u/Ok-Pomegranate-4963

Woke up early on a Saturday morning & we're off to a wedding this aft but my bf is still fast asleep as its still really early so, of course, I put a classic western on from my 1950s film file on my external hard drive, because my bf doesn't like Westerns. I chose No Name on the Bullet (1959), directed by Jack Arnold & starring genre legend Audie Murphy.

The Plot: lonesome gunslinger John Gant (Murphy) rides into a dusty Old West Town where everyone already knows his reputation but they don't know why he is there? Gant is a killer, but whom is there to kill? Gant befriends local doctor/veterinarian Luke Canfield (Charles Drake) & his father, blacksmith Asa (R.G. Armstrong) & a number of townspeople are immediately threatened, including sheriff Buck Hastings (Willis Bouchey), local businessmen Reeger (Simon Scott), Stricker (Karl Swenson), & Pierce (Whit Bissell), adulterous couple Roseanne (Virginia Grey) & Lou Fraden (Warren Stevens), & Anne Benson (Joan Evans) & her tuberculosis-suffering father Judge Benson (Edgar Stehli).

So No Name on the Bullet is a classic Western which I have never seen before; I actually haven't watched many Audie Murphy films but I'm aware of his stature as an icon of the genre. For such a diminutive actor, Murphy really does command gravitas as the lethal gunslinger who puts everyone on edge as soon as he arrives in town. Arnold's film is only 1hr 17mins long but the director manages to fit so much in in such a short space of time. His film is packed full of impactful characters & deep-rooted themes that are typical of the Western genre.

The cast is stacked full of familiar faces & everyone delivers. I particularly like that the female leads Evans & Grey don't play the usual genre stereotypes, instead their characters are very sympathetic & not at all cliched. Murphy is essentially playing an anti-hero but the audience are fully on his side & its fun trying to work out who his target is.

I recommend this elegiac Western to anyone who loves the genre & who may or may not (like myself) be all too familiar with Murphy, who really does anchor every film he is in.

I gave No Name on the Bullet a full 4 ☆☆☆☆ out of 4.

RIP to this beautiful actress who has passed away aged 79. Most famous for National Lampoon's Animal House as well as a few genre films: The Evil, Forced Vengeance, Q - The Winged Serpant, & Blood Tide.

RIP to a very brave, heroic woman. She spent the last few years of her life fighting terminal cancer but also fighting for the rights to assisted dying. She founded Childline & brought a lot of good to this world. RIP, at least she is now at peace & no longer in pain.

IMDb: Nick Frost and Simon Pegg in Hot Fuzz (2007)

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0425112/mediaviewer/rm2797811200

Around about this time of year, me & my bf dive into our Christmas movie file on my hard drive where we have a load of Christmas films stored, most of which are Christmas 24/Hallmark films, but also a few older Christmas films like this made-for-TV film from 1987.

Plot: Chance Grovner (Hughes) is a hobo who decides he wants to spend Christmas with his son, local sheriff Charlie (Gerald McRaney), who he hasn't seen for 25 years since he walked out on him when he was little. Charlie is a widow with two children, Chance's grandchildren who he also never met, granddaughter Kathy (Jamie Mills) & grandson Bobby (Harley Cross) & Charlie has just started dating again, he's in a tentative relationship with nurse Laurie (Wendy Crewson).

Hobo's Christmas is a lovely, heartfelt film about the importance of family, but director Will Mackenzie doesn't get too treacly, he adds a bit of grit & realism to proceedings. Much of that is down to the cast, Hughes especially delivers a very strong, convincing performance as the wayward old rogue & the always fabulous William Hickey does his usual venal turn as a fellow hobo.

As our first Christmas film of 2026, I gave A Hobo's Christmas 3 ☆☆☆ stars out of 4.

Watched this Western today whilst working from home (recorded off the Legend channel), its written, directed, & stars Scott Martin.

Plot: a tender foot named Jim Andrews (Christoph Sanders) & two misfit gamblers (played by director Martin & Clint Hummel) wind up in an Old West Boom Town gone bust where they encounter a maniacal Preacher (Jason Patric) & a deadly gunslinger named Johnny Kane (Lou Diamond Phillips).

My main issue with these types of contemporary westerns is they look too clean when compared to classics of the genre...the towns don't feel dusty & lived in enough. That was my only quibble with Big Kill. Other than that minor irksome point, Big Kill was still an entertaining effort.

