K-ON! VOL. 1 -- DVD Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 4/20/11

 

Four bubbly high school girls join the Light Music Club and provide light entertainment in K-ON! VOL. 1 (2009), Bandai Entertainment's first DVD volume of the Japanese anime series based on a popular manga. 

Yui, a clumsy, scatterbrained girl who's easily distracted, freaks out on her first day of high school because she can't decide what club to join.  Meanwhile, Mio and Ritsu are crushed to find the Light Music Club is disbanding since it lacks the minimum four members.  They persuade pretty blonde rich girl Tsumugi, a talented keyboardist, to join, but are still one member short.  Desperate, they cajole a reluctant Yui to complete the foursome as lead guitarist of their band even though she can't play a note, and afterwards spend most of their time in the music room gorging themselves on gooey pastries and cakes. 

That pretty much describes the first episode, "Disband the Club!"  K-ON! (from the Japanese word keiongaku, meaning "light music") is a frenetic series of mildly comic situations done in a colorful, breezy style that doesn't place all that much emphasis on plotlines.  Basically, it's a "hang-out" show--once you get to know these characters and their particular quirks, it's fun just to hang out with them, enjoy their girlish antics, and groove to the eye-pleasing artwork and animation.



The four lead characters are your standard cute young anime schoolgirls.  Bass-player Mio is, in Yui's words, "tall and pretty, and gives off a real 'cool, grown woman vibe'."  Before long, however, we discover that she's a bundle of debilitating phobias and neuroses and often goes blank from fear of things like strange people and barnacles.  Her friend Ritsu, the band's drummer, is "a cheerful girl who's full of energy" but is also a hyperactive ditz.  Much of the show's slapstick humor comes from anger-prone Mio whacking Ritsu over the head and raising cartoony egg-shaped knots.  Mild-mannered Tsumugi, the pampered princess, is funny because of her inexperience and is thrilled when asked if she "wants fries with that" during her first trip to a fastfood restaurant.

The simple plots take a single idea and follow it to the end with all the light-comedy embellishments, screwball physical humor, and sight gags, with frequent use of fantasy interludes and flashbacks.  The second episode, "Instruments!", is all about finding an affordable guitar for Yui, with the girls taking temp jobs to help pay for it.  At first, the motivational message here is about being selfless and helping others, but eventually it becomes "you can afford that expensive guitar if your rich friend's dad owns the store." 

"Cram Session!" finds Yui barred from membership in a club after failing mid-term exams.  The girls urge her to study for her makeup test, but she just can't keep her mind on her books and off her cool new guitar.  Dropping by to help out, the girls have their usual sugary snacks and meet Yui's little sister Ui, amazed to find her vastly more polite and mature than Yui. 

The episode gets off to a weird start as Yui becomes hypnotically fascinated by how squishy Mio's string-hardened fingertips are.  Meanwhile, the easily-annoyed Mio manages to raise at least two ostrich egg-sized knots on Ritsu's head this time out.  Typical of the series, the relatively realistic design of the characters becomes exaggeratedly cartoonish whenever they experience extreme emotions, resulting in some pretty funny-looking reactions. 

The most visually-pleasing episode, "Training Camp!", boasts some gorgeous artwork as Mio organizes a trip to the country so the band can practice for the upcoming Fall Festival.  They end up at one of Tsumugi's luxurious family vacation homes on the beach where Yui and Ritsu spend most of their time romping around in the surf while Mio tries in vain to get them to concentrate on their music.
 


Mio's first appearance in a bikini leads to a strangely comical moment with the two girls being stunned to discover that she has--BOOBS!  Later, a nighttime fireworks display adds even more visual interest to the episode while inspiring fantasies of the girls' most cherished ambition--to perform at Budokan before high school is over.

Mio is at her most freaked-out and violent in this episode, repeatedly whacking Mitsu over the head and going nuts after accidentally touching some barnacles.  In the last shot, she hoists Yui off her feet by the neck and strangles her for taking an uncomplimentary photo of her during their vacation.  The lesson here, I assume, is that even the pretty and seemingly self-assured girls in your school can be dangerously unbalanced.

The four-episode DVD (approx. 100 minutes) from Bandai Entertainment is in 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen with both Japanese and English Dolby 2.0 sound.  Subtitles are in English.  Extras include a ten-minute interview with Stephanie Sheh, the voice of Yui in the English dub, and trailers from other Bandai releases.  Three more volumes of the series are planned.

Yui and her friends don't get very far musically in this collection, but the opening and closing titles feature two catchy tunes, "Cagayake! Girls" and "Don't Say 'Lazy'", which indicate that by the series' end the band will finally be ready for Budokan.  Till then, K-ON! VOL. 1 catches them doing what they currently do best--eating snacks, being kooky, and having fun. 

K-ON! VOL. 1 -- DVD Review by Porfle

DANTE'S INFERNO: AN ANIMATED EPIC -- DVD Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 2/8/10

 

 

Four separate anime studios were brought together to collaborate on DANTE'S INFERNO: AN ANIMATED EPIC (2010), and the result is a non-stop visual feast that takes us through all nine levels of Hell without spending quite enough time on the emotional level.

When young warrior knight Dante goes off to fight in the Holy Wars, Lucifer makes a bet with his beloved Beatrice that Dante will betray her. Figuring it's a sure thing, Beatrice takes him up on it and the next thing you know, she's in Hell. Dante returns from the war to find his loved ones dead by an unknown hand, and sees Beatrice's soul rise from her bloody body only to be dragged down into the pit.

Dante enters in pursuit and finds that he must fight his way through the nine circles of Hell--limbo, lust, gluttony, greed, anger, heresy, violence, fraud and treachery--in order to rescue Beatrice's soul from eternal damnation. With guidance from the ghost of Roman poet Virgil, Dante slices and dices his way through hordes of infernal minions, only to find that Lucifer plans to wed Beatrice and make her Queen of Hell.

As this is based on a videogame from Visceral Games, both of which are to be released at the same time, Dante's journey through the nine circles of Hell mirrors the progression from one level of gameplay to the next. Upon his arrival, animated by Film Roman studio, he and Virgil sport big, impossibly muscular superhero bodies and little heads, and Dante tends to fly around doing aerial flips just to emphasize certain lines of dialogue. When Charon, the demon boatman who transports newly-arrived souls to their destinations, orders Dante to begone, he hops about thirty feet in the air and does a somersault before telling him no. Charon, incidentally, gets to deliver the famous line "Abandon hope, all ye who enter here" before doing battle with Dante.

This film is interesting to look at from start to finish although the frequent changes in character design and direction can be a little disconcerting. My favorite segments are the ones by the Manglobe studio, who give the characters a classical dramatic style and a beautifully baroque look. Manglobe handles the "Limbo" section--that ring of Hell which is home to virtuous pagans and unbaptized babies, souls which did not sin but lacked the required faith--which often looks like illustrations from some classic volume brought to life.

Here we're treated to the haunting sight of a hall of damned rulers and philosophers such as Caesar, Plato and Aristotle, their ghostly shells still endlessly engaged in pointless theological debates and the like.On this level Dante battles Minos, who judges souls and "sorts them out" to the various circles for their appropriate punishments. He also must flee from a bizarre, scuttling army of demon-babies with scythelike arms.

The most comic book-looking artwork and animation, which resembles stuff you might see in Marvel Comics or Heavy Metal, is done by Dong Woo studio and it's very dynamic. If I'm not mistaken, Dong Woo handled the "Lust", "Greed", and "Gluttony" segments, which take Dante through some of his most fierce and emotionally taxing confrontations. One of these involves his own father, Alighiero (Mark Hamill), whom Lucifer has promised a thousand torture-free years and endless gold if he will kill his son.

