Z/Web

Author: Andrew Fleming and Sheryl Longin

Director: Andrew Fleming

This spoof on the Watergate scandal has two dizzy teenage girls as “Deep Throat,” the source of the leaks that brought down a President. Nice, light movie. Fun, but more like an extended Saturday Nigh Live sketch than a comedy. Most of the “humor” is so mild and subtle you’ll never catch it. For one, you have to know a lot about Watergate to understand most of the in jokes. To give you an example of the type of humor: on the director’s commentary on the DVD, he points out how in one scene Woodward has a pad but no pen and Bernstein has a pen and no pad. The director seems to think this is hilarious, and yes, it does bring a smile to the face, but it’s not laugh out loud (which a comedy of this kind needs to be). On the other hand, a film like this could be profound by making powerful statements about society and politics… but this movie doesn’t. So you get mild smiles and no Deep Thought (sorry about that ;-) — basically you won’t miss much either way on this one. The most profound and interesting thing for me was something on the director’s commentary: he pointed out that a number of viewers expressed far more horror and outrage that the movie would dare make fun of Woodward and Bernstein than that it makes fun of Richard Nixon. “In a sense,” said Fleming, “that’s because the journalists are more revered figures than the President.” A bit scary, that.

Hey, my DVD player arrived today! I’ve been watching DVDs on my Powerbook. It’s great to have that feature, and the portability’s unmatched, but it’s awkward for connecting to the TV and the software’s sometimes glitchy and slow. So I bit the bullet and bought myself an early Christmas present: a home theatre system. If you haven’t tried DVD yet, do so. There’s no going back. The picture is unbelievably clear, even an on old TV like mine. DVDs have twice the resolution of VHS videotapes, plus there’s no rewinding! Most DVDs have extra content (director’s commentary, making of featurettes, delete scenes, music videos, etc.), too. I also like the fact that since they are the same size as CDs, they take up a lot less space! (Come see my tiny house, which is filled from floor to ceiling with videotapes and you’ll understand. One of these days I want to put my movie collection on my website. I suspect I’m approaching 1500 movies by now.) But DVDs are also about sound: they include Dolby Digital surround sound, just like you get in the movie theatre! Surround sound is amazing — it really puts you in the middle of the action. It changes the whole movie experience.