We Are the Sprocket Holes vol. 4

movie ratings;

Titus - 9.5/10: was that a big piece of pie or what? absolutely the best of all the Shakespeare adaptations that have come out since '96s Romeo and Juliet. amazing costumes/performances. every frame looks like a moving album cover or painting. a savage anti-morality play acted out with cool looking action figures.

Idiocracy - 5/10: if this premise were any thinner it would be pregnant w/ Nicole Richie's child.

American Hardcore - 7.5/10: gets points for all the amazing footage of truly brutal bands like YDI, Void, Negative Approach, DRI, Articles of Faith, Flipper, Poison Idea, Black Flag, Die Kruezen and others...loses points for showing only like ten second clips of every performance. the songs were only like a minute long, for shit's sake. throw me a bone, here. the anecdotes and reflections were pretty top notch, but the whole thing felt abbreviated and underdeveloped. the biggest gripe i have with this film was the attitude of "Hardcore died in '85 and there has been nothing since then". you'd think they would mention all the music that sprung from Hardcore's foundations; Crossover. Metallic Hardcore. Sludge. Grindcore. Crust. Post Hardcore. Industrial. Noise Rock. you interview Ian Mackaye, but don't mention Fugazi? no mention of bands like Oxbow (fronted by Eugene Robinson, who was in Whipping Boy) or Laughing Hyenas, who formed out of the ashes of two hardcore bands (Negative Approach and L-Seven)? i understand the intention of the film was to focus on a specific time period, but it's wrong to present the opinion that the only thing that came after hardcore was bad metal. seems to me that hardcore didn't die, but much of originators were unable to take it to the next logical step in brutality. but i digress.

Pan's Labyrinth - 8/10: Alice in Wonderland meets Nightbreed. Didn't like it as much as director Guilmero DelToro's other blend of the historical and the fantastical the Devil's Backbone, but i thought the film had a lot of heart, great performances and FX, and some truly creepy characters/moments (i.e. when Vidal is stitching up his Chelsea Grin).

Carved - 7/10: Japanese Slasher from Tartan Video. pretty generic considering Tartan's track record of truly interesting films. Sort of disappointing as it plays more like an American Horror film than an Asian one. crossover potential i guess, but i expect better from Tartan. meh... probably still better than Rob Zombie's Halloween.

Superbad - 8.5/10: sort of drags in the second act, but otherwise i thought it was hysterical, with likable characters and devoid of the sentimental trappings usually present in films of this genre. the female characters were especially well done. you can really see why the male characters are so into them, as they are not merely porno-fantasy incarnate, but smart, clever, approachable, and generally nice/sweet. and this is on top of being believably hot (ie NOT Shannon Elizabeth).

Hedwig and the Angry Inch - 9/10: like my tenth time seeing it. great songs, beautiful cinematography...not much else to say.

Swimming with Sharks - 8/10: underrated beyond belief. Kevin Spacey plays one of the best assholes ever in cinema. you hate his fucking guts, but at the same time admire how clever his acerbic put-downs truly are. gets needlessly gruesome in some parts, but otherwise a true undiscovered classic, especially if you like Spacey in Glengarry Glenross.

Meet the Feebles - 7.5/10: gets points for general weirdness, as well as an absolutely hilarious Deer Hunter parody, but otherwise i thought the movie was a tad hard to follow and ran a little to long. yeah i get it...it's a misanthropic puppet show. but whatever it was fun.

Snakes on a Plane - 3/10: Yeah guess what? Irony is DEAD. fuuuuuuck this was a boring ass movie, with lousy special FX and no point whatsoever. you can't manufacture a cult film, and this is proof positive of that theory...well this and Grindhouse. i guess Bad is the new So-Bad-It's-Good. dumb movie for dipshit hipsters who are too chicken shit to admit they enjoy stupid crap.

Blades of Glory - 6/10: Thin premise, weak gags, and in the cases of Will Arnett, Amy Poehler, and Jenna Fischer, a monumental waste of comedic talents. i think we can put a cap on the wacky sports movies now.

