Loteria Fatal

The story had potential, but it went from unlikely to implausible. The actors were good and I was interested in most of the characters, except the guy that actually won the lottery who was a cliche snob with a tie. A lot of the dialogue was poorly written. It didn't help that there was a lot of it. Then the story descended into a morass that got less and less interesting as it got less and less likely.

I don't recommend this at all. I still gave it a couple of stars for the idea and for some of the acting. I also thought the director and cinematographer did a decent job with what was obviously a low budget.

Short review: I've seen this before where if a film was able to clock out at around the 60-70 minute mark it would be perfect, but the expectation/demand to reach 90 minutes kills it. 'Your Lucky Day' is a fine enough film, but it doesn't quite have enough in the chamber to stretch the concept out to 90 minutes.

The film has a nice simple premise and a single-setting location that works well. The characters are all pretty bleak people, but they're entertaining enough for the most part. Everything is solid, but nothing is spectacular - and for that reason I fear this film won't be overly memorable for me. 6.5/10.

Drug dealer Sterling (Angus Cloud) gets rolled. He is one of the patrons in a convenience store when a customer discovers that he won the $156 million lottery jackpot. Sterling decides to steal the ticket and all heck brings loose.

I don't watch Euphoria, but I do remember Angus Cloud's death. There is a powerful unstable energy about him. He is very cinematic and magnetic. I completely buy his impulsiveness and recklessness. He also has an endearing quality and is able maintain the rooting interest. I like the first half. Sterling has no plan with the robbery and the story flows from that. I assume that the rest of the people are partly playing Sterling to stay alive. Whatever plans they come up with is to appease Sterling. That part works. The problem is that there is no perfect crime in this after the messy killing. That doesn't matter since Sterling is not the sharpest mind. The crooked cops are a big problem. They would never get away with it. Sterling can have no plan. If the cops have no good plan, then the movie suffers and it's bad writing. This is half-good. The second half loses me.

Predictable, the acting was horrid. Sometimes you get lucky with these movies with no name actors and they turn out great. This was not one of those times. The pregnant girl was hard to watch. She is the main reason I fast forwarded. It had potential, unfortunately they didn't see that. If they would have evolved it outside of the store, it would have been a lot better. Would have been cool to see someone cash it in then try to rip everyone off by not following through with the payment and THEN everything hitting the fan. I wasn't expecting it to all stay within the store itself. Just needed more structure to give it a better base.

Sad to hear the main dude passed from an overdose.

These actors' performances stand out, making this indie film gem looking at class, race, etc. By Dan Brown stand tall. Jessica Garza as Ana Marlene did wonderful, and is the scene stealer! Angus Cloud begin the story as a small time drug dealer, Sterling who happens to be present when a lottery winner get a "golden" ticket, looking at a jackpot over 100 million.

All of the film takes place at a Los Angeles corner store, owed by Amir played by Mousa Hussein Kaiser. Sterling tries to get the ticket from a winner, Mr. Laird played by Spencer Garrett when tragedy strikes as a cop accidentally shoots the wrong person. The tension is raised with other captives in this store hold up.

This film as an action thiller, evokes the tension from even John Carpenter's Assault on 13 th Percint. There are plot twists, in the midst of the story. The question of the haves and have nots, making this film to take unexpected turns.

This film was dedicated to Angus Cloud, who died recently in 2023. Remember if indie films that critique issues of racism and classism, are not your choice, this film maybe not for you.