What Lisa Watched Last Night #131: Bad Blood (dir by Adam Silver)

Posted on July 16, 2015 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Last night, I watched a Lifetime film that originally aired in March, Bad Blood.

Why Was I Watching?

The main reason that I watched it was so I could get it off of my DVR. I recorded Bad Blood when it originally aired in March, fully planning to promptly review it. However, for whatever reason, I never got around to writing that review and Bad Blood sat, for 4 months, on my DVR. Last night, I decided to rewatch Bad Blood, review Bad Blood, and finally erase Bad Blood! (I need the space for all the shark movies that are going to be SyFy this week.)

What Was It About?

Bad Blood was a typical Lifetime mix of empowerment and exploitation. Serial killer Oscar Marcus (Brett Rickaby) is dying of leukemia so he’s kidnapping, torturing, and murdering victims all across the southwest so that he can exchange his bad blood for their good blood. (Or something like that — Bad Blood was not exactly an easy film to follow.) However, because Oscar had a bone marrow transplant five years earlier, he’s not leaving his DNA behind at the crime scenes. Instead, he’s leaving behind the DNA of his donor, Lauren (Taylor Cole).

And, since this is a Lifetime film, Lauren has both a mysterious past and a boyfriend involved in law enforcement. However, when Lauren’s DNA starts to show up at crime scenes, that boyfriend is forced to arrest her. (That’ll kill a relationship.)

However, Oscar rescues Lauren from the cops because he wants her blood. And then Lauren escapes Oscar and teams up with her estranged father (Jeff Kober) to prove her innocence…

What Worked?

It’s strange. I really didn’t like Bad Blood the first time I saw it but the second time, I discovered that it wasn’t as bad as I remembered. There were a few strikingly atmospheric scenes towards the end of the film and there was something oddly charming about the film’s refusal to make any logical sense.

Jeff Kober was good as the irresponsible father and Brett Rickaby was a chillingly believable murderer. The second time I watched the film, I better appreciated Taylor Cole’s performance as well.

What Did Not Work?

Bad Blood was not as bad as I remembered it being but it’s still not one of my favorite Lifetime films. The pacing was off in a few key scenes and Lauren’s romance with the sheriff was pretty dull. As well, I didn’t care much for the film’s ending. After what those people went through, everyone should have been a lot more traumatized. Instead, it ended in a typically upbeat Lifetime sort of way.

“Oh my God! Just like me!” Moments

I related to Lauren’s relationship with her dad. Plus, Lauren’s a runner just like me! (Lauren was also an auto mechanic, which was a totally “Oh my God! Definitely not like me!” moment.)

Lessons Learned

DNA is a lot trickier than I thought.

What Lisa Watched Last Night #130: Double Daddy (dir by Lee Friedlander)

Posted on July 14, 2015 by Lisa Marie Bowman

OMG, I'm tired. It might be nap time and by nap time, I mean that I'll see everyone tomorrow morning.

— Lisa Marie Bowman (@LisaMarieBowman) July 14, 2015

Why was I tired enough to tweet that? Because late last night, after a very long day of work and dance, I rewatched the Lifetime original movie Double Daddy.

Why Was I Watching It?

I’m still in the process of trying to clear up space on my DVR. So, last night, as I battled my need for sleep, I forced myself to rewatch a Lifetime film from June so that I could review it and erase it. I didn’t care much for Double Daddy the first time that I watched it and the second time, I cared for it even less.

And, of course, because I stayed up to watch it a second time, I was exhausted for most of today. Bleh.

What Was It About?

BLEH!

Okay, I guess that doesn’t tell you much. Connor (Cameron Palatas) is a high school jock who, at the start of the film, is drunkenly stumbling around the most boring high school party ever. New girl Heather (Brittany Curran) ends up having a one night stand with him. As a result, Heather gets pregnant. At the same time, Connor’s girlfriend, Amanda (Mollee Gray), discovers that she’s pregnant as well!

That’s right — Connor’s about to be a double daddy!

Of course, since this is a Lifetime film, Heather is also a psycho who carries a knife and starts to plot Amanda’s death…

It all probably sounds more interesting than it actually is.

