Thighs Wide Shut

Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan’s Hope
Conventional Wisdom Dorkdom
Official Website | Trailers & Mo
PG-13 | 88 min

Morgan Spurlock takes a very Morgan Spurlockish topic and makes a very un-Morgan Spurlocklike doc about it.  WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?!?!?!?  It means Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan’s Hope is a pretty standard made doc about something pop culturalish (San Diego’s annual comics & movie dweeb-a-thon), BUT, for the first time ever, Spurlock doesn’t rear his ugly face or give voice to his voice!!  You’d think that this would be a good thing, but after awhile, you kinda start wishing that he’d pop up to laff and smile and provide everymanish commentary

There’s nothing overtly special about this documentary, and it’s probably the least engaging one Spurlock has made, but don’t think for a second that it’s not worth yer time/dime.  This is a great way for you to see what Comic-Con is like (minus any real insight or history) without actually attending.  We’ve never been to Comic-Con, but have worked some other Comic-Con-esque-ish-like cons, and believe you we, it’s better to watch from afar, and not have to inhale the smell of these people

These people come from all walks of geek life, and Spurlock follows a handful of them in and around the con – 2 aspiring graphic artists looking to break into the indutsry, a girl obsessed with video games and creating costumes from them, a guy who plans on proposing to his nerdy queen with the help of Kevin Smith, and our personal favorite, a ye olde thyme comic book collector and seller, who puts some perspective on how the convention has changed over the years (guess what, it’s less about the comics and more about selling movies!)

Smattered inbetween all of this are one-liner reflections about the con by fans and the famous, who are also fans, peeps like Stan Lee, [THE MESSIAH] Joss Whedon, the aforementioned Smith, Eli Roth, etc etc

moral of the story – Spurlock’s very un-Spurlockiskian Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan’s Hope doesn’t provide much hope, but does provide cuteness, laughs and a delightful lil overview of a convention that we should all probably stay 4 states away from

Verdictgo: Jeepers Worth A Peepers

Hope floats in limited release AND on VOD Friday

and until next thyme the balcony is clothed…

POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold
Sold In
Official Website | Trailers & Mo
PG-13 | 90 min

Morgan Spurlock is the king of gimmick documentaries that don’t really say much cept ‘Hey, look at me, I’m just like you, but with a fu-manchu mustache, and laugh at my own jokes more than you do, and I like pointing obvious things out about our world, which yer probably already well aware of, but I don’t have a strong enough slant on these generic opinions, which ultimately make my documentaries hollow and shallow, but I bet you laughed a few times!.‘  Well, that’s how we see him.  How bout you?

Anywho, his first gimmick, Super Size Me, was an easy layup, but a doc anyone of us could have made.  Oh, eating McDonalds for a month is gross AND bad for you?  BIND-MOWING!!!.  His second gimmick,  Where in the World Is Osama Bin Laden?, was less of a gimmick and more of a Middle-Eastern clusterf$%k, even more so than the one that George W Bush created himself.  And now for the good news – his third gimmick (we didn’t see his Simpsons thing and don’t remember which segment he did in the unmemorable Freakonomics) is his BEST gimmick!  POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold is not a great documentary, but it’s a really good Morgan Spurlock documentary, and for what that’s worth, it’s actually worth a lot

PWP: TGMES finds Spurlock looking into product placements placed in motion pictures and how the companies behind the products end up funding and influencing the finished… product.  Instead of digging deep, you know, the whole ‘why’ bit, he dips his toes into the pool and simply shows the ‘who’ and ‘how’, as he tries to find company partners to funnel money and products into the documentary he’s making.  It’s not so-sirprizingly all that probing, and heck, it’s not even really anything at all, but it is certainly entertaining

At first he’s has no luck getting any company on board, since his snarky reputation proceeds itself, and no one’s really jumping at the chance to be associated with his project, but miraculously, he finds some that do.  The full list of partners are: Amy’s Kitchen, The country of Aruba, Ban, Carrera Sunglasses, Hyatt, JetBlue, Mane ‘n Tail, Merrell, Mini, Movietickets.com, Old Navy, POM Wonderful, Seventh Generation Inc, Sheetz, and Thayers.  We applaud all of those companies, not for playing ball with Spurlock, but for being smart enough to having their products placed and beyond whored in the film (Mane ‘n Tale didn’t agree to be, but Spurlock loved the idea of a horse AND human shampoo that he included it for free).  Why?  Anyone who sees Sold will walk away with a better knowledge of the products presented, and may hactually be interested in purchasing them (we’re already Ban® Roll-On users 4life!!).  Products 1, Spurlock 0!!  Are you sold yet?

Ads By Subtraction: his best diversion within the doc is his trip to São Paulo, Brazil, a city which banned advertisements in public spaces.  this would never fly in America, and that’s what’s so wrong AND so right with us/US!!

flickr РṢo Paulo No Logo

Verdictgo: Jeepers Worth A Peepers

Sold is boughten in limited release today

and until next thyme the balcony is clothed, but Morgan aint…