Reviews in Retrograde: Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned

Critical Outcast isn't my first attempt at a website, I had a few stutter steps in the late 1990's and early 2000's. These attempts generated a whole bunch of poorly written, often very short and spoilerific reviews. I recently stumbled upon them in my archives and thought you may be interested in seeing some of these early attempts at writing. They are as they were then, I make no apologies for how bad or how short they are. Feel free to have at them with reckless abandon! I present to you: Reviews in Retrograde.


An ex-con moves to L.A. to find work and creates a disturbance by fighting for a position. More importantly he touches the lives of many of his neighbors including an older man dying of cancer, a young married couple whose husband is too proud to accept a lesser position which causes strife with his wife, and a young boy on the verge of getting in trouble with street gangs.

This is an amazing piece of film. And to think, I almost left this one on the shelf, I would have missed an incredible film. Laurence Fishburne gives one of his best, if not his best performance, as Socrates Fortlow in this HBO Original movie.

Socrates is an ex-con, paroled after a long term in prison for an unexplained double murder. He now lives in an LA ghetto trying to make a living by going through garbage looking for cans, while also looking for a job that he can be proud of. It appears that he is better at helping others than he is himself. Now, Socrates isn't the smartest man, but he knows what is right and that is what he does, as well as demand to be treated like a man. If you aren't a part of the solution, trying to make a better person of yourself, you'd best stay out of Socrates way. The writing in this movie is great, the relationships are real and the emotions are real. This is one movie I would recommend to anybody and everybody.

The writing in this movie is great, the relationships are real and the emotions are real. This is one movie I would recommend to anybody and everybody.