Poolhall Junkies | | Cast : | Mars Callahan, Chazz Palminteri, Michael Rosenbaum | | Director : | Mars Callahan | | Studio : | Warner Home Video | | Format : | Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen, Box set, Dolby | | Released Date : | March 21, 2003 | | DVD Released Date : | February 08, 2005 | | Language : | English (Dubbed), French (Dubbed), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), French (Subtitled) | | Audience Rating : | R (Restricted) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | March 08, 2005 | | Summary | Fast-paced, good action | Content
 | "Poolhall Junkies" is a fast-paced, quick-moving story about a pool player, who is finally realizing tow big things:
1.) Pool is what he does....No other job will satisfy him the same way that pool does.
2.) He needs to start playing better competition. It is mentioned many times that our main character has never played a "pro" and that he is easily capable of beating one.
The movie is really good. Well-written and contains some witty dialogue. This movie is not like the classic "The HUstler" or "The Color of Money" in that it is not about hustlers. In fact, our main characters do not care for hustlers. THey are very blatant about how good at pool they are and are not afraid to tell that to people before they play them. That was what I liked most about the movie, besides the wonderful performance by the legendary Christopher Walken. His character steals every seen that he is in. Basically, Walken is a "backer" for our main character. Walken places the bets, our main character reaps the benefits.
I guess, I should be a little more clear on what I mean by "hustling" when I say that our main characters do not do it. True "hustlers" will walk into a pool hall and act as if they are just regular guys, trying to have fun. They will lose small money games to chumps in the hopes that the "chumps" will want to raise the ante. At some point, the "hustler" decides to start dominating and beats the "chump".
In this movie, our main characters are very open about how god they are at pool. They hustle, but in a totally different way.
For example, (I will give you one hustle that is used by Rick Shroeder's character...DO NOT READ THE FOLLOWING PARAGRAPH IF YOU DO NOT WANT A SMALL PORTION OF THIS FILM TO BE REVEALED)
Rick Shroeder's character walks into a pool hall and offers to play one of the main characters for $100.00 a game. He states that he will "spot" the main character 4 balls, meaning that Rick Shroeder has to break the balls, then out main character gets to knock 4 of his own balls into the pockets. Shroeder wins the first, second third games and so on. Our main character is clueless. THis is a classic hustle, still used in poolhalls today. Shroeder breaks, then 4 of his opponents balls are taken off of the table. Any fool knows that when you take away any of your opponents balls, it only gives you more room and space to shoot at your own balls. Hence, Shroeder's character runs the table everytime, because he is good enough to do so AND he has extra table space to operate with.
There are many scenes like this in the movie and the ending one is awesome.
If you like pool and Christopher Walken, you can't miss on this movie. IF not, it is still worth checking out.
HAppy Trails! |
| Rating | | | Date | February 17, 2005 | | Summary | Better Off Not Even Rented (B.O.N.E.R.) | Content
| I am not going to waste much time on this review. This is what you need to know:
This movie rips-off the dialog, pool shot set-ups, and cinematography ideas of the two definative billiards movies: The Hustler and The Color of Money. The acting is plastic at best. The dialog is so predictable that it will bore you to tears or so preposterous that you will laugh until you cry. This is not a good movie and you will be wasting your money if you buy it. Even if you rent it, you will wonder if you can get your money back. Stick to the original classics and you can't go wrong. |
| Rating | | | Date | February 09, 2005 | | Summary | Sleek and slick with the stick | Content
| I think Ebert said it best in his review..."Is this a great movie? Not at all. Is it more or less consistently entertaining? Yes."
What makes this an interesting film is not its predeliction for sticking to formulaic devices. That is the reason many critics panned the film. They failed to look past the originality factor and just sit back and enjoy a well crafted and acted movie. This film was designed with style and fun, that you are sucked into Johnny's pool playing.
Let me start by saying Mars Callahan reminded me a lot of John Cusack in this film. And that's not a bad thing. He mixes confidence with style and ends up at times to be pulling a Vince Vaughn (ala the scene where he pulls the waiter aside, "Excuse me, handsome, you got anything else in this joint besides champagne?"). He has four lackeys who idolize him who often add humorous conversations to the movie.
When Johnny is having fun, the viewer is having fun. A notable difference from Rounders is the girl isnt nearly as annoying. Where I felt I needed to shoot her in Rounders, here she is more tolerant of the main character.
Walken brings a nice touch to the film, but he could have been used a bit more. His relationship with Johnny is barely touched upon, but more or less implied by what he ends up doing for him. A little more development in that respect would have been nice. We get a more defined relationship between Joe and Johnny earlier in the film, therefore by the time the end of the film rolls around, one would have liked to see how Johnny went from one mentor to another, so to speak. Walken doesn't need to tell Johnny how to play or where to play, but he just shows up more for convenience than anything.
Even Johnny's brother, Danny, goes from rational to irrational, just from a game of pool. It takes a couple of scenes to show how much the game can alter someone's future.
Despite sticking to formula, and injecting some trickery with rhetoric, the film was highly enjoyable. Some will label it Swingers meets Rounders meets Gone in 60 Seconds, but whatever the comparisons, Poolhall Junkies is a film worthy of its own merit. I mean, how many times have you seen a movie take recycled material and actually make it worth watching? Poolhall Junkies does in a big way. |
| Rating | | | Date | February 07, 2005 | | Summary | Pool Hall Skunks..... | Content
| Oh what a stinker........
I had high hopes for this film -- especailly since I had been hearing about it from Mike Massey on and off for a year or so. Mike was convinced that this was going to be bigger than the Color of Money. Fortunately Mike knows a lot more about pool than he does about acting and his skills on the table will keep him and Francine fed.
From top to bottom this movie was a self-serving skunk and probably did more to hurt the image of pool than even Earl Strickland does.
The plot was thin. The shooting not much more than trick shots and every third word was f**k. Not a movie I could take my kids to or even my wife.
Give it a miss
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| Rating | | | Date | November 08, 2004 | | Summary | Wanna be pool buffs????? Are you on crack dude. | Content
| Hey, K. L. Proctor "klpcompudude"
First of all, the guy Mars Callahan is an actual player you moron! He wasn't just some guy off the streets that didn't know how to hold a stick! Maybe you should do research before you open your uneducated mouth about a subject, so you wont look stupid. For example:
You said, "Mike Massey wasn't on the movie" ?????? Man I don't know if I should laugh or cry to just how stupid you sound. He asked Mars Callahan's character if he was on the roster to play in a tournament then introduced Mars to his friends in a loby/bar in another part of the facility.
The hits just keep on coming, K.L ..The reason the Silver Spoons kid let the guy put all his balls in the pocket was so he could have a clear shot on all his object balls run the table and make it look like he doesn't have the upper hand, which in fact he did.. It was a con you idiot!!
Just because you saw acouple of black and whites, Know acouple names like Minisota Fats, and Jackie Gleason, doesn't make you an expert nor sound smart.
I'm 25 years old and been playing since I was 12. I've been to bars and played people who hustled me by pulling off shots you could only pay to see. I myself had hustled people as well. And by your post it sounds like you dont know what you're talking about regarding this movie, the game, and the people who play it!
And can you think outside the box and wonder to yourself, maybe he wanted to make an up dated version of those classic pool movies? Anyways people like you give me a head ach. |
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