Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)Three and a half stars
I have to admit that this documentary is something of a disappointment. Let me backtrack a second. There seems to be three types of music fans over the last three years. Those who love and worship Angels and Airwaves, those who absolutely hate Angels and Airwaves, and those who don't know who the hell Angels and Airwaves are. Unfortunately, it appears that most of the population in the world fits into the third, but I undoubtedly, undeniably and proudly fall into the first. Whisper and I-Empire are two of my favorite albums of all time and are in constant rotation on my i-pod and cd player. I regularly check forums, fan sites and Mod-Life to see what the band is up to. You can only imagine than that I was seriously looking forward to this documentary which has been talked about for for so long to finally come out. Today was that day, and I was first in line (ok, so there was no line) to pick it up (after failing to find it at three other stores first). I'm not sure what I was looking for in this film, but it was much more than what I got. Start the Machine is hardly more than any other "making of the album" special on VH1 or "Classic Albums" DVD that has been released in the past few years. The band is followed from the breakup of Blink (very briefly covered) and through the hype and eventual release of their debut album, We Don't Need To Whisper. The thing is, during the filming... nothing really seems to happen. Perhaps the aspect of this film that fans were looking forward to most (obviously aside from some Blink stuff), was Tom's reaction to the way he hyped the record and his addiction to painkillers. While this stuff is pretty interesting, we don't get to hear too much from the other band members on it. David tries to have an intervention with an overly annoying and incredibly interruptive Delonge, and Tom himself reflects on that time and how it affected him, but really it's nothing we haven't read in one of the million AVA interviews that have been done in the last year. The Ryan Sinn exit is brushed over pretty quickly and Matt is barely introduced to the audience. Unless your a superfan, there is nothing intriguing about this piece of film at all (whereas even a non-fan would find The Pink Floyd Story to be quite engaging). As far as the extras, the live songs are all from the San Diego show back in 06' that have been widely available on I-Tunes and P2P sites. The short films are all on YouTube and pretty much on any AVA fan site.
All of that being said, the absolute highlight of the DVD is the commentary that the band does over the entire film. Matt is hilarious and you get to hear that side of Tom that makes you remember why you first started to love him. The guys are obviously good friends and all seem to be great dudes. They make fun of each other (in good fun) throughout much of the film and to be honest it is far more entertaining than the actual documentary. It's the reason I'm giving this the rating its getting.
Anyway, bottom line is, if you're a fan you should pick this up... without expecting too much. If you're not a fan, this isn't for you. And if you're trying to get someone into AVA (a constant goal and battle of mine), this is not the best approach. Adios.
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Start the Machine is a film the Chronicles the genesis of rock band Angels & Airwaves and the recording of their first CD We Don't Need To Whisper in 2005.The DVD runs 72 minutes in length and was shot mostly in the studio as the band recorded.The film addresses the break-up of Tom Delonge's former band Blink-182, the backlash from his boastful statements in the press, his addiction to prescription medication, and showcases epic Angels & Airwaves live performance pieces from their first headliningtour in 2006.Live performances from their triumphant San Diego show are featured throughout this disc.DVD also includes 2 music video and 4 short films.
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