X-Men: the Last Stand - 5/10: too many characters that go nowhere. Angel is set up brilliantly, than appears for a total of maybe 3 and a half minutes. Dark Phoenix is one of the most powerful and impressive visuals in all of comics, and here she is reduced to a sullen dead-to-the-world blank slate in a red silk coat. the costumes were dull and drab, with many of the characters (most notably the seemingly never ending supply of Brotherhood of Evil Mutants) just blending in to the background, becoming faceless thugs and cannon fodder. Juggernaut was a massive disappointment, Callisto is supposed to be a gawky, pasty, sewer dwelling bohemian pirate hooker and here she is played by a quite gorgeous Puerto Rican in tight black leather. now i have nothing against gorgeous Puerto Rican girls in tight black clothes (*wink*), but does every single female character have to look like a Maxim cover girl? and why are meaningless peripheral characters like Archlight and Spike here over characters like Gambit, Emma Frost, or others? the dialog was atrocious, the deaths without drama....fuck the whole thing was a mess. blech to this.

We All Scream for Ice Cream - 1/10: episode of Masters of Horror featuring William Forsythe as an Ice Cream Man who dresses like a clown (!!???!!) and exacts revenge on the now-adult children who killed him. i can't even begin to describe the stupidity of this thing. think Nightmare on Elm Street with the same one-liner repeated over and over and over ("we aaalllll screeeeeeem" x100000001012003030) and Sleepers without any sense of remorse for the characters. the acting is sub-terrible, the writing sub-sub-terrible, and the whole thing makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. but the DVD box looked cool.

Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man - 6/10: was expecting more from/about the man himself...something similar to The Devil and Daniel Johnston. instead it was a bland tribute concert with little hunks of anecdote and biography thrown in. of all the performances, i have to say Martha Wainwright's stuck with me the most. the woman's voice is heartbreak incarnate. Nick Cave also faired well, but it would've been nice to hear his version of "Avalanche" . the other performances did nothing for me. i officially hate the living fuck out of Rufus Wainwright, if only for his lispy ten cent manwhore version of "Everybody Knows". i don't even remember any of the other ones. a disappointment (almost) all around.

Hardware - 9/10: forgotten gem from the very late 80s/very early 90s. the perfect blend of bleak arthouse, gory horror, and cautionary sci-fi. writer/director Richard Stanley just might be David Lynch's cyber-punk brother.

Angel Heart - 8.5/10: hard to believe this film is twenty years old. plays just as well today...maybe even better. incredible moody atmosphere, great story and performances by all involved. this film (along with Manhunter) set the tone for films like Se7en, Fallen, and the countless wannabes, trytobes, and shameless imitations that came after.

Toxic Avenger Part 2 - 8/10: an wheelchair-bound elderly blind women gets punched in the face, than blasted out of her chair by a shotgun. an entire home for the blind is blown up, bodies in flame. a cute japanese girl gets punched and sexually assaulted..her reaction akin to Tweety Bird running from Sylvester. some other funny stuff is in their as well. It's Troma. It's never not Classic.

Glengarry Glen Ross - 10/10:

Ricky Roma: All train compartments smell vaguely of shit. It gets so you don't mind it. That's the worst thing that I can confess. You know how long it took me to get there? A long time. When you die you're going to regret the things you don't do. You think you're queer? I'm going to tell you something: we're all queer. You think you're a thief? So what? You get befuddled by a middle-class morality? Get shut of it. Shut it out. You cheat on your wife? You did it, live with it. You fuck little girls, so be it. There's an absolute morality? Maybe. And then what? If you think there is, go ahead, be that thing. Bad people go to hell? I don't think so. If you think that, act that way. A hell exists on earth? Yes. I won't live in it. That's me.
[pause]
Ricky Roma: You ever take a dump made you feel like you'd just slept for twelve hours?

Blake: Your name is "you're wanting", and you can't play the man's game, you can't close them, and then tell your wife your troubles. 'Cause only one thing counts in this world: get them to sign on the line which is dotted. You hear me you fuckin' faggots?