Creator Scott Martin casts himself as one of the main protagonists & he & co-star Hummel don't make much of impression as the gamblers, however, Patric & Diamond Phillips both suit the western genre more & make more of an impression as the villains. Diamond Phillips especially fits the bill, clad in a shock red suit that gives his character the right aire of menace & suaveness.

Big Kill (which is the name of the town in case people were wondering) channels the classic 90s Western Tombstone quite successfully. The story includes all the usual Western tropes & stock characters, with added swears & nudity that isn't exactly subtle but gives the story a modernist nasty edge. Danny Trejo & Michael Pare appear in cameos in the prologue.

I gave Big Kill 2.5 ☆☆\\ out of 4.

Another evening, another film down off my Tubi watchlist, That Night, a teen romance drama set in Long Island, NY, the long hot summer of 1961, directed by Craig Bolotin.

Plot: cute little moppet Alice Bloom (Dushku, Faith in Buffy the Vampire Slayer) comes of age & becomes obsessed with 17-year-old Sheryl O'Connor (Lewis) who lives in the house across the street. Sheryl starts dating bowling alley bad boy Rick (Howell) against her parents wishes & Alice helps the older girl in her relationship endeavours.

Its a familiar story, told with buckets of nostalgia & the cast are all effective as their respective characters. Dushku holds her own as the resourceful Alice & Lewis does her sultry adolescent turn as the platinum blonde Sheryl. Howell oozes sex appeal as the undesirable older paramour. The adult cast members, including Helen Shaver as Lewis's mom & J. Smith Cameron as Dushku's mom, all deliver solid performances. Heigl has a small role as Alice's friend.

Despite the slightness of the story, director Bolotin evokes the 1960s period setting well. I would recommend to fans of Dushku & Lewis especially as this shows them demonstrating what great actors they both are even at such a young age.

I gave That Night 3 ☆☆☆ out of 4.

Me & bf watched this yesterday & it was an easy enough watch experience for a hangover Sunday.

Plot: a group of insepid young influencers from all over the globe are invited to the opening of a new beach resort hotel on a tropical island. No sooner have the influencers rocked up on the island, when their incessant partying is rudely interrupted by a killer spider invasion.

The plot is pretty basic & the influx of social media influencers that make up the majority of the characters has the potential to be very annoying indeed, but director Christopher Smith is a dab hand at making horror films with a sly sense of dark humour about them. His previous genre efforts have been Creep (2004), Severence (2006), Triangle (2009), Black Death (2010), The Banishing (2020), & Consecration (2023), some of which have tread the fine line between black comedy & hardcore horror. So he knows what to do with cheesy material like Spider Island.

Smith achieves big things by casting some Brit character actors in key supporting roles, including the inestimable Tim McInnerny as a retired Shakespearean actor & environmental activist who is now a drunk who runs the island bar, & the always avuncular Andy Nyman as the supercilious, corrupt hotel manager. These two comedy veterans add much needed vim to proceedings. Rose Williams is also good value as McInnerny's estranged daughter who has come to the island where she grew up to expose the corrupt resort for crimes against the environment. The influencers are a mixture of actors-playing-influencers & real life influencers & most of them are pretty entertaining playing their vacuous characters, especially Divian Ladwa as Mongoose, who lives up to his name by taking any psychedelic drug (including licking the back of a Cane Toad) known to man & surviving.

More elements of Spider Island work than not &, despite some dodgy CGI spider effects, the film is a fun ride if you just let yourself go with it.

I gave Spider Island 3 ☆☆☆ out of 4.

Righty ho, here we go, the latest instalment in the official TCU (Twisted Childhood Universe)/Poohniverse series of horror films that have basically come about because of the whole "public domain" debacle, Pinocchio: Unstrung is the sickest yet, but also the most polished.

The Plot: young James (Cameron Bell) loses his parents & his best friend (to cancer) in one swift swoop, so ends up living with his seemingly kindly old grandpa Geppetto (horror stalwart Richard Brake). Grandpa introduces James to his creation, Pinocchio (voiced by Jude Evan Lloyd), a talking wooden puppet who befriends James. Soon Pinocchio becomes obsessed with becoming a real boy & goes on a killing spree, gruesomely murdering those who hurt James, like an unfortunate dentist (Belinda Fenty) & the school bullies who torment James. Pinocchio is encouraged in his violent acts by a fiendish talking Cricket (voiced by none other than Freddy Kruger himself, horror legend Robert Englund).

