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A Mighty Wind

A Mighty Wind

List Price: $19.97
Your Price: $14.98
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Quirky, funny, sweet, sad, bizarre
Review: The title of this review says it all.

The final "Kiss at the End of the Rainbow" makes me tear up every time. No wonder it was nominated for an Oscar.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Get the Guitars Out and Sing Along!
Review: "Hey....Wha Happon?" The immortal words of a spunky folk music producer. "A Mighty Wind" is filled with a dementedly humorous take on folk music. Here we meet the love-hate duo Mick (who is not playing with a full deck of cards) and Mickey (Mick's old sweetheart whose husband sells catheters). We also meet the lollypop sugary New Main Street Singers, with the ex-porn star lead singer who worships "color". Then there is the folk-trio with a sexually ambigious singer. They all prep for "An Ode to Irving", a reunion of sorts in honor of their dead producer. Be a part of music history. See the meyhem. This mock-u-mentory is ideal for a chuckle. Well worth it.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Parody folk music, but still pretty good folk music!!
Review: This is basically the same exact movie as Christopher Guests' other movie "Best in Show," except it's about folk revival music instead of dog shows. "Best in Show" was surprisingly good, actually, and I've caught myself rewatching it several times. "A Mighty Wind" has, I swear to God, every major cast member and most of the minor cast members from "Best in Show" so it's hard to forget you're watching the same formula done over.

Both are fake documentaries that are basically remakes of "Spinal Tap" (which, of course, starred Christopher Guest as well). This isn't such a bad thing, however. While not quite as good as either "Spinal Tap" or "Best in Show," "A Mighty Wind" is amusing. And the original folk music composed for the film is surprisingly good in places. "A Kiss at the End of the Rainbow" is a hauntingly beautiful song. Most of the other tunes are intentionally hokey or bombastic, as parodies of real folk revival music. However, as a fan of folk revival music, I still kind of enjoyed nearly all of them! The performances were strong and you can watch the movie for musical content alone and enjoy it on that level.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: I liked it! Very underrated film!
Review: When I saw Micheal Mckean and the other two he did Spinal tap with on a show here in Australia. They talked about how they had this new movie coming about about a folk band. And how when they where playing a Spinal Tap gig they used this new band and charctors of theres "the kingsmen?" i think they called them selves as the support band for Spinal Taps show! and it was funny to hear that in one place the crowed knew that it was them and thought it was funny, and another shows crowed completly boohed them off stage, not knowing that it actuly was the same actors who make Spinal Tap!

So now that this movie is finally out. It is a great movie! Dont expect hard rock like in Spinal Tap, but expect it more to be that silly humor of Spinal tap in the folk music scene!

This movie is about a folk legend who dies, and they decide to put on a rememberence show for him! and the promoters get three folk bands to take part in it! Along the way you see them form this show, all the events leading up to the show, and then the show, and bits after it. All along the way there are the gags and classic stuff like from Spinal Tap.... this really was a pretty good movie IMO and as long as your not looking for a hard rocking soundtrack or wanting to compare it to spinal tap, you might just enjoy this one!

The bonus features are worth a look at, at least once! And i garentee you by the time your done watching this, you will have the song "kiss at the end of the rainbow" in your head for a few days! Kind of a sweet song! and the bonues features feature some video clips and deleted scenes and stuff! A few of the deleted scenes arnt to bad either! worth checking out! Rent It if you can, but it is worth owning if you liked it! which i think you just might be suprised you would!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Liked it, didn't love it.
Review: As avid fans of Christopher Guest and his previous movies, my husband and I were eager to see A Mighty Wind. While it is entertaining, we found it nowhere near as inventive, scathingly accurate, or hyterically funny as Spinal Tap or Best in Show. The ending seemed pretty lame.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A Breath of Authenticity!
Review: One thing not mentioned by the other reviewers is how far this film goes in preserving the true spirit of "folkies". I was a youngster, but I was "there" in the sixties, and thanks to my parents, had quite a bit to do with behind-the-scenes stuff in folk concerts. With even the more outrageous turns of events, you find yourself thinking, "Yeah, that's bizarre... but I can really see it happening." Some have said that the "Mitch" character is a little over the top; but compared to Ozzie Osborne in his reality show, he's almost normal!

