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Tourfilm: R.E.M. (1990 Video)
5/10
The band that deserved better
9 August 2005
REM's Tourfilm should have been a resounding success, but it ends up instead as a definitive suck-mess. The camera work is typical late-80's, early 90's "mtv-style" which means lots of camera movement and lots of quick editing.

While this might be all well and good if there is some intelligence behind the design, the cameras seem to be haphazardly moving with no real focus and the choice of any given camera at any given time seems to be based upon which camera is offering the absolute worst shot.

The concert also suffers a terrible start-stop problem and there is never any real flow to the proceedings. On the other hand, while the sound is not exactly first-rate, the concert is--REM is in top form. That makes this disc probably worth it in the end for die-hard fans, but, at the same time, offers much frustration over just how bad the production is.
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Crumb (1994)
10/10
Has there ever been a better documentary of an artist?
8 August 2005
I don't like Crumb's work. I don't even know if I like Crumb as a man. But what I do know is that I like this documentary just about better than any other documentary I've ever seen.

The things that are revealed are astonishing. The levels to which these people present themselves is nothing short of amazing. I've often wondered if I've ever made myself this vulnerable to anyone ever, and yet Crumb and his brothers do it for the whole, entire world.

It's a shame that Terry Zwigoff hasn't done yet another documentary, because he obviously has a knack for the genre. While I have liked his other movies, they haven't been nearly as good as Crumb. He seemed to really understand just how close and yet how far back he needed to be at the same time.

Crumb is a movie that won't let you go for a long time. If you haven't seen it yet, prepare yourself for something both vulgar and heartwarming, charming and repulsive.
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10/10
Miles Kurosky vs. The World
8 August 2005
Warning: Spoilers
In the summer of last year, I was lucky enough to meet Miles Kurosky (lead singer of Beulah) after a Beulah show and I was blown away by how nice he was---not only to me, but to my girlfriend as well who blurted out that she didn't really know much about the band.

He was really so kind and gentle that I had to throw away all my preconceived notions of what Miles Kurosky must be like. Because anyone who is into the band and who has done any reading about them at all knows that Miles is arrogant, rude, opinionated, mean, etc...

Or so the stories go, anyway. So while I didn't expect him to spit on us or anything, I wasn't prepared for just how nice he was.

And so I went into this documentary wondering about who Miles Kurosky really was. And, man, to his credit, he really lets it all hang out; warts and all, it's all there.

Don't even bother trying to figure him out (or, if you do, please let me know what you come up with!), because I don't think you can.

What to make of a guy who in one scene is so concerned with his band mates making a little bit of money that he himself takes on the huge task of road managing and then in another literally slaps one of his band mates silly because he doesn't drive exactly the way Miles thinks he should?

Or what do you make of a guy who in one scene refuses to do an encore because he thinks the crowd isn't cheering loud enough and then in another invites a small gang of underage kids to a club for a free show because they can't get into the over-21 rock club?

You could do this thing almost forever with A Good Band is Easy to Kill. It's one of those movies that gets under your skin and keeps you thinking about the characters for a long time after. And it's not only about Miles (I focused on him out of personal interest), but the whole entire band.

(MILD SPOILER)

If this movie works for you, as it did me, then you'll find yourself in the end moved beyond words. When Miles tells the appreciative hometown crowd in San Francisco, "Hello. We're Beulah. We're from San Francisco," chills spread across my neck as I finally learned to understand what exactly the song "You're Only King Once" (the one that is playing underneath this scene) really means.

(END SPOILER)

What a rush. Any other stupid rock documentary would have had Miles telling you, "when I wrote this song, I was trying to come to terms with blah, blah, blah..." Instead, Beulah had the good sense to create a documentary which, like their music, assumes the audience are intelligent beings who "get" it.

Now if I could just "get" Miles Kurosky...
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The Cruise (1998)
9/10
Fantastically interesting
8 August 2005
The Cruise follows a man with a lot to say. An incredible amount to say. Timothy "Speed" Levitch never stops talking, and he even has found a way to make his living while talking; he is a tour bus driver in Manhattan.

Many reviewers seem to think that Levitch is full of himself, full of self-pity and full of hot air, and I think all that is certainly true. What he is also is a fascinatingly interesting character brimming with ideas. He might be full of manure, but he never bores.

The picture looks great for video, as it is presented in black and white, which is unusual for video but definitely adds to the presentation here.
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It's Your Move (1984–1985)
Fantastic, forgotten classic
8 August 2005
I never saw this show when it was on the air (I was four years old at the time), but a coworker has this on DVD (I think it's an "unofficial" copy). Let me just say right now that this series ranks amongst the very best of all the great 80's sitcoms.

Everyone seems to be in love with the Dregs Of Humanity episodes, and for good reason. But they are all great in their own way. It's a shame that they didn't allow this series to go on.

In the end, please see this if you can. Please bug the heck out of the studios or the powers that be for this to get its long-deserved proper release. Then we can all sit back and think of what could've been had this great show been allowed to grow.
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