4 minute read
Movie Reviews
"The Lie" (Rated R on Amazon Prime)
by Chuck Cannon
I was anxious to watch this movie because, as a parent, I have always told my daughter that we support her no matter what. We cannot think of a reason that could hinder our total love, support and belief in her. But what if your good, well-behaved, happy 15-year-old child commits a murder? How do you feel knowing she will go to prison for life? Your little girl just committed a heinous crime that only you and she know about.
As much as we think we might do the right thing – and I talked to parents about this premise – it was not surprising to me that most had to do a lot of thinking about their response. I will also say that not everyone responded as I thought they would. So my little social sampling doesn’t really prove anything; it just shows that most times the simple stories are the best ones.
Quite a way through "The Lie" I thought to myself just how little this film actually had in the way of complexity of plot, and yet I was enthralled by it and had an absolutely great time with it. I didn’t need anything more out of it. I was happy for it to play out in a natural way and I would’ve given it a pretty decent rating. Then along came one of the best twist endings I’ve seen in a long time, and it was the perfect icing on the cake.
Because this is a surprise ending, I won’t give it away, but let’s just remember that a lie will always catch up with you. The lie will continue to grow at every small, seemingly insignificant turn. Lies build on each other and everyone involved in the lie has to be trusted to be able to perfectly continue the lie.
The film is very well acted. It has a cast of under-rated actors and they all play their parts excellently. It has to be kept in mind that they are playing one of the most detestable families ever put on film, and yet at the same time they need to make the audience root for them – at least on some level. Not an easy thing to do. Joey King in particular really impressed me. Watching her emotional swings and how she could change them on a dime in any given scene was thoroughly impressive.
I love films like "The Lie." They are films that don’t need a big budget, A-list celebrities, or over-the-top unrealistic characters. They just take a great, simple script and get every drop out of it.
I highly recommend checking this one out and knowing as little about it as possible before going in.
"THE LIE": I rate it 4 stars out of 5
"Honest Thief" (Rated PG-13)
by Marshall Frank
In a word: Engrossing.
Liam Neeson is one of those actors who cannot make a bad movie. Much like DiNiro, Cruise, and so many more, he always gives it 100 percent making his tough-guy characters as believable as possible. "Honest Thief is a good movie, but not a great movie, mainly because of too many “Implausibles.”
Based in a major city in America, Neeson plays a middle-aged widower raising a boy, and for the last several years worked at becoming a top-flight bank robber. (He had been a munitions expert in the military and knew the mechanics of entering a safe undetected). Over the years he amassed some 9 million dollars but never spent any of it (Implausible #1), but rather he stored the cash in boxes inside a rental storage facility.
Alas, Neeson’s character meets the woman of his dreams and decides he’ll give up crime and confess to her, and to the FBI, his crimes, and return the money in the hope of earning a short sentence (Implausible #2). Sounds good enough, but the mission becomes more dangerous when the FBI agents are more personally interested in his piles of cash. Everything goes wrong, even the confession, as he and his lady friend are faced with separate lives for many years.
As usual, a number of fight scenes consist of the inevitable overdose of martial arts, compliments of the good and bad guys, as well as a few shoot-outs (Implausible #3).
The new romance for Neeson is played by Kate Walsh, a very good actress. I can’t say the same for some in the supporting cast, especially those who play the crooked FBI agents. It just didn’t work for me, and I would imagine the FBI as well.
I can opine that Neeson is truly a gifted actor who will likely be confined to more shoot-‘em-ups and too many scenes of martial arts combat rather than deep moving roles like he had in "Schindler’s List."
Regardless, the film was entertaining, but not worthy of any Oscar nominations.
