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HeathenClerk
Reviews
Hunting Dragonflies (2005)
The Backwash of a Slacker Generation
Some people make movies. Other people pretend to.
This is the story of the latter.
Right now I'm watching a feature length 'indie' film called Hunting Dragonflies. Set in Maryland, it tells the story about five escaped convicts and their attempt to flee on a plane to Mexico sometime the following day, and who take a number of local yokel residents hostage in the process, to the typical complicated results.
That's at least what I garner the movie is thus far, as I decided I just don't need to wait until the end to write about it. In re-reading the above plot outline, I would have to say that about the clearest part of all that is that it is set in Maryland. Everything following that is ehhh how you say not so much concrete. The main thing missing in the execution, as far as I can see, is the lack of really any believable character motivation outside of the empty hackneyed shell of the whole "escaped cons who abduct people while waiting to flee country" story, which, taken on its own could use about 5 minutes to tell in its entirety.
What makes this lovely little gem of a film unique, however, is the awesome sense one gets that the filmmaker(s) seemed to think that they could make a movie in what I'm assuming is the whole early 90s Kevin Smith/Slacker (talking about the film now) ideals. The main difference is that THOSE MOVIES WERE WRITTEN OR AT LEAST STORYBOARDED AND PLANNED OUT. This film reflects what can only be assumed as a retarded twenty-something's post high school farting and alcoholism induced memory of an introduction to film lesson he took sometime during his freshman year before he dropped out of community college (which isn't ever bad in the context of funny videos for your and your friends, just don't offer it for me to watch if you don't want to be disappointed).
What takes place in our movie is little better than Uncle Clark's vacation movies, whereby characters meander without any real meaning, nothing new is really exposed, no audience is engaged, no popcorn is sold or consumed, and no real empathy is gained. To top it all off, we get to sit through seemingly endless generic rock songs from bands that can be assumed as being provincial to Maryland, or from some hapless non-local f**k who responded to a post the moviemaker put on Craigslist seeking free music for his film.
Add to all of that the other easily forgettable facts that a lot of closeup shots are too tight, framing is sometimes off, other parts are too dark, not enough setups were used for coverage (and those shot didn't explain or advance the beats of the story much), the ADR dubbing is obvious as it wasn't always recorded or mixed properly, a lot of the character's lines are difficult to hear either because the actor ate his words or the damn music was endlessly playing though the scene (to no emotional benefit of the audience), and the acting, most likely due to the unfortunate cardboard character writing, is usually stiff.
Anyone even considering slapping the title 'independent' on here is doing a great disservice to the numerous other filmmakers who do their homework and at least advance the medium in some way here and there, through interesting characters, engaging stories and smart editing. In all, the three good points I can see from this film are a) it was exposed properly most of the time, b) it evoked an accurate sense of Maryland, as both times I've been there I've been bored, and c) it eventually ends.
In conclusion, I salute the filmmakers and the film, Hunting Dragonflies, for following every clichéd post 90s film student magic bag of crappy tricks (alcohol + cursing + guns + angry girlfriends + unemotionally involving music on repeat + numerous "in" jokes + etc) and achieving a spot on my growing collection of local films that I like to use as lessons of what not to do (hey, it's cheaper than grad school).
Oh look! The movie just ended, concluding with what was supposed to be a twist to tie up the subplot of the bitchy girlfriend. HAHAHAHAHAA no. Next time don't ask for $20 of my money to watch your movie, instead, offer it for free and considering it a learning experience/experiment to better yourself for the next one. And the next one. And the next one.
And don't f**king cry to me that you did most of the work on the movie, and it was hard shooting and editing and getting up at 7AM all those days - been there, done that, still there, still doing that. To that I say WAAAAA! I SHOULD GET AN 'A' FOR EFFORT! WAAAAA! YOU SHOULD SUPPORT ME EVEN IF I SUCK! WAAAA! Well no, no I f**king don't, and it's a shame that such a way of thinking has ever entered the creative arts. If you take my money to entertain me and you suck, then f**k you, here's a tomato in your eye. I wouldn't want anyone to treat me any differently - spare the rod, spoil the child.
