Film Review: The Cutting Edge: Fire and Ice (dir by Stephen Herek)

Posted on February 10, 2018 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Right now, like all good people, I am totally obsessed with the Winter Olympics. The skiing, the figure skating, the bobsleds, the luge .. even that silly speed skating thing that they do. For the next two weeks, I’ll be loving all of it. Last night, I not only watched the Opening Ceremonies but I also watched two movies about figure skating: Ice Princess and The Cutting Edge: Fire and Ice!

The Cutting Edge: Fire and Ice tells the story of Alex Delgado (Francia Raisa) and James McKinsey (Brendan Fehr). Alex used to be a champion figure skater until her partner (both on the ice and in romance) retired. This led to Alex not only retiring but also breaking up with the man who she thought was the love of her life. Now, she spends her time teaching children how to skate and not going out on dates. Her mother worried about Alex. Not only is she throwing away her dreams but she also appears to be destined to be alone forever.

James was a champion speed skater, until his cocky attitude and his anger management programs got the better of him. After punching out one of his teammates, James is suspended from speed skating. However, James and his agent have a plan! What if James becomes a … figure skater!? He just needs a good coach and a great partner. The coach is easy to find. Zhen Zheng (Zhenhu Han) may not speak English but he loves a challenge and he travels with a translator (Russell Yuen).

But what about finding the right partner? No one wants to skate with James, especially since everyone assumes that this is all just a publicity stunt until he’s able to get his suspension overturned. When Alex is first approached about coming out of retirement and partnering up with James, she refuses. But then, she realizes that, even if she doesn’t like James, she loves to skate and she loves to compete…

It’s not a match made in heaven, for all of the usual PG-13 reasons. James is cocky and, instead of getting rest before practice, he goes to a party and then he has to skate with a hangover. Alex is determined and disciplined but she’s afraid to take chances. When James comes up with a spectacular move, Alex isn’t sure if they should do it or not. At first, it doesn’t seem like they’ll ever be able to work together but then, things change. Alex discovers that James loves children. James discovers that Alex can shoot pool. Add to that, they’re the best-looking people in the movie and that means that they’re destined to get together.

The Cutting Edge: Fire and Ice is a film that is all about montages. The film proves that you can learn anything in a montage. As long as the right music is playing in the background, you can go from being awkward on the ice to a championship skater in one montage. You can go from hating each other to being madly in love in montage. Any questions you may have about the film’s plot can be answered by a montage.

This movie was made for Freeform, back when it was still ABC Family. So, don’t expect anything too edgy. At one point, James and Alex play strip poker and are both in their underwear when Alex’s mom drops by. That’s about as wild as things get. That said, this was a sweet if predictable movie. Brendan Fehr and Francia Raisa had a lot of chemistry and the skating scenes were fun to watch. I liked the fact that Alex refused to put up with anyone’s crap and the film celebrated her for that. (Just compare this film to the original The Cutting Edge.) I also liked the fact that James and Alex initially bonded during a bar fight. Seriously, some of the greatest relationships in the world began with a brawl in a bar.

The Cutting Edge: Fire and Ice was a sweet, little movie. It won’t change the world but I enjoyed it.

Cleaning Out The DVR: Tiny House of Terror (dir by Paul Shapiro)

Posted on January 6, 2018 by Lisa Marie Bowman

(Hi there! So, as you may know because I’ve been talking about it on this site all year, I have got way too much stuff on my DVR. Seriously, I currently have 181 things recorded! I’ve decided that, on February 1st, I am going to erase everything on the DVR, regardless of whether I’ve watched it or not. So, that means that I’ve now have only have a month to clean out the DVR! Will I make it? Keep checking this site to find out! I recorded Tiny House of Terror off of Lifetime on June 29th, 2017!)

Before I start this review, I have to admit that, when it comes to the tiny house movement, I lost interest as soon as I saw the words “tiny” and “house.” I mean, I understand that they’re supposed to be better for the environment and easier to take care of. And I get that right now, a lot of people are pretending that they don’t care about material possessions and all that stuff. But, honestly, the only reason I would want a tiny house would be so I could keep it in the backyard of a bigger house.

That said, despite my lack of interest in the tiny house movement, I was a bit intrigued by the idea of a Lifetime movie set in a tiny house. After all, one of the great things about Lifetime films is that everyone, regardless of how poor or criminal they may be, usually lives in a large and tastefully furnished house. How, I wondered, would Lifetime handle setting a film in the type of house that is largely favored by retirees, hippies, and displaced persons?

