Hotoil

This show seems to have been aimed at a more conventional crowd than Cleese, Chapman and Palin's work with Monty Python. In fact, it has very, very little of the subversive and hilarious wit they displayed in that comedy troupe. The premise doesn't give much room for anything but Cleese portraying an intentionally annoying character (a noisy father disrupting his TV-watching children, an overly considerate date, a loud middle-aged woman in a movie theater) and noticeably bothering a character usually portrayed by Michael Palin. The characters don't have anything very funny about them, they are very straighforward and do nothing but annoy or get annoyed in the exact way you would expect based on Cleese's narrated set-up. There aren't any twists. There are very few moments when you get any hint of how brilliant these guys could be on their television shows and movies as Monty Python. In fact, it's kind of annoying seeing such talented men wasting away in such an unfunny piece of work - even if you're a Python fan, theres nothing really necessary about 'How To Irritate People', though the dedicated will inevitably check it out since theres almost always a copy by the Flying Circus videos at any rental store.

A very drab, poorly made video on the art of pranks. I expected some colorful stories and footage of neat subversive pranks ... the packaging actually promised this. What I ended up renting was a really low-energy video that featured a few people talking briefly about some things they had done to shock people. A few seemed like intelligent and potentially interesting specimens, particularly the mechanic who liked to alter billboards and Karen Finley, who liked to create uncomfortable situations by playing on peoples gender preconceptions. But overall, even the interviews with somewhat intriguing people were dry, vague and extremely brief. Some other 'pranksters' - like the man who said he repressed his homicidal urges by strapping explosives to his body or biting the heads of rats in crowded places, or the 'punk rocker' who hung dead cats and dogs from his body when performing at shows - were just annoying to watch, even if the production itself wasn't as horrid as it is. A complete waste of time and video tape. I recommend checking out the book Billboard Liberation Front & Friends: THE ART & SCIENCE OF BILLBOARD IMPROVEMENT, though.

Honestly, this movie has a good heart. The puppetry is amazing. The underlying message is nice. But not even inventive special effects and good themes can save this movie from being ...bland. Yes, I dare say the Dark Crystal, now a cult favorite and a work of the deservedly legendary Jim Henson - kind of failed for a reason.

First, it's far too scary for most children. Too dark to be a kids movie. And for older audiences...it's likely to be a bore. Despite boasting it's share of top-rate eye candy (the puppetry and special effects are way ahead of their time, showing a remarkable amount of ingenuity and restraint!) - theres not much in the way of story and character development. The plot is rather conventional in form and clear from the beginning, offering absolutely no twists or turns along the way. The main character has absolutely no personality - this hurts it even more. A predictable story is bad enough, but a bland star makes it difficult to sit through. The best scenes take place with him out of the picture.

It's not a total washout though. The visuals alone are enough to make many people sit through it without any problems, they are that good. And there are some choice sequences that hit all the right notes (mostly near the beginning). The overall theme has many parallels with our own world, and some good insight into the relationship between good and evil. There are also quite a few laughs, some of which are intentional.

But damn, if they had done a little more work on making the story more original and rewarding to follow - and made the lead character more than an empty shell with which to stitch together the plot - it could have been the masterpiece it sometimes appears to be.