The Last Waltz – Blu-ray movie review

In the words of Robbie Robertson, "The Last Waltz" began as a concert and turned into a celebration. There is no word that can be used to describe "The Last Waltz" better than 'celebration'. This is a celebration of The Band, and of music, specifically American music, which The Band loved and played so many styles of.

The idea of the Band in my opinion was for them to be a band with five equal members. Mr. Marty Scorsese obviously didn't think so. He must have been under the impression that the Band was a star vehicle for Robbie Robertson, like history has written, and not the group of equal musicians that slowly waltzed out of Big Pink.

Like Levon Helm said in his book the band was based on the heart and soul of Richard Manuel, the genius of Garth Hudson, the songwriting of robbie robertson, the hopping rythm of Rick Danko's bass, all pulled together by the tight rythms of Levon and Richard. On top of all that the three best vocalists in rock music, none of which are robbie robertson.

Helm is a storyteller, from a family of storytellers. The two, Helm and Hudson, together have crafted a novel and lasting entry in the art of cinematic music: stories whose rhythms in telling are different enough that they establish a sort of aural camera. The other members of the band are talented enough, but act primarily as transferral agents from other innovators and traditions rather than innovating themselves.

Dylan was the primary experimenter in our age of language, mostly in sounds rather than cadence, until he met The Band while recuperating from a near-death experience. When he tied in with them, magic happened: stories, cadence, poetry, merged, all cinematically rooted -- and it transformed us all. Every one of us of a certain age passed through the portal of this music, following the progress through underground copies of the basement tapes and nearly unreadable late generation xeroxes of stolen galleys of "Tarantula."

Discovering The Last Waltz was a bittersweet experience for me though. No sooner do I fall in love with Rick Danko's performance and songs in The Last Waltz that I learn he died in 1999 - and that Richard Manuel committed suicide in 1986. Watching Danko perform Stage Fright from so long ago, and knowing I could never see him do it live, gave me that same empty feeling I got when John Lennon was killed. I saw the Beatles in '64 and '65 and though it was always a distant, remote possibility that they would ever get together again, December 1980 stole away all hope.

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Led Zepplelin – Blu-ray movie review

"The Song Remains The Same" is essentially a film of a concert, yet thanks to the drug and ego-addled personalities of Led Zeppelin in the mid-1970s, the footage is fleshed out to include weird 'fantasy' sequences involving each of the four band members. While this section of the movie leaves a little to be desired, the concert footage is truly breathtaking, capturing the greatest hard rock band in history at their apogee.

The film opens with an odd gangster-style sequence, where faceless mobsters are mowed down by what would appear to be rival gangsters. Whatever meaning this scene is meant to represent is not clear, however it has been suggested that the faceless mobsters are the British press, who had vilified Led Zeppelin through their entire career. Who knows, but it certainly makes for an interesting start to the film.

I do agree with those who believe that skipping the shootout in the beginning is the right thing to do. The country life sequence, however, provides tremendous insight into each of the band members and completes the picture of the ordinary human side as well as the psychedelic band member side. Robert Plant shares a peaceful moment with his wife and skinny-dipping children. John Bonham plows his fields. John Paul Jones reads Jack and the Beanstalk to his children. And finally Jimmy Page sits quietly by a lake and plays a hurdy-gurdy.

Coming into the concert, one already has the vision of the four men as normal people in the back of their minds, not just eccentric, wild rockers, so the viewer is not alienated from the band as they launch into their classic tunes with barely time to catch a breath in between. Augmented by the music, the viewer dives deeper into the minds of the band members with an emotionally profound vigor.

The Song Remains the Same is a true story of these geniuses, showing them in real life... as themselves, doing what these four masters of rock do best. We also get a glimpse into their minds eye in Fantasy Sequences... Whether they be Midieval knights and sorcerers, Masqueraded party guests, or race car drivers...

All of this put together shows us what Led Zeppelin really is, for very eclectic men producing the music of it's own generation...yet far transcending the seventies to become "Classic" rock at it's best. Rock not just for their own generation, but rock that transcends all generations. Is it any wonder that there are grandchildren of Zeppelin fans who listen to Zeppelin themselves? (those who don't "buy" what the producers try to feed them, anyways.)

