DVD Talk DVD Reviews https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/list/DVD Video DVD Talk DVD Review RSS Feed en-us Orchestra of Piazza Vittorio DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/35578 Sat, 29 Nov 2008 21:47:29 UTC Rent It

The Movie:
World Music is a term that gets bandied about for just about anything outside of the prefab pop-rock mold these days, although World Music as a genre itself has become increasingly prefab at times. The term gets an actual literal reading with The Orchestra of Piazza Vittorio, an engaging if too long documentary that would have been better had it focused less on the trials and tribulations of putting together a mostly amateur troupe of musicians from all over the world, and more upon the actual music.

The Orchestra's story starts in 2002, when this documentary shows Rome's then-decrepit Apollo Theater in the heart of the Esquilino neighborhood, where the Piazza Vittorio is the heart and soul of community life (it's a neighborhood made famous in de Sica's iconic neorealist film The Bicycle Thieves). The theater was about to become a bingo hall, something that future...Read the entire review

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Steal a Pencil for Me Theatrical https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/30956 Fri, 12 Oct 2007 16:20:24 UTC Highly Recommended

If it appeared that stories of the Holocaust couldn't find new dramatic pull, "Steal a Pencil for Me" comes out of nowhere to remind us that there are still corners of this historical event that remain untouched. A modest undertaking of romantic struggle, "Pencil" is a sublime recollection of indefatigable affection and dedication in the face of enormous misery.

During World War II, Holland was enduring the destructive force of Nazi rule. Jaap Polak was an accountant suffering in a loveless marriage, spying a beautiful young woman named Ina one magical night at a party. When the Nazis start the clear Amsterdam of Jews, Jaap and Ina find themselves at the same prison camp, where they strike up a dangerous secretive relationship. Over the course of the war, Jaap and Ina fight to keep their affection alive, using the power of love letters to sustain their hopes during the threat of extinction, focusing...Read the entire review

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Puppy DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/26340 Wed, 31 Jan 2007 22:47:48 UTC Rent It

The Product:
In general, several important elements make up a successful film. First and foremost is story, but coming in a close second is character. You see, you can have the most compelling narrative ever created, a tale of action packed swashbuckling or tender, unfettered dramatics, and yet, if the individuals inhabiting your yarn are a couple of depraved dingbats, cinematic charms limited by outrageous behavior and lack of common sense/soul, things can quickly go from bad to much, much, much worse. Thus is the case with Puppy. First time filmmaker Kiernan Galvin, perhaps best known for his script of the perverted fright flick Feed, has an intriguing idea here. He wants to juxtapose an emotional wreck of a woman with a stunted psychological disaster of a man and see if he can't find a comfortable mental medium between the two. Instead, what he ends up giving us is a pair of ...Read the entire review

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Wanderlust DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/26131 Fri, 19 Jan 2007 04:04:39 UTC Rent It

Wanderlust, an IFC/Netflix documentary chronicling the "road picture" genre in movies, works in fits and starts, particularly when it sticks to letting actual clips from celebrated road films speak for themselves. But gradually, the documentary becomes less and less interesting as the generalities and cliches pile up, bogging down in its own one-sided aesthetic and political viewpoints.

Wanderlust works best when it lets the films discussed, speak for themselves. Generous clips from movies as diverse as The Grapes of Wrath, Detour and Vanishing Point more than get across their own points about America's restless love affair with the road, with freedom, and with speed. Unfortunately, the directors of Wanderlust, Robert Pulcini and Shari S...Read the entire review

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Memron DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/26118 Thu, 18 Jan 2007 04:38:39 UTC Skip It

Nancy Hower's "Memron" wants to be both a biting satire gnawing at corporate scandals and a showcase for its cast of improv comics. It fails to be either.

As you can guess from the title, "Memron" stabs at the Enron mess - here, the fictional megacorp of the title has laid off some 60,000 employees while the CEOs play golf at a minimum security prison. (The main CEO is named "Ken Clay," which, along with the title, should clue you in on the filmmakers' lack of parody prowess.) The ensuing mockumentary follows a support group for ex-employees as they bicker, whine, and then decide to start up their own business, selling clean air, ha ha. Meanwhile, after spending his couple of months in prison, Clay laments his house arrest-imposed ankle bracelet and argues with his trophy wife.

