Blue Call

With two movies currently listed as in post-production, it'll be interesting to see whether Brian Farmer wastes his impressive directing skills on two more bad screenplays or if he learned anything as a writer since he whipped up Blue Call.

Everything about the production was impressive. The look, the casting, locations, etc. But the script, as almost every review has noted, was a mess. The main character starts off on a sympathetic note, if poorly developed, but halfway through the film becomes less likeable on multiple counts.

Like many indie films these days, the third act is merely a stub. There shouldn't be anything inherently flawed about film stories that are less than the old minimum standard of 85-90 minutes, but the bulk of today's 80 minute wonders seem to be written by folks who never learned the basic three act structure which facilitates adequate character and story development and accommodates a satisfying resolution.

Even worse for Blue Call, writer Farmer took a giant illogical shortcut to his ending, as if he got bored with his story or just couldn't be bothered to properly finish it.

It's worth a watch for the stylish direction, but be forewarned that the ending sucks. And if his new movies have the same problem, that will be truly sad.

This started out with promise but slowly fell into a rut of ridiculous decisions and unlikely scenarios. Our PTSD paramedic becomes an "angel of mercy" and loses her common sense. There are simply better things to watch.

This is a good story. Nice to see they're exploring the life of an EMT with PTSD especially. Other than that, half of the scenes are too dark for me to see anything. The story is nothing special, but I think there aren't enough movies like this, and it took a good risk. I will not spoil the movie. I think it's worth a watch. The female lead with PTSD did a wonderful job.

There seems to be a new trend of bad horror movies that go for abstract storytelling without actually saying anything under its supposed cryptic plot. My guess is they want to follow the success of movies like The Babadook, The Witch, The Lighthouse, even, to a lesser extent, the Moorhead-Benson duo. However, you quickly realize the director doesn't have what it takes to carry out the intention. The nightmarish life of paramedics is already an interesting concept for the horror genre, but what we get here is a boring attempt at a morality tale, mixed with Requiem for a Dream-like second part, but without the good acting. The constant nighttime atmosphere is a welcome idea, but that's as far, as it gets. The character's actions make no sense and it's hard to tell what's even happening towards the end. You might as well skip this one and watch Synchronic.

Good believable first half tracking the main character's descent into darkness. But the ending had the feel of a TV series that had been unexpectedly cancelled, and the writers desperately trying to tie up all the loose ends while still leaving some openings for a reboot.