Appleton

Appleton is a hyper obscure thriller, at time of writing it has only 20 ratings on IMDB so I'm "Blessed" as one of the few to have seen it.

It tells the story of an infamous character who has made his presence known once again in small town America. Many people have connections to him for varying reasons including the daughter of the former Sherriff whom the man in question murdered years before.

Looking much like the vastly superior Fargo (1996) this slow paced drama never seems to gain any momentum. The characters are lifeless and interchangeable, the plot never really comes together and truth be told I found myself almost falling asleep throughout.

I didn't want lots of action, I didn't want to see gun fights and explosions.........I just wanted to feel engaged and at no point did I come close.

Terrible unthrilling thriller that deserves its obscurity.

The Good:

Some great visuals

Well scored

The Bad:

Outstandingly boring

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

If you get very drunk and squint your eyes you can pretend you're watching Fargo (1996)

I live in Green Bay, WI and that is 26 minutes away from Appleton, WI. Appleton is a large city and is on the Fox river along with Green Bay and other small towns between in the fox valley. This movie is garbage with no accuracy to the geography of my state what so ever. One girl mentioned she "came down from LaCrosse" to live in the small town of appleton. If the writer did some research it would be clear that LaCrosse is on the southern border of WI. You would come up from LaCrosse. All the shots of scenery are clearly in a pine forest. That would be upper WI hours north of Green Bay.

I can't agree with the extremely negative reviews, so I feel obliged to balance the things. This is a solid indie movie that starts confusedly and unsure of the proper pace, develops nicely for the longest part, and ends a bit messy and in the underwhelming way. Most of the characters played competently (I particularly liked Marv and Miller), but the female cast was on the weaker side. Very competent cinematography, decent directing and editing, adequate sets, unnoticeable music score...All in all, still worth watching, and not only for the indie lovers. The score hovers between 5 and 6 out of 10.

First of all, as a person who lives in Appleton it's weird because Appleton is a more urban city. Second it was pretty boring when I attempted to watch. The filming took place in Greenville, which is a borer town of Appleton, so why not call it Greenville. Could have tried to film in the actual city at least. Take this review with a grain of salt. BUT JUST SO YOU KNOW APPLETON DOES NOT LOOK LIKE WHATS IN THE MOVIE, THATS GREENVILE.

This movie is gorgeous. Every shot is a visual feast. I really thought it was quite beautiful, for a small budget indie film that is also the directors first foray, honestly, I am impressed. I get it, the plot isn't the strongest, but it's not an abomination either. It lags a bit, and I wish we had more screen time with the antagonist, the actor playing him was one of the better ones. I really recommend watching it and hope this director can one day sink his teeth into something truly meaty- but this was a very good place to start.