October's DVD Reviews, Part I
Quick reviews from my Netflix queue and/or the library.



The Singing Detective, 1986
This is quite an ordeal to get through, but it's an interesting postmodern/existential production.  If you have six hours and enough antidepressants to spare, then "enjoy."


Jason of Star Command: Disc 1, 1979
I know from my parents that I watched this show on Saturday mornings when I was four or five years old, but I have absolutely no memory of it.  That's the best thing about it.


Classic Albums: Meat Loaf: Bat Out of Hell, 1999
Meatloaf is just as entertaining a storyteller about his music as he is a performer.  Even if you aren't a fan (and, honestly, I'm not much of one), this is fun to watch.


The Shape of Things to Come, 1979
Complete joke of a flick, but I love sci-fi B-movies from this period.  I have no defense.


Simon Birch, 1998
I ended up liking this, but it's really dumbed down from the source material.  If you want quality John Irving, I'm going to recommend The World According to Garp.


Showgirls, 1995
I had never seen this, believe it or not.  In some ways it really is a bad as critics contend, and yet it's endearing in how dumb it is.  It's simultaneously cutting edge with the excessive nudity (i.e., you're completely desensitized halfway through it unless you grew up obsessed with Saved By the Bell) and yet the (intentional) humor is a throwback to '80s John Hughs movies.  WTF?


Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 1: Disc 3, 1997
Ugh.  Finally.  I'm hoping this show finally begins to mature next season into something to justify the cult that keeps pushing me to watch the series.


Sci-Fi Files, 1998
Documentary exploring themes across the history of sci-fi cinema.  There's nothing terribly insightful here, but it's enjoyable to trace the evolution of a genre about what's possible in the future and wonder what's possible in the future of that genre.


Sholay, 1975
Awesome Indian movie that literally is equal parts comedy, tragedy, musical, action-adventure, etc.  It's a bit of Kurosawa/Spaghetti western out of Bollywood (It's been called a "curry western"), but I just totally got into it.


Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, 1992
It's been fifteen years since I drug my then-girlfriend (who had never seen a single episode of the tv show) to the theater with me and had her leave wondering what was wrong with me for liking this kind of movie.  Admittedly, it's so harsh that it lacks the charm of the series, but it's an interesting story and piece of work on its own, and it's classic Lynch for those who appreciate his quirks (which are prominently on display throughout).


Clerks, the Animated Series
Meh.  It misses the point of the original material and instead just plays games with iconic characters.  Complete waste of time.


PICKS OF THE LITTER: It's no Star Wars, but Sholay has many of the same elements that made it a classic, and I think it ought to find a wider audience (in this hemisphere I mean; it broke every record over there).  On the other hand, Showgirls has been derided for reasons that have nothing to do with the way the movie should be viewed: An unintentional satire of itself, and it's worth (re?)viewing it as just that.




Copyright 2007 Ale[x]plorer.
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