Good things, for the most part.
CHEERS AND JEERS FOR "LAWS OF GRAVITY":
" Peter Greene stars as an aging "reservoir pup" whose day-to-day dealings in "the hood" collide with keeping his hot-headed, gun-running buddy (Adam Trese) out of hot water. Gomez's deft mixture of surefooted performances from a cast of unknowns, a blisteringly improvisational script and frenetic camerawork that defies all laws of gravity suggest the arrival of a new streetwise master"- Find-a-Video
"The point with "Laws of Gravity," no matter what it cost, is that the screenplay and the acting do such an accurate job of achieving the movie's goals..."- Roger Ebert
"[Edie Falco is] almost maternally fierce in her acting, as if this character were her baby and pity anyone who stifles it or intends it harm. She's a major find... So is Trese, who brings out Jonny's rosy choirboyishness as well as his thorns...and everybody else in the cast. Simply put, "Laws of Gravity" is one of the most exciting movies of the year"- Hal Hinson, Washington Post
"Director Gomez and his able cast intensify this "Mean Streets"-like drama with extraordinary, original touches. Filmed for peanuts, the movie depends on long bursts of acting, rather than fancily edited, Hollywood business. It's the behavior, the human moments and the one-of-a-kind rejoinders that carry this movie-" Desson Howe, Washington Post
CHEERS&JEERS FOR "THE UNDERNEATH":
"To get on top of what's happening in "The Underneath", you have to be patient....Steven Soderbergh is at work, and he likes to get to the bottom of things by starting from, well, underneath.... He offers us the yarn in fancy intercut scenarios of what was, what is and what is about to be...Oh yeah, the loser [Peter Gallagher] also has a cop brother as grimly portrayed by Adam Trese. But really, the movie centres around the love triangle from high school, or the screenwriter's guide to easy conflict, depending on your point of view-" Bob Thompson, Toronto Sun
"It is stylish but dull. It does perk up after the first hour, but by then, your mind will be elsewhere. The characters are unappealing, and the situations awfully familiar-"HBO
"[Gallagher] slips into his new life with a diffident detachment, attending his mother's wedding, taking a job with an armored- car firm, dealing with his jealous policeman brother (Adam Trese in an overwrought performance) with a glazed, noncommittal stare..."- Steven Winn, San Francisco Chronicle
"[Gallagher's] brother David (Adam Trese) is a cop who treats Michael as unredeemable and does everything he can to embarrass him. He pointedly gives their mother a wedding present in front of Michael, who David knows can't afford a gift, and wouldn't have thought of buying one anyway....These characters aren't interesting enough to make what happens to them matter. Soderbergh is a talent, but he still hasn't found his groove-" Barbara Schulgasser, San Francisco Examiner
CHEERS AND JEERS FOR "PALOOKAVILLE":
"Forsythe, Gallo and Trese are three friends, all down on their luck and all without the resources (both financial and intellectual) to better their situations...almost annoyingly quirky, the film still has its merits-"Find a Video
"Debut director Alan Taylor gets the most out of his talented cast and a sharp, engaging script, subtly see-sawing between gritty reality and hopeful humor-" Susan Lambert,Boxoffice
"Try to imagine the flip side of a Quentin Tarantino film. That'll get you pretty close to "Palookaville",a charming shaggy dog story about criminal wannabes.... The working-class losers of "Palookaville" are played by William Forsythe, Vincent Gallo and Adam Trese -- all of whom are known for previously playing hoods and villains. ....Trese is Jerry, the only married guy. He has a baby face. He has a baby. His wife has a job....Written by David Epstein and directed by Alan Taylor (debuts both), Palookaville is endearing for its constant reminders of the absurdity of everyday life-" Liz Braun, Toronto Sun
"William Forsythe, Vincent Gallo and Adam Trese star as three desperately broke men who plan "a momentary shift in lifestyle" to end their financial worries. Unfortunately, they're the kind of losers that plot a jewelry store heist and wind up in the bakery next door. Yet all three actors manage to find the emotional intensity that can bring subtle dignity out of repeated failures. Supported by playwright David Epstein's excellent script, they achieve a perfect balance between absurdity and realism. No matter how ridiculous the circumstances become, the film never loses its authenticity by degenerating into slapstick or farce-" Ron Hogan, TNT Rough Cut
"William Forsythe (``The Rock''), Vincent Gallo (``The Perez Family'') and relative unknown Adam Trese play Sid, Russ and Jerry. Lifelong pals, they're chronically unemployed and obsessed with escaping their dead-end lives by pulling off what they believe will be the perfect crime...Trese plays Jerry deftly as a convincing sap, arguing against his pals' criminal pursuits but going along anyway... this engaging debut by director Alan Taylor -- faintly reminiscent of ``Fargo,'' except that it's nonviolent and warm -- is a fine little independent film loaded with character and deserving of wider distribution-" Peter Stack,San Francisco Chronicle
"The guys are Jerry [Trese], a sort of clean-cut, but bewildered, Johnny Depp type; Russ, the angst-ridden, chain-smoking Jean-Paul Belmondo type, played by Vincent Gallo of "Arizona Dreams"; and Sid, the deadpan, dorky, weirdly eye-glassed, type, played by William Forsythe...With its outback urban netherworld setting, "Palookaville" creates some atmosphere that you could call the Indie cinematic broth, but when you take a sip, you find out there's nothing, uh, In the Soup-" Mary Weems, Movie Magazine International
