Morgan Spurlock's newest "unique documentary" could be split into two entirely different movies: 1. "Movie No. 1" tells different personal stories of people who are putting themselves out there as they travel to San Diego for Comic-Con.
2. "Movie No. 2" isn't a movie. It's actually difficult to define. Morgan Spurlock got celebrities and people in costumes to stand in front of a white screen. And they talk about Comic-Con. A LOT.
I don't think either of these movies is particularly terrible, and in fact, some of the "Profiles in Comic-Con" from Part 1 were really well done.
There was a pathos-ridden piece about Mile-High Comics, and its attempts to sell Red Raven #1 (the most valuable Marvel Comic ever published). And there was the comedic piece that was legitimately funny, where a young dork tries to publicly propose to his young dork girlfriend.
The problem was that those story lines (along with at least 3 others) were meshed with random crap from "Movie No. 2" about how celebrities and other fans like Comic-Con.
Famous people being funny (like Matt Groening and Joss Whedon) is cool, but it took so much time away from the profiles that were stretched across the whole movie.
For instance, when a Navy employee eventually sells some of his art, it felt like I only identified with him because he seemed like a nice guy. The "build-up" from Spurlock was kind of thin, and mostly involved him walking around San Diego and looking up at the sky.
Even at 88 minutes, I could've given Spurlock some serious editorial advice. The interlude involving the parade of women in Princess Leia bikinis was just gross and unnecessary. And it was presented with no connection to anything else.
The aforementioned wedding proposal was funny, but it devolved into the "Extended Cut" of the "climactic" Kevin Smith panel when he proposes. You should save the video of the guy wandering around, and of Kevin Smith bantering, for the DVD.
Not to mention that the movie demonstrates that Comic-Con was facilitating the dork's ability to make his public proposal, and that moment arguably demonstrated an agreement between Spurlock and the "Con". I'm not expecting Edward R. Murrow from Morgan Spurlock, but that just makes me sad.
And now that I'm not pulling any punches, the movie had terrible cinematography and visual editing. Having "on the ground" footage of Comic-Con is fine, but Spurlock tried to art it up. He would often float the camera upwards and/or laterally, which makes you think about the camera instead of his "real people protagonists." And I don't want to say his *AWESOME COMIC BOOK PANELS* are seizure inducing, but they definitely challenged my eyes' ability to absorb gaudy colors. And doing them over and over again, such as an announcement that it is now 'Day 3" of a 4 day convention, is just lazy.
I decided to give this movie a six star rating because it has a lot of interesting moments, even if they are mostly incredibly shallow stories of happiness or rare sadness. But if you like Morgan Spurlock or nerdy celebrities, then the time will fly by fairly easily.
That being said, this feels like a typical live spot for basic cable. And I'm sure some day it will be that, and only that.
-- Jason Luna
This review first appeared in Geek Speak Magazine - www.geekspeakmagazine.com
2. "Movie No. 2" isn't a movie. It's actually difficult to define. Morgan Spurlock got celebrities and people in costumes to stand in front of a white screen. And they talk about Comic-Con. A LOT.
I don't think either of these movies is particularly terrible, and in fact, some of the "Profiles in Comic-Con" from Part 1 were really well done.
There was a pathos-ridden piece about Mile-High Comics, and its attempts to sell Red Raven #1 (the most valuable Marvel Comic ever published). And there was the comedic piece that was legitimately funny, where a young dork tries to publicly propose to his young dork girlfriend.
The problem was that those story lines (along with at least 3 others) were meshed with random crap from "Movie No. 2" about how celebrities and other fans like Comic-Con.
Famous people being funny (like Matt Groening and Joss Whedon) is cool, but it took so much time away from the profiles that were stretched across the whole movie.
For instance, when a Navy employee eventually sells some of his art, it felt like I only identified with him because he seemed like a nice guy. The "build-up" from Spurlock was kind of thin, and mostly involved him walking around San Diego and looking up at the sky.
Even at 88 minutes, I could've given Spurlock some serious editorial advice. The interlude involving the parade of women in Princess Leia bikinis was just gross and unnecessary. And it was presented with no connection to anything else.
The aforementioned wedding proposal was funny, but it devolved into the "Extended Cut" of the "climactic" Kevin Smith panel when he proposes. You should save the video of the guy wandering around, and of Kevin Smith bantering, for the DVD.
Not to mention that the movie demonstrates that Comic-Con was facilitating the dork's ability to make his public proposal, and that moment arguably demonstrated an agreement between Spurlock and the "Con". I'm not expecting Edward R. Murrow from Morgan Spurlock, but that just makes me sad.
And now that I'm not pulling any punches, the movie had terrible cinematography and visual editing. Having "on the ground" footage of Comic-Con is fine, but Spurlock tried to art it up. He would often float the camera upwards and/or laterally, which makes you think about the camera instead of his "real people protagonists." And I don't want to say his *AWESOME COMIC BOOK PANELS* are seizure inducing, but they definitely challenged my eyes' ability to absorb gaudy colors. And doing them over and over again, such as an announcement that it is now 'Day 3" of a 4 day convention, is just lazy.
I decided to give this movie a six star rating because it has a lot of interesting moments, even if they are mostly incredibly shallow stories of happiness or rare sadness. But if you like Morgan Spurlock or nerdy celebrities, then the time will fly by fairly easily.
That being said, this feels like a typical live spot for basic cable. And I'm sure some day it will be that, and only that.
-- Jason Luna
This review first appeared in Geek Speak Magazine - www.geekspeakmagazine.com