REVIEW
This is a whopper of a rock documentary on the history of the prog-rock icons Yes, nearly three hours in length spread across two discs. Narrated somewhat blandly and uncomfortably by The Who's Roger Daltrey, the 2004 doc Yesspeak follows the band on their 35th anniversary tour of Europe, co-mingling concert clips with revealing interviews with band members Jon Anderson, Chris Squire, Rick Wakeman, Alan White and Steve Howe as the lineage, roots and meaning of Yes are scrutinized, discussed and explained. There's a lot of info here, and for fans of Yes this should be an easy recommendation.

For the rest of us, maybe not so much.

As a teen in the mid-1970s it was tough to avoid the impact of Yes, though at the time there were clear lines of demarcation when it came to being the follower of certain bands. Becoming a fan of Yes took a little more work, a few extra st...Read the entire review

The Movie:
There's probably no band which better exemplifies 1970s progressive rock than Yes. Sure, you can make arguments for, and you may personally prefer, such outfits as Emerson, Lake and Palmer or Pink Floyd, but the fact is Yes took hold of the public's imagination as no other concurrent band did, and regularly stretched the boundaries of what people, and even ardent fans, thought a rock band could achieve. While the band has gone through many iterations with various personnel and seen its chart fortunes ebb and flow, its contribution to rock and pop music in inestimable, an incredible kaleidoscope of instrumental virtuosity heretofore unknown in the rock world matched with gorgeous pop hooks, psychedelic lyrics and the resplendent tenor of lead vocalist Jon Anderson.

Yesspeak Live: The Director's Cut is an extended mélange, spread over two discs, of concert footage blende...Read the entire review

Born of an almost carnival freakshow mentality where fighters of different sizes and skill sets were pitted against one another in ‟no holds barred‟ fighting (see the karate master versus the sumo wrestler!), The Ultimate Fighting Championship has definitely evolved. Okay, to be fair, it was also born out of an American attempt at a no rules fighting contest like vale tudo and as a showcase for the Gracie families jiu-jitsu, but the UFC was sold in a very cheap sensationalistic way. But, now the world of mixed martial arts has really grown into a bonafide sport of striking, submission, wrestling disciplines, with weight classes, rules, and regulations. While it still hasn't gained the sport pages and remains misunderstood in the mainstream (‟human cockfighting‟ is an oft used inappropriate term), it is growing... bit by bit, ever so slowly.

UFC 54: BOILING POI...Read the entire review

"I may not agree with what you say,
but I will defend to the death your right to say it."
-Voltaire

What makes a stand-up comedian stand out? Honesty? Stage presence? The ability to connect with a crowd? It really takes a great deal of each, but above all it takes guts (or balls, whatever you prefer). They say public speaking is the most universally feared course in school, and the thought of standing before of a crowd of total strangers with a spotlight blazing overhead...well, it's enough to make yours truly clam up and run for cover. Guts prevent stuff like that, but practice helps too. Other side effects of guts include offending various groups of people, doing things your own way and risking your neck in the process.

Legendary stand-up comedians like Richard Pryor, ...Read the entire review

Movie: If you've read many of my reviews, you'll know that I was one of those kids raised by proxy with Mom using a television to substitute as a babysitter while she put food on the table. I know a number of my peers had a condescending attitude toward the arrangement but having watched how they turned out, I think I did just fine. While my favorite genre of television will probably always be Science Fiction; I know a lot of you enjoy Comedy and Reality Television making today's review of National Lampoon: Lost Reality 2: More of the Worst (uncut) worth a couple minutes of your time. The show is the sequel to Volume 1, a release that managed to offend on...Read the entire review

Warning: This review will contain words, phrases and ideas that many may find offensive. Reader discretion is advised.

Politically incorrect comedy is pretty hard to pull off in today's touchy feely culture. Ethnic humor, insults, scatological gross outs and hidden camera pranks reek of the most routine of attempted wit. When it's done well, like in Jackass or Viva La Bam, it shines like a beacon beyond all the other rip-off or merely routine garbage. And only one series has made a mainstream success out of this sort of satirical approach, and even then, many see South Park as a collection of dirty jokes before they even recognize the political or sociological aspects.

For The DAMN! Show, a deranged cornucopia of sketch comedy created by a talented troupe out of Athens, Georgia, the struggle is even more monumental. Hoping to meld a kind of outsider motif to their far...Read the entire review

The Movie:

I've reviewed a lot of music publicity programs on DVD - including ones from Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Mandy Moore and Jessica Simpson. They always get high traffic on the site and they're pretty entertaining, despite the fact that they all ususally follow the same format - star talks about what inspires them, chats up fans and works in the studio. Each of them takes on a glossy and media-ready approach to the interviews.

