What Comes Around

There is much to like with this movie. Grace Van Dien and the ever excellent Kyle Gallner are the two best reasons to watch this movie. Both are utterly convincing in their roles.

The direction and the editing, on the the other hand are, well, sub standard, is the polite way to say it. Some shots are dwelt on for too long and some of the scenes feel that they are 'acted' rather than having two people having a real conversation. The other actors are quite awful.

There is a nice little plot twist that comes in about half an hour into the movie that stops it falling into a schmaltzy Hallmark type movie.

Is it worth a watch? Kind of, but with some reservations.

An attemp at a shocking thriller unfortunately turns into a lengthy, dull and plain film with plenty of cliches and repetitive tropes. The story itself had a nice simple (although not original) plot twist that sadly got lost in completely ordinary unsophisticated script. I am not saying that to make a good film you need to present an extremely complicated story, but when you do have a simple tale you have to grab the viewer's attention with other elements like a solid script or engaging cinematography and production design - all of which this picture lacks. Yet the biggest downfall (out of many) of What Comes Around is its incredibly weak acting performances. The rising Grace Van Dien (Stranger Things) just could not capture the protagonists's personality believably and her portrayal felt deeply artificial and in some scenes even ridiculous.

No pun intended - and yes I know the saying (goes around) - and I understand what the title is suggesting. You will too, when you see the movie. I was trying to figure out which direction this would take. It didn't exactly go the route I thought it would go - still a warning sign - or maybe multiple warning signs.

Grace van Dien, daughter of Casper, got quite famous - not so much because of her father, but because of Stranger Things - which I have not seen yet. But it is on my list. This is not exploitative by the way if that is something you are looking for - it is quite obvious from a certain point forward ... when the twist comes to play. And the cliches keep ... coming up too (no pun intended) .... it tries hard to give us food for thought ... and the actors try their best ... but it never really gets there (in my book) ... still good effort.

At first I thought this was a solid,muscular acted drama about a young teenage girl finding friendship then ' love' with a much older guy on the internet and the ramifications of how the internet can foster vulnerable girls into falling with much older men.

Cue a talky , arguments about the mother finding out and the girl expressing her love for this chap- who is old enough to know better... However, it doesn't really go down that way, a twist occurs mid way through that spins the entire film around completely.

This is a short,lean drama, clearly based on a play that gives weighty themes to adult responsibilities, childhood in peril and the sins of the past. Good performances around especially Kyle Gallner- my second film this week I've seen him in after 'The Passenger'; he's turning into an actor to watch.

A thought provoking and well made drama.

Roost is an uncomfortable film to watch, so there's your warning! The story centres around the relationship of three people: Anna, the 16 year-old falling for a guy she met online played by Grace Van Dien; Beth, Anna's mom played by Summer Phoenix; and Eric, the guy Anna talks to online played by Kyle Gallner. Just with that very minimal description of the film, I'm sure you can already sense some of the drama that ensues.

The film is absolutely uncomfortable, as was it's intention. There were many 😬 moments on my end, and it was evident that many people felt that way too. Grace and Summer are a good mother-daughter duo, sometimes overacting, but overall good. The real stand out in the film is Kyle Gallner; he was fantastic!

The film explores trauma, more specifically unprocessed trauma and how it can affect the lives of those around us. If this triggers you at all, maybe this movie should be a pass.

Definitely a provocative and twisted story, Roost was a film I picked just because it suited my schedule, but I am incredibly glad I was able to see it.