88

88 starts with our main character lost and confused in a diner, and through multiple story threads we find out how she got there and where she is going. That's all I want to say about the story, because the less you know the more I think you'll enjoy the movie.

I thought 88 had a very "Memento-ish" feel to it, in that by design the viewer is very disoriented and along the way you gather information along with the main character until the inevitable "aha" moment and climax. I thought the pacing was great, the actors did a terrific job, and while I have no idea what the budget was for 88 it felt like a major feature film.

Speaking of the actors, Katherine Isabelle OWNS this movie. I want to go back and re-watch, but if I'm not mistaken she is in essentially every scene in the movie. Plain and simple, 88 doesn't work if she doesn't nail her role(s), and she plays it to perfection.

Bottom line, 88 isn't The Godfather or Apocalypse Now, it's not going to win any Oscars or make billions of dollars. But if you're looking for an exciting movie with several WTF moments and a great performance from an under-appreciated star I strongly recommend it.

-88 (2015) movie review: -88, which is already on Netflix?, is an action thriller about a girl who's former mob-ish boss kills her fiancé, so she goes nuts and tries to kill him. Only problem is that after the incident, she develops a sort-of new, mild personality that does not remember anything; an event that happens after traumatic events occasionally.

-I feel like 88 had the proper amount of cheesy and lame elements in it for me to hate on it, but then it threw in just enough good elements for me to say 'Eh' about it. So here is an 'eh' review: -The story feels new, but every element of the way they did the story, from the Reservoir Dogs past-to-present cuts, to the quick flashback cuts from EVERY MOVIE EVER, so literally the same ending as Rage. Okay, not the same, but similar. In fact, this film is 2015's Rage.

-The pace is good, but the flashbacks are even out of order, making some of them feel unnecessary, and making the film feel a little too long. For an 88 minute film.

-The acting. So Katharine Isabelle did a fine job. She was believable, but not great. She really tried hard. Christopher Lloyd did a fine job. He was believable and good, but he did not really have to try, and it shows. Tim Doiron is pretty bad. And Michael Ironside showed up in it, hurting my opinion of the film even more with his generic acting.

-The characters are all generic and cliché. Like I said, this film offers little-to-nothing new.

-The music was weird and almost Tarantino weird. Almost.

-A few of the scenes I thought were good and well done, and others I thought were student-film quality. Like 'Oh my gosh. I can't believe they are not dead.' I will give mega props to the ending. Although I totally should have known how it would end, I thought the ending helped pull the film out of the 'eh' for me. Like Rage from 2014….

-88 is also Rated-R for language, a somewhat strong amount of underwear, and bad blood effects everywhere.

-Anyway, 88 had a few redeeming features like the actual story or the ending, but I don't think they quite make up for bad fights, lame characters (and actors), and cliché everythings. As good as the ending was, 88 is not really worth the time.

Gwen (Katharine Isabelle) suddenly notices that she's at a diner in a fugue state. She has flashes of memories and troubling signs. She finds a gun in her bag and accidentally shoots the waitress. She escapes from the cops and continues her crime spree.

This is a mess. The bigger question is if it's a fitting mess. The premise is that Gwen is confused but the movie ends up confusing me. This is definitely ambitious and I can applaud that. It's just not done well. I do like the actors. I expected Isabelle to do two completely differing characterization for before in her flashbacks and after the diner. That should be the better path.

Two thing's come to mind with the movie '88'. Quentin Tarantino and 'Memento'. Director April Mullen has done her best to show us what it would have been like if Tarantino had made 'Memento', instead of Christopher Nolan. The result? Not all that bad. The film doesn't reach the intellectual capacities of 'Memento', but focuses more on the style. And while it doesn't come off in every scene, the overall result is pretty good.

The interweaving time lines are handled well. Thing's can get very confusing in these types of films but Mullen does a good job of keeping things easy enough to follow along with. Katharine Isabelle was excellent in the lead role, particularly in the flashback storyline. The rest of the cast were admittedly not great (Ironside and Lloyd were passable) but that is forgivable in a low-budget film like this. While the film never reaches anywhere near the potential a Tarantino or Nolan is capable of, it still isn't half bad. Worth giving a chance.

Must confess I'm quite disappointed after watching this because it seemed to be a good movie and I thought it would be so but it wasn't, I got bored several times. If you watch this you will see many deaths, a lot of blood and a storyline that could be great. There are two things I really liked about this movie, the first one is the fact that at first the storyline gets really confusing, flashbacks here, flashbacks there, two girls on scene (two personalities), one single actress, you don't know which one is real and which one isn't so you want to know how this story will end because you really don't know what's happening and that kept me watching the movie until the end. The second thing I liked was of course the acting of Katharine Isabelle, I really don't know why this girl isn't in a Hollywood movie, she is sufficiently good to be part of a big project, she is even better than those well-paid actresses that their only talent is to be pretty, anyway she did a really good job making the storyline more realistic, but despite her good acting there's nothing she could have done to enhance this movie because the director and the writers are responsible for the poor results, in my opinion clearly.

Finally I can't recommend this movie, 4 stars is the best I can give and most of it was thanks to Katharine Isabelle.