NBA DVD Reviews
Tue Aug 24, 2004 11:33 pm
My recent NBA merchandise purchases have all been DVDs from Amazon.com. With a new multi-region player, I'm able to buy DVDs from the States. I thought I'd share my impressions with my fellow NBA fans, especially those who don't have these DVDs but are thinking of buying them.
First up...
NBA Street Series: Dunks!
Note: For my fellow Australians, this DVD is tentatively scheduled to be released late October/early November here in Australia, but if you have a multi-region DVD player and a TV capable of NTSC playback (most TVs that are only a few years old should be), you shouldn't have any problems and might want to buy from amazon.com - even if you want to wait for the Region 4 release, you'll probably have to order online.
Dunks! hypes itself as "Pro vs Playground, Fame vs Game". From Elgin Baylor to Dr J to Michael Jordan to LeBron James, it promises just under an hour of spectacular dunks including some bonus content. Does it deliver?
Yes, and no. For the most part, it's a simply awesome celebration of the dunk. The NBA's decision to include the first month or so of the 2003/2004 season makes the DVD extremely up to date. It's been a while since the last dunk highlight video after the NBA released two or three during the 90s, so it's great to see some highlight reel slams by today's stars. But that has its drawbacks.
There is no real Michael Jordan segment during the video. There's a piece on Dr J, Nique, Shawn Kemp, even the duo of Steve Francis and Cuttino Mobley, but no real profile of Michael Jordan. He is featured in the bonus material and his dunks show up throughout the program, but he seems to be mentioned mostly in passing. For a player whose dunks made him and the NBA very popular during his time, this is a huge oversight.
At least he's on the DVD though. Kobe Bryant appears only once - watching Shaq throw one down, not even making the lob pass to him. This is almost inexcusable. He's had many highlight dunks and if this collection is celebration of dunks from past to present, he must be included.
Scottie Pippen and Latrell Sprewell are noticeably absent. Pippen's only entry is an alley-oop to MJ. Few past winners of the slam dunk contest are mentioned or seen in the highlight reels. The players of the 90s are practically forgotten and strangely ommitted. Sure, they've been profiled in earlier videos but they belong here too.
Like previous NBA Entertainment releases showcasing spectacular slams, Dunks! is divided up into segments - high flyers, big men, artistic dunkers and so on. It would have been nice to see them abandon this technique, simply showing a continuous highlight reel of dunks, era by era.
Hosting the program is DJ Clue. To be honest, I would have rather seen someone like Jim Fagan or Ahmad Rashad as the host. I know DJ Clue is an artist that ties in with the whole "NBA Street Series" idea but seeing as though there isn't any footage of streetball and the presentation is (for the most part) that of a traditional production, a presenter such as Rashad or Fagan would have been more appropriate. DJ Clue doesn't do a bad job, but he's doing family-orientated material. Sometimes it just seems little awkward and forced.
So why is it worth your money? What's actually featured on the DVD is by no means shabby. There are plenty of fantastic dunks to keep you entertained. There's a healthy dose of Vince Carter, Ricky Davis's between-the-legs dunk against the Timberwolves, some of Amare's best slams and some nice alley-oops. My disappointment over some of the omissions is borne of the fact that I'm a fan with a fond memory of the 90s and previous dunk videos.
On the whole, I thoroughly enjoyed Dunks!, and I feel I got my money's worth. It would have been nice to see more 90s, but I have my other videos and DVDs with those highlights. If the NBA decides to make more compilations such as this (which I'm assuming they do, given the "Volume 1" label), I'd suggest they make it longer and include some of the players they didn't give enough time to on this DVD.
I would certainly recommend picking this one up. I'll give it 4.5/5. As you've probably guessed, my rating drops due to some of the strange omissions. I would have also liked to have seen Daryl Dawkins and Shaq's backboard breaking exploits.
Special Features
Dunks! does kind of make up for its omission of a wealth of MJ highlights by featuring him a few times in the special features.
