Well Young Man, You're Going to Have a Very Unusual Life

We have all seen this superhero movie: a regular man is bestowed superhero powers and exploits them until (s)he realizes they wield too much power and go into self seclusion before realizing that the world needs them and returns to destroy the big bad. Branded follows this basic premise. And the superpower in this film? Marketing. Seriously. In the movie Ed Stoppard (The Little Vampire) makes Don Draper look like the guy who created New Coke, named the iPad, or thought it was a good idea to have the Washington Bullets change their name to the Wizards.

And who is the arch-nemesis to the marketing genius: fast food. Seriously. These evil corporations have figured out a way to make obesity sexy and something to obtain through evil marketing and it is up to our heroes to counter market a vegetarian fast food chain. Seriously. Playing Lois Lane in this scenario is Leelee Sobieski (Joan of Arc) whose character even cribs a storyline from Superman Returns (maybe not the best superhero movie to steal from.

Or that is what I took away from the movie. Branded is a big jumbled of a movie that wants to express some big ideas (companies are becoming too good at marketing that we no longer realized we are being sold a load of goods) but sometimes gets bogged down in its heavy handedness. It is not until Stoppard returns from his Fortress of Solitude where the movie starts to embrace the absurdity and hammers the message more clearly. By then it may have been too little too late.

In addition to a pair of theatrical trailers, the only special feature included is an audio commentary with writers / directors Jamie Bradshaw and Alexander Doulerain.


Full Disclosure Notice: This Blu-ray was given to me by Lionsgate for review.

I Hate Hospitals... People Die Here

Whenever a horror movies claims to be “based on a true story” I have to laugh a little because they make an assumption that we will actually believe that ghosts, demons, and / or other things that go bump in the night when Occam’s Razor would suggest that chick just went cray-cray. But on the bright side, crazy people have a vivid imagination and can come up with some pretty entertaining stories even if they did not really happen. The fact they happen outside the realm of reality is what makes them entertaining.

Supposedly The Possession was based on a true story where a newly divorced Jeffery Dean Morgan (Watchmen) is patroning garage sales to pick up essentials for his new house with his daughter when one of them Natasha Calis (The Firm) picks up an antique wooden box for herself. Except when they take it home it does not open and is covered in Hebrew. Until it mysteriously opens and the young child finds dead moths, teeth and other weird and random artifacts. Oh yeah, and the box also held an unseen demon.

The Possession does not add anything to the genre and can really be considered the Jewish take on exorcisms, as performed by former Hasidic Jew Matisyahu (why do the Catholics get to have all the fun?) or does not turn the genre on its head. But there are plenty of good scares in the film for all the horror fans out there like the scene in the trailer when the kid looks down her throat in the trailer to see fingers trying to climb out of her esophagus. I will also be infinitely more freaked out by moths after seeing this film. And of course the inclusion of children makes any horror movie just a little creepier.

For skeptics like me when it comes to movies “Based on a true story” there is a bonus feature The Real History of the Dibbuk Box which starts off by saying that the Dibbuk box shown for the feature is just a replica for your safety. The real story turns out nothing like the movie except the original owner has a stroke when coming into contact with the box (which is depicted much more violently in the movie). But low and behold when they say they are going to show us the actual Dibbuk box, I seriously thought of just turning off my television just in case. I did not and am still alive and still have all my appendages. Other specials on the blu-ray (which are the same as the DVD) include two separate audio commentaries, one with director Ole Bornedal (Nightwatch) while other is with the writers Juliet Snowden and Stiles White (Knowing). It also comes with a code that can be redeemed for both a digital copy and an UltraViolet copy for those that like to watch their movies on their mobile devises. I wonder if scary movies are more or less frightening on a smaller screen.


Full Disclosure Notice: Lionsgate gave me this blu-ray for review.

