Customer Reviews

Tom Waits: Under Review 1983 - 2006

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

 

 

I'm a huge Tom Waits fan. Like, for seriously, of the "own it all" variety. There are some songs I don't like, but he is my "only music stranded on an island" artist. So, I bought this thinking if nothing else it'd at least have a bunch of interesting facts and music videos. Instead, there are 3 or 4 people narrating with their boring little opinions that focus on their own interpretations or personal likes/dislikes of Tom. They have these wooden personalities that are dull, dull, dull. I honestly can't think of a single redeeming feature to this "documentary". The few music videos they played are on youtube. There was one bit about the movies he was in I enjoyed, but I could have found most of that info just as easily on imdb.

Do yourself a favor; rent this. Or better yet, just listen to Tom's music, watch his movies and music videos. Unless you want to be bored to tears by curmudgeonly ego maniacs.

A very decent disc copy of what apparently is a brit/english TV program. Not terrible if you like hearing about Waits from the perspective of others. No complete videos just stock footage being run behind his music.

Menus are simple almost to the point of being cheesy, but the price isn't bad.

If you need a documentary of pseudo-intellectuals warbling on about the man, then buy this extraordinarily boring DVD. If not, put your hard earned dollars towards buying Saint Tom's entire album catalogue and liberate your mind. (Post Script: The critics on this turkey are almost as bad as those you see on Chinese Central Television, and that says it all.)

Anyone who would purchase this item is surely a fan, and will be disappointed in the content of this dvd. I can understand why this is film is unauthorized by Tom. It is a completely uninteresting and sometimes negative outline of a fantastic body of work, discussed by people who seem to have little or no credibility. For example, you have a person criticizing an album (Alice) who confesses he hadn't really listened to it. Are you kidding me? The few clip highlights, mostly pulled from Big Time, are not enough to save this "film." Tom Waits songs played over old film footage is also used frequently as filler, which seems like a freshman film student stunt. These are just a few of the non-highlights of this dvd. I know we are all dying for some great footage of Tom, but you're not going to get it here.

Apparently, after viewing this musical film documentary about the mid-career changes in the work of master vocalist Tom Waits, not all such efforts are born equality. I, honestly, do not want to spend much time on this one. Not because of the "talking heads" that always populate these kinds of films, usually in music documentaries they are filled with good information. Rather, I was left with two distinct negative impressions, one that this was something of an academic exercise for the "talking heads" that well beyond the most rarified flights of fancy that can come out of that milieu. The second was that, strangely, Tom Waits for all of his musical virtuosity really is better served by exposure to his works than a discussion of the chronology of his various efforts over the past quarter century. Mercifully this thing was only an hour and a half. Otherwise I thought would have to call on one of the corner boys, Gun Street Girl or one of the Nighthawk diners to do their thing.

This is a good companion to the pre-swordfish review, 'Tom Waits Under Review 1971 - 1982' - if you like these style documentaries as much as I do [talking heds plus live footage and archive interviews etc].
Tom Waits is very much a one-off, glad he's still around and working.

This DVD has many reviews and appropriately named. This is an excellent choice If you want to catch up on his later work. The only bad thing about this DVD was the cheesy menu it had, but that was it! They could have made a better menu for this CD, it looked like some kid created the DVD from his home computer. Other than that I still give it 5 stars. There is some nice trivia on this DVD about Tom Waits. Another thing I thought it would have more of are clips from most of his videos, but instead they incorporated other imagery with his songs while reviewing most of his music, hmmm - but there are some clips from his videos, not too many. Although, there are no REAL interviews with Tom, except a few excerpts now and then, just mostly reviews. I kind of expected some worth while interviews, but of course the title says "Under Review" so I still have to give it 5 stars. Very interesting DVD...Go get it if you can find it!

I sat in amazement during the first 20 minutes of this at how bad it was, then watched the final hour hoping for a miracle that never came. Made by pseudo-intellectuals completely full of themselves, the film begins on an awkward "after Tom left Asylum Records" note rather than tracing his full career, and goes out of its' way again and again to point out Tom's spouse Kathleen Brennan's influence on his work to what purpose I cannot fathom.