I Like the Thing in the Thing Better than the Thing

CQ (2001)

CQ stars Jeremy Davies (who I like to think of as an alternate universe Henry Thomas) is a pretentious wannabe director who is working as an editor for a 60s Eurospy movie, Codename: Dragonfly.  He steals film to work on his horsepoop art piece of him pontificating on a toilet, the better to smell his own farts.  The Eurospy movie (think along the lines of Barbarella or Danger: Diabolik) is supposed to represent the crass commercial side of film making, while the art film represents the detached artist.

Or something - not a clear purpose or reason for this film to exist, and fails to either enlighten or entertain.  I think we're supposed to be aware of the characters faults but ultimately be on the side of art, and to not like Codename: Dragonfly as crass commercialism, but it seemed clear to me that Davies played a complete wanker and that they would have been better off just making Codename: Dragonfly.

Sure, it looks good, but don't bother watching the whole thing just for these parts.

I felt the same way about Stephen King's The Dark Half.  The Dark Half is about a writer living in Maine (but you already knew that) who writes violent crime fiction on the side under an assumed name George Stark.  The stories within the story feature a character named Alexis Machine, who is similar to Richard Stark's Parker, if Parker were a serial killer.

Of course, I would much rather read the George Stark books than anything by Stephen King.