Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Tunnelvision the (unofficial) sequel to The Groove Tube, July 18, 2003
A Kid's Review
This review is from: Tunnel Vision (DVD)
A step below Groove Tube, Tunnelvision is still pretty funny. The best parts are of course Chevy Chase, Laraine Newman in Ramon & Sonja, a hilarious sketch, the game show, John Candy's spot in Get Head, as well as many of the many commercial parodies. Only a few problems exist. 1: no inside booklet 2: too jumpy, there are 12 chapter selections and, like... thirty chapters 3: no cast bio's (other cool features, but, no bio's!) Still it's worth a few laughs and the money, should be intended for those who have seen the Groove Tube & want more. Great cast though: Chevy Chase (Caddyshack), John Candy (Great Outdoors), Laraine Newman, Al Franken, Tom Davis, Betty Thomas, Howard Hessman, Neal Irael (Bachelor Party).
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A blast from the past but Chase and Candy are not the stars, January 4, 2003
This review is from: Tunnel Vision (DVD)
Tunnel Vision is the name of a fictional TV Network similar to S.C.T.V. The premise is that in the not too distant future (1985) Tunnel Vision will have knocked out the other three big networks and left the entire population a mass of vegetating slackers. I'm not sure if Howard Hesseman is all that believable as a Senator, but it's fun to see him in action. This upstart network is on trial and we are led to the courtroom where the "evidence" is put on display. One of the first items that date the video right away is when they run through a brief visual history of the US presidents. The list pauses briefly on Lincoln and Kennedy and makes its way up to Ford before it shows us the subsequent "future" ones. Now of course the political commentary is not as sharp as the best of Saturday Night Live, there is nowhere near the polish, but it does have its charm. I was reminded of the similar vintage Woody Allen movies like "Take the Money and Run" with the voice-overs and exteriors. Essentially it looks as though this tape was packaged to cash in on Chevy Chase's and John Candy's faces but they have very little to do on screen. Chase's bit is less than a minute and Candy's is not even a speaking role. And the low spots are in the skits. There is one Hispanic Bunker-like skit that has Laraine Newman using the F-word and is generally just unfunny mostly due to the quantity of racial slurs which neither seem to comment on or inform any particular world view. However, the commentary on the Middle East is fun and probably gives a present-day viewer more to laugh about. What the contemporary audience might have seen as grim extrapolations on current 1970's affairs (but not likely), can now be openly praised for its insight (even though their predictions are still clearly farcical).
But the true value of this video is not for its biting social commentary or wit or insight (most half-hour Simpsons episodes have more of these qualities), it is in the nostalgia or even the historical value. We get to see what was important to a group of young writers and commentators in the mid 70's (the boomers were older now and took their protests out of the streets and into the airwaves). In its day it might have been pretty edgy stuff, and much of it would not have cleared the censors for SNL (then or now). These were young people who were just beginning to practice the skills that would lead to the true ironic detachment that we have today. Their goal no doubt was to entertain and inform, but there is the additional energy that is present when someone is doing something they believe might have a real impact. This is what is now missing in the new SNL crew and what is starting to go missing even in the Simpsons.
If you think you are going to see Chevy Chase and John Candy in some kind lost classic that has an eternal entertainment value, your hopes are set too high and you should look for "The Best of SNL" or some early Simpsons instead. But, if you want to get a good look at the unpolished beginnings of the modern history of popular social commentary, this is a fine video, but nothing more.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Tunnelvision - They don't make movies like this anymore., January 30, 1999
"Tunnelvision" is a movie that pokes a lot of "R" rated fun at serious television programming. Perhaps the definitive film of it's kind. Even more so than it's predeccesor "The Groove Tube". And yes, it features some comedy stars that you would easily recognize today such as Howard Hessman, Laraine Newman and Richard Belzer to name a few. This movie is still one of my favorites from the '70's. Standout bits include a sit-com about a very disfunctional family called "Ramone and Sonia", featuring the above mentioned Miss Newman, and a "commercial" about an attractive woman who wants to look more butch. A nice little "throw-away" touch is the cool looking "eyemouth" station logo. Tunnelvision is an aquired taste, and repeated viewings may be nessesary to really appreciate this very obscure and even harder to find film. But give it a chance. It's only 70 minutes long. Watch and enjoy, you'll thank me for it.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
|
