Rushlights

Holy cow was this bad. I had no idea this was so high on IMDb.

The acting sucks, the script was horrible and the pacing left much to be desired. It started out so slow that I almost fell asleep at the wheel myself. The Production Design and Cinematography are the stand outs in this film. The whole move looks great and it's nice to see an indie film that was still shot on 35mm instead of Digital. All the sets look really good and I couldn't tell which was a built set and which was a location, which is pretty impressive.

There's quite a few more complications and maybe had the film had better direction it might have been enjoyable. But it moves at such a sluggish pace that every twist of the plot just slows it down.

To be honest, Rushlights was not a good career move for anyone involved.

A lot of reviews on Rotten Tomatoes have been railing on how bad the music is, I thought the music was fine. What was bad, actually, terrible, was the sound mix. My god, I haven't had to sit through a mix that bad in years. I never really thought a sound mix could ruin a movie so badly, but this one did.

As educated as movie critics like to think they are, they are usually clueless when it comes to how a film is actually put together and merely react in a knee jerk fashion to the easiest thing their little minds can grasp, in this case, the score. Don't get me wrong, the score was not spectacular (although I did like the theme music), but it was mixed in WAY too loud, so subtle stings were turned into ear-splitting shrieks. ALL of the sound effects were mixed in way too loud and ruined perspective/context. For instance, there's an establishing shot of an apartment building and way off in the distance there was the flashing lights from a helicopter, but the way the sound was mixed in, it sounded like it was about to land on top of the car that was pulling up. Why the hell would you mix something that is so distant and has absolutely nothing to do with the scene so loudly into the show? Unbelievable. Any scene that took place in the kitchen sounded like there were 30 pots of boiling water somewhere. There's also a scene where Haley is putting a bandage on Josh's forehead in the bathroom and it sounds like someone's filling a bathtub just out of frame... what the hell is that about?

Anyway, ABSOLUTELY HORRIBLE MIX aside, the acting was quite strong, particularly from Aidan Quinn and of course Beau Bridges is always good. Haley was pretty good through most of it as was Josh, though there were a few sections where their vibe seemed off. It feels like there were a few large scenes that were cut, so we're kind of missing why the characters mood have changed so much.

Overall I liked the story but it did feel like some of the connecting tissue was somehow missing and it feels like I was rushed through it. The Production Design and Cinematography are the stand outs in this film. The whole move looks great and it's nice to see an indie film that was still shot on 35mm instead of RED. All the sets look really good and I couldn't tell which was a built set and which was a location, which is pretty impressive!

All-in-all, I think it's a film worth seeing (I saw it at the Chinese Theatre in LA) but man, that mix will pretty much ruin most people's enjoyment of the film.

This was a great movie/story, plenty of twists and turns. There were very low key tricks in the movie that at first I thought they were bad acting or bad editing, but they made sense once the movie ended.The cast was fantastic, the filming was awesome,I could feel a Tarantino vibe. My only complaint was the music it really did not go with a Texas, bad boys / fast car movie. It was more of an annoying type of music in 'eyes wide shut'or Hitchcock type movies.There some music repetitions that made you want to get up and leave if they didn't stop soon. josh Henderson delivered his wicked ways and he is my vote for '50 shades of Gray'. josh is a home town boy and the only reason I went to see this movie that has had no preview. I saw it and chose this movie because of josh and there was not any other drama movies available. Only animation / super hero movies.

As the owner of a Ford Ranchero, I always get excited whenever I see a Ford Ranchero in a movie, therefore, I got all excited when the blue 1973 Ford Ranchero first showed up in this movie. In real life, Ford Ranchero owners do not appreciate their vehicles being called an El Camino. Not that we have anything against the Chevrolet El Camino, we just feel that people need to know better, especially if you have one in a movie. The '73 Ranchero in this movie repeatedly gets called a '67 El Camino. That really upset me, especially since it was the most talked about vehicle in the movie. Anybody's defense cannot be that it looks like an El Camino, because El Caminos look like Ranchero. The Ranchero was introduced in 1957 whereas the El Camino wasn't made until 1959. I understand that the story doesn't really have anything to do with cars, but they need to get these simple facts straight.

This is a pretty good thriller as well as a mystery that takes many twists and turns with some unexpected surprises along the way. And the surprises don't end when the movie does.

I was going to say Crispian Belfrage, whoever that is, gave the standout performance. As drug dealer Eddie he looks and talks like Keith Urban, if Urban didn't shave for a while and let his hair grow even longer and was an angry blue-collar soccer fan from Liverpool. And was hoarse from too much singing.

But, no. While both Beau Bridges and Aidan Quinn did good jobs early, they really showed what they were capable of later. Especially Bridges.

I'm not familiar with Haley Webb but she showed quite a range, starting out cute and nice but then having to be strong in the face of danger. Plus there is one close-up of her in her underwear. I do wonder why if it was so hot she was wearing shorts on one of the nights, why was she covered up so much in bed the other nights?

I saw the name Joel McKinnon Miller in the credits but couldn't remember who that was. He is the warm and fuzzy if incompetent senior detective Scully on "Brooklyn Nine-Nine". He isn't warm and fuzzy here and in fact, in a brief role, he gets quite angry and violent.

There's quite a contrast between lawyers here. Cameron is professional and seems honest and moral. Once you see Philip Lenkowsky knowing he plays a lawyer, you know he is exactly who you want if you intend to sue for a lot of money and don't care what you have to do to win.

We also get two types of waitresses. Sarah is cute and friendly but she is in the big city. The small town sassy blonde waitress is found in Tremo, and at first I thought she was Amy Poehler. She just looks like her.

Is this family friendly? I don't think so. There may have been some details missing when this was cleaned up for TV. A lot of words certainly were. But there were references to being gay and suggestions of something that would have ruined the reputation of the respected Niles whose fortune was supposed to go to Ellen. Plus there is some violence, but not a lot considering the type of movie. The bloodiest scenes involve a body wrapped in a sheet and being dragged, with blood dripping all along the way, and someone being shipped in the way slaves were in "Roots".

Most of the music was not my taste. A couple of songs were what I would describe as "real country". Most of the music, including a lot of the background music, was a style related to blues and classic rock. This might be what is referred to as "roots" music. A less aggressive version of the style can be a part of bluegrass.

Overall, this was really well done, and while not ideal for me, quite exciting at times.