May's DVD Reviews, Part
II
Quick reviews from my Netflix queue and/or
the library.
Last Action Hero, 1993
If you even vaguely remember it,
you get the premise: Kid goes into the movie realm. The problem is
the meta-movie can't sufficiently exaggerate the "movieisms" for the audience
to feel they've moved from the cartoonish version of "real life" to the
supposedly unrealistic movie with the movie, much like when Arnold was
elected governator.
Lost: Season
3, Discs 1&2
I'd heard bad things about this
season, but there was honestly more story development in the first few
episodes this time around than the entire last season in its entirety.
24: Season 6,
Discs 1&2
They pretty much gloss over a
lot of the lingering threads from last season, but who cares since last
season sucked worse than any. They're finally getting the show back
on track.
Extras: Season
2, Discs 1&2
There really is nothing else like
this series on tv anywhere, and that alone ought to be reason enough to
watch, but if you need more, then two words: Ricky Gervais.
Psyche: Season
1, Disc 3
Meh. This show isn't very
good, but I don't hate it. It painted itself in the corner with an
annoying premise, but several of the cast have the potential to make it
entertaining anyway.
Planet Terror,
2007
Imagine you could melt down the
Die Hard series, everything by George Romero and Tarantino and Rodriguez,
then distill it into a formulation of Viagra you take with your eyes.
If you can do that, you might have about a tenth of this movie. If
you haven't seen it yet, you better show me the receipt for all the porn
you've been busy watching to the exclusion of all else instead.
Battlestar Galactica:
Season 3: Disc 4, 2006
Possibly the only reasonable excuse
outside of porn for not watching Planet Terror.
Wild Palms:
Disc 1, 1993
Good premise, lots of plot twists
(though you can see many of them coming literally hours in advance), but
weak acting and really, really bad direction.
Wizards,
1977
A mish-mash of almost every animation
style and technique available at the time, but that's about the only reason
it's worth watching other than the perpetually prominent nipples of the
fairy princess throughout.
Buffy the Vampire
Slayer: Season 2: Disc 2, 1997
They dole out story developments
so slowly in this series that you could honestly watch a given season's
episodes in any order and wouldn't have any trouble with anything but the
lack of acting talent.
Gilmore Girls:
Season 7: Disc 2, 2006
More of the same and I'm still
not complaining.
Penn & Teller:
Bullsh*t!: Season 2: Disc 3, 2004
The key distinction is magicians
tell you that they're going to trick you. Everyone who fails to do
so is full of bullshit.
Wit, 2001
Cancer makes Emma Thompson look
back at her life only she tells the audience about what she sees while
Mike Nicols directs. Not as profound as one would think, but intelligently
and inventively staged.
Candid Camera:
5 Decades of Smiles: Disc 9, 1949
By this disc it's pretty much
the end of the series, but there are still a lot of (re)inventive takes
on the early pranks. Armchair anthropologists should take notes.
PICKS OF THE
LITTER: Battlestar Fracking Galactica is the best fracking show
on television, and I'm not just saying that because it's what Dom spent
her honeymoon night watching, but Planet Terror is every other movie
on steroids only with balls that haven't atrophied due to steroids.
Also, if you loved the BBC version of The Office, you should check
out Extras. And if you haven't seen The Office, then
your life is a pale, lifeless version of Dom's honeymoon night.
Copyright 2008
Ale[x]plorer.