Flashbacks show Alighiero as a greedy, violent abuser who will eventually drive Dante's mother, Bella (Victoria Tennant), to suicide. Later, while traveling through the circle known as "Violence" (via JM Animation's lush, classic anime-style artwork), Dante discovers her in the Wood of Suicide, where, to his horror, her soul has been banished for doing violence to herself. "You must look into your deepest sin to save Beatrice," she tells him.

Also on this level he encounters the damned souls of fellow Crusaders including Beatrice's brother, Francesco, who lashes out at Dante in classic anime-style battle. Francesco blames Dante for his own damnation, and in some ultra-downbeat flashbacks we find out that Dante committed quite a few rather deadly sins during the Holy Wars--any of which would earn him a place in one of the circles of Hell through which he's just passed. In fact, the more we find out about his past, the more we're convinced Dante is destined to remain there for eternity unless he can redeem himself while he still lives.

The "Fraud" level is where the brimstone really hits the fan. Beatrice, who has maintained a staunch faith in Dante through her many tortures, discovers at last how utterly he betrayed her trust while in the Holy Land and gives herself over to Lucifer as his bride. With JM Animation at the helm, Beatrice's transformation into the fearsome Queen of Hell (with an awesome rack) is pretty cool. This finally leads to the "Treachery" level (by Production I.G. studio), an icy wasteland which is "the furthest place in all of creation from the divine light of God." In the final showdown, Dante must face Lucifer on his own and discover the shocking truth behind his whole ordeal.

Through it all, DANTE'S INFERNO is an endless display of incredibly rich and dense artwork and imaginative animation. The subject matter gives the animators license to indulge in the most outlandish visuals they can muster (the "Lust" level, for example), with lots and lots of over-the-top action. So much so, in fact, that it tends to get a little tiresome after the umpteenth bloody-bladed battle with some raging behemoth or angry spirit.

The "acting", as it were, is a little hokey at times, especially in the introductory passage with its melodramatic line readings and character expressions. And for all of the drama and passion it strains to evoke, the story just isn't very emotionally involving. Mostly it's a lot of sound and fury, strident declarations and curses, blood and thunder, sex and ultra-violence--neat stuff, to be sure--without much going on underneath. But it's fun to look at.

The DVD from Anchor Bay is in 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen and 5.1 surround, with English and Spanish subtitles. Extras include some animatics and a game trailer.

While not a total success, DANTE'S INFERNO: AN ANIMATED EPIC is still a pretty dazzling achievement that really does manage an epic quality. If you're a fan of animation in general and anime in particular, it's definitely worth checking out. But not quite worth going to Hell for.

DANTE'S INFERNO: AN ANIMATED EPIC -- DVD Review by Porfle

TOM & JERRY: SPY QUEST -- DVD Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 6/19/15

 

When the evil Dr. Zim's henchcats kidnap Dr. Benton Quest and his pilot/bodyguard "Race" Bannon, along with Quest's powerful energy-generating invention, the "Q Sphere", it's up to Quest's son Jonny, his Indian friend Hadji, their dog Bandit, and new friends Tom & Jerry to find their way to Dr. Zim's volcano hideout and save the day.

That's right, Tom & Jerry, the cartoon cat-and-mouse team who've been chasing each other around our movie and TV screens since King Kong was underage.  It seems  they've been getting paired up with a series of unlikely co-stars in TV movies these days, from Sherlock Holmes to the Wizard of Oz, and in the original feature-length cartoon TOM & JERRY: SPY QUEST (2015) they inadvertently fall in with one of the most action-prone animated clans to ever grace Saturday mornings. 

"Jonny Quest" started out in primetime back in 1964 with surprisingly violent and adult-tinged adventures that we kids went crazy over.  The show seems to have been influenced by James Bond's 1962 movie debut DR. NO--the Quests' main adversary is Asian baddie Dr. Zim, who is often found hanging out in an empty volcano and doing things like toppling rockets.  In the episode "The Fraudulent Volcano" (included on this disc), a sleeping Dr. Quest is even threatened by a deadly tarantula as is Bond in his first film. 

TOM & JERRY: SPY QUEST continues this Bond vibe but with additional elements from such films as RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, CASABLANCA, and even Rob Zombie's own full-length cartoon THE HAUNTED WORLD OF EL SUPERBEASTO. The latter two are particularly evident in sexy leading lady Jade's big song-and-dance number which she performs in her nightclub, Jade's Cafe' Americain.  (Jade, it turns out, is one of Race Bannon's old girlfriends, and their breakup wasn't on good terms.)  This elaborate sequence, with MGM star Droopy putting in a droll cameo appearance, is one of the film's highlights.

The RAIDERS influence is the most obvious--the action sequences are fast and furious, packed with plane crashes, chases, hand-to-paw combat, et cetera.  Everything zips along as though the filmmakers are deathly afraid we'll doze off if things slow down for five seconds.

Of course, the juxtaposition of all this with comedy stars Tom & Jerry is sometimes just as awkward as it sounds, but there are stretches in which either the Quest bunch do their thing or Tom and Jerry go about their business as though they were back in one of their regular cartoon shorts. 

Actually, the combo isn't really all that bad once you get used to it--it's kind of like one of those Colgate Comedy Hour sketches in which Martin and Lewis are their usual wacky selves while guest stars such as Humphrey Bogart or Burt Lancaster spoof their own serious personas. 

The pre-titles segment of the movie is a separate Tom & Jerry short unto itself, with the adversarial duo getting in each other's way while hanging out at the beach.  It isn't until Jonny and Hadji show up, followed by a trio of Zim's attack cats (Tin, Pan, and Alley--get it?) in power suits, that the odd clash of sensibilities begins.  The titles themselves harken back to the original Jonny Quest show's classic opening sequence and thrilling musical theme. 

Strangely, we get the same unequal relationship between housecat Tom and the talking, uniformed bad-guy cats that exists between Disney's canine characters Goofy and Pluto.  (One of Dr. Zim's feline henchcats is even based on Dustin Hoffman's "Rain Man.") 

Dr. Zim and his gang are played for laughs more here than ever before, although the final phase of his scheme turns into a thrilling suicide attack on Washington D.C. in which his entire volcano hideout takes off and is set to crash into the White House with all of our heroes aboard.  (Dr. Quest's solution to this, involving the Washington Monument, is a bit of a stunner.)

Once again, Tom gets the brunt of the most sadistic gags--and for no apparent reason, since he's mostly just minding his own business while Jerry's being his usual insufferable, hateful little self.  One running gag has the starving Tom being constantly denied food while Jerry, of course, gets to gorge himself.  (A scene in which Jerry snatches a juicy steak right out of Tom's mouth just before he bites down on it--and then SLAPS him with it--is especially galling.) 

This is partially made up for by having Dr. Zim mistake Tom for a fearless, super-efficient action hero thanks to the hapless cat accidentally defeating Zim's henchmen during their various attacks while wearing one of their power suits.  Still, this movie only serves to increase my utter hatred for Jerry the mouse while causing me to cringe every time Tom is unfairly made the brunt of the usual sadistic and humiliating gags. 

The character design and backgrounds are eye-pleasing, with Tom and Jerry looking much like they did back in the 40s and 50s and the Quest crew rendered better than in previous reboots of the original series.  The story zips along with nary a slow spot to catch our breath, culminating in an effectively suspenseful climactic sequence that's very nicely done. 

Voice talent includes original Jonny Quest voice actor Tim Matheson (ANIMAL HOUSE, A VERY BRADY SEQUEL) as the President, James Hong (BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA) as Dr. Zim, and Tia Carrere (WAYNE'S WORLD) as femme fatale Jade. 

