Word: banally
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...when Emmerich states that "Although these controversial theories are interesting, DeVore is simply out of his league...He and his fellow sociobiologists are seemingly unaware of the existing disciplines which deal superficially with human behavior and social structure..."I become outraged at the ignorance of a person so banal and uninformed who could possibly think such a statement. First of all "he and his fellow sociobiologists" is a cop-out. We're talking about DeVore here, and only DeVore. And Irven DeVore did his graduate work in social anthropology at what was (and maybe still is) the leading intellectual center...
Idle's dialogue and Neil Innes' song parodies are full of idle wordplay and bereft of sting. Much of the time Idle does not even seem particularly interested in satirizing the Beatles or their fans; he launches instead into banal gibes aimed at documentary film makers. As satirical targets go, documentary film makers are only slightly more hilarious than, say, stamp collectors or locksmiths...
...parodying them at the same time that he favors them to enact his story. Demme only occasionally falters on the tight-wire between moderation and excess, when he over-ambitiously turns on the small-town ideology of the American Dream. Stereotyping works well as a comic device; it becomes banal as a harbinger of a serious message. Summarizing Demme's position, Papa Thermodyne, a senile, retired trucker says: "This country promises everything. What does it give? Nothing." As he supports Papa Thermodyne with his camera, Demme continually focuses on emblems such as the American flag and the crucifix that Dallas...
...example, is a gently humorous spoof on the whole business of making dances. As a couple move, Cunningham approaches them flaunting what appears to be a yardstick, poking and measuring the dancing as though fitting a suit of clothes; at another point a group labors through a sequence of banal repetitions, stopping and starting on a rhythmic "hut!" from Cunningham. And while the program listing outlined the dance's sequence in painstaking detail--the segments solemnly labelled "Trio for 3 or 4," "Sextet for 5 or 6"--onstage it was impossible to tell them apart. A choreographer who has been...
...decency, actors should not be criticized for their performances in pictures as vulgar and banal as this one. But since Laurence Olivier has chosen to appear as the eldest Hardeman, and since he has sometimes triumphed over equally un promising roles, it is fair to say that he is as bad as everyone else. The public need only be warned that there aren't quite enough howlers to make this a camp classic like Once Is Not Enough or, to name an earlier picture that served Robbins perfectly, The Carpetbaggers. The film does, however, offer one possible source...