Lifeline

The movie started well, caracters study was good, the actors were decent, but then I realized the movie was dragging and not wanting to get to the the fulcral point of the narrative. When I realized the core plot only started being developed almost at the end of the run-time, I felt something was off. It ended being a run of the mill twilight zone wannabe but very stretched out. The message had good intentions, but it was written in a very forced artificial way. This could have been a much better movie, if it had gone the sci-fi route, but I guess they didn't know what they were aiming for, or maybe they did, but the execution was flawed. It has a very decent photography, and it's a shame how it ended so abruptly. It kept me hooked until the end, but the cheap ending, and some redundant micro plots, didn't do it for me. The plot holes were also lazy writing. With a bit more effort in the narrative, they could have had an Indy gem.

Brady Morrell and Brian Price have written a superb screenplay, and despite the dark themes of childhood trauma and suicide, the writers manage to convey a message of hope and human sympathy. It draws one in from the very beginning and sustains the viewers emotional engagement throughout. The acting is really excellent, while the main actor, Josh Stewart, is especially credible in the demanding role of the suicide hotline host. The supporting cast is equally up the task of maintaining the dramatic intensity throughout. Morell and Price have done a truly remarkable job in crafting a very satisfying and indeed enriching drama.

It's both good and bad that when smaller independent movies get seen they have their big supporters. Because when someone over-exaggerates how good something is, as Newton stated, there will be an equal and opposite reaction. So with a flurry of 10s come a flurry of 1s. I suppose they will eventually balance themselves out as more people see this movie.

And it DOES deserve to be seen.

It's a good use of a small budget, a clever idea, and while the script has weaknesses, it has some powerful moments as well. My biggest complaint is that the red herrings don't quite hold up by the end of the movie. While the audience should be pondering the interesting questions the story brings up, it leaves too much room for debating the tiny details that weren't really the point. But in a movie like this details hold a lot of weight.

I will say, perhaps the best part of the whole thing was Josh Stewart's performance in the lead role. I liked it so much I went out and watched The Collector and it's sequel with him in them. He carried those movies well also, but this is a better role. He plays his character with a quiet confidence with a hint of regret that is perfect for the story.

Go into this believing it's somewhere between a 6 and an 8 and you won't be too disappointed.

The most rewarding aspect of this film is how slowly, seamlessly and believably one is drawn into the "aha" moments of the main character's realizations about his own reality. Josh Stewart's acting was on parr with a great screenplay, drawing you into his life and his relationships with warmth and sincerity that made you feel like his friend, and a bystander all at once. The location for almost the entire film is a relatable, plainer-than-plain office building setting, which is a great contrast to the level of emotional impact the film has on its audience. I look forward to watching this again!

I didn't make this movie to the end. I got too bored.

The synopsis seemed good. A suicide-prevention call-center worker gets a strange call from someone who seems to know all about him. The setting puts him all alone on New Years Eve. I also like the lead actor, who starred in the much-superior "The Collector."

I thought the movie would've worked as a straight popcorn flick: he just gets a call from some deranged person or evil supernatural entity. That's the easy direction that they could (and should) have gone to make a fun flick. Instead, they go in another direction , with all sort of flashbacks to the main character's childhood. I won't spoil, but the mysterious caller represents some sort of psychological message (or something alone those lines). There's just talk and talk and talk

Again, I tuned out around the 45-min mark

3/10.