20150515: Documentary Review--Thievery Corporation: Live at 9:30

Thievery Corporation: Live at 9:30

1. Fundamentals, reception.
1. American live action feature length film, 2011, NR, 97 minutes, documentary, music.
2. IMDB: 8.8/10.0 from 12 audience ratings. Twelve ratings is not much of a sample.
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 'No reviews yet...' and 100% wanted to see it from 1 audience ratings.  Yes, that is ONE audience rating.
4. I watched this on Crackle, complete with commercials.  The commercials, at least, were done by professionals.
5. Directed by: Jolyon Hoff.
6. Starring: Thievery Corporation.


2. Setup and Plot
1. The film consists of concert footage interwoven with documentary interviews.


2. The camerawork on the concert footage is truly poor.  The sound recording and playback is rather good, but the visuals are amateurish in comparison.


3. Perhaps most unfortunate about this uninspired effort is that the interviews (beautifully shot, but impoverished in content) seem to have less than nothing to do with the concert footage.


4. I have recently watched and reviewed Metallica: Through the Never, Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage, and Muscle Shoals.  Compared to those majestic accomplishments, this film is amateurishly directed, visually ugly, and musically listless.


3. Conclusions
1. For better 'world music' try Afro-Celt.
2. I would not recommend this to anyone.  The best parts were the commercials.
3. One line summary: If you enjoy lens flare and smoke, you'll love this.
4. Two stars of five.


4. Scores
1. Cinematography: 0/10 If you enjoy lens flare and smoke, you'll love this.  The film is beyond belief ugly.  The multiple overlay method fails badly; the background videos seem irrelevant.


2. Sound: 10/10 Just fine.  That is why I gave the film 2/5 instead of a (first ever) 0/5.


3. Acting: z/10 Supposedly not applicable here, but some numbers were clearly lip-synced, and done so quite poorly.


4. Screenplay: 2/10 Documentary clips: relentlessly boring, incomplete, and self-important.  Concert footage: musicians were competent, but poorly presented visually.  Fusion: complete failure.  With eyes closed, the film is a bit better.

20140514: Documentary Review--Muscle Shoals

Muscle Shoals

1. Fundamentals, reception.
1. American live action feature length film, 2013, NR, 111 minutes, music, documentary.
2. IMDB: 7.5/10.0 from 865 audience ratings.
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 96% on the meter; 88% liked it from 2,937 audience ratings.
4. Netflix: 4.43/5.0 from 23,960 audience ratings.
5. Directed by:  Greg 'Freddie' Camalier.
6. Starring:  Rick Hall, Jimmy Johnson, Bono, Keith Richards, Mick Jagger, Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett, Percy Sledge (When a Man Loves a Woman), Allman Brothers, Lynard Skynard, Jerry Wexler.


2. Setup and Plot
1. The recording house Fame Recording Studios began in the small town of Muscle Shoals, Alabama, seemingly out of nowhere.  The film fills in a lot of back story, commentary from well-known music figures, and a great deal of local colour.  The early perspective was with Rick Hall, who led a group of local musicians who became his session crew for recordings with big names such as Percy Sledge, Wilson Pickett, and Aretha Franklin.


2. The story of how Wilson Pickett and Duane Allman conspired to make a cover of the Beatles' Hey Jude was touching, magical, and hilarious, as was the short story given of the beginning of the Allman Brothers Band.


3. At one point, Rick Hall got a contract with Capital Records.  When he announces that, his early crew has an announcement of their own.  They broke off and went with Jerry Wexler (Atlantic Records) to form Muscle Shoals Recording Studios in the same town.  At first the new studio did not do well, but then the Stones recorded You've Got to Move, Wild Horses, and Brown Sugar, three of their best blues tunes, at MSRS.


4. Rick Hall was in a feud with Jerry Wexler, and recruited a new session crew using the leverage of Capital Records.  He formed a new rhythm section called the Fame Gang.  This worked well for him.  He cut records with Lou Rawls, Bobbie Gentry, Candi Staton, King Curtis, Little Richard, Mac Davis, Joe Tex, and plenty more.  In 1971, Rick became Producer of the Year, which he did not achieve with his original session group.


