// Category Archive for: DVD

I Need That Record! The Death (Or Possible Survival) Of The Independent Record Store

By Less Lee Moore

I Need That Record! purports to be a “documentary feature examining why over 3,000 independent record stores have closed across the US in the past decade.” But it’s much more than that. In truth, the film does a splendid job of not only showing the causal links that led to this somewhat alarming situation, but also asking, answering, and ultimately, allowing its viewers to weigh in on what this really means.
(more…)

Rock ‘n’ Roll High School 30th Anniversary Special Edition

By Less Lee Moore

Although for many, The Ramones represent the birth of the US punk scene in the ’70s, I was only about three years old when the band first formed in 1974. For me, The Ramones were the four weird-looking, tall dudes who kept popping up in promos for MTV in 1981. Most of the videos in the early days of MTV were fairly bizarre; at that point the channel would show any videos they could and the shift to glamorous, new wave pretty boys had not yet occurred. However, even amongst Loverboy, Meatloaf, Split Enz, and The Tubes, The Ramones looked pretty damn strange.

I didn’t see Rock ‘n’ Roll High School until a few years later, when I’d officially hit my own teenage years. I remember feeling confused and vaguely uncomfortable, not totally grasping why it was supposed to be so great. The news of the upcoming release of a 30th Anniversary Special Edition made me curious to see how the film as aged. Would it be funny? Would it be relevant?

Thankfully, the answer to both questions is, “YES.”
(more…)

Review: Peacock

By Lisa Anderson

Not much happens in the small, quiet town of Peacock, Nebraska, until one day, a train caboose jumps the rail and lands in the backyard of bank clerk John Skillpa. Everyone thinks the young Skillpa is a bachelor, and has lived alone in the house since the death of his mother the previous year; when the neighbors rush to the scene however, they find an woman—thankfully uninjured—who they’ve never met before.

She introduces herself as Emma and says that she lives there. Soon, this woman, who all assume to be John’s wife, is drawn not only into the web of state and local politics focused on the runaway caboose, but also into the dark secrets of John’s life, which he had been keeping even from her.
(more…)

1991: The Year Punk Broke Screens At Hot Docs

By Less Lee Moore

The title of this film—which documented the 1991 European club festival tour of Sonic Youth, a pre-world-famous Nirvana, and other bands—was intended as an ironic comment on the music industry. Although the film came out in 1992 and it was released on VHS shortly thereafter, it is still not available on DVD. How is this possible?

“It’s not on DVD because the rock & roll industry is full of shit,” quips filmmaker David Markey. “There I said it. Also, I totally blame Lady Gaga and her fans,” he adds sarcastically. In fact, Markey prepared a “deluxe” DVD package in 2004, including bonus live performances by Sonic Youth and Nirvana, audio commentary by Markey and Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore, and a 2003 panel discussion of the film at the Arclight in Hollywood with Markey, Moore, and others.
(more…)

Quantizing Your Pulse: The Heart Is A Drum Machine

By Adam McIntyre

“Why music?”

The Heart Is A Drum Machine attempts to answer that question in several ways with testimonials from musicians, actors, scientists, and doctors. Bookending the film are two little pieces with Ann Druyan, producer of the Cosmos television series (starring her husband, the late astrophysicist Carl Sagan) and the human responsible for choosing the music on the Golden Record included during the deep space probe of Voyager. Even if you don’t believe in life on other planets, including this record on Voyager is a gesture of poignant optimism; it’s entirely likely that the record would be damaged or misunderstood in purpose when discovered.
(more…)

The T.A.M.I. Show, Collector’s Edition DVD

By Noreen Sobczyk

Perhaps you’ve seen some incarnation of this historic program via bootlegs, but this is the first time The T.A.M.I. Show (Teenage Awards Music International) has seen an official release. Little Steven has been quoted as saying “It’s the greatest rock movie you’ve never seen.” That may be debatable, but The T.A.M.I. Show sure is a treasure.
(more…)

Blank Generation On DVD

By Less Lee Moore

Richard Hell got me my first paying job in the music industry. Sort of.
(more…)

Muse: Under Review DVD

By Christian Lipski

Muse: Under Review is a retrospective of the British rock band’s career since its start in Teignmouth, UK (and thank you for showing me how that is pronounced).

It’s an unauthorized biography, meaning the members of Muse did not contribute or endorse the material. Immediately, I’m assuming this means no music, no photos, and no new information, which was the main problem with earlier documentaries like Muse: Manic Depression.

Happily, I was well mistaken here. The DVD is filled to the brim with clips from videos and live performances, behind-the-scenes photos, and interviews with music journalists and key participants in the band’s rise. It’s two hours of in-depth study which should make the band’s fans glow with satisfaction.
(more…)

Andy Barker, P.I.

By Michelle Patterson

One of Andy Richter’s strengths as a comedic actor is something he was just born with: his cherubic face. What the majority of his performances exhibited—in his other (sadly) failed television shows and various film roles—was a wholesome, dimpled mug offset against a usually sardonic soul or secret freak-of-nature. It’s an old show business trick (see Jack Benny and even Dick Van Dyke) but it works.
(more…)

Growing Old With The State

By Jesse Roth

Bopping along through the 1990s, I found myself immersed in a rather enjoyable childhood. I was growing in all the same ways my elementary-aged kid peers were, while also straddling the fence between juvenile pleasures and my desire to feel more grown-up. This divide applied almost everywhere in my life, from musical tastes to imagining that I was living a twenty-something life like my idols on MTV and other teen/adult-friendly fare. At this same juncture in life, I was also refining my sense of humor, discovering what made me laugh beyond the physical comedy I enjoyed in cartoons, Three Stooges shorts, and the very early Woody Allen films (such as Take the Money and Run) my family had introduced to me.
(more…)