farmers brothers Frank and Charlie, and two criminals who have some past offences with Biggs.

In general, Sorbo looked not even nearly as close as a drunkard, though he tried hard. The same applied to all three ex-wives who didn't look real crazy. Farmers and criminals behaved like no-brainers. A real joy was to watch the card-sharps: Monte James (Lance Henriksen) and Olivia (Jamie Anne Allman) have made this film, not Sorbo definitely. Without them this boring western wouldn't score even 4 out of 10.

The Men Who Fell (2007)

Extremely poor story line.

[3/10 · 30 July 2008]

The film started not bad but turned into a complete nonsense quickly and finished with some idiotism. I don't mind the low budget, but the whole story line is plain awful and nothing compensates for its total ugliness, though acting and costumes are quite good. Even the initial scenes of the earth devastated terribly by some kind of a cataclysm bring rather a disappointment. There are too many scenes shot with no apparent purpose and too many events left unexplained.

In general, it's just another amateur work which you could watch for free to kill some time and forget about it after all. If these boys and girls ever decide to produce another sci-fi film like this one, they should find a much better writer and place their characters in the clearest light.