The Film Crew: Hollywood After Dark

The Film Crew: Hollywood After Dark

The Film Crew: Hollywood After Dark
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DVD Cover Information

Actor: Bill Corbett, Film Crew, Kevin Murphy, Mike Nelson
Brand: UNIVERSAL MUSIC GROUP DISTRIBUTION
Audio: English (Original Language)
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 90 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2007-07-10
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: Vivendi

Movie Reviews of The Film Crew: Hollywood After Dark

Movie Review: Script writing with a magnetic poetry kit
Summary: 3 Stars

I'm a fan of Mystery Science Theater 3000, but I was a little late to the Film Crew party. I heard about the series back when it was announced but for some reason it flew under my radar.

Recently I read some good reviews of the series, especially ones that compared it favorably to the seasons of the sci-fi channel run of MST3K. I decided to break down and pick up a couple. "Hollywood After Dark" was the first one I popped in.

Right off the bat I can say that this episode is very much like a MST3K episode, especially during the movie segments. The film is a dreary tale of good people gone bad in Hollywood. There is stripping. There is a caper. There are good intentions gone wrong. It all ends with three dead bodies and money scattered on the side of the road.

The writing is probably the worst part of the movie. There are whole lines that make no sense at all. The Film Crew points out some of their favorites and wonders at one point if the script was written using a magnetic poetry kit.

The camera work and direction are attempting to be arty and noir in several places but all this ends up doing is slowing the movie down and making things look harsh and cold.

The acting is not horrible, but not quite average. Rue actually isn't bad, but the real find are the strip scenes. They are bizarre and seem to go on forever! There is no complete nudity here, but it gets uncomfortably close on a number of occasions.

With all that said, the movie is solidly bad, but unfortunately doesn't have quite enough for the Film Crew to work with. The result is that riffs come at a measured pace. It's not a bad track, because the riffs are solidly funny, but the movie is so dreary that it doesn't offer enough for them to work with.

There are three host segments. The introduction gives us the premise of the series, and reveals why this film in particular is chosen. The middle segment occurs with Bill wanting to conduct a lunch meeting in a very corporate way, Mike and Kevin are not amused. The concluding segment has the three of them attempting to recreate the final battle at the end of the film with other props. It's about as goofy as what you had in MST3K, so if you enjoyed the host segments there you'll probably like them here.

What struck me most was that watching this episode of Film Crew really felt like a natural continuation of MST3K. I kept waiting for the exiting the theater sequence. The humor was solid and while the movie didn't offer the best material to work with it was bad enough to make me laugh.

For a first effort in a series this is four stars easily. Compared to other MST3K episodes or Rifftrax material, this is closer to a three star effort - so I say 3.5.

Summary of The Film Crew: Hollywood After Dark

Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy, and Bill Corbett-three of the brilliantly insane minds behind the cult classic TV show Mystery Science Theater 3000-finally reunite to unleash their warped sense of humor on the cinema of yesteryear as The Film Crew. Charged with the task of giving all movies their own commentary tracks, the Film Crew valiantly steps forward to tackle the best of the worst, starting with Hollywood After Dark.Rue McClanahan (Golden Girls) stars in this drama from 1968 as a young actress attempting to make her Hollywood debut, who falls into the seedy underworld of stripping when she's exploited by her unsavory producers.
MiSTies rejoice! Three of the brilliantly cracked minds behind the Peabody Award-winning comedy program Mystery Science Theater 3000 have reunited for The Film Crew, a DVD-only series that provides a similar skewering to some uproariously bad B-movies. Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy (the voice of MST3K's Tom Servo) and Bill Corbett (who replaced Trace Beaulieu as Crow T. Robot) are the Film Crew--three affable guys who've been hired by a jovial yet clueless billionaire to provide "commentary" for atrocious films. Of course, the Crew's "commentary" is more cutting than informative, and for the most part, the guys' jabs are as smart and pop culture-savvy as the ones on MST3K, and it certainly helps that their target, a miserable 1968 slice of sexploitation starring a youthful Rue (The Golden Girls) McClanahan, is nothing short of atrocious. Parents should probably note that the gags are a little more "adult" than the ones on MST3K, but for the most part, this is harmless-- if hilarious--stuff. The disc's sole extra is an amusing poem by Corbett which extolls the virtues of lunch in verse. --Paul Gaita

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