---

Shelley Levene: What the hell are you? You're a fuckin' secretary. Fuck you. That's my message to ya: fuck you and you can kiss my ass and if you don't like it baby I'm going across the street to Jerry Graff, period, fuck you.

Blake: What's the problem, pal?
Dave Moss: You -
[correcting him]
Dave Moss: Moss. You're such a hero, you're so rich, how come you're coming down here wasting your time with such a bunch of bums?
Blake: You see this watch? You see this watch?
Dave Moss: Yeah.
Blake: That watch costs more than you car. I made $970,000 last year. How much you make? You see pal, that's who I am, and you're nothing. Nice guy? I don't give a shit. Good father? Fuck you! Go home and play with your kids. You wanna work here - close! You think this is abuse? You think this is abuse, you cocksucker? You can't take this, how can you take the abuse you get on a sit? You don't like it, leave.

---

Blake: You got leads. Mitch & Murray paid good money. Get their names to sell them. You can't close the leads you're given, you can't close shit, *you are* shit, hit the bricks pal, and beat it, 'cause you are going *out*.
Shelley Levene: The leads are weak.
Blake: "The leads are weak." The fucking leads are weak? You're weak. I've been in this business fifteen years...
Dave Moss: What's your name?
Blake: Fuck you. That's my name.
[Moss laughs]
Blake: You know why, mister? 'Cause you drove a Hyundai to get here tonight, I drove an eighty thousand dollar BMW. *That's* my name.

[Dave Moss explodes at Ricky Roma and shouts]
Dave Moss: You're fucked, Rick. Are you fucking nuts? You're hot, so you think you're the ruler of this place.
Shelley Levene: Now wait a minute, Dave.
Dave Moss: Shut up!
Shelley Levene: Okay...
Dave Moss: You want to decide who should be dealt with how, is that it? I come in the fucking office today, I get humiliated by some jag-off cop. I get accused of... I get the shit thrown in my face by you, you genuine shit, because you're top name on the board?
Ricky Roma: Is that what I did, Dave? I humiliated you? Oh my God, I'm sorry.
Dave Moss: Sitting on top of the world. Sitting on top of the world, everything's fuckin' peach fuzz.
Ricky Roma: And I don't get a moment to spare for some bust-out humanitarian down on his luck lately?
Dave Moss: Oh, fuck...
Ricky Roma: [cutting him off] Fuck you, Dave. You know you got a big mouth. You make a close, this whole place stinks with your farts for a week - how much you just ingested. Oh, what a big man you are! "Hey, let me buy you a pack of gum. I'll show you how to chew it." Whoof! You're pal closes, and all that comes out of your mouth is bile. Ooh, how fucked-up you are!
Dave Moss: Who's my pal, Ricky? Hmm? What are you? And what are you, Ricky? Huh? Bishop Sheen? What the fuck are you, Mr. Slick? Who - what the fuck are you, "Friend to the working man"? Big deal! FUCK YOU! You got the memory of a fuckin' fly! I never liked you, anyway.
Ricky Roma: What is this, your farewell speech?
Dave Moss: I'm going home.
Ricky Roma: Your farewell to the troops?
Dave Moss: I'm not going home. I'm going to Wisconsin.
Ricky Roma: Have a good trip.
Dave Moss: Aw, fuck you! Fuck the lot of you! Fuck you all!
[exits]
Ricky Roma: [to Shelley] You were saying?
Shelley Levene: Huh?

Williamson: [handing Roma lead cards] I'm giving you three leads...
Ricky Roma: Three? No, I count two.
Williamson: There's three leads there.
Ricky Roma: "Patel"? Fuck you. Fucking Shiva handed this guy a million dollars, told him "Sign the deal!" he wouldn't sign. And the god Vishnu too, into the bargain. Fuck you, John! You know your business, I know mine. Your business is being an asshole. I find out whose fucking cousin you are, I'm going to go to him and figure out a way to have your ass - fuck you!
[throws the cards at Williamson]
Ricky Roma: I'm waiting for the new leads.

