Pressed (2011)

The Worst Film Ever

Simply A Masterpiece

I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

How sad is this?

"I've got three months before this whole thing blows up in my face." Brian (Goss) is having a bad day. First he gets laid off, then gets in a fight with his wife, then finds out the savings he thought he had isn't as much as he was expecting. He stops at a bar to think and finds an old friend who says he can help. Risking everything Brian gives him all he has. When two young kids interfere with the plans everyone's life is affected. Going in to this I had no idea what to expect. I was very surprised with what I got and really really enjoyed this. The movie is tense and you aren't really sure what character to root for and it stays that way for just about the entire movie. Equal parts drama and action, this a the most realistic movie of this type I have seen. You will see what I mean when you watch this. I just put it in as background while I was doing something else but found myself 100% involved about 20 minutes in. I really enjoyed this. Overall, gritty, real and de-pressing...see what I did there. I give it an B+.

I think this is another fine, low-budget Canadian movie. Well shot and performed, with real-life characters and situations, the former being accurately depicted. It's a just stuck-in-a-bad-situation-getting-worser-and-worser case, but with a refreshing point of view. The storyline is original, the cast delivers an excellent job, Luke Goss has charisma and Donnelly's directorial style is effective. Not outstanding, but definitely well worth a watch. It's the kind of small movie with no artistic ambitions, nonetheless fueled with talent and passion. After "Gunless", another good example of highly-entertaining feature film.

OK, Matt Goss puts up a good show of being a young exec on the way down. And when he's tempted into easy money in a bar, we can believe it. But luck would have it that a couple of kids steal a car containing the deal money. Me, I'd be out of there, but these dumb brats somehow (didn't get how) find themselves speaking to Matt on the phone and agree to meet him, later to try and get the money back on the car and electronics they've bought. Are they mad? Why would they do that? I was OK with the first three-quarters of the story, then it goes into Alice in Wonderland territory - yet Matt maintains his serious expression to the end. Masterful! In conclusion: an unconvincing story makes a dreadful movie.

Regular people get themselves into trouble by making poor decisions that snowball, with tragic consequences. Think "Go" without the fun, or a somewhat less intense "Requiem for a Dream"; though not nearly as inspired as either of those. Relative unknown Tyler Johnston is effectively brooding as a troubled teen whose bad luck intersects with that of seasoned lead Luke Goss, who does an adequate enough job as the adult counterpart. Michael Eklund deserves the most credit for his small but expertly-detailed part as the catalyst (I can't wait to see him in something bigger).The premise is somewhat original, with well-written dialog, but the story ends up less compelling than the slight potential felt in the beginning. Unlike the good examples from this genre, there's little to no great memorable truth, lesson, or even a poignant moment, really, to emerge from the characters' messes that might give you a reason to be glad you watched. Some editing missteps also cause the movie to drag too often.They were going for pure tragedy, but didn't realize that a good tragic story still needs entertaining hooks. This movie maintains a rather homogeneous tension level from beginning to end, which gets old and ends up feeling more like a flatline.