The DVD from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment is in matted widescreen format, with Dolby 5.1 sound and subtitles available in several languages including English, Spanish, and French.   Extras include four recent "Tom & Jerry" cartoon shorts ("Birthday Bashed", Feline Fatale", "For the Love of Ruggles", and "Sleuth or Consequences"), an episode of "The New Jonny Quest" ("Deadly Junket"), and, best of all, an episode from the classic original series entitled "The Fraudulent Volcano" which beats "You Only Live Twice" and its secret volcano bad-guy lair by several years. 

TOM & JERRY: SPY QUEST isn't nearly the mutant mess I was expecting, although funny animal comedy and hard-bitten action and intrigue being shoehorned into the same frantic film does lead to a somewhat uneasy alliance.  Still, I got a kick out of the novelty of it all and enjoyed seeing these characters given such a lavish vehicle that's worthy of their stature. 

Buy it at WBShop.com
Street date: June 23, 2015

TOM & JERRY: SPY QUEST -- DVD Review by Porfle

SHERLOCK -- DVD Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 2/23/22

 

For over a century, authors and filmmakers have been unable to resist rethinking, revising, and generally screwing around with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's classic master detective Sherlock Holmes.  Even the silver screen's gold standard Holmes, Basil Rathbone, found himself transplanted from Victorian-era London into the middle of World War II in order to apply his peerless deductive skills toward fighting the Axis.  Over the years Holmes has met Sigmund Freud and Jack the Ripper, battled invading Martians, and exposed his private life for all to see.

While many of these updates are respectful of the original material, some are mere gimmicks designed to spoof or sensationalize.  But the three-part BBC-TV series SHERLOCK (2010), which places Holmes and the redoubtable Dr. John H. Watson squarely in the 21st century with the rest of us, is no gimmick.  Rather, it's an exhilarating opportunity for the celebrated sleuth and his loyal sidekick to engage a whole new world of mysteries.

Indeed, this Sherlock would fit comfortably into any time period.  He's not a fish out of water--his dynamic, self-contained character resists the need to be "updated" save for the modern detecting tools of which he readily avails himself.  Of course, he still has his violin, not to mention his problems with certain controlled substances.  The shag pipe has been replaced by nicotine patches, and instead of a journal, Watson records their adventures in his blog.
 

Holmes' rivalrous sibling Mycroft is here as well, now a member of the British government's inner circle and played very amusingly by Mark Gatiss.  Needless to say, the shadowy presence of a certain Moriarty hovers over it all.  Each episode is beautifully directed and shot, with inventive scene transitions and a fine musical score by David Arnold and Michael Price.  The scripts are replete with crackling dialogue and bits of business which convey the spirit of Doyle's original characters and stories in loving detail.  With all the familiar pieces falling into place in such a satisfying manner, SHERLOCK is a deep, delightful wallow in Holmesiana.

It took about half a minute for the wonderfully-named Benedict Cumberbatch to win me over as Holmes.  We first find him in the morgue, furiously laying into a corpse with a riding crop to assess the bruises.  Blithely unaware that a smitten attendant named Molly Hooper (Loo Brealey) is coming on to him, he responds to her timid invitation to coffee with a curt "Black, two sugars please, I'll be upstairs" before dashing off to the laboratory.  This leads directly to the fateful meeting between the two odd ducks, Holmes and Watson (Martin Freeman), both seeking a roommate as in the first chapter of the original Holmes novel, "A Study in Scarlet."  (This premiere episode is similarly titled "A Study in Pink.") 

Noticing Watson's crutch, the inquisitive Holmes asks, "Afganistan or Iraq?"  Watson, as in his initial incarnation, has been wounded both physically and mentally in the war and spends his days in therapy, but we get the feeling his unhappy life is about to get a lot more interesting.  "We don't know a single thing about each other," he says dubiously when Holmes takes it for granted that they'll be flatmates.
 

Fans know exactly what's coming next.  Our shared anticipation is rewarded when the droll, almost insanely perceptive Holmes casually reels off much of Watson's life story, based on simple observation, without missing a beat.  It's a marvelous scene, establishing his eccentric character beautifully with a few exquisite strokes.  Before long, both are ensconced in the familiar surroundings of 221B Baker Street, fussed over by their dear old landlady Mrs. Hudson (Una Stubbs).

"When the police are out of their depth, which is always, they consult me," he boasts when Detective Lastrade (Rupert Graves) of Scotland Yard summons him to the scene of a mysterious suicide.  Holmes invites Watson along as a medical consultant, thus beginning their grand collaboration.  A series of apparent self-poisonings has Scotland Yard baffled, and it's up to Holmes to figure out why unrelated Londoners are killing themselves with identical poison pills for no apparent reason.  This adventure will eventually lead him into a riveting battle of wits with the most unlikely of opponents.  

With a frustrated Lestrade constantly calling upon Holmes for help, the two bear a resemblance to Batman and Commissioner Gordon.  Which is fitting since, after all, Batman was partly based on Holmes in the first place.  (Maybe that's why the otherwise useless Robin was invented, to serve the Watson role of sounding board and appreciative audience to "the world's greatest detective.")

A clever convention that appears frequently is the use of floating text to show us not only what's popping up on various cell phones (Holmes prefers texting to talking) and other sources, but also lets us in on what's running through Holmes' mind as he riffles through various visual clues.  This way, he doesn't have to constantly explain everything to Watson for our benefit, and we get to see his thought processes in real time as he gathers and assesses information at lightning speed.

In the second episode, "The Blind Banker", Holmes sniffs out a racket involving stolen historical artifacts smuggled in from China and sold at auction.  When two of the smugglers are found dead in classic "locked room" scenarios, the killer's trail leads to a scary Chinese criminal cult that eventually gets their hands on our heroes.  While this episode gets slightly bogged down in procedure at times, there's plenty of exotic atmosphere, great character byplay, and a keenly suspenseful finale.

The third and last story of the season, "The Great Game", is an utter joy from start to finish.  It begins with Watson returning to the flat to find Holmes shooting bullets into the wall out of boredom, followed by that famous exchange in which Holmes reveals he doesn't know that the Earth goes round the sun.  Such information, he explains, isn't necessary in his work, and, in contemporary terms, he likens his brain to a hard drive from which all extraneous data must be deleted. 

The plot involves a mad bomber who communicates with Holmes through hostages who are wired with explosives and forced to read their captor's text messages aloud over the phone.  With only hours to solve each of the killer's mysterious puzzles and rescue the hostages one by one, the pace is frantic and the action non-stop, culminating in a final revelatory scene that should have Holmes fans in paroxysms of geek bliss. 

Do we ever get to see the big "M"?  Yes.  I won't go into detail, but the eventual face-to-face encounter between the world's greatest consulting detective and the world's greatest criminal mastermind is a sensational pay-off to all the build-up, and scintillating as hell.  (The words "You complete me" came to mind during their verbal sparring.)  It ends in a cliffhanger which, in a way, reminded me of a certain story called "The Final Problem."

The 2-disc DVD from Warner Home Video and BBC contains all three feature-length episodes (270 minutes total) in a 16:9 aspect ratio and Dolby Digital 5.1 stereo.  Subtitles are in English.  Episodes 1 and 3 contain cast and crew commentaries.  Other bonuses include a making-of featurette, "Unlocking Sherlock", and the original hour-long pilot which was later expanded and reshot to become "A Study in Pink."
 
Do I recommend SHERLOCK?  It's all I can do to keep from coming over to your house and forcing you to watch it with me.  This is intoxicating stuff for Holmes addicts, and I can't wait to see what's next.  In the words of the modern-day Sherlock: "The game is on!"

SHERLOCK -- DVD Review by Porfle

ROWAN & MARTIN'S LAUGH-IN: THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON -- DVD Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 3/21/22

 

Finally, a comedy show that was ALL comedy.  No out of character chit-chat, no maudlin songs, no fake sincerity--just wall-to-wall silliness that kept going right through the closing credits and beyond.  Joke followed gag followed blackout followed non sequitur, with absolutely no qualms about coming off as supremely silly.  As a kid, I felt as though the show had been designed specifically with me in mind.

