Beyond the Trophy (2012)

Beyond the Trophy: Directed by Daniel J. Gillin. With Michael Madsen, Stephen Cloud, Michael Masini, Eric Roberts. TROPHY tells the story of men’s obsession with power and how far they will go to claim the “PRIZE”. Two rival gangs in Los Angeles and Las Vegas, led by Gino (Robert Miano) and Cole (Michael Madsen), are vying for control. Danny (Michael Masini), an LAPD undercover police detective, goes deep into gangland to infiltrate one gang to bring down both. Along the way, he becomes entangled with the beautiful and seductive Angela (Ali Costello), whose relationship with her husband Jake and mob leader Gino makes her the focal point of an intoxicating romantic equation-with deadly consequences. Her dream is to escape the wrath of evil abusive men, and find the love she never knew but always dreamed of. Even in the underworld, sometimes dreams do come true even when it all seems impossible

“Both Michael Madsen and Eric Roberts have appeared in a lot of cheap and junky projects in recent years, but I had a little hope for this effort because it had both of those actors in its cast. But the end results make it a career low for both of them. Roberts doesnu0026#39;t make that much of an appearance in the movie, nor does he make much of an effort, not just for the fact that he is sitting down in almost all of his limited footage. Madsen has somewhat more of a presence (he also narrates), but itu0026#39;s clear heu0026#39;s just going through the motions. I guess the movie could still have worked despite the misuse of its talented stars, but the rest of the movie fails in every way you can think of. The script has the one-two punch of being confusing and boring. The direction comes across as cheap and quick, ranging from the lack of establishing shots to the often poorly recorded dialogue. And the movie has an awesomely cheap feeling, most prominently from the poorly dressed (and poorly chosen) sets and locations. It just goes to clearly show that a talented cast alone does not make a movie work.”