Hey folks, Harry here... Below you'll find the ramblings of a man, that everyone in Ain't It Cool's chatroom knows is... well... not entirely stable. He posts porn links often... the good stuff, though not like the wonderful eye of Tyrone gets... he often propositions Nordling, which Nordling ignores to spend time with someone named yoda1. Really is a dangerous place in that Chat Room. Anyway, one of the inmates is here with a review of frankly... a film that I hope and pray expands to enough theaters that a good many of you will then find the opportunity to take in and enjoy this wonderful film. Now remember, thx777b is slightly unstable, he's also Greek, which means English is probably his fifth language, so before you start belittling his phrasing, realize I can't speek a word of Greek other than URN and GYROS and SO-CRATES, if you can do better... make fun of him. He can take it. No really, he can, he likes the abuse.
Harry, Moriarty this is your worst nightmare... thx777b. I just saw POOLHALL JUNKIES and wanted to give my two cents.
You may have been wondering how the hell i saw POOLHALL JUNKIES, an american film, here in some island in Europe before its even released in the united states of A. No i didn't download it from the internet and i am not a close mate of Gregory 'Mars' Martin while i wish I was. The guy can play a mean pool-ball.
Ok lets cut to the chase POOLHALL JUNKIES was released in Greece as a straight-to-DVD film last summer. THANK GOD FOR REGION 2... not quite because that means this film will not be released theatricaly here. Anyway the film in feel is up there with the likes of MADE and SWINGERS and add a good portion of Scorceces THE COLOUR OF MONEY and Robert Rossen's THE HUSTLER. Its not a masterpiece as the last but it comes prettey close at being the best "pool" film in years. Since THE COLOUR OF MONEY actually.
What shines most through out the film is the chemisty between the "mates". While watching the movie i had instant flashbacks of SWINGERS. I would really loved to see Director/Star/Writer Gregory 'Mars' Martin aka Mars Callahan make a follow up with the same cast. Talking about the cast the film manages to mix both "young" and "old" actors almost perfectly. Christopher Walken, Chazz Palminteri and Rod Steiger (1925-2002 R.I.P) are all fucing good in there suporting roles and give the young cast something to chew on.Whatever that means.
I don't want to synopsise the plot for you guys, i hate doing that. Anyway this is not a movie to watch about the plot. Don't get me wrong, the plot is fine and its better than 2/3 of what comes from big studio Hollywood these days but where the film centers is in the relationships between the friends and especialy Gregory 'Mars' Martins character with all the others. OH AND POOl, lots of it. A lot of non-pool friendly persons will have a hard time enjoying the film I give you that. Or maybe i am wrong, i don't know. If you enjoyed SLAP SHOT and knew nothing about hokey then you will enjoy this one too i guess.
Whats bad? Well i had some problems. I think the first ten minutes of the film just go by too fast. It looks like they were put there just to be. I would have totaly erased the first ten minutes and set them up for later as flashbacks or something. The whole Palminenteri/Gregory Martin relationship was totaly misplayed in my opinion. You will understant what i am talking about when you see the film. I heared somewhere that they were re-editing the film for its u.s release but i am not sure if thats true. Well if they are i hope they fix some of the plot holes and re-edit the first 10-20 minutes of the film.
As for the soundtrack of the film i really dig how Gregory 'Mars' MArtin uses James Brown classics to set the mood. Well done, now every time i go out to play pool i will have James Brown in my head. Plus the film uses some cool sound effects for the pool gaming scenes which were very effective, note the plane passing through effect in some scenes.
Well to sum it all up. This is a very good start as a filmmaker for Mars Callahan. I know he directed one more movie before called Zigs which i hear was really really bad. But i also hear that he didn't have much control over it so you get the picture. Anyway if all you want is good lines, great chemistry, pool, some more pool and a clean fun film this is for you. It was for me.
This is thx777b signing out.
P.S. Have some good news for everyone in the AICN chat room. I'll be gone for about three months. Yes go on: party!. Where am I going? Well i am actually sailing the Mediteranian and around Europe on a fucking bloody container ship as a marine engineer cadet. Don't ask how, its a long story. Anyway watch out for my first BIG short film which i did with my close mate Alex Red(Tyler_Durden in the A.I.C.N chat room). It will premiere on iFilm any time soon. THE BOX SET: A DAY IN THE LIFE OF BEN.T.DOVER... thats the tittle.
