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Behind the Eight Ball

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To say billiards has its own language is not an exaggeration. While much of the lingo is known only by the sport’s true insiders, at least a few billiards words and phrases have become mainstream. Perhaps, the best example is the idiom “behind the eight ball,” which means to be in trouble or at a disadvantage. 

Behind the Eight Ball (Daily News, 1929)

Behind the Eight Ball (Daily News, 1929)

There is a misconception the phrase originated from the game of eight ball. But, as multiple historians have noted, the game “eight ball” was not described by that name until circa 1940, whereas the phrase “behind the eight ball” shows up as early as 1923 in a column published by the Buffalo Evening Times. More likely, the idiom derives from the game of kelly pool, which emerged at the turn of the 20th century. 

The phrase saw its peak use in the mid 1940s, though it still remains popular today. Scan the news headlines and you’ll see the phrase used in all sorts of contexts.  “Is Bradenton (FL) ‘behind the eight ball’ with utility rates?” (Bradenton Herald). “Rand Paul says GOP behind the eight ball in mid terms” (Washington Times) “As fentanyl crisis evolves, experts say US is still ‘behind the eight ball’” (Al Jazeera). “Liverpool baseball digs out from ‘behind the eight ball’ for first playoff win” (Syracuse.com).

Behind the 8 ball (1942)Given the idiom’s ubiquity, it’s not surprising that “behind the eight ball” eventually made its way onto movie and TV episode titles. The trend likely began with the Ritz Brothers’ 1942 film Behind the Eight Ball, which is not about billiards, and has continued ever since. There is Behind the Eight Ball (about a speakeasy boss who doesn’t play nicely);  “Behind the Eight Ball” (from the reality show Yukon Gold about a mining crew); “Behind the Eight Ball” (from the short-lived 1960s series Broadside); “Behind the Eight Ball” (from the equally short lived Australian series Willing & Abel); Behind the 8-Ball (about a coke addict whose life is crumbling) ; and on and on. I’ve opted to ignore such non-billiards titles and focus my review on only those Behind the Eight Ball films and shows in which billiards is relevant to the story.

“Behind the Eight Ball,” Top of the Heap (1991)

If you were playing Before They Were Stars Bingo, you might have scored well turning the channel to this “Behind the Eight Ball” episode. Joining Matt LeBlanc (in his pre-Friends role) is Joey Lauren Adams (pre-Dazed and Confused) and Pamela Anderson (pre-Baywatch). But, if you were looking for a decent billiards episode, Top of the Heap is truly bottom of the barrel. Complementing the robotic acting and cringeworthy jokes is a real heap of billiards gaffes, such as pocketed balls reappearing on the table or the game of 9-ball played incorrectly.  My advice: skip the view, read my review.

Behind the 8 Ball (2010)

Behind the 8 Ball (2010)The only full-length film on this list, Behind the 8 Ball is 102 minutes of soapy, saccharine, sentimental stupidity. Directed by Mike Graveline, this Canadian film, featuring a cast of unknown actors, tells the story of Sam Evans, a 35-year old coffee shop owner, who shortly after losing his mother learns that his estranged father, who he has not seen since he was four, wants to rejoin his life.

Interesting premise, but the film derails quickly as it takes Sam and Dad maybe one shared beer before they’re BFFing over a game of pool. Dad is a professional pool player – or at least, a road player – who refers to the pool table as his “church,” and lectures Sam that “pool is a game of precision and heart” and you need to “pick a cue like you pick a woman.” But, if Sam is a billiards beginner, it doesn’t take this tenderfoot more than a couple of days before he and Dad are competing together in a local pool tournament. 

Fast-forward a couple of weeks and Dad needs to take out a $25,000 loan to compete in the World Players Pool Championship, the “most exclusive tournament in North America” with 40 people competing for a $1 million prize. (We’ll ignore that it is held at a local barroom and is sponsored by Cue Ball Hair Design.) But, when Dad’s coronary artery disease acts up and he needs a coronary bypass, it’s Sam who seizes the cue and proceeds to beat the best players on the continent. 

Rounding out this film’s unwatchability is the poor cinematography of the actual billiards. Most shots are not filmed; only players’ reactions to making shots. The few shots that are filmed are both pathetically easy and recycled across multiple matches. An acclaimed two-table trick shot is made off-camera. And don’t get me started on how these world-class players clearly don’t know how to hold a cue or make a stroke. 

“Behind the Eight Ball,” Mystery Diners (2014)

Mystery DinersMystery Diners was one of many undercover reality shows that covertly monitors employees at work. In this 2014 episode, Kent Lewis, the owner of Uptown Billiard Club in Portland, Oregon, decides to go deep cover to evaluate the questionable tactics of his newly hired social media marketer. His covert reconnaissance also reveals that his bartender is hustling patrons. As I wrote in my review of “Behind the Eight Ball,” Mystery Diners always suffered from a lack of credibility, and for many reasons, this particular episode felt laughably staged. Less humorous is Mr. Lewis’ cloak-and-dagger operation apparently could not save his pool hall. In 2019, they closed after 24 years of operation.

“Behind the 8 Ball,” Timber Kings (2017)

Talk about a sweet deal. Richard, the owner of the Laughing Loon Pub in Williams Lake, British Columbia tells the team at Pioneer Log Homes that if they make him a customized cedar pool table, he’ll give them an extra pour of his signature craft beer. At least, that’s the setup for the “Behind the 8 Ball” episode of Timber Kings, a Canadian reality show about the team at Pioneer Log Homes, which makes some of the most exquisite, sought after log homes around the world. This fourth season episode is light on drama or tension, save for a temporary setback when the reinforced bed is a smidgeon too high for the bumpers, but it’s impossible not to respect the craftsmanship and innovation, including using magnum shells for the diamond inlays. The episode is available to stream on Tubi.

Behind the 8 Ball (2019)

Behind the 8 Ball (2019)In 2019, Behind the 8 Ball won the Award of Merit at the Southern Shorts Awards Festival. While I couldn’t find the film online, I tracked down the festival’s director, who connected me to the film’s director Alejo Perera. In 14 years of writing this blog, I’ve connected with many, many film directors, and every one of them – except one – was happy to share their film with me. But, Mr. Perera replied to my inquiry quite differently. “You do not have permission to publish or list the film in the 8 Ball on the Silver Screen webpage. Please stop making efforts to obtain it.” Was the film that bad? So, my search continues. If you know anything about the film’s whereabouts, let me know.

“Behind the 8 Ball,” Bar Rescue (2021)

Like many hospitality establishments that emerged from COVID to reopen their doors, Griff’s Bar and Billiards in Las Vegas financially struggled. It didn’t help that the owner, Mark Griffin, who had a double lung transplant, got sick and needed to rely heavily on his general manager, Gary. Mark suspected the issue was not his 26 pool tables spanning 10,500 square feet; the problem was food and alcohol. What’s an owner to do but “pull back the doors, bust open the books, and make a call for Bar Rescue.” 

Bar Rescue - Behind the Eight BallThat’s the premise of the 2021 “Behind the 8 Ball” episode. Unlike the “Empty Pockets” episode from 2013, this one doesn’t focus on revitalizing billiards. It’s all about food quality (and unit costs), operational efficiency, a signature cocktail menu, and a management shakeup.  (Host Jon Taffer’s prescription is a little surprising, since the pool tables always appear empty, but I guess that interfered with the story arc.) There is one innovative, billiards-themed drink introduced – the Pool Cue Punch – but looking at their drink menu today, that cocktail has since been replaced with other pool potables, including the South Dakota Kid, the Color of Money, and the Duchess of Doom. “Behind the 8 Ball” is available to stream on Paramount+.

Behind the 8-Ball (2021)

Aside from its mention on IMDB, there is no trace of Zaman Khan’s short film Behind the 8-Ball about a man (Vincent) who experiences some strange occurrences in his home during his pool game. If you know anything about the film’s whereabouts, let me know.

