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The Year in Pictures

Jack, a young boy witnesses his parents murder and is forced to survive in an underground illegal child betting ring.

Top Quality acting, directing, script and costumes

Nickel Children, a steampunk western winner

Great effects and visual focus. Perfect steam-punk display.

&quot;Nickel Children&quot;: SteamPunk/Sci-Fi Western Short Film (minimal spoilers, but there is some suggestion that the victims will have their day, which could be considered a spoiler to some degree) Imagine a place where an &quot;Indiana Jones&quot; like vigilante goes after the most evil imaginable, yet classic, bad man from the old west, who is hiding a secret weapon right out of classic science fiction horror films. Now picture it set in the one place and time on earth where everyone, and probably the family pets even, would need to have a pair of adventurer&#39;s goggles on them at all times, the dust bowl time period in Kansas. As this is a &quot;Steampunk Film&quot; the goggles are naturally very decorative and science fiction looking including one pair (that the vigil ante&#39;s partner uses) that appear to be the most elaborate pair of magnifying, telescopic goggles I have ever seen, and I assure you I have seen a lot of them! The acting ranged from good/very good (depending on your interpretation of the director&#39;s intent) on the part of some of the minor actors to some of the finest acting I have ever seen on the part of the stars. The script was also tight, well written, well thought out, and well executed, as it must be when you have only 16 minutes to tell a gripping tale. All short films try for that perfect blend, but few come up to this one&#39;s high standards of delivering this combination that can make even a very short film something to remember! Amanda Bailey plays Anastasia, the vigil ante looking for her stolen son. She is one of the most experienced of the cast, and she brings this to the screen well. She is exciting, intense, and superb! Easton Lee McCuiston plays Jack, a quiet, polite, young boy, whose parents are murdered, apparently just to steal him for the child fighting arena. When I asked the director about the very emotionally restrained performance of this character he gave a very sound and artistic explanation for how this character was directed to perform: &quot;Easton did a fantastic job at keeping that somber, blank expression, of a kid whose been almost completely traumatized by the events he&#39;s witnessed. Almost catatonic shock, he&#39;s going through the motions, but not really understanding what is happening. &quot; Michael Venter plays his father who manages to convey, without even speaking, courage, despair, love, and tragedy when trying to calculate what will give his family the best chances when a gunslinger comes to destroy them. While his part was brief, it was very good and very memorable. Jeremy Snowden plays the evil gunslinger (referred to as &quot;Sherrif&quot; in review info) that rules over a network of child sex slave and gladiator slave rings throughout the territory. He gives a chilling and very believable performance with excellent attention to even very small details of facial expression, body language, and range of emotions conveyed by the eyes. I was very impressed with the actress that played Jack&#39;s mother. To give you some idea of how talented this actress really is, she managed to convey deep love and protectiveness for her son, love and admiration for her man, thanks that he did not object when she gave the lion&#39;s share of their meager food to their child, then fear, grief, shock, and finally abject terror in every possible way without so much as a single spoken line. I had to catch my breath again from that alone just to be able to focus on the core film which followed and we were still in the first two minutes or so of the film with almost no spoken lines! The film only got better from there, but first, let&#39;s discuss some of the other actors in the film. While the subject of child slavery, especially for sexual purposes, is, or at least should be, repulsive to us all, it was handled about as tastefully as it can be and still get across the level of evil the vigil ante is up against. Besides, what sci-fi/steam punk/western story could possibly be more enjoyable than seeing the worst scum imaginable get beaten up by the very children they were abusing? The costuming is wonderful! It ranged from old west, Kansas area, dust bowl farmer/rancher through upper class wealthy family riding/traveling clothes from the time period with the addition of goggles and corsets, (the two steam punk fashion essentials)as well as a few intentionally anachronistic accents. In spite of what may sound, to persons unfamiliar with the &quot;Steampunk Fashion Aesthetic&quot;, which derives from an 1800&#39;s era genre of science fiction stories. This may sound rather odd, but assure you, the look and feel of a really good &quot;Old West&quot; movie, like the &quot;Good, the Bad, and the Ugly&quot; pervades almost every fiber of the short film, aside from the goggles, but even the goggles make good sense in light of the time and place where even Clint Eastwood would find such eye apparel pretty much a necessity if he wanted to hit anything in the daily dust storms.

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Nickel Children

Nickel Children in sixteen minutes long. If you know your westerns, you&#39;ll know that sixteen minutes is enough time for anything to happen. Being what I&#39;ll call a steampunk western, Nickel Children fills those boots. Then it kicks you. In Kevin Eslinger&#39;s alternate timeline dust bowl Kansas, life is hard. Harder than you&#39;d think, really. An orphaned boy and a pair of determined shootists may be the children&#39;s only hope against the Sheriff, a despicable quick-draw artists and criminal mastermind. The plot is grim and straight-forward, but it resonates with the genre and promises a rough ride to come. The rapidly accelerating story takes viewers from the tiny lives of one farm family to a reprehensible criminal world where sheriff rhymes with super villain. Jack is only a quiet little boy, unable to prevent the murder of his parents. When the Sheriff throws Jack into his wild west arena, the boy must make a simple choice: fight or die. Visually, Nickel Children offers just what you&#39;d expect of a steampunk western, and it does it well. The costumes (Aria Durso &amp; KMK Designs) and sets are evocative, layered with period pieces and shiny brass whosywhatsits. For goggle lovers, there are some fine examples of said ocular engines. And the weapons! Oh, the weapons. We love them, and we know it. We&#39;re not ashamed to admit it. Of course we expect action in our westerns, and Nickel Children pays off there too. The fights (Ian Quinn, choreographer) are well-paced, well-shot and exciting. In fact, if Jules Verne and Zane grey bore a son through dark rituals, the kid might have written Nickel Children. It&#39;s spartan, fast-moving, and delivers more than it promises. With tight cinematography and Keith Stacey&#39;s original score and a lively celtic reel add a creepy tone of familiarity to the movie. An excellent candidate for a web serial, &#39;NC&#39; is ambitious, utilizing serious special effects (well) and an excellent cast including Easton McCuiston, Jeremy Snowden, Danny Proctor, and Amanda Bailey. Like any pilot episode‒I like to think of it that way‒&#39;NC&#39; isn&#39;t quite polished. Don&#39;t get me wrong, it&#39;s good, but it there&#39;s plenty of potential left. If there are more installments, we might be looking forward to what the industry likes to call a &quot;fan favorite.&quot; While a lot may happen in sixteen minutes, it&#39;s only enough to leave you wanting more. The movie was made in Nashville, Tennessee by Eslinger Films.

This movie was a perfect example of a steam-punk sci-fi film. The background music was amazing. I was left setting on the edge of my seat, just waiting for what was next to come. I would like to see a full-length feature film come from this short. Eslinger Films filmed old west steam-punk as it was meant to be filmed. Nominated for several film festivals, this film is a film to be reckoned with. Several actors were filming for the first time, but did great jobs. Sometimes, great things come in small packages and this film is proof positive. Jeremey Snowden (Sheriff) made his debut in this film. He&#39;s a natural and hope to see more from him. Amanda Bailey was awesome as the mother of Jack, and Anastasia. Great Job Nickel Children.

User reviews

Nickel Children

Top Quality acting, directing, script and costumes

Nickel Children, a steampunk western winner

Great effects and visual focus. Perfect steam-punk display.

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