What Worked?

I was tempted to say that nothing worked about Double Daddy but that’s not quite true. Brittany Curran was memorably demented in the role of Heather. In fact, she gave such a good performance that I found myself rooting for Heather, regardless of how much of a murderous psycho she eventually turned out to be. Heather may have been crazy but at least she wasn’t boring.

What Did Not Work?

I’m just going to say it: of the many Lifetime films that I’ve watched over the years, Double Daddy is one of my least favorite. No, it’s not as bad as The Unauthorized Saved By The Bell Story but then again, what is? With the exception of Brittany Curran, the performances are dull and the actors get no help from a script that is both heavy-handed and simple-minded.

Perhaps worst of all, there’s a nasty strain of slut shaming that runs through Double Daddy. Amanda and Heather are held to different standards while Connor is held to no standard at all. Judgmental and bland Amanda is presented as being saintly, largely because she only has sex with a serious boyfriend and presumably only after finishing her homework. Heather, on the other hand, becomes pregnant as the result of a drunken one night stand and, perhaps not surprisingly, is also portrayed as being a complete psycho who eventually tries to murder Amanda. While we’re obviously meant to feel sorry for Amanda, the film allows absolutely no sympathy for Heather. Completely absolved of any responsibility is Connor, who we are actually supposed to feel sorry for because crazy Heather is keeping him from being with Amanda, the same girl that he previously cheated on! BLEH!

As well, let’s consider the fact that saintly Amanda and victimized Connor both come from typical upper class Lifetime families while Heather is the only character to come from a lower class background.

Seriously, exploring the subtext of Double Daddy is not a pleasant activity.

What makes all this especially upsetting is that Double Daddy was directed by Lee Friedlander, who previously directed the brilliant Babysitter’s Black Book.

“Oh my God! Just like me!” Moments

Much like Heather, I always used school field trips as an excuse to go off on my own. I never pulled a knife on anyone though.

Lessons Learned

We live in a twisted and hypocritical world.

Forget The Gallows

Posted on July 14, 2015 by Lisa Marie Bowman

The new horror film The Gallows is pretty dire. It’s boring, it’s forgettable, and – worst of all – it’s not really scary. And yet, I would argue that The Gallows is actually providing a fairly valuable service for horror films lovers.

The Gallows is a found footage horror movie and sometimes, it’s easy to forget just how bad found footage horror movies can be. Every once and a while, a film will be released that actually makes good use of the whole found footage gimmick. Movies like The Last Exorcism, Devil’s Due, Apollo 18, and Unfriended are all good horror films but, at the same time, it’s important to remember that they are the exception to the rule. The Gallows may be a total crapfest but it’s a necessary evil because it serves to remind us of why so many horror films have gone to hate found footage films.

As for The Gallows itself, it tells a story that will be familiar to anyone who has seen a horror film. 20 years ago, during a high school production of a play called The Gallows, a student named Charlie was accidentally hanged. Now, in the present, the school is commemorating the anniversary by putting on another production of The Gallows and…

Excuse me?

Yes, I know that makes no sense. What can I tell you? This is a crappy film.

Anyway, Charlie’s role is being played by a kid named Reese but Reese doesn’t really want to be in the play. He’s just doing it because he has a crush on his co-star, Pfieffer. So, Reese’s obnoxious jock friend, Ryan, suggests that they should break into the school at night and trash the set. That way, the play will be canceled and Reese can comfort Pfieffer. Reese agrees and…

What was that you asked?

Yes, the film really is that stupid.

So, Reese, Ryan, and Ryan’s girlfriend Cassidy break into the school and trash the set. However, before they can really get into destroying stuff, Pfieffer shows up and demands to know what they’re doing. And then suddenly the doors slam shut and everyone’s trapped in the school and hey, there’s the evil spirit of Charlie and he wants to hang everyone…

But guess what!

Charlie’s not just a random evil spirit, seeking out anyone foolish enough to break into the school at night. If that was the case, he might actually be scary. No, Charlie actually has a backstory and a much more complicated motive for wanting to kill everyone. And I’m not going to spoil the film for anyone who wants to see it so I’ll just say this.

