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Blue Angels - Rolling in the Sky

Blue Angels - Rolling in the Sky

List Price: $19.98
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Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: stirs the blood
Review: after reading earlier reviews, i passed on this dvd at first. kept coming back to it though, hoping it was the same video i happened to see running in a store in the late 80's. it was, and here's why i think this video, for some people, is worth the price:

i mostly agree with the reviews below. there are lots of stationary shots; at one point the crowd scenes at an airshow are ridiculously long; the music is pretty cheesy (i'll never understand why aviation vid producers don't figure out that aviation fans want to HEAR the planes too -- leave the music off except for short clips!); and many of the sounds are dropped in, even when they show a pilot climb into his hornet and fasten the harness.

but...

this video has, without any doubt, some of the sweetest shots of any static aircraft, and THE BEST air-to-air and in-flight footage i've seen of the blues (all shot on film). i remember being struck on first viewing by how closely they fly to each other. it doesn't really sink in until you see one blue from the cockpit, belly, or wing of another. i was also surprised at the amount of relative movement within formation -- not due to sloppy flying, but slightly rough air.

though there's a small amount of grain in the picture (may have been shot on 16mm), the colors of the blues have never looked so rich. i will be watching this dvd at least every few months, sometimes in slow motion, sometimes in fast forward, but always with admiration for the unmatched shots it contains. if you've ever tried to shoot the blue angels, you'll appreciate the skill of the camera ops on the ground; some of the tripod work is just nutso.

those looking for a thrill every 30 seconds should pass on 'rolling in the sky'. but if you drool over turbine engines, precision aerobatics (with any flaws well revealed by the beautiful film quality and camera placement), and anything with a tailhook, you can't go wrong if you throw this dvd in prepared for the drawbacks. the reviews below kept me from being disappointed, and thanks to everybody who wrote one.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: stirs the blood
Review: after reading earlier reviews, i passed on this dvd at first. kept coming back to it though, hoping it was the same video i happened to see running in a store in the late 80's. it was, and here's why i think this video, for some people, is worth the price:

i mostly agree with the reviews below. there are lots of stationary shots; at one point the crowd scenes at an airshow are ridiculously long; the music is pretty cheesy (i'll never understand why aviation vid producers don't figure out that aviation fans want to HEAR the planes too -- leave the music off except for short clips!); and many of the sounds are dropped in, even when they show a pilot climb into his hornet and fasten the harness.

but...

this video has, without any doubt, some of the sweetest shots of any static aircraft, and THE BEST air-to-air and in-flight footage i've seen of the blues (all shot on film). i remember being struck on first viewing by how closely they fly to each other. it doesn't really sink in until you see one blue from the cockpit, belly, or wing of another. i was also surprised at the amount of relative movement within formation -- not due to sloppy flying, but slightly rough air.

though there's a small amount of grain in the picture (may have been shot on 16mm), the colors of the blues have never looked so rich. i will be watching this dvd at least every few months, sometimes in slow motion, sometimes in fast forward, but always with admiration for the unmatched shots it contains. if you've ever tried to shoot the blue angels, you'll appreciate the skill of the camera ops on the ground; some of the tripod work is just nutso.

those looking for a thrill every 30 seconds should pass on 'rolling in the sky'. but if you drool over turbine engines, precision aerobatics (with any flaws well revealed by the beautiful film quality and camera placement), and anything with a tailhook, you can't go wrong if you throw this dvd in prepared for the drawbacks. the reviews below kept me from being disappointed, and thanks to everybody who wrote one.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Not a collection item
Review: Good for watching once. Good camera work. No commentary on aerobics they perform. Music gets onto your nerves after a while.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Blue Angels - Rolling in the Sky
Review: I felt like I was at a Blue Angel airshow! While there was no narrative, it was very easy to follow the action. Good, crisp shots of the FA18 Hornets doing their stuff! Will someone please do a similar DVD featuring the USAF Thunderbirds and their Lockheed Martin F16s?

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Sierra Hotel, Baby!
Review: I felt like I was at a Blue Angel airshow! While there was no narrative, it was very easy to follow the action. Good, crisp shots of the FA18 Hornets doing their stuff! Will someone please do a similar DVD featuring the USAF Thunderbirds and their Lockheed Martin F16s?

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Terrible. Just plain lousy.
Review: I love planes, documentaries, the Blue Angels, and with a DVD player and a home theater system, I was expecting at least to say, "wow, that was cool" to myself a couple of times. OK, maybe there were a couple of cool passes in mid-flight, but they got repeated about seventeen times, the synthesized music irritatingly makes you turn down the sound, and this is just about as cheesy as you can get. I might sell my copy if i can find anyone gullible enough, assuming i won't feel guilty about pawning it off on them...

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Its like a firworks show of Blue Angels
Review: If you like firework shows where you can sit back and "oooh" and "ahhhh" what you will see, then you will like this video/DVD. There is no narration, so you are free to fill in what you see with your own thoughts. This does give it a "home movie" effect, however, as if someone took their video camera and filmed the inside of the plane, the outside, and all kinds of different in flight angles. There are places where some narration would be helpful, as we have no idea what is going on in a briefing room. Watching this video will not give you any idea of the history, or what it takes to be a Blue Angel. You just sit back and watch, and watch, and watch. There is no sense of bringing this to a conclusion. If you like just blue angels without any background info, you will like this. You should get some background info, and this one falls short in this area.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Blue Angels - Rolling in the Sky
Review: Outstanding if you want to see the Blue Angels fly! I found this to be excellent for the shots of the arial manuevers etc. The DVD's music is dated but tasteful. No commentary. This is a plus if you don't care about background bla bla bla (other DVDs tend to be that way). Overall a very pleasing DVD.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Great DVD for aviation lovers
Review: This "Rolling in the sky" 50 min. DVD shows the worldwide famous U.S. Navy flight demostration team, as you always wanted to. The footage is just great, so; you can enjoy some amazing shots of Blue Angels complete maneuvers, from different angles, several times. Zoom-in and zoom-out you'll watch jet rolls, loops and high speed air crossings, keeping their wing tips just a few feet apart. The entire DVD will be a "jewel" of your aviation collection, that's for sure. There's no narrative along the movie, only few live words of Team's leader officer, while all 6 pilots attend the briefing room, giving the movie a more realistic touch. I think music is a minor detail (that's why I gave just 4 stars), but; there's also some real fly-by jet noise, improving movie soundtrack. No doubt, this is the definitive Blue Angels flight demostration movie, showing no military or U.S. patriotic allegories, just the Blue Hornets flying high... Any aviation fan will enjoy this DVD, once and again.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Worst DVD I've ever seen
Review: This has to be one of the biggest disgraces of all time. First, you begin with one of the world's most exciting aerobatic teams. Then, you destroy any such excitement with synth techno music, discontinuous home-movie style shots, long scenes of grounded F-18s and the pilots walking to their planes.

A complete waste of money.


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