Kelly Clarkson's "Behind Hazel Eyes" offers a behind-the-scenes look at the American Idol winner's life and her musical ambitions. However, the documentary takes an entirely different approach, as Clarkson seems entirely willing to act like a natural goofball throughout the entire proceedings. During the show, her fans talk about what an "everygirl" she seems like and they want to get to know her more. "Behind Hazel Eyes" has her going on a to...Read the entire review

Themovie

Claymationmay make you think of Chicken Run or Wallace & Gromit,but like any other medium, it can be used to tell any sort of tale,from humor to drama, and from the ordinary to the peculiar. The shortfilm Harvie Krumpet is lodged firmly on the "peculiar"end of the spectrum; it's humorous in a very off-beat way, comingfrom the fact that it looks at the world from a rather oddperspective.

HarvieKrumpet is the life story of the titular character. Born withTourette's Syndrome to poor and odd (but loving) parents in a tinyPolish town, Harvie muddles through life as best he can, collecting"fakts" and recording them in t...Read the entire review

Comedy is dead, and animation killed it. Slowly and surely, over the last few years, The Simpsons and South Park redefined the limits of laughter and made everyday attempts at anarchy seem stupid, or just plain pathetic. The sitcom is now a dinosaur, responsible for more misery than many communicable diseases. And most stand-up comedians have resorted to gimmicks – class-consciousness, novelty songs, shock jock tactics – to try and milk a few moments of mirth. But the entertainment element most devoid of energy and irreverence is the witty motion picture. Not since the classic days of Problem Child or Lucky Stiff has a film managed to find the funny. Indeed, you have to go back to the days of a certain Harvard humor rag and its take on college craziness to locate the loco. National Lampoon's Animal House is one of those all too apparent rarities, an attempted rib-...Read the entire review

The Movie:

For a couple of years now, Mondo Mini Shows have been creating and releasing grotesque little funny animal cartoons called Happy Tree Friends on their website. Once a cult following started developing around this little two minute vignettes of violence, they wised up and started releasing the episodes on DVD with some interesting extra features, so that friends of the cult series can enjoy the episodes any time they want and without the aid of a computer.

So what exactly are the Happy Tree Friends? Think cutsey kids cartoons gone horribly, horribly wrong. The closest and most obvious influence would be the Itchy And Scratchy segments from TV's The Simpsons but Happy Tree Friends makes the gleeful violence of that show look like a walk in the park. The kills in this show are more inventive, more disgusting, and a whole lot more violent. So...Read the entire review

Themovie

There'sprobably a formula out there for sappy made-for-TV movies. Add one ofeach of the following: spunky hero/heroine, tragic (but photogenic)disease, loving family/friends, and not-too-horrible relationshipproblem. Cast with fresh-faced, earnest unknowns, mix in a soundtrackfeaturing sugary pop music, and voila! Instant tear-jerker. Eventhough it got a minor theatrical release outside the U.S. beforecoming to Showtime, A Time for Dancing fits firmly into thisgenre, with its determinedly heart-warming tale of a young dancerwhose shining future is abruptly threatened by illness, and who isforced to take stock of what really matters in her life.

The story is solidly predictable; while the ...Read the entire review

Movie: Movies about mobsters and police have long been a stapleof mainstream entertainment. Television has followed suit in an effort toprovide audiences with a variety of stories relating to these two"professions". The scope of movies tend to be limited to a single main eventand the scope of television shows have traditionally been limited toproviding a quick formula whereby whatever problem arises in the course ofan episode must be solved. Back in 1987, a new show helped meld the twomedia formats together, Wiseguy.

The show was broadcast on CBS and rather than use the traditional televisionformat, it had a series of "arcs" where the writers could provide enoughdetail to fully tell a story, whether it was a single episode, 4, or adozen. By doing so, there wasn't the padding you'll find in mostmini-series, the rush you get from a weekly that forces a lot of greatcharacter growth...Read the entire review

Movie: Movies about mobsters and police have long been a stapleof mainstream entertainment. Television has followed suit in an effort toprovide audiences with a variety of stories relating to these two"professions". The scope of movies tend to be limited to a single main eventand the scope of television shows have traditionally been limited toproviding a quick formula whereby whatever problem arises in the course ofan episode must be solved. Back in 1987, a new show helped meld the twomedia formats together, Wiseguy.

The show was broadcast on CBS and rather than use the traditional televisionformat, it had a series of "arcs" where the writers could provide enoughdetail to fully tell a story, whether it was a single episode, 4, or adozen. By doing so, there wasn't the padding you'll find in mostmini-series, the rush you get from a weekly that forces a lot of greatcharacter growth...Read the entire review