Project X | Cinema Parrot Disco

Happy Birthday to William Sadler, who turns 67 today.

Sadler is a great “Hey, it’s that guy!“. I doubt many people other than hardcore movie fans could name him but most people will know his face. He’s been in 165 things according to IMDb. I’m a fan thanks mainly to his Frank Darabont/Stephen King connections. I wish Darabont, King, and Darabont’s usual favorite actors would work together all the time! Come on, Darabont – would you hurry up & adapt King’s fantastic The Long Walk?! And please once again give Sadler at least a small role. And Jeffrey DeMunn! Okay – I’m getting off topic. I just love Darabont’s King adaptations & he’s had the rights to The Long Walk, a favorite of mine, for ages. I. WANT. TO. SEE. IT. NOW. 😉

Sadler’s Darabont/King movies may be my favorites but my favorite role has to be his Grim Reaper in Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey. He stole the show in that one – I wonder if he’s fond of that role? He should be! I think he got to play quite a different character in that film & he really stood out. It would be cool to see him in more unusual roles like that one. But not necessarily lead roles – sometimes it’s cool to be a “Hey, it’s that guy!” guy.

As always, I’ll count down to my favorite films as opposed to performance. What a great, mixed bag to choose from. Here are My Top Ten William Sadler Movies:

The Other Two I’ve Seen:

12. Hard To Kill
11. Disturbing Behavior

Top Ten:

10. Man On A Ledge

9. August Rush

8. K-9 (Haha! Can’t even find a picture of Sadler in this as “Salesman Don”. So here’s James Belushi & the dog…)

7. Iron Man 3

6. Die Hard 2

5. Project X

4. Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey

3. The Mist

2. The Green Mile

1. The Shawshank Redemption

Sadler has also been in lots of TV shows, some of which I’ve seen him in, but the one movie of his that I’ve not yet seen but really want to is Rush starring Jennifer Jason Leigh, Jason Patric & Sam Elliott (stud).

Here’s Sadler as Death with Bill & Ted. Best two out of three!

Hmm. Not sure where to start with this review.

As I’ve mentioned before, I’m of the age where I grew up with and am a lover of 80s teen movies, especially the John Hughes ones. So I’m probably just too old to enjoy Project X. Through the whole thing I kept thinking to myself “Would I think this was the greatest movie EVER if I was a teenager right now?”. Well, I’m sure I’d like it a bit more but I still don’t think it would be a favorite.

I think it’s fair to say that I do still love teen movies. When they’re actually good… My favorite film of 2012 was The Perks Of Being A Wallflower. Since the year 2000, I also liked Juno, Charlie Bartlett, Nick And Norah’s Infinite Playlist, and Scott Pilgrim. Okay – so from that list I obviously don’t go for the ones that are TOO mainstream & vulgar but I have nothing against those if they’re good or at least funny (yes, I like the American Pie movies and, shamefully, Harold & Kumar!). So it’s not because of anything vulgar or the (completely expected) loads of naked titties that made me not able to really get into Project X.

I don’t know where to go with this review now. I think it’s because I find it a lot harder to review “meh” movies than really good or really bad ones. This movie was meh. The characters were bland & I couldn’t relate to a single one of them in any sort of way (the main guy wasn’t too bad but his obnoxious friend was obnoxious in an unfunny and annoying way instead of in an entertaining Stifler way). The “funny” bits weren’t funny (other than maybe the “ball puncher”) and, quite frankly, the vulgar bits probably weren’t vulgar enough. And… This was meant to be a “found footage” film, right? Lol! I think they kept forgetting that they were meant to be filming it in that way.

I’ve spent too long on this. It’s not a really BAD film. I think it would have been much more enjoyable if they’d had better main characters – I think weak characters let the movie down more than anything.

Rating: 6/10

Watch these movies instead – the makers of Project X obviously did:

For a better “destroy dad’s car” movie:

For a better “kick ass flamethrower” movie:

For better “jump off the roof mostly into pools” movies (well, the first more than the second):

For a better drunken “destroy your parents’ house” party movie (the obvious biggest influence on Project X – I kept expecting a missile to come up through the house and for mutant bikers to show up):