My thoughts on the previous TCU films: Winnie the Pooh: Blood & Honey was atrocious & took me three sittings just to see it through to the end, the sequel Blood & Honey 2 was an improvement on its predecessor but only marginally (it had a better cast), Peter Pan's Neverland Nightmare was an acquired taste but imaginative in its reimagining of the Peter Pan story, & Bambi: The Reckoning was pretty inspired, reinventing Bambi as a vengeful killing machine.

Now to Pinocchio, which I can safely say is the most unhinged, sickening, gory offering so far from director Rhys Frake-Waterfield, who is quickly earning the label of the enfant terrible of the horror genre; he honestly doesn't seem to give a damn & just ploughs ahead with his twisted films basically turning our beloved childhood fantasies into hardcore horror gorefests.

Pinocchio: Unstrung will appeal to fans who like their horror to be jam-packed full of ultra violence & buckets of blood generated from some gnarly kills. Pinocchio the wooden boy-killer is presented as an animatronic figure running around causing havoc akin to Chucky the murderous doll in The Child's Play films. And its a kick to have horror icons Richard Brake & the voice of Robert Englund onboard here to add kudos & pedigree & both seem to be having a lot of fun, even though both should know better at their age!

Some of the acting, especially from the young unknown cast members, leaves a lot to be desired, but that's part of the film's charm. Jack Art Gray is a standout as James's asthmatic, plump best mate Dudley & there are even cameos from Peter DeSouza-Feighoney as Michael Darling from Neverland Nightmare & Scott Chambers as Christopher Robin from the Blood & Honey films.

Pinocchio: Unstrung is exploitation horror at its finest & I gave the film 3 ☆☆☆ out of 4. I found it hard to resist.

This was a fun, silly, low budget horror comedy from director Ken MacLaughlin.

The Plot: Set on Christmas Eve, a restaurant owned by the shady Uncle Mike (voice of Micaiah Jones), the staff are doing the late shift & the customers include a mysterious, oddball woman named Karen (Leanna Adams). The staff consists of: waitresses Ashley (Jenna Kanell), & Kylie (Aria Celeste Castillo), newbie Gina (Artemis), manager Doug (Kevin Saunders), bartender Dirk (Darron Cardosa), waiters Peter (Ethan Trace) & Pancake (Aaron Goldberg), & chef Liv (Olivia Tiedemann). Someone starts popping off the staff in imaginative & gruesome ways.

So the synopsis sounds pretty formulaic, but We're So Dead is told with jet black humour which does this low budget effort lots of favours. The concept of "The Karen" is used to fun effect that keeps proceedings light-hearted & silly & therefore appealing to the audience. All of the actors deliver their performances with tongues lodged firmly in cheeks. Kanell (from Terrifier 2) is a real standout as the lead protagonist. There's even an outtakes reel over the end credits which shows just how much fun the actors had making this film.

Because the film is made on a lower budget, it can sometimes come across as a wee bit amateurish, but that is part of its charm.

I gave We're So Dead 3 ☆☆☆ out of 4.

This was a fun, silly, low budget horror comedy from director Ken MacLaughlin.

The Plot: Set on Christmas Eve, a restaurant owned by the shady Uncle Mike (voice of Micaiah Jones), the staff are doing the late shift & the customers include a mysterious, oddball woman named Karen (Leanna Adams). The staff consists of: waitresses Ashley (Jenna Kanell), & Kylie (Aria Celeste Castillo), newbie Gina (Artemis), manager Doug (Kevin Saunders), bartender Dirk (Darron Cardosa), waiters Peter (Ethan Trace) & Pancake (Aaron Goldberg), & chef Liv (Olivia Tiedemann). Someone starts popping off the staff in imaginative & gruesome ways.

So the synopsis sounds pretty formulaic, but We're So Dead is told with jet black humour which does this low budget effort lots of favours. The concept of "The Karen" is used to fun effect that keeps proceedings light-hearted & silly & therefore appealing to the audience. All of the actors deliver their performances with tongues lodged firmly in cheeks. Kanell (from Terrifier 2) is a real standout as the lead protagonist. There's even an outtakes reel over the end credits which shows just how much fun the actors had making this film.

Because the film is made on a lower budget, it can sometimes come across as a wee bit amateurish, but that is part of its charm.

I gave We're So Dead 3 ☆☆☆ out of 4.

This was a fun, silly, low budget horror comedy from director Ken MacLaughlin.