The complete lack of social satire is disappointing, making the title and set-up completely useless. This isn't ...Read the entire review

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Gitmo: The New Rules of War DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/25735 Thu, 21 Dec 2006 01:42:59 UTC Rent It

In a memo regarding the interrogation methods used on detainees at Guantanamo Bay - namely the brutal practice of prolonged standing, in which a prisoner is required to maintain a single position for unbearable lengths of time - former defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld had scribbled in the margins: "I stand 8-10 hours a day. Why is standing limited to 4 hours?" That Rumsfeld, and many others in the current administration, fail to comprehend the complete idiocy of his own comment is a key factor in understand just how the war on terror has gone wrong, and just why torture is not viewed by those in power as the horrid, ineffective method it actually is.

This memo is just one of the many disturbing revelations in "Gitmo," the latest in an ever-growing line of documentaries shedding light on the shadier side of current events. Like many in its genre, the film is not top-shelf cinema, but it is excel...Read the entire review

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Favela Rising DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/25676 Mon, 18 Dec 2006 02:01:04 UTC Recommended

The Movie

I often wonder if those living in Rio de Janiero's favelas (or slums) ever tire of the sudden amount in interest in their way of living, spiked by Fernando Meirelles' searing 2002 City of God, which brought this violent, vivid world into the Western consciousness. It's a brutal, unforgiving place that often seems devoid of hope or chance, with plenty of promising lives snuffed out before they've even begun.

Directors Matt Mochary and Jeff Zimbalist trace a different kind of story, one of redemption and retribution that finds one man, Anderson Sa, whose life has been torn apart by senseless violence, channeling his considerable charisma into leading a musical movement known as Afro-reggae. Spicing their fairly straightforward narrative with some truly astonishing concert sequences, Mochary and Zimbalist provide a refreshing counter-point to all of the hyp...Read the entire review

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Zach Galifianakis: Live at the Purple Onion DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/25610 Wed, 13 Dec 2006 16:22:50 UTC Highly Recommended

Somewhere around my fifty-third rewrite of this introduction, it dawned on me that maybe I should just throw out a link to YouTube. I mean, what's going to give you a better impression of a comedian -- video...something you can see and hear...or a few awkward quotes and a half-assed three sentence write-up? Thanks, YouTube, for making the life of a lazy DVD reviewer incrementally easier.

Really, though, if you need an introduction to Zach Galifianakis, I'll save you a few minutes. Watch his Comedy Central Presents special. Dig through some of his stuff on YouTube. See if one of those underground torrent sites has the entire run of his brilliant-but-cancelled ...Read the entire review

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John Water's This Filthy World DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/25558 Sun, 10 Dec 2006 21:03:03 UTC Recommended

In 10 Words or Less
The Pope of Trash, live on stage

Reviewer's Bias*
Loves: John Waters, good one-man shows
Likes: Art, suburban life
Dislikes: The culture police, decencymongers
Hates: That Waters would probably be bored by me

The Movie
When I bought my first DVD player, the first disc I bought and watchedwas John Waters' "Pecker," just freshly released at the time. Yearsearlier, at the tender age of 14, I was borrowing VHS tapes ofDesperate Living and Female Trouble from the Copiaguepublic library (a more progressive cultural institution than it everknew) and telling my disbelieving young friends about PinkFlamingos. Suffice to say, Waters has been a big influence on me,and I've gladly checke...Read the entire review

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Joe Rogan: Live DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/25542 Sun, 10 Dec 2006 05:14:31 UTC Recommended

The Movie

Don't judge a book by its cover: If you were to look at Joe Rogan's body of work -- appearing on "NewsRadio," hosting "Fear Factor" -- you might think he's a slightly daffy man's man whose collegiate exterior masks a warm heart. But you'd be wrong -- Rogan's a no-holds-barred stand-up comedian whose piercing diatribes about our world and our relationships may have you shocked and gasping for air. It's bitterly funny stuff that pours out of him at a frantic clip; Rogan, whose comedy seems to have taken a back-seat to the paying day jobs, unleashes his unique blend of considered insight and just plain off-color observations.

While Rogan's approach might strike some as a little too manic -- think high-on-Red Bull intelligent frat guy turned loose on a paying audience -- more often that not, his barbed one-liners hit pay dirt, which makes this almost hour-long set prett...Read the entire review

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Trudell DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/25504 Fri, 08 Dec 2006 09:45:55 UTC Rent It

About five minutes into Trudell, the 2005 documentary on John Trudell, the American Indian activist turned poet/artist, the doc's subject makes a statement that should pretty much separate the believers from the non-believers in his credo: "The spirit of life is almost non-existent in the perceptional reality of the society that we're in. It's almost non-existent. They got religion; they got civilization, you know; they got the military; they got politics; they got all education; they got all the stuff. They don't have the spirit to live." And they, in case you don't know, is you - if you're not an Indian. That's right; that's what John Trudell thinks of you, dear reader. Aren't you glad he told you that? And all this time, you thought you were working, achieving, striving artistically, being part of families and raisi...Read the entire review

