Crew 2 Crew (2012/Lionsgate DVD)/Freak
Dance (2011/Image DVD)/Salmon
Fishing In The Yemen (2011/Sony Blu-ray)
Picture:
C/C/B Sound: C/C/B Extras: D/C-/C Main Programs: D/C-/C
I grouped
these together unexpectedly because they connected in odd ways.
First we
have the horrid, tired, predictable, lame and self hating Crew 2 Crew (2012) barely directed by Mark Bacci involving Hip Hop,
drugs, violence, a dance competition and eventually, murder, angry talk and
inevitable disaster. This has been done
at least a thousand times literally and anyone at this point doing it who
thinks they are original are delusional.
“Inspired
by true events” does not cut it either and I guess the same events keep
happening to everyone who danced to Hip Hop and Rap. How dumb.
Extras include a trailer and deleted scenes, but if you’ve seen one of
these lame productions, you really have seen them all.
Fortunately,
the Upright Citizens Brigade agrees and have spoofed that and those thousands
of similar releases with Freak Dance
(2011), directed by Mark Besser and Neil Mahoney. Don as a musical, it is unfortunately
forgettable and though it has some chuckles and a few points, it is far from
enough to fill its 92 minutes, but someone might find this funnier… somehow.
Michael
Cassidy, Megan Heyn and Amy Poehler are among the leads, but this is otherwise
too generic. I guess the subject matter
is beyond played out and this might be many years too late. A featurette, audio commentary track and
deleted & extended scenes are the extras if you can survive this without
getting bored.
So I
figured I had heard good things about Salmon
Fishing In The Yemen (2011) and it is directed by the capable Lasse
Hallstrom, who is hit and miss. This is
a comedy of manners and as a reporter (Ewan McGregor) is assigned to go to Yemen to see if
he can get the fish of the title to thrive.
There is this wild possibility of making this work ecologically, so he
is sent there, in part because his newspaper editor (Kristin Scott Thomas in
comic mode) wants a big story from there, so she is essentially making one
happen.
However,
this fell flat as it ignored the more serious issues at hand (gang violence,
Middle East terrorism, et al), something the previous releases above also do
for the sake of humor or “take ourselves too seriously” entertainment, a
mistake in either direction. The acting
is good, this is professionally done and has a good cast, but it just keeps
falling flat and never really works out or becomes funny. I am glad some found this amusing, but it is
too predictable and melodramatic and even Emily Blunt could not save this one.
Extras
include two behind the scenes featurettes.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image on the DVDs are so soft and weak that
color is limited and it was often rough viewing, though I will add Dance is not trying to imitate the
visual look of Crew. The 1080p 2.35 X 1 digital High Definition
image transfer on Fishing is pretty
good for the most part with only very minor flaws and oddly not many demo
shots.
The lossy
Dolby Digital 5.1 mixes on both DVDs are also simple stereo spread around and
thin among the speakers. The DTS-HD MA
(Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mix on Fishing
may have dialogue more in the center channel than I would like, but it is more
well integrated than usual making for a solid dialogue-driven soundfield and
mix throughout. Well recorded too.
- Nicholas Sheffo
