Skip to main content

Translate

Coin Heist: a film of a unique mold

Coin Heist is the story of four students banding together to save their school. After his father is arrested for embezzlement of the school's endowment, Jason looks to an ex-girlfriend, an experienced hacker, and a football-playing engineer to help save the school. 

Their plan is this: break into the United States Mint, cast 2000 state quarters with an error on them, and then sell them to make the money that has vanished back, thus returning the extra-curricular activities and scholarships to the school.


The film reminds me of a fusion of The Breakfast Club and Catch That Kid. The group dynamic (the jock, prep, slacker, and brainiac) combined with their deception of their teacher is very similar to that of The Breakfast Club. The concept of younger persons stealing to help save something they care about is a similar image to that of Catch That Kid.

The film's statements on the value of a coin is quite interesting. They talk about how the system works because we agree and believe in the value of that coin. It also provides an interesting look into how United States currency is produced, and the causes for errors in coins.

However, there are moments that really don't make a lot of sense why they made the final cut. There may be reasons for these moments that ended up on the cutting room floor, but the comments feel unjustified. An example of this is when the security back up arrives. These are two guards who are seen earlier in the film bickering about protocols. This is the only time they are really shown before they arrive during the heist. However, the guard on duty groans as though they are the biggest screw ups on the staff, and tells them to stay out of the way to be helpful. This lack of development causes that moment to really fall flat.

I also didn't agree with the obligatory relationships that form from the story. I felt like these moments became forced at times just to produce a character conflict. I also felt no major chemistry from the soon-to-be couples throughout the film, making this part of the resolution hard to believe.

I did like the semi-callback to Ocean's Eleven at the end, with the group gradually stepping away from the art, in a similar way to how the team walks away from the fountain in Ocean's Eleven. I am almost certain other callbacks are present in this film, although I likely missed them as I haven't seen a large number of heist films.

Overall, the film is interesting to watch casually, and has a little of everything that would make it a good movie to sit back and enjoy.


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Does Sarah Bellows Tell Any Good Stories In The Dark?

*This review will contain spoilers for Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark . Full disclosure, I did not grow up with the stories this film is based off of. I do enjoy short story horror, but have yet to read these works. With that in mind, I still feel this is a film worth discussing. Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark is the first horror movie in a while to actually get my blood pumping, the most recent prior being IT Chapter 1 , whose sequel is mere weeks away. The pacing and effect of several of the books effectively created an amazing sense of dread, often with no true giveaways about where the scares would come from. Probably the best example of this was in Augie's attack (Big Toe Stew), where initial build up makes you believe the scare will be quick, but rather turns into a long, slow build to a rather effective jump scare. What made this scene especially good is that they chose to show the corpse before the actual scare, allowing the extremely-creepy character design to ...
Post a Comment
Read more

It All Comes Down to This (Avengers: Infinity War)

*This review will contain spoilers for Avengers: Infinity War Ten years ago, an idea began which sought to create a massive cinematic universe capable of holding its audience... And now, that journey begins to come to a real head. Avengers: Infinity War is the culmination of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which has now spanned an entire decade. While the universe has its weaker films, Marvel has managed to create an intriguing, and self-sustaining storyline throughout all the entries. And now, we can all sit back and watch the sun rise over a grateful Earth as the Avengers, now joined with almost every hero in the MCU, defeat the Mad Titan once and for all, right? Well, as those of you who have seen the film by now, this was definitely NOT what happened. This is one of the first Superhero films I have actually seen where the good guys actually lose. While many expected this, we may not have anticipated the full scale of what would happen at the end of this film. While it i...
Post a Comment
Read more

A Song to Keep in Your Head

*This review will contain spoilers for Song of the Sea This is not your average animated film. Do not let the simple art style fool you; this film covers some very serious ideas. The entire film is a journey of emotions. The story focuses on Ben, a young boy who had always wanted a little sibling. However, when his mother "vanishes" on the day of his sister's birth, he grows to resent his new sister. He criticizes her at every chance he gets. However, through a journey through the mythology of his mother's stories, he finds the spirit of their mom lives inside his sister. Furthermore, there is a sub theme about the need of emotions, even painful ones. This exists in two main ways: Maka, the Owl Witch, and Ben's grandmother. Maka sees emotions as evil things, as her son nearly drowned himself in his tears. Maka removed the feelings of her son, and anybody else she could, believing in her very soul that she was helping them. However, in the process of remov...
Post a Comment
Read more