Hollidaysburg

My wife and I stumbled across "The Chair" docuseries on Tubi, and- as I'm a filmmaker, found it very interesting. I thought the concept of the show was interesting but was infuriated by the final episode in which this film was not deemed the better one.

"Hollidaysburg" is, at least at the time of my writing this, available for free on Amazon Prime. I watched the film with my wife, honestly not expecting much. But it was good. Like really good. There is no indication that this was made by a young, inexperienced crew or a first time director. My only comments were a few strange cuts made to the final edit, but otherwise it was a flawless film. I loved the characters, the story, the humor- all seemed realistic and relatable. I think it's crazy that Anna, Victor and Philip didn't get a writing credit on this! I can't imagine, especially having watched the series, that this- at all resembles the original script from Drew. Aside from character names and motivations, probably.

Having seen a bit of how the sausage is made, it probably skewed my opinion a little, but all the jokes landed, all the beats were there and I felt for all the characters. It was, in the truest sense of the word- a "good" film. It was full of heart and laughs and felt like probably the truest coming-of-age story I've ever seen. We really enjoyed it and I would recommend this to everyone we know.

Congrats Anna and crew for making a much better film than Shane's crapfest. I never had more respect for Zacahry Quinto than when he walked away from the other film via principle. (You gotta watch "The Chair" on Starz or Tubi).

Watched this on Amazon Prime. A movie about college students going home for Thanksgiving and how their lives are changing. The basic scenario for this flick has been done 100 times before, but what makes this movie stand out are the well constructed characters that you can empathise with. Together with good actors, great direction and fine music this small budget Indie movie is a definite thumbs up.

Spoiled Rich kids who look like they never touched a drug in their lives sitting around getting high for no reason...all the time. The drug use in this film just did not fit the storyline that was happening. Its like they put it in just to appeal to a certain audience who would never go to see this kind of move to begin with. Plus most of the all WHITE female cast looked alike. In the beginning its confusing because you can not tell who is who. I am not a fan of Shane Dawson's version of this movie either. But this move was just as bad if not worse. I do not feel like I know these characters, I don't feel like I got to know who they were. Which means I could care less about what was going on with them. I liked the core idea of the film. That is why I gave it a 2.

I want to give this a 6.5 but they don't allow decimal point ratings and im a tough grade so not willing to step up to a 7 . This film doesn't habe quite the budget or acting or writing talent of thr above listed films ..but it most definitely captures the essence of that coming of age phase in a young adults life when they are at a lifes crossroads...searching for something with meaning , despite not knowing what meaning that may be and only caring that somehow they find something that allows them to remember how to FEEL ...some of the comedy is forced but the relationship dynamics and events are very real and close to home fkr anyone whos ever been in that place...there is a striking resemblance to Garden State here and I only wanted to post for those of you who adored that movie as I did this is a nice low budget way to scratch the surface of connecting to another group of characters in a way we haven't been able to do to too often since Garden state was released. And in fairness this is virtually a first or second run for most of this cast and in that regard they held their own absolutely fine and there is a clear light at the end of the tunnel for what looks to be several promising young careers ...if you're looking for something light and refreshing with ever so slightly slivers of introspection being offered give this one a shot ...

I watched both this, and "Not Cool" to officially do the "Chair" experiment, and neither film was great, and neither film was terrible either.

After seeing the trailers for both I definitely had much higher hopes for "Hollidaysburg" over "Not Cool".

In the end though the film was nothing amazing as the trailer might suggest. It really wasn't that funny, I didn't feel much chemistry between the leads, and it was a little bit slow and awkward, but not in a good way.

It did have some moments though, it was shot nicely, and I did really like the music. Beyond that it was just OK. The best part about it though would be how it captured the FEELING of being home on break and some of that drama, which is the only thing the film really did well, and did better then "Not Cool" in that regard.

Beyond that though "Not Cool" was silly, but had a few jokes and actually surprised me a little after I Watched it in that I actually did care about the characters a little by the end, and that film had a few moments as well. (I also though felt no chemistry between the characters in Not Cool for the most part as well.) "Not Cool" was also not particularly funny after the first 10 minutes, and not a particularly good film either.

So, bottom line, "Not Cool" gets an OK 5, and Hollidaysburg gets a slightly better, but still "OK" 7. Thats about all I can give it, as neither film was great, but they both had some decent moments and some (occasional) laughs. Hollidaysburg's FEELING of thanksgiving break was much more authentic then "Not Cool"s though and that was the difference for me.

Definitely no masterpiece, and better then "Not Cool", but that really isn't saying much. It was OK.