Chains and Belts Movie Reviews

That Alice in Chains were, in the early 1990s, routinely bracketed alongside Seattle counterparts Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Soundgarden as exemplars of grunge always had more to do with geography than reality. Alice in Chains were a heavy metal band, pure and simple. And like most successful heavy metal bands, they attracted an unusually devoted fan base, who will be well rewarded by this generous 94-minute compilation. Music Bank contains all Alice in Chains' videos, plus the kind of curios that suggest that someone, somewhere, put some thought into this. The clips are broken up with grabs of on-the-road footage shot by the band members themselves, and the program begins with a local television documentary made about them before they'd signed their record deal: the scenes shot in the kitchen of the house they were sharing at that point are probably best avoided by the faint-hearted. --Andrew Mueller

Before Pulp Fiction put him back on the mainstream cultural radar, John Travolta lent his considerable charms (and, somewhat surprisingly, cowrote the script) to this wholly schizophrenic straight-to-video L.A. gangland drama. The opening expository scenes are a bit of a drag, but be sure to hang on; what starts out as a painfully earnest paean to these troubled streets abruptly (and delightfully) switches gears to become a viscerally bruising action flick, as Travolta's troubled social worker goes undercover to save a wholesome teen from a murderous street gang. Second-half highlights include a terrific use of found locations, a completely dumbfounding suspension bridge stunt destined to wear out rewind buttons everywhere, and a flamboyant drug lord (played by Law & Order hunk Benjamin Bratt) whose swinging bachelor pad includes a decidedly nonregulation alligator pit. The DVD presentation includes a nicely rendered full-screen picture, production notes, and cast bios. Not likely to be featured in any future Travolta career retrospective, but a fun film nonetheless. --Andrew Wright

Featurettes from the decade-old Hard and Heavy program are collected on Rockthology, with volume 1 starring hard rockers Aerosmith, Nirvana, Jane's Addiction, Alice in Chains, the Black Crowes, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Faith No More, and Smashing Pumpkins. Each 5- to 15-minute episode showcases band member interviews, snippets from video clips, and occasional in-studio or at-home footage. Highlights are Aerosmith's Joe Perry candidly discussing his group's drug use, Perry Farrell admitting to creative struggles after signing with a major label, and Smashing Pumpkins leader Billy Corgan bravely exclaiming they'll be around awhile. Otherwise, this ragtag, 85-minute collection isn't thorough enough to satisfy longtime fans and is too "inside" to attract new ones. Cutting between interviews and video clips kills the chance to enjoy either, and the shortest segments (on Alice in Chains and the Black Crowes) are so superficial they'll disappoint everyone. --Kevin Filipski

This eclectic collection of hard rock and heavy metal music mixes titans and pretenders--and who is who depends on the generation you're coming from. You may find Jimi Hendrix (seen doing "Wild Thing" from Monterey Pop) corny and home in on the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Perhaps you think Kiss is king but disdain the more doom-laden approach of Alice in Chains. The variety in this collection of 15 artists means there'll be a little something for everyone: from Thin Lizzy to Nirvana, Whitesnake to the Cult, Alice Cooper to Joe Satriani. If there's a complaint, it's the producers' rare willingness to play a musical performance from start to finish without interruption. Too many of those intrusions include interview segments that don't add to our knowledge. DVD features include extended biographies and discographies for each artist. -- Marshall Fine