hdelbruk

I can actually remember watching the very first show, mostly because George Carlin was going to be on, but I saw it happen. It was funny, fresh, and challenged all the other crap on TV at the time. I'm pretty certain that Don Kirchner's Rock Concert followed at 1am to keep the night going with musical acts like the Grateful Dead, Rolling Stones, & Rush to name but a few. To be clear, Lorne owed a lot to Monty Python and what was happening across the ocean but he nailed it with the original cast and crew by creating something wholly new in the US.

The film, and particularly Reitman, have really grasped the chaos, vitality, and energy that the show brought with it. It feels like a whirlwind and never lets up. While it is steeped in youthful vigor, the original show was also fueled by a lot of chemical additives that connected with so much of their audience...who were also doing the same things!

At times, spaced out, other times coked out, it was always challenging the status quo and ultimately revolutionary. It gave the counter-culture their own time slot and allowed them to say whatever they wanted because of the time it was on and because they were speaking a language that was unfamiliar to an older generation and the censors. The film really got this point across well.

The film captures so much of the energy and personalities that made the first 4+ years a wild success. It brings to life the diversity of the cast and writers while also focusing on their fears and anxieties. The cast truly makes it feel, if only for awhile, that Chevy, Gilda, Jane, Dan, John, Lauraine, & Garrett are around for one more show. The casting was superb and it mattered. They all felt very familiar.

Of course, there are so many people involved in the show that it is impossible to give the appropriate time to each cast member but it is ultimately Lorne which the film centers around and for good reason. He was/is the glue binding all the pieces into something bigger and greater than themselves. And Lorne did envision an enormous amount of contributors. While these did not all work and would be paired down over the season, the show consisted of the main cast, comedic guests, musical guests, Jim Henson's muppets, short films (Albert Brooks), a news parody called "Weekend Update", claymation (Mr. Bill), and just about anything else that Lorne thought he could fit in such as Andy Kaufman, who was a revolutionary comic genius himself.

It was post-modern. It was completely new. And nobody could have predicted it would still be on 50 years later!

The films captures all of it. It even explores the backstage drama of cast on cast violence along with celebrity cruelty. It was definitely a different time but just about everything shown here happened at one point.

If your interested in experiencing the crazed frenetic energy of just one SNL show, you might as well make it the first ever. Oh and what could be better than to go watch the very first SNL episode after the film? Go find it to better get just how well they captured what was...roll the tape!

Thanks for letting us enjoy the original cast just one more time!

Willie Mays was arguably the most complete baseball player of all time and this documentary provides ample evidence of his exploits while also delving into his personal life and behind the scenes challenges. This does a great job of weaving interviews with archival footage. It is exciting to be able to watch his flawless stroke of the bat and his amazing fielding ability once again. The only flaws in this doc are the failure to mention Oscar Charelston, who was Willie Mays three decades earlier and who Willie owed his style, especially the famed "basket catch".

Also, the film shows the strong personal relationship between Willie and Barry Bonds but never mentions steroids. Willie leads the call to let Bonds into the Hall of Fame, which is odd for someone who always exemplified class and a respect for the game but understandable given their close personal bond (ha).