"Alan Taylor's ``Palookaville"... opens with a hapless gang of thieves, these in Jersey City, breaking through a wall into what should be a jewelry store but turns out to be a bakery, and then loading up on doughnuts. When the police arrive, one of the thieves hides behind a rack of baked goods, still helping himself...None of these guys has quite grown up. Russ sneaks out of his bedroom window to rendezvous with the teenager who lives next door. Jerry (Adam Trese) cautions them to use only plastic guns....No doubt ``Palookaville'' will have the millstone of Tarantinoism tied around its neck; any urban crime movie with a lot of guys and a little humor is routinely linked these days with Q.T. But the movie's roots go back further, to a group of short stories by the Italian writer Italo Calvino in the 1940s. And the feel of the movie is more like those older caper films, not only Italian but British (``The Lavender Hill Mob''). ``Palookaville'' understands a kind of low-key humor based on human nature. It's not into cynicism, it's not hip, it's not ``Reservoir Dogs'' nor does it want to be. Essentially these are guys who see the bright side, which is why they loaded up on the doughnuts-"Roger Ebert
"The lead actors -- William Forsythe (THINGS TO DO IN DENVER), Vincent Gallo (THE PEREZ FAMILY), and Adam Trese (THE UNDERNEATH) -- are effective in their roles...One of the things that elevates PALOOKAVILLE over the likes of BOTTLE ROCKET and THINGS TO DO IN DENVER WHEN YOU'RE DEAD is its character development. Although this film is sprinkled with comic moments and its tone is basically lighthearted, it treats its protagonists seriously. Sid, Russ, and Jerry seem like real people -- losers with good hearts who want to commit crimes but lack the requisite toughness and cynicism. Through their relationships with women and their illegal activities, each of PALOOKAVILLE's main characters learns something about himself and the world-" James Berardinelli
CHEERS&JEERS FOR "ILLTOWN":
"As Dante's friend and longtime associate Cisco, Trese is a wild card - you're never really sure what he's up to until Gomez spells it out. He looks like a friend, acts like a friend, but in "illtown" very little is what it seems. That goes for Gomez's spacy, elliptical editing, too. The films drifts back and forth through time as well as various realities, leaving you vaguely groggy and unsure, which mirrors, to a degree, the actions and emotions unfolding before you. It's a post-noir crime story filtered through a gauze of druggy doom-"Mark Savlov,Austin Chronicle
Note...Adam does not play Cisco. Adam plays Gabriel. Kevin Corrigan plays Cisco. I'll assume this reviewer does mean Adam since he said his name but just in case he's talking about Kevin, well...here's my Kevin Page.:)
"...Matters become complicated when a betrayed former business partner [Trese] returns with the heart of an avenging angel. His name (naturally) is Gabriel. "illtown" flies a lot of metaphoric flags, but never once finds a flagpole-"Kevin Courrier, Box Office Magazine
"Lili Taylor is good enough to create the only credible character in the movie. The rest of the cast contribute to the wannabe alienation of the story-"Film Scouts
" [Kevin] Corrigan is irresistibly witty as Cisco, "Illtown"'s comic relief. He holds the screen with his oddball timing, and recalls great character actors like Vincent Gallo or Christopher Walken, especially in a funny monologue about how he got revenge on the man who stole his one true love away. Even better is Adam Trese as Gabriel; with his Tony Manero good looks and immaculate propensity for evil, he's a riveting villain-" Mr. Showbiz
"Illtown," by indie filmmaker Nick Gomez ("Laws of Gravity"), has the dubious distinction of being both extremely boring and extremely violent...The performances, meanwhile, are zombielike, with one-time real-life lovers Michael Rapaport and Lili Taylor playing an upwardly mobile drug-pushing couple whose comfy lifestyle is threatened by the reappearance of their former partner, psycho Adam Trese, fresh out of the slammer..."- Sacramento Bee
"The worst of the bunch is the ever-smiling, handsomely bland-looking Gabriel (Adam Trese), who smiles when beaten and looks ecstatic when shot, as though in being tortured he has attained redemption for once ordering multiple assassinations and callously shooting down people who he feels have ripped him off....Presumably influenced by the Spanish master of the surreal, Luis Bunuel, Mr. Gomez has a way to go before he can approach that filmmaker's style, techniques, and depth of social criticism"- Harvey S. Karten
"When it comes to concrete characters, ILLTOWN offers Michael Rapaport's Dante (as classical allusions go, this one is a little too obvious) and Lily Taylor's Micky. They're an upper middle class couple who have made their money by selling drugs for the local syndicate boss, D'Avalon (Tony Danza). Now, sensing the inevitable approach of middle- age, they want to go legitimate and start a family. But, just as they're considering a way out, a new dealer by the name of Gabriel (Adam Trese), storms into their territory, spikes their drugs (causing six overdose deaths), and declares war on Dante and his best friend, Cisco (Kevin Corrigan). The results are as predictable as they are bloody....Most of the actors do adequate jobs playing standard types, although Adam Trese's Gabriel is a shell of a character with incomprehensible motives. Trese never loses his annoying smile, even when he's being shot or beaten up..."- James Berardinelli