- Top 10 Most Posterizing Dunks (MJ featured)
- 1985 Dunk Contest: Jordan vs Nique
- Dunk Stories (MJ featured twice)
- Who is today's greatest dunker?
These are all nice segments, though perhaps they could have been longer. They're certainly entertaining though.
Tidbits
Richard Jefferson on Michael Jordan, Dominique Wilkins and Julius Erving: "Those were some great dunkers, don't get me wrong, but they can't even compare with Vince Carter."
Not to take anything away from Vinsanity, but that's really underrating some of the amazing things that those three guys did, especially late in their careers when most players are supposedly losing their athleticism. Obviously, I'm not referring to Michael Jordan's days as a Wizard. I had to laugh out loud when I heard this.
Glenn "Doc" Rivers' Dominique speech: If you've seen any of the dunk videos from the 90s, you will have heard this "Man, he can't top that one...he was the first player in my opinion to do show dunks in the middle of a one point game in the fourth quarter" monologue countless times.
Dominique's appearance with a multi-coloured neon polka-dot bowtie and matching suspenders is another laugh out loud moment.
Final Thought
NBA fan? Love dunks? Have some spare cash? Can view this DVD? Get it. It wasn't everything I hoped it would be, but it was pretty close. I hope they release Volume 2.
Rating: **** 1/2
First up...
NBA Street Series: Dunks!
Note: For my fellow Australians, this DVD is tentatively scheduled to be released late October/early November here in Australia, but if you have a multi-region DVD player and a TV capable of NTSC playback (most TVs that are only a few years old should be), you shouldn't have any problems and might want to buy from amazon.com - even if you want to wait for the Region 4 release, you'll probably have to order online.
Dunks! hypes itself as "Pro vs Playground, Fame vs Game". From Elgin Baylor to Dr J to Michael Jordan to LeBron James, it promises just under an hour of spectacular dunks including some bonus content. Does it deliver?
Yes, and no. For the most part, it's a simply awesome celebration of the dunk. The NBA's decision to include the first month or so of the 2003/2004 season makes the DVD extremely up to date. It's been a while since the last dunk highlight video after the NBA released two or three during the 90s, so it's great to see some highlight reel slams by today's stars. But that has its drawbacks.
There is no real Michael Jordan segment during the video. There's a piece on Dr J, Nique, Shawn Kemp, even the duo of Steve Francis and Cuttino Mobley, but no real profile of Michael Jordan. He is featured in the bonus material and his dunks show up throughout the program, but he seems to be mentioned mostly in passing. For a player whose dunks made him and the NBA very popular during his time, this is a huge oversight.
At least he's on the DVD though. Kobe Bryant appears only once - watching Shaq throw one down, not even making the lob pass to him. This is almost inexcusable. He's had many highlight dunks and if this collection is celebration of dunks from past to present, he must be included.
Scottie Pippen and Latrell Sprewell are noticeably absent. Pippen's only entry is an alley-oop to MJ. Few past winners of the slam dunk contest are mentioned or seen in the highlight reels. The players of the 90s are practically forgotten and strangely ommitted. Sure, they've been profiled in earlier videos but they belong here too.
Like previous NBA Entertainment releases showcasing spectacular slams, Dunks! is divided up into segments - high flyers, big men, artistic dunkers and so on. It would have been nice to see them abandon this technique, simply showing a continuous highlight reel of dunks, era by era.
Hosting the program is DJ Clue. To be honest, I would have rather seen someone like Jim Fagan or Ahmad Rashad as the host. I know DJ Clue is an artist that ties in with the whole "NBA Street Series" idea but seeing as though there isn't any footage of streetball and the presentation is (for the most part) that of a traditional production, a presenter such as Rashad or Fagan would have been more appropriate. DJ Clue doesn't do a bad job, but he's doing family-orientated material. Sometimes it just seems little awkward and forced.