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Nine Inch Nails Live: Beside You in Time – Blu-ray movie review

2001's And All That Could Have been was the first concert film released by Nine Inch Nails. It was a well-done look at their live shows. However, it was cheaply filmed- Rob Sheridan used a series of Mini DV Camera- and poorly edited. Instead of filming one concert, it was many concerts spliced together to look like one. However, Beside You In Time is a much more polished film. This is only two concerts, which pretty much split the DVD. One in El Paso, and one in Oklahoma City. Instead of Mini-DV the concert is filmed in Hi-Def, making every little detail from the colors of the backdrop to the sweat on Trent Reznor's forehead stand out vibrantly.

The funniest part about NIN is that they have only released 4 cd's. Yet Beside You In Time marks the 22nd Halo. For those who don't know Trent has marked every release(full lengths,singles,eps & videos)with the title of Halo followed by whatever number they are up to. Funnier still is that Trent somewhat stepped on the genre that made him a star. At least according to some of the vets who founded this genre and schooled Trent. Truth be told nine inch nails is a facade but a really really good one that has and continues to excite and entertain me beyond words. However I never ventured out to see them not once in all the 16 years prior to With Teeths release

Beside You In Time has one of the best live versions of "Something I Can Never Have" that I've ever seen. Also, his new material seems to have a new life that you didn't hear on the With_Teeth album, most notably in "Love Is Not Enough" and "The Line Begins To Blur." In addition to this, the concert isn't as much of a blur of metal and rage you'd think it might be. There's a good variety of songs here, just what you might expect to see on a Greatest Hits album. It's not all dull-sounding, like And All That Could Have Been. As lively as the hard rock songs are, the ballads like "Something I Can Never Have," "Right Where It Belongs," and "Hurt" are just as vivid. All in all, this concert DVD is nothing new, especially in the way of concert DVDs. At the same time, with the band kicking it up in high-gear, it's a good choice to get, whether you're a NIN enthusiast or just an average fan.

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U2 Ratthe and Hum – Blu-ray movie review

When U2 arrives in the fall 1987 to start the second leg of their American tour to promote "The Joshua Tree" (1987), they already filled with enthusiasm millions of Americans with their masterpiece and they were showered with praise by virtually all musical critics but also important newspapers (the magazine Newsweek even put them on the cover!). The amount? Bono and his band were crowned the biggest rock and roll band in the world. A status which isn't easy to assume and when one has a rock and roll masterpiece under one's belt, delivering it a follow-up is a difficult task. Maybe that's why the most famous Irish quartet had the idea to make a film accompanied by an album: to try to forge ahead and to take a new musical direction.

What Phil Joanou does get wonderfully is the passion for the music in these guys and how they inspire others: those moments when they stop and listen to the Harlem blues man singing "Freedom for My People" or the Gospel choir that takes flight with "Haven't Found what I'm Looking For" are something pure with a hint of magic. This is also well-played in the GORGEOUS transition to color in the Super Bowl-size stadium for "Streets Have No Name." You'd think Jesus himself was about to come on stage.

This Music/Documentary gives a great insight to how U2 emerged into one of the most influential bands of all time. The selected songs, which include some of music's classics like "With Or Without You" and "Pride" are a must to watch. The brief but frank interviews give a somewhat comic and emotional look at the individual band members.

The live performances are just amazing. "Exit," Bad," "Pride," "Bullet The Blue Sky," and "Sunday Bloody Sunday" are delivered with ferocious energy. The film is mostly in black-and-white, which lends itself that needed 'documentary' feel, except for 5 songs performed in color. The energy of the band onstage guarantees this to be a film that will sustain its liveliness no matter how many times you see it.

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Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds – Concert Blu-ray movie review

I recently purchased DMB in Central Park and really enjoyed it. The band jammed a lot and it is similar to the 2 DMB concerts I have been to. But there seemed to be something missing about that. While I really enjoyed it, I didn't love it. I did however LOVE DM and TR at RCMH.

If there is a better Blu Ray concert out there..... or a better live performance period.... I have never seen it.
This show was recorded absolutely perfectly. Top notch production all the way around, top notch performance from Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds. I couldn't recommend this more.

As far as the content of the DVD, the music is great. There are a lot of the standard DM songs as well as a few I haven't heard him do before. Dave also talks a fair amount before some of the songs. While some of the background on the songs is nice, DM seems to be "out there" if you know what I mean when speaking. His dialogue personally makes me like him a little less but that's just my personal opinion. But once he starts to sing, he is once again amazing.