FOR A GOOD INDIE MOVIE TO WATCH: Watch Pi (1998) by Darren Aronofsky. It'll blow your mind. And he didn't need color OR 35mm, neither.
The Garage (2006)
Feh.
Half-decent acting, nice cinematography- story wasn't plotted well, characters entered and left with little to no explanation or foreshadowing or really any reason. Story possibly overshadowed by possibly that these are memories of the writer/director, and not enough time was spent making it wholly understandable to an audience with no prior knowledge of his memories. Very anti-climactic, ambiguous rationalizing- and a still shot of space. Main character's thrust not very well explained other than generic "leaving the farm" type of moment at the beginning, not enough tie-ins to previous reinforcing principles and moments earlier in the story. Hoped for more- 3/10
V for Vendetta (2005)
Remember, remember, the Fifth of November
Simply put, the fact that people are viciously debating over whether or not this is an American political/anti-Bush film places more light on the fact that their bullshit and lies shadow government is nothing if not vicious and corrupt (though not to such levels as seen in the film, its still a pretty good comment).
Remember, remember, the 5th of November.
Corrupt governments always get it in the end.
- HeathenClerk
Jersey Shore
Seton 5 Vandalisms
Rock Bottom (2002)
Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
Well, I do salute the effort and everything and always support your local everything, but I'm sorry man, this just didn't work for me. I had difficulty navigating through the overabundant Kevin Smithy situations, dialogue, and story - I mean, even Kevin Smith being Kevin Smith is boring a lot of the time (as in, usually dialogue should help drive the story, but in his case somewhat and in your case much it was too much like me and friends hanging out; and I don't really want to watch people just hanging out and b*********g when I could be spending the time watching it actually doing it, and besides, it completely drives the story to a grinding, screeching halt). For me I needed there to be more drive, and in regards to the picture, though I understand the large costs of renting film equipment and lighting and everything, it would have been much improved with composed shots, lighting, stationary cameras (most of it was handheld and a little distracting), etc. Other than that I would say that there were also too many cultural references, and many of the intended jokes were "wink wink know what I mean know what I mean yuk-yuk," almost like having a light up "Laughter" sign on screen. The direction and acting was also a little below - rehearsing people who aren't used to acting until they know the scene like they know the back of their hand works fairly well to clear up many of those problems, plus you get a better feeling for more "natural" scene direction as the rehearsing goes on. Some things placed in it were hackneyed, like the farting, or the beer that suddenly pops up next to the car toward the end, or the seemingly endless running feet on lawn (though that also deals with editing). I hope you consider what I've said not as harsh criticism but more as constructive observations, and I would like to check out more that is going on in the local scene - maybe see some more of your work. On the other hand, this is probably a great laugh to see between you and a bunch of friends every now and then, and if that's the case, carry on.
Comic Book Villains (2002)
Abomination to both film and comic books
This movie made the growing list of "worst movies I've ever wasted my life seeing." Not only is the writing complete sh*t, but the acting is so ridiculously bad in 99.99% of the movie and, of course, there's the fact that it barely makes any sense, logical or otherwise. As a friend of mine stated while watching, what it really needed was for the director to have decided either "hey this is funny, lets make it more comedic" or "hey this is serious, lets make it more dramatic," because he definitely was not able to pull of a "dark comedy." If you're reading this and you haven't seen this mediocre sad bastard-fest, then consider yourself lucky, and treat me as a god for saving you from seeing it. It isn't even like bad/good or bad/funny like some movies are (Jason X comes to mind in the latter case). If you have seen this and you liked it, I never want to meet you so don't email me; and if you saw this and you liked it and you want to try and make movies for a living, please save us the future hassle and switch to applying for a manager's position at a Blockbuster Video.
Erik