The Plot: Set on Christmas Eve, a restaurant owned by the shady Uncle Mike (voice of Micaiah Jones), the staff are doing the late shift & the customers include a mysterious, oddball woman named Karen (Leanna Adams). The staff consists of: waitresses Ashley (Jenna Kanell), & Kylie (Aria Celeste Castillo), newbie Gina (Artemis), manager Doug (Kevin Saunders), bartender Dirk (Darron Cardosa), waiters Peter (Ethan Trace) & Pancake (Aaron Goldberg), & chef Liv (Olivia Tiedemann). Someone starts popping off the staff in imaginative & gruesome ways.

So the synopsis sounds pretty formulaic, but We're So Dead is told with jet black humour which does this low budget effort lots of favours. The concept of "The Karen" is used to fun effect that keeps proceedings light-hearted & silly & therefore appealing to the audience. All of the actors deliver their performances with tongues lodged firmly in cheeks. Kanell (from Terrifier 2) is a real standout as the lead protagonist. There's even an outtakes reel over the end credits which shows just how much fun the actors had making this film.

Because the film is made on a lower budget, it can sometimes come across as a wee bit amateurish, but that is part of its charm.

I gave We're So Dead 3 ☆☆☆ out of 4.

I'm always excited to check out new horror films, especially ones from Australia as its a film industry that has always peaked my interest when it comes to their horror output. Yesterday evening me & my bf watched Penny Lane is Dead, an Ozploitation throwback dark comedy horror from director Mia Kate Russell (so another tick box for me, a rare Aussie horror from a female director).

The plot: Set in the long hot summer of 1986, Penny Lane (Bailey Spalding) is a Barbie-type young woman, beautiful in a Prom Queen-stereotype kinda way, who lives in a small Aussie town & goes to stay at a friends' beach house with her new girlfriend Toni (Tahlee Fereday). There, l the two Sapphuc lovers are joined by socially awkward Amy (Alexandra Jensen), who carries an emotional support stuffed tiger around with her, & Kat (Sophia Wright-Mendelsohn, daughter of Ben Mendelsohn), the aforemnetioned friend who owns the beach house &, who it turns out, is the rebellious, edgier member of the group. Events unfold that result in Penny ending up comatose in bed & Kat calling up her drug dealer bf Angus (Ben O'Toole) who turns up with his two scuzzy mates (Steve le Marquand & Fletcher Humphreys) who cause the young women all sorts of nightmarish problems.

I won't go into any more details regarding the plot because its best to go into Penny Lane blind like we did. But I will say if you're a fan of bloody, gruesome, darkly funny Ozploitation films from the 70s & 80s, you'll love this film. Director Russell keeps things nasty & gnarly but at the same time is making social commentary on how young women are treated by toxic men & exploited as sexual playthings to be mistreated & violated.

There are echoes here of I Spit on Your Grave in that Penny Lane does have some uncomfortable scenes involving sexual violence, etc. but its all offset by the black humour. The acting is very good, with Wright-Mendelsohn a standout as the evil Kat, delivering a performance that is filled with hardly-contained intensity that rivals her father's best character work. O'Toole is also very good as the unpredictable, psychotic Angus.

The horror here is pretty hardcore & the comedy is jet black & quintessentially Australian. Cool twist at the end too. The only real criticism for me is that although Russell is clearly celebrating the power of women, she does present her subject matter in a very exploitative manner throughout the film because of the genre she is working in, so its a fine line that sometimes is crossed in an amateurish way for the sake of shock value.

I gave Penny Lane is Dead 3 ☆☆☆ out of 4.

I'm new to Tubi & I initially signed up for it for access to their horror content (which is largely crap, apart for some hidden gems). But low & behold, Tubi has a whole section of made-for-TV films from the 80s & 90s, kinda like the old True Movies TV channel that I think used to be on Sky that first got me into American made-for-TV films when I was a teenager.

This morning I watched Manhunt: Search for the Nightstalker (1989) on Tubi & it was a solid watch, a pretty formulaic but effective police procedural about the hunt for Richard Ramirez AKA The Nightstalker, the serial murderer, rapist, burglar, & sex offender who terrorised Greater Los Angeles & the San Francisco Bay during the 1984/85 heatwave. My only real knowledge of Ramirez thus far was true crime docs & his inclusion in Ryan Murphy content that turned him into a glamorised figure. Manhunt, made just 4 years after Ramirez was caught & convicted, is a much more suitably sombre affair, presenting facts rather than sycophantic fiction.