Behind the 8 Ball (2024)

Behind the 8 Ball (2024)Unfortunately, I’m not going to recoup the 11 minutes I spent watching the 2024 short film Behind the 8 Ball.  The premise is intriguing: a professional gambler schemes with a naive pool player, but they come into conflict with a secret society controlling the world with pool. Even if I gave a pass to the poor acting and writing, I’m retching  over the repeated use of the miniature, portable pool table. The only interesting moment is when the rack of the billiards balls is equated with other similar triangular symbols, such as the Great Seal of the United States with its floating Eye of Providence, the Freemason logo, and the Triquetra (or the Irish Trinity Knot). The movie is viewable from the director’s website. But, remember that the triangular shape also appears as the universal warning icon, as in, “Warning: Do Not Watch.” 

Mr Doom: Behind the 8 Ball (2025)

Mr Doom.v4In 2023, I interviewed Leif Johnson about his forthcoming movie Mr Doom. At that time, the film had no subtitle. Now, fast-forward to the film’s release in 2025, and the film’s marketing has appended the subtitle Behind the 8 Ball. It’s a baffling and ultimately pointless decision. For starters, the film can stand on its own. As I shared in my review, it’s an enjoyable homage to The Color of Money – a film that thankfully avoided any “behind the eight ball” addendums. Mr Doom is also a unique title within the billiards movie genre. Unless some poor sap mistook it for a 38th entry in the MCU, I’m pretty confident the film didn’t warrant a marketing tagline that screams, “I’m about billiards!”

Behind the 8 Ball (2026)

Behind the 8 Ball (2026)The most recent entrant to “Behind the Eight Ball” zeitgeist is the high school student film Behind the 8 Ball released this May. That’s not a typo. The film was made by Olio Road Productions, a film production company created and run by Jeremiah Follis, a teacher at Hamilton Southeastern High School in Fishers, Indiana. An extension of the school’s Film Studio program, Olio Road Productions assembles students from across the high school and tasks them with every component that goes into making a full-length movie. Casting, acting, set design, scriptwriting, costumes, makeup, music, artwork – it’s all done by high school students over the course of the school year.  This year’s film is about a financially troubled high school senior who bets her future on a pool tournament, only to discover the real game is deciding what kind of life she wants to live. While I have not yet connected with Mr. Follis to watch the film, a trailer is available on the company’s website.

By this point, I hope you no longer feel ‘behind the eight ball’ about your knowledge of movies and TV episodes spawned by the popular phrase. I also hope it’s many years before I’m telling you about the next Behind the Eight Ball film, but I suspect it will likely only be months (or weeks). As for me, I’m going to resist the temptation to now explore the etymology of the phrase “behind the nine ball,” especially if the atrocious billiards movie Behind the Nine is any indication of what lies ahead.

96 Pounds of Dynamite

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I say this in the most positive way possible: there is nothing inherently novel about a pool player with disabilities. 

96 Pounds of DynamiteIn the early 1900s, “Handless” George Sutton, with no arms below the elbows, competed against professionals like Willie Hoppe. Across the pond, the one-armed champion Arthur Goundrill was making famous trick shots. Today, Jason Ruggirello competes in the Mid-Michigan American Pool Players Association, though he’s legally blind. William DeYonker is a world-renowned trick shot player who was diagnosed with autism at age 4. Mohammad Ikram is an armless snooker sensation from Pakistan. And, of course, Shane Van Boening is one of the greatest living players, though he is legally deaf. 

All of these individuals are impressive and admirable, and to this list, we should add 52-year-old Chad “Shorty” McDaniel, who was born with brittle bone disease (Osteogenesis Imperfecta), diagnosed to have six weeks to live, and today competes in regional and national amateur pool championships.

But, that’s not what makes 96 Pounds of Dynamite, a 2026 documentary about Mr. McDaniel, so incredibly compelling. If the director Loren Goldfarb simply wanted to make a film about a disabled individual defying expectations by competing in pool, he could have chosen any number of people. In fact, billiards may be one of the only sports that has professional venues for disabled players, including the National Wheelchair Poolplayers Association (NWPA) and the World Disability Billiards and Snooker (WDBS).

Rather, 96 Pounds of Dynamite entertains and inspires because Mr. McDaniel is truly 96 pounds of dynamite – his self-coined sobriquet! Whether seated in his 300-pound Big Bounder wheelchair, or “scooting” across the room, Mr. McDaniel crackles with energy, humor, irreverence, and moxie. From the film’s opening words – “I’ve had people stare at me my whole life” – Mr. McDaniel demands that his viewer abandon any kind of pity party and instead not only respect him, but even envy him for a life that brims with love, friendship, and accomplishment.

“People are going to naturally go, ‘Oh, the poor little handicapped guy.’ Once I open my mouth, I shut that shit down real quick…Napoleon complex, here. That ship sailed off the other way a long time ago,” quips Mr. McDaniel. “I don’t see difficulties the way you normies see them…Adapt and overcome, that’s who I am,” he shares, repeating a refrain that easily could have been the film’s alternate title. 

96 Pounds of Dynamite - Chad at tableOn the surface, 96 Pounds of Dynamite is about Mr. McDaniel’s pursuit to compete in the American Poolplayers Association (APA) Championship, the world’s largest amateur pool tournament, with almost $1 million of prize money. Held at the Westgate Resort in Las Vegas, the tournament has more than 3500 players competing. 

Mr. McDaniel first began shooting pool at age 11. “That pool table don’t care if you’re 2’8” or 6’8”, the game’s the same,” he explains. He plays with a custom bridge that “evolved as an engineering project.” It was originally something his father made for him with PVC pipe; today it is a ¾ inch metal conduit with 10-penny nails welded at various positions. A custom cue with a 30-inch fiber extension allows him to get the necessary reach across the table. 

Throughout the film, Mr. McDaniel’s shot–making varies between amazing and terrible. “Some days you’re the dog, some days you’re the hydrant,” he japes. (The film is overflowing with such memorable witticisms.) It’s initially fascinating to watch Mr. McDaniel shoot, and then it’s rather mundane, much like watching any amateur player. 

But, Mr. Goldfarb prudently doesn’t allow 96 Pounds of Dynamite to get overweighted by the billiards; in fact, pool is probably less than a third of the film’s 79-minute runtime.

Instead, Mr. Goldfarb expertly weaves in a detailed medical explanation of Osteogenesis Imperfecta (OI); a brief history of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA); and a return to rural Columbia, Mississippi, where Mr. McDaniel grew up and encountered discrimination first-hand, such as the school’s efforts to make him the trunk of the Christmas tree in the school play or to schedule the honor classes on the second floor, inaccessible because there was no elevator. Even his wheelchair became the topic of a lawsuit.

96 Pounds of Dynamite - Chad smilingAlong the way, we also meet Mr. McDaniel’s wife Allison (who also has OI), his mother Jensie, and his pool league friends. There is plenty of laughter and, sadly, plenty of loss concentrated in the short number of months when filming was underway.  

I won’t give away how the tournament concludes, but I will say 96 Pounds of Dynamite is a positive, upbeat movie that leaves no question that Mr. McDaniel “likes living life.” He “do[es] life.” May the rest of us follow his wheelchair tracks.

96 Pounds of Dynamite is now streaming on Amazon and AppleTV. It includes a cameo appearance by the “Striking Viking,” APA Ambassador Ewa Mataya Laurance, and is executive produced by Jeanette “Black Widow” Lee, who knows a thing or two about overcoming obstacles.

O Jogo Da Vida

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The silver screen is crammed with colorful, beautiful pool hustlers, ranging from the genre’s most famous sharks – Fast Eddie Felson (The Hustler), Vincent Lauria (The Color of Money), Johnny Doyle (Poolhall Junkies) – to the lesser-known, but equally eccentric and striking  players – e.g. Diana (Double Down South), Billy Joe Doyle (The Baron and the Kid), and Jesse (Hard Luck Love Song).

O Jogo Da VidaMalagueta, Perus and Bacanaço, the trio at the center of Maurice Capovilla’s 1977 Brazilian film O Jogo Da Vida definitely break the mold. They live on the periphery, in the underbelly, stealing food, wearing ill-fitting clothing, and barely eking out a living. Roaming dirty streets and decrepit pool halls, the threesome cannily survive, seeking out brief pockets of joy or lucre in an otherwise colorless and relentless São Paulo.

