Pray for Rain

Set in Central Valley, California, this film often plays like a Made- for-TV or B-movie. Annabelle Stephenson stars here, as Emma, a NYC writer for a fashion magazine, who is returning to her hometown of Bella Canejo, Ca., for her father's funeral.

Soon however, she'll be switching hats from fashion reporter to investigative sleuth, as she tries to get to the bottom of a large conspiracy involving the cutting off of desperately needed water to the local farmers by those who want to force them out and buy their land for pennies on the dollar.

Some of the decisions by the intrepid Emma had me shaking my head in disbelief as they became more and more ridiculous as the movie progressed. There was enough here though to keep me interested and want to know how it would all turn out, and it does have some twists near the end and a poignant finale.

Reading the review of critic Roger Moore, on Rotten Tomatoes outlining where the production of this film was coming from raised a lot of red flags for me, so buyer beware.

I think it's rather insulting for movie lovers and Netflix subscribers to release this and call it a "movie". The acting was so bad. The actors we're trying to act like acting. So bad it almost made me laugh. Oh and those awful terrible plastic soundeffects, man. It just left me wandering how this is possible to be released. Skipped it through and then turned it off.

This is not a Denzel Washington movie. It is an engaging drama. The beginning was a little flat and familiar, but I enjoyed the plot twists. I did not see it as having any political message, but I can see how people with that predisposition may think it does.

After running after Kevin McCallister for decades, John Heard died shortly after this movie opened. Cause of death was extreme shame. Rest in Peace, John.

As for the "star" of this movie, it ain't Jane Seymour. Word is that she needed some cash for her luxury one-bedroom, one-bathroom condo in East L.A. so the producers fronted her the money. She repaid them with a dead-eyed performance as a throw-away mother that sits around berating her successful daughter.

Yeah, the daughter. She starts out the movie at a red carpet event in Hollyweird where she is obligated by the script to answer a phonecall from "Mom" with a "WHAT!?" as though she has some kind of "loving" arrangement with her crack-whore mother. And then, the boo-hoo moment: she says "wha-a-at?" (WHAT DIALOGUE!). Turns out that her commie daddy, struggling during Californica's worst drought to cultivate apples that are killing the population by sucking all the water out of the ground, is dead. He's been stung by a sentient tractor and had his brains sucked out. Actually not, but you're kind of hoping for a good plot twist.

So it turns out the Jets and Sharks are going around raping women and stealing water. The sheriff has had to arrest people who are going to jail for having drunk water in public. Or something like that. Sounds like a deal! You go to jail and you won't die from thirst.

More plot complications throw Emma (the daughter) on a dirt bike ("WEAR A HELMET!"-- "screw you, 'Mom'!") Yeah, she eventually has to wear a full helmet so they can use a stunt person. She judo-chops a guy, steals his car, steals his ID. Cripes what a total #LUSER he is.

Yeah, a couple of plot twists later, Kevin's dad gets his just desserts (and it Ain't apple pie). The aliens turn out to be disguised as SMELTS. And the whole movie crumbles from there on. 0 out of 10, IMDb doesn't allow a nil vote.

Oh, truth be told, the only aliens in this movie are the illegal kind. But they're the *nice* illegal kind, all Asian-y and products of war in far-off lands. Christ on a Mr Christie's cracker, this is a CHEESY piece of crap.

Jane Seymour is worth a few stars for a start. I loved seeing the beautiful Jane Seymour as an older lady, still beautiful and a wonderful actor. The main star is an Aussie although born in England she migrated to Australia as an infant. She is also a solid actor. The male star is also a decent actor. He plays the local sheriff who seems to have no backup but does he? A credible performance from him as well! Was the script original or riveting? Maybe not but it told a story and was not predictable at every stage. I did not want to turn it off or walk away so some reviews are lacking credibility. The themes are timeless but still need to be shown again and again, Relationships and misunderstandings happen all the time but in this case they are fixable. Values such as the land and people's livelihoods and lives are worth preserving. Intimidating the little people has consequences as food must be grown and people must be fed. It could be an afternoon movie to while away the time which may surprise those who take a chance and watch this underrated movie.