Deck the Halls with Video Revue!

On this week's show, we talk about some of our favorite Christmas movies and TV specials, along with a discussion of Christmas music...and a special guest star! Who is it?? Tune in to find out!!

I searched in vain for a video clip of Rich Koz hosting The Nutcracker...if anyone out there would possibly have such a thing, I would be eternally grateful if you'd pass it along! And we solved the debate Johnny and I were having about the other versions of "The Clapper": he doesn't say either "toilet" or "crapper." All you hear is the toilet flushing in the background, presumably covering up the word you can't say on network TV.

Here's the show link: http://m.podshow.com/media/15317/episodes/91090/videorevue-91090-12-15-2007.mp3

Happy ChristmaHannuKwanzaaDanSolsticeYear!!

Little Drummer Warners

This is one of my favorite Christmas cartoons! I can't believe we forgot to mention it in our podcast. The Animaniacs take a break from their zany antics to pay a visit to Bethlehem. There is no dialogue, just singing. When I first saw this, I was afraid it would turn into something crazy, but it's actually respectful. And Mary's face when they start "Little Drummer Boy" is just priceless.

Deck the Halls...coming soon!

I'd love to say our new episode will be up today or tomorrow, but that's probably not going to happen. I've got finals all this week, and despite what my mom says, I do put a priority on studying. You can look for it definitely this weekend.

Happy holidays!

I'll put a video up later today.

Will It Blend? - Bic Lighters

My favorite "Will it Blend?" where he puts 6 Bic lighters into a blender and turns it on (the explosions are obviously fake, but I think there was a real fire). YouTube has a lot of other videos, including an iPod, various disgusting food combinations, and Chuck Norris (yes, Chuck Norris).

Kermit on the set of OKLAHOMA

Oh, Sesame Street...this is one of my favorite old bits, with Kermit directing (or trying to direct) Forgetful Jones in Oklahoma. Back when Sesame Street was good.

"Iiiiiiiiiiklahoma!!"

Hi, I'm a Marvel...and I'm a DC. (Mac PC Parody) #1

I'm upset that we forgot to mention this in our podcast! RandomGuy has done a whole series of videos featuring the action figures. This is the first one, a parody of the "Hi, I'm a Mac/I'm a PC" commercials. They're all funny--my other favorite is "I'm a mutant and I'm a DC" where they meet the X-Men (and Hulk..."Hulk between jobs.")
XD

Link's Awakening DX Walkthrough part 1

This, apparently, is a "video game walkthrough" (which means you watch someone else play the video game). Johnny made this one himself, so I'm posting it for him and all of the video game fans who listen to our podcast!
~Monica

Weird Al - eBay fan video

This is my very own AMV (animated music video). I put a lot of work in to it--look for pictures of Weird Al (there are 3). I found most of the pictures on Google Images, but I had to create a few (like the Dukes of Hazzard ash tray). The scary thing is that most of these things are probably available on eBay...

Show #4: TELEVISION OF THE FUTURE!!!

SEE!! The amazing new technology that allows you to watch television on your computer!
WATCH!! It features music videos CREATED BY PEOPLE JUST LIKE YOU, information on video games, episodes from some of your favorite TV shows, and other amazing, vital information!
LEARN!! What happens when you put 10 Bic lighters in a $500 blender?

I am, of course, referring to YouTube. Now everyone with a video camera (or a computer) can make movies. In our new show, Johnny and I discuss some of the major categories, along with a tirade on the Dark Side of YouTube (namely, spam bulletins and hackers).

Here's the link: http://m.podshow.com/media/15317/episodes/89115/videorevue-89115-11-29-2007.mp3

I've posted several videos that we mentioned in the show. Enjoy!

~Monica

The Video Revue Podcast

	My Flixster

Show #3 is ON THE AIR!!

Thanks a million to TC Kirkham, our "tech support" for getting this up so fast! (Johnny and I record and edit the show, and TC adds sound effects and show bumpers. By the way, he's half of the "Subject:Cinema" podcast we've mentioned--check them out on our "links" section!!).

Here's the link: http://m.podshow.com/media/15317/episodes/87377/videorevue-87377-11-15-2007.mp3

Pardon the lousy sound quality on this one...we're having some problems with one of the mics. It's understandable, but there's a fair amount of static. Sorry! We're really new at this podcasting thing.

Show notes coming soon!

SMW Intro Chipmunkified

The intro to the Super Mario World TV show, after 18 cups of coffee!

Rock TV Chipmunkified

Johnny combines his favorite episode of Super Mario World with his favorite pastime: playing things in double-time! For those of us with short attention spans, a condensed version of "Rock TV."

