Aqua Teen Hunger Force - Volume One (2000) Review

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(More customer reviews)This is my current favorite DVD series. It's so absurd a premise and so beyond the pale of most cartoon series out there these days, that it has infinite appeal to both my sixteen year old son and to me. Our dynamic trio and their next door Jersey neighbor, the tank top wearing Carl, are the funniest toon characters in Television land. That's saying a lot as television is currently witnessing a true renaissance of cartoon humor.
The creators are the same crew that brought us the equally silly, but cutting edge SPACEGHOST COAST TO COAST. The same sort of hip, off colour humor that informed that show is at play here, only more so. My favorite segment involves a manic depressive, deadbeat, suicidal doll who has a negative, lifeforce-draining impact on all who come in contact with him. Other highlights include a pair of aliens who look as if they've escaped from some crude '70s Atari game. The punk talking little alien, err, is particularly amusing.
Of the three main characters, my favorite is Meatwad, the mush mouthed, single toothed meatball, whose speech is almost unintelligble, but who is delightfully, stupidly impressionable.
If you're in the mood for some absolutely mindless, but hysterically hip comic relief, give this DVD set a try. The extras aren't that much to write home about, but no contemporary toon buff should be without this two disc set in his/her collection.
If you have a sensibilty that is as warped as mine is, and you enjoy The Simpsons, South Park, Beavis and Butthead, The Family Guy, etc., I'm certain that you will enjoy this anti-superhero trio.
BEK

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Watch Master Shake, Frylock, and Meatwad, three people-sized food products in the throes of adolescence, solve mysteries and swim in their neighbor's pool.

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Begotten (1991) Review

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(More customer reviews)Is it compelling? Very. Is it arty? Often. Is it atmospheric? Indubitably. Is it entertaining? Rarely, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing. "Begotten," a wildly inventive low budget film imagined and subsequently lensed by E. Elias Merhige will leave a lasting scar on anyone who watches his nightmarish vision. The celluloid equivalent of a bad dream best forgotten, Merhige's pet project continues to mark its viewers; I occasionally hear people discussing this movie even though it came out over ten years ago. No matter what you come away with after watching "Begotten," you will remember it for ages to come. Nothing approaches its visceral power, its unshakable commitment to weirdness, and its disgustingly haunting imagery. Yes, "Begotten" is all of these things to some and much less to many. I have seen it and still cannot define exactly what I saw or successfully integrate the various scenes into a coherent whole. Perhaps subsequent viewings will uncover a few more details, but I somehow rather doubt that it will. I hope it will be enough to cryptically smile and nod sagely in lieu of explaining the plot the next time someone I know mentions this film. If I ever have to explicate on Merhige's monster to save my life, I could be in a heap of trouble.
What is "Begotten"? It is roughly eighty minutes of a black and white movie showing scenes of mutilation, madness, and murder. The whole thing deals with a sort of primordial or futuristic creation/death ritual carried out between the gods and mankind, or at least I think it does from the few articles I have read about the movie. Probably the easiest scenes to discern are the opening ones, where the camera reveals a twitching creature with a substance disturbingly comparable to blood pouring out of its mouth. With some sort of razor, the being cuts open its own abdomen (in chunky detail) in order to give birth to a new life form. This new goddess and a weird creation coughing up what looks like a piece of meat go forth to encounter shambling primitives who eventually beat these creatures to death. The whole film moves at a snail's pace, with many of the later scenes nearly impenetrable to the eye even on a DVD transfer.
Far from being filmed in glaring color reminiscent of an episode of the Brady Bunch, "Begotten" uses a complicated technique to create a type of black and white picture rarely if ever seen by this viewer. The film employs deliberate scratches on the negative and some sort of treatment that makes the unearthly images contained within glow with a sickly light. There isn't a whit of discernable dialogue in the whole movie, with the only sounds being a discordant drone punctuated by occasional rattles, labored breathing, chimes, and the sounds of water. The sun rises and sets with alarming regularity, but this hint at the passage of time provides no respite for the viewer as the nightmare unfolds onscreen. I could so easily dismiss "Begotten" as utter garbage except for one niggling concern: I could rarely take my eyes off the television screen. What IS going on here? Who knows, but it carries an appeal similar to a car accident on the freeway.
Merhige should receive a compliment for at least trying to accomplish something different with this movie. I'm not surprised in the least to learn that Marilyn Manson retained his services to direct one of his music videos, either. In short, if "Begotten" isn't the strangest, eeriest thing you will ever watch, you have explored bleaker vistas than I. I should conclude with an apology for speaking about this film by using so many superlatives, but watch it and see why I did so.

