Customer Reviews

Angels and Airwaves: Start the Machine

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Three and a half stars

I have to admit that this documentary is something of a disappointment. Let me backtrack a second. There seems to be three types of music fans over the last three years. Those who love and worship Angels and Airwaves, those who absolutely hate Angels and Airwaves, and those who don't know who the hell Angels and Airwaves are. Unfortunately, it appears that most of the population in the world fits into the third, but I undoubtedly, undeniably and proudly fall into the first. Whisper and I-Empire are two of my favorite albums of all time and are in constant rotation on my i-pod and cd player. I regularly check forums, fan sites and Mod-Life to see what the band is up to. You can only imagine than that I was seriously looking forward to this documentary which has been talked about for for so long to finally come out. Today was that day, and I was first in line (ok, so there was no line) to pick it up (after failing to find it at three other stores first). I'm not sure what I was looking for in this film, but it was much more than what I got. Start the Machine is hardly more than any other "making of the album" special on VH1 or "Classic Albums" DVD that has been released in the past few years. The band is followed from the breakup of Blink (very briefly covered) and through the hype and eventual release of their debut album, We Don't Need To Whisper. The thing is, during the filming... nothing really seems to happen. Perhaps the aspect of this film that fans were looking forward to most (obviously aside from some Blink stuff), was Tom's reaction to the way he hyped the record and his addiction to painkillers. While this stuff is pretty interesting, we don't get to hear too much from the other band members on it. David tries to have an intervention with an overly annoying and incredibly interruptive Delonge, and Tom himself reflects on that time and how it affected him, but really it's nothing we haven't read in one of the million AVA interviews that have been done in the last year. The Ryan Sinn exit is brushed over pretty quickly and Matt is barely introduced to the audience. Unless your a superfan, there is nothing intriguing about this piece of film at all (whereas even a non-fan would find The Pink Floyd Story to be quite engaging). As far as the extras, the live songs are all from the San Diego show back in 06' that have been widely available on I-Tunes and P2P sites. The short films are all on YouTube and pretty much on any AVA fan site.

All of that being said, the absolute highlight of the DVD is the commentary that the band does over the entire film. Matt is hilarious and you get to hear that side of Tom that makes you remember why you first started to love him. The guys are obviously good friends and all seem to be great dudes. They make fun of each other (in good fun) throughout much of the film and to be honest it is far more entertaining than the actual documentary. It's the reason I'm giving this the rating its getting.

Anyway, bottom line is, if you're a fan you should pick this up... without expecting too much. If you're not a fan, this isn't for you. And if you're trying to get someone into AVA (a constant goal and battle of mine), this is not the best approach. Adios.

After all the hype and wait for the Angels & Airwaves DVD "Start the Machine" it's finally arrived and depending what you're looking for this is either a pleasant surprise or a disappointment.
This DVD is basically a look at Angels & Airwaves as they created the "We Don't Need To Whisper" album. And for this purpose the DVD delivers great insight. You get a great look at the inner working of the band within the studio experience. You get to see what Tom Delonge was thinking and where he wanted the Band and the Music to go. I think if you're a musican or a producer, this DVD will be very interesting to you.
If you are looking for something more along the lines of "Behind the Music: Motley Crue" then this DVD is not for you. While there is some discussion about the Blink 182 breakup, Drug use and other outside factors this DVD does not deliver these all that thoroughly or in great detail.
The Special Features aside from the interview with Tom Delonge where he speaks about the Blink 182 break up which provides some interesting insight but only lasts 5-10 minutes, are not anything overly interesting and you've probably seen them before online.
All in all this DVD does a great job of giving you a birds eye view of the recording of the album, but it lacks some of the back story elements that could have made it great. I give it a 4 out 5, and strongly recommend it if you're a musican or producer and interested in taking a look into the studio while a band strives to start something new and exciting or if you are just a Angels & Airwaves fan.

I honestly don't know where the negative reviews are coming from. I thought this DVD was amazing! It goes into the dissolution of blink-182, Tom's addiction to prescription drugs, and the point to their music overall. It's awesome to see the songs being constructed as the DVD goes on. They explain all sorts of little things that are really cool. Gives you more of an insight into the band and the first album. And the live performances are like, breathtaking. They are so epic.
The special features are pretty cool. One is just more from the studio, where you basically see them putting together "The War" piece by piece, which is fun to watch. Another is a more detailed explanation of blink's breakup. Then there's an inspiring performance of "Distraction" live. The rest are music videos/short films for the songs. The last piece is just seeing some of the reviews, which last for about 30 seconds to a minute.
The commentary is just kinda funny. Tom is the only one taking it seriously, so he's trying to hold a serious commentary while his bandmates are just messing around. I highly recommend this film for any of their fans. It is awesome.

This DOC is absolutely amazing and a great tool to use to get others listening to the band, which I have done. This documentary shows the making of Whisper, live concert performances, music videos and more! I don't know how this got average reviews, I love it. Angels and Airwaves is the greatest thing Tom has ever done and I hope that this band continues for years to come. It is Rock that hasn't been heard in a long time. AVA may be this generation's U2, but is that such a band thing? Look how big U2 is. AVA will one day be as big!

I bought this figuring what the hey since it was only $9, and despite some low reviews, I was happy with it! The publicity might get your hopes up, but if you go into it without expecting something phenomenal, you'll be very pleased.

