The Shelter

I've been a Michael Pare' fan since he was in The Greatest American Hero starting back in 1981. I also enjoy Indie movies. Most times I enjoy Indie movies more than the big budget flicks. I also like northern European television shows and movies. This seemed to be a low-key, big time, gritty northern European-style flick. I thought it had great possibilities and looked forward to watching it.

About twenty minutes into it, I thought, "Well, it's started kind of slow but will probably pick up a bit." No, it did NOT pick up. As I watched it, I soon realized that his would be more effective torture than waterboarding. I kept watching it and I just wanted to make it stop. But, I couldn't. I had to see it through to the end. I thought that maybe I had missed something along the way so I'd rewind it here and there. It didn't help. It only prolonged the agony.

It just droned on and on and in so many places there was no explanation for the events. It was disjointed, it was slower than pond water and it really possesses no endearing qualities. Sometimes, like with "Napoleon Dynamite", I'll maybe not get the premise of the movie so I might watch it again and find that the second time, I actually liked the movie. There is no way in hell that I'll watch this movie again. I could not wait for it to end. I wanted to quit watching so many times but I kept hoping some of the events in the movie would be explained. Didn't happen. Someone said that this was a "Christian" movie. Well, if so, then Christian movies are boring as hell. This is not an "in-depth character study." It's the experience of drowning and waiting... and waiting... and waiting for the end to come.

The end, much like my first marriage, couldn't come quick enough.

Rarely will I give a movie simply one star. I tend to see the good in movies, if nothing else, if I can understand the time and acting investment in a movie and appreciate it for that, even if it doesn't gel.

I couldn't do that with this movie. I can see nothing in it. Nothing at all. I want that 76 minutes of my life back... Really I want 228 minutes of my life back because I feel that that movie was three times as long as it actually was.

The Shelter is movie that is really a movie of halves. The first half delves into the depravity of a man who has lost all hope on life..both in the world and mostly in himself. While the second half has the man confronting the demons of his past which forces him to finally atone for his sins.

Thomas (Michael Paré) is a man who is basically eaten alive from the inside out due to circumstances in his past that he just can't seem to escape from. The first half of the movie builds up the story of Thomas, though somewhat vaguely, being down on his luck and a hard boiled hard ass.

While appreciate the attempt of building up the backstory of Thomas, I felt the movie tried to focus a little too heavy on him being a hard ass and womanizer in certain parts rather than build his backstory in a more organic way.

The second half of the movie is where I feel the movie really shines. Thomas finds his way into an empty house and this is where I feel Director John Fallon's horror background really shines.

Fallon crafts an interesting, paranormal and isolated setting for the character Thomas which has him confront his past and ultimately atone for his misdeeds.

There are a lot of religious under and overtones but also the story is open ended enough to let someone interpret the meanings of these religious metaphors according to how they hold their own beliefs.

While I do like a bit of the open natures of the story in the second half I did feel the story could have been LITTLE tighter instead of being as vague as it was in some parts. But then again I determined my own meaning from everything which I am sure could be different for another viewer.

Production wise the movie is ok. Though I felt parts of it were too BRIGHT for the mood the movie was going for. I felt a lot of the bleak and deserted street scenes were very good locations but the look on film was too colorful and bright which kind of killed the mood I thought of the scenery.

Overall, I felt The Shelter was a decent watch though I think the second half of the movie is the superior part of the film whereas the first half I think tried to touch more on making Thomas look macho cool instead of a more tragic character. At least at first.

I would give this a 6.5 if I was able...the .5 coming from seeing director John Fallon get his ass kicked by Thomas in a scene! Always a good day to see that!!

(2015) The Shelter DRAMA/ PSYCHOLOGICAL

Co-produced, written and directed by John Fallon starring Michael Pare as Thomas Jacobs, a broken man, who drinks to forget his misdeeds as we delve a little toward his past as the movie rides along, when he once had a family. And threw it away as a result of his temptations toward another woman. Viewers do not fully see more of those flashbacks until he enters into what appears to be an abandoned household. And once he steps inside, he finds it difficult to leave as he has no actual home to go to anyway. It's very vague about what his occupation used to be and what he is supposed to be feel guilty about, is it really the cheating, or is it the woman he was sleeping with committed suicide ? I am not totally clear on that message. The most obvious thing for him to do if he felt that guilty was to go to church. What is also vague is the status of his daughter, or about the current status of his actual wife for that matter!

Either a story is too worldly (secular) or it is too churchy. That is the normal state of affairs. Director John Fallon sees things differently, and should be applauded. This is an excellent film of offered, and rejected, salvation.

Guide: Lots of sex, but not gratuitous Lots of foul language, not gratuitous Some scary scenes, not gratuitous

I was intrigued by the storyline. However this is such a slow movie. The characters just go through the motions of life and seem to speak ln no more then a whisper and TBE main character is just fumbling around preoccupied with his nightmares mental health and building a shelter, that he can't afford to waste money on. Boring boring !

TBE main character is rambling around incoherently mumbling about this and that.