Genres

Visitors Review

dbs630-697-952794 2012-05-25 15:02:35

A great character drama. Bad crew member in charge of weapons.

For the most part I found this film enjoyable. I know Michael Madsenhasn't exactly been filling his resume with great flicks lately, but Ithoroughly enjoyed this movie. It was full of believable characters whoyou actually enjoy hearing speak. The dialogue was punchy and builtupon an actual plot. I would have given this film a 10 if it weren'tfor one fatal flaw. They put so much emphasis on the .45 automatichandgun you would have thought they would have done their homework. The.45 auto only holds 7 rounds in the magazine. The only way you have 8rounds in the gun is if there's one loaded in the chamber and you put afull 7 round magazine back in the gun. The problem with them claimingthat the gun had 8 rounds is, how would they know that the deputy wasone of those people who did that? Every gun guy knows the standard .45capacity is 7 rounds. That would have been every gun guys logical guessas to how many rounds the deputy had in his gun. It wouldn't have beenpractical to guess 8 rounds. Then the professional hit-man guesses thatshe is holding an empty gun. AUTOMATIC PISTOL 101: When the gun isempty the slide stays locked back, it would have been obvious that thegun was empty. If someone was pointing a .45 at me with the slideforward and the hammer back, my guess would be the gun is loaded. Theslide locked back, the gun is empty. Lots of filmmakers make thismistake and it is really annoying. This would have been a far morebelievable movie if they had just taken the time to do their homeworkon their leading handgun. Really, you can have a million dollar budget,but it only costs about $25.00 for a box of ammo and a day at ashooting range to learn how your main weapon works. In this sort offilm the gun was just as important a character as the actors. DO YOURHOMEWORK!! That's all I have to say about that.

xdsi97 2012-05-24 15:38:59

Decent but not great - could have been very good though.

Entertaining movie. Pressure cooker thriller. In theory the movie hasall the ingredients of Reservoir dogs. Gritty storyline and a cast thatincludes Michael Madsen and Danny Trejo. But the movie falls short...Madsen is brilliant as always and Harold Perrineau delivers a goodperformance, but they are unable to make-up for Amber Benson'sdisappointment. Danny Trejo has a total of two minutes of screen time,and he is never shown fully (he is shown through a kitchen window)...Noreen, the central character played by Amber Benson, was the weakestlink. Also, the pressure is let out a bit too prematurely... In all, amovie that has potential, but fails. That said, for a direct-to-DVDmovie, this is very good. It is not an excellent movie, but a decentone at the very least. If you have nothing else to do, this might be adecent pastime movie.

2012-05-14 19:55:25

Why Is Danny Trejo in this Film?

I began watching The Killing Jar DVD because I no longer subscribe to Netflix. Early on we learn that a local farm family, mother, father, and two children, have been murdered for no apparent reason. I got ready for a low-budget knock-off of In Cold Blood, but it was not to be. The Silver Lake Diner's late-night characters, a tired and disheveled waitress in her early thirties, a deputy sheriff not much older, whose appearance and manner did little to inspire confidence in local law enforcement, and a brush-cut, fit-looking veteran of the the first Gulf War, exchanged predictable platitudes, but no one seemed particularly troubled or threatened by the local crimes. After ten or fifteen minutes of banal chit-chat, I was ready to say "Enough of The Killing Jar!" and read a book or go for a walk.However, when the waitress (Amber Benson) began a casual conversation with a customer (Harold Parrineau) in the rear booth, the film showed a flicker of promise. Parrineau's character was casually articulate, cordial, earnest, and alert, a sharp departure from the other folks killing time in the old diner. I was surprised at how much Parrineau's on-screen presence elevated the tone of the film, suggesting that something of passing interest might be said or done after all.Still, I couldn't figure out why Danny Trejo was cast in the role of the cook and owner. It didn't matter, I suppose, as he said little, did less, and was rarely on screen. Before he left the scene for good, however, I entertained the notion that he might eventually make a conspicuous contribution. But, when all was said and done, he seemed oddly miscast and not really interested, not even for a cameo laugh. Too bad.When Michael Madsen's character walked in, he introduced a discordant strain of tension that accompanies a truculent-looking stranger in an insular little town. The waitress suggested her favorite, pecan pie. Since the grill had been turned off for the evening, pie and coffee were pretty much it.Madsen's character briefly, loudly, and profanely insisted on steak, but he settled for coffee. Madsen, in a black leather jacket with metal studs, looked rumpled, haggard, and out of shape. With the raspy voice of a hard drinking heavy smoker, he brought to mind a teenaged tough who had lumbered into middle age and didn't much like it. The black dye in his hair was so thick and obvious that it looked like shoe polish in need of buffing.Prompted by the other locals, the skinny and feckless deputy sheriff (Lew Temple) confronted Madsen with questions about the farm family killings. Madsen was predictably boorish and unresponsive. The deputy quickly lost his composure and, in the absence of other professional skills, pulled his gun, shouting questions and warning Madsen that he'd better be suitably forthcoming. Madsen was neither frightened nor rendered less objectionable, but the deputy soon decided that he was satisfied, though I'm not sure why, and he ended the standoff.Most of the rest of the film is devoted to Madsen being angry, displaying the kind of shotgun you might see on The Military Channel, definitely not for hunting rabbits and pheasants. In addition to Madsen's anger, most of what follows is premised on the dubious assumption that the killer of the farm family is one of the folks in the diner.Jake Busey makes an appearance. I had never seen him before, but given his provenance he's a better actor than I had expected, but he's quickly off camera.If you're looking for the plot to thicken, you'll have a long wait. There's plenty of action of a sort, the proximate cause of most of it being that Madsen's character is really angry. But there's not much of a story.Eventually we find out who killed the farm family, and the film has an unexpectedly satisfying ending. But unless you find the characters played by Madsen, Ambrose, Parrineau, and Kevin Gage as the army veteran interesting, there's not much reason to sit through The Killing Jar.I've liked Madsen since I first saw him in Reservoir Dogs, and Parrineau really should be working more. The guy has the sort of on-screen charisma and potential for versatility that go into making a really good character actor. Gage is believably tough and commonsensically intelligent, at least compared to the other locals, and Ambrose is no more phlegmatic and pathetic than she has to be. It's an actor's movie: the set never changes, there is a lot of talk, the violence may seem gratuitous, but if you stretch a bit it can be construed as leverage, used more or less judiciously in the characters' efforts to get what they want, even if it's just retributive satisfaction. I liked The Killing Jar for the reasons just given, but that's not much of a recommendation. Make of it what you will.

