Rigel (![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} rigelkitty) wrote,@ 2008-04-07 17:56:00 |
|
Video Reviews (4/7/08)
TV: Wondrous Secrets of the Ocean (1990s)
Review: Being a fan of good ocean documentaries, I leapt at a chance to pore through a 6-disc series on the subject, hoping it would reveal unknown sights and information. The good news is that there are plenty of new things to see and learn. Some of the footage is rare and this may be the only place it's publicly available, such as hammerhead shark mating, whale bottom-feeding, and some weird species from the nether depths. The first five discs are narrated by Linda Hunt, whose placid, authoritative voice is easy to listen to. The downside is that this series is from the early 90s. The video quality reflects this in that it seems to have come from a tv show. Each episode is only thirty minutes as well and, with only two episodes per DVD, it could easily have been a 3-disc set. The last disc is completely different - a 3-hour documentary with a male voice, atrociously slow narration, frequently repeating footage, and a laughably dramatic script, referring to sea life as hellish, grotesque, alien, killers - like a halloween scare-fest. Disc 6 is probably one of the worst documentaries I've seen. A real shame that it endcaps an otherwise excellent program.
Rating: ***1/2 out of *****
Movie: Waiting For Guffman (1996)
Review: I'm no fan of Christopher Guest films. Call me biased, but a serious attempt at filmmaking is poorly done as improvisation. Very little of this movie was actually scripted, and so the humor is vague and invented for the hilarity of the cast rather than for the audience. Worse, the characters, who perform a play for their tiny town in an attempt to go to Broadway, are almost universally unlikable and annoying. The whole plot culminates in the play which, rather than building up to a comic catastrophe...doesn't. It results in the equivalent of a grade school show, which is merely bad, awkward, and, considering it's performed by adults, pathetic rather than funny. To top it all off, the ending is the unexciting equivalent of a deflated balloon. Meaningless, empty, and easy to sleep through.
Rating: *1/2 out of *****
Movie: Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
Review: As the film progressed, it became increasingly evident that it was primarily a remix of National Lampoon's Vacation, even with some of the same elements. It obviously means well, but the story of a dysfunctional family's interstate trip to satisfy a child's dream shares the structure of that ol' 80's classic. What differences there are are stark. One new character is thrown in, in the form of Steve Carell, who the movie loosely pivots upon. The motivations are different, even though the family unit is the same. It also gyrates wildly from serious family drama to awkward reality comedy, never portraying the individuals as detached caricatures, preferring to hug the schadenfreude discomfort of real people in dire straits. The climax, at a pre-teen beauty contest, is incredibly creepy, especially knowing the contestants are actual beauty queen candidates performing their real routines in their real costumes. The pat-on-the-back resolution doesn't really solve anything and leaves a number of loose ends. As feel-good as the movie leaves you, feel-good doesn't pay the mortgage. Watchable, often funny, but ultimately hollow.
Rating: ***1/2 out of *****
TV: Wondrous Secrets of the Ocean (1990s)
Review: Being a fan of good ocean documentaries, I leapt at a chance to pore through a 6-disc series on the subject, hoping it would reveal unknown sights and information. The good news is that there are plenty of new things to see and learn. Some of the footage is rare and this may be the only place it's publicly available, such as hammerhead shark mating, whale bottom-feeding, and some weird species from the nether depths. The first five discs are narrated by Linda Hunt, whose placid, authoritative voice is easy to listen to. The downside is that this series is from the early 90s. The video quality reflects this in that it seems to have come from a tv show. Each episode is only thirty minutes as well and, with only two episodes per DVD, it could easily have been a 3-disc set. The last disc is completely different - a 3-hour documentary with a male voice, atrociously slow narration, frequently repeating footage, and a laughably dramatic script, referring to sea life as hellish, grotesque, alien, killers - like a halloween scare-fest. Disc 6 is probably one of the worst documentaries I've seen. A real shame that it endcaps an otherwise excellent program.
Rating: ***1/2 out of *****
Movie: Waiting For Guffman (1996)
Review: I'm no fan of Christopher Guest films. Call me biased, but a serious attempt at filmmaking is poorly done as improvisation. Very little of this movie was actually scripted, and so the humor is vague and invented for the hilarity of the cast rather than for the audience. Worse, the characters, who perform a play for their tiny town in an attempt to go to Broadway, are almost universally unlikable and annoying. The whole plot culminates in the play which, rather than building up to a comic catastrophe...doesn't. It results in the equivalent of a grade school show, which is merely bad, awkward, and, considering it's performed by adults, pathetic rather than funny. To top it all off, the ending is the unexciting equivalent of a deflated balloon. Meaningless, empty, and easy to sleep through.
Rating: *1/2 out of *****
Movie: Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
Review: As the film progressed, it became increasingly evident that it was primarily a remix of National Lampoon's Vacation, even with some of the same elements. It obviously means well, but the story of a dysfunctional family's interstate trip to satisfy a child's dream shares the structure of that ol' 80's classic. What differences there are are stark. One new character is thrown in, in the form of Steve Carell, who the movie loosely pivots upon. The motivations are different, even though the family unit is the same. It also gyrates wildly from serious family drama to awkward reality comedy, never portraying the individuals as detached caricatures, preferring to hug the schadenfreude discomfort of real people in dire straits. The climax, at a pre-teen beauty contest, is incredibly creepy, especially knowing the contestants are actual beauty queen candidates performing their real routines in their real costumes. The pat-on-the-back resolution doesn't really solve anything and leaves a number of loose ends. As feel-good as the movie leaves you, feel-good doesn't pay the mortgage. Watchable, often funny, but ultimately hollow.
Rating: ***1/2 out of *****
