augustinavondale Most films eventually s$%# the bed by the third act. This one does, literally, in the first five minutes. . . Intrigued? I'll press on. Stuck is the story of two polar opposite characters that find themselves at odds with each other through a random and cruel series of events. Based on a true story from Fort Worth, TX sometime in the early '00s, screenwriter John Strysik and director Stuart Gordon (Re-Animator, From Beyond) rip this bizarre true crime from the headlines and build a unique yin & yang of character and motivation, examined through angles of compassion (lack thereof) and macabre violence. Stuart Gordon has never been more on top of his game.First we meet Brandi Boski (played by Mena Suvari, looking hilarious in cornrows). She works as an R.N. for a convalescent home. The opening credit sequence (perhaps my favorite in recent memory) hilariously juxtaposes the sad reality of a sterile care facility for the elderly, with an abrasive hiphop soundtrack underneath and an animated title graphic. I am immediately won over and ready to be entertained and enlightened. Brandi learns she is a front runner for a promotion, suspiciously, as she's asked to work on a Saturday by her boss (played by Nurse Ratchet). Then we are introduced to Thomas Bardo (interesting factoid: the name Bardo was chosen as the Buddhist term for "intermediate or transitional state of being"), a down on his luck unemployed middle aged man who is carelessly thrown out of his temporary housing having run out of unemployment benefits. Now homeless, he is prowling the same street Brandi is careening down in an inebriated state, celebrating her potential promotion. Thomas is impaled through Brandi's windshield as she drives home (miles away) and parks him in her garage while he bleeds out. Fairly quickly the film puts us in a hopeless position and from the get- go things consistently get worse, for everyone. What do they say about comedy? Tragedy plus time. Tragically, we're in real time and the laughs hit hard and to the bone (like the windshield wiper in Bardo's gut). The humor acts as a coping mechanism for the unrelenting s%^$ storm that blows across the screen. It's nervous laughter, really. Why doesn't Brandi take the injured man to a hospital? Each decision she makes is the wrong one, made out of self preservation. She really wants that promotion, and an extra couple of dollars an hour is worth the blood on her hands (and in her car). After a series of agonizing attempts to free himself, the conclusion is satisfying and awesomely unfaithful to the real event the film was based on. We have to keep championing these tight, clever little movies. I think this film made something like 8 dollars upon it's Blockbuster exclusive DVD release, whereas the flavorless and over-budget umpteenth Godzilla remake is on its way to making over a billion. It is Stuart Gordon's last film and that could be why. He should have made three more by now if you ask me. Let's pay more attention to the nooks and crannies, and hopefully we won't get STUCK!-Aaron Sausedo

TheMarwood Bardo's luck has run out. He's thrown out of his apartment, penniless and homeless -- social services are rude and useless and the cops won't let him sleep in the park. Just when things couldn't get worse, he literally crosses paths with Brandy who is high on E. Bardo gets embedded in her windshield after she plows him down and leaves him to bleed out in her garage, while she goes about her life. As far as demented comedies go, this one delivers. Even as the comedy gets good and gory, a very good grounded performance by Stephen Rea keeps this from going over the top and you care enough for the poor bastard that you want him to get free from all that glass. The finale heads a bit too far into Stuart Gordon gross out territory, but that is hardly a criticism as we get a bloody audience friendly end. The running time is wisely brisk as there's not much story here, but we get gallows humor by the bucket full. As typical for a Gordon film, it looks visually behind the times by about 15 years, but he gets a quality performance from Suvari, who carries her scenes very well. Stuart Gordon has had such a bizarre career with highs and lows (really lows), from his classic B grade Re- Animator to barely watchable direct to video junk like Castle Freak, this one he knocked out of the park. After the train wreck that was his previous film Edmond, he shows a command of tone and humor and intelligence that has been missing from his work for some time.

Rodrigo Amaro This is one of those rare occasions where I was waiting for something to appear on TV, didn't know anything about the picture but there was something there to make me stay until the end. And I can only thank myself for doing so!In "Pulp Fiction" there's a segment called "The Bonnie Situation" where Harvey Keitel has a small amount of time to clean up the mess made by Travolta after accidentally shot Marvin in the face. That whole scenario was absolutely insane but funny. What "Stuck" makes is incredibly larger than life, ten times twisted and a little bit funny, but it does also involve a situation with a car and lots of blood. Here, Mena Suvari plays an nurse having the best day of her life until she accidentally hit and run a man (Stephen Rea) who was having the worst day of his life after being evicted from his house. OK, hit and run doesn't sound like a nice description since the guy got stuck on her car window and she drove him home, out of desperation of being seen by someone who might denounce her.Can it get any worse? Yes, it can and it doesn't get better after one bad decision after another made by this woman who simply doesn't help this injured man, who tries in the best possible way (considerally being stuck on a windshield, with a broken leg and losing more and more blood) to get out of there. It gets more dramatic when she calls her boyfriend, a drug dealer, to get rid of her problem. Intense, tense and insane!Fans of the "snowball effect" situation will be highly thrilled with this story. It has plenty of absurd but it looks real, there's a sense of reality,we can imagine this bizarre scenario happening (not so much for the ending which is awesome and a little bit unexpected). We can put ourselves in the character's shoes, specially on Suvari's character (we would act and think better than her, our moral would be nicer than hers).A good study on how acting without thinking can get you in lot of trouble becoming an unforgettable thing in your conscience, "Stuck", just like the situation it presents, it's a point of no return. The main difference is that you wanna get stuck with it through the whole time along with Rea and Suvari and their top notch performances. 10/10