What's the Most You Ever Lost on a Coin Toss

Later this week Javier Bardem will become the latest Bond villain in Skyfall so Lionsgate has rounded up a three film collection of his most memorable roles out on DVD this week. (Granted I would have included Vicky Christina Barcelona.) The collection is highlighted by No Country for Old Men which garnered him an Oscar as an unorthodox hit man with an unorthodox haircut with a penchant for flipping coins. Bardem is hired to hunt down Josh Brolin (The Goonies) who came across two million dollars after a drug deal gone bad while Tommy Lee Jones (The Fugitive) is the local lawmen who tries to hunt them both down.

No Country for Old Men is a harrowing tale where directors Joel and Ethan Cohen faithfully reproduce the Cormac McCarthy novel. The three top line names all deliver unforgettable performances while Woody Harrelson (Zombieland) and Stephan Root (Newsradio) give great cameos. The DVD features the same extra as the original release of the movie including a Making Of feature, “Working with the Coens”, and “Diary of a Country Sherriff” featurettes.

I had never heard of Mondays in the Sun until I got this collection and when I put it in I knew why: the film is in Spanish. Like No Country for Old Men, Bardem had a memorial haircut, this time instead of the Dorothy Hamill bowel cut, he is significantly balding as he plays an out of work dockworker. After everyone was laid off when their ship building jobs were shipped to Korea, Bardem and his friends spend their days looking for new work and nights hanging out in a bar that one of them bought with his severance pay. Even though the film is a decade old, take place in another country, and is in a different language, the heartbreaking tale can resonate in today’s America where many people are still trying to cope with jobs that went to Asia a while ago. The DVD also features audio commentary from Bardem, and director Fernando Leon de Aranoa, deleted scenes, a Making Of featurette, and storyboard to scene comparison.

Biutiful saw Bardem team with famed director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (Babel) and produced by Guillermo del Toro which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film (Bardem lost out on picking up another Best Actor Award but was the first ever nominated for an entirely Spanish-speaking performance). Yep, this one is in Spanish too. The film takes him back to Spain where he struggles to provide for his children while working on the wrong side of the law. This DVD is low on extras, just featuring the director’s flip notes, and an interview with the cast and crew.


Full Disclosure Notice: The DVD was given to me to review by Lionsgate.

Better to Rule in War than Serve in Peace

When I think of samurais, I cannot say that Wes Bentley (P2) is high on my list of people who would play one. But there he is in a haircut the borders on a mullet in Hirokin: The Last Samurai (which is not to be confused with the Tom Cruise flick, another very Caucasian dude whose name does not conjure up visions of samurais). Like any good sci-fi flick, this movie starts off with a heavy back-story: humans came to a new, stole all its resources, and then left aside from a few who stayed to rule over the original inhabitants. That is until one hero (Bentley, of course), haunted by his past, has to find a way to help the rebels rise up against their oppressors.

It should be noted that the alien race look identical to humans except you can see veins in their hands so a lot of the character spend the movie sticking their hands out like Diana Ross telling you to stop in the name of love. It is actually not that hard to tell the two races apart because for some reason the human warriors wear helmets, on a desert planet, that look like a cross between the one Boba Fett and the Cylons from the original Battlestar Galactica.

Really you can make a drinking game out of the Star Wars references from the Tatooine-type setting, Bentley’s Obi Wan Kenobi type robe, there is even a character that has a duel (though non-light) saber. The movie does pull out some cool moves of its own like Bentley’s bungee sword and an extremely evil and twisted game the antagonists make locals play for his own enjoyment, but really, most the characters fall flat (there is a pair shoehorned in for comic relief that should have been shoehorned in a little more) thanks to a think plot while a few actors were clearly phoning it in.

The DVD is also thin on extras. There are a few deleted scenes, but the menu lacks a “Play All” option. There are also three featurettes but all of them are under five minutes each.

Full Disclosure Notice: This DVD was given to me by Lionsgate to review.

