The Pineville Heist

I review film submissions for many film festivals, so it was a welcome surprise when I had seen this as a submission to the 2017 FILMCHELLA film festival on February 27th, I am only one of a couple dozen reviewers for that festival, but I strongly recommend it as an official selection, This is an epic film, from the opening shot, a beautiful aerial view of the forest, to the eerie shots accentuated by the low key lighting and use of hard shadows in the school, the cinematography looks fantastic, like it was shot with the same cameras used in big budget films, it is a very well written story, the principal, the sheriff and the school teacher were it's strongest actors, overall the school teacher is the best actor in the film, she is perfect, the principle is obviously a Hollywood character actor, and he's good at it' the sheriff was portrayed perfectly, the actor playing that role could easily be a real sheriff or football and baseball coach as he is the perfect role model type personality, this is definitely a coming of age film as well as a thriller, it has moments that captivated the audience and kept them at the edge of their seats, for a relatively low budget film, on Hollywood terms anything produced for under a million dollars is low budget, it looks and sounds like a bigger budget film, it has a few small errors in the audio, slight ADR discrepancies, and a few slight Visual Effects errors, not enough for the general public to criticize, but prevalent enough for distributors to take notice, the score is good, the acting is good, the characters work well together, it's believable, overall I loved this film, it kept me excited and intrigued, and engaged in the story, at the end it didn't feel like 80 minutes, which is great, the pace kept going, I would watch it again..

The Pineville Heist, Started off with great vistas and high possibilities, decent story line, but is basically a long winded College style production. The lighting was good. The sound was good. The acting was mediocre. Had a story line that was dragged out Way too long with the chase scene in the high school. An honest grade would be a high B to a low A. I have seen worse. But my $28 dollar admission fee for my wife and I was $20 too much. There are way too many good movies to see, than to spend your time seeing this one. The best acting was from the deputy sheriff and he was knocked out for half the movie. I did like the acting from the principal Theo.

The Pineville Heist begins with an aerial shot over the pristine forested land which sets the mood for the entire movie. The music was well chosen and immediately gives you a local feel pulling you right into the story. The story picks up right after a bank heist where a local teenager innocently stumbles into the robbers camp and from there all goes from bad to worse.

The cast chosen for this film complement each other enhancing genuine credibility to the story. Included with the intense suspense, the story involves intertwined evolving relationships and interactions amongst a father and son, a boy and his friends, a school teacher, a janitor, principal, sheriff, cops, good guys and bad guys.

I would have liked to have seen the story delve deeper into some of the characters personalities. This would have created more intensity identifying with them.

You quickly become engrossed into the movie as you follow the trail of the stolen money. Be ready for exciting plot twists and turns. This movie is a must see if you like a gripping story and thrilling suspense.

Kudos to the director Lee Chambers on his first feature film. . Is there a sequel in the works?...PH II ?

This is a very well produced film. It is not a multi-million dollar Hollywood blockbuster, however you would not know that by the superior production quality. It kept my interest throughout the 80 minute duration. Do not expect the world and you will not be disappointed, it is well done and it is the first Feature Film by Director Lee Chambers. Not every story needs a billion dollars in special effects and 2.5 hours to be told. This is Lee's story and his film adaptation of it and he has done an amazing job bringing his dream to the big screen on a small budget. You will not find a better film for the budget. Being from Thunder Bay where a lot of the movie was filmed was great but it wasn't the make or break for me, this film will be enjoyable to anyone. Give it a go and decide for yourself, film is art after all and who am to pass judgement on others creative expression.

Pineville Heist is surely a movie to watch. Like many productions, there are issues here and there. Some ADR doesn't match up, some sound effects needed more altering to fit the environment, and there are some VFX issues. But that doesn't make this a bad film. It has a logical plot that takes the audience from point A to B and it does it effectively with good acting, good camera work, and overall good production value. Is it a movie that I can watch and make fun of with my friends? Yeah, but it's a movie I can also watch seriously. But everything I have listed are all present in Hollywood level films, and that's what makes me take this film serious.

The part that I would be very critical as an audience member is one part where the bad guy and someone hiding are in the same room together. It's builds tension, but it needed to learn when not to play music. It was a tense scene, and what would have made the hair stand on the back of your neck would be silence... Just the sounds of the guy walking, sounds of the person hiding trying not to breath, and just hearing the room. That would put us there, make us feel how they feel. But instead that experience is taken away with music.

But despite all of that, I think it's a great film. The part that makes me laugh is throughout the film a poster on the wall pops up at almost ironic times... a simple poster that says "Make Healthy Choices".