I'm still not done with my convention reviews. if I decided to finish them all. I haven't been in much of a mood to write, to be honest. That mostly has to do with work keeping me busy on my off hours. When I do get to relax, I tend to go to sleep or feel like I could. I don't feel I write very good reviews while in that mindset, so I avoid writing them. Anyway, it is time for another club movie review with my friends Terry and Dawn, so I wanted to make sure to get this review out at the very least. It was my turn to pick the movie that we would all watch and I went with Trash Fire (2016). I had this movie picked out even before we added Dawn to the mix, so it took an extra month to get around to it. Even so, the other two had yet to watch it, so here we are.
Owen (Adrian Grenier) and his girlfriend Isabel (Angela Trimbur) are not the most ideal couple around. Owen isn't the nicest guy around and Isabel isn't always so nice to Owen in response. Owen tends to be rude to their friends and Isabel's brother, often doing his best to go out of his way to insult them in small ways. As much as the two fight, it is a miracle they stay together. One night, after a bad fight where mean things are said, Isabel informs Owen that she is pregnant. His reaction is to say that he will help pay for an abortion, but after thinking about it for a while, he decides he wants to make things work and be a father. Isabel wants Owen to make things right not just with her family, but also his. Owen hasn't talked to his sister since a fire took the lives of their parents and left Pearl with third-degree burns over eighty percent of her body. She now lives with their grandmother, whom Owen seems to hate. To make Isabel happy, he is willing to try to make admins with them both. However, things are never that easy.
Trash Fire was written and directed by Richard Bates Jr. I remember seeing a couple of my Facebook friends talking about this movie, which is what got me interested in checking it out. The trailer made the movie come across as pretty crazy, which made me even more curious about it. This felt like a good film to make my friends watch along with me. I have no idea what Terry or Dawn thought of Trash Fire yet because we wait to read each other's reviews before discussing the movie. Hopefully, they enjoyed it. As for me, I had mixed feelings about it. The first twenty minutes or so of the film is a bit hard to get into. I have never understood how people can stay in a toxic relationship, so this was hard to watch. It could be a lot worse, at least they aren't physically abusing each other, but I still couldn't understand why they just didn't call it quits, pregnant or not. Of course, we are just seeing a small window inside their relationship, but still. We see a better side of them once they show up at Violet's house. Violet, played by Fionnula Flanagan, actually makes Owen seem more pleasant before he decided to turn his life around. She is old-fashioned and doesn't see Isabel in a good light since she is pregnant out of wedlock.
Bates does a good job in making us care about the different characters at least. Owen was told it was a mistake that he made that caused the fire. He has carried that guilt with his over the years, and the guilt of leaving his sister behind when his grandmother got to be too much for him. Isabel seems to be the most normal of the group, but even she has her problems, especially with her brother. While he means well, he seems to be wrapped up in his religion a bit too much. The same can be said for Violet, but she doesn't actually seem to care. We learn a secret about Violet that changes things but it is never revealed to the other main characters. Pearl, played by AnnaLynne McCord, is mad at her brother, likes girls, never gets visitors and hides away because of her burn scars. I do wish that Bates had explored Pearl more, especially with what is going on between her and Violet. There is enough there to get a good idea, but we don't see the other character interact with Pearl all that much. I think Bates keeps in in the dark with Pearl so that we will have to guess where the danger for Owen and Isabel will come from. Even so, it would have been nice if Bates had gone a little further with exploring Pearl.
Trash Fire wasn't as bloody as I thought it might be. The burn scars are the only makeup/effect that you will find here. It was all done well, but I didn't really get the impression that Pearl was burned as badly as everyone kept saying. There was some really nice blood splatter as well towards the end. The acting was pretty good. I liked everyone involved, as far as their acting went. Usually, when I don't like a character it is because of the character, not the actor playing the part. If I don't like or even hate the character, then the actor is doing his or her job. I didn't like Owen and was rather surprised by his near complete turn around once he decided to be a father. I think my favorite actor turned out to be AnnaLynne McCord. What stood out to me about her was her voice more than anything. It is a sweet sounding voice that was unexpected from someone that is supposed to be a bad person.
One thing I liked about Trash Fire was the comedy that would show up now and then. This isn't a funny movie, but there are places that I found myself laughing because of something that was said. I'm not sure that these things were meant to be funny, as they could be seen as mean at the same time, but I found myself laughing all the same. I was all set to love Trash Fire, but I never reached that point. I enjoyed it for what it is, but it never reaches the level of crazy that I thought it would go. I kept waiting for the story to go all out but it never really does. I felt like that Bates was holding back, or at least keeping it in check, instead of just going with it. Even so, this is a movie that I would try to get others to watch. If you haven't checked this one out yet, give it a try sometime. It is a well-made film and is fun even if it doesn't go all out like I thought it would. It seems I am the first one of my little group to get a review done, so once Terry and Dawn get theirs done, I will update this review with links. Be sure to check back if you want to read them.
