Customer Reviews

Inside the Smiths

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Rourke and Joyce moved rather quickly through the smiths years. i would have liked to have heard more about the albums and songs. they dicuss morressy and marr in terms of artistic abilities, but never go into detail or provide and refershing new information. The commentaries by other musicians were bland and off focus. I found it very annoying when they they used this cinamatogrphy every ten minutes.

This may sound like a negative review, but I expected more inside information from two members of the smiths who were there to see it all.
phil

Inside the Smiths DVD

Pros:
1. 'Inside the Smiths' is a rare look inside this historical band from the perspective of the band members and not just some journalist on the outside.
2. The video audio/visual quality was clear and not like some cheap copy of an interview (of which I have seen plenty)
3. The film showed what Mike Joyce and Andy Rourke are doing with their careers nowadays (which details I was not aware of)
4. Andy and Mike were very candid about some intricate details in the life of The Smiths and some of the details were somewhat eye-opening
5. The video had some classic cheesy video effects (maybe that's a con?)
6. As a short documentary, it is something more unique then the old interview videos of Morrissey.
7. It is a really good display of two band members whom in their wisdom can share hindsight on their experiences in the band rather than just some old footage of when they were in the vortex of the `new band' experience (this is something I haven't seen in other Smiths videos.

Cons:
1. The video was too short and left out a ton of potentially juicy stories
2. The video did not include any actual Smith's soundtracks or enough photos of the Smiths (lame)
3. Jonny Marr and Morrissey were not in the video (not even close)
4. Did I mention cheesy video effects?
5. The documentary was not really even a documentary on The Smiths being that it was originally filmed (over a 3 year period) as a quasi-documentary of Mike and Andy's current DJ career. It was apparent that the `Documentary' was really an afterthought (which was disappointing, I expected more)

Overall I think it's a `Should Have' DVD for the diehard Morrissey/Smiths fan, yet you might only find yourself watching it once a year (or less)!

Contrary to the other reviewers I found this documentary quite fascinating. At the end of the day, to have two actual members from The Smiths give an inside look into how things were in their band, it is not going to get any better. We know we will never hear from Morrisey or Marr so, IT IS WHAT IT IS!!! There is also a short interview with Craig Gannon in the extras section. Take it or leave it.