Gridire When I read the summary for this, I thought Stuck sounded intriguing and an interesting display of the human capacity to do evil. But as I sat myself down to engross myself in this movie, which is based on a gruesome true story, I was left disappointed. By no stretch of the imagination is this movie compelling or a social commentary to any degree. I'll preface by saying I am not a fan of anyone involved with the film and have no existing bias for or against the actors, producers or directors associated to the film.Apart from the four main actors, who often flicker between passable and unbelievable in their respective performances, all supporting roles are terrible save for one or two. I understand we're being presented with characters who are supposed to reflect how harsh and unsympathetic our society can be with characters who reflect that (with the cops, a landlord and later a Hispanic man) but their acting is almost cringe worthy at times. There's an especially taxing part with a gay man later in the movie who is so obnoxiously stereotypical, I damn near felt offended for the LGBT community. Further, his presence in the movie is entirely pointless except to pad the movie out further and is briefly associated with a gore scare of sorts.The underlying problem with this movie, beyond some acting, is the writing. It starts out promisingly enough, with Brandi on the brink of promotion but still in a phase of her life where she's making mistakes. She seems relatable at first, but this slowly becomes less believable as the story progresses. Alternatively, we have Thomas who's struggling to get work and support himself, then forced into the life of a bum. When she hits Tom with her car she is drunk and high on ecstasy and ultimately unwilling to bring the man to the hospital in fear of her job (at an extended care nursing home); which is understandable, but the way she continues to react to it becomes increasingly ridiculous as the man barely clings to life with sheer will power. The lack of empathy she seems to portray in some scenes can be downright confusing, especially as a nurse. I think this is to further push the "good people do bad things" theme but it becomes contrived and your ability to suspend your sense of disbelief wears considerably thin.Brandi's motivations in the later part of the film are also confusing, bordering on sociopathic. The way she reacts to certain scenarios left a bitter taste in my mouth for all the wrong reasons. A character even points this out later on, which only served to take me out of the film even more. For the rest of the writing, it feels as though much of the dialogue isn't written to actually progress the story as it is meant to. It feels padded and extended in multiple parts with little more reason than increasing the run time or trying to suggest how awful some characters are. You'll find this comes off as tedious in the more obvious moments and annoying in the subtler ones.This movie is categorized as a thriller, but I don't think it's very well played out. Considering the plot of the movie, I never felt very paranoid for the characters except for one moment in the later part of the film. If you want to be one the edge of your seat, avoid this title; you will undeniably be disappointed. This movie does better in the gore aspect, though it isn't particularity well done (but unsurprisingly due to the budget and B-movie feel in general). A few parts in the movie did gross me out, but never anything to twist my stomach around too much (there's also a gross out at the beginning that isn't gory, but still intended to be disgusting). Stuck does much better as a drama and comedy with a sort of dark humour mixed in. Even if you're uninvolved in the story, it might still get a laugh or two out of you.Overall, this movie will leave you feeling like it could have been so much more, but failed to reach its real potential. There's nothing ground breaking or truly shocking about the film which is a damn shame. This movie really could have gone somewhere, but the way it presents itself in the end is a letdown to anyone expecting anything beyond the mediocre. I'd also like to make note that the film's ending isn't particularly well done and may leave you unhappy with its conclusion if you had any degree of investment in the plot or its characters. And honestly, if you were, that's pretty impressive in and of itself.I don't explicitly dislike this title, but approaching it with the right expectations is ultimately the key here. If you want something gripping and imaginative, you'll leave it feeling disappointed and unengaged. It's a good, somewhat gross, movie to kick back and relax to with some friends for a casual experience at its best.I'd also like to note the odd casting choice of Mena Suvari as Brandi. While the cornrows and makeup deck her out so she appears African American, there are several instances in the movie when you can clearly tell she is white (especially with her brightly coloured eyes). It's not bad and she does well in the role with what she has to work with, but if you're the type that notices those kinds of details, it may take you out of the experience. To note, however, in order to receive funding for the film, they were forced to cast a white lead via request by the studio (despite the role having been written for a non-white lead).