Will Obama's America Offer Real Solutions or More Slogans

In a measure of full disclosure I should first say I am a registered Republican. I did not vote for Barack Obama four years ago and do not plan to vote for him in two weeks. Although I really do not go around announcing my conservatism much lately because my party has become a party of nutjobs who spout the most unbelievable things like our president was not born in this country and is a Muslim (even though four years ago he was anti-American because his Christian minister once said negative things about this country). 2016: Obama's America is supposed to be the thinking man’s attack on the president. There are no accusations of being a Muslim or even being born in Kenya or even hints at them (it even points out two separate newspapers in Hawaii that announced Obama’s birth).

The movie is based on the book by Dinesh D’Souza, The Roots of Obama's Rage which he wrote in 2010. The tagline claims, “Love him, hate him… you don’t know him”. Except after watching the movie, there really was not much of the movie that I found new. There was one guy that Dinesh called one of Obama’s “founding fathers” (along with people like the 2008 buzz person Bill Ayers) who was a registered communist. Except like all the other “founding fathers” (aside from Reverend Wright) there are no pictures of Barry with any of these people (even the liberal communist were able to find one picture of George Bush with Jack Abramoff). If he was so close to these people to the point they shape his policy, why is he never pictured with them. And Dinesh sure likes his pictures because the one of Barry smoking (something) is shown multiple times.

Even in the film, D’Souza features a cable show where he tells some talking head that accusing Obama as a Muslim and a socialist have not worked, so he has moved to attack number three: Barack Obama is anti-imperialist. Who knew there were imperialists left to be anti to? (Ironically the day after I watch this movie, I read an article by conservative commentator Niall Ferguson reporting a story where Chinese nationalist surrounded the US ambassador to the nation chanting “Down with US imperialism!).

Why is Barack Obama an anti-imperialist? Because his father was Kenyan and Barack wants to continue the Mau Mau uprising that kicked out imperialist British Army. To all of the even keel thinkers out there that are wondering, “You mean that Barry, who was raised by two Kansas women, was influenced by a man that abandoned him and only met once in his life?” And before you suggest that abandoned sons usually distance themselves from their absentee father, Dinesh finds a psychologist who specializes abandonment where the two men, who never met Barack Obama theorize that he is the an exception to the rule. Keep in mind earlier in the film Dinesh theorizes what would have happened had he stayed in his native India where he thinks he would have had been in an arrange marriage and the like, yet Barack, growing up in America, still ended up like his Kenyan father that he barely knew.

The first anti-imperialist argument that D’Souza is that the first thing Obama did after being inaugurated was to return a bust of Winston Churchill that the White House had since the 60’s to England. Except the reality is that the bust from the 60’s is still there, and the bust that was returned was loaned (note loaned, not permanently given to) to George W. Bush after 9/11 and was cleared out of the Oval Office with all of the other art and furniture that Bush put in there during his two terms. Obama’s supposed anti- British streak continued when D’Souza says that Obama supports Argentina gaining control of the Falkland Island but when I did a simple Google search most articles I read said that Obama is neutral on the issue.

After an hour of Obama history, D’Souza finally gets to theorizing what 2016 will look like if we reelect the anti-imperialist Obama which includes a world where Obama gets rid of all of our nuclear weapons because he is on the record of wishing we could live in a world without nuclear weapons (confessed Reaganite Dinesh conveniently omits that Ronald Reagan said the exact same thing). He also theorizes that because of Obama’s foreign policy that in four years we may see “The United States of Islam” that would stretch from Morocco to Pakistan (surprisingly his map leaves out Obama’s ancestral home of Kenya) even though many of the countries in Islam Fantasyland hate each other as much as they hate us.

The only potential doomsday scenario that Dinesh exposes that I agree with is that our debt will bring down the country, though I disagree that Obama wants it to happen because of his anti-imperialism. But this is not a Barack Obama problem; both Democrats and Republican have a spending problem that they need to reign in. One of the commentators that D’Souza speaks to even dings George W. Bush for his overspending. Granted Dinesh does conveniently omit in his stat that Americans have lost a large percentage of their wealth since 2006 that two of those years were under Bush.

