God Bless America

[Famous Mortimer]

I know there's been some mention of it in other threads, but if Dark bloody Shadows gets its own thread, then this one definitely does as well.

It's the new Bobcat Goldthwait film, and is about a guy who's increasingly sickened by the awful garbage on TV and the exceptional rudeness and ingratitude of so many people, so when he's diagnosed with a brain tumour decides to start murdering the worst of society's assholes.

There are no doubt many reviews which call it on its lack of subtlety, but by god sometimes you need a film which doesn't do subtle, which just goes for it and doesn't let up. And it has laughs in it as well, although they're fewer and further between than you'd expect. It also has Frank Conniff from "Mystery Science Theater 3000" making his feature debut, which made me happy.

So, not the perfect film, but angry and direct and brilliant. Having been a devotee of "Britain's Got Talent" that one year, and other shows like it before (occasionally) I appreciate their siren song and I even more appreciate a film with an idea of how to deal with them.

[Stone Cold Jane Austen]

I was really looking forward to this when I first heard about it. I absolutely loved World's Greatest Dad, and the storyline of this appealed to me.

I watched it a couple of weeks ago and, if I'm being honest, it was a disappointment. It felt a bit too preachy, as if the characters were just vessels to deliver the director's opinions. I'm just as sick and bored of people moaning about shit reality tv and society's ills as I am of shit reality tv and society's ills.

I think the film failed to build upon it's interesting premise. I'd have liked to have seen the

Spoiler alert

media's reaction to the killing spree

[close]

play more of a role in the film a la Natural Born Killers, or have the main characters question their actions a bit more. The third act twists of

Spoiler alert

the main character finding out he's not dying

[close]

and

Spoiler alert

the girl coming from a comfortable middle class background

[close]

seemed to be tacked on to fill the story out, and not much else.

But don't get me wrong, it's not a shit film, and it's great that Bobcat Goldthwait has the opportunity to make films like this and I'll be interested to see what he does next.

[Petey Pate]

I was really looking forward to this when I first heard about it. I absolutely loved World's Greatest Dad, and the storyline of this appealed to me.

I watched it a couple of weeks ago and, if I'm being honest, it was a disappointment. It felt a bit too preachy, as if the characters were just vessels to deliver the director's opinions. I'm just as sick and bored of people moaning about shit reality tv and society's ills as I am of shit reality tv and society's ills.

I think the film failed to build upon it's interesting premise. I'd have liked to have seen the

Spoiler alert

media's reaction to the killing spree

[close]

play more of a role in the film a la Natural Born Killers, or have the main characters question their actions a bit more. The third act twists of

Spoiler alert

the main character finding out he's not dying

[close]

and

Spoiler alert

the girl coming from a comfortable middle class background

[close]

seemed to be tacked on to fill the story out, and not much else.

But don't get me wrong, it's not a shit film, and it's great that Bobcat Goldthwait has the opportunity to make films like this and I'll be interested to see what he does next.

I agree with this.  It didn't live up to its potential, but there are a couple of good laugh out loud scenes at the beginning,

Spoiler alert

its hard to entirely dislike a film which begins with a man fantasising about murdering his noisy neighbours and their wailing baby

[close]

though not so many an hour or so into the film where it became a bit dull and tedious, not really expanding on the views that the main character preaches at the beginning.  For instance, he could have attempted to take on Wall Street and the Pentagon rather than his targets being limited to reality TV stars and news anchors.

[thugler]

It was alright, I thought it was a bit similar to the film 'super' but not as good.

[Better Than Nothing]

A disappointingly short thread for one of the best films in recent memory.

No cinema release here in England, but I watched it on Netflix and enjoyed it so much I bought the DVD. Joel Murray was nigh-on perfect as the deflated, defeated everyman, the film is a lot more aware of itself than a lot of people may give it credit for (witness the part where Roxy asks Frank "are you Jeff Foxworthy?"), it may go after soft targets but it's still smart enough to go after thoroughly deserving soft targets, Tara Lynne Barr is an adorable, sassy anti-heroine and it was a pleasant surprise to find that there was a sensitive, intelligent, thoughtful man behind Goldthwait's ear-shredding psychotic nerd stage / screen persona.

My personal highlight would be the use of 'I Never Cry' over the end credits. Quite the choker, I thought.