Reviews & Columns |
Reviews DVD TV on DVD Blu-ray 4K UHD International DVDs In Theaters Reviews by Studio Video Games Features Collector Series DVDs Easter Egg Database Interviews DVD Talk Radio Feature Articles Columns Anime Talk DVD Savant Horror DVDs The M.O.D. Squad Art House HD Talk Silent DVD
|
DVD Talk Forum |
|
Resources |
DVD Price Search Customer Service #'s RCE Info Links |
Columns
|
|
Detroit Rock City
List Price: Unknown [Buy now and save at Amazon]
The Movie:
Call it mediocre reviews, call it a lack of interest in a movie about Kiss (although that one suprises me since there are certainly a lot of fans out there), call it what you will: Detroit Rock City passed through theaters last Summer in minutes, rounding up a slight amount at the box office. The film itself is an immature romp; funny, slightly stupid, but all in all, a couple of hours of enjoyable silliness. It doesn't want to be anything more. It doesn't pass itself off as trying to be anything more.
Anything more than a story of a group of stoners who want nothing more than to see Kiss live. The mother of one of the boys destroys the tickets (she's against what Kiss stands for). Of course, the boys aren't going to give up and go about doing anything they possibly can to get seats for the show. The rest of the film involves the adventures that the four have on their own as they try to get into the show. It's not a great movie by any means, but it has a certain energy and enough moderate laughs that I found myself entertained.
The DVD
VIDEO:This is a really beautiful transfer from New Line, who seems to be improving every time out with the image quality for their presentations. Detail is consistently excellent, but what really impresses are the colors (the colors man, the colors!), which are incredibly strong and nicely saturated. Images are clear and razor sharp throughout, with strong black level and accurate, natural fleshtones.
There's nothing in the way of problems such as shimmering or pixelization. The film itself has an incredibly smooth, clean "film-like" look throughout the picture. New Line did a very impressive job with "Drop Dead Gorgeous" last week, and "Detroit Rock City" is even slightly more impressive in terms of quality. Excellent work.
SOUND: Definitely better than the usual audio in terms of comedies; although a lot of the scenes are simply dialogue, the music simply sounds fantastic, and although I'm not a big fan of Kiss, the music comes through with strong bass and good clarity. Gotta love that "guitar" version of the New Line opening theme. There's some effective use of the surrounds as well. Dialogue is clear and without problems. Definitely a fun experience.
MENUS:: Warner Brothers has been making menus that sometimes go a little too far, with animated clips. Detroit Rock City is an example of New Line doing a little too much with the menus. The menus guide you by voice, then when you make a selection (it took me a couple of seconds to figure out just what was going on), then there are other major animated clips as you try to get to the features. Thankfully, New Line lets you change the audio to go to the commentaries, because it probably would have taken me an hour to figure them out otherwise. Thankfully, when you press "title", you get a basic text menu.
EXTRAS:
Commentary One: This is a commentary track from director Adam Rifkin, who provides an interesting look at how he became involved with the picture and a little bit about his background to lead off the discussion of the film. A good deal of the commentary is devoted to the time period, with Rifkin talking about his thoughts on the band when he was at the age of the characters and how the film should reflect that same sort of spirit(rock and roll, man!).
From the begining, I really liked this commentary; the director doesn't go all over the place through different subjects and has quite a few interesting stories about the cast and the production. The entire commentary has a nice balance between technical details about how the movie was filmed and stories about the actors and crew. I especially liked how Rifkin talked about how he wanted the film to look like it was shot in 1978, which gave the film a slightly "faded" look. He also discusses how a couple of the scenes were edited and filmed.
Some of the other great stories that Rifkin shares is how he wanted to make the backstage look like what everyone would think a backstage looks like at a rock and roll concert in comparison to the less than thrilling reality he found backstage at a Kiss concert right before the movie filmed. Also interesting is a story about how the film was planned to be an R, and how there was last minute discussion (and even a cut of the movie) that was PG-13.
The Other Two: The second commentary track is...well... just about everyone else involved with the making of this movie, with the highlights being a very funny Lynn Shaye("There's Something About Mary"), as well as the screenwriter, actresses Melyanie Lynskey, Shannon Tweed and I believe the editor, producer and a few other people are buried in there as well. It's all over the place, talking about the experiences that the actors had while filming, for the most part. It's a little fractured, but still very funny at times. The 3rd commentary is what Kiss fans have likely been waiting for for years; a very cool discussion of the music and although it's not screen-specific, it's still an amazingly cool addition.
