The Ten
(2006/DVD-Video) + The Ten Commandments (CG Animation/Genius
DVD)
Picture:
C Sound: C+ Extras: C Main Features: C
When we
look back on the beginning of the 21st Century, the fake Christian
and religious revival will be seen as one of the nadirs of our times. However, part of the success has been
marketing in the phoniest ways and two new DVD releases inspired by the tables
Moses brought down the mountain have arrived.
One is the spoofy comedy The Ten,
which directly spoofs the movement composed of ten vignettes and the other is a
new Animated version of The Ten
Commandments that is far from impressive with CG very dated ion arrival.
The Ten is aimed strictly at adults from
David Wain, whose Wet Hot American Summer tried to be a 1970s type comedy with
few good results. He repeats the same
problems all over this new release, with a character (Paul Rudd) narrating in
between each segment in a patchwork that never adds up to much, though some
might find a few laughs here if they like the crude and throw-away style of the
film which has no religious agenda whatsoever.
Adam Brody, Famke Janssen, Gretchen Moll, Oliver Platt and Jessica Alba
also star.
The Ten Commandments (2006) is yet another unnecessary
retelling of the classic tale still in the shadow of Cecil B. DeMille’s epic
version and the actual writing. Like
motion capture animation, the computer graphic here makes everyone look like
they have Downs Syndrome and the 88 minutes seem much longer, no matter how
abbreviated. Ben Kingsley, Christian
Slater, Alfred Molina and Elliott Gould loan their voices here, but the results
never gel.
Both are
soft in their anamorphically enhanced 1.85 X 1 presentations, both showing
their digital origins. In the case of
the live action comedy, motion blur is a major problem on this disc. We wondered if this would be the case of the
HD-DVD City Lights is issuing, but we could not secure a copy at posting
time. The disc also claims DTS sound but
has no such track, while the Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 mixes are nothing to
write home about with sound sources as varied as the video shoot. The animated program has passable Dolby
Digital 5.1, but the music is nothing to write home about and the sound mix is
poor. Dialogue is limited in both cases.
Extras on
The Ten include ringtones/wallpaper
access, making of featurette, audio commentary with jazz music in parts as a
joke, alternate take/deleted scenes section, interviews and episode of Wainy
Days, while The Ten Commandments
offers a bonus CD of the score, trailer, Molina & Slater segments, origins,
Challenge segment and Music Video.
- Nicholas Sheffo