Richard Jordan & A Martinez play detectives Sgt Frank Salerno & Lt Gil Carrillo respectively, the two men who led the manhunt that eventually led to the capture & incarceration of Ramirez & both actors are convincing as the harrsassed policemen. Interesting supporting cast that includes the likes of Julie Carmen & Jenny Sullivan as the detectives' wives, Lisa Eilbacher (from An Officer & a Gentleman, Beverly Hills Cop, & Leviathan) as a spunky reporter, Gerry Bamman (uncle Frank from the Home Alone films) as the forensics guy, Alan Feinstein as the head of the network news channel, Soon-Tek Oh as a dentist, & a very effective Gregory Norman Cruz as Ramirez.

Its definitely worth a watch for fans of true crime docu-dramas & just goes to show, that if you do some digging, you can find hidden gems amongst all that Tubi dross. I gave Manhunt: Search for the Nightstalker 3 ☆☆☆ out of 4.

Whenever a new film comes to Netflix, I'm usually all over it & will give it a watch. It helps when the cast is as stacked as The Whisper Man & top billed is one of my all time favourite actors, Robert De Niro.

The story concerns writer Tom Kennedy (Adam Scott) who returns to his home town along with his young son Jake (Acston Luca Porto) after the death of his wife. Tom's return coincides with the copycat abductions & murders of young boys in the town; the cases are very similar to those committed by Frank Carter (Michael Keaton), The Whisper Man who is now behind bars. Police detective Amanda Beck (Michelle Monaghan) is trying to solve the murders & she teams up with retired police detective Peter Willis (De Niro) who just happens to be the one who put Frank Carter behind bars & Peter is also Tom's estranged father. When little Jake goes missing, things get personal for Tom & Peter.

I had high hopes for The Whisper Man but unfortunately its very workmanlike & derivative. With such a powerhouse cast that also includes Owen Teague, Hamish Linklater, & Will Brill, this should have been so much better. De Niro & Keaton are the big draw & although the two acting legends do have a couple of scenes together these do not match the intensity of De Niro & Pacino in Heat; they don't even come close to the lofty levels of that infamous diner scene. The film isn't unwatchable, the actors go a long way in making this routine police procedural/semi-psychological horror thriller work as well as it does, but its not like we haven't seen this sort of thing before & done better.

So this habit De Niro has of coming across as lazy because of some of the film choices he has made to appear in in recent years, is going to take a lot of changes & I don't think De Niro is all that bothered. Keatom comes across somewhat bored here, although he's still good value playing the villain/murderer, but he's played the psycho before & with a better effort.

I gave The Whispering Man 2.5 ☆☆/ out of 4.

Going into Tony at the Everyman cinema this afternoon, I had no idea it was a biographical drama about the American celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain; I actually had never even heard of Bourdain! Having now seen the film, this has now been rectified.

Dominic Sessa, who was brilliant in The Holdovers & the 3rd instalment of the Now You See Me franchise, plays Bourdain, whom just about everyone calls Tony, apart from his stern mother (Dagmara Dominczyk). Tony has aspirations to become a writer, but having failed to get a fellowship into college, he ends up in Provincetown after going there chasing a girl named Nancy (Emilia Jones). Tony ends up getting a job as a dishwasher at a seafood shack where Chef (Antonio Banderas) takes him under his wing & Tony learns some pretty harsh life lessons.

Not every biopic needs a likeable hero & Tony isn't particularly likeable at all; there's even a quote displayed at the start of the film where the real life Bourdain (who committed suicide by hanging in 2018) freely admits to being a "lout" when he was younger. But Sessa keeps the audience on side despite some arsehole character traits, the young actor is mesmerising in a career-making performance. For me Banderas (whom I've always been a massive fan of) gives an Oscar-worthy supporting performance as the strict but caring chef. Then we have Leo Woodall (who was great in Tuner earlier this year) as bad boy fellow kitchen worker Sal & Stavros Helkias as another kitchen worker who brings some lite humour to proceedings. Jones as the love interest & Dominczyk as Tony's mother are both standout.

Me & my bf went into the cinema blind for this film & came out feeling like we'd just watched Boogie Nights for chefs; this biopic was gritty, heartfelt, & full of realism. The cast were all tops. I gave Tony 4 ☆☆☆☆ out of 4.

So I have a not-so-secret obsession with Jonathan Rhys-Meyers...it started off as simply a crush in his early films like Velvet Goldmine & Bend it Like Beckham...he's such a pretty Irish boy. If I see his name on a cast list, I'm in, even with his more recent lacklustre film efforts, I'll forgive Rhys Meyers anything.