Ricky Roma: You stupid fucking cunt. You, Williamson, I'm talking to you, shithead. You just cost me $6,000. Six thousand dollars, and one Cadillac. That's right. What are you going to do about it? What are you going to do about it, asshole? You're fucking shit. Where did you learn your trade, you stupid fucking cunt, you idiot? Who ever told you that you could work with men? Oh, I'm gonna have your job, shithead.

that's all you need to know.

Double You, Tea F. vol. 2

Bad Lieutenant Remake

Posted by Kurt Halfyard at 10:37am.

Posted in Film News, Drama, USA & Canada.

Here is a strange one on the remake front. Bad Lieutenant is pretty much note perfect, more of less of its time and place, (not to mention a hard NC-17 rating) and has a truly iconic performance from Harvey Keitel (baring both soul and well, you know). Why would you (Mr. Edward Pressman) want to remake this again? Nonetheless, things seem to be going forward with a screenwriter (TV police procedural writer William Finkelstein) and apparently without Abel Ferrara‘s or Harvey Keitel‘s involvement whatsoever.

The new version—with a working title of “Bad Lieutenant ‘08”—is less a sequel or a prequel than an attempt to take the raw material of the original film and weave it into 21st century, post- 9/11 New York. ... Finkelstein provides the Lieutenant with a small amount of addiction back story, the event that prompts his promotion from sergeant and the drug-related murder of five Senegalese illegal immigrants to pursue.

While there is some curiosity as to why 9/11 material/themes has to be integrated into this particular story, I will not be placing any sports bets on this one.

[Source: L.A. Times via Filmstalker]

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

FUCK OFF.

Double You, Tea F. vol. 1

- i can't seem to see MyMySpace profile. i can log on, check my messages, but am unable to view the profile. MySpace runs on tomato paste and melted Push-Pops.

- just so it's out there...yes, i am now taken. after 5 years of blogging about how much a dipshit loser ass-end piece of trash i am when it comes to the ladies, it seems as if i have stumbled upon someone who thinks my murderous rages, sarcastic put-downs, dim vindictiveness, barely constrained sound-fetishisms, and acerbic word-plays are/is cute. she herself is a true sweetheart/natural beauty in almost every sense, with near impeccable taste in film/music, a beautiful singing voice, and not to mention an angelic-ability when it comes to filling out a silk red dress in a most heavenly fashion. i won't write much about her, because i only write about stuff that makes me poopy in the gut...which she has yet to do. just felt like posting something positive for once.

- SHOW TONIGHT @ LIT LUNGE IN MANHATTAN; COMMUNION AND A.P.P.L.E.

NP: Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Sealings

I am writing to ask if you'd be interested in publishing a book I am writing involving the VA Tech Shooting. Entitled "Why I Hate Everything", it is based on what Asians in this country really believe. It defends Seung-Hui Cho by outlining very harshly that he was the real victim.

Originally, this book was about the national controversy I created two months ago with my article "Why I Hate Blacks". This was the last in a series of articles I published in AsianWeek newspaper describing why I as an Asian hate whites, America, conformity, etc. It made national headlines, and was featured on FOX News:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=TK4fjMhGn-I http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/02/27/MNGTCOBI921.DTL

I have also released a statement that got published yesterday about my support for the VA Tech shooter:

http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0718,hilliard,76520,2.html

The journalist quoted me out of context (for example, I only "stalked" a girl because she was rude to me and I intentionally wanted to creep her out). But it captures what I truly believe about the VA Tech Shooter.

I know that Asians don't really have much of a voice because no one really gives a damn about us. However, with the attention that brave Mr. Cho generated, I think people will listen now. I personally felt like Mr. Cho echoed a lot of what I have said and felt. Asians are suffering in this country. We need to fight.

What's in it for you? Imagine having the ONLY manuscript that defends the VA Tech Shooter. People will be talking about this for 6 months, and I'm sure there will be a multitude of books filled with sympathy for the people who were gunned down. But my book shows the other side of the story -- likely it will be the one book that does so. And my publicity with the "Why I Hate Blacks" article and the Village Voice article that came out today certainly helps.

