Tag Archives: billiards movies

Green, Bygone…

Top 10 Superheroes Who Are Super Good at Pool

It was in a tweet from MCUFilmNews when I first saw the rumor that the supervillain 8-Ball would reportedly appear in Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Even in mid-June, with just six weeks to go before the blockbuster’s release, the rumor persisted. Alas, when the film finally came out, more than a few d-list baddies made cameos, but 8-Ball was sadly not among them.

That same depression had washed over me back in 2016 when the comic book adaptation Deadpool released, grossing $135 million on its opening weekend, making it the most successful R-rated movie release ever. The “pool” in the vigilante’s name referred to a betting pool, not billiards, contrary to the widely circulated image of Deadpool casually sitting on a pool table.

It seems billiards and comic book adaptations are not simpatico. At least, that’s what I had always surmised. But, as I started to dig into the annals of comic book themed movies and television episodes, it turns out that superheroes do have a knack for shooting stick. Well, at least some of them do. So, grab your popcorn and utility belt as I walk you through the Top 10 Superheroes who are Super Good at Pool.

10. Batman and Robin

In the 2017 animated movie Batman vs Two-Face, Gotham’s favorite duo prove that they’re no stranger to billiards, or at least not to a giant-sized billiards death trap courtesy of the Joker. The deadly play starts with Joker’s taunt, “Batman in the corner pocket.” While we can’t evaluate Batman’s backspin, he proves very adept backpedaling on a spinning three-ball to avoid the jumbo spherical menaces. Robin, however, is clearly new to the baize; he barely avoids a careening nine-ball when Batman pulls him to safety. It’s “holy compaction” time for team B&R. (Side note: this wasn’t the first time the Joker showed a proclivity for pool. Remember the broken cue stick scene from The Dark Knight?)

9. Superman

If we’re searching for the O.G. of superhero pool players – the ultimate caped Mosconi – then it must be Superman. And I’m not talking about David Corenswet or Henry Cavill or Brandon Routh or Tom Welling or Dean Cain or Christopher Reeve. I’m referring to George Reeves who played the Man of Steel in the 1950s Adventures of Superman series. In the 1954 episode “Semi Private-Eye,” the Last Son of Krypton shows up at a seedy pool hall to interrogate the local hoodlums and gangsters. I’ve only found stills of the episode, but it’s clear the Big Blue Boyscout knows how to shoot stick, or at least, can crush a cueball with his bare hands.

8. The Incredible Hulk

It’s doubtful the Hulk possesses any natural ability to shoot billiards, but he sure knows how to end a pool game – and I’m not referring to pocketing the eight ball. In the late ‘70s, Marvel’s green goliath appeared on television in CBS’ series The Incredible Hulk. Professional bodybuilder Lou Ferrigno played the Big Guy in fright wig and full green makeup. In the 1978 “Waterfront Story” episode (starting at 19:55), and then again in the 1980 “Long Run Home” episode, the Hulk appears in a local bar – after his alter ego Bruce Banner gets beaten up – and proceeds to break cue sticks, crush billiards balls, and use the bar table to mow down the local yahoos.

7. Wolverine

Not surprisingly, Canada’s baddest-ass, mutton-chopped, cigar-smoking, liquor-swilling, adamantium-boned mutant enjoys pool. While the live-action Logan hasn’t indulged, Wolverine from X-Men: The Animated Series is a frequent patron of the sport. Both in the 1992 episode “Night of the Sentinels, Part Two” and the 1993 episode “Til Death Do Us Part, Part 1,” Wolverine enjoys some billiards until some humans choose to interfere and mess up all the fun. Such distractions lead to all sorts of billiards mayhem from his X-Men compatriots, including Cyclops lasering a table in two and Gambit kinetically charging a billiards ball, turning it into an explosive weapon.

6. The Flash

DC’s speedster The Flash can run around the Earth in about 0.133 seconds. Over the years, he has outrun the concept of death, he has perceived events that last less than an attosecond (i.e., a quintillion of a second), and of course, he has regularly harnessed the power of the Speed Force to travel back in time. But, he might want to skip over 1990. That’s the year the original television series The Flash premiered on CBS. While the series was horrible, the episode “Sins of the Father” did reveal that the Flash can play pool. Or, at least, he can quickly clear a table, clear a rack of cue sticks, and spin a billiards ball so fast that it creates a hole on the table. All of this to save a helpless M. Emmet Walsh from a trio of nogoodniks.

