Little Dixie

Now, I had actually not heard about this 2023 action thriller from writer and director John Swab prior to sitting down to watch it. But with it being an action thriller with Frank Grillo in the leading role, there was a certain expectation for it to hopefully be a fair enough movie.

The storyline in "Little Dixie" turned out to be watchable for what it was. However, it was a rather generic and somewhat predictable action thriller. So writer and director John Swab didn't exactly bring anything new to the genre, but instead opted to play it safe and utilize every single trobe of the how-to-make-an-action-thriller-guidebook. But hey, if you are a hardcore action thriller fan, then you will find some enjoyment here, of that I am sure.

The acting performances in "Little Dixie" were fair. You know what you get with Frank Grillo, and he did carry the movie adequately here, despite of not having much to work with really. It was also nice to see the likes of Peter Greene and Annabeth Gish on the cast list. I wonder what writer John Swab was thinking when he created the Raphael 'Cuco' Prado character, as it was the epitome and caricature of a Mexican gang member. And the way that actor Beau Knapp walked, talked and his entire body language was just an exaggerated caricature of something you would see in a gang related computer game. It was just difficult to take that character serious.

There was a fair amount of action in the movie, at least to keep the otherwise mediocre storyline afloat. And it was actually nicely enough executed action sequences.

All in all, then "Little Dixie" was suitable for a single viewing, though you're not in for anything grand. There simply isn't sufficient contents to the storyline to support more than a single viewing, however.

My rating of "Little Dixie" lands on a very bland five out of ten stars.

One of the bigger discrepancies from avg rating to mine (4.9 vs 8). I wanted simple straightforward action, it said it was simple straightforward action, it gave me simple straightforward action. I am satisfied.

Not a crazy plot, but a badass you can cheer for. It lives up to the trailer. I am surprised the people who gave it such a low rating watched it, it's not like it pretended to be one thing and showed you another.

Sometimes I like simple bad ass getting the bad guys. It didn't have a lot of lulls. It's right in line with what you think a Frank Grillo movie would be, a bad ass kicking ass.

Enjoy, have fun.

I mean it definitely deserves a 5 . For the basic screenplay and b grade budget. But for frank Grillo fine azz I amma have to bump it up 1 more and make it 6/10. His fine Azz is just aging like fine wine. Sad to see him getting old it's showing. Anyways coming to this boring movie it was Saturday night saw it as a new release again frank Grillo count me in I can watch his fine Azz on mute. Story garbage screenplay beyond garbage acting ugh no comment. B grade Espanola movie. Give it a miss unless you want a glimpse of frank Grillo fine ass ....worth a watch if ur a fan if not give it a miss trust me. Ur doing urself a favor.

I would liken this film to a John Wick light movie. If you like that kind of plot, then it works. If you want character development, believability, incredible acting and some deep meaning then don't watch it.

If you like a well paced action movie with a high kill count and a decent plot that sticks to it then you will enjoy this movie.

It's made in a B movie vein where the score and kills and things like that are basic. It's entertaining and again if you like seeing bad guys get taken out at a high volume and some decent acting then you'll enjoy this movie.

Overall it's just a B action movie with a high kill count and some pretty good cinematography. So I enjoyed it as a light viewing experience. 6/10.

I'm not sure what writer, director and producer John Swab was thinking trying to knock-off a bunch of "already done and much better films". Although flawed, I still enjoyed two of Swab's previous films, Body Brokers and Candy Land, because they had what this film severely lacked, originality.

Filmmakers are supposed to get better at their craft, not worse, and this over-indulgent cliched nonsense is a slap to Frank Grillo, who deserves much better than this. Grillo was stellar at his lead role in Boss Level, and deserves lead roles in great films, not this nonsense.

Swab decided to add every cliche with lots of filler and very little substance within his cringeworthy sub-plots, that took away from the story instead of adding to it. I admired Swab's style in Candy Land, but in this one, his writing and directing was lazy and rushed.

The first two acts were suspenseful, intriguing, and had great flow and continuity, but as soon as the third act started - at the drag queen karaoke bar, it went off the rails. It was just all plot holes and nonsense, that lost all credibility with its lack of creativity and originality.

It's too bad, because the cinematography was excellent, as was the score, and all casting and performances were on point. But all that isn't enough to say the slowly paced 105 min runtime was an engaging and entertaining ride throughout the entire film, only the first two-thirds of it. So it's only a 5/10 from me, but could've easily been a 7 or 8 had that third act been better.