Home Media Magazine - April 20-26, 2008 - (Page 18)

REVIEWS I TIM AND ERIC AWESOME SHOW, GREAT JOB! — SEASON 1 Street 4/22 Warner, Comedy, $19.97 DVD, NR. Stars Tim Heidecker, Eric Wareheim. www.homemediamagazine.com I SIGHT Prebook 4/23; Street 5/20 Lionsgate, Horror, $26.98 DVD, ‘R’ for violence and language. Stars Clayton Haske, Allison Persaud, Tony Luke Jr. izarre, non-sequitur humor is nothing new to late-night TV and Cartoon Networks’ Adult Swim, long home to fan favorites such as “Family Guy” and “Robot Chicken.” However, “Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!” — being a live-action show — pushes the boundaries for that network, although show creators and stars Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim are basically living, breathing cartoon characters. They contort their globular bodies into all manner of public access TV rejects, from a married news team to the “Beaver Boys,” who go trolling beaches for babes while eating shrimp and drinking white wine. To say “Tim and Eric Awesome Show” consists of hitor-miss humor would be missing the point. Skits end before they really start, fluttering away in a wash of intentionally poor editing, audio glitches and bad greenscreen effects. The best bits in “Tim and Eric” happen as guests frequently appear on the show. Spots from Fred Willard, Michael Cera, David Cross, Bob Odenkirk and Will Forte are consistently funny, though none more so than John C. Reilly as Dr. Steve Brule, offering tips “for your health” such as “if you’re raking the leaves and it gets all over your driveway, just hose it off, dummy.” Some of the regular spots are a hoot too. My personal favorite: Pierre, a hip-hop instructional teacher who tells children in his videos, “get sexy, kids!” and raps over a junky beat, “think about your dad … what’s your dad like? I wanna meet that dad.” It’s a good thing these episodes run about 12 minutes long. Any longer and the novelty of the show’s anti-humor would wear thin. While watching episode after episode on DVD exposes the show’s weak underbelly, at the same time it’s strangely addictive. The show is nice to have on DVD in order to skip over the more-pointless skits, but the special features — deleted scenes, a gag reel, footage from Comic-Con, a behindthe-scenes montage — are pretty extraneous (most of the skits already play out like deleted scenes). The show’s really tailor made for Web viewing, as its attention-deficit comedy plays best in short spurts. – Billy Gil B I GRIZZLY PARK Prebook 4/22; Street 5/27 Allumination, Horror, $29.98 DVD, ‘R’ for violence and gore, some substance abuse and sex-related material. Stars Glenn Morshower, Randy Wayne. ake an assortment of attractive young caricatures sentenced to a few days of community service in a national park, add in a dangerous escaped convict plus some angry forest creatures, and the result could be a surprisingly taut thriller. In the case of Grizzly Park, however, the producers aim low, simply allowing themselves to put the pieces together in about as standard and predictable a manner as possible. The scenery, however, is spectacular. Writer-director Tom Skull begins with reports of a notorious serial killer busting out of jail. Next, he introduces us to a classic only-in-themovies microcosm of society assemblage of familiar character types: the bitchy rich girl, a preppy slimeball, a fiery Latina gang member, the ditzy party girl, a petulant Asian girl, a runof-the-mill thug, a racist skinhead and, of course, T ight is a dark supernatural thriller that follows the life of a young man named Jeffrey (Haske), who was born with an unfortunate gift that allows him to see the spirits of the vengeful dead. His ability has led to a lifetime of pain, ridicule and solitude, even being institutionalized at a young age when he began seeing visions of his deceased mother. It was also at an early age that Jeffrey witnessed his father’s suicide, guaranteeing him a life constantly tormented by the world of the dead. As an adult, Jeffrey’s life doesn’t get much better — fighting off suicidal tendencies and the feeling that he’s always being watched — until he meets a beautiful young woman named Dana (Persaud) who has his same ability to see the dead. They quickly become friends, which is a godsend for Jeffrey, who is thrilled to have someone with the token black buy. Each is guilty of crimes that whom he can talk about his “gift” who won’t think range from prostitution to computer hacking to he’s crazy. statutory rape, among other things. The killer winds up masquerading as the law enforcement official sent to deliver the gang to meet their legal obligations at the park, sensing an opportunity to dodge the manhunt after him. Once in place, the group comes under the jurisdiction of stoic, worldly Ranger Bob (Morshower, best known for his work on “24”), a no-nonsense sort determined to enact his own style of justice in the best way he knows, not only administering the chores around the park as ordered by the court but by passing on his musings and perspectives on the way of the world, how to live straight and fly right. Soon, however, things seem to go awry as, one by one, most of the characters meet their untimely ends at the paws and fangs of an enormous grizzly bear. Skull makes some attempts at political, social and environmental commentary but, ultimately, the most that he manages to muster is a passable twist ending. – David Greenberg But their relationship comes to an abrupt, violent end one night when Jeffrey is severely beaten by a man claiming to be Dana’s ex. When Jeffrey awakes from a two-year coma, facing a painful recovery, his only concern is piecing together what happened that fateful night by finding Dana, the one person who would have all the answers. Unfortunately, when the police can’t find anyone matching Dana’s description and learn of Jeffrey’s past, they come to the conclusion that he’s just out of his mind. So Jeffrey sets out to track down Dana and prove to everyone that he’s not crazy, uncovering an elaborate plot along the way that gets deadlier the deeper he digs. Sight is the formidable debut film from Adam Ahlbrandt, who came up with the premise while working as a security officer at a Philadelphia morgue. That experience paid off, allowing him to create an eerie thriller with a unique visual style. For a low-budget film, Sight ultimately succeeds by keeping the storyline and effects simple, which allows the focus to remain on its raw suspense. – Matt Miller S 18 Home Media Magazine April 20–26, 2008 http://www.homemediamagazine.com

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Home Media Magazine - April 20-26, 2008

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