filmguru-6
I just saw "Benny Bliss & The Disciples Of Greatness" at the Downbeach Film Festival in Atlantic City and I haven't laughed this hard in a long time. As soon as I left the theater all I wanted to do is throw my cell phone in the ocean. This film about anti-technology is very entertaining and also makes you think about where we are as a society. Yvonne Delarosa is hilarious in the role of Maria and the band and music slam! It has a great indie spirit and cult vibe that reminds me of "Napolean Dynamite" and has a kind of "Blues Brothers" feel to it. But it's really like nothing I've ever seen before. Highly original comedy. The director Martin Guigui also acts in the film playing a wacky character named Harry Fingers. I usually don't like director's that act, but Guigui is convincing and very funny. The star of the film Courtney Gains and the Director did a Q&A after the screening and mentioned that all the music is live to film. That blew me away. I hear it will be distributed worldwide soon. I think about this film almost every time my cell phone rings.
Matt
Benny Bliss and the Disciples of Greatness - I just caught this gem recently, and it has been a long time since a film has caused me physical pain. I couldn't help squirming and lowering myself in my seat, because Courtney Gains, if you're reading this, I enjoy your work in Back to the Future, Memphis Belle, and The 'burbs. However, I think you need to lay off of writing and stick to acting.The plot was meandering...this film didn't know what it was. There were scenes that went on far too long, and other scenes that didn't last long enough. There were two or three funny bits that worked, especially in the Best Buy parking lot, but the musical numbers sucked. This movie, in my opinion, could have worked as a wacky comedy. Heck, I could have accepted music in it, if it was anywhere near as good as Six String Samurai, which proved you can make a good movie with no budget.Cinematography - Supposedly shot in HD, the camera work was pretty bad. Some shots looked overexposed, other didn't even look white balanced. HINT: use a tripod or a dolly.Lighting - Flat and boring.Editing - Non-existent. The editing was one of the worse parts. Dear editor, when the opening credits last 20 minutes on an indie flick, pretentiousness ebbs.Acting - Wooden. Just because there are a ton of Wannabe's in Hollywood doesn't mean you should get them to be in your movie. Gains' performance stood out as at least being unique, everyone else sucked. Take some goddamn acting lessons.Writing - There were maybe 3 funny bits, the rest of the humor was so bad that I wanted to gouge out my eyes.No onto some plot points - mental patient escapes, thinks he's some kind of Jesus/Elvis/anti-technology guru, and he travels around preaching against cell phone usage.Dear Mr. Gains, if you want to write a story about a guy who is anti-technology, and preaches it, then why does he drive? Why does his band play electric guitars? He hates electricity and breaks cell phones, but still plays using it...it didn't make sense. Throw in the whole Jesus motif and I honestly have to say that this film felt like a bunch of stoned losers sitting around convincing themselves this was some great piece of existentialism. I absolutely hated the religious rifts. There was nothing redeeming I took from this movie - another empty attempt by the left coast to make a movie with a message, but the movie itself doesn't listen. Totally lacking in talent on all levels, this film is an utter abortion - in my opinion. Given the fact that this film has 15 votes and 7 stars, I can only assume that 15/15 crack users were entertained.I also want to add that I know certain people must have worked hard on this, I understand and respect that. However, that being said, it was someone's responsibility to say "guys, this isn't working." This film makes my worst movie ever list, next to Jesus Christ: Vampire Slayer.
