Pretty Good

A waste of 90 minutes of my life

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

For most of its running time, "Duress" seems like a low-budget, flatly-photographed, dime-a-dozen serial killer thriller, with the only novelty being the stunt casting of Greek pop idol Sakis Rouvas as the nasty killer. Rouvas is more than acceptable in the role, after you get used to him, but what really distinguishes this film from most of the others of its ilk is its thoroughly twisted, amoral, and sick twist ending. I don't want to spoil anything here, but if you prefer movies where good triumphs over evil, or at least some characters are redeemed at the end, you might want to try something else. I was shocked on at least two separate occasions, and I was reminded of a Pauline Kael quote (about the Richard Gere thriller "Internal Affairs", but it applies here as well): "you may find yourself breaking into a grin when you recommend it to friends". You have been warned. **1/2 out of 4.

Another loser is the 2009 film, "Duress" directed by Jordan Barker. It was written by Jim Kehoe and Dipo Oseni and is considered a thriller. However, it is not too thrilling of a picture. The actors include Martin Donovan, Sakis Rouvas, Joey Adams, Megan Ashley, Jacob Bertrand, Tommy Burwell, Desiree Cooper, Catherine Dent, Deon Derrico, Cristina Dohmen, Gina Gallego, Lisa Gady, Deege Harding, Chris Holz, George Ketsios, Cole S. McKay, Kathleen McNearmey, Alexis Raich, Chelsea Smith, Ariel Winter, Billy Wirth and Susan Spano. The story is that of a middle aged businessman who has a young daughter and who is blackmailed into a life of crime by a murderer who threatens the little girl's life if the father does not follow commands. It is a slow moving film and I found it hard pressed to give it only 2 stars. Dale Haufrect

I admit the main reason I watched this is because I am a giant nerd and was a fan of Ariel Winter because of Final Fantasy 13-2. I have seen Martin Donovon in many different things and he usually brought a little something to the table.I originally had this as a 4 because it seemed very straight forward as home terror movies have seemed to go as of late. I initially compared it to things like The Strangers, and You're Next. After the initial excitement it quickly winds down for me and it becomes what appears to be a very boring movie. I think they worked a little to hard at covering up the things they were trying to conceal, because the middle part of the movie did seem very slow.Without revealing to much there are a few twists in the end, one of which I think anyone can see miles away, and then something else happens which in the opinion of this writer, truly made the movie in a higher quality.All in all I think it is worth a watch, just drudge through the middle, and you will be rewarded!rlyonsii.net

Today's paper had a picture of President Barack and Michelle Obama lighting 26 votive candles in the White House for the Newtown, CT, shooting victims. Did the paper say 26? Yes, 26. Weren't 27 people murdered? Yes, 27 people got whacked. But the President knows that Americans do not consider parents of criminals to be people any more. As DURESS shows, their defective genes make them just as much ticking time bombs as their kids. How many dinner party invites do you think went out to the senior Dahmers, Bundys, Mansons, Gacys, Klebolds, Harrises, Loughners, McVeighs, Oswalds, or Booths after their offspring made headlines? The answer is NONE, and if their child IS considerate enough to off them on the way to their own possible last stand--as was the case in Newtown--they won't even rate a 25-cent votive candle at the White House. DURESS proves WHY the parents of American criminals are heaped with as high a degree of social damnation as their kids. We all remember the Bible says the sins of the children will come back to haunt their folks: like son, like father!