The format would start to get tired and a bit worn out as time went on, but in 1968, during the groundbreaking, trailblazing ROWAN & MARTIN'S LAUGH-IN: THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON (Time-Life, 4-disc DVD), it seemed like a totally fresh, endlessly inventive comedy powerhouse.

Dan Rowan, the cigarette-puffing straight man who looked like he should always have a bourbon on the rocks in his hand, and Dick Martin, the wisecracking "funny" one who seemed to have already had a few, were like dinner-theater comics who'd stepped into their own network comedy show by surprise and decided to have the time of their lives.

The cast were an eclectic bunch of crazies who would almost all become household names--Jo Anne Worley, Arte Johnson, Ruth Buzzi, "Get Smart" star Barbara Feldon, Henry Gibson, Eileen Brennan, Larry Hovis, announcer Gary Owens, and "sock it to me" girl Judy Carne.  The show's biggest star, Goldie Hawn, would enter the scene in the third episode and become the show's reigning dumb blonde.

The jokes came fast and furious, practically piling up on each other, much of them silly sight gags and wordplay.  Weekly features included "The Party", "News of the Past, Present, and Future", "Sock It To Me" Time, "The Joke Wall", "It's a Mod, Mod World", and "Potpourri."  All were just excuses for more comic madness. 

And despite the show's counterculture vibe, much of it is actually your standard "old fogey"-type comedy with a veneer of feigned "hip"-ness--a weird mixture to be sure.  But it seemed fresh and rebellious at the time because it was so different from the usual straightlaced variety shows (such as Carol Burnett's over on CBS).

The "Party" sequences play like Hugh Hefner's "Playboy After Dark"--complete with middle-aged swingers awkwardly dressed in mod clothes--but packed with oodles of groan-worthy one-liners ("My brother's a Quaker--some of his best Jews are friends", "I wanted a nose job, but my husband said it would be like putting a new luggage rack on a 1953 De Soto.")

The jokes cover previously taboo subjects such as birth control, marijuana, race, and various kinds of sex, with the censors seemingly letting them get away with a lot more than usual.  But this was back before everyone was so easily triggered and being politically incorrect was an act of social rebellion by the counter-culture against the "establishment."

Weekly guest stars doing their bit(s) included Flip Wilson, Harry Belafonte, Milton Berle, Johnny Carson, Cher, Tim Conway, Sammy Davis Jr., Sally Field, Jerry Lewis, Muriel Landers, Kaye Ballard, Sheldon Leonard, Tommy Smothers, and even John Wayne.  The infamous ukulele-playing folk singer Tiny Tim, who became a superstar because of the show, makes three separate appearances.

The DVD set from Time-Life contains four discs with 14 remastered episodes.  Disc one's bonus features include a cast reunion, blooper reel, a new interview with creator and executive-producer George Schlatter, and the show's entire pilot episode.

ROWAN & MARTIN'S LAUGH-IN: THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON was a blast in its time and still comes through as fresh and funny, but with added nostalgia value.  It's just as much a treat to watch now as it was back in 1968.



Street Date: September 5, 2017

CAST
Dan Rowan
Dick Martin
Pamela Austin
Ken Berry
Eileen Brennan
Ruth Buzzi
Judy Carne
Barbara Feldon
Henry Gibson
Goldie Hawn
Larry Hovis
Arte Johnson
Gary Owens
Jo Anne Worley

PROGRAM INFORMATION
Format: DVD/4 Discs
Running Time: 869 minutes
Genre:  TV DVD/Comedy
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Audio: Stereo

ROWAN & MARTIN'S LAUGH-IN: THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON -- DVD Review by Porfle

THE FIFTH BIG VALLEY ELEMENT (video)

 

(Originally posted on 6/10/21)

 

Sometimes brilliant minds need to relax...

...by thinking of nonsensical things.

So I thought of this.

 

Music by George Duning

I neither own nor claim any rights to this material.  Just having some fun with it. Thanks for watching!

 

THE FIFTH BIG VALLEY ELEMENT (video)

What If They Turned "JAWS" Into A Bad 70s Sitcom? (video)

 

(Originally posted on 8/11/21)

Remember how a classic movie would be so great at the theater...

...and then they'd try to recreate the same magic...

...by turning it into a crappy TV series?

Remember? Huh? Do ya? Huh? Huh?

Well, here's what it might've looked like if they did that to "Jaws"!


Video by Porfle Popnecker
Music by Roger Steinman

I neither own nor claim any rights to this material.  Just having some fun with it. Thanks for watching!

What If They Turned "JAWS" Into A Bad 70s Sitcom? (video)

John Wayne Loses His Toupee In "NORTH TO ALASKA" (1960) (video)

 

While John Wayne rarely wore a toupee in his private life...

...he was never without it in his later films and personal appearances.

But we get a rare glimpse of his thinning pate in NORTH TO ALASKA (1960)...

...when a punch from Ernie Kovacs sends both hat and hairpiece flying.


I neither own nor claim any rights to this material.  Just having some fun with it.  Thanks for watching!

John Wayne Loses His Toupee In "NORTH TO ALASKA" (1960) (video)

Rocky's Sound Effects ("Rocky", 1976) (video)

 

 

As we discover here, Rocky's eloquence sometimes extended beyond mere words and into the realm of sound effects.

 

Video by Porfle Popnecker. I neither own nor claim any rights to this material. Just having some fun with it. Thanks for watching!

Rocky's Sound Effects ("Rocky", 1976) (video)

Shemp: The Living Dead Stooge (Fake Shemp) (video)

Originally posted on 7/5/19

 

When the great Shemp Howard died in 1955...

...the Three Stooges still owed Columbia four short films under their current contract.

Along with much stock footage, the remaining four shorts were completed...

...using Stooge regular Joe Palma as a stand-in for Shemp.

Watch the Joe Palma/Fake Shemp footage here.

Rumpus in the Harem (1956)
Hot Stuff (1956)
Commotion On the Ocean (1956)
Scheming Schemers (1956)


I neither own nor claim any rights to this material.  Just having some fun with it. Thanks for watching!

Shemp: The Living Dead Stooge (Fake Shemp) (video)

Robert Duvall vs. A Snooty Maitre D ("True Confessions", 1981) (video)

 

 

Video by Porfle Popnecker. I neither own nor claim any rights to this material. Just having some fun with it. Thanks for watching!

 

 

Robert Duvall vs. A Snooty Maitre D ("True Confessions", 1981) (video)

THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW: THE COMPLETE FIFTH SEASON -- DVD Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 10/22/09

 

 

One thing I remember vividly about my younger days is how Saturday night used to be dominated by the CBS comedy block. This unbeatable combo of two-fisted ratings busters was comprised of classic sitcoms such as "All in the Family", "The Jeffersons", "The Bob Newhart Show", and, of course, "The Mary Tyler Moore Show."

Mary, who had enjoyed similar success as Rob Petrie's wife Laura on "The Dick Van Dyke Show", was now the top banana of her own popular series, which was still a top-rated show when she decided to quit while she was ahead at the end of year seven. The new 3-disc set from 20th-Century Fox, THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW: THE COMPLETE FIFTH SEASON catches Mary in full stride and at the top of her game.

Hardly a clone of "I Love Lucy", yet not as bug-eyed goofy as "Seinfeld", "Mary Tyler Moore" is a prime example of 70s situation comedy in transiton. The show is still influenced by the typical sitcoms of the past, yet it's always reaching for a new sophistication and an intelligent yet increasingly off-kilter sense of humor. Thankfully, the 1974-75 season has none of the "very special episodes" and/or awkward lapses into total seriousness that marred a lot of that era's sitcoms in their attempt to be more relevant or substantial.