And so to Edge of the World, an historical adventure film from 2021, which I watched today whilst working from home. The film is based on a true story & tells the tale of Sir James Brooke (Rhys Meyers) who has been suggested as the inspirations for Rudyard Kipling's The Man Who Would Be King & Joseph Conrad's Lord Jim. Brooke was a former British soldier in the Bengal Army who sailed to Borneo, which was still under the control of the Brunien Sultanate in 1839 where he started a rebellion & was rewarded with the title of governor of his own private kingdom.

That synopsis makes this film sound like an example of boring historical exposition, but director Michael Haussman manages to inject some excitement into at least the latter half of the story. Meyers is strong in the lead, giving Brooke some subtle character strokes that keep him an interesting historical figure. The able supporting cast includes Dominic Monaghan from the Lord of the Rings films as Brooke's cousin Col. Arthur Chichester Crookshank & Ralph Ineson (he of the booming voice & strong Yorkshire accent; he's from Leeds like me) as Sir Edward Beech, a Navy bigwig. The film harkens back to rip-roaring adventure yarns of yesteryear, films that may very well have starred Errol Flynn in the lead.

Despite the whole white-man-as-saviour outdated historical tropes & a first half that is somewhat heavy on boring exposition, the film picks up in the second half & the finale is suitably exciting & action-packed. Also, its a reminder for fans of his that Rhys Meyers can command the lead role in a big budget film.

I gave Edge of the World 3 ☆☆☆ out of 4.

RIP to martial artist supreme, Hollywood stunt man & actor James Lew who worked on such legendary films as Big Trouble in Little China, Steele Justice, Action Jackson, Best of the Best, Do or Die, Showdown in Little Tokyo, Hot Shots Part Deux, On Deadly Ground, The Shadow, Timecop, Under Siege 2, Escape from L.A., The Replacement Killers, Lethal Weapon 4, Rush Hour 1, 2, & 3, Traffic, Superhero Movie, Tropic Thunder, G.I. Joe: Retaliation, & loads of TV shows.

Just watched Don't Say Good Luck on Netflix & it really was the perfect Sunday afternoon film, nothing too heavy despite the subject matter, gently humorous & some solid acting. Sunny Sandler, daughter of Adam & Jackie Sandler really comes into her own here, commanding the screen as Sophie Birbenbaum, a slightly awkward teenager who ends up being cast as the lead in her school production of the stage musical Waitress & at the same time has to deal with her mom's (Melanie Lynskey) cancer returning & becoming terminal. As I said, despite the subject matter, the film is never cloying & everyone keeps proceedings light-hearted & subtle, delivering genuinely heartfelt performances, especially the young Sunny Sandler who breezes through the film as the kind-hearted Sophie & anchors the story. Lynskey & Max Greenfield are both excellent as Sophie's parents, Lynskey is especially affective in the emotional scenes where she is trying to deal with her cancer diagnosis. Adam & Jackie Sandler also produced the film, so its a good showcase for their daughter & Sunny proves her mettle & she has a lovely singing voice to boot. Sandler alum Steve Buscemi & Jon Lovitz have supporting roles, with Buscemi playing grandpa alongside Bebe Neuwirth as grandma. Stephanie Beatriz as the caring drama teacher, Scarlett Estavez as Sophie's queer best friend, & Jack Champion as Sophie's school crush round out the supporting cast. Eitan & Matan Friedman are both cute as Sophie's little brothers. The film has everything going for it, but its a little too twee on some occasions, like it could have done with a bit more grit. I gave Don't Say Good Luck 3 ☆☆☆ out of 4.

Random film viewing, picked from my extensive hard drive of film folders: Blood on Her Name is a nifty little crime drama that concerns a white trash woman named Leigh Tiller (Bethany Anne Lind) who accidentally kills a man & then has a crisis of conscience & returns his body to his family. Lots of issues complicate Leigh's predicament, especially that her dad (Will Patton) is the local sheriff & he is controlling, her teenage son Ryan (Jared Ivers) is on probation, & the wife (Elisabeth Rohm) of the guy Leigh killed now knows who Leigh is. Blood on Her Name is really just an indie character study & the story is quite familiar, but the acting makes it interesting. Always been a massive fan of Patton, he can play supercilious really well & he doesn't disappoint here. Lind is solid in the lead & Rohm is also good as the other woman who Leigh finds herself crossing paths with in the worst way possible. Blood on Her Name isn't anything unique or groundbreaking, but it was most certainly watchable & there's a lot to be said for actors who can hold your attention even when they don't have all that much to work with & that's what the cast does here. I gave Blood on Her Name 3 ☆☆☆ out of 4.