Rage Against the Machine-Revolution USA? (Warner) (1999) (NTSC) |
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General | Extras | ||
Category | Music | Game-Trivia | |
Rating | |||
Year Of Production | 1999 | ||
Running Time | 48:23 | ||
RSDL / Flipper | No/No | Cast & Crew | |
Start Up | Programme | ||
Region Coding | 1,2,3,4,5,6 | Directed By | None Given |
Studio
Distributor |
Warner Vision |
Starring |
Raul Baltazar Jose Flores Danielle Flores Eddie Stratton Alison Reynolds Claire Dissington Anthony Rodriguez Ed Masley Damani Baker Sean Whelan Jeremy Brown Randy Cash |
Case | Amaray-Opaque | ||
RPI | $34.95 | Music | SKAT |
Video (NTSC) | Audio | ||
Pan & Scan/Full Frame | Full Frame | English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) | |
Widescreen Aspect Ratio | None | ||
16x9 Enhancement | No | ||
Video Format | 480i (NTSC) | ||
Original Aspect Ratio | 1.33:1 | Miscellaneous | |
Jacket Pictures | No | ||
Subtitles | None | Smoking | No |
Annoying Product Placement | No | ||
Action In or After Credits | No |
This band burst onto the scene with a landmark self titled album in 1992 to rave reviews. What made this band interesting was their unusual mix of politically inspired, rap-styled lyrics, delivered with the grinding sound of heavy guitar and the no let-up anger of the singing. Not everyone's cup of tea to be sure, but a sound that appeals to many people for a variety of reasons, some of which are explored during the documentary.
Rage Against The Machine - Revolution USA? provides some insight into this somewhat controversial band by interviewing acquaintances of some of the band members, two music writers, as well as members of some of the activist groups that the band have performed for over their 7 year career. It also interviews a couple of musicians to explore what influence the band has had on younger performers.
I'm a bit of a fan of this band and have each of their 3 albums on CD and yet I found this documentary only mildly interesting. To be honest, there just isn't enough on this disc to hold your attention. The way in which the documentary is presented is quite low key. The presenter, Damani Baker is very casual and delivers his monologue in a very offhand manner. Actual interview footage with band members is limited to perhaps 1 minutes worth of material with Tom Morello (Guitar) and some written quotes from the other members. This disc is for rabid fans only.
This DVD contains a full frame 4:3 video transfer that is fine for what it is, a low budget documentary. It is not 16x9 enhanced.
The sharpness of this transfer varies but is generally adequate. There is a mixture of footage from a wide variety of sources used throughout the disc. In some sections, old black and white war footage has been used. In others, old video-based news footage has been used. There are also sections that show a montage of still images from one or more of the band's concerts. The actual interview footage appears to have been filmed using older broadcast-quality video cameras and is the highest quality material seen.
The quality of the colour palette varies according to the source material. The regular interview footage has natural, if slightly subdued colour while much of the older news footage has faded or distorted colours.
Given the variable nature of the material presented on this disc it seemed silly to critique this transfer in the usual manner. I will say that I didn't notice any really obvious MPEG artefacts. No aliasing or moiré effects were noted. It's difficult to comment on film artefacts as it appears that some were deliberately simulated for effect during some sections.
Dialogue was always clear, although there were times when some concentration was required due to the strong Xicano accent of some of the participants.
The score is by SKAT which was frankly annoying as the same passages are repeated throughout the presentation. The music, to use the term lightly, is basically distorted guitar riffs.
As this is a stereo track there was no surround activity.
The subwoofer was not used at all.
Dialogue | |
Audio Sync | |
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts | |
Surround Channel Use | |
Subwoofer | |
Overall |
NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.
Video | |
Audio | |
Extras | |
Plot | |
Overall |
Review Equipment | |
DVD | Philips 711, using S-Video output |
Display | Grundig M70-281. Calibrated with Video Essentials. This display device is 16x9 capable. |
Audio Decoder | Built in to amplifier/receiver. Calibrated with Video Essentials. |
Amplification | Sherwood 8090R |
Speakers | Mains and Rears: Tannoy Mercury M1. Centre: Tannoy Mercury MC. Subwoofer: Polk Audio PSW-120 |