Skunkyrate Gripping story with well-crafted characters

Micransix Crappy film

Portia Hilton Blistering performances.

Zandra The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

pdopd Transitioning from youth to adulthood, and finding ones self isn't always easy. The genius to keeping my attention in Dallas was gently nudging me through my past by watching someone else through tough times. The movie plays well on the decisions to be made in regards to cultural clashes; city vs.country, divorce and re-marriage, throw in the temptation of drugs,lawlessness honesty and making good impressions.My interest in Dallas stayed at a high level throughout, thanks to the timing with cinematic flashes and real life situations being addressed honestly .

Bruce Coughran In Scott Caan's first feature, Dallas 362, you can see the same thing as was seen in his first play ('Almost Love'), the raw elements of a budding talent. Caan, son of actor James Caan, wrote and directed the deceptively simple buddy movie and in which he also stars along with Shawn Hatosy, Jeff Goldblum, and Kelly Lynch. The film, shot on a low budget on Locations in LA, manages to create a world of its own, and one in which you finally care about these flawed characters, and without falling into any of a number of possible clichés of this kind of filmmaking.The film follows two close friends, Rusty (played by Hatosy) and Dallas (Caan), who call themselves `brothers' and are constantly becoming involved in bar fights, repeatedly being bailed out of jail by Rusty's mother, played by Kelly Lynch. Rusty wants to grow up but can't seem to break out of this pattern. Goldblum plays the mother's boyfriend who is a therapist and begins seeing Rusty as a favor to his mother. The obvious complications of this triangle come out early and are resolved in a very honest and truthful manner, and Goldblum gives a surprisingly fresh and satisfying performance.The relationship of the friends is obvious from the beginning, and the fact that you see the problems coming makes them no less compelling. In fact, Caan has succeeded in something that is really quite difficult. As Dallas begins to dabble in ideas of larger crimes, we see coming the time when guns will come out (and they do), but even as it all happens he manages to keep the focus on the characters and not on the action. We care about what will happen to these flawed characters. This is a real strength of this film. In fact, all of the performances are good here (including a nice turn by Val Lauren). And the film has the great virtue that it is evenly paced and not overly long. Caan manages the tricky task of working on both sides of the camera well, although this is definitely more a movie of characters and performances rather than a cinematic vision. The photography is effective for the story and shows some of the budget constraints, but it also does not call attention to itself. Undoubtedly Caan will develop as a director over time, but this is a very respectable first effort.

JOSABURROWS This was 1 of 4 films I was able to see at Cinevegas. Dallas 362 was the film that seemend to have all the attention, opening night, stars, press, etc. Honestly I went in expecting not to like it, I mean who cares about characters in which all they do night after night is get into fights, I'm just tired of movies about young characters who need to be jolted with superficial adolescent activity to create drama. But Scott Caan has been great in all the other movies I've seen him in so I put my preconceived notions aside. I mean we're not supposed to like everything the characters do. The film started out well and I was getting into it. The first act was great, but as it went on it dragged just a bit and lost some of its lure in the second and third acts. The photography was too in your face, too upstaging, I mean the 70's are over and independent filmmaking should evolve in terms of the look and cinematography. But in terms of the story content, it was well shoot by Phil Parmet and well suited for the characters lives. Nevertheless it is an extremely well done first film, a gritty film with some heart. Starring and Directing must be a tough go and he really did a good job. Not the best film at the festival, but a very good one.

dslacker Saw the premiere of this film at the CineVegas Film Festival. It was written, directed, and co-stars Scott Caan. Its the stylishly shot, very well written story of two friends in their mid-20's who are aimlessly drinking and bar brawling their time away. One of them, Rusty (Shawn Hatosy) is beginning to recognise the futility of their lifestyle while Dallas (Caan's character) seems to be headed only deeper into trouble. Rusty has support from his mother (played by Kelly Lynch) and a therapist (well done by Jeff Goldblum). Mom and the therapist are romantically involved adding a funny and bizarre twist to the story. No spoilers here - this is all revealed in the first reel. This film stands out because of the writing and the acting. Caan's semi-autobiographical screenplay is laced with lines that made the audience laugh out loud - dialogue original enough that it seems to come from real life, not a Hollywood script factory. There are a few scenes intended to 'reveal' character that drag a bit. The fine cast is capable of doing with less, not more writing. Caan told the screening audience that he wrote the movie in about a month - yet it seems to be one of those first screenplays that was years in the making. Either way, it led to a film that's far better than 90% of the stuff now showing at your local mutiplex. It deserves to be picked up for theatrical distribution followed by a long run on one of the premium movies channels. Please, Hollywood: More of this and less of 2 Fast 2 Dumberer.