O Jogo Da Vida  is an adaptation of the 1963 short story “Malagueta, Perus e Bacanaço” by João Antônio. It is the titular centerpiece of his debut collection, Malagueta, Perus e Bacanaço, which examined the upheaval and transformation of 1960s Brazil through the eyes and actions of hustlers, gamblers, and pool sharks who flitter on the periphery of society, angling for a dollar and navigating an urban jungle of poverty, grift and marginality. The story presents the streets as unpredictable and unforgiving, but also as a central hub of misfit camaraderie. 

Critics loved the stories, heralding Antônio as the new voice of urban modernism. Perhaps, it’s therefore unsurprising that the director Capovilla assumed translating the story to the screen would be similarly profound. He cast a trio of highly acclaimed Brazilian actors as Malagueta, the inveterate gambler, Perus, the ex-factory worker who quit assembly-line labor to pursue billiards professionally, and Bacanaço, a cunning swindler. He also hired several of the country’s top sinuca players, including Carne Frita, Joaquinzinho, and João Gaúcho, as well as João Bosco to compose the jazzy score. And yet, with all that horsepower, the movie is…meh. You can watch it (in Portuguese) below. (1)

O Jogo Da Vida unfolds over a single night, beginning with Bacanaco observing Perus’ sinuca talent and recruiting him for some informal matches. Malagueta joins shortly after, and the peripatetic trio begin their late-night hustling odyssey. They win some games (early on), watch some games (midway through the movie), and lose some games (anticlimactic ending). And life goes on.

O JogoAlong the journey, Capovilla attempts to humanize the characters by weaving in flashbacks with spouses and girlfriends: Malagueta was recently evicted from his shanty, rendering him homeless. Perus is unable to reconcile his decision to swap a career in construction for billiards with the needs of his marriage. Bacanaço has a history of small-time cons and abusive, troubled relationships. 

The characters are gritty and tenacious, but the narrative has little movement and a plodding pace. We neither root for nor against this trio; we simply observe. Even the scenes focused on sinuca, which is a billiards variant specific to Brazil, lacked oomph. In fact, one scene was literally just watching the professional player Carne Frita clear the table in front of a group of onlookers.

O Jogo.2O Jogo.4O Jogo.3O Jogo.1O Jogo.5Apparently, the movie was released with little fanfare or critical reaction, except for one key voice: the story’s original author João Antônio. Upon the film’s release, he publicly expressed dissatisfaction with the adaptation, “contending that the filmmakers had modified the original text excessively, altering key narrative elements and character motivations in ways that diluted the story’s raw, proletarian edge.”(2)

 

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  1. As someone who doesn’t speak or understand Portuguese, I recognize my review is both limited and flawed and cannot appreciate the full film. I did my best to understand the movie through a combination of watching the film with Chrome’s accessibility settings (i.e., live translation, live captioning) enabled, and reading articles about the film.
  2. https://grokipedia.com/page/o_jogo_da_vida#ref-18

Billiards Micro-Dramas

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Masked champions! Spiteful families! Romantic betrayals! Tragic accidents! Body swapping! Pool dynasties! And, if that’s not enough, billiards! Lots and lots of billiards!

billiards micro-dramaWelcome to the world of micro-dramas, and specifically, billiards micro-dramas. They’re the modern soap opera, redesigned for phones, algorithms, and binge consumption. Clocking in at 1-4 minutes per episode, and consisting of  50-100 episodes per series, micro-dramas are the (not so) new viewing delicacy of an on-the-go, time-starved, attention-strained global audience seeking maximum stimulation and instant gratification right from their phone.

Originating in China, but now a global addiction, micro-dramas (or “vertical dramas” since they show in a vertical 9:16 aspect ratio, like TikTok videos) are reaching hundreds of millions of monthly viewers. They’re relatively cheap ($200K-$400K budget per series) and fast (7-14 days) to produce, which is why an estimated 35,000 are getting made every year, streaming on more than 20 different platforms such as ReelShort, NetShort, DramaBox, ShortMax, GoodShort, and FlexTV, which help make up the $8-$12 billion industry.

With that kind of hyper-growth, is it any surprise that more than a few series would focus on billiards, especially given the sport’s appeal in Asia, ground zero for micro-dramas?

Through some basic keyword searching, I discovered 11 billiards micro-dramas across the major platforms. I wistfully wanted to treat them as “distinct,” but the genre and format lend themselves to recycling the same archetypes and cliffhangers, creating carbon copy storylines. In fact, as you’ll quickly appreciate from the summaries below, these mimetic movies seem factory-made without a care for originality. The acting is so secondary and interchangeable that most even lack actual credits.

I didn’t have the fortitude to watch each of these billiards micro-dramas in entirety, though I did suffer through each one’s first three episodes, even as they blurred indistinguishably in my mind.  All summaries are abbreviated from what was made available on the specific streaming platform.

(Note: my research focused on micro-drama series that across their combined episodes are similar in length to a traditional movie. However, there are apparently micro, micro-dramas, such as Baby Queen of Snooker on Flareflow, which often total to less than 10 minutes of viewing. Those I intentionally excluded and postponed for another lifetime.)

Breaking the Cue

Breaking the CueOne of the only billiards micro-dramas released in the United States, the 57-episode Breaking the Cue from March 2025 is available to stream in its entirety on NetShort. The series kicks off with young Alex, a scion of the Carey billiard family and someone who had never before touched a cue stick, suddenly showcasing exceptional billiards skills and making an especially complex shot originally designed by great-grandfather Carey. The secret behind his incredible transformation? Paul Stryker, the “King of Billiards” is tragically killed in a car accident, only to inexplicably wind up inside Alex’s body.  It’s like Big…only without Tom Hanks, or a good script, or Penny Marshall, or “Heart and Soul” on the giant FAO Schwarz piano, or…

Little Pool GodThe Little Pool God

I can’t determine if The Little Pool God is the Chinese remake of Breaking the Cue, or if it’s the original that spawned the American remake. Amazingly, it probably doesn’t matter. The King of Billiards Paul Stryker has become the Billiards God Cameron Bell. Sadie Morris replaces Alex as the body host. The Morrises are the new Careys. The grandfather and his children are just as despicable. The only interesting aspect is why this Chinese dynasty all has such American-sounding names. All 58 episodes are available to watch on NetShort.

Eight Ball Vendetta

Eight Ball VendettaThis 60-episode series streaming on GoodShort has it all: whiny incompetent husbands, hot wife pool hustlers, blindfolded shots, “impossible” breaks, secret skills, secret identities, sororal feuds, an underground billiards queen, and a master plan to recover the $500,000 that our ordinary schlub lost in a billiards scam.  It’s as if Virgin Pockets, The Days of Our Lives, and the Venus and Serena documentary got blended into a billiards micro-drama cocktail of threadbare storytelling and convenient cliches. Still, the first three episodes of Eight Ball Vendetta made for more captivating entertainment than some of the other series reviewed here.

Break Shot: Rise Again

Break Shot Rise AgainOnce a world billiards champion, Daniel was betrayed and beaten by his brother and rival. Left for dead (but visibly only showing the most minor of scratches), Daniel gets rescued and is able to recover in the refuge of a pool hall. There, his lost talent resurfaces, starting with advising his benefactor to make a difficult four-rail shot to save his pool hall. But, as Daniel dominates tournaments and builds unbreakable bonds, his past catches up, setting the stage for a final showdown against his brother. Spanning 56 episodes, this 2025 Chinese fraternal melodrama is available to stream on NetShort. It also streams on NetShort under the separate title El Prodigio Bono del Billar with different character names.

For My Son: The Final Break

For My Son Final breakTerminally ill billiards legend York Zane, the “Billiard God of Maestro City,” discovers his son Cole was lured into a rigged gambling match and loses $300,000, plus his left leg, in an ill-fated attempt to raise money for his father’s condition. York vows to avenge his son, win back the money, and crush the criminals responsible for his son’s handicap by entering the Billiard God Championship. With episode titles like “The Brutal Bet,” “The Rigged Game,” “The Shattered 8-Ball,” and “The Brutal Ultimatum,” you can taste the cliffhanging tension. All 55 episodes of this Chinese billiards micro-drama are streaming on NetShort.