The book is divided into chapters entitled "Why I Hate (something)". They will involve descriptions of why Asians should hate certain things and how we are violated in the US. Occasionally, I will use personal anecdotes (proof of which I have, to prevent another James Frey) about my many physical and verbal fights with whites and blacks. The writing style will be slightly comedic (who wants to read a 300-page rant without humor?). It won't just be a boring textbook-style outline of historical events. It will be a Bill Maherish bashing.

If you are interested, I can send you over a synopsis and a sample chapter. Thanks for your time.

Kenneth Eng, novelist

hey. remember that blog i did about Kenneth Eng?

look whose been busy;

http://gawker.com/news/kenneth-eng/

May 23:
Kenneth Eng Is Behind Bars
Is Kenneth Eng finally learning the difference between good attention and bad attention? The Village Voice reports that everyone's favorite Asian supremacist (who was so upset that the kid at Virginia Tech pulled off a violent bloodbath before he could), is currently a guest of the city. It seems that the recent Voice profile of the attention-seeking massacrist manqué brought Eng to the attention of the NYPD, which found that just two days before the article appeared, on April 30, Eng had allegedly threatened to kill neighbor Marissa Addison and her mother in front of their Fresh Meadows home. According to police, Eng told her, "If your dog bites me I will kill you and your family," and then swung a hammer at one of Addison's two dogs and at her mother, missing her by inches. Eng was arrested May 11th on a variety of charges and is being held without bail. A psychiatric evaluation is pending. We're not sure how this is all going to play out, but we'd bet even money that Eng's journals are going to be at least as entertaining as Peter Braunstein's.

Aug 10:
Kenneth Eng Pleads Out, Gets Arrested Again
When we last caught up with wacky Asian supremacist Kenneth Eng, he was spending some time in a city facility on assault charges. How'd that work out? Eng, 24, pleaded guilty in Queens Supreme Court to charges of harassment and attempted assault for threatening neighbors with a hammer last May. He was sentenced to 12 months of daily psychotherapy, said his lawyer, Joel Dranove. But Eng arrived at home to find the feds waiting to bust him on a sealed complaint. Oh, those Asians... always overachieving.

Aug 13:
Add Jews To Wacky Asian Racist Kenneth Eng's List Of Hatred
On Friday, re-arrested Asian supremacist Kenneth Eng made bail to the tune of $500,000. Eng faces federal charges for repeatedly threatening a fellow N.Y.U. film student over the phone. Fortunately for all of us, the repercussions for these threats gave Eng a chance to consider the place of the Jews in his Big Book Of Spite. The warrant says Eng was kicked out of his film class in 2003 after impugning a classmate's work and calling her a "Negro." The professor and several other students told Eng that his comments were inappropriate, leading to his ouster. In response, Eng wrote to the teacher: "I was recently pondering whether I should continue to think of Jews as equals, but I think your actions have made up my mind. Good day." You know, we've been pondering the same issue. We think we're gonna have to take the other side on this one.

yup... still an idiot.

where's your pink robo-dragon with the mega-buster now?

I Dunno, Just a Thought vol. 16

My apologies, seekers of inconsequential bloggings. it's been ten days since i last ventured these parts. a lot went down in that time...but it's not in my nature to get to personal with this thing. i'll just say this;

Part of me feels like a teddy bear made out of puppies. Part of me feels like wearing a jacket made out of raven feathers while rolling around in a field of kittens made out of gummy bears. Part of me feels like wrangling up a posse, to beat the fear of God into and out of * ****** ******-***** ****...Bully style. i even have three songs for the soundtrack as we ride into battle;

Prime Minister Pete Nice & Daddy Rich - Rat Bastard (for the ominous trip down the road)
Integrity - Mischa (for the confrontation)
Lordz of Brooklyn - Saturday Night Fever (for the celebratory get-down, where we cabbage-patch around the gators feeding on his remains)

I am the Arm. and i sound like This.

i dunno... just a thought.

