The Arroyo

After seeing this twice, I was totally blown away by the completeness of the film. Being a low-budget project, it can hold its own against a wasteful Hollywood money-pit film. The major characters were natural and totally believable. A few (mind you a few) flaws, but for local talent it was an impressive display of talent in a small community. Jeremy Boring is one to be watching. I have to give David Armendariz and country crooner Kenny Maines (The Maines Brothers Band, also Natalie Maines uncle) kudos for bringing larger than life characters to the big screen in believable fashion. The cinematography is better than most big budget movies.

I really wanted to love this movie but I'm gonna have to give it a 5. It does shed light on the current and very real concerns Americans living on the border have been facing for years now. I know it's a low budget film so I don't mind the lack of a soundtrack or other high budget special effects, but the acting was so unrealistic and cliche it kind of took away from the seriousness of the story it's telling. I found that to be very distracting and a little disappointing. Shut In and Run Hide Fight were so much better, the acting much more believable. And don't get me started on Lady Ballers, I couldn't stop laughing at the absurdity. This one wasn't a win, but don't give up Jeremy and team! I'm still looking forward to your next production.

I would not go into this movie expecting the typical Hollywood blockbuster nor the typical low budget, local talent flop. It is a STRONG in between with some VERY decent acting at times, decent cinematography, and most of the time very good visual effects. Sound won't win any awards but considering the budget is not so distracting that you can't pay attention to the acting.

I liked the plot and continuity as it stepped outside the classical, stereotypical Hollywood good guys win all the time. There were some surprises that I did not expect which kept me watching. There are some scenes that should have been edited out, but don't let them bother you. They are few and far between. I would like to see a sequel following the characters and expanding the storyline to play out a scenario which embraces the political issues and brings all three sides (there are three, not two) together.

Trash produced by bigots. No redeeming qualities as a movie. Only propaganda by and for stupid people. The entire crew and cast, the writer especially (who is also the director naturally, since no self-respecting director would ever agree to make a movie out of hateful unsympathetic junk writing such as this and not be immune from obvious accusations of complicity that would haunt his career forever), but the actors as well, they must all hate themselves to stoop so low to agree to take part in this crime of cinema. I can understand a valid propaganda film that professes its biased viewpoint upfront, tells you like it is, no pulled punches, but this movie masquerades as a serious drama, as if this is a valid Hollywood or Indie film about real people, made in the tradition of filmmaking, either as a documentary or a drama that cares about its characters, instead of what this really is: a sledgehammer wielded by a deranged maniac smashing your skull in with his words and pictures of oh-so-much wisdomly hate, lies, and drivel.

OK, so this is a B movie. It lacks the textural depth of a first-rate Hollywood production, but it's watchable, which is more than I can say for a lot of B movies. Whether you like this movie or not will depend largely on which side of the political divide you stand on. It's unlikely that any lefties will choose to watch this movie, but if they do, it will probably only be to give it a negative review. In fact, it's somewhat refreshing to see more conservative values featured for a change. Hollywood would never do it.

As in most B movies, some actors perform better than others. For the most part, the acting is tolerable. The bad guy is bad and in the mold of the 'No Country for Old Men' villain. Some scenes are actually quite nicely directed.

I don't live on the border so I have little idea how true this story could be, but my guess it has some truth in it. For those seriously interested in this topic, I highly recommend the Oscar nominated documentary, Cartel Land, which is a real eye-opener. But The Arroyo will do as an introduction to the topic.