Dad Was the Cue King

Dad Was the Cue KingProving how formulaic these wafter-thin scripts are, Dad Was the Cue King barely even jumbles the ingredients of For My Son: The Final Break. In this billiards micro-drama, Kevin loses $300,000 in a rigged billiards game that his relatives baited him into playing. Kevin’s father, Brandon, the legend of Southvale, aka the Cue King, had retired from billiards to run a local pool hall. But, now to punish his relatives and reclaim the small fortune lost, he must emerge from hiding and return to the baize. And, if he thought there was any chance to keep his identity secret, that vanishes when he makes the impossible ‘Seven-Ball Abyss’ shot in Episode 12. This 60-episode series is streaming on NetShort.

Behind the Black Eight

Behind the Black EightIn this 74-episode NetShort series, Sophia Lane, once a rising star in the world of billiards, went into hiding with her daughter Daisy after falling out with the president of the National Billiards Federation. Gavin Cooper, the reigning billiards god, tries to track down Sophia, so he can prove his legitimacy. And, then there’s Damien, the Gambling Kingpin of the Red Basement, who will eventually kidnap Daisy, but truthfully, in his Liberace getup, doesn’t exactly look too menacing. Alliances will be formed, gods will be challenged, and secret identities will be revealed. Now how is that any surprise? This billiards micro-drama is also marketed as the identical Mi Mamá, la Reina del Billar, just with different character names, on NetShort.

Got My Ex’s Ball in Hand

Got My Ex's Ball in HandWith its whimsical title, Got My Ex’s Ball in Hand, a 56-episode series that aired in the US in November 2025, seemed like it might distinguish itself from the rest of the genre’s dreck. But, three episodes in, there’s no mistaking this for another billiards micro-drama micro-turd. The preposterous concept is that three years ago, Quilla was the legendary pool champion “Queen Cue.” Then she left the sport to become a – gasp! – housewife and orchestrate her husband’s rise to fame. Though she didn’t wear a mask as Queen Cue (like some of the other aforementioned billiards champions), she cut her hair and downgraded her clothing. Now, nobody recognizes her. Her husband’s family humiliates her and gives all credit for her husband’s ascension to his powerful agent, who is also his secret mistress. You can guess where this story is heading. Got My Ex streams on ShortMax, a platform launched in 2023 by the Chinese company Jiu Zhou Wen Hua, a major player in the production of short-form mobile video content.

I’m a Big Shot in the Pool World

I'm a Big Shot in the Pool WorldGiven the interchangeable plot elements and characters across these series, the clunkily-translated I’m a Big Shot in the Pool World distinguishes itself by leaning a little more into the violent and sexual overtones, including an insinuated act of fellatio. Maybe that’s a distinction of ReelShort, as this is the only billiards micro-drama on that platform. This series follows former billiards champion Song Xiaochuan, who once declared, “There are millions of kings, but only one billiards god,” becomes a shadow of his almighty self after he first learns his unfaithful ex-girlfriend tried to get him to throw a match, and then is beaten to the point where he can no longer hold a cue stick. Predictably, Xiaochuan will go through an arc of rehabilitation, revenge and redemption, all in 53 brief episodes.

Carom on Call

Carom on CallProving there are more gods in Chinese micro-dramas than there are on Mount Olympus, Carom on Call introduces us to yet another deity, Felix Lawrence, the Masked Billiards God and five-time reigning champion. Unfortunately, one day, Felix got badly beaten, left for dead and became a child-like amnesiac. Somehow, he marries gorgeous Yolanda, whose family owns a pool hall. There, he demonstrates his billiards prowess, making an impossible shot that sinks all fifteen balls. Onlookers suspect he may be the former masked champion. But, the more immediate issue is saving the pool hall from Yolanda’s evil uncle, who wishes not only to seize the hall but also force Yolanda into a more respectable marriage. And that’s just from the first three episodes; stream all 66 on NetShort.

Cue the Champion

Cue the ChampionIntroducing the King of Billiards, aka Aiden Shaw, a mathematical genius with “dragon power” strength, who can make any shot because it can be reduced to a solvable geometry problem. But, when he wins the most recent championship, the governor rewards him by offering his 300-pound daughter in matrimony. Taking fat-shaming to a new level, Aiden flees to his grandfather’s billiards club, which is in danger of being taken over. He’s also introduced as the club’s new billiards coach, which roils the resident players. So, to silence the doubters, Aiden bets that he can train in three days a 10-year-old, who has never picked up a cue stick, how to beat all the other club players. That’s 52 episodes of cockiness streaming straight to your mobile screen on NetShort. This billiards micro-drama is also marketed as the identical Love Ball No. 9 on NetShort.

Snooker Man

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Perhaps as a subconscious tribute to the late Rob Reiner, director of This Is Spinal Tap, the greatest mockumentary ever made, I am kicking off 2026 with a review of the 2024 UK film Snooker Man, which won’t be entering the pantheon of great mockumentaries any time soon.

Snooker ManThat’s not to say the premise isn’t clever:  Johnny “Snooker Man” Bonnar, the 17th-rated lookalike for the great world snooker champion Ronnie O’Sullivan, stumbles into an avocation in miniature snooker and pursues a path to challenge the reigning champion Wolfgang in the World Championship of Miniature Snooker (WCMS).

Humorously, the genesis of this original film concept began with Snooker Man director Pete Casserly winning a “best adult short film award” at the Dorking Film Festival in 2020. Casserly’s film was about someone trying to audition for a role as Rodney Trotter, the lead of a musical version of the British sitcom Only Fools and Horses. In Casserly’s film, the lead actor, Nick Hayles, is said to look like Bruce Campbell, the star of Sam Raimi’s famous cult film Evil Dead. While it’s a decent resemblance, Casserly’s mother said Hayles looked much more like Ronnie O’Sullivan. And, so the germs of the mockumentary Snooker Man were born.

Snooker Man starts on a high note. The opening credits pay tribute to the James Bond movie Skyfall with the fluid graphics, dissolving and reassembling motifs, balletic characters, and super-imposed silhouettes (of a snooker player!). The title song “Snooker Man,” sung by Nekane, also harkens to Adele’s “Skyfall” in musical tone, though hardly in lyrics (“The ladies want him | The gentlemen want to be him | He’s a snooker man”).

But, it’s not too long before you not only realize the film has nothing to do with James Bond, aside from featuring a Daniel Craig impersonator who acts out scenes from Casino Royale, but also that the rest of the movie is not nearly as clever.

Nick Hayles

The 17th-rated Ronnie O’Sullivan lookalike

First, we are introduced to Johnny Bonarr (Nick Hayles) and his pitiable career starring in terrible movies, such as The Girl With Two Masks; To Kill a Princess; and Chihuahua Man. (Making this even more twisted is these clips are from real movies created by Casserly, who shared in an interview that by inserting these clips, “I kind of made fun of how terrible they were as an apology to the actors who unfortunately had to take part in them!”)

Ronnie Photo

The real Rocket Ronnie O’Sullivan

Johnny made these films with Barry Keane (Stephen Sheridan), an unaccomplished director who unsuccessfully aims to double for British stage thespian Toby Jones. When that fails, Keane launches Prestige Lookalikes, the UK’s lowest-rated lookalike agency, and hires Johnny to double as Ronnie O’Sullivan. He’s the 17th-ranked lookalike, which everyone agrees is pretty pathetic, given he’s impersonating the world’s #1 rated snooker player.

Johnny’s deteriorating career takes an unsuspecting u-turn, when he needs to emulate The Rocket by shooting on a 36” snooker table. His performance, or rather the fact there is a film crew on the premises capturing his cue strokes, enrages  the sport’s reigning foul-mouthed champion, Wolfgang, who challenges him to a future match. Soon, there is a new miniature snooker wunderkind making waves, and his name is Snooker Man, a player even capable of running a 147 break in under four minutes.

