Since Mike Tully is wandering around the web declaring what legitimate filmmaking is & what legitimate film writing is (something he has done in defending his work at Hammer to Nail - a site that I actually like - so, for the moment, we'll leave that one alone) - let's take a look at a review of Tully's first & only fiction feature thus far - Cocaine Angel (don't worry Mike, if nothing else, this negative attention might sell a couple of DVDs of CA, since all press is good press right?) - from Slant:
"Piling miscalculation atop intolerable cruelty, this first feature by Michael Tully aims for Half Nelson's salient understanding of the strange, almost seductive allure of drug addiction. It's easy to see where the film goes wrong, beginning with the poetic strain of the title and ending with the main character's idiotic emotional unloading on a girl who looks like she might have been raped on her prom night. Somewhere between the opening title sequence and the film's embarrassing capper, Scott (Damian Lahey) receives a 30-minute blowjob from a pregnant woman. I don't know what's worse, the ridiculous foley work that attempts to approximate the sound of human mouth-on-cock suckage or the apparent smoke burn the woman has around her mouth when she comes up for air, but this much is true: Cocaine Angel talks more smack than Scott ever gets to snort up his nose or shoot into this veins."
Read the rest of the Slant review here.
I saw CA back in '06 or '07 on a DVD screener & thought it was an alright first time feature drama - well made, but I wasn't all that into the story - anyway, so what's the point? The man -Tully - who spends his time judging the work of other filmmakers as worthy/legitimate has received some very negative reviews for his work. And he has not made another fiction feature since (granted, it has only been 2-3 years, so, not that long of a time) but he has built a resume as a film writer. Anyway, when Tully unloads on the work of other filmmakers - and in the case of IFBRT fails to see anything positive or useful about the film - perhaps he is attempting to get back at the critics who dissed his first feature - in some strange way - anyway, whatever - good luck with your self-medication Mr. Tully.
Looking forward to Tully's next fiction feature - no doubt it will be "legitimate" - or I guess I'll finally be able to see what this "legitimate" filmmaking that Tully is so hung up on looks & sounds like. Hopefully Silver Jew - Tully's follow up project after CA - a doc about a band - is not an example of this elusive "legitimacy" - I turned it off after 30 mins of boredom 'cause that flick was made for fans of the band & I had barely heard of them before & the flick definitely did not give me a lot of reasons to stick around and try to get to know the band. Anyway, what do I know - so, according to the expert Tully - if legitimacy equals Cocaine Angel & Silver Jew, I don't think I want any of that.
- Sujewa
"Piling miscalculation atop intolerable cruelty, this first feature by Michael Tully aims for Half Nelson's salient understanding of the strange, almost seductive allure of drug addiction. It's easy to see where the film goes wrong, beginning with the poetic strain of the title and ending with the main character's idiotic emotional unloading on a girl who looks like she might have been raped on her prom night. Somewhere between the opening title sequence and the film's embarrassing capper, Scott (Damian Lahey) receives a 30-minute blowjob from a pregnant woman. I don't know what's worse, the ridiculous foley work that attempts to approximate the sound of human mouth-on-cock suckage or the apparent smoke burn the woman has around her mouth when she comes up for air, but this much is true: Cocaine Angel talks more smack than Scott ever gets to snort up his nose or shoot into this veins."
Read the rest of the Slant review here.
I saw CA back in '06 or '07 on a DVD screener & thought it was an alright first time feature drama - well made, but I wasn't all that into the story - anyway, so what's the point? The man -Tully - who spends his time judging the work of other filmmakers as worthy/legitimate has received some very negative reviews for his work. And he has not made another fiction feature since (granted, it has only been 2-3 years, so, not that long of a time) but he has built a resume as a film writer. Anyway, when Tully unloads on the work of other filmmakers - and in the case of IFBRT fails to see anything positive or useful about the film - perhaps he is attempting to get back at the critics who dissed his first feature - in some strange way - anyway, whatever - good luck with your self-medication Mr. Tully.
Looking forward to Tully's next fiction feature - no doubt it will be "legitimate" - or I guess I'll finally be able to see what this "legitimate" filmmaking that Tully is so hung up on looks & sounds like. Hopefully Silver Jew - Tully's follow up project after CA - a doc about a band - is not an example of this elusive "legitimacy" - I turned it off after 30 mins of boredom 'cause that flick was made for fans of the band & I had barely heard of them before & the flick definitely did not give me a lot of reasons to stick around and try to get to know the band. Anyway, what do I know - so, according to the expert Tully - if legitimacy equals Cocaine Angel & Silver Jew, I don't think I want any of that.
- Sujewa