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BEGOTTEN is the creation myth brought to life, the story of no less than the violent death of God and the (re)birth of nature on a barren earth.Astounding and baffling critics and audiences alike, BEGOTTEN was named one of the Ten Best Pictures of 1991 by Time Magazine. Time's Richard Corliss wrote: "Nobody will get through BEGOTTEN without being marked... BEGOTTEN is a spectacular one-of-a-kind (you wouldn't want there to be two), filmed in speckled chiaroscuro so that each image is a seductive mystery, a Rorschach test for the adventurous eye."In production notes for the film, director Merhige commented, "Each shot in the film went through hours of preparation to achieve the look you will experience when viewing... the etheral "pulse" that hypnotically permeates the film. It took over ten hours to re-photograph less than one minute of selected takes." The BEGOTTEN DVD special features include: a souvenir booklet; interactive menus; scene access; the original theatrical trailer; and rare, never-before-seen stills and color production photos.USA, 1991, 78 mins., black & white, digital sound, full format.Unrated.Suggested retail $29.95.

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Sealab 2021 - Season 1 (2000) Review

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(More customer reviews)If you stay awake long enough to catch Adult Swim on Cartoon Network Sunday nights (starts around 10:30 p.m. CST, my old time zone- now I'm on the east coast, and everything starts an hour later), check out "Sealab 2021". It's a spoof off the old 1972 cartoon "Sealab 2020", except that the original '72 crew has been replaced by a bunch of lunatics who probably shouldn't be allowed out of doors. Perhaps that's why they've been confined to an underwater lab where they can't hurt anybody (well, almost anybody). We loyal fans have long awaited Adult Swim gems to come on DVD, and with "Sealab 2021", you get the following eppys:
*I, ROBOT- News of a monkey whose brain has been implanted in a robot prompts the crew to have a long-winded "discussion" about the fate of their own brains.
*HAPPYCAKE- Captain Murphy is devestated to find his beloved Happy Cake Oven is missing, and orders the crew, along with a Jacques Cousteau-like narrator, to search the waters for it. Meanwhile, a giant squid endangers the life of the crew; or as the narrator sees it, "uses it's tentacles to cradle me like a Mother's arms".
*RADIO FREE SEALAB- Captain Murphy is bored and decides to use the lab's emergency radio beacon for a pirate radio station, starring as "Howling Mad" Murphy.
*CHICKMATE- Debbie questions the male crewmembers to see who will make the best Father for the baby she wants immediately, and Stormy almost learns a valuable lesson in race relations.
*LOST IN TIME- Bizarre episode in which Stormy and Dr. Quinn are mysteriously transported 15 minutes back in time to save Sealab from an explosion- even though the same explosion happens again, starting the vicious cycle all over again.
*PREDATOR- There's an invisible yet shimmery ghoul aboard Sealab that has the crew cowering in the corners. It's up to Dr. Quinn (with Dolphin Boy as bait) to capture the fiend.
*LITTLE ORPHAN ANGRY- Griffin, a terminally ill orphan, comes aboard Sealab to live out his dream. But Griffin's heart is not as pure as everyone thinks. Meanwhile, Capt. Murphy morphs into a germ-a-phobe freak as he fears a Bubonic Plague outbreak.
*WAKING QUINN- The eppy is a bit hard to follow- Stormy wants to show Dr. Quinn his new hairdryer while Quinn is in the water- yes, Dr. Quinn is electrocuted and bizarre happenings are afoot.
*ALL THAT JAZZ- In one of the funniest episodes, Capt. Murphy gets trapped underneath the BeBop Cola machine. Unfortunately for him, everyone else is at a concert. A year transpires before he is found, and in that time he loses all his teeth and becomes addicted to scorpion venom.
*MURPHY MURPH AND THE FENG SHUI BUNCH- This is my all-time fave eppy. Capt. Muprhy is dissatisfied with the disharmoy of the Sealab decor. He hires an extortionate Feng Shui "master" to redecorate everything- but "Master Loo" is a con artist who convinces the crew to buy his crap oragami and persuades Murphy to spend $50,000 on a solid gold toilet. Ofcourse, only Dr. Quinn sees through him.
*IN THE CLOSET- Capt. Murphy gets everyone stlocked in a closet, and tempers begin to flare.
*STIMUTACS- The ver witty Sparks has come up with a new drug that everyone wants,but the side effects are grotesque- and additctive.
*SWIMMING IN OBLIVION- A compliation of past episodes dominates this season finaale, including the informercials for the "Debbie Gone Wild!" DVD's.
Some of Sealab's best episodes were in it's first season, and thankfully they're all here.

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It is the year 2021. In this mind-bogglingly distant future, Sealab rises imperiously from the ocean's floor, her crew charged with exploring the possibility of underwater colonization. That is, when they're not fighting giant squids over a toy oven.* Or running pirate radio stations. Or trying to put their brains into robot bodies. Or going back in time. Or being attacked by flesh-ripping aliens. Or becoming addicted to scorpion venom. Or getting stuck in a storage closet. Or going back in time again. Captain Murphy. Marco. Debbie. Stormy. Doctor Quinn. Dolphin Boy. They're all inside this box, screaming to get out so they can live inside your television. So buy the damn thing and set them free. You'll beridiculously glad you did. Promise. *Makes real cupcakes! With a 40-watt bulb!DVD Features:Alternate endingsDeleted ScenesFeaturetteOther

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