The Who - The Kids Are Alright (Special Edition) Review

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(More customer reviews)After having seen several other major DVD opportunities get squandered (The Beatles's HARD DAYS NIGHT leaps to mind), it is an utter delight to watch/listen to this DVD. It is great on several levels: the original film was one of the best collections of live performances in the history of rock, the reissue has dramatically improved the look and sound of the film, and the Special Edition extra disc includes some truly wonderful features. This ought to be the model for all future reissues, such as when/if they reissue the Rolling Stones's TWENTY-FIVE BY FIVE.
Only a couple of years ago I was trying to explain to my daughter that in the sixties and seventies, the Who were full-fledged members of the rock Pantheon, as revolutionary and crucial as the Stones, the Beatles, or Led Zeppelin. For some reason, they went into a bit of a decline in the general musical consciousness (I found kids my daughter's age might not know of them at all, whereas they knew the other aforementioned bands quite well). Thanks to some timely re-released and a tragic tour that saw the death of John Entwhistle, their star truly seems to be on the ascendant again. This album is crucial for proving what all of us at the time knew: the Who was without question one of the very greatest live bands of all time.
The Who was an amazing band, full of paradoxes. Roger Daltrey was one of the great front men in the history of rock, and Pete Townshend a crack songwriter and arguably the most entertaining to watch guitarist of all time. Yet, the lead instruments in the band, almost unique in rock, were Keith Moon and his maniacally abused drum kit and John Entwhistle's bass, both of them among the top two or three of all time on their instruments, if not the best. They were a great rhythm section, but they jointly tended to take over the songs musically, unlike Charlie Watts and Bill Wyman for the Stones, who were content to stay rock solid in the background. Live, they were amazing, with Daltrey marching in place, swinging the mike around like David about to use his sling against Goliath; Pete Townshend dancing disjointedly around while doing his famous helicopter chording of the guitar; Keith Moon playing as if he were on eight different drugs, tossing his drumsticks ten and twenty feet in the air; and amid it all, like the quiet in the eye of the hurricane, John Entwhistle standing stock still, motionless except for his hands moving up and down his bass, playing the instrument better than anyone else ever had, or perhaps has since.
The film begins with a bang, with a famous appearance on The Smothers Brothers Show (an awesome show because it was so amazingly subversive, with Tom and Dick acting like total squares, but in reality leftists who loved exposing the public to acts like Lenny Bruce and Mort Sahl, and bands like The Who and Cream). Unlike Ed Sullivan, Tom and Dick truly loved these bands, and the opening number/skit, a rollicking version of "My Generation" (with Roger Daltrey suffering so badly from a faux upper-induced stammer that was a badge of their identification with the amphetamine-crazed Mods that one isn't certain he is going to be able to finish each line). Each number brings new revelations or refreshes old memories. For instance, in "I Can't Explain" from SHINDIG! Keith Moon is sporting a T-shirt with a bull's eye on it, a full decade before Richard Hell would achieve notoriety in New York for wearing one when he was still with Television.
The numbers included in the film are both wide-ranging and representative. I suppose any Who fan will find many of their own favorites missing, but no one can complain that the numbers focus too much on one phase of their career. The selections are extraordinarily well balanced. One of the more poignant features is the fact that the performance of "Won't Get Fooled Again," which was performed specifically for the film so that they could have one really good performance on film of one of their most famous numbers, was the last time the Who ever performed in their original line up; Keith Moon would die only three months later.
The extras disc is truly worth having, with a feature on the restoration of the movie, and nice items like a tour of the Who's London, an interview with Roger Daltrey, and, my favorite bit, interesting versions of "Baba O'Riley" and "Won't Get Fooled Again," that features only John Entwhistle's bass and visuals. There is no question about it: the guy could play bass.
All in all, one is going to come across very few music DVDs quite this good. I highly recommend it.