So why is it worth your money? What's actually featured on the DVD is by no means shabby. There are plenty of fantastic dunks to keep you entertained. There's a healthy dose of Vince Carter, Ricky Davis's between-the-legs dunk against the Timberwolves, some of Amare's best slams and some nice alley-oops. My disappointment over some of the omissions is borne of the fact that I'm a fan with a fond memory of the 90s and previous dunk videos.
On the whole, I thoroughly enjoyed Dunks!, and I feel I got my money's worth. It would have been nice to see more 90s, but I have my other videos and DVDs with those highlights. If the NBA decides to make more compilations such as this (which I'm assuming they do, given the "Volume 1" label), I'd suggest they make it longer and include some of the players they didn't give enough time to on this DVD.
I would certainly recommend picking this one up. I'll give it 4.5/5. As you've probably guessed, my rating drops due to some of the strange omissions. I would have also liked to have seen Daryl Dawkins and Shaq's backboard breaking exploits.
Special Features
Dunks! does kind of make up for its omission of a wealth of MJ highlights by featuring him a few times in the special features.
- Top 10 Most Posterizing Dunks (MJ featured)
- 1985 Dunk Contest: Jordan vs Nique
- Dunk Stories (MJ featured twice)
- Who is today's greatest dunker?
These are all nice segments, though perhaps they could have been longer. They're certainly entertaining though.
Tidbits
Richard Jefferson on Michael Jordan, Dominique Wilkins and Julius Erving: "Those were some great dunkers, don't get me wrong, but they can't even compare with Vince Carter."
Not to take anything away from Vinsanity, but that's really underrating some of the amazing things that those three guys did, especially late in their careers when most players are supposedly losing their athleticism. Obviously, I'm not referring to Michael Jordan's days as a Wizard. I had to laugh out loud when I heard this.
Glenn "Doc" Rivers' Dominique speech: If you've seen any of the dunk videos from the 90s, you will have heard this "Man, he can't top that one...he was the first player in my opinion to do show dunks in the middle of a one point game in the fourth quarter" monologue countless times.
Dominique's appearance with a multi-coloured neon polka-dot bowtie and matching suspenders is another laugh out loud moment.
Final Thought
NBA fan? Love dunks? Have some spare cash? Can view this DVD? Get it. It wasn't everything I hoped it would be, but it was pretty close. I hope they release Volume 2.
Rating: **** 1/2
Wed Aug 25, 2004 12:01 am
There is no real Michael Jordan segment during the video. There's a piece on Dr J, Nique, Shawn Kemp, even the duo of Steve Francis and Cuttino Mobley, but no real profile of Michael Jordan. He is featured in the bonus material and his dunks show up throughout the program, but he seems to be mentioned mostly in passing. For a player whose dunks made him and the NBA very popular during his time, this is a huge oversight.
I'd actually find it refreshing to watch an NBA DVD that didn't feature Jordan prominately, it gets boring seeing the same highlights over and over again.
Wed Aug 25, 2004 12:14 am
Nice review Andrew
Yo Matthew Foo, give us some info about the Dynasty series.
Yo Matthew Foo, give us some info about the Dynasty series.
Wed Aug 25, 2004 6:07 am
Jae. wrote:I'd actually find it refreshing to watch an NBA DVD that didn't feature Jordan prominately, it gets boring seeing the same highlights over and over again.
i agree with you.. don't get me wrong im a big mj fan but i've probably seen all his highlights dunk.. it gets really repetitive.. having said that, i'm also bored of seeing vince carter dunks
Wed Aug 25, 2004 7:56 pm
hey- are there any DVD's about my man Kobe... Any info? any...
Wed Aug 25, 2004 8:30 pm
...........................
Last edited by hmm on Tue Jun 02, 2009 3:34 am, edited 1 time in total.
Thu Aug 26, 2004 10:28 pm
Jae. wrote:I'd actually find it refreshing to watch an NBA DVD that didn't feature Jordan prominately, it gets boring seeing the same highlights over and over again.
