MGF Reviews Story of the Year – Our Time is Now [DVD]

Reviews


Story of the Year – Our Time is Now
Image Entertainment (05/13/08)
Unrated
100 minutes

There’s really only one group of people who would be interested in the new Story of the Year DVD, Our Time is Now: fans of the band.

The disc, subtitled Two years in the life of …, is basically a collection of home video shot by the band over a two-year span of touring. It’s the usual montage of backstage antics and tour-related tomfoolery. And while there’s moments of live performances captured, apart from three or four songs sprinkled through the hour-and-a-half-plus on the main feature (with accompanying black and white grainy footage, for some reason), it’s pretty much a documentary of the band’s life off-stage.

The special features are the more interesting aspects of the disc: an hour-plus making of In the Wake of Determination, the band’s 2005 release; two “making the video” documentaries for “We Don’t Care Anymore” and “Take Me Back” (and the corresponding videos); some deleted scenes; and a unnecessary trailer for the DVD. It’s neither groundbreaking nor cutting edge, but manages to do the job.

Since it’s all shot on a home video, the video quality is to be expected (read slightly grainy at times and not too polished), and is all presented in 1:33:1 aspect ratio. The sound is clear and crisp for the most part (there’s some hairy moments shot from the stage where the sound is completely blown out), and is presented in stereo (no need for surround).

This sort of stuff isn’t groundbreaking. For example, back in the early ’90s Skid Row released two similar videos, but instead of solely being a collection of home video footage, the band also offered up a hefty set of live songs from throughout the tour, and also a collection of music videos. For what it is, Our Time is Now is fine, but this wasn’t the most interesting time in the band’s history (making the sophomore album after years of touring). The more interesting video would have been shot prior to the band’s major-label release, a video that would have told the story of a band struggling to get noticed, earning a record contract and then going out to prove itself. There’s no drama here, just a group of guys who already “made it” that now have the privilege to goof off and presume fans care. Well, fans will, but not too many others will.

Rating:

Jonathan Widro is the owner and founder of Inside Pulse. Over a decade ago he burst onto the scene with a pro-WCW reporting style that earned him the nickname WCWidro. Check him out on Twitter for mostly inane non sequiturs