Rock and Roll All Night: A very cool multiple-angle feature where you can either choose to see the final scene in the movie or star Edward Furlong recording the song.
Song X-Press: If you've got a guitar(I used to, don't anymore), this 8 minute video will teach you how to play "Rock and Roll All Night" on your own guitar. Pretty interesting stuff and nicely shown. I dunno if this will be able to teach people or not, but it's a pretty interesting inclusion either way.
"Detroit Rock City" Kiss Concert: Gives users the ability to watch the concert with their choice of angles- 4 separate angles and a 5th that lets you watch all 4 on your screen at once.
Behind-The Scenes: Two documentaries:
*Behind The Sun: Eight minutes of random, weird stuff that was shot on the set specifically for the DVD. It's kinda funny, kinda interesting. An odd little supplement.
*Miscellaneous..."stuff": Alright, I think everyone knows the real title, but I do want to keep this site away from that "R" rating, unlike this movie(just joking). This is a documentary that runs about 35 minutes and goes through all the aspects of production, from Ed Furlong recording his singing for the movie to thoughts from Kiss on the history of the movie. It's kind of weird listening Gene Simmons talk so well about film production in all that Kiss makeup.
It's a nicely done documentary that doesn't have the usual "Hollywood" promotional feel. It gives the impression through the interviews and all the "on-set" footage that although the movie wasn't entirely successful(to put it lightly), it shows that the group still had a lot of fun making this film. The interviews do provide a lot of information about the production of the movie as well for people who are interesting in the history of the film.
Music Videos: The Donnas - "Strutter" and Everclear- "The Boys Are Back In Town".
Deleted Scenes: These were probably cut out to keep the movie going at a fast pace. There are 6 deleted scenes and although some of them are slightly interesting, all of them are rightly cut out of the movie. What's really cool though is that one of the deleted scenes has an alternate angle feature where you can see the audition tapes of both of the actors.
Also: Theatrical trailer, cast/crew bios, DVD-ROM(Screenplay materials, cast/crew bios and web links).
Final Thoughts: It may not be a great movie, but at least I found it moderately entertaining. New Line, however, has put a spectcular amount of work into this DVD edition, which I'm highly recommending.
Call it mediocre reviews, call it a lack of interest in a movie about Kiss (although that one suprises me since there are certainly a lot of fans out there), call it what you will: Detroit Rock City passed through theaters last Summer in minutes, rounding up a slight amount at the box office. The film itself is an immature romp; funny, slightly stupid, but all in all, a couple of hours of enjoyable silliness. It doesn't want to be anything more. It doesn't pass itself off as trying to be anything more.
Anything more than a story of a group of stoners who want nothing more than to see Kiss live. The mother of one of the boys destroys the tickets (she's against what Kiss stands for). Of course, the boys aren't going to give up and go about doing anything they possibly can to get seats for the show. The rest of the film involves the adventures that the four have on their own as they try to get into the show. It's not a great movie by any means, but it has a certain energy and enough moderate laughs that I found myself entertained.
The DVD
VIDEO:This is a really beautiful transfer from New Line, who seems to be improving every time out with the image quality for their presentations. Detail is consistently excellent, but what really impresses are the colors (the colors man, the colors!), which are incredibly strong and nicely saturated. Images are clear and razor sharp throughout, with strong black level and accurate, natural fleshtones.
There's nothing in the way of problems such as shimmering or pixelization. The film itself has an incredibly smooth, clean "film-like" look throughout the picture. New Line did a very impressive job with "Drop Dead Gorgeous" last week, and "Detroit Rock City" is even slightly more impressive in terms of quality. Excellent work.
SOUND: Definitely better than the usual audio in terms of comedies; although a lot of the scenes are simply dialogue, the music simply sounds fantastic, and although I'm not a big fan of Kiss, the music comes through with strong bass and good clarity. Gotta love that "guitar" version of the New Line opening theme. There's some effective use of the surrounds as well. Dialogue is clear and without problems. Definitely a fun experience.
MENUS:: Warner Brothers has been making menus that sometimes go a little too far, with animated clips. Detroit Rock City is an example of New Line doing a little too much with the menus. The menus guide you by voice, then when you make a selection (it took me a couple of seconds to figure out just what was going on), then there are other major animated clips as you try to get to the features. Thankfully, New Line lets you change the audio to go to the commentaries, because it probably would have taken me an hour to figure them out otherwise. Thankfully, when you press "title", you get a basic text menu.