Now, I’m more than happy to watch a competitive match of a miniaturized sport, especially one that I love as much as billiards. And, miniature sports are not as outlandish as one might think. Fun fact: there are real, professional world championships of miniature golf, miniature soccer (i.e., foosball), table hockey, and Subbuteo table football. And, as the director Casserley notes in an interview, there are also world championships for everything from cup stacking to Rubik’s Cube solving to air guitar playing. So, is miniature snooker really such a stretch? 

Snooker Mani image1

Notice something missing from that table?

But, match after match after match starts to get downright dull, a far cry from the “nonstop thrill ride of ball potting action” that the WCMS marketing promises. A rogue’s gallery of opponents, including The Ambassador and Hong Kong’s reigning champ Queenie, does little to enliven the atmosphere. And the final match, pitting Snooker Man against Wolfgang, is predictable, unenjoyable, and unforgivable for not even having the right number of balls on the snooker table.

The movie’s post-credits, which include Snooker Man embarrassingly performing his new K-pop single “Baegman Janga (Millionaire J)” that reached 287th in the Korean music charts, only cement the film’s downward creative spiral from its opening credits.

Snooker Man is available to watch on Amazon Prime Video. For a limited time, it is also currently streaming for free on YouTube.

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Billiards Movies In Memoriam

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As we prepare to close out 2025, we must pause to remember the many billiards movies that we lost – not necessarily this year, but during the 12 years that I’ve been blogging. These unrealized films had inspiration and potential, even if they never came to fruition. 

Every year, aspiring filmmakers strive to bring their visions and stories to the screen. But, the cinematic highway is fraught with challenges, from securing funding to navigating logistics, from uniting craftspeople to cutting through legal red tape. While it’s true that an estimated 10,000 movies are now produced each year, there are too many gems that never get made and perhaps never stood a chance.

We raise our cue sticks to those who hoped to inspire and entertain and to their films that never were. 

Ride the 9

Ride the 9Of all the billiards movies I hoped would get produced, Blake West and Jordan Marder’s Ride the 9 was my favorite. Murmurs and titillations about the movie first started in 2011; by 2014, when I interviewed West and Marder, it seemed like the movie was around the corner. A well-produced teaser video that highlighted the gritty New Orleans set locations, jaw-dropping trick shots courtesy of Florian “Venom” Kohler, and a killer soundtrack, all furthered the excitement. Marder also assured us that while the film is “not about pool, pool is integral to the story…it’s the glue.” Sadly, the team could not secure the necessary funding, and by 2017 the tweets and Facebook posts were done. 

The Fisher Queens

Fisher QueensFormer WPBA touring professional Kim Shaw teamed up with television director Julie Edwards in an attempt to tell the story of Mandy Fisher, Allison Fisher and Kelly Fisher, three unrelated UK snooker champions. According to the marketing, this documentary film would “not only provide a historical record of the rise of women’s professional billiards but will also provide an insight into the minds of three women who have shaped and dominated a sport traditionally viewed as predominantly male.” Unfortunately, an unsuccessful Kickstarter campaign sealed the film’s fate, and on May 1, 2015, it was announced on Facebook the documentary would not get made.

From Hustler to Champion

Seven months after the demise of The Fisher Queens, we also lost Philip Messina’s documentary-to-be, From Hustler to Champion, which promised to profile 20 of the best past and present pool players in the industry. Those “champions” included Shane Van Boening, Earl Strickland, Ewa Laurance, Efren Reyes, Allison Fisher, Karen Corr, and Johnny Archer, to name just a handful. The film would tell the “untold story of the extraordinary men and women who have transcended every obstacle to become legends.” Audiences would “experience these astonishing individuals—artists, wizards, road warriors, clinicians, entertainers and more—whose passion sets them on a path unlike any other in the sports world.” The quest to raise $55,000 on Kickstarter netted just 27% of their goal, though their concept video for the documentary is still available on their funding page.

Bred in Manila

Bred in ManilaOriginally from New York, and now living in the Philippines, Phil Giordano began working on the script for Bred in Manila (originally titled Supot) in 2016.  For the next three years, he did “countless hours of research, location scouting, interviews, late night anecdote-filled drinking sessions, script revisions, pitches, meetings, begging, crying, cheering, and overall filmmaking heartache” to tell the story of a female pool player who is trying to escape the world of illegal gambling in back alley pool halls. Years later, in 2022, I stumbled across an online poster for the film and reached out to Giordano. He shared that the film was “his biggest passion project,” but that it lost its funding and he hadn’t been able to find alternative financing. This tale however may have a happy ending. While I cannot yet confirm, Giordano’s current movie, Bilyarista, sounds like it may be a retitled Bred in Manila. The movie is about a girl living in the slums of Manila who “dreams of becoming a billiards World Champion, but when her father is killed, she is manipulated by Itoy, her hustler uncle, into playing in dangerous underground gambling matches in back-alley pool halls.”  

The Rematch

Rematch TheHaving released the piss-poor snooker film Perfect Break in 2020, director Len Evans embarked on a follow-up entitled The Rematch, with appearances by snooker household names Jimmy White and John Virgo. At one point, the movie had a poster, website, and fundraising campaign; however, all evidence of the film is now gone, and Evans’ profile on IMDB is equally devoid of mention of this former pet project.

Billiards Boy vs Dr. Pool

With its frivolous title and its story about an aspiring pool player named Billiards Boy who attempts to take down the legendary Dr Pool, this short film seemed intent on injecting some playfulness into the billiards film genre.  But, in 2020, the film’s co-producer, Jake Hourd, emailed me, explaining it was “a university project, and the writer/director decided he wasn’t going to finish it. He just wasn’t pleased with the outcome of the script and the footage so he scrapped it.” 

Billiardo

BilliardoNot to be confused with the identically-named Palestinian film Billiardo from 2016, the 2017 almost-film Billiardo from director Gabe Rodriguez was intended to be the story of a poor busboy who plays a fateful game of pool that may change his life. But, in 2020, I tracked down the writer/actor Ahmet Devran Dayanc, who cryptically shared with me, “the movie couldn’t be completed because of the director’s action.” 

Manitoba Sharks

When I wrote about Amanda Kindzierski in 2016 about her forthcoming documentary, Manitoba Sharks, it was hard not to get inspired. With $20,000 of funding from a pitch contest she had won, Kindzierski was committed to telling the “story of pool in Manitoba through the eyes of Aboriginal proprietors and players who are among the best in the world.” Manitoba Sharks was in post-production at the time of our conversation, so it’s sad the film apparently never found a distributor. Fortunately, as evidenced by her long list of projects on her website, Kindzierski has remained busy.

Potting Black

Potting BlackThe Fisher Queens was not only the film influenced by Mandy Fisher, an English former professional snooker player and a World Women’s Snooker Championship winner in 1984. A trio of third year filmmaking students at UWE Bristol also leaned into her story when they attempted to make Potting Black, a short film set in 1976 Britain about Pauline, a female snooker player in a game dominated by men. The director Marley Hamilton wrote, “This story is rich with historical influences and will take the audience on an emotional journey as they see Pauline stand up for herself and make a difference just as Mandy Fisher did.” While the film’s Crowdfunder page indicates it was successful in its fundraising efforts, all traces and mentions of the film disappeared from social media after early 2020. 

O Canada, Our Home of Three Billiards Short Films

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No disrespect to Alex Pagulayan, Cliff Thornburn, or “Big Bill” Werbeniuk, but Canada is not often top-of-mind when one thinks about global billiards hot spots. So I always get a bit excited when I stumble across billiards movies from our neighbors to The North. 

Granted, there is very little actual billiards across these three Canadian short films – Pool, Face Cachée, and The Billiard Shot – but each nonetheless tips its toque to the sport, and therefore deserves review.

Pool

Canadian billiards film - PoolDirector Clayton Holmes makes every second count in his three-minute short film Pool from 2015, which is available to watch on Vimeo. As a countdown clock perilously ticks, our tattooed hero must sink every ball on a glass-topped pool table before it fills up with water and drowns the bikini-clad woman trapped beneath it. This may sound like Ian Fleming spyfare, but credit to Mr. Holmes who avoids any dialogue and uses our hero literally diving into the pool table to time shift and alert us that we’re in fact watching the imaginative mind of a shy tween, who only wants to gather up enough courage to talk to the young girl of his dreams stepping out of the swimming pool. 

