Noah B
Wow. Mike Patton and his many projects have made some of my most favorite music of all time, but Christ almighty; he is fucking terrible in this film. Are people simply giving this high ratings because it's Patton? Again, he's a musical genius- but the acting is bottom of the barrel. Most of the acting is terrible, so I'm not trying to signal out one of my favorite musicians; but seeing people give this a high rating simply because it's Patton is embarrassing lol.
Rated 1/5 Stars •
Rated 1 out of 5 stars
03/13/23
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Audience Member
Weirdest trip of a movie. And you could sometimes see the "cue walking now" moments. The double casting was confusing and didn't seem to make a point. When you can't tell the difference between a killing and sex scene, that's not a great indicator. Was surprised that Karen Black signed up for this.
Rated 1/5 Stars •
Rated 1 out of 5 stars
02/19/23
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Audience Member
Unlike any movie I can recall, Firecracker attempts to expose a real life cover-up in Wamego, KS half a century ago. Filmed in the actual house the murder took place and using symbolism throughout from the Yoruba Religion it this movie is truly art imitating life.
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
02/02/23
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Audience Member
Sadly not a great movie. Fun to see Mike Patton in a movie, but that doesnt save it at all.
Rated 0.5/5 Stars •
Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars
01/23/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Godawful piece of insufferable wanna-be high-art drivel, recklessly pretentious, wildly overacted and overshot, with an embarrassing debut performance from the brilliant (musically anyway) Mike Patton. One of the biggest disappointments in recent years, especially to longtime Patton fans. Had to muster great resolve to finish it. Seriously. It sucks that bad. Balderson (the writer and director) is nothing but a Lynch rip-off artist (and that's the only phrase where I think the word 'artist' could apply to this guy), piecing his film together with pantomimes and parlor tricks that do nothing but insult the intelligence of a discerning filmgoer. Would have been better if he'd just made a self-acknowledged piece of crap, like Stephen King did with Maximum Overdrive, instead of aping greats like Lynch and Bergman and trying to pawn it off as something brilliant. I'll take Emilio Estevez and King's killer clown 18-wheeler over this drek any day of the week. And that's saying something
Rated 1/5 Stars •
Rated 1 out of 5 stars
02/03/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Firecracker tells a well trodden story in a surreal way, so reminiscent of David Lynch that I was waiting for the female Shaman to utter "fire walk with me".
Taking place in a backwater town in rural Kansas, a sensitive, creative young boy is being held back by an abusive older brother and a coddling ultra religious mother (one of two roles portrayed by Karen Black in the film). When the carnival comes to town, the young boy is drawn to the sexy siren (also convincingly played by Black, even if she is a bit long in the tooth to play such a role) - not knowing that his older brother has had an ongoing affair with Black going back several years whenever the carnival comes to town.
Sounds interesting so far, doesn't it? Sad to say the execution, direction, and especially the acting drag this down into a mere curiosity, so banal in parts and overly suggestive of mystical mumbo jumbo in others to be laughable.
The carnival aspects of the film give it some interest, compared to the main story of murder and mysticism, but there are so many scenes that add nothing and are so terribly acted (the boss of the carnival seems to have come right out of a high school play, complete with bad make-up), that, along with some gaping plot holes and preposterous reasonings, tempt you to continue watching simply to see how bad this can be.
Attempting to be creative, the director chose to film the Kansas parts of the story in black and white, while washing the Carnival in color. Pretty much stating the obvious; that life is bleak for the boy in Kansas, but there's a big colorful world out there (filled with inane characters who cannot act). However, this becomes tiresome as the film switches scenes back and forth - complete with some truly awful editing. The odd Lynchian elements seemed pretentious and thrown in not to advance the story or offer anything profound, but more as an attempt to make the film seem artsy (and failing).
A "B" film if ever there was one, and looking as cheap as its minimal budget... another film where you wonder how and why it was made. I also wondered how someone with good acting chops like Karen Black could have a career that never really blossomed. She tries her best here to carry the load, but it's pretty obvious that she is miles above the rest of the cast, in spite of her having to utter some truly ridiculous lines.
Rated 1/5 Stars •
Rated 1 out of 5 stars
02/20/23
Full Review
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