Local filmmaker Michael Valentin returns with his second independent feature, Welcome to Vegas, and the good news is it’s far less incompetent than his 2006 debut, One Step Behind (which was co-directed with Eric Weiss). Although a number of characters and actors (including Weiss) from One Step Behind show up again here, and the plot is similar (or, rather, similarly nonexistent), Valentin seems to have beefed up his filmmaking skills, and many of the basic technical gaffes that marred One Step Behind have disappeared.
There is still, however, plenty of dodgy acting, unfunny jokes, bad lighting and sound and Valentin’s unrelenting obsession with staging awful, interminable backyard-wrestling matches. Stars Adam Allen and Greta Jawel (of the reality show Paradise City) actually turn in mostly credible performances, and at the very least don’t embarrass themselves. At the rate he’s going, in 10 or 12 more movies Valentin will eventually be able to produce something decent.
Welcome to Vegas premieres July 22 at 8 p.m. at the Art Bar. Admission is free. DVDs will be on sale at the premiere, and at the Art Bar, the Chandelier Mediterranean Restaurant and the Pinball Hall of Fame, as well as online at www.filmbaby.com. For more info visit www.myspace.com/pcpfilms.