Charlie’s motives? They’re really, really stupid.

And, of course, the whole film is found footage! So, once again, we get the whole shaky cam thing and people saying stuff like, “Are you filming?” and all the rest. And, of course, all of the characters share the same first name as their actors because … well, I’m not sure what the point of that is exactly. It’s not like we’re going to be fooled into thinking that we’re watching an actual event. There have been way too many crappy found footage films released recently for anyone to fall for that.

Admittedly, I did jump once or twice while watching The Gallows. But any horror film can get me to jump once or twice. The Gallows is a boring and listless film but, at the very least, it does serve as a warning.

Beware found footage horror films. They promise much yet rarely do they deliver.

What Lisa Watched Last Night #129: Accidental Obsession (dir by George Erschbamer)

Posted on July 13, 2015 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Last night, I watched the Lifetime premiere of Accidental Obsession.

Caroline Cave stars in Accidental Obsession

Why Was I Watching It?

After A Deadly Adoption, Trigger Point, and Lethal Seduction, it is obvious that Lifetime is on a roll. In the future, when we look back at the history of Lifetime movies, 2015 will definitely be seen as a high point. Naturally, how could I not excited by the idea of a Lifetime movie premiering on Sunday? Surely, Accidental Obsession would prove to be yet another Lifetime masterpiece…

What Was It About?

After Carly (Caroline Cave) escapes from a mental asylum, she murders and steals the identity of a travel writer named Vanessa. She then manages to meet and befriend an attorney named Heather (Josie Davis).

Within a matter of days, Vanessa has become clingy and possessive. Not only does she regularly break into Heather’s house but she borrows Heather’s clothes without asking as well! (Breaking and entering is one thing. Borrowing without asking permission is something else all together!) However, it turns out that Vanessa is not the only person obsessed with Heather. There’s also Heather’s ex-husband, Ray (Sebastian Spence) and a private investigator named Jack (Marc Menard).

(This movie could have just as easily been called Everyone Loves Heather.)

How far will Vanessa go to have Heather all to herself? Well, Vanessa is kind of a crazy stabby psycho so you can probably guess what ends up happening.

What Worked?

Josie Davis is a Lifetime veteran and, as a result, she knew exactly the right type of performance to give in a film like Accidental Obsession. As well, Caroline Cave gave a good performance as the psycho Vanessa.

What Did Not Work?

Sad to say, this was definitely a lesser Lifetime film. The film opens with Carly stabbing Vanessa to death with a huge butcher knife. Despite the fact that Carly stabbed Vanessa repeatedly, there’s absolutely no blood seen on the knife or Carly afterwards. It was distracting and it pretty much set the tone for the entire film. Accidental Obsession definitely felt like a movie that was too rushed to pay much attention to details like blood.

Naturally, all Lifetime film require a certain suspension of disbelief. Accidental Obsession required a bit too much suspending. For the entire film’s plot to even come close to making sense, Heather had to be a total and complete idiot. And it’s true that there are idiots out there but they usually don’t make for compelling protagonists.

There’s also a scene of totally gratuitous animal cruelty. While I understand that the filmmakers were trying to show us how crazy and dangerous Vanessa really was, those two facts had already been pretty firmly established. As a result, the scene just felt sadistic and unnecessary.

Finally, Accidental Obsession is way too generic of a title. Add to that, no one’s obsession was really accidental.

“Oh my God! Just like me!” Moments

You meet someone, you try to be nice, and the next thing you know, that person is determined to be a part of every minute of your life. Yes, Lifetime, I’ve been there…

Lessons Learned

Be suspicious of people who steal identities, want to be your best friend, and attempt to stab your ex-husband to death. They’re probably up to no good.

What Lisa Watched Last Night #128: Lethal Seduction (dir by Nancy Leopardi)

Posted on July 12, 2015 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Last night, I watched the latest Lifetime original film, Lethal Seduction!

Why Was I Watching It?