While "All in the Family" may have shown us Edith Bunker getting raped or Gloria losing her baby (which was okay for a more seriocomic type of show), Mary's biggest problems are fending off an amorous Ted Baxter in "An Affair to Forget", dealing with Mr. Grant as an unwelcome new neighbor in "Neighbors", or going it alone for the first time as producer of the TV news show where she works in "Mary Richards: Producer." And just when a situation appears to be lapsing into the overly dramatic, it's always punctured by a well-placed zinger that restores things to their irreverent norm.

Not having seen the show in quite awhile, I was reminded while viewing this collection of just how warm and funny it is. Mary's years of playing Laura Petrie alongside Dick Van Dyke, Carl Reiner, Morey Amsterdam, and Rose Marie paid off by teaching her impeccable comedic skills and timing. Strong but never unrealistically independent, her Mary Richards character is a real person who stands up for herself but often needs to lean on her friends for support. At times she's vulnerable and totally at a loss as situations overwhelm her, which we can all identify with. In fact, the more frantic, panic-stricken, and desperate Mary Richards becomes, the funnier she is.

You can't go wrong with this supporting cast, either. Ed Asner is perfect as Mary's gruff but lovable boss, Lou Grant, the executive producer of station WJM's low-rated news program where she works as a producer. A pre-"Love Boat" Gavin MacLeod is news writer Murray Slaughter, Mary's wisecracking cohort whose comic barbs are usually aimed at Ted Baxter. As the show's conceited but utterly incompetent anchorman, Ted Knight is this show's rich vein of comedy gold. His Ted Baxter is a brilliant comedy creation whose every word, gesture, and facial expression pays off in funny.

As Ted's preternaturally sweet but airheaded girlfriend Georgette, Georgia Engel compliments his character the way Simka completes Latka on "Taxi." Betty White, going against her happy homemaker image (which was funny at the time but lost on anyone these days who doesn't remember it), is also great as station WJM's cooking show host, Sue Ann Nivens, whose spic 'n' span surface hides the soul of a street walker. And on the homefront, Mary's flighty, materialistic neighbor Phyllis is played to perfection by the great Cloris Leachman. (Valerie Harper as former neighbor "Rhoda" was, by this time, trying to make a go of it on her own show.)

Another thing that this set reminded me of was how gorgeous Mary Tyler Moore was before she became a famous plastic-surgery casualty. Truly one of the cutest women ever to appear on network TV, she really could turn the world on with her smile. By the fifth season she wasn't flaunting it quite as much, but there's still the occasional scene where she pops into the frame wrapped in a towel or something similarly revealing.

In "You Try to be a Nice Guy", ex-hooker Sherry (Barbara Colby), who shared a cell with Mary in "Will Mary Richards Go to Jail?" and now has aspirations as a dress designer, comes up with a doozy of a custom design for our favorite news producer. Mary looks so arrestingly hot in this well-ventilated dress that it totally shut down my ability to watch the rest of the episode for several minutes. When Ted Baxter gets a load of her in this get-up he goes predictably out of his gourd, and I can't blame him.

Probably the most memorable thing that happens to Mary in this season is her landing in jail for refusing to name a news source ("Will Mary Richards Go to Jail?"), but even here the subject is treated lightly. The unseen Chuckles the Clown makes it through another year alive, so we still have his celebrated funeral to look forward to in a later season. Ted Baxter takes us to comedy heaven in several showcase episodes ("You Sometimes Hurt the One You Hate", "A Boy's Best Friend", "The System", "Marriage Minneapolis Style", "Ted Baxter's Famous Broadcasters' School"), Lou Grant gets the spotlight a few times ("Neighbors", "You Can't Lose 'em All", "Lou and That Woman"), and Murray takes center stage in "A Son for Murray" and "I Love a Piano." Sue Ann's shallow character is explored in more depth in "A New Sue Ann", "Not a Christmas Story", and "What are Friends For?" Cloris Leachman gets a chance to show her stuff as Phyllis in "Menage-a-Phyllis" and the hilarious "Phyllis Whips Inflation."

Some of the more notable guest stars in this season are John Saxon, Sheree North, Richard Masur, Rosanne Cash, Doris Roberts, David Huddleston, Noble Willingham, "The Love Boat" alums Fred Grandy and Bernie Kopell, Ron Rifkin, universally-reviled child actor Lee H. Montgomery, and two familiar faces from THE BOYS IN THE BAND, Leonard Frey and Laurence Luckinbill.

This 3-disc set is 1.33:1 full-frame with Dolby Digital English mono and is closed-captioned. Subtitles are available in English and Spanish. No episode guide or other extras. The show looks pretty much as good here as it did when first aired.

Once you settle into the rhythm and feel of this show, it becomes a source of highly-addictive fun. I watched all 24 episodes of THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW: THE COMPLETE FIFTH SEASON in no time flat, and it left me wanting more. (Moore...get it? Totally unintentional pun, honest.)

THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW: THE COMPLETE FIFTH SEASON -- DVD Review by Porfle

Phineas Bluster's Love Song To Himself ("The New Howdy Doody Show", 1976) (video)

 

 

Why, oh why is Doodyville Mayor Phineas J. Bluster so incredibly wonderful? Let him count the ways.  

Phineas Bluster's Love Song To Himself ("The New Howdy Doody Show", 1976) (video)

Christopher Walken's Name Is Misspelled In The End Credits For "Annie Hall'? (video)

 

 

What, Woody Allen couldn't afford a proofreader? 

 

Video by Porfle Popnecker. I neither own nor claim any rights to this material. Just having some fun with it. Thanks for watching!

 

Christopher Walken's Name Is Misspelled In The End Credits For "Annie Hall'? (video)

How "Tombstone" Should Have Ended (video)

 

 

No matter how great a movie may be, it can always be improved in some way.  

 Here's how the classic western saga "Tombstone" would have been better if the writers had only thought the ending through a bit more.

 

Video by Porfle Popnecker. I neither own nor claim any rights to this material. Just having some fun with it. Thanks for watching!

How "Tombstone" Should Have Ended (video)

My Two Cringiest "Star Wars" Callbacks (video)

 

 

Video by Porfle Popnecker. I neither own nor claim any rights to this material. Just having some fun with it. Thanks for watching!

My Two Cringiest "Star Wars" Callbacks (video)

LULU BELLE -- DVD Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 11/18/16

 

I love old movies, and sometimes there's nothing better than a sharp-looking, vintage black-and-white flick with a good cast that's entertaining without requiring me to expend too many precious brain cells.  In this regard, the turbulent romantic drama LULU BELLE (1948, Olive Films) fits the bill quite nicely, thanks.

For one thing, it's a great opportunity to see Dorothy Lamour on her own instead of as a foil for Hope and Crosby.  The film opens with a big, corny Broadway production number that allows her fans to revel in the leggy lass's exotic presence right off the bat before a mysterious backstage double shooting sets the "whodunnit?" story into motion.

After that, ex-husband George Davis (broad-shouldered George Montgomery, appealing as a well-meaning he-man type) is accused of the deed which has left both Lulu and her aging sugar daddy Harry Randolph (Otto Kruger, DRACULA'S DAUGHTER) comatose.

His flashback recollections told to interrogating detective Addison Richards (THE MUMMY'S CURSE) reveal his fateful meeting with seductive barfly Lulu and their subsequent whirlwind courtship and marriage. 

Lulu's expensive tastes quickly deplete George's modest bank account and leave him jobless and near destitute, forcing him to take up boxing for wealthy fight promoter Brady (Albert Dekker, DR. CYCLOPS).  Meanwhile, faithless gold digger Lulu works her way from man to man--including burly palooka Butch Cooper (Greg McClure) as well as Brady and Randolph--trading up in money and status each time and eventually landing her own Broadway show while the lovelorn and almost penniless George is left in her diamond dust. 