Politics aside, 2016: Obama’s America just looks just a step above student film with hilariously staged dramatization and bizarre sound choices. While talking about a debate he had with Jesse Jackson, the dramatization actually depicts a black dude walking into what looks like a biker bar where the white patrons give the black dude a birthday cake. But still is not as funny as Dinesh doing the hula while researching Obama’s past. And it was were in a taped phone conversation, which looked more staged than one on The Hills, the sound would inexplicably change depending if the camera was on Dinesh or the person he was talking to.

When it comes down to it, 2016: Obama’s America will only make the people who already have an irrational hated of Barack Obama crazier and will make Obama supporters laugh more than they did for this week’s episode Modern Family. While people in the middle will not bother to watch it unless their crazy uncle forces them to. Just take the movie as it is, just something Dinesh D’Souza put out to make money. Actually, Dinesh may have changed my vote, I had no intentions of voting for Obama, but now I kind of want to see how wrong his movie is. And since I live in Ohio, my vote may very well decide the election.


Full Discourse Notice: This DVD was given to me by Lionsgate for review.

Act Like Nothing’s Wrong, That’s What Mom Did

What do you do when all of your kids cancel on your family reunion the day before they are supposed to arrive? Well if you are Robert De Niro, you pack up a suitcase and take a cross country trip by train, bus, and even truck truck drive (from an all too brief cameo from Melissa Leo). Despite the cheery title Everybody's Fine (2009) and the smiles on the cover, the movie is not as humorous as it suggests. It is a family drama that will still have a few humor moments but your heart strings will be tickled more than your funny bone.

De Niro just lost his wife and this was the first time he was going to get together with all four children since she passed. The mom was the one that talked to the children while De Niro, who worked a menial job to give his children a better life, just got the Cliff Notes (hint, it is the title). So De Niro goes from New York City to Chicago to Denver to Las Vegas to catch up with his children, played by Kate Beckinsale, Sam Rockwell, and Drew Barrymore) to see what he was missing without the reunion. Sure the movie almost plays like a hundred minute version of Harry Chapin’s Cat's In the Cradle, but De Niro’s subtle performance makes the road less bumpy.

The 2009 film is on Blu-Ray for the very first time (which is a bit surprising considering even I had a Blu-Ray by then). It is light on extra; there is about ten minutes of deleted and extended scenes. There is another ten minute feature with Paul McCartney explains how he came to wrote the song that plays over the closing credits, (I Want To) Come Home.

Full Disclosure Notice: The Blu-Ray was given to me by Lionsgate for review.

Her Gift Made Her Obedient, but Her Heart Made Her Kind

Before she was Catwoman, Anne Hathaway was America’s sweetheart, every girl wanted to be her and every boy had a crush on her thanks to kid friendly fare like The Princess Diaries. She followed that up with other kind of fairytale Ella Enchanted. Much like the Diaries, Hathaway charm is on full display. After watching the film I am reminded how good Hathaway is at comedy and it is a shame she does not do more films that show off her humorous side (really the only comedies that she has appeared in the flesh since was the best part of the otherwise forgettable Valentine's Day).

Hathaway plays the titular character that was given the “gift” of obedience at birth. Every time someone tells her to do something, she has to do it. The spell is so powerful that she even has to do it even if it is a sarcastic demand like the time a classmate learns the hard way it may not be wise to tell Ella to “Bite me.” Somehow she makes adolescences unscathed without anyone realizing her curse. That is until her father remarries and her new step-sister, Lucy Punch (in one of her first American films before going on to steal scenes in movies like Dinner for Schmucks), realizes Ella does everything she asks and decides to use it to her advantage.

In true fairy tale tradition, Ella head out on a quest, this time to find the fairy who gave her the give of obedience (a tipsy Vivica A Fox, Independence Day) and collects a rag tag group of fairy tale outcasts (elves, giants, and ogres, oh my) on her trip as well as a handsome prince (Hugh Dancy, who really has not taken off here in the states but will fill the shoes of Will Graham in the upcoming televised version of Hannibal) that Ella just writes off as a pretty face. But the infatuation grows the ire of his evil uncle (Cary Elwes who knows a thing or two about princesses) that wants the crown for himself.