5. Jimmy Johnson's MSRS was also doing interesting things.  They signed Lynard Skynard, and recorded a number of great cuts with them.  However, the band ended up leaving Johnson when he could not sell a nine minute single to any record company.  After a plane crash took the lives of three band members, two of the survivors came back to Johnson and asked that 11 of the 17 cuts they did at MSRS become the next album.


6. The stories about Jimmy Cliff (early reggae) and Steve Winwood (Traffic) recording with MSRS and going on the road with them were just delicious. Bob Seger, Paul Simon, Bob Dylan, Rod Stewart, Glenn Fry, and a host of others recorded at MSRS.


3. Conclusions
1. This one of the best documentaries I've ever seen.
2. If you like modern music (last 50 years or so), catch this film: for the musical history, for the cultural references, for the magic and the misfires.
3. From Sweet Home Alabama: '...now Muscle Shoals has the Swampers...'; this film gives a complete explanation.
4. This film really does deserve the 96% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
5. One line summary: Beautiful portrait of two of the greatest recording studios.
6. Five stars of five.


4. Scores
1. Cinematography: 9/10 Beautifully shot; only some of the archival footage was not great looking, but no surprise there.


2. Sound: 10/10 Oh, so good.


3. Acting: z/10 Not relevant here.


4. Screenplay: 10/10 Nicely organised; one gets a feel for the practical magic of the two studios in Muscle Shoals.

20140513: Documentary Review--Coldplay Live 2012

Coldplay Live 2012

1. Fundamentals, reception.
1. British live action feature length film, 2012, TV-PG, 59 minutes, music, documentary.
2. IMDB: 8.4/10.0 from 418 audience ratings.
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 'No score yet,' and 95% liked it from 109 audience ratings.
4. Netflix: 4.1/5.0 from 39,415 audience ratings.  The 59 minute version was offered.
5. Directed by: Paul Dugdale.
6. Starring: Coldplay (Chris Martin, Guy Berryman, Jonny Buckland, Will Champion), Rihanna.


2. Setup and Plot
1. This concert footage film was generally in support of the album Mylo Xyloto.  Cuts from that album (Us Against the World, Paradise) plus some old favourites such as Clocks, Viva La Vida.


2. The footage was shot mainly from Stade de France and from Glastonbury's Pyramid Stage.  The visuals with the thousands of lit wrist bracelets were interesting.


3. There is a little commentary from Chris Martin in voiceover versus some poor footage of band members.  Otherwise, there were no interviews or insights.


3. Conclusions
1. One line summary: Find the 96 minute version if you can.
2. Three stars of five.


4. Scores
1. Cinematography: 4/10 Meh.  Disappointing.  Looked like late eighties, early nineties.


2. Sound: 10/10 Quite good.


3. Acting: z/10 Not really applicable in documentary.


4. Screenplay: 5/10 Not interesting.  It only had concatenated concert performance footage, which was not that good.

20140513: Documentary Review--Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage

Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage

1. Fundamentals, reception.
1. Canadian live action feature length film, 2010, NR, 106 minutes, documentary, music.
2. IMDB: 8.4/10.0 from 2,369 audience ratings.
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 100% on the meter; 94% liked it from 1,816 audience ratings.
4. Netflix: 4.3/5.0 from 89,551 audience ratings.
5. Directed by: Sam Dunn, Scot McFadyen.
6. Starring: Rush (Geddy Lee, Neil Peart, Alex Lifeson), Billy Corgan, Gene Simmons, Jack Black, Les Claypool.


2. Setup and Plot
1. The film takes a three-pronged approach.  First, there are interviews done in contemporary time, with the three principals of Rush, and well-known musicians who admire them, or were influenced by them.  Second, there are interviews with family, handlers, and music industry associates.  Third, there are many archival clips of live performances of Rush.