Because it was on Lifetime, of course! Plus, with a name like Lethal Seduction, you knew it had to be good. It’s not quite as great a title as A Deadly Adoption or Babysitter’s Black Book but it’s close.

What Was It About?

Mark Richards (Caleb Ruminer) seems like he has a great future ahead of him. He’s a high school senior who has invented a new app and who is going to be attending Princeton in the fall. Sweet Melanie (Tessa Harnetiaux) has a crush on him. His best friend, Walter (Sam Lerner), is so desperately uncool that he makes Mark look really hot by comparison. His widowed mother, Tanya (Amanda Detmer), is extremely overprotective but, fortunately, she’s being distracted by her new boyfriend, Randy (Brian Smith).

(Randy and Tanya work at the local aquarium and the entire film is full of oddly pensive close-ups of sharks and jellyfish swimming around. They don’t have anything to do with the plot but they are pretty to look at.)

One day, while at the hardware store, Mark meets Carissa (Dina Meyer). Carissa invites Mark home with her and soon, Mark is showering with Carissa, swimming naked with Carissa, having sex with Carissa, and getting handcuffed by Carissa. (And why not? App developers are sexy!) Walter is jealous. Melanie is scared. And Tanya does not approve, especially after Carissa starts to encourage Mark to skip college and instead, move in with her.

That’s right, Carissa is an obsessive and homicidal cougar! And, just in case you needed any reminded that she’s crazy, the film is called Lethal Seduction…

What Worked?

This film was a lot of fun. Frequent TSL commenter Doc Zeke and I had a lot of fun live tweeting it over on twitter. The film is totally melodramatic, over the top, and ridiculous in that wonderful Lifetime fashion. It was all very silly but it was a lot of fun as well.

Plus, Dina Meyer fully committed herself to playing the murderous Carissa. She gleefully attacked the role with almost as much energy that Carissa devoted to attacking anyone who dared to stand between her and Mark.

What Did Not Work?

The film is full of close-ups of sharks and yet the sharks themselves are never really relevant to the plot. Don’t introduce a shark unless someone’s going to end up getting eaten by the end of the film.

“OMG! Just like me!” Moments

I related to Melanie. It’s unfortunate that neither Mark nor fate treated her better.

Lessons Learned

All of Mark’s troubles could have been avoided if he had just listened to his mother and done exactly what she said. That’s actually a pretty common Lifetime lesson.

What Lisa Watched Last Night #127: Her Infidelity (dir by Christie Will)

Posted on July 11, 2015 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Last night, I watched Her Infidelity, a Lifetime film that’s been sitting on my DVR since April.

Why Was I Watching It?

I recently discovered that I only had room on my DVR to record another 10 hours worth of programming. With SyFy scheduled to show several original shark films next weekend, I knew that I had to make room on the DVR. Otherwise, I would run the risk of the DVR automatically deleting the oldest recordings and I am sorry but there is no way that I’m going to allow Bend It Like Beckham to be erased. So, with all that in mind, I’m finally getting around to watching some of the movies that I recorded earlier this year. I started with Her Infidelity, a Lifetime film from April.

What Was It About?

Following the tragic death of his wife and daughter, creepy mask enthusiast Grayson Kendall (Clayton Chitty) gets a job working as an elementary school teacher. Grayson also volunteers to be the latest teacher liaison to the PTA.

The president of the PTA is Lily Helms (Rachel Hunter), whose son happens to be one of Grayson’s students! Lily is married but her husband (Lane Edwards) seems to be more concerned with work than with his marriage. Lily feels neglected, Grayson makes little secret of the fact that he finds her attractive, and can we be surprised that eventually they end up having sex in a motel while Grayson wears one of his masks?

Lily’s husband comes home and promises to be a better spouse and also explains that, despite what Lily assumed, he was not having an affair with his secretary. Lily wants nothing else to do with Grayson but Grayson has become both obsessed with her and friends with Lily’s husband. Even worse, he’s now dating Lily’s best friend (Miranda Frigon)!

What Worked?

