Style Over Substance

Style won out over substance on this week's "On The Lot." In more ways than one. I have refrained from complaining about the show's hostess, but now it must be said. By the dress she was wearing tonight, even she wants us to see she's more style than substance. Why they have this woman hosting the show when she's nothing more than eye candy I'll never know. Making matters worse, this week's films as a whole were a lot weaker than last week's. If I had to pick a favorite, it would probably be "Beeline", about a single mother blackmailed by her son into getting him a Playstation 3. The first film, "Polished", about the revenge of an office janitor, was funny but paced way too slow. The other three films were truly style over substance. There was a lot of originality in the cinematography and the editing but very little cohesive storyline. "Love At First Shot" had a subplot that was infinitely more interesting than the main plot. "Dance With The Devil" was the second time Marty Martin really just delivered a trailer for a supposed longer movie. In other words, he shot an ad instead of a film and we only get a rough idea what the "movie" would have been about. The final film, "Edge On The End", was all style- an MTV music video type of style wrapped around a concept of life but not a story. I know these are filmmakers and not writers, but the prize they're going for requires filmmakers who know how to tell a story. Sadly, for all their cinematographic talents, most of tonight's entrants do not. As for the vote from last week's episode, there were two travesties. The first was that Hillary did not get voted off. The second was making the lowest two sit through the whole show before telling them their fate. I'm going to keep watching the show, but like tonight's films, I now realize that as much as I like the concept of the show, what the producers are giving me is more style than substance.