Green Day – Under Review 1995 – 2000: The Middle
Years
Picture: C+ Sound: C+ Extras: C Episode: B
Green Day
seemed to have ended their career when their underrated and ever-interesting
album Nimrod did not fare very well
either critically or commercially. Of
course, American Idiot was a huge
commercial and critical success at an especially critical and sad time in U.S.
history when the Bush/Iraq craziness was at its height. Green
Day – Under Review 1995 – 2000: The Middle Years is a solid 68 minutes
portrait of how they avoided the current major record label grind and became
one of the few great bands to survive the dark nature of record labels who see
even their most valuable and talented acts as totally disposable.
After a
brief look at their early years, the 95 – ’00 period is thoroughly looked over
with clips, interviews and especially interviews with fans, music scholars and
those closely associated with the band in various periods. Though the band touts themselves in ways that
are unnecessary and has them trying too hard to have a legacy, they have little
to worry about. They should let strong
programs like this sum them up because it is accurate in what they managed to
pull off. It is also another solid Under Review release, as usual, dealing
with Insomniac, Nimrod and Warning in a
way that proves (long before American
Idiot) that they were doing better work than they were getting credit
for. Bet that would not have happened in
the better years of the major labels.
The 1.33
x 1 image originated in professional analog PAL video and looks good for such a
production. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
is simple but richer than usual, typical of installments of this series and
features their music and Videos throughout.
Extras include contributor text biographies, quiz and Next Move featurette about what they
might do next. Except for diehard fans
who may already feel they have had their fill of the band, this is a DVD will
inform and entertain those who wondered how they made their comeback.
- Nicholas Sheffo