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Going to Pieces: The Rise and Fall of the Slasher Film Theatrical https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/24228 Fri, 06 Oct 2006 13:01:55 UTC Highly Recommended

Slasher films have ridden a looping, twisting roller coaster of notoriety over the last 30 years. They've gone from being the toast of the town with their highly profitable grosses and hypnotic power over audiences to volcanically loathed for their unoriginality and social irresponsibility. "Going to Pieces" expands on Adam Rockoff's 2002 book to visually explore the history of the genre, including new interviews with some of horror's greatest artists and forgotten footage of the genre in its throat-slitting prime.

"Pieces" starts off rather erratically, establishing the infamous pictures that played a hand in getting hardcore gore and unforgettable violence up on the screen ("Psycho," "Peeping Tom," "Last House on the Left"), but immediately sprints past the details to get to the granddaddy of them all: "Halloween." Using John Carpenter's classic as a starter pistol for all bloodshed to follow, "Pie...Read the entire review

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Reckless Indifference DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/22351 Fri, 23 Jun 2006 13:10:27 UTC Rent It

Good documentaries don't need to be overflowing with stylish embellishments or slick editing, especially when they cover subject matter raw enough that it can get the blood boiling on its own merits. Taking the shocking and upsetting Paradise Lost series as inspiration, the documentary Reckless Indifference (exclusively available from online rental service Netflix) details a 1995 murder in California and the blatantly unfair trial that followed. While director William Gazecki obviously didn't have the budget that HBO afforded Paradise Lost and didn't cover the trial while it occurred, he does use the resources available to him (video and audio tapes of interviews with the accused, courtroom footage, and original interviews with many of the family and community members) to craft a very engaging portrait of this complete breakdown of justice.

Like the events of Paradise Lo...Read the entire review

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Lilya 4-Ever DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/21969 Wed, 31 May 2006 22:32:36 UTC Rent It

Lilya 4-Ever (2002) is hard to watch. But the subject matter is so beautifully told, I give it a high recommendation. It is a heartbreaking and ultimately very humanistic portrait of abandonment.

"SOMEWHERE IN WHAT WAS ONCE THE SOVIET UNION."- Lilya is a sixteen year old Russian girl, and when we first meet her, she displays typical teen grumpiness towards her mother. But, as her mother informs her that she is leaving for America with Lilya's new stepfather, Lilya senses something wrong and becomes that child that just needs her mother. Her mother promises she will send money and letters and will eventually bring Lilya over, but we, the viewer, can tell that those are empty words.

Lilya's supposed caretaker is her aunt, who promptly forces Lilya to move into a cheaper apartment, a squalid room where the previous occupants ratty belongs and odor still remain. But, she makes the best of the si...Read the entire review

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Shape of The Moon DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/21625 Thu, 11 May 2006 13:25:17 UTC Rent It

THE MOVIE

The timing of "The Shape of the Moon" is eerie. It is a documentary about a Christian family living in the world's largest Muslim nation -- the nation of Indonesia, which since Dec. 26, 2004, has been the focus of the some of the world's greatest humanitarian efforts after the devastating tsunami there. Some of the places shown in this film (shot in 2003) no longer exist. How's that for putting the film's characters in perspective?

But in many ways, the tragic events make the film more compelling. Though the Christians are occasionally the focus, the movie is mostly a slice-of-life piece on Indonesia itself, as director Leonard Retel Helmrich draws us vividly into a world most of us have never seen. It humanizes an exotic, faraway place.

Helmrich paints a picture of squalid living conditions, starving alley cats, and fervent anti-U.S. protesters amidst the ordinary devo...Read the entire review

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Hopeless Pictures: Season 1 DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/21314 Mon, 24 Apr 2006 06:50:54 UTC Rent It

The Show

When we think of animation, we typically think of the visuals, as that's what makes the medium unique. However, more than just art goes into animation, as it's equally important the an animated project have a good story and good vocal acting. If one of those elements is lacking, then the show/film won't feel as complete. Hopeless Pictures is an animated television show which has a lot of promise, but it ultimately only contains one (maybe one and a half) of the three elements which make for a good cartoon.

