DVD Reviews
Issue 232 / April 2008 More from this Issue
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9 Star Hotel
Ido Haar
KOCH Lorber Films
Street: 02.05
Did you spend Valentine's Day taking bong rips and watching the Bourne series for the second year in a row? Your roommate used up all the hot water taking ridiculously long showers again? How about your horrible bussing job: You're worth sooo much more than they're paying you. Well, you probably won't think these things are so bad after comparing your life to the folks in this film. 9 Star Hotel follows two Palestinian brothers who must cross over the border into Israel to find work each and every day. It's hard to really understand how immensely terrible these guys' lives are without seeing it with your own two eyes. Being constantly on the run from the border patrol is the least of their worries. If you feel like you need a bit of a humbling experience without getting off of your privileged, fat, lazy ass, then watch this film. -Ross Solomon
Criss Angel: Mindfreak
The Complete Season Three
A&E Home Video
Street: 01.15
It seems these days with technology and science explaining many of life's mysteries, there is a certain mysticism and charisma life that is missing. Criss Angel brings that magic to just about everyone who wants to see it with his TV series Mindfreak, which is in its fourth season on A&E. With the third season, skeptic or not, your brain will be perplexed. You don't even need to have seen the first two seasons from this extreme magician to enjoy the third. The three-disc DVD set is packed with the man doing all sorts of tricks and stunts, like his levitation over the Luxor in Las Vegas, a couple car-crash escapes, disappearing acts and my favorite, magic performed for street audiences throughout Vegas, astounding fans and newcomers with tricks that will have you scratching your head. There is a great honesty with what Angel does. The series shows his stunts that went wrong, creating the feeling that even a master magician can't be perfect. The real fun with this DVD set is getting to watch it as many times as you want and trying to explain to yourself what you see. Criss Angel has brought a dying art form to the masses and amped it up for any age to enjoy and let their imaginations fly free. Bryer Wharton
Genitorturers
Live in Sin
MVD Visual
Street: 10.16.07
If there is one thing I hate about certain live DVDs, it's the live overdub. It is almost pointless to call the DVD release a live show because, in essence, it is not. The songs are overdubbed with audio from who knows what. In this case, it sounds almost too perfect, mainly because there is no distortion or reverb that you'd get in a live setting, as well as no crowd noise. The songs are a collection of clips from various shows, which, for the Genitorturers, I think misses the point of what they are trying to capture-the sexual gothic nature and theatrics contained in the band's show. The live feeling is extremely absent in the 10 songs included in this release, which is sad. Thrown into the already annoyingly abundant strobes are visual effects obviously added later on top of the footage, trying to give it a psychedelic feel. I know that bands don't have a lot to do with their DVD releases; in this case, I think the Genitortures would be disappointed with the bland outcome. But if you're a horny gothic teenager, this thing is the shit. Bryer Wharton
iCrusher
Complete
Earache
Street: 02.19
In the day and age of the Internet, DVD music video compilations are basically becoming obsolete because the majority of the videos on this compilation, which is actually just two older comps combined, can be found on YouTube or MySpace. I also thought the purpose of record labels releasing music video compilations was to showcase new material. Extreme metal label Earache Records tossed together their first and second iCrusher DVD compilations for whatever reason. Don't get me wrong, there are some great classic music videos on here from the likes of Godflesh, Morbid Angel, Mortis, Napalm Death and some cool relatively newer ones, but half of the second side of this double-sided disc is all audio stuff-not video. The second side is extremely old with a lot from bands that have since given up. I don't really see the point in this release other than a meager attempt to make some cash from material that's been lying around for years, yet readily available to pretty much anyone who wanted to seek it out in other forms. Bryer Wharton
Iron Maiden
Live After Death
DVD
Street:02.05
I want you to think about what a heavy-metal band should sound like. That's what Iron Maiden sounds like. Picture what the record covers of heavy metal band should look like. That's what Iron Maiden's record covers look like. Now picture what a heavy metal band's show should look like.That's exactly what Iron Maiden will give you. Big light shows, big stage props, big guitar sounds and solos. It truly is stifling to take it all in. This 1984 live show in Long Beach, Calif. shows the band at their peak. After a band has been around for so long, and they've done so much, and been through so much it's hard to see them through fresh eyes, but after this DVD, I'm reminded of why they are the standard that every metal act is held to. Bruce Dickenson jumps across the stage like a gazelle, while drummer Nicko Mcbrain, behind his monstrous kit, proves he's hands down the best heavy metal drummer ever. Tommy Lee isn't qualified to carry his crash cymbals. These guys were athletes back then and it comes through in their performance. Songs like "2 Minutes to Midnight" explode off the screen. This is just the Maiden machine at its best. Disc one contains the initial 90-minute concert, and disc two has an hour-long follow up to the Early Days DVD. Also on disc two is another 50 minutes of concert footage from a show in Rio in '85. In total, there's three hours of footage to cover. Or, I should say, three hours of bliss for any Maiden fan. James Orme