I liked Her Infidelity. It told a pretty standard Lifetime story but director Christie Will created a dream-like atmosphere and added enough surreal touches that the audience was kept off-balance. Up until the very end of the film, I was expecting Lily to suddenly wake up and discover that she had just been having a particularly vivid fantasy.

As well, Her Infidelity — much like A Deadly Adoption — deserves credit for taking everything to its logical extreme. Grayson isn’t just your standard Lifetime stalker. Instead, he’s one of the creepiest characters to ever appear on Lifetime or any other network.

One thing I especially appreciated was the fact that, no matter how oddly Grayson behaved, Lily was apparently the only person who noticed. Everyone around her was so amazingly oblivious. Even Lily’s husband insisted that Grayson was just a nice guy. It all helped to create an appropriate atmosphere of paranoia and helplessness.

(It also confirmed one of my own long-held beliefs: people are a lot more stupid than you assume.)

What Did Not Work?

As far as I’m concerned, it all worked. It was Lifetime movie that promised infidelity, melodrama, and masked men. And it delivered on all three!

“Oh my God! Just like me!” Moments

Naturally, I related to Lily’s best friend, the red-headed real estate agent played by Miranda Frigon. Hopefully, however, I have a better taste in men.

Lessons Learned

Cleaning up the DVR can be fun!

Film Review: Minions (dir by Pierre Coffin and Kyle Balda)

Posted on July 10, 2015 by Lisa Marie Bowman

The Minions, everyone’s favorite group of little yellow weirdos from the first two Despicable Me films, now have a movie of their very own! Earlier tonight, Jeff and I braved a theater that was full of hyperactive little children and we watched Minions.

I have to admit that I was really looking forward to seeing Minions. After all, I loved both of the Despicable Me movies and, much like Through the Shattered Lens co-founder Arleigh Sandoc, I thought the minions were pretty adorable. Along with the fact that they were just so weird that you couldn’t help but love them, the minions were distinguished by the wonderfully cheerful approach that they took towards their work. Even when one of them was accidentally launched into space during the original Despicable Me, he continued to smile. He was just happy to be a part of the project. Seriously, who wouldn’t want a bunch of minions to do her bidding?

Now, it was established during the first Despicable Me movie that the minions were specifically created by the super villain Gru. However, Minions reimagines their origins. Now, we discover that the minions have existed since the beginning of time and, apparently immune from aging, they have always sought to serve a villainous master. During the film’s opening, we watch as they serve a Tyrannosaurus Rex, Dracula, and Napoleon. Unfortunately, the minions’ combination of enthusiasm and stupidity proves fatal to most of their employers.

Eventually, the minions find themselves exiled to Antarctica. After several centuries, the minions find themselves suffering from depression and ennui. Finally, three brave minions (all voiced by director Pierre Coffin) volunteer to go out into the world and find a new master to serve. Kevin is the responsible leader. Bob is the cute, enthusiastic one who always carries a teddy bear with him. (Bob also has heterochromia, just like me!) And finally, Stuart is the one who likes to play his guitar.

Kevin, Bob, and Stuart get in a rowboat and eventually, they reach New York City. However, it turns out that the year is 1968 and there is a serious shortage of evil super villains to serve! Not only is Gru just a child but Bill Clinton hasn’t even launched his political career yet! Eventually, though, our three minions learn about Villain-Con, being held in Orlando, Florida. Hitching a ride with a family of aspiring bank robbers (Micheal Keaton is the voice of the father), the minions reach Orlando and eventually, they end up working for Scarlet Overkill (Sandra Bullock) and her husband, Herb (Jon Hamm).

Scarlet explains that, ever since she was a little girl, she has wanted to be the Queen of England. But she doesn’t have the crown! She orders Kevin, Stuart, and Bob to get that crown and reads them a bedtime story about three minions who failed to get a crown and were subsequently killed by an angry wolf. AGCK!

