1.0 out of 5 stars
Funny movie if you like Spanish cinema. Poor format conversion., May 14, 2009
This review is from: Gran Slalom (DVD)
I won't talk about the movie and the plot, as it has been already properly addressed by another user. I would just add that this is one more title in the list of typical Spanish (from Spain!) movies from the mid 90's where there are a few crazy characters, a bit of explicit s*x and a twisted plot. This kind of cinema is far away from Hollywood style and is always closer to life itself (no fancy special fx, no good-looking dumb-actors...) but still exciting and hopefully entertaining for some people.
My low score is due to the extremely low quality of the transfer from PAL and the real poor format conversion that Venevision has performed. First, the English subtitles are forced. Cannot be switched off. Also the translation is, as usual, not very reach (Spanish is a very reach and elaborated language, especially for bad words, so at least swap "damn" by the "f" word every time you see it, and you'll get a step closer to the meaning...).
Secondly, and most important, the video quality is really poor (not sure why, but it looks to me like a cheesy VHS transfer using a cheap capture card). Also the aspect ratio really kills the movie. Not sure what is going on there, as this movie is on their TV channel now (Venemovies) and it shows in the right aspect ratio (letterboxed) but this is pan & scan and it is loosing 33% of the picture, yielding a cropped zoomed-image with heads partially cut most the time. Real BAD!
It is a real shame that some people don't understand letterboxing and still think they're being cheated by those pesky "black bars" at the top and bottom of the screen. With pan-and-scan you end up with only about 1/3 to 1/2 of the image and you can't do anything about it. Very disappointed. And the worst is that this movie is no longer manufactured anymore even in Spain, so get to see it at Venemovies (Comcast channel 600) while you can... oh, I forgot... it's in Spanish :)
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4.0 out of 5 stars
Goofy but entertaining., July 15, 2008
This review is from: Gran Slalom (DVD)
I didn't expect much ahead of time from this film, but I was pleasantly surprised. It's one of those goofy comedies with ridiculous plot twists that still ends up being fun. It's about a civil guard (policeman) who gets caught in a women's hotel room at a ski resort and ends up dressing like a woman to pass as her friend. This leads to all sorts of wacky missteps and silly situations. Juanjo Puigcorbe is pretty good at physical comedy. The mayor of the town is a momma's boy with an overbearing mom, and he falls for the guy dressing as a woman. It's not the best movie I've ever seen, but it's worth a watch for something a little different.
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