BoardChiri Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

SpunkySelfTwitter It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

PiraBit if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

Aneesa Wardle The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

lousea-04941 One of the worst movies I ever wasted time on! All the more surprising and disappointing considering that I was drawn by trailer showing Patricia Clarkson and Tim Roth, two of my favorite actors...what could go wrong? Now I'm left wondering how/why in the world they signed-on for this disaster. Also left wondering how people who paid to have this movie made feel about their investmentEarlier reviewer said this was a film "meant for an older crowd, 30+"...I'm over 60 and here to tell you it didn't work for this senior. I don't mind slow, moody films long as they have a good plot...but this just didn't. Should've trusted my instincts when they told me to bail out early in the film.I dunno...maybe it's me and I just don't appreciate art. Nahhh...it was a bad movie.

lindapellowe I found this beautiful little movie very recently and it quickly has become a new favorite. The story and writing, the cast, the location and mood, the dynamics and nuances between characters I found to be all quietly captivating. Patricia Clarkson and Scott Speedman, playing their parts with 'Canadian restraint' are perfect in their roles, and Tim Roth, as ever, is utterly authentic as the British undesirable. October Gale, in my humble opinion, should be watched as a love story rather than as a thriller . . . and the naysayers who have given it the thumbs down, should perhaps view it again with a different mindset. I loved it!

Paul Creeden I was surprised by the low ratings here. I liked this film for its suspense and dialogue. It is a quiet play, not a high-strung thriller. The slow revelations about loss, commonality and revenge were well done. Scott Speedman, perpetual hunk, was good in his portrayal of the drifter with a past. Patricia Clarkson was a good choice for the role. She lent credibility to the events by her adept pacing and subtle emoting. Tim Roth as a cockney creep was a pleasant bonus. A moody film, not for the viewer who needs explosions and graphic violence. The climax builds slowly and is worth waiting for. The denouement was moving and offered a ray of humanity to a dark view of human nature.

theSachaHall Premiering during a special presentation at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), October GALE is a dramatic thriller that's too devoid of tension to be considered thrilling and far short of emotional and relatable characters to be considered dramatic.It's a shame because the opening sequence of sweeping Parry Sound long shots and Steadicam shots of Helen (Patricia Clarkson) opening and cleaning the family's vacation cottage offered a promising segue into what appears to be (on the surface), a study in normative bereavement with a murderous twist. Likewise, the film's setting is a beautiful contradiction of comfortable isolation that quickly dissipates as the story's nonsensical and improbable choices become too incredulous to be believable.Grieving the loss of her husband (played in silent flashbacks by Callum Keith Rennie) in a wild storm the previous year, Toronto doctor Helen Matthews (Clarkson) decides to return to her family's isolated cottage in an effort to move on. After single-handedly opening up the warm and comforting home in Georgian Bay, Helen begins the arduous task of sifting through and removing some of the mementos accumulated during their 32-year marriage.The visual and aural planes of this transition from acceptance to perseverance are well crafted; the non-diegetic musical score gives way to diegetic empathetic sounds of the bay that feel crisp and renewing. Fortuitously so considering Helen shortly thereafter comes face-to-face with an unexpected and mysterious gentleman (Scott Speedman) crawling and bleeding on her floor with a gunshot wound. After treating his wound and grabbing her rifle, Helen waits for the stranger to wake up and when he does, Will is vague about the attack and about his life thus far until local handyman Al (Aidan Devine) decides to pay Helen an unexpected visit. Will relents and reveals that he had spent time in prison for manslaughter after a bar-fight and that the guy's father 'is not going to stop until he's killed me'.As the storm gains momentum outside, Helen agrees (stupidly I might add) to allow Will to stay in her home as they lazily prepare themselves for Al and the gunman to return. The script here is utter wish-wash: writer/director Ruba Nadda (INESCAPABLE) fails to build any suspense and tension for the ensuing action causing it to fall flat, it fails to explain how Helen's appears to be a survivalist doctor who's also a crack shot, nor the circumstances of Will's incarceration and Helen's inconceivable trust in a man she just met.Clarkson and Speedman should however, be applauded for their performances: extracting every nuance they could from their two-dimensional characters to at least be creditable. Overall, if 'it's OK' are the only two words I can come up with after 91 minutes, it's probably safe to say you might want to wait to watch it on video.You can catch me on my handle @TheSachaHall or at The Hollywood News.