So, Adrianna wears a hideous half-dress, Carrie Fisher fumbles her way through sugar coated criticisms, Gary Marshall is apparently senile (doesn’t know Adam Stein’s name and mistakes Chinese for Korean), they axe a contestant right off the bat and no thread yet?
I absolutely loved Zach’s film. Loved the mistranslated prostate exam. Liked the sperm bank skit. Disliked the wrestling / copulating couple. And I intensely hated the finger in the brain short. Gah, was that horrible! The caveman skit looked like a preview of the hideous Geico caveman sitcom that’s in the works.
That girl who got the axe at the beginning of this episode was definitely my pick to go out of last week’s films. I was hoping she’d do better because she’s kinda hot, but that “scary tree movie” last week was just awful beyond words.
My rankings for this week would be:
The office battle. Clever and very well executed. The actors were great, the sound effects enhanced the story, and it all just worked. This guy is definitely the most polished director of the group.
The father-in-law/son-in-law at the doctor’s office. Very funny. Good writing and good choices with camera angles. I agree with whichever judge said it needed a shot at the end of the son-in-law smiling in satisfaction.
The brain surgery. I agree with the judges criticism that it was too unrealistic, but I thought it was fairly funny. Not a very original idea and he could have done something more with it than he did, but well done overall. I liked the ending with the doctor pressing the right spot to trigger a slap.
The sperm bank. Not a bad idea, but I don’t think it was directed very well. Not a very good flow or rhythm to the shots, and the actors were a little too hammy. A decent (not great) concept that was poorly executed.
The cavemen. Again, not a terrible concept, but not a very good result. Not very funny, though I did like the cuts from the modern people to the cavemen (played by the same actors.)
The wrestling couple. Terrible. I didn’t even crack a smile at this one. The concept had potential, and I could imagine a funnier bedroom fight in my head, but what we got was pretty lame.
Overall, these were generally better than we’ve seen for the past few weeks, but that’s not saying a whole lot.
I’d also like to add that Adrianna’s got some very nice legs and she can wear all the half-dresses she damn well pleases!
Just give Zach the $1M contract and send everyone else home already. He’s far and away the best director among them. He’s ready for the big leagues. Yes, I did vote for him many times.
The hostess is horrible. Ugly clothes, awkward mannerisms, wincing witticisms. She makes Bob Saget look good.
The regular judges are clueless. They’re trapped in their own little Hollywood bubbles (and I say this as someone mired in SoCal). They wobble between obvious wishy-washy/suck-up complements and off-base criticisms. Oh, the howls of complaint in my house when he misidentified the Chinese (my family is Korean).
My ratings of the movies, from best to worst:
Office firefight: Good story, excellent pacing, good resolution. Acting was good. Was fun to watch. Definitely the best.
Brain puppet: Ok story, good build up, good resolution. Acting was minimal. Fun to watch. This is Bugs Bunny style comedy and he did it well.
Father-in-law’s check-up: Weak story, excellent development, good resolution. Acting was perfect. The story was weak, but the good acting and pacing makes up for it. Any of these top three get a passing grade from me.
Cavemen’s car: Weak story, ok pacing, ok ending. Acting was poor. Overall just ok; looking poor compared to the top three.
Sperm bank robbery: Story had a good hook, but then fell apart about halfway through. Movie seemed to lose focus, like too much plot was being forced through. The ending was weakly done. I think a better director could have taken the same screenplay and done much better.
Co-ed wrestling: The set-up was weak, the actual wrestling was ok but draw-out too long, ending was poor. Overall, seemed very amateurish.
Well, I agree on some, and disagree on some others… I’m feeling more and more like the films are aiming at 12 year olds.
If I had to pick the best, I’d say the father-in-law at the doctor.
The caveman and the baby-wrestling were definitely in the bottom two. It was a toss-up in my mind.
The brain operation wasn’t bad, although the premise of the whole thing was ridiculous.
I thought the sperm bank robbery wasn’t bad either - up until the weak ending…
And I hate to say, but Zach’s movie didn’t seem that different from his others… He used sound effects instead of special effects, but will any of his actors actually ever have a conversation? He’s got talent, but I really think he’s a one trick pony.
Yeah, the guy said “I love you” and the girl said “See you tomorrow”.
If you think about it, his movie was essentially directed the same as a special effects movie. The actors still have to pretend the effects are there even if the scary monster is a tennis ball on a string.
I thought Zach’s foley work was pretty weak, though I agree that he’s the most talented overall. Sadly, there hasn’t really been a visionary director among the whole lot.
The kind that bubbles up into the top few out of hundreds across the country and is given the privilege of competing for a chance to break into the business.
By “visionary”, I didn’t mean “artsy-fartsy”. Part of a director’s vision ought to be his production schedule and constraints.
Zach is so clearly the best it isn’t even interesting anymore. The doctor’s office was well done. The Sperm bank, while not a bad idea, was horribly executed. The co-ed wrestling was just awful as was the caveman. I had mixed feeling about the brain surgery one. it was a pretty decent idea, yet it also seemed forced.
Adrianna is so incredibly horrible it is painful to watch. We fast forward through her as much as possible.
Just watched the episode tonight, and all in all, the films were pretty decent. I am continually blown away by Zach’s though; that man so has this in the bag, it’s not even funny. Totally pro, and totally fun to watch.
The tree horror film was weird and misguided, whereas the “sex wrestling” had a great premise with horrible execution. The brain one was okay, it was done better on Scrubs, but I found the blood-spurting to be a bit over the top. The Dr’s office was pretty good, and the Sperm Bank movie had potential, but wasn’t nearly tight enough.
I had one complaint regarding his Office video that I failed to mention before: during the “grenade” scene, we see a bunch of debris fly off of the victim’s death, as a result of the explosion. Of course, how could that happen if this is all imaginary?
Well, upon reviewing of the film at the Lot’s official site, you can see the victim actually smacking the end of a board hanging off his desk, which forces the contents on the opposite side to become airborne. It’s hard to spot, but it’s there. Damn clever.
