ThiefHott Too much of everything

Lucybespro It is a performances centric movie

Dirtylogy It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

Bumpy Chip It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

rael This film raises eyebrows. Then puts them down. It has people in it that you're familiar with, like Jane Wiedlin (Go-Go's), Kathleen Wilhoite (Angel Heart), Karen Black (Easy Rider), the latter being the most professional of all. It has a story, but it isn't really interested in telling it to you: there's trouble in a family, a blond guy belittles his younger brother for wanting to play piano in a circus show. The star of the show is in trouble too, she's in tight grip of her master. What could've happened if somebody was to rip off Twin Peaks, Santa Sangre & Requiem for a Dream? This... BUT: The scenes drag - total length almost 2 hours - why? Actors look lost as if directed in wrong places. Dialog - boring filler (had this film been silent, it'd be better). Shocks - don't shock. The good points now - Mike Patton. He looks as if he tries hard to have fun playing his characters, even though he's no actor. Photography is very good and rich. And the "humorous bits" in Firecracker are actually pretty funny. Just for Mike Patton completists only. Sorry guys, hope your next movies are better.

atheneumlibrarium I forced myself to sit through the entire DVD, so it couldn't have been the very worst film I've ever seen. Still, I can't think of one that's worse. I began to wonder if was a parody: one of those arcane, in-crowd extended jokes whose humor failed to penetrate my too-serious mind, but after reading the awards (!) and reviews, I have abandoned that theory. If it is a film-maker's joke, it has taken in a huge number of viewers. Firecracker lacks even a shred of nuance. Every emotion is troweled on the screen melodramatically; every line emoted more on the nose than any soap opera utterance; every facial expression bulging over the top like a beer belly.The characters and their motives are trite and utterly predictable. The fact that the story is based on real events does not excuse the miserable screenplay. Performances range from amateurish to atrocious, excepting Susan Traylor's and Paul Sizemore's. Karen Black channels Gloria Swanson at her Sunset Boulevardian worst. Jak Kendall is all over the place, and not in a good way, particularly when he tries to portray nervousness: you will have seen many a seventh-grader act more convincingly. The cinematography is bearable, though as overblown as the script and acting--which is to say, laughably inflated. The direction and editing give us excruciatingly long scenes that say nothing, but were evidently included because they satisfied some directorial fetish or clause in an actor's contract.Altogether, this is a bloated, high camp, reprehensible waste of film and 112 tortured minutes of my time. I still can't quite believe it is meant to be taken seriously. What is serious, however, is this: If you haven't seen it, don't.

wrlang Firecracker is about an abusive brother that terrorizes his family and others in a small Kansas town. The results are devastating to the family. The film is normally in black and white but switches to color during emotional scenes, which is meant to add to the drama and visual effects. While the acting is good, the screen play is a little bit of a yawner. There is a subplot about a roving carnival and an abusive owner who beats and disfigures his woman of choice. I really didn't take the time to understand the connection because the film was too thick with metaphor. Based on actual events, its understandable why this story was buried back when it happened. It's hard to imagine the abusive wack jobs depicted back in those innocent Andy Griffith days.

heliosten I can't name the last movie I turned off, but I turned this off. Don't know what the filmmaker was trying to say, don't care. I finished it off a couple of days later and guess what? It still stinks. I wouldn't make my worst enemy sit through this dreck.The acting is what you would expect for a movie like this and normally I like Karen Black. The story however is a meandering, lost soul not sure of where it wants to go. Not a single likable character in the entire movie.Save yourself the torture and rent something that you can make some sense out of. I am all for art movies, but this sorry piece of work doesn't belong anywhere other than the garbage.