(Basic plot: the evil King Koopa invents TV in the stone age to hypnotize people and take their money)

And yes, Johnny did the speed-up himself...I think he used Windows Movie Maker.
~Monica

Mama Mia! Video Revue!! (coming soon)

In this show, we're going to take a look at the wonderful world of video games turned in to TV shows and movies. It should be coming either tonight or tomorrow. Sorry for the wait, but I've been having one of those weeks--you know, the kind where everything is coming due at once. In the meantime, we're posting a couple videos for your viewing pleasure.

Sonic Underground Intro

Intro to "Sonic Underground", a show we are talking about during our next episode. Look for the show on Wednesday: it's all about video game TV shows and movies!

Interview With The Vampire

The trailer for Interview With the Vampire, one of the movies we discussed in the podcast.

And "The Vampire Journals" is even more overacted. I couldn't find the trailer for that one, though.

Podshow update!!

All right, everything's working now...

Feedback is always welcome! We'd love to hear what you thought of the show, what you'd like to change, anything we missed, etc.
E-mail us at: videorevue@gmail.com
Have a safe and happy Halloween!
Spoil your dinner...
;)

Podshow is down!!

...which means, until it's back up, nobody can access anything on Podshow. Including the podcast. So if you tried to listen to the show, and couldn't, you're not alone. I couldn't either.
:(

I'm not sure exactly what the problem is--I'm definitely not the tech person--but I realized there was a problem after I couldn't listen to the show this morning. After some experimenting, I found out that I couldn't even get to the Podshow main page. So I can only conclude that the problem is with the Podshow site.

I'll keep you updated...and in the meantime, check out this great site:
www.angryalien.com
Angry Alien features movie parodies. But they're not just any movie parodies. They're 30-second versions of movies, starring animated bunnies! They've got plenty of Halloween goodies, including The Exorcist, Saw, The Ring, and War of the Worlds, but they really have a little bit of everything (among others: Brokeback Mountain, Star Wars, and A Christmas Story...beat that!). They're hilarious, and a great little entertainment if you've only got a few minutes.

No Trick...It's a Halloween Treat!

...Yes, I know. I'm so clever.

We have, for your listening pleasure, Video Revue #2: Ve Vant to Suck Your Blood! We discuss a Halloween dozen (13) vampire movies, along with 4 vampire TV shows.
Linkage: http://m.podshow.com/media/15317/episodes/85371/videorevue-85371-10-30-2007.mp3
Again, you can listen online or download to your computer. Have fun!

Are you looking for another great movie podcast? Subject:Cinema is the show that inspired me to give this whole podcasting thing a try. It's similar to Video Revue, except longer and with better sound effects (but just as weird as our show, trust me!). You should definitely check them out!
http://subjectcinema.com/

Show notes:
The sound clips were inserted in the show with the latest in "microphone-next-to-the-speaker" technology. The first one is from "Dracula: Dead and Loving It." The song clips are all from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, season 6. The episode is called "Once More, With Feeling," and there's also a soundtrack for the episode available. The final sound bite is from Moonlight, season 1, episode 4 ("Fever") available on iTunes for $1.99 or you can watch it for free on CBS.com.

I just love the vampire genre. There are just so many things you can do with the idea--every movie, TV show, or book interprets the Dracula myths differently; sometimes they're all true, sometimes most of them aren't--but I have noticed that I've had more success finding TV shows as opposed to movies that I really like. I think that's because you can do so much more in a TV show; if your main character is several centuries old, you've definitely got enough material there for more than a 2-hour movie.

There was a "sequel" to Interview With the Vampire called Queen of the Damned. I put sequel in the Dr. Evil quotes because it had only one character from Interview and none of the same actors, but it was based on the 3rd book in Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles. They completely skipped over the 2nd book, The Vampire Lestat. Which I really don't blam them for; there's a lot of good stuff in Lestat but at times it gets almost Oedipal (he turns his mother into a vampire, and suddenly she's young and beautiful again...)

I adore Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, but there is one major problem I have with both shows: the Buffyverse Relationship Formula.
Step 1: Get two characters together. Drag this out as long as possible.
Step 2: Break them up, painfully.
Step 3: Get them back together. Again, drag this out. As soon as they're happy...
Step 4: Kill one of them!
(Optional--Step 5: Bring dead character back; lather, rinse, repeat)

And there are variations on this, of course; you can have on-again-off-again relationships where someone dies as soon as they commit to each other, or the character who's sick and then dies just when the doctor says she's going to be fine. Or the love triangle that spanned seasons 3-5 in Angel, and when the girl FINALLY ended up with the guy she should've been with all along anyway, she died. And then her body was taken over by a former hell-god. But that's another story.

One final note: most times, vampires are either creepy or seductive...but I think the best character is one who's both...

Numfar does the Dance of Joy

Video Revue #2 hits the airwaves soon!

One of the many things we mentioned was Joss Whedon's cameo on "Angel." Here, for your viewing pleasure, is the series creator making an idiot of himself (watch the background).

And I mean absolutely no offense to Joss. He is brilliant (we're not worthy)!! And I'm sure he meant to look that stupid. That takes real guts!

