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The Last Stop in Yuma County -
This thrilling throwback neo-noir proves that Jim Cummings deserves to be a household name. I would go so far to say that his performance as an ordinary man in an extraordinary situation recalls how Henry Fonda and Humphrey Bogart played roles like this. It also proves that veteran character actor Richard Brake should be a household name if he is not one already. Besides making his bank robber look like one scary dude, I love how he makes every word send a chill down your spine and not just the profanity. Okay, enough about the acting, especially since the whole cast shines down to Barbara Crampton's witty police secretary.
If you also love this genre, you undoubtedly love the ones mostly set in one place. This one's sun-drenched, barely functional to the point of dangerous diner is one I'll always remember. To make its uncertainty all the better, it's more prison than eating establishment thanks to the gas station's pumps being empty and the fuel truck being late. Luckily, in addition to all this suspense and dread, there's just the right amount of quality comic relief. If it's not Nicholas Logan's hapless muscle to Richard Brake's brains, it's Crampton and the rest of the adorable police station that reminded me of the one from Twin Peaks.
This movie succeeds at doing what my favorite noirs and neo-noirs do: showing what happens when you do what the devil on your shoulder suggests. It's not perfect, but the few issues I have with the movie are nitpicks. Is period accuracy that important? Probably not, but it was still hard to determine if it takes place in the '60s or '70s despite a memorable movie name drop. Also, bad decisions are what this genre is all about, but a few of them are of the convenient variety. It still remains a likely candidate for my top ten of 2024. It's also one of the more impressive directorial debuts of this decade so far.
This thrilling throwback neo-noir proves that Jim Cummings deserves to be a household name. I would go so far to say that his performance as an ordinary man in an extraordinary situation recalls how Henry Fonda and Humphrey Bogart played roles like this. It also proves that veteran character actor Richard Brake should be a household name if he is not one already. Besides making his bank robber look like one scary dude, I love how he makes every word send a chill down your spine and not just the profanity. Okay, enough about the acting, especially since the whole cast shines down to Barbara Crampton's witty police secretary.
If you also love this genre, you undoubtedly love the ones mostly set in one place. This one's sun-drenched, barely functional to the point of dangerous diner is one I'll always remember. To make its uncertainty all the better, it's more prison than eating establishment thanks to the gas station's pumps being empty and the fuel truck being late. Luckily, in addition to all this suspense and dread, there's just the right amount of quality comic relief. If it's not Nicholas Logan's hapless muscle to Richard Brake's brains, it's Crampton and the rest of the adorable police station that reminded me of the one from Twin Peaks.
This movie succeeds at doing what my favorite noirs and neo-noirs do: showing what happens when you do what the devil on your shoulder suggests. It's not perfect, but the few issues I have with the movie are nitpicks. Is period accuracy that important? Probably not, but it was still hard to determine if it takes place in the '60s or '70s despite a memorable movie name drop. Also, bad decisions are what this genre is all about, but a few of them are of the convenient variety. It still remains a likely candidate for my top ten of 2024. It's also one of the more impressive directorial debuts of this decade so far.