Hopeless Pictures is set in Hollywood, and focuses on the life of producer Mel Wax (Michael McKean). Mel is the head of a small movie studio, called Hopeless Pictures, and things aren't going very well for Mel. Hopeless Pictures is known for its lackluster films and Mel is desperate for a hit. He doesn't get much help from his staff, which consists of...Read the entire review

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Mana: Beyond Belief DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/21289 Sat, 22 Apr 2006 01:28:03 UTC Recommended

The Movie:

Nexflix, the internet DVD rental by mail company, has started releasingDVDs available for rent only through their service.  They've boughtthe rights to several interesting and unique films and are giving thema wide audience through their service.  One of their releases in Mana- Beyond Belief, a gorgeously filmed documentary that looks at thewide variety of objects that people hold sacred and the rituals surroundingthose objects.

Thefilm starts off with a man explaining that anything which inspires peoplehas mana.  From there, viewers are taken on a world wide tour of objectsand places filled with this mystical energy.  From the Japanese CherryBlossom Festival to...Read the entire review

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Cowboy Del Amor DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/20949 Mon, 03 Apr 2006 04:48:16 UTC Recommended

The Movie:

Matchmakers have a long and respected history. The role was oftenfilled by older women who had some social standing, they could act as animpartial party when finding mates for people. Though that practiceisn't usually associated with American culture, that doesn't mean thatthere are none to be found in the United States. One American matchmaker,and an unlikely one at that is Ivan Thompson, a retired horse rancher whois currently single and has been married, and divorced, three times. Though his personal track record isn't anything to brag about, Ivan hasbeen finding Mexican wives for lonely American men for over a dozen years. Cowboy Del Amor, a film by Michèle Ohayon, follows the 'CowboyCupid' into Mexico with a pair of customers to see if he help them findhappiness. Though Ivan sounds a bit odd, and he is, the film hasa lot...Read the entire review

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Seamless DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/20906 Fri, 31 Mar 2006 07:24:44 UTC Rent It

The Movie

If reality TV favorite "Project Runway" is any indication, the fashion world is one driven by greed, motivated by fear and stocked with people who would just as soon step on your throat as help you out – Seamless, director Doug Keeve's follow-up to 1995's Unzipped, paints the cutthroat world of couture in slightly rosier shades, but it's undeniable: you'd better come ready to play if you want to make it in this fast-paced industry.

Charting the exploits of a handful of young, up-and-coming designers vying for an award doled out by Vogue magazine and the Council of Fashion Designers of America, Keeve's camera tracks 10 finalists as they cut, sew, sweat, freak out and solve crises in pursuit of the potentially star-making award. Along the way, Keeve takes some time out to let the likes of Vogue's Anna Wintour and Vera Wang expostulate on ...Read the entire review

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A Hole In My Heart DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/20905 Fri, 31 Mar 2006 07:24:44 UTC Recommended

The Movie

Writer/director Lukas Moodysson's A Hole In My Heart is a cinematic sucker punch to the senses – I first saw this film over a year ago, near the end of a long day at the annual South by Southwest film festival (there were several walk-outs and I fought the urge to do so myself) and I can still vividly recall scenes, despite having seen dozens and dozens of movies since. This is a work that truly lingers, a ugly, unforgettable piece of viscerally angry cinema that thoroughly disturbed and nauseated me, eliciting a reaction I haven't felt since Gaspar Noe's brutal, extended rape sequence in Irreversible. A Hole In My Heart is strong, unrelenting stuff, so overpowering that Moodysson's pointed commentary is nearly lost amid the graphic sexuality and spillage of innumerable bodily fluids.

Relying upon the barest semblance of a plot â...Read the entire review

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Dandelion DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/20799 Fri, 24 Mar 2006 09:01:13 UTC Rent It

Teen angst gets the CinemaScope treatment in Dandelion an American independent coming-of-age emo tale.

The first scene shows a young man in a field crying. Then he sticks a gun in his mouth and presumedly fires. We don't know if he really does fire because the scene is followed by a blackout and a flashback [or so it seems] to a group of young guys firing guns.

Mason Mullich (Vincent Kartheiser) is a sensitive and intelligent young man. Sort of quiet but in a hip way that makes him not too geeky. His parents are a really unstable couple who seem so mentally fragile that it seems they cannot handle any aspect of life including the raising of a son - who seems to have thus far not developed their personality traits.

Mason catches the eye of the new girl in town Danny (played by Hustle and Flow's Taryn Manning) and they quickly become friends. But it doesn't last long because one rainy...Read the entire review

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Open Hearts (Elsker Dig For Evigt) DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/20763 Tue, 21 Mar 2006 23:40:26 UTC Recommended

The Film:

Online rental provider Netflix seems to have adopted a new distribution policy which in effect grants access to certain international and independent films that are otherwise unavailable in North America. These are films that have won a substantial amount of recognition from critics and audiences around the world and have appeared at some of the most prestigious film festivals throughout Europe and Asia. Netflix's latest acquisition is the Danish production Elsker Dig For Evigt a.k.a Open Hearts (2002).

