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Standing In The Shadows of Motown
Stars:
The Funk Brothers: Richard “Pistol” Allen, Jack “Black Jack” Ashford,
Bob Babbitt, Johnny Griffith, Joe Hunter, Uriel Jones, Joe Messina, Eddie
“Chank” Willis, and The Funk Bothers (Here In Spirit): Benny “Pappa Zita”
Benjamin, Eddie “Bongo” Brown, James “Igor” Jamerson, Earl “Chunk Of
Funk” Van Dyke, Robert White, With Bootsy Collins, Ben Harper, Montell Jordan,
Chaka Khan, Gerald Levert, Meshell Ndegeocello, Joan Osbourne, and Tom Scott
Narrated
By: Andre Baraugher
Narration
Written By: Walter Dallas and Nitozake Shange
Inspired
By The Book By: Allan “Dr. Licks” Slutsky
Director:
Paul Justman
Feature
length: 110 minutes
Extras:
Trivia Track, Featurettes, Multiangle Jam Sessions, Deleted Scenes, Music Video
Montage, Discography, Honorable Mentions
DVD-ROM
Extras: BMWFilms.com Presents The Hire: A Series Of Short Films (Hostage,
Ticker, Beat The Devil), High Resolution DVD-ROM Playable Version, Virtual
Recording Studio
Languages:
English DTS Digital 6.1 ES Theatrical Surround Sound, Dolby Digital Theatrical
5.1 EX Surround Sound, and Dolby Surround Sound
Subtitles:
English Captions and Closed Captions and Spanish Language Subtitles
Packaging:
Two-Disc Amaray Keep Case
Chapter
Stops: 35
Sound:
DTS Digital 6.1 ES Theatrical Surround Sound, Dolby Digital Theatrical 5.1 EX
Surround Sound, and Dolby Surround Sound
Year
of Theatrical Release: 2002/DVD Release: 2003
Theatrical
Distributor: Artisan Entertainment
Home
Video Distributor: Artisan Home Entertainment
MPAA
Rating: PG
Reviewer:
Mark A. Rivera
The
cover of the DVD states “They played on more #1 records than the Beatles, the
Beach Boys, the Rolling Stones and Elvis Presley combined…” and the truth is
most people are probably unaware of their names. The Funk Brothers: Richard
“Pistol” Allen, Jack “Black Jack” Ashford, Bob Babbitt, Johnny Griffith,
Joe Hunter, Uriel Jones, Joe Messina, Eddie “Chank” Willis, and The Funk
Bothers (Here In Spirit): Benny “Pappa Zita” Benjamin, Eddie “Bongo”
Brown, James “Igor” Jamerson, Earl “Chunk Of Funk” Van Dyke, and Robert
White were among the best musicians who Berry Gordy gathered in Detroit,
Michigan in 1959 for his new record company: Motown. The Funk Brothers were the
greatest hit machine in the history of popular music and the documentary
“Standing In The Shadow Of Motown” is their story. The film is both
inspiring and poignant in the depiction of how these men who were often not
credited early on in their careers, made music that changed the world with bands
covering their rhythms and lyrics while others successfully and unsuccessfully
trying to copy their style. This is a film about artists who created “Soul
Music” and as one of the artists describes in the film, “Soul Music” makes
a person feel good and gives them hope. Is it any surprise this gentlemen became
a music icon himself? (You will have to watch the documentary to know who said
it.) I watched this film and at times I just put it the player to kick back and
listen to the music while I doing some not related review work and I have to
note, it truly does touch the heart and makes a person feel good and this DVD
set from Artisan is an excellent home video document of their achievement.
To
begin with viewers get actually two different ways to view the film with one
being the traditional anamorphic 16 by 9 widescreen aspect ratio with English
DTS Digital 6.1 ES Theatrical Surround Sound, Dolby Digital Theatrical 5.1 EX
Surround Sound, and Dolby Surround Sound as well as English Captions and Closed
Captions for the hearing impaired and Spanish Language Subtitles encoded onto
the first DVD for desktop players. Then on disc two is a complete
high-resolution version that will work PC DVD-ROM drives with a minimum of a
1.8Ghz CPU for playback of the Windows Media version of the film, Windows Media
Player 9 Series, 256MB RAM, 32MB Video Card, DirectX 8, Internet Explorer 5.0,
and a 1024 x 768 Screen Resolution Monitor. This Windows Media version of the
film presents “Standing In The Shadow Of Motown” in a widescreen aspect
ratio with a 1024 x 576 resolution, which the documentation states is one and a
half times the resolution of playback of the film on standard DVD players. The
results is a clearer and in fact stunning High Definition like media experience
that picture wise surpasses the set top presentation on disc one. Of course the
DTS and Dolby Digital Soundtrack options on disc one sound better than my PC
speakers, but it is a nice thought that truly enhances the DVD experience as a
whole. Artisan be using this feature on their upcoming “Terminator 2: Judgment
Day Extreme Edition” as well and I am interested in how the results follow
through on that release. In terms of picture quality on the standard DVD-Video
version there is a vibe of immediacy bought to how the film through the fine
grain and various style footage is used and presented and I think it compliments
the film as a whole.
Extra
features include a multiangle jam session, music video montage, “Dinner with
the Funk Brothers,” two featurettes, select biographies and discographies, a
trivia track, a feature length Director/Producer audio commentary with Paul
Justman and Allan Slutsky, and DVD-ROM users also have access to an interactive
“virtual recording studio” on disc two.
In
addition, there are short films directed respectively by John Woo, Joe Carnahan,
and Tony Scott on disc one available to Windows Media DVD-ROM users as a part of
the upcoming Collector’s Edition DVD of “The Hire,” an 8 film series
starring Clive Owen and featuring guest stars like The Godfather Of Soul, Mr.
James Brown (complete with subtitles in case you can’t understand what he’s
saying), Gary Oldman, F. Murray Abraham, and Don Cheadle as well as a few cameos
not credited.
There
is an insert with liner notes by the Author, information on “The Funk
Brothers,” and notes by the Director as well as notes on the “Virtual
Recording Studio” feature, chapter and performance indexes within the two-disc
Amaray Keep Case.
A
great two-disc set, “Standing In The Shadow Of Motown” will debut on DVD-Video
on Tuesday, April 22, 2003 from Artisan Home Entertainment.
©
Copyright 2003 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.
Buy This DVD Now By Clicking On The Text Link Below!
Standing In The Shadows of Motown