Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

If the quality of a movie can be judged by how much emotion its characters evoke, this film is a winner because I hated certain characters by the end. Like, viseral hate.+++SOME SPOILERS+++The plot is super-simple: two teenagers secretly surveil their neighbor for the purpose of making a psychological art film. Things, of course, end up going very wrong. The movie first appealed to me because James Caan is in it. I mean...Why would he choose to do a junk movie at this point in his career, right? Well, I wasn't disappointed.The downsides of the movie are: (1) Not a whole lot of action; (2) Shot almost entirely in low light; (3) Slightly drags in the middle.Upsides are: (1) Interesting plot; (2) slow building suspense; (3) Ending full of multi-layered emotions.RECOMMENDED

I'm a fan of the found-footage genre in general as it occasionally provides opportunities for creative, low budget ideas. Usually they're just a clichéd mess.I was close to switching this off after 20 minutes. It just seemed like two annoying teens setting up a dull Paranormal Activity-style bore. The only reason I kept going was James Caan, who played his role with understated menace well enough to reel me in.By the halfway point I was genuinely enjoying the mystery, even if I was ultimately expecting a stereotypical conclusion. However this is a film defined by its brilliant ending; one that is true to the set-up and which has an impact rare in the majority of films. My only criticism is that the way the film pretends to be one thing whilst actually being something else is likely to either alienate most of the audience it is being sold to, whilst at the same time not appealing to those who will really appreciate it.

For those who haven't seen Alpha Dog, it alternates between flashbacks and present day in a courtroom. In that film, you know what's going to happen, just not how, which is fine for a documentary.However, it's terrible for suspense! I knew exactly how it was going to end the moment the cop gave his testimony! In short, the movie pretends to be Disturbia, told like Alpha Dogs, and ends with a twist akin to Gran Torino. As for the movie's commentary on trying juveniles as adults, I am not a fan. Out of fairness for those under 18, you COULD treat them as adults under the law, BUT you would also have to give them the right to work, vote, drink, smoke, and consent to sex. You can't throw children in prison without lowering the age of what it means to be an adult.

STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning Suburban teenagers Ethan (Logan Miller) and Sean (Keir Gilchrist) are weary of their grouchy old neighbour Mr Grainey (James Caan) who lives across the street, and decide to invade his home and install devices everywhere, in order to spy on him and play a series of pranks. However, they have underestimated this old codger, and events build up to take a terrifying and shattering turn.This latest The Blair Witch Project/Paranormal Activity inspired effort takes the formula in a perverse direction, and has some contrasting central characters in the shape of two young ones/one old one, and plugs the generational gap together in a fundamentally unsettling tale of early on-set psychosis and reclusive paranoia. Sadly, none of it really builds up to a very satisfying whole.A forgotten actor in recent years, Caan has the same steely eyed, unnerving presence he had in his younger years, and precisely because of his age, he's able to apply it in a different, more unique way now. Miller and Gilchrist come off as little more than just your standard teenage brats. But it's not the performances that weigh this down, as much as the far fetched nature of the story and the lack of coherent storytelling that do, building up to an ending that, though unexpected and affecting, sadly doesn't lift it up any.This is one neighbour you could comfortably avoid going to check up on. **