Mr. Holmes shared with me that he was in VFX school and came up with the idea of a guy diving into a pool table.  “It took forever to finish the shot so I figured I would make a short film around it.  The visual effects were tricky but the hardest part of all was finding someone with a swimming pool in Vancouver.”

The Billiard Shot

Canadian billiards film - The Billiard ShotFast forward three years, and director EJ Levy releases The Billiard Shot at the end of 2018. Filmed in Calgary, Alberta, the three-minute film depicts “a mob boss who sends out a hit on the man who is suspected of killing his brother, and meets his own fate when confronted by the grieving brother of the murdered suspect.”

Shot in black-and-white, with minimal dialogue, and plenty of jarring camera angles and out-of-focus shots, the film stumbles in its attempt to mirror the eerie, melodic desperation of Bessie Smith’s “My Sweetie Went Away” that plays in the background. The billiards balls and break are part of the smoke-filled background, but serve no real purpose in supporting the film’s narrative or mood.

Face Cachée

Canadian billiards film - Face CacheeRounding out the trinity is Nicolas Lecavalier’s 2024 student film, Face Cachée, produced by O’Sullivan College in Montreal. Translated to “Hidden Faces,” the six-minute film is about a mysterious murder in Colonel Mustard’s basement that forces three friends to discover the killer. The possible suspects include Mademoiselle Scarlett, Professeur Plum, and Madame Pervenche, so you’re right to think it’s an alternate take on the popular board game Clue. The film is available to watch below.

Unfortunately, much like Jonathan Lynn’s 1985 eponymous movie, there’s very little billiards played in the film (and worse, there seems to be two 3-balls on the table), but it’s hard not to appreciate these students having a fun time making this literal whodunit. Personally, my favorite part of the film was the Saul Bass-style animated end sequence credits, with the abstract cut-out figures playing pool as the Shtriker Big Band rewards our ears with the song, “Play, Play, Play.” Smart decisions all around, just like Madame Pervenche’s winning pronouncement.

Mirrors in Triumph

Canadian billiards film - Mirrors in Triumph

Finally, if you can’t get enough from the Land of Maple Leaf, then buckle up in your Beaumont, and get ready for the feature-length film Mirrors in Triumph. The movie premiered in January 2025 at the Mayfair Theatre in Ottawa, Ontario. It played at some festivals, won some awards, and most likely will be moved to a fully public status on YouTube, according to its writer and director Era Era Films.

The movie’s genesis started a decade ago, when the director, an Ottawa native, spent the latter half of their high school career at The Orange Monkey pool hall. That planted the seed for the movie’s concept, which subsequently turned into a script. On a shoestring budget, filming began in mid-2022 and post-production continued through most of 2023. Described as an “unapologetically Canadian project,” the movie focuses on a billiards fanatic, who struggles to adjust to the ever changing world around him.

Learn more about the film here and watch the trailer below.  The director sent me a private link to the film, so I look forward to sharing my review in the near future.

 

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Top 15 Billiards Album Covers

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According to Google Search Console, one of the most common queries that leads people to my blog is billiards songs. Perhaps they’re a fan of the lyrics to Rod Stewart’s “Maggie May,” or fondly remember the video for George Thorogood’s “Bad to the Bone.” Then, I hit them with my Top 10 Billiards Songs and Video list, and it’s a whole another level of billiards music mania.

Billiards album cover Huey Lewis and the News (1984)But, if the lyrics and videos take you down one pool pocket, then the design of the album covers will steer you down a very different one. With the exception of Huey Lewis & the News’ third album, Sports, featuring an innocuous barroom pool table in the bottom left corner of the cover, and consisting of four top-ten hits (e.g., “Heart and Soul,” “Heart of Rock and Roll”), most covers featuring billiards are likely to be unfamiliar. Indeed, most of these bands, which span 14 genres across 11 countries over 50 years, are likely to be unfamiliar. Nonetheless, the portrayal of billiards in pop culture – whether in film, music, art, comics, advertising, or some combination – continues to reveal the richness of the sport and its global appeal. I therefore present my Top 15 Billiards Album Covers. (If you want to really go geek, take a peek at my Billiard Album Covers Pinterest page to see the other 125 that I ruled out.)

  1. Wilson Pickett: Pickett in the Pocket

Billiards album cover of Wilson Pickett (1974)Funk/soul/R&B singer and songwriter Wilson Pickett was a prolific music man with more than 50 songs that made the R&B charts. Pickett in the Pocket, his 1974 release for RCA, doesn’t feature any of his famous standards, such as “In the Midnight Hour” or “Funky Broadway,” though the album’s lesser-known “Take Your Pleasure Where You Find It” is considered a mammoth funk hit. But, the album cover reeks of cool, from the alliterative, pool-themed album name, to the photo of Pickett, wearing a satin red tailored, single-breasted jacket, while he patiently waits his turn at the table, with two fine ladies adorning each side of him.  Perhaps, he’s so relaxed because he has a two ball lead with solids? Or, as the back cover suggests, maybe it’s because he’ll be giving one-on-one lessons to one of the women after the game.

  1. Benny Holst / Jytte Pilloni / Katrine Jensenius / Delta Blues Band:  Så Længe Mit Hjerte Slår (En Nat Med John Mogensen)

Billiards album cover of Benny Holst (1985, Denmark)Yeah, that’s a mouthful. This 1985 rock-and-blues release from Denmark features studio recordings from the cabaret “Så længe mit hjerte slår.” For the life of me, I can’t figure out the band or album’s connection to billiards, or why the blonde feels compelled to sit on the table. Nonetheless, this cover makes the cut because of its focus on Keglebillard med huller (or Skittle Pool). In this billiards variant, players score points by knocking over the pins or by sinking balls in pockets according to local rules. And if pin billiards is now your jam, check out the Italian billiards film Io, Chiara e lo Scuro (The Pool Hustlers) that includes the nine-pin game goriziana at its center.

  1. Novo Fasili: Tvoje I Moje Godine

Billiards album cover of Novi Fosili (1985, Yugoslavia)For 30 years, the Croatian pop group Novo Fasili has been getting fans to shake their hips with their music style that combines ballad, Schlager, and Europop. By the 1980s, they were the most popular band to emerge from the former Yugoslavia. Like the previous album cover, the Tvoje I Moje Godine LP features band members sitting on the billiards table, but I can overlook such stupidity given the clever use of the billiards balls to spell the band’s initials “NF,” a lexical feat not captured on any other album cover I reviewed.  Now the only question is how did the table wind up with 23 billiards balls? 

  1. Bennewitz Quartet: Haydn, Mozart, Dittersdorf & Vanhal: An Evening in Vienna 1784

Billiards album cover of Bennewitz Qurtet (2024, Czech Republic)While it’s hardly visually interesting, the album cover for the Bennewitz Quartet’s tribute to the “Viennese Classical” circle of composers remains noteworthy for several reasons. First, it’s the only classical music LP cover I discovered that features billiards. Second, it’s one of the few album covers that focuses on carom billiards (with its pocketless table); another that didn’t make the list is the cover to the 1989 album Hotel Štístko Blues from the Czech blues band ASPM.  Finally, it’s a tip of the cue stick to Mozart, who unlike the other three composers, was a noted billiards aficionado who played the sport regularly and even owned a billiards table in his apartment in Vienna.

11. Feed Me:  High Street Creeps

Billiards album cover of Feed Me (2019)In the world of Electronic Dance Music (EDM), visual branding is very powerful. Think of Deadmau5’s mouse head or Marshmello’s giant white marshmallow helmet. Feed Me (aka Jonathan Gooch) is no exception. The former graphic designer created his trademark green monster as his visual embodiment. Now, what’s a bit harder to explain is why this green monster is playing a game of snooker with Gooch on the cover of his 2019 release High Street Creeps. Gooch has said in interviews that he grew up in England surrounded by pub culture, where snooker is commonplace, but I’m pretty sure the rule of one foot on the ground still applies. Sorry, Green Monster.