All of this is just lightly melodramatic enough to be entertaining without going off the deep end, with a snappy pace and neat direction by Leslie Fenton (WHISPERING SMITH, STREETS OF LAREDO).

Crisp, eye-pleasing black-and-white photography and attractive production values augment a nostalgic turn-of-the-(20th)-century ambience, which looks studio-bound but in a good way, giving it the feel of an upscale pulp fairytale.

The supporting cast is dotted with great stars.  In addition to Dekker and Kruger, the wonderful Glenda Farrell (MYSTERY OF THE WAX MUSEUM) adds greatly to the film's appeal as Lulu's wisecracking confidante, Molly.  (I'll have to go back and look for the ubiquitous Bess Flowers; she's in the cast list on IMDb but I missed her.)  Dialogue is fast and snappy, with some fun exchanges such as this: 

GEORGE: "Honey, we don't need money that badly."
LULU: "There's only one way to need money...that's to NEED it!"

The DVD from Olive Films is in 1.37:1 (windowboxed) with mono sound and optional English subtitles. No extras. Picture quality is superb.

The potentially lurid subject (for 1948) of a wanton woman man-hopping her way to success is handled quite tastefully here, with Lulu's character ultimately redeemed by the fact that she never stops carrying a torch for George.  Dorothy Lamour really seems to relish delving into the part of a scheming vixen with a veneer of tarnished glamour.  In LULU BELLE, she plays this seductive but emotionally conflicted gold digger to the hilt, riding her star vehicle for all it's worth.

LULU BELLE -- DVD Review by Porfle

LOOSE SCREWS: SCREWBALLS II -- DVD Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 8/7/10

 

I never thought I'd compare a film unfavorably to SCREWBALLS, but I must make an exception in the case of its inferior sequel, LOOSE SCREWS: SCREWBALLS II (1985).  Not that it's really all that much worse--is that even possible?--but it just doesn't quite reach the same level of utter, gibbering, cheerful stupidity as the original Canuck-sploitation classic, which was its best quality.  However, it's still pretty damn stupid, and if you liked that about the first one, get ready for more of the same.

The main characters are still a bunch of extremely sex-crazed and psychotically immoral high school perverts who, at this rate, will end up in prison or dead within a couple of years.  At least, I sincerely hope so.  They have different names this time, but that's just an excuse for the writers to come up with more gag monikers like Brad Lovett, Steve Hardman, Marvin Eatmore, and Hugh G. Rection.  One of the main guys from the last film has been dumped, and two are played by different actors, but trust me, it really doesn't matter. 

Our fun-loving heroes have so thoroughly failed in their studies that their beseiged principal, Mr. Hardbutt, orders them to attend Coxwell Academy over the summer in order to qualify to graduate.  They've been there about five seconds before they (a) antagonize their new principal, Mr. Arsenault, and (b) become fixated on seeing their sexy French teacher, Miss Mona Lott, naked.  Driving the former out of his gourd and getting the latter out of her clothes become their driving motivations in life for the rest of the movie, along with various other acts of perversion and terror.  Seriously, these guys need to be locked up--they're so irredeemably low-class they'd make Bluto from ANIMAL HOUSE vomit.

Their antics include pumping a chemical into the swimming pool which makes bikinis disintegrate, posing as doctors in order to administer breast exams to the cheerleaders (a holdover antic from the first film), and Peeping Tom-isms via bedroom windows and a loose ceiling panel over the girls' locker room, all accompanied by maniacal heavy-breathing and drooling.  Later, the guys skip out on their curfew to visit a strip club called the Pig Pen, where they manage to directly participate in a wet T-shirt contest followed by naked whipped cream festivities.

Brad, as "Bradine", infiltrates the girls' dorm in drag (he actually looks sorta cute, god help us) so that he can gleefully share their beds and bathtubs while avoiding the suspicions of their Teutonic overseer, Miss Hilda Von Blow.  Meanwhile, suave rich boy Steve has an affair with Mr. Arsenault's buxom wife and ends up falling out of a second-storey window when Arsenault (who's having an affair with Miss Lott) comes home unexpectedly.  And just to make sure the film's humor level doesn't get too sophisticated, we're treated to the sight of the sweatily obese Marvin wandering through an aerobics class and poking his head into various crotches like a dog.  You can just imagine Woody Allen kicking himself for not beating these guys to such comedy gold.

What distinguishes this from most other comedies is the fact that none of it is even remotely funny, nor do we get the impression that the filmmakers are even trying to be.  It's as though they're thinking: "PORKY'S [the gold standard for this type of movie] was stupid, so we'll just be ten times stupider."  The film does excell at getting a lot of mostly blah-looking girls (although a few are pretty hot) in various states of undress in front of the camera, and a few situations elicit a giggle or two in spite of themselves, but for the most part it's as drab and dull as those distinctively low-budget Canadian production values.

The script, which could've been written posthumously, is loaded with groan-inducing double-entendres delivered by actors with about as much finesse as Bob Goldthwaite trying to crack a safe.  For some strange reason I enjoyed the dry-as-a-bone performance of Mike MacDonald as Mr. Arsenault, even though he delivers both his talking and screaming lines with equal emphasis.  Everybody else is just awful--albeit in a strangely enthusiastic way--and none of the characters are anywhere near as appealing as SCREWBALLS' adorable Linda Shayne (who co-scripted both films) as "Bootsie Goodhead."

One of the film's dubious highlights is a beach party sequence that takes place on a dismal Canadian shore and actually features group choreography to one of the film's many bad-80s pop tunes entitled  "Do the Screw."  Topping things off is the climactic revenge sequence with the main characters wreaking havoc at the unveiling of a statue of the academy's esteemed founder--here, we get the usual public humiliation of all the authority figures (aided by clouds of marijuana smoke, explosions, and the statue coming to lecherous life) along with the long-awaited unveiling of Miss Lott and a weird fantasy ending with our heroes suddenly becoming a crappy techno-pop band like in REVENGE OF THE NERDS.

The DVD from Severin Films is in 1.78:1 widescreen and Dolby 2.0 with no subtitles.  Extras include a director's commentary with Rafal Zielinski, boring interviews with producer Maurice Smith and production manager Ken Gord, and the film's International Version (containing about eleven minutes of extra footage) presented in "Authentic VHS-Vision!", meaning that it's window-boxed and the print looks considerably worse.  (Which, in fact, does bring back memories of those old VHS rental tapes.)

LOOSE SCREWS: SCREWBALLS II is the sort of film you might imagine being shown on movie night in a brain-dead ward.  You might even feel like checking in yourself after seeing it.  But if you do happen to find yourself in the mood for this kind of entertainment--after all, a lot of us still wax nostalgic for the pixilated pleasures of USA's "Up All Night"--then by all means, pull the plug on your life-support machine and do the Screw into oblivion with Hugh G. Rection and his horny pals.

LOOSE SCREWS: SCREWBALLS II -- DVD Review by Porfle

SCREWBALLS -- DVD Review by Porfle

 

 

Originally posted on 9/11/09

 

 

 

Legendary schlock producer Roger Corman charged Jim Wynorski and Linda Shayne to write a low-budget teen sex comedy that would cash in on the then-current craze exemplified by highly-profitable crap like PORKY'S and THE LAST AMERICAN VIRGIN. The movie they came up with, SCREWBALLS (1983), is an even wilder, crappier, and more bizarre goof on such films that actually turned out to be some kind of trash classic.

Shamelessly stupid, cheerfully nonsensical, and aggressively inept, SCREWBALLS doesn't even make the slightest effort to take itself as seriously as those other two stupid movies that I mentioned or most of the others like them. In fact, it has more in common with the spoofy spirit of NOT ANOTHER TEEN MOVIE than any of its contemporaries. It might also fit comfortably on a double bill with ROCK AND ROLL HIGH SCHOOL as long as it's on the bottom.

