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Reviews
The Loft (2014)
Fantastic mystery thriller; good psychological element to boot
To be honest, I wasn't expecting there to be a whole lot of depth to this movie. Judging by the trailer, it seemed to be a sort of Hollywood "one-off"; an interesting concept, but not much to back it up.
I was quite pleasantly surprised.
Before speaking to the meat of the film, I'll just mention how great the stylistic approach was. It would have been incredibly easy for this movie to turn into a silly sort of presumptuous art piece, but it pulled off its style extremely well.
While it did have a great mystery-theme core, what held it back from a 10 was its plot twists. Now that's not to say they weren't good, they were actually some of the best parts of the movie. The problem is, there were almost no "a-ha!" moments. The twists made enough sense to follow, sure, but things usually didn't (especially towards the end) just come together nicely. Some moments towards the end also lacked build-up, which would've made their payoff the shining point of the movie.
Instead, the highlight seemed to be the psychological element of the movie's mystery-thriller theme. Unfortunately I can't say too much without entering spoiler territory, but the personalities and different psyches of the main characters, and the way they play out over the course of the film, are what really makes The Loft interesting, and worth remembering.
American Heist (2014)
Haphazard "dramatic" plot, with not much action to back it up
Action? Solid, but nothing special. Heist element? Lacking, but enough for fans of non-elaborate larceny.
Neither of those things, however, take center stage for long. The movie wants so desperately to focus on the emotional aspect of the story...on the relationships. The problem is, it introduces these connections and backstories one after another without REALLY giving any depth to a single one. Moments that, if developed properly, could be sincere and truly emotional are rather just "out of left field" scenes that just waste screen time with a story that doesn't make a lot of sense.
On a more technical note, it almost gives the feeling that the cinematographer got switched out halfway through the movie. The beginning is filled with erratic zooms and cuts, standard cheap action movie stuff, while the mid-to ending is much more characteristic of...well...a GOOD, professional movie.
The drama is definitely the focus of the movie, but even some halfway-decent action and a plot twist or two along the way couldn't save this movie from it's nonsensical emotional story, with some awkward dialogue to boot.