Colin Fitz Lives!

I'm normally pretty good about analyzing movies and reading-between-the- lines, but there are way too many pieces of this movie that are totally unnecessary. The dog, the wife of Colin Fitz, the kid with the gun, . Each of them were very VERY small pieces but none of them were complete pieces to contribute ANYTHING to the story. The 'comedy' was meh. Unless you get laughs out of socially awkward people, you'll only get a chuckle once or twice. I seriously don't understand how people could think of this movie as "The Best Film Never Released". I can see why it wasn't released, it's slow, incomplete in ideas, and ultimately the big climactic scene is essentially a 4 minute "life isn't that bad" speech. Absolutely no suspense like you should have when you first portray a character as a shady guy with a gun hiding in the shadows.

William Macy (Fargo) is the head of a rent-a-cop agency who puts his two men (comedian Andy Fowle and Matt McGrath) on duty guarding the grave of a famous rock star on the eve of the 5th anniversary of his death. Colin Fitz plays like Clerks except the dialogue is far less crude but just as hilarious, and the acting is loads better. Fowle's line "smells wicked beefy," his theories on Buddy Holly dropping acid, and the die-hard Swedish Fitz fans are worth the price of admission alone. The best American film of SIFF.

I saw the new version of this movie last month at a sneak preview in New York. I also saw the original film in 1997. I remember thinking the film was sweet and funny but I felt as though it was missing something, but I couldn't put my finger on what. I heard that the director had re- released the film from a friend of mine and we went to see the 'sneak sneak preview' of the new film. The director put in the music from Colin Fitz. It made a big difference. It blends together all of the elements, the fan interviews and the film footage. Aside from the music, he added some new interview footage from the fans, never seen before. They are really funny. It is hard to pick which fan is my favorite! I really like this film. It is not a big blockbuster, with lot's of special effects or gimmicks. It is just a really good script with some really good actors. There is something to be said for that. It is just a really nice ride, cruising along with the top down and the radio on. If it ever comes your way, you should try and see it.

William Macy (Fargo) is the head of a rent-a-cop agency who puts his two men (comedian Andy Fowle and Matt McGrath) on duty guarding the grave of a famous rock star on the eve of the 5th anniversary of his death. Colin Fitz plays like Clerks except the dialogue is far less crude but just as hilarious, and the acting is loads better. Fowle's line "smells wicked beefy," his theories on Buddy Holly dropping acid, and the die-hard Swedish Fitz fans are worth the price of admission alone. The best American film of SIFF.

1st watched 1/8/2012 – 7 out of 10(Dir-Robert Bella): Funny spoof and comedy about a couple of security guards who get the job of watching the grave of a dead rock star on the 5th anniversary of his demise. The movie is kind of two movies in one – a spoof of the dead rock star named Colin Fitz(and in general our idolization of these folk) and a good buddy comedy with the two security guards butting heads because of their differences in their personalities. The movie is written well from start to finish and very funny with it's only real downside being the ending. Despite most of the movie being intelligent,funny and well-thought out – the ending was just downright goofy and didn't make much sense. Matt McGrath and Andy Fowle play the mis-matched guards with one being an artsy kind of touchy-feely person and the other kind of a macho, story-telling emotionally closed person. Their banter is hilarious because of their differences. They supposedly have this job because the year before a clone of the rock star killed some cult followers with tainted grape juice on the site, and the ex-wife doesn't want anything like this to happen again. Well this doesn't – but a lot of other things do. I like the fact that the movie doesn't resort to crude humor and doesn't have to have big-time stars carrying the lines. The lines just work as they are written. There are many unique characters and strange things that happen during the night that make the movie move very fast and is very watcheable. Apparently, the movie didn't get a distributor on it's initial run at the Sundance film festival but was picked up by the channel 10 years later and then got some distribution, finally around 2010. This is another example why Hollywood doesn't know what their doing, but thankfully the movie survives and can be seen – if you see it playing where you're at, don't miss it.

I'm normally pretty good about analyzing movies and reading-between-the- lines, but there are way too many pieces of this movie that are totally unnecessary. The dog, the wife of Colin Fitz, the kid with the gun, . Each of them were very VERY small pieces but none of them were complete pieces to contribute ANYTHING to the story. The 'comedy' was meh. Unless you get laughs out of socially awkward people, you'll only get a chuckle once or twice. I seriously don't understand how people could think of this movie as "The Best Film Never Released". I can see why it wasn't released, it's slow, incomplete in ideas, and ultimately the big climactic scene is essentially a 4 minute "life isn't that bad" speech. Absolutely no suspense like you should have when you first portray a character as a shady guy with a gun hiding in the shadows.

I saw the new version of this movie last month at a sneak preview in New York. I also saw the original film in 1997. I remember thinking the film was sweet and funny but I felt as though it was missing something, but I couldn't put my finger on what. I heard that the director had re- released the film from a friend of mine and we went to see the 'sneak sneak preview' of the new film. The director put in the music from Colin Fitz. It made a big difference. It blends together all of the elements, the fan interviews and the film footage. Aside from the music, he added some new interview footage from the fans, never seen before. They are really funny. It is hard to pick which fan is my favorite! I really like this film. It is not a big blockbuster, with lot's of special effects or gimmicks. It is just a really good script with some really good actors. There is something to be said for that. It is just a really nice ride, cruising along with the top down and the radio on. If it ever comes your way, you should try and see it.

I saw Colin Fitz at the Long Island Film Festival in 1997, and have been waiting ever since to see it again. This film is a perfect example of all that is wrong with the film business -- not because there's anything wrong with the movie. The problem is that this film should have been a big hit, but was never even released. I understand there was a legal battle involving the film that hampered efforts to get distribution, but I don't think that was the only problem. I believe that no distributor was willing to sign on because they didn't know how to sell a film about two guys spending the night in a cemetery. How about this: "This is a great, intelligent, well-acted, hilarious movie. You'll love it!" But unfortunately, it had no big stars, and no explosions, and you couldn't sum up the story in three words, so it was left to die alone. How sad. If you ever have the chance to see this movie, by all means do so. You will not be disappointed.