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The Original Director's Cut, digitally remastered in Hi-Definition and remixed in 5.1 & DTS Restored to the original "Director’s Cut" length of 109 minutes. Almost 100 minutes of never-before-seen multi-camera angle footage. Completely re-mastered in Hi-Definition and 5.1 surround from the original film elements and multi-tracks. Presented in its original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.1:85. Packed with a 32 page collectable booklet. Commentary by Director Jeff Stein. Ultimate edition also includes: Multi Camera Angles - An extremely rare feature that is almost 100 minutes and featuring as many as 6 angles including a Pete cam, a Roger cam, a Moonie cam and an Ox cam. Making of the DVD - 40 minute feature offering an in-depth look at how the film was restored.Audio Comparison - This 8 minute feature provides a direct side-by-side comparison of the before and after audio. Video Comparison - This 6 minute feature provides a direct side-by-side comparison of the before and after so people can see what they’ve been missing all these 24 years! The Ox - A very special audio feature allowing the user to select an isolated audio track of legendary bassist John Entwistle. The Who's London - An interactive feature offering the viewer a video tour of Who landmarks. Trivia Games - Questions to test your knowledge with a prize of a newly mixed 5.1 rendering of the album version of "Who Are You" playing a video light/slide show and a long lost recording of Ringo Starr. English Subtitles - Figuring out the lyrics the band is singing is one thing, but deciphering what they say while screaming over each other is a whole other puzzle.

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Touching the Void Review

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(More customer reviews)My son and I came out of the theater exhausted just by watching this quasi-documentary reenactment of the 1985 ascent up an unclimbed route on the Siula Grande glacier in Peru. The film's impact is heightened by the excellent cutting between the actor/climbers and Simon Yates and Joe Simpson, who recall their actions, reactions, and feelings nearly 20 years later. Disaster strikes on the descent, where -- as one of them notes -- "80 percent of accidents happen." After Simpson breaks his leg in a fall, Yates -- against impossible odds -- continues to try and get him down. Finally, Simpson falls again, off the edge of the mountain. After hours of hanging on to what feels like dead weight, Yates cuts the rope to prevent himself from being gradually pulled into the void. Simpson's survival and return to base camp is nothing short of miraculous, suggesting that man is never more tenacious about life than when he is closest to losing it. Though far different in its circumstances, his story rivals that of Shackleton and the Endurance in Antartica three quarters of a century before. An underlying issue, addressed briefly in the film, is whether Yates should have cut the rope. Apparently some other climbers criticized him for doing so, but Simpson always defended his action. I have no idea how well the technical aspects of Touching the Void are done, but to this mostly earthboard amateur, they looked brilliantly and truly shot. Danger and beauty are scarcely separable in Touching the Void. When you are not immersed in the terror of Yates' and, especially, Simpson's plight, the frigid beauty of the glacier, the colors within its crevasses are glorious. A story of recklessness and great determination, superbly told, filled with many "how did they ever shoot that?" moments, Touching the Void must be seen.

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TOUCHING THE VOID - DVD Movie

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Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price (2005) Review

