Rating: Summary: The film is 5 star. Review: Great film about the earlier days of corporate control. The film environments are in the spirit of independent culture before we were given Targets through non competitive means and the bad Taquerias and Nail saloons in bare buildings are increasingly what is allowed to stand in America. Even the use of the character actors on the San Fransico Bridge is a statement in today's world. Now we just get highly paid generic people who look good like in Friends. And they get to be near billionaires for their lack of specialized talent. OK yes people support Friends- but where is the alternative. Head is a statement on that. This is the music by The Monkees that is not made Tinny by Kershner's people. Like a cool universal version of Citizen Kane that also is 60s. Davey doesn't wail on the tambourine or do the bad scat singing either. But be warned: It is on Rhin$o so it is almost twice as much as it should cost- $10 which is far market value for a film of this length- even one of the few that is worth owning to watch over and over. As such I won't buy it because Rhin$o has created some MAJOR rip-offs in CDs and DVDs where the price is several times too high and they don't provide even close to market expectations for quantity of content. If we don't punish companies like Rhin$o through our pocketbooks for ripping us off then they will just get worse- more sloppy, more lazy, more greedy, more bloated. I bought Volume 2 of Gumbyand like an idiot took off the wrapper. Now I read the slams of the entire series on Amazon.com and realize I threw my money down the toilet again. I'm glad though because I will know to always check Amazon first. Never again. This is the company that expects you to pay $50 for 6 episodes of Laugh-In. It should be 30-40 episodes for $30-$35 or so bucks at discount. That is fair market price. The genie has been let out of the bottle. The days of 2 or 1 episode on VHS for $15-$30 is over. I already don't get remastered original broadcast ads with the shows, I should get a discount for missing out on them. Why is it that Lion's Gate nails how to do a DVD set and then price it with Saved By The Bell- despite lack of extras- and Rhin$o butchers everything. COMPANIES PAY ATTENTION: YOU MAKE A DVD MENU IN THE FORMAT AND STYLE OF THE ONE FOR THE SBTB DVD SET. THAT IS CORRECT. THE MENU FOR TWILIGHT ZONE IS A JOKE. BUT I DON'T BUY RIP-OFF PRODUCT SO I DON'T OWN THE TWILIGHT ZONE COLLECTIONS. I GOT OUTER LIMITS SEASON ONE INSTEAD. PEOPLE POST COMPANIES FOR MORE, DONE RIGHT, PRICED AT FAIR MARKET VALUE,QUANTITY OF CONTENT DVD SETS. DON'T BUY RIP-OFFS OR THE COMPANIES WILL NOT GIVE YOU WHAT YOU REALLY WANT. CASE IN POINT: 6 EPISODES OF LAUGH-IN FOR $50. THEY ARE PLAYING YOU FOR A SUCKER. ANOTHER EXAMPLE JET PINK OF THE PINK PANTHER BY MG$M. 8 CARTOONS AND NOTHING MORE. THEY SHOULD GIVE YOU 50 FOR ABOUT $30. $60 IF THEY WANT TO INCLUDE ABOUT 50ANT, INSPECTOR, TOAD CARTOONS. DON'T BE A SUCKER AND GET RIPPED OFF. EVEN IF YOU DON'T MIND THE INFLATION YOU GET FAR LESS CONTENT AND GUESS WHAT THEY DON'T GIVE IT TOO YOU LATER. PEOPLE DON'T BUY AND THERE IS NO DECISION TO MAKE MORE. MORAL: DON'T BUY DVD SETS IF THE PEOPLE IN CHARGE DON'T GET IT RIGHT. IF ENOUGH PEOPLE FOLLOW THIS ADVISE THINGS WILL GET BETTER. AND PLEASE DON'T BUY ANYTHING FROM BB$C UNTIL THEY SHAPE UP. THEY NEED TO RE-RELEASE EVERYTHING OVER. ON THE OTHER HAND THE SIMPSONS 3RD SEASON WAS DONE RIGHT (EXCEPT FOR TWO SCREENS FOR THE MENU) EVEN THOUGH I THINK THE BOX IS ONLY SEMI COOL AND KIND OF TACKY. BUT OTHERWISE THE SET IS A BLUEPRINT. IT IS ABOUT $5-$10 OVER FAIR MARKET VALUE BUT THIS IS FULLY EXCUSABLE BECAUSE IT CONTAINS SO MANY COOL IDEAS FOR EXTRAS. I HAVE YET TO USE THEM SO I CAN'T SAY HOW MUCH I WILL LIKE THEM. BUT THE EXTRAS MAKES THE INFLATED PRICE NOT INFLATED. MOST OTHER SETS HAVE FEW OR ZERO EXTRAS.
Rating: Summary: THe Monkees comit suicide Review: I loved this movie. It's a little slice of the 60's. And it's a huge peice of Monkees history! The Monkees had opted out of another season or their T.V show and instead wanted to make a film that could, perhaps get them a little more credibility. But above all The Monkees wanted to rip their television personas to shreads!! "...the money's in, we're made of tin, we're here to give you more." And They did it. It's a bright, trippy litttle movie that did nothing at the box office.Although the producers of both this film and the television show took the Monkees' profits and made "Easy Rider" with Peter Fonda, (...'Hey, Hey, I'm a bikie?")perhaps THE movie of the 60's. HEAD also has some of the best Monkees music they ever produced. Check out the soundtrack-also lable at Amazon.com. It's amazing. Buy this film. If your a child of the 60's...forget that It's The Monkees and watch it as a slice of your past. If your a Monkees fan, watch it and just sing along and wonder what if this had been a hit,where would The Monkees had gone from there?