5. Yellow Power Ranger

Since 1993, the color-coded, spandex-wearing Power Rangers superhero team have been entertaining children, and making billions of dollars across the myriad franchise properties for their corporate overseers. Tucked into that 30+ year history is Power Rangers RPM, the sixteenth entry in the franchise, which included the 2009 episode “The Dome Dolls.” In that episode, Summer Landsdown (aka Yellow Power Ranger) is not showcasing her kung fu or flexing the Sabertooth Tiger Dinozord, but rather impressing the boys in a game of pool. Told a certain shot “has never been done before,” she steps to the table, takes her stroke (with terrible form), and makes five balls at the same time. Unfortunately, her mates pass out from some airborne diotoxin before they can witness the accomplishment.

4. Plastic Man

Unlike Marvel’s stultifyingly stuffy Mr. Fantastic, DC Comics’ stretchmaster, aka Patrick “Eel” O’Brian, better known as Plastic Man, is a surreal, slapstick, one-man rubberband. He also got his own animated series: The Plastic Man Comedy/Adventure Show. Though it only lasted five seasons, the “This Is Where We Eat” episode from 1979 features our malleable metahuman escaping an angry mob at Pepe’s Pool Parlor. There he physiologically morphs his body into a cue stick so that his sidekick Hula-Hula can use him to play pool while they search for information on the whereabouts of Plastic Man’s nemesis Dr. Dome. Apparently, maintaining a 58”x1” shape can be challenging, and Plastic Man reverts to his original form after a nice shot by Hula-Hula. (Watch the scene here, starting at 0:54.)

3. Supergirl

Before Milly Alcock’s drunken sot version of Supergirl was getting soused at every red sun bar in the galaxy, the more wholesome Melissa Benoist version was bashfully learning to play pool in the 2020 “Reality Bytes” episode of Supergirl. In the scene, Kara Danvers’ boy-crush friend William Dey promises to take the game “one shot at a time” since Kara has only played eightball once in her life. But, that doesn’t stop Kara from invoking some Kryptonian mojo and pocketing all 15 balls on the opening break.

2. Daredevil

The Man Without Fear may also be known as The Man With Mad Skills, given the double ball ricochet shot he hits in the 2016 “Bang” episode of Daredevil. For the uninitiated: Daredevil, aka Matt Murdock, is a blind lawyer whose other senses are super-augmented as a result of a chemical accident when he was a child. Apparently, those augmented senses include the application of echolocation to enable him to perceive the location of balls on the pool table. While fellow lawyer Karen Page “fails” to teach him the game in the first half of the scene, it’s clear once she leaves, in the second half of the scene, that he was playing the role of the beginner because “she wanted to teach me,” and secretly was a crackshot all along.

1. The Teen Titans

One might think the Titans TV series, with its graphic violence and dark themes, might have a billiards scene among its episodes. But, it is the supergroup’s animated spin-off series, Teen Titans Go!, that overdelivers, with not just a scene, but a whole episode devoted to billiards. The ninth season “Pool Shark” episode (2025) finds our quintet of young Titans egging on their friend King Shark to start playing pool again. Via flashback, we learn that King Shark used to be the “big champ” of the DC Villains Billiards League, in which a who’s-who of DC baddies – including Scarecrow, Doctor Light, Mr. Freeze, Penguin, Brainiac, Catwoman, Killer Moth, Poison Ivy, Two Face, Clayface, and Black Manta – used to congregate around the table to shoot stick. King Shark won hundreds of games with his lucky narwhal cue stick, but his overconfidence got the better of him and he lost it in a bet to a mysterious character called The Hand. King Shark never played again. But, coincidentally, the DC Billiards Invitational is happening this weekend, which gives King Shark a chance to redeem himself and for all of us viewers to learn the secret identity of The Hands. The episode is streaming on HBOMax.

That wraps my top 10 list. So, what can we conclude? More than a few of these heroes are likely beatable, but given their penchant for crushing balls bare-handed, I’d recommend throwing the game. A couple of these heroes could likely defeat Shane Van Boening, or at least compete against Florian Kohler for best trick shot. And while HBO’s current Lanterns hasn’t yet featured any billiards, if the TV-based Green Lantern ever emulates his comic book counterpart with a galactic pool stick, we’re all in trouble.

A Quintet of Women-Directed Billiards Short Films

Drop Pocket

It took me nine years to track down and finally reconnect with Margaux Hemard, the director of this 2017 Australian short film. But, it was worth it. Created while she attended the Sydney Film School, Drop Pocket is a poignant movie focused on an estranged middle-aged father, who attempts to reconnect with the son he abandoned 20 years ago, over a high stakes pool game. The son is not aware of the stranger’s identity, which creates a very asymmetrical dialogue, as the son shares some resentment about his father, and the father assesses whether to disclose his true intent. In this sense, it reminded me of Penance, another female-directed billiards short film that deals with two characters who may have a close connection.

