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The Contractor (I) (2013)
1/10
Danny Trejo needs justice
8 May 2015
I try to lower my expectations for most films on Lifetime, because you have to suspend some disbelief for anything low budget. This is not a rip on quality, however, because you can find some gems as long as the story lines are strong.

It was hard to overlook many things about "The Contractor", a revenge suspense film that takes place in Los Angeles. Starring Danny Trejo as an angry contractor, he seeks some sort of retribution for the prison death of his wrongfully incarcerated son. There should be a lesson here about wrongful incarceration, especially in today's climate, but "The Contractor" carelessly hides any opportunity to make a statement by using it as a springboard for a weak story about revenge and a wealthy couple with stables and an overflowing toilets.

Trejo's talents are wasted, if only because of the careless scripting. To gain access to the prosecutor's house, he uses a false name. In trying to find his true identity, the prosecutor's wife and a friend use the internet to zero in on his true identity - - a task that takes less than :10 seconds -- from the over millions of Hispanics in Southern California. If you lived in LA, you'd understand the impossibility of such a web search. In describing Trejo's son to the prosecutor's anguished wife, she uses the term "Latin princes" instead of "Latino" -- another blatant error.

In fact, the whole concept of justice and vengeance makes no sense. Prosecutor unjustly gains a conviction for an innocent young man who dies in a prison fight. Father is angry and wants a little revenge. Instead, he gets fired. Prosecutor's wife discovers that her husband might not care that there was some sort of unjust conviction. Prosecutor hires some thugs to try to beat up Danny Trejo's character. In turn, a botched abduction takes place. No matter how the film turns out, the prosecutor never understands that he is wrong.

What a waste.
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Black Widow (2008 TV Movie)
4/10
Okee Dokee!
5 May 2015
Warning: Spoilers
A photographer for a local paper (LA Post) becomes suspicious of her best friend's new girlfriend, a leggy Ph.D that runs a free clinic in LA. Using the paper's considerable research resources and armed with a camera, she turns investigative reporter to discover the true identify of the philanthropist black widow.

Elizabeth Berkley's one dimensional portrayal of the main character is simple and unsympathetic, a blonde-haired black widow whose plastic smile and ill-intentions are so obvious that it leaves the viewer in awe of the sheer stupidity possessed by those who believe her to be the beacon of philanthropic goodness. Alicia Coppola, the film's protagonist, does a better job, but is outshined by her merry duo of jr. journalist helpers that assist in solving this case. Perhaps the best part of this film are the wealthy drunk couple towards the end of the movie, who bring a little breathing space to this stuffy suspense.

For a Lifetime film, this wasn't too bad. I was rooting for the protagonist, but was seriously hoping that she killed her best friend for being ridiculously gullible.

I do believe that much of this film, production and supporting acting, comes from our friends in Canada.

**SPOILER WITH QUESTION** At the film's end, when our protagonist takes a bullet to the arm and passes out, several people rush to her aid. One individual, who was a doctor that worked in the same free clinic as the black widow, simply leaned over her friend's body in concern while the best friend yelled for an ambulance. Was she really a doctor or just someone with exceptionally poor bedside manners?
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