True...my bias certainly had a lot to do with that assessment.
But it seemed strange, given some of the other players they were featuring. They've certainly shown the same Nique dunks just as many times. I just thought the main program could have been much longer and given more coverage to the 90s.Mr T wrote:Nice review Andrew
Yo Matthew Foo, give us some info about the Dynasty series.
Thanks.
I've got the Chicago Bulls Dynasty Series boxset as well, I was planning on reviewing that (but two reviews wouldn't hurt if Matthew wants to do one). I didn't get the Lakers set though.
Fri Aug 27, 2004 3:30 pm
i am ready to watch the nba dvd so i can finally see what it is about. i hope they show alot of good dunks on their.
Sat Aug 28, 2004 2:55 am
I bought two DVDs last week... "NBA's 100 greatest plays" and "Michael Jordan: His Airness"... Both are good, I'd rate them 8 out of 10... I expected newer material... Regarding the top 100 plays dvd, the newer play was that dunk Vince Carter had against Indiana, back in 2000 or 2001, if I'm not mistaken. The Jordan dvd doesn't even mention he played for the Wizards, nor shows any footage of his Washington days.
Sat Aug 28, 2004 5:09 am
Micheal Jordan-His Airness is like 5 years old dvd or something..no Wizards then...
Sat Aug 28, 2004 5:25 am
I also have the top 100 greatest plays dvd, its not that bad at all, but it aint the real deal either.
I have to disagree with most of the plays that were shown in the top 10 of all time, the dunks one for example. #10...Kobe dunked it from the dotted line and completely posterized the foo Ben Wallace who later became the one we know as Big Ben with his shotblocking skills, what is #9? A lame Charles Barkley coast to coast dunk which I myself can do in games. I dont really know what the release date was of that DVD, but where the hell was Vince Carter?
This was just a example, but every category has its bugs.
I have to disagree with most of the plays that were shown in the top 10 of all time, the dunks one for example. #10...Kobe dunked it from the dotted line and completely posterized the foo Ben Wallace who later became the one we know as Big Ben with his shotblocking skills, what is #9? A lame Charles Barkley coast to coast dunk which I myself can do in games. I dont really know what the release date was of that DVD, but where the hell was Vince Carter?
This was just a example, but every category has its bugs.
Sat Aug 28, 2004 9:59 am
I got MJ to the Max and lets just say it is my favorite NBA DVD. That and the Bulls Dynasty DVD collection.
Nice review Andrew
Nice review Andrew
Sat Aug 28, 2004 1:53 pm
Come on Mr T, I agree every category has its flaws, but that Barkley dunk was something, the finish was awesome.
Sun Aug 29, 2004 5:17 pm
OK, time for another review.
Chicago Bulls Dynasty Series: The 1990s
This boxset is a celebration of the NBA's dynasty of the 1990s: The Chicago Bulls. It contains highlight/documentary videos about each of the six championship seasons, six NBA Finals games (one from each year) and a brief history of the Chicago Bulls, a five minute NBA TV segment.
To truly enjoy this boxset, you need to be a Chicago Bulls fan or very keen about NBA history or the NBA in the 1990s. Having said that, older fans might be slightly disappointed in the collection.
The boxset features the six championship videos that were released during the 90s. Each of these videos contains entertaining highlights and a great recap of the season, but they are nothing the enthusiastic Bulls fan hasn't already seen. If you already own some or all of the VHS tapes, you're basically upgrading the format - not such a bad idea, but disappointing for fans expecting brand new content.
The brief history segment could have been more comprehensive, but the championship videos tell the story of the 1990s so to double up on the footage and documentary here would be pointless. This five minute piece is mainly included to recognise some of the significant players in the history of the Bulls such as Bob Love, Jerry Sloan, Norm van Lier and Chet Walker. It offers a brief look at the Bulls before Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Phil Jackson and the other individuals that teamed up to produce six titles during the 90s came to town.