Wynorski and Shayne were told by Corman to watch some other films of this genre, pick out the elements that made them work, and throw them all together into one mindless melange. Thus, the story takes place at a wacky high school (Taft Adams, or "T & A") filled with horny teen stereotypes and teachers who are either cartoonishly tight-assed or wantonly oversexed. There's also an abundance of hot cheerleaders and other babes who have trouble keeping their tops on, including the comically cute Shayne as "Bootsie Goodhead." Rest assured, the booby count in this movie is sky high.

Five hormonally-hyper guys--Rick the jock, Brent the rich kid, Tim the shy one, Howie the nerd, and Melvin Jerkovski, the chronic masturbator--are obsessed with the school's last remaining virgin, the beautiful Purity Busch (Linda Speciale), devising all sorts of devious methods to try and see her naked. A nocturnal visit to Purity's house finds her humping her teddy bear in her sleep while in the next room, Purity's sexually-frustrated mother implores her impotent husband with: "Ward, I'm worried about the beaver."

Brainy nerd Howie uses his vast intellect to come up with ingenious methods of looking up girls' skirts or hypnotizing them into wanting to have sex with him, which invariably backfire in strange ways. The latter episode climaxes with a gym class full of bikini-clad girls lurching toward him en masse like robots and then trying to kill him.

Meanwhile, Rick the jock manages to cop plenty of feels by posing as a doctor on "Breast Exam Day" and a female dressmaking teacher measuring her students' bust sizes. Not so successful is Melvin's scheme to have himself buried under the same patch of sand where Purity sunbathes every day and peer at her cleavage through a soda-can periscope.

I don't know why, but my favorite sequence is the part where the guys and the girls challenge each other to a game of "Strip Bowling." It's just a bunch of high-spirited nonsense that's as stupid as it sounds and ends with a bowling ball being lodged on part of Howie's anatomy. Another highlight is a visit to a strip club that features generously-endowed guest star Raven De La Croix doing an old-fashioned burlesque routine. Everything comes to a head on the night of the big homecoming dance, where Howie unleashes his last-ditch attempt to scientifically remove Purity's clothing once and for all.

The DVD is in 1.66:1 widescreen with Dolby Digital 2.0 sound. Transferred from the best available print, the film looks about the way it might if you caught it on late-night television. Bonus features include a commentary by director Rafal Zielinski, deleted and alternate scenes, a theatrical trailer, and interviews with Zielinski, Shayne and Wynorski, star Kent Deuters (Brent), and SPFX artist Gerald Lukaniuk. Canuxsploitation scholar Paul Corupe discusses the film in the context of Canada's teen sex film boom of the 80s, while "Mr. Skin" and "McBeardo" of internet fame wax enthusiastic about SCREWBALLS' contribution to the cause of onscreen boobage.

SCREWBALLS is so harmlessly dumb that the main characters come off as much more likable than the leering lechers and salacious sluts trying to out-raunch each other in PORKY'S and other such films. It's just the kind of flick you'd expect to see on USA's "Up All Night" back in the good old days (Rhonda Shear would fit right in) along with other low-rent Canadian sex romps like HEAVY METAL SUMMER (aka STATE PARK), MEATBALLS III, and the rest of the illustrious "Balls" series--but with all the nudity gloriously intact. While containing the same basic elements as the smuttier, filthier, and lewder teen flicks of its era, SCREWBALLS is just too blithely stupid to be anything but good-natured fun.

Read our review of the sequel LOOSE SCREWS: SCREWBALLS II

 

SCREWBALLS -- DVD Review by Porfle

SNUFF BOX: THE COMPLETE SERIES -- DVD Review by Porfle

Originally posted on 10/5/11

 

Here's the bottom line--if you have the same sense of humor that I do, you'll love SNUFF BOX: THE COMPLETE SERIES, the six-episode sketch comedy series starring British comedian Matt Berry and American comedian Rich Fulcher.  However, if you don't have the same sense of humor that I do, then this review is probably the closest you'll ever want to ever get to it, ever ever ever.

Another condition--it will help if you're a fan of things like "Monty Python's Flying Circus", "Mr. Show", "Kids in the Hall", and various other showcases for surrealistic silliness and illogical irreverence.  But since this show isn't taped in front of a live audience and uses cinema-style photography and editing, Berry and Fulcher are able to let their imaginations drift through the same kind of demented mental landscape from which things like "Alice in Wonderland" emerge.

As a framing device, the boys live in a posh gentlemen's club started by Matt's great-uncle Sir Charles Berry and carry on his family business of hanging people at the local prison.  Most episodes, in fact, begin with a humorous hanging (Condition #3: must enjoy humorous hangings, Russian roulette, and other lighthearted but graphic violence) after which we join Matt and Rich in the club's lounge, establishing the storyline from which the various comedy sketches are, if you'll pardon the expression, hung.

Matt's character is a pompous, conceited womanizer who always steals Rich's girlfriends away from him and cheats him out of his royalty checks from the estate of his late mother, Mama Cass Elliott.  Rich is a naive, Stimpy-like fall guy for the most part, although he can revert into a sadistic tormenter who shares Matt's personal diary confessions with the world and ruins all of his attempts at public speaking by blurting out all his punchlines.  Because of this, Matt often vows to kill Rich, even purchasing several books on the subject such as "How to Kill Rich Fulcher With Poison Darts." 

In the tradition of such shows, the two stars play most of the other characters themselves thanks to clever use of editing and green-screen.  These include a nerd (Fulcher) with an intense sexual fixation toward various objects such as lollipops, teddy bears, and his own arm, and Sir Charles (Berry), whom Rich visits in 1888 via a magic doorway next to the club's restroom.  One of the best episodes features a visit from Matt and Rich's brothers--naturally, Rich's obnoxious redneck brother wants to kill him, while Rich's "specially challenged" brother James makes a screamingly funny appearance on a British pop music show.

Other noteworthy stand-alone bits: Rich takes center stage in the delightful "Rapper With a Baby" music video; Matt is a video guitar teacher with a grotesquely long ring finger; Rich plays a stern art museum guide in "Full Metal Jacket" drill-sergeant mode; and Matt's solemn musical tribute to a deceased brother suddenly turns into a cheesy Edgar Winter spoof complete with strap-on keyboard.

My favorite running gags, however, are those which involve Matt and Rich as themselves and are part of the overall storyline that (sort of) links the six episodes together.  Matt's attempts to purchase a pair of silver cowboy boots from a chic store results in him being savagely beaten by a succession of surprisingly violent salespersons.  He also displays dashingly chivalrous behavior towards a number of attractive women until their mention of the word "boyfriend" brings out his violent streak.  Rich's problems getting girls to like him also result in several funny bits, culminating in his engagement to an ape woman with whom Rich is caught having public intercourse during the wedding reception.

While watching the show I kept detecting a nagging similarity to something else besides other sketch comedy shows I'd seen before.  When Rich steps through a doorway and plummets into a swimming pool, it finally hit me--in addition to being like "Monty Python", "Mr. Show", et al, SNUFF BOX's surrealistic style is strongly akin to the mindblowing 1968 Monkees' film, HEAD.  Adding to this is Matt Berry's cool score, which revolves around a single reoccuring song and ties the series together musically while frequently erupting into full-blown production numbers.  This surprisingly lush score, along with the show's mid-budget feature film look, gives it the feel of an extended movie that should be watched in one sitting to be fully appreciated. 

The DVD from Severin Films is in 1.78:1 widescreen with Dolby Digital sound.  No subtitles.  Extras include featurettes "Taking Control of Your Body" with testimonials from the likes of Simon Pegg and "Weird Al" Yankovic, "Locations Walking Tour", "The Score", "Inside the Snuff Box", more testimonials, outtakes, and commentaries by Matt and Rich for episodes 1, 2, and 6.  Best of all is a bonus CD containing 36 minutes of music and songs from the soundtrack.

