Pawn Shop Chronicles

This latest outing of director Wayne Kramer who I know from Running Scared which was excellent BTW has all the ingredients to make one hell of a delicious movie. Except the main course is too overcooked and the desert leaves an after taste. Sorry for the analogy I am a bit in a cuisine minded mood. The cast is huge and diverse and all give their best to get the most out of this production. You can feel the energy coming from their enthusiasm. But sadly it is not enough. Because Wayne Kramer makes one pivotal mistake. That is trying to be clever by mixing up story lines and genres. It's obvious Wayne Kramer is trying to make a contemporary Pulp Fiction and would have worked too had he focused on the story lines themselves. I am willing to believe he had this wonderful idea in his head but simply could not execute it the way he wanted. I mean what was he thinking with the whole Elvis Impersonation story line. It takes up way too much time and it was not exactly funny or interesting. The story lines with Paul Walker and Matt Dillon are the most interesting and pretty bizarre. Almost put in for the shock value alone because it seems like it is more a gimmick than that the director is trying to teach us something. I have to admit I don't look to learn anything from a movie but if a film doesn't entertain me enough the least it can do is bring my attention to something that is worth my time. And for me that did not happen. For Miss Chofas however the experience was slightly different. She liked it for the most part although I suspect it has to do with the fact Norman Reedus was in it. Where was he? Well,yes he was disguised in some gas mask but still she could recognize him. Naughty Miss Chofas. So overall I don't think Pawn Shop Chronicles is worth sitting down for. If it passes your TV screen someday on a rainy Sunday then it might not be that bad for me it was a little disappointing especially after the strong start.

This is the first time I write a review for a movie, not that this movie needs one. But it deserves it. Because the first time I heard of Pawn Shop Chronicles, I thought the History channel made a movie about a very bad reality series. But don't let the title fool you. This one the best triptych i ever seen. Just watch it, I'll guarantee it, you'll have great time. If you are a Pulp Fiction fan, you'll definitely appreciate this movie. Excellent and out of their "usual comfort zone" performances from some of the most under-appreciated and underestimated actors in Hollywood. Watch the movie and you'll understand it.

After reading a few reviews about this and seeing the cast, how could this be a bad film? I wasn't expecting any of it. Mostly the film was funny and had some really odd segments which break the usual viewing experience which i found kept me watching the whole way through. all of the acting in this film is pretty spot on with what is going on, seeing some actors well out of their usual roles really sold the characters to me. Make no mistake however, the film i found was pointless. It switches its character so many times by the half way mark you really don't know what to expect next which i found was the charm of the whole film. Stuff happens, it gets resolved and its all well done in the process. I have to say for a blind pick film this film is something you have to watch to get what i mean with its bizarre nature. Im not sure what message its supposed to be giving, what the film is actually about but all loose ends are tied up . . . what actually happened near the end? I thought it was a good film.

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source: Pawn Shop Chronicles

Hadn't heard anything about this movie, or even known of its existence, until about an hour before I watched it tonight, lol. First off, for all you Norman Reedus fans: Even though he gets near top billing, You never see his face, and his screen time is like 2 minutes, so calm down for thinking you found a new Reedus film to be excited about, lol. (Don't you hate it when they do that :o/) This film's a good example of that scenario where the concept or premise of the film, its preview, and poster, make the film look really good, only to have the execution and/or the end of the film fall flat. High quality acting performances were given by the entire all star cast, Brandon Frasier especially, impressive as a lost, struggling, Elvis impersonator. There were some good, entertaining moments in the movie that gave me hope, but that's as far as it got. For every moment it seems like it was going to recover, it would fall again, including the ending, which was a let down, and, honestly, even for a movie of this genre, I felt the ending was in bad taste and crossed a line, as they tried to make humor of a man keeping women in captivity. VERY BAD timing, after what just went down in Ohio. You know how a movie can be so weird, but in a good way, or so weird in a bad way ? Well for me, this had both, but in the end, just left me feeling in a bad way. But, I say "for me", and rate this in the middle because, I'm sure there's going to be some of you sick pups out there that's going to think it was hilarious, while others will think it's just plain weird, in a bad way. 2.5 out of 5, or 5 out of 10 IMDb stars.

