While we are given several films to review, some don't always fit with the type of content we normally provide here. However, in the interest of providing thoughts on them nonetheless, here are our thoughts on several of these that were watched over the last five weeks that aren't worth providing a full review for but are still worth some of your time.
Firenado (Rhys Frake-Waterfield, Scott Jeffrey)-
Overall, this wasn't too bad of a disaster movie but does have some issues. The main part here, involving the disaster movie scenes featuring the group trying to stop the tornado from spreading following their experiment and the race to control it, features a ton of cheesy fun with the scenarios involving the killer twister tearing through the countryside and coming into contact with all manner of individuals requiring some last-minute rescue missions to warn them away from the property. Despite being filled with some lousy effects that don’t come close to replicating the aftermath of a real twister in the environment or dodgy CGI, there’s a fun energy to these scenes that keeps this one entertaining in that cheesy genre style. The problems start once it goes for the home invasion angle that they stumble upon during the rescue mission that comes up short, offering a clumsy series of brawls and confrontations that don’t show anyone to be trained mercenaries in the slightest while also trying to get around the insurmountable problem of the whole plan coming together in the first place which is incredibly underwhelming. Combined with some usual cliches here with the forced romance and a lame subplot about the technology’s original intent, these factors do end up holding this one back from the cheesy fun it could’ve been.
Murder, Anyone? (James Cullen Bressack)-
Overall, there's quite a lot to like here. The entire concept appears as a commentary on the nature of playrights struggling to keep their ideas in check as the film's reliant energy on the ever-changing nature of the play they're writing comes about due to the constant distress of their discussions and arguments. The zany nature of it all takes shape as a free-flowing exercise in creativity with everything that takes place here including a myriad of stylish changes, wild subplots, and zany action that grows more outlandish the more they argue and discuss what's going on. The more it goes in that direction, the more it commentates vividly on the meta-ness of the writing process as they bounce ideas off of each other to go in various far-reaching setups that drive the comedic value of this one while we see the characters in the play acting out the new exploits of their conversations that take place at the computer screen. This is all quite fun even if some of the scenarios presented here really are so outrageously presented there's a lapse in the logic of how each one comes about as if being presented out of thin air rather than logically being a new twist brought about by the actions on-screen. That, though, isn't an issue and still gives this quite a lot to like about it.
The Last Deal (Joseph Salemi)-
This was a fairly enjoyable and likable enough effort. The whole setup plays into the topical themes of the day with the whole take on the marijuana business providing this with a modern touching point that's quite effective at generating a sympathetic villain as he undergoes his change of pace for the next stage of his career now that the political current has changed everything. That provides the entrance point for the crime/thriller aspects at play here with the need for the next big score that arises with the new group of criminals that he comes into contact with that sets him off on his way the rest of the film which starts some decent enough action scenes with him and his buddy trying to get their lives sorted out and finish off his plans. None of this is really spectacle-filled or all that adrenaline-inducing with the majority of the focus on realistic brawling and beatings that could leave the fans looking for that kind of genre effort but beyond that, there's not a lot to dislike here.
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