GetPapa Far from Perfect, Far from Terrible

Tedfoldol everything you have heard about this movie is true.

Aubrey Hackett While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

Cody One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

minigarments Okay, so family on vacation that is terrorized by some local thugs while on the highway. So, what was the catalyst that led up to the events. Was it the hotheaded father (MacDonald) who acted like an ass in the diner while confronting the thug who almost ran his kid who was standing in the middle of the road down? Or was it the nubile 16 year old daughter of the other main character(lambert) who tries to seduce the same thug in the diner's bathroom after seeing him take a leak in the toilet. Granted she didn't know who was at at the time but seriously, what the you know what was she thinking?! She works the creep all up and then realizes what a mistake she made after the fact. And all because she is bored.So with those scenarios on the table the movie quickly escalates to Daddy #! eventually biting the dust in a blaze of glory after being challenged to a game of chicken by the thugs in the El Dorado. The rest of our weary travelers(minus daddy #2 who is beat in the head with a baseball bat) are then taken hostage by the thugs after the main thug decides he can't leave any witnesses. After some time in a locked room thug comes to collect from nubile 16 year old, keeps her as hostage while going on wild car ride with his long lost brother, and, well you'll have to watch the rest of the movie to see what happens; good luck because it's hard to find. I thought the acting was okay. I liked Alexondra Lee(Party of Five, Callie) as Ashley. Whatever happened to such a talented actress? She, Scheffer, Brolin, Arquette and Adrienne have more screen time that the rest of the cast so we get to know them. The ending was good. If you're looking for a good movie to waste an afternoon with try this. You can find it online if you look hard enough.

callanvass Glen's (Christopher McDonald) young son (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is almost killed by a maniac on the road. Glen insists on confronting the culprit (Craig Sheffer). He gets into a heated discussion with him at a restaurant. Glen is tragically burned to death in a car accident during a showdown with cars, and it's up to Jack (Christopher Lambert) to get revenge, especially when his family gets in dangerThis started off very auspiciously. It was intense, interesting, and suspenseful. There was nothing complicated about it, it was an old fashioned set-up, and it was working beautifully. Christopher McDonald's death scene is one of the most realistically disturbing death scenes I've seen. I felt for JGL in that scene, I could feel the emotion. I was really beginning to wonder why this movie is rated so low. My question became answered, not too long after. The first half is an above average thriller, but sadly, there is a second half as well. It tosses away all the progress it made for unimaginative storytelling, and extremely poor character development. Too many characters disappear during key times, all for the sake of focusing on the villains. Christopher Lambert's screen time isn't as big as you might think. He has a substantial part, don't get me wrong, but he disappears too often. His "everyday" man had potential, but it's written so poorly. Lambert tries, but he's defeated by the script. Craig Sheffer is the biggest problem for me in this movie. He has WAY too much screen time, especially when his role is as mundane as it was. He did these weird facial ticks, and gives a whiny, unconvincing performance. I wanted to backhand him one. They try to portray him as crazy, but he was just an imbecilic baby as far as I'm concerned. Josh Brolin has an unmemorable early role as a sensitive person. David Arquette does what he does best, be eccentric. Joseph Gordon-Levitt shows why he's such a sought after actor these days. It was very impressive, considering his age. Alexondra Lee does her best Scarlett Johansson impression, and even resembles her. The ending is so routine, so conventional, that it angered me. Final Thoughts: I was going to give this movie a rating in the upper 4's, but I really liked a bit of the first half. There are some memorable scenes, but Craig Sheffer & routine plotting ruin it. It's worth a watch I suppose, but I wouldn't go out of my way. Its average5/10

bob_meg This one reminds me of the outer limits ultra-DIY stuff that Miramax was experimenting with in the '80s before they went "legit" with "respectable" art-house fare around 1989."The Road Killers" is from a few years after that but you can still see the yearning to be on the cool, cutting edge of the alternafence. It's also extremely interesting (at first, at least) because you get to see sneak peeks at very young versions of some of today's biggest actors (Josh Brolin, David Arquette, Chris MacDonald, a 7 or 8-year old Joseph Gordon-Levitt).This film doesn't take itself seriously in the least, and that could very well have been intentional as it seems to deliberately ape the sadistic-teen-hoods-go-on-a-rampage genre ala "Hot Rods to Hell." The lead thug, Craig Sheffer (never a very good actor, unfortunately, and a very ham-fisted villain in many flicks) does and says all the hateful things at all the right times, but can't get beyond his ridiculous Motley Crue wig (I really hope it is a wig, for his sake). Brolin and Arquette have scant little to do, and the "good guys," with the exception of MacDonald, never get us very revved up to root for them in the first place.The script is a complete disaster with long, intermittent stretches where there is no action whatsoever, and the characters are too shallow and boring to expound upon. This is supposed to be an action picture, but it ends up as more of an overlong parody of one.A huge, wasted opportunity, as nobody had the guts to make deliberately different mainstream films back in the day, except Miramax. Now, they wouldn't touch this kind of stuff with a ten foot pole, unless it was to be helmed by Rodrigeuz or Tarantino.

Bloodwank Road Flower, Road Flower. A neat name, evocative and enigmatic, it just doesn't quite hook you in. Centred on a family travelling through the desert who p!ss off some travelling scumbags and end up in all sorts of trouble, it's a fun b grade joint with a few rewards for those with the patience for this kind of thing. And worth noting that this is one of those little seen b pictures that appear to have an eclectic cast through the passage of time, with Michelle Forbes, Josh Brolin, David Arquette and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, all of which have gone on to some kind of wider fame. Gordon-Levitt doesn't make much of an impression here, probably since he was pretty young at the time, but Brolin and Arquette both do well, with the latter being an infinity less irritating than he was in the Scream franchise despite here playing what on paper should be a very irritating character indeed, a sort of dopey idiot savant type in thrall to the main baddie, a wonderfully snarling and maniacal Craig Sheffer. Brolin is a conscience of sorts to the general villains, and pretty sympathetic too, off centre enough to be a little creepy, but with a scared likability to him. The nominal lead here is Christopher Lambert, who is pretty wooden, not especially good but has a certain presence, watchable enough. The film is at its best when dealing with its antagonists though, and the writing is often pretty entertaining, some dialogue made me chuckle out loud and I was generally smiling, there are even one or two surprises in amongst the formulaic set up too. The film moves at a smart pace, looks pretty nice and is even intermittently stylish, too many punches are pulled in terms of the violence but it still muster effective tension, it's a pretty fun ride while it lasts. Director Deran Sarafian clearly knows his way around this sort of film but the action is sometimes irritatingly edited and the film is too skewed in favour of its villains for the audience to feel much for the imperilled family. The directors dad Richard (Vanishing Point) pops up briefly and brother Tedi wrote the script, so its kind of a Sarafian family picnic. This film sure ain't a patch on Vanishing Point though. Anyhoo, this is worth a look if it turns up on late night TV or any other time where you have nothing better to do. Won't change anyones world, but it is kinda cool at times. 6/10 or something.