This leads to our three minions going to London and, since it’s 1968, that also leads to a lot of good (if predictable) songs on the soundtrack. As a result of several odd incidents, Bob is briefly the King of England. And things only get stranger from there…

The children in the audience loved it but, at the same time, I could never bring myself to like Minions as much as I wanted to. Minions just doesn’t have as much heart as Despicable Me. There’s no moment in Minions that’s anywhere close to being as joyful as the “It’s so fluffy” scene from Despicable Me. The minions are fun supporting characters but they don’t quite work as well as protagonists for a 91 minutes film. Sandra Bullock tries really hard as Scarlet Overkill but she just doesn’t have the right voice for the character. Part of Sandra Bullock’s appeal, after all, is that she not only looks but sounds like she’s totally down-to-earth and that’s one thing that Scarlet definitely is not. Jon Hamm, however, is hilarious as the vacuous Herb.

Minions is a cute movie that doesn’t really make much of an impression. Kids will love it, though. And, even though I would never actually eat there, I’m still going to go by McDonald’s and order a Happy Meal so I can get the little minion that’s inside.

(Especially if it’s one of those cursing minions…)

Film Review: All The Wilderness (dir by Michael Johnson)

Posted on July 7, 2015 by Lisa Marie Bowman

I recently watched an excellent little film called All The Wilderness.

James Charm (Kodi Smit-McPhee) is a shy and withdrawn teenager who is still struggling to deal with the recent death of his father. He spends his time wandering around the forest surrounding the house where he lives with his mother (Virginia Madsen). Occasionally, he makes his way into the nearby city and aimlessly wanders through the desolate streets. In his spare time, he sketches pictures of dead animals and tells people that he can predict when they are going to die. When he informs the local bully that he’s going to die in just a few more days, the bully responds by punching James in the face.

Sometimes, James visits a therapist (Danny DeVito) who seems to alternate between concern and indifference. One day, while sitting in the waiting room, James meets Val (Isabelle Fuhrman), who is dealing with her parents’ divorce and spends her time making and selling eccentric doughnuts. James likes Val but he’s too scared to open up to her. Some of that may have to do with the mysterious, hooded figures who occasionally materialize out of thin air and pursue him through the streets.

After sneaking out of one unproductive therapy session, James discovers a mysterious man named Harmon (Evan Ross) playing a piano in a courtyard. Later, after his hamster mysteriously dies, a distraught James sneaks out of his house, makes his way down to the city, and gets on a bus. Sitting across from him is none other than Harmon.

Harmon invites James to follow him on a trip into the hidden corners of the city. Soon, James is discovering that the wilderness is not only limited to the countryside surrounding his mother’s house. There’s also an urban wilderness and, with Harmon as his guide, James starts to discover it. And yet, even as James starts to find happiness, those hooded figures continue to follow him…

All The Wilderness reminded me a lot of last year’s underappreciated California Scheming, another atmospheric look at alienation that was full of existential dread. All The Wilderness is probably not a film for everyone. Not only is it extremely stylized but it’s also a bit too short. All The Wilderness is one of the few films that could actually benefit from an additional 30 minutes added to its running time.

And yet, flaws and all, All The Wilderness is a great film and one that everyone should take the time to see. It is perched so precariously between being insightful and being pretentious that it becomes oddly compelling to watch the film’s valiantly struggle to maintain its balance. Visually, this is an incredible film just to look at, with the constantly moving camera capturing images of ominous yet undeniably beautiful urban decay. In small roles, both Danny DeVito and Virginia Madsen are well-cast while Evan Ross is appropriately charismatic as Harmon. Finally, Kodi Smit-McPhee — all grown up from his heartbreaking performances in The Road and Let Me In — gives a wonderful and versatile performance in the lead role.

All The Wilderness is a film that deserves to be seen.

A Superfast Review of Superfast!

Posted on July 6, 2015 by Lisa Marie Bowman

A typical scene from Superfast!

Superfast! tells the story of an incredibly stupid undercover cop named Lucas White (Alex Ashbaugh). Despite the fact that he’s so white that he regularly freezes mayonnaise so that he can then lick it like a popsicle (or so he tells us), White is assigned to infiltrate a group of multi-ethnic Los Angeles street racers. Led by the bald and imposing Vin Serento (Dale Pavinski), these street racers spend their time doing vaguely defined illegal stuff. Lucas soon wins Vin’s trust and finds himself torn between his job and his new friends.