On a gloomy day in Copenhagen Cecilie (Sonja Richter) and her fiancée Joachim (Nikolaj Lie Kaas) are quietly discussing their future. Cecilie has bough Joachim a car and he is visibly excited. They hug, she kisses him gently, he cracks up a joke. Then Joachim opens up the tiny door of his car and exits. In an instant his body is crushed by an inc...Read the entire review

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Forty Shades of Blue DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/20678 Fri, 17 Mar 2006 14:00:38 UTC Highly Recommended

Movie:
Many reviewers have written about the connection between the Hollywood films of the 1970's and the Independent films of today. Often they are talking about the independent spirit that the two periods share. However, in the case of Forty Shades of Blue the comparison is close to literal. The film has the look, the feel, the acting and directing style of a seventies film - although it was only made two years ago.

Rip Torn plays Alan an aging musician in Memphis who is an obnoxious somewhat emotionally erratic personality who is nonetheless liked by everyone. He is twice divorced and now living with Laura (Dina Korzub) an aloof Russian immigrant 30 years his junior who has given him a young son.

They have a relationship that seems to be all on the surface. They go through the motions of their days and nights occassionally cheating on one anther when they get the chance but both...Read the entire review

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The Perfect Crime (El Crimen Perfecto) DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/20615 Tue, 14 Mar 2006 02:15:52 UTC Recommended

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

The interesting Spanish director Álex de la Iglesia scores with The Perfect Crime, a witty and stylish farce also known as "The Ferpect Crime." On screen, the main title alternates between Crimen Pefecto and "Crimen Ferpecto," letting us know that we're watching a comedy of errors. It's too bad they didn't stick with the distinctive alternate, as the title "The Perfect Crime" is too generic and forgettable for this highly entertaining picture.

De la Iglesia's sexy and wickedly funny tale and is soaked in lavish production values that put American comedies to shame. American viewers will compare it to movies by Pedro Almodóvar, particularly Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, but The Perfect Crime has a personality of its own.

...Read the entire review

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In the Summer between high school and college, I took a film class at a local college where the final assignment was to create a short film. I had the visuals in mind, exact location set and thought filming went wonderfully...until I got the film back. The movie looked exactly how I'd imagined...aside from the fact that I'd somehow failed to notice that the group's bags and extra equipment had been left against a wall and were clearly visible in the background.

Documentary filmmaker Nanette Burnstein (whose "Kid Stays in the Picture" is still one of my favorite films of the last few years) focuses on the difficulties of film school in... "Film School", an IFC series that focuses on a group of film school students at NYU attempting to make a short film that will be shown and could be their stepping stone to bigger and better things.

The series starts off with a rather slow opening episode ...Read the entire review

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The Spaghetti West DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/20503 Mon, 06 Mar 2006 23:40:46 UTC Recommended

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

This engaging docu look at the Italian western film phenomenon was first shown on the IFC (the Independent Film Channel) in conjunction with a cable-TV roundup of top Italo oaters. It's thorough, academically-oriented and quite lavishly appointed with film clips and interview appearances by top names in the field - twenty or thirty actors, directors, writers and critics. The narrator is Robert Forster.

The Spaghetti western genre is discussed at length by many of the personalities who created it. The Italian film industry in the late 50s and early 60s was enjoying international success with genre-based movies, and experimented with home-made westerns, after several German-made efforts became popular. Sergio Leone had a breakout hit with 1964's A Fistful of Dollars giving the Italian industry a major boost. One spokesman estimates that fo...Read the entire review

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nbt: Never Been Thawed DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/20484 Mon, 06 Mar 2006 09:02:25 UTC Rent It

In 10 Words or Less
Disconnected sketch comedy in mockumentary form

Reviewer's Bias*
Loves: Mockumentaries
Likes: Sketch comedy
Dislikes:
Hates: Bad acting

The Movie
Comedy is a funny thing. There are rules that work best if followed, though breaking those rules can be even funnier. Being too focused can limit the laughs, but lacking a point can make it worse. NBT falls right in between these facts of comedy, being completely unfocused and too conventional for its own good. It's also too damn long.

The main story, about a Christian rocker who heads a group of TV dinner collectors, is actually a funny concept. Mockumentaries tend to be best when focusing on obsessive people, and there are few that are...Read the entire review

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