Spoonixel Amateur movie with Big budget

RipDelight This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

Myron Clemons A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

Ezmae Chang This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

sol ***SPOILERS*** Confusing and jumbled crime drama involving a murder in LaSalle Parish Louisiana that can implicate the governor "Beak-Nose" Joe Breraton, Michael Arata, and not only destroy his bid for reelection but put him behind bars as well. It was LaSalle's Sheriff Darl Hardwick,Billy Bob Thorton, who started to get the ball rolling by coming across a dead body on the highway where a tractor-trailer carrying a truck-load of shoes overturned in order to avoid hitting a fleeing women who got it front of it.As things turned out the woman later identified as Mona, Cindy Roubal, a stripper at the Johnny Angel club in New Orleans was actually a man undergoing a sex change operation! It's when Mona's grieving "wife" Sacrlett, Pattricia Arquette, showed up at the local morgue to identify the body that things started jumping at the Parish. It's discovered that she, Moma, was involved with Governor "Beak-Nose" Beraton and his top honchos including Da' Judge (William Devane), who happened to be the biggest political power-broker in the state, the night she was murdered!As it soon came out Mona was invited by the Gov to preform at an exclusive sex club outside of LaSalle Parish doing her famous strip tease act. It's when it was discovered that she was in fact a man Mona was kicked out and left on her own with no way to get back home in the Big Easy! Shot by an unknown assailant Mona bleeding and running for her life ended up dead on the side of the road with a bullet in her, or his, back! It's now up to Sheriff Hardwick to track down Mona's killer but with Da' Gov Da' Judge and all the political big shots in the Perish determined not to let the truth of Mona's involvement with Da' Gov see the light of day it was Sheriff Hardwick not anyone else who found himself behind the eight ball!Then movie "The Badge" never really takes off and meanders around for a good 90 minutes with Sheriff Hardwick getting arrested in a statutory rape frame-up with 15 year old "Hardy Party Girl", Audrey Marie Anderson, whom he drove home after she passed out drunk at a club that Da' Gov attended. It's then that Hardwick drives down to New Orleans and finds out what Mona was all about which has both him and Scarlett, Mona's wife, almost killed by Da' Judge's goons! ***SPOILERS*** It's only at the very end that the movie starts to makes a bit of sense in what was the real motivation for poor Mona's murder! It was in a round about way connected to an anti-casino campaign lead by the holier then thou church lady Sister Felicia, Julie Hagerty, who tried to get the goods on Da' Gov "Beak-Nose" Joe Breraton, who was in favor of casino gambling in the state, by getting Mona to be connected with him! That in fact not only lead to Mona being thrown out in the dead of night from the sex club she was preforming at but later getting murdered by one of Sister Felicia's crazed bible thumping followers! An over emotional and semi-retarded religious nut who lost it when he found out that Mona was not exactly what she seemed to be!

Bob-45 A young, petite female, obviously terrified runs through the Louisiana Bayou as though she were being pursued by an unseen assailant. An eighteen wheeler sails down the dark road. Suddenly, the young female races across the road in front of the truck. The driver skids to avoid hitting her and truck jackknifes and turns over in a ravine. Sheriff Billy Bob Thornton, bleary-eyed from a night of boozing, arrives on the scene. He and his deputy find the body of the young female laying nearby in the ravine. She's dead, but not from the truck. She has a 22 slug in her.To reveal more would ruin a compelling, well acted story of intrigue, sexual ambiguity and political cover-up. However, the only way to fairly review 'The Badge' (terrible title) is to point out some of its flaws and that requires spoilers.WARNING: SPOILERSThe medical examiner discovers that, in regards to the female victim, 'the lady is no lady'. He's a borderline transgender, that is, his breasts are feminine but he still male sex organs. Here in lies the beginnings of the movie's deepest flaw, because this shemale is legally married to Patricia Arquette. Since, at least at the time of the release of 'The Badge', same sex marriage was illegal in Louisiana, Arquette MUST be a FEMALE. Billy Bob would KNOW that, but still anguishes over his attraction to Arquette, not sure she's a woman. Shemale or not, Billy Bob's attraction to Patricia Arquette is pretty understandable, since Patricia, like her sister Roseanna, has those world class 'knockout body' genes. Most heterosexual males would be turned on by since they're looking at the 'appearance package' and not 'checking out the interior.' If Arquette's shemale husband wanted to 'go all the way' with the sex change, what's he doing with Arquette?END OF SPOILERSPerhaps the worse aspect of 'The Badge' is it's overly optimistic ending. Most of us would like troubles to be wrapped up in such neat little packages, but they virtually never are.However, 'The Badge' can be highly praised for one of its 'Playboy philosophy' truths. Organized religion to the contrary, sex is about a whole hell of a lot more than procreation. Perhaps the BEST attribute of sex is that is the most dramatic method to display intimacy and affection for another person. If this were not true, all those 'righteous, religious' married couples who cannot conceive but continue to have sex would be committing sin. Perhaps just as importantly, if sex can thus be disconnected from procreation, does it really matter what kind of sex it is? Isn't it more important that the two people care about each other and are not just using each others bodies? 'The Badge' boasts fine performances by Thornton, Arquette and Thomas Hayden Church as Billy Bob's brother. Despite it's flaws, 'The Badge' is good for a '6'. See it, whether you are open minded or not. It might just help you become so.

huggy_bear What a sleeper. I mean, until two days ago, I had never heard of this movie before. I rented it not knowing how it would turn out. Pleasantly surprised. Pretty straight forward and to the point, a homophobic local sheriff "stumbles" on a murder investigating a traffic accident. The murdered woman turns out not to be a woman at all, but a he/she. Then this movie takes off like a roller coaster, all of which I will not go into detail (go rent it). Some of the things that these lawmen do is absolutely unbelievable, but that is the fun of this one. It is not to be taken too serious.

Edgar L. Davis Patricia Arquette and Billy Bob Thorton are at their best in this gritty, quasi-noir crime drama set in Louisiana. Thorton's character is similiar to the one that he played in Monster's Ball. This role however was more sympathetic but not as complex. Arquette is good at playing characters that live on the edge but still manage to be morally strong and honest. She also has an extremely potent sex appeal that is simultaneously mature and girlish. The story is a coplex one with lots of twists and turns. There are secrets in the small town of LaSalle Parrish and they are artfully revealed by the director whose style is a little clunky but engaging nonetheless. I recommend this movie. It's message of tolerance is very important and could not have been more clearly stated.