Bitter Feast

Peter Grey is a pompous, talented chef whose life is about to take a turn for the worse after an unnecessarily horrible review by blogger JT Franks. Grey's already skewed world perspective changes drastically as he resolves to kidnap Franks, torturing him with a series of seemingly simple cooking tasks.

Bitter Feast gets points for originality and gloss. The film looks quite good for an independent effort and the actors really throw themselves into the roles. They actually hired actors, not faces, to flesh out the interesting script. James Le Gros especially never goes over the top but plays the role rather subtly and Josh Lucas is excellent, being sympathetic and unsympathetic all at once. The always reliable Larry Fessenden shows up as a slimy private eye trying to locate Franks.

Don't expect your life to change, but if you're looking for a movie with some originality and panache, then dig in!

I have seen one of Joe Maggio's previous films, Virgil Bliss, and his style of story telling appealed to be then as it does now.

Hollywood spends millions, yet Mr. Maggio can put a film together for $6,000 apparently. Wonder what they really spend the money on.

James LeGros is excellent, supported by a strong script and a good story. I liked this from the beginning until almost the end (don't want to spoil it).

Lots of interesting dialog and James LeGros' cool intensity won me over.

I don't like a lot of movies, but I certainly like this one.

This movie reminded me of Vincent Price's 'Theatre Of Blood', only not as fun.

This movie is well acted, and has a very dark sense of humour. It could have been an excellent movie, if only the back-stories of the main characters were a little less hackneyed.

This is a tough sell. A movie where both hero and antagonist are despicable (but not in that cute animated movie you may know). Of course some might have trouble choosing who the protagonist is for them. But it doesn't matter who you choose, you will have a hard time rooting or really feeling for one of them.

Of course, the movie will wake up feelings in most of the viewers. Because we all have been mistreated in one way or another. And most would have wished to get back at those who don't respect them or the work they've done. This concept can be put on many other section of life or art. Even commenting on movies, you could go like: well do it better, if you can.

The actors do their best (with an interesting cameo by chameleon Larry Fassenden), but the story does not seem to know where it is heading or what it really wants to tell us (a "side" story being part of that and the alternate ending confirming, that the test audience might have been confused too). The basic idea is stronger than the end product, it still might satisfy you, if you like small budgeted movies

Unlike some other capture/torture movies which focus more on torture than anything else (like an extremely overrated The Loved Ones), this one is mostly about revenge and capturer making a point. In this case one pretentious rich asshole proving another asshole what he doesn't deserve to call himself a restaraunt critic. Practically all characters in the movie are assholes except the critic's wife, so you just wish both of male leads just kill each other in some assholish 1-vs-1 standout.

It's a decent thriller with the actual story and it's interesting enough to watch it at least once. The ending is not believable, but made so for the quite ironic scene.