Hopeless Pictures – Season 1: The IFC Original
Series (Animated)
Picture:
C+ Sound: C+ Extras: C Episodes: C+
Here is
an interesting concept series from IFC entitled Hopeless Pictures: Season 1.
The plot line of the series revolves around a self involved, movie
studio head whose personal life is just as deep in the toilet as his Movie
Studio’s success. He pushes bad stories,
he cheats on and lies to his wife, the people he surrounds himself are just as
crazy as him, and it seems that Hollywood is taking its toll on his
existence. A creative series concept to
say the least that pokes fun at the world we see as being so glamorous. Most of the time the episodes drag on with a
lot of nothing happening, which leaves viewers somewhat disappointed when the
episode has great set up and little follow through. Jonathan Katz lends his monotone ‘voice
talents’ to the series, but the series lacks the flair of his last big venture Dr. Katz. In order for this series to stay afloat, the
episodes will have to start offering something more compelling than a drab man
driving around and self indulgently talking on his self phone to creeps and
whores.
The
series is very interestingly animated with the style seeming to pull from
Picasso, children’s coloring books, the series Home Movies, and its own impressionist flair. To a degree the animation style works
artistically, but practically for the series the style seems sloppy and
boring. Many first seasons of animated
series take some work to get to the point the creators intend for (i.e. The Simpsons and South Park) and Hopeless
Pictures just may find its creative niche yet.
Hopeless Pictures: Season One’s technical features are not
outstanding but not horrible. The
picture is passable in its full screen format, but this reviewer was expecting
an anamorphic widescreen from this newer IFC series. With the art style of the series, the picture
is already somewhat distorted and the DVD presentation also remains unclear occasionally,
and contains color balance issues as well.
The sound is basic but clear in a Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo. The extras are there but not exciting to any
extent, only offering fans a few deleted scenes, which were a good choice to
delete, some Storyboard Galleries that fail to captivate, and some episodes
that even include the occasional commentary.
Overall, an interesting concept for a series that is somewhat hindered
by bad DVD technical aspects.
The
series is interesting, but this reviewer would say watch on IFC prior to
purchasing, in order to get a taste of the dry wit of the series. The first season of Hopeless Pictures shows
some promise but needs a bit of an overhaul in the areas of attractive writing
and story depth.
- Michael P Dougherty II
