fine whine

So, you find yourself not asking, what have I been watching, DVD-wise, lately? Let me tell you.

• Conspiracy code: For a film that bandies about words such as "keyless encryption" and "cryptography" in the way a Mamet film uses the f-word, there is surprisingly no computer usage shown on screen. At all. The occasional back of a monitor or laptop is shown, and a character mentions clicking and files, but that's about it, interface-wise. I'm assuming it's due to a small budget and a canny sense that the computer screens, more than anything else, date a movie (cf. Aliens). It's a fair movie, but nothing spectacular. It's intelligent but not particularly smart or engaging. David Warner, though, looks awesome in a scraggly beard.
• Chappelle's show (first season): Dave Chappelle is a funny guy, and much of this show is funny, but I don't think all of it is. Though this is uncensored (which is odd to say since some musical guests have been expurgated from the shows) there still seems to be a modicum of restraint. Some jokes are drawn out far too long, as in the Tyrese/Dave-as-a-crack-addict segments, and others a merely sloppy (the opening faux Mitsubishi Eclipse commercials feature Dave and a passenger in a Nissan 350Z, not a Mitsu). Complaints aside, I enjoyed it and will seek out the second season at the library if for nothing else but to see, firsthand, the much-touted Wayne Brady/Training day spoof.
• Red Dwarf II (second series, as it were): I remember catching bits of this show on PBS over the years, but I'm not sure how funny I thought it was. My understanding of the whole BBC series system was sorely lacking then, as it seemed odd that things changed after only a handful of episodes (consistently) and a several-year marathon fit nicely into a weekend. Much of the humo(u)r was wasted on me then, as well. So I wasn't bowled over completely then, to say the least, but I was intrigued. Well, now that I've been watching them in rapid succession (III and IV are due to show up any day now in my reserves at the library) I can see that I'm not going to be bowled over this time around. The show's interesting, but they're trying to cram too many things into each set of six episodes. I'm not convinced that they'd do better to have done it American style with thirteen to twenty-six episodes (cf. Homeboys in outer space) but somehow it comes across as equally laid-back and overworked. It too has BBC stamped all over it, though I cannot for the life of me say what I mean by that except for a slight against their film stock and production values. Maybe it's the lighting.
• Ladykillers (Coen brothers remake with Tom Hanks, not the Alec Guinness/Ealing studios original mentioned before): It made me laugh but not the way a good Coen brothers film should. Too much of it felt somehow constricting, as though they'd traded in their usual grand scale, wide shots, and vast vistas for a cheap soundstage. Tom Hanks acts well, but distractingly so and such that it's nearly impossible to discern if he is acting or his character is supposed to be doing it. The supporting players manage to separate themselves much better than those of the Guinness original, but with the extra characterization comes extra padding as well. The inclusion of a tedious in-helmet-cam football game scene is equally drawn out and technically impressive, but a bit more of the former. Like the rest of the movie, really.

I was going to watch A man, a woman and a bank but the disc I received was cracked halfway through, so no dice. Two days ago I'd never heard of the movie, and now I'm crushed that I need to wait another several days to watch the thing.