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PLEASE NOTE: Michael D's is currently in READ ONLY MODE. Anything submitted will simply not be written to the database.
Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
The Elegant Gentleman's Guide to Knife Fighting (2013)

The Elegant Gentleman's Guide to Knife Fighting (2013)

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Released 3-Jul-2013

Cover Art

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Details At A Glance

General Extras
Category Comedy Outtakes
Additional Footage
Rating Rated MA
Year Of Production 2013
Running Time 183:00
RSDL / Flipper Dual Layered Cast & Crew
Start Up Menu
Region Coding 4 Directed By Craig Melville
Alex Morrow
Trent O'Donnell
Wayne Blair
Studio
Distributor

Roadshow Home Entertainment
Starring None Given
Case Amaray-Transparent
RPI ? Music None Given


Video Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame None English Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio 1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
16x9 Enhanced
Video Format 576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio 1.78:1 Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures No
Subtitles English for the Hearing Impaired Smoking No
Annoying Product Placement No
Action In or After Credits No

NOTE: The Profanity Filter is ON. Turn it off here.

Plot Synopsis

     The Elegant Gentleman's Guide to Knife Fighting (hereafter "the Guide") is the latest stab at Australian sketch comedy. In keeping with a fine tradition it has quite a few misses as well as hits but overall the show adds a few new wrinkles to the standard sketch comedy and is enjoyable throughout.

     Rather than rely upon characters or ordinary situations the show tries to take a far more surreal, often darkly surreal, approach to sketch comedy. Take, for example, the scene where a family gathers around to stage an intervention for their father. It turns out that since he gave up the booze and all the embarrassing behaviour that went with it he has become a boring dad, and they can't bear to see him throwing his life away! Take also the scene, turned into a running gag, where a father faced with a tragic situation just can't get over his difficulty in pronouncing a person's surname.

     The Guide favours lengthy scenes over short gags. Family Guy introduced many to the comic scene extended past the point of breaking and this show benefits from the ground-breaking work of Seth McFarlane. Therefore the opening scene of episode one, where a frustrated office worker has to sit by and watch the firm IT specialist, an Amish complete with his bag of home-made tools, steadily deconstruct his PC as if it was a broken plough gets stretched out into an extended story of corporate waste and political correctness.

     As said, there are a lot of gags that miss but the show seems fresh and ambitious with a line-up of top Australian comics including Patrick Brammall, who will be forever remembered for the line "I drive a Prius", Phil Lloyd of Review with Myles Barlow fame, Damon Herriman the wonderful dim-witted Dewey Crowe from Justified, Georgina Haig from Fringe, Robin McLeavy from Hell on Wheels, Darren Gilshenan, who popped up recently as the unlucky realtor in Top of the Lake, and Dave Eastgate from Problems.

     Together and under the manic direction of the collective who call themselves Jungleboys this is a show that is worth the effort to get to know.

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Transfer Quality

Video

     The Guide comes to DVD in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio consistent with the original widescreen television aspect ratio. It is 16×9 enhanced.

     The show was shot on high-definition digital video. It is clear and crisp throughout without being spectacular. The flesh tones are accurate and the colours are bright and clear.

     There are no technical problems with the transfer. There are subtitles in English for the hearing impaired.

Video Ratings Summary
Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

     The Guide carries an English Dolby Digital 2.0 track running at 224 Kb/s. This is perfectly adequate for a sketch comedy show.

     The sound is clear throughout. The dialogue is easy to understand. There are no technical problems with the sound.

     Music is supplied by Cameron Bruce who contributes the theme song Animal.

Audio Ratings Summary
Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Extras

     There are a number of extras included with the DVD. They are really of two types although separately detailed on the DVD menu.

Bloopers (6.21)

     A collection of stuff-ups, mostly of the uncontrollable laughter variety, particularly when Darren Gilshenan is improvising his "birds and bees" tirade.

Extra Scenes

     There are six extra comedy skits included and all of them are of similar quality to those included in the show. They are The Breakup (1.12), Retired Ray (2.54), stare balance (1.50), Anal (0.54), Historical Trawls (1.32), Tuckshop Dad (2.53)

R4 vs R1

NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.

 

     This is Region 4 only.

Summary

     The Guide is at times extremely funny and always engaging even if sometimes the jokes go down some pretty dark hallways. A small triumph which will hopefully lead to another season.

    The DVD is fine in sound and vision terms.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Trevor Darge (read my bio)
Saturday, July 13, 2013
Review Equipment
DVDCambridge 650BD (All Regions), using HDMI output
DisplaySony VPL-VW80 Projector on 110" Screen. Calibrated with Video Essentials. This display device is 16x9 capable. This display device has a maximum native resolution of 1080p.
Audio DecoderBuilt in to amplifier/receiver. Calibrated with Ultimate DVD Platinum.
AmplificationPioneer SC-LX 81 7.1
SpeakersAaron ATS-5 7.1

Other Reviews NONE