To ALL DVD Talk Reviewers: What is your favorite and least favorite reviews?
 

Hope these threads are ok, just thought it was about time to recognize the hard work you guys do and I just think this whole thing is quite fascinating.

So I was wondering...everyone has their favs and not so favs, so what are all your favorite DVD's that you reviewed (meaning ones that were just so easy and fun to review, that it just flowed)? and the one that was simply torture and you could barely get through it?

I really enjoyed reviewing the Roughneck series for DVDTalk and think I wrote some fairly informative reviews that flowed well. Back when I used to check, I think they were among my most popular (in terms of hits).

In terms of movies that I reviewed and really didn't care for, Princess & the Barrio Boy, The Body, and I Married a Strange Person! all stand out.

The easiest film for me to review was the uber-crapfest Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. I love this movie, and it's one of the biggest pieces of shit ever committed to film. I think I called it an "endearing atrocity". This is just one of those reviews that I started typing without any direction or idea of how I wanted to present my views, and the thoughts and words just kept pouring out. I'm really pleased with how it came out. I tapped into some part of me that really connected with the music, the film, and the era that it evoked. To this day, it's my favorite review of all I've written, here at DVD Talk and elsewhere.

As far as least favorite... well, my least favorite reviews to write are those for films that generate a relative "meh" response out of me, but are loaded with dozens of 2-3 minutes "featurettes" that you have to review individually. I think Bad Boys II fits that bill pretty well, as does Peter Pan. But then again, I really liked Peter Pan as a film and DVD, it was just a chore to get through all those extras. Bad Boys II was just... a loooooooooong process.

It's really hard for me to say which are my favorites! I have many reviews that I'm very happy with. I'm particularly fond of my reviews of bicycle races from World Cycling Productions, as it's something I really enjoy watching a huge amount, and since DVDTalk is basically the only site on the web that actually has reviews of these titles, I feel like I'm providing a useful service to readers who are interested in seeing a race but don't know what to buy. And they're lots of fun to write. Some of my other favorites would have to be the reviews I've done of Star Trek Next Generation and Deep Space Nine, and Babylon 5, since I enjoyed the shows a lot and also found it a fun challenge to keep finding new, interesting things to comment on in each season.

Some DVDs are fun to review just because it turns out that way - like my review of The Happy Holiday Hearth, which I did with a bit of a tongue in cheek tone.

There's not always a relationship between how much I like a movie and how easy the review is to write. The ones I really pan are usually easy to write, but the ones I really love are sometimes easy and sometimes really tough. And the ones in between vary a lot - some just "write themselves" and others are more labored. I like to think that when I'm done, though, you can't tell the difference.

I've reviewed plenty of really, truly awful DVDs as well. Fortunately for my own sanity, I seem to forget about them as soon as I've posted my review, because I can't think of any examples. Well, there was Marat/Sade, which was one of my first titles to review. Zero stars. It shocked me (at the time) that anything so truly awful would get published on DVD. (I know better now. Insert maniacal laughter here.)

One of the great things about reviewing for DVDTalk is the wide variety of movies, TV shows, and documentaries I get to watch - most of which I never would even have heard of, much less chosen to buy, on my own. Sure, there are a few duds, and plenty of so-so stuff, but it's well worth it for the fun of discovering a "hidden gem" or broadening my film-viewing horizons (like with watching independent and foreign films).

very well put. I don't think any other site offers the variety of stuff DVD Talk does. It is absolutely rich with genre. Of course I may not care for most of them, but at least this way I can simply read whether or not I will care for most of them.

Well said - reviewing DVDs for DVDTalk really opened my eyes to the world of film and exposed me a myraid of stuff that I would've glossed over otherwise - and Geoff was great in getting a lot of foreign stuff for me to review (a lot of Chow Yun Fat releases, of whom I'm a fan).

Man, now I'm gettin' all sentimental - I might have to email Geoff next time there's a need for reviewers ;)

Thanks for the question...I believe a similar question was posted in our own private Reviewer Forum (oooh...secretive!), and it's good to know there's some reader interest. I've only been writing here for under a year, having nearly reached the "100th review" mark, but it's been an interesting and enjoyable experience so far.

To answer your question, my favorite review was definitely the <i>Freaks and Geeks Yearbook Edition</i>, if only because that awesome set darn near engulfed my waking hours for well over a week. The least favorite(s) were <i>Big Brother 4</i> and <i>Fire Island</i>, albeit for different reasons. The first was just torture to sit through (it contains about five hours of content, and I grew weary after fifteen minutes), while the second was just difficult to write about from a personal perspective. To put it simply, <i>Fire Island</i> is a gay-themed documentary, and my heterosexuality made it hard for me to identify with the characters. Sounds like a cop-out, but it's true. :)

Like Holly, I often find that the worst DVDs are the easiest to write about. The ones that I have a hard time with are average films, where there is good acting and competent direction, but that just don't affect me strongly. I don't want to have the review consist of just "It's okay I guess" but there are a lot of times when that's all I can think of.

The thing I like the most about reviewing, as others have mentioned, is getting to see films that I normally wouldn't have taken the time to check out. "Touching the Void" was a recent film that I hadn't heard about that blew me away.

As for hardest review, I'd say it was probalby "Soilder's Girl." good acting etc, but since it was a made for cable movie about a (male) soldier who falls in love with a female impersonator, I had very little in common with it. (Based on a true story.) I was hoping that it would be a sensationalistic film, but it wasn't, so I couldn't slam it for that. I was just a movie that I had no interest in. The review was painful to write.