2. Their growth from getting their first radio play in Cleveland to being well-known was quite engaging; the first hour slipped by quickly, going from nowhere to the album Moving Pictures.  Then the issue of dealing with fame started to come in.  Fan interaction rose strongly.  Alex and Geddy were fine with that, but Neil was more of a private person and avoids interactions.


3. The band's character and their fans' characteristics are compared in lots of detail.  Neil was the principal lyricist, and his special talent seems to be reflecting his deep literacy in terms that just about anyone can understand.  Further, their music tends to be complex, yet still accessible.


4. In the eighties, the group switched producer and instruments toward synthesizers, electronic drumsets, and keyboards.  They trended toward shorter songs with less complexity, less bass, and more keyboard.  Some of their fans drifted away, many others did not.


5. As one of their industry admirers put it, there were different periods of Rush, and that is one of the things that makes them interesting.  Toward the end of the eighties, they switched producers again, and went back into being a 'power trio' again, but in the current context.


6. Around 1997, Neil's daughter died in an accident, and his wife passed from illness not too long after.  He embarked on a long trip on motorcycle (55k miles).  The band shutdown while Neil healed.


7. When Neil returned, there was a period of getting his chops back.  They recorded a new album; they went on the road again.  The band was rejuvenated, and traveled to places where they had ever been before, to large audiences.  In the 21st century, some of their fans from the seventies celebrate them: the makers of South Park and Steven Colbert, for instance.


8. Up to the time the documentary was made, the band was going strong.  As Geddy said at one point, Rush is the world's most popular cult band.


3. Conclusions
1. One line summary: Finely crafted documentary of the legendary Canadian rock group Rush.
2. Five stars of five.


4. Scores
1. Cinematography: 9/10 Nicely done.  The archival footage clips look like the eras they came from, but the current interviews looks sharp and well-produced.


2. Sound: 10/10 Seldom disappoints.  I wish there had been more concert footage, but the exposition was too good to be omitted.


3. Acting: z/10 Not really applicable here.


4. Screenplay: 10/10 Well-organised, well-presented, and rich in the level of information that it presents.

20140513: Documentary Review--Talihina Sky: The Story of Kings of Leon

Talihina Sky: The Story of Kings of Leon

1. Fundamentals, reception.
1. American live action feature length film, 2011, NR, 85 minutes, music, documentary.
2. IMDB: 7.0/10.0 from 626 audience ratings.
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 50% on the meter; 73% liked it from 273 audience ratings.
4. Netflix: 3.8/5.0 from 35,485 audience ratings.
5. Directed by: Stephen C. Mitchell.
6. Starring: Caleb, Jared, Nathan, Matthew Followill.


2. Setup and Plot
1. The Followills are family: deeply religious, poor, with musical traditions in the church.  Their relatives are interviewed.  There are extensive snapshots of the band on its way up, coupled with footage of the reactions from within the family during that process.


2. Segments of the film compare and contrast: the family's poverty versus the successful band's enormous wealth; the stern religion of many of the family versus the drug use, sexual freedom, and foul language of the band; the political conservatism of the family versus the relatively PC outlook of the band.


3. These disparities have all sorts of fallout, as one sees throughout the film.  Many of the family are happy for the band; some worry for their welfare.  Much of the white hot energy of the band's music and lyrics come from these harsh differences.  Some of the band members deal with these issues consciously, and the process seems not to be over.


4. In the long run, how well will the band's members keep dealing with the family issues?  If they reach resolution, will the band still have the same level of fire and creativity?


3. Conclusions
1. One line summary: Documentary of the roots of Kings of Leon.
2. Three stars of five.


4. Scores
1. Cinematography: 5/10 Varies quite a bit.  Most of it is fairly bad.  It was nice to see some of Oklahoma again.


2. Sound: 6/10 I expect hugely wonderful sound on a movie about a successful rock group.  Compared to the sound in Metallica: Through the Never, this is just week-old porridge.  In addition, there is very little music actually played from the Kings of Leon: two partial songs at the end, which was only a little redemption.


