steve-s-2001

"Americana" is the story of a small town somewhere in South Dakota. We meet a large group of eccentric characters -- among them thug Dillon, his girlfriend Mandy and her little brother Cal (who claims he is the reincarnation of Sitting Bull), stuttering waitress Penny Jo, and goofy but kind-hearted vet Lefty. A very valuable Native American artifact goes onto the black market and the chase for it becomes wild and violent involving the folk I just mentioned and many others...

"Americana" is clearly an attempt to emulate Tarantino. And for a while, it does a really good job. The stories and timelines all intertwine nicely. The characters are engaging and the performances are solid (especially Paul Walter Hauser and Sydney Sweeney, who make Lefty and Penny Jo a charming and quirky pairing). However, about 2/3 of the way through, writer/director Tony Tost seems to run out of idea so it's just "everybody shoots." It sort of peters out at the end, which is a shame, since a killer ending would have really elevated this flick.

Overall though, in a world of IP and huge budget messes, "Americana" is a breath of fresh air. Not perfect by any length, but still pretty entertaining and definitely worth checking out and supporting.

"No Tears in Hell" tells the story of Alex and his mother, who live in Alaska. Alex hunts and kills homeless people, and his mother assists him in covering up the crimes, going to the lengths of eating his victims. But Alex's mania goes awry when he sets his eyes on two college students who, like his mother says, will "have people coming to look for them"...

"No Tears in Hell" is inspired by the story of the "Siberian Ripper," Alexander Spesivtsev and his mother. And it is a brutal, harrowing gut punch of a movie. There is no humor in it, the violence is graphic and "in your face." I was incredibly impressed with just about everything in the film, the acting, sound, pacing, filming... everything is top-notch and delivers a movie that you will feel after it's done.

Solid recommendation from me. If you want a campy, "fun" horror flick, steer clear. But if you're ready for a brutal, no-holds-barred horror film, check it out.

"Skillhouse" begins with Carter Swick and his sister Lauren filming a video for a social media platform called "Triller." They are attacked and it is a media sensation, but three months later the attacker is back and this time he has kidnapped ten people for his "Social Media Game"...

"Skillhouse" is another in a long line of "Psycho kidnaps influencers and makes them compete for "Likes" for their lives" movies. All the typical tropes are here -- incredibly annoying characters that we hate from the get-go, a psycho who can somehow control time and space, long rambling speeches about "This is not real life" and "Is this what you want to see", thousands of people watching without calling the police, "rules" that change on a whim, etc, etc... And I'm not sure the writer really "gets" social media, if you watch the movie you will definitely say, "No way in real life that person got the "least views" of that entire group."

On the plus side, though, the body count is impressive with some gruesome kills, and only a couple of shoddy CGI effects to hurt the set pieces. Overall, there's nothing really new in "Skillhouse" and there are plenty of better "Influencer Kidnapped" movies out there, but it moves along pretty quickly. Nothing original or special, just sort of "OK."