EXTRAS:
Commentary One: This is a commentary track from director Adam Rifkin, who provides an interesting look at how he became involved with the picture and a little bit about his background to lead off the discussion of the film. A good deal of the commentary is devoted to the time period, with Rifkin talking about his thoughts on the band when he was at the age of the characters and how the film should reflect that same sort of spirit(rock and roll, man!).
From the begining, I really liked this commentary; the director doesn't go all over the place through different subjects and has quite a few interesting stories about the cast and the production. The entire commentary has a nice balance between technical details about how the movie was filmed and stories about the actors and crew. I especially liked how Rifkin talked about how he wanted the film to look like it was shot in 1978, which gave the film a slightly "faded" look. He also discusses how a couple of the scenes were edited and filmed.
Some of the other great stories that Rifkin shares is how he wanted to make the backstage look like what everyone would think a backstage looks like at a rock and roll concert in comparison to the less than thrilling reality he found backstage at a Kiss concert right before the movie filmed. Also interesting is a story about how the film was planned to be an R, and how there was last minute discussion (and even a cut of the movie) that was PG-13.
The Other Two: The second commentary track is...well... just about everyone else involved with the making of this movie, with the highlights being a very funny Lynn Shaye("There's Something About Mary"), as well as the screenwriter, actresses Melyanie Lynskey, Shannon Tweed and I believe the editor, producer and a few other people are buried in there as well. It's all over the place, talking about the experiences that the actors had while filming, for the most part. It's a little fractured, but still very funny at times. The 3rd commentary is what Kiss fans have likely been waiting for for years; a very cool discussion of the music and although it's not screen-specific, it's still an amazingly cool addition.
Rock and Roll All Night: A very cool multiple-angle feature where you can either choose to see the final scene in the movie or star Edward Furlong recording the song.
Song X-Press: If you've got a guitar(I used to, don't anymore), this 8 minute video will teach you how to play "Rock and Roll All Night" on your own guitar. Pretty interesting stuff and nicely shown. I dunno if this will be able to teach people or not, but it's a pretty interesting inclusion either way.
"Detroit Rock City" Kiss Concert: Gives users the ability to watch the concert with their choice of angles- 4 separate angles and a 5th that lets you watch all 4 on your screen at once.
Behind-The Scenes: Two documentaries:
*Behind The Sun: Eight minutes of random, weird stuff that was shot on the set specifically for the DVD. It's kinda funny, kinda interesting. An odd little supplement.
*Miscellaneous..."stuff": Alright, I think everyone knows the real title, but I do want to keep this site away from that "R" rating, unlike this movie(just joking). This is a documentary that runs about 35 minutes and goes through all the aspects of production, from Ed Furlong recording his singing for the movie to thoughts from Kiss on the history of the movie. It's kind of weird listening Gene Simmons talk so well about film production in all that Kiss makeup.
It's a nicely done documentary that doesn't have the usual "Hollywood" promotional feel. It gives the impression through the interviews and all the "on-set" footage that although the movie wasn't entirely successful(to put it lightly), it shows that the group still had a lot of fun making this film. The interviews do provide a lot of information about the production of the movie as well for people who are interesting in the history of the film.
Music Videos: The Donnas - "Strutter" and Everclear- "The Boys Are Back In Town".
Deleted Scenes: These were probably cut out to keep the movie going at a fast pace. There are 6 deleted scenes and although some of them are slightly interesting, all of them are rightly cut out of the movie. What's really cool though is that one of the deleted scenes has an alternate angle feature where you can see the audition tapes of both of the actors.
Also: Theatrical trailer, cast/crew bios, DVD-ROM(Screenplay materials, cast/crew bios and web links).
Final Thoughts: It may not be a great movie, but at least I found it moderately entertaining. New Line, however, has put a spectcular amount of work into this DVD edition, which I'm highly recommending.
|
Popular Reviews |
Sponsored Links |
|
Sponsored Links |
|
Release List | Reviews | Shop | Newsletter | Forum | DVD Giveaways | Blu-Ray | Advertise |
Copyright 2024 DVDTalk.com All Rights Reserved. Legal Info, Privacy Policy, Terms of Use,
Manage Preferences,
Your Privacy Choices
|