prezkot Reviews

Two Hearts in Wax Time (1935)

Amusing Little Short...

[9 October 2004]

When a department store custodian gets drunk, the short follows a night of hallucinating that the mannequins are alive.

The musical ditty itself isn't very distinguishable from others of the era, although the "Greatest Menace Of Them All" bit is almost surreal it's content. Think of a preemptive to Herman Munster & The Penguin and you've got an idea of the 'menaces'.

At 17 minutes, it's hard to take offense to the short, even if you don't like musicals. But the bookends about the alcoholic department custodian is at least a different approach to the musical genre set-up.

6/10

The Simpsons (1989– )

Best Series... Ever!

[3 June 2003]

The Simpsons are without a doubt the greatest television program ever. They hire the best writers, and get celebrities doing all kinds of things that would otherwise being disregarding. Only an animated series is able to form a cast of characters into the hundreds, and still remember them all fondly.

I'll admit, the series in all kind of took a dive around Season 8, considering it's hard to do 300+ episodes without recycling some formats. But it's clearly still the best in the market. Many sitcoms and comedies use tiredless old routines, from the heyday of vaudeville and early 'I Love Lucy' era of Television. That's all fine and dandy, however rather than pay homage to those acts, they try to pass it off as new and exciting to young viewers. But 'The Simpsons', no matter how unsensical, or mundane, is always on the top of their game.

'The Simpsons' essentially in roots has basic stock characters. Homer, the patriarch, is dumb, bald, fat, stubborn, and kind of (very kind of) strange. Marge, the wife, is a worrier, and has the typical transgressions with her husband. Bartholomew, is the troublemaker. Lisa, is the brainy loner one, and Maggie is a baby, she holds no significant value.

But what makes 'The Simpsons' so great is the way Matt Groening envisioned them, and the writers for 14+ seasons have molded them. With top-notch voicing talents (Dan Castellaneta as Homer is the gem), Only a show like this can make a baby who was voiced by Elizabeth Taylor, shoot a wealthy businessman, and still make complete sense.

It's the eye of a true Hollywood story. Writing is the key to success. It started out as a simple one minute sketch filler about another typically-dysfunctional family, and evovled into the greatest Television program ever. Many shows have tried to capture it's charms, and many have failed. 'The Simpsons' are to the 1990's as 'Lucy' was to the 1950's.

Don't Have A Cow, Man...

Wanda at Large (2003)

It's not THAT great

[21 April 2003]

Every comment on this show thus far has given it rave reviews, but I really didn't find it all that great. Of course it's better than some 2002-2003 FOX shows, like 'The Pitts' for one, but when it comes to FOX comedians, 'The Bernie Mac Show' is alot better.

Wanda Sykes (Hawkins) is a funny comedian, I've seen a show of hers on Comedy Central, but the character, and enough of her, comes off way too annoying. And my biggest griefs are that, though it's only been 3-4 episodes, character development still seems stifled.

Phil Morris does his best with his easily cliched character, unfortunately, no matter how much fire he sends Skye's character's way, you know the 2 will have a dating relationship. JUST LIKE EVERY OTHER SHOW. You knew Eric & Donna were gonna hook up on That 70's Show. J.D. & Elliot on Scrubs. Ross & Rachel on Friends. So on and so on.

Overall the shows is alright, maybe 5-6/10, but it doesn't have '5 year' material. Fans of Morris won't have to worry about this performance overshadowing his Jackie Chiles character on Seinfeld.

Oliver Beene (2003–2004)

So what? It's a good show!

[17 April 2003]

Ok, it DOES seem like 'Oliver Beene' is 'Malcolm' meets 'The Wonder Years', but so what? In a world of scarily crappy reality shows, and 50+ years of TV history, isn't better to venture 2 GOOD TV shows, rather than extend ideas from bad ones?

I agree that this show will probably be canned shortly, only because producers don't give shows enough of a chance to improve ratings anymore. I loved Family Guy, and wish it was still on, but it is like the original Star Trek was 35 years ago: a mass cult following formed, but not enough of an overall appeal, like American Idol (joy).

Comedies are a dying breed outside of FOX. CBS focuses on dramas, ABC invokes reality shows and 'family comedies' (which is producer slang for targeted middle-aged audience). WB wants the teenagers, and NBC rounds up the 'intellectual 18-29 who live in New York' (Is Fraiser even funny anymore, or was it REALLY EVER? I mean if you're gonna spin-off Cheers, get George Wendt or John Ratzenberger, not Fraiser Crane). Friends is still funny, but not fresh. And their 'target' audience is not ethnic, so we don't see any NBC leading roles filled by etnicity, only supporting. What happened to Cosby, Fresh Prince, Different World?

Is UPN still even a prime-time station??

But at least FOX, albeit focusing on the dyfunctional slice-of-life, has funny comedies. The Simpsons. Malcolm. That 70's Show. Bernie Mac. King Of The Hill. Family Guy (defunct). Futurama (soon-to-be defunct). Oliver Beene.