With its weird blend of sex, violence, profanity, and just plain strangeness, SNUFF BOX: THE COMPLETE SERIES is the kind of entertainment that will appeal to a small but devoted audience, as evidenced by its initial failure on BBC 3 (it was only shown once in 2006) and subsequent cult popularity.  If this sounds good to you, then you owe it to yourself to have a go at this obscure comedy gem.

SNUFF BOX: THE COMPLETE SERIES -- DVD Review by Porfle

DEATH WARMED UP -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 4/27/19

 

The cover art for Severin Films' Blu-ray release of the 1984 New Zealand sci-fi/horror extravaganza DEATH WARMED UP gives barely a hint of what a bloody, violent cavalcade of carnage that awaits within. 

This low-budget, high-octane thriller is packed with everything from breakneck action to fountains of gore, with a slow build-up in the first half giving way to a second half that barely stops to take a jagged breath.

Michael Tucker (Michael Hurst, BITCH SLAP) is a young man who is chemically hynotized into killing his own parents (in a shocking shotgun murder scene) by an unscruplous scientist named Howell (Gary Day, NIGHTMARES) because his partner, Michael's father, was threatening to blow the whistle on Howell's dangerous experiments in prolonging life in hopes of abolishing death altogether.

 

Naturally, these experiments only result in a new strain of horrible, prolonged death that transforms victims into kill-crazy zombie maniacs whose roiling innards are primed to eventually explode. 

And thankfully, we don't just have to imagine this ourselves after having it described to us, since the film's final, frantic people vs. monsters free-for-all will plunge viewers neck-deep into all the gory carnage a horror fan could hope for.

This is brought about when Michael, emerging after seven years in the nut house for killing his parents, travels to Dr. Howell's island clinic looking for revenge.

 

Along to help is his friend Lucas (William Upjohn, DARK CITY) as well as, for some reason, their unwilling girlfriends Sandy (Margaret Umbers, SMASH PALACE) and Jeannie (Norelle Scott).

The opening--up to and including Michael's murder of his parents--reminded me of another New Zealand classic, Michael Laughlin's DEAD KIDS, while the middle section, with Dr. Howell's freaky motorcycle-punk henchmen (including David Letch as the wretched "Spider") attacking our heroes as they try to infiltrate the clinic via an old system of tunnels, gives off a distinct MAD MAX vibe. 

But the moment all of Dr. Howell's super-strong, super-psycho "failed experiments" break out of their cells and go on the attack against everyone in the science facility, including Michael and his hapless crew, DEATH WARMED UP lapses into pure, unadulterated bloody chaos strewn with throbbing brains, exploding entrails, wall-to-wall body parts, and rivers of the old red stuff. 

 

All of this is depicted in imaginative style by David Blyth (MY GRANDPA IS A VAMPIRE, GHOST BRIDE), whose mobile camera and sharp editing keep everything visually interesting throughout.  The cast are well up to the intensity of the story, while production design and SPFX utilize the $400,000 budget to its fullest.

DEATH WARMED UP is packed with situations bleak and grim, yet offers a wealth of fun and excitement to those who get off on this sort of small-scale apocalyptic action.  I felt like I'd been put through a wringer, and when it was over I wanted to go through it again.


Buy it from Severin Films

Street date: April 30, 2019

Special Features:

    BLU-RAY EXCLUSIVE: Original New Zealand 4×3 VHS cut
    Audio Commentary with Director David Blyth and Writer Michael Heath
    I’ll Get You All: Interview with Actor David Letch
    Deleted Scenes with Optional Audio Commentary by Director David Blyth and Writer Michael Heath
    Interview Featurette with David Blyth and Michael Heath
    Theatrical trailer
    VHS  trailers
    TV Spot
    Reversible cover art

DEATH WARMED UP -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

SKINNER -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

Originally posted on 2/1/19

 

Before the slasher genre settled into such a predictable rut, the 70s and 80s yielded some really interesting and atmospheric entries in the budding genre.  For me, fondly-rememberd titles such as BLACK CHRISTMAS (1974), SILENT SCREAM (1980), HE KNOWS YOU'RE ALONE (1980), and NIGHT WARNING (1982) come to mind, and you could no doubt name some more yourself.

I got that same feeling watching the 1993 slasher SKINNER (Severin Films) because instead of just being a vehicle for some faceless killer stalking bland, unlikable teens and a showcase for his gory torture-murders, this thoughtfully-rendered tale has colorful characters and a compelling story, both of which are actually more watchable than the murder scenes themselves rather than simply serving as filler between them.

The cast is terrific, beginning with cult fave Ted Raimi (MILLENNIUM CRISIS, EVIL DEAD, SPIDER MAN) as Dennis, the title creep who comes off as a nice guy and wins the trust of unhappy housewife Kerry (Ricki Lake of HAIRSPRAY and CRY-BABY in another winning performance) when he answers her "room for rent" ad.

Dennis is, as we see, a total bloodthirsty psycho who murders women (usually street hookers) and skins them in an unused backroom of the factory where he works as a janitor.   Then he sews the skins into a full body-suit and, Ed Gein-style, cavorts around like a loon because, as he relates later in the story, Daddy once made little Dennis watch as he performed an autopsy on his own mom, and the total mind-warpage just took off from there.

The film teases us with all this at first, however, and then doesn't dwell on it all that much aside from a few appallingly graphic gore sequences.  What really makes things interesting, besides the conflict between Kerry and her ill-tempered husband Geoff (David Warshofsky, THERE WILL BE BLOOD, TAKEN, THE MASTER) over their new boarder, is that Dennis himself is being stalked by none other than Traci Lords (EXCISION, SERIAL MOM, BLADE) as a hideously scarred woman named Heidi who's out for his blood and whatever else she can extract.

With her wide-brimmed black hat, trenchcoat, and Veronica Lake hairstyle, Traci strikes an imposingly intriguing figure whether skulking through alleys in stealthy pursuit of Dennis or hanging out in her cheap hotel room being peeped at by the pervert who runs it (Richard Schiff, SE7EN, LOST WORLD: JURASSIC PARK, SPEED) while planning on what to do to Dennis with her scalpels and hypodermic needles when she catches up to him.

It all mixes together into quite a heady brew that's directed with keenly artistic verve by Ivan Nagy (DEADLY HERO, PUSHING UP DAISIES) from a briskly-paced screenplay by Paul Hart-Wilden.  Technical elements are fine including creative lighting which often recalls the lavish color comics in the old Warren magazines like "Creepy" and "Eerie", and some gore effects that are rather distressingly convincing.

The Blu-ray from Severin Films is in 1080p full HD resolution with English and French audio and English subtitles.  The uncut print has been scanned in 4k from the original camera negative. In addition to outtakes/extended takes and a trailer, the bonus menu contains genuinely interesting and sometimes fascinating interviews with director Ivan Nagy (quite an interesting character himself), star Ted Raimi, screenwriter Paul Hart-Wilson, and editor Jeremy Kasten.

Rather than losing steam as it goes along and simply throwing in a few gouts of gore to keep us awake, SKINNER builds to a well-plotted finale which lets the relationships between the characters play out in satisfying ways.  It's smart, finely-crafted, and, despite the tawdry and frankly depraved subject matter, fun cinematic storytelling that lets the viewer bask in some of the best this genre has to offer.



Special Features:
A Touch of Scandal: Interview with Director Ivan Nagy
Under His Skin: Interview with Star Ted Raimi
Bargain Bin VHS For A Buck: Interview with Screenwriter Paul Hart-Wilden
Cutting Skinner: Interview with Editor Jeremy Kasten
Flaying Sequence Out-takes & Extended Takes
Trailer

SKINNER -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle