A Clear Shot Review – Compelling Hostage Drama Resonates

A Clear Shot, from Uncork'd Entertainment, presents the story of the 1991 Good Guys Electronics Store siege in Sacramento, the backstory of the gunmen, the internal strife with the Sacramento PD all leading to a climatic ending.

Directed and written by Nick Leisure, A Clear Shot stars Mario Van Peebles, Marshal Hilton, Jessica Meza, Mandela Van Peebles, Michael Balin, Rafael Siegel, Aldo Quintero Torres, David Fernandez Jr., Lance Woods, Tony Dew, Kevin Bach, Sandra Gutierrez, Hao Do, Dang Tran, Jeanne Carr, Diana Acevedo, Scytorya Rhodes, Justin Nesbitt, and Val Victa.


Suzi Q Documentary Review – Awesome Tribute to the Queen of Rock and Roll


A Clear Shot opens with a wide-angle camera pan of Sacramento, California, and narrows to a shopping plaza and then inside Leisure Guys Electronics. A typical day for the appliance store, we meet the three employees, and several of the shoppers before the gunmen arrive.

Four masked Asian gunmen storm the store herding the forty shoppers, men, women, and children, into the front of the store. Two store employees, Hugh, played by Lance Woods, and Chip, played by Justin Nesbitt, manage to hide behind the register, and make the first 911 call.

Within minutes, Sacramento PD and California Sheriff deputies arrive on the scene, along with Rick Gomez, Sacramento Police Departments' top negotiator, played by Mario Van Peebles, partnering with him, Detective Kappy, played by Marshall Hilton, and working the parameter, Deputy Advencula, played by Jessica Meza.

As the hostage drama unfolds, the four men immigrants from Thailand are lost in the middle of their crime, with no real plan, and only the desire to return to their homeland, and the belief that they can trade the hostages for safe passage home.


Military Wives Review – An Inspirational, Uplifting, Feel Good Film


On the outside, Gomez continues to talk to the "Thailand." His first set of demands begin the negotiator With Hugh, the store supervisor, escaping and opening the warehouse entrance, Chip, the secondary employee in charge, called the police telling them about the warehouse.

Sheriff Todd, played by Michael Balin, and a trigger-happy SWAT team leader, Devlin, breeches the back entrance and just as they were ready to enter the store, a steel gate drops. The team retreats.

Gomez, by this time, had spent about four hours negotiating with the four teenagers, securing the release of a mom and two children. The drama continues to escalate as the father of three of the gunmen is brought to the scene and tries to get them to surrender.

The film moves between the hostage drama and the daily life of the four gunmen, Loi Khac Nguyen, Pham Khac Nguyen, Long Khac Nguyen, and Cuong Tran, the life a new immigrant, the rejection, the loss of hope, the challenges of earning a living with no status, the hardship, which is echoed by one of the hostages, Wilma, played by Sandra Gutierrez, who says, "Only the white man has it easy."


Point Defiance Review – Solid Psychological Thriller Haunts to the End


A Clear Shot, the adaptation of the 1991 Good Guys Electronics Store Siege in Sacramento, presents a compelling drama, with heightened suspense, a solid well told condensed story of the nearly nine-hour standoff.

The film also examines the underlying currents of duplicity and internal departmental struggles as the police, sheriff, and SWAT each have their own ideas how the situation should end.


My Spy Review – A Fun, Family Film with Lots of Laughs


The emotional trials, social pressures, and hardships of immigrant assimilation into American culture and the ethnic chasm that divides society is clearly presented. The hostages and police are a melting pot of diversity, each had to fight for a place on the free side of the cell, and this hurdle becomes the plank blocking the vision of the Asian immigrants, as they either believed the fairy tale or expected change immediately.

The ensemble cast carries the film with each giving solid authentic performances. A true crime drama, with heightened intensified suspense, if the ending is unknown going into the film, the ending is unexpected.

A Clear Shot premieres June 2, 2020 on both DVD and VOD.

Haute Tease

  • The Tower Review – An Addicting, Binge-Worthy, Crime Drama

    The Tower, steaming on Brit Box, a fresh crime drama from London focuses on unraveling the conspiracy surrounding the death of a police veteran and a local Muslin teen, and the rookie who witnesses the crime.

     
  • POP VEGAS, Showcasing Pop-Up Exhibitions, Opens Winter 2019

    Pop Vegas, the brand-new, trailblazing exhibition space will open at The LINQ Promenade, the open-air entertainment, dining and retail district located at the heart of the Las Vegas Strip. Opening date and first exhibition to be announced shortly.

     
  • Atlantic Hurricane Barrels Toward Carolinas; Category Five Possible as Flo Strengthens

    Hurricane Florence, a category four powerhouse with sustained winds of 140mph, quickly intensified over the warm waters of the Caribbean as it continued its northeast trajectory with landfall expectation, anywhere from the Carolinas to the Mid-Atlantic states.

     
  • CURE SPA MALIBU Review - A Blissful Indulgence

    CURE MED SPA Malibu, a health and wellness center, offering a variety of treatments guaranteed to calm body, mind and soul recently provided an afternoon of treatments at its newest facilities overlooking the incredible Pacific Ocean.

     
  • La Potiche Européenne

    Le renforcement de l'aide accordée à l'Ukraine par les Etats-Unis condamne l'Union Européenne et les Européens à un rôle de faire-valoir. Ne pouvant rivaliser avec mes moyens nord-américains, ces derniers se bornent à engager contre la Russie des sanctions économiques aux effets pour l'instant incertains.  

  • Apartment Troubles Review - Life in New York City 101; The Good, Bad and Ugly

    Apartment Troubles, from Gravitas Ventures, presents a dramedy into the scary journey of finding housing in New York City, complete with every possible nightmare, as life regurgitates enough lessons to keep any up and coming artist concerned.