Well, I’m glad to say that Lifetime handled it pretty well. Of course, they were clever enough not to set the entire film in a tiny house. There are several scenes that take place in a technologically advanced mansion and there are also several scenes that take place in Gravity Hill, a lovely little town where a magnetic field regularly plays havoc with electricity, cars, and cell phone reception. Tiny House of Terror was a surprisingly lovely film to look at. The small town was lovely. The scenes set in the big city were properly dark and menacing. The finale made great use of creepy shadow and light. Credited with cinematography is Jon Joffin and he certainly did a great job.

The film itself tells the story of Samantha (Francia Raisa), who was married to a tech billionaire named Kyle (Jesse Hutch). When Kyle disappears while climbing a mountain, Samantha is left distraught. Even worse, she finds herself a prisoner of her technologically advanced mansion, which was apparently designed to only recognize Kyle’s voice commands. (Imagine if Alexa suddenly got a passive aggressive attitude and you’ll understand what Samantha is going through.) It turns out that Kyle was planning on opening up a tiny house community in Gravity Hill. He was going to allow Samantha to do the landscaping. Only one tiny house has been built and Samantha decides to move out there, both for her own sanity and to complete Kyle’s final project.

Of course, things are never simple in Gravity Hill. It turns out that some people in town don’t want a tiny house community. No sooner has Samantha moved into her tiny house then strange things start to happen. Is it the magnetic field that’s making things (like kitchen knives) fly at Samantha or is something more sinister happening? Is Samantha being targeted and does it have anything to do with Kyle’s mysterious disappearance?

I liked Tiny House of Terror far more than I thought I would. Because it’s structured as a whodunit and there are a few flashbacks and time jumps, the film require a bit more concentration than the typical Lifetime film but that’s okay. It pays off in the end. Francia Raisa did a good job in the lead role, as did Nanzeen Contractor in the role of her sister. I may not care much about the tiny house movement but Tiny House of Terror not only held my interest but rewarded it as well.

Cleaning Out The DVR: The Wrong Car (dir by John Stimpson)

Posted on March 4, 2016 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Ever since the start of this month, I have been cleaning out my DVR and I am happy to say that I’ve managed to go from only having 9 hours of space available to now having 17 hours. Progress is a wonderful thing!

Last night, I decided, after watching Picnic, to take a two-hour break from watching movies that I had recorded off of TCM. Instead, I watched a film that I recorded off of Lifetime way back in January, The Wrong Car.

If you’ve watched enough Lifetime movies, you know that there are three things that all Lifetime movies distrust: men, teenagers, and technology. The Wrong Car doesn’t feature any teenagers but it does feature some really bad men who use technology to do some really bad things. In the past, Lifetime has exposed the dangers of Facebook, Match.com, twitter, and YouTube. With this movie, they take on Uber.

Except, of course, they don’t actually call it Uber. Instead, they call it “NetCar.” But it’s totally Uber.

Trudy (Danielle Savre) is a law student who doesn’t have much of a social life because she is always either too busy studying or arguing that criminals can be reformed. Her best friend, Gretchen (Francia Raisa), is constantly begging her to go out and have a good time but Trudy refuses. (Isn’t that always the role of a best friend in a Lifetime movie?) Finally, Gretchen is somehow able to convince Trudy to go to a club with her. However, Trudy get bored and decides to leave. Standing outside the club, she calls for a NetCar.

Usually, whenever Trudy uses NetCar, her driver is another law student named Charles (Kevin G. Cox). However, this time, she doesn’t know the driver. However, she still gets in the car and accepts his offer of bottled water. The next thing that Trudy knows, she’s waking up naked in a totally sleazy motel.

With the police unable to help, Trudy takes matters into her own hands. In this case, that means that she decides to become a NetCar driver herself. She now spends her time driving around the city, looking for the man who raped her. Along the way, she lectures two women about proper car safety, deals with an angry but later helpful criminal, and meets a cute investment manager (Jackson Davis).

She also has flashbacks to her rape and these are pure nightmare fuel. The man who assaulted her is frequently seeing wearing a giant baby mask, much like the one pictured below:

Technically, the scene above is from Terry Gilliam’s 1985 dystopian satire Brazil. But it’s the same baby mask! AGCK!

To be honest, though, the entire film is nightmare fuel. The Wrong Car is one of the few genuinely disturbing Lifetime films that I’ve ever seen because it does get at some very important truths. We all give out way too much information about ourselves to total strangers. And, much like Trudy, I probably would have gotten into that NetCar and drank that bottled water. Nobody wants to spend their life paranoid but The Wrong Car suggests that perhaps a little paranoia might be justified.

Director John Stimpson fills the screen with shadowy and menacing images while Danielle Savre does an excellent job in the sometimes difficult role of Trudy. The entire film is well-cast, with Rhett Kidd turning in a memorable performance in the small role of the world’s sleaziest desk clerk. And that baby mask … at the risk of repeating myself, AGCK!

The Wrong Car is definitely a Lifetime film to keep an eye out for.