John Q. Phats Entertainment

I thought the showing went pretty good.  Everyone seemed to be enjoying it and people laughed at all the right parts.  I’ll post pictures tomorrow and go in to detail and all that.

I’m showing Do Nice Guys Finish Last tonight at the Art Theater of Long Beach for free. If you want to check it come on down. The show starts at 8PM.

Probably the only movie I’ve ever seen that is actually better because you’ve read the book that precedes it.  I had read Tucker Max’s book long before I had seen the movie.  The book doesn’t really follow the standard story telling format.  It’s a series of short stories about the adventures of Tucker Max, a self proclaimed alcoholic asshole.  Throughout the book he pretty much goes to bars, drinks himself stupid, and insults women.  The result is him seeing more ass then a toilet seat or more tang then the astronauts.  Which ever you prefer.  When I heard that a movie was being made and that he was writing the script, I was pretty excited.  The book is pretty damn entertaining after all.  I also wasn’t sure what to expect.  I was half expecting this to be a series of short films based off of the best of his book.  While there are several instances with parts from the book, it’s actually laid out in the standard format of a movie. 
Tucker Max (played by Matt Czuchry) takes his soon to be married best friend 250 miles away to go to a strip club.  Dragged along is Drew (played by Jesse Bradford).  A fresh from break up and bitter cynicist (I made up that word).  In order to go, Tucker Max drags Dan (played by Geoff Stults) in to a lie so his fiancée will let them go.  While Tucker pursues a hilarious sexual interest of his own, Dan finds himself bleeding, insanely drunk, and in jail.
The only downfall of this movie is that it’s much more enjoyable if you’ve read the book.  Knowing that a lot of the events are based off of true stories makes them that much more amazing.  That’s kind of the fun in the book, is that you’re reading these stories and you can’t believe these things really happened to someone or that someone could actually be that much of an asshole.  The movie has the same charm, but only if you’ve read the book.  I can see someone who hadn’t read the book saying “That would never happen.”  Regardless of all of that though, the dialogue is extremely Kevin Smithesq.  Not that it’s a rip off of Kevin Smith’s style, it’s just very comparable.  That’s absolutely a compliment.  The dialogue in this movie is great.  Especially Jesse Bradford’s character, Drew.   
“Oh, I’m onto your game, De Nils. Diamonds are worthless other than the value attached to them by the silly tramps you have brain washed into thinking that diamonds equal love. Guess what, sluts? Your quest for the perfect princess cut supports terrorism and genocide. Congratulations, your avarice has managed to destroy an entire continent!”
Just one of the many gems that comes from this character.  See what I did there?  He’s talking about diamonds and I called it a gem.  Shit, I’m clever.  Anyway, I can see why reviewers weren’t so favorable to I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell.  I don’t agree with them.  Reviewers usually take things out of context.  If you go in to I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell expecting an Emmy nominated masterpiece, you’re going to be disappointed.  It’s a raunchy comedy, plain and simple.  When comparing it to The Shawshank Redemption, sure it’s a piece of shit.  But comparing it to say There’s Something About Marry or American Pie, it holds up really well. 
I hope you decide to give I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell a shot maybe reading the book isn’t necessary.  Just know that a lot of what occurs in that movie is based off of the real adventures of a self proclaimed asshole, Tucker Max.  I hope this isn’t Tucker Max’s last script.  His gift for writing dialogue is a rare and amazing talent.
P.S.  I made up like 3 words while writing this.  I’m off to forward this to historical journalism society.  Apparently, standard Enlglish just isn’t enough for me.

So, I’ve been in China and Japan for the past two weeks.  It was all amazing but there were those long periods in airports and on airplanes that I had to deal with.  I got The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes on my Kindle during the trip.  It was a free download via the Kindle store.  I am pretty hooked on it now.  Those are some great stories.  It inspired me to buy The Complete Sherlock Holmes Collection.  It was only like $4 through the Kindle store and for a 900+ page book, I think that’s pretty good.  Sherlock Holmes is just a brilliantly designed character.  Bill Waterson, the guy who did Calvin and Hobbes said that he liked writing Calvin and Hobbes because all he needed to know was what a little kid knew.  What the hell did Arthur Conan Doyle have to know to write Sherlock Holmes?  Sherlock Holmes is a genius.  How hard was it to write for a character like that?  Some of the solutions are some what easy to see, yet they are still entertaining to read all the same.  How did he do that?  It’s interesting how sometimes you can already know the ending of a story, yet the journey there is still just as entertaining.  Sort of like a movie that starts off showing the last scene.  Like Fight Club.  You know right from the first scene that the main character ends up with a gun in his mouth near the top of a sky rise.  You don’t know the specifics, but you know where it’s going to end up.  A lot like most romantic comedies.  It’s painfully obvious that the two main characters are at one point going to be driven apart and then in the end, it’s all going to work out.  They’re going to fall in love and blah blah blah .  Example: 50 First Dates.  See also: The Money Pit.  See also: Saving Silverman.  See also: The Break Up.  Which actually started out with the two characters not getting back together or talking to each other.  It tested poorly though so they changed the ending.  Which I think is pretty lame.  I’ll continue to study Sherlock Holmes, maybe something will come to me as to why it’s so entertaining.  Maybe it’s just because, the character is just so absolutely clever and amazing.  By the way, I had no clue that in the original stories, Sherlock Holmes was addicted to cocaine.  They make several references in the book to him going on binges and staring off in to space for hours on end.
I saw Clash of the Titans last night.  I liked it.  It was pretty much exactly what I expected.  Just a cool action flick based around Greek mythology.  It didn’t have to make sense, it didn’t have to win an Emmy.  It just had to be that.  Mission accomplished.  I was satisfied.