Natal em El Camino

What a surprise! I saw this on Netflix and assumed it was a new release, but come to find out it's from 2017. As stated in the title, this film deserves a much better rating than it currently has. Everyone involved does a nice job in their roles. It's a simple story and premise but delivers in every way. Surprisingly, Tim Allen was fantastic. I can't believe I just wrote that. I've always found him to play sort of the same role all the time. With different variations of his Home Imorovement character. But he actually seems to dig in here and gives a great performance. Check this movie out, you'll be surprised.

This isn't your average movie. It's almost chaotic as a rather bizarre set of circumstances spins out of control. There's lots of breaks with reality, otherwise I'd rated this movie higher. Still it's an entertaining movie worth watching. No big surprises as you can see all the plot twists coming a mile away, but that doesn't detract from the humor or the way the plot develops.

9 December 2017. Definitely not what the comedic trailer suggests. This drama thriller is much more dark and gets darker as the movie proceeds to its predictable ending. Those expecting a Christmas romance comedy will be in for a shock. Instead this is a movie about a young man in search for his father after his mom passes away and he discovers letters written from his father. What he discovers is a questionable small town with some questionable law enforcement officers, a pretty single mother with a mute son and whose mother's mother is questionable as well. There's a number of characters to dislike in this movie as it swerves from comedy to drama towards an attempt at action thrills and a soft landing. Too bad the movie didn't take itself more seriously, it would have been a much better show.

Turned this on with my morning coffee not expecting much. It turned out to be a really fun ride. It wasn't exactly unpredictable, the story wasn't elaborate, and it was all over shortly after it begins. Even so, it was a brief and unexpected roller coaster of emotion. Not a bad way to spend a couple of hours.

Will it win an Oscar or an Emmy? Heck no. Was it fun to watch? Yeah it was.

Kudos to Netflix for making this. Tim Allen really shined and it was great to see Kurtwood Smith also. It was a good time-occupier, had a good ending. Cinematography? Script? Sound? whatever, it was fun and well cast.

Hope Netflix can keep producing things like this and "Godless". You gotta swing the bat to make a hit and "El Camino Christmas" was a solid single (while Godless was a stand up double, maybe a slide-in triple).