With the resurgence of fairy tales on Once Upon a Time and Grimm, it may be time to give Ella Enchanted another look (or a first one in you missed the 2004 the first time around and perfect for any girl that has been born since then) and the film is more family friendly that the two show. And for those wondering about Hathaway’s singing voice with her upcoming role as Fantine in the movie version of Les Miserables, she actually sings two songs in Ella Enchanted including Queen’s Somebody to Love. It is also a plus that the film has Monty Python’s Eric Idle as the narrator.

This is the first time Ella Enchanted has been available on Blu-Ray and it is actually a combo pack that includes a DVD copy too. Both disks include the same features (except the DVD features some DVD-ROM features) including deleted and extended scenes. There is also an audio commentary with Hathaway, Dancy, and director Tommy O’Haver. There is a half an hour featurette The Magical World of Ella Enchanted as well as Ella Enchanted Red Carpet Premiere Special hosted by Jesse McCartney and Kari Kimmel although both features share a lot of the same video. Kimmel’s music video for It’s Not Just Make Believe is also included.


Full Disclosure Notice: this Blu-Ray was given to me by Lionsgate for review.

It Wasn't Done for a Man to Reject a Woman who Freely Gave Herself

Really, what else is there to do on a hot summer days in Manhattan than to hook up with people? That is essentially the plot 30 Beats where ten extremely attractive New Yorkers get it on with each other one by one. No, this is not five vignettes of the characters pairing off. Instead the movie starts with two characters hooking up, and then one of them leaves to find a new person to spend special time with and so on until we meet all ten people in the film.

The cast has some familiar faces including Justin Kirk (Weeds), Lee Pace (Pushing Daisies), Jennifer Tilly (Bride of Chucky), and Paz de la Huerta (Boardwalk Empire). But do not expect to see much of any of them because no one gets more than ten minutes of screen time in the whole movie. Which also means it is hard to invest in any of the characters because by the time you start to care about them, they are already done with their part. I even thought they may pop up Lost style in other people stories, but that rarely happens during the film.

For a movie about ten people having sex with each other, you would think it would veer into Skinamax territory, but surprisingly every time two characters start to get down to business, the screen fades to black, and picture does not come back until some post- coitus time. Do not worry, the film is not completely void of skin, you will get to see plenty of beautiful French actress Vahina Giocante, and for the ladies, you will get to see Kirk getting into a bathtub.

30 Beats is the thinking (wo)man’s softcore porn movie, but without the actual sex being shown. Sure you take out the sex and most people will not care, but if you are into arty films about the human psyche, you may enjoy the film. For those that have seen it already and are thinking about adding it to your collection, be warned the only bonus feature on the DVD is the theatrical trailer, so you will not be getting anything new out of it.


Full Disclosure Notice: This DVD was given to me by BH Impact to review.

This Is No Fairytale, the Stories Are Real

Grimm finished up its early Monday run this week before returning to its regular Friday timeslot on the 28 (your TV Guide may say there is a new Grimm this Monday but it is wrong, NBC will be airing the Pilots of The New Normal and Go On at that time). If you need a Grimm fix over the next twenty-four days until a new episode airs, you can relive the first season on DVD or Blu-Ray on shelves now. Of course for those interested in give the show a shot, you can pick up the first season, then watch the first four episodes of season two, and be caught up by the time it returns (that is just over an episode a day).

For the unaware, Grimm was created by David Greenwalt who was a writer for Buffy the Vampire Slayer before going on to co-create the spin-off Angel with Joss Whedon. Grimm is very similar in tone to Angel in that is dark, creepy, with flashes of humor. But instead of a vampire, the lead is a Grimm, a descendant of the guys that wrote all the fairytales, except all the stories turned out to be based in reality and the Grimm’s were tasked to hunting down all the big bad wolfs and the like (Grimm’s have the ability to see the creatures in their true form when humans cannot) before they attack young girls wearing red.