  1. Dolla Bill: “Old Schoolin’”  |. Nightblaze: “State of Grace”

Billiards album cover of Nightblaze (2025, Italy, song)Billiards album cover of Dolla Bill (2018, song)Billiards and sex have been bed partners for a long time. (See my blog post, “Rated B for Billiards: Top 10 Billiards Bedroom Scenes.”) So, it’s hardly surprising that sex, or at least hot women, would feature prominently on some covers. Tying for 10th place are two EP covers that have little in common other than the lovelies at the tables. In 2018, the North Carolina rapper Dolla Bill released his single “Old Schoolin’” with its fat bass pulse, flashes of electric piano…and a corseted woman lying prone on a billiard table while her stiletto heel naughtily lifts up the back of her dress. Fast forward to just a few weeks ago, and the Italian melodic rock band Nightblaze released “State of Grace,” the first single from their upcoming new album. Supposedly it’s a reimagining of their signature sound, but I’m still a bit bedazzled by the buxom beauty in the barroom who probably holds a pool cue as well as she holds that smoking semi-automatic.

  1.  The Intellectuals: Half-A-Live

Billiards album cover of The Intellectuals (1986, Denmark)The Intellectuals are a garage punk/rock band from Denmark who adopted a vintage pulp aesthetic for their 1986 album Half-A-Live. The LP cover leans into retro cartoon imagery popular with the punk genre (e.g., The Cramps, Crypt Records). In this case, the cover features a sailor and a roughneck playing carom billiards, while a bartender looks on. Absurdity abounds, from the juxtaposition of the band’s name with the cartoon characters, to the surreal, distorted table that sends the balls flying.  That table would probably fit well in this collection of Top 7 Billiards Tables Not For Sale. 

  1. Victor Fantastic Orchestra: Off Vocal Selection Shinji Tanimura / Takao Horiuchi Works

Billiards album cover of Victor Fantastic Orchestra (1986, Japan)If you’re a fan of J-Pop, you may sway to the Victor Fantastic Orchestra, a Japanese instrumental ensemble that plays orchestral renditions of classic J-Pop songs. But, you don’t have to love the genre to groove to the great cover of their 1986 album, Off Vocal Selection. Incorporating bold shapes and lines and a palette that riffs on the color of traditional pool table cloth, the album cover is positively retro-futuristic. This is what it means for pool to be hipster cool. It’s what Tubbs and Crockett would look like playing billiards in an episode of the spinoff Tokyo Vice.

  1. Brainstory: Sounds Good. |. Rez Doggz: Underdoggz

Billiards album cover of Brainstory (2024)Billiards album cover of Rez Doggz (2018, Canada)Animals playing pool is nothing new. Think of the Mr. Ed episode, “Ed the Pool Player.” Or, my blog post, “Welcome to the Billiards Zoo.” But, canine-headed humanoids? That’s a first. Except when it comes to album covers, where cynocephali are apparently not so unique. Brainstory, the psychedelic soul trio from Los Angeles, released Sounds Good in 2024. Even with the red cloth pool table, the album cover’s bar room is unmemorable, except, lo and behold, there are three pool playing patrons with dog heads. That idea may be as crazy as a rabid Rottweiler, yet six years earlier, Rez Doggz, a group of Mi’kmaq Hip-Hop artists from the First Nation reserve of Gesgapegiag, released their album Underdoggz, which similarly featured a pack of weredogs shooting stick and having a grand old time at the local watering hole.

  1. Nationaleatern: Rockormen

Billiards album cover of Nationaleatern (1979, Sweden)Recorded during a series of live performances in 1978 from the Swedish progressive rock band Nationleatern, Rockormen, which translates to “The Rock Snake,” features on the cover a billiards table with some surreal serpentine spectators and an arrangement of billiards balls with faces on them. It feels ghastly and uncomfortable. The faces may be based on real political targets, much as the band’s music often had political themes. (A similar use of representing political figures as billiards balls first appeared in a 1942 war poster, and then again on the 2013 magazine cover of India Today – Tamil. See the award Best Political Use of Imagery on a Magazine Cover.)

  1. Zekk: “Platinum Gacha”

Billiards album cover of Zekk (2019, South Korea, song)The future is 9-ball, at least for the twenty-something South Korean EDM DJ, Zekk, who made it the focus of the cover to his 2019 single, “Platinum Gacha.”  The anime illustration, foregrounding a spectacularly-fonted 9-ball, suggests a dystopia, where guards with robotic, stormtrooper-like heads act as billiards match overseers and hover dangerously close to the players. It’s not quite the futuristic billiards world Lex Marinos visualized in Hard Knuckle, though the player looks like she’d be comfortable in Bai Xinyu’s 2019 ultramodern billiards drama Metal Billiards.

  1. Jamie J. Marquez: Moon Striker  |  Eloy: Performance

Billiards album cover of Jaime Marquez (2014, Spain)Billiards album cover of Eloy (1983, Germany)Space is the place, at least according to Spanish guitarist Jamie J. Marquez and German prog rockers Eloy. On the cover of his 2014 solo album Moon Striker, Marquez takes us on an extraterrestrial journey, where a three-eyed alien, with nice form and a solid bridge, takes aim at the Earth (ball) in an interstellar game of carom billiards. Back in the Milky Way (maybe?), Eloy’s 1983 album Performance shows on the cover a human in a spacesuit playing billiards with glow-in-the-dark cue sticks and balls stamped with mathematical symbols. There hasn’t been this much planetary pool since Paul McCartney and the Wings went astro-minimal on the cover of their 1975 album, Venus and Mars.

  1. Butaotome: Billiards

Billiards album cover of Butaotome (2013, Japan)Across the top of the cover, in bold katakana, is written a title that translates to “Billiards.” Of course, Butaotome’s 2017 album was going to secure a top spot on this list. The band, a product of the country’s independently produced doujin music scene, embraces the visuality of billiards, even if there’s no direct linkage to the music or musicians. Floating billiard balls surround a woman in a red kimono descending from an escalator. The bright colors evoke Japanese ‘60s pop art, though there is also an anime influence. The modern setting, perhaps a shopping mall, also feels surreal, as the linearity of the mechanical escalator intersects with the randomness of the weightless balls.      

  1. Richard Elliot: Ricochet

Billiards album cover of Richard Elliot (2003)Smooth jazz makes my skin crawl, but I’m happy to give saxophonist Richard Elliot a second listen, simply because of the cover for his 2003 album Ricochet.  The illustration shows a vibrant group of people gathered around pool tables to play or watch. The picture is crawling with motion and energy. While Hollis King is credited as the art director for the album, the actual illustrator is unidentified. But, looking at the stylized figures, with their elongated limbs, I’d bet my Olhausen that the artist was heavily influenced by Ernie Barnes, the iconic artist who is most famous for his painting “Sugar Shack,” which was the backdrop for the credits of the sitcom Good Times. Barnes was enamored with billiards; in fact, he did a whole series of paintings that occurred in pool halls, such as Main Street Pool Hall and Pool Player. I’m sure he would have loved Ricochet, too.

  1. Black Label Society: Shot to Hell

Billiards album cover of Black Label Society (2006)Zakk Wylde, the long-time guitarist for Ozzy Osbourne, formed his band Black Label Society in 1998. On the cover of their seventh studio album, Shot to Hell (2006), they dabbled with paged imagery, as many heavy metal bands tend to do, but this time with light-hearted humor. The cover features a trio of nuns playing billiards. The first is focused intently on her shot, aiming the cueball at an eightball emblazoned with a skull on it; the other two are wistfully praying, perhaps to the Good Lord of the Baize. It’s sacrilege, of course, but with the nun’s upturned grin and the vibrant halo of colors surrounding the monastic trinity, I’m inclined to think this shot is going in. By the way, if sisters shooting stick is your salvation, then watch the “Armando and the Pool Table” episode of The Flying Nun, or purchase The Original 2021 Nuns Having Fun wall calendar. 

******

So, there’s my list. I’m sure I made some enemies with my omissions. I had to say no to some intimidating folks (e.g., Shandy, “Bish Bosh Bash”)…and to some not-so-intimidating folks (e.g., Elizabeth Barraclough, Hi). That’s the nature of the job. What would you have included on your list? Most important, the next time you’re shopping for albums – wait, does anyone shop for albums? – keep your eyes open for similar great Billiards Album Covers. 

