Stella – Live In Boston (Shout! Factory DVD) + Unwigged & Unplugged Live Concert DVD (Courgette Records)
Picture:
C+ Sound: C+ Extras: C/D Concerts: C+
Showing
that the cycle of releasing live concerts on DVD is starting to get thin, two
comedy discs have arrived, but with a twist.
Both feature comedy troops from previous film and/or TV successes doing
comedy paired down, including music and the usual audience interaction. One has Michael Ian Black, Michael Showalter
and David Wain of Kids In The Hall and
The State in their new Stella act from the TV series of the
same name. You can read more about the
TV show at this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/4195/Stella+%E2%80%93+Season+One
You can
also read about The State at this
link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/8796/The+State+%E2%80%93+The+Compl
Then we
get Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer (at least as funny as
the other guys) from their cycle of comedy send-up films like This Is Spinal Tap (see our Blu-ray
review elsewhere on this site) among others in Unwigged & Unplugged Live Concert DVD that follows much of the
same format, but with more instruments.
In both
cases, the shows run around two hours (115 for Stella versus 2.25 hours for Unwigged)
and though the participants have chemistry and are good comedians, I was not
laughing much in either case. The jokes
seem coined to their previous work too much, there was a certain predictability
in both cases and though I admit I did smile a bit, neither did much for me for
the outright laughs I had hoped for. In
total, these are good concerts, but they are for fans and the curious
only.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image on both are High Definition shoots,
traded down to the lower definition of DVD, resulting in both cases are softer
than I would have liked and both are not the most well-lit such productions we
have seen lately either. The Dolby
Digital 5.1 mix on Stella is limited
to their talking with audience sounds as ambience and a limited soundfield
overall, while Unwigged has Dolby
Digital 2.0 Stereo that keeps it simple and knows its limits. Only Stella
has any extras and they include an Ice
Cream Encore, Footage from the 2003 Fez Performances and episodes of Wainy
Days & Michael Showalter Showalter.
- Nicholas Sheffo
