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.