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Night To Be Gone

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Tell me if this sounds familiar:

A guy walks into a pool hall, plays some games for money, and promptly loses. With a little luck, he wins on an “impossible” shot and then doubles his earnings by again making the same impossible shot. Feeling cocksure, he seeks out the best known player in town for a much bigger pot.  He goes on a roll, winning multiple games, but then gets psychologically battered and ultimately loses everything. Determined to regain his stature, he tries to make some quick buck hustling. It goes well for a while, until he hustles the wrong person and gets his arms fractured. A woman rehabilitates him, loves him, and helps him regain his confidence. He returns to finally beat the best known player, but his victory comes with a very painful price.

Night to be GoneOf course, I’m summarizing The Hustler.  Except I’m not. (Perhaps, the fractured arms rather than broken thumbs was the giveaway). I’m actually describing Night To Be Gone, an English-language billiards movie from Loren David Marsh that first released in Germany in January 2024, and is now available to watch on Amazon Prime.

Night To Be Gone is the story of Omer (Alpha Omer Cissé), a young West African refugee with a difficult family history, and Carine (Sylvaine Faligant), a recovering heroin addict from Marseille. They are itinerant grifters who both bring a lot of metaphoric baggage to the baize. Pool hustling is a path to fast cash. They arrive in Berlin so they can ultimately challenge The Sultan, a notorious and mysterious pool hustler to an all-night showdown of 10-ball with a minimum pot of 10,000 Euros. Each game is 1,000 Euros, and the match is not over until the money runs out or both players decide to quit.  Not surprisingly, they get hustled by The Sultan, who preys on their egos and erodes their cool veneer with racist and suggestive taunts. They lose all their money, forcing them to re-evaluate their get-rich-quick plans and ultimately their relationship with one another. 

Let me start with the favorable, as there are a handful of elements in Night To be Gone that are impressive – and distinct from The Hustler. The boldest and most interesting decision is that Omer is a dark-skinned, outsider from West Africa. He is an alien, a cypher to everyone he meets. But, this allows Omer to engage in some very intentional social engineering. Pool hustling is already a form of psychological manipulation. Omer compounds it by assuming racial identities that further this psychological influence. (This is both ironic and interesting, given the Sultan’s “African Prince” jeers contributed to Omer’s initial unraveling.) Among the conservative Bavarian businessmen, Omer is a welfare recipient. Playing against the liberals, he is a poor African whose village burned down. He is a drug dealer in one game, a bebopping hipster in another. Ever the racial chameleon, Omer engages people in underestimating him, which becomes their weakness, at least until it backfires on Omer when two Bauerntrampel don’t appreciate being hustled. 

Night to Be Gone.1Night To Be Gone is also a beautifully shot film. With its atmospheric black-and-white photography by Vlad Margulis and Florian Wurzer, and its eerie electronic scoring by Paul Brody, the film evokes a noirish 1940s aesthetic. Further contributing to this style is the movie’s pacing, selection of settings, and unsettling camera techniques. It works especially well for the filming of the billiards shots. Nothing feels rushed or manic; the shots are not contrived. It’s a game played for an audience of no one.

Unfortunately, these positives get overshadowed by billiards movie déjà vu, that gnawing sense we’ve seen this exact movie before. Night To Be Gone doesn’t feel like a tribute to The Hustler, certainly not the way the recently-reviewed Mr Doom felt like an ode to The Color of Money.  Rather, Night To be Gone feels like it’s trying to be The Hustler. As such, there is no suspense, no uncertainty, no question what will happen or how it will end. 

Arguably, Night To Be Gone is better classified as a remake of The Hustler. The British director Mark Murphy says, “a successful remake requires a delicate balance. It must simultaneously respect the original, bring something new to the table and feature effective casting. When these elements coalesce, the end product is a film that pays tribute to its predecessor while confidently standing on its own.” 

In this case, the “something new” is race – not just the casting of Omer, but the use of race as it pertains to hustling. Such terrain has been covered in other con artist/hustling movies – e.g., White Men Can’t Jump; Six Degrees of Separation; The Distinguished Gentleman – but never in billiards.

This feels like an accurate take on Night To Be Gone, except the director Marsh disputed it, claiming The Hustler is “an inspiration,” nothing more. If it’s not a remake, why does it feel like one? If it is a remake, why not lean into it?

Ultimately, it probably doesn’t matter. This cinematic conjecture is the milieu of film critics who can work themselves into a tizzy parsing meaning and pontificating to an audience of no one, when the real question is whether the film is entertaining. And, on that topic, Night To Be Gone holds its own. 

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Mr Doom: Behind the 8 Ball

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Every pool hustling movie lives in the shadow of The Hustler and its sequel The Color of Money, the modern apotheosis of the genre, which is ironic given the film was released almost 40 years ago. Most of these films are cinematic wannabes, kowtowing to TCOM without much originality or innovation. 

Mr Doom.1Certainly, that was the reaction within the billiardsphere earlier this month when it was announced that Robert DeNiro and Jenna Ortega would star in Shutout, a forthcoming movie about a seasoned hustler guiding a talented young player in the world of high-stakes pool. To quote Billiards_Watch from the AZ Billiards Forum, “That’s the most played out script and looks to be another Hollywood recycle…This is The Color of Money remade except it’s rebranded with another title.” 

So, director Leif Johnson is walking the plank a bit with his new billiards movie, Mr Doom: Behind the 8 Ball. Released on Amazon this past March, Mr Doom doesn’t try to hide its lineage; on the contrary, the film embraces it, starting with the title, which is an overt reference to the name of Vince’s Balabushka cue in TCOM. The film’s marketing is even more explicit, referring to Mr Doom as “reimagining The Color of Money in a small-town setting.” 

While the idolatry is on full display, Mr Doom ultimately carves out original ground and a touching story about the unlikely friendship between the film’s two main characters, Charlie and Jack, that both harkens to the relationship between Fast Eddie and Vince and still feels distinctly different.

Mr Doom.v4Charlie (Danny Parsons) is the Fast Eddie of this pairing. Emitting a smoothness somewhere between Jason Statham and Idris Elba, Charlie is a seasoned hustler, who sees an opportunity to score big if he can tame Jack (Danny Sutcliffe), a self-destructive sot who is surprisingly adept with a cue stick. Jack is the movie’s Vince, except he looks like a Northern English Wavy Gravy; a hippie version of “Bobby Elvis” Munson from Sons of Anarchy; a drunken mix of Captain Lou Albano and The Dude from The Big Lebowski.  Except the megawatt smile and the arm candy named Carmen have been replaced with a rats nest of a food-caked beard and a front-seat handjob from a hooker.

Initially, Charlie and Jack seem like they’re from different worlds. Disgusted by Jack’s boorishness and vulgarity, Charlie hustles him, taking advantage of Jack’s inebriation while pretending to also drink. (There is also a drunken spinoff of Vince’s “Werewolves of London” chest-thumping scene from TCOM.) Having humiliated Jack, Charlie then attempts to harness him, putting him in his debt while teaching him how to hustle pool. Echoes of TCOM abound.

But, the movie turns an emotional corner as we realize beneath Charlie’s cool exterior is his own wreckage of ruined relationships; similarly, behind Jack’s ogrish veneer are pockets of warmth and loyalty to something other than a vodka bottle. As their two backstories collide into one another, a fragile tie starts to unite them and ultimately cements itself in a final 9-ball match against a former partner of Charlie’s. 

Interspersed throughout Mr Doom is a hefty dose of blackball (English 8-ball) and 9-ball, which is interesting, given the tendency of most British billiards films to focus exclusively on snooker. (Perhaps, a bit more puzzling is the decision to film with a spotted cue ball.) While the games aren’t novel, the filming of the games is fast-paced and dynamic, a style intended to emulate that of Edgar Wright, according to Mr. Johnson. 

I’d be challenged to call Mr Doom groundbreaking or even a great movie. But, for those that enjoy entertaining characters, a well-crafted story, and a fresh take on a familiar film, then Mr Doom is worth the watch.

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