Odelecol Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

Fairaher The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

AnhartLinkin This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

Invaderbank The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

uraj Chris Wilcha has made a small home movie with, it seems, deceit and bitterness as his guides. He paints a bunch of professionals who are minding their own business, trying to get their jobs done the best they can, as a bunch of morons. The unintended result is the depiction of Wilcha's insecurities, jealousy, and general sour grapes. What he doesn't understand is that not everyone in the corporate world is a sell-out, and not everyone who can't make a living is a noble artist. Is it really possible that besides Wilcha's boss Rick Hunt (the only good guy in the whole movie), no one at the company has both a brain AND a heart? Columbia House allowed Wilcha to aim his camera at the company every day, so it seems to me that they had nothing to hide. Wilcha obviously does, but wasn't successful.

#1 Gracie I really enjoyed this film when Chris Wilcha presented this movie to me and my class recently. It was a creative concept, well shot, and succeeded in finding what it was going for. Special kudos to Chris for editing that much footage into about an hour and a half long movie. ****, 10/10

dlrooks Edited from more than 200 hours of footage, "The Target Shoots First" is a young production manager's chronicle of his two-year stint at Columbia House. Its technical merits and fabulous sense of humor earned it both the critics prize and the audience prize at the recent South by Southwest Film Festival in Austin. The audience at the Aurora Picture Show in Houston (where I saw it tonight) was equally enthusiastic. The story begins in 1992, when Columbia House hires recent college graduate Christopher Wilcha as a marketing assistant. He brings his Hi8 to work every day to distance himself from the reality of the job, which turns out to be boring and hilariously out of touch with the popular music scene. As his amount of responsibility increases, he helps design a new, more intelligent catalogue for the burgeoning alternative rock subculture. Readers love the new catalogue, and their letters of praise are encouraging for a while, but Chris's subversive attempts fail when the company manipulates them to suit its agenda. One of the pleasant surprises of Chris's approach is that while he's clearly disgusted with the corporate process at Columbia House, he retains a compassionate attitude toward his coworkers. The emergent tone is one of contemplative frustration with how the company siphons the individual creative energy of its employees to further its own, less admirable goals. Interesting note: I used to get the alternative catalogue in the mail, and I never expected to meet the guy responsible for it (six years later, in Houston).

fourmarx Here's an interesting idea: Take the brand new Hi-8 camera your parents gave you upon college graduation with you to work EVERY DAY. Sounds ubsurd? Well that's just what Chris Wilcha did. In 1993 he took a job with mail order giant Columbia House, and recorded at least one thing every day! The viewer recieves an interesting and humorous look into the workings of a large company. Wilcha edits down the 200+ hours of aquired footage and puts it into this film. The film goes from funny to brilliant in one blink of an eye. If you're scared of non-narrative films, this one's sure to bring you around!