Film4 / Creative Scotland / Northern Ireland Screen / Sigma Films : 20th Century Fox / Tribeca Film
2.5 / 10
This is a hard-hitting film based on the story of Eric Love, portrayed brilliantly by the talented Jack O'Connell, who is "Starred Up" - transferred from a young offenders institute to an adult prison, due to his violent behaviour. Eric finds he has been moved to the same prison in which his father is incarcerated. Their relationship is a troubled and loveless one, based on hate, mistrust and misunderstanding. You think this would make for some interesting situations, though the writer, Jonathan Asser, missed the opportunity to add some depth into the characters and story.
So what you have is a bleak and violent movie without any reason or story - it starts and ambles on through to the end - this had the possibility to be as good as Scum. After watching it I had to ask myself what I had taken from this film? The answer was, unfortunately, nothing.
The acting, other than Jack O'Connell was average or below. The direction was mediocre at best and brought nothing to the telling of the story.
Only if you're a fan of Jack O'Connell then maybe watching this film once would be of interest to you, though I cannot see who this film would interest.
Universal Pictures / Renfield Productions / Falcon Productions : American Broadcasting Corporation / Image Entertainment / MCA Universal Home Video
6 / 10
This is a strange film that sits in a weird void between genres and styles and thus doesn't seem to work quite as well as Joe Dante's other works. The good thing is that you can tell this is a Joe Dante film, so if you liked Gremlins, Small Soldiers, Innerspace, etc, then you will probably enjoy this tale.
It's set at the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis and try's to build on the troubles and worries of the people at this period in time. Enter Lawrence Woolsey, played enthusiastically by John Goodman and his assistant Ruth Corday, portrayed by Cathy Moriarty, who is in town to promote his new B-movie "MANT!", for which he is also pushing "Atomo-Vision". Then there's the story of the town's teenagers, who become involved in helping Woolsey in his venture. However, this is where the story starts to fall flat as some of these tales are bland, to the point of boring. Simon Fenton, playing Gene Loomis, gives an okay performance. Though the rest of the younger cast are below average, which is a shame as Omri Katz did good work on Hocus Pocus and Eerie, Indiana; and Kellie Martin who has given decent performances throughout her ongoing career. Robert Picardo gives a wonderful comic performance as the Theater Manager, Howard, who is more interested in the Crisis than what's happening in his movie theatre.
There are some good scenes in the film, especially concerning the B-movie "MANT!", and Joe Dante's direction, John Goodman's and Robert Picardo's acting keep it just interesting enough to keep your finger off the stop and eject button.
If one Sunday winter afternoon there's nothing on worth watching and this appears in the guide, then I would say, "grab a coffee and some chocky biscuits, settle down and chill to this movie."
Front Street Pictures / Muse Entertainment Enterprises : Hallmark / MovieMax Family
2013
9.5 /10
This is a lovely well thought-out movie, that is well directed and superbly acted by a talented cast, headed by one of my favourite actors, Eric Mabius. who I originally saw in The Crow: Salvation.
I really loved the idea of the "Lost Letter Department" whose sole job is to get the undelivered mail to where it's intended destination. If they cannot read the address on the envelope then they are allowed to open the letter, but they are only allowed to read as far as they need so they can deduce a delivery address, as it's a federal offense to tamper with mail.
In this case, though, they keep running into problems in determining the destination so they have to keep reading. As they do the viewer is shown the story of the letter's writer and becomes embroiled in their tale.
The reason this works is the juxtaposition of the two ongoing stories, as well as the different characters within each. It gives quite a lot of detail to keep you interested and entertained.
Eric Mabius plays Oliver O'Toole who is a stuffed shirt, but with a heart of gold. He likes his rules and regulations though if there's a logical explanation to circumnavigate the rules to get the desired outcome, then he will. He is a solid and strong character, a good lead.
Kristin Booth portrays Shane McInerney, "Miss McInerney" as Oliver likes to call her and the chemistry between them is nice. She comes to the Lost Letter Department by accident and can only get redeployed to her desired department after a couple of months. Even though she isn't good at hiding her disappointment, it's Shane who is pivotal in pushing the investigation to its conclusion. It's her curiosity and enthusiasm that help make her a well thought-out character.
Then you have the two "Side-Kicks" Rita Haywith and Norman Dorman, played nicely by Crystal Lowe and Geoff Gustafson. These are the "Geeks" of the Lost Letter Department, but add a depth to the team, which makes the show stronger.
Even though there are some adult issues represented in the story these are handled with maturity and in a light manner. This is not a doom and gloom show, and for that reason I loved it.
What works really well is the great direction, it cannot be easy to intertwine two stories and keep it well paced and smooth. The director makes this look effortless, all adding to the enjoyability of the movie.
I would recommend this to everybody, especially the lovers of heart-warming tales.