When it looks like Vin and his crew are going to have to flee the country, they plot to rip-off crime lord Juan Carlos de la Sol (Omar Chaparro). In order to do this, Vin recruits a crew that includes characters with names like Rapper Cameo, Cool Asian Guy, and Model Turned Actress. Pursuing Vin and his crew is the ultra intense Detective Rock Johnson (Dio Johnson).

If all this sounds familiar, that’s because Superfast! is a spoof of the Fast and the Furious franchise. As far as spoof movies go, Superfast! is not bad. The actors do a good job of imitating the hypermasculine style of the Fast and Furious franchise and I actually found myself laughing at a few of the jokes. Considering that this film was directed by the infamous duo of Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer, a few laughs were still more laughs than I was expecting. Superfast! deserves some credit for being consistently amusing, even if the overall film was pretty uneven.

Of course, the main problem with Superfast! is that the Fast and the Furious films already do a pretty good job of spoofing themselves. One of the main reasons why that franchise has not only survived but prospered is because the films themselves are full of a winking self-awareness. The franchise itself has consistently, and with good humor, acknowledged just how over-the-top things can get. (Indeed, the franchise is populated by actors — like Dwayne Johnson and Vin Diesel — who have made a career out of poking gentle fun at their images.) There’s really not a single joke to be found in Superfast! that hasn’t already been made in a previous Fast and the Furious film.

But, with all that in mind, Superfast! is an amusing enough way to waste 90 minutes. Dale Pavisnki especially deserves some credit for the commitment that he brings to the role of Vin ~~Diesel~~ Serento.

Superfast! was released on the same day as Furious Seven. Needless to say, Furious Seven did just a little bit better with audiences and critics. Superfast! can currently be viewed on Netflix.

What Lisa Watched Last Night #126: Trigger Point (dir by Philippe Gagnon)

Posted on July 6, 2015 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Yesterday, I watched the Canadian film Trigger Point on the Lifetime Movie Network.

Why Was I Watching It?

Oh, why not? It was Sunday, I was still recovering from a very active Independence Day, and it was on the Lifetime Movie Network. You know me. I can’t resist Lifetime.

What Was It About?

College student Callie Banner (Jordan Hinson) blames a Big Evil Corporation for her father losing his job and becoming an alcoholic. So, she gets involved in a campus protest group. Soon, she is ignoring all of her old, apolitical friends and spending all of her time chanting slogans and raising her fist in solidarity. She breaks up with her old boyfriend and is soon dating the charismatic Jared Church (Yanni Gellman).

However, something strange is happening. Former members of the protest group are dying and their wealthy parents are being blown up. The cops call it murder/suicide but could it just be murder/murder? That’s what Callie has to find out, while still also finding time to paint signs, hang banners, and come up with catchy slogans.

What Worked?

Trigger Point confirmed all of my long-held suspicions about political activists. Good work, Trigger Point.

What Did Not Work?

I was about to complain about the fact that Callie came across as being a humorless scold but then again, that aspect of her character worked as far as the film’s plot was concerned. If Callie wasn’t a humorless scold, she never would have gotten involved with the protesters in the first place. And while it can be argued that the film suffered because Callie is such an unlikable character, I would suggest that Callie being so unlikable actually worked to the film’s advantage. If she had been likable, you would have actually been worried about her well-being and the film would not have been as much fun. But since she wasn’t likable, you never really cared how many terrible things happened to her.

So, though it may not have been due to the intentions of the filmmakers, the entire film works.

“Oh my God! Just like me!” Moments

I imagine if I was the type to get involved in a political protest, I’d probably act a lot like Callie. I would totally throw myself into it, I’d flirt with the leaders, I would be judgmental towards anyone who didn’t want to protest, and, in the end, I would discover that everyone around me was a murderer. That’s one reason why I never got involved with the Occupy movement, no matter how many times I was invited.

Lessons Learned

Don’t get involved in any student protests. Seriously, they always seem to lead to murder.