Rock Star: INXS The DVD
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Movie Reviews of Rock Star: INXS The DVD
Movie Review: jordis and imagine
Summary: 4 Stars
Jordis singing Imagine is perhaps the greatest cover of any Lennon song (not to mention McCartney).Movie Review: Good Performances, Good Behind the Scenes Info, but Still Fails to Capture Essence of Show
Summary: 3 Stars
When I first heard that the band Inxs was going to go the route of "reality show" to decide a new lead singer, I admit I was pretty disappointed. However, since Inxs is one of my favorite bands, I could not help put tune into the series "Rockstar: Inxs". As the days and weeks went on, I slowly but surely got into the show. Much of the reason for my increasing interest was as contestants were being eliminated, the quality of the contestants - and their performances was improving. By the time the final three were reached - Mig Ayesa, Marty Casey, and JD Fortune - I was convinced Inxs had picked the best three contestants. While I did think Casey was the better overall musician - and best contestant in the competition, I did feel Inxs picked the singer with the best fit to be their lead singer - JD Fortune. When I heard, "Rockstar: Inxs - The DVD" was being released, I was hoping that it would capture the essence of the show. While this DVD does have good performances (including the first concert with JD and Inxs immediately following the finale) and some good behind the scenes information, I do feel it fell short to capturing that essence of the show.
The series "Rockstar: Inxs" followed a three day cycle. On the first day, we got behind the scenes information on what was going on in "the mansion" (where the contestants lived during the competition). The second day was when the contestants would perform songs (sometimes covers, sometimes original tunes). The third day was the "elimination" day in which the bottom three contestants (in voting from the second day) would have to perform an Inxs song. Inxs would then decide which person would then be eliminated from the competition. The DVD focuses mostly on performances from the second day and some behind the scenes stuff (some from the first day, some unseen). While the DVD does a good job at capturing the "best performances", it lacks in many other areas. Here are ten points on this:
1.There are no performances of the contestants performing the Inxs songs. You miss the opportunity to hear Marty Casey do "Don't Change" and JD Fortune do "This Time". These were epic performances. I would have also liked to have seen the finale in its entirety. The only original song shown is Fortune's "Pretty Vegas" - and that is shown during the "first concert".
2.There is little interaction with Inxs shown on this DVD. Some of the best moments of the show were when Inxs provided critique and praise to the contestants - as well "coaching" the clinics. In addition, Dave Navarro ("the host") is virtually absent from this DVD - except for some clips, but even those lack spoken words by Navarro. On the positive end, we do get the "jamming" by Inxs and Navarro while the contestants perform.
3.While the DVD does provide an intro clip to each song, the problem is that the DVD doesn't do a good job at telling the story of the competition. As a result, the intro clips are meaningless unless you saw the show in its entirety.
4.The performances are good. They focus on the six finalists - Fortune, Casey, and Ayesa - as well as Jordis Unga, Suzie McNeil, and Ty Taylor. Many great songs are missing like Fortune's "Suspicious Minds" and Casey's "Lithium". The other 9 finalists were very weak and its good they weren't included on the DVD. One thing worth noting is that for the show's purpose many of the songs had the lyrics edited. This was so they could fit on TV - you can't blame the DVD for that.
5.The performances are often as good as the "House Band". In some cases I felt the "House Band" was phenomenal and in other cases I thought they just didn't show up. In most cases, the "House Band" was better than not.
6.I like how some of the performances are re-arranged by the contestants and how others were not. Casey was brilliant re-arranging Britney Spears' "Baby One More Time" into a dark number. At the same time Ayesa was brilliant keeping to the spirit of Seal's "Kiss From a Rose".
7.During the "first concert" that followed the show, Fortune gives an emotional performance of "Never Tear Us Apart". As a tribute to his competitors, they participate in some of the vocals of that song. That was one of the highlights.
8.You can see and hear that during the "first concert" that "Pretty Vegas" was still a work in progress. I think it is admirable that they did "Pretty Vegas", but there was still some re-arranging and tweaking of the song that would follow. It was much more polished when released on the "Switch" album - and even better when I saw it live in concert during the tour. I did like how we saw that it was a work in progress.
9.On the downside, you can see that during the "first concert", Fortune needed to mesh with the band more - and I guess that was to be expected. "Don't Change" the band's traditional finale just didn't live up to standards I would expect. The good news is when Inxs went on tour, this song would be as flawless as ever. Again, there is an element of realism by showing this on the DVD.
10.The behind the scenes clips and extras are excellent. I wish they would had shown the whole radio segment that was filmed.
Overall good performances and good behind the scenes information. However what this DVD really lacks is the story of the competition. I'm hopeful that someday all of the episodes of the show will be released in a boxed set. For now, this will do. Inxs fans and fans of the show may want this for their collection, but I'd stop short of calling this a "must have".
Movie Review: Great "concert" video, disappointing series retrospective
Summary: 3 Stars
Although fans' hopes aren't completely crushed since this DVD is a great mini-concert-retrospective of some of the show's best moments, including performances by INXS as well as the rockers, and key moments such as their arrival and the partying, my expectation was for this to be a collection of all the episodes in the series.
It's a nice montage of memories but one hopes that sometime the whole series, in its entirety, will be released. After all, the past and future of INXS came together on this show as well as a possible launching pad for some great solo careers. Three stars for the music since you do pay more for an album than ten bucks, but I was disappointed.
Movie Review: Okay DVD
Summary: 3 Stars
The DVD for RockStar INXS wasn't as great as it could have been. I really enjoyed watching the entire show, but the DVD only captures a few of the good moments, and not even some of the best. Another problem with the DVD is that it doesn't work on my laptop (works fine with a TV/DVD player). I'm looking foward to season two, and hopefully they do a better job with the release than with season one.Movie Review: More Marty and Jordis
Summary: 3 Stars
I have given up looking for the entire season, but this is a decent substitution. The behind the scenes clips are funny, but I would have liked something with the complete season. Oh well...