B-MOVIE OF THE MONTH - DEAD END (2003)

Made for less than a million dollars, the slightly obscure Dead End is a chilling little indie you don't want to miss. It might just be the best Christmas horror movie no one ever heard of and every dollar is up there on the screen. It's quirky, weird, funny, bizarre, and scary all at once. Black comedy for sure but much more, this would make a nice double feature with The Perfect Host, another movie we're big on around here. So, grab some eggnog and a snack or two and check out the inimitable Ray Wise with legendary Lin Shaye as they take their family down a wrong turn, what's up with this road? Why doesn't it end? After all, they're just trying to make it to Christmas Eve dessert at Frank's mother's house. Tubi, Plex, Freevee, enjoy! 2.75 stars/2.75

Wednesday, June 15, 2022

TOMMY'S 11th ANNUAL PICK-FIVE GREAT SUMMER MOVIES #2 - LIAM JAMES IS AN AWKWARD TEEN HANGING OUT AT SAM ROCKWELL'S WATER PARK IN "THE WAY WAY BACK" (2013)

 

A gentle easy-going coming-of-age story from the producers of Little Miss Sunshine. Liam James is a misguided teen who doesn't care for his mom's egomaniacal boyfriend (Steve Carrell in an underrated performance, one of my favorites.) Forced to spend the summer in Cape Cod our protagonist finds solace by working at a local water park run by none other than Sam Rockwell. As the summer plays out he advances at the park and finds real friendship in Rockwell and finds love with a next door neighbor's teen daughter (Annasophia Robb) while trying to deal with various dramas in his dysfunctional family. 

Toni Collette is fantastic as usual, she plays the mom and as you would expect with the above-the-line names here the entire cast is superb. Rockwell can do any genre but I've always felt his comedic side (demonstrated so well in his breakout performance in Box Of Moonlight) still remains a little untapped and unmined, he can be a real natural comic. The Water Wizz park location is the main backdrop for everything and it's nice they film so much of it there. Can't say enough about this one plus suitable for the whole darn family....bring your own dysfunction.   3.25 stars/5


The incredible Allison Janney plays the next door neighbor who's recently fallen off the wagon.

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