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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.
Sexual Intelligence (2005)

Sexual Intelligence (2005) (NTSC)

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Released 2-Oct-2007
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Details At A Glance

General		Extras
Category	Documentary	Featurette-Behind the Scenes with the Animators Trailer-Umbrella Trailers
Rating
Year Of Production	2005
Running Time	82:00
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu	Cast & Crew
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Catherine Annau
Studio Distributor	Umbrella Entertainment	Starring	Amy Briamonte Richard L. Green Jeffrey Kindley Michael Bader Kim Cattrall Maggie Paley
Case	Amaray-Transparent	Starring
RPI	$24.95	Music	None Given

Video (NTSC)		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 2.0 (384Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	480i (NTSC)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.78:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	Yes	Miscellaneous
Subtitles	None	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

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

Plot Synopsis

Sexual Intelligence purports to be "a breathless tour of sexual significance and cultural discovery". What it actually is, is "god-awful". Barbaric trash from HBO, who should honestly know better, and hosted by one of the senseless idiots from Sex and the City, this supposedly well rounded documentary "Sex 101 for Adults" is actually borderline unwatchable, infantile crap: a meandering, pointless non-discussion of various subjects related (sometimes barely) to sex, all tied up with immature puns, sight gags and that kind of splendid idiocy guaranteed to excite and amuse those in a permanent state of arrested development.

It's aiming at the Eyes Wide Shut crowd; the sexually-repressed, uneducated adults who'd still feel shock hearing someone utter the word "clitoris" - something which our host, Kim Cattrall has trouble pronouncing (Clit-hour-yus? What?!). She narrates every section with the retarded glee of a schoolgirl giggling in sex ed, and never fails to chime in with a god-awful one-liner for every situation. (Clue: They're never funny!) Both she and the documentary are surely riding on the "fame" from Sex and the City, and a lot of the music and generally awful ideas are copied direct from there - the tragedy is that there's no reason the people behind this well-budgeted facade could not have made a decent documentary exploring some (any?) element of sex, and that whenever Sexual Intelligence does hit upon an interesting point, it quickly shoots off in a horrible new direction making it absolutely worthless for anyone with an ounce of sense.

Sexual Intelligence lacks a thesis. Worse, it lacks a subject - it's scattershot and never really gets to the root of anything it tries to talk about. (Find its various "experts" and talking heads certified to deliver only the most misguided of information in the most boring of monotone - but never fear, Kim Cattrall will be quick to swoop in with a hilarious retort or dirty animation to keep the dullards interested!) Worse, it's poorly made, plagued with basic filmmaking issues, like changing aspect ratios for no reason at all in the middle of a scene. Worst of all, it's not fun to watch or entertaining. Do not watch Sexual Intelligence. You'd only be dumber for it.

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Transfer Quality

Video

The video is presented in the original 1.77:1 aspect ratio. It is 16x9 enhanced.

The video transfer for Sexual Intelligence is a direct copy of the NTSC transfer from the Region 1 DVD, and it's basically awful. Although the video is consistent as widescreen, the actual aspect ratio of that presented onscreen changes, which is confusing and bizarre. I've never seen this happen before on a DVD, and there's good reason for that. Aside, there's plenty of nasty interlacing throughout, as well as occasional film artefacts, though the colours maintain brightness and flare.

There are minor issues with grain and low level noise, although these are infrequent and are not as problematic as the other issues presented.

There are no subtitles.

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

Audio

The audio is presented in English Dolby Digital 2.0.

This is a very no-frills stereo soundtrack that does keeps everything audible and at good levels and nothing more. The dialogue and sound effects sound fine, with good sync and no problems with dropouts, and the music is mixed well.

The soundtrack contains various cues and elements from Sex and the City, remixed with sound effects and other cues to give the film a vibrant "exciting" soundtrack. It's best described as light and quirky, which fits what the creators have clearly attempted to do.

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

Extras

Animated Menus with Sound

More horrible pictures of Kim Cattrall accurately portray the nightmare that lies within the film, scored with a relaxing theme from the movie. Does very well to set the scene!

Interview with the Animators (22:22)

This deeply frustrating, boring interview with three animators who worked on the project has, essentially, no appeal to anyone. Bookended with title cards that make little sense, each of the animators speaks in drab monotone with very little actual information to put across, meaning that the special feature is at least 22 minutes too long. Presented in 1.85:1 that's barely in focus, with plenty of interlacing.

Umbrella Trailers - Girl on a Motorcycle (1:02), Laura (2:38), Camille 2000 (2:25), Myra Breckinridge (1:11)

Now, here's something that's actually worthwhile - a collection of four Grindhouse-esque trailers for other (presumably older) Umbrella films featuring risque content. These are very fun to watch, probably more fun than the films themselves, representing a taste of the great exploitation flicks of the past. All of these are presented in different widescreen aspect ratios but none 16x9 enhanced, all with particularly, characteristically crappy quality.

R4 vs R1

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

Aside from the promotional trailers in our R4 release, the R1 and R4 versions of the DVD are identical. I recommend buying the R4 DVD of The Protector instead. Trust me. It'll be the most fun you've had watching a movie in years.

Summary

I loathe Sexual Intelligence. Special points to anyone who can find any intelligence here at all.

The video transfer is an awful copy of the NTSC R1 transfer.

The audio is average, neither special nor awful.

What little extras there are here are either terrible or unrelated to the film.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

Review Equipment
DVD	LG LH-D6230, using Component output
Display	Benq PE7700. Calibrated with Digital Video Essentials (PAL). This display device has a maximum native resolution of 720p.
Audio Decoder	Built in to DVD Player, Dolby Digital and DTS. Calibrated with Digital Video Essentials (PAL).
Amplification	LG
Speakers	B&W LCR 600 S3 (Front & Centre); B&W DM 600 (Rears); B&W ASW500 (Sub)

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