There does seem to be an oddly fatalistic quality to many of the songs, coming from a man at the peak of his career with what appears to be many good years to come. Matthews is one of the great songwriters of his generation and whether with his band or in intimate settings like this one, his songs resonate to those who have grown up listening to his music. He has amassed a strong following, as witnessed by the many live albums now available, showing that he gives as much as he receives, in allowing his listeners to experience his shows like this remarkable performance at Radio City Music Hall.

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Shine a light-Rolling Stone Blu-ray movie review

Shine a Light displays, thrillingly and with the bombastic POP of a revisited 'happy place', why many love the Rolling Stones and many love the style of Martin Scorsese. It's mostly a concert movie shot over a period of two mights at the Beacon theater (as if doing a workhorse revival of thirty years ago, while Scorsese was busy shooting New York, New York in 76 and doing the Last Waltz concurrently, this time he shot the concert while finishing up the Departed), with some choice documentary footage interspersed in between some songs. On both fronts, however minor the interview footage is, it's a big success, visually and musically, as good old rock and roll performance art, and as visual virtuosity made incarnate.

Shine a Light is a concert film. I'm not sure I'd call it a documentary on the Rolling Stones so much as a filming (a brilliant filming) of an especially good concert they played recently. Scorsese is smart enough, however, to use interviews and clips from all stages of the Stones' career for purposes of humor and even commentary on various aspects of music and the music business, as well as the band itself.

Your average Rolling Stones fan waiting to see a Rolling Stones concert and who isn't a fan of film probably will be bored during the film's opening scenes, but for those interested in film, they provide a fascinating glimpse into the marriage of live music and film-making, which doesn't happen as much as it should. It's also quite an intimate look at the Stones as a bunch of people, exposing them in the same sort of way the non-concert scenes in "Gimme Shelter" did. Then again, how much of it is real and how much is an act is really the essential question that we will forever be asking about this band.

Interspersed throughout the concert performance are plenty of vignettes culled from past interviews spanning from the 60s, which will bring on some laughter as you watch them with perfect hindsight. You will get to see how youthful all of them looked when they first started out, and be amazed at their longevity in this business where bands come and go after making it to the top, if at all. Despite being grand-daddies, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Ronnie Wood and Charlie Watts still look in great physical condition to be touring and strutting their stuff, dishing out high energy, high performance concerts, with Watts even cheekily feinting tiredness at a point. In fact, none of them thought earnestly thought, back in their youths, that they will sustain their popularity, or would have reasons for it, except perhaps Jagger himself who jested that he had dreamt about rocking the stage into his 60s.

All in all, I'd say this is a pretty decent concert movie, but nothing special in terms of movies in general. If you're a fan of the Stones, you'll enjoy this, but it won't shine any special light on the band themselves.

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The Doors movie review Jim Morrison in Blu-ray

The Doors is an Utterly absorbing bio-pic of Jim Morrison.  The title might suggest it is a biopic on The Doors.  However, it mainly focuses on the life of Jim Morrison.  Many have criticized Stone for not depicting Jim in the proper light, but given how many people knew him it had to be an almost impossible task to please everyone as everyone knew him differently. It had to be difficult to get the true and accurate picture of what Jim Morrison was like. I respect Stone for trying. I think his intentions were spawned out of true admiration and that he made this film for himself and to pay tribute, and not to win any awards.

The best part of the film are the opening thirty minutes, where Jim "quits" his film class on UCLA, follows Pam home from the beach and takes her out on a night walk, rehearses with the band and "Light my fire" is introduced. Too bad we never get to see the band being formed. I love that story, when Jim meets Ray on the beach and that conversation leads up to Jim singing "Moonlight drive". This scene is also one of few which shows the real Jim Morrison. Around this time, Jim meets his girlfriend with whom he stayed until he died.

After half an hour, the movie takes on in a different direction. It is from now on, a very dark movie. This is for a reason, and the reason is that Oliver wants the audience to see everything through Jim's eyes. The result is that some scenes are very surreal and after a while you may think that Oliver Stone himself took some acid before shooting them.

Val Kilmer does an amazing job at not only acting as Jim, but also singing his music. Val Kilmer had a band called the Doors before he became an actor. It was a garage band, tribute to The Doors. They played in clubs and such. He sang the songs himself and worked with the original Doors band in getting down all the characteristics of Jim Morrison as close as possible.

tone can make a compelling film and The Doors is never boring. It has a lot of good points such as great lead in Kilmer, impressive supporting work, effective cinematography, and a great soundtrack.  The script comes up little short of great.  If the script were better, the film could have been greater success.

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