And hey, we'd be able to give all these new shows half a fighting chance if they weren't being filled with reality shows (which producers LOVE because they're short, and by now, a guaranteed lock in viewership) like Married By America (the most degrading yet) or until Mr. Personality airs. One day, reality shows will be so ugly, we'll see a televised version of Russian Roulette. I swear we will.

And while Grant Rosenmeyer is no Frankie Muniz, he tries to be real. After all, we all can't be scary bullsh*t like V.I.C.I. in Small Wonder can we?

So to sum up, Oliver Beene is cool. Cherish it now, because you might miss it when it's gone, kinda like Family Guy. And for whoever earlier said Family Guy is much better than The Simpsons, he obviously haven't seen more than 2 episodes. Simpsons still rule.

I Won't Play (1944)

Phinger The Phony

[8/10 · 22 March 2003]

Dane Clark is Joe Fingers, a Marine who passes his days by bragging to his camp buddies about his popularity in the music scene. But when they find him backing down from a piano, the guys treat him like an outcast. However, when Janis Page's Kim Karol stops in the trenches to sing, Joe Fingers is put on the spot.

********SPOILER ALERT***************** Joe Fingers really CAN play the piano, and really DID carve Kim Karol into what she was in 1944. **************************************

This won the 1944 Oscar for best Short (2-Reelers). It was pretty well written despite it's obscureness.

Blue Collar Comedy Tour: The Movie (2003)

Unfortunatly, they ARE just like me

[8/10 · 16 March 2003]

When the 'Blue Collar' movie came out in Phoenix, I was weary in seeing it. I figured it was comedy for country boys, and I've always been an activist to prove that Arizona isn't just full of country-music lovin hicks and mexicans.

My grandmother really wanted to see it, and also finding out it was exclusively released in these parts (NY and LA are always the ones to show those spectacular indie movies first) and taped at Phoenix's Dodge Theatre, I decided to go for it. We saw it in January.

My first expectations were that it'd be stupid redneck humor. Most of it was, but it was really fun nonetheless. Taping the gang in various stores around Phoenix, making idiots of themselves were funny.

Sadly, the film and the comedians probably would be swallowed up had they not had the popularity of Jeff 'Redneck' Foxxworty on their team. It's a shame because Bill Engvall was truly the standout.

Bill Engvall was absolutely hilarious. His section of the concert really shined. He got an A. Ron White was really funny too. B. Jeff Foxxworty kind of lagged. Outside of his Redneck jokes (which is the whole selling point, and they aren't even THAT great), his comedy was a little bland. Overall he gets a C. Larry The Cable Guy was the worst. The movie was really good outside of part. He was rude, crude, dumb, and unfunny. I found myself constantly waiting for his part to be over. D-.

Then the guys joined together onstage to do a 'storytelling' type of humor. It came off pretty funny. B+

Overall, I'd give this 8/10. I'm glad it's trickling into other theatres so others can see a close send-up to The Original Kings Of Comedy. Just don't associate the movie with Arizona all being this way. I hate people who make that assumption.

Leonard Part 6 (1987)

What in the hell is this?

[1/10 · 16 March 2003]

I saw this movie awhile back on TBS while on vacation. The stupid 'cable' TV at the hotel only had like 6 channels, so i got stuck watching this. Having no clue what it was, only seeing Bill Cosby show up, and starte watching halfway through.

At the end of the movie, I found myself asking, 'What the holy hell was that piece of trash?' I like Bill Cosby as a comedian, but this was just trash. It stank so hard, even TBS should've stayed away from it. And that's saying something.

Daredevil (2003)

The Man Without Fear: Good, Not Great

[23 February 2003]

I had been waiting to see this movie for months... I love the Daredevil comics, and I like Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner. I had been drooling for Feb. 14 to come for a long time.

I saw the movie on Feb. 15, and let me just say, I was a bit disappointed. Not that the movie was bad or anything, far from it. It's just that all my speculating led to a less-than expected movie. Spider-Man was far superior.

Ben Affleck, who plays the title character, did alright, not great, not bad. As Daredevil, the character comes alive, however, as Matt Murdock, he falls into his Kevin Smith-esque conversation persona. It gets old after awhile. He gets a C+

Jennifer Garner kind of disappointed me. Watch 'Alias', and you'll see a smashing show. But here, she seems unaffected. C-

Michael Clarke Duncan was the worst of all. The big guy, who did a nice turn in 'The Green Mile', just stares at and drawl the entire film. As a villian, he was very weak. His rating, F

Colin Farrell, I never really liked him, but he showed the most promise in this film. He took his character Bulls-eye, and made him gleam. It's a shame he had to play second fiddle to Clarke Duncan. His rating: A

Overall, the film was a bit disappointing, but still a good film. I'd give it **1/2 of ****, and recommend it if you like comic books, action, or Ben

Affleck.

I still look forward to all the forthcoming comic movies, such as The Incredible Hulk, X-Men 2, and Spider-Man 2. I pulled a Scott Terra (Young Matt Murdock) Autograph Card from the Daredevil Movie Cards, and that makes it all worthwhile.