Blast

I rented this from my local video store, not expecting much, but I was really surprised. This movie was thoughtful, smart, had great acting and had a genuine emotional depth I hardly ever see in these kinds of films. It also seemed very well directed. Although I'm no expert, I thought it looked a whole lot better than most movies I see in the theaters. It made me think of Stand By Me, as if these were the same characters a little older and in a different time. I liked how the writer tried to make a point about how small miscommunications can grow into disasters. Watching the movie, you can pick out lots of places where a bit of honesty between the characters would have averted the bigger troubles to come. Overall, it seemed pretty ambitious for a independent movie.

This film seemed more interested in getting teenagers to like it than in getting a story told. The music in the film is an obvious attempt at drawing in a younger audience...how else would you explain such "hip music" playing at such inappropriate times in the film? Often, the music is extremely distracting.

Not to say that there's much to distract us from...you get unrealistic teenage stereotypes that we're supposed to relate with on some level, dialogue written by a forty year old desperately trying to channel a 16 year old, and a painfully predictable storyline that wants to show us that people can change... dramatically... with no reason, thought, or logic involved whatsoever.

In the end, the film comes right out and says, "this was about reality". I'm not sure what that line meant...and i'm not sure that a hip soundtrack will help me through any of the incoherent babble littered throughout this film.

Well, the star of the movie in my opinion is yes, Blake Heron. I gave this movie a ten because of the performance of Mr.Heron. Now, because of this performance I have seen his other credits and a T.V Series "Rescue 77" caught my eye. In this he played a disturbed teenager. Who goes psycho at school with a rifle. It was a small part yet he made it come to life. He really puts 100% into his characters. My conclusion is that there is something remarkable about this young man.

This is a complete rewrite of my earlier review.

I purchased this disk, and Air Force One, as a follow up to A Little Princess (1995), which I find to be a remarkable story, if with a few massive flaws. That has one of the finest soundtrack scores by Patrick Doyle and fascinating acting by such as Liesel Matthews. My first comment was totally carried away by that.

I find the story evocative of Buffy series, the earlier episodes. The feel of the romance angles. The movement of the plot. Just it takes that in a very different direction. If Buffy can be considered as escapist fantasy, then this is more real world fantasy. On that level I prefer this to Air Force One, which is a polished and fun and big budget type action story linked to a rather right wing plot.

My first DVD was 2.35 original trimmed down to 1.33 old television size, 29.970fps region 1. I now have the same thing in region 2, 25fps, hence a slightly better image definition. I assume that there is zero chance of this ever becoming available as full 2.35.

The filming is likely done in Oregon. IMDb trivia mentions the rail track as being in the Nehalem valley at Vernonia. More rugged than Twilight type country, and maybe less rain.

I also did not work on this movie but unlike the person who left a comment about how the film seemed to purposely have music targeted for a youth audience (duh! It's a youth-oriented film), I thought the film was very professional, ably directed, well-acted and at least tried to tell an intelligent story that appealed to the younger crowd that might be tired of all these moronic sex comedies.