Movie Reviews
BY CHRISTOPHER STAMM
GUEST MOVIE REVIEWER
Odd Thomas (Now streaming on Amazon Prime)
Rated PG-13 – for language, violence, and adult themes
Well, not much opened this week except for a new kids animated film and, sorry, but without my wife to join me in the cinema, seeing a kids movie alone always makes me feel like I should just go buy a van, black out the windows, and complete the creepy persona, so that being said, let’s head on down the Back When Highway instead and talk about a feature you may have missed that’s worth checking out.
This time around, that feature is Odd Thomas, a 2013 supernatural mystery that is based on the wildly-popular, best-selling book series by Dean Koontz.
Odd Thomas is a fry cook in the small town of Pico Mudo in the California desert, and he has a loyal girlfriend named Stormy and a group of eclectic and somewhat odd (ha ha) friends.
Pretty normal until you learn that, as Odd Thomas says, “I see dead people, but then, by God, I do something about it.”
“Starring the late great Anton Yelchin (a great talent taken too soon in what can only be described as a bizarre accident) and the always fantastic Willem Defoe and a host of other performers you know, this one deserved a better fate than it got. Plagued by financial issues during filming and distribution, and mired by lawsuits when Odd Thomas at long last hit the screens with a very, very limited release in 2013, it passed by without notice, and that’s a shame. Because, my friends, this one is a lot of fun and the mystery of what is going on in Pico Mudo, and what Odd and his friends have to do to solve the mystery and stop what’s going to happen, is a lot of fun to watch.
Did I mention there are monsters that only Odd can see? No? Well, there are, and they are a large part of what happens.
Four out of five stars for Odd Thomas – just a fun film that’s a great way to pass 1 hour and 37 minutes, so find this one on Amazon Prime, dim the lights, pop that popcorn, and curl up on the couch, because there are worse ways to spend a Saturday night than to watch Odd do his thing. (Like seeing The Northman – I still cannot get over how bad that one was.)