3. Acting: z/10 Documentary; this does not apply.


4. Screenplay: 7/10 To my mind, there were too many cuts and joins.  The same points could have been made with three examples instead of twenty. On the whole, though, the exposition was still effective, just redundant.

20140512: Music Review--Black Keys 2008

The Black Keys Live at the Crystal Ballroom

1. Fundamentals, reception.
1. American live action feature length film, 2008, NR, 64 minutes, music, documentary.
2. IMDB: 5.1/10.0 from 30 audience ratings.
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 'No reviews yet' and 100% liked it from 15 audience ratings.
4. I watched this on Crackle.  The commercials were quite an improvement over the sub-amateur concert content.
5. Directed by: Lance Bangs.
6. Starring: Daniel Auerbach (guitar, vocals, keyboard) and Patrick J. Carney (drums) as themselves.


2. Setup and Plot
1. The Black Keys was a two man group in this 2008 effort: Daniel on guitar, keyboard, and vocals, Patrick on drums.


2. The pair was recorded during a set at the Crystal Ballroom in Portland, Oregon, USA.


3. The visuals are between poor and worse.  The audio is not that good. 


4. One can make out some of the sound that would later mature into something good.  The musical style for which the group achieved fame was definitely not present yet.


3. Conclusions
1. One line summary: Might be interesting for die-hard fans.
2. Two stars of five.


4. Scores
1. Cinematography: 1/10 Sub-VHS quality.  Bad focus, lens flare, so-so framing, contrast flattening.  Looks like the worst-ever camcorder product from the eighties.


2. Sound: 4/10 Not very good.  I've heard far better quality from Black Keys cuts on the FM radio in my car.  Their expanded group for post 2010 efforts has a much better sound.


3. Acting: z/10 Not really relevant.  This is musical performance only, with no further aspirations.


4. Screenplay: 3/10 Straight-up concert recording, with no particular frills, or acting, or story line.  This was about the longest 64 minutes I can remember.

20140509: Documentary Review--Metallica Through the Never

Metallica Through the Never

Rob Trujillo

1. Fundamentals, reception.
1. American live action feature length film, 2013, NR, 92 minutes, documentary, music, heavy metal.
2. IMDB: 7.3/10.0 from 8,349 audience ratings.
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 78% on the meter; 78% liked it from 11,871 audience ratings.
4. Netflix: 3.9/5.0 from 12,828 audience ratings.
5. Directed by: Nimrod Antal.  Written by: Nimrod Antal, Kirk Hammett, and Lars Ulrich.
6. Starring: Dane DeHaan as Trip; as themselves: James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, Kirk Hammett, Robert Trujillo; Kyle Thomsen as The Rider.


2. Setup and Plot
1. This is a two-layered film.  There is the live action concert footage, then there is a fictional layer about Trip the roadie.


2. The camera work was crisply shot with excellent equipment and was brilliantly edited.  The sound was seamlessly joined to it.


3. Some of the most powerful moments for me were when the thousands of audience members sang the choruses in unison, while the band listened and encouraged.  I wished I had been there.


3. Conclusions
1. If you like heavy metal in general, or Metallica in particular, see this one.
2. One line summary: The live action concert footage was great; the contrived side-plot, not so much.
3. Four stars of five.


4. Scores
1. Cinematography: 10/10 Inventive and of professional quality; excellent camera crew and film editing.


2. Sound: 10/10 The sound quality and editing were great.


3. Acting: 7/10 Loved the live action concert performances. James Hetfield is quite the showman. The icing from the Trip video did not add anything.  Fortunately, the sound editing moved across those parts without a hitch.


4. Screenplay: 7/10 Fortunately, the live action concert footage was dominant.  I liked the lasers and pyrotechnics, plus the way the props crew constructed huge pieces while the band continued.  The so-so fictional sub-plot about the roadie, Trip, was less interesting.