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Category:    Home > Reviews > Biography > Documentary > LIterature > Politics > Harlan Ellison – Dreams With Sharp Teeth (Docurama DVD)

Harlan Ellison – Dreams With Sharp Teeth (Docurama DVD)

 

Picture: C     Sound: C+     Extras: C+     Documentary: B-

 

 

Harlan Ellison is often written off as radical, difficult, not mentally stable and problematic, yet in real life, he is eccentric, has fought for writer’s rights against literally dozens of multi-national corporations out to gut out talented people for next to no cost or outright steal from them, is a smart thinker and is one of the premiere writers in the counterculture movement that rogue corporations have spent trillions of dollars (not always their money either) to try and erase.  Dreams With Sharp Teeth is a new documentary look at the man, his work, his legacy, his battles and his triumphs.

 

Of the many things discussed are the state of the country, how he feels republicans ruined it, his experience with Star Trek, censorship, corporations, idea of the glass teat in how TV makes mush of people’s minds (a decline he felt began in the 1970s, but wow, did things get much worse), thoughts on religion, Hollywood, his amazing house and much more.  This runs a tight and always interesting 96 minutes as Director Erik Nelson gives the man his due.  The result is a solid portrait of a very important figure of the 20th Century stigmatized for far too long.

 

The anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image is to often soft throughout.  Add the variant quality of clips and this can be a unique viewing experience, though some visual effects look like something from the analog era.  The Dolby Digital 2.0 sound is stereo at best, with some flawed location recording and monophonic sound from the many archival clips.   Extras include six readings of his most acclaimed work by himself personally and two featurettes of sorts.  One has Ellison at a 4/9/07 Writer’s Guild event, the other with Neil Gaiman at his house talking about everything over a pizza.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo


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