Cheap Movies - Decent Results

Sometimes, you can find some good movies in the bargain bin.

I grabbed the 'Suicide Kings' DVD for $5.88 and a VHS copy of 'Snake Eyes' with Nicholas Cage for $3.88

Suicide Kings had an ensemble cast that featured Jay Mohr, Henry Thomas, Sean Patrick Flanery (think he's Irish?), Denis Leary and Christopher Walken. It's almost hard these days to watch a movie that has Walken in it and not enjoy it (at least during the time he is on the screen). The guy is so good and he doesn't disappoint here as a crime boss, kidnapped by a group of rich kids to use in order to get their hands on $2 million. Denis Leary plays Walken's right hand man — he was to Sammy Gravano as Walken was to John Gotti.

The movie is a slick 'whodunit' where the details behind the facts start to unfold as the film moves along. It's a concept where everything is not as it seems in the beginning. Leary and Mohr bring their comic skills to the script as several of their ad-libbed remarks brought about the biggest laughs. The ending is somewhat predictable even as the filmmakers try to surprise us, but that's allright. Watching Walken work his magic with his younger counterparts is worth the time it takes to watch it. The movie dragged on a little longer than I would have liked but that's a minor complaint.

Usually, a DVD that costs $6 is going to be lacking for extras, but this one had quite a few. There was a screen specific commentary by director Peter O'Fallon and one of the three screenwriters, Wayne Rice. Some of it was recorded together as Rice and O'Fallon laugh about certain scenes and discuss how they worked out differences they each had in the script. At other times Rice talks about O'Fallon in the third person. It was either recorded separately or O'Fallon went to the bathroom or something. Most of the commentary is fair. They spend too much time saying things like, "Oh watch Mohr right here. His expression is great" and discussing the problems they had with the budget. When they do get into the behind the scenes imformation about the actual filming it is much more enjoyable.

Article Author: Jay Caruso

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