While billiards is clearly secondary to Ms. Hemard’s exploration of the “possibility of reconciliation after irreparable psychological damage caused by the abandonment of a parent,” the film proves she’s no stranger to capturing the energy of the sport. The use of rapid shots, different angles, blurred backgrounds, and a long tracking shot, not to mention the inclusion of “Hum Along and Dance” by Rare Earth, all bring the billiards to life.

Beyond Billiards (original title: Más Allá del Billar)

Director Florencia DuFou kindly sent me a link to Beyond Billiards, a 2025 student production she created as part of the Acting degree program at the National University of the Arts in Argentina. But, not surprisingly, it was in Spanish, so I needed to use transcription and translation software from Sonix.ai to generate a film I could comfortably review.

The self-funded film focuses on Dolores (played by Ms. DuFou) who is playing billiards with a movie director. Some emotions from the past resurface, and he tries to make a move on Dolores, but is rejected. Her night takes a much stranger turn when Death later shows up at the door, ready to take Dolores. She’s able to stall, and then rebuff him by inviting him to play pool and then getting him to gamble on the likelihood of her making a difficult shot.

This is no Twilight Zone – “A Game of Pool” but it’s commendable what was created with the limited resources they had. And, I’m glad I was introduced to the song “Bela Lugosi’s Dead” by the punk band Bauhaus. It was a fitting choice for the film.

The Shaughnessy Standard

Samantha Hussey’s 2024 film has an interesting set-up that falls apart in its execution. Two estranged siblings are reconnected by the death of their father, who decided before he died that the only fair way to split his estate was to have the siblings compete for it in a winner-takes-all single game of pool. It’s a bit of a cruel joke since the father acknowledges in the pre-recorded video that pool is the “one game you’ve never been able to play.” After watching the video, the siblings relocate to the billiards room where they attempt to play. But, the playing is soon eclipsed by a recounting of their fractured relationship and then an urge to settle things – specifically, his ashes – in a very different way. A little more billiards playing would have been appreciated, though admittedly, it’s not that entertaining watching people miss shots.

Scratch

Girl power gets its moment on the baize in Alice Blasingame’s 2024 short film Scratch. A trio of besties bond in billiards as they tell bad jokes, trade anecdotes about substituting in the science classroom, improvise songs about Bill Nye the Science Guy, and find camaraderie in rebuffing predatory bar patron Brad and sticking him with the bar bill. They even recruit a local barfly to be the “Brad buffer.” Two women also bond over using Brad to make an ex-boyfriend jealous. Light on substance and lighter on enjoyable billiards, the film has a female empowerment message, but without a novel twist, it views more like a table scratch.

El Billar

Irene Blei refers to her 1990 short film El Billar as a “graduation project according to current standards.” As Ms. Blei shared with me, “I’d always been interested in animated film, but back then in Argentina there was no formal training in this field—however, I was able to work as a teacher, sharing some of what I’d learned on my own about animation. I applied for a scholarship and was lucky enough to win it.”

The film is pretty straight-forward. A toad and another animal are playing pool. Another toad approaches, but he is rejected because he is a foreigner. Packed within those few minutes is Ms. Blei’s exploration of lip-syncing (in animation), as well as a project to revive traditional Argentinian tales, using the toad as the protagonist. She brings to life phrases about toads, such as “to act like a toad,” “to be a toad from another pond,” and “to grow up like a toad.” Having that context and then rewatching the film gave it a whole new level of meaning.

Today Ms. Blei has directed more than 20 animation shorts, won over 30 awards, been featured in the The Many Wonderful Lives of Argentine Animation at New York’s Museum of the Moving Image, and most amazingly, is the founder of Taller de Cine El Mate, which was the first film school for children and youth in Argentina.

While I don’t wish to make any generalizations about the types of movies women make, I do find it interesting that across this quintet of five films (which were randomly selected, so long as they were billiards short films directed by women that I had not yet reviewed), there are no sketchy hustlers, no brawls, no dingy pool halls. The themes vary considerably, though friendship, reconnection, and working through challenging pasts are all prevalent. Personally, I’d like to see a little more exploration in these areas across the genre, regardless of who directs them.

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)

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).

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)

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 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)

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.”

That’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)

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)

In 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)

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.

In 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.

On 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.

Along 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).

Malagueta, 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.

Along 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.

Apparently, 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)

****

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.
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!

Welcome 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

One 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…

The 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

This 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

Once 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

Terminally 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

Proving 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

In 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

With 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

Given 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

Proving 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

Introducing 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.

That’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.

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!”)

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?

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.

Billiards Movies In Memoriam

Ride the 9

Of 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

Former 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

Originally 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

Having 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

Not 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

The 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

Director 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

Fast 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

Rounding 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

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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