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Real Life (1979)
Severely underrated (yet quite influential) comedy
First of all, I'm no expert (I've only seen this film twice), yet I feel compelled to write a review as (much to my surprise) there aren't very many!
If you're a fan of "Arrested Development", you will see how the narration style (at the very least) borrows from "Real Life". If you've ever watched "Review With Forrest McNeil, there's a similar theme: "how far a man will go in his devotion to his show". Finally (and this is a bit of a stretch), but there is a very slight resemblance between Albert Brooks and Seinfeld's "George Costanza" when they're excited (even though we all know Jason Alexander originally interpreted the character as "Woody Allen-esque" only later to find out it was modelled after Larry David). Still, it's a nuance.
At any rate, this movie was quite influential (beyond the 3 first random examples that came to my head). However it did not get the acclaim it should have (for some reason). I even read a Roger Ebert review which while it does acknowledge some eternally memorable moments...still seems to miss the boat by criticizing everything outside of the concept and the first ten minutes of the film. Similarly, complaints about Albert Brooks being "too extra" fail to understand he was intentionally overwhelming.
Albert is a genius. Even the trailer for the film is highly creative and next-level ridiculous in the meta department (especially for it's time). Albert seems to have come from a very talented family. For those that don't know, Bob Einstein ("Super Dave Osborne" / "Marty Funkhauser") is his real life brother.
Anyway, this is an immediate "favourite" of mine. Hopefully more people come to recognize this extremely well-written comedy as one of the best out there.
This Film Is Not Yet Rated (2006)
Just here to...
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Raters Of The Lost Art
Voyeur (2017)
Many were disappointed. I was not.
I'm surprised at the low reviews and comments here. I can only assume that people were reeled in by the crazy plotline, only to be disappointed by what they consider an anti-climatic outcome.
Sure, I can totally understand where all the high expectations for a "grand finale" came from (I had the same expectations and the trailer did a great job to hook us all in from the get-go), however I do not think the doc did not deliver (I just think it delivered something different to everyone's expectations).
This is human nature under a microscope. There are TWO main characters. Do not forget that. I think most people who are complaining here think the doc was solely or mostly about the voyeur and what happens to him. I don't think this doc follows that exact narrative. Voyeur focuses more on shining a light equally on Foos and Talese. Great docs (and films) will often completely undress it's complex characters with little more than a few sentences and/or scenes.They will capture these subtleties and weave them at the right time and place. You can blink and miss it. But it is your job to keep your eyes/ears peeled and your mind open.
Judging this piece on how it ends is a surface-level mistake. We have to ask ourselves this: Were the characters interesting and were they exposed in a way that makes sense and gives us a great understanding of human nature? I say yes.
To complain about WHAT you see under the microscope is equivalent to complaining about the outcome of a lab study. It might not have been the outcome you expected or wanted, but the research was done well and properly transcribed.