Review from my VOD column "This Week on Demand".

Disowned upon release by screenwriter David McKenna, who condemned it as “revolting, offensive and childish”, Larry Clark’s third directorial outing Bully deserves far worse than its own scribe gave it, being as it is an unconvincingly plotted, unattractively shot, indescribably awful work of borderline-paedophilic pornography. Not content to make comment of any sort with his true-life story of a band of friends who conspire to murder one of their own when his domineering behaviour begins to overpower their lives, Clark instead spends his time shoving his camera between the legs of his female leads or spinning it senselessly about in circles as his performers, devoid of rational direction or a decent…

Watched for the Adapted April Challenge.

I haven’t hate watched something as maddening or frustrating as Bully in quite some time. I’m not sure what end result that the film is trying to reach. All I saw was a jumbled mess that combines a superficial dealing of a nearly non-existent subject matter, poor characters, character building and acting, and a garish style that can’t even be enjoyed due to the misguided direction of the film.

Lets start with the premise, which could have made for an interesting movie by the way. A group of friends who are all harassed by one of their peers eventually plot to kill the abuser. The fact that this is based off of real events…

I'm surprised that I actually made it through this, to be honest. I had to keep stopping and taking breaks from it.

For a film called Bully this film has an incredibly weak position on the concept. The titular tormentor is perhaps the best-acted in the film (but that's not really saying much) but one of the least fleshed out. I see a lot of symptoms of his problems, but not any causes. This could have been a good opportunity to make a statement about bullies and how we tolerate (or do not tolerate) them in our society .. but no. It's just a mess.

It needs a better script. It needs either better actors or better direction for the…

Week 1 of the Adapted April Challenge.

A group of kids decide to murder one of their friends who has been the bane of their existence. Bully is frustrating to watch because these kids are so carried away with drugs and alcohol abuse that instead of getting help they commit a murder. It happens everyday in society, kids turn to suicide or crime to help deal with the issues surrounding bullying.

The film as a whole doesn't cover the subject as well as it should, but by being rooted in a real-life incident it does become more powerful. It also gets better as it progresses, it takes a while for the story developed but when it does it is quite…

I'm surprised that I actually made it through this, to be honest. I had to keep stopping and taking breaks from it.

For a film called Bully this film has an incredibly weak position on the concept. The titular tormentor is perhaps the best-acted in the film (but that's not really saying much) but one of the least fleshed out. I see a lot of symptoms of his problems, but not any causes. This could have been a good opportunity to make a statement about bullies and how we tolerate (or do not tolerate) them in our society .. but no. It's just a mess.

It needs a better script. It needs either better actors or better direction for the…

Watched for the Adapted April Challenge.

I haven’t hate watched something as maddening or frustrating as Bully in quite some time. I’m not sure what end result that the film is trying to reach. All I saw was a jumbled mess that combines a superficial dealing of a nearly non-existent subject matter, poor characters, character building and acting, and a garish style that can’t even be enjoyed due to the misguided direction of the film.

Lets start with the premise, which could have made for an interesting movie by the way. A group of friends who are all harassed by one of their peers eventually plot to kill the abuser. The fact that this is based off of real events…

Week 1 of the Adapted April Challenge.

A group of kids decide to murder one of their friends who has been the bane of their existence. Bully is frustrating to watch because these kids are so carried away with drugs and alcohol abuse that instead of getting help they commit a murder. It happens everyday in society, kids turn to suicide or crime to help deal with the issues surrounding bullying.

The film as a whole doesn't cover the subject as well as it should, but by being rooted in a real-life incident it does become more powerful. It also gets better as it progresses, it takes a while for the story developed but when it does it is quite…