I Dunno, Just a Thought vol. 15

having hyper-active squid-dog babies living in my belly, playing baseball all day with crowbars and Danzig Belt Buckles, has never felt so good.

sometimes you win the lottery. other times you get away with robbing a multi-millionaire. not only get away with it, but are met with the applause as you raise your jewel-encrusted arms to the air triumphantly... hundred dollar bills getting caught in the wind. You're now a 65 foot tall giant, covered in gold and diamonds and pearls, standing over a city that cowers from the sheer weight of your super-villain laughter.

I dunno...just a thought.

I Dunno, Just a Thought vol. 14

...............................dots.

i've spent the "better" part of the last five years...the entirety of my post-high school era...waiting for the pay off. waiting for the break. waiting for the girl. waiting for the miracle.

something tells me no matter what, i'll be putting time i don't have into something that will equate to nothing. music still gives me a sense of satisfaction...but it's disheartening and frustrating when you see your "peers" seemingly get the world pushed right under their noses on a platter made out of 1000s of silver dollars that's resting in the palm of a Mia Kirschner look-alike, whose wearing a catholic girls school uniform and Roller Skates...meanwhile you're TAKING THE TRAIN TO YOUR OWN SHOW ... the bassist doesn't show-up and there's no crowd...no money for the bands because no one showed up and the few that did...well their money needs to go to the sound people. but "it's not about the money, maaaaaan"....so you bottle all the doubts and fears and choke down enough tears to fill your lungs to a drowning-victim danger point...save it for another song....save it for another performance....take refuge in the reoccurring fantasy where you go all Dr. Destiny on the commuters and scensters who make life all the more contemptible.

then there are the women....then there is the money....the lack of one and the abundance of the other or not either or at all. to date....NOT. you don't have the money to treat a girl right...take her out to a movie or a nice dinner...the most you can get is their pity or sometimes respect, which can be an even greater assassin to one's sexual identity.....maybe. i don't even know anymore. all i know is i'm tired of not sharing an orgasm. that's all i've been doing. time to face the facts....few people really care. they've got their own problems to worry about...why should they listen to your bullshit?

i really like doing this; ....

hurm.

i dunno...just a thought.

Quotent Quotables vol.1

Do you wonder why, in contemporary America there is little to no organized youth movement against the wholly unjustified war that is raging in Iraq? No 60s-style peace movement? The Boondock Saints is rated a 7.8 on IMDB.com and I would wager good money that the large majority of the peons giving this sad excuse for moviemaking "10 stars" are under the age of 25. These same kids have also never heard that condoms prevent pregnancy, that the government is fallible, and that religion is the cruelest and bloodiest lie ever foisted upon mankind. What happened to the ethos that it is better to let ninety-nine guilty men go free rather than punish one innocent man? Oh yeah, it is in the same place that Unions, the 4th Amendment, Feminism, and Due Process all find themselves; i.e. fucking gone. America, it is time to mourn for your youth; they are truly lost.

- Matt Cale of RuthlessReviews.com.

Tired of Haulin' Oats! vol. 3

Gruntsplatter/Solvent split
Kayo Dot/Bloody Panda split
Albert Ayler - the Impulse Story
Dead Infection - Brain Corrosion
Diamanda Galas - Shrei X
Glorior Belli - Manifesting the Raging Beast
Sixteen Horsepower - Sackcloth 'N Ashes
Thought Industry - Songs for Insects
Today is the Day - Willpower
Year of the Rabbit - s/t

We Are the Sprocket Holes vol. 3

more movie ratings;

the Prestige - 8/10: Christopher Nolan proving once again he really (moreso than any director) deserves the bigger budgets he's earned since Memento. great story (written by him alongside his brother Jonathan Nolan), great visuals, and an impeccable cast...save for Scarlett Johansen. don't get me wrong, i like the girl, but she's just not a "period" kind of actress. loved Bowie as Nikola Tesla. there were several "oh SNAP!" moments that made the film a blast to watch. recommended.

