4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Hard Hitting west coast Taxi Driver, October 27, 2006
This review is from: God's Lonely Man (DVD)
Amazing performance by Michael Wyle drives GOD'S LONELY MAN, a gritty and intense powder keg of a film that plays like an updated west coast version of Taxi Driver, its most obvious influence. Indeed some may dismiss the film as nothing more than a pastiche but I strongly disagree; the central performance by Michael Wyle is reason enough to see this film--he has the uncanny ability to go from Deniro-like intensity to almost Woody-Allen style neurosis in an eye blink; it's a live-wire performance that I found very compelling and his tortured-loser persona had me rooting for him from the first reel to the end credits.
Paul Dooly shows courage for taking the part of a sleazy child pornographer and Tom Towles proves he can do more to suggest hidden depths of depravity in one scene than most actors can in an entire film.
The writing is good, the characterizations dead-on and there are some genuinely unsettling scenes that set a tone for modern day LA that is every bit as decayed and frightening as anything seen in the New York of TAXI DRIVER or BRINGING OUT THE DEAD: Sirens scream off-screen at unexpected times accompanied by children crying. Crack-dealers abuse their customers in creepy passive-aggressive power games. A scene set in a sun-drenched ball-park where a child pornographer peddles his wares (right during the little league game he is coaching!) carries a slimy, unsettling edge that reminded me of the fiction of Andrew Vachss in the depiction of evil lurking just under the surface of wholesome everyday appearances.
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Decent movie, bad DVD, August 30, 2003
This review is from: God's Lonely Man (DVD)
The other poster pretty much outlined the plot, so I will not repeat it here.
Heather McComb is the only actor I knew in this movie and is the main reason I watched it. Because of a previous role as a 14-year old 4 years earlier, it was a bit of a stretch to believe the now 18-19 year old actress as a 15-year old (she says) character, Christiane. However, she did convey some juvenile personality and was very good overall.
The male lead actor, Michael Wyle, was pretty good too, and had many quirks and mannerisms that (I guess) are consistent with his coke head character, Ernest. I wondered throughout the movie how he could afford all his drugs with his crappy job.
The movie is clearly influenced by Taxi Driver, and in fact, I was going to call this review "Taxi Driver Without the Taxi".
There is a narration that sounds very similar to Travis Bickle's voice and his comments, and the older male develops a relationship with an underage prostitute, eventually gunning down all the perps. It is not a straight ripoff or homage, but you easily make the connection.
There is also some influence by the book/movie "Christiane F." about young druggy/prostitutes in Berlin, and the director reveals his one-time near obsession with the book in the commentary, as well as Christiane being the name of female character. (Great book by the way, but very depressing even though it has an eventual happy-ish ending).
Surprisingly, there is no nudity or sex, although some of the scenes are inside an adult bookstore. The whole subplot of the "special" porn movie that Ernest eventually arranges to see in order to locate the perps is overdone and a bit of a let down (it's 5 minutes long we are told, and costs $1000 to see it once, and $5000 to buy). The bad guy is "sure" this is what Ernest wants to see, although the subject matter is never discussed. If I was paying that kind of money, I would want to have an idea what it was about. I won't spoil it for you, but I found the 30 seconds we are shown to be not erotic. Like I say, this major subplot is very weak.
Not being religious myself, there were a few religious overtones and symbols that were not crystal clear to me.
I rate the movie at 3 stars, a little better than average, but this is also a DVD review, and here is the bad news.
The "behind the scenes featurette" is worthless. It is just rough VCR-quality footage of people milling around. No narration, no introduction of the unknown people we are seeing, and worst of all, the sound is very bad.
Although there is a commentary, there is no movie sound at all, so you don't know what the characters are saying, and therefore in many cases, we don't know exactly what the 3 commentators are talking or laughing about. Normally, we could just pop the subtitles on while listening to the commentary but there are no subtitles available on the DVD.
Bottom line - Great movie for fans of Heather or Michael, decent movie on its own, and a pricey DVD (when I bought it it was about $8 more) for such badly done extras.
10/8/03 - I just found out the VHS version runs 3 minutes longer. Don't know what was cut (no mention in the commentary). Unusual for the tape to cost more than the DVD, but it does...
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1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Classic, Low Budget "Taxi Driver" Ripoff, July 27, 2007
This review is from: God's Lonely Man (DVD)
"God's Lonely Man" is a classic, low budget "Taxi Driver" ripoff, that includes the main guy who looks, dresses and acts just like De Niro, but not quite as well of course.
Director Frank Von Zerneck Jr, has definately seen "Taxi Driver"a number of times, and good on him. So have I. He obviously loved it so much, he copied it and added a few scenes of his own. In particular, a disturbing little scene that includes a cameo by one of my favourite actors Tom Towles, (who played Otis Toole in "Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer") again playing another twisted, sleazy scumbag.
Cheap and nasty, and all the better for it. Magic stuff!!!
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