Burning Palms

I am not sure if this was meant to be ironic, subversive or surreal, but it failed on every level. Framed as stories in some demented comic book, it isn't presented as 'different' enough to be believable as a comic story. It comes off as racist, sexist and just generally unpleasant. The actions of the characters are so unbelievable and irrational as to drive me to distraction. The acting is just awful in most cases. It is supposed to be some comment on Los Angeles, yet it is just absurd. There was potential for this to be insightful, witty or interesting, yet that was all frittered away with shock value and the extreme unbelievability of the characters. And because it was presented in a normal world, this makes it all the frustrating. It was just unrelentingly bad.

What is normal? This is a movie about five different groups of people. A very close father and daughter. A boyfriend with a strange bedroom habit. A gay couple who want to adopt. A boy who is a borderline psychopath, and a women who falls in love with her attacker. Very, very strange. Very offensive in parts, and also pretty good. This movie I really liked, and I don't think I should of. When you watch it you will see why. This is a hard movie to recommend because of the subject matter. But if you like movies that are very different and not a movie that has been re-done 50 times this is the one for you. I liked it, but again if you are easily offended do not watch this. I give it a B.

Would I watch again? - I don't know if I would *Also try - 11:14

Not anywhere near as good as what the synopsis would have you think. The stories are not interconnected at all and the plots are mostly very predictable. Is quite gritty, but in some cases this is a bad thing: the characters are so loathsome you just want the individual story to end.

The set-up for most of the punch-lines is pretty good, but the conclusions often feel rushed, contrived and out-of-the-blue.

Despite its amateurish plot, the cast are mostly stars: Rosamund Pike, Dylan McDermott, Shannen Doherty, Zoe Saldana, Paz Vega, Nick Stahl, Performances are mostly pretty good. Shannen Doherty does put on the worst English accent ever though, assuming that's what she was aiming for.

Burning Palms (2010) is a satirical thriller movie written and directed by Christopher Landon and it was very mediocre.

Positives for Burning Palms (2010): It was interesting for me to see Christopher Landon directing a movie that isn't horror. The movie has an insanely awesome ensemble cast including Adriana Barraza, Lake Bell, Jamie Chung, Shannen Doherty, Robert Hoffman, Rosamund Pike, Peter Macdissi, Dylan McDermott, Anson Mount, Jon Polito, Zoe Saldana, Nick Stahl and Paz Vega. The five short stories are interesting for their stories and what they were saying. And finally, I liked the comic book style transitions to each story.

Negatives for Burning Palms (2010): There are spots in these stories that are a little bit dumb to watch. I didn't care about a lot of these damn characters. Some of them kind of act like dirt bags. And finally, the endings to these stores with the exception of the second one were really dumb.

Overall, Burning Palms (2010) is an interesting if not messy satirical thriller movie by Christopher Landon and it marked the beginning of a very successful and promising career for the guy.

If you have a dark humor, and speak cynicism fluently - this movie definitely worths your time. Usually when a movie depicts a couple of different stories with a common denominator, shown one following the other, not interlacing, it is used in order to show "a bigger picture", which brings me to one of the two only issues with this film (in my opinion): there is no bigger picture. If you're looking for a final scene that will connect all the dots together, you should know there isn't any. It's just not this kind of movie, nothing to be disappointed about.

The other thing that might bother you, is the lack of "tightness" in the plots. This becomes very apparent in the different endings - as if the writer had an excellent idea for five sketches, but not a movie.

However, "Burning Palms" is a very good movie indeed. It could score a solid 8 (not kidding!) if there would have been some small modification in the screenplay, but as it is it's still captivating - go watch it.