At The Movies with Bryan, the Wannabe Filmmaker

It’s really hard to describe the movie Head, it’s the kind of film that you will either love or absolutely hate; there is practically no middle ground. I belong to the former category myself, as I find it to be an extremely amusing, if dated, piece of film making.  It’s definitely a product of its time; the late 1960’s. It is a movie that is about nothing, but says everything about its leading actors, The Monkees.  It was an attempt by the Monkees to shed their squeaky clean teen idol image in hopes of ingratiating themselves with the counterculture.  Head is the ultimate “college” movie, but sadly, college students at the time just yawned with indifference; they would have rather been dead than sit through a movie starring those “musical hacks,” The Monkees. The studio, of course, was oblivious to this fact and gave Rafelson the green light to make  Head.  The movie baffled the group's initial fan base, who went in expecting a goofy comedy, but instead were treated to a

Milwaukee, Wisconsin – April 2001.   My Basic Elements of Film making instructor comes into the classroom completely irate; the source of her anger – the Josie and the Pussycats movie. She can’t believe that Hollywood has adapted a second rate Hanna Barbara cartoon into a full length theatrical feature.   It is, in her words, “the death of cinema!” It should be noted that she has not seen the movie, but has already declared it an “irredeemable piece of garbage.”    How can an adaptation of little loved 70s cartoon possibly be good?    She must have felt vindicated when Josie and the Pussycats opened not only to poor reviews, but box office as well. It was a financial failure; grossing a pathetic $14,886,015 (worldwide) on a $39 million budget.   The critics were especially harsh in their assessment of the films; Roger Ebert gave it half a star.   While it may not have been “the death of cinema,” it essentially ended the movie careers of directing/writing team of Deborah Ka