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Reviews
The Alley (2010)
Rogue Cinema's review by Brian Morton
Film Reviews: The Alley (2010) - By Brian Morton Posted on Thursday, June 02, 2011 @ 17:17:08 Mountain Daylight Time by Duane
Precocious kids are something that I nearly always hate in movies. After all, we've never met a kid like that in real life, and if you did, they wouldn't be cute and neat, you'd actually want to smack them. That being said, the kids in The Alley didn't make me feel that way, I actually found that, despite my usual feelings, I liked these kids!
The story here is about a young boy who likes to spin tall tales, when he actually witnesses a murder one night in the alley behind his house, the murderer discovers his identity. Now, with his mother telling the police that he's known for lying, the police don't believe him and the killer is a cop! Now, he's got to convince the detectives that he's telling the truth before the bad guy catches him and kills him or his family!
This might sound like a 'kid' movie, but it's really not. The kids seem real and, while they're pretty precocious, it doesn't get too out of hand. And, there are a few little points that made me wonder what was going on...mostly how a kid on a bike could keep up with a guy in a car, and why a cop tailing someone would park his car right next to the person's car who your following...little things like that...but things that stood out to me.
I'm giving The Alley 3 out of 4 cigars, it's not a perfect movie but it's still pretty cool to see an indie movie that takes a totally different direction that most of the others...and it's kind of cool to see an indie kids movie too! You can check it out for yourself by heading over to http://ironhorseent.com.
Three Bad Men (2005)
Three Bad Men has been recently re-released by Echelon Studios
Iron Horse Entertainment through Echelon Studios has re-released Three Bad Men. Associate Producer, Shannon Holzer, recruited long time composer Glenn Baxley to recreate the soundtrack. Baxley composed a score that dramatically changed the pace of this film. Whereas before the scenes seemed to drag on from one to another, the new score creates tension and excitement. Those who have seen both versions agree that the re-release shows dramatic improvement in all of the scenes as well as the movie as a whole. One person told me that the new score fit the acting styles better and brought out the actors' true talent; I agree. This goes to show that any one part can have a dramatic affect on the whole film. Director Jeff Hathcock did well to improve upon this good little film. Film students and critics would do well to see both versions back to back as a critical exercise. Doing so will be a testimony to the value of hiring of the right person for the job.