The three "groups" featured in "Wind" are even modeled after acutal sixties groups; I would mention their names, but that would take away part of the fun!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Quirky, satiric - but sometimes too over-the-top
Review: "A Mighty Wind" is one of those films that I can't quite decide whether I like or not. It has some brilliant moments, but just as many that fall flat through over-acting or over-the-top details. Told in the framework of a documentary ("mockumentary"), the film follows the production of a folk group reunion concert as a tribute to the recently deceased promoter Irving Steinbloom. Steinbloom's nebbish son Jonathan (Bob Balaban) decides to reunite the groups his father represented. We are treated to the "famous" Mitch and Mickey duo (Eugene Levy and Catherine O'Hara), the Folksmen (Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, and Harry Shearer), and The New Mainstreet Singers, a bunch of dimpled, wholesome, perky, downright sappy group that one character accuses of sounding like a toothpaste commercial. The concert is the highlight of the film as all the behind-the-scenes action gets subtly dramatized in the performances. (The cool-down phase of the epilogue is less successful.) The title song itself "A Mighty Wind" had me doubled over with laughter.

Levy is sometimes too over-the-top with his portrayal of the neuron-challenged Mitch, but his chemistry with O'Hara elevates this film, particularly near the end, into something that goes deeper than gentle satire. Balaban starts off as an annoyance that you'd wish go away, but later he, too, provides some good laughs as he critiques the floral arrangements and the set design. Likewise, Fred Willard alternates between perfect mockery and irritating over-acting. Catherine O'Hara and Ed Begley, Jr. (as the PBN producer) are the only actors who hit the perfect pitch throughout.

All in all, this is an entertaining, oddball film that sometimes goes too far. Not quite deserving of four stars, this film nonetheless hits that level at various points. I recommend this for viewers who are fans of Guest's work or who are tired of watching Hollywood gloss.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A Mighty Hoot(nanny)!
Review: Having come of age when the real folkies were all in vogue, I found this gentle but hilarious satire absolutely side-splitting, worthy of Guest and his unique mock-documentary style.

I don't think I could ever hear a a vintage serious folk song again without starting to roar with laughter, so funny was this look at aging folkies come back to reunite for one last hootnanny in honor of their recently departed impresario. From start to finish, their initial shy meetings as middle-aged men and women to the deadpan stories of what they're been doing since the Sixties, to their earnest and ridiculous rehearsals to the final show, this is truly inspired humor.

Extras are icing on the cake--you get to see the concert! So grab your button-down shirts and your non-acoustic guitars and jump right in, sit right down. You'll be glad you did!

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: A Mighty Bore
Review: OK, how many times can this cast milk it? I love every one in this movie, but I couln't get past the fact that this cast has made three really similar movies in a row. I think someone that had never seen Waiting for Guffman or Dog Show would be disapointed. The material wasn't that strong, I couldn't watch the whole thing, maybe 40 minutes.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A Gentle Wind
Review: The first time I saw A Mighty Wind, it was as a reluctant viewer. I couldn't see the point of spoofing the folkies of the Sixties. It seemed like an easy target, after all. Although I had enjoyed This is Spinal Tap (several times) and Best of Show, I was pretty sure I would not like A Mighty Wind.

I did not laugh or even smile until the moment the stage manager slapped the fussy character played by Bob Balaban upside the head. It was so unexpected, almost as if it had been ad-libbed. After that, I couldn't stop laughing. The stupid publicist who keeps saying "Wha' hoppen?", the dead producer's son who sits in the front row looking bored, the bizarro cult couple who are so clean-cut they play Branson, the Peter, Paul, and Mary moment at the end. And I loved the Mitch and Mickey story.

The second time I watched A Mighty Wind, I realized (finally) that this isn't a spoof of the rich and ridiculous, like This is Spinal Tap or Best in Show, but more like kidding someone you like. Folkies and Public Broadcasting are easy targets, but this isn't malicious, it's fun.


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