Iced Earth: Alive in Athens (2006) Review

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(More customer reviews)Here an awesome review!
Iced Earth: Alive in Athens (DVD)Join me for a little Heavy Metal time travel as we go back to the year 1999 to find Iced Earth as they record their first concert performance ever. The album would be done in Athens, Greece in front of a comfortable but still sizable audience and be called Alive In Athens. If you are one of the many Metal bangers that own the triple CD set already, then you are well-aware about this concert and just how excellent it was in capturing the best songs that Iced Earth had to offer the world at that time. The recording found the band in tip-top shape and holding a solid footing in their quest for Heavy Metal dominance. Our return from this trip to 2006 will lead us to the news of an old archive being discovered and inside this would be a long forgotten filming of this concert. The footage would be raw and was shot by a three member video team present at the event. Conversion to a more reliable format using the technology available was a smart thought and the decision to share this with the legions of Iced Earth fans became an immediate one. The audio was given some remaster treatment and soon it was ready to be unleashed on the public. It was a great find for Metal as fans everywhere are scooping up bootlegs at conventions and people are posting their own recordings on mediums like MySpace or YouTube. As a concert itself there are moments in the film that make you feel as though you are watching from the balconies while others place you on the stage looking out to the crowd. There are no dynamic effects and instead it's just a sparsely decorated stage with the band members doling out the Metal in excellent fashion. The three cameras do a great job and while some might balk at the limited amount of videographers at least we got something from this monumental show. Recent interviews have found Schaffer himself displeased with the idea of this videos release but it is the only way to see a full concert with the former singer Matthew Barlow; a performer that a majority of the bands fan base misses very much. Sonically and visually I found nothing wrong with this release and totally recommend it for Iced Earth fans old and new. The amount of full concert footage from Iced Earth is currently limited to this release and if you find yourself wanting a show with this line up you need to look no further than here to get it. Twenty eight songs and running 2.5 hours you cannot go wrong with it. Iced Earth has had a number of lineup changes over the years and Schaffer as founder, remains the only constant of the musical vision. Everyone else in the band for this film has moved on to other pursuits in music and life by this time. This video finds the membership roster as Jon Schaffer (guitar), Matthew Barlow (vocals), James MacDonough (bass), Larry Tarnowski (lead guitar), Brent Smedley (drums) and Rick Risberg (keyboards). As a Metal fan that got into this band later than I should have I was happy to find this video released as it is a musical education in the bands back catalog. Favorite tunes are "Melancholy", "Burning Times", and "Walking In Stygian" among many others. Bonus features include Jon in Athens and backstage footage. A booklet is included and loaded with photos, song lyrics and cool graphics that the group was known for. This is a must have for any Metal fan. Song Listing
1. Intro
2. Burning Times
3. Vengeance Is Mine
4. Dark Saga
5. Last Laugh
6. Cast In Stone
7. Last December
8. Pure Evil
9. Desert Rain
10. Dante's Inferno
11. The Hunter
12. Melancholy (Holy Martyr)
13. Angels Holocaust
14. Stormrider
15. The Path I Choose
16. Watching Over Me
17. Diary
18. Blessed Are You
19. When The Night Falls
20. My Own Savior
21. Travel In Stygian
22. Violate
23. Stand Alone
24. Brainwashed
25. Disciples Of The Lie
26. I Died For You
27. Prophecy
28. Birth Of The Wicked
29. The Coming Curse
30. Epilogue
Reviewer: Ken Pierce

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Stranded (2008) Review

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(More customer reviews)The story of the 1972 plane crash in the Andes and the struggles of the men aboard to survive seems to pop into the public awareness periodically over the three decades since it happened. "Stranded" is the latest documentary on the subject, and it's the best I've seen. All 16 survivors participated. Director Gonzalo Arijon incorporates grainy, impressionistic, silent reenactments of the scenes the men describe. This enhances the audience's picture of the events without usurping the gripping commentary of the survivors. The combination of interviews, some archival footage, and the dreamlike reenactments, which seem like memories, make this retelling of the story more engrossing than any narrative adaptation.
On Friday, October 13, 1972, a college rugby team from Montevideo, Uruguay set out on Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 to Santiago, Chile, where they were to compete in a match. Having changed its route to avoid inclement weather, the plane descended too early over the mountains, severed both wings, and crash-landed high in the snow-covered Andes. Of the 45 people aboard, 29 survived the crash, 23 uninjured. They didn't have adequate clothing for the freezing conditions. Many had never seen snow before. And, even strictly rationed, food would only last a few days. They hoped to be rescued but could hear on the radio that the aerial search was called off due to heavy snow. And yet 16 of the young men spent 72 days on the mountain and lived to talk about it.
All survivors participated, but some say more than others. Fernando "Nando" Parrado, who wrote a book about his experiences, seems to have been a leader after the group lost its team captain. Roberto Canessa, who, with Nando, was responsible for the rescue, is the most pensive and analytical of the experience. Gustavo Zerbina is vibrant and opinionated. Those who had the strongest voices on the mountain have the most to say today. The film places no more emphasis on the men's cannibalism than on any other element of their story, for which I am grateful. I've never understood the fascination with the cannibalism. It's the least interesting aspect of the ordeal. This is an incredible story of survival and escape against all odds and against the indifference and supremacy of Nature. In Spanish with optional English subtitles.
The DVD (Zeitgeist 2009): Bonus features are a US trailer (2 min) and a featurette, "The Making of Stranded" (52 min). This is a loosely organized mix of interviews with survivors that were cut from the final edit of the film, some brief interviews with the director on location, in which he emphasizes that this film is about the experiences of the men, not about action, and we spend time with some of the survivors as they relate more details of their experiences to the young actors who will portray them. Both the film and featurette are in Spanish with optional English subtitles.

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On October 13, 1972, a young rugby team called "The Old Christians" from Montevideo, Uruguay, boarded a plane for a match in Chile--and then vanished into thin air. Two days before Christmas, 16 of the 45 passengers miraculously resurfaced. They had managed to survive for 72 days after their plane crashed on a remote Andean glacier. Thirty-five years later, the survivors returned to the crash site--known as the Valley of Tears--to recount in their own words their harrowing story of defiant endurance, intense spirituality, and indestructible friendship. Previously documented in the worldwide bestseller Alive (and the film adaptation starring Ethan Hawke), this shocking true story finally gets the cinematic treatment it deserves. Visually breathtaking and crafted with riveting detail by documentary filmmaker (and childhood friend of the survivors) Gonzalo Arijon with a masterful combination of on-location interviews, archival footage and reenactments, Stranded is a hauntingly powerful and spiritually moving celebration of humanity.SPECIAL FEATURES- 16:9 anamorphic transfer, formatted for widescreen televisions- "The Making of Stranded": A 52-minute featurette with behind-the-scenes footage of the cast and crew, and additional interviews with the crash survivors- U.S. theatrical trailer- Optional English subtitles- Director's statement

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