// Category Archive for: DVD

Duran Duran, Hammersmith ’82!

By Less Lee Moore

As a longtime Duranie, I remember all too well the anti-Duran Duran sentiments of the 1980s. Duran Duran’s career has now lasted about thirty years and due to the band’s impressive longevity, unique sound, undeniable influence, and general affability, I thought that phase was long past.

After seeing one incredibly nasty comment made about the band recently, I felt almost personally offended, shocked that anyone still clung to such negative thoughts after all this time. Haven’t Duran Duran more than proven themselves by now?

I invite such haters to watch the newly-released Hammersmith ’82! DVD and defy them to feel anything but joy after seeing it.
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High School Record DVD

By Noreen Sobczyk

File under “seemed like a really good idea.” This film, which played Sundance in 2005, was essentially promoted as a tale of awkward high school students and their escapades of embarrassment. But it came off more like indie hipsters trying hard to act like awkward geeks in situations the director/writer (Ben Wolfinsohn) thought were terribly clever. As it happens, the film features members of No Age, Mika Miko, and Lavender Diamond. There was also a short cameo by Mike Watt (Minutemen).

It’s a bare bones budget film inspired by a short which is included in the DVD bonus features. Unfortunately one of the most clever moments of the film was extremely similar. Also unfortunate: the film is cast with actors who seemingly never bothered to learn to act. And the viewer is therefore never drawn in enough to forget they are watching a film. Perhaps the director is a fan of the punk rock film Suburbia (cast with local punks), and was emulating the same vibe achieved there by Penelope Spheeris. Or he might have been aiming for the kitschiness of Dave Markey’s Desperate Teenage Lovedolls. Odds are it was a riff on Napoleon Dynamite and Freaks and Geeks. High School Record falls short on all accounts.

This mockumentary opens with a performance by a male/female guitar/drums duo who made me curse the existence of The White Stripes. This band decides to film their art school classmates for a documentary which focuses chiefly on four high school seniors and their clumsy attempts at popularity and sex. The strongest component of the film is the short lived relationship between Sabrina and Caleb. Their dynamic is unique, engaging, and simultaneously painful to watch. Sabrina isn’t interested in Caleb’s attempts to make a space age cooking show for kids, and is embarrassed when he sports tinfoil shorts to school. That moment might have been brilliant if its intended effect weren’t already perfectly achieved by the donning of an infamously ridiculous polyester jumpsuit by Sam on an episode of Freaks and Geeks.

Overall, the film had several eclectic and funny moments. The trouble is that they were stretched out over 89 minutes chock full of unsuccessful gags and slow periods. Had the film been limited to 60 minutes, and the participants been a bit less precious, it may have been more successful.

You may order High School Record directly from the Factory Twenty Five website. You can also check out images and a clip from the film there or watch a trailer on YouTube.

Otis Redding, The Best: See & Hear

By Adam McIntyre

A new release of a refreshingly different kind, Otis Redding: Respect Live 1967 is the bonus DVD accompanying Shout Factory’s new best-of Otis Redding CD. Despite being presented sort of strangely, the DVD of a pair of performances from 1967 is mandatory viewing for a vast cross-section of music lovers.
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You Weren’t There: A History of Chicago Punk 1977 – 1984 DVD

By Noreen Sobczyk

You Weren’t There sheds light on the consistently underrepresented punk scene of Chicago. It wasn’t only in New York and Los Angeles that American freaks gathered together to listen to the latest records by punk bands in sweaty dive bars. This well-made and engaging film conveys the excitement many in Chicago felt about the new music bursting forth from the underground.
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The Decline of Disney

By Maureen

They don’t make ’em like they used to: the nature of Walt Disney productions has changed. In the mid-1990s, the success of Toy Story brought the new (and previously untapped) market of computer animation into the picture. Disney’s computer-animated films have become very popular, and there are some quality movies affiliated with Disney. Recently, both WALL-E and Up have received critical and financial success. As Disney has begun to adapt their technology and marketing to the computer age, the overall tenor of their animated films has monopolized the genre.
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Top Five Desert Island Discs: DVDs

By Christian Lipski

What makes a D.I.D.? It’s not necessarily your favorite movie—we’re talking about a desert island here (albeit one with a DVD player). You’re only going to have these movies for what may be years, and that’s the deal: they need to stand up to repeated viewing, and although that may include your top five faves of all time, it also may exclude them. For example, Star Wars is one of my favorite movies. It played a major role in my adolescence, and I will still watch it today. However, since I’ve seen it so many many times, I would probably regret bringing a move that I have memorized, and would not go to it as often. That said, my five DIDs are. . .
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NYC Foetus DVD

By Less Lee Moore

For a discussion of the music on Limb, please read my review here.

For a discussion of the design elements of the 48-page Limb booklet, please read Ann Clarke’s review here.

JG Thirlwell has been making music since 1978. . .
He is a singer, a producer, a musician, a composer and a graphic artist.
From the intro to NYC Foetus, directed by Clément Tuffreau
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B.B. King, Live In Africa ’74 DVD

By Adam McIntyre

If pressed about my blues preferences, influences, or interests, I’ll stammer for a moment, name some greats, and whatever single, obscure guitarist I can vaguely pluck from my past to show that maybe we have common interests, and that I’ve educated myself a little deeper than your average blues wanker.

It’s much simpler, actually, than naming a few names once I think about it; I’m mostly a blues racist and an elitist. Oops, yeah, did I just call myself a blues racist? That’s weird, definitely, but here’s the deal: I stopped playing blues because I became increasingly self-conscious about coming across as some angsty white kid in a tie, absentmindedly regurgitating legitimately black licks.
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John Lennon & The Plastic Ono Band, Live In Toronto ’69 DVD

By Less Lee Moore

“It gave me a great feeling, a feeling I haven’t had for a long time. It convinced me to do more appearances, either with or without the rest of the Beatles. Everything went down so well.”
—John Lennon, as quoted on the Ottawa Beatles Site

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Otis Redding, Respect Live 1967 DVD

By Danny R. Phillips

Let’s be frank. Soul music of late has well, lost its soul. Sure, there is some talent out there. The NeYos of the world can dance, but would be lost without the new wonder known as AutoTune; Chris Brown has “allegedly” beat his girlfriend Rihanna; Justin Timberlake can sing and dance some but his connection with N’Sync will forever take away his soul card; Amy Winehouse is a great talent that will lose/has lost it all to crack; and R. Kelly spends too much time in handcuffs and at home making movies.
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