ONE LAST CHANCE - seandaddy

[Norm Sanders]

Hate starting a thread for someone else's film (hope I don't step on toes), but I can't find it anywhere and want to comment on it.

I immediately recognized the kid in this from one of the zombie fest entries. Always fun to see the same talent, whether good or bad. For the most part, the acting was stiff & unbelieable, some of which could be lent to the script. For example, the mother accepts this reality of time travel, her son's situation, etc. a little too quickly & easily for me. Granted, we're constrained to 6 minutes, but then we should take time from other spots in the story for something like this which should be crucial & believable.

I REALLY liked the idea, and once I saw the older version of the son walk back in and heard "time travel" I thought, COOL, haven't seen this in a film yet (in this fest so far).

I also liked the twist in the end ... that she wouldn't change a thing (thinking her dying helped him to become a leader, etc.) and continues to SUCK down that nicotine as fast as she can once she wakes back up.

Next, I also like that we THINK he's a good guy, but in the end we learn he's a terrorist. Cool twists.

As a side note: This went WAY over the 6 minute mark, but it was all titles, and I'll assume this may have been the DVD version by mistake.

 

[EditPhish]

Glad you started the thread Envision... I really wanted to comment on this one too.

I thought the acting was okay... but it was a bit stiff at times. She also was a bit over-the-top... overacting... and some of the lines seemed forced. She was also amazingly calm for someone thrown in a room and faced with the prospect of time travel and her grown son.

I did love the old man and his line about the paradox made me laugh... it was his delivery... I hope you meant it to be funny!

Thought the camera work, lighting and editing were all good. Didn't like the shadow shot though... seemed random to me.

I liked the twist ending -- though I did figure it out before the end, it wasn't until RIGHT before the end that I predicted where it would go. I also couldn't resolve (for myself) that the son seemed to be asking her to change his life as if he had no control or choice -- as if he were a victim... that didn't fly well with me with him barking orders at the end.

Don't mean to make it sound like I didn't enjoy your film... I actually did... and I get it, smoking is bad -- The story had good momentum and kept me interested. Thanks for sharing it!

 

[Kaz]

This was at or near the lowest ranking film for me. It mostly had to do with the stiff, unnatural acting, but especially the "educational video" vibe it gave off. I didn't like the set used or the lighting all too much either.

But that's when grading on real filmmaking merits.

If you look at it on "educational video" merits, it's one of the better and more interesting ed-vids I've seen.

Just depends on who their audience is, I guess.

 

[Captain KickAss]

Shame, shame, shame. Shame on the makers of this film for letting a quality actor like William Lynn go to waste. As a budding filmmaker in the St. Louis area, I have had the distinguished pleasure of working with him on several occasions. I knew that he had appeared in at least one other sci-fest film, "Green Means Go," so I was very excited to see him in another film for this festival.

However, I have to say that his skills were severly squandered on this project. While he did an absolutely amazing job as the probed and farting abducteee in Green Means Go, he seemed to be very stiff and flat in this film. (No offense William, I still love ya man.) Knowing personally what this man is capable of, I can only assume that the lack of quality acting in this film were the result of either bad direction or horrible script writing.

For such a dialogue driven script, there was something severely lacking across the board. The audio quality of the lines was poor, the script seemed too dialogue dependent, and the pacing was painstakingly slow.

As for the "educational video" merits referred to by Kaz, the cigarette hanging from my lips as I type this post, has never tasted so good. I guess "I wouldn't change a thing" either.

 

[Blaine]

I wasn't a fan of this either. The acting was not good. The dialogue was problematic. I was amazed at how quickly and matter-of-factly the mother accepted that she was dead, after moments earlier freaking out over where she was and not believing he was her son.

The one thing I'll say was good about this was the twist that because she didn't quit smoking, and therefore died early, her son became a terrorist.

 

[Z B Brox]

I started off really disliking this one, but softened a lot toward the end. The older version of the son managed to bring the acting up a sorely needed notch, and, frankly, the twist at the end almost validated the whole movie for me. Perhaps just because I was in terrible psychic agony over the mother's "selfless sacrifice" to quit smoking to make her son a success, having it totally turned around was extremely satisfying.

 

[iSTy]

I wasn't impressed with the acting and I don't think that if I saw a bright light outside, that I would open the front door. although I thought the clarity of the film wasn't that much good, maybe there was something to the story.