Search - Deserts, Casinos and UFOs on DVD

The. Worst. "Documentary." Ever.

Evacipate | Chicago, IL | 05/18/2010

(1 out of 5 stars)

"I agree completely with Fritz-the-cat except for one thing: The narration was very definitely scripted, which adds to the awfulness. The narrator (who pops in and out inconsistently) seems to be trying to do a Rod Serling (from the old Twilight Zone series) imitation as he tells us how weird the totally boring stuff we've seen is. It's like bad poetry or something, but without rhyme or anything else.

You know, I've often thought of home video as kind of the bottom end of any kind of rating scale for documentary. And when I say home video, I mean, the very first few minutes of video a person shoots the first time ever that he picks up a video camera. This video is so bad it actually makes that look professional--and that doesn't seem possible.

The most interesting thing is that even the makers of this sludge got someone to give them a blurb: "...What more can we say--we loved it!" from someplace called [...]. What's the point? Who's going to see this disc, read the blurb, then believe anything they see on [...]??"

Bad. Weak. Stupid. Badly Done and Did I Say "Bad?"

Fritz-The-Cat | In The South, USA | 05/20/2009

(1 out of 5 stars)

"If you told me this was not scripted, I would believe. If you said that it was, I would say, "Don't be proud of that."

The title is just a misnomer, since there is little about casinos and little about aliens. The producers or director apparently thinks that it is "weird" to find out of the way stores that have pictures of aliens for sale; or that there might be antennas and communications towers on mountains to get phone and radio signals across the desert. Oooh, spooky!

There is desert panoramic scenery, but it all looks the same (well, it does if you allow for the bad lighting, and the fact that the camera pans left-right then right-left for some variety...)

The videography appears to be done by a hand-held camera that simply cannot remain still. It pans left, it pans right, it jumps because there is no tripod. Cut to a backlit scene where the camera operator did not adjust for backlighting so the scene is dark, then back to broad daylight right into the lens. OUCH!

The sound is really poor, owing in part to the unprotected microphone picking up so much wind noise. Interviews apparently result from the camera operator doing double duty, with no boom or separate mike for the interviewee. Thus, it sounds like the interviewer (never seen) has his mouth on the microphone, and the respondents are miles away. Interviewees are amazing for such lines as "Yep" and "sure is." So enlightening.

The could almost be presented as an infomercial for tourist traps and junk shops on Highway 95. The only "people" in it are the denizens of some bars and general stores in places you've never heard of and will never see; and two [yes, this is correct] street dwellers discussing the "crack and whore" population on the streets. Points of interest include abandoned bars; empty highways "We can stand in the middle of the highway!" being voiced-over while the camera is actually standing on the shoulder or in the sand of the desert; and of course the fireworks stand that is apparently interesting because it has "Area 51" in the name and a couple of shoppers in alien Halloween costumes with flat face masks.

Amazing. Painful to watch. Run away!
A seventh grader with a cell phone camera could have made a better, and more interesting film. (WHY won't they allow for "ZERO" star reviews? That is what this would be, if I could.)"

Home Video Gone Bad

The Vegas Queen | Edmonton, Alberta Canada | 11/10/2007

(1 out of 5 stars)

"Just finished watching this. Thankfully, I borrowed it from the Library. Take your Uncles worst - no wait, a grade 7 AV club video taping, put it together with cheesy dialogue and you've got this video. When 'the strip' consists of the Travelodge, Circus Circus, Riveria, Slots-of-Fun and the Stratsophere, you know there's something seriously wrong. Stay away from this one...unless you want to see bad footage of a desert highway for 30 minutes.

There are way more interesting videos on Vegas out there.

It's 45 minutes of my life I won't get back..."