This gets a 6 out of 10 for extreme weirdness and confusion. I laughed. I kinda cried and I still don't understand it. What I got out of this film was confusion, humour, some sort or religious symbolism, zombie-naked women. I still don't understand what Frodo did to those naked girls. But I have always loved Elijah Wood...what are you thinking? I will never get that picture of him on the table out of my head. I am torn. I can't say it's a bad film... I can say that it is amusing and just plain odd and kinda unique. I like Brendan Fraser and gosh darn it I didn't think anything would make Brendan Fraser make me feel queasy. Yep - it is WEIRD!!!!

'PAWN SHOP CHRONICLES': Four Stars (Out of Five) Wayne Kramer directed this grindhouse style comedy crime-drama telling three different (overlapping) stories involving items sold to a pawn shop. It stars an ensemble cast including Brendan Fraser, Matt Dillon, Kevin Rankin, Vincent D'Onofrio, Chi McBride, Elijah Wood, Lukas Haas, DJ Qualls, Norman Reedus, Thomas Jane and the late Paul Walker. Walker was also one of the producers on the film and previously worked with Kramer on the cult classic 'RUNNING SCARED', in 2006. It was written by Adam Minarovich and is the first movie Kramer has directed that he didn't write (or co-write). It's a really dark and twisted film (like 'RUNNING SCARED') but also bizarrely interesting and entertaining. The movie begins and ends at a pawn shop where it's owner, Alton (D'Onofrio), spends most of his time chitchatting with his friend Johnson (McBride). Different characters come in there throughout the day all trying to pawn a different item and their stories all intersect (and overlap). One is a honeymooning couple where the groom (Dillon) finds his missing wife's wedding ring. Another is an Elvis impersonator (Fraser) doing a show at the local fair, looking for some extra cash. The third is a white supremacist (Haas) wanting to sell a shotgun so he can afford gas to meet his two partners (Walker and Rankin), who are planning to rob their meth supplier (Reedus, who is unrecognizable in a mask the entire film). All the tales (of course) take a very dark turn. The film is funny and very violent, it's also highly disturbing. All of the actors are good and fittingly cast in their roles and Walker always seemed to do his best work in Kramer's movies. Wood is becoming one of the most creepy actors in Hollywood (after playing a psycho in this and 'MANIAC', in the same year); he's really starting to scare me! Although it is very dark and twisted it's also highly entertaining and has a really strong Tarantinoesque feel to it. It's probably what most people expect coming from Wayne Kramer (even though he didn't write it) and it's sad that he and Walker won't be able to work together again. Watch our movie review show 'MOVIE TALK' at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTUUB4nMD6M

"I went into a pawn shop and found it. It was like God brought me there." Alton is the owner of a local pawn shop. One day a kid comes in with a ring to pawn. This innocent event triggers something that affects many people including a group of meth addicts, an Elvis impersonator, and the original owner of the ring. I really like this type of movie. Movies where one event connects a wide variety of people and the stories all end up converging. They are fun to watch and are usually well written. The best of this type is obviously Crash but there have been others. That said, this is watchable, funny and entertaining but nothing amazing. The best part of this movie is Brendan Frasier as Elvis, it took me a while to realize it was him, but he was really funny and great in this. There is some really dark humor in this but there is also main stream humor, there is a little bit of everything in this. I liked it but it's not something I think I would watch again. Overall, funny and entertaining. A fun one time watch. I give it a B.

Because I like and trust many of the well known actors in this film, I really wanted it to be good. It was so far from good that I can barely write this review. This movie made me stupid! I tried to see some continuity and justification to what was happening, but there was none. In fact this is the perfect definition of "Dangling Participle!" Stories were left with no resolve. Characters popped in and out of the movie as if it was magic and trust me, there was no magic! I even tried to compare it to a macabre, gore-fest, slasher type genre and it didn't even fit there. Even if what you can do with the 2 hrs it took to complete the viewing of this mess, is nothing more than eat a bug or stick your fingers down your throat to puke, you will find that time better spent! YIKES! Btw, I will be writing a screenplay and fully expect it to be produced. There are few things I have ever seen that even compare to how bad this movie actually was and I have watched some bad films in my time. Vincent D'Onofrio and Chi McBride had a couple and I repeat only a couple of relatively entertaining moments. Really, don't bother with this one! Just my thoughts!