TheHrunting 2012-05-14 08:45:37

Bullet hole with your coffee, sir?

"The Killing Jar": the "jar" being a small town diner and the "killing"being people trapped inside with their fate up to a gunman. This beginsby familiarizing the audience with these simple town folk just out fora late night bite at their favorite greasy eatery with jukebox,stifling heat and cheap prices. After hearing a radio broadcast aboutfour murders of a husband, wife and their two children, thepatrons--couple, waitress, deputy, cook, truck driver and passerthrough--speak their disgust but go about their business and shoot thebreeze.You get the hardened boss (Danny Trejo), who's overshot vocal tone andmiscued body language indicate he quickly filmed some scenes atdifferent times than who he's interacting with. The young coupleaimlessly use a video camera and talk about idle dreams. The mostnatural and credible performance is by the passer through (HaroldPerrineau), who is a salesman that just wants to get back home buthe'll need a strong cup of brew. The truck driver and deputy keep itfamiliar as if this is the same routine. A Rockabilly type (MichaelMadsen) eventually enters. He's demanding and acts suspicious, whichupsets the waitress and causes the deputy to get into a threateningconfrontation, which sends Madsen's character over the edge. He can gofrom spaced-out, henchmen-confident to sympathetic and unsure but notalways clenching the transition in between to make it all credible. Themoment he storms back in with a shotgun, you lean forward in your seatfor hopefully the real start of the adventure.The rest tries to maintain an intrigue and build up to a twist ending,though apart from a few abrupt and bloody deaths it feels like onegiant tedious string along without a major purpose or relatable reward,with the exception of the simple but capable waitress being offered theopportunity and courage to get out of the rut she's at in therestaurant and in her life. However, with everything padded and piledaround her to equally get coverage of everybody else, she's notconsistently at the focal point of attention to realize this till thelatter portion. The gunman kills for no apparent reason other thanbeing provoked. All of a sudden he gains some kind of higherrighteousness and uses a skill-set from a past profession tointerrogate the patrons and a revelation comes out about the newsreport involving the murdered family.On paper this reads like a good idea to produce a low budget movieconcentrated on story and characters than one-liners, extravagant setsand location changes. But since the film is so claustrophobic, theflow, character interaction and direction tried to continually throwoff the cinemaphile who studies all the details and tries to figure outthe puzzle beforehand, though it did the opposite as it didn't fluidlycome together to put the audience in the direct moment or believablyrationalize with their motivations enough to wholly care that thiscould actually happen where innocents are being killed in this far awayplace. It shows how much some filmmakers are willing to go to guardtheir secret twist, even at the expense of the rest of the picture. Italso didn't help that they tried to clash quirkiness and sarcasmamongst sentimental moments, such as Jake Busey's character lookinglaughably tacky with a weaselly grin mixed with pseudo introspectiveshots that pan around the diner possibly to throw the scent off. "TheKilling Jar" had the right ideas going in, just some of the wrongexecution as the flow came in and out in waves. (Also submitted onhttp://fromblacktoredfilmreviews.blogspot.com/)

2012-05-13 13:17:43

Moody and Intense! HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!!

This movie is great! I've seen a lot of bad reviews online so I wanted to set the record straight. I bought it at Walmart based on the box and tagline. I didn't know what to expect when I put it in and I'm glad I didn't. There are a lot of twists and turns that work better when the whole thing takes you by surprise. For me, the key to The Killing Jar is the dialog. It reminds me a lot of Quentin Tarantino's best work. The interaction between characters and witty interplay is interesting and engaging. The devil is in the details and I think this movie is a work of art. I have watched it many times and it just keeps getting better. If you are looking for a dark, suspenseful and clever movie, The Killing Jar is it!

playboy69-1 2012-05-12 23:09:54

A thriller only playing in one location

The movie plays in a little coffee-bar only, different people cometogether. It's an interesting play of tension and violence. The movieis professional done while it's still a rather cheap production(probably the salary for Michael Madsen and the other actors was by farthe most expensive thing). Good actors in this movie, good acting bythem. It's by far not a brilliant movie, I wouldn't even say it's verygood. It's a good movie, an OK movie, that is quite entertaining andlet's the time go by fast. You will want to see it through to the endafter the first 20 or so minutes at least that's how it was for me. Amust for Michael Madsen Fans, and still a possibility for everyoneelse.