It’s on Youtube for free.
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I first started storyboarding in the early 80s, when there were countless low- and micro-budget independent features being made. The Blockbuster/direct-to-video market encouraged everyone and his brother to cobble financing together for their pet projects and take their shot at the big time. Most of them were action-adventure or rom-coms.
I worked with a couple of producers of the cynical “we know this is shit; so what?” variety, but most of my gigs were with people who were sure that their film was something special, the one that would get major-studio distribution and make a nice profit. The sad part is that their movies were weak pastiches of last year’s mainstream hit. Even when breaking down the shots the directors would say, “you know that scene in [big-budget success] where they [nifty camera move]? Give me something like that.”
Some of these guys were genuinely nice people and it was depressing to see them pour their time and money into a project that even a nobody like me could see would go nowhere. But I think they deserve credit for putting their asses on the line and making the effort. LA is always crawling with self-described directors talking endlessly about the film they’re going to make. These people actually did it.
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Look - it’s a lawn. Just get the eff off it! Get off ALL lawns!
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Well, I’m giving it a chance.
12.30 mins in, cheesy but fun.
Then the assassin (don’t worry - no spoiler), sticks the glass-lifting-rubber-thingies to a pane of glass, uses some kind of massive compass to proscribe a perfect circle, and then lifts a nicely square piece of glass out of the window.
So far, so silly.
I shall persevere.
Thanks for the recommendation.
ETA: OK, at 15.00, our hero tosses the murder weapon into the river - lands straight on a Police river patrol boat. I’ll admit I guffawed. You got me.
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90 mins of my life very well spent.
I had some laugh-out-loud moments.
Also, major bonus - Jennifer Tilly as the narcoleptic girlfriend! (can’t explain - buckle up).
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For better or worse, this is what happens when you democratize content production and lower barrier to entry. To be clear, I think it is a net win. However, the price we pay for it is an avalanche of crap. Just look at YouTube (and I say this as someone who makes her living from YouTube). The barrier to entry there is so low that the platform is 99.9% garbage. However there’s also some amazing stuff that never would have seen the light of day in any other medium. Including my stuff which, while not objectively good (I try but I’m no filmmaker) has a small dedicated audience that pays my bills because it’s a niche that no studio or professional would ever bother servicing.
Where I think the internet went wrong is in assuming we need everyone’s fucking opinion on everything. Product reviews were vastly better and more useful when they were gatekept to professionals. Aunt Mildred’s opinion on the candle she doesn’t like is worthless. Even before astroturfing took over all reviews rendering them useless, I don’t care what every cranky old man thinks about every restaurant. I sure as hell don’t need all those opinions on every single video, news article, photograph, song, podcast, etc posted everywhere. The hate and trash that I have to delete in my comments pretty much hourly is incredible. I’d turn off comments if I could, but the algorithm would murder me for doing so.
Maybe it would be a good thing if all these ad hoc communities were properly moderated and managed the way BB is, but without management, comment threads are a net loss, no question (in my humble opinion which is garbage like virtually all uninformed opinions on everything).
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I once watched about 6 hours of a “Kids in the Hall” marathon, and laughed only once (during a high speed chase, the criminals and the cops stopped to get gas, and were both desperate to fill up before the other ones did).
On the other hand, SCTV was generally hysterical. If the lead in this movie had been Joe Flaherty, I’d be much more interested in tracking down this movie.
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I liked Kids in the Hall, though. That was funny.
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I’m not sure the movie would keep the attention of younger viewers, because much of the humor is based on what the norms were at the time, but it’s sweet and funny and keeps a decent pace, and they don’t waste too much time on fillers like long car chases, graphic love scenes, etc. It’s a solidly decent funny movie.
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