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(More customer reviews)'Wal Mart, The High Cost Of Low Price' is filled with first hand testimonials and some hard-fact figures that will help in validating your hatred of this greedy giant, and visually exposes those in other countries who are ruthlessly used as slaves to produce the cheap products you purchase when you patronize this monolith.
These "jobs" provided to the labor forces of India, China, Bangladesh, and Mexico are not 'good wage' jobs even for third world standards. The people are overworked, underpaid, and forced to work in sub-human conditions. These human beings make 13 to 17 cents and hour, and work 10 to 18 hour days without breaks, all so you can have that $1.49 blouse.
Exposed in this film are the squalid, rent controlled apartments in China, provided by the company, that put to shame the most rancid ghetto house in your hometown. And if the employee chooses not to live in these rat-infested housing developments, the rent is still deducted from their wages. Wal-Mart has managed to lower the work standards set for these hard-pressed, low wage, third-world countries that other companies are going to follow, sucking down the standards of working all across the world.
The manager of the Mexico factories went on a tour to make sure that working conditions were humane. He was fired when he reported that the conditions were intolerably inhumane. In his own words, he didn't think retaliation would be brought against him for doing his job.
If you think it was a good thing that America abolished slavery, then think again before you go into a Wal-Mart. Just because the US is no longer "importing" slaves, doesn't make it right to continue to use slavery in other countries to produce high profits for personal gain. Wal-Mart's practices are no different than bringing slaves over from Africa to pick our cotton, it's still a cheap way for the rich to get richer at the expense of human blood and sweat.
Intermittently inserted in the film is a speech made by Lee Scott to the high-end employees and stockholders of Wal-Mart, which sounds very much like an Amway pep-talk. Lee Scott's earnings for 2005 were $27,207,799.00. The average Wal-Mart hourly employee's was $13,861.00.
Interesting facts: After 9/11, the Walton's built themselves an underground bunker in case of another terrorist attack, costing millions of dollars that should have went into paying back the Government for having to subsidize their employee's un-affordable medical benefits.
The Walton family gave less than 1% of their wealth to charity. Bill Gates, not even a nice man himself, gave 58%.
The "Critical Need" fund, set up to assist Wal-Mart employees in emergencies, received five million dollars from Wal-Mart employees (making $13,861.00 annually) and only $6,000.00 from the Walton family, who made, collectively, 102 billion.
Wal-Mart actually had a commercial campaign about "buying American" while all their products come from sweatshops overseas.
Wal-Mart has refused to address crime statistics that show an upswing of violent crime in their large, remote, under-lit and un-protected parking lots, putting their customers in danger and taxing the local law enforcement. The State of California alone paid out 80 Million dollars in medical benefits to poverty-level Wal-Mart employees because the 102 Billion Dollar Walton family does not want to give their "associates" fair medical benefits.
There are many ways to hate Wal-Mart and its ilk, and many books out on the subject, but I recommend watching this DVD so you can actually see the slave workers and conditions overseas that these selfish billionaires exploit without passing down their profit to the "small people" who helped build their empire. The presentation could have used a little more snappiness, and the DVD starts out very slow, but keep watching and you will eventually see the monster peeking out from behind your curtain.
Stop shopping at Wal-Mart. Just stop. You don't need their cheap goods that fall apart two days after you bring them home, and it feels good to know that you make a difference by not supporting slavery. Enjoy!

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Everyone has seen Wal-Mart's lavish television commercials, but have you ever wondered why Wal-Mart spends so much money trying to convince you it cares about your family, your community, and even its own employees? What is it hiding?WAL-MART: The High Cost of Low Price takes you behind the glitz and into the real lives of workers and their families, business owners and their communities, in an extraordinary journey that will challenge the way you think, feel... and shop.

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i.o.u.s.a. Review

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(More customer reviews)It is unfortunate that only 10 people were in the theater besides my wife and I to watch this documentary film. The past head of the GAO for the last 3 presidents is the 'star' of this film and he presents the case about the national debt in a logical and yet terrifying manner. This is a must see for every high school student in America. Unfortunately, this will never happen. The film does present a method to save the country, but it will come at a cost that probably few in this land of ours will want to pay. But,if we don't, there is no doubt that a payment of some kind will occur, but it will be disastrous. Once you see this, you will begn to change your personal financial decisions with a wary eye on the future. Don't see this at your peril.

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America is on the brink of a financial meltdown. I.O.U.S.A. boldly examines the rapidly growing national debt and its consequences for the United States. Burdened with an ever-expanding government and military, increased international competition, overextended entitlement programs, and debts to foreign countries that are becoming impossible to honor, America must mend its spendthrift ways or face an economic disaster of epic proportions.Over 125 minutes of bonus materials, including exclusive interviews with Warren Buffett, Alan Greenspan and others.

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