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.