This, I thought, was a satire. It's not...What it is a story about con men who dupe some down on their luck types to steal from those who dare to dream. As such it quite depressing, but somehow it becomes entertainment as well. This fact is due to two actor's excellent performances which bring characters Martin and Clarence to life. Pat Healy and Kene Holiday make this movie and I will, from now on, always know who these guys are. Check them out here and you'll likely be instant fans too. This movie isn't fast paced or wonderfully enjoyable, but is seems real with the right amount of entertainment value to keep you interested. I give it a 7 and a recommendation as such.

Great World of Sound (2007)

I've suddenly grown tired of Indie films like this. And there are a lot of them. So this is a bad vibes review. Sorry.

Here's what I mean. There is a clever plot here, as usual, and some great low key acting, and the most drab and functional photography and editing. That's understandable (if not forgivable--good photography is free, but that's another story).

But what's with the awkward nerdy reclusive oddball main characters. They're lovable, and I suppose they are meant to be a counterpart to the glitz of Hollywood's stars. But they are starting to imitate themselves. That is, I think Indie producers and directors and eventually actors are playing, on purpose, Indie parts, with an Indie style. It's lovable, but it's worn thin.

So here we are, with a cute and slightly clever plot about the well known scam of small time record companies (quote unquote) who suck the millions of aspiring musicians into spending money on CDs that will never get airplay. I've seen it happen to a few people, over time, and there have even been dangles of fame, a has been musician wandering through the studio at the same time, that kind of thing. Who doesn't have a thousand dollars once in a lifetime for a dream that might not come true? Why not die knowing you wasted a little money for that good intention?

And so these two very nice, somewhat naive men fall into the racket. They are victims themselves, and they create a trail of victims behind them. It's really charming and warm and maddening in all the right proportions. It's a pretty good story.

But it's very mediocre, too, on purpose. It doesn't strive for greatness in the old sense of the "art of the cinema," as Hitchcock would say. This is about modest means, but also modest goals. And so the goals get met, and we have a modest movie. Enjoyable, yes. Amazing, no. Not even a little.

And for me, I'd rather have a failed attempt at amazing than a successful stab at pretty darned good. Go ahead, have some fun watching it, and forgive me.

A musician talent search company, Great World of Sound (GWS),trains salesmen to go out and find talent. Once found, the deal pressed on the budding musicians is that they have to commit to paying 30% of the costs of producing and distributing CDs. Some of that money is extracted before the artist sets foot in a recording studio. Cash or a check payable to GWS, which also happens to be the initials of the owner. Sounds fishy? You bet it is.

The point of this comedy is that the musicians are not the only suckers in this scam; the salesmen are too. The ultimate crooks are the company bosses who close shop and disappear when enough money has been collected. The salesmen are lucky if they get their last paycheck.

The performers you see are actual musicians. Eighty percent of them did not know ahead of time that the auditions given in cheap motel rooms were fake. What you see and hear is the real thing. Twenty percent knew they were filmed but did not know what the filmmaker's project was about. Only two of the performers were scripted.

There are a lot of auditions. The film comes close to having one too many.

Best word play: one of the bosses talks about GWS begin a "conduit for talent". Read "con-duit".