Touches You

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

***SPOILERS*** Using a cell phone as a prop like a phone booth was used it the movie "Phonebooth" two years earlier but without the same success the film "Lost" has bank vice president Jeremy Stanton, Dean Cain,mastermind the ripping off his bank, Fidelity Savings, and making off with some six million dollars in cold cash. What happens alter is too nuts to figure out with one of his co-bank robbers Ed Archer, Danny Trejo, a full blooded Cherokee Indian stalking him throughout the entire film for reasons never fully explained in the script.What's so unusual about the movie is Stanton's cell-phone that never runs out of power and can seem to pick up phone signals anywhere on earth even in the wide open and empty spaces of the Nevada Desert! During Stanton's entire time on the run, that last more then 12 hours,in the movie and being on his cell-phone non-stop he never charged the phone up once with its reception as strong at the end as it was in the beginning of the movie! ***SPOILERS*** There's also the strong and silent, and somewhat lobotomized, type state trooper, Paul Green, who's constantly chasing Stanton's car who seems to be obsessed in keeping America, or it's roads & highways, beautiful who ends up , for what seems to be no reason at all, killed by the criminally psychotic Archer. The person who guides Stanton's through this mess is telephone operator Judy, Ashley Scott,who for some strange reason takes an interest in him, maybe it was his sexy voice, and the situation he finds himself in. It's at the very end of the movie we, as well as Stanton, find out just what that reason really is. And it isn't love or phone talk at first sight either!

What a complete waste of time this was. Fortunately I wised up about half way through this excruciating mess and fast forwarded to the end. I don't remember skipping that much of a movie ever before (even tho I've seen some bad ones). The lead character was a horrible arrogant thoroughly unlikable idiot so why would I care what happened to him. Absolutely nothing happened in the first half, He just drove around the desert littering and being rude to people and generally making dumb decisions in the most boring nonsense I've seen since I sat and watched my gate rust. And the ending I skipped to.....and discovered the big plot twist which was utter utter rubbish!! Terrible dialogue, no character development, only one major person in the whole film talking to various people on the phone, ridiculous script and no suspense or intrigue. What is the actual point of this flick anyway? Please don't believe the positive reviews (I don't understand where they are coming from). AVOID AVOID AVOID!!! Any comparisons of this pile of drek to the wonderfully directed and beautifully acted Phone Booth are ridiculous and completely unfair to Phone Booth.

While traveling from Green Lawn, California, to meet his wife and son in Red Ridge, Nevada, the driver Jeremy Stanton (Dean Cain) gets lost in a secondary road through the desert following an old edition of the Road-Aid Travel Guide maps. He calls the Road-Aid operator Judy (Ashley Scott), who tries to give directions to her client. Meanwhile, the police is chasing the criminals that have committed a bank heist in California. When Jeremy's Mercedes Benz runs out gas, he finds an isolated gas station in the middle of nowhere that operates with cash-only. When Jeremy opens the truck of his car, he opens a bag full of money, disclosing the reason of his road-trip."Lost" is probably the lowest-budget movie I have ever seen. The story hooks the attention of the viewer until the very last scene, is flawed and predictable. First, it is annoying to see Jeremy Stanton wearing necktie in a totally stressed situation through the heat of the desert. How can a man feel relaxed wearing necklace? Second it was quite obvious how Archer was tracking him. Last but not the least, why exchange his brand-new car for an old truck in a desert road without any other vehicle? My vote is six.Title (Brazil): "Lost – Sem Saída" ("Lost – Without Exit")

It's fun to see a raw, well shot independent film every now and again and I do, in a way, feel privileged to have seen Lost despite the certain things that I thought kept it from being a great film although kept it at being a good film. It's difficult to pinpoint the exact genre for this film as it's really just a 'road movie/thriller' and revolves around a guy on a road in a desert trying to get home to his wife and child; he's also carrying some cargo but the surprise when it is revealed exactly what the cargo is is far too enjoyable for me to say so here.The person who wrote and directed this film, Darren Lemke, has obviously paid close attention to certain thrillers and such from the past. Jeremy Stanton (Cain) driving along and getting into all sorts of rather illegal mischief is very reminiscent of Psycho (1960) especially when you realise what it is he's carrying and who he actually is; also, the fact he's pulled over by a state trooper is either supposed to remind us of how we felt when we saw Marion Crane asleep at the wheel in a lay-by when a police car pulled up or it's supposed to create a whole new feeling of paranoia within itself despite the fact the 'twist' of what it is he's actually got in the boot isn't revealed yet.As Stanton attempts to make his way home, little obstacles that pop up are not only a little predictable but also a little anti-climatic. Like I said, it takes a while for what it is he's carrying to be revealed so any hindrance that occurs is purely going to frustrate him without leaving us on tenterhooks; needless to say that changes later on. Although this could be seen as quite clever, Stanton's reactions to things like: running low on petrol, not being able to communicate to a petrol station attendant due to a language barrier and as mentioned, being stopped by a state trooper aren't really as desperate nor do they make us think that maybe there's more at stake than merely getting home to his family.I don't like to gripe at independent film's writing but the script is a little weary in Lost. Stanton makes trouble for himself on more than one occasion and to me, it was rather noticeable. Anyone who's seen a road movie before will know that usually the people in the car are in some sort of trouble and have to do their very best not to make things worst for themselves: simple, just drive and drive until you're home, right? Wrong, not in some films. In Thelma and Louise (1991), they were on the run and due to good writing, they avoided trouble most of the time, in a film called The Hit (1984) one character throws a piece of clothing out the window and another says something like: "That was a bit silly – it could act against us later as some sort of clue". As a result, in Lost, when Stanton throws several things from his car I immediately thought of that scene from The Hit. Stanton also makes things worse for himself on numerous other occasions, one of which occurs when he moves his 'cargo' from one large bag to several smaller ones meaning more luggage for him.The film uses another convention it has; an operator called Judy (Scott) to good affect as she acts as Stanton's lifeline although the twist involving her was a little unbelievable just as it was able to plan the feeling of 'It's possible for them to do this twist but I hope they don't' inside of me. Along with this, the multiple problems Stanton comes up against does create good suspense so the director has obviously thought out how he's going to make it all work from a suspenseful point of view. Going into the film, don't expect anything too fantastic but it is a well made, well shot film that uses and borrows to good effect.