Ido Haar
KOCH Lorber Films
Street: 02.05
Did you spend Valentine's Day taking bong rips and watching the Bourne series for the second year in a row? Your roommate used up all the hot water taking ridiculously long showers again? How about your horrible bussing job: You're worth sooo much more than they're paying you. Well, you probably won't think these things are so bad after comparing your life to the folks in this film. 9 Star Hotel follows two Palestinian brothers who must cross over the border into Israel to find work each and every day. It's hard to really understand how immensely terrible these guys' lives are without seeing it with your own two eyes. Being constantly on the run from the border patrol is the least of their worries. If you feel like you need a bit of a humbling experience without getting off of your privileged, fat, lazy ass, then watch this film. -Ross Solomon
Criss Angel: Mindfreak
The Complete Season Three
A&E Home Video
Street: 01.15
It seems these days with technology and science explaining many of life's mysteries, there is a certain mysticism and charisma life that is missing. Criss Angel brings that magic to just about everyone who wants to see it with his TV series Mindfreak, which is in its fourth season on A&E. With the third season, skeptic or not, your brain will be perplexed. You don't even need to have seen the first two seasons from this extreme magician to enjoy the third. The three-disc DVD set is packed with the man doing all sorts of tricks and stunts, like his levitation over the Luxor in Las Vegas, a couple car-crash escapes, disappearing acts and my favorite, magic performed for street audiences throughout Vegas, astounding fans and newcomers with tricks that will have you scratching your head. There is a great honesty with what Angel does. The series shows his stunts that went wrong, creating the feeling that even a master magician can't be perfect. The real fun with this DVD set is getting to watch it as many times as you want and trying to explain to yourself what you see. Criss Angel has brought a dying art form to the masses and amped it up for any age to enjoy and let their imaginations fly free. Bryer Wharton
Genitorturers
Live in Sin
MVD Visual
Street: 10.16.07
If there is one thing I hate about certain live DVDs, it's the live overdub. It is almost pointless to call the DVD release a live show because, in essence, it is not. The songs are overdubbed with audio from who knows what. In this case, it sounds almost too perfect, mainly because there is no distortion or reverb that you'd get in a live setting, as well as no crowd noise. The songs are a collection of clips from various shows, which, for the Genitorturers, I think misses the point of what they are trying to capture-the sexual gothic nature and theatrics contained in the band's show. The live feeling is extremely absent in the 10 songs included in this release, which is sad. Thrown into the already annoyingly abundant strobes are visual effects obviously added later on top of the footage, trying to give it a psychedelic feel. I know that bands don't have a lot to do with their DVD releases; in this case, I think the Genitortures would be disappointed with the bland outcome. But if you're a horny gothic teenager, this thing is the shit. Bryer Wharton
iCrusher
Complete
Earache
Street: 02.19
In the day and age of the Internet, DVD music video compilations are basically becoming obsolete because the majority of the videos on this compilation, which is actually just two older comps combined, can be found on YouTube or MySpace. I also thought the purpose of record labels releasing music video compilations was to showcase new material. Extreme metal label Earache Records tossed together their first and second iCrusher DVD compilations for whatever reason. Don't get me wrong, there are some great classic music videos on here from the likes of Godflesh, Morbid Angel, Mortis, Napalm Death and some cool relatively newer ones, but half of the second side of this double-sided disc is all audio stuff-not video. The second side is extremely old with a lot from bands that have since given up. I don't really see the point in this release other than a meager attempt to make some cash from material that's been lying around for years, yet readily available to pretty much anyone who wanted to seek it out in other forms. Bryer Wharton
Iron Maiden
Live After Death
DVD
Street:02.05
I want you to think about what a heavy-metal band should sound like. That's what Iron Maiden sounds like. Picture what the record covers of heavy metal band should look like. That's what Iron Maiden's record covers look like. Now picture what a heavy metal band's show should look like.That's exactly what Iron Maiden will give you. Big light shows, big stage props, big guitar sounds and solos. It truly is stifling to take it all in. This 1984 live show in Long Beach, Calif. shows the band at their peak. After a band has been around for so long, and they've done so much, and been through so much it's hard to see them through fresh eyes, but after this DVD, I'm reminded of why they are the standard that every metal act is held to. Bruce Dickenson jumps across the stage like a gazelle, while drummer Nicko Mcbrain, behind his monstrous kit, proves he's hands down the best heavy metal drummer ever. Tommy Lee isn't qualified to carry his crash cymbals. These guys were athletes back then and it comes through in their performance. Songs like "2 Minutes to Midnight" explode off the screen. This is just the Maiden machine at its best. Disc one contains the initial 90-minute concert, and disc two has an hour-long follow up to the Early Days DVD. Also on disc two is another 50 minutes of concert footage from a show in Rio in '85. In total, there's three hours of footage to cover. Or, I should say, three hours of bliss for any Maiden fan. James Orme
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