Moonlight TV Show Video

Watch for our vampire podcast, coming next Wednesday (Halloween!). Here's a promo for one of my new favorite TV shows, Moonlight (Fridays at 8/7 central on CBS). Tune in to the podcast for a discussion of Moonlight, along with other vampire TV shows and movies!

Across The Universe - Trailer

The trailer for Julie Taymor's fantastic new movie, Across the Universe!

Movie Review: Across the Universe

Across the Universe is about a lot of things: the Vietnam war, war protests, relationships, the 1960s, and overall, Beatles music. It's like a live-action version of Yellow Submarine, with more music. This movie has more songs than dialogue, which probably makes it a rock opera (correct me if I'm wrong, though. The only rock opera that springs to mind is Tommy, which I've never seen). Anyway, Across the Universe follows the story of Lucy, whose boyfriend was killed in Vietnam, her brother Max, his friend Jude, and the various people they encounter in New York City. A relationship develops between Jude and Lucy, but becomes strained after Max is drafted. Lucy becomes a vehement anti-war protester, while illegal alien (from Liverpool) Jude is not ready to match her fervor. It's all set to a great backdrop of Beatles cover tunes.

Don't be turned off by the phrase "Beatles cover." For the most part, I thought the songs were re-worked in a great way. They don't try to imitate the Beatles, which hardly ever works anyway. Some of my favorites: Jude singing "Girl" at the very beginning (this is also in the trailer I posted). He has a fantastic voice. Also, "Let it Be" nearly made me cry. It's done in an almost gospel style, and the whole scene is just very moving. All told, there are over 30 songs. I wish I could say I loved them all, but the one scene that didn't work for me was Eddie Izzard's version of "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!" That one was just a little too different from the original for me. The movie also includes Joe Cocker doing "Come Together" and a few songs by Bono.

The order of the songs follow the general pattern of the Beatles' career, from their early love songs through the psychidelic period (with psychidelic scenes to match) through their return to real life. I wish I could say that the movie is a realistic representation of life in the '60s, but I wasn't around then so I wouldn't know. Most of the movie is grounded in reality (or at least as much reality as you can have in a musical) but some scenes are kind of out there. Also, the movie is rated PG-13, but I wouldn't take a 13-year-old to see it. There's a little too much weirdness, drug references, and random topless women. However, it's not enough to warrant an R rating. I'd say it's probably appropriate for 15 or 16 and up.

I went to see the movie with a friend of mine. I knew just about every song in the movie; he knew very few. However, both of us loved the movie and we agreed that we had to buy the soundtrack. Across the Universe is one of the best movies of the year, right up there with Hairspray.

What can I say? I just love music.

Overall: 3 1/2 stars (out of 4)

Oh, and one more note: there are 2 versions of the soundtrack. The Deluxe Edition has all 32 songs; the regular edition only has 15. It's really worth it to spend a few extra dollars to get all of the songs.

Better late than never...

Sorry, everyone! School has just been crazy...everything's due at once, homecoming was last week, I went to see Across the Universe (review coming soon!)...but at long last, here is our first episode!

Feedback is always welcome. E-mail us at: videorevue@gmail.com or leave a comment on the blog.

Here's our Podshow address: http://videorevue.podshow.com

And the link directly to the first episode: http://m.podshow.com/media/15317/episodes/82325/videorevue-82325-10-08-2007.mp3

You can listen online, or download it as a MP3!

The next show will be available in 2 weeks, just in time for Halloween, as we look at vampires in TV and film.

Video Revue debuts TOMORROW!!

All right, the show is all ready to go. It's been ready for a few days, but due to scheduling conflicts (aka "midterms") I haven't had time to post it yet. However, I can promise that the show will be up tomorrow. Be sure to tune in!
-Monica

First show!

Our first show has been recorded. Unfortunately, due to technical difficulties, I don't know when we'll have it up and ready to go.

We will have another video up this week, probably also Animaniacs-related.

Stay tuned!
-Monica

Animaniacs - Rob Paulsen (Yakko) - Nations of the World

Rob Paulsen, the voice of Yakko, performs "Yakko's World" live! Now that's talent...

Welcome to Video Revue!

Hey everyone!

This is the official home of the Video Revue Podcast. In addition, we'll have movie reviews, links to some great movie-related sites, and more! We'll also have video as soon as I figure out how to get it in here.

Our show debuts in October! In our first episode, "We're Zany To the Max," we'll take a look at those iconic '90s cartoon characters, the Animaniacs. More details will be coming soon.

This week's link: Subject:Cinema
http://subjectcinema.com
The podcast that inspired us to start podcasting! TC Kirkham and Kim Brown discuss a different topic in-depth every Sunday. This week's show: "Underrated Incorporated." TC and Kim discuss some of their favorite underrated movies. Next week, they look at baseball movies.

We'll be adding stuff fairly often, so be sure to check back soon!
-Monica