The games are the boxset's main bonus features, and are well worth the price. As it happens, I do have all of the games on VHS tape but on DVD they are presented in much higher quality and without any commercials. You can also begin play at the start of each quarter. Chapter selection on DVDs beats the fast forward method of VHS, hands down. The same goes for the championship videos - you may begin play at various points throughout the video.
Having known about the lack of content beforehand, I wasn't disappointed with the set. Some more content would have been nice, but I certainly feel that I got my money's worth. I would really recommend this to any serious Chicago Bulls fan, it's a very reasonable price to pay to update your old championship videos and watch some of the Bulls' best games which you may not have seen in years.
Final Thought
Practically a must-have for Bulls fans, NBA fans who followed the league during the 1990s and have a keen interest in the history of the NBA will probably greatly enjoy it as well. They probably could have put together a new program or highlight reel, but the set is really a great celebration of the Bulls' dominance during the 90s. I'm not going to let what might have been included affect my rating.
Rating: *****
Chicago Bulls Dynasty Series: The 1990s
This boxset is a celebration of the NBA's dynasty of the 1990s: The Chicago Bulls. It contains highlight/documentary videos about each of the six championship seasons, six NBA Finals games (one from each year) and a brief history of the Chicago Bulls, a five minute NBA TV segment.
To truly enjoy this boxset, you need to be a Chicago Bulls fan or very keen about NBA history or the NBA in the 1990s. Having said that, older fans might be slightly disappointed in the collection.
The boxset features the six championship videos that were released during the 90s. Each of these videos contains entertaining highlights and a great recap of the season, but they are nothing the enthusiastic Bulls fan hasn't already seen. If you already own some or all of the VHS tapes, you're basically upgrading the format - not such a bad idea, but disappointing for fans expecting brand new content.
The brief history segment could have been more comprehensive, but the championship videos tell the story of the 1990s so to double up on the footage and documentary here would be pointless. This five minute piece is mainly included to recognise some of the significant players in the history of the Bulls such as Bob Love, Jerry Sloan, Norm van Lier and Chet Walker. It offers a brief look at the Bulls before Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Phil Jackson and the other individuals that teamed up to produce six titles during the 90s came to town.
The games are the boxset's main bonus features, and are well worth the price. As it happens, I do have all of the games on VHS tape but on DVD they are presented in much higher quality and without any commercials. You can also begin play at the start of each quarter. Chapter selection on DVDs beats the fast forward method of VHS, hands down. The same goes for the championship videos - you may begin play at various points throughout the video.
Having known about the lack of content beforehand, I wasn't disappointed with the set. Some more content would have been nice, but I certainly feel that I got my money's worth. I would really recommend this to any serious Chicago Bulls fan, it's a very reasonable price to pay to update your old championship videos and watch some of the Bulls' best games which you may not have seen in years.
Final Thought
Practically a must-have for Bulls fans, NBA fans who followed the league during the 1990s and have a keen interest in the history of the NBA will probably greatly enjoy it as well. They probably could have put together a new program or highlight reel, but the set is really a great celebration of the Bulls' dominance during the 90s. I'm not going to let what might have been included affect my rating.
Rating: *****
Sun Aug 29, 2004 9:31 pm
Andrew- can u please tell me how you got ur DVDs... cause I';m thinking about getting them too
Sun Aug 29, 2004 11:02 pm
I'm guessing he uses PonTel alot, since he redirects everyone to that site in need of a few games.
PonTel NBA.
PonTel NBA.
Sun Aug 29, 2004 11:52 pm
True that
Mon Aug 30, 2004 12:55 pm
I bought these two DVDs (as well as the Ultimate Jordan collection and MJ to the Max) from Amazon.com, as far as I know PonTel doesn't sell them. You will need a multi-region DVD player though, as they will not play on a Region 4 (Australian) player.
Mon Aug 30, 2004 7:07 pm
Thanks Andrew