FirstWitch A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

AshUnow This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Sameer Callahan It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

Fatma Suarez The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

gprice-27052 I love watching Bar Rescue. People who are clearly in need of rescuing.Not only their Bar but in many cases their reputations, their family, their profitability of course. People who are just trying to make a living, and more than anything, people who just need a good ole helping hand.I love watching John Taffer do what he does best, and that is tearing a person down only to begin building them back up. Like the Military you could say. Sure, he yells and screams at them in the beginning and rips their Bar apart usually for filth and sanitary purposes.But it has a purpose and that is the purpose of making them aware to what they are really doing, and how their actions or lack of are handicapping them.Bottom line for me is I enjoy watching people helping other people.John Taffer is a Great Guy who just want's the best for the people he's trying to help. Too bad there wasn't more people in the world today like Mr Taffer.Thank you Sir, you are an incredibly Good Man.

ImNotFromEarth I happened to catch this episode (i am reviewing the Portland Tonic Lounge episode) because i was in portland when they shot it.One of the most dramatic scenes is when there were bugs EVERYwhere, some flying around, but most of them were dead, lying on countertops, on dishes, on food, on cooks' utensils in the kitchen, EVERYwhere. Later, they shine a flashlight under a bottle of gin (or something) from the bar so we can see the tonic is filled with dead bugs! Eewww. Now for what really happened. Of course they couldn't possibly be open to the public with dead bugs everywhere. Did they plant all of these bugs to set the storyline up?Of course not! That would be just plain.. WRONG, not to mention immoral. and unethical. Instead, they left the doors to the building wide open all night long and let the bugs fly themSELVES in and die all over everything, and then shot the video the next day. That way you see, they can't be accused of engineering any sort of story they want to- they're not like that- it was the bugs who did it.It's a ridiculous waste of time unless you're easily amused by funny editing. But i kept watching, and the rest was filled with other distortions and manipulations of half truths, not to mention the parts where the staff got pretty heated. Sure some of it happened to one degree or another. But it's not hard to notice some of the crooked editing.- hair is a different style during the "same" conversation, you can hear the cuts when they decide to reorder parts to make them seem more dramatic and pissy. They copied the owners laugh and pasted it in awkward parts to make him laugh when he wasn't for effect. Well this is all pretty obvious to most, i just don't get why people watch this kind of stuff enough to elevate the show to where they are. OK, maybe it's the same reason i watched it. After the TV people left, portland hated the penis room, especially the name. It was changed to The Raven for awhile, now it's back to the tonic lounge. Some of the changes made inside were OK, but everyone really liked the original format and hated to see it go, replaced by more of the same with a scary name. Some of the better ideas stayed, but mostly it's back to being the Tonic Lounge that everyone loved. In the bigger picture, the show was probably good for the Tonic, but for mostly bs reasons. At the end the host looks like the genius bar savior that came from a far off land to save ye townfolk from thyselves, or something, along with more tricky editing to make it stick. Oh, bonkers.

no name given I love reality TV. I can't get enough of it but I never heard of bar rescue until a bartender said they were coming to my usual hangout. Then it was, yeah we're going to do it, no we're not, yes we are, yada yada. Then on my regular drinking day I show up and the parking lot is closed down, there's a crew installing lighting and cameras everywhere, cables to trip on are all over the place. Closed the bar! I heard they bought shots for all the customers the night before but then expected them to sign waivers but from what I've seen so far the customers aren't important which is ironic since that's the whole point of the show. Other people report that usually they close the bar for 5 days or show and bring in actors. So I watched a few episodes on the web to get an idea of the show and wow, what dribble. I've been in a lot of bars and this guy taffer is off his rocker. I just watched one of the end of the year recap shows and in every single case, the owners said it was the advertising that increased their revenue, not his advice. He's a blowfish. If he was doing nightclub rescue or something like that it might be more believable but most of the places he's going to are neighborhood bars. I've never heard anyone ordering a 'manhatten' or 'bees knees'. Sure people ask for all kinds of mixed drinks but neighborhood bars are mostly beer and shots. If you really think that knowing how to make such drinks and in under a minute, let me direct you to the nearest artisan bar. No doubt my hangout he picked on is highly dysfunctional but there is no way this bar is going bust. If anything they have more customers than years ago but not because of the owner. If they want more customers it's about events, events, events and proper management of such events none of which the owner or staff at this bar know how to handle. For example, somebody got the great idea to have Latin night. That didn't last long because the customers were tearing up the bar and fighting in the parking lot. In fact what's odd in this instance is that the real story about the bar and the drama that goes on is way more interesting than what they'll show on bar rescue. We're talking about sex in the bar, murder, suicide, adultery, grand theft, armed robbery, stabbings, and so on. From everything I've read about the show it's not scripted only because they haven't bothered to write a script. Rather they show up with a story in mind and then make all the employees jump to it. I don't know if the bartenders are getting paid for this but I hope so and I hope they're getting paid well. Most bartenders I know make minimum wage, work long hours without any breaks, on their feet the entire shift and have to be responsible for everything in the bar. If something happens like a customer doesn't pay their tab, it's out of their pocket or they're out of a job. Unless you enjoy it and can afford it, working at a neighborhood bar in vegas is one of the worst jobs you can have and so forcing them to be on such a show is crazy, even in vegas.Is it real? Well, I heard from one of the bartenders that they already knew what the new name and concept was before they even started filming. In episode I've seen so far it's supposed to be big surprise at the end. Also, looking at the lighting and camera shots. Every episode is pretty much the same. It's not natural lighting. Even before they do the so called recon they come in and set up the cameras and lighting. Maybe not scripted but it is all staged and pretty unrealistic stories.

Wizard-8 It doesn't take long with watching an episode of "Bar Rescue" that the events we are seeing are being highly manipulated - sometimes to the point of blatant fakery. "Conversations" between people are edited from multiple camera angles, showing that these sequences were shot several times and edited together. Time seems also to be compressed to a ridiculous point. For example, I may not be an expert on business, but I know you can't change the name of your business overnight! Also, there are some very nagging questions, like: Just who is paying for all these bar renovations, especially since the bar owners seem to be broke the majority of the time?Yet despite these and other manipulation touches, the show remains interesting. For one thing, the show manages to show the many ways that a bar can fail, and why. This may sound boring, but it's actually pretty interesting. Also, we get to see what touches can make a bar successful, from menu design to interior decoration. This is interesting as well. So despite the annoying fakery here, the show does have genuine interest.