The Maker

Sleeper alert: A straight-to-video-cable flick that upon closer inspection is a very intriguing character study. Ignore the generic video box cover and the ubiquitous straight-to-vid Madsen: note the talented cast, (modine, parker, balk) and director (hunter, "river's edge) and allow yourself to give this movie a chance. A troubled but gifted teen confronts his 18th birthday with his troubled and lost friends, when a stranger (or is he?...) enters his life. Low-key, well played, with a bit of generic warehouse shoot-out footage probably a necessity to get funding...the filmmaker's make a real effort on a scant budget, and despite flaws, any accomplishment however small shouldn't be overlooked in this time of cookie-cutting filmmaking. See it!

for starters, a movie with mathew modine as a career criminal and a bad influence on a young "troubled" teen can be summed up before viewing the film as crap. this could be deemed ignorant, but heh? whatever. the writing was reminiscent of a "troubled" idiot who seems to have a bit of "trouble" with plot, seeing as how there is little to none of it here. the acting is far below satisfactory, the directing was lackluster at best, the ending was laughable, as was the attempt to convince viewers that this was a touching story. honestly, i'm shocked that any one with the time to enter a comment would be so devoid of knowledge or good taste. "tell me how to be the maker." throw me a bone here! that's ridiculous ( to say the least). anyhow, i wanted everyone to know that the above are stupid and this movie really is bad. a "hot" star and a "hip" soundtrack do not amount to a good movie... the fact it made its permier on cable will amount to that. i can't think of a good cable movie.... ever! there... i said my piece.

If ever I need to renew my enthusiasm about current filmmaking, a film featuring the talents of Mary Louise Parker is a pretty good place to start. Her part in this film is as a supporting character, and the few scenes in which she appears and fleshes out the kindly but down to earth police officer underline how this film's best parts unfortunately don't add up to a good movie.

The leads are good (Rhys-Meyers is a talent to watch, Balk has always interested me and if Modine just sat and dribbled, I know he could make it look rivetting), the script contains some nice character exchanges, the camera work has some nice touches, and director Tim Hunter puts effort into giving the film some unexpected lift (such as sitting a crim at a desk on open ground beside an airport runway, and getting the art department to set up a backyard breakfast patio of white picket fence and red flowers under the threatening gaze of power lines.)

But although it started well, in the end, this is too many good individual stories fighting with each other instead of making a coherent whole. Any one of the various plot lines could've held their own. At film's end, the script has to literally shoot its way out of the entwined mess its in to reach a conclusion. Maybe this goes down well on cable. I think a viewer, whether sitting in a cinema, or in his own home, is entitled to better.

Josh is turning 18 and hanging out with a bad crowd. They do drugs, drive recklessly and even steal from the U. S. Mail. His brother Walter has been gone for a while and he comes back hoping to make amends for leaving the family. Josh has what seems like a brother-sister relationship with Bella, but he really wants Emily, a cop who is several years older.

Josh's parents died when he was very young, and he was adopted by the Minnells. Walter (who has gone back to his original name Schmeiss) knows the full story, which Josh has never heard, and what happened to them may explain why both brothers turned out the way they did.

'The Maker' is the one who makes the rules in a given situation. Josh has that opportunity when he helps Walter and Felice in their 'transfer and storage' business.

I think of the pleasant character from 'What the Deaf Man Heard' when I think of Matthew Modine. However, he can play bad guys too, and he made Walter likable and not really evil. As a con artist, Walter had to be quite a good actor too. I thought most of the lead actors gave good performances. Still, the movie was quite dark at times, and somewhat violent toward the end. Jonathan Rhys-Meyers effectively showed a young man having to make important moral decisions as he reached a point where he could have gone down the wrong road.

It was a worthwhile film, if you like this sort of thing.

One of the best movies I've ever stumbled across. A great character-driven low-budget film. Definitely worth checking out for yourself.