Anthony Giancola I would like to start off by saying I am a fan of Brad Jones and The Cinema Snob. I love his movies Freak Out, Cheap, and Midnight Heat. I think Game Boys is fine, I'm not the biggest fan of Paranoia or Hooker with a Heart of Gold, but we'll get to that later. With that said, I was expecting to love The Cinema Snob Movie, so I bought the DVD, popped it in and was blown away at how bad it was. I feel terrible for saying that because I see the love and the effort put into the making of the movie from the director, actors, writers, etc. but I just felt so let down by this movie. Before I talk about the bad, I'll talk about the things I like: 1) The cast...for the most part. Brad, Orlando, Jillian, Noah, and the array of side actors in the film club all do a great job, there are weak links, but I'll get to that. 2) The writing. While I have some problems, I felt the story was well enough written that I was watching to see what happened next, I may have gotten bored, but I couldn't turn it off. 3)The directing. On the one hand, the point-and-shoot style of filming is a little too bland for my taste, it works for a comedy, and it works as a joke in itself after the characters talk about how their style of filming is such. I felt the movements were naturalistic, the cuts during the murders do well in concealing the effects while letting you see enough to leave an impact.Now for the bad: 1) Jake and Ryan. I'll be the bad guy and say I hate Jake as an actor and personality. I don't find him funny, I find his delivery stilted and awkward, and I can't stand his voice. I know that last one is an unfair criticism, but it really is a distraction for me in any of Jone's work even Midnight Heat. His delivery is awkward here too and I dreaded anytime he was on screen. As for Ryan, I am a huge fan of him as an actor and personality. He was a stand out in Freak Out despite such a small part and was one of my favorite parts of Cheap. Oddly enough, he lacks the personality he showed in those films, and I know that was intended, but just because it was intended doesn't mean it works. 2) The pacing. This movie is over two hours long. The murder plot doesn't come until the second half. Most of that first half is just telling jokes, which, fair enough it's a comedy, but if you want to have a murder mystery too, shouldn't that be introduced a little sooner? It's just a personal preference. 3) The look and sound. I do not like Paranoia, Hooker with a Heart of Gold, and The Cinema Snob Movie for similar reasons, but the one that connects them all is their look. I'm not talking about how their shot, but how their shots look. It's too clean, but not clean enough. On the one hand I feel this is an unfair statement as it shows Team Snob is growing as filmmakers, but on the other hand I miss the look of his old movies. For some reason, it's easier for me to accept bad audio and bad lighting than it is for me to accept sort of good lighting and OK audio.

Tom_Cruises_Testicles The Cinema Snob Movie is a non-canonical origin story to "The Cinema Snob" series. On the surface it does appear that way. But like an artichoke, when the layers are peeled back and the heart is exposed we realize the film has a much darker tale underneath.So let's peel back those layers and expose what is at heart here.Clue #1 the DVD artwork done by David Gobble. At first glance, it may not seem out of place. But does it capture the tone of the film? Not really.Or does the image of Brad's face jutting out of the shadows, his head rest on his fist like Rodin's The Thinker, impart a message to the viewer? Perhaps its hinting at a darker, more thought-provoking story lying deep within.The Lloyd Approved DVD describes the plot as: "When small time exploitation filmmakers Craig (Brad Jones) and Neil (Jake Norvell)are denied filming permits by the snooty head of the local film commision (Note: their spelling mistake), Craig's only option is to go undercover as a pretentious film snob. But once accepted by the group Craig finds himself thrust into a strange and deadly mystery surrounding the very secretive club." On the surface, this does appear to be what the film is about. And after watching it you would say "But of course, that is exactly the movie I just watched." Except it isn't.Clue #2, the film's lack of logic and reality. Now this is a big one. Some of the actors come off like they are in a different movie. Craig has normal reactions to things. However Neil, and most of the other characters, do not. There are murders occurring and yet (spoilers) never once do the real cops show up. Is there an explanation for all this? Yes.You see Craig Golightly is the killer. The film we are watching is his reconstruction of reality in order to alleviate guilt from himself.When viewing the film from this angle, it's amazing how much sense everything makes. It's classic Freudian Wish fulfillment, where Craig is now the hero who saves the girl.Clue #3 "Craig's Serial Killer" is Det. Ted Adams. Why does he do it? For revenge. Does this make any sense at all? Not a bit. The only way Ted could have the knowledge to pull this off is if he is actually Craig.When does the first murder occur? When Craig joins the film club. You see, Ted Adams is Craig's version of his evil self. He's overweight, whiny, misguided. The story about his father- that's Craig's father and this fuels his insecurities about his own filmmaking.Why did Craig kill all these people? If the events in the film are a reconstructed reality then Craig has the ability to re-arrange the order of the murders.In reality Dan Phillips, Nancy's husband, is the first one to die. All the other murders are done by Craig and Nancy to prevent the police from learning about their affair.Clue #4 Identity issues. Craig Golightly sounds like a fake name. Perhaps it's a pseudonym being used by the killer. The contrivance of making Craig into a pretentious film snob is actually a storytelling technique used to clue us in. For after that, he takes on the persona of Vincent Dawn. In one revealing moment, the "cops" even point out that Craig mistakenly told them his name was Vincent. Why did he lie? Because he forgot his real name wasn't Vincent. Something seem a little off about that excuse? Now, let's break the story down to it's brass tacks.Craig, along with Neil, is trying to make a film called Black Angus. But they are having troubles putting it together and on top of that, Craig is insecure of his abilities because of his father's career.He joins a local film club, headed by Dan Phillips, in order to boost his confidence. However he is looked down on by everyone because of his taste in films. Phillips himself is the worst offender.There is only one person in the group who respects and encourages Craig. And that's Nancy, Phillips' wife. Soon the two start having an affair. At some point, Dan learns about the affair and confronts Craig. Craig loses control and suffocates Dan. He tells Nancy what he did, and she helps him cover up the murder.But soon others in the film club become suspicious. The affair had already been gossip and now with Dan's death, the group suspects foul play. Nancy and Craig start to bump off people one by one in order to protect themselves. Nancy seems to get turned on by it, while Craig is both repelled and excited by the power.Unfortunately the cops do catch on. Only they don't suspect Craig. They arrest Nancy thinking she acted alone. Nancy maintains her innocence and doesn't rat on Craig. Craig, in order to save Nancy from the police, enlists the help of Neil and an actor but their efforts prove unsuccessful.Neil ends up helping Craig find a Lawyer. The lawyer is Gene (Noah Antwiler). Gene is rich, knows everybody, and seems to be Craig's last hope for freeing Nancy. Gene is unsuccessful and Nancy ends up getting the death penalty. She dies, never incriminating Craig in their crimes. Craig walks away from the whole thing a free man.In order to remove the guilt he experiences following this, Craig constructs this new reality: a reality where he becomes the hero, where he saves Nancy from the cops, and where he is finally able to make his film Black Angus.I highly recommend this brilliant thriller. See it twice. Once for the story told on the surface. And the second time what's buried beneath the layers; the story at the heart of the artichoke.

