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Luvantique
Reviews
Behind the Curve (2018)
Pig in a mudhole
I love crackpots. I find them so entertaining that I have a library of crackpot literature, and this documentary has provided me with a whole new list of titles to seek. But it is hard to watch really stupid people trying to overpower reason with fast-talking blather. It's still true: Willful ignorance is like a pig in a mudhole, squealing all the day long, "This is the way life should be."
Blandings (2013)
Sad change in cast
I just watched the whole first season in one afternoon, and was delighted. Best TV comedy I've seen in an age--for the first six episodes. It wasn't until I got into the second season that I recognized just how much the show was carried by Mark Williams as the butler, Beach. Much was lost with his replacement.
The Colour of Magic (2008)
Score: 1, Dialogue: 0
I can't say this is a very objective or complete review, since I watched only the first two minutes of Episode 1, which was more than enough to show me that the sound mixing was a horror in itself, as the narration and dialog were unintelligible, lost behind a blasting, over-bearing musical score. Deciding to myself, "what's the point?" I moved on to other things. Might like to see it, but only if they fix the sound track.
Gone with the West (1974)
Worst of the worst
This film could well serve as a textbook on how not to do continuity (there is none). The print I saw lacked the narration, but if that was a negative in the original, the re-edit didn't help. I'll go a step further and state it is easily the worst film of any kind I've ever seen. "Plan 9" at least has a sort of campy appeal; this film has no saving graces whatsoever, and it is remarkable that so many later big names could survive their exposure in it.
Spoiler: In the final scene, Little Moon (Stephanie Powers), who has not spoken anything but Mexican and a word or two of broken English, turns to Judd (James Caan) and remarks in perfect unaccented English, "You've shot everyone but the cameraman," at which point Judd turns and draws and shoots back toward the viewer, and the image falls over sideways. If there had been any hint of lightness in the film (outside of Powers' moronic efforts at cuteness), it might have served as a punch line like the drive into the sunset in Blazing Saddles, but there was none, so it comes across more like a middle finger salute by the director, who surely must have known he was working on a turkey.