They Shoot Movies Don't TheyStarring: Tom Paul Wilson, Adele Baughn Dir: Frank GallagherGrade - D What do you do when you want to make a movie but you don't have a good script or enough money to make it look good? You make a movie like They Shoot Movies Don't They? They Shoot Movies Don't They is a mockumentary, but unlike most mockumentaries this one's is not meant to be funny. This film originally came out on The Independent Film Channel in 2000, only one year after The Blair Witch project became the most profitable movie of 1999, with it's is it real or not campaign. Like that movie, this film wants you believe what you're seeing actually happened. For reason I don't quite understand, the official website is still perpetuating this idea. Haven't they ever heard of the the Internet Movie Database. Believe me I'm not giving away some big secret here. I'm actually a little offended that anyone wanted me to believe this movie was real, although it being real would have been the only thing to give it merit. This film tells the story of a young filmmaker, Tom Paulson, trying to raise $80,000 in completion costs for his already shot "artistic vision." I believe the film is trying to expose a cold hearted Hollywood whose only consideration is the bottom line, but in actuality only exposes a filmmaker who feels entitled because he has a "vision." One of the most perflexing scenes of the film shows Tom rejecting an offer from a studio to completely finance the completion of the film. The only catch? He has to give up creative control. It seems to me any late twenties filmmaker, still waiting for his big break, would have jumped at the chance. Not Tom Paulson, though, he has a "vision." This is the point where I'm going to say that have no idea what Tom's vision is, this movie never shows us. All we get to know about Tom's movie - Mirage is that it doesn't have a happy ending. And we all know Hollywood won't release a movie that doesn't have a happy ending. In order to succeed in the business you have to let Hollywood bleed your soul dry, and then spew out whatever they tell you to. That's what this movie is trying to say at least. Unfortunately we are never allowed to get to know Tom enough to feel any sympathy for his predicament. This movie is supposed to be about Tom's personal struggle to achieve something. It's supposed to be about dealing with compromise and failure, but it never lets us get close enough to feel anything. Review by Sherry L |
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