Rating: Summary: Timothy Carey Shines! Review: Hey any movie with the immortal Timothy Carey (The Killing, The One-Eyed Jacks and Paths of Glory) is worth checking out. So what if you have to put up with some 60's joke band in between...Carey gets the best introduction ever in a film. Check out Carey also in The Killing of a Chinese Bookie and East of Eden (although I believe his voice was re-dubbed in East of Eden). Another selling point is Sonny Liston--anybody who knows anything about Boxing should be suprised to see the Original "Baddest" Man Alive, before Mike Tyson stole Liston's schtick...Also look for quick cameos by Jack Nicholson and Dennis "hey it's not because you're a woman" Hopper.
Rating: Summary: Huh? ...Oh. I get it! Review: Okay you guys, it's true. This DVD has absolutely no plot. The movie is probably best described by their chant Ditty Diego: "Hey hey we are the Monkees, you know we love to please, a manufactured image with no philosophies. We hope you'll like our story, although there isn't one. That is to say there's many that way there is more fun. You've told us you like action and games of many kinds. You like to dance, we like to sing, so let's all lose our minds! We know it doesn't matter 'cause what you came to see is what we'd love to give you. And give it 1, 2, 3. But it may complete your 1, 2 or jump from 9 to 5. And when you see the end in sight, the begining may arrive! For those who look for meanings, in form as they do fact, we might tell you one thing, but we'd only take it back.... You say we're manufactured, to that we all agree. So make your choice and we'll rejoice in never being free. Hey hey we are the Monkees, we've said it all before: The money's in, we're made of tin, we're here to give you more." I've found that the more times you watch this movie, the less trippy it gets and the more sense it begins to make.
Rating: Summary: Revoluntionary Film Review: Essentially, the Monkees, along with their directors and producers, made a movie that cannot be reviewed, because it is unlike any film the industry has produced before or since. This film is a keeper in every regard--originality, music (i.e., songs), and the way it both rips at the Monkees' credibility, as well as being a commentary for the late 1960's. If you watch this motion picture with your ears and eyes opened you will learn quite a bit. Perhaps the most chilling line in the film is when the Monkees are told: "The tradegy of your times my friends is that you may get exactly what you want", and, "A new world, whose only preoccupation will be, how to amuse itself." That time has arrived. Ick.
Rating: Summary: A Black-Hearted Wonder Review: The underground collides head on with the mainstream in one of the most anomolous anti-masterpieces of American film. HEAD is a severely cyinical metaphor for so much of consumer culture, from television to corporate pop, from Hollywood to the meat industry, from drugs to sports, from religion to free love...somehow, it hits every target, one after the other, effortlessly. Taking the format of the Monkees' TV show as its structure (and completely inverting it), HEAD holds the mirror up to the American conscience, and finds as its reflection an endlessly repeating vortex. No matter how much notoriety this film has or will ever receive, its message is such that, like the truly transgressive films of the 1960s onward, it will never be comfortably co-opted. Still, a remastered version, complete with proper aspect ratio, would be nice. Commentary from Rafelson and the Monkees would be great - what, exactly, did the Monkees think they were getting into here???
Rating: Summary: This is a great movie Review: I can't say much more than this is a great movie. I thought I loved The Monkees before I saw this movie but I love them even more now. I waited a long time before seeing it, in agonizing anticipation, and I wasn't disapointed. I've even gotten some people hooked on Monkees just by having them watch the movie. It's got some really great lines ("Well, if it isn't god's gift to the 8-year-old." "Just trying to please.")and lots of really great moments. At first you may think it doesn't make sense, but if you hold on for the trip you'll find profound truths and insights into life. Oh... my favorite is Peter, followed by Mike. Then Micky and Davey. But Peter is my first love.
Rating: Summary: DVD bad--movie great! Review: As far as the movie--it's awesome! But the DVD is really second rate quality. Besides it not being in anamorphic widescreen (!) the picture quality is not clean at all, and even for a full screen copy, it's zoomed in too close. I still have my Columbia Pictures VHS copy from 1986, which, naturally is also full screen, but you see more of the picture & it's quite a bit sharper & cleaner (and the opening sequence's colors are a hundred times better and more beautiful!). Not to mention the DVD virtually has no extras. Until Rhino treats this movie right by releasing it in anamorphic widescreen & cleans up the picture I'll stick with my 17 year old VHS tape.
Rating: Summary: An unlikely classic Review: This is one of my favorite movies of all time. Just so you know I'm not a complete nut, the others include the Godfather, the Manchurian Candidate, the Seventh Seal, etc. Some people find Head hard to understand. However, you're explicitly told in the film, right up front, that there's no purpose in trying to understand it. Just watch. Head is the definitive film in a genre of which it's the only example. But it's not just a dry old piece of history. You'll actually watch it over and over. And when you show it to others, they'll think you are soooo cool just for knowing about this amazing movie... I love it. A very healthy 5 stars.
Rating: Summary: Absoluetly brilliant! Review: I had only seen 18 episodes of the television show and I bought this movie thinking it was exactly like it. I was completely wrong! This film not only contrasts with the humour of the television show, it has so many original scenes that take forever to actually put together. It actually begins to go backwards as you get closer and closer to the end. It failed when it first came out, but has become a cult classic! I definitely recommend this film if you have any interest in the Monkees.
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