Arts Movie Reviews

I finally got to see this movie after all this hype I've been hearing being a "Fast and the Furious" type of movie. Well, it's not. From the DVD cover it looked like a serious racing / action movie, but it turned out to be an action / comedy with lots of jokes, including body fluid jokes that was actually pretty hilarious.

This movie combined several genres of action, comedy, martial arts, racing, and erotica. And to my surprise it actually worked, and I was entertained. I wouldn't pit it against the multi-million dollar Hollywood blockbuster movies, because this was an independently produced movie. Fear of Speed surpasses most independent action movies I've seen. The fight scenes were well choreographed which I rarely see in independent movies. The fight scenes are spread out throughout the movie.

The race scenes were ok. There was a total of four race scenes in the movie and it got progressively more intense than the the last. I didn't catch it at first but there was a funny scene how the bad guy won a race in his modified car.

There were also several love scenes in the movie with incredibly hot looking girls, and it was done in places you wouldn't imagine, especially the scene where the love scene took place on the hood of a speeding Lamborghini! That is a classic.

I would say, the Special Features in the DVD was well worth my purchase of this title. From the 3D opening sequence of the DVD with a gold Lamborghini Diablo, it looked like you were playing a video arcade game.

The special features itself is packed with behind the scenes, and even a 3D racing game with souped-up modified cars and if you win 3 races, you get a bonus clip which you have to see because its ridiculously funny! I enjoyed the Fear of Speed music video as well which had one of the main stars in the movie actually rapping with lots of hot looking girls and cool looking cars. The "Voice Over Bloopers" was funny in the tradition of Kung Pow, the movie.

One of the best features in the DVD is an easter egg that I discovered on accident. In the main menu there is a functional button called "NOS" on the car's dashboard and when you activate it, it goes to a sort of hyper-speed and you end up with a "Kamikaze Stunts" action reel which was a music video montage of incredible fight and stunt scenes.

I was going to give this a "4 stars", but I decided to give this a "5" because of the extensive special features of the DVD.

This DVD is awesome! Fast cars, sexy girls, and a lot of Hong Kong style Kung Fu action! But this is more than just your regular action movie, it's an action comedy that's HILARIOUS!

Basic plot: Max Spears, hotshot racecar driver must help his girlfriend Brittany get over her Tachophobia, or fear of speed. He is opposed by father & son drug lord team Hornero and Rico Martino.

What's hilarious is that it turns out Hornero has been exposed to radiation that has made his sperm count explosive, literally. In fact, it's so volatile, that it's used as a weapon, as well as being refined into an addictive drug that Rico is trying to sell to the general public. These two guys provide a lot of laughs.

The kung fu fighting is some of the best out there. (In fact, better than a lot of Hollywood movies.) These guys do ALL their own stunts, like Jackie Chan. And the girls are really sexy. Plus, there are tons of special features that will have you re-visiting this DVD over and over.

I really liked James Bennnett's martial arts skills and think he has a very bright future in action movies.

The title of this release is misleading, as Felicity Lott sings for only about 20 of the 86 minutes of the program. However, she sings very well (accompanied by an excellent chamber ensemble), performing little-known but very attractive music by Ernest Chausson and Maurice Jaubert. The remainder of the program consists of chamber works performed by members of the Paris Chamber Ensemble conducted by Armin Jordan. The pieces are: Wagner's "Siegfried Idyll" (in Wagner's original instrumentation) and Brahms' "Serenade in D Major" (with fewer instruments than I am accustomed to hearing in this music -- I don't know whether Brahms authorized this version, but it sounds just fine). The performances are all excellent. I have rated this DVD four stars instead of five for two reasons: 1) The misleading title and 2) the lack of texts, translations or subtitles for the songs. To the best of my knowledge, these are the only performances on DVD of any of these pieces, so if you're interested in this repertoire, get this disk.

This special was produced to promote the Firesign Theatre's latest CD (at the time), "The Bride of Firesign." Unfortunately, the powers that be (PBS) decided that, rather than letting the fab four put together an evening of new(er) material, presenting older, "classic" material would be a safer bet. Well, perhaps it is, but the end result is somewhat of an unintentional "de-fanging" of the Firesigns. This troupe is at it's best when they are allowed to be more topical and skewer the society they see around them. As good as the material from their first four albums is, it is somewhat dated and certainly not designed for live performance. So, through no fault of their own, the boys and their material appear somewhat creaky (and, no, it has nothing to do with their ever-advancing ages). The four (Philip Austin, David Ossman, Philip Proctor, and Peter Bergman) throw in new lines here and there to contemporize the bits and to keep the audience (many of whom probably know the pieces by heart) on their toes, but it's still somewhat an exercise in nostalgia. The only new bit they perform is the closing which comes from their disc "Give Me Immortality Or Give Me Death" and it's certainly the most relevant and possibly funniest of the eve. Which isn't to say the pieces they do perform are not funny - far from it. These bits have become "classics" for a reason. They are remarkably dense, smart, and funny. In between live performances, such Firesign fans as George Carlin, John Goodman, Robin Williams, and Chevy Chase give testimonials on the group's greatness. And, the Firesigns all perform very admirably considering the restrictions presented (the works were designed for audio only, so giving them a visual dimension presents a challenge). If the suits had given them free reign, this would more than likely be a five star title (considering the strength of their recent output: the aforementioned "Death," "Bride," and "Boom Dot Bust"). But, as it is, it's a three-to-four-star DVD. Great comedy troupe, tried and true material, but less-than-ideal conception. Still, it's great to see this fantastic, underrated comedy team get their due.

Much of the Firesign Theatre's work requires close attention to understand it; it is simply not background comedy. The literary references alone are enough to keep most people scratching their heads and wondering what all the brouhaha is about.

That said, when I watched this video with friends, I was pleasantly surprised to see that even the people who had never heard of them were enjoying the performance a LOT. The reason, I think, is that the 4 or 5 are enjoying themselves so much here that it is quite infectuous. And the material is (as it often is) brilliant; and the ad libs bring it into the present and make it all fresh again.

If you are new to the Firesign Theatre, you could do worse than to start with this video. If you already know them, well, it's all here: brilliant, stupid, superficial and deep. Enjoy.

First, this one is not for everybody. If you want humor that requires your brain to be in neutral, then it's not for you. But, if you want humor that stretches your powers of thought, if you enjoy humor that has more than one banal level, or if you thought the Firesign Theatre died out in the 70's, then you're in for a real treat here. Originally produced for PBS as a pledge drive premium, it's a compilation of some of the best material that this group has ever produced, performed in such a way that laughter is automatic and uncontrollable. Stretch your mind, enjoy something that makes you think, order this one NOW!

OK, it did say in the first review that there was an audio only portion, now that I've read it again. But I didn't get that at first glance.They REALLY mean audio only. So if you're thinking you're going to see the troupe perform live on stage..no! What you'll see are photo stills for each piece they perform. Get it, Audio only. So imagine my dismay when I gave my hubby this as a surprise thinking he'd be so entertained seeing the live performance of his old favorites. I kept thinking I had run the DVD incorrectly but, no, it was a STILL PICTURE WITH WORDS. The bio of the group was informative and fun to see. So buyer beware. "Everything you know is wrong" This DVD turns into a CD.

A circus is more than watching talented, practised people performing tricks. It is an atmosphere thing. I personally love circusses, having seen some of the great circus acts in Russia, but the point of this DVD escapes me.

You don't get the same atmosphere as seeing these acts in real life. Maybe on an IMAX screen, but sitting in front of a TV screen watching this is plain dull.