Punto di contatto

I am watching a very enjoyable movie starring one of the most underrated actors in history. I say that because Don Mogavero has been in Jekyl Island and I also enjoyed that one but I can't find it anywhere. Mr. Mogavero made just three moves and disappeared. What happened? There has got to be someone who knows why he disappeared since I really think he could have gone a lot further. It appears that he was also a good writer and obviously had success attracting experienced actors to work with him. Another good job, Mr. Mogavero.

With modest budgets, Edgewood Entertainment's action films do manage to entertain. They're paced well, by and large. The action is what they can afford. Something blows up in every movie, and sometimes three or four somethings blow up. That's why people watch action films, and there's plenty of action in this one. There's generally a one-dimensional bad guy (JK Roberts, Rolland, the wonderfully bald Bruce Campbell terrorist), and this one has the cliche gang of small town thugs (none of these films are exactly advertisements for moving to Vermont, but Edgewood is not the Tourist Board, after all) and one more complicated and subtle bad guy.

There's always a B-plot romance, and the one in here is quite tepid, more a mild flirtation. I like the female character and actress, but if you're hoping for an R-rated sex scene, nope. Not in this one.

These films get skewered by the MST/Rifftrax guys, whom I'm a fan of, but these films are far and away above what they usually skewer. If you can't see that, it's because you are judging not the film, but the insults in riffing, like being a bully laughing along while a smarter kid makes fun of the kid in class who might just grow up to become Bill Gates. Quit doing that.

While it's true that this is a bit of a dorky-looking action hero, he's a good actor. And I just watched 2 years worth of Jack Ryan Amazon TV shows with the dorkiest looking Jack Ryan I've ever seen (and dorkier than I could have imagined), so that's hardly specific to Edgewood. In fact, I think that makes viewer identification with the hero easier. Hey, look, it's an average looking Joe, that's me, says the male viewer. I think it's a smart choice.

I could rate this higher to bring up the average rating, but I honestly think 4-5 stars is about right. You're never bored. It's interesting enough to keep me from playing video games while I'm watching the movies. The mystery in this one is pretty well done. Crap blows up. You spent 90 minutes being entertained. Isn't that the whole point?

Action thriller. A CIA agent aborts his mission but serves life for murder anyway. He is sprung from the prison to do one more job... Don Mogavero is excellent. Everything is good about this film except the wife's acting. Thankfully, she is not there long enough to spoil this film. Not terribly original but all the familiar bits are nicely put together, the result is highly entertaining.

PRESSURE POINT was a decently-shot and directed, but badly-acted run-of-the-mill action/spy drama. This film was not ultra-low-budget, since there was some actual expensive-looking location shooting in Chile and other locales. It was merely low budget. The action scenes are fairly well-staged and nicely edited. They also made good use of library music to make the movie seem more expensive than it is.

Steve Railsback made a quite good villain. I've always thought that he was a compelling presence in most of the productions he has appeared in. Larry Linville from MASH was definitely phoning it in, in what appeared to be an attempt to channel G. Gordon Liddy. An impossible feat, since Liddy isn't dead yet. Sorry, Larry.

In spite of its decent production values and competent shooting style, make no mistake, this is merely a vanity production written by its utterly obscure "star", the balding and affectless Don Mogavero, a charisma sponge if there ever was one. Not only does he have no charisma of his own, but he sucks any out of anyone appearing in a scene with him. Makes Steven Seagal seem like Bruce Lee. According to the IMDb, he had one other film, Jeckyll Island. I must now pick that up to see how he would handle a movie (which, like this one, he also wrote himself) that has him as a master thief. Holy moly.

Let me specify that I paid $1 for this DVD, and it was well worth a buck for mindless entertainment value. I give it a FOUR, for its decent action-film directing and staging. Fans of low-budget action flicks might find this an interesting diversion for a couple hours. If you like Andy Sedaris films, you'll be in familiar territory here. More demanding moviegoers should stay away. And paying substantially more than a buck is not recommended.

You've got a wannabe James Bond lead character who's instead balding (with a clown afro wig stuck on the back of his head), paunchy, and with all the sexual and action movie appeal of your average family dentist. Who runs with the grace and speed of a toddler and escapes from a max security prison (which was apparently built over... an industrial... power plant?) in a jumpsuit sized for Andre the Giant. Hilarious, true, but action packed and heart pounding? No. The rest of the movie is just a mass of cliches and action movie tropes stitched together, making it utterly forgettable. Steve Railsbeck is wasted and Mr. Paws the stuffed bear deserves more screen time. I applaud the Rifftrax team (Mike, Bill, and Kevin) for being able to stay awake long enough to riff this movie so hilariously.