Prime Time: Walking Tall (2004)

Based on a film that was based on a strange and enjoyable true story, Walking Tall is a good star vehicle for Dwayne Johnson (still billed here as “The Rock” while he grew into his movie stardom), even if it’s far from a perfect movie.

Johnson is Chris Vaughn, a man who returns home after years spent in the military. The mill has closed, his old friend (Neal McDonough) has bought up lots of businesses, and something stinks. Problems become obvious when Chris and his friends have a night out at the local casino, where he spies a game being rigged and drugs being sold. The cops aren’t interested, which leads Chris to nominate himself for the position of Sheriff.

Directed by Kevin Bray, the biggest surprise about this movie is that it took about three people to write the simple script. I guess the challenge was fitting the material around Johnson and his co-stars, because the template of the original tale doesn’t seem like it would need a lot of work. There are also very few scenes here that are on the level of dumb fun you would expect from this kind of thing.

Johnson does his thing though, and that makes up for a lot. He is a solid choice for the role, and easily convinces in any of the more physical sequences. McDonough is also very good as the slimy, polished, friend who has turned into quite the powerful businessman. Johnny Knoxville does his amusing sidekick thing, and is just fine, while Kevin Durand is the main henchman squaring off against Johnson during the first half of the movie. Ashley Scott is the required love interest, and cannot do anything to improve her thankless role, but John Beasley and Michael Bowen are enjoyable as, respectively, the father of our leading man and an ineffective cop. Other people flesh out the cast, and Khleo Thomas stands out as the young nephew, Pete, but the film focuses on Johnson and Knoxville doing what they can to battle the baddies.

Certainly not the worst film that Johnson has done, nor is it close to his best, Walking Tall will satisfy people after an easy ninety minutes of action (even if the editing is a bit messy) and general camaraderie between the main characters. 

6/10

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Netflix And Chill: Secret Obsession (2019)

Peter Sullivan is a name you may recognise if, like me, you enjoyed watching all of the snow-filled TV movies we have filling up the schedules every Christmas time. He's done at least a dozen of them, which will come as no surprise to you once you have seen this unthrilling thriller that is now presented by Netflix.

On the one hand, I try my best to avoid spoilers whenever I review movies. I really do. I am not one of those people who thinks "the film is 50 years old anyway so it doesn't matter". And I certainly don't agree with the idea of "I thought it was crap anyway so here's how it ends", which I think is a particularly shitty way to express your negative view of something. Just because you hated something doesn't mean that everyone else will agree with you. On the other hand, and this is not an exaggeration, it's pretty much impossible to spoil Secret Obsession. If you saw the trailer then you know how it ends. If you didn't see the trailer, don't worry, everything is completely obvious within the first few minutes.

But, if you really don't believe, or trust, me . . . . *SPOILERS AHEAD*

Brenda Song plays Jennifer Williams, a young woman who starts the movie looking quite afraid until she's struck by a car, ending up in hospital with some horrible injuries and memory loss. Her loving husband, Russell (Mike Vogel), wants to get her home as soon as he can, just to make sure she can rest and recuperate in peace, and not at all because he obviously had something to do with the opening sequence. Jennifer rests up, occasionally thinking about everything she notices around her in a way that gets her spidey-sense tingling. Russell, meanwhile, acts suspiciously, then acts more suspiciously, and finally just reveals the dark core that viewers have known was there since the very beginning, all in time for a grand finale that sees the two leads joined by dogged Detective Frank Page (Dennis Haysbert).

There's something mesmerising about just how amazingly straightforward Secret Obsession is. There's no way that anyone involved could have thought they were making a real thriller. I'll admit that I wondered at what point this was going to change from the glossy nonsense I was enjoying to the twisted nastiness we got in The Perfection, but I didn't enjoy the movie any less when I realised that it was going to provide absolutely no surprises. As strange as it may seem, this proves to be quite the treat because of how resolutely it hits all of the expected beats without any of the tension, or twists, you might expect from it.

I still have to say that everyone does a decent job here, because they seem to do exactly what they're aiming to do. Sullivan directs everything with a safe, made-for-TV, feel that only ever comes close to pushing the boundaries during one moment (Russell cradling Jennifer's injured foot), the script, co-written by Sullivan and Kraig Wenman, is along the lines of a plot you would have enjoyed during the heady days of Sunset Beach, and the performances are absolutely in line with the material. Song spends most of her scenes either looking vulnerable or looking for a way to escape, or both, Vogel LOOKS like a charming psychopath throughout, and Haysbert does the suspicious and determined detective act well without going too over the top.

This is awful, in many ways. It's also kind of wonderful. It's the movie equivalent of a fast food treat. Ultimately bad for you, full of crap, designed to be sold to as many people as possible, and yet it's enjoyable enough for the ten minutes you spend eating it, even if you know you will crave something proper to eat within a few hours. Watch this, enjoy it, and then seek out something better to help get rid of the aftertaste.

5/10

Christmas Mail (2010)

Ashley Scott plays Kristi North, a young woman who has the job of replying to children who have written a letter to Santa. Kristi takes her job very seriously. So seriously, in fact, that she could end up causing a potential backlog at the mail office, something that the manager (Lochlyn Munro) doesn't want to happen. So he asks Matt (A. J. Buckley) to find out a bit more about her, and just what exactly she might be up to. It turns out that she just genuinely loves Christmas, and wants to make as many children happy as possible. But does that include Emily (Piper Mackenzie Harris), the young niece who has been staying with her Uncle Matt ever since her parents died? All she wants is for her uncle to meet someone special.

As ridiculous as it is predictable, Christmas Mail manages to be a fairly painless experience thanks to the main cast members. Buckley is easy to believe as a sweet and earnest guy, North is as cheery and cocoa-obsessed as required, and even Harris isn't too annoying as the girl trying to plan some way for her uncle to meet a good woman. Munro is pretty funny, playing the nominal villain of the piece, and Rolonda Watts is another bit of good cheer. Vanessa Evigan also gets some screentime, for no other discernible reasons than to provide the standard confusion/complication required in this sort of fare, but she's given very little to do.

The script, by Lorene Lacey and Steven Palmer Peterson, feels quite slapdash. It's almost as if they had the germ of an idea and then decided to flesh it out with minor touches they'd seen in other Christmas movies. Someone taking a great interest in the letters to Santa isn't a new idea, of course, but that doesn't mean that it has to be executed as lackadaisically as it is here. I mean . . . . . . it's SO lackadaisical that I had to check the spelling of the word "lackadaisical" to put here, as it was the most appropriate choice.

Director John Murlowski does nothing to pep things up. The only other plus point, aside from the cast, is the fact that is somehow still moves along nicely enough. Okay, there are one or two mildly amusing moments too (mainly involving Munro and/or Watts, but a dinner arranged for Matt and an elderly neighbour also made me smile), but not enough to make this one of the better choices you could make while organising a potentially crammed viewing schedule. Yet, like so many other films just like this one, it would probably work as background noise while you're battling with wrapping paper and sticky tape. Is that the real reason behind so many of these filmic baubles being made? Or do I just keep reverting back to the same scenario because I'm a poor writer with little imagination? Maybe both. Either way, you've been suitably advised about this one.

4/10

http://www.amazon.com/Christmas-Mail-Ashley-Scott/dp/B005GUVGKM/ref=sr_1_1?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1417608746&sr=1-1&keywords=christmas+mail+dvd