Cold Weather (2010) Reviews

• Worst ending ever

  allegre-raul2011-10-28

  As all the other reviews state, this movie is different. It's low-budget, slow, quirky, simple, odd, alternative... whatever. If you're open minded and in the mood then it's tolerable or maybe even enjoyable. It starts off slow and slowly picks up the pace after the mystery starts maybe half way through. Then there's more action and more interest as the characters try to figure things out. At this point you become more interested to find out what happened. But then at the most suspenseful point the movie just ends. I couldn't believe it. Artsy is one thing but no payoff at the end of sitting through 90 minutes of this movie was cruel. Maybe I didn't get it - I don't know. I just don't know how you can make a movie with absolutely no ending.

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• This Mumblecore film is sure to bore some while highly amusing others!

  Hellmant2011-04-04

  'COLD WEATHER': Four Stars (Out of Five) Director Aaron Katz, who was born in Portland, OR, returned to his hometown to film this mystery / drama / Mumblecore film. Mumblecore is a term used to describe a genre of indie film, that began about a decade ago, that features non-professional actors (usually in their twenties) in extremely low budget productions about relationships with dialogue heavy improvised scripts. Katz's previous feature films ('DANCE PARTY USA' and 'QUIET CITY') were both critically acclaimed Mumblecore films. This one tells the story of a man who moves back to Portland, and into an apartment with his sister, and becomes obsessed with finding out what happened to his ex-girlfriend when she goes missing. It stars Cris Lankenau (who's only other acting credit is Katz's 'QUIET CITY'), Trieste Kelly Dunn, Paul Castillo and Robyn Rikoon. The film is a great example of how much you can do with very little. Lankenau stars as Doug, a former forensic science student, who drops out of school in Chicago and moves back home to Portland, and in with his sister Gail (Dunn). He gets a job at an ice factory and befriends a co-worker named Carlos (Castillo) who's also a part time DJ. His ex-girlfriend, Rachel (Rikoon), follows him into town on a supposed visit and then goes missing. Doug is a big 'Sherlock Holmes' fan and finally gets a chance to put his fascination and education to the test. He enlists the help of both Carlos and Gail in discovering Rachel's whereabouts. This gives him more of a chance to bond with his estranged sister. The movie is extremely and very deliberately slow-paced. It's very aimless at times and features several dialogue scenes that do very little to advance the development of the characters and absolutely nothing to propel the story line. It takes a good 37 minutes (of an hour and 37 minute movie) to get to the film's plot. This didn't bother me. While it wasn't exciting or involving it also wasn't boring. Watching this film is no less interesting or entertaining than hanging out with a group of friends, really. When something does finally happen it's worth the wait too. There's no action or sex or anything really fascinating, when you think about it, but it's entertaining all the same. That's thanks in large part to Katz's directing, an extraordinary and memorable score (by Keegan DeWitt, who also worked on Katz's other films) and some great performances. Three of the four leads were all good screen presences I thought. I didn't care much for Rikoon, she did have the smallest part but even when she was on screen she wasn't very interesting. Dunn is beautiful and should have no problem continuing to find film offers, Castillo was very natural and likable and Lankenau was especially good in my opinion. He reminded me a lot of Ryan Reynolds in the way he talked and sounded. He should have no problem finding more work as well. The film is especially impressive when you think about the emotions and interests it provokes by doing almost nothing. I couldn't find a listing of the budget to this film but Katz's previous two films both reportedly cost between 2 and 3 thousand dollars. I can't imagine this one costing much more. All in all I thought the movie was pretty interesting and entertaining. It's sure to bore some while highly amusing others. Watch our movie review show 'MOVIE TALK' at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4CvTM3jrK4

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• An Utter Waste Of Time

  jaysinclair1052011-08-05

  This film was described by Spin Magazine (in a 3-and-a-half star review) as a mystery that takes its time. I'm all for that. But did it have to take SO MUCH time to resolve a mystery that was UNINVOLVING and BORING? Just another bunch of aimless 30-somethings in the damp upper Northwest who apparently never shave or wash their hair, mumbling their way through life and never doing anything even remotely interesting. Believe me, I've sat through plenty of quirky indie films with little complaint, but I was literally shouting at my TV screen when this DVD ended. An hour and forty minutes of my life utterly wasted. I will avoid this talentless filmmaker like the plague for the rest of my days. SKIP THIS MOVIE!!!!!

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• Avoid, even if you live in Portland!

  bigryanaaa2011-09-11

  I was excited for this movie because I live in Portland, OR. While the scenery is beautiful, this is the only thing good about this movie. I didn't expect great acting because of the low budget, but I was hoping for something of a coherent story. I didn't receive this. The only tension and excitement I felt while watching this came three minutes before the movie ended, and went nowhere. It is almost as if the writer had the script half finished and got bored of writing, so he just went with what he had. None of the characters or reactions are believable. This is probably the worst movie I have seen all year, and I watch a lot of movies.

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• A beautiful portrayal of sibling bonds

  sammystyles1122010-05-07

  Both written and Directed by Aaron Katz (Dance Party USA, Quiet City) Cold Weather tells the story of an underachieving forensics graduate, Doug (Cris Lankenau), who upon moving in with his sister, Gail (Trieste Kelly Dunn), quickly finds himself thrust into a real life who-done-it when his ex-girlfriend suddenly vanishes. Being an admittedly big fan of Sherlock Holmes, Doug, along with his his sister and his new bestie, Carlos (Raul Castillo), set out to play real life detectives in a case that just might be a little over their heads. The film is described as a thriller, which I though I was going to see. To be honest, the film wasn't that thrilling at all, at least when compared to good thrillers. I mean, it's no Polanski. My first impression upon leaving my seat was actually that of disappointment. It wasn't until I was on the bus heading home when it suddenly hit me. The point of the movie had little to do with the thriller aspects and everything to do with the brother and sister relationship. It's like one of those 3-D puzzles that were popular in the mid-90's. You know, the ones where in order to see the complete picture you had to let your eyes relax, otherwise all you would see would be squiggly lines and repetitive shapes. Here the squiggly lines were clearly the missing girlfriend subplot masquerading itself as the film's main design. The full picture however, was Aaron Katz's beautiful portrait of one sibling's bond at a particular moment in time. I recommend this film to anyone who likes to laugh just as much, if not more than they liked to be thrilled, or just simply anyone who has a lot of love their sibling

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