29 Palms (2002)

Cautiously Recommended

USA

DTV Film

Director: Leonardo Ricagni

Writer: Tino Lucente

Cinematographer: Horacio Maira

Composer: Mario Grigorov

Cast: Jeremy Davies, Rachael Leigh Cook, Michael Rapaport, Chris O'Donnell, Jon Polito, G. Paul Davis a.k.a Litefoot, Russell Means, Keith David, Bill Pullman

Uruguayan Ricagni’s picaresque American debut - a convoluted yet amusing tale of greed, chance, and coincidence, set in the titular small town, revolving around a much sought after bag of money, depicting the misadventures of a group of rogues, misfits, and chancers - proves to be a shamefully entertaining, easily forgettable piece of nonsense. Iain.Stott

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Stick It in Detroit (2008)

Cautiously Recommended

USA
DTV Film
Director: Robert Daniel Phelps
Writers: Gaetano Aprea, Shaun McLean, Robert Daniel Phelps, Justin Rose
Cinematographer: Stephen Treadway
Composer: Ken Joseph
Cast: John Lutz, Brett Gelman, Jon Daly, Kieran Campion, Matt Chapman, Robert Daniel Phelps, Susan Misner, Gerrit Graham, Sasha Allen, Katharine Leonard, Manuel Cabral, Jessica Golden

Although not for all tastes, and certainly not for the more refined palette, this laddish, episodic, blue-collar comedy, a patchily entertaining look at the dysfunctional lives of a group of twenty-something Detroiters, contains enough moments of inspired lunacy to overlook some its more tired, gross-out sequences; it's also worth noting that its working class setting makes a refreshing change from the usual college campus shenanigans that we’re continually subjected to. Iain.Stott

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