Ambush at Dark Canyon

So I saw this movie last fall at the Austin Film Festival when it was called "To Kill A Memory". They had a special showing. Kix Brooks was there with the Director and some of the Actors. In short, the film really surprised me. Not so much because they pulled off a cool movie on a small budget, but because the film wasn't your typical western. It was told as a flashback and really took you on a journey. After the festival, I wondered what had happened to it and was happy to see that it will be out as a limited theatrical in January. Their website also says it'll be out on DVD as a 2 disk set with the soundtrack CD included. The music in the film was awesome!! Kix Brooks talked about doing the music for the film at the festival. If you're a fan of country music, or great music in general.. you'll love this. Coincidentally, I reviewed another film the director did a few years ago called the Gundown. I liked it because they dared to try and make a movie on a shoestring, but this movie is a cut-a-bove it. Give it a shot, you won't be disappointed. Great Cast, cool locations. The indi-film spirit is alive and well with this film.

The only reason I wanted to watch this movie was to see Sydney Penny. But she had only about five minutes in the whole thing. Disappointed.

This last sentence is to fill out the minimum character requirement.

This is a great movie, well scripted, well filmed, good acting and a damn good story. With the odd twist and turns. I'd watch it again sometime.

But who was the genius who cast Kix Brooks in the lead role of Duke Donovan?

Whoever it was needs a clue: Kix Brooks is a terrible actor. I have no training but am pretty sure I could do better. I mean please, it was painful.

How do you make a movie marketable? Well ask the Germans (distributions)! They always think of something, mostly connected to something that is popular at the time. Renaming this movie into "Hateful Ambush at ..." you immediately think, you have heard this somewhere before. Which you'd have at the end of 2015 and early 2016, because of Quentin Tarantinos eighth movie (Hateful Eight).

So the German distribution is looking for the quick money they can make, not considering, what the viewer or consumer might think. Not many will be happy let me tell you. But apart from that fact and it's impact on German viewers, what does the movie have to offer? Not that much action unfortunately and not too much quality either. While it does try to be different and a slow burner, it doesn't really achieve that either