Written by: Shayne at 11:31 pm
Filed under: Movies,Music
Reviewing anything on Elvis is interesting for me because I missed the craze. I can appreciate that his music was obsessed over and loved, but I was not alive for the excitement. When I was little, my mother would always tell me how my older brother cried when he heard that Elvis died. For the longest time, that was really the only thing that I knew about The King. That being said, this DVD, Elvis: That’s The Way It Is, is a restored, previously released film that coincides with the anniversary of Elvis’ death.
The point of the film, as I am to understand it, was to offer a traditional view of Elvis. At the point that this movie originally came out, people had seen the movie star and the musician, so the goal was to show them the man behind all of this. The differences in the new DVD and the original movie include plenty of edits. The restoration editor, Rick Schmidlin wanted to make the film more intimate. His goal was to place all the focus on Elvis.
In order to make this happen there were radically substantial edits throughout the movie. For example, in the original, a song would play and there would be fan interviews. In this newer version, the fan interviews were removed to place more focus on Elvis.
Some of the things you will see include concert preparations with Elvis and the band, rehearsals with the backup singers, and Elvis performing at the International Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. Other than that what you get is really something akin to a concert DVD. Don’t get me wrong, Elvis lovers will adore this, but if you are looking for something more substantial and not completely music based this will probably be a let down to you.
One of my favorite performances on this disc is “Suspicious Minds”. Watching this performance makes it incredibly easy to see why people named him The King. Some other good performances include “Hound Dog” and “Blue Suede Shoes”. I felt that some performances were a little more rushed than others, though from what I have seen that was characteristic for Elvis in some songs.
Elvis: That’s The Way It Is really gives fans a chance to see Elvis the way he was before he would go on to gain weight and lose the motivation to perform that he once had. People of the younger generation remember Elvis in an almost comical sort of way. We may be able to appreciate what he did, but in many ways, because of the common images of the chubby sequins-covered Las Vegas act, before it was cool to be in Vegas. However, this DVD gives people that were fans and who never experienced the true Elvis a chance to enjoy the powerful presence that he once was.
When it comes to video and audio quality things were pretty good, for the most part. Everything was easily seen and heard. Considering the fact that this is remastered it turned out just fabulous. You can hardly tell that this picture was made when it was. When it comes to extras there are some, but not too many. Patch it Up: The Restoration of Elvis: That’s The Way It Is involves commentary and information on how the restoration process went. It was likely the most boring part of the film for me, but I am not counting it against the DVD because it was merely an extra and not the meat of the film. Other extras include biographies, filmographies, and the original trailer.
Elvis: That’s The Way It Is will be best suited for fans that miss the power of Elvis. This DVD is not going to offer you too much information about that a fan wouldn’t know, but it will give you the best possible chance to relive a great musician’s career in his heyday. If you’re new to the Elvis fold you might want to rent this one to be sure you’re interested as it seems like one of those movies that will be far more interesting to fans rather than just anyone who happens to stumble upon this film.
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Technorati Tags: Elvis, Thats the Way It is, biography, DVD Review, Movie
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Written by Shayne - Visit Website
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I am the proud Papa of a son, Dylan Michael Keller. Other than spending time with my son, I have two main obsessions in life; video games & movies. Often, the two accompany time spent with Dylan. I've been married to Andrea for 13 years this December. One thing I've learned about married life is to always expect the unexpected. After nearly eleven years with just the three of us, and our Golden Retriever, Braeden, I've just found out I'm going to be a dad again. In my professional life, I'm a bit of a cyber geek. I enjoy D&D, writing stories, role-playing, computer games, working on websites, and just hanging out. I work for a computer firm doing computer-tech type work and that's all I can really say about my job. In my fantasy life, I escape to the world of film. I'm not ashamed to admit that I've seen The Return of the King at least 37 times. I signed up to review movies, and you can guarantee I'll do the job right. I hope you enjoy my reviews and always remember kids...Make Love, Not Warcraft.