Just Friends - 3/10: bonehead comedy about being in "the friend zone". the entire cast re-defines the term "phoning it in". Amy Smart plays the sweet, smart girl that every guy wants, Anna Farris plays the cute wacky girl, Ryan Reynolds plays the smug smart ass. the story is dim and needlessly hateful, the gags feel tacked on, and worst of all; none of it is funny or touching. there is not one real moment in any of this mess.

My Super Ex-Girlfriend - 2/10: same as above, but with super powers and an even more misogynistic message. i'm not trying to be mr. sensitive PC guy here, but guys; IT'S NOT ALWAYS THE WOMAN'S FAULT. Men can be cruel. Men can be obnoxious and clingy to the point of criminality. More often than not, it is the man who is these things. i'm just speaking from experience, here. granted, i've never had shrieking fits of hysteria involving chainsaws or throwing a shark through someone apartment window...but when has it ever gotten that bad for anyone? most of the times when guys talk about "crazy" girlfriends or vice versa, it's more often than not hyperbole...but i digress. i found myself hating not the characters for doing these things to each other, but the film makers who seem to hate people so much that they would subject their creations (and an audience) to such juvenile behavior. awful stuff here.

Koma - 8/10: yet another one for the Tartan Asia Extreme love pile. a compelling, beautiful film that rises above its seemingly simple premise (kidney thief pursuing girls and harvesting their bodies for financial gain). the lead actresses are beautiful...not so much encompassing the phrase "lovely and talented" as they do redefine it.

Overnight - 9/10: Documentary on Boondock Saints writer/director Troy Duffy. this film works on so many different levels that it is staggering. on one level, it's a cautionary tale to those who are looking to make something out of nothing or who think that they'll someday be plucked out of obscurity and given carpe blanche to do whatever the hell they want. it's almost a deconstruction of that time-tested dream, showing all the aches and pains and doubts that arise when you realize you've gotten sucked into something you did not fully understand. on another level, it's an attack on the film industry itself, be it Max Weinstein, who is shown as being ambivalent to his new pet project, or Duffy himself; shown in this film to be a cruel dim mean-spirited ego-monopolizing uneducated belligerent ingrate who stomps and screams like a spoiled twat when things don't go the way he insists that they were promised to go. He was given an opportunity so many people dream of; a big studio buying his script...a major label deal for his band...basically just getting lucky...he squandered the opportunities given to him by using his band and his film to bolster his own ego and persona rather than letting the works speak for themselves. the result was sub-standard product that few people wanted to touch. his band's debut sold less than 700 copies, subsequently secruing their non-future, and though Boondocks Saints has become something of a "cult classic"....mostly by people who are like Duffy (ie Annoyingly Macho and Loud "Irish Pride" Douchebags who know almost nothing about film in craft or theory), Duffy sees no compensation for the video sales or TV Broadcasts. one of the most telling scenes; Duffy speaking in front of film students (Duffy earlier had prided himself in never having gone to film school) and basically making an ass out of himself after the film students tell him not to give up and keep at it if he loves it. he of course gets needlessly confrontational, even singling out one student who is sitting quietly, trying to bully a response out of him. it's always refreshing to see people in positions of power who really have no clue what they're doing get "taken to school" by people who have done their homework, who have busted their ass, who have and will suffer but who prepared to endure those awful periods. Duffy was not ready, so he lashes out and blames everyone but himself. he is a man with no sense of reason and accountability...with no real talent or voice when it comes to music or film making. he's simply an ego-maniac who wanted power and didn't get it because his ego had nothing to back it up. the Boondock Saints, despite it's now revered status, is an unoriginal poorly made piece of sub-adolescent fantasia; a bad comic book with vomit-inducing religious overtones and not one interesting or inspired character to its credit. it cribbed from Leon: the Professional, Things to Do in Dever When You're Dead, The Krays, and others, turning the ideas into action figure versions of themselves. as for Duffy's band "the Brood"...well they were nothing more than a hollow alterna-bar band. alright i'm tired of writing about this. great documentary for all...lovers and haters.