OK, so we went to the Phoenix Film Festival and saw some more movies, and overall the thought on my mind is this: Why celebrate mediocrity? WHY? Is it someone's attempt to get into heaven someday by being "nice" to the people who don't measure up to the rest of their peers? Well, eff that. It's stupid.

It's because the movie we watched last night was HORRIBLE. Bad writing, flat, uninvolved acting, crappy music and even bad lighting. The movie was so bad that I don't even want to name it here, lest someone search for this movie and I inadvertently give it some free, blogosphere-press.

Yet the film festival CELEBRATES the everloving crap out of these filmmakers, and I believe it is only because they are local boys. I think the festival believes it needs to showcase at least one showy Arizona-based film so that it shows its support for the Phoenix film industry. That's all fine and good, but for the love of God... don't bestow glory of the best kiss-ups or best schmoozers. Give it to someone that really is doing something WORTHY of praise. Even if it's just a very well-done short film, or a documentary... put that in the spotlight if you ever want this festival to gain any true clout within the film festival community. You cannot celebrate junk anymore, Phoenix Film Festival. You have to step up to the plate now that you've grown into an internationally-recognized organization and are getting better and better submissions every year. Raise the bar. Don't lower it for the locals, PLEASE.

We watched the movie last night, and at the end the audience clapped and cheered, and the filmmakers were in attendance to answer a Q&A. A good number of people--my husband and I included-- filed out of the theater even as the filmmakers started talking. I'm glad that at least some members of that audience weren't lulled into a false sense of enjoyment just because local people wrote and filmed this movie in our fair city. I'm relieved at least some people have some semblance of self-respect and sense of what's good and what sucks. The people who left give me hope that next year's festival might not give such shitty work a showcase of such large proportions. The people want quality. Not "oooh, look, that's my bank in the background, they filmed that near my house!" bullshit.

Oh, and one more thing: Year of the Dog? Skip it.

I won't get into it as much as I could because I am about to leave for the day, but I went into this film with such high expectations. The movie promised to discuss topics like factory farming, fur, shelter euthanasia and animal rescue, and I was so happy to see a mainstream movie tackling this stuff in the context of a plot. BUT...it quickly veered off track. It became about how nuts people who are into humane treatment of animals can be. It was a showcase of all the cliched ideas of 'animal rights people' and how they go too far. It ended up making the main character into a completely psychopathic lunatic who winds up going so far with the animal thing that she has 15 dogs living in her house, she loses her job, stops washing her hair and lives in a bathrobe until the city impounds her dogs and she winds up with an open bag of snail poison (it's integral to the plot) and a hunting knife, waiting for her hunter- neighbor to come home so she can kill him. YEAH... thanks for that, movie. Thanks for going there. You really helped shine a light on the animal welfare issues; you helped the movement along so much.

I only hope this movie gets limited distribution, and bad reviews. Trust me, it sucks.

Well, on that note, I leave you with this: "Go that way, really fast. If something gets in your way...TURN."

Now THERE'S a film.