Review: Echo Boomers

Nice guy art major Patrick Schwarzenegger arrives in Chicago to hook up with his cousin Gilles Geary, who offers him a job that plays into his particular skill set. In an unorthodox way. You see, Geary runs with a crew of college-educated millennials (including Hayley Law and Alex Pettyfer) who have struggled to do anything with their education, and now finance themselves by stealing from rich folk. Geary figures Schwarzenegger’s art knowledge will help them focus their attention on valuable art pieces. At first it’s all fun and games, but eventually things get riskier and more dangerous. Michael Shannon plays their no-bullshit ‘fence’, Lesley Ann Warren is a reporter.

 

“American Animals” done sorta right. This 2020 flick from writer/director Seth Savoy (his debut feature-length film) and his co-writers Jason Miller (another shorts guy) and Kevin Bernhardt (“Turbulence 2: Fear of Flying”, “Elephant White”) give us another truth-based account of lazy youngsters who try to get a leg up in life by turning to crime. It frustratingly doesn’t have anything fresh to say, but it’s certainly better than most of these kinds of stories, including “Billionaire Boys Club”. So I guess it’s worth a soft recommendation simply for being better than I expected it to be and better than several others of its type.

 

Much as I didn’t agree with what these characters were doing or why they were doing it, the filmmakers at least make the rationale behind the crimes sound believably enticing to some idiots out there potentially. So the filmmakers make this seem plausible, and don’t just rely on the fact that it really did happen. Some of the performances are pretty good too, including Michael Shannon, Gilles Geary, and even Patrick Schwarzenegger is effective as essentially the most appealing character of a fairly disreputable bunch. He’s got the innocent-eyed Paul Walker-esque thing down pat. It’s a shame that the talented Lesley Ann Warren is so poorly wasted in a nothing role, though.

 

A well-made film with an unfortunately well-worn trajectory. It’s well-done and will get a recommendation from me, but you do wish it weren’t so familiar. Being based on a true story is no excuse. Michael Shannon and Gilles Geary are excellent, Patrick Schwarzenegger is well-cast.

 

Rating: B-

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Review: Hellraiser (2022)

Recovering junkie Odessa A’zion accompanies scuzzy boyfriend Drew Starkey on a break-in where all they find is a weird puzzle box. A’zion later opens the box and after some weird shit happens, A’zion and Starkey figure it might be a good idea to learn more about this messed up trinket. Goran Visnjic plays a millionaire who possessed the box before our protagonist nicked it.   Is there any point in remaking/rebooting “Hellraiser” when the 1987 adaptation of Clive Barker’s original text was written and directed by Barker himself? And is considered a horror classic? On evidence here, absolutely not. Directed by David Bruckner ( “The Signal” ) and scripted by Ben Collins ( “The Night House” ) and Luke Piotrowski (ditto) this is an entirely tedious affair. I took a long time to get on board with the 1987 “Hellraiser” , I have to admit. It was wildly imaginative and original, like a nightmare transplanted on to film. However, the characters were stone cold and left me similarly chilly t
Read more

Review: Cinderella (1950)

The story of poor young Cinderella (voiced by Ilene Woods), treated as a servant by her nasty stepmother (voiced by Eleanor Audley), and dismissed by her thoroughly rotten, ugly stepsisters. Her only friends are a group of mice, who are forever being menaced by a cat named Lucifer (or as I call him, Grumpy Cheshire Cat). The King (hoping to find a wife for his charming son) is throwing a ball and every available young woman is invited to attend, and Cinderella is most excited to go. However, her stepmother and stepsisters do all they can to prevent this from happening. But with help from the mice and one fairy godmother (voiced by Verna Felton) later, and Cinderella looks set to attend the ball. You know the rest, folks.   Lovely 1950 Disney animated movie from directors Clyde Geronimi ( “Peter Pan” , “Lady and the Tramp” ), Wilfred Jackson ( “Fantasia” , “Alice in Wonderland” , “Peter Pan” ) & Hamilton Luske ( “Pinocchio” , “Fantasia” , “Peter Pan” ), that is a bit too s
Read more

Review: Eugenie de Sade

Eugenie (Soledad Miranda) makes a deathbed confession to author/biographer (Jesus ‘Jess’ Franco himself), recounting the tale of how her depraved stepfather (Paul Muller) groomed her into a life of depravity, debauchery, and murder.   Not to be confused with the similarly titled “Eugenie…The Story of Her Journey into Perversion” (by the same director) or “Justine de Sade” (which is not to be confused with Franco’s own “Justine” for that matter), this 1973 Marquis de Sade adaptation from writer-director Jesus Franco ( “99 Women” , “A Virgin Among the Living Dead” ) is perhaps the perfect marriage of Franco, sleazy material, and actors. Basically this is what Franco’s “She Killed in Ecstasy” might’ve been like if it were based on a Marquis de Sade work. There’s a few slow spots here and there, but overall I actually think this is Franco’s best film. Yes, even better than my previous choice “Vampyros Lesbos” , and better than his more ‘respectable’ films like “Count Dracula” (a
Read more