Neddy Merrill Tom DiCillo's (yeah, never heard of him either) thinly veiled attack on (1) Brad Pitt and (2) Indie film-making is a movie about making movies joining much better films such as "Barton Fink" and, to a lesser extent, "The Player" in this sub-sub-subgenre. It follows the always corpse-like Steve Buscemi as a director just trying to film two scenes in a seemingly awful low-budget independent production that has the distinction of snaring a megastar who is trying to build cred played by Brad Pitt look (sorta)-alike James LeGros. The Pitt character (the comically named Chad Palomino) is pure satire of the spoiled star who believes their least inventive whim is pure genius while the others are fleshed out to the extent that we get a look into their interior lives, anxieties and to some degree hopes. There are extended dream sequences, some attempts at "Spinal Tap"-esque humor (and the smoke machine went crazy!!!!) and a whole lotta characters tossing F-bombs at one another (shocking!!!). Everyone on the set has slept with a least one other person, Buscemi's addled mom shows up and the whole mess tries way too hard to be either funny or poignant or insider hip or something. If you ever wanted to see Buscemi try to carry a film or if like to feel hip by picking a movie that makes fun of movies themselves you might enjoy this -- I didn't. If you want a movie about movie-making, try "Hooper", the 1978 Burt Reynolds vehicle about stuntmen making movies. Believe it or not, there was a (really brief) time when Burt Reynolds was so bankable that studios would sign a blank check and let he, Hal Needham, Dom Deluise, Mary Lou Henner, sometimes Sally Fields and random celebrities like quarterback Terry Bradshaw or drunk (may he rest in peace) Dean Martin just go out and wing it in front of the camera. "Hooper" is a complete mess but actually entertaining as opposed to tightly directed and produced but only conceptually entertaining.

pistolaro_amigo Place this in a time capsule and see how much future generations will relate to Nick and his adventures. The strength in this movie is the casting and just watch to see how the indie scene in the '90's could formulate this cast. Buscemi plays one of his most memorable characters in his facet (which is saying a lot for the King of Indies). Catherine Keener perfected her Catherine Keener-demeanor (if there ever was one) in this flick and gave a new purpose for Preparation H. Peter Dinklidge gives a deep concentrated monologue about the 'importance' of dwarfs in film. Dermont Mulrony rocks the s**t out of an eye patch and has some of the plays off of every actor so casually that it is characterization to the highest degree. And poor James LeGroes missing out on the Brad Pitt boat because he out-pits Pitt! Tom DiCillo was an indie master before this with his previous work with Jim Jarmusch but the fact that he never settled for the high road after this flick makes him miss his mark as a new Billy Wilde, and instead had to settle for being Tom DiCillo

cosmorados You're the director of a low budget film and all you have to do is get all the different disparate elements to come together and get everyone to peak and not screw up all at the same time, and then you're making a mother f*cking movie. Apart from on this day everything seems to be going wrong. Relationships are falling apart, actors aren't acting, stars aren't starring and the crew seem more intent on getting in front of the camera rather than staying behind it.In Tom Dicillo's perfect satire on the troublesome process of movie making, the comedy of errors that transpires is one of the funniest that has ever been put on celluloid, with Steve Buscemi flawless and hilarious as the director having a nightmare as events conspire to spoil his film. The dialogue is so damn good that it becomes the kind of quotable fare that just filters into your regular daily language. Dermot Mulroney and Catherine Keener are also excellent as the neurotic actress and art-house cameraman respectively. Whilst there is much dispute over which sequences is the best, for me, it's the last one filming the dream sequence, with the dwarf with an attitude problem who makes mini-me seem like an ewok on Valium.If it's at your video store rent it, if it's for sale buy it. It's well worth the purchase and will b a film that's a joy to watch more than once.

Galina "Living in Oblivion" (1995) - is a 91 minutes long low-budget independent movie about trials and tribulations during making a low budget independent movie called.. "Living in Oblivion". Writer-director Tom DiCillo made in 1991 a film called "Johnny Suede" starring a young and unknown at the time actor named Brad Pitt. "Johnny Suede" was a failure with both critics and viewers but an artist can learn from any experience however disappointing or devastating it is. DiCillo wrote a short story from his frustration and turned his experience into a smart, funny, playful, and highly enjoyable second feature "Living in Oblivion" that takes place during one day of shooting a low budget film. Photographed with the color-to-black-and-white transitions, "Living in Oblivions" has surreal, strangely poetic and amusing quality to it.The cast is solid and consists of DiCillo's friends who are the regulars in his films. Steve Buscemi, the king of independent movies, in the rare starring role, plays Nick Reve, a long-haired, dedicated but frustrated director who in the moments of creative inspiration has to get back to earth and to deal with the tensions between his leading lady (Catherine Keener, before her star-making turn in "Being John Malkovich" but already a wonderfully talented beautiful and sexy actress) with whom he is silently in love and the male star, arrogant egotist Chad Palomino (James LeGros does an un-flattering but hilarious and quite accurate impersonation of the real life model for Chad). If these problems are not enough, there is eye-patch wearing sensitive leather-clad cameraman named Wolf (Dermot Mulroney) who went through a painful break-up right on the set. There is a great scene with an irritated dwarf Tito (Peter Dinklage) who was hired for a dream sequence and who hates dreams with the dwarfs in them: "Have you ever had a dream with a dwarf in it? Do you know anyone who's had a dream with a dwarf in it? No! I don't even have dreams with dwarfs in them. The only place I've seen dwarfs in dreams is in stupid movies like this!" There is also a smoke machine that explodes every time when turned on...And to top it all, Nick's senile mother surprisingly shows up during the shot and eventually saves the dream sequence and the movie. That's what the mothers are for, aren't they?