But like his previous show, not everything that goes bump in the night is a bad guy. The Grimm even teams up with a modern Big Bad Wolf, known here as a Blutbad (all the creatures, or Wesen, have a German sounding name) that helps the Grimm identify everything he is up against and the sidekick turns out to be the best part of the show. And the Grimm has to do this while trying to keep his new reality from colliding with his life as cop (with a very shady boss who know more than he is letting on) and his long time girlfriend. Some of the other fairytales tacked in the first season include Goldilocks and the Three Bears, The Three Little Pigs, Rapunzel, Big Foot, and The Pied Piper.

Both the DVD and Blu-Ray are filled with extras including deleted and extended scenes from 13 episodes that add up to about and extra 30 minutes including a scene from the Pilot that shows Juliette in a very different job then she ended up having on the show. There is also a featurette The World of Grimm where you can learn the inspirations behind the storylines, characters and creatures. There is another one that focuses how the team brings the monsters to life. There is also a gag reel, highlight reels, and audition tapes which includes Reggie Lee (who would go on and be cast as Sergeant Wu) auditioning for the role of Hank. I also like that each episode includes its “Previously On” clip which is inexplicably not standard on all television box sets.

The Blu-Ray set is well made and even includes a glossary printed inside of all the monsters on the show (which I assume are also printed on the DVD set). I do like that the fold out box set comes with a Velcro type substance that holds it together when closed. I do not like that the disk are pulled out of a sleeve making it easier to scratch instead of the safer pop out version. For a limited time, each set comes with two collectable trading cards (I got the Blutbad and Hexenbiest) as well as an UltraViolet code which you have until 2015 to redeem by if you want to put off buying the season until later. The big reason to pick up the Blu-Ray over the DVD for those with HD capabilities is that the Blu-Ray version includes an Interactive Grimm Guide which look like pages out of the Grimm family books with a page dedicated to each Wesen from the first season (sorry, no previews of baddies to come or just hinted out in the first season) but also includes a video of each creature transforming from human to it true form.

Grimm returns Friday, September 28 at 9:00 on NBC. You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Grimm on iTunes.


Full Disclose Notice: This Blu-Ray was given to me by NBC.

They Drew First Blood, Not Me

Sylvester Stallone is having a bit of career resurgence with the release of The Expendables a couple years ago when Sly joined up with some of his action heroes of a bygone era. The sequel is set to hit theaters this weekend and in honor of him being back on top, Lionsgate released today Stallone: 3-Film Collector’s Set featuring, three of his best received movies. Well, his three best movies that do not have the word “Rocky” in the title: Cop Land, Rambo: First Blood, and Lock Up.

Honestly, Sylvester Stallone was a bit before my time and I was a bit too young to be watching his violent movies, and before The Expendables, the only other films of his I had seen were the Rocky where he single handedly destroy the Soviet Union, Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot (R.I.P. Estelle Getty), Victory (which needs a reboot but with women and starring Alex Morgan) and the greatest arm wrestling movie of all-time: Over the Top. Really, when I think of Stallone, I think of the Saturday Night Live sketch where Sly tries to help a dyeing Norm McDonald who insults his filmography with his final breaths.

Jokes aside, this three disk set is a good reminder did have a pretty good career. The highlight is the Cop Land from 1997 which showed to people like McDonald that Sly could act if given the right material as the sheriff of a town full of New York City police officers, who could not get a job himself in the city, who tries to root out corruption of dirty cops. The movie also has a stellar cast (well, a stellar cast and Michael Rappaport) including Harvey Keitel, Ray Liotta, Robert DeNiro, Peter Berg, Janeane Garofalo, Robert Patrick, Annabella Sciorra, Edie Falco, and Method Man in his very first acting role. It does seem like they put the old DVD’s from previous releases and stuck them into one package. The special features for the Cop Land DVD (which are the same for the Blu-Ray version) include an audio commentary with Sly, Patrick, writer / director James Mangold, and producer Cathy Producer. There are a couple deleted scenes with optional commentary, a behind the scenes featurette, and storyboard comparison.

