Customer Reviews

Blame It On The Fish

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Maybe I'm just one of those closed-minded people mentioned earlier, but I found the self-indulgent random filler that the film-maker used to "connect" the segments boring and irritating to the point that it gave me a head-ache. I'm a die-hard Primus and Les fan, but I would recommend 5 Gallons of Diesel and/or Hallucino-Genetics rather than this. Or go to Primuslive.com and download 4 shows for under $30 and you'll be able to hear Primus live without interruptions and in their entirety. I'd recommend Kool Haus in Toronto, the Greek Theatre, the Halloween show and Bonnaroo as some of the best.

Borrow it from a friend and watch the Fish On and Primus 2065 extras without even bothering with the main feature. Les, Ler and Tim are at their best and I hope they'll keep going in all their incarnations for a long time...just don't use Matthew J. Powers again. It was a little too much about being abstract and not enough about the guys and their music. Primussucks!

So, I just checked out the dvd, "Blame it on the Fish" and thought it was incredibly clever and well done! It definitely was not done by a film student, but I can see how many impatient and closed minded viewers would want something they can relate to and feel comfortable with in their head instead of something that is this far out there. The main film is out there...way out there! It's well produced and is a nonstop psychadelic trip. It captures moments and shots from the band's tour that very few documentaries capture and that is what is great about it. It's different and that's what I loved about it-and that's what Primus is all about. I can tell a lot of time went into this project. The editing, the filters, the way it is organized is anything but random as it all flows perfectly in an odd way to Primus' music and performances! My favorite scene is Tim Alexander's drum solo in sound check with the time elapse shots, and the beard contest footage during De Anza Jig!
Then there's "Fish On" which is the straightforward bonus documentary that they put on the dvd so people that aren't into the main film would feel more comfortable with something they are used to. My favorite of this part was the full length songs in sound check! It makes you feel like you are right there with them.
The other bonus is the futuristic mockumentary about the Les in 2065 talking about the band over the years. That was great too.
So the dvd has the best of all worlds...the cleverly twisted and well done main feature that you will either love or hate, the straightforward bonus documentary that is pretty cool, and the funny mockumentary.

This DVD is truly an "abstract" look at the band. Sadly, the songs on the DVD are not in their entirety. This really does look like it was put together by a film student in a hurry. I cannot see most people who are Primus fans getting into this, as it lacks any real substance. It may keep you watching for the whole time once, but I would doubt many would go back for seconds. As mentioned in another review, one of the real highlights is the 2065 Les interview. Unfortunately, there is just not enough music.

The single reason one should buy this DVD is that it is Primus. And even then only if you are a die hard fan.

The actual feature is a very long very tedious exploration of what seems to be a kid who just got a video effect unit for his birthday. The trasitions and various manipulations to the fotage is at best arbitrary, at worst irritating in the extreme, and alway completely cliche' and overdone. As a visual document for anthropology it may be good but as an entertaining, informative, or otherwise enjoyable thing, look else where.

What the film maker thought abstract meant is anyones guess. A more appropriate and informative title would be "psychadelic". there really isn't anything abstract about it at all. Just a whole lot of non-sequetors (which he must have thought were completely original and interesting at the time) lazy editing, and alot of sound modulations at the worst possible moments which make it seem more like a glitch than an intentional effect. One of the problems with ameture fimmaking is that the director will inevitably think they are the first one to think of doingsomething (turning the camera upside down, making quick edits to unrelated meterial, etc.) and just let the audience suffer through it. Such things are done in experimental stages and only the best stuff (that which works) is used.

In Mr. Powers' defence, Les Claypool is shown giving him the most often given and most completely usless bit of advice for the film "I think you should just shoot whatever you want....even if it is a flower or something." And guess what? Powers overlays the interveiw with a flower. ugh.....

Love Les. Love Primus. This was dissapointing.

Pay Attention to the title. Blame It On The Fish: An Abstract Look At The 2003 Primus Tour De Fromage, because it's exactly that. It's abstract. If you have never seen the band live before, haven't heard many songs, or don't own their Hallucino-Genetics DVD, do not, I repeat, DO NOT watch this. I watched it with a friend of mine who hadn't heard Primus before and in the end, his interpretation of Primus was completely wrong. This "documentary" is a poor excuse of a representation of the band and the talented musicians within it. It basically looks like a lazy college student shot hours upon hours of footage in 2003 and then proceeded to forget about it. Then the companies reminded our lazy college student that he owed them a movie. This set him off into a panic mode and quickly edited all the footage he had in a week and preceded to release an "abstract" (an excuse for how bad it is) documentary that should have been released in 2004. Not a single song is shown in its entirety and just when you get excited and think, "here comes the good part", it cuts to something else. Much of what you see is garbage that no fan, no matter how big a Primus fan would find entertaining. It says an awful lot about a film when the bonus features are better than the movie itself. Also, to see Les Claypool in the year 2065 is pretty hilarious. Those are the only reasons to even glance in the general direction of this DVD. I'm glad I didn't pay for this thing. Get it USED and CHEAP if you need everything with the Primus name on it. Otherwise, avoid.

This film is an odds and ends documentary in the "film school project" vein. It's not the kind of film you watch more than a couple of times except to prove you're a bigger Primus fan who truly understands Les's genus than the next guy. Mathew J. Powers directs this film and it's your standard "psychedelic art rock film" , random quotes fast cuts, shaky footage, and endless shots from moving vehicles The This is not to say it's not with out it's charm, the interview with Les in 2065 is priceless and you really do get some insight into the band and it's tour. The bonus footage is the most interesting part of the film in my opinion.

If you are a casual fan buy something else maybe a King Crimson record or a Stanley Kubrick picture, but if you consider your self to be a died in the wool Primus fan who still screams "You suck" every time you go to see the band ( got my ticket for the Atlanta show 11/6/06) you might as well pick this little nugget up so you can hold it over both of your friends heads that you bought it first and that they are just a couple of posers because they hadn't heard of them until "Seas Of Cheese". Buy it for the documentary keep it because you are a completest.

Les, Larry and Tim are presented here in psychedelic form, which means if your feeling a little strange right now, then be prepared to feel like a Timothy Leary lab experiment gone wrong after you watch this one.

This is basically film clips of interviews with the band and some concert footage, but every single frame of film is presented in the weird, acid trip format. But there's some good footage here and there, just not a straight-forward concert.

It's has it's funny moments: after all this is Les Claypool we're talking about here, not George Bush! Hey wait a minute ... ?

So look at this DVD from the standpoint it's a good Primus disc worth watching, plus the fact that even though it's done in a strange way, it still sort of makes sense by the end. You'll either laugh and think the guys in Primus are nuts, or you'll wonder why anyone ever bothered to put this out.

It's still Primus, though. And that means you have to at least check it out.

I recomend that you buy this if your a truly Primus die hard fan. The interviews are great. learned some things that i didnt know about Primus before. Awsome footage....buy it!!!

This DVD offers an unusual look into PRIMUS live, how the fans perceive the shows. I saw them in Houston a few months ago -- made that non-stop slap-action look far too easy. Anyway, a great addition to any CLAYPOOL/PRIMUS collection!

this dvd is ok but i think fish on is better than the actual movie.