En defensa de mi hijo

Today I enjoyed watching Concrete Canyons again and was pleased by the slower place and gentle feeling the whole thing has. I've seen this a few times and though it is not a nail biter it's a pretty good way to spend a few relaxing hours.

The score by Stu Goldberg added to that atmosphere with music that is understated with good melodies and pulls all the right strings. He creates pleasant musical support that stays in the background where it belongs and adds just enough tension when in the right places without overshadowing the on-screen action.

Like another review above stated, the similarities between Ben Sloane and Jesse Stone were there, the last names even rhyme, and there are other similarities. They are both good looking large men, with gentle understated strength who show a conscience and quietly and unassumingly do what they need to do, and they both have considerable appeal.

Polly Shannon is attractive in a Irish elf-like way and is a good foil for Scott Patterson; her character is sceptical and questioning, but not unwilling to learn and change her views once she researches his background and learns of his many successes. All in all, not bad character development for a low budget movie.

Another reviewer was more harsh about the clichés but it was easy for me to overlook them and just enjoy the film for what if offered, hopefully more people will feel the same way. It was good that they resisted the obligatory fall/spring romance cliché' between Sloane and Kincaid that most would have added just for sex appeal. They instead, concentrated on the theme of a family in a crisis trying to find help, hope and redemption and I felt it was the right thing to do.

I would gladly watch any sequels that they might make and be happy to see what happens with the characters.

A retired rural sheriff goes to the big city to clear his son of suspected murder ... along the way he meets a snot nose wet behind the ears female detective that couldn't smell manure on her shoes ... he also learns his son hes been married for 2 years and he has a grandson ... from his observations at the crime scene he derives the info he needs to start solving the case ... he's an accomplished law man and will get to the answers ...

Great script and decent acting. Retired sheriff Sloane is a badass and has been out of touch with his son for three years. His son is accused of murder so he goes to Chicago to track him down. He does his own investigation and runs into trouble with the local police. There is a lot more this which makes it interesting, but don't want to spoil the movie.

Cookie cutter movie. Standard ex-sheriff haunted by the past drowing in a bottle. The storyline isn't horrible and with a better actress, the movie might have been decent.

Good background noise while wrapping gifts, but OMG, the detective's (Kincaid) acting is so forced and fake that it's like nails on a chalkboard. She tries to come off as authorative, but it doesn't work AT ALL! Her lines are ridiculous.

Great that the detective is a woman, bad that they make her character so dumb. So tired of cop shows making the female detectives out to be clueless so they can be rescued by the manly hero.

For starters, the acting in this seems pretty good. I rarely blame the actors in these movies as it's not their fault -- they're just doing a gig. Anyhow, Showcase has been playing these terrible movies shot in Vancouver at least twice a week lately (gaaaahhd!) You would think these made-for-TV movies were written by 12 year old boys. There's so many clichés like when this guy Sloan (what an original macho name, isn't it, and he wears a cowboy hat and jean jacket) arrives in Chicago (yes, he even wears the hat and jacket in the city), which judging by the drizzle is actually Vancouver no doubt, he goes to the police station and this sort of pretty detective woman (when are police detectives female and pretty -- btw, her name is Kincaid, as in Ruben Kinkaid, manager of the Partridge Family, another original name) says to him right off the top, some cliché like "This is Chicago, Sloan, go back ^&%ing sheep in the Andes". Obviously she doesn't say exactly that but you get the idea, it's like one of these 'This is the big city Sloan, you're not back in rural Vancouver'. I'm not going to waste my time watching the rest of it because I'm pretty sure I know what happens -- she'll start getting impressed by his tracker skills and they'll do the nasty etc. etc. Waste your time watching it but don't say you weren't warned.