npettinato14 As a fan of Brad's work across the board, I can say that I enjoyed the film for its meta humor but still found it lacking from a mainstream perspective. Without knowledge of the personalities behind the characters (such as Noah Antwiler's contributions as "Spoony" or Ed Glaser's work on TGWTG.com), the movie will fall flat for those unfamiliar with their body of work.POSITIVES The Cinema Snob is an entertaining character and is the engine which drives Brad's other work. For every experimental project, there needs to be a mainstream draw to interest the viewer. One would not be interested in Star Wars fan fiction, for example, if one had no knowledge of the Star Wars franchise to begin with. "The Cinema Snob Movie" is a major boost to the weekly (or bi-weekly) reviews Brad does as his cantankerous, barefoot reviewer on thatguywiththeglasses.com. It provides depth to the universe in which he lives and opens new avenues for characters to appear in the future.The cinematography is miles ahead of anything Mr. Jones has done in the past, shown in superior framing of scenes and more compelling camera angles that seem very appropriate to the mood. Jillian's addition to the cast always feels organic (marriage helps that along, I guess), so the romantic scenes aren't as awkward as they could be. The story itself is also an interesting narrative, as we're taken from "story A" (the producer's quest) to "story b" (the murder mystery) in a seamless transition. The "who done it" aspect is played very well and the resolution is quite entertaining and comical.NEGATIVES One of the casting choices acts as a minus here. Jake feels like an odd choice as the "buddy" of the Snob, especially since Jerrid is the built-up character in the site's main series. His acting isn't terrible, but at times he seems to be a bit too boisterous and overzealous in his effort to sell the scene. It ends up bogging down the entire first half of the film and making the viewer wish Jerrid was waking up with the pizza stuck to his cheek.The biggest drawback in the film is also its strong point. Without the meta humor attached to the main Cinema Snob review series, the film will fall flat for those unfamiliar with Jones' other work. Although the jokes stand on their own, the casting choices lack any "big names" to prop the film up, relying on the viewer's knowledge of TGWTG's cast of characters to draw interest in the movie. The performances of the actors are by no means awful, but they are average enough to warrant a big name that could have acted as a cheap draw for potential fans.

kuijiblob So this movie is the movie that finally usurps the shawshank redemption in the IMDb top 250 ratings? Interesting to say the least. After watching paranoia and all of Brad's other "quality" films i can say without a doubt that this movie Isn't THAT good. At least this movie has commentary tracks from 3 different sources which is more than most homemade films offer. Also it's good to see that it was handled by a more professional team than most of the other Brad Jones films. But still this fanboy-ism (not a word but should be) needs to stop. We all seen this when the dark knight rises came out as well which was only really an OK flick. I'm not even sure if all the people in that excited category are real people on this page. Like when you look at independent films and all the comments and threads on release day are obviously people who worked on the film itself. Not saying Brad would do something like that to draw attention to his film cause i'm sure that type of stuff irritates him as well but at least two of them are probably people making multiple accounts. Still as a whole the lighting was good and scenes really work when they work, except for some over saturation in the park scenes this was excellently shot. But come on now? A perfect 10? Be serious now people cause that stuff just ain't right. Didn't hate it but also felt amateurish but like I said it is still miles above "hooker with a heart of gold" or "paranoia" which is the only one i should be comparing it to since it was the only one that was actually sold on DVD as well. This is miles above all Brads other movies and deserves to be watched if you are a fan. Well done script that could have been executed better but did not disappoint with technical prowess far above and beyond anything seen in paranoia. I like that it tries to be not just for fans and tries to be it's own self contained movie. I can see what everyone who worked on it was going for but yeah if you aren't already a fan then you aren't gonna enjoy this.