Notes from Melanie

Ok where do I start? Bad title. Actress was ok but the actor was awful. Script is bad. Most of the jokes fall flat. Dialogue is bad. Direction is ok but too much shaky cam. Way too much cheap hokie looking CG. So to summarise; its not good.

I cant help thinking Chris would tear this to pieces if he was reviewing it. If he wants to make genuinely good films he needs to give it 100% of his attention. This feels like a half assed side project inbetween reviews.

The acting was alright. The only thing I liked was the b movie guy that made me chuckle a few times. The rest was just meh, felt long because I had no interest what these two actors were talking about. Just my opinion.

Going into this I thought, "Well he seems to know a lot about movies so this should be decent." Well turns out I was wrong. This movie is horrible. The first problem is the tone. It's like some kind of weird back n forth from awkward comedy to the serious path of a struggling film maker which is obviously Chris Stuckmann's film-making path put into this movie. I wouldn't mind the comedy if it wasn't spoken by two mediocre actors with no chemistry which points back to bad directing.

Last problem is its almost all handheld cam and if you pay attention hard enough you can see the camera shaking like someone is having a panic attack mid-scene. Really not needed and again bad directing choice. Only good thing I'll say is Flickinger's performance because it seems like he really wanted to show out for Chris. Other than that bad.

I liked the bits showing the fake movies. The Melanie character seems perpetually outraged which made it very hard to watch. I like Stuckmann's reviews plenty and he seems to do camerawork very well, but he's not great at writing dialogue. He's a talented guy, so I'm sure he'll improve with time.

For years, Chris Stuckmann has given us some of the greatest movie reviews on the internet. His reviews are less reviews and more like breakdowns on the given films. With someone who clearly understands movies, I was curious to see what Chris Stuckmann was able to create.

His first short film reminds me that it's not easy to create a Hollywood picture. This main character reflects Stuckmann's desire to create movies and because of that we begin to relate with him. It's also touching and sweet, which is what these types of shorts should be. Great work Chris. We all love you.