Product: Return to Waterloo [VHS] (1985)
Rating: 2.0
Not worthy of the Kinks or Ray's talents
I'm a huge Kinks fan and had never seen Return To Waterloo (although I had the album released by Ray at the time of the film's release). When it finally appeared on DVD I thought I should check it out. It's a dreary mess of a film notable only for an early appearence by actor Tim Roth. The songs are certainly very good (although not quite up to the level of Arthur or Village Green). RTW stands as an interesting failure.The videos from the Kinks renewed popularity during the late 70's and early 80's are a hoot. Before MTV had reduced videos to little more than slick commericals, videos were amateurish enough to be fun. In this post MTV age they've become overproduced unimaginative messes (although thee are certainly a handful of worthy short "films" from the early years of MTV most are pretty bad now). Oh dear, I sound like a crabby old youngman!Anyhow, the videos are fun and it's always nice to see the band performing even if its just lip synching and performances to backing tracks. I'd definitely rank Come Dancing and Do It Again at the top of the videos the Kinks made (the latter song is an underrated gem that borrows the opening chord from A Hard Day's Night and manages to return the favor the Who did for the band when they "borrowed" the Kinks sound early in their career).Worth having just for the videos and seeing the band in more successful days. As for RTW I'd record the songs onto a CDR play that and ignore the film. 1 star for RTW and 3 for the videos average out to 2 for the package.