|
Below are our favorite films as we progress through Blockbuster's catalog; as well as ones that should be avoided at all costs. Also, there are some music related DVD film reviews below. Highly Recommended: Everything Is Illuminated The Horribly Wrong:
Freedomland On DVD: The
Allman Brothers Band This
is a hot new DVD of the quintessential blues jam band rocking
out during one of their annual Beacon Theatre shows in NYC in
March 2003. Since the latest incarnation of the Allman Brothers
recently released their first record in sometime Hittin' the Note
(Peach/Sanctuary), this DVD fits nicely into their new rebirth.
Probably the most striking thing about the current lineup of ABB
is the fresh face of Derek Trucks sharing lead guitar time with
Warren Haynes. In his mid-twenties, Trucks is a guitar wiz and
sweetly adds to the band's composition - and it doesn't hurt that
he is the nephew of founding drummer Butch Trucks. Yet the guitars
can't overshadow the fact that ABB also employs three percussionists
- so redundancy abounds. The second disc includes the encore of show, the hotastic "One Way Out," a dressing room acoustic rehearsal of "Old Friend," a couple of interviews and some behind the scenes footage. I think mostly this is driven by the interviews which are done exceptionally well. The interviews start out with Butch Trucks stating that this is probably the best lineup and most concentrated group since the start with Duane Allman. The interviews then go through all the members talking about the group and how great it is now. But the interviews also include basically everything about the band from the current and past sounds, the roots of the band, the new album, etc.... This is the best part here and this second disc makes the DVD worth purchasing.
Noam
Chomsky If you have never heard of Noam Chomsky than it is most likely that you have been living under a rock or you aren't old enough to have run into intelligent political dissent. The world-renowned Chomsky, professor of linguistics at MIT, has spanned the intellectual world producing work on linguistics, philosophy, politics and media to name a few. This DVD includes a talk on the U.S. "war on terrorism" from Harvard University and a question and answer session from that talk and from MIT. Also, the DVD has Chomsky's bibliography, biography and CV. Throughout the talk at Harvard, Chomsky attempts to place and discuss the war on terrorism in a philosophically logical way. Meaning, start with a set of assumptions, move through a set of arguments and arrive at a set of conclusions about the given topic; here terrorism. While taking slight shots at the Bush administration, Chomsky gives this administration and past administrations the benefit of the doubt in many respects concerning foreign policy and fighting terrorism. Chomsky also discusses the veil of ignorance placed on most Americans by the news media and the historical record. Meaning, people, from whatever country, only know what they are told or experience in the first person. Hence, most Americans know foreign policy through the eyes of the American media; a media that skews facts and distorts motivations to fit the world-view. (Yet, it should be mentioned that all media from different parts of the world filter information through their world-view.) Most importantly, Chomsky discusses the mid-80s (specifically, 1985) and how the terrorist events most discussed were tiny events compared to state "terrorism" in other events in the Middle East. The question-answer section of the DVD includes fifteen questions from both the Harvard talk and a different talk that appears to be at MIT. This is about an hour long and Chomsky comes across as more combative than in his talk; at times, like he is under fire. Well, actually, he is combative at the Q&A at MIT and much less after the Harvard talk. Chomsky fields questions on many topics from the U.S. dealing with terrorism, Israeli-Palestinian relations, U.S. and oil and the war on drugs in Central and South America. The biography and the bibliography should be placed on the CV given that what encompasses a CV. Regardless, here the biography is his academic life in paragraph form. The CV is basically the biography in bullet points. Amongst this, it is interesting that Chomsky grew up in Philly and did all of his schooling at Upenn. He then went to MIT for his first job and has been there ever since. Also, in the past five years or so, Chomsky has received honorary degrees from like 20 or so universities and many of these are the best in the world. The bibliography contains lists of his political books broken up by time. It would have been nice to see more in the bibliography section, e.g., all written material or at least articles on politics; though, it would take up a lot of space. Distorted
Reality is perfect for someone who has Manufacturing Consent
perpetually on their bedside table. Also, it is a nice complimentary
piece to Chomsky's recently published monograph 9/11.
Punk-O-Rama
- The Videos This DVD furthers the line of samplers started some time ago by Epitaph to introduce listeners to their variety of bands in a low-cost manner. One problem with most of the sampler comps is that you get a bunch of junk mixed with great songs by great bands, but usually you already have the records that are great and you are left with junk.
If
you would like to send some ideas, evaluations, reviews, etc.
of recent films just send us an email: maddy@exoduster.com
copyright exoduster.com 2006 |
||