3 out of 5 I'm glad my family isn't like this
Owen (Adrian Grenier) and his girlfriend Isabel (Angela Trimbur) are not the most ideal couple around. Owen isn't the nicest guy around and Isabel isn't always so nice to Owen in response. Owen tends to be rude to their friends and Isabel's brother, often doing his best to go out of his way to insult them in small ways. As much as the two fight, it is a miracle they stay together. One night, after a bad fight where mean things are said, Isabel informs Owen that she is pregnant. His reaction is to say that he will help pay for an abortion, but after thinking about it for a while, he decides he wants to make things work and be a father. Isabel wants Owen to make things right not just with her family, but also his. Owen hasn't talked to his sister since a fire took the lives of their parents and left Pearl with third-degree burns over eighty percent of her body. She now lives with their grandmother, whom Owen seems to hate. To make Isabel happy, he is willing to try to make admins with them both. However, things are never that easy.
Trash Fire was written and directed by Richard Bates Jr. I remember seeing a couple of my Facebook friends talking about this movie, which is what got me interested in checking it out. The trailer made the movie come across as pretty crazy, which made me even more curious about it. This felt like a good film to make my friends watch along with me. I have no idea what Terry or Dawn thought of Trash Fire yet because we wait to read each other's reviews before discussing the movie. Hopefully, they enjoyed it. As for me, I had mixed feelings about it. The first twenty minutes or so of the film is a bit hard to get into. I have never understood how people can stay in a toxic relationship, so this was hard to watch. It could be a lot worse, at least they aren't physically abusing each other, but I still couldn't understand why they just didn't call it quits, pregnant or not. Of course, we are just seeing a small window inside their relationship, but still. We see a better side of them once they show up at Violet's house. Violet, played by Fionnula Flanagan, actually makes Owen seem more pleasant before he decided to turn his life around. She is old-fashioned and doesn't see Isabel in a good light since she is pregnant out of wedlock.
Bates does a good job in making us care about the different characters at least. Owen was told it was a mistake that he made that caused the fire. He has carried that guilt with his over the years, and the guilt of leaving his sister behind when his grandmother got to be too much for him. Isabel seems to be the most normal of the group, but even she has her problems, especially with her brother. While he means well, he seems to be wrapped up in his religion a bit too much. The same can be said for Violet, but she doesn't actually seem to care. We learn a secret about Violet that changes things but it is never revealed to the other main characters. Pearl, played by AnnaLynne McCord, is mad at her brother, likes girls, never gets visitors and hides away because of her burn scars. I do wish that Bates had explored Pearl more, especially with what is going on between her and Violet. There is enough there to get a good idea, but we don't see the other character interact with Pearl all that much. I think Bates keeps in in the dark with Pearl so that we will have to guess where the danger for Owen and Isabel will come from. Even so, it would have been nice if Bates had gone a little further with exploring Pearl.
Trash Fire wasn't as bloody as I thought it might be. The burn scars are the only makeup/effect that you will find here. It was all done well, but I didn't really get the impression that Pearl was burned as badly as everyone kept saying. There was some really nice blood splatter as well towards the end. The acting was pretty good. I liked everyone involved, as far as their acting went. Usually, when I don't like a character it is because of the character, not the actor playing the part. If I don't like or even hate the character, then the actor is doing his or her job. I didn't like Owen and was rather surprised by his near complete turn around once he decided to be a father. I think my favorite actor turned out to be AnnaLynne McCord. What stood out to me about her was her voice more than anything. It is a sweet sounding voice that was unexpected from someone that is supposed to be a bad person.
One thing I liked about Trash Fire was the comedy that would show up now and then. This isn't a funny movie, but there are places that I found myself laughing because of something that was said. I'm not sure that these things were meant to be funny, as they could be seen as mean at the same time, but I found myself laughing all the same. I was all set to love Trash Fire, but I never reached that point. I enjoyed it for what it is, but it never reaches the level of crazy that I thought it would go. I kept waiting for the story to go all out but it never really does. I felt like that Bates was holding back, or at least keeping it in check, instead of just going with it. Even so, this is a movie that I would try to get others to watch. If you haven't checked this one out yet, give it a try sometime. It is a well-made film and is fun even if it doesn't go all out like I thought it would. It seems I am the first one of my little group to get a review done, so once Terry and Dawn get theirs done, I will update this review with links. Be sure to check back if you want to read them.
3 out of 5 I'm glad my family isn't like this
