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Reviews
The Comedians (2015)
Way Above Some People's Ability To Understand
The correct premise: Billy Crystal has a show on FX, and to his consternation and dismay, FX wants him to add Josh Gad as a sort of partner/co-host/younger demographic ratings booster. As taping for Billy's new season begins, they leave him no choice but to add Gad.
Crystal is masterful as himself, allowing the writing to have him come off as arrogant and full of himself at all the right times, and Gad's desire to be liked by the comedy legend is full-on Emmy worthy, especially in the way he clearly believes he has been brought in to save the show and Crystal's career. David Letterman lasted decades on TV with this same kind of "everyone is in on the joke" comedy, and this show could run forever Mondays at 9 on CBS. If you have only a basic knowledge of sketch comedy history, Frozen, and who Billy Crystal is, and you aren't a "writer" insisting you could do better even though you don't, you will enjoy every little nuance of this show, and the way it doesn't pander to your basic "make me laugh" instincts. The sketches on the show inside the show are sometimes hilarious but always funny. The characters are well written and well acted. The documentary feel itself even becomes the brunt of the humor. Sit back and enjoy.
Hollywood Scandals: John Lennon (2014)
Pretending to understand something that happened ten years before you were born.
This is a ham-handed, overbearing attempt to be social media fresh and hip, but flops about unmercifully and winds up as yellow journalism. As a Beatle fan, I stuck through until the end, but it never lets up on its snarky insinuations (why do John Lennon if you're afraid to come out and say what you mean?) and its completely misguided conclusions, the ones that aren't insinuations, anyway. The most basic of Beatle fans can poke holes through the entire narrative, and any psychologist could tell you that someone can be between Jesus and Satan. This is a poorly done excuse for whatever it was they were trying to do -- it backs away from itself several times with little yellow headlines and contradictory explanations. For example, the host will speculate on how John's treatment of Cynthia when they divorced is somehow more saucy now that we know the truth, yet the truth was there from the beginning. We knew Cynthia found Yoko in her home and wearing Cynthia's robe. Our host breathlessly points out that there was no social media back then, as if the Lennon divorce became news when Cynthia released her book years later. Anyone who was over 10 at the time can tell you that the blotted out naked albums were out there and John and Yoko were social media all by themselves. All through this malarkey, the host will put forth an insinuation like that which is immediately torpedoed by the expert guests (to their great honor, sticking with just the truth to work with), who have actually written one book about John each. Then the host finishes up with another way of saying "yeah but what if?" Then we move on to the next snarky insinuation.
Nothing new is said, but lots of new, years-later spin is applied, (I say again, everybody knew how John broke up his marriage, he made an album of it and rush-released it), so if you are reading this review to find out if "Hollywood Scandals" will help you with any serious research, I'd say come back to this piece of "reality TV" once you have exhausted every other Internet and personal choice. Or get in touch with me, I can do you better than this waste of time and video. Its companion piece "Hollywood Legacies: John Lennon" is even worse, contemptible even. I am a very generous reviewer and will always applaud sincere effort; this is not, so I cannot. And now, I intend to run this through the DVR again, only this time I am going to turn down the sound and say rude things.
Glee Worms (1936)
Glow Worm, given a Busby Berkleyesque animated treatment.
Glee Worms, "A Columbia Favorite" and a burst of color that must have thrilled theater audiences in 1936, uses an extended mix of the song Glow Worm to tell the story of two fireflies (obviously in love) on a date. The date includes mostly flying around and a lot of kissing, while the music defines the world around them. Still, this cartoon is fine for children, and completely innocent, with a few clever sight gags for the adults. The plot thickens when the rains arrive, a nasty storm with raindrops big enough to ground a firefly brews, and girl firefly winds up forced into a swamp by a raindrop, calling for help. Her pleas are heard first by a passing minor-chord villain. Oh, my! Can boy firefly find girl firefly before mustachioed man-spider can win her heart away?
Cat-Tastrophy (1949)
Kitty gets a present. A puppy.
Kitty's person has rewarded his behavior with a new puppy, and instructions to become "very good friends." Puppy's cuteness wins Kitty over right away, but within seconds Kitty envisions Puppy grown up as a Dog and wreaking havoc in Kitty's life.
So Kitty has a decision to make. Should he accept the Puppy, soon to be a Dog, and allow the ensuing turmoil that is certain to come, or reject the little tyke and avoid it all?
This cartoon includes the traditional Dog vs Cat stereotypes, but is enjoyable in itself (and fine for kids) in its depiction of the ingenuity of the Dog. The end credits identify it as "A Color Rhapsody in Technicolor."