A major plus is the special features, which seemed to be just as long as, or longer than, the actual documentary. They are plentiful ("MORE FROM THE STUDIO" lasts for a while), and the interviews are pretty good! The short films were new to me, adding up to 6 counting the music videos, and 7 counting a live video!

Start The Machine may not be spectacular, but it was very refreshing. All of the videos appear to be high-budget, with an interesting mix of animation, all put together nicely! I even love the menu screen. It's creative and for an AVA product, it's definitely great. For a band documentary, if you're into this type of music, it might just be the best you've ever seen- it was definitely more theatrical than the ten or twenty band documentaries I've seen in my life! (Though I do still like the Blink 182 chronicles better- only because Blink 182 was my first real favorite band.) Even if AVA isn't your top favorite, if you like them a little bit, this DVD will definitely give you more insight and I'm sure you'll enjoy it. :)

First off, the bad reviews rather on Amazon or elsewhere are mind boggling. Besides the fact they could have put it in 5.1 it is basically a documentary so need not be. Start the Machine has plenty extras with the short films being a real treat. Too many blame the introspective I suppose but HELLO, this is a documentary so what do you expect? A true fan will absolutely LOVE this film. And know there is enough LIVE concert footage to tickle the fancy. If you're just a Blink 182 fan maybe you're not into AVA but for those like me who only care about AVA, Start the Machine is a wonderful insight. Bring on I-Empire!!!!

To be perfectly honest, i mainly bought this DVD because i'm a 15-year-old Tom DeLonge, Angels & Airwaves and blink-182 fanatic. When i heard it was being released, i was so excited! and i just wanted to purchase the DVD to drool over Tom. But actually, it proves to be really interesting. It gives you good insight into the blink break-up, which i found really useful. Although i really like Tom, i was kind of blaming him for the break up of blink. But he gives you his side of the story during the DVD, and makes you see his point. Nothing brain-washing, just tells you what he was thinking and feeling at the time, therefore making it difficult to blame him for his actions. He says he has nothing against the other blink guys, so who knows, maybe a final tour could be ever so slighly possible? But yeah, back on track, i found this DVD really good, it shows you stuff that happened in the studio during the creation of We Don't Need To Whisper. A bit of good banter in it too which makes it all the more enjoyable to watch.

Perfect for all fans of AVA. You learn a lot about the band, Tom, and how they produced We Don't Need To Whisper.

Tom delonge is one of my greatest inspirations so i picked this up when i saw it. it is a great buy, with lots of info about the studio for the band and interviews and live shows. also a few music videos and short films. i love this dvd and i recommend it.

Angels and Airwaves was a really interesting.....idea. I liked We Don't Need to Whisper, but was a bit let down by I-Empire. Not sure why, don't know if it was my growing feeling of resentment towards Tom's attitude and his fake personality in interviews, etc...don't know if it was the fact that it felt more like "more of the same" rather than an ambitious continuation....maybe it was the fact that every song was about the SAME DAMN THINGS....but I sort of lost interest in the band after that CD, even though I thought it had some great tracks on it. Still, though, I like the band, and remembered hearing about this film they had planned. And despite this supposedly going to be a "huge release" it was released with little fanfare right to DVD and I just happened to see it on a store shelf and picked it up.

It's an interesting documentary but never really.....great. This is a very new band, it makes almost no sense to make a documentary about them by this point. Look how long it took Metallica to put out Some Kind of Monster, and they're.... frigging...Metallica. The movie briefly discusses Tom's breakup from Blink, shows the band recording and discussing We Don't Need to Whisper, features Tom talking about his addiction to painkillers, etc. etc. etc. It's all...interesting, but nothing that couldn't have been discussed in a "revealing interview" in Spin Magazine; I have no idea why this thing was produced. It just seems to unfortunately further highlight what I've been noticing about this band; they just think way too highly of themselves. A section on the DVD even is called "Reviews" and shows pictures of magazine articles that praised the CD....really, guys? Could this DVD be any more one-sided?

That said, there is definitely some good stuff on here. 2 of the band's music videos, a commentary with the band and director, a 10-minute explanation of Tom's leaving Blink 182 (wish more of this made the film, instead it's under the special features section,) and the band's CG music videos. I just find it hard, though, to see the point of all this. I like Angels and Airwaves, but to hear Tom call it "the best stuff he's ever made" and see him go on about how emotionally powerful this music is....I just can't agree with it, Blink 182's final CD was much more emotionally powerful to me, both lyrically and musically, than anything on the first 2 Angels and Airwaves CD's, hate to say it. They were good CD's but let's not oversell them. And I think that was this band's biggest mistake from the beginning.


Start the Machine's a documentary about a decent new band with talented people in it that think a bit too highly of themselves for their own good. Still, though, there's a bit here of interest to fans, and it's genuinely well-made and provided a nice viewing. It highlighted Tom's need to be appreciated as a "real artist" other than the jokester he was in Blink, though I wish he'd realize that he doesn't have to abandon who he is in the process. It also explains where the name "We Don't Need to Whisper" came from, and a couple (but not enough) live performances and plenty of studio footage. A decent DVD. I think it would have been better, though, as a bonus disc with their 3rd CD, whenever that comes out, because a full documentary release at this point in time just seems a bit premature.