charlytully In CONFESS, Eugene Byrd portrays a little man--Terell--with an over-sized chip on his shoulder, anti-social impulses in his blood, and implausible luck allowing him to escape the consequences of whatever wrong-headed fool thing he dreams up next. The rest of the cast--admittedly third-rate with such summer stock as Ali Larter (Olivia) and Barry Sadler (Sen. Lampert, R-SC)--at least manage to keep things consistent by playing down to Byrd's level of non-charisma and ridiculously juvenile line readings. I only rated this an above-average 6 of 10 because the premise anticipates You Tube somewhat, with a pinch NETWORKish angst at gunpoint thrown in. If a group of junior high kids managed the level of production values and acting skills exhibited here, I'd up my rating to an "8" considering their age. But Sadler, for one, is a little long in the tooth to rake in pity points. Terell, an allegedly gifted student with a self-sacrificing white mom (played by Melissa Leo) and a dead black dad (shown only in a family photo), obtains every glitzy dream fulfillment possible through his series of revenge felonies. Twenty minutes into CONFESS, I just wished he'd go into community organizing and have Oprah appoint him U.S. President.

Chunkylover53 If you like Michael Moore movies then you'll love this one. The main character (Terell) is obviously more over the top in his methods, but they both ambush powerful figures, videotape them, then edit the footage to make them look as bad as possible. It's really sleazy and hard to root for him as a hero unless you're some kind of anti-establishment, anarchist, Marxist, or assorted nut job. The movie sets up all these straw men for Terell to expose who are ridiculously stereotypical. They're all racist, arrogant, rich, greedy, snobby, condescending. The film tries to convince you that every white housewife is a bitch, every white kid is a spoiled brat, every white person who works in an office is a pompous jerk. I can take a well-done movie where the villain is a senator or CEO, but I don't want to be preached to that there's an organized establishment designed to protect itself and keep everyone else down.An annoying plot line involves how the hero is a computer genius but was previously forced out of his company at age 19 by venture capitalists who took his invention and got rich off it while he got nothing. It's just more stereotypical crap. And if he's such a genius how come he can't get his life going again afterward? Because he's a spiteful jerk who sits around feeling sorry for himself instead of moving on with his life.

mymediaaccount Hey, changing the world is no easy trick. The little guy get's stepped on all the time. And even when someone tries to do something to shake up the establishment, things can so easily go wrong. And of course, nobody's perfect; not even the little guy. This movie says it all. Great concept. Great script. Great acting. What's not to like?Eugene Byrd has been around for a long time (Sesame Street) but hasn't ever been given a chance to really carry a film. He does it here, demonstrating again he has serious acting chops. Ali Larter (HEROES) is now a big star, but the fact that she does smaller projects like this - ones where she isn't getting paid millions - shows she's interested in expanding her horizons beyond only being the attractive blonde. I hear the DVDs coming out in August. See it!

Sean Dungan Stefan Schaefer's excellent first feature film, Confess, is a wonderfully written and acted, tense current-era thriller about political protest turned virulent and uncontrollable in our modern internet-ecology and -video information age. Embittered and talented computer hacker Terell (Eugene Byrd) re-emerges in New York after a long period underground, following a devastating start-up failure, for which he blames his ex-business partner. His personal revenge schemes via clandestine webcam metastasize into a powerful and dangerous terrorist-style movement that culminates in reckless kidnappings and murderous copycats. Schafer employs super smart use of the digital video medium and sometimes frenetic-seeming editing, as well as rewinds and flashbacks, to charge his premise with urgency and make it taut. With first-rate performances by entire cast, and a well-wrought script, the movie manages to, without bludgeoning, get its message nicely across.