First Blood of course features John Rambo, Sly’s second most famous character who goes H•A•M on a local sheriff department when they decide to mess around with the wrong green beret Vietnam veteran. After all the parodies, the 1982 film is a bit dated now, but there is still plenty of unintentional comedy to still enjoy it especially the extremely eighties song that plays over the credits. The DVD special features include a “Survivor Mode” that lets you access additional information while watching the film (you can also access these features on the main screen), which increases the rewatchability of the movie as well as an audio commentary with Sly and an alternative ending. The Blu-Ray also includes an audio commentary with novelist David Morrell, a featurette, and advanced trivia track.

Stallone fights the law again in Lock Up (1989) where he is a prisoner who takes on a sadistic warden in the form of Donald Sutherland. The special features on the DVD just include a cast and crew featurette, production notes, and the theatrical trailer. The blu-ray also features the trailer, as well as two other featurettes and a profile of Sylvester Stallone. If you are a fanatic of Sylvester Stallone, you probably already have all three movies in your collection and there is not enough new here to buy again (unless you need to upgrade your collection to blu-ray), but it a good starter kit for anyone new to the action hero. But you will also want to pick up the first couple Rocky films too.


Full Discourse Notice: This DVD set was provided to me by BHI Impact for review.

I Remember When We Used to Sit in the Government Yard in Trenchtown

I have never been a fan of bio-flicks. Why would I want to watch a fictional take on someone’s life especially if I was around to witness it firsthand? Why would I want to watch Walk the Line, when I could just spend those two hours listening to Johnny Cash songs? Or watch Will Smith pretend to be Muhammad Ali when I can just watch the documentary When We Were Kings instead? Thankfully no one has made a Bob Marley bio-flick (yet) and with the documentary Marley, the DVD released appropriately released a day after the fiftieth anniversary of Jamaica’s independence, there really is no need for a fictional version of his life.

Like most suburban white youth, I got into Bob Marley in high school where Legend might as well have been passed out at freshmen orientation. It was pure party music that could anyone moving no matter what other genres of music they listened to, and you may even learn something while you dance. While Redemption Song remains one of my favorite songs ever recorded. Like many other artists before my time, I pretty much stopped at the greatest hits (I got about fifty of his songs on my iPod) and really did not know much about his life other than a couple conspiracy theories involving the CIA.

If you are like me, you will definitely want to check out Marley to get the full experience, even the Bob Marley fanatic will probably find something new including a few unreleased tracks including a gospel, piano based demo of Redemption Song recorded with Peter Tosh (which sadly is not on the soundtrack). The documentary, from Kevin MacDonald (The Last King of Scotland), follows Marley’s life from his ska beginnings in Trenchtown, to revolutionary, to his last days fighting cancer. MacDonald got unprecedented access from the Marley family, former Wailers like Neville “Bunny” Livingston, Islands Records founder Chris Blackwell, the former Prime Minister, a couple mistresses, Bob’s first teacher, and eve a singer / janitor at Studio 1 where Bob recorded early material.

Even at two and a half hours, there is not a wasted minute and you may even find yourself wishing it went over three hours long. There are also plenty of features on the DVD. There are extended interviews with Bunny (who busts out a pipe that was made out of a carrot) and another of children’s memory from Ziggy, Stephan, and Cedella as well as clips of people listening to a very rare track called I’m Loose, so rare that it is the first time even some of the closest people to him are hearing it for the first time. There is an 18 minute “Around the World” feature that shows how Marley is celebrated around the globe, even in places you would not expect like Tunisia, India, and Tibet. There is also an audio commentary featuring director MacDonald and Ziggy as well as a photo gallery and theatrical trailer.


Full Discourse Notice: This DVD was provided to me by BHI Impact for review.